Botrytis

When I first started my wine career in the early 80's, we learnt about 'botrytis' which is basically a rot that can develop on grapes in certain micro climates. It dehydrates the grapes, sucking out the water but leaving the sugars behind which results in luscious and balanced dessert wine. The process is sometimes referred to as noble rot.

On our visit to the UK just before Christmas, I visited all the local Dorset wine merchants and found the few independant, traditional wine merchants to be doing well serving their local community with fine wine. However, to my alarm  I found the supermarkets (the big names) to have gone down the 'generic' route - where profit is more important than quality or variety. I was faced with row after row of  every  'Blossom Hill' (or equivalent) available in the world.   Don't get me wrong, Blossom Hill, Hardys and Lindemans have their place, but do we really want 15 different types of them with no other choice ? I certainly do not.

There are still some good national chains around such as Majestic wines and many towns are also lucky enough to have a traditional family owned wine merchant to supply their needs; however it seems to me that since the national off licence chains such as Threshers, Unwins, Wine rack etc  closed over 2500 shops in the last 3 years, the supermarket chains have realised their is no national competition and have gone totally down the profit only route. Now we see adverts for wine saying ''I don't care what it is but I like it''  I really hope that this is not a true reflection of what the British consumer thinks about wine.

The national chains have no one to blame but themselves for their demise as they tried to play the supermarkets at their own game. They alienated their true market of loyal wine loving customers by stacking high and selling profit led wines like Blossom Hill, rather than keeping the quirky, interesting stock that their clients wanted. Rather than competing by offering what the supermarkets couldn't, they tried to compete which just was not possible.

The present situation was all predicted over 20 years ago by the government think tank on future alcohol sales. When I worked for Grand Metropolitan (owners of Peter Dominic group) I was shown a report which predicted a £12 billion increase in the sale of alcoholic products in the next 15 to 20 years and supermarket chains gaining 98% of this increase  - not far off the mark at all !

There is hopefully light at the end of the tunnel. Waitrose and Marks and Spencers have won accolades for their wine range. It seems they have realised there is a gap in the market to fill, after all the likes of me still want to be able to buy a Coteaux du Layon (a botrytis affected wine) from a small producer in the Loire, because for me wine is a passion and an interest and I do 'care what it is' and where it came from.

The whole market seems to be in a state of flux and I can only hope that the supermarkets will see the error of their ways and that this 'rot' that has infiltrated the industry turns into something good in the end.

By Chris Blakeman (origially published Feb 2011)

By Chris Blakeman

Christmas wines

Festive drinks -

Sparkling:

I have always been a fan of English wines even  though they have rarely lived up to my expectations. We recently tried a bottle of  Nyetimber English sparkling wine  which was the perfect Christmas aperitif. A mixture of fine bubbles,  flavourful elderflower and fresh sherbet gave a light refreshing perfect pre lunch drink. If you have never tried English wine this is the one to start with. To compare it to Champagne is unfair on the champenoise as it is utterly unique in its style and flavour. You may think it a little expensive at around £30 a bottle but you’ll be hard pressed to find a champagne at that price level any better.

Sherry :

Another ideal pre dinner drink is a dry sherry. Tio pepe brand is a good one to start with and easy to find in the shops, it is very high quality and can be bought for around the £9 mark. Other dry sherries to look out for are the Manzanilla style sherries which have a salty tang from being matured in close proximity to the sea. Sherry these days is some what unpopular in Britain and prices are low when considering the quality, however in Spain, dry sherries couldn’t be more fashionable so take advantage of the keen prices in the uk, you won’t be disappointed. Just remember to serve cold.

White wine:

The vintage of 2010 in Burgundy was excellent, but don’t spend too much (over £20) as the higher priced wines won’t be ready to drink yet. By spending between £10 – £18 on a 2010 Burgundy you’ll get a superb Chardonnay with buttery notes and gentle oak flavours. For my Christmas lunch, we’ll be drinking the best New Zealand Sauvignon I can find, no need to break the bank with Cloudy Bay, it is divine but vastly overpriced – Oyster Bay and Villa Maria are favourites in our house. Spend between £7 – £10 on a 2010 or 2011 (no older) New Zealand Sauvignon for  goosberry and citrus notes with a vibrant acidity.

Red Wine:

For many people the New world is the popular choice for reds due to the easy to understand labels but if you fancy a change here’s a foolproof way of choosing a French red to go with Christmas lunch and stun your friends and family. Many of you will know that Burgundy is one of my favourites but it is a fickle mistress so to be sure of an excellent bottle to go with our turkey or duck we need to go to Bordeaux. Seek out the 2005 and 2006 vintages from St Julien, St Estephe or Pauillac .  Spend between £10 and £20 and at that price level, these wines are drinking beautifully right now. In the £7 to £12 bracket you may find some 2009 from Bordeaux which are also drinking nicely too (whereas generally a £20 2009 wouldn’t be drinking until 2015)

Don’t forget to look out for reduced wines in the quality or ‘finest’ range section as these will of been reduced because they are drinking perfectly now, not because they are past their best.

Dessert wine:

Why not try a demi sec champagne such as Pol Roger which will provide a palate lifting zing for the rich pud or match it with a Palo Cortado sherry which has dry nutty tastes.

On a separate note some friends of ours learnt a valuable lesson recently. 30 years ago they won a ‘bottle of wine’ in a bet; they put it away and forgot about it. After a recent clear out they brought it out, then with Christmas coming up thought they would ask my advice as to whether it was still ‘ok to drink’. I asked what the wine was – a  Magnum of 1981 Krug champagne which would of cost around at least £150 then, now a magnum of  nonvintage Krug retails at around £300.  A magnum of 1981 which had been kept in perfect conditions would retail at around £800; this however had been kept upright in a wardrobe in the bedroom   after giving them a severe telling off for not having drunk it 20 years ago they decided to open it and share it with us. So on Wednesday afternoon we had some Christmas cake, mince pies and opened a magnum of Krug.  The cork had dried out considerably but there was still some fiz and some beautifully tiny bubbles and reasonable stringing, although this did fade and there was no mousse as would be expected on such an old champagne; the colour was amber a sign of its age due to some oxidisation and the taste – well, it really should of been drunk a long time ago but it had retained pleasant rounded acidity  - a sign of its quality,  nutty and rich – we finished the lot and had a very pleasant afternoon. Would I of paid £800 for it – definitely no, it was a grand lady who had seen better days, but it still gave us  a wine tasting thrill. The lesson in the story is l

ife is for living and don’t put things off for too long !

Whatever you choose to drink on Christmas day, have a wonderful time. Merry Christmas.

By Chris Blakeman (originally published December 2012)

By Chris Blakeman

A road to nowhere ?

The family and I have just returned from our skiing trip to Les Angles in the southern Pyrenees. There was lots of snow and sunshine. It was our first ski trip to this particular resort and we found the slopes to be just right for us two long term scardey cat novice skiers and our ‘to the max 8 and a 11yr olds’. Fun was had by all, more for them than me as I managed to injure my foot, I don’t know how, maybe because of the new radical way I do parallel turns.  My other disappointment was the total lack of Spanish wines in the village shops and restaurants, despite Spain being less than a short Swallow flight away ( sorry just watched lots of Monty Python while resting the injured foot ) I was really looking forward to exploring some obscure Catalan wines, but no, all wines available were distinctly French even though half the skiers were  from over the border.

This got me thinking over every ‘too cool’ glass of red wine I was served in Les Angles, not to mention the biblical amounts of meat the restaurants dish out  (don’t get me wrong – I’m no veggie but even lions would think twice about that much meat),  that I had forgotten just how diverse French country wines can be. In one restaurant, much to my blushes, I did not know a single one of the wines on the list; I was aware of the AOC  regions but not the individual wines themselves. There were lots of Rousillion grenache based wines along withMourvedre Mauzac  and the better known Cabernets etc. 

Now its been a long time since I studied this regions country wines, in fact more than 30, so my opinion was rather tarnished by the unpolished rustic wines that were being produced back then in the 80’s and the fact that I have been having a love affair with my two mistresses of Burgundy and Bordeaux. (The latter mistress and I are not getting on at the moment – more on that next time).  So I have mostly overlooked trying out these obscure gems but much to my pleasure, I found all the wines I tried to be well crafted, polished yet still showing their rustic roots. A little expensive at restaurant prices (we paid just over 30 euros for most of them) I considered them to be about right if compared on taste to the more well known wines, but they need to bring the price down about 20% so more people from outside the region will give them a go.

As usual, on the last night of the ski trip there was a blizzard,  leaving us with 40 cm of fresh snow, now a Ford S Max in the snow is not a good place to be –  its big, heavy and has big summer tyres so it was a good thing we remembered to bring the snow chains.   Due to the weather we took the southern route home A9, A61 , A62, so sadly no Andorra shopping and according to the kids a 7hr road to nowhere going the wrong way. 

 Along the route I was treated to a whos who of the south wests great wine names – you could spend a month discovering many of these vineyards on this route but here are just a few in the order I remember – Rivesaltes, Corbieres, Faugeres, Minervois, Limoux, Fronton, Gers, Cabardes, St Chinian then on to Armagnac and then, the pinnacle of red wine, Bordeaux; so a  7 hour road trip can be very interesting indeed, it just depends whose eyes you see it through, not sure the kids were as enthralled as I was.

By Chris Blakeman