++English sparklers++
Over the last couple of months there’s been some interesting news in the wine world.
June’s issue of Decanter magazine had a piece on the French eyeing UK vineyards.
Champagne sales hit a record in 2003. This prompted some Champagne Houses to look in English vineyards and invest in them.
The county’s status as the largest market for Champagne outside France was confirmed by the staggering figure of 34m bottles consumed.
No wonder big and small wine houses are discussing investment options with vineyards in Kent.
This may be either to buy vine land or to invest in the production side.
English wine is being taken more seriously than ever, with sparkling wines hold their own in blind tastings against top Champagnes.
English producers make sparkling wine from the three typical grape varieties of the Champagne region – Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay.
If you look at a map, Kent is only a couple of degrees north of Champagne and its chalk soil is perfect for growing the high-acidity white grapes for sparkling wine.
Many experts reckon that with global warming, southern England’s climate may eventually be more conductive to growing Champagne grapes than Champagne itself.
Well, now I know what to look for on my next trip to England.
++Bordeaux 2003++
And now some interesting vintage news.
From the same issue of Decanter wine magazine, the first tasting of the much-hyped Bordeaux 2003 vintage took place last month.
Experts are rating 2003 vintage as superior to the stunning 2000.
The general consensus at last month’s en primeur was that Médoc crus, especially those of the northern appellations – had surpassed themselves.
Steven Spurrier Decanter’s consultant editor, said “ 2003 will be one of the most interesting vintages for Bordeaux lovers”.
However, some wrote off the Right Bank wines as being overcooked.
The region’s main grape, the slower ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, fared better in the summer heat wave, while the Merlots in much of the St-Emilion and Pomerol were hit by the heat of the sun just as they were becoming fully ripe.
Burned fruit and burned skins do affect the style of the wine.
Last year’s heat saw some properties, notably on the Right Bank, producing so-called ‘wines from the South’.
But even if Merlots were ‘grillées’ many producers raved about the quality of their Cabernet Franc.
There was an interesting spat amongst top wine critics, though.
The wine comes form Chateau Pavie 2003 Premier Grand Cru Classé.
Influential wine critic Robert Parker publicly questioned the impartiality of UK Master of Wine and staggering personality in the wine world Jancis Robinson.
Jancis rated Pavie 12/20 and described it as ‘ridiculous’ — the tasting note actually read ‘Completely unappetizing overripe aromas.
‘Why? Porty sweet.
‘Port is best from the Douro not Saint –Emilion.
‘Ridiculous wine more reminiscent of a late-harvest Zinfadel than a red Bordeaux with its unappetizing green notes’.
Now, this is what I call a cruel statement.
Parker accused Jancis of ‘nasty swipes’ at Pavie owner Gérard Perse.
“This particular wine does taste at all as described by Jancis,” said Robert Parker.
To her defence Jancis claims that it was blind tasting, stressing her impartiality and refuted any personal agenda with the owner.
She asked: “What is the difference between a nasty swipe and a critical tasting note?
Perhaps the former does not chime with the most powerful palate in the world while the latter does.”
Wine assessment is subjective and everybody is allowed to his or her opinion.
But whoever publicises their opinion should remember they have a certain responsibility to the public.
++French shock++
This concerns a documentary and not football.
Robert Josh of Wine International Magazine reports in July’s issue that a documentary highlighting the problems faced by the French wine industry has been greeted by anguish in the national press.
There is a crisis confronting the French wine industry as reported not so long ago in this page.
The subject though has remained a taboo for French winemakers and drinkers.
The hour-long programmed was screened by Channel 5 by Nicolas Glimois was called Tempête dans une verre de vin – Storm in a wine glass.
This was on May 3rd and it was filmed in France, Australia and Britain.
It revealed that only 25 per cent of the wine drunk in the UK now bears French labels, compared with 40 per cent from the New World.
The reason given was that New World wines had flavours and labels that were easy to understand, hence their success, reliable and skillfully marketed ‘just like Coca Cola’.
Allowing foreigners to publicly to discuss what goes on in other countries vineyards is a novelty in France.
Indeed, carries on Robert Joseph, even when a French senate committee discussed the state of Gallic viticulture last year, not one of the 70 experts that appeared before it came from elsewhere.
So even some of the senators may have been interested to learn first hand how Australian wineries create brands, run focus groups and get winemakers and marketers to work together to create the best product – or one that is most likely to give the customer what he or she wants.
This notion in France, though, as the Daily Liberation wrote is inconceivable, where wine is still ‘the drink of the Gods’ ands the aim is to perfect the flavour of traditional regions and grapes, irrespective of their modern palatability.
The only source of pride offered by the documentary was the enduring quality and popularity of the finest wines of Bordeaux and the international success of French consultants such as Michel Roland.
The president of INAO (Institut National des Appellations d’ Origin Contrôlée) proposed a way out of the crisis in the form of a two-tier appellation system.
Others, though, said that a far more radical ‘global solution’ is required.
This solution is eagerly awaited but dreaded by conservatives who would prefer to rely on the hope expressed in Liberation that the ‘consumer’s taste will evolve towards complexity and subtlety. Your views on that are eagerly awaited.
Bumper Australia harvest
Finally to the other side of the globe where Catharine Lowe reports that wine producers in Australia are reporting bumper 2004 vintage.
Quality and quantity is believed to be high, although it will be patchy in regions such as Barossa, Clare Valley, Langhorne Creek and NSW’s Griffith region that suffered a crippling heat wave in February.
Particularly form the Shiraz grape point of view in Margaret River, Yarra Valley and Coonawarra.
A bumper harvest though will contribute to Australia’s wine surplus lake, something that will have an effect on the small and medium-sized wineries, which also have to cope with a rising exchange rate and squeezed margins.
Some fruit even had to be dumped, a common practice lately on our island, or sold for little more than picking cost.
