Global Warming and French Wine

There has been speculation that as the world warms, French wine growers could find themselves in a hotspot. The Associated Press is reporting that Global Warming is giving French vintners a new potential headache: in a few years, Champagne could be going head-to-head with British bubbly. Climate change has sped up harvests in Burgundy, altered the taste of Alsatian wines and disrupted hydration patterns of grapes grown along France's Mediterranean coast according to Michel Issaly, president of Vigneron Independent:

"For those consumers who like consistency, if things go too far and the taste fundamentally changes, then we risk losing big chunks of market share," he told reporters at a Paris wine fair.

Areas where wine can be cultivated are moving northward in Europe. Four or five decades ago, it was "absolutely absurd" to think wines could be grown significantly in Britain, Mr. Issaly said. "Alas, and this is a crying example of the consequences of global warming. Because of increasing temperatures, they are able to grow in Britain."

To be sure, higher temperatures doesn't necessarily mean bad news for all wine makers. Warmer temperatures and dry conditions can make grapes sweeter, and reduce the need to add sugar to wine.

"To be really honest, we benefit from global warming because we don't have to chaptalize our wines any more," said Jacky Martinon, a winemaker in Burgundy, referring to a process of injecting sugar into wine.

Recently Greenpeace France, along with some 50 winemakers and chefs, penned an open letter that was published in the highly influential French newspaper “Le Monde”. Calling French wines the jewels of France’s common national heritage, the letter said the wines were vulnerable to climate change. The letter further warned that summer heat waves,the recent hailstorms in the Bordeaux region, combined with new grape diseases from the South, could cripple the wine industry.

The letter, signed by the owners of 35 vineyards from across the major wine regions of France, claimed that failure to control greenhouse gases could see vineyards displaced by about 1000 kilometres by the end of the century. What that means is that at the turn of the 21st century, the north of France would be experiencing weather that would be similar to today’s south of France. Up until now, global warming has been beneficial for the wine industry as rising temperatures have resulted in wines with higher sugar and alcohol levels, and lower acids.

In response to this challenge Bordeaux is aiming to reduce Carbon Emissions by 20% by 2020. Going green usually requires investments by wine producers, but the changes can translate to savings in the long run. Saint Julien's Château Lagrange is among the forerunners in Bordeaux, having taken steps to reduce its level of emissions since 2005.

"Our employees are taking lessons to learn the best way to drive vineyard machinery so as to no longer needlessly waste fuel, and we encourage carpooling," said Lagrange's quality manager, Gervaise Ruton. The château is also recycling its vine shoots into compost for the vineyard. In the cellar, its winemakers seek to eliminate the use of heated vats.

Bordeaux châteaux are also returning to horse power: Chateau La Lagune in the Haut Médoc, Chateau Pape Clement in Pessac Leognan and Chateau Pontet Canet in Pauillac use horse power to plough between the vines to lessen their carbon footprint.

There is to be a UN Summit on climate change in Helsinki in December where the issues will be discussed – it will be interesting to see what recommendations they make!

Wine Investment - Counterfeit Wine

The trafficking of fake wine is on the rise according to the news in the press and Petrus, Romanée-Conti, Chateau d'Yquem are among the wines coveted by connoisseurs and targeted by counterfeiters. The Telegraph is reporting that “according to French wine professionals, a handful of rare and fine wines face the same threat from fraud as designer handbags and designer sunglasses.”

Sylvain Boivert, Director of the Conseil des Grands Crus Classes en 1855 is quoted as saying that counterfeit wine trafficking has "always existed a little, but it's definitely amplified with the rising prices of fine wines". Bernard Magrez owner of 35 vineyards, several of which are in Bordeaux, has also said that the counterfeiting "touches five to six of the very top wine estates in Bordeaux where there is a real potential to make a capital gain and where there is a world-wide demand because the products are rare."

It's not just Bordeaux - Romanée-Conti, one of the world's scarcest and most expensive wines has been targeted by counterfeiters as well. Jeroboams of Romanée-Conti (the equivalent of four bottles) of the 1945 vintage have recently been sold in auctions, according to Laurent Ponsot, a renowned Burgundy producer. But – and there is a big but - Romanée-Conti did not bottle their 1945 in Jeroboams.

In addition to export markets and Internet marketplaces, fake wines slip into circulation through the auctions. "The auction houses are not always as demanding as they should be," noted David Ridgeway, chief sommelier at legendary Paris restaurant La Tour d'Argent.

At a sale in New York in 2008, the vintner was shocked to discover that "106 bottles out of 107" were fakes. The catalogue listed "a sale of Clos Saint Denis 1945 and other old vintages when we didn't even begin producing this particular appellation until 1982," he recounted.

I know it is sometimes hard to spot a fake (please see my Blog How to Spot A Fake for a more in depth analysis) but surely Auction Houses should check their sources and their facts before a sale? This is why knowing the Provenance (history and source of your wine) is so important. (see Why Provenance is a Must in Wine Investment). The best kind of Provenance you can have is a wine that has been bought direct from the chateaux and held in a specialist, bonded warehouse – as all my wines are at www.interestinwine.co.uk. In some cases the price you pay at Auction is more to do with obtaining a wine with sound Provenance than to do with the contents of the bottle!

However as fine wine continues to be a sought after investment cases of wine are trading hands all over the world. The counterfeiters responsible for the fake wines use all sorts of tricks to fool the buyers from photocopied labels to topping up an authentic bottle with another wine by using a syringe. There is a black market in Guangzhou for empty Bordeaux bottles which counterfeiters refilling bottles and passing them off as genuine.

As new markets emerge, fraudsters seize the opportunity to cash in. According to Magrez, counterfeiting increased "when Russians began consuming after the fall of the Wall". Add to that the immense Chinese market and you end up with the incredible situation of more Chateau Lafite circulating in Asia than the chateau ever produced!

China is "the principal counterfeiter," according to Renaud Gaillard, deputy director of the French export trade body, Federation des Exportateurs de Vins et Spiritueux de France (FEVS). While the main targets are champagne and cognac, according to Gaillard, "one can find Petrus and Margaux in some little stores" in China.

So the old adage still applies: “Watch Out, There's a Thief About” still applies – when buying fine wine double check its Provenance!

Good Champagne by Another Name

Champagne is one of those wines that we all adore but think is beyond our pocket. There are many Champagne Houses but it is only the big names that seem to reach the shelves - and at premium prices . . . which is a shame as more often than not the smaller producer makes a better wine. I was not surprised to find that Philippe Secondé's Champagnes were awarded 90 and 91 points by Robert Parker, alongside Bollinger by the way – which will doubtless gain it a wider audience. I have been buying Philippe's Champagnes for a number of years now and have them at the Wine Shop under our own label which is why you may not have spotted that the are actually from the renowned Champagne House of Edmond Barnaut. I am also able to offer them from £16.13 a bottle as they are our own label.

Edmond Barnaut was one of the first pioneers in Champagne to create his own brand outside of the controlling centres of Epernay and Reims. In 1874 he set up shop in Bouzy, cellars were dug as deep as 15 meters underground, and the first cuvée made of two-thirds Pinot Noir and one-third Chardonnay was launched. And it’s still made today, under the Grande Réserve label, with its reserve wine coming from a solera system begun by Edmond himself and maintained through five generations of Barnaut descendants.

Philippe Secondé is the current descendant and arguably one of the more important ones. After earning a degree in oenology, he took over the family firm in 1985 and went on to significantly increase the house’s vineyards, modernize its cellar, expand production, and move its viticulture footing to the quasi-organic lutte raisonnée structure (ploughing between rows, using only organic composts, and minimalizing fungicide applications). Today Champagne Barnaut's vines cover 30 acres in the Grand Cru vineyards of Bouzy and 13 acres in the Marne Valley.

The Bouzy vineyards are composed of 12% Chardonnay and 88% Pinot Noir, and are divided into 22 parcels. With its sister village of Ambonnay, Bouzy lays claim to having the finest vineyard sites for Pinot Noir in the appellation of Champagne. Its 833 acres of vines grow up the rolling foothills of the Montagne de Reims and face due south, ensuring the best possibility for ripening every year - the result is Champagne’s richest and fullest-bodied wines.

The Grand Cru Grande Réserve (£16.13) is the original cuvée, and its reserve wine comes from the batch first made by Edmond Barnaut and replenished every year. Parker awarded this 90 points: “Barnaut's Grand Cru Grande Reserve reveals generous notes of apricots, honey, roasted nuts and smoke, showing outstanding persistence and a long, refined finish. This is a fairly full-bodied style of champagne that already shows nice tertiary complexity.”

The Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs (£16.13) is made entirely from Bouzy Pinot Noir, arguably the most celebrated Pinot Noir in Champagne. This was awarded 91 points by Parker: “The Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru blossoms on the palate with an expansive core of perfumed fruit. This finely textured, silky wine possesses notable clarity and delineation in an understated yet pleasing style. The long, clean finish gives the wine a touch more freshness than the Brut Grand Cru Grande Reserve. This is a highly rewarding wine to enjoy over the next few years.”

The Grand Cru Rosé Authentique (£18.10) is made by the Saignée method (leaving the wine on the lees) from 50% Pinot Noir, with 50% Bouzy Chardonnay added for freshness. This a rosé Champagne made unapologetically for the table. Bettane & Desseauve, authors of Le Grande Guide des Vins de France have hailed it as “an extraordinary success, exquisitely fruity, great length, full of the spirit of the soil and a superlative harmony.”

There is also a superb vintage champagne: Champagne Vintage Brut Millesimes 1998 (£26.42). When a Champagne maker has an exceptional harvest a millesime is declared and this champagne is simply divine. It oozes quality with loads of small bubbles exploding refreshingly in the mouth leaving a clean fruity and long after taste.

So if you are looking for some quality fizz this Christmas you will not have to pay a fortune to get a quality product.

Cheers!

Braille Wine Labels

Wine labelling is somewhat of a nightmare when you consider what they should and should not put on the label but one area where they really fall down is that they do not cater for the blind. It is very rare to find a wine label in Braille. In 1996 Michel Chapoutier pioneered the labelling of wine labels in Braille and since then only a handful of other producers have done so.

Michel Chapoutier is the renowned wine maker from the Rhone valley in south eastern France and he invented the first Braille label for wine bottles on his ageing printing press. Chapoutier took over a vineyard in Hermitage which had been formerly owned by Monier de La Sizeranne who was President of the Association of the Blind in France, and was blind himself. Monier was responsible for creating the first abbreviated version of Braille. When the vineyards holding passed to Michel Chapoutier family, he named the wine Sizeranne, and in tribute to Monier, he put Braille on all of the labels all of his wines to reach out to and include all people with sight-impairments who were lovers of good wines.

Chapoutier did some research and found that it was very easy to use old printing machines that are no longer used for normal print for the Braille instead. The cost is very low, about six centimes (less than 1p) per label. He decided to use his 40-year-old printing machine to make every one of the 2.5 million bottles of wine he produces each year (including appellations like Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Condrieu, St.-Joseph, Cote Rotie and Chateauneuf-du-Pape.) The technique is the same as printing visible labels: an iron Braille negative is pressed onto the back of the paper label to make the Braille bumps. Little did he know that his invention would later win an award from campaigners for sight-impaired people in the UK.

Reading the Braille, customers can learn the type and name of the wine, the vintage date, the name of the winery, the town where the wine was made and the colour of the wine, a vital piece of information, since some of the appellations come in both red and white.

Since then a handful of other wine producers have taken the initiative to produce wine labels in Braille. Lazarus Wine is made in Spain by people who are blind and uses the Braille alphabet. The Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin now provide Braille labels. 2004 saw the arrival of Braille labels on bottles from the South African organic producer Bon Cap.

In 2005 an Irish label company, Designerwine stepped up. As did the Czech wine producer Galant in 2006. And in a new development, Pyrotech has begun producing wine bottles in Braille. Fox Creek Wines in Australia has released Braille and large print wine bottle labels, with assistance from the Royal Society for the Blind. Azienda Ciavolich in Abruzzo, South Central Italy also make their wine labels in Braille.

Meanwhile Chapoutier has his own suggestion. "With the widespread use of bar-codes in shops, it could be easy for such codes to hold information for blind people. They could use special pens to decode the information and then hear about the product through a speaker."

Lets hope that labelling in Braille starts to make some headway and that more wine producers follow Chapoutier's example.

Wine Investment – Empress Joséphine and the First Growths

The wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, the Empress Joséphine (1763 – 1814) appeared to know a thing or two about fine wines. France's first Empress had a vast cellar of First Growth Bordeaux at her residence Malmaison. The entire inventory of her cellar, handwritten in 1814, is on display at a new exhibit in the Paris suburb of Rueil-Malmaison, along with a host of 18th and 19th century bottles, crystal glasses and punch bowls. The greatest surprise in the 13,286-bottle wine list was the clear predominance of Bordeaux, as Parisian high society usually drank Burgundies at the time.

Amaury Lefebure, the director of the National Museum of the Chateaux of Malmaison and Bois-Preau said:

"Under the ancient regime, the English were the greatest drinkers of Bordeaux while Louis XVI didn't have a single bottle in his cellar. So we can say that Josephine launched the post-Napoleon fashion for Bordeaux in France,"

"Until now we had very little information about what people were drinking at the time and the wine served,"

"This very precise inventory of Josephine's cellar, which includes a number of Grands Crus that still exist to our day, gives us a wonderful glimpse of what was served at the empress' table."

The First Growths that the Empress had in her cellars were Chateaux Lafite, Margaux, Latour and Haut Brion but she also had Sauternes (Château Suduiraut), Burgundies, Bordeaux (in particular wines from Pauillac), Languedoc Roussillon, the Côtes de Rhone (Chateau Grillet), Italy (Marsala), Spain, Greece, Portugal, the Canaries, Africa and the Rhine. The Empress also kept hundreds of bottles of rum from her native Martinique and had wines from Oporto (port), Maderia, Tokaj, Jerez (sherry), Vins Liquoreux and Champagne.

The exhibition attempts to show the evolution of wine production and marketing during the Empire. It was boosted by progress in the glass making industry, which was particularly noticeable in the shape of the bottles. Elegant ice buckets, glass coolers, crystal and metal punch bowls illustrate the refinement and prestige of the tableware at Malmaison and stand alongside the most brilliant pieces of glassware, some bearing the monograms the sovereigns from Josephine to Louis-Philippe.

More than one hundred and fifty objects, documents and account books belonging to Josephine's suppliers retrace the history of Malmaison's wine cellar, and the "art of living" in all its finery. The Exhibition runs from 18th November to 8th March 2010 in Paris and then moves on to the Musée Napoléon Thurgovie, Château et Parc d’Arenenberg, in Salenstein, Switzerland, from 10th April to 10th October 2010, then at the Museo Napoleonico in Rome, from October 2010 to 28th February 2011.

It's interesting that 41 years before the Emperor Napoleon III ordered the Classification system for France's best Bordeaux wines for the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1855 the First Growth line up was the same. Excepting, of course, the omission of Chateau Mouton which gained First Growth status in 1973.

What is more interesting is that the quantities of the First Growths that the Empress had in her cellar reflect the popularity of them today . . . with nearly the same ranking in preference.

From the Inventory I counted 857 bottles of Lafite, 609 of Latour, 463 of Margaux and 122 of Haut Brion! I wonder if Mouton had been included back then where it would have been placed? It is certainly moving up the ranks today.

The Great Wine Swindle – How Snobs are Ruining Your Wine

The Great Wine Swindle – How Snobs are Ruining Your Wine by Malcolm Gluck came out on sale 18th November, timed to coincide with the release of Beaujolais Nouveau, and I was sent a copy by the Publisher to read. I am in favour of a chap who calls a spade a spade and before I tell you about the book – which I thoroughly enjoyed – I want to tell you a bit about Malcolm Gluck.

Malcolm Gluck is one of the better known wine writer's in the UK having over 30 years worth of experience behind him. He was wine correspondent for The Guardian for 16 years and a contributor to Harpers Magazine. He is the current wine critic of The Oldie and the author of 36 books about wine. Among his titles are Superplonk, Streetplonk, Brave New World and The Great Wine Swindle, the latter declared to become his final book due to the anticipated negative reaction of people in the wine industry – which indeed he has incurred. He also featured in the BBC programme Gluck, Gluck, Gluck.

He has been described as a "self-styled champion of the ordinary wine drinker, fighting against the perceived snobbery and stuffiness of the wine world" and is renowned for his down to earth and controversial opinions. I don't agree with some of his arguments but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate a lot of what he says. For instance Gluck says terroir is “rubbish” , is anti cork, has a right old pop at wine writers and suggests that wine critics should take a DNA test to see if their taste buds qualify them to judge wine. You all know by now if you are regular readers of my Blog that I am pro cork and believe passionately in terroir – but I liked Gluck's “no holds barred” attitude, he's a man on a mission and he doesn't care who he offends.

His exposé on Supermarket Bogof deals and sharp buying practices is bang on in my eyes – I'd recommend you buy the book and read it just for that alone.

Having read this far you probably won't be surprised that the opening sentence of The Great Wine Swindle reads “The world of wine is populated by liars, scroungers and cheats. It is administered by mountebanks. It runs on misrepresentation and ritualised fraud. Wine drinkers are duped by wine producers, wine merchants, wine waiters and wine writers.” Well, Gluck certainly knows how to catch our attention doesn't he?

What I found valuable in his book were the revelations of dubious practices in the wine trade, those of labelling deceptions i.e. using grapes in the blend which are not declared on the label. For example Gluck cites (amongst many many others) Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve Pinot Noir 2005 as having 9% syrah, 6% merlot and 4% zinfandel in it – why label it as a single varietal wine then?

Gluck says that all sorts of grapes that aren't on the label could easily have found their way into bottles of wine - a practice which depending on the degree of substitution may or may not be illegal; others may even be from entirely different regions; even countries. You'll find plenty of these kind of statements in his book – which can be somewhat alarmist - for example: “The Australian Wine Research Institute's Analytical Service, as a guide to exporters, publishes a list with 40 or so chemicals that are okay, including bentonite, also used in cat litter.” Bentonite is what we know as Fuller's Earth and is a form of clay – it's used as a fining material in wine . . . calling it cat litter is a much better headline though, isn't it?

I think Gluck's book will both appeal and repel in the wine world - his sensationalism of various practices is going to rub a lot of people's backs up. Is this a bad thing? Not really. You are either going to love him or hate him but he will definitely leave you thinking!

The Great Wine Swindle is £8.99 and I reckon it's a good investment if you enjoy wine – it's an eye opener, a conversation piece and an entertaining read. It would be a great Christmas gift for the wine enthusiast in the family.

Discovering Montagnac Syrah Rosé

Montagnac Syrah Rosé (£5.37) is made by a small co-operative, Les Vignobles Montagnac, located between Beziers and Montpellier in the Languedoc Roussillon. This is a lovely Rosé, made from 100% Syrah (otherwise known as Shiraz) and is a fresh, crisp wine with the aromas of raspberries and violets. The Syrah Rosé has flavours of crushed ripe red fruits, notes of mint and chocolate.

The co-operative dates back to the 1930s and the vineyards stretch from the banks of Thau Lagoon to the foothills of the mountains on the right bank of the River Hérault where the ancient river bed stones are similar to those of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

The vines are grown in small parcels on old terraces on limestone and clay slopes and are pruned using the Cordon de Royat which means that a single spur is trained along a wire allowing for plenty of sunlight to ripen the grapes and greater control over yields. The co-operative's motto is “the terroir of the sea” as the warm breezes from the Mediterranean nurture their grapes.

The vineyards of the Languedoc are the oldest in France, planted by the early Greeks in the 5th century BC, and had a high reputation right through the centuries. The region stretches 150 miles from the Banyuls AOC at the Spanish border and Pyrenees in the west, along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to the Rhone River and Provence in the east. The northern boundaries of the region sit on the Massif Central with the Cévennes mountain ranges and valleys dominating the area. Many vineyards are located along the Hérault River. In the 14th century wines from the Languedoc were prescribed in hospitals in Paris for their "healing powers" and during both World Wars the Languedoc was responsible for providing the daily wine rations given to French soldiers. Today the Languedoc is one of the most dynamic wine growing regions in the World.

Syrah is an interesting blue purple grape with legends attached as to its origins. It is also known as Shiraz and makes wines which are are often quite powerfully flavoured and full bodied with aromas of chocolate, violets, truffles, leather, coffee and black pepper. For many years it was thought that Syrah came from the Persian city of Shiraz and was brought to the Rhone by the Phocaeans when they founded their colony around Marseilles around 600BC.

The Crusader Gaspard de Sterimberg is also credited with bringing Syrah to France when he founded his chapel at Hermitage. Another legend of Syrah's origin is that it was brought from Syracuse by the legions of Roman Emperor Probus sometime after AD 280. However in 1999 the University of California, Davis and the Viticultural Research Station in Montpellier, France used DNA to find Syrah's true origin. It showed that Syrah originated in France and was the offspring of Dureza – a dark skinned grape from the Ardeche and Mondeuse Blanche – a white grape cultivated in Savoy.

Dureza is a dark-skinned grape variety from the Ardèche region in France that has all but disappeared from the vineyards, and the preservation of such varieties is a speciality of Montpellier. Mondeuse Blanche is a white grape variety cultivated in the Savoy region, and is still found in very small amounts in that region's vineyards today. Thus, both Syrah's parents come from a limited area in southeastern France, very close to northern Rhône. Based on these findings, the researchers have concluded that Syrah originated from northern Rhône.

Syrah was once used as a blending component in Bordeaux wines in the 18th century. In those days clarets were less powerful than today, and Bordeaux châteaux would use Syrah from Hermitage in the Northern Rhone to improve their wines, especially in weaker vintages.

The Montagnac Syrah Rosé is a versatile wine and can be paired with cheese dishes, poultry, seafood and spicier dishes such as Chinese or Thai cuisine. I have found a recipe from the Languedoc which would be great with the Syrah Rosé. This recipe uses Pineau des Charantes which is a regional French aperitif, made in the Charente. It is a fortified wine, made from a blend of lightly-fermented grape must and Cognac eau-de-vie. A good alternative would be a splash of Tawny Port or medium sweet Sherry.

Chicken Breast with Four Spices (Blancs de Volailles aux Quatre Epices)

2 whole breasts of chicken
1 tsp ground white pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cloves
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp plum jam (Confiture de Mirabelles if you can get it)
½ cup Rosé wine
2 tbsp
¼ cup Pineau des Charentes (or Tawny Port or a medium sweet Sherry)
1 tbsp fresh thyme
2 tbsp virgin olive oil
1 onion
4 sticks celery
2 carrots

Remove skin from the chicken breasts and cut into four long strips (two from each half of the breast). Dust strips with 4 spice powder and salt - allow to stand and come to room temperature before cooking. Heat pan to medium high - put oil in pan - lightly brown on all sides the chicken strips - set aside on warm plate. Sauté onion, celery and carrot in the pan - when softened but not browned add wine and liqueur to deglaze pan. Dissolve the plum jam in the stock and add to the pan - raise heat to reduce the total liquid by ½. Return the chicken strips to the pan to cook them through. Remove them to heated dish while reducing the liquid to a thick glaze over high heat. When sauce is thickened to desired degree, pour over resting chicken strips and serve.

Enjoy!

Vertical Tasting of Chateau La Fleur Morange at Amicitia Per Vinum

Last week I had the pleasure of conducting a Vertical Tasting of both Chateau La Fleur Morange and the Second Wine Mathilde for the ‘Amicitia Per Vimum’ wine society at the Wig and Mitre in Lincoln. They had not come across these lovely wines before and having seen the scores and notes from Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson they were really looking forward to the tasting and certainly weren't disappointed.
‘Amicitia Per Vinum’ are a group of professionals living in and around Lincoln who are extremely interested in wine. They pay so much each month into a kitty and get together every other month to taste a variety of wines from around the world. They are a great friendly bunch who take their wines seriously but have a good laugh together. They made me very welcome and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them.

They tasted the 2000, 2001,2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 La Fleur Morange and the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Mathilde. The stars of the show proved to be the La Fleur Morange 2005 and Mathilde 2008 (which came as a surprise for such a young wine) and they are now looking at organising a visit to the Chateau next Spring to meet the Juliens'.

The consensus of opinion that both wines were excellent, great value for money and they marked them out of a hundred points. Having chatted to them they thought there wasn’t many points between them and the marks were well into the 90’s. Most of them had their preferences but really enjoyed the chance of a vertical tasting.

I was delighted to receive the following email from them:

“Nick many thanks for taking the time to come over to Lincoln to conduct a vertical tasting of both La Fleur Morange and Mathilde. Your knowledge and enthusiasm was infectious and it was great to hear all the little nuances of the Chateau, the terroir and the owners. As wine enthusiasts, this was our first experience of such a tasting which none of the members wanted to miss and we were not disappointed. All the wines were superb with different members having their own favourite vintages of each wine.

A great evening, which resulted in us finding two superb relatively unknown wines which were high in quality and both very affordable - especially when you compare them with other wines we have sampled in our little society from higher classified growths!”

I also took along two superb whites for them to try: Chateau Laures 2006 (£6.60) and M de Malle, (£11.73) both of which they really enjoyed and assured me would find their way on to their everyday drinking lists.

The Wig and Mitre proved to be a brilliant choice of venue – it is on part of the Pilgrim Way in the upper part of Medieval Lincoln at the top of Steep Hill, located between the Castle and the Cathedral. The building is a mix of 14th and 16th century and the ambience is lovely. It is open from 8.30 in the morning continuously, with food in perpetual motion, until around midnight, all day, every day, each week, all year. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area! The menus are excellent and each dish is paired with a wine suggestion – which I thought was a super idea.

Lincoln is a beautiful city to visit – it was once among the wealthiest towns in England, exporting cloth and wool to Flanders; dyed 'scarlet and green, the reputation of which was later enhanced by Robin Hood wearing woollens of Lincoln green. Steep Hill is part of the old quarter which houses Bailgate and the High Bridge which bears half-timbered housing, with the upper storeys jutting out over the river, as London Bridge once had. You can find specialist shops there and there is a Christmas market held in the Castle grounds!

If you are interested in trying Chateau La Fleur Morange or Mathilde they are available from www.interestinwine.co.uk. If you are a member of a wine society and would like to invite me along for a similar tasting please get in touch.

Wine Investment, Mouton Rothschild and China

Mouton Rothschild has enjoyed significant price increases during the month of October according to Liv-ex (the Fine wine Exchange) whereas Lafite Rothschild's performance has plateaued. Over a 5 week period from the start of October, according to the Liv-ex Claret Chip Index, Mouton has increased in price by 5.3%, the highest rise among the First Growths. Up until October Mouton has had to play second fiddle to Lafite but growing interest from Asia has shown itself in Mouton’s 64% increase in activity in the first half of 2009 in comparison to 2008.

There is speculation that perhaps Mouton is about to realise its brand potential in Asia and that if this is the case then Mouton could provide a good investment opportunity in the Fine Wine market in the next 12 months. Perhaps when we are into the New Year we will have a more concise picture on whether Mouton can sustain its position.

There are a few of reasons why it seems that Mouton has started to eclipse its prodigious cousin: Lafite is expensive and high demand is putting pressure on availability, Asian fine wine consumer’s tastes are starting to broaden and mature as buyers in the East look beyond Lafite Rothschild (Chateau Latour has also shown an upwards movement recently and in some cases has over taken Lafite) and the fact that they both share the name Rothschild.

Both Lafite and Mouton are successful at branding (see Which is the Biggest Rothschild Brand?) but Lafite has been more successful in China until now. Lafite was, of course, swift to translate its website into Chinese and has clearly been visiting China from early on (1992). Lafite is also developing a vineyard in China in partnership with CITIC, China's largest state-owned investment company, on over 60 acres of vines on the peninsula of Penglai in Shandong province.

Much has been made of the fact that “Lafite” is easy for Chinese consumers to pronounce and is therefore one of the reasons for its popularity - but so is “Margaux”! Apparently the Chinese version of Lafite is 'Lai-fat' which means “come get rich”. Interestingly, one of the unofficial Chinese names for Mouton Rothschild is ‘Wu Tang King'. Wu Tang is the Hubei Province Daoist martial arts sect particularly renowned for its swordsmanship.

The Chinese translation for Chateau Beychevelle (Longchuan, meaning ‘dragon boat’) has helped that property’s wines do particularly well there. Chateau La Lagune is known as LangLihu (the beautiful lake) which also seems a smart move. The Chinese Bordeaux Guide announced in 2008 that the 10th Edition of Chinese Bordeaux Guide 2009 will publish the official Chinese names of the 1855 Medoc Classification, it was with a view to standardizing the Chinese names of the 61 châteaux.

While every château has the same name in French and English, it has an average five to 10 different Chinese names. This is because a journalist in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan or China will translate, for example, Chateau Mouton Rothschild differently. However the Chinese Bordeaux Guide is dependent on the châteaux re co-operation in this and only 14 châteaux have confirmed their official Chinese names. Chateau Latour and Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou have also confirmed they will only use their original names. It will be interesting to see how this situation develops and whether a brand name in Chinese will affect the wine's visibility and it's price.

Discovering Chateau Grand Rousseau

Chateau Grand Rousseau lies near Sauveterre de Guyenne in the Entre Deux Mers and is one of several chateaux owned by the renowned Lumeau family who have been wine makers for 4 generations, establishing Vignobles Lumeau in 1840. Grand Rousseau is a charming deep ruby coloured claret which is a round, smooth, well balanced wine with integrated tannins and a classical bouquet. It has subtle red fruit flavours with notes of blackcurrant, blueberry, tobacco, violets, earth and vanilla.

The Entre Deux Mers is sandwiched between the tidal waters of the Rivers Dordogne and Garonne and the land is bordered by the vineyards of Saint Emilion in the north and by those of the sweet wines of Sauternes to the south. The landscape is softened by limestone valleys, with small hills above crowned with pine or oak and their slopes cultivated with vines.

Sauveterre de Guyenne is a medieval Bastide town and was actually built by the English, in the time of Edward I. It still has part of its fortifications with its typical arcaded central square and four gates to the town. The shops radiate out from the centre of town, and it is a pleasure to browse, taking refuge from the midday sun under the age old arches that form the arcades.

The vineyards of Grand Rousseau cover 275 acres and are 21 miles from Saint Emilion and lie on clay and limestone. The grape varieties planted are 40% Merlot which makes a full bodied and round wine. It ripens early so it is the first variety gathered. Cabernet Sauvignon makes up 45% of the estate. It brings the wine its structure from tannins but also a delicate and refined flavour profile. It grows well here but it ripens very slowly, so it is the last variety harvested. It needs years to reach its full maturation. The remainder of vines are 15% Cabernet Franc which makes a supple and fine wine, less colour than the Cabernet Sauvignon but with a more intense bouquet. Its ageing is more rapid. Grand Rousseau id the result of a skilful combination of these varieties of grapes, with ancestral traditions of wine-making and the techniques of modern oenology.

The 2004 vintage is a blend of 52% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Cabernet Franc and is fermented in stainless steel tanks and is thermo-regulated to maintain a constant temperature during the fermentation. This wine will age very well for several years to come and will pair well with roasted fowl, red meat or game and hard cheeses. The recommended temperature of serving is 14 to 16ºC.

This is a super claret to enjoy with your Christmas turkey and Dindes aux Truffes is an old recipe that was a favourite of the epicurean French statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838) – and one time owner of the First Growth Chateau Haut Brion. Talleyrand employed Mariè-Antoine Câreme, one of the first celebrity chefs who was an early practitioner of haute cuisine. Carême created dishes for Napoléon and also served as chef de cuisine in London to the Prince Regent, later George IV. He was invited by Tsar Alexander I to come to St. Petersburg, where he lived so briefly he never prepared a meal for the Tsar before returning to Paris, where he was chef to banker James Mayer Rothschild. Talleyrand has another link to Turkey – albeit not a culinary one. His wife, Catherine Worlée Grand's child-like beauty did not totally make up for the naivety of her public utterances. She tried to tell someone she was born in India and (instead of “Je suis des Indes”) replied “Je suis d’Inde”, which sounds like “Je suis dinde” (I am a turkey).

Dindes Aux Truffes

2 1-inch-diameter black truffles
1 16 lb turkey, neck reserved
8 fresh thyme sprigs
4 fresh parsley sprigs
6 bay leaves
12 large shallots, peeled, cut in half
3 cups (or more) chicken stock
½ cup Cognac
3 tbsp flour
3 jars whole roasted peeled chestnuts
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Coarsely chop 1 ½ truffles; place in a food processor. Add the butter; process mixture until well blended and truffles are finely chopped. Season the truffle butter with salt and pepper. Thinly slice the remaining ½ truffle; cover and chill.

Sprinkle the main cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper. Starting at the neck end, carefully slide hand between skin and breast meat to loosen the skin. Rub the truffle butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, over breast meat under skin. Rub any truffle butter that remains on your hands all over outside of turkey. Place turkey on small rack set in large roasting pan. Using kitchen string, tie 4 thyme sprigs, 2 parsley sprigs, and 3 bay leaves together. Repeat with remaining 4 thyme sprigs, 2 parsley sprigs, and 3 bay leaves. Place 1 herb bouquet in the main cavity of turkey and 1 in the neck cavity. Tie legs together loosely to hold shape. Cover turkey with cling film and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Tuck turkey wings under. Place shallots and turkey neck around turkey in the pan. Sprinkle turkey, shallots, and neck with salt and pepper. Roast until turkey and shallots are golden brown. Gently stir shallots. Pour 1 cup of stock over the turkey. Roast for 30 minutes. Pour 1 cup of stock over the turkey. Cover turkey breast and legs loosely with foil. Roast for about an hour, basting with pan drippings and adding 1 cup of stock if necessary. Transfer turkey to platter; tent loosely with foil. Let stand 30 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer shallots to bowl. Discard turkey neck.

Pour pan juices into a jug. Spoon off fat from top of pan juices, reserving 6 tablespoons fat. Discard remaining fat. Pour Cognac into roasting pan; place over low heat and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits. Add to pan juices. Melt 2 tablespoons reserved turkey fat in heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour and stir 1 minute. Gradually whisk in pan juices. Boil until sauce thickens very slightly, whisking occasionally, about 5 minutes (gravy will be thin). Stir reserved sliced ½ truffle into gravy. Season with salt and pepper. Cover to keep warm.

Melt 4 tablespoons fat in frying pan and add chestnuts and sauté until heated through. Add roasted shallots and chopped parsley; sauté until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Surround turkey with chestnut-shallot mixture. Serve with gravy.

Enjoy!

Red Wine and Fish

The debate over whether it is sacrilegious to pair red wine with fish has long been argued over but now researchers have pinpointed why some reds just don't go – and why some do! Researchers in Fujisawa, Japan noted that wine connoisseurs established the rule of thumb because of the flavour clash between red wine and fish. They point out, however, that there are exceptions to the rule, with some red wines actually going well with seafood. Until now, nobody could consistently predict which wines might trigger a fishy after-taste because of the lack of knowledge about its cause. The study is in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The scientists asked wine tasters to sample 38 red wines and 26 white wines while dining on scallops. Some of the wines contained small amounts of iron, which varied by country of origin, variety, and vintage. They found that wines with high amounts of iron had a more intensely fishy after-taste. This fishy taste diminished, on the other hand, when the researchers added a substance that binds up iron. The findings indicate that iron is the key factor in the fishy after-taste of wine-seafood pairings, the researchers say, suggesting that low-iron red wines might be a good match with seafood.

When the iron content rose above 2 milligrams per litre or so, the seafood-dining experience turned sour. The team double-checked their results by soaking pieces of dried scallops in samples of wine. Scallops dunked in wine with low iron content smelled normal, but pieces soaked in samples with high iron content reeked of fish.

The researchers report that they haven't yet isolated the compound in the scallops that reacts with the wine, but they suspect it's an unsaturated fatty acid, which could be breaking down rapidly and releasing the decaying fish smell when exposed to iron. How much iron a wine contains depends on the amount in the soil where the grapes were grown, as well as other factors such as how the grapes are harvested and processed. Red wine tends to have a higher iron content, hence the admonition against mixing it with seafood.

"We were surprised in our finding," said research chemist and lead author Takayuki Tamura, "because we thought that polyphenols or sulphur dioxide [produced] the unpleasant sensation." These components represent a larger percentage of wine content than does iron. He explains that because iron does not "induce colour change, accelerated oxidation, or cloudiness," vintners tend to ignore its potential role as a meal-spoiler. But the new findings, he says, offer winemakers the opportunity to reconsider the downside of iron contamination.

I would recommend lighter styles of red wine with a low alcohol content as a good match with fish such as tuna or salmon. Brissonet Tinto (£3.08) is 11.5% and this Spanish red is a fresh and aromatic wine, concentrated with no acidity and its cherry red colour with violet bloom are typical of its youth. Prince de Prieur (£3.18) is also 11.5% and if this wine was from any other region or country it would come with a higher Classification other than a table wine. It is a supple wine and has a very pronounced nose with lots of good ripe fruit.

Rosé wines also go well with fish – Chateau Lamothe Vincent (£4.94) is 12.5% and is a fabulous dry, deep, dark pomegranate pink, bursting with fruit and is one of the 3 best Bordeaux Rosés in 2006 TOP VINS, silver medal winner both at the Challenge International du Vin 2006 and Concours des Vins d'Aquitaine 2006. It is made with two grapes - Cabernet Sauvignon which gives tannic backbone and structure. This grape is very aromatic in young wines with heady aromas of blackcurrant. Cabernet Franc is the other grape used and this provides acidity, fragrance and strawberry-like fruit qualities. Once the fruit has hit your taste buds the dryness follows through and the wine is elegant and refreshing. Chateau Roques du Mauriac (£6.40) is 12.5% and is made from Merlot 60%, Cabernet Franc 40% . Produced right in the heart of the region this lovely mouth-watering, crisp, slightly dry, smooth Rose is a delight. On the nose it produces light, fruity aromas of soft fruits and in the mouth it is fresh, well balanced and has a long after taste.

I would try these two rosés with white fish and shell fish as they are a lighter style than the Bordeaux Clairets which will stand up to mackerel and tuna very well.

Champagne Bubbles Are the Key to its Flavour

A new report by Dr Gerard Liger-Belair of Reims University, France has discovered that it's the bubbles that give Champagne its flavour. This confirms the long-held view that Champagnes with a fine and persistent mousse, or stream of bubbles, are of a higher quality. In research at the University of Reims its been found that the bubbles can contain up to 30 times more flavour than the champagne itself and have a very different chemical fingerprint. The mousse acts as a flavour delivery system with the rising and collapsing bubbles releasing aroma compounds on a continuous cycle.

Dr Liger-Belair said in the PNAS report that: "It's the very first time that we have been able to detect the fine chemistry of champagne aerosols which are really the essence of champagne." Dr Liger-Belair admits to having been "obsessed" with bubbles all his life. He used an ultra-high resolution mass spectrometer to study the detailed chemical composition of the aerosols emerging from sparkling wine and champagne.

Dr Liger-Belair and his colleague Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin, of the Institute for Ecological Chemistry and Molecular BioGeochemistry in Neuherberg, have studied five champagnes and high-quality sparkling wines so far. They discovered that in all cases the bubbles were very much richer in the essential flavours of the wine.

This may help to explain why sparkling wines made by the same techniques as Champagne ie the Méthode Champenoise (or Méthode Traditionnelle), taste so much better than those which are not. There are around 49 million bubbles in a 750ml bottle of champagne (calculated by scientist Bill Lembeck, based on 5.5 atmospheres of pressure, when stored at 20ºC) and the pressure in a bottle of champagne is 90 pounds per square inch, about three times that in a car tyre!

The best glass to drink Champagne from is not the saucer shaped Champagne Coupe but a Champagne flute. Legend has it that the shape of the Champagne Coupe was modelled on the breast of Marie Antoinette but as a glass to drink from it is too wide and too shallow - the bubbles can’t make long beaded streams, the mousse dissipates instantly and the Champagne goes lifeless in a few minutes because there’s a very large surface area to volume.

If you are a lover of Champagne then I would recommend Seconde Collard which is made in the heart of the Champagne region, in a hamlet called Bouzy, situated between Reims and Epernay, in an area referred to Montagne de Reims. It is one of the top 17 Grand Cru vineyards and Champagne Houses Taittinger and Moet can be found just up the road.

Philippe Seconde is a 5th generation producer and is descended from the famous Champagne House of Edmond Barnaut founded in 1874. Edmond Barnaut was one of the first pioneers in Champagne to create his own brand outside of the controlling centres of Epernay and Reims.

Philippe makes both a Blanc de Noirs Brut (from 100% Pinot Noir) and a Grand Reserve Brut (67% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay). Grande Reserve Champagnes are those that have Champagne added to them from a reserved vintage which is the flagship of the House. Both retail at £16.13 and are a superb bargain. There is also a fantastic Rosé: the Authentic Rosé Brut (50% Pinot Noir, 50% Chardonnay) at £18.10 and a wonderful Vintage Champagne: Champagne Vintage Brut Millesimes 1998 (50% Pinot Noir, 50% Chardonnay) at £26.42.

These Champagnes are all on offer with Free Delivery at the Wine Shop if you fancy a little festive fizz!

Why Provenance is a Must in Wine Investment

If you are investing in wine then Provenance is essential. Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the history of your wine: where, when and by whom it was made, where it has been stored, who has owned it and where it has been shipped to. It is in effect your wine's pedigree and acts as a certification of care. Without Provenance you may find that your wine is worthless as there is no proof that it is genuine or that it has been cellared or kept in storage correctly.

In transactions of old wine with the potential of improving with age, the issue of Provenance has a large bearing on the assessment of the contents of a bottle, both in terms of quality and the risk of wine fraud. A documented history of storage conditions is valuable in estimating the quality of an older vintage due to the fragile nature of wine.

Given the value of fine Bordeaux wines there is a market for counterfeit wine and Provenance acts as a deterrent against this. In the case of the select niche market for very old bottles of wine – which often reach high sums of money - Provenance is the difference between making a fortune and losing one. The infamous case of The Billionaire's Vinegar is a good example. The Billionaire's Vinegar is a book by Benjamin Wallace centred on a true story. The book tells the story of German collector, Rodenstock who had allegedly found rare bottles of Chateau Lafite walled up in a basement in Paris. A 1787 Lafite engraved Th:J sparked worldwide interest because it was thought that Jefferson had bought the bottles when he was in Paris serving as ambassador. Three of the bottles were sold at Christie's between 1985 and 1987 including the the 1787 Lafite which was bought by Malcolm Forbes for $150,000 – making it a record holder as the world's most expensive bottle of wine.

The billionaire in the title of the book is William Koch who sued Rodenstock claiming that he was the source for four Jefferson bottles that Koch bought in 1988. Those bottles are now believed to be fake. Rodenstock has said that the bottles were genuine but has not submitted them for testing. The book sold well and a Will Smith-produced film of the story is in development.

Obviously this case only shows the upper end of collecting and investing in wine but it is a good example none the less. Veteran collectors are well aware of how important Provenance is, which explains the high prices paid for wines straight from the cellars of châteaux and négociants. The wine’s condition is just as important as its origin and poor shipping, storage or handling practices that can render a Grand Cru as worthless as if it was a cheap fake. While the wine making process is subject to great scrutiny and best practices, once bottled the levels of scrutiny and attention can vary greatly as the wine makes its way through the supply chain.

With the wine investment market today looking increasingly more mainstream more people are considering wine as an addition to their portfolios. According to Liv-ex (the Fine Wine Exchange) private collectors in the UK alone hold more than US$2bn worth of fine wine in bonded warehouses and the fine wine market is worth US$3 billion annually – a figure that has trebled since 2004. There are also new ways to invest in wine other than the traditional routes of buying via Wine Merchants with Private Cellar Plans and via Wine Funds. Under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) qualifying UK tax payers can benefit from an advantageous and tax efficient opportunity from exemptions of Capital Gains, Income Tax and Inheritance Tax. The 1855 Club is a company trading in Fine Wine which has been created under the rules of EIS and has been designed for the benefit of the shareholders. If you would like to know more about this scheme please contact me , or ask your IFA or agent to do so, at nick.stephens@interestinwine.co.uk – and as with all potential investments please seek independent financial advice!

Bordeaux Wine Tourism, Wine Holidays and Opening Doors

It has always puzzled me that Bordeaux is world famous for its wines but still has so much yet to discover. Tourists will flock to well known sites lured by the historic châteaux and superb wines secreted in their cellars but there are charming backwaters to Bordeaux that are also hiding away. Unlike California with its bustling wine routes and open house wineries much of Bordeaux – and many of its wines - lie undiscovered – unless you are French, and in the “know”.

This is one of the reasons I covered the lesser known appellations of Bordeaux in a series of Blogs recently – to show you a peep of the Bordeaux that can be discovered if you have a questing spirit and like finding wonderful wines in sleepy villages. I have noticed that some of the appellations are starting to set up websites to promote their wines and will add a set of links to them on the Blog and Wine Site for you.

Now that the prohibitionist Evin Law is more relaxed about advertising alcohol on the internet the châteaux and co-operatives have a vast platform from which to promote their goods. Until recently those that did have websites were concerned that they would be forced to remove their sites – many of which are informative and give a cultural and historical background to the wines and their producers. This law was outrageously severe in a country where the “passion” for wine is intense. (see France To Ban Wine On The Internet). As the nature of French wine production is that it is smaller, lead by terroir and more individualistic, many wine makers don't have the money or the clout to broadcast their wares outside France.

I hope that we will see more syndicats de viticole and châteaux starting up websites as it's a fantastic way of opening a door into the world of wine. Talking of opening doors I have also noticed that many more châteaux are opening theirs to the public – which is another great step forward. Some of Bordeaux's prestigious Châteaux are starting to appear in Travel Agencies offering wine orientated holidays such as Château Smith Haut Lafitte in Pessac-Leognan. Smith Haut Laffitte is not only famous for the fabulous wines it produces but it also has a luxury hotel, a Michelin star restaurant and the Caudalie wine therapy institute at the château. Also last year Chateau Cantenac Brown in Margaux received preliminary permission to turn part of the château into a luxury hotel.

The Telegraph has reported on two leading Bordeaux wine makers – Jean-Francois Janoueix and Jean-Michel Cazes – who are leading the way in reviving tourism in Bordeaux by rejuvenating the past. Rather than let the abandoned hamlets around the châteaux die they are breathing new life into them to encourage visitors.

The family of Jean-Francois Janoueix is one of the great household names of the Libourne area; they are as well known for making wine as for being wine merchants. They own the Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé Chateau Haut Sharpe as well as 16 other châteaux spangled across Pomerol and the Côtes de Castillon. It's Jean-Francois' belief that the villages and hamlets that cluster round the châteaux need to be reborn:

"The great wine estates don't care about these modest homes, but they are the markers of the past. When we demolish them, we gain a few vines but lose a whole piece of the past."

Determined to keep the rural heritage alive, he's personally financing the renovation of the rustic hamlet of Sarpe at the gates of his estate. True to his vision, the village steps back in time - guests can visit an 18th century windmill and the 1950's "night club" built for the pickers. In Haut Sarpe's cellars, Jean-Francois offers wine tastings amidst a collection of antique tools and equipment. A few steps away, a farmhouse provides room and board to modern-day pilgrims walking the historic St. Jacques de Compostella pilgrim route, and soon, an old-fashioned bakery will open on the square.

Banking on another winning combination - wine and art – Jean-Francois also restored the winegrowers' cottages in his vineyards. Soon, artists will take up short-term residencies and sell their work in a gallery in the village. Inspired by Napa's savvy approach to wine tourism, he hopes to draw tourists to Sarpe, where he can introduce them to a slice of wine history, art and his wines.

In Pauillac, the owner of Chateau Lynch Bages, Jean Michel Cazes, has also encouraged tourism to the region. In addition to several wine estates, the Cazes family owns a luxury hotel, two Michelin-starred restaurants, a wine estate bed & breakfast, a wine school and a wine tour agency.

In 2003, when Cazes needed to enlarge his cellars and the architect proposed demolishing the abandoned hamlet of Bages, located on his back doorstep, Cazes refused: "I didn't want to see the village disappear, I didn't want to be remembered as the man who knocked down a village to stock my wine."

Instead, he hired craftsmen to restore the historical limestone buildings with the goal of creating a modern village that would attract both locals and tourists. Cazes' vision has taken shape: a pretty village square, a bakery, a stylish bistro, a refined boutique, a master basket-weaver, an annex to a luxury hotel, a butcher and soon, an upscale wine bar and cigar lounge. A cheerful playground attracts mothers and toddlers. Free, open-air movie nights bring in the locals. And the buildings retain the names of the original owners.
For information on other Bordeaux châteaux that cater for tourists click here.

The Origins of French Wine

A new study by Professor Paul Cartledge from the University of Cambridge claims that the world's biggest wine industry might never have developed had it not been for a “band of pioneering Greek explorers” who settled in southern France around 600 BC. His study appears to dispel the theory that it was the Romans who were responsible for bringing viticulture to France. However it took a little French style and a couple of thousand years to transform it into a European tipple of choice. The study is just one of a number covered in the book with which Professor Cartledge hopes to make a much more serious and wider-ranging point about where the boundaries of Ancient Greece really began and ended.

The Greeks founded Massalia, now known as Marseilles, which they then turned into a bustling trading site, where local tribes of Ligurian Celts undertook friendly bartering. (Liguria borders France to the west, Piedmont to the north, and Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany to the east. It lies on the Ligurian Sea and is a narrow strip of land, enclosed between the sea and the Alps and the Apennines mountains, and is one of the smallest regions in Italy.) Professor Cartledge said within a matter of generations the nearby Rhône became a major thoroughfare for vessels carrying terracotta amphorae that contained what was seen as a new, exotic Greek drink made from fermented grape juice. He argued the new drink rapidly became a hit among the tribes of Western Europe, which then contributed to the French modern love of wine.

Although some academics agree the Greeks were central to founding Europe's wine trade, others argue the Etruscans or even the later Romans were the ones responsible for bringing viticulture to France. However there is evidence that the Celts did make wines from grapes long before the Romans came – and even before the Greeks. There is archaeological evidence to suggest that the Celts first cultivated the grape vine in Gaul. Grape pips have been found throughout France, pre-dating the Greeks and Romans with some examples found near Lake Geneva being over 12,000 years old.

The extent that the Celts and Gallic tribes produced wine is not clearly known but the arrival of the Greeks near Massalia in 600 BC certainly introduced new types styles of wine making and viticulture. The limit of Greek viticulture was to plant in regions with Mediterranean climates that would also support olive and fig tree plantings. The Romans looked for regions near a river and an important town, with hillside terrain. Roman knowledge of the sciences included the tendency for cold air to travel like water down a hillside, cooling the grapes in the day, and to gather in frost pockets at the bottom. Those areas were to be avoided while a sunny hillside, even in a northerly location, could provide a climate sufficient enough to ripen grapes.

In places like Bordeaux where Roman garrisons were established, vineyards were planted to supply the needs locally and limit the cost of long distance trading. As Roman settlements were founded and populated by retired soldiers, many of whom had knowledge of Roman viticulture from their families and life before the military, would plant vineyards of their own in their new homelands. While there are possibilities that the Romans imported grapevines from Italy and Greece, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the Romans cultivated native vines in the provinces that may be the ancestors of the grapes grown there today.

In the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder mentions plantings in Bordeaux, including the Balisca vine (previously known in Spain) under the synonym of Biturica after the local Bituriges tribe. Ampelographers note that corruption of the name Biturica is Bidure or Vidure which is a French synonym of Cabernet Sauvignon and may point to the ancestry of this vine with the Cabernet family. However grape geneticist Carole Meredith, Professor Emerita at University of California, Davis, discovered that Cabernet Sauvignon is a hybrid of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc in 1996. Indeed the word "Sauvignon" is believed to be derived from the French sauvage meaning "wild" and to refer to the grape being a wild Vitis Vinifera vine native to France. Could the historians have got it wrong and Celts were making their own wine in France from native grapes before the Greeks? We do know that the Celts invented the wine barrel and that their love of wine staggered the Romans who thought them uncivilised for drinking it “neat”. I suppose we will never truly know for sure unless some archaeologist discovers the remains of an ancient Celtic vintage secreted away under the dust of millennia.

À votre santé, or should I say Sláinte!

Wine and Minerals

I spotted a story in the wine press recently that I just had to voice an opinion on – according to Scientists who met in Portland for the annual Geological Society of America Conference the belief that minerals could influence the flavour of wine is flawed. They consider that the quantity of minerals in wine is so small that it can't be detected through human taste and smell. This seems ludicrous. The belief in terroir in the Old World (how soil, weather conditions, geology and other local circumstances define the character of wine) is a long standing one and makes perfect sense to me.

Wine critics often use the French phrase, "gout de terroir", which means "taste of the soil" but the Scientists say much of that taste may be imagined. The geologists say wines may vary in levels of dissolved minerals, but those variations aren't related to the levels in vineyard soil. And they say the concentration of minerals in wine is below the threshold of human taste and smell.

"I am not saying that chemistry and geology have no effect on the wine. It may have effects that we don't understand,"

said geologist Alex Maltman.

"But whatever 'minerality' in wine is, it is not the taste of vineyard minerals," he said.

The fact that soils do affect the taste of the wine is self evident as the same grapes grown on different combinations of soils produce wines with marked differences when it comes to taste. Take Chateau La Fleur Morange for example – the 100 year old vines lie on a unique patch of soil. It is the only complex mixture known to exist in Saint Emilion and is a combination of sand, clay and chalk over an iron oxide sub soil (crasse de fer) which is 15.7 inches (40 cm) below the surface. This subsoil rests on top of limestone bedrock. Jean-François Julien, the wine maker, is convinced that this unique soil contributes to the finesse of the tannins.

The point of the argument seems to be that the minerally, flinty or earthy notes in the wine – according to the Scientists – do not come from the soil that the grapes were grown on but from some other undetermined factor.

I find it quite strange that there is little research into the way that soil affects the taste of the wine – maybe it is such a foregone conclusion that people have not bothered to look into it. Just because no relationship has been demonstrated between natural soil chemistry, as derived from different rocks, and wine type or quality doesn't mean that there isn't one. Any gardener – let alone grape grower or farmer – will tell you that soil type can affect the taste of your fruit and veg! Have you ever compared the taste of a tomato grown by hydroponics to one from your well manured vegetable plot?

Taste is such a subjective thing – one man's meat is another man's poison. If I can taste a certain minerality in my glass of wine it doesn't necessarily mean that the person standing next to me can. Can Science answer that?

Back in May European researchers discovered that even 10 years after bottling, wine still holds the chemical signature of the forest from which the barrel used to age it was made – would this be reflected in the taste I wonder? To me its all part of the magical mystery of wine and even if Science managed to unravel the “whys” and the “wherefores” I would still like to think that the wine I am enjoying holds the essence of the soil, sun and rain that went into its making.

Fine Time to Invest in Wine?

It is often said that the market for wines is the last to feel the impact of any economic upheaval and the first to show recovery. In the wake of the financial meltdown wine has started to figure more prominently in investment portfolios and is no longer regarded a niche market today as it was a few years ago. Over the past 2 decades wine has shown consistent returns and is continuing to out perform the FTSE 100. According to Liv-ex (the Fine Wine Index) the Index is now only 14% off its all time high, set in June 2008. Prices fell by up to 25% after the collapse of Lehman brothers, but have since partially rebounded. In the past 5 years the index has increased 133%, a performance bettered by none of the major share indices or gold. What's more prices for the world's top wines rose by 4.6% in August - the biggest monthly increase for more than 2 years.

So what is keeping the fine wine market buoyant? In short, Asia - particularly Hong Kong and China. Hong Kong has established itself as the world's second largest market (behind New York) for the sales of fine wines since all wine duties were abolished early in 2008 Hong Kong is increasingly the place to buy (and sell) expensive wine. One American wine merchant, the firm Acker Merral & Condit, told Reuters that Hong Kong was arguably the fine wine world's most important market. According to Serena Sutcliffe, Sotheby's wine director, Asian buyers represented 99% at their recent auction. In addition to the Hong Kong government's pro-active decision to scrap duties the market really began to boom with the government also scrapping most of the paperwork related to wine imports- importers were allowed to have customs inspection inside the wine warehouses.

The balance of power in the wine world is now shifting from West to East - this seems to be the common refrain and not only in Hong Kong which pipped Singapore, another financial centre in the South East Asia that did not give enough thought to the impact of duty waiver and still has a duty structure that does not find favour with the locals.

Hong Kong collectors have been buying fine wine earlier too but they were storing it outside the country due to heavy (80%!!) taxation. Now, they have been buying and bringing back their stocks to the temperature controlled cellars. Hong Kong being a part of China but with free administrative powers, is also attracting unprecedented interest in the parent market, along with many other smaller Asian nations; over 98% of the bids at the Sotheby's are reported to be from Asians.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is expecting big things over the remainder of 2009 too with the inaugural three-day Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival leading the way October 30th - November 1st and the 2009 Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair opens 4th-6th November. Visitor numbers have already risen 12% this month, year on year, thanks mainly to China's extended, eight-day National Day holidays and the HKTB is still predicting 29 million visitors for the Hong Kong Food and Wine Year.

If you are interested in diversifying your investments and are considering wine as a potential asset then I would strongly recommend you seek professional advice. There are the 3 traditional ways of investing in wine: a) Use a wine merchant and buy it yourself. b) Buy through a Wine Merchant with a Private Cellar Plan and c). Invest in a Wine Fund. There is also a new route into Fine Wine investment which offers qualifying UK tax payers a advantageous and tax efficient opportunity – invest in an EIS company (Enterprise Investment Scheme). An EIS can benefit the investor from exemptions of Capital Gains, Income Tax and Inheritance Tax. Investors can also qualify for GCT refunds if they invest in this scheme as it has been created under EIS which is designed to support enterprise. EIS provides income tax relief of 20% if you hold the investment for at least 3 years. In addition if you have previously crystallised capital gains attracting a tax rate of 40%, the gain can be deferred if you invest into an EIS company within 3 years of creating the gain. You still have to pay capital gains tax on the deferred gain but only when you sell the shares in an EIS company. However under current rules this is at a reduced rate of 18% resulting in a further saving of 22% on past gains.

If you would like to learn more about wine investment click here for a comprehensive guide and if you would like to learn more about the EIS wine investment scheme visit The 1855 Club here.