Visit to California with Treasury Wine Estates

Treasury Wine Estates sets the standard for Californian 2013 vintage

The 2013 Californian wine harvest is set to be "truly outstanding" if a review of some of the premium vineyards of Treasury Wine Estates by Harpers.co.uk is replicated across the state. Geoffrey Dean reports from the Napa and Sonoma Valleys.

If David Dearie's shock sacking as Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) chief executive last month was indeed connected to the $160m writedown the company's US division suffered earlier this year, its stable of Californian wineries continues to produce premium wine that keep turning heads. One hopes that irony will not be lost on Dearie's long-term successor, for while the Australian conglomerate's US business has seen reduced volume, revenue and earnings since 2008, Harpers was given a rare insight into the exceptional quality of winemakers, viticulturalists and vineyards at TWE's disposal on a harvest visit to California. Gratifyingly, the 2013 vintage in the state looks like being a truly outstanding one.

While Beringer and Chateau St. Jean are the two main pillars in TWE's portfolio, each renowned as big volume producers but also offering some world-class premium wines , the medium-scale Stags' Leap and boutique producer Etude complete a formidable quartet. The latter two, under the respective technical direction of Christophe Paubert, a Bordelais, and Jon Priest, an American, are crafting beautifully balanced wines that have a real sense of place. Full of Californian sunshine, they nevertheless have elegance and wonderfully integrated tannins. Paubert's cabernet sauvignon and petite sirah varietal wines are Napa classics, while Priest's chardonnay and pinot noir are beguiling cool climate wines from Carneros. More on them later, but ladies first.

Laurie Hook, of Beringer, and Margo van Staaveren, of Chateau St. Jean, are two highly experienced chief winemakers. Hook, whose main focus is on Beringer's premium wines rather than the commercial ones that dominate its 95-million bottle annual production, admits she is "definitely pulling back on the amount of new oak" she uses. Her new Luminus chardonnay is a good example, the outstanding 2012, which becomes available in the UK next year, being aged in 20% new oak.

Laurie Hook

Beringer have long been renowned for their Private Reserve Cabernets, which age extremely well, as was clear from a vertical tasting of the 1980, the sublime 1991 and the excellent 2010 (which is released in Europe on Jan 1). All three came from cooler vintages, with the well-balanced 2010 carrying its 14.6% abv with ease, its rich St Helena-dominated fruit effortlessly absorbing the 93% new oak.

Balance, very much a watchword of Hook's, is something she seems to bring off with all her top wines, and the trade awaits with interest Beringer's new 'Icon' cabernet, whose first vintage was last year and is still in barrel. Only the very best fruit from selected rows (not necessarily the same each year) from its top seven single vineyards in the Napa Valley goes into the Icon, of which only 200  cases are made each year.  

Hook thinks the 2013 could be the best cabernet she has ever made. "We've never seen colours like we have in this vintage, so it's definitely in the running right now," she told Harpers. "The wines are just so inky with so many anthocyanins, which mean you can extract more tannin. They'll also form larger compounds that will give greater mouthfeel and density."

The Rhine House, centrepiece of the Beringer estate

Beringer's capability to produce some of the best cabernet in Napa is likely to be enhanced with the planting early next year of a new 22-acre block right next door to Screaming Eagle's vineyards. With land at such a premium in the valley, such large-scale plantings are extremely rare. The site has 'fantastic soil for cabernet' according to Beringer's viticulturalist, Will Drayton, an Englishman who was one of the leading graduates from UC Davis in California.

 "We conducted 15 soil pits and really did our homework on analysis," he said. "There's a reservoir nearby and wells too, so we're not worried about water. Although the block was brush with lots of rock and a load of poison oak trees, we'd been eyeing it up for some time. We finally asked the owners if we could lease it off them, and they told us we'd already been doing so for the past 30 years. We never even knew!"

While Hook's single varietal Napa wines - not just cabernet  but also merlot from the elevated Bancroft Ranch Vineyard in the Howell Mountain AVA -  earn worldwide acclaim, van Staaveren has established a reputation as a master blender. Having done 34 vintages at Chateau St. Jean, she knows every row of her vines, and Harpers was given a tasting of her latest tour de force, the 2010 Cinq Cepages.

Margo van Staaveren

 Only released in the US at the beginning of October, with worldwide exports commencing early next year, this Sonoma County blend, which comprises 78% cabernet and the other four main Bordeaux  varietals, comes from the Alexander, Dry Creek, Knights and Sonoma Valleys. Multi-layered with red and black fruit, as well as some spice from the 12% American oak used, it is powerful at 14.4% abv but nicely balanced by firm acidity and soft but overt tannins. "It's one of the most complex Cinq Cepages I've made," mused van Staaveren.

In the five years since Christophe Paubert has been the winemaker at Stags' Leap, the former Yquem cellarmaster says he has made only a few tweaks. "If it was iconic without me, what's the point of changing," he declared. "I try to show the beauty and identity of the fruit here, not to beat Bordeaux." He has, though, reduced the amount of new oak from 75 to 50% in the latest vintage of the winery's flagship cabernet, The Leap 2010. Very concentrated yet elegant, this has a fine tannin structure with notable length and balance.

 This, and Stags' Leap other famous wine, the 'Ne Cede Malis' are released in Europe on Jan 1. The latter, named after the winery founder's family motto ('Don't Give in to Misfortune'), is an extraordinary blend that Paubert modestly  says he 'guides' rather than makes.  A batch of gobelet vines planted in 1929 produces a wine that is 85% petite syrah (aka durif), with the remaining 15% made up of as many as 16 other varietals, six of which are white. All the grapes are co-fermented before being aged in 100% American oak (a quarter new) for a year only. French barriques could not counter the power of petite sirah and its often ferocious tannins.

Stags’ Leap cellar door

 Yet, thanks to the very old age of the vines, these tannins are remarkably soft, enabling this spicy, intense melange to be surprisingly approachable now. A dash of viognier gives it a floral lift, while the 14.1% abv (which Paubert promises is correct despite the 1% leeway allowed on American labels) makes you want more than one glass.

A second bottle is definitely what you want when you drink the delectable wines of Etude. This gem of a winery, tucked away in picturesque Los Carneros hills of that are so undulating that Jon Priest, the winemaker, likes to inspect his vines by riding through them on horseback. "I'm closely involved with the viticulture here," Priest said. "We obsess over tannins here and the tannin quality starts in the vineyard. Being able to bring out the tannin in the right way is essential to winemaking."

Jon Priest

Thanks to this almost art-form tannin management, Etude's pinot noir feels like liquid silk. Very low-yielding vines, a plethora of clones, many of them rare, multiple soil types and the marine influence from nearby San Pablo Bay all combine to produce gloriously concentrated fruit. Etude's 'Heirloom' is as good as Californian pinot gets, and it is very good indeed.

Etude’s majestic setting

Their cabernet, sourced from Napa Valley benchland fruit, is also outstanding,  as is the vibrant chardonnay, which sees no new oak and minimal malolactic fermentation. "Our style is to be less artefact and more about the grapes," Priest concluded.  It is a mantra that is shared by all four of TWE's gifted quartet of Californian winemakers, who continue to raise the quality of their many labels.

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The 2013 Feria in Sanlucar de Barrameda

Geoffrey Dean reports from the annual Feria de Manzanilla

Published:  05 June, 2013

Those soothsayers who predict an uncertain future for sherry ought to have been in Sanlucar de Barrameda this week, where local consumption of it had to be marvelled at.

The annual Manzanilla Fair (Feria de Manzanilla), which dates back to the early 20th century and began on Tuesday, is a colourful five-day party where the whole town dresses up, dances flamenco and drinks manzanilla like water. It may be fortified to 15.5%, but its low acidity and light refreshing body with notes of apple and camomile, makes it slip down with the greatest of ease in the warm Andalucian sunshine.

Whisper it gently, but fino is enjoying something of a comeback in London, helped by the plethora of new tapas bars in the capital. That trend is set to be encouraged this summer in July when Waitrose is having a promotion of Solear, Barbadillo's iconic manzanilla brand that is aged for six years before bottling. Likewise, Lord's Cricket Ground in London is now selling fino at its restaurants and bars.

Barbadillo is also introducing its award-winning aged manzanilla "pasada" to the British off-trade for the first time. Oddbins takes delivery shortly of the Solear en Rama 2013, which picked up a gold medal at the IWC this year. At an expected price point of £11 for a 50cl bottle, it is remarkable value for such quality and age (eight years in old wooden barrels before bottling).

Barbadillo, which has been making manzanilla since 1821, also produces still table wine on an industrial scale - up to six million bottles per annum of palomino (which, blended with 15% Verdejo, is one of the stable of Tesco's Finest single varietals). However, Tim Holt, Barbadillo's sales export manager based in Sanlucar, is keen to remind consumers that there is much more to the company than volume.

Although Barbadillo makes amontillado, oloroso and palo cortado aged in soleras for over 30 years, it also possesses sherries that are much older. A hundred years or more to be precise. These amontillados are set to be made available later this year as single cask releases. Sarah-Jane Evans MW, arguably the leading UK sherry critic, and two MW students, including your correspondent, were given the chance to taste and assess a dozen of these remarkable wines at the bodega in Sanlucar this week.

"We have this liquid gold here," Holt declared. "We want to do something even more special and unique with them than the relic sherries we have. Whisky and Cognac does this with exceptionally old spirits, so why shouldn't we with sherry? This will be a one-off opportunity for buyers."

Potential buyers will, nevertheless, be having to write very large cheques. No price has been set but Holt is talking of €10,000 per 75cl bottle (the wine is still in cask and yet to be bottled). One ancient oloroso we tried with a whopping 13g/l of tartaric acid was not balanced, but the others, all of which varied in style, are sure to interest wealthy sherry collectors, particularly if the final asking price is revised downwards. The next 12 to 18 months look like being interesting times at Barbadillo.



Verdict on 2012 Bordeaux Vintage

Geoffrey Dean assesses the 2012 vintage in Bordeaux after attending pre-primeurs week there, and lists his top 10 selections.

Despite some challenging and difficult weather conditions in 2012, Bordeaux has produced some outstanding wines from that year, especially on the Right Bank. That did not seem at all likely after a shortage of sunshine in the first half of the growing season, but the vintage was saved by hot and very dry weather from mid-July to September that enabled a large proportion of black grapes to ripen fully. Cool nights in those months allowed white grapes to retain their acidity, a key factor in the production of exemplary white wine in Pessac-Leognan. In Sauternes, however, too much humidity and insufficient wind mitigated heavily against the production of quality sweet wine, with three of the top players - Yquem, Rieussec and Suidiraut - declining to make any grand vin. A few, led by Coutet, produced some outstanding results, but yields were extraordinarily low.

While 2012 will be remembered as a Right Bank vintage, as merlot and cabernet franc ripened without difficulty, parts of the Left Bank still conjured up some remarkable wines, if none quite as good as those of Ausone and Cheval Blanc. Significantly, merlot became the dominant grape for Haut Brion, La Mission Haut Brion and Palmer. If many observers arrived for the primeur tastings expecting to find more greenness than they cared for in cabernet-dominated wines, they were pleasantly surprised. For there were very little green notes to be found in Medoc and Pessec-Leognan reds.

Wineries confessed that their teams had never worked so hard in the vineyards, taking bunch-thinning and leaf-plucking to new levels. Getting the grapes off the vine before the rains arrived was another vital necessity, with Lafite Rothschild hiring as many as 450 pickers for their Lafite and Duhart Milon vineyards to beat the rain that arrived in mid-October and barely stopped till mid-February. Indeed, it has been one of Bordeaux's wettest winters in living memory.

But enough of the Bordelais' trials and tribulations. What are the wines really like? Across the board in the classed growths and at cru bourgeois level, there is real precision and sweetness of fruit, while tannins are generally soft, ripe and well-integrated. There is some remarkable concentration too. Aromas are more lifted and pronounced than 2011, an inferior vintage in most cases. Above all, there is typicity, with a real expression of terroir. It may not be a consummate year in the mould of 2009 or 2010, but Paul Pontallier said that his Margaux grand vin would have been "a great wine had we not had '09 and '10, which reset levels that were unthinkable."

Therein, perhaps, lies cause for gratitude, as this is likely to be a year for the drinker rather than investor. Jean-Christophe Mau, head of leading Bordeaux negociant, Yvon Mau, spoke of the large stock of 2011 that the Place de Bordeaux has still to unload. That is bound to affect the prices of the 2012s, making the better wines more affordable.

Finally, a word on Sauternes and Barsac. This was a year when the skill of pickers was almost as important as the fruit, ensuring its purity. "We owed a lot to our team of 80, who responded very quickly when we called them," said Aline Bally of Coutet. "We had four pickings, with the most important in late October after a weekend of sun and wind." The result is the sweet wine of the vintage - fabulously concentrated with more residual sugar than any other producer (145g/l), yet showing delicacy, freshness and perfect balance. Coutet's yield was just 4hl/h for its flagship wine, but Guiraud trumped that with a startling 1hl/ha.

BEST SWEET WINES

1) Coutet 96/100

2)= Guiraud; Rayne Vigneau; Clos Haut-Peyraguey 95

5) = Climens; Rabaud-Promis 94

7)= Lafaurie-Peyraguey; La Tour Blanche 93

9)  Filhot 92

10)= Nairac; Doisy-Vedrines 91

BEST RIGHT BANK

1)= Cheval Blanc; Ausone 96/100

3) Le Pin 95

4) Figeac 94

5)= Clos Fourtet; La Conseillante; Angelus 93

8)= Canon La Gaffeliere; Valandraud 92

10)= Le Petit Village; Canon 91

Note: Petrus not tasted

TOP LEFT BANK

1) Haut-Brion; La Mission Haut-Brion; Palmer; Margaux 95/100

5)= Lafite; Montrose 94

7)= Haut Bailly; Pichon Baron; Pontet-Canet 93

10)= Mouton Rothschild; Grand-Puy-Lacoste; Issan; Calon Segur; Leoville Las Cases; Rauzan-Segla 92

Note: Latour not tasted

BEST SECOND WINE

1)= La Chapelle d'Ausone; Le Petit Cheval Blanc 92

3)= La Parde d'Haut-Bailly; Le Pavillon Rouge 91

5) Les Tourelles de Longueville 90

6)=Le Carillon de l'Angelus; La Dame de Montrose;  Le Petit Mouton 89

9) La Fugue de Nenin 88

10) Le Jardin de Petit Village 87

BEST DRY WHITE

1) Domaine de Chevalier 97/100

2) La Mission Haut Brion; Haut Brion; Pape Clement 96

5)= Smith Haut Lafitte; Carbonnieux; Fieuzal 95

8)= Brown; Couhins 94

10)= Le Pavillon Blanc; Malartic-Lagraviere 93

Interview with Yquem's Sandrine Garbay

On a recent trip to the Bordeaux region, Geoffrey Dean visited Chateau d’Yquem to interview Sandrine Garbay, cellar master at the celebrated sweet wine producer

How difficult was the decision not to make any Yquem in 2012?

It was the first time for 20 years we did not make any sweet wine, although we were able to produce some dry white. It was not such a difficult decision as the fruit was not sufficiently high quality for us. And we weren't the only people - Rieussec and Suidiraut did not either. But it was only the second vintage since 1974 that we made no sweet wine, and only the sixth time since the Second World War - the other years being 1951, 1952, 1964 and 1972. In fact, in the whole history of the winery, there have only been ten years when we have not made any sweet wine. The first was 1910.

Sandrine Garbay, Yquem’s cellar master

How happy were you with your dry white 'Y' in 2012?

The Ygrec, as we pronounce it in French, is not made every year - in fact, 2012 was only the 23rd time we have made it since the first vintage in 1959. We produced what is a normal amount - around 10,000 bottles.  The grapes for it were picked in September, so were unaffected by the autumn rain. I was pleased with the quality although it was not quite as good as 2011, which was one of the best years for the Ygrec. That was a great vintage for sauvignon blanc, which made up 70% of the blend. The rest is semillon.  

When's the latest time you have harvested your grapes?

It was before my time - back in 1985 when they picked the last grapes on 19 December. Typically, we make five 'tris', or passes, through the vineyards to pick, although the record was ten in 1964. As you can imagine, that was a very difficult year and we ended up making no sweet wine.

Antoine Depierre, Yquem’s vineyard manager

How has vinification changed at Yquem in your time as maitre de chai?

Our average yield is still the same - about 10 hl/ha - but the level of residual sugar has gone up. It always used to be 100-110 g/l but now we aim for 120-140g/l. The main changes since I took over as cellar master in 1998 have been to lower the time of ageing in barrels from 36 to 24 months, and to limit the introduction of air into wines during barrel-ageing. We rack from barrel to barrel without air, which helps to preserve the fruits aromas in the wine, particularly the thiols. That's why our wines are now quite better to drink young, even two years after bottling because the fruits are there. Another point is that we manage better the fermentation process, with a lower level of volatile acidity. We have done that by adapting our indigenous yeasts very well to a high concentration of sugar thanks to a 'preculture,' and also by adjusting the concentration of ammonium in our must (a necessary nutrient for the yeast).

Vines in Yquem’s 113 hectares of vineyards

Why are the pH levels in Yquem's wines higher than they used to be?

I can't explain the higher pH levels in our wines, and I think that nobody can! Perhaps, it's global warming or the pH of the soils have changed. Possibly because we pick later, but I really don't know.

Which have been your favourite vintages?

In 2001, I said that we'll never see another vintage like it. It was wonderful. But 2009 is above all the others. We had perfect conditions again, and because of better preservation of fruit aroma, 2009 is better than 2001. The 2010 and 2011 vintages are on about the same level. We harvested in very cold conditions in 2010, which helped preserve freshness and acidity. It was a very light vintage - floral, with elegance and nice balance. 2011 was creamier, with conditions perfect for noble rot. It had more opulence.

Apart from 2012, what was the most difficult vintage that you have had to contend with?

It would have to be 2006. It was not one of the best. There was a lot of rain in August when 100mm fell in the last week of the month. We were really anxious but by chance it was dry and cold in September, although there was some rain at the end of the month which led to noble rot.

How is 2013 looking?

We had low temperatures and high amount of rains in the spring, particularly in May and June. The vines were two weeks late, and a lot of rain fell at the flowering period. So the beginning was a little bit complicated. But all is not lost, particularly if the autumn is quite good for noble rot. We can still have a great vintage - in the history of Yquem, we have had some vintages that started very badly and finished very well. So why not 2013!

Tokaj legend Istvan Szepsy on 2012 vintage

Geoffrey Dean reports back from his visit to some of Hungary’s great vineyards

Istvan Szepsy

Despite what Peter Molnar, the general manager of leading Tokaj
winery,  Patricius,  described as the ‘one of the driest, if not the
driest, growing seasons for 100 years in Hungary,’ the 2012 vintage
there looks like being an outstanding one. Although yields are down by
up to 40% in Tokaj, partly due to lack of rain but mainly thanks to a
vicious hailstorm in late July, consumers can start to get excited
about the potential quality.

Istvan Szepsy, the best known and most respected of current Tokaji
winemakers, is already talking of ‘a memorable dry vintage.’ His long
and elegant dry Furmints, particularly those from his Szent Tamas
vineyard, inspire cult-like devotion among his many followers, but it
is his prized Aszu 6-puttonyos sweet wines that have given him
legendary status. “I hope to have a really good Aszu vintage as well,”
he told Harpers last week, when his team started picking botrytised
grapes. The harvest will continue through the whole of November.

Botrytis has always been the key for Szepsy as he insists on a minimum
of 140 g/l of residual sugar in his sweet wines. “For that, we need
340-50 grammes of sugar in the grapes, and that’s only possible with
botrytised grapes,” he said.  “If there’s no botrytis, I just sell the
grapes to negociants. There hasn’t been enough botrytis for the three
previous years – in 2009, rain in October washed it away, so we had
very little Aszu; we had none in 2010 when it was cold and rainy; and
2011 was extremely dry, so I sold 100 tons of grapes.” After barely a
drop of rain throughout the entire summer, Szepsy says his Aszu crop
was saved by 28mm on Sept 20th,  8.5mm on the 25th, 20mm on Oct 3 and
14mm on Oct 10.

His family, which goes back fifteen generations as winemakers to the
16th century, lost all their land under communism when a third of a
hectare was the most that could be owned. “We just aimed for quantity
then as it meant more income,” he recalled. “We produced 22 tons per
hectare – now it’s back to two and a half. After 1989, I purchased all
the lands I could on the free market.”

 Szepsy was fortunate that his experience under communist rule as
winemaker for the co-operative of the splendidly-named town of Mad had
enabled him to get to know exactly where the best botrytised fruit was
in the great Kiraly vineyard, where he bought his first plot. He and
his son have now built the family’s holdings up to 70 hectares. “Our
production is going up from 50 to 70,000 bottles per annum as we’re
making more dry wine. We still buy land in special places and plant
half a hectare every year.”

If Szepsy is king of Tokaj’s winemakers, then Zoltan Demeter could
well be prince-in-waiting. Having learnt his trade in California and
Burgundy, he honed it under Szepsy and now makes his own exquisite dry
furmint (notably the Lapis) as well as richly concentrated yet
beautifully balanced late harvest and Aszu wines. “My mission,” he
says, “is to show the Hungarian people where I am with my quality. We
lost our way and have to find it again, to set up a wine culture. I
see us as a wine-drinker nation.” Unlike much of the rest of Europe,
domestic consumption of wine in Hungary has been consistently rising
over the last few years.

Demeter’s seven hectares of vines spread over five villages contrast
with Disznoko’s 104 hectares under vine, making it the biggest winery
in surface area in Tokaj (although the Royal Tokaji Wine Company’s
annual production of around 260,000 bottles is higher). Laszlo
Meszaros, the general manager, presides over a complete range of wines
from light dry Furmints through to the great Aszu and Eszencia wines
Disznoko on which built its considerable reputation. It also has an
excellent restaurant with views over the Great Hungarian Plain, from
where the humidity essential for noble rot comes in early autumn. A
tasting there is highly rewarding, for you can try some 100% Zeta,
made from a grape high in acidity that is blended in small quantities
by certain Tokaji producers, as well as the 2005 Eszencia from the
celebrated Kapi vineyard. Containing 600 g/l of residual sugar, and
with 1.5% alcohol, this is nectar of the gods.

If Tokaj’s winemakers gain most of the plaudits, at least
internationally, a talented practitioner from just outside the town of
Eger, north-east of Budapest, is making waves. Janos Bolyki, who was
Young Hungarian Winemaker of the Year in 2009, has built a winery into
the rock face of an old stone quarry that is well worth a visit. His
range of dry whites and reds, notably his kekfrankos and
cabernet/merlot blend, are as impressive as the 300-year old cellar
tunnels in the quarry.

Bolyki planted the vines on 11 hectares in 1998 after buying the
quarry, whose stone was used to build Eger’s castle and houses, from
the state. Two giant boulders fell into the quarry not long ago,
crushing a 37,000 tank full of wine, but the loss did not deter
Bolyki, whose wines gain notable minerality from Tuff rock of volcanic
origin. They are ones to watch.

Szepsy’s Szent Tamas vineyard

The Closures Debate

Geoffrey Dean takes a look at Closures and the many options available to producers

The word ‘closure’ is on Australian minds at the time of writing, just
after the Olympics.  While nearly all Aussies will want it following
their paltry medal haul at the London Games, the question of which
closure to embrace has long been exorcising many minds in the
country’s wine industry. And just like their cricket selectors, who
have been trying out all sorts of unknowns  following their Ashes
humiliation by England last year, Australian producers have been
changing horses. Yes, even from screwcap to cork. One Barossa winery,
Rusden, has reverted due to overly dominant reductive characters
produced under Stelvin. Meanwhile, De Bortoli have done the opposite
with their sparkling wines – putting them under screwcap. That is a
first for any bubbly worldwide in full-size 75cl bottles, so hats off
to them and Guala Closures, who make the specially designed stoppers.

If that is a notable breakthrough – allowing easier closure removal
and enabling carbonation to be maintained for days after opening if
the stopper is reapplied – natural cork is showing no sign of
relenting in its fightback against screwcap. There will always be
exceptions to the rule, such as Domaine Laroche in Burgundy, but
helped in no small part by increasing demand in China for imported
wine and the Chinese predilection for cork, all exporters to that
country are having to be pragmatic.

“Australian wineries are having to accept that China wants cork –
there’s no room to dictate individual preferences,” says Tony Royal,
national commercial director of Australia’s largest independent wine
services supplier, Portavin. “For China, it’s all about the natural
cork. Synthetic is considered by most consumers there as cheap
screwcap.” Australia remains the second biggest exporter of wine to
China behind France.

This is, of course, music to the ears of the behemoth of natural cork
producers, Amorim, whom the Rusden winemaker, Christian Canute,
publicly praised last month, declaring ‘complete confidence’ in their
product. The Portuguese company’s charismatic director of marketing,
Carlos de Jesus, while revealing that 2011 was the third year in
succession that Amorim recorded record sales growth, eloquently stated
his case.

“We believe wineries and major retailers are returning to cork because
of consumer preference, vast improvements in the quality of cork, the
emerging limitations of alternative closures and a growing awareness
of environmental advantages.” He added that  sales of Forestry
Stewardship Council (FSC) approved closures are up, as are  those of
Aquamark (whole cork with water-based coating), which is now used by
700 wineries worldwide after its 2008 launch; and of Twin Top stoppers
(discs of natural cork, glued to each end of an agglomerate baton).
The latter have been bolstered by strong supermarket demand.

Just as British Olympians were driven on those extra yards by
thunderous home support, so Amorim are drawing strength from the very
public endorsement of natural cork from wineries around the world.
“Rusden are not a one-off, for there are other key names in the
pipeline ready to announce their return to cork later this year in
both Australia and South Africa.” de Jesus revealed. “Rutherford Wine
Company  has reverted from synthetic closures to cork, citing both
environmental and technical benefits. Another Californian winery,
Sbragia, have given us strong backing, as have Guigal, Yquem and DRC
in France. Klein Constantia in South Africa have moved their reserve
sauvignon blanc from screwcap to cork.

“But, as much as has been done, we must continue to innovate and
improve. We are investing 5 million euros per annum on R&D.” In the
last year, Amorim have opened up a new factory to increase production
of ‘Neutrocork’, their successful technical cork which is treated by
their ‘Rosa’ steam-cleaning equipment that can reduce TCA from six
nanograms per litre to an undetectable 1ng/l. In 2013, Amorim are
planning to launch a new, as yet unspecified, product.

Amorim’s rise and rise is mirrored by that of Nomacorc, the synthetic
cork producer whose 2.4bn annual unit sales represent 13% of the
closures market . That share has risen every year since the start of
the company in 1999, with its products now used by 30 of the top 40
volume wineries in the world. Nomacorc’s newest invention, the Select
100 series which became available this year, is what Malcolm Thompson,
vice-president of marketing and innovation, hopes will increase the
company’s market share to 20%.

“This is the most important product in our portfolio. Its strength is
that it services two ends of the quality scale,” he said. “Why it’s so
advanced is that it’s the perfect seal for wine aimed at rapid
consumption, keeping aroma and freshness alike. But if you want to
keep it longer, the closure starts to breathe a bit, preventing
reduction. I anticipate we will take market share from screwcaps,
especially in Germany and France where there’s a near crisis due to
lack of control on bottling lines with leakage.”

Screwcap and Nomacorc have been scrapping it out lately for leadership
of the alternative closure race, managing almost three quarters of the
market between them. Nomacorc lead by a short head, but screwcap will
take encouragement from the fact that a producer as big as Laroche use
the aluminium top for 70% of their annual output of 2 million bottles.
Laroche are the only winery to use screwcap for their whole range,
including Grand Cru Chablis, while the likes of La Chablisienne employ
it for Premier Cru and lesser wines.

According to Sandrine Audegond, director of sales and marketing for
Laroche, there is scant chance the company will increase cork usage.
“We introduced screwcap ten years ago after a few years of
experimentation. Cork quality not oxidation was our problem. We had
too much TCA – about 7-8% - even though we tried several cork
manufacturers. We know that cork quality is far better now but 80% of
our wines are exported, and our clients overseas have a preference for
screwcap, even in the United States [where cork is king]. The Germans
and Norwegians also like screwcap, but where people prefer cork, like
France, we use it. It’s absolutely true that development is slower
under screwcap, but we use micro-oxygenation.”

The choice of liner for screwcap is, of course, all-important – either
one layer of saranex (for wines for short to medium-term drinking) or
two layers of saran and tin (for longer-term consumption as ten times
less oxygen ingress is allowed). Laroche would choose the latter and
more expensive (by 20%) option for their top wines, although Audegond
says it is no pricier than natural cork. “We tried synthetic cork but
we don’t see the point,” she told Harpers. “Screwcap is also more
convenient for customers to use. It’s a question of practicality. We
also like it as we can decrease the amount of sulphur dioxide in the
wine.” The EU limit for SO2 in unsweetened whites is 200mg/l but
Laroche have managed to reduce their levels of it from just over 100
under cork to to an average of 80 under screwcap.

While the battle among well-established closure producers for market
share of the 18.5 billion bottles of still wine produced every year
rages on, a couple of new pretenders are ready to join the fray.
Bacchus Closures and Ardea Seal may not be overly familiar names yet,
but they are likely to become ever more so. The former, set up by
Englishman David Taylor, has come up with the ‘Bacchus Barrier’, a
thin transparent coating (applied to each end of a cork) that contains
several layers including a high performance polymer barrier, EVOH
(ethylene vinol alcohol). Also used in bag in box, this stops
oxidation as well as TCA at levels between 5-10 ng/l getting through
to the wine for a minimum four years. TCA becomes detectable to most
drinkers at 6ng/l.

“Everyone we see says there is no flavour scalping and that wine has
never tasted so good under nanocork,” Taylor said of his closure. “ACI
[Alvaro Coelho & Irmaos]are our partners, but the best thing is to
take it to all the other cork producers. We expect to sell 100 million
nanocorks per annum with the potential of going to 2-4 billion. It’s
going to take off. We’ve recently sold 10m to Aveleda, the vinho verde
producer, as well as to wineries in America, Spain, Italy and
Switzerland. UK supermarkets are particularly interested, partly for
sustainability reasons but also because they’re having problems with
reduction in screwcaps.”

The results of a two-year trial that the AWRI conducted on a Clare
Valley semillon under all closures were a triumph for Taylor. While
the wines under nanocork were fresh, intense and fruity with long
persistence, those under screwcap and synthetic closures were
characterized by a higher OD420 (colour intensity), honey, esters and
oxidation.

While Bacchus Barrier is aimed at natural cork, Ardea Seal have
devised a synthetic cork, named AS-Elite. Made in Italy, this allows a
certain amount of oxygen to be released into the wine. After tests to
ascertain an ideal oxygen transmission rate, namely 90-120 ppm over
ten years, two Burgundian wineries, Domaines Ponsot and Comte Senard,
are now committed to the closure, which is less than half the proce of
natural cork, while a number of Cote d’Or players are also trialling
it.

Which of the runners and riders to back in the ever developing world
of wine closures is a question that has long been vexing global
producers.  When the director of a first growth, Paul Pontalier of
Chateau Margaux, is unsure even after ten years of closure trials,
thinking another 10-20 years of evidence is necessary, we should be
shy of a general conclusion. Each to their own perhaps.

...

The Wines of Lebanon

Geoffrey Dean reports back from his time in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon

2 July, 2012

by Geoffrey Dean

The Bekaa Valley is secure again, and its wineries are welcoming
visitors with open arms. That is the message the Lebanese are keen to
promote, notwithstanding the destabilizing events in neighbouring
Syria, and having just got back from a trip to the Bekaa, I would
happily concur.

The British ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, informed me in Beirut
that the financially-motivated gang that had initiated kidnappings in
the valley last year have been caught. They were still at large when
Arblaster & Clarke, the specialist wine tours company, were unable to
take their clients to the Bekaa last November.

The Foreign Office’s travel advisory against visiting the valley has
now been lifted, albeit with a couple of provisos to stick to the main
roads and go with a driver who knows the area well. I did that, and
had no problems whatsoever. There are regular military checkpoints,
including one a few hundred metres from the entrance to the Kefraya
winery, but these felt more reassuring than alarming.

More than just oenological delights await those who do make it to the
Bekaa, for in the northern end of the valley stands one of the world’s
great archaeological sites, the second century Roman ruins of Baalbek.
 From there, it is an easy drive to the many vineyards that have
sprung up since the end of the civil war 22 years ago when there were
just five wineries in the country. Now, there are nearly forty.

Of these, it is not just the celebrated Chateau Musar that is
producing high quality red wines but also the likes of Domaine des
Tourelles  (with their ‘Syrah du Liban’), Kefraya (‘Comte de M’)  and
Massaya (‘Gold Reserve’).  Others to have made an impact include
Domaine Wardy, Clos St Thomas and Ixsir. The latter’s newly-completed
$10m winery in Batroun, north Lebanon won the ‘Green Good ‘design
award last year in Chicago. A botanical garden sits on top of its 30
or so stainless steel tanks.

Sunday lunch in the middle of the vines at Massaya has become
something of a Bekaa institution. Over a feast of wonderful Lebanese
cuisine there, the Ghosn brothers,  co-owners with heavyweight French
partners, passionately extolled their belief in the future of Lebanese
wine.

“The fact that there has been this big expansion shows how dynamic and
vibrant the sector is here,” Ramzi Ghosn, the winemaker, said. “We are
not trying to imitate Bordeaux, Australia or Argentina, but to revive
the legacies of our ancestors, the Phoenicians, who made wine here
5,000 years ago. The Romans built the Temple of Bacchus, the god of
wine, at Baalbek to thank the Phoenicians. We want to express our
terroir.”

 With its height above sea level of 1,000m or more (giving it a wide
diurnal temperature range), 3200 hours of annual sunshine, guaranteed
water supply from the snowmelt of flanking mountain ranges and almost
complete absence of pests and diseases, the Bekaa is a natural
vineyard site.

“There’s wind every day in the Bekaa,” Ghosn revealed. “Powdery mildew
is the only threat here, which is a big plus, although conditions are
not ideal for making white wines. So we’ve planted white varieties
higher up at 1600m on Mt Lebanon, where a new winery will be ready
next year.”

Not far from Massaya can be found Kefraya, which has 430 hectares
under vine, and produces two million bottles per annum (second only in
volume to Chateau Ksara ). Fabrice Guiberteau, the likeable French
winemaker at Kefraya, took up his post three days after the end of the
Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006. He told me an amusing anecdote
about one of his predecessors at the winery, Yves Morard, who was
caught in middle of an artillery battle between the Syrian and Israeli
armies in 1984.

Seeking refuge in the Kefraya vineyards, the long-haired, bearded
Frenchman, who had no ID on him, ran into a platoon of Israeli
soldiers, who mistook him for a terrorist and despatched him to a Tel
Aviv jail. His protestations that he was only a winemaker were only
accepted ten days later when he had drawn up intricate plans of the
winery, and passed a tough wine exam the Israelis insisted on setting
him. He was then allowed to fly back to France.

“The geopolitical situation,” as Ghosn puts it, has always been
something Lebanese winemakers have had to live with. Two vintages were
completely lost in the civil war of 1975-1990, and complications arose
when Israel’s forces invaded the country just before the harvest in
2006 (not leaving until just after it).

 “We created a flag with the Musar emblem on it and flew it on the
grape trucks when they had to make the 70-kilometre journey from the
Bekaa to the winery,” Gaston Hochar, Musar’s general manager, told me
when I visited it in Ghavir, just north of Beurut. “But we got the
grapes here and made the wine without any problems. “

Much more taxing than the Israeli invasion was the extreme heat of the
2010 growing season when temperatures exceeded 40C for three weeks,
hitting 48C for three days. “We had never had that before,” Hochar
admitted. “We lost 35% of the crop, with our yield dipping to between
16 and 20 hl/ha.” Alcohol levels, therefore, are perhaps the Lebanese
winemakers’ biggest headache, and it was no surprise to hear from
Guiberteau that he uses reverse osmosis to reduce alcohol for the
majority of Kefraya’s wines.

Kefraya’s commitment to quality is such that it is the first (and as
yet only) Lebanese winery to install the state-of-the-art Bucher
Vaslin ‘Optical Eye’ sorting equipment. “There are only 40 worldwide,
and we took delivery in 2009 of one of the first ten made,” Guiberteau
said. “It is fabulous for our top wines.”

After tasting the unreleased 2009 'Comte de M' with him, I was bowled
over by the concentration and complexity of this cabernet/syrah blend.
This is a vintage to rival the superb 1996 (awarded by 91 points by
Parker), and underlines how Lebanese wine is continuing its upward
trend.

Nicolas Feuillatte sales to hit 1 million

Geoffrey Dean blog: Nicolas Feuillatte - Champagne? What crisis?

Published:  29 December, 2011

Crisis? What crisis? The Eurozone may be facing one, and the UK may be in recession, but Champagne sales within the EU are up by 4.2% for this year. Russia, China and Brazil have all been driving bubbly consumption higher. Although discounting has played a part, UK retailers report higher demand for Champagne and sparkling wines over Christmas and New Year. Waitrose revealed a 26% rise in sales on last year, with Marks & Spencer managing 25% more.

UK champagne sales of Nicolas Feuillatte look more than likely to go past the magic one million mark by the New Year. Nielsen stats for the year to the end of August placed the union of co-operatives as the top seller in the UK with 618,000 bottles sold, and with their attractive mid-to-high-teen price point, the brand, also number one in France, goes from strength to strength.

With worldwide sales in excess of nine million per annum, putting it in third place in the overall champenois league table, Nicolas Feuillatte has made remarkable strides since its inception in the mid 1970s. Indeed, at the start of the millennium, its global sales were a mere one million a year.

Given that there are a multitude of better established (but more expensive) Champagnes produced, the rise and rise of this late starter in a mature market is a tribute to its brilliant marketing, promotion and distribution. To celebrate its 35th anniversary, a new bottle design has just been unfurled. Look out for it on the 200 or so London black cabs that are currently displaying it.

The co-operative’s founder, Nicolas Feuillatte

Nicolas Feuillatte's new commercial director, Julie Campos, who joined nine months ago, gives an interesting insight. "The whole company exudes dynamism and a willingness to go outside the box. To work for a setup where you feel you can make a difference, and take the brand across new frontiers, is a huge motivator. We do offer quality above our pricing, but intrinsic quality seems less important to the average 'brut' consumer than for most still wines. Quality is perceived more acutely in the higher end Champagnes, and we still have a lot of catching up to do in this segment."

The Romsey-based Thierry's Wine Services, which has played an instrumental part in Nicolas Feuillatte's expansion here, has added the brand to its Cavendish Wines list from the start of next year. "They don't have mysterious cellars or any heritage, so they've had to create a brand identity," said Michelle Shepherd, national account director of Thierry's.

"They've shown great innovation in this respect, using a different marketing ethic that focuses on the spirit of travel and discovery. For example, they appoint a different artist every year to design limited edition bottles and artwork." A lot of young drinkers have been attracted to the brand, which suggests its future will continue to be bright.

* Geoffrey Dean is a journalist for The Times and MW student

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Interview with Francesco Bellini

Dr Francesco Bellini, who lives in Montreal, co-founded BioChem Pharma, the company that discovered the antiviral AIDS drug, Epivir. After selling out to Glaxo, he was able to establish his own winery,  Domodimonti, south of Ancona in his native province of Marche in central Italy. Geoffrey Dean visited him there.

Francesco Bellini

Was it always your ambition to produce wines?

For sure, it was always a dream to make your own how you want it. We have produced wine in our family for ages – my father, grand-father and great grand-father did. It was wine for themselves. Then when I got married – I had left Italy for Canada by then - I started to make my own wine, although we had to buy in the grapes. Eventually, I got lucky in life, and I said ‘why not make my own wine for me and friends on a larger scale?’ I started to look around, and this opportunity came around. It was an old derelict winery, maybe 40km from where I grew up. Originally, I only wanted a small setup, but from small it became medium, and now it’s becoming large.

Have you always thought Marche’s reputation for producing quality fruit was under-rated?

I always knew it. My best friends from Tuscany, who educated me in the wine business, told me that lots of grapes and juice for wine made in Tuscany and other places come from here. Marche grapes are real good grapes – they are mature, and full of flavour and sugar. The vineyard site here is immaculate – like nature made it. We are at over 500m and have cooler nights.

Domodimonti

What are your plans for Domodimonti?

If I start something, I back it up to be successful, and that’s what I’m doing. We‘ve showed we can make good wine, I’ve showed that I can hire good people and that we can sell the product. The business plan calls for us to break even next year and make a small profit the year after. Then to come into real profit.  We should sell about 150,000 bottles next year and then gradually go up to 600,000. We have planted more vines but they are not ready yet. Montepulciano is the centrepiece in this region – it is a great grape and makes fantastic wine. Pecorino and passerine are very interesting whites, and we use as little sulphur and chemicals as we can. We currently use organic fertilizer but eventually it will be just manure.

How much is your total investment in the winery?

I think it’s about 20 million Euros. I had to do something in my life. I don’t spend it with the women and I don’t spend it playing cards. The capital is still here in the winery. The funny thing is that you may lose money on it, but if someone comes along and likes it, you may make a profit if you sell.  But I’m not planning to sell – I’m hoping I can acquire another 20 hectares in the next few years to plant.

Is wine your main passion?

Actually, my big passion is my work. I love what I do in the health field. Playing with life and death is a feeling that not many people have felt. We were the people who invented the cure for AIDS. We’ve saved a lot of lives.Magic Johnson was dying until he got our product. But wine is my next biggest passion. Then hunting and fishing.

How did you come to discover epivir?

We were lucky, lucky, lucky.  Usually, the virus mutates when it’s attacked and can’t be recognised any more. What was interesting about the mutation in our research was that the viral load never went back to base-line or zero. We concluded that the virus eventually had to mutate to a new form which was not as powerful as the first form. We discovered that about ’88-89 and the drug went to market around ’94.

How often do you get back to Italy?

I was 20 when I left for Canada, and I used to come back very little. Now I have my own plane, I come back more often – almost every month last year. But although it’s going to be a difficult time for a lot of wineries, we are lucky here that we have the financial resources. I also have a brilliant young winemaker in Mirko Morbidoni, and one of the best consultants in Carlo Ferrini, who comes here once a month. Robert Parker said something was missing from my wines, and gave me three names. Out of these, I picked up Ferrini.

Your wines are selling well in North America, but how about the UK?

The UK is a market which is very important for us. For us to penetrate the British - and especially London - market is prestige. It would help us to do well in other markets. All three of our wines we submitted got recognised at the Decanter Awards, so next year, we’ll put in more. It was a big achievement for a young winery, as 2005 was our first vintage.

GEOFFREY DEAN ON THE HARVEST IN MARCHE IN 2011

Published:  21 October, 2011

A blisteringly hot August in central Italy has led to a fall in grape production of 10-15% in the region according to one of the leading winemakers in the Marche. Mirko Morbidoni, the man behind the Domodimonti wines that are catching the eye of wine judges in the UK, said that some of the hottest temperatures he can remember obliged him to start harvesting in early September.

"Last year we did not finish harvesting the montepulciano until November 5, but we did by early October this year," Morbidoni told Harpers. "In August, we had 40-degree days for two to three weeks when it does not normally go above 30 or 35C. It was exceptionally hot...and the same in Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio with production down for almost everybody."

By picking early, Morbidoni was able to ensure that sugar, and consequently alcohol, levels were not too high. "We have 13.5 to 14% alcohol, less than the previous very hot year, 2007, when it was 14.5 to 15," he continued. "In general, we have better quality grapes - the concentration can be very great, especially in our petit verdot and our two white grapes, passerina and pecorino."

It was not all good news for Domodimonti, whose 45 hectares under vine lie in the picturesque hills south of Ancona on the Adriatic coast. Some vineyards were hit by, of all things, hail in August, leading to a 40% loss of fruit in the affected areas. Consequently, the winery, which is owned by Dr Francesco Bellini, the scientist who played a leading role in the discovery of the anti-AIDS drug retrovirol, will see its annual production reduced from 150,000 to around 125,000 bottles.

Morbidoni, 32, is forging a reputation as one of Italy's most talented young winemakers. "I am a perfectionist," he admits. "I can't say if my wines are better - different yes. Our motto at Domodimonti is 'amore per la nostra terra' or 'love for our land.' We have a way of producing wine in a traditional way."

That includes no added tannins nor acid in the wines; no reverse osmosis to reduce alcohol; mechanical rather than chemical filtration; no use of additives for stabilization or colouring; and around half the permitted levels of sulphur. As Dr Bellini likes to tell you, "Drink as much of my wines as you like in the evening, and you will not wake up with a hangover."

Interview with Warren Gibson

Geoffrey Dean interviews WARREN GIBSON, winemaker for Trinity Hill in Hawkes Bay. In 2005, Winestate magazine named him ‘New Zealand Winemaker of the Year.’

Warren Gibson

What's your assessment of the current state of the New Zealand wine industry?

For some time now the general statistics of the NZ wine industry have been hugely biased by Marlborough sauvignon blanc. If you are outside of that particular subset, while you are included in the NZ story, you are in reality quite a different beast. That is not to say that the large increase in Marlborough sauvignon production does not affect those outside this subset.

 I don’t really think there is significantly too much wine made in NZ at present, and it is unlikely there ever will be. The fact is that plantings and production (predominantly of Marlborough sauvignon blanc) have outgrown the immediate and budgeted sales curve. It will balance out in the next few years, particularly as the current environment has essentially stopped new plantings. Any grubbing-up of vines will hopefully come from lesser quality and unsustainable vineyards - this will be good for the industry as a whole.

The unfortunate thing is that we have temporarily compromised the image of the country’s industry by forced and 'stressed' sales to keep the wolf from the door.  I think that there are presently too few producers in NZ creating heritage with their wines and brand. The ones that have will, and are, being rewarded. We need to make a greater proportion of wines here that are more interesting after five years than when bottled.

How much of a stumbling block has the strong NZ dollar been for maintaining exports?

 It is no doubt an issue, but it often seems like a good excuse either from the sales team or importer when they choose not to take the wine on. The strong dollar can help us to reduce production costs – it brings down the price of new French oak barrels for example.  Selling more wine domestically is obviously a smart option but in a limited market such as NZ, the potential is small and the consequences normally are the necessity for 'deals' and discounting to improve the volume of sales.

Is the spread of leafroll virus in the Gimblett Gravels of real concern to Hawkes Bay producers like Trinity Hill?

Yes, it is a problem as it is in other areas of NZ and other countries. However, there is a strong network of people ascertaining the level of the problem, and there are very good plans in place to minimize the issues. Most of the responsible producers in the region have a very good idea of the virus status of their vineyards and are using techniques such as “rogueing” of affected vines and/or complete removal of whole blocks. But given the current industry climate, it is difficult for some owners to justify the cost of removal and replanting. There will also be a certain percentage that will not acknowledge the problem.

What makes the Gravels so special?

Well, it is definitely a unique place. It is not an easy place to grow grapes and water stress can be a major issue. What consistently gives the wine quality is the combination of the free-draining nature of the soils and the relatively warm and early harvest which enables a broader range of varieties to reach good maturity. It would be difficult to class the Gravels as a complex soil but this does not seem to compromise the complexity that can be achieved in the syrahs, merlot/cabernet predominant blends and others.

Your own Bilancia La Collina vineyard makes some of the best syrah not just in New Zealand but also in the New World. How did that come to pass?

My wife, Lorraine, and I planted this hillside vineyard overlooking the Gravels in 1998, putting in a little viognier that goes into the syrah. The great unknown was what the wine would taste like from this site. I would like to tell you of all the soil, climate and other tests that we did to prove to ourselves that this would work out the way it has. However, there was a serious element of good fortune. The soil is largely made up of sandstone with some limestone flecking and random limestone boulders amongst the general profile. It faces North-West and is a sun (and wind) trap.

It was not until 2002 that we really made something of note. After a cool 2003 vintage, the vineyard really started kicking in in 2004.  Another lesson often ignored – don’t push young vines into something they aren’t ready for. The great thing is that after five years the vineyard started producing wine with very dramatic red licorice, spice, blackberry and floral aromas and flavour. Something unique was always the aim.