The Wine Merchant issue 103

THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers

Issue 103, June 2021

Dog of the Month: Poppy DBM Wines, Bristol

London indie sets out plans for national franchise system Drop has been trading for four years in the capital, where it aims to deliver drinks to consumers within the hour

A

n independent wine business is aiming to create a national

franchise group that delivers

wine direct to consumers.

The business, called Drop, hopes to have

around 80 distribution points by 2025, including shops and bars.

Drop has been operating in London for

four years and now has an ambition to

be “the UK’s leading virtual on-demand

wine cellar”, using its own app to deliver to consumers.

Drop founders Ian Campbell and Will

rather than guaranteeing the one hour,”

intimidating wine merchants”.

£30,000 which does not include stock or

empowered to have their own say. We want

says Campbell.

Franchisees pay an upfront fee of

fittings but does plug them into the Drop technology.

Campbell says franchisees will have a

range of backgrounds and trading styles.

Drop has positioned itself as a “great

answer to hastily purchased wines at either over-priced supermarkets or

“We don’t want to have identikit sites,”

he says. “We want the franchisee to feel

everything to be slightly different. Some

franchises will be straight retail, some will want to do a mixture of bar and retail, and some may want to really push the food.

“The brand will communicate to the

Continues page 2

Palmer, owners of indie merchant and

restaurant The Ten Cases in Covent Garden, claim the Drop app has been downloaded “tens of thousands of times”.

Campbell says: “We see the future of

retail as something more tech-focused –

and a lot of independents won’t be able to afford to develop this kind of tech.

“We are trying to attract people who

see this as the next logical step, and the combination of bricks and mortar and

online is where we think we could do really well. The three different revenue streams

of shop, bar and e-commerce can make for a futureproof business.”

In central London, Drop aims to deliver

within the hour. “At the moment when

we’re thinking outside these more built up areas, we are looking more at same-day

The latest window display at the Shrewsbury branch of Tanners was designed and installed by previous Tanners employee and winemaker at Paso Primero, Emma Williams Holt. The butterflies are made from coat hangers covered in fabric and hand painted. Williams Holt says: “The together again #socialbutterflies tag line seemed a perfect name for the display in the current situation.”

NEWS

Inside this month

App-based wine delivery system From page one

4 comings & GOINGs Good news for Dorset as two new

customer that they are going to get a

decent bottle of wine at a decent price and

be served by someone who actually cares.”

shops open their doors

Not all the new sites will be customer-

13 trophy winners A run-down of the wines that topped the scoring in this year’s

facing or in high-street locations. “Some of the franchises will have shop fronts, and the less urbanised areas will be delivery

hubs where we will do logistics – we call

Wine Merchant Top 100

them virtual hubs,” says Campbell.

22 just williams Maybe sherry’s sales figures aren’t so depressing after all

26 the scottish gantry How an enhanced wine selection has helped a Stirling indie do well with its second branch

46 canned wine

With the exception of the recently

launched site in Guildford, Drop will focus

on expanding throughout London this year, and says it is already having conversations with existing indies.

“We’ve sent out many a survey to find

out what people’s shopping habits are,” Campbell adds, “and the overwhelming

majority don’t buy from one place.

“They might be buying some en primeur

from someone remotely. They might go

to Majestic for bulk purchases, and they’ll also be going to their local independent

shop for other interesting things as well.

“We don’t see ourselves as muscling in

on anything – we’re just trying to offer

something slightly different. We want to

bring wine delivery forward into the next decade.”

Drop currently sources its wine from

UK suppliers but Campbell says it will

be looking at direct importing as well as

working with importers to make sure it is

able to offer a “decent price” to franchisees.

“We are super-aligned with our

franchisees so that if they do well, we do well,” he says.

Meet the indies achieving success with their own launches

50 italian wine A bumpy ride for producers as Covid causes disruption

62 supplier bulletin Essential updates from key suppliers to the indie trade Ian Campbell (left) with Will Palmer

THE WINE MERCHANT MAGAZINE winemerchantmag.com 01323 871836 Twitter: @WineMerchantMag Editor and Publisher: Graham Holter graham@winemerchantmag.com Assistant Editor: Claire Harries claire@winemerchantmag.com Advertising: Sarah Hunnisett sarah@winemerchantmag.com Accounts: Naomi Young winemerchantinvoices@gmail.com The Wine Merchant is circulated to the owners of the UK’s 958 specialist independent wine shops.

Printed in Sussex by East Print. © Graham Holter Ltd 2021 Registered in England: No 6441762 VAT 943 8771 82

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 2

@winesofportugaluk

@WPTUK

Two new branches for Dorset indie Renoufs has continued to add to its portfolio of wine bars with two cheese and wine shops called Renoufs Pantry, both of which have opened in the past six months.

Owner Trevor Ayling says: “We have six

restaurants and wine bars across Dorset

and Hampshire and during lockdown we

were getting so many requests for the wine

and cheese that we do. We had been talking about opening a bottle shop and cheese

shop for some time, so we took the plunge last December.

“It’s been incredible, a lot busier than

anticipated, hence we started looking for a bigger unit on the other side of town, which has been even busier.”

The second store in Christchurch opened

last month and Ayling is delighted at the response from his staff as well as the

customers. “One of my managers, who

is a sommelier, loved the shop so much

that she has stepped down as manager of the restaurant to be manager of both the

shops, and she can’t wait to start doing the wine tastings,” he says.

Ayling admits that “once the dust settles”

he would like to concentrate on some

direct importing but for now he is working

with a number of UK suppliers and dealing

Renoufs Pantry in Christchurch

currently tough to recruit hospitality staff, Ayling is positive about the reopening of his bars.

He says: “It’s like a Saturday night

every night at the moment. Some of our

venues have gardens, we’ve had really nice weather, and it’s lovely to be back.”

Hennings shuts city centre store

Hennings is closing its Chichester branch after 10 years in the West Sussex

direct with local producers such as Bride

city.

200 bins,” Ayling explains, “and we like to

decision. These things are cyclical; in

Valley and Old Oak Vineyards.

“Our wine list in the restaurant is over

try and change it as often as we can, so it gives us flexibility to trade between the venues and see what works.

“There are certain wines in our

restaurant that people come in for time

and time again, they love them so much,

so we have put some of those wines in the shops as well.”

Despite the acknowledgment that it’s

Director Matthew Hennings says:

“It’s a tough decision but it’s the right 60 years we’ve closed four shops and opened six, so these things happen.”

Hennings explains the

company failed to reach a suitable agreement with

the landlord to renew the

Chichester lease but adds that the decision was also driven

by factors including business

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 4

rates, traffic issues and parking problems.

“Our retail business in Petworth and

Pulborough has been doing incredibly well and the website has grown exponentially,” he says. “But general high street locations are tough because of the costs involved.

Footfall in places like Chichester has been in decline for four or five years.”

One member of staff is moving on to

a sommelier position in London and the

other members of the Chichester team are being “recycled” into other roles, so no redundancies have been made.

Hennings does not rule out a return

to high street retailing in the future

but for now intends to focus on the two remaining shops and online business.

There are also plans to redevelop part of the Pulborough headquarters to accommodate

a “tasting and

educational space” as well as a retail

element, subject to

planning approval.

Bacchus Aiming to ape success in Sussex

Storming back into Conwy store

Wine trade veteran Marc Wise, co-

Blas ar Fwyd in Conwy will soon be able

founder of Planet of the Grapes, has left

to reclaim its wine shop and start a re-

London to open 9 Vines in the affluent

fit after the damage inflicted by Storm

Withdean area of Brighton.

Ciara in February 2020.

The wine merchant and enoteca can

accommodate up to 30 people on tables across two floors and outside on the terrace.

Quiche, local Sussex cheeses and

charcuterie are served with house and high-end wines, and craft beer on tap.

Rathfinny Sussex fizz is sold at £7 a

glass, and £38 a bottle, and Heidsieck

Champagne is priced at £9 a glass and £53 a bottle, including corkage.

Wise currently has a 770-strong wine

selection, which he sources from 30

suppliers including Graft and Liberty

Wines, hence the strong presence of top Italian producers such as Fontodi and

Owner Deiniol ap Dafydd has some

exciting developments in mind which

include quadrupling the size of the retail

area. “There are two flats above the shop,” he explains “and both stairwells come

down to the belly of the store, so the plan is to demolish the buildings out the back

and have a new build that will give external access to the flats. That leaves us with an extra 100 square metres in the shop.”

Since the storm damage, the team have

been able to operate from their licensed

café/bar, which is just over the road from the main shop.

• Wendover independent No 2 Pound

Miani and high-end Piedmont wines.

Street is hoping to gain permission for

old Bordeaux and Champagne vintages

with the help of a Covid recovery grant.

remains confident in his decision to

and educational purposes, including the

Wise says his point of difference is the

sheer range of quality wine together with

longer opening hours in an enlarged sales area, a project that has been made possible

bought at auction, such as 1947 Ayala.

The new space, in a barn adjoining the

eschew online sales and wholesaling.

screening of films.

Since opening last November, Wise

existing premises, would be used for tasting

Marc Wise at the Brighton premises

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 5

Model wine merchants

Fashion model and wine merchant are job titles not often seen together, or at least not on the same CV. We’re not implying it’s impossible: after all, there is proof in these very pages (or maybe in previous issues) that there are many fresh-faced purveyors of wine in the indie community. It’s just unlikely.

Unless you happen to be Natalie John and Xhulio Sina, the owners of Bottle Bar & Shop in Catford. The couple recently appeared in a campaign for high-street fashion chain White Stuff.

They are pictured in their bar looking very natural and relaxed. There’s even some candid “hands in pocket” and “adjusting collar” shots of Xhulio working a mint green jacket, both classic poses straight from modelling 101.

Will the photogenic duo be swapping Catford for the catwalk any time soon?

We don’t think so. It looks very much like it’s business as usual with the couple welcoming back customers to the bar to enjoy their handcrafted cocktails.

There really should be a joke here about not getting up for less than £10k a day, but we all know that wine merchants aren’t in it for the money.

Second to Nun

Talking of filthy lucre, during our recent Wines from Spain tasting the chat among our indie guests inevitably turned to the ridiculously good value offered by sherry. On such occasions, it’s wine trade law to ask: is this the best-value fine wine in the world?

It wasn’t always the case, a fact proved in a 1961 price list unearthed by Birmingham merchant Chris Connolly from the family archive.

Back in those glory days, a Midlands artisan with 17 shillings to splash out could choose between Blue Nun, the house fino or, er, a bottle of Léoville Barton 1955.

In the post-apocalyptic landscape of 2021, expect a six-year-old LB to set you back £90 or thereabouts, while a standard fino will cost nearer £10 – which is only £5 more than an empty bottle of Blue Nun was being offered for on eBay as we went to press.

WBC prizes on their way to three eagle-eyed winners Thank you to everyone who took

First prize

the time to enter the WBC spot-the-

The Seriously Good Wine Company in

difference competition we ran in the May issue.

Top marks to everyone who spotted all

the differences, especially the fiendishly tricky ones involving Chris Connolly’s sunglasses and hatband.

Lyme Regis is the lucky winner of the BRIX dark oak single wine wall worth £1,200 (pictured right).

Second prize

Doddington Hall Farm Shop in Lincolnshire is the recipient of £250 worth of WBC’s acclaimed Pulpsafe transit packaging.

Third prize

The Secret Cellar in Forest Row, East

Sussex wins 4 x 6 bottle wooden postable WBC wine hampers with transit outers.

Watch this space for more competitions very soon.

NOT YOU AGAIN!

customers we could do without

© Krakenimages.com / stockadobe.com

24. Candeece Frisbett … did you read what I put in my Tripadvisor review? One star, and I would have given it zero if I could … I warned the owner at the time I was gonna do it … I mean we’d been there long enough to get through four bottles of pink Champagne and at no point during that time did they tell us we was “too loud” or “bothering other guests” … then to add injury to insult the bloke has the cheek to add five quid for each bottle we’d had, which took the price up to, like, 27 quid a bottle … and to charge us for the little bowls of nuts and olives, and bread and cheese and water, which we assumed was all free, and we didn’t even drink any of the friggin’ water … so we refuse to pay and he arks us to leave, and kind of does that eye-rolling thing, like this … and so I give him both barrels, tell him he’s a rip-off merchant and that you can get Prosecco for less than half that in Tesco Express, which is about two doors away … anyway, we all storm out, Katrina’s in tears, Collette ladders her tights squeezing between the tables … and then, oh my god, when we go back the next Friday, he tells us “no groups of more than eight” and don’t let us in! I’d give him zero if I could, I’m not even joking …

Supplier of wine boxes and literature • 12 Bottle mailing boxes with dividers from £1.69p each • 6 Bottle mailing boxes with dividers from £0.98p each • 12 Bottle carrier boxes with dividers from £0.99p each Prices are subject to VAT • Delivery not included

01323 728338 • sales@eastprint.co.uk • www.eastprint.co.uk

Congratulations to the five Wine

Merchant reader survey respondents

whose names were drawn at random

AM ANAand TIaMCoravin, GRwho E courtesy of each win

partner Hatch Mansfield.

Can you unscramble theour names of these Spanish wine regions? If so, you win a Land Rover Discovery song.

Peter Fawcett, Field & Fawcett, York

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 6

1. Ruddier Earlobe Anthony Borges, The Wine Centre, 2. Rap Trio Great Horkesley, Essex 3. Co-op Beard Jam Ristanovic, 4.Zoran Latrine Queue City Wine Collection, 5. Acclaims Anal Halt London

Mark Matisovits

Daniel Grigg, Museum Wines, Dorset Riaz Syed, Stonewines, London

The Wachau is on the winners’ itinerary

© Austrian Wine / Robert Herbst

Win an autumn trip to Austria Three lucky independents can win trips to Austria in a competition organised by Austrian Wine.

To be in with a chance of winning, indies

must correctly answer the eight multiplechoice questions opposite, and organise

some kind of Austrian wine promotion that they promote in-store and/or online under the banner It’s Austrian Wine Time.

Flying from Heathrow on the morning of

QUIZ QUESTIONS 1. What proportion of grape varieties in Austria are white? (a) 87%

(b) 77%

(c) 67%

2. Zweigelt is the most widely planted red variety in Austria. How many

September 6, our winners will spend time

hectares does it account for?

scheduled for the evening of September 8.

3. Which two grapes are thought to be the parents of Grüner Veltliner?

in the Danube regions, focusing on Vienna and Lower Austria. Return flights are Answering the quiz questions will

require a little bit of time and effort. Some of the answers can be unearthed at www.

(a) 6,426ha

(b) 5,425ha

(a) Traminer and St. Georgen

(c) 4,425ha

(b) Traminer and Pinot Gris

(c) Riesling and St. Georgen

austrianwine.com/its-austrian-wine-

4. What is meant by the term Riedenwein?

time, where you can also find useful assets

(a) A wine aged for at least 18 months in barrel

symbols and video content that have been

5. What is the synonym for Chardonnay used in the Steiermark?

winemerchantmag.com and include

6. What are the permitted varieties for single-vineyard wines in the

to make your Austrian wine promotion come to life, including various photos, designed for web and social media.

Email your answers to claire@

details of your ideas for your Austrian

(b) A single-vineyard wine

(c) A wine made organically but not officially certified as such

(a) Sylvaner Jubiläumsrebe

(b) Morillon

(c) Bouvier

Wachau DAC?

promotion. All entries must be received by

(a) Grüner Veltliner and Riesling

June 30. Good luck!

(c) Chardonnay and Grüner Veltliner

T&Cs: UK-based independent wine merchants only.

One entrant per business. Entrants must be available to travel on September 6 2021 from Heathrow, returning on September 8. No alternative flights will be offered and flights may only be transferred to another member of staff by prior arrangement with the promoter (Austrian Wine). No cash alternative. Winners will be selected by the promoter and no correspondence will be entered into.

7. What is a Heuriger?

(b) Riesling and Roter Veltliner

(a) The distinctive red and white cap design on Austrian wines (b) A popular Styrian dish made with chicken in breadcrumbs (c) A traditional tavern selling the owner’s wine and food 8. What was Austria’s first DAC region and when was it established? (a) Südsteiermark, 2000

(b) Vulkanland, 2014

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 7

(c) Weinviertel, 2002

a new generation for quinta das carvalhas Quinta das Carvalhas is owned by historic Real Companhia Velha (RCV), a Portuguese family company, dedicated to producing wine in the Douro Valley for three generations.

Real Companhia Velha, founded in 1756, was originally the regulatory body for the port industry responsible for the creating the appellation for the Douro Valley. The company was acquired by port tycoon Manuel da Silva Reis in 1960, who already owned Quinta das Carvalhas, making this iconic estate RCV’s base and home to its premium wines.

Today, the company is run by Manuel’s son Pedro, who for the past 20 years has focused on making premium Douro DOC wine and ports.

Pedro Silva Reis, part of the third generation, is the first winemaker in the family. He says: “Our ambition lies on producing great wines and ports at our estates, through a full understanding of our vines and terroir.

Quinta das Carvalhas will always be our true reflection of tradition and excellence.”

I

t’s not easy being a winemaker in the Douro Valley’s Cima Corgo region with its mountainous vineyards, schist soils, cold rainy winters, dry and mild springs, and intensely hot and dry summers.

Yet it’s those challenges that make its ports and table wines special. As Pedro Silva Reis, winemaker at Quinta das Carvalhas, says: “It’s all about the terroir.”

Silva Reis guided Wine Merchant readers through a number of wines from its Quinta das Carvalhas property in a recent Zoom tasting. Here he shares some of the highlights.

Carvalhas Branco 2018 “We work only with indigenous varieties.

This is a 60-40 blend of Viosinho and Gouveio. Viosinho shows great aromatic intensity, volume on the palate and vibrancy. Gouveio adds mineral texture and a huge amount of acidity that make this wine linger. It’s a perfect marriage but it requires barrel ageing to give volume and flavour development.”

Quinta das Carvalhas Red Blend 2017 “The Douro has always been about blends.

Tinta Roriz is very green, Touriga Nacional give us joyfulness and fruit, and Touriga

Franca gives us complexity. Most of our reds are aged in stainless steel which gives us a crisp, fresh, vibrant style, but we like to give this a little bit more complexity by using big vats made from used French oak to round up the tannins, but maintain the lighter character of a red Douro wine.”

Quinta das Carvalhas Touriga Nacional 2017 “We are big fans of Touriga Nacional.

This is made with 70% of grapes planted on north-facing slopes, and 30% from southern slopes at more or less 200m of altitude. We are focused on its varietal

character: violet flower, delicate citrus notes, and from the warmer plots a bergamot, citrus and quince character. We want to get the best of both sides.”

Carvalhas Old Vines 2017 “It’s a classic field blend with more than 25 varieties, including 100-year-old vines.

We tread it with our feet as our ancestors did. That allows us constant but not harsh extraction of aroma, flavours and tannins which allows us to make a rich, complex wine without any over-flavours.”

Quinta das Carvalhas LBV 2016 “We age in oak for a little bit longer, for four to six years, to make it smoother and a bit more developed. The future of port relies a lot on LBV for an easy-drinking style and accessible pricing. It’s an everyday option for vintage port lovers.”

Quinta das Carvalhas Colheita 1976 “It’s a superb example of how port wine can age in cask. We’ve got citrus, a little bit of honey, dried fig, classic colheita notes – not overpowering, but still super-intense and with a beautiful acidity. That’s very important in port wine. This doesn’t need to be aged any more in bottle. You might get a little bit more of dry finish but it wouldn’t be as joyful as it’s showing now.”

Feature sponsored by Real Companhia Velha. Quinta das Carvalhas wines are imported in the UK by Alliance Wine. For more information visit realcompanhiavelha. pt or alliancewine.com

South-facing vineyards at Quinta das Carvalhas. Photo by Bartłomiej Kieżun

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 8

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 9

Rising Stars

Ioannis Nikolaidis Diogenes the Dog, Elephant & Castle

S

unny Hodge first met Ioannis when they worked at Gaucho, where Sunny says he trained him as a host “with enormous difficulty at the beginning!”

But now Ioannis has worked hard to overcome the “culture clash” he’d previously encountered and put his personality to the fore.

“Ioannis is so good with people and building relationships,” says Sunny. “He does it so naturally and gracefully. We’re set to open a new site this year in Battersea and now more than ever I need a team that live and breathe what we do. Ioannis has been a massive part of making sure that our regulars and new people are loved.”

After seven years at Gaucho, which sparked his love of working with wine, Ioannis joined Sunny at Diogenes just nine months ago and is now an assistant manager.

“He started off as one of the weaker candidates within the bar and for the first four months it was quite tricky for him but now he is flying. I think he felt he wasn’t quick enough and he didn’t have the wine knowledge. He ‘Giving people that wonderful experience has taken a lot in from our learning and studied at home so he knows that he has a competitive for two hours and making them feel special advantage to the sommeliers working is definitely the best part of my job’ underneath him”, explains Sunny.

“His guest relations continue to be phenomenal. He has the ability within seconds he always thought he’d settle back in Greece, he sounds of meeting someone to be able to make them determined to continue his journey with Diogenes. He says: his best friend, and our reviews, which have always been “I’m not the sort of person who does very long-term plans good, are consistently coming in mentioning him by name.” but in a few years’ time I hope to still be here with Sunny Ioannis admits that his extrovert personality can be and working within the wine world. My interest right now easy to hide behind. “That is the go-to for me when I’m is to open the second site and see where that takes us.” in trouble,” he says. “I can always be adorable and solve everything, but working with friends, you want to make them proud. Sunny is a very hard-working individual, he is always here and always working harder than any of us and so you really want to make sure that you are at the same level.

“He has taught me a lot and put a lot of effort into training me and I’m happy that I have achieved so much here.

“Being Mediterranean it is very natural to fall into the hospitality industry – it’s what we do. For me, giving people that wonderful experience for two hours and making them feel special is definitely the best part of my job.”

Although Ioannis says that he didn’t intend to stay in London for so long (it’s now 11 years since he arrived) as

Ioannis wins a bottle of Artazu Pasos de San Martín 2016 If you’d like to nominate a Rising Star, email claire@winemerchantmag.com

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 10

TRIED & TESTED

Domaine de la Creuze Noire Les Chataigniers Mâcon-Fuissé 2020

Jammy Monkey Shiraz 2020

White wine fatigue is a serious problem and, for just £5

world and, to celebrate the birth of one at Taronga zoo

a month, you can help people like us who are afflicted

by it. Or spend the money on this instead. A wine that

crackles on the tongue, with a vortex of elusive flavours.

Peaches. Honeysuckle. Toast. Was that marzipan?

Maybe nougat? A fun guessing game for all the family.

RRP: £14.99

ABV: 13%

Daniel Lambert Wines (01656 661010)

There are just 3,000 Francois Langur monkeys in the in Sydney, with a reported fondness for grapes that

struck a chord with Victoria winemaker Andrew Peace,

this easy-going, medium-bodied Shiraz was created. It’s

full of plum, black cherry and spice – and thankfully not much jam.

RRP: £8.99

ABV: 14%

Moreno Wines (020 7289 9952)

daniellambert.wine

morenowines.co.uk

Olivier Coste Rare Carignan Blanc 2020

Pagos del Galir Mencia 2018

Labelled Vin de France simply because no appellation

founded in 2002 and acquired by CVNE in 2018. This

recognises Carignan Blanc as a signature grape –

hardly surprising given there are only 250ha of the

variety, most of which are in the Languedoc, the home of this intriguing example. Tightly wound, with flinty

edges, it’s a wine that will delight in dividing opinion.

RRP: £12.49

ABV: 12.5%

Hallgarten & Novum Wines (01582 722538)

Located in Galicia’s Valdeorras DO, Virgen del Galir was is one of those wines that pretty much seems to pour

itself into your glass and disappear before you’ve had time to properly make its acquaintance. Sumptious

red fruit, glossy tannins and gentle spice from time in American oak all add to its crowd-pleasing appeal.

RRP: £16.05

ABV: 14%

Hatch Mansfield (01344 871800)

hnwines.co.uk

hatchmansfield.com

Babylonstoren RHS Mourvèdre Rosé 2021

Pazo Torrado Albariño 2020

If you’re wondering what’s the official rosé of this year’s

eight growers in Rías Baixas specialising in Albariño.

Chelsea Flower Show, it’s this creation by Charl Coetzee in Franschhoek. Creamy, with raspberry notes, it’s rather like a Victoria sponge in wine form, though that’s not to imply any superfluous sweetness. There’s a neat line of acidity to keep the rounder elements in check.

RRP: £14.90

ABV: 13%

Babylonstoren UK (07548 496850)

Pazo Torrado is part of Terra de Asorei, a collective of This one ticks all the boxes that lovers of the style

would want to see – the lemony zippiness, the ripe peachy fruit and the marine tang on the finish. It

manages to do all this for less than 14 quid, making it a strong contender for any summer mixed case.

RRP: £13.99

ABV: 12.5%

Daniel Lambert Wines (01656 661010)

babylonstoren.com

daniellambert.wine

Cantine di Marzo Greco di Tufo 2019

Akemi Rioja Blanco 2017

Greco di Tufo is a style that seems to be developing a

chef Félix Jiménez and Bodegas Ontanon, the aim

devoted following on these shores and this is a wine that can only add to that momentum. Lees ageing

adds a softness to the more angular minerality, though the fruit itself seems naturally generous. A savoury wine for foodies, with cool mountain freshness.

RRP: £16.99

ABV: 13%

Marcato Direct (07900 115372) marcatodirect.co.uk

A joint project between Riojan-born Michelin starred being to create a wine that pairs perfectly with

Japanese cuisine. Sadly we were just out of puffer

fish sashimi when we sampled this but, even so, we

enjoyed the firm, dry, chalky charms of the Viura, with its understated fruit and moderate acidity.

RRP: £13.99

ABV: 12.5%

Moreno Wines (020 7289 9952) morenowines.co.uk

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 11

ight ideas r b

23: Create an own-label beer

James Halliday South Downs Cellars, Lindfield and Hurstpierpoint

In a nutshell …

beer to taste like and what alcohol strength

Partner up with a local brewery to create

and colour we wanted, and we relied on

your own, exclusive product.

them to produce the product. It’s a risky concept but it goes back to the fact that

Tell us more.

their label is also on the bottle. They are

“We have a Best Bitter, a Pale Ale and

going to make sure they are going to come

an American Pale Ale. They are all

up with the best beer possible to match

collaborations with local breweries and

our brief. It’s not a contract brew, it is a

they are all very much what you would

true collaboration and all the breweries

traditionally drink in your local, good

have put more time and love into each beer

quality Sussex pub. The trio look really

because of that.”

good on the shelf together although it is

Is it selling well?

a range that has grown organically since

our first one in 2017. It is not a lot cheaper than buying a beer directly from the

brewery, but the added value to us is that it

is completely exclusive. It’s our beer, no one else has got it, so from a wholesale point of

“All three beers are modern classics”

view we will never be undercut and from

and we wanted it to be a really bright

margin on it, which for beer is quite high.”

Talk us through the process.

a retail perspective we are proud to sell

it. We probably make an extra 5% to 10% Whet our tastebuds with your latest addition to the line-up.

“All three beers are modern classics and

with this APA the twist is that we wanted a bit more fresh piney-ness, a bit of a

citrus hop character coming through but still with that classic maltiness. It’s crisp and refreshing but with that iconic APA

bitterness. The colour was really important

amber and gently carbonated.”

“It goes into quite a few of our wholesale accounts as their main bottled beer. On

the shelf, the die-hard Harveys fans would enjoy it and equally the customers that

may be edging towards something a bit

more crafty from Sussex, like Burning Sky, would love it.”

Are you brewing up any more ideas?

“Normally I would be able to visit the

“I’d like to do a coffee stout, which might be

had to rely on doing things over the phone.

That would be a much smaller brew and

brewery to taste but obviously this year

has been a bit more difficult and we have

When you work regularly with a brewery,

or a winery, you build up that level of trust and a relationship. You know what style of

product you can both work with. We had to do it a bit back to front this time so I gave them a tasting note of what I wanted the

a three-month project because of sourcing the perfect coffee and the right recipe.

probably not as profitable but definitely

interesting to do. Our 20th birthday is in

2023 and I’d quite like to have some sort of barrel-aged beer using some local Sussex

wine yeast. We play around with ideas all the time.”

James wins a WBC gift box containing some premium drinks and a box of chocolates.

Tell us about a bright idea that’s worked for you and you too could win a prize.

Email claire@winemerchantmag.com

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 12

Our trophy winners for 2021

T

his year’s Wine Merchant Top 100 saw a record number of entries of

924 wines from all over the world,

in countless varieties and styles and at all price points.

The Top 100 supplement, featuring the

winners and all 386 highly commended

wines, will be published and sent out with the July issue of The Wine Merchant.

Meanwhile here are the trophy winners

Best Sweet White

Best Value Dry White Trophy

Klein Constantia Vin de Constance,

Bodegas Manzanos Finca Manzanos

Constantia, Western Cape 2017 (£60, Mentzendorff)

Tempranillo Blanco, Rioja 2020 (£10.99, Alliance Wine)

Best Rosé Trophy

Best Value Sweet White Trophy

Domaine Lafran Bandol Rosé, Provence

De Bortoli Deen Vat 5 Botrytis, Riverina

Best Red Trophy

Best Value Rosé Trophy

2019 (£20.99, Boutinot)

2017 (£9.29, North South Wines)

for this year. Congratulations to them all.

Marco Abella Mas Mallola, Priorat 2018 (£27.50, Vindependents)

Adega Ponte Lima Rosé, Vinho Verde 2020

Best Sparkling Trophy

Best Fortified Trophy

Best Value Red Trophy

Devaux D Rosé Aged 5 Years, Côte des Bar,

Sandeman 40 Year Old Tawny (£156, Liberty Wines)

Domaine du Pré Baron Touraine Gamay,

Best Dry White Trophy

Best Value Sparkling Trophy

Best Value Fortified Trophy

Bouchard Beaune Clos St Landry 1er Cru

Champagne Taittinger Nocturne Sec,

Gonzalez Byass Leonor Palo Cortado, Jerez

• Julia Jenkins, Flagship Wines, St Albans

• Hannah & Sadie Wilkins, Vineyards of

• Simon Evans, The Naked Grape, Hampshire

Sherborne, Dorset

• Patrick Rohde, Stuart Smith, Kirsty McEwan,

• Polly Gibson, GrapeSmith, Hungerford

• Philip Amps, Amps Wine Merchants,

Aitken Wines, Dundee

• Noel Young, Noel Young Wines, Cambridge

Oundle

• Kenneth and Henry Vannan, Villeneuve

• Maxwell Graham-Wood, Satchells of

• Louisa Fitzpatrick, Old Chapel Cellars,

Wines, Peebles & Edinburgh

Burnham Market, Norfolk

Truro

• Alexis Teillay, Cellar Door, House of

• Daniel Grigg, Museum Wines, Dorset

• Shumana Palit, Ultracomida, Aberystwyth

Townend, Hull

• Tom Martin, The Wine Library, London

• Kiki Evans & Laura Ward, Unwined in

• Duncan McLean, Kirkness & Gorie, Orkney

• Marty Grant, Corkage, Bath

Tooting, London

• Steve Tattam & Whilmari Swift, Winyl, Essex

• Mike Oldfield, M&M Vintners, Evesham

• Jane Taylor, Dronfield Wine World,

• Michael Boniface, No 2 Pound Street,

• Rob Hoult, Hoults, Huddersfield

Dronfield

Wendover, Buckinghamshire

• Richard Everton, Bottles Wine Bar &

• Phoebe Weller, Valhalla’s Goat, Glasgow

• Marc Hough & Jodie Pollitt, Cork of The

Merchants, Worcester

• Grant Berry, Yapp Brothers, Warminster

North, Manchester

• Bruce Evans, Grape & Grain, Devon

• Paul Morgan, Fourth & Church, Brighton

• Graeme Woodward & Michael Jelley,

• Jefferson Boss, Barry Starmore, Sarah Hatton,

• Ted Sandbach & Emily Silva, The Oxford

Grape Minds, Oxford

Virginia Myers, Hannah Ford, Starmore Boss,

Wine Company, Oxford

• Alastair & Teresa Wighton, Alteus Wines,

Sheffield

• Louise Peverall & Bruno Etienne, La Cave

Crowborough

• Francis & Patricia Peel, Harry Baines, Mark

de Bruno, London

• Alex Griem, Chilled & Tannin, Cardiff

Motley, Whitebridge Wines, Stone, Staffs

• John Barnes, The Flying Cork, Bedford

• Alan Wright, The Clifton Cellars, Bristol

• Anne Harrison, Wine Down, Isle of Man

• Tom Flint, Jug & Bottle Dept, Worthing

Champagne (£72.99, Liberty Wines)

Monpole 2015 (£66.99, Fells)

Thanks to this year’s judges

Champagne NV (£44.15, Hatch Mansfield)

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 13

(£8.99, Ehrmanns)

Loire 2019 (£10.99, Boutinot)

NV (£18.50, Gonzalez Byass UK)

Six Spanish wines for summer David Williams selected some personal favourites that were recently sampled by indies in a Wine Merchant webinar

S

pain’s pronounced regional differences were in the spotlight

in a virtual masterclass hosted by our own David Williams in conjunction with Wines From Spain.

Catalunya resident Williams took participants on a tour that

started in his adopted region, moving on the lesser-known corners of Galicia and the Canary Islands before alighting on more familiar terrain in Jerez and Rioja.

All are connected by strong cultural traditions that are played

out in varied approaches to cultivating grapes and making wine.

“The story of Spanish wine in the last 20 years has been a

rediscovering of pride in local traditions,” says Williams, “with

producers embracing their own terroir and grape varieties and really starting to make wines that express and reflect that.”

The tour kicked off in Lanzarote where El Grifo Malvasía Seco

Colección harks back to the Canary Islands’s fortified sack wines of the 15th and 16th century.

“There was no phylloxera there, so you find very old vines and

an unusual mix of grape varieties that you won’t get anywhere else,” Williams says.

“This is a blend from three vineyards planted in the 1960s,

1970s and 1990s. It’s sourced from 300 growers from 600 sites, so we’re talking micro-plots.

“The vineyards are covered in black volcanic ash. It’s only 60 or

70 miles from the coast of Morocco, so it’s a very humid, hot area,

but the vineyards tend to be planted at high altitude which allows some sort of balance.

“You can get wilder, more exotic wines from Lanzarote, but I like

it as an introduction to the nervy acidity which I love about wines from there.”

Next stop was a geographic leap to the far north east and Galicia

where there is, says Williams, “a whole cluster of trends and grape varieties that is a completely different culture”.

Manuel Formiga Teira X is a blend built on Treixadura from the

Ribeiro DO which bears comparison with Vinho Verde.

“It’s got a lovely rich, almost exotic, fruit quality, with just hints

of herbiness, and a bay leaf character, a twist of fleshy fruit, great length and silky texture,” Williams says. “It’s a seriously lovely wine.

“In the last 10 years we’re seeing some really fascinating wines

being made,” he adds. “Serious winemakers are coming in and really making the most of the terroir, local grape varieties and making wines on a much more sensitive, expressive level.”

Celler del Roure in the Valencia DO in south eastern Spain

is, says Williams, “one of my favourite producers in the whole

country and one of the best-value fine wine estates in the world”.

Celler del Roure winemaker Pablo Calatayud is key figure in

the local Bobal renaissance. His Celler del Roure Safrà (Alliance Wine) is made from the little-known Mando grape and described

by Calatayud as an example of “modern ancient” winemaking.

Williams adds: “It’s modern techniques of very limited, hands-

off viticulture and winemaking, and the use of clay vessels. He’s

just making these very distinctive but beautifully fluent wines that really stand out.

“There’s a little pleasing seasoning of pepper and just enough

tannins to keep you interested, but they’re a little bit dusty, chalky, which makes it great with food.”

U

p the coast in Catalunya is where some of the better known emergent Spanish regions of recent years are to be found, such as Priorat and Montsant. Empordá has flown more

under the radar and is where former El Bulli sommelier David

Seijas Vila and architect and business partner Guillem Sanz make their Gallina de Piel wines, including Roca del Crit (Liberty Wines).

“They go round looking for parcels of interesting grapes to make

really great wines,” says Williams. “They’ve got wines in Penedès, Galicia, Calatayud in Aragón, and this from Empordá.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 14

“It’s a blend of grapes from two sites, one of which is a young-

ish Garnacha vineyard, blended with wine from an 80-year-old Cariñena vineyard. It’s a lovely wine.”

Williams says the high concentration of world class restaurants

in Catalunya has focused many producers on wines to complement top-drawer contemporary cuisine.

“You can see with this that they are people who have come at

it from a food angle because the acidity is so good. It’s a warm climate Mediterranean wine but it has a lovely balance: full of flavour, very evocative, but not weighty or tiring.”

The Rioja narrative of recent years has been about a battle

Williams notes that the pace of change is “slightly slower for

sherry than Rioja”.

He adds: “It still has to get over that perception that fortified

wines are heavy or difficult.”

Domecq Manzanilla NV is from the huge Gonzalez Byass stable.

“Their sherry portfolio is incredible in terms of the styles and

quality they maintain, even on big brands like Tio Pepe. This is a nice style of Manzanilla: saline, almonds, a nice fresh style, quite light – exactly what you want from a sherry on a warm evening.”

between tradition and modernism.

The 2021 Wines from Spain Annual Tasting programme

classic Rioja Reserva bodega recipe model with some really

available online at foodswinesfromspain.com/annual-tasting-2021.

can get wines that are really juicy, young and fresh but you can

Registration enquiries: winesfromspain@otaria.co.uk.

Marqués de Murrieta Reserva (Maisons Marques et

Domaines), Williams says, has a “real perfect harmony of the beautiful integrated fruit”.

He adds: “There are so many different styles in Rioja now. You

has included a series of digital tasting events. All webinars and masterclass videos, including this one with The Wine Merchant, are A live tasting will take place at One Great George Street on Tuesday, June 22 and Wednesday, June 23 (sit-down tasting format).

certainly get wines of similar style to Del Crit. You’ll get wines

made purely from Garnacha which have a more silky, red fruited style, almost Pinot Noir-like – but there’s still place for the more

traditional style. When it’s done well you realise making wine with oak is an art.”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 15

In association with

BITS & BOBS

Favourite Things

Wine, chocolate and lobsters imported into Britain from the US could face new tariffs under proposals from the British government to rebalance the list of goods it targets as part of an ongoing trade conflict around steel and aluminium.

Customs data show Britain imported

Hayley Steward Caviste, Hampshire

Favourite wine on my list

I am currently enjoying a fabulously vibrant Pinot Noir from Quinta de Sant’Ana in Lisboa. Crunchy red cherry, wild strawberries, orange blossom and subtle notes of toffee and spice; fine tannins with the perfect acidity to balance.

133,512 tonnes of wine from the

United States last year, worth £224m

(US$316.6m). Britain currently imports

more lobsters from the United States than it exports.

Reuters, May 24

Favourite wine shop

Eight Stony Street in Frome, Somerset.

It is great to see a thriving wine shop in my home town after years of not having a place to go to find niche quality wines from small independent growers and producers. Every time you go you’ll find something different to taste and experience. Good job, Kent Barker!

to his application on grounds that

“itinerants and some of the ‘others’” in the town will steal from him “if they get the slightest chance”.

Bucks Free Press, May 25

Next wine trend?

I don’t Bolivia Bolivian wine-growers in Tarija are continuing a centuries-old tradition in a bid to join the world stage with their

since Jesuit missionaries started the tradition in the 17th century.

The wine production is mostly

concentrated at an altitude of 1,600 metres to 2,000 metres. However, in hot Andean regions there are some crops as high as 3,000 metres.

The well-known Muscat of Alexandria

Favourite wine trip

Favourite wine trade person

But Thames Valley Police have objected

They have been growing grapes there

Favourite wine and food match

Graham Wharmby from Third Floor Wines, and Rebecca Ford from Boutinot – and really Boutinot as a whole, because they consistently have the right wines, at the right prices, with the right processes and ease of service.

the high street.

wines.

I would say that you can’t beat a slightly aged Albariño from Rías Baixas that has spent time on the lees, and perhaps a lick of old oak, with a crab linguine finished off with a touch of cream.

One that stands out was a recent (2019!) trip to Chablis. A fascinating experience to truly understand the region, beyond the books and 2-D maps, and all the nuances between the 1er and Grand Cru sites.

Magpie

UK braced for wine and lobster tariffs

grape, used in 70% of Bolivia’s wine crops, On the menu for US trade discussions

produces “sweet wines that are quite

aromatic”, according to Carla Molina Garcia, an independent sommelier.

Euronews, May 25

Market stall ‘will attract wine thieves’ At last, a celebrity An Italian wine merchant is facing launches rosé wine a backlash from the police over his

application to sell alcohol from a market

Post Malone has launched a rosé wine in

stall in High Wycombe, because they

time for the great British summer.

fear the venue will be an “easy target” for thieves.

Riccardo Amabile, of Durnsford Road,

in Bounds Green, London, has applied

for a review of a premises licence for his

wine-selling business, Amabile Since 1901, operating under the Guildhall arches, on

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 16

Malone, a Grammy Award-nominated

artist, collaborated with music manager Dre London and James Morrissey of

Global Brand Equities to come up with the pale pink wine, which was perfected by Provence winemaker Alexis Cornu.

The Independent, May 27

Pesquera founder Fernandez dies

?

THE BURNING QUESTION

How seriously do you take your window displays?

�

One of the towering figures of Spanish

They are hugely important because they entice people in. We normally theme them seasonally, so if it’s summer there’ll be a picnic theme with blankets and bunting. Easter will have bunnies and eggs, and we go all-out at Christmas. We feature some of the seasonal products that we want to sell alongside a range of props that we’ve bought over time.

wine has gone, with the death of Alejandro Fernandez, the founder of Ribera del Duero’s Tinto Pesquera.

Pesquera was an important pioneer in

”

the region and, alongside its neighbour

Vega Sicilia, it helped cement the region’s

Iain Allcott The Twisted Cellar, Bishop’s Stortford

reputation as a source of some of Spain’s

finest wines, winning plaudits and critical

acclaim the world over. Robert Parker once referred to the estate as “the Pétrus of the Duero”.

wine-searcher.com, May 26

Napoleon wine fetches £21,000

�

We change our window display according to what the next occasion is, so at the moment I have focused on Father’s Day. The suppliers have helped us in the past with props and POS. Raymond Reynolds are good at sending stuff, the big Niepoort cards in particular.

”

Kelli Coxhead The Wine Tasting Shop, Winscombe

An intense bidding session saw a single bottle of Grand Constance 1821 sell for £21,000, said the organisers of the Cape

�

We tend to change them about six times a year.

Usually I ask one of our more artistic members of staff to do the window but I was really proud of my last Christmas display, which I did on my own.

I created a bit of a bit of a winter wonderland with trees, snow, the sleigh, bottles of Champagne and all our gift packs. I’m not normally great at that kind of thing, but it was outstanding! I had loads of comments about it.

Fine & Rare Wine Auction.

“It’s a true unicorn wine,” said Charlie

Foley, an auctioneer at Christie’s who presided over the auction.

Organisers said a UK-based Christie’s

client bought the bottle, which is “perhaps

”

one of only 12 remaining in the world”.

It was once part of a case of the rare,

sought-after sweet wine destined to keep Napoleon company on his island prison of St Helena in the middle of the South

Kieran O’Brien Three Pillars Wine, Eccleshall

�

vineyard.

Decanter, May 24

To encourage footfall we normally have some good-value wines in the window. Tourists see you are a specialist and automatically think you are going to be pricey, so they might walk across the road to M&S. If we’ve got an A-board outside and local products and reasonably priced wines in the window, they will be more likely to pay us a visit. We don’t put anything too expensive in the window because we get a lot of sun and stock from the window is generally spoilt, so one of our accounts takes it as cooking wine.

• A bottle of French wine that orbited the

Simon Smith H Champagne winner H The Solent Cellar, Lymington

Atlantic ocean.

But Napoleon died on May 5, 1821, as

that year’s harvest was still ripening in the

”

earth for more than a year has been put up for sale. The bottle of Pétrus 2000 spent 14 months in orbit as part of a study. Christies estimates a sale price of £720,000.

Champagne Gosset The oldest wine house in Champagne: Äy 1584

BBC News, May 5

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 17

crowd pleasers H u d d e r s f i e l d i n d i e Kw a s n e e d s £15,000 to par t-fund its expansion project and move to a n e i g h b o u r i n g u n i t . I t ’s o n c o u r s e to hit its target thanks to a Crowdfunder campaign

By Claire Harries

Eder Gonzalez

“

these 100-plus supporters are future returning customers. it’s a good platform and people really want to buy into that

D

uncan Sime and partner Ola Dabrowska changed their way of working quite drastically over

lockdown. Now, to accommodate their flourishing

Huddersfield business, they are moving to bigger premises and raising the funds via Crowdfunder.

During the pandemic Kwas adapted to become a

grocery store while continuing to specialise in natural wines, craft beers and ciders.

The ban on hospitality meant there was enough room

for the additional produce but now more space is needed.

As Sime points out, “we don’t have the space to bring the bar back in the current unit”.

Luckily the pair don’t have to move far from their

home under the railway arches as they have secured the adjacent unit, which offers all the space they need.

To raise the capital required they have launched a

crowdfunding campaign. The couple have been pleasantly surprised by the enthusiastic response that has meant

they achieved 70% of their £15,000 target within the first week of going live.

“I thought we’d be edging towards five grand in a week,”

Sime says. “I never expected this.

“It has reached a plateau now but to keep up the

momentum we have been advised to tweet regularly, update our Instagram stories and keep adding new

rewards to keep people interested. It’s quite relentless but there is no other way of doing it, really.”

Sime explains that the business came up with a small

number of very high-end rewards quite speculatively, but

it’s paid off as the “mega party” for £1,000 and the private hire for £500 were both immediately snapped up.

“The mega party was taken by another local bar and

it’s for their staff Christmas party, so they’ll take that

in December. Some regular customers have said they

wanted some rewards that have sold out so we’re putting together bespoke packages for them.”

With Crowdfunder there is the option to set up the

fund to collect pledges regardless of whether the target is

reached but Sime says they had been told it was “better to do the all-or-nothing option”.

S

o is there a contingency plan in place, just in case the fund falls short?

“We don’t get the money unless it reaches £15,000,

so yes, there are a couple of people lined up to take it

over the limit,” he says. “The full cost of the expansion is £25,000 and we have £10,000 already. Also, a customer

has offered to invest the full £15,000 if the Crowdfunder doesn’t work, so that is on the back burner.

“It’s definitely happening, Crowdfunder or not. But

people want to be a part of it. Selling vouchers and

rewards brings people into the space to redeem them, so these 100-plus supporters are future returning

customers. It’s a good platform and people really want to buy into that.”

Kwas Two will open at the end of July and the extra

space will allow for a bigger seating area than before as

well as a permanent addition of the grocery store offering organic fruit and veg. Sime says they will also be able to

expand their KeyKeg offering to at least three or four reds and whites on refill. The shop will also sell fresh bread

and have a zero-waste refill station and a deli selection with food to eat in or take away.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 19

M

cHenry Hohnen’s head winemaker Jacopo Dalli Cani has a confession.

“Margaret River Chardonnay stole

my heart,” he says of his adopted region and the white varietal on which it has

established an international reputation for outstanding quality.

But the producer’s approach – making

tiny quantities of single-vineyard wines from small plots – shows that Margaret River Chardonnay is far from a single entity.

Wine Merchant readers were able to taste

the differences between its Calgardup Brook Chardonnay 2017, Burnside

Chardonnay 2017 and Hazel’s Vineyard Chardonnay 2015 (all RRP £28-£30) in a Zoom event with Dalli Cani, known to his Aussie mates as Japo.

Calgardup Brook is a limestone site with

compacted sand on top, only a couple of kilometres away from the Indian Ocean.

“It’s a small vineyard of less than two

hectares and a Dijon clone, where you see larger and smaller berries on the same

branch,” he says. “That gives you a peachy flavour on one hand and tight acid on the other.

“A distinctive character for Calgardup

is its salinity, which is partly from the

proximity to the ocean but also the soil type.

THE WESTERN FRONT Winemaker Jacopo Dalli Cani’s roots may be in northern Italy but it’s Australia’s Margaret River region that he calls home. He presented six wines from the acclaimed McHenry Hohnen range, all available through Louis Latour Agencies, for a group of UK wine merchants

“The winemaking is quite simple. It’s

really in getting the grapes to ripeness that all the effort goes. We handpick the grapes, whole-bunch press it and all the solids go straight into the barrel with the juice.

“It’s important to take all those solids to

make a wine that is a true representation of the vineyard.”

Dalli Cani says the Burnside Chardonnay

is “a step-up from Calgardup in terms of texture”.

He adds: “It’s on a river bend and the

soil is granitic with a clay deposit from the river that gives it a chocolate colour.

“It’s on a very steep slope, so we pick the

top levels earlier than the bottom and then select from each part of the vineyard the

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 20

exceptional barrels.

“This vineyard gives a little bit more

flintiness and a matchstick, sulphur

character, like you get with some producers in Burgundy.

“It’s not something we chase; it’s all part

of the philosophy of taking the nose to tail

Feature sponsored by Louis Latour Agencies For more information visit louislatour.co.uk or mchenryhohnen.com.au

of the juice.

“With age it develops a slight nuttiness

which is fascinating to see through the vintages.”

Hazel’s Vineyard is a certified

biodynamic site. “There are olive trees,

chickens, ducks, bee hives, dogs … people,” he says.

“We see it more as a farm, full of

biodiversity. The vines have an amazing ability to read that and translate it into

wines that have an extra gear and are more expressive. What we’re aiming for is more about character than perfection.

“This vineyard is 2-3˚C cooler than

Burnside or Calgardup. We pick a little bit

later and get very good acid retention. We

are trying to capture that coolness and sea breeze on the nose and the palate. I don’t want to make Chardonnays that are fruit bombs.

“Chardonnay is a variety that doesn’t

need a lot of winemaking. If you grow the

grapes in the right way, there’s no need to

have a heavy hand. The wine makes itself.”

H

azel’s Vineyard Zinfandel 2014 (RRP £25-£27) was one of a trio of reds presented by Dalli Cani. The

variety found a home in Margaret River

when co-founder David Hohnen took some cuttings back after studying in California.

“We can’t make it the way California can,”

Dalli Cani says. “We pick it a little bit earlier and retain a bit of acidity through it, which makes it age well.

“It’s a challenging variety to grow. You

need to have a degree of shrivel in the

bunch so it can be very hard to choose the right moment to pick.

concentrates the sugar but it concentrates

Rolling Stone 2014 (RRP £50-£60) is a

the acidity as well. A Margaret River take

Bordeaux blend where Cabernet is always

it.”

from vintage to vintage.

on Zinfandel is more medium-bodied than

California with a beautiful acid line through Hazel’s Vineyard GSM 2018 (RRP £23-

£25) is a blend of at least 85% Grenache,

with around 10% Syrah and the remainder Mataro.

“I love Grenache,” says Dalli Cani. “I really

like that spice and berry character and

that it is site-expressive in the same way as Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay.

“We hand-pick the fruit and leave the

grapes in whole clusters for almost the

whole maceration process – and then age it in large [used oak] casks.

“When you put Grenache in new oak you

lose the spice, the lift and the fragrance of the wine. It’s all about the spice with that

grip that the whole-bunch press can give.”

in the highest proportion, with Merlot,

Petit Verdot and Malbec quantities varying “It has the hallmark character of

Margaret River Cabernet. There’s a little bit of cassis and chocolate interaction, and you almost smell the gravel dust from the road through the vineyard.

“This is 40%-50% new oak and the fruit

can definitely handle that. The fruit is

starting to gain some nice complexity and

there’s a bit of cigar box character coming from the oak.

“Cabernet is so versatile. People think

it should be a big wine for long ageing but it’s such a pleasure to drink in its youth.

Margaret River Cabernet has got good fruit and such a plush mouthfeel that it’s very enjoyable at any time.”

MERCHANT FEEDBACK “All the wines were great – very elegant and astute use of oak in the Chardonnays, and lovely acidity.” – Charlotte Dean, Wined Up Here, Norbiton, south west London “My favourite in the tasting was the GSM, though the quality of their Chardonnay always stands out.” – Julia Jenkins, Flagship Wines, St Albans “Calgardup Brook was great, with a combination of the salinity, minerality, sweet spice and stone fruits. I found the oak very well balanced with the other elements. Red wine wise, the Rolling Stone stood out for me with its velvet texture and complexity, with tobacco, cocoa, floral and blackcurrant notes.”

– Charlotte Shek, Shekleton Wines, Stamford, Lincolnshire

“When a berry dehydrates it

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 21

JUST WILLIAMS

Maybe sherry’s decline has been overstated Sure, its sales are nowhere near the peak they achieved in the days of subsidies and a stampede for sweet, brown styles. But look carefully at the numbers behind the modern sherry industry and it’s possible that pessimism about the category is misguided, says David Williams

I

love sherry. And so, it seems, does everybody else in the wine trade.

Actually, I’d go further than that:

for years, now, the trade’s love of the

great Andalucían drink has operated like a vinous equivalent of the Freemason’s handshake: if you got an affirmative

response to an offer of manzanilla you

knew you were safe, among friends, nudge, nudge, say no more.

Of course, the only reason this secret

code worked is that everyone in the trade knew that nobody outside the trade

really liked the stuff. In the real world in

which most people can’t tell a solera from

industry a great disservice to measure

impossible to shift.

this was a completely different era, and

a Solero, sherry was hopelessly passé,

its stereotypically geriatric associations If there’s been a certain revelling in

the insider status conferred by sherry

connoisseurship, there’s also been a fair amount of wallowing in the idea that

any contemporary sales gains against the

standards of 40 years ago. In so many ways not just in terms of consumer taste and fashions.

the years that we’ve been trained to greet

T

classic Croft Cream Sherry ads of the 1980s.

50 million litres to more than 150 million

sherry can never get back to its glory days.

The false dawns have come so often over

any flickers of a revival with a knowing

laugh, eyebrows raised like Jeeves in the Lately however

I’ve come to grow

a little tired of this

world-weary posture.

It’s occurred to me that it comes from

an unrealistic view of what’s possible for a fortified

wine in the 21st

century. In my view, it does the sherry

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 22

he market conditions were

incomparable, too. Indeed, if you look at a graph of sherry sales

over the past century, you get a massive

post-war spike in the first 30 years from litres.

After that it’s like a chair’s been kicked

away, and the curve falls just as steeply

down, down, shedding sales all the way back down to 30 million litres.

As Ruben Luyten points out in a typically

incisive analysis of the numbers on his

indispensible Sherry Notes website, the end of the peak coincides with Spain’s

entrance to the EEC and the end of the

Spanish government’s generous subsidies to sherry producers, which had hitherto

Sales of dry styles have held up – and even grown

rather distorted the industry’s profitability

40 years: clearly, the industry, blinded and

performed exactly as hoped: providing the

but, as Luyten points out, that rather

find new drinkers.

and framework for marketing the region’s

and sustainability.

Thereafter things never really recovered,

depends on what you mean by “recover”.

Most of the sales lost were brazenly

bloated by years of easy success, was much too slow in trying to arrest the decline and

and which are certainly not missed by

B

contrast, held up. From time to time, they

the UK as lockdown hit last March; the

commercial sweet cream styles that were

never the greatest ambassador for sherry, serious sherry lovers.

Meanwhile, sales of the dry styles, by

even showed a modest improvement.

Sherry, on this reading, was in the midst

of reinventing itself, and coming to a more realistic understanding of its place in the

world. Panning back to a longer view of its history, the so-called sherry boom of the

mid-to-late 20th century was the outlier,

the historical anomaly; the more modest

returns sherry has now are the sustainable, realistic, historically consistent position.

All of which is not to provide excuses

or offer too panglossian an assessment

of what’s been going on in Jerez and the rest of the sherry triangle over the past

ut it does provide a better, more accurate background against

which to view the latest flickers

of a revival in the UK. Statistical flickers such as the 20% spike in sherry sales in Co-op’s 70% sales rise in its premium

sherry lines; Majestic’s jump of 75% last summer; and Waitrose’s 2020 growth of 20% for dry styles and 24% for sweet.

Not to mention the many anecdotal (and

Instagram) stories of sherry finding a place as a cocktail staple, a versatile food match and a lower-alcohol to brown spirits for late-night sipping.

And the fact is there is so much to

enthuse about in sherry at the moment.

The Consejo itself deserves credit for the

introduction of the aged categories of VOS

and VORS back in 2000, both of which have

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 23

classic bodegas, and discerning bottlers such as Equipo Navazos, with a pretext

greatest assets, those magnificent stocks of old wines.

But that’s only part of the story. The

focus on the “raw” en rama category, with

minimal filtration, pioneered by Barbadillo at the turn of the millennium, and taken up with aplomb by Tío Pepe and others

since, has given the manzanilla and fino

categories a new lease of life (literally given how “alive” those wines feel).

Then there is the arrival of celebrity

winemakers, such as Peter Sisseck and

Michel Rolland, both of whom now have sherry projects.

Their vocal endorsement – the zeal of the

newly converted – has done wonders for

propagating an idea that we sherry lovers

in the UK trade have long known all about: that great sherry isn’t a 1970s throwback, or some kitchy retro fad. As Sisseck says, “Without question, it’s Spain’s greatest white wine”.

Vermouth can be made in all sorts of places but its origins are in Piemonte, where Vermouth di Torino must be crafted to exacting standards under appellation rules. Scarpa vermouths are made more slowly than most, creating deep and complex flavours that impressed indies at a recent online tasting organised with The Wine Merchant

P

iemonte wine producer Scarpa

has something no one else has: an

unfiltered extra dry vermouth made

under the Vermouth di Torino appellation, the only such designation in Italy and one of only two in the world.

Though the vermouth-making tradition

dates back decades, Vermouth di Torino was enshrined in legislation as recently

as 2017, defining the area in which it can be made, the permitted base wines, and

the 70-something herbs and other plant ingredients from which it can be made.

Scarpa’s unfiltered extra dry joins more

conventional bianco and rosso styles in

terms of production is its slow extraction

agent Winetraders.

leaves, fruit and peel that go into making

the producer’s range and was created in

collaboration with Michael Palij MW of UK The producer and importer also teamed

up for a Zoom tasting for readers to explore the range and gain an insight into what makes Vermouth di Torino special.

“Vermouth is a term everyone can use

but it all stared in Piemonte,” says Palij.

“It’s a region with this ideal combination of base wine and a magical garden of ingredients.”

Scarpa’s main point of difference in

time to get the aroma and flavour from the numerous fresh or dried roots, flowers, its vermouth.

Each producer has its own closely

guarded recipe, though artemisia is the dominant ingredient.

At Scarpa, the extraction process lasts

for between 30 and 45 days, at ambient temperature, which helps produce

vermouths that retain their flavour and aroma for longer.

“The herbs and spices are ground by

Vermouth’s coming home THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 24

hand in an ancient coffee grinder. That

He also suggests serving it neat and

hasn’t changed for 150 years. Then they

using an atomizer to spray a little extra

key; the extraction is as slow as possible.

of the oil and the bitter grapefruit notes of

are soaked in wine and neutral spirit, with pumping over 24/7,” says Palij. “That’s the “Many other producers use extracts

rather than dried botanicals – or if they do

use dried botanicals, they heat the mixture and all those aromas don’t stay as long.”

The company also uses only DOCG

Piemonte wines – 100% Cortese for the

extra dry and Cortese with a maximum of

20% Moscato for the other two vermouths.

The colour difference between white

and red vermouths comes not – as is often assumed – from the colour of the base

wine. Both are made from white wine but the rosso takes its deeper shade from the

virgin olive oil on the surface, which

creates a marriage between the earthiness the vermouth.

“The bianco is probably the most

versatile of the three for cocktails,” adds Skinner Smith. “It hits so many notes.

There’s the grapefruit citrus that runs through most vermouths and then an

orange blossom character, and then sage and mint. It’s pulling you in so many different directions.

“With the rosso you’re not going to beat a

Negroni but any of the classic cocktails that

addition of caramelised sugar and the

darker colour of some of its natural plant ingredients.

“The real idea behind the extra dry

started through wanting to create a product that was easy for people to

understand, and an unfiltered vermouth was the answer. It has a haze that you

couldn’t have with industrial vermouths made with heat extraction.

made in an authentic way – and the genesis of the world’s first extra dry unfiltered Vermouth di Tornio.”

Scarpa’s Gregorio Ferro adds: “The

sugar content in the extra dry is only

vermouth and only around half of the other vermouths. It is more bitter: you can smell

grapefruit citrus and even some brine, like you get with olives.”

Edmund Skinner Smith of Winetraders

draws comparisons between the extra

dry and manzanilla sherry. “It’s got some

complex flavours but it’s also very mature.

It has mouthwatering bitterness but also freshness.

“It makes a great simple serve with tonic,

so it plays into the trend for lower-alcohol drinks, with the complexity that you’d

normally have to go to a 40% abv spirit to get, but with less than half the alcohol.”

“We sell a lot of vermouth as it is a focus for us. They form the base of the majority of our aperitivo cocktails, usually with gin, vodka, bourbon or sherry.

“I liked all of the Scarpa vermouths.

The extra dry has a great USP as an unfiltered bottling: super dry and bitter, which will be interesting for us in various twisted martini forms. We like vegetal and ‘dirty’ styles so this will work a treat.

“On the bianco front, a wetter martini plays on white negronis and a tall serve with tonic as an aperitif.

“The rosso, I want to think about a little.

The flavour profile of cola, dandelion and burdock and bitter orange is an automatic Negroni choice, but I think it may lend itself to something that showcases its flavour profile as a standalone ingredient a little more.

“All in all, a great range, with a great focus on regionality and a sense of place.”

Paul Morgan Fourth & Church, Hove

“That’s the proof for consumers that it’s

around 30g per litre which is quite low for

MERCHANT VERDICTS

use red vermouth, such as the Manhattan or the Martinez, are going to be elevated by this.”

He adds: “This is the time for vermouth.

People are ready for all that complexity and length but with a little less booziness.”

Palij says that the 2017 recognition for

Vermouth di Torino was long overdue.

“Italy has been at the forefront of so many viticultural and oenological innovations and seldom gets any credit for them,” he says. “Finally, vermouth is getting

the recognition it deserves – and that’s something to celebrate.”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 25

“Scarpa Vermouth di Torino bianco was my first choice because it’s easy to drink. The clear fruit and bitterness provided a good balance and I would really encourage my customers to try it as spritzer.”

Kenrick Bush Urban Cellar, London

Feature sponsored by Winetraders for more information visit www.winetradersuk.com or www.scarpawine.com Email michael@winetradersuk.com

A

lan Irvine is seated at the

counter of what might be, at

first glance, an antiques store

or perhaps an ancient apothecary. But

it’s actually a wine shop that opened as recently as last September.

There’s no IKEA shelving in sight at this

place, apparently a former ironmonger’s.

The fittings were “sourced on a tour of the

Glasgow antique shops,” Irvine reveals. “We picked up ornate furniture including some

of the old Singer machine stands. There’s a very Victorian theme to all the furniture.”

Milngavie (pronounced “mill guy”) is a

small town to the north west of Glasgow but effectively a suburb of the city. It’s

a very different sort of place to Stirling, about 30 miles away to the north east,

where the original shop opened in 2017.

The business, which is owned by Kevin

Moore, started out as an events company specialising in tastings before settling in

its own retail space. When the Milngavie

branch came on stream, Irvine – formerly part of the wholesale team at Alexander Wines and before that a Matthew Clark

account manager – was brought in as wine

Alan Irvine, Milngavie, May 2021

Stirling work pays off The success of The Scottish Gantry’s first shop has paved the way for a second, larger branch in Milngavie. Wine manager Alan Irvine explains how the sales mix has been evolving across the business, which is looking at options for further expansion

manager.

Originally from Bangor in Northern

Ireland, but a Scottish resident for 26

years, Irvine is based mainly at Milngavie

but also spends time in the Stirling branch.

What are you doing with the wine range and how has it evolved?

I came into the business in September. As

a result of Covid I lost my job at the start of July, and I knew the Scottish Gantry. I was

building up a consultancy service and I said to Kevin he could do with some wines here.

He had dabbled in it, but the main focus was more whisky.

I got involved when Kevin said the

Milngavie store was opening. When that opportunity presented itself, Kevin’s

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 26

view was that there is room to grow and

MERCHANT PROFILE

‘The general boxes were ticked so I’ve been working to be a wee bit more dynamic, a bit braver and more eclectic’

expand the wine section, so I’ve taken my

wholesale knowledge, knowing what’s out

there and the different regions, and looked

at all levels and price points. My aim was to put together something to offer something a wee bit different.

Before I arrived, the general boxes were

ticked so I’ve been working in terms of

being a wee bit more dynamic, a bit braver and more eclectic. We’ve also been able to

because there’s more space. If a customer

How much of the business comes from

more complex shop and we were restricted

about 45 minutes’ drive.

mostly ether gin or whisky and the online

expand the range. With two shops we have room to do it, whereas Stirling is a tighter, with the number of lines we can bring in.

We do have storage units so we can, if

is in Stirling and wants a bottle that is over here, we have a daily transfer service. It’s

About a fifth to a quarter, I’d say. It’s

Had the second shop been planned for

a monthly subscription. We’re currently

we need to, bulk purchase. There is a small

a while?

saying it’s dead in the water, but we’ll see

the group. I think if it wasn’t for Covid

wholesaling arm to the business, but with

The Stirling shop took off really well and

what happens.

there would [already] be a third shop.

Covid that has been on hold. We’re not

What kind of suppliers are you using?

The good thing about the wine trade is that everybody knows everybody. Especially up in Scotland, you know all the reps.

I wanted to see if I could give as many

people a chance as much as possible

because it’s a tough game out there and

having been on that side of it, I know how

online sales?

Kevin’s business aspirations are to expand There are gaps and there seems to be a

few more independents in Glasgow now.

So we’re looking to see what opportunities pop up. We’re all-encompassing: we’ve got beers, coffee, miniatures, gift sets,

glassware … it works. There’s more to it than just drink.

wine sales tend to be from the wine club, developing the website and online side.

What kind of place is Milngavie?

Milngavie is totally different to Stirling

demographically and, dare I say it, in terms of affluence as well.

Stirling is bigger, a typical town, and the

shop sits right in the heart of the town.

Stirling is definitely driven by the

Continues page 28

hard it is. I thought it was a chance for me to share the love, so there’s no reliance

on any particular supplier and there’s no

prerequisite for how many lines I need to have from anybody.

Have you been given a budget or do you follow your nose?

We have a good area of shelving space and

basically the remit is “as long as the shelves have wine on them”. We have constantly revolving stock. We’ve got deep filled cabinets.

Is the range identical in both shops?

It marries across both shops but it’s

a bigger selection at Milngavie purely

Fittings were sourced from a number of Glasgow antiques shops

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 27

MERCHANT PROFILE

From page 27

tourists. I would say business is half-andhalf tourists and core locals.

From a local perspective, we’re built

around the whisky club so wine has been one of the things that has been latterly developed. Predominantly whisky had

driven the shop in the beginnings. Tourists will expect to see a good, strong whisky range.

Milngavie is a much more close-knit

community and there is more of a village

mentality. The average age of the customer is older and that means that there is

The new-look Twickenham branch

probably a bit more money spent here.

You can drive to the centre of Glasgow

from here in about 20 minutes.

How have you been seeking out new wines in times of lockdown?

There’s been very little sampling of wine, I have to admit, but I think that has been down to timing and what’s been going

on. There have been one or two reps that have poked their heads through, but I

‘I want to give customers the chance to experience something from each corner of the world. We have Georgian wines, Japanese wines … and Canadian wine’

haven’t seen many at all. A lot of what

I have bought has been based on prior knowledge.

As a former rep yourself, how do you play things when one turns up in the shop?

I’m always pleased to see them as I know how hard it is. I try and be as fair as I can

with them if they have something exciting and they are really trying to push it.

It’s always good to find out what is going

on in the trade; if there’s anything you

are missing in terms of a trend and how

general sales have been. You know, if you

have had a bad week, and you are asking, “is it just me?”, you want to know what

it’s like for everyone else out there. The

reps can give you that bit of reassurance because they see it all.

“Aesthetics certainly play a part. Some people definitely buy with their eyes”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 28

THE SCOTTISH GANTRY

What wines are you most excited about

Holt from Barbadillo lined up for that.

reliant on it for work and are using it all

people that you are buying with purpose.

Zoom stuff once Covid retreats?

we’ll work out how to accommodate that.

detailing the story and encouraging people

can say “here, try this”. People are wanting

at the moment?

I think it’s important to demonstrate to

Do you think you will scale down the

For example we highlighted the troubles

I think experience is key and that for me is

to support South Africa. We do things like

to interact, but on the Zoom side, there is

that South Africa had by having an A-board Scottish wines, so we have Bobbie Burns

Shiraz and Campbells of Rutherglen Durif.

I’m looking at wines that I know offer

really good value. I think aesthetics certainly play a part. Some people

definitely still buy with their eyes and we have to be aware that the wine might be brilliant but the label might not capture

having something open in the shop that I the convenience on a cold winter’s night

that you are getting your wines posted to

you and sitting in the comfort of your own home.

People are used to the whole comfort

side of Zoom now, although if they are

day, I get that they won’t want to do that in the evening. It’s going to be a balance and When we taste we are following that

WSET structure, and we encourage

interaction and participation so people feel part of it. Yes, it’s educational but it’s fun and a bit different.

I think it gives the winemakers a

platform and it saves them the worry and expense of coming over. And there is the element of drink-driving, so if they can

taste at home that is a bonus for people.

peoples’ imaginations.

I want to give customers the chance to

experience something from each corner of the world. We have Georgian wines,

Japanese wines; we’ve got some Canadian wine.

If someone comes in and asks about

a specific wine or region that we don’t

have, I will say “give me 24 hours and I’ll phone you back and see what I can get”.

We always try to accommodate customer requests. As a shop and as a supplier you

have to meet the customers’ needs as best you can and demonstrate you know what you are talking about.

Are you organising Zoom tastings?

We started a wine tasting club at the end of last year. We mentioned it to a few

customers and word got around and once enough people had signed up and we’d

collected a few emails we started those last November.

We have it on the last Wednesday of the

month and we pick two bottles and wines

that people perhaps wouldn’t normally go for. Next one up is a sherry night. We’re

looking to decant into these little plastic

recyclable pouches and we’re going to taste across the full range of sherry: en rama,

fino, amontillado and a PX. We have Tim

Alan Irvine: always pleased to see reps “as I know how hard it is”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 29

Why we’re backing Portu Andy Cole Vinotopia, Tetbury

Wines of Portugal has teamed up with a number of wine merchants to help them showcase the country’s diverse array of wines through events, in-store promotions and social media activity, under the banner of June is for Indies.

“We’re finding more people are becoming better informed about Portuguese wines and are looking for more variety.

“We’ve been slowly increasing our range to cater for that. We started with Dão and are creeping further out. We’re about to put some Alentejo on and we’re

Each merchant has been paired up with a social media influencer specialising in wine or lifestyle to raise awareness of the Wines of Portugal month and the wines the stores are promoting, with the hashtags #JuneIsForIndies and #WinesOfPortugalUK. Three independents who are taking part share some of their activity and tell us what they and their customers love about Portuguese wine.

seeing what else we can do.

“You’re getting a lot of wine for your money and those port grapes in the reds really deliver the sort of barbecue wines that people want in the summer, that aren’t too heavy on the alcohol. Then the whites are just lovely and fruity and rich. People are finding them an interesting, good alternative to the modern-day classics.

“Once you talk to people about the wines, they’re more than happy to give Portugal a try.

“We’ve seen the value of wine promotional months over the pandemic, and have seen a big uptake on the wines we were promoting – so why not take advantage of an up-and-coming country that’s being promoted and really make the most if it?

“We’re going to throw the kitchen sink at it. We’ve got Liberty coming down to do a pop-up tasting one weekend. They’re going to send their representative for the two vineyards we’re showing and we’re really going to get behind them and see what we can do.

“There will also be a lot going on social media. We’re getting influencers behind those wines and we’ll do a focus on Portuguese wines we have in-store.

“We have a professional photographer who does some funky shots that are a bit different to the norm and she does a blog on the wines in her style, rather than a wine merchant’s description, which is quite refreshing.”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 30

ugal Jane Cuthbertson Barrica Wines, Chorley “If I were to describe Portuguese wines in three words it would be wines with character.

“We’ve specialised in Portugal since we first opened. We’ve probably got just over 40 Portuguese wines now and we’ve hosted numerous trips to Portugal for

Duncan Murray, Duncan Murray Wines, Market Harborough

customers over the years.

“I love the wines, the people, the food and the culture – and it’s my shop, and

“There’s such a wide variety of grapes in Portugal. We sell a bit of everything: red, white,

there’s no point in having a shop if you

rosé, fizz and fortified.

can’t promote what you love.

“We’ve done a lot of research-tasting to put together an exciting selection for the

“When I put my nose in the glass or taste a wine, I want something a bit different and, for me, Portugal just hits the nail on the head every time.

promotion. There’s quite a lot of new stuff and it’s a chance to shout about old favourites as well, especially some Alvarinhos.

“People coming to independents are looking for something a bit different and Portugal provides that in spades. The wines are food-friendly, there’s a versatility, the flavours are

“Producers haven’t looked to all the international grape varieties; they’ve said, ‘this is our identity and heritage and we’re sticking to it’, and I admire that.

“We’ll be running the promotion for three

really exciting and there’s a real difference between the same grape in the north, the middle or the south.

“To show that, we’re doing a Tour of Portugal tasting on June 10 which is Portugal’s national day. We’ve teamed up with a local caterer to put together a menu to pair with the wines, and we’ve got a Portuguese guitar player who’ll be doing music. He will be

weeks and we’re going to have 10% off all

live in the shop with us but we’ll be encouraging people to get together in groups of up to

Portuguese wines, with 25% off three focus

six to join us on Zoom.

wines. They’ll always be at least three Portuguese wines on the by-the-glass offer as well.

“I’m also getting some video from the producers we’re featuring – when you see the scenery of the Douro, it’s so jaw-droppingly amazing. It adds an extra bit of pizzazz.

“We have a concession at Eco-Village [a local refill shopping outlet] and we’ll be

“Marta Mateus from Marta Vine is

doing an event there on June 24 with wines and lots of fado music to give it atmosphere.”

coming to do a tasting for us at the end of the month, and we have a local caterer who will do some Portuguese nibbles.”

Participating merchants Vinotopia Wine, Tetbury; Cambridge Wine Merchants; Bonafide Wines, Christchurch; Weavers Wines, Nottingham; Tanners Wines, Shrewsbury; Loki Wines, Birmingham; Peter Osborne Fine Wines, Watlington; Ralph’s Wine Cellar, London; Whalley Wine Shop, Clitheroe; Barrica Wines, Chorley; Duncan Murray Wines, Market Harborough; Philglas & Swiggot, London; Oxford Wine Company; Bar Douro, London; Butlers Wine Cellar, Brighton.

For more information, visit the website at winesofportugal.com/en/juneisforindies Feature produced in association with Wines of Portugal

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 31

Ultracomida thinks bigger New warehouse in Aberystwyth gives Welsh wine merchant room for a bigger retail space

S

panish wine specialist Ultracomida has moved its warehousing to a much bigger unit that can also

accommodate a retail outlet.

“We knew we needed extra storage

space,” explains co-owner Shumana Palit.

“We import pretty much all of our range.

Shumana Palit with business partner Paul Grimwood

We expanded the warehousing and rented a new unit. It’s huge, so we split it and

half is ours and the other half is open to customers. It’s a big warehousey wine room.”

Palit says that part of the charm of the

shops in Aberystwyth, Narberth and the

deli and bar in Cardiff is that they are small.

“That’s always made them feel lovely,”

she says, “but nowadays people might

feel nervous or anxious if there’s a queue behind them, so this is a nice airy space

and it feels Covid-friendly. People can park up outside and load up their car.”

Half of the new warehouse is open to customers

Ultracomida started out in 2001 as a deli

specialising in Spanish food. Over time the wine offering has grown to be “probably

the broadest range of Spanish wine in the UK”.

As an importer Palit has been affected by

the additional Brexit-related paperwork.

“Up until now it has added a lot of extra cost, inconvenience and delay – but not impossible delays,” she reports.

“Because we were in lockdown and

hospitality was closed there wasn’t that [wholesale] demand so we had time to

find our feet. Had that not been the case, it would have been a right mess.”

There are 16 wines on tap at the new premises

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 32

Mouchão’s summer promotion for indies Get behind these unique Alentejo wines with the help of extra tasting stock and discounts and you could win a trip to the region

F

amily-owned Herdade do Mouchão, an estate now owned by the sixth generation of a British-Portuguese family, based in the Alentejo region of Portugal is set to focus on the UK independent trade by offering a new summer promotion on three of its key table wines, to run until August 31.

Alongside a price promotion to drive volume, the store with the most innovative in-store or window display posted to Instagram (@ adegadomouchao, @ABSWines #Viniportugal), will win a trip to the Alentejo to visit the Mouchão winery.

In a country steeped in winemaking history, the name Mouchão is synonymous with wines of distinction. The family-owned estate has been producing wine for over 100 years and maintains the traditions established in 1901 when the new winery was built.

The distinctive character of Mouchão wines derives from three principal characteristics: the Alicante Bouschet grape, the specific terroir, and

adherence to traditional winemaking methods.

At Mouchão grapes are hand-picked, foot trodden in marble cement-lined lagares and the wine aged in 5,000-litre wooden vats. Mouchão wines are renowned for their longevity, maturing subtly as they age.

The promotion will feature the entry-level Dom Rafael range, and Ponte Red. Wines are linepriced and for every 12 cases purchased, mixed across the range, an additional two cases will be added free of charge.

To encourage sales an additional bottle of each reference will be provided to use as in-store tasting stock.

Pedro Fonseca, commercial director for Mouchão, says: “Mouchão, with its close links to the UK and its unique focus on the Alicante Bouschet grape, is a great story for UK indies and I’m really looking forward to engaging online with customers and telling them more about our winery, not to mention seeing how creative they can be with their in-store and window displays.”

Dom Rafael White 2019 Made from indigenous Portuguese white varieties Antão Vaz and Arinto. Exquisitely fresh, yet full in the mouth. Sourced from relatively old vineyards, this distinctive white is uncharacteristically concentrated yet elegant with vibrant ripe fruit and delicately crisp on the palate.

Dom Rafael Red 2018 Made from Alicante Bouschet, Aragonez, Trincadeira and Castelão. Youthful with hints of maturity, showing dark, plummy tones. Mild dark chocolate with spicy peppermint notes. Soft, delicately fruity, lightly textured, fresh and shows a wonderfully persistent finish.

Ponte Red 2016 A blend of Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and Syrah. Aromas of black fruit, plum jam, raw tobacco leaf, mint and spices, with hints of Touriga Nacional florality. Beautifully balanced and rich, possessing surprising freshness and structured, exuberant tannins.

Feature sponsored by ABS Wine Agencies.

To find out more, visit www.abswineagencies.co.uk or call 01306 631155 Visit the Herdade do Mouchão website at www.mouchao.pt.

Revealing the family secrets

Sponsored by Luigi Bosca Wines are imported by Bancroft Wines. Visit www.bancroftwines.com or www.luigibosca.com

Luigi Bosca’s new De Sangre range is rooted in the wines that were once the preserve of family members. In a world exclusive, winemaker Pablo Cúneo unveiled them to Wine Merchant readers

O

ver 80% of the world’s Malbec is

sites, each of which contributes different

cultivated in Argentina, but Luigi

elements – cassis and dark fruits, floral

old vineyards in Luján de Cuyo, from vines

“The DOC Malbec comes from our own

Bosca winemaker Pablo Cúneo

notes, sweetness, vibrancy, structure

that are 50, 70 or 90 years old. The yields

is adamant that the country shouldn’t be

and elegance – to a complex but balanced

are low and the wine is aged for at least 12

viewed as a one-trick pony. “We are not just

wine. “We want the Cabernet Sauvignon

months in oak. Some of the main rules of

about Malbec,” he tells a Zoom tasting with

to be the star of this collection because we

the DOC are to do with low yields, vine age

Wine Merchant readers to introduce the

are putting a lot of effort into the grape,”

and the time from harvest to reaching the

producer’s new De Sangre range to the UK

says Cúneo. “Cabernet from Argentina

market.

independent trade.

– and from Mendoza in particular – has

The name De Sangre, meaning “from the

“The Uco Valley wine presents more

strong potential because we have the

cherry notes and will always be more

blood”, has been used by the owning Arizu

right weather. We can ripen the grapes

purple, more vibrant, because of the

family for many years for special selections

completely and achieve ripe tannins and

coolness of the region and the altitude.”

of wines to be shared with friends and

a nice balance because we have a longer

family – and it has now decided to translate

period for the fruit to hang on the vines

that into a collection of wines for wider

than in Bordeaux or other regions around

appreciation around the world.

the world.

The De Sangre range is a joint creation,

“We can easily achieve good black fruit

combining the Luigi Bosca house style and

character with some spicy notes like black

the personality of the winemaker. Indeed

pepper and pink pepper that can give it a

bottles carry the signatures of both Alberto

nice complexity without being too green.

Arizu and Pablo Cúneo.

“We are looking for excellence but we also believe in hard work, craftmanship and dedication to detail,” says Cúneo. “We

“By mixing these four parcels, we want to express what we understand is a complete character of this grape.

“This wine could be drunk now or it could

also respect nature. We have been growing

be aged for eight to 10 years, no problem,

our vineyards for more than a century, and

because of the acidity and concentration.”

have benefitted greatly from the bounties of

Pablo Cúneo

nature in Mendoza, so we feel responsible to protect it for future generations.

“Our founders understood that Mendoza was special and how to unleash its potential, combining nature, artisanship, science and instinct.”

The tasting did feature three Malbecs

De Sangre Malbec, Luján de Cuyo DOC, 2019 De Sangre Malbec, Uco Valley, 2019 De Sangre Malbec Edición Limitada, 2017 This trio of wines demonstrates the subtle

but also offered an opportunity to explore

differences that can be found in Malbec

single varietal Cabernet Sauvignon and

from different locations.

Cabernet Franc.

The limited edition is a single-vineyard wine from Finca Miralejos in Altamira.

“Malbec needs a lot of sun to ripen, and it tends to rot when it’s wet, so it likes dryness,” says Cúneo. “That’s why it is

De Sangre Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

suited to Argentina. I always say we didn’t

This wine combines fruit from four

choose Malbec; it was Malbec that chose us.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 35

Finca El Paraiso

Sponsored by Luigi Bosca Wines are imported by Bancroft Wines. Visit www.bancroftwines.com or www.luigibosca.com

“It shows the character of Malbec in this area which is violet notes, floral character, some cherry notes, with a silky and round texture,” says Cúneo.

“Altamira is at 1,000 metres, the same altitude as the DOC Malbec, but further south and exposed to cooler air from the Andes, so it develops a more floral and fresh character.”

De Sangre Cabernet Franc 2018 The Cabernet Franc grapes come from Finca Paraíso, a 30-year-old vineyard in Maipú, described by Cúneo as a “special place” for the company. He adds: “We try to get complete ripeness of the grape, and the

Los Nobles vineyard

expression we aim for is a mix of red fruit character, some spiciness and floral notes.

Cabernet Franc always has a pink pepper

Uco Valley Semillon and barrel-fermented

and rose character which is very attractive.

Chardonnay with a small amount of

complexity, some citrus notes and floral

In Argentina, it is more juicy and has more

Sauvignon Blanc.

character coming from the Chardonnay,

acidity than Cabernet Sauvignon, and more

“The winemaking is very simple,”

“We want to communicate good

and some herbal notes from the Semillon.

complexity than Malbec, which stays on

says Cúneo. “We are looking for the full

The Sauvignon gives a little bit of freshness.

the red and black fruit side. We wanted

expression of the freshness and character

The idea is to achieve a good balance,

to include it in the collection to show the

of the grapes. The Chardonnay ferments

elegance and a nice expression in the

complete potential of Mendoza.”

in 500-litre oak barrels; the other parts

aroma.”

are fermented in stainless steel at a low

De Sangre White Blend 2020

temperature for 30 days, and we keep it on

The De Sangre range also includes white

the fine lees for six to eight months to give

wine and this is a blend of high altitude

some heartiness and roundness.

> Merchant feedback Aiden Bell

DBM WINES, BRISTOL

While I am familiar with the reputation of Luigi Bosca they are not wines that I know well. I found it an interesting contrast between the modern presentation of the bottles and the quite restrained traditional style of the wines. They all exhibited very good freshness, energy and clarity of flavour. The two that caught my eye were the white blend where I felt the wood was extremely well integrated and the palate attractively full and fleshy, while the red I kept coming back to was the 2019 Malbec DOC. I found it enjoyably understated with proper freshness and lovely floral notes. It took 30 to 40 minutes to open up but once it got going it I felt it had great charm.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 36

INTERVIEW

. T H E D R AY M A N .

What exactly is British lager?

T

raumatised by the louts and wife-beaters of its past,

most, that plays out in putting their own stamp on European

lager is one beer style that’s struggled to gain its share

styles.

of voice in the crazy world of modern beer.

Market Harborough-based Braybrooke regards itself as a

As long ago as 2009 there were attempts to create a buzz with

lager specialist, within whose range you’ll find a beautifully-

the creation of a PR organisation called Lagers of the British

composed, copper-coloured Keller lager, an unclarified style

Isles (LOBI: do you see what they did there?), and the Society

with a haze that pushes the right buttons for today’s hipster

of Independent Brewers briefly instituted a British Lager Week,

crowd.

a concept which was always flawed, if for no other reason than that, for many British people, every week was lager week. Google “British Lager Week” today and the top searches will nudge you to the

Brewers still looks to Europe for their lager inspiration … there’s centuries of expertise and tradition on which to draw

alcohol unit information page

brewer

Cheltenham

Deya’s

Tappy

Pils

is crisp, dry, citrussy pils with a lengthy acidity, and a pleasingly soft mouthfeel, that delivers hints of shortbread in the malt and basil-like herb in the hops.

of the NHS website.

Another

Cult(ish)

Brew

York’s

Freya’s

fundamental

Gold is in the Vienna style,

problem, of course, is that

amber in colour with a

there was never any great

honeyed sweetness and

tradition of British lager.

modest 4.1% alcohol that

Czech lager, yes; German

drinks much richer.

lager and regional and or

There is the odd attempt

city-specific derivatives, yes;

to go off-piste, like IPA

Vienna lager, yes; British

specialist

lager, no.

Hoppy

Cloudwater’s Little

Lager,

There were lagers made in

which delivers zesty hops,

Britain, including some from

smoothness on the palate

very British brewers like Sam

and drying refreshment,

Smith’s, and plenty that were

and again punches above

made in Britain that owed

its 3% abv for flavour.

their sparse heritage to Australia, Canada and the

But in the main, British

US, or wherever, but nothing you could really put your finger on

brewers still look to Europe for their lager inspiration, and

and say, “this is really what British lager is all about”.

rightly so because there’s centuries of expertise and tradition on which to draw.

A

British lager doesn’t need lobbying or event-led marketing

nd that’s still pretty much the case today. That doesn’t

gimmicks, just a commitment by brewers to treat it with respect

detract from the fact that there is still a lot of love for

and produce the best expressions of its authentic varieties as

lager among the British brewing community, but for

they can with the resources at their disposal.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 37

So where exactly are we with …

Pinot Noir?

A

nnoyingly thin-skinned, lowyielding and fussy about soil, it’s unhappy in the heat and easily burned, but it hates extremes of cold, and it’s a magnet for mildew (and rot and fungus) and the right clones are essential but they must be adapted to their environment and if they’re not …

OK, we get the message, winemakers of the world! Pinot Noir is difficult. Or finicky, or capricious, or whatever adjective it is you’re using today. And the more we hear from you about the variety’s manifold flaws and peccadilloes the more we wonder why any of you bother to make it.

Of course, that very difficulty is part of its attraction: a “because it’s there” type challenge. Equally, as several winemakers have admitted to me over the years, Pinot Noir’s problematic side is sometimes overstated in a self-regarding way. The barely concealed subtext: “Only a truly skilled winemaker, operating in a truly great terroir, can truly master this most maddening of grapes (and that winemaker just happens to be me).”

For years playing up Pinot’s fussiness was very much a part of Burgundy’s shtick.

No matter how good the New World might get at making Cabernet Sauvignon – Syrah, even – they might grudgingly admit, Chardonnay, nowhere could ever hope to make Pinot Noir with anything like the same ethereal grace and complexity of Burgundy. Nowhere else had the terroir; nowhere else had the accumulated wisdom and traditions of more than a millennium of working with the grape.

That contention remained uncontested for so long because it was largely true.

Indeed, at the very top end it still is true: there is, as yet, nothing being made anywhere else in the world that comes close to matching the poise of the top wines of DRC, Leroy, Roumier etc etc etc.

As plantings from the past 20 to 30 years mature, however, what are emerging at a quite dizzying rate are Pinot Noir wines made by producers who deny that frame of reference. These are wines that are not Burgundy because they’re not trying to be – wines that prove there are already hundreds of vineyard sites that can do beautiful things with Pinot Noir on their own terms, and suggest there are many more that have yet to be discovered.

Pinot Noir may indeed be a difficult grape to work with, in other words, but it’s proved itself much more adaptable than many would have credited 20 or even 10 years ago. Here we highlight a handful of modern Pinots that represent its increasingly confident and far-flung cosmopolitan side.

Weingut Jülg Spätburgunder, Pfalz (Howard Ripley)

Germany’s Pinot Noir revolution has been gathering pace for some time now. The country now has around 12,000ha of the variety under vine – the third-largest Pinot vineyard in the world after France and the USA – and Pinot is made in all 13 wine regions. Global warming is often cited as an explanation for Spätburgunder’s 21st-century qualitative leap. But sensitive – and more self-confident – winemaking and winegrowing has been every bit as important in shaping outstanding wines such as this Pfalz cuvée, which is actually made from vineyards that straddle either side of the French border. It’s luminous with fresh cherries and raspberries, and appetisingly fresh, sappy and bright – distinctive, but high on the elusive pinosity scale. Of course, the fact that, at £14, it also fills a market gap long vacated by most village and regional-level Burgundy for quality Pinot, is a not uncoincidental part of its appeal.

Celler Batlliu de Sort Nero de Sort Pinot Noir, Costers del Segre, Spain (Les Caves de Pyrene)

There are limits to Pinot Noir’s expansion.

I couldn’t work out if it was stubbornness or ignorance that drove one winemaker I visited in the oven-hot, dry south-eastern Spanish region of Extramadura in late 2019

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 38

to persist with the soupy hot mess her Pinot vines were giving her, even as she pushed harvest back ever deeper towards mid-July. But there are pockets of the Iberian peninsula where Pinot can do more than merely survive, notably the highaltitude (850m above sea level) vineyards in the Pyreneean foothills around the city of Lleida in Catalonia. This is the home of Celler Batlliu de Sort, creator of Pinots of exceptionally light lucid purity on calcerous soils with just a hint of mountain wild herbs and just-picked, just ripe red berry fruit.

Viña Ventisquero Tara Red Wine 1, Atacama, Chile (North South Wines)

Much of the great rush of planting in Chile in the early part of the 21st century was dedicated to finding cooler spots more suitable for making Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. The hunt went south, to Bío Bío and beyond, and to the coasts: Leyda, San Antonio and, perhaps most exciting of all, the coastal sites, Errazuriz’s Aconcagua Costa las Pizarras vineyard. Counterintuitively, however, it’s the country’s most northerly vineyards, in the Atacama Desert, that have provided one of its most promising Pinot Noirs: Viña Ventisquero’s Tara Red Wine, a slinky, lighter-alcohol number with a crackling mineral core, fineline acid, tension and a splash of red fruit.

Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County, California (BBR)

In the 2010s, Californian wine opened up its own front in the USA’s apparently neverending culture war. On the one hand, the old Parker-approved Big Fruit Big Flavourpurveyors; on the other, a supposedly new wave of younger, terroir-focused, earlierpicking, elegance- and balance-pursuing producers for whom Pinot Noir was the red variety of choice. Names such as Jamie Kutch, Rajat Parr and Sashi Moorman, and Steve and Jill Mathiasson, were among the producers helping to completely re-set ideas of California wine. But it wasn’t all newcomers and rising stars. One of the brightest stars of the movement, Jim Clendenen, had never deviated from a Burgundy-inspired model, producing gorgeously elegant, graceful Pinot (and Chardonnay) away from the Sonoma and Napa mainstream in the cool of the Central Coast since getting started the early 1980s.

Flamboyant in personality, Clendenen, who died in May, was making beautifully modulated Pinots, such as his Santa Barbara County blend, to the last.

David Williams

THE WINEMAKER FILES //

Nicolas Idiart, Masion Idiart Nicolas was the youngest-ever graduate at the Blanquefort winemaking school in Bordeaux. He returned to his family roots in the Loire to establish Maison Idiart, working with small growers from a number of regions to create distinctive wines that express their terroir

I was born and raised in Bordeaux, but had no idea that I would end up in the wine industry. I was a terrible student and the only subject that I excelled in was biology. My marks were so low in high school that my teacher encouraged me to go to the agricultural school since it included many science classes and she thought I would excel there.

I chose to follow my teacher’s advice and went to Blanquefort. It ended up being a great fit for me as well as a pivotal decision in my professional trajectory.

I was immediately enthralled by the curriculum and very quickly focused my studies in winemaking and viticulture.

From that moment, I knew I wanted to work in the wine industry and it is also why I was their youngest graduate ever.

I learned a lot in Australia and New Zealand. I went there when I was 20 and when I first arrived, I didn’t speak a word of English. I ended up getting arrested my second night there because I was drunk and sleeping on a bench. But it was an amazing adventure and I had a lot of fun.

They were recruiting every recent oenology graduate that they could get their hands on from the best schools in France. They call many of these guys flying winemakers and when the opportunity presents itself, it’s something that I still really enjoy doing to this day.

Establishing Maison Idiart is something that I did after working at Maison Sichel as their sales manager for North

America for six years. I could see the gaps in distributors’ inventories for fresher and higher acidity wines that were becoming more popular. With my experience making wines in this region, I saw an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I saw a way to make it happen and I went for it.

The idea was to start with Loire Valley Pinot Noir because Burgundy and its Pinot Noir wines were gaining serious traction. The Loire Valley is at the same latitude as Burgundy, and Pinot Noir does well here. However, Pinot Noir from the Loire Valley is traditionally blended with other grapes and we decided to do a singlevariety wine and market it that way.

That first vintage, 2013, was a terrible wine growing year. The first grower I bought Pinot Noir grapes from for winemaking said to me that if I could make it past my first year with that fruit, that I would succeed and make it through anything. Eight years later, we’re still here, so I imagine we’re doing something right.

The Loire Valley is a very exciting place to work. There is a lot of innovation going on there but there is also a global trend that is returning to more natural methods, where maybe you have less control but you have a lot more personality. That is something I really enjoy.

Pinot Noir is the most challenging grape variety to work with. Everything is difficult, from the growing, ripening, and even fermentation where it can react

For more information visit www.maisonidiart.com.

UK distributor: www.lovewineontap.com

THE WINE MERCHANT June 2021 39

differently in every tank. It’s very fragile and unpredictable. That being said, it also makes it the most interesting to work with.

We have two Pinot Noir wines in the Maison Idiart portfolio. Nicolas Idiart Pinot Noir is from the Loire Valley and Les Amis is from the Occitane region. We use the exact same winemaking techniques but they couldn’t be more different. Drinking these two Pinot Noirs side by side perfectly illustrates how a change in terroir can affect the growth and ripening of a variety to create a very different style of wine.

Chenin Blanc is a wine in general that I don’t think gets enough attention.

Chenin Blanc is also very difficult to grow; the grapes ripen at different rates within the same bunch. Chenin Blanc is quite dry with strong notes of quince and is not an aromatic grape. Many of the aromas come from the ageing that is done on lees, which rounds out its high acidity and makes it richer. It doesn’t shine immediately after bottling and needs time to settle down and for the aromas to stabilise.

The coolest wines in Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon thrives in the terra rossa soils of this iconic South Australian region. Wynns produces some of the best-loved examples, but winemaker Sue Hodder was also keen to showcase her acclaimed Shiraz and Chardonnay wines at last month’s online tasting for Wine Merchant readers.

Feature sponsored by Wynns. Wines are distributed in the independent trade by The Winery Collection. Visit www.thewinerycollection.com

T

here’s a well-worn industry saying that to make a small fortune out of wine you need to start with a big one. These days it’s normally rolled out for hedge fund managers who’ve put their money into cult Californians or English fizz, but it also found an application in late 19th century Australia.

Scotsman John Riddoch had cashed in during two gold rushes, in California and the Australian state of Victoria, and invested some of his gains on what turned out to be prime grape growing land in South Australia’s Coonawarra – the beginnings of what is now the region’s famous Wynns Coonawarra Estate.

The region benefits from a coastal location, where cool winds blow in from the Atlantic, and distinctive terra rossa soil – a layer of red clay loam sitting over limestone. The limestone provides alkalinity that keeps the soil composition in balance and the red clay loam lends itself to perfect drainage. “It holds just the right amount of water to suit our climate,” says Wynns senior winemaker Sue Hodder. “The soil and the climate have to go together.”

Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon (RRP £25) is the producer’s flagship wine, and the 2018 vintage was presented alongside Wynns The Siding Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 (RRP £16) during a recent online webinar for Wine Merchant readers.

“Black Label Cabernet is our most important wine without doubt,” says Hodder. “The combination of climate and soil gives us a nice long ripening period on the vine which leads us to a mediumbodied Cabernet Sauvignon.

“We’ve only just finished picking our 2021 grapes [in early May] and it was a lovely vintage. Virtually every other red

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 40

wine making region of Australia had long finished.

“We pick later, have a longer ripening period and can make these medium-bodied wines.

“While Cabernet is the most widely grown grape variety in the world, it arguably shouldn’t be grown in many places because it’s either too hot or too cold.

“It’s a thick-skinned grape variety and if it’s too warm the wines are plain and nondescript and if it’s too cold they can be tough and green.

“The cool Coonawarra climate keeps the acids nicely in the wine and is great for red colour development.”

Wynns is now under the stewardship of Treasury Wine Estate but takes its name from the Wynn family who bought the property in 1951. Hodder says: “They planted a large area of vines in the terra rossa soil which I’m very grateful for today, because it’s given me a substantial area in the best sites of Coonawarra, with old vines on their own roots.”

Hodder says a tasting of wines from the past 60 vintages, held on the anniversary in 2017, helped to shape her recent approach to making Cabernet, and Black Label in particular.

“The real inspiration for my current winemaking came through the wines of the 1960s, which were light to medium-bodied, not green, had moderate alcohol and were quite lightly oaked.

“They’ve aged so gracefully; some of our wines in the 1990s were getting quite big. They aged well but when I arrived here I wouldn’t have expected to taste a three-year-old wine as we do today so successfully. The tannins would have been drier and harder.

“The 1960s wines are not big blockbuster wines; they gave us the confidence to go for the style we have today.

“The style is evolving but it’s quintessentially Wynns. We haven’t changed the percentage of oak since I’ve been here. We still use between 20% and 30% new French oak and the rest is older.

“However, the quality of oak you can get now is so superior to when I started. We’ve done a lot of work to match carefully the six Australian coopers we use, and their toasting levels and barrel types, to the style of wine that we make.”

W

hile Black Label has main billing, The Siding – named after the disused Coonawarra railway line that is a local landmark – is an important wine for Wynns, says Hodder.

“We need to let people know that you can have fine tannins and good fruit in an affordable wine that can be a by-the-glass pour,” she adds.

“When Cabernet is well-grown and well-made, you should be able to be drink it young as well as cellar it.

There is a perception that Cabernet is unapproachable and needs to be cellared but we like to disprove that with this wine.”

The Black Label Cabernet is Wynns most famous wine and around 60% of its vineyard area is devoted to that varietal, but the cool climate and Coonawarra soil also means the medium-bodied Wynns house style is found in other varietals, including its regionally-distinct Wynns Coonawarra Chardonnay (RRP £12) and Wynns Coonawarra Shiraz (RRP £12), and Michael Shiraz (RRP £80), which is made only in small quantities and in exceptional vintages.

“Shiraz is actually our oldest wine and our oldest vines are Shiraz,” says Hodder.

“We love our Shiraz. The style is very much medium-bodied, red fruit with some spice rather than the darker, richer, fruit cake and blueberry style to be expected from Barossa. It’s probably something closer to a Rhône style with some nice acidity.

“Chardonnay is an important part of our story. We’ve been making it since 1981.

Again, it’s a medium-bodied style. Some people in the UK like to say it’s like a Mâcon style. Its lightly oaked but not particularly malo or buttery. It’s a fresh wine that ages slowly – like all our wines.”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 41

Greece: a new look at an old country

G

Southern Wine Roads offers an unrivalled range of wines from all across Greece – and few people are as passionate and knowledgeable about the modern Greek winemaking scene as owner Maria Moutsou. No wonder there was so much interest in our recent online tasting for Wine Merchant readers

reece is something of an enigma in

the UK wine market. The country is a popular holiday destination for Brits

and there’s a lot of love for its cuisine,

but its wines have never cut through to

Sponsored by Southern Wines Roads. Contact info@southernwineroads.com

make it really big.

One of the upsides of this is that

independents who do have a passion for Greece can genuinely establish points of

difference from big chains and from each other.

acidity and salinity that balances things

grown and 1,500 producers making wine,

with medium-sized berries and very thin

The selection is growing all the time with

over 300 identified grape varieties being double the number a decade ago.

A sample of the quality and variety was

on view in an online tasting for readers

with Greek specialist Southern Wine Roads and its founder Maria Moutsou.

“The UK is tough market because it’s

a mature one,” she says. “But we want to show our diversity; we believe in

our product and we want to show this richness.”

Debina PDO Zitza (RRP £15-£16) is a

frizzante sparkling wine from vineyards

at 700 metres above sea level in one of the most remote appellations in Greece, made using the Charmat method.

Moutsou recommends it paired with

shellfish, salads and risotto.

“It is an off-dry wine, packed also with

out,” she says. “The alcohol is rather

surrounds Athens, is Savatiano, the main grape for both Aoton Seventeen (RRP

modest at 11.8%. Debina is a white grape

£22) and Aoton Lola rosé retsina (RRP

“The cool climate gives high acidity, a

“We do not know yet when the next vintage

skins. It’s very floral as a primary character. saline backbone, and an elegant, lemony,

floral envelope. It’s a very authentic wine as it showcases the PDO and the terroir.”

N

emea is Greece’s largest PDO, with the red variety Agiorgitiko being

its flagship. It lies in the northern

mountains of the Peloponnese region,

home to 45 wineries, 35ha of vineyards,

and some fascinating white grape varieties too. It has an array of microclimates.

Zacharias Vineyard’s Light White

(Ampelou Phos), PGI Peloponnese (RRP £11-£12) is a blend of the

Gewürztraminer-like aromatic variety Moschofilero with Roditis, a variety that lends body to the wine.

“The idea is to bring the best out

of these two grapes,” says Moutsou.

“It is very expressive on the nose, has good ripeness but moderate

alcohol. There was diversion away from Greek varieties in the 1980s

and 1990s, but producers are now

coming back to them because they are so charming and unique.”

The key variety in Attica, the region that

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 42

£18-£19). Seventeen is a one-off 2017

blend of 70% Savatiano and 30% Roditis of this wine will be, as it all depends on

optimum growing conditions for each of the varieties,” says Moutsou.

“It is a complex wine that showcases the

style and diligent work of the winemaker quite well. It has medium-plus body, ripe

stone fruit and pineapple core, enhanced by botanicals, basil and lemon thyme, coupled with good acidity and a long finish.”

Retsina was a tourist favourite of the 1970s and is enjoying a revival, says Moutsou. Resin was originally used

as a sealant on the amphoras used to

move wine around, but was retained by Greeks as a flavouring after that mode of transport became obsolete.

These days it is added to wine

either in powder form or as liquid

resin straight from the pine tree, as favoured by this producer.

This rosé retsina is a blend of

Savatiano and the red variety

Mandilaria with a little Roditis for

body and Cabernet Sauvignon for colour.

“They add the liquid resin to the must

and ferment them together,” says Moutsou.

“It brings together red fruit from the red

says Moutsou. “The variety is Avgoustiatis,

and then the resin gives a minty refreshing

vineyard on Samos at high altitude, planted

grapes, summer stone fruit and some

botanical elements from the white grapes, note. If it’s done well, it makes sense.”

The first of two reds in the tasting was

Methea red (RRP £13) from Evia, the

country’s second largest Greek island,

made with the local variety Mandilaria.

Moutsou says: “It’s a difficult variety to

which actually comes from the west of

Greek mainland. This is from a 15-year-old on little terraces, so it has cool growing conditions.

“It is a proper red wine vinification

with cap movement and stirring, then

maturation in oak barrels for one year. The style is more typical of a well-made south European red wine.”

She adds: “While Greece is mostly known

abroad – and definitely in the UK – for its

white wines, it is red wine that dominates production – and which is the favourite style amongst Greeks themselves.”

vinify because it lacks body. It has difficult tannins and its alcohol output is low, so it can leave a void on the mid-palate.

“This is a very good example though,

where they do an early harvest and

accentuate the aromatic character of the

variety and its cherry and plum flavours.

“The variety makes for a refreshing red

wine for the everyday dining table, and

is very good in hot weather – a very good barbecue wine.”

Vakakis Tetractys (RRP £22-£24)

comes from the island of Samos, across the Aegean sea from the Greek mainland. It’s a

location best known for white wines under a PDO for Muscat Petits Grains.

Tending the vineyards at Aoton

“The red wine is a novelty for Samos,”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 43

M

The Nuts are presently a staple of my

aybe I have run out of lunches,” I

shop diet, the Co-op yummyyum cashews,

sighed to my partner yesterday

broad beans and peanuts coated in what

morning. “Maybe you should

I have conveniently not noticed is some

write about me,” he said, “and my Amazing Salads”.

I look out on the empty birdfeeder, until

kind of potato and wheat (see previous

recently thick with sparrows and bignose

8. THE NUTS

gone, like my inclination to make Amazing

Phoebe Weller of Valhalla’s Goat

starlings, gorging themselves with the

Bargain House’s finest fatbaws but now Lunches.

“I’ve taught you well,” I think about

saying, but what’s the point, no one

listens, no one reads signs, everyone just

in Glasgow is feeling gloomy and uninspired until she remembers the dusty, salty, palate-searing thrill of a familiar Co-op staple

goes around dropping litter and using apostrophes incorrectly. He *is* good

though, he cuts the veg finer than I do

and puts his hands into the salad bowl to

of writing, Glasgow being one of the two

into the salad.

– that miraculous refugee crowd! – and

ensure nothing is left untouched by the

entire contents of the fridge that he has put Somehow, it is delicious. I mean I know

how, because I spend a third of my income on delicious bits of things to put in salads

and he puts all of these bits into the salads or into his working-from-home mouth when I am in the shop.

“Maybe I’ve run out of lunches,” I

cities within the UK still under lockdown,

because People Make Glasgow both Magic Boneheaded: that leaky pissack Union

Jack-waving bunch with their high blood-

pressure faces. No offence, Stevie G and co.

“Have you talked about The Nuts?”

Jordan says.

episodes for the whimsical list of things

I am allowing and not allowing myself to

eat) crust and giant corn (think of the size

of those ears! As big as a baby!) covered in

the Co-op’s burn-the-skin-off-the-inside-ofyour-mouth (is it skin inside your mouth?

Letters to the usual address) Salt and Chardonnay Vinegar dust.

T

hey are very good and have filled the gap of crisps which I have not eaten all year, apart from

that “tasting” with Craig and Calum where we mixed a disappointing pet-nat with a

disappointing orange wine (but great label, looks “rad on the ‘gram”) and ended up with the Elixir of Eternal Youth.

The night ended for me by pushing the

boys out of the door and pouring all the

sample packets of crisps into my workingfrom-work mouth. GOOD TIMES!

“There is someone lying on your floor,”

mumble to Jordan as she seamlessly makes

Pepe shouts in from the street and wanders

and completes items on an Important Shop

off to fry chips.

Tasks List as I lie face down on the floor in

“Maybe I have run out of lunches.” The

what can loosely be described as Pigeon

thought comes into my morning zazen.

Pose. A case of Picpoul is beside me and

“Wheesht, inner monologue,” my mind

I am unwilling to reach to the back of the

says to my mind, “we’re not thinking about

shelf to get the last straggling bottle of the

that right now, we’re paying attention

previous case.

to breathing. And anyway,

God I hate the shelves. When oh

we’ve not run out

when will we invest in the springloaded

of lunches, don’t be

vendingmachine lastbottle shunting

ridiculous. Concentrate

system? Probably after the video headsets

on now’s lunch, the lunch

mooted to boost web sales.

of now. Catch yourself on. And

I am at a low ebb. My ebb is pretty

stop thinking about the giant corn.”

much non-existent, in part due to, at time

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 44

Printed wine bags These eco-friendly bags are designed to carry up to six bottles of wine. Branding is optional on both the jute bags and the lightweight non-woven carriers which have a

~

turn-around time of seven days.

Wbc.co.uk, From £2.12 including wine bag and print

Wine flight holder Take the taste experience direct to the table. This easyto-carry holder offers a convenient way to present a wine flight.

Waitersfriend.co.uk £6.90 each plus VAT and delivery

Leather wine bottle caddy Imagine a sunny – yes, sunny – carefree afternoon, casually pedalling down a country lane on your way to a picnic. Your basket up front is packed with lunchtime treats, but where’s the wine? Just tucked safely away in this specially designed leather contraption of course. Smug grin optional.

It’s World Rum Day on July 10, so what better time to acknowledge the Piña Colada? The cheesy cocktail of yore, beloved of people who like making love at midnight in the dunes on the cape, regardless of the impact of sand on their personal comfort, is having a bit of a moment.

Here’s a banana twist that adds an extra dimension to its classic tropical flavour. Bols, De Kuyper and Giffard make banana liqueurs that will do the job.

Wholesalegiftstomorrow.co.uk, £24.99

2.5cl white rum 2.5cl crème de banane 5cl coconut cream 15cl pineapple juice Squeeze of lime juice to taste

Shake everything over ice and strain into a Hurricane glass. For a thicker, smoothietype consistency, pulse the ingredients with ice in a blender and pour without straining.

Garnish with fresh pineapple slices and pineapple leaves.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 45

ANALYSIS

It’s in the can It’s a format that has usually promised more than it delivers.

But with two independent wine merchants now involved in their own separate projects, perhaps it’s time for canned wine to take its next step towards critical acceptance.

Report by Claire Harries

K

ate Goodman of Reserve Wines

in Manchester and Ben Franks at

Novel Wines in Bath are both avid

supporters of canned wine. So much so

that they have recently launched their own projects, each setting out to prove this

small-format option is capable of evolving far beyond just a convenient packaging solution.

Goodman has collaborated with Richard

Kelley MW at Dreyfus Ashby to create

First Crush, a range of four wines in a can including a rosé, an Albariño, a Chenin Blanc and a Syrah. They are working

with Francois Haasbroek and Jaap Pijl at Renegade Wines in South Africa.

“It all goes back to the fear factor when

people are choosing a wine,” explains Goodman.

“They don’t want to buy a full bottle if

they are not familiar with it and they’re

not confident they are going to like it. It’s the same reasoning behind Enomatics

and my keg wines and

all those things. If we have smaller-format

Ben Franks

options and get people

to taste things before

they commit to bottles, it just

broadens people’s horizons because they feel more confident to buy things and

experiment a bit – otherwise they just stick to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

“These innovations just make it more

accessible. For me that is a massive part of our job as independent wine merchants.

We are there to show people and put in front of them the vastness of the many

options and choices that are out there.”

B

Stellenbosch and Fran

en Franks, who started the Canned

Wine Company with Simon Rollings, says: “The biggest change in the

canned wine market is the renewed focus on the quality. When Simon and I got

together to put the idea into practice, we

family in Niederösterreich. Franks is also

“We got all these interesting grapes

Laurent, Nerello Mascalese and maybe an

thought there was nobody at the time doing it on a high quality level.

and really good winemakers and thought, why not put those in a can and make it an

exciting way to drink better wine without having to buy the bottle? And we can

use it as an upsell into the quality wine

world rather than purely as a convenience product.”

To date the Canned Wine Company range

consists of four wines including a new

oaked Viognier from Laurent Miquel in the Languedoc and a Grüner from the Huber

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 46

keen to introduce, subject to successful

testing, varieties such as Verdejo, Gamay, St English Bacchus.

“At Novel Wines we like the weird and

wonderful and I had been talking about canning Furmint and all those lovely lesser-known grapes,” he says.

“It’s been a massive learning curve

because you can get away with quite a lot

in a bottle that you can’t get away with in a can. A can is oxygen-free and it’s nitrogen

capped and the wine isn’t going to change once it’s in the can – you have to be really

supplies. “They do well in those kind of

places where they might not want to open loads of bottles and they find the canned option is brilliant,” she says.

“They don’t take up loads of fridge space,

and people can share a can or have one big glass and there’s no wastage. I know that Richard [who has the same range under

the Dreyfus Ashby label] is selling his line

to a Michelin-starred restaurant as well as other merchants. We haven’t pursued that route so far, but we have partnered with

a wine subscription service that just uses cans.”

Franks says that, while a number of

merchants and independent outlets sell his canned wine, he does understand some of the reservations that wine retailers might have.

“There are two hurdles, really,” he

explains. “One is when people say they

already have a can and they see it as one

nschhoek There are four wines in the Canned Wine Co range

product ticked off. I can empathise with

that because even at Novel we only stock the Canned Wine Co.

“Even though I see the potential, the

market is still new so there are not that

many people coming in and asking for a can.

careful about acidities and residual sugars.

“There are also issues with metals and

linings so there is a lot of technical analysis that needs to go on before we can, which doesn’t really exist with bottling wine in the same way.

“Sauvignon Blanc has a one-in-nine

failure rate in can at the moment because it’s reductive and reacts with the linings in most of the cans. There’s a lot of

Sauvignon in can on the market but it’s not particularly reliable.”

Goodman has seen success, with the First

Crush range flying off her own shelves and being a hit with the delis and cafés she

“The second hurdle is that some people

are just averse to the format because it’s

not traditional and it’s too much of a leap for them.

“I do understand where they are coming

from because the canned wines that

Kate Goodman

“Francois and Jaap are super-passionate

about it and we want to continue to work with them.

“We’re also selling cans from other

people, not just our own range. It feels like there is a bit of movement and people are more open to it. It’s all very positive.”

Franks adds: “The real pinnacle would

be to do a sparkling but the only way to do

that in a can at the moment is to carbonate it and I don’t want to do that. Now, if we

could find a way to ferment sparkling in

tank and then can it without it exploding …

“I would say we are playing a lot. We are

top-end, very quality-focused and enjoying playing with the different grape varieties, doing lots of research and development, and the indies are the kind of people

who will respect that fun and point of difference.”

are widely available are so poor from a

technical point of view. It’s where bag-inbox was about 10 years ago.”

G

oodman is optimistic about the

continued growth and popularity

of canned wines. She says: “If you

look at the States they’ve gained a lot

of momentum there and there is a real

breadth of wines being put into can. It’s exciting and I just want to build it up.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 47

First Crush is a hit with delis and cafés

Daniela Pace with a bottle of Le Argille

A Tombacco tour of Italy From Chianti Classico to orange wines and a Veneto blend packaged in a concrete bottle, Tombacco has something to offer for any independent wine merchant with an interest in Italy.

Last month The Wine Merchant gathered a selection of indies to try the wines – imported by Vintrigue Wines – for themselves

I

taly’s Tombacco group makes premium wines at numerous locations in the country. Its mothership Rinomata Cantina Tombacco in Padua showcases the grape varieties of central and southern Italy, while the smaller Trevisana and 47 Anno Domini sites focus on the local grapes and traditional winemaking processes of northern Italy.

Sommelier Daniela Pace, who works with the company, took a group of Wine Merchant readers on a virtual tour of the wineries and their wines, all of which are available through Vintrigue Wines.

Archivio Pecorino 2017, £12 “Pecorino is mainly cultivated in the centre of Italy in the Abruzzo region, where this comes from. It’s an early ripening grape, with some sweetness, and rich in alcohol. Abruzzo is a cooler region, exposed to winds

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 48

from eastern Europe, but the climate is dry and has a large diurnal shift which is great for the concentration of acidity. The entry is quite soft and there’s an interesting minerality on the finish.

“In the last century many local grapes were disappearing. The turning point in Italy was the 1990s when there was a new approach to wine production. It became less about quantity and more about quality.

“Normally I suggest a Pecorino to people who are interested in Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, but I would say it has more depth than either of those.”

The wine sparked a discussion between indies about the increasing popularity of Pecorino. Cat Brandwood of Toscanaccio in Winchester said: “Pecorino absolutely is recognised [by consumers] now. The similarities with grapes such as Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio are helping to sell it to people. The packaging on this one is lovely. Nice price, too.”

Simon Briggs

Great Grog, Edinburgh Marco Gavio Chianti Classico DOCG 2017, £17.50 “This is from the centre of Chianti Classico, at higher altitude but where it is warmer than the east, and with soils that are rich in fossils. This produces more dominant tannins and wines with an interesting savoury character.

“Sangiovese is a marathon runner, not a sprinter like Cabernet Sauvignon. Its acidity is very important, and it has to be integrated perfectly with the tannins, which takes time.

“This is barrel-aged for 12 months, but in 50hl casks instead of stainless steel or barriques. It’s the new wave in red winemaking in Italy to use bigger barrels.

“This vintage was one of the hottest in Tuscany and it’s important in hot vintages, if you want to produce a quality Chianti Classico, to have the right level of alcohol.

In this we have 14% abv, so there’s a perfect balance between the alcohol and the tannins, and between the bitter and the sweet sides of the wine.”

“Good RRP on the Chianti Classico,” said Fitz Spencer of Honky Tonk Wine Library in Plymouth. “This would be great with Tunworth cheese, which a British unpasteurised artisan brie, or black olive salami.”

Le Argille Cabernet di Cabernet 2017, £40 “This is made at 47 Anno Domini and is a 50-50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from Veneto.

“There are about two centuries of Cabernet production in this area – so we can say that they have become

traditional grapes.

“The aim is for really juicy fruit, a deep colour and soft silky tannins. It’s 15% abv which we achieve through over-maturation of the grapes on the vine.

About two months before harvest, we clamp the wine branches to reduce the water supply and get more sugar concentration in the grapes.

“The wine is aged for two years in concrete vats which means no oxidation and it keeps the wine fresher.

Concrete vats are becoming more common, but we started with them 10 years ago, so we were pioneers.

“Argille means clay and the soils are rich in clay in this region. It comes in a concrete bottle which expresses this idea of the softening of the tannins and freshness from ageing in concrete vats. It arouses immediate interest from consumers.

“You could keep this wine for five or 10 years. It’s an age-worthy wine but also ready to be drunk immediately.”

“Wow, that is a juicy fruit bomb,” said Cat Brandwood of Toscanaccio. “I’ll be enjoying the rest of that with my lunch!”

Origine Bianco, IGT Terre Siciliane 2016, £30 “Cristian Tombacco was inspired by Alessandro Gallici, a leading winemaker in the orange wine tradition of Sicily.

It’s made through a red wine vinification of white grapes, with a maceration of the skins that produces an orange, amber, gold colour.

“It’s a combination of Cataratto, which gives an acid shoulder to the wine; Zibibbo, which is a local kind of Muscat of Alexandria, a sweet and aromatic grape, tied together with Grillo, which, along with Cataratto, is one of the main grapes used in Marsala. It is made on the western side of Sicily between Agrigento and Marsala.

“It’s a long, long process; it takes about three to four years to make this wine. It’s made in clay vessels that were used by the Greeks and Romans to make wine.

“When tasting, the nose needs time to open because it’s so intense, but it has a combination of honey and some citrus notes – and balsamic hints that Italian wine is famous for.

“The palate has freshness and acidity combined with sweetness. This wine is aged in ancient barrels previously used for Marsala, so you get a persistent smoky aftertaste. The perfect match is fish, but it would also be great with apple pie or with blue cheese.”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 49

“The Pecorino and Chianti Classico were both excellent in a more straightforward ‘classic’ fashion – the Chianti Classico perhaps more generous and riper than expected due to the hot vintage.

“The other two were certainly more intriguing to the jaded wine merchant!

“We actually list the Origine Bianco but it was great to try it again, with its honey and lemon menthol and resinous rosemary wafts, plus tangy oxidative orange bitters and marmalade fruit. The freshness on the palate perhaps was the real surprise, hiding the chunky abv well. A real gateway drug for those looking to dip the tongue, so to speak, into orange wines.

“It’s different every time you raise the glass to the nostrils.

“The Argille Cabernet di Cabernet was brilliant in a blowsier, verypunter-friendly ‘as ripe as you could get away with without being over-ripe’ cherry-liqueur kind of way. The concrete ageing angle was interesting along with the ‘appassimento-on-the-vine’ method of concentrating sugars.”

Feature sponsored by Vintrigue Wines For more information, visit www.vintriguewines.com

Italy’s new reality Covid has added an extra layer of complexity to the lives of Italian wine producers, with the pandemic having a direct effect on exports, and the profitability of smaller businesses. But there’s some encouraging news too, some (but not all) of it linked to the launch of pink Prosecco.

Report by David Williams

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 50

© stevanzz / stockadobe.com

Langhe vineyards in Piedmont

O

n the morning of February 26 last

year, the team at Lea & Sandeman were preparing for the latest

edition of the London merchant’s much-

anticipated Italian tasting on the top floor of the Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road.

The annual event, which is aimed at

L&S’s restaurant and independent trade customers, also attracts a fair number

of press, with everyone eager to try the

latest releases from one of the UK’s best

Italian portfolios, and to meet 25 of the

Much of the talk, inevitably, was of “the

winemakers behind them.

virus”. And for many in the room, including

2020 event was different. Many of the

really hit home. Even so, according to data

But it was clear from the moment

attendees stepped out of the lift that the northern winemakers, from Lombardy

and Piedmont, had not turned up, having been advised by their local government not to travel. And those who had made

it, from Tuscany and further south, were repeatedly looking, rather worriedly, at their phones.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 51

the writer of this piece, this was the first time the potential gravity of Covid 19

from the World Health Organisation, on

February 26, 2020, both cases (322 in Italy; 13 in the UK) and deaths (11 and 0) were still in worrying rather than terrifying

numbers. I don’t think any of us suspected Continues page 52

ITALIAN WINE

search term “vino online” over the same

From page 51

period.

And, as with much of the rest of

the event would also be the last public

winemaking in Europe, this situation

It can sometimes feel a little trite

country’s largest single producer, the

suited some producers more than

tasting many of us would attend for more

others. According to figures from the

than a year.

Emilia-Romagna-based Caviro Group,

focusing on the problems of business in the

co-operatives were able to switch their

context of what was to come over the next

attentions away from HORECA and focus

few weeks, first in Italy, and then in the rest

more on multiple retailers and online sales

of Europe. But it didn’t take long before

channels in a way that proved elusive to

even the worst-case scenarios voiced by winemakers at Foyles that day began to look naively complacent.

A

Axel Heinz of Ornellaia

smaller producers, who rely much more on restaurants and bars, often in their

local area. As a result, co-operatives largely bucked any downward trends and actually

ccording to figures published

increased their sales: collectively, Italian

by the Italian wine industry

co-operatives, which represent roughly half

analyst Osservatorio Qualivita,

of all Italian production, increased their

based on data from the Italian Statistics

turnover by 1% and their exports by 3%

Institute (ISTAT), the beginning of 2020

in 2020.

had actually been very positive for Italian

The story for many smaller producers,

wine, with exports up 5.2% in the first

quarter, on the back of a strong 2019. But

by contrast, is rather less positive. The

an overall loss of 12.6% in the second

website winenews.it that bad debts among

president of the trade body UIV (Unione

the pandemic’s first wave was devastating.

Italiana Vini) Ernesto Abbona, told the

Exports fell by 24.3% in May alone, with quarter versus the same period in 2019.

Sales recovered a little in the second half

smaller producers are thought to total

of the year, particularly in a strong lead-up

growth: Lazio (+8.6%), Trentino-Alto Adige

down by 2.2% for the full year, to €6.29bn

heavy losses for Lombardy (-11.7%), Puglia

to Christmas, but that couldn’t make up for the losses of spring: overall exports were

(although, as the more optimistic members of the Italian wine industry pointed out, that’s still a rise of 0.8% on 2018).

Some markets struggled more than

others, with Italy’s top four export

destinations – the USA, Germany, the UK

and France – all showing a drop. The UK’s

showing was particularly bad, with export sales value plunging by 6.4% for the year, from €763m to €714m.

There was also significant variation

in the performances of Italy’s different

regions. Again, according to Osservatorio Qualivita/ISTAT, four registered positive

(+4.3%), Emilia-Romagna (+3.4%) and

Piedmont (+2.6%). Meanwhile, there were

(-7.6%), Sicily (-11.9%), and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (-8.9%), while the Veneto (-3.3%), Tuscany (-3.2%) and Abruzzo (-1.9%) were also in decline.

Domestically, Italian wine sales followed

similar Covid 19 trends to other parts

of the world. With restaurants and bars

closed for much of the year, supermarkets picked up much of the slack and there

was a huge swing to online, with market researchers Nomisma pointing to a

remarkable 8 million new accounts at

online retailers in the year to February 2021, and a doubling in the use of the

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 52

as much as €500bn, and that “lost work” in the domestic HORECA sector has cost

Italian wine producers as much as €1.5bn.

O

f course, the effects of Covid

weren’t confined to sales channels.

There were significant challenges,

too, in production in a world in which

travel had practically come to a halt – and

in which maintaining social distance was a prerequisite for any workplace.

Official reports from the Italian labour

ministry corroborate the anecdotal reports of growers struggling with a shortage

of casual, seasonal workers from their usual eastern European sources. And

there have been widespread calls from

Continues page 58

A Tuscan surprise No line-up of Italian whites is truly complete without Vernaccia di San Gimignano, an indigenous varietal with incredible longevity. For Panizzi Wines, it’s a speciality

V

ernaccia di San Gimignano is a grape that ought to be better known. While Italian wine consumers fixate on white varieties like Fiano, Vermentino and even Arneis, it’s only the aficionados who have discovered Vernaccia’s charms.

That’s a shame, says Camelia Lazar of Panizzi Wines, because Vernaccia is “a surprising wine from a surprising region which has a very clear identity”. Dante wrote about it and Michelangelo was a fan. Today, total production of Vernaccia di San Gimignano is just 5 million bottles, with some of the most special examples produced by Panizzi, a certified organic estate located just outside of the city walls of UNESCO Heritage town San Gimignano.

“Vernaccia wine has a history of over 800 years and it produced the first DOC wine of Italy,” says Lazar.

“It is not an aromatic grape but mostly mineral which is so evocative of the sea, despite coming from inland Tuscany. It has extraordinary potential for ageing and will last decades.”

It’s the grape’s acidity and sapidity that contribute to its incredible longevity, but Panizzi makes its Vernaccia wines in a style that also rewards early drinking.

“It is a terroir-driven wine which, when it’s young, can come forward with white flower blossom, citrus fruit and yellow pulp fruits and a beautiful salty texture that cleans the palate and adds depth,” explains Lazar.

“Given time, the crushed shell, salty and

chalky notes from the soil minerals come through with the acidity and vegetal notes recalling spicy plants such as helichrysum liquorice, heading towards the medicinal herbs, saffron and sweet spices.

“As more time passes it evolves towards a flinty style with a gunpowder character, which is a typical trait of aged Vernaccia.

It’s very surprising.”

P

anizzi has recently started working with Astrum Wine Cellars, which is bringing in Vernaccia di San Gimignano (a blend from four vineyards, aged on lees in stainless steel for four months); Vernaccia di San Gimignano Vigna Santa Margherita (Panizzi’s cru wine, made with fruit from the first Panizzi vineyard of nearly 50 years, which sees half of its fermentation in barrique); and Vernaccia di San Gimignano Riserva (a single-vineyard wine matured in oak for 12 months before spending seven months in stainless steel and at least 24 months in bottle). Panizzi Riserva is normally launched in the fifth year following the harvest, just like its famous red sibling, Brunello di Montalcino.

“We are preparing to launch a project where every new year we release a 10-year-old Vernaccia San Gimignano Panizzi wine,” adds Lazar. “It’s to give people a chance to taste an older Vernaccia and discover that a new kind wine is emerging because the time was allowed for it to develop.”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 53

Panizzi’s Vernaccia wines already have something of a following in the UK market, which is why the winery intends to focus on these first before unveiling other elements of its portfolio, which include wines made from Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

The company is also excited about its early results with Pinot Nero. “We’ve been producing this grape for 10 vintages now,” says Lazar. “We are writing the book on this, so it could go either way! But we are extremely confident of good results.”

Feature sponsored by Panizzi Wines, imported in the UK by Astrum Wine Cellars. For more information visit astrumwinecellars.com or panizzi.it.

CAMPAGNA FINANZIATA AI SENSI DEL REG. UE N. 1308/2013 CAMPAIGN FINANCED ACCORDING TO EU REG. NO. 1308/2013

Sulphite-free in Chianti Classico The family estate of Terre di Melazzano is proving that the winemaking ideas of an older generation can sometimes be a long way ahead of their time

Y

ou might assume that nothing much changes in a region as revered as Chianti Classico. With that kind

of global following, why would it? But at a picturesque estate, high on the slopes of Monte San Michele, some new ground is being broken.

Terre di Melazzano is not exactly unique in its adoption of organic viticulture – that’s a trend that’s been going for many years in the region. “But we are unique in that we are the only one making sulphite-free wine in Chianti Classico, and we have been doing that since 2012,” explains Chiara Falciani, whose grandfather, Piero Giulio Falciani, founded the estate in 1959. “Our sulphite-free wine is called Riscoperto, meaning ‘rediscovered’.”

Chiara with winemaker husband Andrea

Sulphites may have only become a mainstream topic of conversation in recent times, but making wine without them is actually nothing new. “The Riscoperto was

wines throughout the range. But there’s

a result of thinking about my grandfather

something extra going on with Riscoperto.

because in the past he started to produce

“Three years ago we harvested the same

“It is not an easy thing for a winemaker who wants to produce 60,000 bottles a year.

In 2012 we started on 1,000 bottles and now

sulphite-free wine using a very different

Sangiovese grapes from the same parcel of

we are at about 20,000 bottles a year and

method of vinification,” Chiara explains.

land and did two separate vinifications in steel

many markets ask us to produce it because

tanks,” says Chiara. “After the fermentation

they like it so much. We’re very proud of it.”

“In 2010 we started to produce a microvinification so the wine maintains

we added sulphites to one and not to the

the structure and is preserved

other. After two days we tasted both and they

without added sulphites. We have

were very different. The sulphite-free wine

Terre di Melazzano wines are sold to

seen that, in order to have a really

was fresher and there was a fruitier taste.”

independent merchants in the UK by Italian specialist

winemaker is in control of all

A

Marcato Direct (marcatodirect.co.uk). The line up

the stages of the growth cycle,

start,” says Chiara.

successful sulphite-free wine, it is most important to have really healthy grapes.

“This is not so difficult if the

especially during the summer.”

Terre di Melazzano prides itself on “aromatic, fruity and elegant”

re the family’s neighbours interested

includes Riscoperto (RRP £16.99), Chianti

in copying their ideas? “I know

Classico (RRP £16.99), Chianti Classico

there are many wineries trying to

Riserva (RRP £21.99) and Gran Selezione

produce sulphite-free wine, but it’s not easy to “You have to understand how it works and

(RRP £34.99).

Feature sponsored by Terre di Melazzano. For more

the different problems that can happen in the

information visit terredimelazzanowine.com or email

vineyards.

Marcato Direct: sales@marcatodirect.co.uk

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 54

A DREAM REALISED AFTER 40 years

A southern right whale in Walker Bay

Donna Elvira winery in Campania is making the kind of wines that owner Tony Fink has always loved. Feature sponsored by Donna Elvira. All wines are available from UK stock. Contact luigidicaprio@campaniawines.co.uk or sara@donnaelvira.com

A

round 40 years ago, a plasterer called Tony Fink had what turned out to be a life-changing moment.

“I was always an ardent beer drinker in my early 20s but someone offered me some Aglianico wine,” he recalls. “The extraordinary taste stayed with me.

Anyone who hasn’t tasted it doesn’t know what they are missing.”

Fink went on to run a successful construction business – in fact so successful, these days, that he jokes his team no longer really needs him. So his thoughts have returned to Campania, where he made his family home for 15 years, and he created Donna Elvira winery.

Naturally, the estate’s principal grape variety is Aglianico. “Campania does the best Aglianico wine,” Fink insists. “With the Aglianico grape we make our Taurasi wine, which you could say is among the best wines in the world. They call it the Barolo of the south. The Aglianico grape is far less well known for the simple reason that southern Italy always plays catch-up with northern Italy, both economically and industrially. The same goes for the wine.”

When Fink took his first sip of Aglianico, winemaking in Campania was essentially a rural pursuit. Facilities were basic and wines were not made with ageing in mind.

“Over the past 30 years winemakers in the region have brought elegance and quality to their wines,” Fink says. “The Campania region is the only one in Italy that has three DOCG wines, which is the highest appellation. This is partly because of the volcanic soil. When I first cleared out my fields for the vineyards, we pulled out huge boulders which were from Vesuvius explosions. I’m going to build some walls with them when I get time.”

The Donna Elvira approach to winemaking takes its cue from the simple,

yet delicious, style of cooking in Campania.

“These are dishes that don’t need lots of ingredients,” says Fink. “Less is more.

“We don’t use pesticides and we don’t use herbicides. That means cleaning around the vines and picking is all done by hand. We are 100% sustainable. I am happy to be so careful because I don’t want to be detrimental to the soil and this shows in the wine.”

Fink has enlisted the services of a

talented winemaker and like-minded viticulturist who take charge of the dayto-day running of the wine activities.

Fink quips that his biggest personal contribution to the endeavour is “probably putting my hand in my pocket”. But it’s clear that his investment in the project is as much emotional as it is financial.

“Campania is a labour of love for me,”

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 55

he says. “I’ve lived there, and my children were born there. I spend six months of the year there now and it’s like going to see a dear friend.”

Joining the Donna Elvira range later this year are a rosato spumante, made with Aglianico, and a small quantity of Taurasi.

Half of the initial production – 20,000 bottles – is being sold in Italy with the other half shipped to bonded warehouses in the UK. The policy will always be quality, not quantity, Fink says.

“People are just starting to realise the potential of the Aglianico grape and Campania wines generally,” he adds. “The quality is only going to get better.

“I’m grateful for what I’ve got. I’m absolutely delighted. After 40 years I thank my lucky stars that I have been able to experience this – and so do the rest of my family, of course.”

highlights from the range

KaySara RRP £15-£17 This rosato wine is made from Aglianico and is named for Fink’s wife Kay and daughter Sara. “It’s a beautiful, refreshing wine for any occasion,” he says.

Aegidius Greco di Tufo RRP £17-£19 A wine which suits mealtime occasions with its enticing combination of salinity, intensity and richness. “Greco is the local serious wine,” says Fink. “People will spend the extra on it.”

Settemazze Aglianico RRP £17-£19 “This is what I like a wine to taste like,” Fink declares. The Donna Elvira style involved picking grapes when they reach optimum phenolic ripeness and using whole-bunch fermentation to round off the variety’s famous tannins.

Amathus expands its Italian wine portfolio Importer’s Italian specialism enhanced by the arrival of Schiopetto, Abbazia di Novacella and Sandro de Bruno

A

mathus has announced a significant expansion of its agency portfolio of Italian wineries.

In the past few months, a number of

producers have joined Amathus’ growing Italian line-up, including the hugely

influential Friuli winery Schiopetto,

widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent Italian white wine producers, as well as

long-standing Alto Adige winery Abbazia di Novacella.

Both producers are regular winners

of the coveted Gambero Rosso Tre

Bicchieri award. Another addition is Soave winemaker Sandro de Bruno.

Amathus head of wine Jeremy Lithgow

MW says: “We’re building on our wine

countries including New Zealand, France

mainstream countries such as Portugal –

will have the classics already ticked off

Georgia.

and Spain will be announced soon.

Amathus appreciates that most indies

on their lists. “While we’re well-stocked

in traditional regions, where we think we

can help is in bringing options to diversify and differentiate, with great-quality,

alternative wines from novel producers,

regions or grape varieties,” says Lithgow.

“With these Italian producers, for

example, it’s helping merchants go beyond Barolo, Brunello and Chianti.

“With our producers from other places

we’re offering interesting things from less

where we have wines from unusual origins like the Azores Wine Company – Greece or “Indies might not have as much

experience in these countries and regions,

or may be looking to fill gaps in their range.

That’s where Amathus can help.”

Feature sponsored by Amathus Drinks

For more information about the company or any of the featured producers, visit amathusdrinks.com Call 0208 951 9840

portfolio’s firm foundations of the last few years, by adding wineries from around

the world who we feel rank amongst the best in class for their respective regions.

It really doesn’t get any better than

Schiopetto, who have been flying the flag for Friuli for decades.

“Likewise Abbazia di Novacella, whose

immaculate range of local varieties from

Abbazia di Novacella surrounded by vineyards

the success of Sandro de Bruno’s Soaves

Schiopetto, Abbazia di Novacella and Sandro de Bruno on shelf

the Valle d’Isarco gives us fantastic wines

and great diversity. We’re also thrilled with and his volcanic take on Pinot Nero. It’s

mystery to me that his brilliant wines are not better known, and we’ll be doing our best to change that.”.

T

hese additions continue Amathus’ programme of expanding its wine

offering, with 150 agency producers

and more than 750 wines now available.

A wide range of other new agencies from

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 56

THE WINEMAKER FILES //

Paolo Demarie, Paolo Demarie Winery I graduated in accounting and, after some experience in different companies, my love for the land and wine brought me back “home”. I attended some courses on vinification and tasting when I started in the family business in 2000. Wine and vinification are in my blood and I can’t live without them.

I’m lucky to have grown up in and live in this beautiful territory. Our vineyards are in the Roero and Langhe area. This hilly landscape is so beautiful and rich. Roero has gentle hills with sandy soil, perfect for delicate and elegant wines. Langhe has a very different soil type, clay and marl, that highlights the body and astringency of Nebbiolo grapes.

Moving to sustainable practices has been our focus over the past eight to 10 years. In 2013 we built our new winery with modern green technology. There’s a solar panel on the roof for the production of electricity. The building is completely insulated to reduce the fluctuation in temperature during the summer and winter seasons. We have a biomass boiler, and we burn the vine cuttings for our heating. Water is recycled through a constructed wetland: a system of natural purification of waste water.

After three years of conversion to organics, in 2020 we obtained our organic certification. Our first organic wine is Roero Arneis DOCG 2020 and others wines will follow. I think that all these practices are beneficial for the

environment and for our health. We want to leave a fertile soil to future generations.

We want to be recognised as a “classic” producer. Our Nebbiolo, Barbaresco and Barolo all follow the local traditions.

But we also like to experiment and to try different methods in the vineyard and in the vinification. This is a fun part of our work and it allows us to keep growing as winemakers.

Sabbia, our orange wine from 100% Arneis grapes, started out as something of a bet. I approached this “natural” wine world some years ago with a growing interest but with lots of doubts. So in 2015 we decided to vinify about 1,000kg of Arneis in this way. After the alcoholic fermentation and maceration, my feedback was not so positive, but we decided to go ahead with barrel ageing to evaluate the evolution. After a period in old French barriques, the micro-oxygenation enhanced the aromatic complexity of this wine, helping it live up to the hopes we’d had for it. Today, after four years of orange vinification and a production of about 6,500 bottles a year, we have a better understanding of the process, but it’s still challenging and fun. I think the production of this wine will grow, but step by step.

I think that DOC and DOCG rules are totally correct. I never feel harnessed or limited by them. I appreciate the fact that some styles of vinification – orange winemaking, for example – are not allowed by the Roero Arneis DOCG regulations.

The Demarie Giovanni family have been working their land for three generations, respecting local nature and harvesting grapes by hand. In addition to their main vineyard in Vezza d’Alba in Roero, the family has another in La Morra (Barolo), and one in the Barbaresco region.

Paolo Demarie wines are imported into the UK by Independent Wine www.independent.wine 03335 771 417

Italy is recognised as a land of sun, history, fashion, wine and food and for sure this made our dolce vita and wines so popular. We have a wealth of different grapes and wines that can’t be compared to those of other countries. At the same time our country was (and is) poor and lots of Italians have emigrated everywhere, promoting our culture. Today, to help us stay ahead of the competition, we need to follow our traditions and highlight the different grapes we use, especially indigenous varieties that are unique and aren’t planted in other areas.

Demarie Roero Arneis

Demarie Sabbia

Demarie Barolo

RRP: £16.60

RRP: £22.42

RRP: £33.54

A great white wine; delicate, with a nice bitter aftertaste. Arneis is an indigenous variety that was rediscovered few years ago.

Perfect for an aperitivo or as an accompaniment for light veggie and/or fish dishes.

This is our orange wine, made from 100% Arneis grapes. It's got a unique character with saffron and green tea notes. Perfect with Asian dishes Thai chicken or Tandoori salmon.

The king. This wine represents the best expression of the Nebbiolo grape in the Langhe area, It's a full-bodied and tannic wine with a unique elegance. The Barolo is for important occasions or to share with good friends.

THE WINE MERCHANT JUNE 2021 57

ITALIAN WINE From page 52

wine businesses and industry bodies to

prioritise winery workers for vaccination, allowing them to return to work in cellars properly.

But not all producers have found the

conditions impossible. In a Zoom call

convened to mark the launch of the latest vintage of his estate’s second wine, Le

Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia in September, Axel Heinz, winemaker at Super Tuscan

estate Ornellaia, told me that, while 2020 had been an “unusual vintage”, the Covid restrictions “didn’t stop us from doing what we would normally do”.

Francesca and Alessio Planeta

Heinz’s boutique operation is a high-

profile representative of a pocket of the

Italian market that has continued on the

pronounced upward curve it has enjoyed

market, another enormous success for Italy

– glasses of Prosecco Pink are going to

analyst and fine wine marketplace, Liv-

57% of Prosecco producers were already

The Wine Merchant has encountered

for much of the past decade.

Indeed, according to the market

ex, the finest Italian estates have made

remarkable inroads into the global fine

wine market, growing their value share of

the value of the world’s secondary market from 8.8% in 2019 to 15.1% in 2020 and 17% in the first quarter of 2021.

According to Liv-ex, Italy’s strong fine

wine performance is the result of being “saved from US tariffs in 2020” unlike their peers in France, as well as being

“free from the complexity of the Bordeaux market, anchored to the mechanism of

en primeur”. Barolo remains the

strongest performer, followed by

Super Tuscans and, rising fast up

the charts, Brunello di Montalcino.

But Liv-ex points out that some

40 Italian appellations are now “routinely traded” on the

platform, suggesting a very

healthy diversification of the country’s fine wine scene.

At the other end of the

at the back end of 2020 was the official

launch of the Prosecco rosé category. While producing a pink wine of some description using other appellations, the official seal

of approval for the category, which allows for a blend of 85% Glera with the colour-

bringing balance coming from Pinot Nero, has already seen sales soar.

A

s an example, Lidl, the first

supermarket in the UK to stock a Prosecco rosé once the category

had got its official seal of approval in

October, was gleefully sending out press releases talking about the “six million

glasses” of Prosecco rosé it had sold over the Christmas period.

In marrying two of the wine world’s

biggest 21st-century category success stories – Prosecco and rosé – Veneto

producers had on their hands the closest

thing to a marketing sure thing it’s possible to imagine in the wine world.

It would be a mistake to be too sniffy

about it. While not all – or even most

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 58

win over the hearts and palates of UK

independents’ more discerning customers, plenty of examples that more than

meet the requirement for providing

Prosecco’s effortlessly enjoyable, sherbetty refreshment with an extra hint of soft berry fruit.

What’s more, as the late, lamented Diego

Planeta, who died, aged 80, last September, argued throughout a career in which he

oversaw the modern renaissance of Sicilian wine, a successful wine region will be good at making wines that appeal to as many price points and drinkers as possible.

For Planeta, the work he undertook as

head of the Cantine Settesoli co-operative

was every bit as important and rewarding as his role making increasingly fine wines

at the family estate, in establishing Sicily as a serious and sustainable wine producer.

Similarly, that Italy is able to find a

way with both mass-market pink fizz

and single-estate collectible fine wines is

suggestive of a country with a very healthy future in the post-Covid world.

T

he famous Giro d’Italia returned to

Montalcino this year and for cycling fanatic Paolo Bianchini, that’s a

perfect reason to launch a limited-edition label Brunello di Montalcino.

Bianchini is himself a former

professional cyclist, who acquired Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona when he retired from the sport.

Limited edition marks historic Giro d’Italia visit Pro cyclist-turned-winemaker Paolo Bianchini gives 2016 vintage of Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino a special look to celebrate return of race to his home region

The Limited Edition Brunello Wine Stage

label has seen a select few bottles of the

2016 vintage of Ciacci’s famous Brunello di Montalcino dressed in pink to honour

racers riding the undulating gravel Strada

Bianche’esque roads for the first time in 11 years on May 19.

This special label has been authorised to

grace a very limited number of 75cl bottles which are exclusively available to purchase

in Italy. It is only the second limited edition of its kind to be created by the winery,

which embarked on a similar project in 2010 when the Giro d’Italia last passed through Montalcino.

The 2016 Ciacci Brunello di Montalcino

itself is an exquisite wine that has received excellent reviews from top wine critics,

including scores of 97 points from Kieran O’Keefe for Wine Enthusiast, 95+ points

from Monica Larner on RobertParker.com, 95+ from Joanna Simon on JoannaSimon. com and 95 from James Suckling on JamesSuckling.com.

L

ocated in the south east of the

Montalcino region close to the beautiful medieval village of

Castelnuovo dell’Abate in the Tuscan hills, the estate of Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona

can trace its roots back to the 17th century.

In 1985 the countess Elda Ciacci

Paolo Bianchini with a wine that critics loved even without its pink jersey

bequeathed the 220ha estate to keeper

the terroir and traditional winemaking

53ha are devoted to Sangiovese Grosso,

the estate also produces a top-quality

Giuseppe Bianchini. Today it is run by his children, Paolo and Lucia. In total,

producing the highly acclaimed Brunello di Montalcino, with the rest dedicated to Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

The wines receive global acclaim and

recognition, and Ciacci Piccolomini

d’Aragona is recognised as one of the world’s top producers of Brunello di

Montalcino thanks to the commitment to

The Sangiovese Grosso clone is selected

practices.

from the oldest vines of the estate and is

Grappa di Brunello Riserva Pianrosso and

produces quality even in difficult vintages.

Not content with just producing wines,

two exceptional olive oils, from the estate’s own olive groves.

The estate borders the Orcia River which

helps to moderate the temperature in this

hot, dry part of the region. The soil texture has good levels of marl and shale, dating from the Eocene period.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 59

particularly representative of Sangiovese coming from the Montalcino area, which

Sponsored by Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona, imported by Mentzendorff.

Visit ciaccipiccolomini.it or mentzendorff.co.uk

SUPPLIER NEWS

A decade of Condor Wines Lee Evans has come a long way since 2011, but his company’s core values remain the same

W

hen Lee Evans started

we’re all worried about cash flow. I’m

Condor Wines a decade

worried about the mountain of stock I’m

ago, the name was carefully

sat on; they’re worried about the mountain

chosen. “The condor flies over the Andes,”

of stock on their shelves. There’s a lot of

he says. “It’s unique to South America

similarities.

and therefore it allowed us not to just be

“Wine merchants have to work hard

about Argentina but to expand into other

to stay in business so when they find

areas in South America.” For a business

someone who is also trying to make

that wanted to specialise in Argentinian

something of themselves, like a kindred

and Chilean wines, it seemed like a decent

spirit, they will get behind you.”

ornithological metaphor.

Evans adds: “We don’t sell direct to

Evans’s wife Maria is from Argentina,

consumers, and we don’t sell direct to the

meaning that the couple’s connection with

on-trade. If an indie works with us they can

the country is more than just commercial.

trust that we are not trying to steal their

They had a home there for a year before

business.”

moving back to the UK and getting the business started.

“I could see how well Malbec was doing,”

Lee Evans: happy with South American specialism

Evans recalls. “It was already beginning to creep on to wine lists and I believed it was something that we could help

independents achieve success with.”

bottles and doing lots of tastings.

some sense of what made independent

think the wine merchants I was visiting

Evans had previously worked for

Carlsberg, selling to the free trade, and had businesses tick. From the beginning,

Condor has prided itself on low overheads,

with Evans working from home rather than a swish office, with a tightly-knit team that normally requires no more than a handful of employees.

In the early days, things were even more

lo-fi than that, with Evans driving his

samples across the UK in his secondhand Fiesta to introduce his fledgling business to indies.

“It was genuine cold calling,” he admits.

“That time was magical – out on the road, knocking on doors with my mixed case of

“Being based in the West Midlands I

put my focus outside of London and I

weren’t seeing people coming in very often talking about the quality and diversity and everything else you could find from South America.

“If someone rang me up on a Thursday

and asked me to do a tasting in Cornwall

and the next day I had to be in the north, I’d find a way to do both.”

Evans believes there is synergy between

his own independent business and his

customers. “I’m an independent business

too,” he says “and we both have a lot of the same challenges.

“We’re multi-tasking, we’re time poor,

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 60

C

ondor started out in 2011 with a

range of about 30 wines. Tellingly, the original roster of producers

– including Bodega Los Haroldos, Finca

Quara, Estancia Mendoza, Bodega Del Rio Eloza and Algodon Wine Estates – have

stuck with the company, evidently pleased with the results they’re seeing in the independent trade.

New producers have joined the Condor

stable, from across Argentina and Chile as well as Uruguay, and Evans has been on

scouting missions in Bolivia and Brazil too.

But he has not been tempted farther afield.

“We want to be a South American

specialist,” he insists. “Of course, if we

wanted, we could source a Prosecco for our customers, or a New Zealand Sauvignon

Blanc. But we’re in business because we

believe passionately in South America as an exciting category that can offer pretty

much anything you want. It’s the heart of what we do.”

SUPPLIER BULLETIN

Fells Fells House, Station Road Kings Langley WD4 8LH 01442 870 900 For details about our portfolio of award winning wines from some of the world’s leading family-owned wine producers contact: info@fells.co.uk

www.fells.co.uk

New Release - Coleraine 2019 From a fairy-tale vintage, Coleraine ’19 is both Beauty and the Beast; capturing a new depth and power, with an exquisite perfume and spellbinding enchantment. A marriage of grace and strength.

“The legendary cabernet sauvignon and merlot blend of NZ. New Zealand’s Sassicaia” - James Suckling

@FellsWine

“The country’s most iconic wine label” - Decanter

je_fells

“A national treasure. A benchmark, with a remarkable track record for age-worthiness” - JancisRobinson.com

100

Wine Orbit

98

Bob Campbell MW

top selection 23 Cellini Street London SW8 2LF www.topselection.co.uk info@topselection.co.uk Contact: Alastair Moss Telephone: 020 3958 0744 @topselectionwines @tswine

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 62

97

Wine Front

LOUIS LATOUR AGENCIES 12-14 Denman Street London W1D 7HJ

0207 409 7276 enquiries@louislatour.co.uk www.louislatour.co.uk

hatch mansfield New Bank House 1 Brockenhurst Road Ascot Berkshire SL5 9DL 01344 871800 info@hatch.co.uk www.hatchmansfield.com @hatchmansfield

Vintage 2021 at Wakefield Wines Wakefield Wines has just completed the 2021 vintage and shares some reflections from the viticultural and winemaking teams.

Peter Rogge, viticulture manager: “The latter half of the season was ideal, enabling the vines to ripen and develop conventionally, resulting in moderate crops with excellent varietal expression.”

Syd Kyloh, viticulturist: “Kinder conditions last spring promoted healthy canopies which produced strong varietal character during mild conditions throughout summer and autumn. To be honest I was blown away by the varietal expression at low Baume’s in early February.”

Adam Eggins, chief winemaker: “Rieslings look great after a difficult year for the variety. The red wines look very good with great perfume and benchmark colours.”

Thomas Darmody, assistant winemaker: “A strange weather year but blessed at the same time. Quality looks great for both whites and reds. Looking forward to sharing our new projects.”

Wakefield is a third-generation, multi-award winning, family-owned winery located in the Clare Valley. It was founded by the Taylor family in 1969 and produces a broad selection of wines with a focus on Chardonnay, Riesling, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. www.wakefieldwines.com

Pagos del Galir

Unique wines from Galicia’s unexplored soils...

Founded in 2002 and purchased by C.V.N.E. in 2018, Virgen del Galir hails from Galicia’s premium Valdeorras D.O. It is located in Éntoma a small village in Orense, in the valley of the Galir river, north-west Spain.

The Valdeorras D.O. is renowned for the quality of its white Godello and red Mencia. Virgen del Galir’s Pagos del Galir range offers an excellent example of these in-demand grape varieties.

Scan the QR code or visit hatchmansfield.com/pagos-del-galir

to request samples

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 63

SUPPLIER BULLETIN

C&C wines 109 Blundell Street London N7 9BN 020 3261 0927 help@carsoncarnevalewines.com www.carsoncarnevalewines.com

@CandC_Wines @carsoncarnevalewines

Famille Helfrich Wines

Famille Helfrich On-trade & Independent Collection has arrived!!

1, rue Division Leclerc, 67290 Petersbach, France

Dear Independent Retailer,

We have great pleasure sending you our

NEW on-trade and independent wine list which you should receive imminently!

Today the Helfrich Family are estate

owners and winemakers farming 3,500

cdavies@lgcf.fr 07789 008540

hectares of vines under ownership ourselves on 60+ estates which make up the core content of this new list.

@FamilleHelfrich

The GCF family is still a family with not

only domaines and châteaux in France but also infrastructure in Germany, Hungary,

Spain and soon to be announced in Chile!

If you are seeing our name for the first

time it would be great to have you join us

on our exciting journey, so please feel free

to call or drop me an email anytime and I’ll gladly discuss next steps.

They’re all smiles to your face …

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 64

Chris Davies

liberty wines 020 7720 5350 order@libertywines.co.uk www.libertywines.co.uk

Celebrating Italian wines for summer Join us on our virtual Italy Summer Tour this month as we celebrate il bel paese’s wonderfully diverse wines for summer drinking.

Every day through to July 4 on our Instagram @liberty_wines, we’re sharing picks, tips and tastings from a selection of our Italian winemaking friends.

@liberty_wines

From Brachetto and Dolcetto to Pignoletto

and Verdicchio, we’re discovering the lighter reds and whites of both Piemonte and central Italy. We’re also taking a closer look at premium Pinot Grigio and six producers in

the north east who achieve distinctively intense expressions of this perennial favourite. Our programme ends with the south and islands of Sardinia and Sicily, where a host

of indigenous varieties give wines with great freshness,

elegance and aromatics.

Follow #libertywinesitaly for updates or head over to our blog on libertywines.co.uk for the full schedule and extra features.

richmond wine agencies The Links, Popham Close Hanworth Middlesex TW13 6JE

Château d’Esclans Collector’s Case This limited production case includes: 2 x bottles of Château d’Esclans Estate Rosé 2019 2 x bottles of Les Clans 2019 2 x bottles of Garrus 2019

020 8744 5550 info@richmondwineagencies.com The case includes a personal thank you note from Sacha Lichine addressed to the ‘collector’ as well as an assigned collector’s number marked at the top which can be used to notify Château d’Esclans by email, of their purchase.

This will, in turn, yield a certificate from the Château to the respective collector, inviting them for a private visit to the Château at their leisure.

@richmondwineag1

*The ‘collector’ is defined as the buyer of the case.

26

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 65

SUPPLIER BULLETIN

walker & Wodehouse 109a Regents Park Road London NW1 8UR 0207 449 1665 orders@walkerwodehousewines.com www.walkerwodehousewines.com

@WalkerWodehouse

Celebrate summer with Bruno Paillard Bruno Paillard is a young, dynamic Champagne house that has quickly established a reputation for elegant wines with real style.

Fresh, dry and vibrant, these wines are made with an uncompromising attitude to

quality that shines through in the glass. Bruno Paillard started his own Maison in Reims back in 1981 – the first new Champagne house in more than a century.

The challenges involved in taking on the

region’s established names would have stopped lesser men than Bruno, but over the last three decades Bruno and his daughter, Alice, have

turned this eponymous business into one of the most prestigious in Champagne.

Today, Maison Bruno Paillard is still an

independent family-owned Champagne producer.

The house follows a strict quality charter that includes using only first pressings,

vinifying each cru separately and putting the disgorgement date on each bottle. They

were the first to display disgorgement dates on the back labels of all their cuvees – and have been doing so since the mid-1980s.

Their house style is achieved by blending each vintage with 25%-50% reserve wines.

These are a blend of previous vintages in a solera-style system, dating all the way back to 1985!

For more information, please contact your Account Manager

buckingham schenk Unit 5, The E Centre Easthampstead Road Bracknell RG12 1NF 01753 521336 info@buckingham-schenk.co.uk www.buckingham-schenk.co.uk

@BuckSchenk @buckinghamschenk

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 66

mentzendorff The Woolyard 52 Bermondsey Street London SE1 3UD 020 7840 3600

K L E I N C O N S TA N T I A R E L E A S E S T H E I R P R E M I U M S I N G L E V I N E YA R D S A U V I G N O N B L A N C S E R I E S This series aims to capture and express Klein Constantia’s unique terroir, pushing winemaking boundaries. Amongst the first to focus on Sauvignon Blanc in South Africa, the vines are planted in separate blocks on 500-600 million-year-old decomposed granite and Table Mountain sandstone soils at high altitudes. The winemaking is a hands-off approach, including natural yeast fermentation and minimal SO2 use. The overall result are wines with profound complexity, which can evolve into something exceptional.

info@mentzendorff.co.uk www.mentzendorff.co.uk

Metis Sauvignon Blanc 2018 -94 points, Tim Atkin SA Report

Clara Sauvignon Blanc 2019 - 92 points, Vinous

Perdeblokke Sauvignon Blanc 2020 - 93 points, Tim Atkin, SA Report

Block 382 Sauvignon Blanc 2019 - 96 points, Greg Sherwood MW

For more information, please contact your Mentzendorff Acount Manager

AWIN BARRATT SIEGEL WINE AGENCIES 28 Recreation Ground Road Stamford Lincolnshire PE9 1EW 01780 755810 orders@abs.wine www.abs.wine

@ABSWines

WIN A TRIP TO MOUCHÃO, PORTUGAL Take part in our summer Mouchao promotion, 1st June to 31st August, buy 12 cases and get an additional 2 cases free

Trip for 2 people to include, flights, car hire and 2 nights accommodation, visit to Mouchão and dinner with the Mouchão team.

The store with the most innovative in-store or window display posted to Instagram (@adegadomouchao, @ABSWines #Viniportugal), will win a trip to the Alentejo to visit the Mouchão winery.

The promotion will feature the entry level Dom Rafael range, both wines are line priced and for every 12 cases purchased, mixed across the range, an additional 2 cases will be added free of charge, also included in the promotion is Ponte Red. To encourage sales an additional bottle of each reference will be provided to use as in-store tasting stock.

For further details contact your Account Manager.

THE WINE MERCHANT june 2021 67