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C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E VERMOUTH
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Contents
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26. A NOBLE BREED
52. LONDON LOVES JAZZ
Tenuta San Guido has produced the world’s most famous racehorses and some of its greatest wines. Rebecca Gibb MW meets its self-effacing owner
The London jazz scene has burst out of its middle-class straitjacket to embrace… well, everything. Laura Barton gets down
36. BITTERSWEET DREAMS
58. GEORGIA: AN ANCIENT ART REVIVED
It’s been in and out of fashion for at least 200 years, but now Vermouth is on every bartender’s A-list
The art of making wine in kvevri, the mighty clay amphorae of Georgia, is undergoing a renaissance
42. DOING THE RIGHT THING
Sir John Hegarty bestrides the world of advertising, but there’s a lot more to the adland knight than selling jeans and cars
76. THE ROOT OF ALL SHIRAZ
The oldest vines on the oldest soils: Jo Burzynska tells the extraordinary story of Australian Shiraz 88. A MAGIC VERTICAL
There’s an air of the miraculous about Marina Olsson, a private collector who puts on annual tastings of extremely rare prestige cuvée Champagnes
66. AROMA THERAPY
Alexandre Schmitt’s extraordinarily sensitive nose has the international winemaking elite scrambling to seek his opinion 70. SPIRIT LEVEL
Is there no end to the unstoppable rise of gin? Olivier Ward looks at the options for the ubiquitous spirit
97. THE COLLECTION
Our team of experts recommends the finest wines and spirits
GETTY IMAGES; LISA LINDER; CH RISTOPH ER KENNEDY; DAVID NEWTON; TOM PARKER; JON WYA ND; BILL PHELP S
FEATURES
120 94 136
14 132
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GETT Y IMAGES; LOV E ME, BY RICHARD H UD S ON/ PHOTO GREG GORMAN ; BRID GEMA N IMAGES; JAMES BEDFORD; DEB ORAH WASTIE; ZHUANG HONG YI, C OURT ESY N IL GALLERY
122 REGULARS
4. CONTRIBUTORS 7. CLUB O SELECTS
Our pick of the exclusive, the artisan and the downright luxurious 13. OPINION ON…
Aubert de Villaine is a master of detail and a man of contrasts and delicate balance 14. GARDEN OF DELIGHT
A Sonoma vineyard is also a vast sculpture garden, the vines punctuated by dramatic works by some of the world’s most renowned artists
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94. BIG IN JAPAN
131. LEARN IN A DAY
Sake is as ancient as its grape-based counterpart, and in Tokyo you can find it everywhere, from the finest restaurants to singlecup vending machines
Zoe Williams discovers the joy of shooting – as long as she remembers to release the safety catch
120. BRIEF ENCOUNTER
Andy Hayler explores the great and lesser-known establishments of Lyon, the foodie capital of France
132. A DAY WITH THE ARTISAN
Given the full (Cornish) artisan treatment, the humble cycle helmet suddenly becomes the epitome of cool 136. BACK PAGE
122. SUPER-INGREDIENT
Absinthe: the demon drink
Butter has been around for millennia, and it has dozens of forms and thousands of uses. Just don’t keep it in the fridge 126. STATE OF THE ART
Rob Sandall picks out the artists turning heads in San Francisco
COV E R P H OTO G R A P H H E L D BY D E S I R E ( T H E DIMENSIONS OF FREEDOM) ( 2 0 1 7– 1 8 ) , B Y M A R C Q U I N N ; P H OTO G R A P H B Y R O B E R T B E R G
info@cluboenologique.com
Contributors
EDITORIAL
WRITERS
CLUB OENOLOGIQUE
EDITOR
JANE ANSON
REBECCA GIBB MW
Adam Lechmere
Author of Bordeaux Legends and the forthcoming Inside Bordeaux, Jane Anson is currently trying to master the perfect gingerbread.
Rebecca Gibb is a Master of Wine, wordsmith and amateur cellist. She is the author of The Wines of New Zealand and founder of drinksinspired jigsaw company Bamboozled Games.
WINE DIRECTOR
Christelle Guibert EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE
Laurel Bibby
LAURA BARTON
CONSULTANT EDITOR
Laura Barton is a writer, broadcaster and hepcat.
Guy Woodward SPIRITS CONSULTANT
Colin Hampden-White SUBEDITOR
David Tombesi-Walton at Sands Publishing Solutions HEAD OF MARKETING
Amy Garcia DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Rashna Mody Clark
FIONA BECKETT
Fiona Beckett loves a hot buttered crumpet or, to be honest, anything buttery, from sauce béarnaise to crumbly home-baked shortbread. JO BURZYNSKA
On top of a wine writing and judging career spanning two decades and hemispheres, Jo Burzynska is also searching for the perfect harmony between sound and wine through the PhD she’s currently undertaking at UNSW in Sydney.
PICTURE DIRECTOR
Caroline Metcalfe DESIGN
Rashna Mody Clark Design: Anna Wiewiora, Miguel Batista, Nely Plaza BRANDING
forpeople PRINTING REPRO
Eric Ladd at XY Digital PRINTING
CARLA CAPALBO
It took Carla Capalbo just three days in Georgia to decide to write a book there (but three years to write and photograph it). It has won several awards and means she will never go hungry in Georgia. JOE FATTORINI
Joe Fattorini presents The Wine Show and works for the wine merchant Fields, Morris & Verdin. He was once described as ‘sweatily lascivious’ by The Scotsman.
MIQUEL HUDIN
Miquel Hudin is a writer and sommelier. When not in the Balkans or Caucasus, he is at the mercy of his dogs and their walks through the vineyards of Priorat. ALICE LASCELLES
Alice Lascelles writes about drinks for the Financial Times. ELLA LISTER
Ella Lister is an oenophile, a Francophile, and a Europhile. When she’s not running winelister.com, she can be found eating, drinking, or training for the St-Emilion half-marathon. She lives between London and Bordeaux. SARAH MARSH MW
Burgundy specialist Sarah Marsh has tasted through 14 vintages en primeur for her website The Burgundy Briefing. In 2017, she finally realised her dream to make her own wine, at the winery of Domaine Nicolas Rossignol in Beaune. PETER RANSCOMBE
Freelance journalist Peter Ranscombe has reported from wineries and distilleries
on the backs of golf buggies, electric bikes, Citroën 2CVs and Shanks’s pony. YUKARI SAKAMOTO
Yukari Sakamoto took mental notes for her sake article while crushed between salarymen on an overcrowded train in Tokyo. ROB SANDALL
This month, Rob Sandall has been a little dubious about, then surprised by, the Michelangelo/ Viola exhibition at the RA – a curious juxtaposition but well worth the visit should you find yourself Mayfair-way. SERENA SUTCLIFFE MW
Emerging from a week of tasting Burgundy, honorary chair of Sotheby’s Wine Serena Sutcliffe is currently longing for a glass of… Sassicaia. And Sotheby’s wants her to get back to her computer, minus glass. MATT WALLS
Matt Walls is an award-winning freelance wine writer, author and broadcaster who lives in London and the Rhône. OLIVIER WARD
Olivier Ward is the editor of Gin Foundry, the world’s largest resource dedicated to the spirit. ZOE WILLIAMS
Zoe Williams is smashing the system one article at a time, sometimes approaching sideways, like a crab.
Wyndeham Grange SUBSCRIPTIONS
Newsstand Magazines cluboenologique.com/subs Facebook @cluboenologique Instagram @cluboenologique Twitter @cluboenologique Email info@cluboenologique.com / news@cluboenologique.com ISSN 2631-4630. Club Oenologique is published quarterly by The Conversion Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. The title Club Oenologique is registered in Great Britain as a trademark. Every care is taken in compiling the contents of this publication, but the proprietors assume no responsibility in the effects arising there from. No responsibility is accepted for loss or damage of manuscripts and illustrations submitted for publication. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the proprietors. Proprietors reserve the right to refuse advertisements.
PHOTOGRAPHERS, ARTISTS AND ILLUSTRATORS CHRISTOPHER KENNEDY
Christopher Kennedy’s diverse career has taken him across the globe. Whether shooting travel stories in far-flung locations or urban bee keepers in east London, he captures the beauty and realism in all situations. LISA LINDER
Lisa Linder is a London-based portrait, food and travel photographer with a passion for the Australian landscape.
London. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, he exhibits widely, and writes and speaks on illustration internationally. DAVID NEWTON
David Newton is an illustratorturned-photographer, based in London. He specialises in still-life, and his clients include Dior, YSL and Tom Ford. He also finds time to publish his own magazine, Wylde. TOM PARKER
RODERICK MILLS
Roderick Mills is a practising artist, illustrator, educator, writer and curator based in
Tom is renowned for capturing epic scenes and injecting a structured beauty into everything he sees. His focus, stellar work ethic and love of working with people enable him to create the right mood to always find the winning shot.
BILL PHELPS
American photographer Bill Phelps has built an impressive career over the past 30 years and is widely celebrated for his poetic vision. He is also a passionate traveller, father and restaurateur. DEBORAH WASTIE
Deborah Wastie has a background in graphic design, working mainly in the charity sector before leaving full-time work to pursue photography. She now designs still-life images.
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Editor’s letter
eauty is truth, truth beauty, the poet said. John Hegarty didn’t namecheck Keats when we interviewed him for this issue of Club Oenologique, but he talked a lot about truth. That’s what a good advertisement is all about, he reckons. He says the same of winemaking: it’s about getting the land to reveal its true nature. The beauty in artisanship is all in the process – doing the thing better each time. Winemakers always say their job is particularly difficult because they only have one chance a year to get it right, but whether we’re writing about racehorses, whisky, wine, music, or the amazing kvevri of Georgia, there’s always an element of the unexpected – and of change. The London jazz scene, for example, is transforming itself into a heady brew of a dozen different styles, ‘polyrhythmic, intense, unfettered’, as Laura Barton says of the young drummer Moses Boyd. Burgundy, Sarah Marsh writes, is in the same giddy state, overrun with keen young gunslingers snapping up parcels of vines and making wine in their garages. Vermouth, too, is surging again in popularity, while the winemakers of Cornas are thrillingly shaking things up in the Rhône Valley. But we’re not slavishly following the new. Miquel Hudin writes about Georgia’s winemaking tradition, which goes back millennia, and we profile the head of one of the most ancient houses of Tuscany, Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, producer of famous racehorses, as well as Sassicaia. And what could be more traditional than clay-pigeon shooting? It’s slightly different when political columnist Zoe Williams does it (alarmingly, it gave her ‘a huge surge of bloodlust’), but it’s a sport that hasn’t changed since the invention of oiled cotton. Old or new, distillers, winemakers, saxophonists, butter-makers – they’re all trying to get to the nub of things. Artisanship is about harmony and rhythm. Get those things right, and beauty and truth follow naturally.
ADAM LECHMERE MARCH 2019
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CLUB SELECTS
The bottles O U R P I C K O F T H E M O S T E X C L U S I V E A N D I N T R I G U I N G B O T T L E S AVA I L A B L E T H I S S E A S O N
SLOW BURN Gordon & MacPhail are past masters at bottling very old whiskies; the Glen Grant 1948 Cask 2154 took up residence in a first-fill Sherry cask just after the Second World War. This mighty single malt allows us to gaze for a moment into a past world of whisky-making, when stills were directly fired (as opposed to heated by steam or electricity). Such stills are rare now, though Glenfarclas is entirely direct-fired, and Glenfiddich practises it on some stills. Connoisseurs maintain that it adds weight and complexity. £17,500 specialist retailers
THE WINE OF OLD ENGLAND The great English wineries love a bit of history. Nyetimber (Dutch-owned, run by the Canadian winemaking couple Cherie Spriggs and Brad Greatrix) has named its latest wine 1086 after the date of the Domesday Book, in which the lovely Sussex estate is listed. The two wines, a rosé and a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, ‘set a new standard and vindicate all who believed in English wine’, says noted fizz expert Anne Krebiehl MW. RECORD LABEL?
£150 (£375 in magnum; minute quantities available) The Finest Bubble, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, specialist retailers
Seventy-five Versailles Celebration Cases of five vintages of Château Mouton Rothschild go under the hammer at Sotheby’s this spring. The labels carry commissioned works by Anish Kapoor and Jeff Koons among others, and the vintages include the stellar 2005, 09 and 10, and the more modest 07 and 13. For 100 years, the Rothschilds have been wooing great artists for their labels: Picasso, Chagall, Dalí, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Prince Charles have all featured. Auctions take place in Hong Kong on 1 April, followed by London on 17 April and concluding in New York on 4 May. Estimates start at £3,200 sothebys.com
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CLUB SELECTS
The objects THREE CLASSIC – AND TIMELESS – DESIGNS FROM THE WORKSHOPS OF NORTHERN EUROPE
BLOOM WITH A VIEW There’s something ineffable about Swedish design: classic, timeless and effortlessly stylish, it’s perhaps best summed up in the work of Swedish designer Lisa Hilland, who says she likes to ‘give an object a soul that can be loved’. Having worked with the likes of Gemla and Svenskt Tenn, Hilland turned to glassware specialist Orrefors for her latest project. Inspired by the organic shapes of nature, and playing on the universal truth that opposites attract, Bloom pairs clear crystal with imposing metal to catch the light perfectly and act as a centrepiece to any living space. With or without flowers, it’s scintillating. £180 orrefors.co.uk, Skandium, The Chinaman, iapetus Gallery
TAKING COMFORT OUTSIDE
Master silversmith Georg Jensen has been filling homes with understated Danish design for over a century. In that time, its list of collaborators has stretched from Swedish princes to California design royalty. It is to the former, though, that the Danish firm turns for its latest line. The Bernadotte collection is an ode to the original 1930 collaboration with Prince Sigvard, who helped modernise the world of silver craft via notably elegant and sophisticated designs. The contemporary rendering is characterised by its clean lines and elegant aesthetic.
Countless designs have emerged from the de Sede workshop in the small Swiss municipality of Klingnau since its foundation in 1965. One piece, though, has remained a constant: the enduring DS-80 daybed. This clean-lined piece became something of a de Sede classic soon after its launch in 1969 – a narrow mattress, exquisitely finished, rests on a filigree wood-slatted frame around a nearly invisible base. Now, though, the template is changing, in order to move outside. A new version combines outdoor-tested fabrics with weather-resistant sipo wood, while an outdoor sofa version, with backrest and armrest, has also been crafted. Now you just need a matching wine cooler (or two).
£50–195 Harrods
Prices from approx £7,000 Harrods
SILVERWARE FIT FOR A PRINCE
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We have a HOME in Hong Kong
A CONTEMPORARY RETAIL AND EVENTS SPACE FOR FINE WINE + SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF HONG KONG. From the team behind FINE+RARE, HOME Hong Kong is a truly one-of-a-kind space for fine wine expertise and knowledge; a place for collectors to discover, drink and purchase exceptional wines and spirits. HOME Hong Kong brings together the living stories of the rarest, curated collectibles and celebrates the craftsmanship and beauty behind them.
For more information please visit frw.co.uk Contact: homehk@frw.co.uk
HOME Hong Kong 22F, 8 Wyndham Street, Central (Hong Kong)
CLUB SELECTS
The openings U N M I S S A B L E E V E N T S A N D O P E N I N G S F R O M N A PA TO A M ST E R DA M V I A LO N D O N ’ S K I N G ’ S C R O S S
FROM DORM TO DYLAN Thai student-turned-chef Kitsanin Thanyakulsajja has forged a stellar reputation running university supper club Ephemeral from his Amsterdam dorm room, attracting a stream of critics and Michelin-starred chefs in the process. Now his simple yet sophisticated omakase cuisine has found a more befitting setting in the form of an intimate Japanese pop-up residence in the city’s boutique hotel The Dylan. Starting in March, Kit At 384 will offer a 15-course dining experience, harnessing the same sushi-based menu – from pickled mackerel with ginger buds to torched, butter-infused langoustine – at the chic, discreetly located property.
GETTING ON THE GIN WAGON After branching out into the world of spirits with the creation of a Chardonnay vodka and Bacchus gin, leading English wine producer Chapel Down is expanding into the London bar scene. Chapel Down Gin Works, set in the newly gentrified environs of King’s Cross, houses a bar, restaurant and micro-distillery. Guests can try their hand at making their own gin with a variety of botanicals in the ground floor ‘ginnery’, before taking cocktails overlooking the canal or enjoying seasonal food in the British-themed restaurant.
Kit At 384 will be open at The Dylan throughout March, then May to October, on Thursdays to Mondays for dinner, and Saturdays and Sundays for lunch; €125 per person dylanamsterdam.com
Chapel Down Gin Works, Goods Way, London N1C 4UR
CALL TO AUCTION It’s a crowded field, but with its intoxicating cocktail of celebrity attendees, oncein-a-lifetime lots and bespoke, large-format bottlings, Auction Napa Valley is arguably the most extravagant event in the region’s starry social calendar. The festivities get under way with the Friday Barrel Auction and party, which this year has a suitably newsworthy host. Since its purchase by E&J Gallo in 2002, the historic Louis M Martini Winery has undergone a wholesale transformation, with original features like the 1933 terracotta tiles skilfully blended with state-ofthe-art tasting rooms, plus an outdoor dining area. The space will be unveiled at the auction, with guests enjoying dishes cooked by the winery’s executive chef Jeffery Russell – fresh from a decade-long career with Charlie Palmer – from cabanas overlooking the estate’s perfectly manicured gardens. The redesigned Louis M Martini Winery will officially reopen on 29 March; Auction Napa Valley runs 29 May–2 June, with the Barrel Auction held on 31 May
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A ďŹ ve day contemporary art fair with its roots embedded in urban culture.
@WKInteract
MO NIK
@Monikerartfair
718 Broadway, NoHo Manhattan, New York City, USA monikerartfair.com
Aubert de Villaine T H E F Ê T E D B U RG U N D I A N I S A M A ST E R O F D E TA I L A N D A M A N O F C O N T R A ST S A N D D E L I CAT E BA L A N C E
January in London. It’s cold, damp and gloomy, but a select group heads happily towards the offices of Corney & Barrow in the shadow of Tower Bridge, for the annual tasting of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. In the downstairs tasting room, younger critics stand to the right or hover around half a dozen wines being poured out in parsimonious samples. To the left, a group of wine illuminati takes its annual place at the low table in the corner, laptops at the ready. And in the far corner, almost hidden, is Aubert de Villaine, reading with deep concentration the tasting notes written by his long-term importer and friend Adam Brett-Smith. He’s dressed in academic tweed, set off by professorial brogues. De Villaine is co-owner of the domaine, but he sees himself as its custodian. It’s an extraordinary responsibility. A bottle of the 1945 Romanée-Conti, made when de Villaine was six, sold for £424,000 ($555,000) in 2018. Bottles of the 2015 – hailed by the owner as ‘the most remarkable vintage of my career’ – were released at almost £3,000 ($3,925) each; today, the same bottles of this elixir change hands for seven times that. The money, glamour and fame associated with the estate might go to some people’s heads. Not de Villaine’s. He suggests he is the
custodian of the estate not just on behalf of his co-directors but on behalf of Burgundy itself. As new, big-money owners withdraw from the traditions of village life, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti remains a part of the annual cycle of local fêtes du vin. De Villaine lives that vineyard life cycle, too. His conversation is about walking among his vineyards, the colour of the leaves, the development of the fruit, the sharp winter mornings and warm summer evenings. I was recently asked to organise a ‘VVIP’ tour to the domaine. The Australian guests would arrive by private jet. I felt I ought to warn them not to expect too much: the owner would probably meet them looking like he’d just been walking the dog. (For many years, visitors lucky enough to tour the vineyard, on foot or by Land Rover, enjoyed the company of Aubert’s hyperactive black Labrador.) The welcome one receives is modest, albeit with a view from Romanée-StVivant through Romanée-Conti to the premiers crus of Les Petits Monts and Aux Reignots. Note: ‘Domaine de la RomanéeConti’; never DRC. ‘I don’t like that abbreviation,’ de Villaine says. Perhaps it fails to honour the hallowed 1.81ha of the domaine’s most famous monopole, the Romanée-Conti itself. Or is it because the diminutive assumes we all
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RODERICK MILLS
know what we’re talking about? That would be a mistake. De Villaine’s life is one of contrasts and delicate balance. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti may be home to the greatest wine in the world, yet it’s little known to the person in the street. It’s a highly prized investment, a domaine led by a man of profound humility. The man himself may have an almost primal oneness with the soils of Burgundy, but this archetypal Frenchman has close American ties: he married Pamela Fairbanks from Santa Barbara, and he now makes wine in partnership with her renowned Hyde cousins in Carneros. In 1976, he was one of only two judges on the panel of the legendary Judgment of Paris tasting who’d had prior experience of US wines. Now here he sits, hunched over his tasting booklet, eventually beckoning to his old friend and pointing out something in the tasting booklet. ‘Oh, you found it,’ says Brett-Smith. ‘I knew you would.’ Is this a deliberate mistake left by the wine merchant for this master of detail to discover, a nod to the Persian carpet-weavers who would leave a flaw because to claim perfection is blasphemy? The tasting goes on around them, and de Villaine, questioned by a journalist, insists again, ‘I did nothing. This year. the vintage did all the work.’
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Garden of delights A S O N O M A V I N E YA R D I S A L S O A V A S T S C U L P T U R E G A R D E N , T H E V I N E S P U N C T U AT E D BY D R A M AT I C WO R K S
GREG GORMA N
FROM SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST RENOWNED ARTISTS
Love Me (2016), Richard Hudson ‘ We’ve known Richard Hudson for years. The hear t was produced in Beijing, not far from our home there; after it was finished, it was cut up, put into eight containers and shipped to Sonoma, where a team of Chinese craftsmen – and a translator – took three months to put it together. We believe it conveys a message of love and peace, and we put it at the highest point on Donum as a symbol of this.’
Allan Warburg, the owner of Sonoma’s Donum Estate, has spent the past five years installing a world-class collection of international sculptures throughout the property, marrying art and wine in the rolling vineyards of Sonoma Valley. Originally from Denmark, Warburg lived in Beijing for almost 30 years, and his collection has been inspired by the Chinese capital’s vibrant art scene. ‘In the late 90s and early 2000s, art in China had been very controlled – then suddenly they were given this freedom. You could feel something being unleashed at that time. It was an explosion of creativity,’ he says. The giant works in the vineyards reflect the mix of
Mikado Tree (2010), Pascale Mar thine Tayou ‘ We always wanted to create a global collection, and we found Pascale Tayou [from Camaroon] to be a ver y exciting ar tist. This piece fits the vision; Mikado is an old Japanese children’s game that is played all over the world – a truly global game.’
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Warburg’s cultural experiences, the combination of eastern and western sensibilities. Some he has bought – such as Ai Weiwei’s striking Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads and the Louise Bourgeois Crouching Spider – but Warburg and his wife Mei are now concentrating on site-specific commissions. ‘We’ve found that we have the biggest passion for working with artists directly,’ he continues. ‘It’s an incredible experience to meet artists in their studios and have them come over to have a look at the vineyards and hone their creativity. We’d like to focus more on pieces where the artist is very much involved and we can feel each other’s passion.’
ROBERT BERG
Warburg has acquired just under 40 sculptures for the estate since 2013, and has acres of land for more. His latest commission is a work from American artist Doug Aitken, whose wind chime is made up of 360 pieces, some 3m tall. He came with a ‘completely blank piece of paper and spent six hours walking around’ before inspiration came to him, Warburg says. It seems that, to Warburg, the beauty of Donum is this experience of combining landscape, wine, and art: ‘When you’re in the beautiful Sonoma landscape, and you put in some beautiful art, and you’re having a great glass of wine, those three things are so much more powerful together.’
Maze (2017 ), Gao Weigang ‘ We’ve visited Gao Weigang’s studio in Beijing many times, and once he showed us a model of a maze he was hoping to produce in large scale. We thought it would look fantastic in the Donum landscape as an interactive piece, where visitors can literally get lost in the ar t.’
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Composition with Long Ver ticals (2016), Mark Manders ‘ We have always admired Mark Manders, and went to his studio to discuss the size and colour of this piece. There is a cer tain dreaming feeling to the lady, which becomes even more profound after a glass of wine.” Opposite: One Two Three (2017 ), Jeppe Hein ‘One Two Three is a ver y interactive sculpture. When you walk into it, you can no longer determine what is you, what is nature around you, and what is the sculpture. It’s a sensor yprovoking experience.’
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ROBERT BERG; GREG GORMAN
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (2011), Ai Weiwei ‘In the wine world, we talk about which vintage a wine is, while in Asia we discuss which zodiac sign a person is. We felt there was a chance to bring East and West together by using the Zodiac Heads on our wine labels, and contacted Ai Weiwei to purchase them and reinforce the symbolism. He later agreed to redesign our labels to include the signs, and we’re still using his design, with the sign changing ever y year.’
ROBERT BERG
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GREG GORMAN
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GREG GORMAN ; ROBERT BERG
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Previous spread, top right: The Care of Oneself (2017 ), Elmgreen & Dragset ‘Elmgreen & Dragset are a ver y exciting Danish/Nor wegian couple. We commissioned this work of one man carr ying another man, who, after a closer look, turns out to be himself. It stands beautifully next to a lake and reminds us that often the heaviest burden we have is ourselves.’ Previous spread, bottom right: Held by Desire (The Dimensions of Freedom) (2017–18), Marc Quinn ‘ We always wanted a piece from Marc Quinn, who is a fascinating ar tist . We visited his studio in London to discuss what would fit into Donum, and he showed us a small-scale version of a bonsai tree. The final sculpture is an incredible 5m high and, again, signifies East meets West: a British ar tist is creating his version of the ancient Japanese bonsai tradition.’ King and Queen, Keith Haring ‘Keith Haring has always inspired us. We never met, but we’ve spent time with his sister, who lives near Donum, and feel we’ve got to know the ar tist through her. When King and Queen came up for sale in Paris, we immediately wanted to buy it . It stands on a hilltop overlooking the whole estate – monarchs surveying their countr y.’
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ANTHONY L AU R I NO
Previous spread, left: Contemporar y Terracotta Warriors (2015), Yue Minjun ‘ We are ver y close to Yue Minjun, one of China’s most famous ar tists. His 25 Contemporary Terracotta Warriors have been placed in Donum like the ancient warriors in Xian.’
A noble breed T E N U TA S A N G U I D O H A S P R O D U C E D T H E WO R L D ’ S M O ST FA M O U S R A C E H O R S E S A N D S O M E O F I T S G R E AT E ST W I N E S. R E B E C C A G I B B M W M E E T S I T S S E L F - E F FA C I N G OW N E R
This page: Lush forest surrounds the Capanne di Castiglioncello, farm buildings belonging to Castiglioncello, Tenuta San Guido Opposite: One of the estate’s racehorses
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BILL PHELPS
uongiorno, Marchese!’ sing the stable hands from their mounts. ‘Buongiorno, Marchese,’ waves the farrier grappling with a shoeless three-year-old colt. The Marchese – Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta – acknowledges their greetings with a bashful nod, hands tucked in the pockets of his wax jacket. He’s the Marchese to everyone, despite aristocratic titles having long gone the same way as the Italian monarchy. ‘It doesn’t mean anything,’ he says, when asked what the title denotes today. ‘Titles ceased to exist when Italy went from a kingdom to a republic in 1946.’ Yet everyone still uses his hereditary noble title Marchese, a sign of respect for this shy gentleman who says he is happier drinking Campari and soda at home than being the frontman at glamorous wine dinners or race meetings. Unfortunately for him, as head of the aristocratic family that owns the celebrated Tuscan estate Tenuta San Guido, dinners and race meetings rather go with the territory. Wine and horses dominate the Marchese’s life. He has dozens of racehorses in training, but these days the estate’s real thoroughbred is Sassicaia, a red wine that wasn’t even conceived when the family won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (twice). The original Super-Tuscan, Sassicaia is considered one of the finest Bordeaux-style wines in the world, alongside the great names of California – and of Bordeaux itself. Its first commercial vintage was as recently as 1968, but its status is such that it was even granted its own denominazione in 1994 – the first single-producer DOC in Italy. Today, though, the Marchese only has eyes for his horses. On a blustery Tuesday morning, the stables are awash with activity. There are still more than 100 horses on the books of the estate’s equine arm, Razza Dormello Olgiata, but its fortunes have waned. There is no forgetting its past glories: gleaming silverware lines the mantelpieces and dressers at the family’s historic home. Everywhere you turn, interspersed with family photographs, are prints of the stable’s most successful mounts. Here is Tenerani, the 1948 Goodwood Cup winner; across the room is Botticelli, the 1955 Ascot Gold Cup winner; and there, in pride of place, is the undefeated Ribot, two-time winner of the Arc de Triomphe in the mid-1950s and widely acknowledged as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. ‘Until the 1970s, the horses were our main activity,’ says the Marchese. ‘The stables were maintained for 12 or 15 years by Ribot’s stud fees [until his death in 1972]. We had a lot of success until the 1980s, then the competition became harder. After my father’s death [in 1983], we were investing more in wine, less in the horses. Maybe we concentrate too much on the wine.’ The accolades accorded to the wine in question would suggest otherwise: Sassicaia, which blends Cabernet Sauvignon with a liberal splash of Cabernet Franc (15%), has notched up as many prizes as his father’s late thoroughbred. However, the Marchese neither flaunts its success nor takes credit for steering the ship for more than 30 years. During his tenure, Sassicaia was named the Wine of the 20th Century
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Opposite and below left: The Marchese with one of his horses and walking a dog companion Below right: A rider on one of the estate’s racehorses, the Marchese’s passion
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Above: Sassicaia cellar by architect Agnese Mazzei; a horse in training; a family photo in the home Below: Manicured gardens at Villa il Poggio; a candlelit trip to the cellar; grazing at Tenuta San Guido
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Above: Olive trees at Tenuta San Guido; one of the family bedrooms; newly planted vines Below: A notebook bearing the signature of Lydia Tesio; the gardens of the house; hosing down after training
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by Italy’s leading wine magazine, Civiltà del Bere – despite being made from an international rather than a native Italian grape variety. It first outshone the world’s best Cabernets in a high-profile blind tasting in 1978 that placed this rebellious red firmly on the fine wine world’s radar. And it has regularly been mistaken for Bordeaux first growths when slipped into blind line-ups, even being judged ahead of such wines in a famous Paris tasting in 1996. Today, this aristocratic Tuscan red with a brilliant star on its label shines brightly in 80 countries around the world, largely thanks to the Marchese’s efforts. The astonishing thing about the wine is that it was conceived purely as a wine for family and friends. In the 1940s, while his focus was trained on horses, the Marchese’s claret-loving father Mario embarked on a ‘simple, charming experiment’. Tenuta San Guido, the vast family estate of his wife Clarice della Gherardesca, gave him room to dream, and he chose an unforgiving terrace in the middle of a forest high above the coastal plains to plant Cabernet Sauvignon. His granddaughter Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta, brand ambassador, explains his motives: ‘He liked to drink good wine and had a passion for wines coming from France, especially Bordeaux. When he moved here, he realised that it was not easy to get hold of the wines, particularly during the [Second World] war, so he had the idea to try [growing] Cabernet Sauvignon here in order to produce a wine that resembled the very good châteaux that he liked to drink. It was a very ambitious project.’ Until the early 1970s, the wine was only drunk at home; the sole ‘customer’ was the Marchese’s cousin Gherardo, who would give him one wheel of Pecorino cheese from the family’s property near Pisa for 12
The astonishing thing about it is that it was conceived purely as a wine for family and friends
bottles of Sassicaia. Adding to the original vineyard with a block of vines that would give its name to the wine, Sassicaia production increased, and somewhat begrudgingly Mario had to allow his wines to be distributed beyond Tenuta San Guido. With the help of wine consultant Giacomo Tachis, the wines became less ‘homemade’, according to Piero Antinori. Tenuta San Guido’s position as one of the world’s fine wine producers was cemented when Robert Parker awarded the 1985 vintage a perfect score of 100 points, a first for an Italian wine. More than 30 years on, the 1985 fetches in excess of £1,000 a bottle, although it’s not the Marchese’s favourite vintage. ‘My favourite was the 1988,’ he says. ‘I thought it was more elegant than the 1985, which is very dense by comparison.’ He concedes, though, that thanks to Parker, it is the best known. ‘Parker said that if he had to rate it again, he would give it 150 points,’ he laughs. As Sassicaia’s fame spread, so did a winemaking movement that grew up around it. Mario’s nephews Piero and Lodovico Antinori, of the eponymous 600-year-old Tuscan winemaking dynasty, drank their uncle’s wine at family gatherings, and it is no coincidence that the pair went on to make Bordeaux-style wines. In so doing, they revolutionised Italian wine. Piero turned Chianti on its head by launching Tignanello in 1971, a wine that took Chianti’s traditional grape, Sangiovese, and blended it with Cabernet Sauvignon. Several years later, he created another nonconformist wine on the Tignanello estate: Solaia. Lodovico followed suit by founding another Cabernet-based blend, Ornellaia, before Piero returned to Bolgheri to set up Guado al Tasso. These
Opposite: A tree-lined boulevard at the estate
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Quite often, people who make great wine or own a great wine have a certain idea of themselves, and this is not the case with the wonderful Marchese, because he is extremely modest and self-effacing
ambitious producers operating outside of Italian wine law were making what became known as Super-Tuscans. Originally classified as lowly table wines, these new offerings were quickly discovered to be superior to the great majority of traditionally made Tuscan wines – and little by little, the laws changed to accommodate them. Today, the Marchese seems nonplussed by Sassicaia’s status as the founder of arguably Italy’s most glamorous wine category. One gets the sense that he doesn’t really do glamour or luxury marketing. Indeed, his modesty can be disarming. Serena Sutcliffe MW, honorary chair of Sotheby’s Wine has known Sassicaia since the 1970s. ‘Quite often, people who make great wine or own a great wine have a certain idea of themselves, and this is not the case with the wonderful Marchese, because he is extremely modest and self-effacing,’ she says. ‘I think he feels that the wine does the talking for him. I’ve seen him over decades somewhat reluctantly appearing at tastings, and it’s very difficult to get much comment from him. In fact, when I’ve been with him leading tastings together, he’s always said, “Please talk about them.”’ Out on the gallops, a string of 600kg athletes powers past. As we pull up to the side of the track, I notice a rather less powerful Suzuki Jimny parked up with countless Jack Russells peering meerkat-like from the back window. Out steps a woman sporting a blue tracksuit and brightyellow polo shirt. She reaches through the driver-side window of our car, leans across the Marchese, shakes my hand and announces in a jolly boom that she is the Marchese’s wife. The Jack Russells in the boot of the Suzuki look on keenly. They are just some of the 32 they own, she reveals. There are bastardini too, she says – strays that they’ve taken in. I ask her how they ended up with so many. ‘We started with one – then one had puppies,’ comes the reply. The Marchese looks at me and shrugs in resigned fashion. This is not a man given to grand gestures. One senses that beneath the unassuming air lies a quiet, unyielding commitment to his dogs, horses and wine, but what is the Marchese’s first love? They’re different, he replies diplomatically. ‘Dogs are companions – they are with you the whole day. Horses are a passion. There’s nothing that can give you the adrenaline of seeing your horse winning a race. Racehorses drive you crazy.’ Is he crazy? ‘I am a little,’ he confesses, finally breaking into a rare but sincere broad smile. And wine? ‘It’s more like work,’ he says. It is profitable work, though, a business that, possibly unlike the family’s equine interests, he will be able to hand on to his daughter Priscilla and future generations, safe in the knowledge of its liquidity. ‘I have been very lucky to have had a horse that was considered the best horse of the last century,’ he says. ‘Today we are making a wine that has the same reputation as the horse that we had: Sassicaia is the new Ribot.’
Above: The Marchese. Opposite: Sassicaia slumbering in the cool of the barrel room
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Four great Sassicaias BY SERENA SUTCLIFFE MW, HONORARY CHAIR, SOTHEBY’S WINE The classiest racehorse of the Super-Tuscans and the origin of the species, Sassicaia has now led the field for six decades, a monument to Bolgheri-bred Cabernet Sauvignon, great ‘pasture’ and careful grooming. Its brilliance glows in youth, middle age and maturity, the latter the ultimate proof of nobility. The structure is unimpeachable, always covered by rich, aromatic black fruit and that essential ‘signoff’ on the palate that marks out the great from the good. The Incisa family has ensured continuity, and the rest just romps home in true pedigree style.
The exceptional 1988
98–100
Just over 30 years old and a wonder of the wine world, with its youthful Cabernet impact, structure and sweetness. Indestructible liquid chocolate and black hidden power, cassis sweetness and an endless finish. It was monumental from the start, awe-inspiring. Claret with a twist – and a candidate for Italy’s best.
The classic
95–97
1998
A great year for Bolgheri, stunningly exploited by Sassicaia. The nose is all blackberry complexity and dimension, the taste earthy/spicy, thick with red fruit, mocha and blackberry jam. The glycerol coats the teeth with violetty sweetness – like sinking into velvet plushness, with the scent permeating the flavour.
The underrated 1978
95–97
A glorious, classic spiciness has a top Pomerol feel to it, but then comes a raspberries-and-mint taste that is utterly fascinating. The glycerol ensures opulence, always balanced by that Cabernet freshness, unctuous yet structured, with tremendous mouthfeel. Great out of the blocks and very impressive now.
The favourite 1968 No contest. The first commercial vintage of this unique wine and love at first sight. The claret nose draws us in, but the tremendous sweetness, charm, beauty and purity are all its own – maybe, appropriately, with a touch of Lafite elegance? A bewitching landmark of wine history and enchantment to drink. Too nostalgic for me to give a banal score.
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WO R DS
P H OTO G R A P H S
ALICE LASCELLES
D E B O R A H WA S T I E
Bittersweet I T S N A M E M E A N S “ WO R M WO O D ” , I T ’ S B E E N I N A N D O U T O F FA S H I O N F O R 2 0 0 Y E A R S, A N D N OW I T ’ S E V E RY W H E R E .
This page (from top): rose vermouth, Campari and bitters; Noilly Prat and tonic, with rosemar y and pomegranate; rose spritz made with Belsazar Rose and tonic; Negroni made with Campari, gin and red vermouth; Noilly Prat over ice. Opposite: Rose Mar tini
dreams A L I C E L A S C E L L E S H Y M N S T H E E N D L E S S G LO R I E S O F V E R M O U T H
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E
Lime
ver since I drank my first aperitivo in a bustling Italian bar more than 10 years ago, I have adored vermouth. Bittersweet, aromatic, complex and esoteric, it’s a drink that makes the mind and mouth water. You can drink it 100 ways – in a Negroni, a Martini, with tonic, or simply sloshed over ice with a slice (which is how real aficionados take it). And it comes in a kaleidoscope of styles: it can be white, gold, amber, rosé or red; spicy and sweet as Christmas pudding, or as dry as Fino Sherry. No two vermouths are alike. Yet they are all, in essence, the same thing: fortified wine that’s been sweetened and flavoured with wormwood, a silver-grey herb with a sage-like flavour and a facepuckeringly bitter finish. By law, all vermouths must contain wormwood – the word itself derives from the German for wormwood, Wermut. But most vermouths contain more than a dozen different botanicals, including citrus peels, herbs, spices and flowers, which are blended together like a giant perfume. You can find vermouths flavoured with roses, myrrh, sandalwood, citrus peels, rhubarb, nutmeg, raspberries and coffee. There are vermouths that showcase botanicals from the forests of California and the Sussex countryside, the Australian outback and the French Alps. Each recipe tells a story. Almost all vermouths are based on white wine. (Most red vermouths get their colour from the botanicals or a touch of caramel.) Traditionally, that wine was something quite fresh and neutral like Trebbiano or Picpoul, but craft producers are now using local wines and botanicals to give their vermouths
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Plum stone
Rosemar y
Clove
Vanilla
Thyme
Vermouth bars LONDON VERMUTERIA vermuteria.cc/daily-menu TEMPER temperrestaurant.com/temper-covent-garden One of the stars of the swish new Coal Drops Yard development in King’s Cross is the delightful little Vermuteria, a continental-style vermouth bar stocking more than 30 varieties, including vintage and homemade vermouths on tap. For aperitivi with a more New World vibe, head to Neil Rankin’s Temper restaurant in Covent Garden, the place for grilled meats and Negronis made with vermouths from Australia, Greece and the UK. NEW YORK DANTE dante-nyc.com/menus
Rose petals
Star anise
Conceived by vermouth-mad bartender Naren Young and recently voted number nine in The World’s 50 Best Bars, this light-filled café-bar in Greenwich Village is a stylish homage to Italian drinks. Negronis are its speciality: whet your whistle with a Golden Negroni Sbagliato made with Cinzano Rosso vermouth, bergamot liqueur and Prosecco. Or try one of several spritzes on draught. PARIS LE MARY CELESTE quixotic-projects.com/venue/mary-celeste Oysters and vermouth cocktails are the order of the day at this fashionable new bar in the 3rd arrondissement, which is from the same people behind the highly rated Candelaria. Order a plate of crustaceans and a 66 Thunderbird, made with a palate-sharpening mix of Tequila, dry vermouth, clarified tomato water and green lemon. MILAN LACERBA lacerba.it Cramped, chaotic and bristling with Futurist artwork, the perennially popular Lacerba feels, at times, more like a house party than a bar. Bag a spot on one of the mid-century sofas and sip a Cocchi on ice with the art crowd, before heading to dinner in the vaulted restaurant next door.
Cinnamon
Rhubarb
SINGAPORE ATLAS BAR atlasbar.sg The towering gin collection in the centre of this art deco cocktail lounge is an absolute show-stopper, but the vermouth list is five-star, too. A Dry Martini is a must, under the circumstances. So try the house Martini with dry gin, a Martini Ambrato and orange bitters, or splash out on a vintage Martini made with gin and vermouth from the 1930s.
Grapefruit
Nutmeg
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a more distinct character. English wine producer Rathfinny has a vermouth in the pipeline, while Chazalettes uses, unusually, Barbera wine as its base. Swartland wine producer Adi Badenhorst makes a vermouthstyle aperitif called Caperitif using his own Chenin Blanc and Cape botanicals such as geraniums and bergamot-scented buchu. People have been making spiced and flavoured wines for thousands of years – originally for medicinal purposes. But vermouth as we know it today took off in the 18th century, when an Italian elixir called Carpano arrived on the scene in Turin. Tantalising and exotic, it quickly became the toast of fashionable café society, paving the way for a host of new brands, including Martini, Cinzano and the French vermouth Noilly Prat. Fast-forward 200 years, and the boom in craft distilling, coupled with a trend for bittersweet Italian drinks like the Negroni and the Spritz, means vermouth is now in the middle of a renaissance. There are dozens of brands on the market, and some top bars even make their own – Leroy wine bar in Shoreditch does a particularly good vermouth flavoured with dandelion root and fennel. One of the leading lights in the vermouth revival has been Roberto Bava, the inimitable boss of the 130-year-old Italian brand Cocchi (as well as Piedmont’s Bava Winery). The president and co-founder of the Vermouth di Torino Institute, an organisation that promotes classic, Turin-style vermouth, Bava is so mad about vermouth he even puts it in his fountain pen. An avid collector of Futurist memorabilia, he also published Futurist Mixology by Fulvio Piccinino, a delightfully wacky book that shines a light on the role vermouth had to play in this provocative, pre-war art movement. ‘History isn’t just about churches and paintings,’ says Bava, as he hands me a vermouth on ice, with a twist of lemon peel. ‘Sometimes it can also be a flavour.’ Like I said. Every vermouth tells a story.
From top: Gin, French vermouth and tonic; an olive sprig; Manhattan made with red vermouth, whisky and bitters
Vermouth tasting Once opened, vermouth should be kept in the fridge and drunk, ideally, within a couple of months.
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CHAZALETTES ROSSO DELLA REGINA VERMOUTH, ITALY
This Barbera-based rosso, which is a reformulation of a recipe favoured by the Royal Court of Savoie, is one of only a handful of vermouths to be made with red wine. And the grape’s vibrant redand black-fruit characters really shine through on the palate, punctuated by spicy woods and more herbal, sage-like wormwood. Complex, beautifully balanced and extremely moreish. (16.5% ABV)
95
An assertive, quite medicinal rosso that will be catnip to amaro lovers. Twentysix botanicals – including earthy-sweet rhubarb, orange zest, cloves, thyme and the bitterest wormwood (from Somerset) – give it a long, intense flavour. Pleasure and pain in equal measure. (18% ABV)
95
Hand-blended in Asti by a former aroma chemist, this bright-gold vermouth is hard to come by but worth hunting down. A base of Cortese and Moscato d’Asti wines gives it brilliance and freshness, while botanicals – including wormwood, citrus and herbs such as thyme, basil and oregano – add more Mediterranean seasoning. (16% ABV) RRP £40; Noble Fine Liquor COCCHI VERMOUTH DI TORINO, ITALY
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A complex, chestnut-coloured vermouth with exotic aromas of sandalwood, myrrh, cassia, liquorice and musk. Generous, caramelised sweetness gives it a luxurious texture, while wormwood, citrus peel and camphor notes provide a touch of medicinal grip. A distinctive, extravaganttasting vermouth for sipping. (16% ABV) RRP £19.95/75cl; The Whisky Exchange
Martini’s more premium Riserva range comprises two vermouths: a red Rubino and this medium-bodied Ambrato, or amber vermouth. The recipe, unusually, features three types of wormwood, plus exotica including Roman chamomile, bitter cinchona and Chinese rhubarb. A really well-made, versatile vermouth that’s excellent quality for the price. (18% ABV)
ANTICA FORMULA CARPANO VERMOUTH, ITALY – SILVER, IWSC 2018
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RRP £12/75cl; Waitrose, The Whisky Exchange, Master of Malt
89
White vermouth, a style that was popularised during the belle époque, can often be a bit sickly, but this historic blanc keeps the sweetness nicely in check. Alpine flowers and herbs meet citrus peels and vanilla to create a white vermouth that’s fresh and charming. (16% ABV)
DISCARDED VERMOUTH, SCOTLAND – BRONZE, IWSC 2018
92
Lustau’s own Sherries provide the base for this smoky, almost chewy red vermouth, which has masses of figgy dried-fruit notes and a nutty finish. Orange peels give it freshness, while wormwood, gentian and sage provide the all-important bitterness. Good for sipping or in a Negroni. (15% ABV) RRP £18.95/50cl; Berry Bros & Rudd BELSAZAR ROSÉ VERMOUTH, GERMANY – SILVER OUTSTANDING, IWSC 2018
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The white wines used to make this classic dry vermouth are aged for a time in oak casks, giving the end result a hint of nuttiness, a bit like a dry Sherry. Lightbodied and herbal, with a touch of saltiness on the finish, it is unsurpassed in a Dry Martini. But a little glass of iced Noilly Prat Dry makes a good aperitif, too. (18% ABV)
£14.95/75cl; The Whisky Exchange
RRP £30.95/1 litre; The Whisky Exchange, Master of Malt LUSTAU VERMUT ROJO, EMILIO LUSTAU, SPAIN – SILVER (FOR RED AND WHITE), IWSC 2018
NOILLY PRAT DRY, FRANCE
DOLIN DE CHAMBERY BLANC VERMOUTH, FRANCE
Still made according to a recipe from 1786, this Piedmontese rosso was among the world’s first commercial vermouths. Rich, spicy and unctuous, it’s best savoured neat, over ice or in whisky cocktails – it makes a particularly good Manhattan. Available in half-bottles too, which is handy. (16.5% ABV)
RRP £30/75cl; www.sacredgin.com, Master of Malt, The Whisky Exchange VERGANO VERMOUTH, ITALY
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RRP £13.45/75cl; The Whisky Exchange, Ocado, Master of Malt
RRP £22.75/75cl; The Whisky Exchange SACRED SPICED ENGLISH VERMOUTH, ENGLAND
MARTINI RISERVA SPECIALE AMBRATO, ITALY – SILVER OUTSTANDING, IWSC 2018
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This blush-coloured rosé vermouth from the Black Forest is based on German Pinot Noir wines and fortified with eau-de-vie from the famous producer Schladerer. Tart summer-pudding fruit and pink grapefruit zestiness make it really mouth-watering. Delicious as a sundowner, with ice and tonic. (17.5% ABV)
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This eco-friendly vermouth is flavoured, most unusually, with cascara, which is a by-product of coffee production. Silky-sweet, with indulgent banana, chocolate and cherry notes, it won’t please the purists, but it’s an intriguing addition to the scene. (21% ABV) Currently on-trade only, including Scarfe’s Bar (scarfesbar.com) and London Grind (grind.co.uk) KARVEN BIANCO, NEW ZEALAND Local botanicals including kawakawa and peppery horopito give this ambercoloured vermouth from New Zealand an astringent, tropical character that’s completely out there – and great fun. Notes of passion fruit, peach and lime, punctuated by a hit of bitterness, really get the mouth watering. Serve in long, refreshing cocktails. (18% ABV)
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RRP £21.95/50cl; The Whisky Exchange, Amazon
RRP £23/75cl; The Whisky Exchange, Ocado, Master of Malt
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SIR JOHN HEGARTY BESTRIDES THE WORLD OF ADVERTISING, B U T T H E R E ’ S A LOT M O R E TO T H E A D L A N D K N I G H T T H A N SELLING JEANS AND CARS
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P H OTO G R A P H S
A DA M L E C H M E R E
MARKEL REDONDO
‘It’s just down the hall. If you pass the Hockney, you’ve gone too far,’ says John Hegarty when I ask for directions to the bathroom. Lately, when I mention that I’ve just interviewed him and people ask me what he’s like (Hegarty is invariably described as an ‘advertising mogul’ or ‘adland knight’), I repeat that neat instruction. I like the fact that a soundbite sums up this energetic man and his career. It tells you immediately that his East London penthouse is big enough to get lost in (indeed, the concrete-ceilinged corridors seem to stretch to infinity), that there’s a Hockney and, in a welcome implied compliment, that a guest will immediately, of course, recognise the artist’s work. Whether Hegarty is a mogul or not – I always think the word should be applied to people altogether larger and more sinister than this wiry chap expertly fine-tuning his espresso machine – he certainly bestrides the advertising world. Knighted in 2007, Hegarty found great early success with Levi’s and the 1985 film of Nick Kamen stripping to his boxers in the launderette to the tune of ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’. The ad is 35 years old now, but it looks newly minted, having already been through three or four retro cycles. Then there were Audi and ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, Boddington’s beer (‘the cream of Manchester’), Häagen-Dazs and the brilliant
ILLUSTRATION : DANIEL STOLLE
Doing the right thing
WO R DS
A DV ERTIS IN G IMAGES: THE A DVERTISIN G A RC HIV E
‘Three Little Pigs’ ad for The Guardian (watch it – it’s compelling), among many others. Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the agency he cofounded in 1982, has produced some of the most memorable advertisements of the last four decades. So which is his favourite? ‘Well, out of all the pieces of work I’ve ever done […] I would change nothing about the Levi’s ad. It was virtually perfect.’ You have to understand here that we’re dealing with a salesman, and salesmen are not given to self-doubt. They find it counterproductive. So when Hegarty talks about perfection in his own work, and then starts riffing on the meaning of the word ‘masterpiece’, namechecking Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Humphrey Bogart and Oscar Wilde in the process, this is not conceit; he’s simply doing his job. And he does it very well. He got everyone wearing Levi’s in the 1980s, and he turned Audi into a highly desirable brand, giving the titan BMW a run for its money. Apart from ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ – the tagline that wittily subverted the enduring stereotype of German engineering efficiency – the Audi campaign used what he calls ‘pub ammo’. ‘A bloke walks into a pub and tells his mates he’s just bought an Audi.’ Initial mockery turns to envy when they realise just how superior its four-wheel drive is. It’s all moonshine, of course. For most of us, four-wheel drive confers no great advantage, just as Red Bull doesn’t give you wings. But Hegarty protests: this is not about simply persuading people to buy this car or that pair of jeans. ‘Essentially we’re trying to elevate the status of a brand to make it a part of culture. To ensure it has greater value and importance. We elevate jeans from workwear to a cultural icon: they have greater significance than something you put on and throw off.’ Perhaps, but those of us of a certain generation were brought up to believe ads were an annoyance at best, a trick at worst.
Above: Ad campaigns for Häagen-Dazs, Boddingtons and Levi’s 501s. Opposite, bottom: Interior at Hegar ty’s home. Below: barrel details at Hegar ty Chamans winer y
We remember our parents harrumphing from the sofa during the ad breaks. Hegarty chortles (he does this a lot). ‘It didn’t annoy me at all. It made me want to create something my dad – or my auntie – would want to watch. After I’d done Levi’s, she would still say, when the Hovis ad came on, “That’s the sort of thing you should be doing.”’ In the 1970s, though, the views of the older generation held sway. Advertising was not a respectable profession. ‘At art college we were definitely déclassé, like selling your soul,’ he says with glee. ‘We were virtually excluded, the terrible smell in the room.’ Hegarty is a natural rebel. He insists that advertising is all about ‘telling the truth’, and I resist the temptation to deconstruct the Levi’s ad and unwrap its universal message. I think it has nothing whatever to do with truth, but the ability to tell a joke. A man dives into a pool, and his swimming trunks surface before he does, but then he lights a cigar and… ‘Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet.’ There’s a joke in every great ad, whether it’s multilayered (‘Vorsprung durch technik’ – that is, us laughing at the Germans, who are laughing right back) or straightforward. Nowadays Hegarty has a couple of big interests outside advertising. After selling BBH in 2012, he founded The Garage Soho, a startup incubator (he likes new companies
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that disrupt the current business model), and he owns a 25ha estate with 15ha of vines (Grenache, Carignan, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Roussanne) in Minervois, a rugged corner of that most rugged of appellations, the Languedoc. There, he makes robustly elegant reds that sell through Fine+Rare (a sister company of Club Oenologique, for the sake of full disclosure) and in over a dozen countries. Hegarty Chamans is highly regarded – Robert Parker is one of its fans. Hegarty absolutely loves the region. ‘Minervois is the most exciting wine region in the world – such diversity of terroir and people – and fantastic wines.’ The wine is produced biodynamically, a philosophy about which Hegarty is indulgent rather than doctrinaire. ‘The thing you get with biodynamics is a kind of vivacity and a sense of liveliness. I don’t buy into the wonky stuff, but we do follow the calendar, and why shouldn’t it be right? There is rhythm – if the moon can move the ocean, you don’t think it will affect anything else?’ I like the way he describes the winemaking process. On the one hand, he’s got all the winemaking mantras at his fingertips – ‘we want to see what the land is telling us’ and so on – but on the other, he’s perfectly aware that there is a process, and there is always manipulation. It’s like shooting film, he says:
Above: Hegar ty’s vineyard in southern France. Opposite: inside the winer y
you’ve got the footage, and then you have to edit it and put music to it, and that’s where the rhythm reveals itself. ‘And when you find that rhythm and the right piece of music to go with it, it’s explosive.’ His father, before settling in London, was a farmer – ‘he’d be turning in his grave at the thought of me going back to all that’ – and the son takes the business seriously. He and his New Zealander partner Philippa visit the estate once a month and involve themselves in every aspect of Hegarty Chamans, from pruning to blending, along with some pretty high-end consultants. Pruning, for example, is overseen by Marco Simonit (about the most famous in the business – it’s like taking on Gwyneth Paltrow as your personal dietician). ‘It’s important to us to do it right and not be dilettantes in this,’ Hegarty says. He particularly enjoys the blending process, deferring, as sensible owners do, to his winemaker, Jessica Servet. ‘I have huge respect for Jessica, and she understands that I don’t personally like big, heavy wines – I like complexity and elegance, character and juxtaposition.’ There’s that word again. Looking back through the transcript of our conversation, I see that he’s used the word ‘juxtaposition’ several times. ‘Juxtaposition has been
something that has driven me throughout my entire career,’ he says. ‘Putting things next to each other. Contrast.’ It explains his love of aphorisms (his conversation is peppered with them): ‘When people say zig, I zag’; ‘History isn’t about the past, it’s about the future’; ‘Lose the mystery, but keep the magic.’ I’ve met Hegarty a few times and know people who work for him, and the words that are most frequently associated with him are energy and commitment. I have no doubt that he approaches every part of his life with the same focus. He seems tightly wound, full of vim. He’s 74 years old, but he might be a decade younger. He must have been fun to have in a class, and judging by the frequency with which he mentions his teachers (we’re going right back to the mid-1960s now), mentors have been very important to him. These range from those who steered him away from fine art to graphics and gently told him he was never going to be the great artist he had hoped, to the legendary Bill Bernbach, who is responsible for that original aphorism, ‘the most powerful element in advertising is the truth’. Truth, maybe. But what about shock and surprise? Hegarty’s ads have cornered the market in those commodities; one look at the
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At home in the South of France. Left: Hegar ty’s par tner Philippa Crane. Below: sea bream ready for the grill. Bottom: John Hegar ty. Opposite: garden seating area
extraordinary film for the UN World Food Programme that his Garage Soho company made with the director Lynne Ramsay will convince you of that. In a mere 62 seconds, the film delivers a jolt that you won’t forget. ‘Suddenly the cinema goes quiet. It’s incredible to see,’ Hegarty says, with a nice sense of wonderment. Did he set out to shock people? ‘No. You have to understand that an ad imposes itself on you. I choose to watch a programme, but I don’t choose to watch an ad, so it has a greater responsibility to understand the limits of what it can and can’t do. If you just want to shock, then you are suspect, but if you’re trying to open up a debate, then that is more legitimate. And, of course, it must engage and entertain.’ I’ve shown the UN film to a couple of people, and they agree: it gives you a physical shock, but from the first second to the last you are compelled to keep watching and – yes – you are entertained, in the sense that you can’t look away. There are many people who would give their right arm for such a skill. As our conversation turns to politics, you wonder how he’s going to turn his mind to the little local difficulty that is convulsing the UK at the moment. Hegarty’s passionately proEuropean stance is well known. I remind him of a comment he made some months ago, that if there were to be another referendum, he would produce a campaign for the Remain side within six months. ‘Absolutely! I’ve been in conversation with Gina Miller [a dedicated and effective antiBrexit campaigner] on how we approach a piece of communication that catches people’s imagination.’ He’s fizzing with ideas. Many of them are off the record, because he doesn’t want to give anything away; there’s one that ends in a war cemetery, nicely undercutting our enduring and damaging nostalgia for the Second World War. And so we come full circle, back to the idea of truth. ‘The first referendum was based on lies, and you cannot sustain a product based on an untruth.’ Well, there are many quite successful products (‘Coke – It’s the Real Thing’) whose taglines have the flimsiest hold on veracity, but then Hegarty adds his punchline: ‘The companies that succeed are the ones that tell me, “This is the truth, and your job is to find an interesting way of saying it.”’ The truth is all very well, but you have to unlock its potential as a story, you have to entertain people. Whether working out the best way to get the stony soil of Minervois to reveal its secrets, selling jeans or the UN, or persuading the British public to vote a certain way, it’s how you tell the story that matters. And there, in a nutshell, you have the career of Sir John Hegarty.
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TASTED BY ADAM LECHMERE
The Hegarty Chamans wines
Opposite: Philippa Crane picking herbs in the garden; figs and ham for supper; Hegar ty at home. This page: sunset over the vineyard
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HEGARTY CHAMANS, LES NONNES 2016, MINERVOIS, FRANCE
HEGARTY CHAMANS, NO. 1 LES DAMES 2014, MINERVOIS, FRANCE
HEGARTY CHAMANS, NO. 2 LE MATELAS 2014, MINERVOIS, FRANCE
HEGARTY CHAMANS, BLACK KNIGHT 2007, MINERVOIS, FRANCE
Made from the staple whites of the south, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne, this is a really lovely bright, fresh wine with a serious core of spicy aromatic lychee, ginger and lemon zest. Brisk acidity and a fine texture. It’s utterly approachable and charming, but with texture to match spiced and curried dishes. A wine for a gourmet spring picnic. (14%) £16.95 Slurp
Dark, brooding Syrah with a burst of black pepper on the nose; bright and juicy on the palate, with fine, lively tannin and darkish cherry fruit. Intense, sour acidity and a long, satisfying finish. ‘Bottled to the cycles of the moon’, this is a kitchen supper wine. (14%) £22.99 Grapevine
Grenache, Mourvèdre and Cinsault. Ruby red, jewellike and fresh in the glass, ripe redcurrant, cherry, spicy cough-drop notes, garrigue, rippling acidity and dry tannins releasing gouts of juice. Delicious and robust – a wine for a sizzling rack of lamb. (14.5%) £18.99 Grapevine, Slurp
Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. The flagship wine has the signature freshness loaded with dark fruit and classic southern French herbs (thyme and rosemary), underpinned by robust tannins. A fine, meaty, smoky wine, just in balance, a certain heat mitigated by a fine dry finish and an intense wash of juice. (14%) £26 Fine+Rare
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JAZ LONDON LOVES
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T H E LO N D O N JA Z Z S C E N E
HAS BURST OUT OF ITS MIDDLEC L A S S ST R A I T JAC K E T TO
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L AU R A BA R TO N
Clockwise from top left: Byron Wallen, Shabaka Hutchings, Jorja Smith, Bobby Hutcherson, Eddie Hick, Orphy Robinson
GETTY; A LAMY
E M B R AC E … W E L L , E V E RY T H I N G .
EYEVINE; ALA MY
Clockwise from top left: Theon Cross, Shabaka Hutchings, Nubya Garcia, Moses Boyd, Shabaka Hutchings, signage at Por tobello’s Mau Mau bar
ne evening in late September 2016, the church of St James the Great in Clapton, east London, was preparing for a memorial of sorts. A trestle table stood laden with great vats of Jamaican curry, and a queue for the bar ran back towards the pews as the congregation, casually attired and strikingly diverse, pottered in from the street. The church – an imposing red-brick building in one of the city’s most revitalised boroughs – was enjoying a midweek incarnation as home to the Church of Sound, an occasional live jazz event that had begun in the spring of that year and had already garnered a reputation as one of London’s hippest nights. That evening, they were staging a tribute to the American jazzman Bobby Hutcherson, famed vibraphone and marimba player and Blue Note alumnus, who had passed away the previous month. The crowd – now squeezed into the pews sipping cups of red wine – was a jumble of jazzheads, marimba fans and unapologetic hipsters. The allure was not simply the celebration of Hutcherson’s music; it was also the assortment of players assembled for the occasion, among them recent British jazz-scene luminaries such as vibraphonist Orphy Robinson and trumpeter Byron Wallen. But there were newer attractions, too: the up-and-coming saxophonist Nubya Garcia and, perhaps most of all, Moses Boyd, the extraordinary young drummer from south London whose style of playing – polyrhythmic, intense, unfettered – positions him somewhere between Max Roach and grime, New Orleans and thrash metal. As Boyd took to the stage, a ripple of anticipation spread through the room. It was a remarkable night, at once unhurried and electric and joyous. Later, it would be crowned Jazz FM’s Live Experience of the Year. Philip Larkin once wrote of how, for him, ‘jazz was that unique private excitement that youth seemed to demand’. And indeed, it has been a matter of some disappointment that, for a while, the youth and excitement appeared to have faded from jazz, as it became the preserve of a largely white, male, middle-aged crowd – something to savour seated and reverentially near-silent. What that evening at St James the Great epitomised was the thrill of London’s new jazz explosion, a scene that is far removed from the long-standing and more formal jazz clubs – flourishing in unexpected corners of the city, spilling out of unlikely venues and revealing a generation of young musicians who play a style of jazz that is uniquely and distinctly British. At Total Refreshment Centre in Hackney, Steez in south London and Jazz Re:freshed in the west, artists such as Boyd and Garcia, saxophonists Shabaka Hutchings and Binker Golding, tuba player Theon Cross and a host of their contemporaries have been playing shows that have brought new verve and vibrancy to the genre. In the first half of 2018, Spotify saw the number of UK listeners under 30 streaming its Jazz UK playlist increase by 108%. Should you need any further convincing, consider that the favourites to win (and cruelly pipped to the post) at last year’s Mercury Prize were Sons of Kemet, a new jazz supergroup made up of Hutchings, Cross and drummers Tom Skinner and Eddie Hick. It is 16 years since Justin McKenzie co-founded Jazz Re:freshed at Mau Mau Bar in Notting Hill. In those days, they relied on booking a big-name act from the US to draw an audience large enough to justify staging fledgling British jazz artists as support. Over time the night became a label, and around five years ago McKenzie began to notice a change. Rather than the traditional jazz performances, where ‘you sit down, and the presentation is really dry’, he saw performances that felt
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more like club nights or rock ’n’ roll shows, and he watched young artists coming up through the conservatoires who gladly called themselves jazz musicians and who brought with them audiences who were younger and, frequently, more ethnically diverse. And he saw a new generation of female musicians taking centre stage. ‘Five years ago at Jazz Re:freshed, 99% of female artists were vocalists,’ he says. ‘But the confidence now is for women to say, “I am the band leader.” It’s not tokenism – these are fantastic musicians.’ These days, with a devoted domestic and international audience, McKenzie says Jazz Re:freshed rarely books big names from abroad: ‘It doesn’t even occur to us.’ Among those who found their feet at Jazz Re:freshed is pianist Ashley Henry, who will release his full-length debut this spring. Henry was a latecomer to jazz – a BRIT School student who heard Jason Rebello’s Make It Real when he was 18 years old and from that moment felt, ‘I don’t care about anything else so long as I can play like this.’ Until that point, Henry had regarded jazz as ‘this thing that was untouchable’ – something with its own set of rules, that belonged in the city’s rarefied clubs and had little bearing on someone of his age or background. ‘So I understand it, this stigma that jazz has,’ he says. But what his part in the new jazz scene has shown him is that, ‘really, jazz is just this reflection of who you are. It’s amazing to be involved with a crowd where we’re playing in unconventional places – it takes away that potential stigma. Jazz like this breaks down barriers. It takes it back to where it used to be. Because back in the day, jazz was cutting edge, and it was inclusive, not exclusive.’ There was a moment when Moses Boyd felt something had shifted. At the start of last year, he played a gig at Corsica Studios in south London. ‘It sold out quite quickly,’ he recalls. ‘We had strobe lights and smoke. And then afterwards my sister said, “Did you know there was a fight down the front?”’ He laughs. ‘And I’m not advocating fighting, but it clicked: something had changed. It’s not the safe and reserved crowd I’m used to getting.’ Boyd found jazz drumming via a school music teacher who introduced him to the work of Max Roach and Tony Williams and then watched his young student bloom. ‘Back then, there wasn’t an interest in jazz,’ Boyd says. ‘And the audiences didn’t look like me – it was a different demographic. I remember going to gigs and being the only young black person there. I went to the Chick Corea reunion show, and we were the youngest people there by a country mile.’
Back in the day, jazz was cutting edge, and it was inclusive, not exclusive Over time, Boyd found his peer group. ‘There were a lot of musicians running parallel to me,’ he says. ‘United Vibrations, Henry Wu, Shabaka Hutchings, Nubya Garcia…’ But still, they felt somewhat at odds with the jazz establishment. It was, he says, ‘a pure, tumultuous and hard time. You had to struggle to get heard.’ And so, there was a joy and a liberation in playing venues such as Church of Sound, where ‘it felt more natural and more right. It was the type of space where I felt the type of music we were making should sit. I felt it fitted those environments and those people. It was what I was after.’ If there are qualities that mark out the sound of new British jazz, they are surely a collision of the sounds inherited and absorbed by many young Brits: multicultural, multigenre, electronic, acoustic – the familiar reconjured and rethought. Henry speaks of a certain ‘rawness’; McKenzie mentions how many of the new generation of musicians are seeking their roots, reaching back to the influences of their Caribbean or Indian heritage. ‘For me, it’s the rhythms,’ says Boyd. ‘A lot of the rhythms around American-based jazz can be attributed to swing rhythm, though there are a lot of other rhythms around and about that. But in the UK there are a lot of rhythms that interplay and are heavily influenced by our club culture and our sound systems. The UK has birthed a lot of great rhythms – jungle, garage, two-step, grime, ska…’ Of his own records, he would cite his Absolute Zero EP as an example of that conglomeration of rhythmic influences. ‘It was me trying to draw together the acoustic and the electronic and the jazz rhythms,’ he says. ‘Though, of course,’ he adds, ‘someone else might say something like Rye Lane Shuffle…,’ referring to the gritty, broken-beat 12-inch he released in 2016 – mixed by revered electronic artists Four Tet and Floating Points – that now fetches stunning sums on the collectors’ market. ‘But what is unique to the UK?’ he wonders, and pauses for a moment. ‘The UK is more gritty, it’s got its own melancholy,’ he says. ‘The American sound is bolder. The best way I can put it is that, in the UK, the sound is about subtle excellence.’
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Trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Gray playing a show in London
EYEVINE
Where else to go to hear amazing jazz
Three new jazz musicians for the…
BRECON
TRAD FAN: EZRA COLLECTIVE
For more than 35 years, the Brecon Jazz Festival has brought the international jazz scene to the small Welsh market town. As resident and sometime headliner George Melly put it in the inaugural year’s programme, ‘Brecon turning for a day or two into New Orleans – the music wailing in many pubs, street parades passing the Wellington, gentle riot and polite mayhem taking over – is a fascinating prospect.’ MONTREAL This year, the Montreal Jazz Festival celebrates its 40th birthday with a line-up that includes George Benson, Pink Martini and Anoushka Shankar, but away from the festival, the Canadian city holds on to its reputation as one of the world’s jazz hotspots. Enjoy the delights of classic venues such as Upstairs or House of Jazz, or try one of the newer spots, such as basement jazz bistro Dièse Onze or the hip cafe Résonance, which hosts nightly live jazz, including tributes to Thelonious Monk, Brazilian jazz extravaganzas and a residency from local troupe Kalmunity
Jazz Project. Or investigate the Arcade Firebacked Ti-Agrikol, a Haitian bar offering an array of DJ’ed tunes, from kompa to big band. LOS ANGELES LA has enjoyed its own jazz resurgence in recent years, spearheaded by artists such as Kamasi Washington and Thundercat. Venues include the glitzy, long-standing and exclusive – among them Catalina, The Baked Potato and Jazz at the A Frame, the artsy Blue Whale in Little Tokyo and the pleasingly rowdy Piano Bar in Hollywood. New nights have sprung up: Leimert Park was once home to Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles, as well as legendary jazz cafe 5th Street Dick’s. It’s also the area that nurtured Washington, Thundercat and assorted members of the West Coast Get Down. Check out the homey, eclectic Candy Shack and the World Stage, the performance space founded in 1989 by the late, great jazz drummer Billy Higgins.
Sure, the south London ensemble draws on everything from Afrobeat to hip-hop, but it’s still just about trad enough not to scare the horses. Last year they collaborated with Jorja Smith, the bright new hope of British R&B, for the impressively smooth ‘Reason in Disguise’. MODERN FAN: THE COMET IS COMING UK jazz wunderkind Shabaka Hutchings’s project with Soccer96 is a cosmic psych-jazz improvisational adventure that summons Krautrock, Afrobeat and Sun Ra to make something truly exceptional. DJ (and patron saint of the new jazz scene) Gilles Peterson tips their next record for this year’s Mercury Prize. WILLING-TO-BE-CONVERTED: NÉRIJA Winner of the Jazz FM Breakthrough Act, this all-female collective includes the talents of Nubya Garcia, trombonist Rosie Turton and trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey. Their music combines their love for Afrobeat, South African townships and inner-city London.
Georgia An ancient art revived
T H E A R T O F M A K I N G W I N E I N K V E V R I , T H E M I G H T Y C L AY A M P H O R A E O F G E O R G I A , IS UNDERGOING A RENAISSANCE WO R DS
TOM PARKER
MIQUEL HUDIN
Gergeti Trinity Church, on the slopes of Mount Kazbegi, in the Caucasus Mountains
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owards the back of Zaliko Bodjadze’s open, modest workshop in central Georgia sits a block of clay the size and shape of an abandoned car. Carried here by the River Dzirula, which wraps around the thumb of land where Bodjadze’s workshop sits, it would originally have formed part of the Caucasus Mountains. Bodjadze’s son silently lifts the sheet of plastic draped across the clay and moistens it just enough to cut out a piece that he begins rolling into a large coil. Sitting on a wooden footstool, he repeats these actions until a stack forms. Then, with his father, he hefts this large coil and works it into the top ring of a huge, unfinished vessel, wetting and smoothing, wetting and smoothing, until it has added another few centimetres to the height of what appears to be an impossibly large turnip. It is, in fact, a kvevri, the traditional vessel used to age wine in this ancient winemaking land. Around Bodjadze’s workshop sit a dozen of these enormous clay amphorae, all still unfinished, having risen to perhaps a third of their eventual 2m height. Demand is high, and in the summer the work is fast as the hot breezes flutter through the faded-blue fabric of the curtains and quickly dry the clay. The pace slows in the autumn. The final kiln load is fired just as winter sweeps over the land. Father and son pile on wood that will burn at 1,000C for a week; the fire will take days to cool, emitting an unholy glow. In the spring, work starts again as the orders arrive for kvevri to use in the coming harvest. And so it continues, not just as it did for Bodjadze’s father and his father before him, but almost exactly as it has been done for the last 8,000 years.
How a century can undo millennia The 20th century nearly erased those 8,000 years. During the communist era, the traditional method of ageing wine in the kvevri – interred up to its neck to maintain a constant temperature – was derided as an anachronism. This uncontrolled and unpredictable method of making wine didn’t fit with the Soviet need to produce the maximum number of hectolitres possible from Georgia. Steel tanks and industrial viticulture became the new normal in a country that boasts an ancient winemaking tradition, as evidenced by pot fragments dating back to 6000BC. Other uses were found for these great vessels: at the Alaverdi Monastery, centuriesold kvevri were repurposed to store petrol. Georgia had been held up as a utopia in the vastness of the Soviet Union – a fertile swath between the Black and Caspian seas producing vegetables, tea and, of course, grapes. The Soviet era left its mark. Despite Georgia gaining independence in 1991, some of its former wines, like the semi-sweet, treacly Khvanchkara, remain sought after, and to this day, this style still makes up the majority of all the wine produced in the country. The kvevri never quite died out, however. With private winemaking banned during the Soviet period, families would install kvevri in their basements and find a few grapes from their vines and those of neighbours to make enough home wine to last them until the next harvest. But it seemed to be a manner of making wine whose era had passed: kvevri craftsmen like Bodjadze in Imereti and the Kbilashvili family in Kakheti in the east are two of the only commercial producers in the country.
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GETTY IMAGES; A LA MY; CEPHAS
Producing fine wine from kvevri is a much more delicate process. The traditional, hands-off approach appeals to natural-wine fans
Clockwise from left: old wine cellars in Kakheti; Zaliko Bodjadze working on a giant kvevri; wine pitchers; a toastmaster holding an azarphesha silver drinking vessel; bottles of Mukazani wine
Unfit for hosts, unfit for guests The revival of kvevri winemaking is in large part due to a charismatic academic and philologist in Tbilisi. During the 1990s, Soliko Tsaishvili became increasingly impatient with the quality of the Georgian wine he was serving his guests. He had no serious winemaking experience beyond making it at home – not in a kvevri, but in a variety of vessels such as glass demijohns and plastic tubs. Some 200 litres were produced in those first years, from assorted grape varieties. Then he bought a small house in Kakheti, with a vineyard and space to install kvevri. Friends became involved, and Our Wine, as the winery was to be called, became not just a reality but one of the first Georgian cellars in more than a century to produce quality wine, commercially, via kvevri. An Italian wine importer named Luca Gargano became a partner, which in turn led to recognition by the Slow Food movement. An ancient winemaking process was rediscovered, a process that works harmoniously with the native varieties of Georgia. White wines emerge amber and brilliantly tannic thanks to extended contact with their skins. Red wines emerge bold, powerful and inky for the same reason. Oddly enough, it was the trade embargo by Russia in 2006 that allowed kvevri winemaking to flourish and gain global fame. Relations between Georgia and Russia had been souring for some time before Russia, as part of its sanctions against its former territory, prohibited the importing of Georgian (and Moldovan) wines, which it derided as unfit for consumption. Georgia lost more than 60% of its export market, prompting the government to promote its wines – and so the story of Georgian winemaking found a world audience. There was, however, a distinct imbalance between the image and the reality, given that the PR focused on Georgia’s larger wineries rather than the minuscule amount of wines made in the traditional manner via kvevri.
The embargo was lifted in 2013, and the big names are once again exporting to Russia, but kvevri producers have gained enough visibility to become sustainable. Ten years ago, at any wine fair, there would be two or three producers of kvevri wines from Georgia; now there are typically 20 or more – small, in terms of world wine trade, but a massive increase for what was an endangered method. There was a further boost in 2013, when the kvevri winemaking method was named a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (though to the dismay of many, the UN spelling of ‘qvevri’, which purists maintain is incorrect, is being widely adopted). Tsaishvili, who died tragically young of pancreatic cancer in 2018, was joined by others in Kakheti, including Gela Patalishvili and his American partner John Wurdeman, who formed Pheasant’s Tears, possibly the best known of the kvevri producers. Their larger-production wines have lost some of the early intensity that brought them fame, but their smaller-production offerings from grapes such as Chitistvala, which even Georgians have barely heard of, are very appealing. Other talented winemakers – such as Eko Glonti, whose winery Lagvinari has a steady following in the UK – are gaining international recognition. Two of his counterparts – Kakha Tchotiashvili, of the eponymous family winery, and Gogi Dakishvili of Teleda and Vita Vinae – have played an equally vital part in the revival, not only because their wines have international cachet, but because they are both trained oenologists bringing critical thinking to kvevri winemaking. Georgian winemaking has traditionally been a male-dominated business, but women are also starting to take the lead in family wineries. The 25-year-old Baia Abuladze exports 90% of her Baia’s Wine to the United States; Keto Ninidze, at her winery ODA in Martvili, goes against the stereotype by concentrating on light and aromatic whites made without skin contact, albeit still in kvevri.
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There was a further boost in 2013, when the kvevri winemaking method was named a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Birds flying over vineyards in the village of Kachreti
Five Georgian wines NIKOLADZEEBIS MARANI, TSITKA 2015, IMERETI
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White peach, lemon peel, light almond nuttiness, mint and laurel. Full on the palate, with medium-plus acidity, very balanced, very fresh, with an excellent, lingering finish. While made in kvevri, it sees no skin contact. (12%) N/A UK
LAGVINARI, GORULI MTSVANE 2015, SHIDA KARTLI
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A dollop of red apple initially, citric peel, stony notes, with yellow peach as a minor aromatic component. Juicy on the palate, with more ripe peach in the mouth, high acidity and a medium-plus finish. (13%) lagvinari.com
PHEASANT’S TEARS, TSOLIKOURI 2015
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White peach, toasted walnut, white blossoms and subtle floral notes. Fruity apricot notes are more apparent on the palate. Medium-plus/verging on high acidity, with all aspects of the wine well integrated and a lengthy finish. (11.5%) tannico.co.uk
LUKASI, USAKHELAURI 2015, LECHKHUMI
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Dark cherry, bell-pepper skin, ripe red plum, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, a minor touch of tar and a red jammy streak. Medium-plus tannins, medium alcohol and high acidity, light in the mid-palate and a lengthy finish of ripe red fruits. (14%) tasteofgeorgia.co.uk
CHĂ‚TEAU ZEGAANI, FAMILY RESERVE RKATSITELI 2011, KAKHETI
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Skin contact but without kvevri. Mature pear, apricot, light peach notes, fleck of jicama and earthiness, slightest tang of minerality. Completely integrated on the palate, fresh orange citric notes, and orchard fruit, apricot in the finish. Medium acidity but with good length to the finish. (12%) chateau-zegaani.com
Top: a valley in Kazbegi. Opposite: view of the Caucasus Mountains from Rooms Hotel Kazbegi; musician playing the panduri, a traditional Georgian instrument
TOM PARKER
At its core, winemaking with a kvevri is a simple matter. The grapes are thrown in, the jar is sealed once the initial alcoholic fermentation has finished, opened again in the spring and the wine taken out. Countless smallholdings produce wines for easy drinking from kvevri buried in the basement or in the garden, under the shade of a tree. Producing fine wine from kvevri, by contrast, is a much more delicate process. The traditional, hands-off approach appeals to natural wine fans, but in reality there needs to be a good deal of management of the process. This is where formally trained winemakers have brought a steady, guiding hand. A fine Georgian wine is one that balances the intensity of the skin-contact process with the fruit and terroir of where the grapes were grown. This means the delicate apricot and orchard notes of local white grapes such as Mtsvane Kakhuri, Kisi or the prolific Rkatsiteli are not smothered in nutty or yeasty flavours, an impenetrable wall of tannins or other aromas. Reds such as Saperavi, probably the most instantly recognisable of Georgian grapes, should be hearty and robust, though not blustery, with clean, crisp acidity and grippy but not overpowering tannins. While the grape names may be difficult to pronounce (Chkhaveri and Khikhvi are two of the hardest examples), the winemaking at its best takes much the same approach as it would in the traditional chais of France. The wines should be robust, true to the region, savoury without being overwhelming, and pair well with food. If the wines are sold purely on their 8,000-year history, then they have failed: the finest Georgian wine transcends its story.
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Different approaches, a shared history For kvevri winemaking in Georgia to grow, there is still a great deal of work to be done. Ironically, the big producers are playing a major part in this renaissance, as they see the increasing popularity of kvevri wines and are beginning to install these ancient vessels in their facilities. Nowhere does new meet old more visibly than at Tbilvino, a large winery originally based in Tbilisi but now in Kakheti, where 10m-tall temperature-controlled tanks are mirrored by clay kvevri sunk 2m into the soil. Other producers are promoting Georgian winemaking without an eye to the ancient techniques. Lukasi, a boutique winery established in 2013, whose offerings have won praise from the likes of Jancis Robinson MW and Monocle magazine, produces all its wines in stainless steel or barrel. Kvevri aficionados may deplore what they see as a betrayal of their Georgian roots, but the Lukasi wines show Georgian grapes in a pure form, allowing people to taste what is different about the region before fully immersing themselves in kvevri winemaking. But the use of kvevri is growing, and not just in Georgia: there is now worldwide demand for these mighty vessels. The celebrated Josko Gravner of Friuli in northeast Italy and his neighbour, the equally renowned Radikon, were some of the first to order Georgian kvevri. Now, their allure is so popular that wine importers with a handful of Georgian wines in their portfolio use what extra space there may be in the shipping container to fit a couple of kvevri. Back at the workshop, Bodjadze and his son break for lunch and wash it down with chacha, the alcohol distilled from the pomace of the grapes that will eventually fill the kvevri they’re crafting. In a corner of the workshop is what looks like a pile of crumpled napkins on a desk. In fact, this is Bodjadze’s filing system: these are future orders. How long would it take to fulfil one of those orders for a 2m-high kvevri? He chuckles. ‘If it continues at the same pace, probably this time next year.’ Producers expecting delivery for this year’s harvest may be disappointed, then. ‘The problem is, I’m one man with one son, and demand isn’t slowing down.’
Georgian hospitality CARLA CAPALBO The first time I was invited to a Georgian supra, or feast, in Tbilisi, I was amazed by the abundance, variety and colours of the dishes that were served. The food was exotic yet familiar, rich in fresh vegetables and salads, subtly spiced but vibrantly flavoured, with more nuts and fresh herbs in one meal than we use in a month. It’s a sharing culture, and guests help themselves from the many dishes laid out on the table. The food did not come unaccompanied. The meal was hosted by a tamada, or toastmaster, dressed in his traditional chokha – the calf-
length wool coat that has been a symbol of Georgian identity since the Middle Ages. His lively and often rousing toasts punctuated the meal and set the tone for the evening’s festivities as he raised his glass to themes of friendship, love and freedom. He brought singers to the table who ate with us and enriched the meal with beautifully haunting polyphonic songs from the mountains. In Georgia the guest is considered a gift from God: that’s the key to the generous hospitality that any visitor who comes in peace encounters. It makes dining there an unforgettable experience. Carla Capalbo is the awardwinning author and photographer of Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus, published by Pallas Athene UK/Interlink Books USA
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DAV I D N E W TO N
ALEXANDRE SCHMITT’S E X T R A O R D I N A R I LY S E N S I T I V E N O S E H A S T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L WINEMAKING ELITE SCRAMBLING TO S E E K H I S O P I N I O N
I hate to be the bearer of bad news to those of us who spend much of our lives thinking about food and drink, but our senses of taste and smell are responsible for little more than 1% of the way in which we perceive the world. Almost two thirds of our sense perception relies on sight, followed by touch (around 25%) and sound (15%). What is left over is for taste and smell. At a push, if we take away the visual clues, most of us can identify only a handful of scents – maybe 20 or 30 at most – depending on how often we come across them. It’s why most of us can easily identify coffee but might find it harder to distinguish between a mandarin, a clementine and a satsuma if given them blind – harder still whether a rose petal comes from a flower picked in the morning or after a languid day in the sunshine. Chefs and gardeners might get closer
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Aroma therapy
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to identifying 50 or 100 scents blind, but that’s pretty much the limit without specialist training. It’s one of the reasons that Alexandre Schmitt’s rather particular skills are in such high demand in the wine world. He is, to put it bluntly, considerably better than most of us at identifying flavours and aromas, having learned his craft over 20 years in the perfume industry before turning his attention to wine. Schmitt confidently claims to be able to distinguish around 1,500 different scents, a feat that has him working as consultant for, among others, Opus One, Petrus, Spottswoode, Dominus Estate, Harlan Estate, Château Margaux, Bodegas Torres, the Charlois cooperage group and Louis Roederer Champagne. If wine producers are in search of the extra nuance to set them apart from their competitors, Schmitt is one of the rare people who can help.
‘I loved art and music when I was younger, but at 16 my father insisted I concentrate on science,’ says Schmitt, who is French but speaks perfect English and looks something like a cross between a young Eric Morecambe and Jarvis Cocker. ‘I studied chemistry at university, then looked for something that could combine science with creativity. As soon as I began a master’s programme at the Institut International du Parfum in Versailles, I was hooked. Olfaction, identifying molecules and aromas, immediately grabbed me. But being a perfumer is a highly technical job, and much of your time is spent in a laboratory. Eventually, I wanted something more, and coming from Bordeaux, I have always had a passion for wine.’ ‘There are similarities between blending wine and assembling the
QU E NTIN SAL INIE R
CASE STUDY, OPUS ONE
There are similarities between blending wine and assembling the components of perfumes
components of perfumes. There are various samples that everyone agrees on, then others that you are less sure about, questioning if they are too green or too vegetal. You have to decide if they are good for the blend in tiny amounts to give concentration, power or spice. ‘But in wine, there are no top or base notes as there are in perfume. Instead, it is about understanding aromas that will be successful immediately combined with older notes that will develop over a longer timescale. A timescale in perfume is how the scent will evolve over one day on your skin. With a wine, you need to consider how it will evolve over 20 years in a bottle. So, if using Cabernet Franc, you know that it will take its time to reveal all facets of its character, whereas a Merlot might be full of seductive aromatics and flavours when young. The blend needs to take both these things into account.’ Schmitt’s role varies depending on the client. For Opus One, he is part of a larger team of consultants and winemakers, coming in only at certain times of the year; for Spottswoode, he is their main consultant, working with them throughout the winemaking process. For some clients he might be called in to help with barrel ageing; for others, simply for blending the first and second wines. He might be helping them to finesse the aromatic
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signature of their wine, to identify flaws, to isolate aromatic compounds in different grape varieties or to understand how texture and taste are linked. He also works directly with barrel-makers and cork producers. Aromatics is just a small part of it – the ultimate aim is to develop the sensory perception of the team. ‘There is a need to define clearly words that people use all the time but by which they may mean different things,’ is how Schmitt puts it. ‘Balance is a good example. Balance of what? What does it mean? Different people have different answers, and my job is to help them reach a common understanding. ‘I don’t impose my ideas,’ he says. ‘Instead, I help to calibrate what others are experiencing. You have to ask difficult questions sometimes, and be unsparing in your opinions.’ A typical session might start with laying out dozens of cosmetic products on a table and asking the people present to classify different textures – whether powder, cream, smooth, grainy and so on. This exercise will then move on to what these textures mean in terms of, for example, different types of tannins – whether supple, grippy, grainy or coarse. The idea is to establish a common scale. ‘We don’t always think about texture when uncorking a bottle, but it’s
Schmitt began working with Opus One in 2007, at first alongside the winemaking team on defining language use around the aromatics of blending. A few years ago, this brief was expanded to helping understand textures, something that winemaker Michael Silacci says is key to the success of Opus One. Today Schmitt gives olfactory classes to the entire staff, both as part of internal team building and as a way for everyone at the winery to connect with the wine they spend their working year producing. ‘The thing that Alexandre is so good at,’ says Silacci, ‘is focusing the minds of the team so we are all speaking the same language. When blending wine, ensuring that everyone understands – and can express – the different qualities of tannins, fruit ripeness, acidity, persistency and individual fruit and aroma character is crucial to success. Alexandre is like a coach who gets us all on the same page and heightens our awareness of exactly what we are finding in the glass.’
central to our relationship with what we’re drinking,’ he says. ‘Tannins, for example, can be rough in a glass of cheap Tannat, or smooth and silky in a high-priced Malbec. Acidity can be too sharp if the grapes for the wine were not ripe enough at harvest, or overly flabby if they were left for too long before picking. Texture gives clues and context to what we are drinking, even if we don’t realise it. And whether the textural elements of a wine match up to expectations forms a big part of our enjoyment and also of our perception of value. Think, for example, about a lemon. You might think you are only aware of the flavour, but actually the tension that comes from the acidity is crucial to the experience. Or think about defining tropical-fruit flavours in Sauvignon Blanc. Are you tasting passion fruit or mango? The answer is not just in the taste, but the texture. Passion fruit has a bracing acidity with more texture and juice, while mango is softer, richer, smoother.’ It’s this kind of insight that makes spending time with Schmitt both frustrating and inspiring. He makes the ability to define accurately the nuances of flavour maddeningly close, and yet constantly pushes you to think harder about what you are experiencing. Luckily, his first rule is something we can all try: simply slow down and pay attention.
Spirit level I S T H E R E N O E N D TO T H E U N STO P PA B L E R I S E O F G I N ? O L I V I E R WA R D LO O K S AT T H E O P T I O N S F O R T H E U B I Q U I T O U S S P I R I T
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C H R I S TO P H E R K E N N E DY
Mixologist Alber to Cerrone making G&Ts with a selection of tonics and botanicals at Mr Fogg’s Gin Parlour, in London’s Covent Garden
G
in is a spirit in flux. It’s very difficult to understand, but perhaps you shouldn’t even try. Instead, just accept it in all its beauty and absurd complexity. It’s impossible to have even heard of the majority of gins, let alone all of them. The world record for most gins stocked is held by a shop in York in the north of England, with 1,026. Meanwhile, at Gin Foundry we totted up a whopping 400 launches from UKbased distillers in 2018 alone, a growth that has been reflected in the staggering number of entries in awards such as the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC, this magazine’s sister company), which had over 600 gins submitted in 2018. Best estimates in 2019 reckon there are about 5,000 gins produced in at least 80 countries. It wasn’t always like this. In 2010, only a fifth of British distilleries even produced gin. Now it’s the opposite: four out of five distilleries load their stills with juniper on a regular basis. They’re not making just one gin either. Ranges have grown from single offerings to trios and quartets. From the big players such as G&J Distillers or Sipsmith, to micro-producers like Puddingstone Distillery or Southwestern Distillery, everyone is keen to offer a broad portfolio to the promiscuous gin drinker.
Brands such as Hendrick’s helped usher in a new generation of consumers This proliferation clearly pays dividends. Some 66 million bottles were sold in the UK last year (half as many again as the previous year); variations on “When is the gin craze going to end?” headlines appear each month in trade and national newspapers alike. The classic gin and tonic still drives consumption in the UK. A third of all tonic water was sold in the 12 weeks to Christmas, too, proving that the fizz is being kept alive no matter the weather or the season in which it is being served. This meteoric growth isn’t confined to the UK. Gin sales in Australia, South Africa and Japan are growing apace, with their country’s leading gins – Four Pillars, Musgrave and Ki No Bi respectively – galvanising interest in local craft offerings. Germans are getting thirstier, and Spanish demand is unquenchable. Famously, the Spaniards’ penchant for balloon glasses for G&T has caught on and is now a common sight in bars around the globe. Quantities aside, gin is cool, too. Brands such as Hendrick’s helped usher in a new generation of consumers, with the mantle being taken on by the likes of Never Never in Australia, Iron Balls in Thailand and Aviation in the US. Whatever your style, somebody, somewhere is developing a brand for you. If there’s a gin bubble, it’s been on the point of bursting
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Add caption here the Macallan distiller y and visitor 74 C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E experience on the
for some years. Gin is contradicting all expectations with regards to its lifespan, and it is doing so with a panache that has not been seen in a generation. A sexy bottle glistening on a shelf is nothing new – but don’t you think the Isle of Harris Gin isn’t the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? Gin has such momentum and has developed such a kaleidoscope of flavours that it’s hard to keep up. Everything’s gone a little psychedelic. Whether pineapple-flavoured or with flecks of gold suspended in the bottle, call it gin and it can coexist with the classics. A quick scroll through most online retailers will bring up Candy Cane gin, Rhubarb and Ginger, and Unicorn Tears, via Tanqueray, The Botanist, Gordon’s and Beefeater. There are few rules. New distillers make oldfashioned juniper-forward London Drys like Dartmouth English Gin, while established giants are happy to gamble. Some are not as lurid to taste as their Pantone spectrum might suggest: try the likes of Beefeater Pink Gin, with its rosy shade backed by a healthy undertone of juniper. We are also seeing a bit of fatigue setting in, and there are signs that the industry is beginning to selfregulate and dial back on the excesses of the few. But it’s a difficult balancing act – how to manage the demand for innovation without losing sight of the category’s heritage. Beefeater Pink is an example of how the big companies do it: produce something new (or newish), but make sure it harks back to a golden age – the pink gin our parents and grandparents used to drink (originally gin with Angostura bitters). It works: that gin is thought to be primarily responsible for Beefeater’s 9% growth in sales by volume between 2017 and 2018. Still the march of gin goes on, an endless display of offerings in a multifarious variety of bottles. How can one fully understand it? The answer is to accept gin’s nature. Embrace its endless reach and approach it with the intrepid soul of an explorer. It’s the only way to fully appreciate its complexity and its interminably shifting whims.
Gin has developed such a kaleidoscope of flavours that it’s hard to keep up
Gin round-up RENEGADE GIN With its rock-star swagger and the full-blown grain-to-glass craftsmanship that has gone into making it from scratch, it’s hard not to notice the London-made gin from Doghouse Distillery. The flavours don’t disappoint, either: herbaceous and savoury as a profile, yet enough citrus to make it approachable and enough mouthfeel and spice to endure when mixed with a multitude of cocktail ingredients. Excellently balanced. (42%) £36.95 Master of Malt DARTMOUTH ENGLISH GIN One of the highlights of 2018, Dartmouth English Gin uses all the vernacular of traditional gin but lends it a contemporary edge. Expect the usual forest-like tones of juniper, but here it’s accentuated by kaffir lime leaves, rosemary and pine. There’s the customary levity from citrus that you expect from a classic gin, too, but softened by rose and lavender and brought to a peppery nip of a finish with a cunning use of grains of paradise. (45%) £35.90 Gin Kiosk CONKER GIN The brainchild of former chartered surveyor Rupert Holloway, this Dorset-made gin has been quietly sweeping across the UK and gathering the kind of feverish support that verges on cult following. Gorse flowers bring a touch of coconut sweetness, which is offset by a jammy elderberry and resinous juniper that drive through the core. A modern classic. (40%) £35.45 Gin Kiosk HERNÖ OLD TOM GIN The Swedish-based distillery’s world-class reputation precedes its entire range – you don’t make the world’s best gin several years in a row and not reach revered status – but it’s the Old Tom that hits the sweet spot. Soft, decadent mouthfeel brought in by a lemony zing with an overexuberance of honeyed meadowsweet and lingon berries that perfectly showcases their terroir. (43%) £34.85 Master of Malt BULLARDS STRAWBERRY AND BLACK PEPPER GIN If you are going pink but want to keep a firm hand on the gin, look no further. Strawberries add their fruity touch and the pepper its lasting heat, but it’s the tropical undertone of dried banana that brings this up a notch. With a new distillery and a new-look bottle, watch out for this name in 2019. (40%) £37.96 Master of Malt NO. 209 GIN One of the craft gins to emerge from the US in the early noughties, No. 209 Gin has stood the test of time. Perfumed bergamot oscillates with fragrant cardamom in a contemporary gin that delivers time and again across a plethora of cocktails. It is at its finest when served with a skinny grapefruit peel in a G&T. (46%) £37.25 The Whisky Exchange
AUDEMUS PINK PEPPER GIN Curiously complex and simply gorgeous on the finish. The eponymous pink pepper is clearly apparent; so, too, a grassy juniper twang. But it’s the use of honey, vanilla and tonka that adds a gourmand layer of patisserie-like sensations on the finish. It is as if you’ve just had a G&T and an almond croissant all at once. Pure indulgence. (44%) £42.50 Gin Kiosk TARQUIN’S SEA DOG NAVY STRENGTH GIN Arguably, one of the all-time best gins, irrespective of genre, and certainly one of the outstanding Navy Strength offerings. Fresh, rich and overburdened juniper crashes onto the senses; the heat follows, and a subtle saline note carries you off to sea... Cinnamon fires at the tongue while pine sweeps in intermittently, with the final impressions leaving you whiplashed and tongue-twisted in the best possible way. (57%) £41.15 The Whisky Exchange MARTIN MILLER’S WESTBOURNE STRENGTH GIN The lesser-known variant from Martin Miller’s uses a higher proportion of its rooty, earthy distillate in this blend, which gives the gin a much more classic styling compared to the bright, citrus-forward original offering. Combine this with its slightly higher ABV, and it’s tough to beat in a Dry Martini. (45.2%) £32.20 Gin Kiosk KI NO BI This is the Japanese sensation that’s set the gold standard for craft gin emerging from the region. A flourish of yuzu and perfectly poised native ingredients lend an exotic twist to the flavour, while a thorough understanding of what underpins all gin – juniper – allows them to be anchored down into the glass in a coherent and considered manner. Innovation that respects heritage and an absolute delight to savour. (45.7%) £44.50 Gin Kiosk SCAPEGRACE GOLD Higher-proof gins tend to struggle with keeping a harmony between bright citrus on the fore and measured piquancy on the finish. Not here, where New Zealand-made Scapegrace Gold uses three different citrus peels in harmony, bringing a mandarin top note to the aroma while maintaining the alluring allspice and cinnamon warmth to come through at the end of the journey. (57%) £55 Master of Malt PEAT BARRELLED BIG GIN Barrel-aged as a genre is best sipped neat or simply over ice with no mixer, and none more so than this Seattle-made liquid gold. Aged in casks that previously contained peated whiskey, the gin has both its core flavours of juniper and pepperberry that are pre-eminent at all times, yet they are layered with a phenolic smoke finish that has been extracted from its slumber and adds both drama and complexity to the finish. (47%) £46.80 Master of Malt
The root of all Shiraz
THE OLDEST VINES ON THE OLDEST SOILS – JO BURZYNSKA T E L L S T H E E X T R AO R D I N A RY STO RY OF AUSTRALIAN SHIRAZ WO R DS
P H OTO G R A P H S
JO BURZYNSKA
LISA LINDER
Shiraz countr y, Barossa
hen he first saw the property that became Langmeil, back in 1996, Richard Lindner immediately spotted some old vines. ‘But we didn’t realise how many there were, because everything was so run down,’ recalls the Langmeil co-founder of his initial sighting of the Freedom Vineyard. What he went on to discover were the oldest Shiraz vines not only in Australia but very possibly the world. ‘We were incredibly excited by this. It formed the basis of our belief that we had inherited something truly extraordinary.’ These gnarly 176-year-olds, along with their venerable relatives across the Barossa and Australian regions beyond, are indicative of just how deeply rooted Shiraz is in the country’s vinous history. They are descendants of the first vine collection brought to Australia by James Busby in 1832; their origins lie in cuttings taken from the Syrah heartland of France’s Rhône Valley. Given their French ancestors were completely wiped out when phylloxera decimated the vineyards of Europe less than half a century later, these early Australian plantings are also internationally significant. ‘We see these vineyards as vinous treasures for the wine lover and an incredible opportunity for them to enjoy wines from vines planted seven generations ago,’ says Richard’s son James, who runs Langmeil with his winemaker brother Paul. ‘For any country, New or Old World, to make wines from the oldest vines growing in the oldest soils surely counts for something.’ Over the lifetime of Langmeil’s ancient specimens, Shiraz has flourished across Australia, becoming the country’s flagship grape, the best wines increasingly highly prized – and priced. As early as 1855, as a Hunter table wine, Shiraz was turning heads around the world – allegedly including those of Emperor Napoleon III and Queen Victoria
Opposite (clockwise from top left): local fauna at Langmeil; Paul and James Lindner; Langmeil old vines; bottles of Penfolds Grange; Wendouree vineyards; Mount Lofty
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at the Universal Exhibition in Paris – before winemakers starting using it as a base for fortified wines. Then, in the 1950s, Max Schubert at Penfolds created Grange, ushering in Shiraz’s modern era and establishing the country’s first internationally collectable icon wine. Many of the country’s greatest wines are not only Shiraz-based but are made with fruit from very old vines: Hill of Grace uses vines dating from 1860; Best’s Great Western Thomson Family Shiraz, from 1868; Chris Ringland Dry Grown Barossa Ranges, 1910; and Wendouree Shiraz, 1893. Exactly what old vines bring to wine is still debated, but as James Lindner observes, ‘Vineyards that consistently produce good wine are more likely allowed to become old vines.’ Many great old vines in Australia were lost to the government’s vine-pull scheme in the 1980s. The fact that Lindner’s father found the world’s oldest Shiraz vines in a state of dereliction is testament to the fact that their value was not always recognised. But perspectives have changed. Now there are initiatives such as the Barossa Old Vine Charter, which registers vineyards by age, from “Old Vines” of 35 years up to “Ancestor Vines” of 125 years old or more. And most of them are Shiraz, which, by the 1990s, had overtaken Cabernet in both plantings and prestige. ‘Through the 1990s, with the boutique wine scene and the narrative around that, you started to see Shiraz taking on a new importance,’ says Andrew Caillard MW, who set up the Langton’s Classification of Australian wine in 1990 to support the country’s fledgling ultra-finewine market. ‘Barossa Shiraz started to make a big impact. Part of that was Robert Parker, and other outsiders starting to take notice of Australian wine.’ Langton’s Classification – which lists wines according to their record at auction, among other criteria – offers a snapshot of the evolution of Australian Shiraz as a fine wine. In the first classification of 34 wines in 1990, Shiraz made up around 20% of the list, while in the latest classification of 136 in 2018, it accounts for close to half. The classification also charts – with the notable exception of the singlesite wines of Henschke – the move from the country’s top Shiraz being largely multi-district blends to single-vineyard wines. It’s a direction supported by research such as the Barossa Grounds Project, which over the past decade has revealed myriad subregional differences that have an impact on Shiraz flavour profiles in the Barossa alone. As the focus in Shiraz has shifted towards showcasing the flavours of individual vineyards, styles have transformed. There is now less oak influence, with the powerful vanillin flavours of American barrels replaced by the more subtle spice of French oak. Grapes tend to be picked earlier to avoid ultra-ripe and alcoholic characters, producing more fresh and pure-fruited wines. The emergence of top Shiraz from cooler climates such as Canberra and Victoria has added lighter and more aromatic styles to the mix. There’s a trend for such wines to be labelled Syrah, to reflect their cooler more Rhône-like personality. ‘Australian Shiraz now stands confidently alongside the best of the Rhône Valley and the first growths of France and the world,’ says Peter Gago, head winemaker of Penfolds, the label that has been at the vanguard of Australia’s fine-wine evolution. ‘International wine lovers seeking diversity, approachability, cellarability, fully expressed fruit and bold new approaches’ are now paying serious prices for the best Australian wines. Gago should know. As the man behind g3, a very limited, £1,784 ($2,290) release of a super-blend of three Grange vintages, he is no stranger to bold – and expensive – new launches. The fact that collectors have snapped it up is a further indicator that Australian Shiraz now sits alongside the world’s most renowned wine, its winemakers taking the praise of international critics as their deserved right. And behind it all, their roots spreading ever deeper into the world’s oldest soils, is an ark of ancient vines. As Richard Lindner said, it is something truly extraordinary.
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Vineyard in Barossa’s Shiraz countr y
These gnarly 176-year-olds … are indicative of just how deeply rooted Shiraz is in the history of the country’s wine
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Around Langmeil
Four great Shiraz producers HENSCHKE
ROCKFORD
With their commitment to single-vineyard Shiraz, Eden Valley’s Henschke family were ahead of their time. Shiraz from the Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone vineyards made since the 1950s remain pinnacles of varietal excellence, now farmed biodynamically with the gentle touch of fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke and his viticulturist wife Prue.
In 1984, when other wineries were modernising, Robert (Rocky) O’Callaghan started Rockford with the old winemaking equipment that was being thrown out. This included the slow-moving basket press that gave its name to his flagship Shiraz. Traditional hands-on winemaking and handtended old vines became Rockford’s trademark and force behind its consistently great Shiraz.
PENFOLDS
THE STANDISH WINE COMPANY
Penfolds has played a key and ongoing role in building the global reputation of Australian Shiraz through the development of the country’s first international icon wine, Grange. Even now that it’s part of the global behemoth Treasury Wine Estates, its impressive range of Shiraz has lost none of its shine.
After making wines in California, Spain, the Rhône and in Australia at Torbreck, sixthgeneration Barossan Dan Standish started his own exclusively Shiraz venture, making outstanding examples from a number of old-vine sites. The Standish, made from a family vineyard, was recognised in the 2018 Langton’s Classification.
Ten top Shiraz PENFOLDS, g3 NV Taking luxury to a new level, Penfolds blended three vintages of its multiregional flagship Shiraz, Grange (2008, 2012 and 2014) to create a wine designed to transcend the sum of its already impressive parts. Most of its 1,200 bottles are already in collectors’ cellars. Drink 2019–2062. £1,784 (release price) HENSCHKE, HILL OF GRACE SHIRAZ 2008 EDEN VALLEY This maturing example of Henschke’s top Shiraz shows how wonderfully this classic wine ages. Fine tannins and fresh acid meld with mellow layers of forest floor, savoury notes and licorice spice over an elegant base of dark fruit. Drink 2019–2044. £510 Enotria & Coe; $750 Winebow ROCKFORD, BASKET PRESS SHIRAZ 2014 BAROSSA VALLEY Power and elegance combine in the latest release of this classic Barossa Shiraz, with its core of black plum and berry fruit, overlaid with hints of herb and cocoa. Most is sold via mail order or through the cellar door. Drink 2019–2034. N/A UK; rockfordwines.com.au THE STANDISH, SINGLE-VINEYARD SHIRAZ 2016 BAROSSA VALLEY Made from vines that are more than 100 years old, this rising star shines with the harmony of its voluptuous dark berry fruit laced with notes of earth and truffle, counterpoised by a bitter chocolate edge and silken acid and tannins. Drink 2019–2030. £70 The Vinorium; $110 Empire State of Wine, B-21
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CLONAKILLA, SHIRAZ/VIOGNIER 2017 CANBERRA
CLARENDON HILLS, ASTRALIS SYRAH 2008 McLAREN VALE
This is a top vintage of the highly aromatic Canberra 6% Viognier co-ferment that is redolent of exotic cardamom spice, black pepper and rose florals, which travel from its bouquet through its juicy cherry-fruited and mineraledged palate. Exactly what cool-climate Australian Shiraz is all about. Drink 2019–2035. £89.99 Hedonism Wines, Philglas & Swiggot, The Wine Reserve, The Good Wine Shop; $110 Frederick Wildman and Sons
Indicative of how stunning McLaren Vale Syrah can be, the rich and supple old-vine Astralis unfurls to reveal pure, bright, ripe and concentrated dark fruits overlaid with notes of cocoa nib and a fresh mineral edge. Drink 2019–2030. £155–170 Cru World Wines, JF Tobias; $229 Vinfolio
WENDOUREE, SHIRAZ 2016 CLARE VALLEY Wendouree Shiraz has maintained its chiselled restraint through all extreme trends. Its current vintage is another refined example with dry and savoury dark fruit, infused with perfumed spice and florals, supported by firm but fine tannins. Very rare, its tiny quantities are sold solely to mail-order customers. Drink 2021–2045. N/A UK; +61 8 8842 2896 (website N/A) CHRIS RINGLAND, DRY GROWN BAROSSA RANGES SHIRAZ 2008 BAROSSA For those who like their Shiraz super-sized, this 18% cult classic is king. The current release is ultra-ripe with huge concentration to its palate of sweet dried fruits and chocolate cherry liqueur, and with a savoury, woody, almost Oloroso Sherry-like undercurrent. Drink 2019–2038. £510 Hedonism Wines; $425 chrisringland.com
JASPER HILL, GEORGIA’S PADDOCK HEATHCOTE SHIRAZ 2017 VICTORIA Jasper Hill makes beautiful organic examples of the Heathcote style, and this offering displays deep dark fruits laced with aromatic notes of clove, herb and mocha, supported by velvety tannins and a fresh line of acid. An earlier-drinking vintage that’s delicious now. Drink 2019–2032. £46 Yapp Brothers; $100 Artisan Wine Depot LANGMEIL, THE 1843 FREEDOM SHIRAZ 2015 BAROSSA VALLEY From possibly the oldest Shiraz/Syrah vines in the world, the Freedom Shiraz exudes pure, rich and vibrant black plum fruit. This is threaded with notes of sweet baking spice, vanilla bean and a touch of cedary oak and is underpinned by plush tannins. Drink 2019-2032. £75 Fareham Wine Cellar, GP Brands; $150 K&L Wine Merchants
Below left: old machiner y at Wendouree. Below right: Tony Baker, winemaker at Wendouree. Opposite (clockwise from top left): Rockford’s basket press, dating from 1890; Wendouree proper ty; bottles of Henschke Hill of Grace; detail of the Rockford basket press; Rockford proper ty
Australian Shiraz now stands confidently alongside the best of the RhĂ´ne Valley and the first growths of France and the world
Golden ticket
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NIELS BUSCH
TO B E I N V I T E D TO O N E O F M A R I N A O L S S O N ’ S L E G E N DA RY TA ST I N G S I S A R A R E P R I V I L E G E , A N D A
ADD CR EDITS HE RE PLEASE MIC HAËL B OUD OT
V E R T I C A L O F C LO S D E S G O I S S E S WA S A O N C E - I N - A - L I F E T I M E O P P O R T U N I T Y F O R C H R I S T E L L E G U I B E R T
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Opposite: scenes from the Clos des Goisses tasting, with Christelle Guiber t (top left), Marina Olsson (centre right) and Charles Philipponnat (bottom centre)
pening an envelope to find an invitation to the Gomseglet Connoisseurs event induced a thrill of excitement not unlike Charlie finding his golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. It’s Champagne rather than chocolate, but there’s a similar air of the miraculous about Marina Olsson, a private collector who puts on annual tastings of extremely rare prestige cuvée Champagnes. This year is the group’s 20th anniversary, and to mark the occasion, Olsson – probably one of the world’s most important Champagne collectors – has produced something extraordinary, even by her standards: a vertical of 28 vintages of Clos des Goisses, Philipponnat’s iconic flagship wine. It is a testament to her passion that 23 of the wines come direct from the house cellars, with the others (1992, 1988,1986, 1983 and 1980) sourced from private collectors or local trade in Reims, with scrupulous attention to provenance. I have to admit that Clos des Goisses has a special resonance for me. Many years ago, a tasting of the ’92 and ’93 opened my mind to the vinous complexity and potential of truly great Champagne. There is also something particularly alluring about Clos des Goisses. Located east of the village of Mareuil, towards Bisseuil, in the Vallée de la Marne, the 5.5ha plot is famously steep. Its south-facing vineyards produce grapes that consistently ripen and are picked earlier, yet retain a minerality attributed to its chalky subsoils. The vineyards are planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and the final blend is usually around two thirds Pinot Noir and one third Chardonnay. Under Charles Philipponnat, the wine is made with 50% stainless steel and 50% small, three- to four-year-old Burgundian oak barrels. The oak is primarily intended to impart structure and mouthfeel, rather than flavour. As Philipponnat explains, “Because Clos des Goisses fruit is always ripe, the rest of the winemaking is about building structure.” This includes always stopping the malolactic fermentation, to ensure that fresh acidity is retained. In fact one of Champagne’s most iconic clos (walled vineyards) is technically not a clos. When the majority of the land was first purchased by Pierre Philipponnat in 1935, there was no wall, and the land (and wine) was known simply as Les Goisses. The rest of the plots and the wall came later, and the walls themselves are actually sustaining walls against erosion rather than forming an enclosure, as traditionally conceived. Clos or no clos, what has never been in question is the remarkably consistent quality of the fruit the site produces. In the very first year Philipponnat made a site-specific wine (an exceedingly rare thing to do in 1935) and has rarely failed to produce a vintage year. In modern times there has been a vintage every year since 1988, despite the inevitable vagarities of vintage. It cannot boast the consistency of some similarly hallowed grand marques, but what it does offer is something very similar to a grand cru Burgundy – at times capriciousness and unpredictability, but at its best, ineffable brilliance.
Favourite wines CLOS DES GOISSES 2008
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Still very austere and shy at this stage, this has structure and depth to develop into something quite exceptional. Rich, ripe and ample, with toasted bread balanced with bright and crystalline acidity. Drink 2025–2055. £180–225 Millesima, The Finest Bubble CLOS DES GOISSES 1995
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Despite being 23 years old, this still tastes young and fresh in a vinous style, with a tight and compact structure. Almond, mocha and wildflower characters emerge from the glass, with depth on the finish. Drink now–2035. £208 Albany Vintners CLOS DES GOISSES 1988
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A gastronomic style of Champagne, with its scent of honeyed, candied-fruit and toasted notes. Very vivid and fresh, lifted by the pristine acidity and balanced by the ripe and ample fruits. Drink now. N/A TASTING REPORT The Champagnes were served in flights of four wines and blind within their flights. Part of the fun was to guess the vintages. This made the tasting challenging, often rewarding and, most importantly, a great educational experience.
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Flight 1 2009 (DISGORGED FEBRUARY 2018); 2008 (APRIL 2017); 2007 (JUNE 2016); 2006 (DECEMBER 2015) The youngest flight, all showing the toasty bread aroma characteristic of young lees-aged Pinot Noir. The 2009 was fuller, richer and riper, with lots of black-fruit aromas, while the 2006 was more elegant with grilled almonds and with a crystalline purity on the finish. The botrytis of 2007 comes out in mushroomy aromas; not the most elegant style. The 2008 was the star of this line-up. According to Charles, this is the best vintage of the past 20 years, yielding exceptionally healthy fruit that combined ripeness with high acidity. The Chardonnay was so good that it accounts for nearly half the blend, as opposed to its usual third.
Flight 2 2005 (MARCH 2014); 2004 (FEBRUARY 2013); 2003 (AUGUST 2012); 2002 (NOVEMBER 2011) With at least four years after disgorgement, the wines in this flight are just hitting their stride. With all maturing and developing nicely, the presence of three ripe, big, rich vintages explains the general opulence of this flight, with 2004 the outlier in a lighter, leaner style. The low-yield 2003 is showing high glycerine with lots of toffee notes but it is still surprisingly fresh despite its low acidity. The 2005 is packed with coffee and toasted-almond aromas and some black fruit. Still tight on the palate, this oftenoverlooked vintage showed real promise and surprised us all. Less of a surprise was the excellent 2002, a unanimous favourite and the most harmonious wine of the flight, with mature notes of candied fruit, orange drop and red berries, plus a vinous and precise length on the palate.
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Flight 3 2001 (OCTOBER 2011); 2000 (OCTOBER 2011); 1999 (JULY 2011); 1998 (FEBRUARY 2008) This flight documents a transitional period in the winemaking: 1998 was the last vintage in which large foudres were used before Charles Philipponat assumed winemaking responsibilities. Both the 1999 and 2000 were made entirely in stainless steel, before Charles’s introduction in 2001 of second-hand (three- to four-year-old) Burgundy barrels and temperature-controlled stainless steel. The 1999, the least evolved in the line-up, was a lighter and leaner vintage with some vegetal notes and not as complex as the others. Surprisingly, 2001 was showing better than 2000 despite being a weaker vintage without the ripe and generous fruit of 2000. The 1998 generated the most heated debate in the group; while showing development and maturation, it was packed with autumnal and undergrowth characters and very strong aromas of pheasant and cured meat. It has power but is beautiful and precise.
Flight 4 1997 (OCTOBER 2015); 1996 (DECEMBER 2005); 1995 (MAY 2013); 1994 (MAY 2013) A flight of contrasts, with two celebrated vintages (1995 and 1996) sandwiched between two weaker vintages. At release, 1996 was rated almost universally as an exceptional vintage, but today many have lost their fruit and are showing signs of oxidation. Clos des Goisses was no exception, unfortunately. In contrast, the 1995 tasted so young and fresh with a tight and compact structure, in a very vinous style, with minerality and plenty of mocha characters. Despite its relatively humble reputation, the 1994 was also very youthful and showed tension and precision, while the 1997 was a sweeter style with caramel scent and not as complex and sharp.
Flight 5 1993 (JUNE 2011); 1992 (OCTOBER 2004); 1991 (OCTOBER 2002) None of these three vintages is showy, and they tend to be leaner and not as ripe. The team was unanimous: the 1991 was the highlight and was still fresh and bright. Honeyed character was coming through with walnut and a hint of cured meat. The 1992 was the second favourite, and while it was reduced, with gunpowder and smokiness from the lees, it was very iodĂŠ, with hints of seashell, as well as candied apple. The 1993 was less impressive and had little to offer, but it was still very clean despite being 25 years old.
Flight 6 1990 (MARCH 2002); 1989 (NOVEMBER 2002); 1988 (DATE UNKNOWN) A trio of glorious vintages in this flight. As expected, the 1990 was the most opulent and generous wine with its rich compote ripe fruit and walnut hint and a very long finish. The 1989 was packed with acidity but showing more development, with notes of honeyed and cured meat and secondary autumnal characters coming through. The 1988 was the most vivid and the freshest of all, as well as the winner in the flight; it also received the highest average score of all the 28 Clos des Goisses tasted. It showed toasted notes with a great acid balance and with honeyed and candied fruit, the most vinous and the most gastronomic style.
Flight 7 1986 1985 1983 1982
(1995); (FEBRUARY 2012); (NOVEMBER 2000); (NOVEMBER 2003)
This was another very strong flight of great vintages. The 1986 seems to have the highest dosage of all with aromas of ripe bananas and some maderised notes but still a pristine acidity. The 1985 also showed development, with its candied fruit and a touch of compote and marmalade. The two highlights were the 1982 and 1983, with the latter developing towards sweet tobacco and smoky aromas, with a great backbone of acidity. The 1982 was the youngest and brightest of all, with baked apple and some elderflower aroma – still very young and with many years ahead.
Flight 8 1980 (NOVEMBER 2000); 1978 (FEBRUARY 2006) Despite 1978 not having been a strong vintage, the wine is still standing and has evolved to spice and curry notes with smoky and strong peaty characters. It is developed but still elegant, with a pristine acidity. The 1980 was the favourite of the two, showing rosewater aroma with salted caramel notes on the nose. It is still fresh and vibrant but is developing towards toffee and bruised-apple characters.
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Big in Japan S A K E I S A S A N C I E N T A S I T S G R A P E - B A S E D C O U N T E R P A R T, A N D I N TO K YO YO U C A N F I N D I T E V E RY W H E R E , F R O M T H E F I N E ST R E STAU R A N T S TO S I N G L E - C U P V E N D I N G M AC H I N E S
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TETSUYA MIURA; GETTY; JOHN LANDER; RAYMOND PATRICK
Y U K A R I S A K A M OTO
Japanese sake – or Nihonshu, as it’s called here – offers a spectrum of flavours and aromas. Most of what is exported is a clear liquid; however, sake can also be thick and creamy, or light brown in colour. The national beverage is in the DNA of the Japanese food and drink scene. In Tokyo, you can find sake in vending machines selling single portions in glass cups, or in introduction-only bars hidden away on backstreets without any signs. It is consumed on speeding bullet trains with a bento lunch box, at izakaya pubs and at traditional restaurants serving sushi or soba noodles. There is no snobbery when it comes to drinking sake in Japan. Unlike wine, which varies widely in price, sake never gets too expensive. Cost usually depends on purity: the higher the price, the more the rice has been milled to remove the impurities in the husk, making the final wine more refined and elegant. Sake is generally drunk not from expensive glassware but from ochoko, small ceramic cups that are not ideal for taking in the aroma. Some restaurants may also have wine glasses, so feel free to ask. When speaking to a sake sommelier, ask for things that are hard to find outside of Japan, such as namazake, or unpasteurised sake. A great treat is drinking seasonal sake: winter’s shiboritate, spring’s haruzake, summer’s natsuzake and autumn’s hiyaoroshi. Seasonal sakes pair well with seasonal dishes: try hiyaoroshi in the autumn with mushrooms and grilled Pacific saury, a rich, meaty fish. Seek out sparkling sake and the dessert-style kijoshu, which is reminiscent of Sherry, or aged koshu sake. Creamy styles nigorizake and doburoku can be slightly effervescent and naturally have rich rice notes. Remember what styles you like – junmaishu or daiginjo – so that you can look for similar sakes in the future. Drinking sake at different temperatures draws out unique nuances. Ask for it to be served hot, and experience the changes in aroma and flavour as it cools down. Some izakaya specialise in warm sake, which draws out the umami flavour and pairs much better with fermented foods. There are very few rules when it comes to drinking sake. Tell the shop the style you prefer, or ask for an osusume (“recommendation”). Last but not least, remember that kampai means “Cheers”.
WHERE TO TRY SAKE
WHERE TO BUY SAKE
Near Shinjuku station is Know by Moto, an izakaya with knowledgeable staff and a seasonal menu of small, sake-friendly bites. (Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-26-14, B1; +81 3 3225 7788)
The following shops have wide selections:
Japanese prefectures are like US states. Flights of sake are available at prefectural shops that showcase local specialities. These outlets, called antennas, sell sake or shochu and food. Try Coco Shiga (Chuo-ku, Nihonbashi 2-7-1; +81 3 6281 9871; cocoshiga.jp) and Toyama Kan (Chuo-ku, Nihonbashi-Muromachi 1-2-6; +81 3 3516 3020). In a quiet part of Tokyo, Wagashi Kunpu is a unique shop that pairs traditional wagashi confectioneries with sake. (Bunkyo-ku, Sendagi 2-24-5; +81 3 3824 3131) Sake breweries have opened up shops that also sell sake by the glass or flight. Dassai is famous for brewing a sake from rice that is milled down to only 23% of the original grain size. (Chuoku, Ginza 5-10-2; +81 3 6274 6420) Sennen Kojiya specialises in fermented foods and sake from Hakkaisan in Niigata. (Minato-ku, Azabu-Juban 1-8-9; +81 3 6277 8578; sennen-koujiya.jp/shop) Sake pairs well with French cuisine at Michelin-starred Narisawa. (Minato-ku, Minami-Aoyama 2-6-15; +81 3 5785 0799) Modern Japanese restaurant Den presents a variety of cups made by different artists. (Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 2-3-18; +81 3 6455 5433) Sake no Ana in Ginza has sake warmers on each table. (Chuo-ku, Ginza 3-5-8, Ginza Rangetsu B1; +81 3 3567 1133)
Oboro Saketen, owned by Okuma-san in Shinbashi (Minato-ku, Shinbashi 5-29-2; +81 3 6809 2334); Kimijimaya in Ebisu station (Shibuyaku, Ebisu-Minami 1-6-1, Atre Ebisu West 4F) has a casual drinking area in the shop and offers flights of sake, as does Kengyo in Ginza (Chuo-ku, Ginza 3-8-12; +81 3 5159 1401); Hasegawa Saketen (several branches in the city) has a good selection and some nice vessels for drinking and serving. Department-store sake shops often run jizake, or tastings by smaller breweries. In particular, Takashimaya (Shibuya-ku, Sendagaya 5-24-2; +81 3 5361 1111) and Mitsukoshi (Chuo-ku, Ginza 4-6-16; +81 3 3562 1111) department stores almost always have guest breweries.
WHERE TO LEARN ABOUT SAKE In the city centre, the Japan Sake and Shochu Association (JSS) offers a complimentary 20-minute lesson on sake basics, as well as a monthly seminar. Reservations must be made in advance. The JSS has a wide variety of sake, shochu and other fermented beverages, with samples starting at only ¥100. (Minato-ku, NishiShinbashi 1-6-15; +81 3 3501 0101) For serious sake lovers, consider John Gauntner’s professional three-day course held in Japan and the US. In western Tokyo, Sawanoi is a sake brewery with a rich history dating back to 1702. Tours are available, and visitors can enjoy lunch with a flight of sake. (Ome-shi, Sawai 2-770; +81 428 78 8215)
Top (clockwise from left): paddy rice; sprinkling koji mould onto steamed rice; old barrel cooking pot for rice and sake brewing; serving sake; decorative sake bottles found in Shinto shrines. Bottom (clockwise from left): Sake Kakurei Junmai-Ginjo at Aoki Sake Brewer y, Niigata prefecture; sake bottles in a restaurant; decorative sake containers in a Shinto shrine; serving sake
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VERMOUTH & APERITIFS A S T I - P I E M O N T E - I TA L I A COCCHI IS AVAILABLE AT SELECTED RETAILERS INCLUDING WAITROSE AND THEWHISKYEXCHANGE.COM, AND IN THE BEST BARS WORLDWIDE.
WWW.COCCHI.COM
Club Oenologique
4 C ORN ERS IMAGES
Collection 2
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What is the Club Oenologique Collection? The Club Oenologique Collection is an expert selection of the very best. This means not just iconic wines with long-established pedigrees, but also the less well known, those special bottles beloved by people with an eye for the eclectic and the overlooked. In our second edition, Collection 2, you’ll find the best of Cornas, that historically underappreciated northern Rhône appellation; then we have the fascinating Bordeaux 2009, one of the most talked-about (and most expensive) vintages of the past few decades; and finally, the fascinating Burgundy 2017s, the vintage to start your collection with. Find out why inside. Matt Walls tasted the Cornas blind; for other tasting features, we ask a leading taster to make a personal selection of the very best that the chosen region, grape or style has to offer. The wines are not tasted blind, but they are assessed and scored by a critic with specialist knowledge of the wine in question. Our scoring system rewards the following qualities: harmony, texture, layers of complexity, finesse, nuance and surprise. All tasting notes and scores are a snapshot of the wine in the glass on that day, at that moment in its evolution. The best wines and domaines offer consistency, but all wine is constantly evolving, and even the best can be capricious. Similarly, the drink dates offered are an indication of the wine’s development rather than a hard law of physics. Scores alone are not everything and can be misleading in isolation; they should always be read alongside the notes in order to fully understand the critic’s view.
100 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 90 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 81 80
100–98 Extraordinary An extraordinary wine that is profound, unique and above all emotionally inspiring. By definition, it is the reference for a classic wine of its variety or style.
97–95 Outstanding An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and characteristics, as well as remarkable personality. A classic example of its style or variety.
94–90 Excellent An accomplished wine with considerable complexity and character. A wine with personality that will provide a memorable drinking experience.
89–85 Good A strong wine that offers solid quality. A wine that provides a highly enjoyable drinking experience. Good-value and everyday wines will often fall into this category.
84–80 Average A perfectly well-made wine but of average quality; a safe wine with little or no distinction and excitement. A wine that provides straightforward drinking.
79–70 Below average A wine with noticeable flaws; one that is bland or lacking character. A wine not worth your attention.
69–50 Avoid A wine with faults, or a wine that is unbalanced or unpleasant.
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The critics MATT WALLS Award-winning freelance wine writer, author and broadcaster, Matt Walls lives in London and the RhĂ´ne.
ELLA LISTER When she’s not running wine-lister.com, oenophile, Francophile, and Europhile Ella Lister can be found eating, drinking or training for the StEmilion half-marathon. She lives between London and Bordeaux.
SARAH MARSH MW
JONATHAN GREGS ON
Burgundy specialist Sarah Marsh has tasted through 14 vintages en primeur for her website The Burgundy Briefing. In 2017, she finally realised her dream to make her own wine, at the winery of Domaine Nicolas Rossignol in Beaune.
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TASTING FEATURE
Cornas
C O R N A S H A S L A N G U I S H E D I N T H E S H A D OW O F T H E G R E AT N O R T H E R N R H Ô N E A P P E L L AT I O N S, B U T I T ’ S N OW T H R I L L I N G LY AT T H E F O R E F R O N T O F T H E L I S T O F T H E W O R L D ’ S G R E AT SY R A H S
I NT R O D U C T I O N A N D R E CO M M E N DAT I O N S
JON WYA ND
M AT T WA L L S
The battle for supremacy in the northern Rhône has long been a fight between two rivals: the seductive finesse of Côte-Rôtie at its northern extremity versus the might and majesty of Hermitage further south. But now there’s a third hand reaching for the crown. Cornas lies even further south, 8 miles (13km) from Hermitage on the opposite bank of the river. It has long been considered something of an ugly duckling, but the quality of the wines has been increasing year on year. Now it’s indisputably the source of some of the most characterful and thrilling Syrah-based wines in the world, accessible at lower prices than its two celebrated neighbours. There’s not much to see in the village itself (population 2,318), but you can’t miss the vineyards. Abruptly, they rise up on slopes and terraces behind the village, a rumpled granite amphitheatre that swelters in the summer sun. It’s a small appellation of just 145ha, and individual holdings are tiny because the labour is so arduous. Some of the slopes are so steep that they need to be ploughed with a blade attached to a metal cable, dragged up the hill by a winch. They run with blood and sweat. It’s a tough, uncompromising terroir that makes tough, uncompromising wines. Only 20 years ago it was considered by many to be a source of powerful but rustic reds, often gamey, sometimes unkempt. It’s since cleaned up its act, retaining its untamed, brawling style but with more freshness and precision. These are full-bodied, concentrated wines with substantial tannic muscle. The best can last for decades, and they are generally best approached armed with a steak. The mid- to late 1990s saw a new generation of vignerons establishing themselves – some the descendants of old winemaking families, some entirely new to the profession. Together, they pursued a
more modern style, expressing itself in a riper, more polished expression. It made for a refreshing contrast against the gruff, savoury traditional style. The 2016 vintage is widely considered to be truly great – in the southern Rhône. In the northern Rhône, the weather wasn’t quite so clement. Much of spring was cool and damp. Thankfully, a warm, dry summer followed, leading to an unhurried harvest. The result is a classic vintage in the very best sense: the wines will be delicious and approachable relatively early, with a good sense of freshness and balance. What impressed me most of all was their consistency. It’s hard to say that 2016 is a better vintage than 2015 just from this tasting – they weren’t the same wines after all – but among these 2015s I saw some of the shortcomings of what is considered to be an exceptional vintage in the northern Rhône. It was a very hot growing season, and though some of the wines are impressively concentrated, others displayed overripe flavours, high alcohol or low acidity. Both 2014s showed well, in a leaner, more austere style that is the hallmark of this cooler year. Blind tastings are always instructive. This one revealed that the stylistic gap between traditionalists and modernists is shrinking, and is an oversimplification to question whether one style is necessarily better than the other. There are excellent winemakers and compelling wines in both camps. Concerning specific producers, I would have expected Domaine Alain Voge’s Vieilles Vignes to show better than it did on the day. But it was pleasing to see Johann Michel’s Cuvée Jana do so well. Cornas runs in his veins: his great-grandfather helped set up the appellation in 1938, but he was entirely new to winemaking when he started out with half a hectare in 1997. What he’s achieved in such a small space of time is impressive. And this is true of Cornas as a whole – an ugly duckling no more.
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Cornas
ALAIN VOGE, LES VIEILLES VIGNES 2016
92
From 2021 To 2027 RRP £50–55
Deeply herbal: rosemary, sage, oregano. Very full and broad across the palate, full-bodied and thick with fruit and tannins with an easy grain. Concentrated and mouth-coating. Not the longest in fruit, perhaps, but authentic. 14%
CAVE YVES CUILLERON, LIEU-DIT LES CÔTES 2015
88
DOMAINE A CLAPE 2016
From 2019
RRP £47
From 2022 To 2030 RRP POA
From 2023 To 2028
Not the cleanest on the nose (a touch of ethyl acetate), but it has good weight of fruit in the mouth, intense and dark, with massy, fibrous tannins. There’s a freshness to the blackberry fruit here and a grain to the texture. A resolutely oldfashioned style that should be interesting in time. It builds on the finish. 13.5%
Currently introspective, just an undertow of subtle, ripe blackberry and dark chocolate. Tight, focused and polished, with some generous clove spicing that slightly crowds out the fruit. Powerful and focused, but the tannins are a little drying. 13.5%
To 2022
Liquorice and plum. Rounded and juicy, with very ripe but weighty tannins. A ripe, easy and juicy Cornas with sweet but not overripe fruit and a good sense of harmony, if not perhaps the most complex. 13% Lay & Wheeler
Four Walls Wine Company, Lay & Wheeler
95
92
DOMAINE COURBIS, LA SABAROTTE 2016
RRP £47
Lay & Wheeler
Yapp Brothers
DOMAINE DU TUNNEL, STÉPHANE ROBERT 2016
102
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DOMAINE EQUIS, MAXIME GRAILLOT & THOMAS SCHMITTEL 2014
94
DOMAINE ERIC & JOËL DURAND, CONFIDENCE 2016
94
DOMAINE GUY FARGE, HARMONIE 2016
95
From 2022 To 2030 RRP £38–45
From 2023 To 2031 RRP £45.25
From 2024 To 2032 RRP N/A in UK
From 2020 To 2030
Deeply savoury herbal style. Rounded and freshly fruited, with blackberry and blackcurrant. Saline and bright, with juicy fruit on the finish. This has weight but also well-managed tannins, great lift and freshness on the saline, mineral finish. Lift, power, focus – great Cornas style. 13.5%
An austere style, this is shot through with a driedherb savouriness, ending hard and tightly tannic, with notes of black olive and dried tomato. Very well shaped and tailored, but this is a wine with a serious demeanour that will take some time to relax. Focused; very long. 13.5%
Impenetrable on the nose for now, pretty hard and closed. Firm, dry and austere on the palate, with intense, tight tannins. Tightly coiled black fruits intertwined with the tannin and great length make for a promising wine, despite its current introspection. 14%
Real purity of scent: blueberry, blackberry and liquorice. Full-bodied, rich on the palate, potent fruits, with a firm base of muscular tannin. It rolls like thunder on the finish. Smoky and saline, this is a really classic example, in a modern vein. 13%
AG Wines, Lay & Wheeler
H2Vin
RRP £39
The Sampler, Q Wines
DOMAINE LIONNET, TERRE BRÛLÉE 2016 From 2024 To 2034
95 RRP £29
Reductive at present, giving little away aromatically. Focused and intense; the tannins are powerful and fine-grained. Mouthcoating fruit and tannin; very backwards for now, but there’s undeniable power here. Will take time to emerge. 13.5%
DOMAINE MICHELAS ST JEMMS, LES MURETTES 2016 From 2021
To 2026
92
RRP £38
A fragrant start, with plum, sage and bay leaf. Tannins are generous but smooth, ripe and a little powdery, shaping the slick black fruit. Well tailored. 13.5% Montrachet
Blast Vintners
FRANÇOIS VILLARD, JOUVET 2016
From 2020 To 2030
93 RRP £31
Meaty and brooding on the nose – a certain gruffness that reveals its origins. Fresh, lifted, with gently floral and balsamic notes coming though on the palate. Wonderfully alive and fresh, perfumed yet serious. Not the most tannic but nonetheless structured. 13% Millesima
GUILLAUME GILLES 2015
87
DOMAINE PHILIPPE & VINCENT JABOULET 2015 From 2019
91
To 2025 RRP POA
FERRATON PÈRE & FILS, LES GRANDS MÛRIERS 2016 From 2023 To 2036
95 RRP £35
FRANCK BALTHAZAR, CHAILLOT 2016
95
From 2020 To 2029 RRP £55–60
Blackberry coulis, with some underlying savoury notes and plum (fruit and stone). Full-bodied, rich and generously fruity; really mouth-coating, with quite intense acidity. Powerful and tannic, with slightly noticeable alcohol but good length. 14.5%
Tightly coiled at present, very full and intense, but also fresh and vibrant. Very powerful, with serrated tannins, saline fruit and a deep, searching finish. Very long. It really grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. Will be fascinating in time. 13.5%
Rosemary and menthol lift – surely some stalks in play. Not the most full-bodied wine but deeply fruity and fresh. The tannins are precise and saline; long, focused finish. The energy and texture of traditional Cornas, with real freshness and definition. 13%
Dreyfus Ashby
Berkmann Wine Cellars, Clos & Cru
AG Wines, Four Walls Wine Company, The Good Wine Shop, Woodwinters Wines
JACQUES LEMÉNICIER 2016
88
JEAN-LUC COLOMBO, LA LOUVÉE 2015
86
DOMAINE JOHANN MICHEL, CUVÉE JANA 2016
96
From 2019 To 2021 RRP £53.45
From 2019 To 2021 RRP N/A in UK
From 2019 To 2021 RRP N/A in UK
From 2024 To 2036 RRP N/A in UK
Varnishy notes on the nose crowd out the fruit a little at this stage. Soft, ripe and a little lacking in acidity and focus. Slightly bitter finish. Plenty of impact, but more scattergun than sniper. 13.5%
Vibrant red fruits spring from the glass, clear and fresh, with a little black cherry and black pepper. Relatively light-bodied for a Cornas, with a piercing acid line. The tannins are fine and fairly restrained but not weak.13%
Darkly coloured. A little baked in fruit, with plum and cooked blackberries. Easy, full and soft in fruit and tannin. It’s generous and sweetly fruited but a little over-mature in fruit. I’d drink this sooner rather than later. 14%
Closed at the time of tasting; quite reductive. Underlying violet and fresh blackberry notes. Good depth of fruit, lovely smooth texture, long finish – all point to good potential. It has the Cornas power and tannin without feeling forced, and it retains a sense of lift and freshness. 13.5%
Hedonism Wines, Noble Fine Liquor, Selfridges, Speciality Drinks, Winemakers Club
C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E
103
Cornas
LES REMIZIÈRES 2015
89
From 2019 To 2022 RRP N/A in UK
Lavender, liquorice and blackberry – full, rounded and sweetly fruited. Powerful tannic undertow, with blackcurrant and sweet blackberry among the cola and clove spicing. Lots to enjoy; ready already. 14%
Fairly dense in fruit, fleshy and rounded, with a savoury edge and some persistence on the finish. Good weight of fruit, but a little soft – could do with more edge. Lacks a little focus but has concentration, mass and a certain rusticity. 13%
93
PHILIPPE PACALET 2016
M CHAPOUTIER, TEMENOS 2016
From 2021
94
93
To 2029 RRP POA
MARK HAISMA, LES COMBES 2015
From 2019
To 2021
90 RRP £45
A smoky and polished style, both on the nose and on the palate. Good weight of fruit; the tannins feel combed out, buffed and polished. Stylishly made, it retains its Cornas character despite the cellar work. 14%
Some pungent farmyard notes to the blueberry and liquorice. Soft, easy and sweetly fruited, fresher on the palate. Remarkably sweet on the finish in fact, but also long. It’s rustic but joyful. 13.5%
Mentzendorff
www.stannarywine.com
PIERRE GAILLARD 2016
90
THIERRY ALLEMAND, CHAILLOT 2014
95
From 2019 To 2024 RRP N/A in UK
From 2020 To 2027 RRP £62.50
From 2019 To 2022 RRP £32
From 2021 To 2026 RRP £149
An interesting nose – pretty funky – with juniper and rose among the spicy raspberry and plum fruit. Fairly full-bodied, with a tweak of bitterness on the finish. Might be a little too wild for some, but it has assertive tannin, acidity and character. An atypical, ebullient style. 12.5%
Cranberry, blackberry, blueberry and tobacco leaf – floral. Full and generous style, unconstrained fruit and sweet but nonetheless grainy tannin. This is easy-going but with good Cornas character. 13%
A lifted florality on the nose here: violet and lily, with distinct white pepper in the background. Some depth and flesh on the mid-palate, with controlled, fine but present tannins; generally well balanced. A Cornas with finesse rather than muscle. 12.5%
Sage, thyme, blueberry and liquorice; black pepper on the palate, very smooth and shapely. Harmonious and drinkable style. The tannins are beginning to relax but remain a little dry. Saline finish. Good sense of precision and drinkability. 13.5%
Tanners
The Wine Society
Justerini & Brooks
C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E
LES VINS DE VIENNE, LIEU-DIT ST-PIERRE 2016
From 2019 To 2023 RRP N/A in UK
MATTHIEU BARRET, BRISE CAILLOUX 2016
104
93
Honest Grapes, L’Assemblage, Wine Source
VINCENT PARIS, LA GEYNALE 2016
95
From 2019 To 2028 RRP £49.50
Blueberry, menthol and liquorice; smoky and gently reductive – a strongly characterful style. Fullbodied and intensely fruity, with inlaid herbs and spices bringing complexity and a long finish. Good to go already, this delivers plenty of enjoyment, texturally and aromatically. 14%
4 C ORN ERS IMAGES
Cru World Wine, Farr Vinters, Four Walls Wine Company, Thorman Hunt
TASTING FEATURE
Bordeaux 2009
F O R M A N Y R E A S O N S ( N OT A L L O F T H E M P O S I T I V E ) , 2 0 0 9 I S O N E O F T H E M O ST FA M O U S V I N TA G E S E V E R P R O D U C E D I N B O R D E AU X . E L L A L I ST E R F I N D S O U T H OW T H E W I N E S A R E LO O K I N G T E N Y E A R S O N
WO R DS
4 CORN ERS IMAGES
ELLA LISTER
The 2009 vintage in Bordeaux became a legend almost overnight. A glorious growing season produced some monumental wines, and their release coincided with, and further contributed to, a fine wine market bull run. When the 2009s were released en primeur, average prices more than doubled compared to 2008. The reputation of the vintage, coupled with the seemingly unstoppable fine wine market, meant that consumers were happy to shell out for the wines. The 2009 en primeur campaign was the biggest ever, with sales by volume and value through the roof, in part propelled by unprecedented interest from China. By mid2011, cases of Lafite 2009 were changing hands for more than £1,000 a bottle. The crash in July 2011 saw Bordeaux prices fall by as much as 40% over the next three years. En primeur buyers of 2009s – and especially the significantly pricier 2010s – understandably felt cheated. After all, the point of buying wine before it is physically available (if it isn’t to acquire an otherwise unattainable allocation) is to pay less for it. The 2009 prices are nothing like they were at the top of the market, but today the wines are still more expensive than any other recent vintage. Readers willing to wait may want to consider buying 2014, 2015, 2016, and even 2010, which, apart from offering excellent wines for often lower prices, may ultimately present better investment opportunities. However, 2009 is not to be missed for the hedonists among you. Revisiting nearly 70 of the region’s best wines at 10 years of age presented a unique opportunity to see if – or rather where – the hype was merited. Bordeaux 2009s have a reputation for being tarty – or libertine, if you prefer. The best are flirtatious, yes, beguiling and intoxicating, but they are also incredibly fine, pure, and elegant. Crucially, they are more approachable than the indomitable 2010s, though the best will also grow old gracefully. One of Pomerol’s finest
winemakers, Christian Moueix referred to 2009 as a combination of three legendary vintages, the 1982, 1989 and 1990. Weather conditions were close to perfect: the summer was warm (but not too hot), dry (but not too dry) and above all long, providing producers with the luxury of choice as to when to pick the grapes. But sometimes too much choice can be a handicap, and some châteaux succumbed to the temptation of pushing nature’s gift of ripeness and concentration beyond reasonable limits. The properties that picked too late were left with monstrous levels of alcohol – already at record highs in 2009. In such a generous vintage, winemakers had to be careful not to extract too much from the grapes if they were to maintain balance and elegance. The worst 2009s are tired: mutton dressed as lamb. Happily, they represent a small minority. St-Emilion – ‘a theatre of excess’, in the words of winemaking consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt – was the worst hit. Merlot, its predominant grape variety, resists heat less well than Cabernet Sauvignon, the Left Bank’s leading grape variety. However, the appellation also produced some exquisite wines, among the best of the vintage, when carefully made. Meanwhile, its neighbour Pomerol seemed less afflicted by overheated Merlot. The Left Bank was more consistent, particularly in Pessac-Léognan, St-Julien and Pauillac, although I found less to get really excited about in Margaux (with a few exceptions, including the eponymous first growth and its second wine). On the whole, Bordeaux 2009’s quality is less homogeneous than it might have been, and its wines should not be bought indiscriminately. Overleaf are 36 top picks, from all appellations and styles, that will not disappoint. Wines tasted at and available from BI Fine Wine & Spirits Merchant, London, 7 February 2019.
C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E
107
Bordeaux 2009
CHÂTEAU CHEVAL BLANC, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ A 2009, ST-EMILION
C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E
100
100
LE PIN, 2009, POMEROL
From 2020 To 2045 RRP £583
From 2023 To 2050 RRP £837
From 2020 To 2045 RRP £1,790
From 2024 To 2050 RRP £400
Bordering the Pomerol appellation, Cheval Blanc in 2009 has 55.9% of Merlot, lifted with Cabernet Franc (42.5%) and a tiny dose of Cabernet Sauvignon (1.6%). This mystical, beguiling bouquet says, “Drink me,” Alice in Wonderland-style. Like a magic potion, with oh-so-classical notes of mint chocolate chip to help the medicine go down, likewise in the mouth this wine is miraculous. Emotional, and memorable, it is above all a real joy to drink.
A broken-down press at Latour meant the wine was made without pressing the grapes and, in turn, a very long fermentation. Despite this, the 2009 is impeccably turned out. It demands your attention with its uncharacteristically moody temperament and more characteristic razorsharp wit. The bouquet is crammed with black fruit, fresh blue plums, deep purple damsons and gentlyroasted coffee beans. The wine glides across the palate like a figure skater: lean, long, lithe and entrancing.
This has the richest, most decadent, abundant nose of the whole tasting. It’s like a red carpet of never-ending fruit unfurling before you, with no end, as in a dream. Mighty fresh. And ripe, succulent, happy – a joyful wine and impossible to spit. The best Le Pin I’ve tasted.
Carnal, sensual, ethereal. The breath-taking nose immediately has your attention, without asking for it. It is sweet, and savoury too, with a touch of meatiness; a smorgasbord of flavours and impressions. On the palate there is imposing, confident, powerful fruit. It might last forever and certainly shouldn’t be opened yet; in spite of the pleasure today, there’ll be more down the line.
98+
CHÂTEAU HAUTBAILLY, CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PESSAC-LÉOGNAN
98
From 2025 To 2050 RRP £3,070
From 2019
To 2034 RRP £152
The 2009 is an example of just why Petrus is so unique: in this hot year, the nose presents a regal, refined, dark-fruit character. The bouquet is one of immense purity. In the mouth, the wine is gentle at first, then it quite quickly builds to a crescendo of fruity and also floral perfumed intensity. Not worn on the sleeve like the Le Pin 2009 and still more to reveal perhaps.
This wonderful wine does full justice to the investment in quality made by late owner Bob Wilmers. On the nose, it is super-sweet and seductive, beguiling and spellbinding. In the mouth, it has the most divine, gentle, yet commanding velveteen texture. It is at once understated and supremely confident. The perfectly judged ripe fruit lends an unobtrusive, gentle warmth. This Haut-Bailly purrs across the palate.
CHÂTEAU HAUTBRION, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PESSAC-LÉOGNAN
98
CHÂTEAU LA MISSION HAUT-BRION, CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PESSAC-LÉOGNAN
99
CHÂTEAU LATOUR, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PAUILLAC
CHÂTEAU PETRUS, 2009, POMEROL
108
100
CHÂTEAU MARGAUX, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ 2009, MARGAUX
98
From 2025 To 2045 RRP £542
From 2024 To 2040 RRP £554
This is more discreet on the nose than its sister and immediate neighbour La Mission Haut-Brion. In the mouth, it is savoury and impressive. Everything is there in spadefuls, not least the fine yet imposing tannins, still buried deep underground, tightly packed and waiting for the right moment to surface. The wine is supreme and magisterial. But give it time to offer itself up more freely.
This wine has panache and is quite the showstopper. The nose boasts tobacco, chocolate and coffee indulgence. Then on the palate, it is refined, pure and driven, yet gentle, until its latent power builds, with the ultra-juicy fruit core providing an endless finish. This is never heavy but ever-present.
CHÂTEAU ANGÉLUS, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ B 2009, ST-EMILION From 2025
97
To 2040 RRP £277
The success of the 2009 Angélus no doubt contributed to the château’s promotion to premier grand cru classé A in 2012. The aromas are meaty, herbal and a touch peppery, with a profound depth, giving the simultaneous impression of opacity and crystal-clarity. Monumental in the mouth: opulent without being overdone or unapproachable. A touch of expensive new oak is still just discernible 10 years on, but the confident fruit wins out. The texture is voluptuous yet polished.
CHÂTEAU PAPE CLÉMENT, CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PESSAC-LÉOGNAN From 2021
To 2041
97 RRP £117
Pape Clément owner Bernard Magrez is exacting in his search for perfection. The 2009 came pretty close, with a rich, chocolatey, seriously attractive nose, displaying a touch of Rhônesque animality, freshness and, above all, poise and serenity. Harmonious, gently imposing and majestic in the mouth, this has rich, ripe fruit, floral freshness and just the right level of acidity and tannin to carry it through its long life to come.
CHÂTEAU DUCRU BEAUCAILLOU, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, ST-JULIEN From 2019
97
To 2035 RRP £198
Like lots about what owner Bruno Borie does (from the international flags signalling the property from the Route des Châteaux, to its red-lipsticked, shortskirted hosts), this bouquet is attention-grabbing. Seriously alluring, the nose is sweet and extracted, with enticing, ripe red and black fruit and blackberry jam. This translates into fruit that is purer on the palate, luscious and nimble. It is a delight to drink, with a moreish, light-touch finish. A classy effort.
CHÂTEAU BEYCHEVELLE, 4ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, ST-JULIEN From 2021
To 2033
96 RRP £79
Beychevelle, with its dragon-boat symbol on the label, is known for yielding impressive returns thanks to its appeal in China. The château also happens to make excellent wines. This vintage has a quivering, crystalline bouquet of bilberry and cassis. In the mouth, pure, sweet, succulent and juicy (characteristically) blue fruit. Sweet and extracted to perfection, this wine boasts mouth-coating seduction and admirable length.
CHÂTEAU LAFITE ROTHSCHILD, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PAUILLAC From 2025
97
To 2045 RRP £625
Far from dramatic, this is reticent on the nose, as though testing your perseverance. Do you want to get past its defences? The bouquet is subtle, teasing, with animal savouriness. Beautifully poised, farreaching blue-blooded fruit deftly slips across the tongue. Lafite doesn’t show off; it doesn’t throw it in your face. It waits for you to notice it. This is delicate and even pretty towards the back of the palate, with a stony cacao finish.
CHÂTEAU BRANAIRE-DUCRU, 4ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, ST-JULIEN From 2022
To 2034
96 RRP £63
This vintage of Branaire is as good an homage as any to the late Patrick Maroteaux, under whose auspices it was made. It is pure and racy on the nose, with a discreet perfume. On the palate, the wine is fluid, with a lovely medium weight and not a hint of overheating or alcohol. It is poised and precise, with lots of tightly wound, concentrated fruit lying in wait. A serious wine.
CHÂTEAU MONTROSE, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, ST-ESTÈPHE From 2025
97
To 2050 RRP £187
Former Mouton Rothschild managing director Hervé Berland oversaw a very fine Montrose in 2009: supremely poised, with great breed and that classic Montrose hint of vanillin suavity on the nose. In the mouth, there’s a beautifully integrated, powerful fruit core and serious tannic grip. This is one to lay down for longer still, but it’s all there, and it will relent eventually.
CHÂTEAU BRANECANTENAC, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, MARGAUX From 2019
To 2044
96 RRP £63
In true Margaux style, the nose is lifted, lovely, luminous and scented. On the palate, the wine is pure, racy, and graceful, with a surprisingly porcelain structure for the vintage – testament to the breed of the cru and perfect picking dates. Wind this around your tongue like a ribbon, and then let it unfurl, caressing the top and sides of your mouth. Brane-Cantenac ages formidably well, and this, despite its accessibility now, should be no exception.
97
CHÂTEAU MOUTON ROTHSCHILD, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PAUILLAC From 2022
To 2047 RRP £475
Impressive, driving, piercing dark fruit that fills the nose. The bouquet is very pure and very arresting: a real head-turner, like the sculptures of Anish Kapoor, who designed the label for this vintage. The 2009 Mouton is unprecedented in its flamboyance. In the mouth, it is an intoxicating fruit-bomb, incredibly concentrated, generous, and crammed full of stuffing. That head-turning exterior should reveal an extra layer of complexity over time.
CHÂTEAU LA FLEUR-PÉTRUS, 2009, POMEROL
From 2023
96
To 2037 RRP £196
From the Jean-Pierre Moueix stable (run by Christian and his son Edouard), this has a very classical nose of muscular dark fruit with a eucalyptus, spearmint overtone and a touch of herbaceousness. There is a floral prettiness peaking out, too. On the palate, it is focused, lifted and fresh, capturing the ripeness of the vintage while maintaining all its characteristic poise and freshness. The texture is caressing, with luscious, lovely satin fruit.
Bordeaux 2009
LES FORTS DE LATOUR, 2009, PAUILLAC
From 2021
96
To 2036 RRP £196
Given the success of the grand vin this year, it is no surprise that the second wine of Latour is also impressive (not forgetting that the rigorous selection process also extends to a third wine). An ex-château release took place in March 2016, and this has really come on in the past three years. On the nose, it is bright, focused and self-assured, with racy chocolate and blueberry aromas. On the palate, it has impeccable balance, fluidity and grip, all in harmony. It is long, too. A class act.
96
C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E
96
CHÂTEAU GRUAUDLAROSE, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, ST-JULIEN
From 2021 To 2041 RRP £57.50
From 2021
This Pauillac property is a long-time favourite of the wine trade, recognised for its consistently high quality and relatively good value. The 2009 does not disappoint – in quality terms, at least: it is precise, driven, and intoxicatingly pure in the nostrils. There is a complexity and vibrancy to the fruit that draws you into another world. The palate is impeccable, marrying a creamy, lacy texture with pure, blue-black inky fruit (Mont Blanc’s Midnight Blue). A stunner.
The most complete GruaudLarose I have tasted; the warm vintage seems to have suited it. The wine still maintains an ultraclassical claret nose, with eucalyptus and a touch of chocolate. On the palate, it is silky and supple – an utterly delightful texture. A building tannin grip towards the finish proves the seriousness of this wine despite its easy attack.
95
To 2036
96
95
From 2022
To 2040
96 RRP £73
This is a lovely wine. Thoroughbred, graceful and confident on the nose. Then, in the mouth, the finest of grains, like washed silk – such a beautiful texture. On the finish, a distinct rose-petal note, and tonnes of tannic grip to take this into the long haul. A triumph.
CHÂTEAU LE GAY, 2009, POMEROL
95
CHÂTEAU LA CONSEILLANTE, 2009, POMEROL
From 2021
From 2020 To 2035 RRP £146
From 2022 To 2037 RRP £146
From 2019
Fleshy, carnal purple-fruit sweetness (suggestive synaesthesia, perhaps, purple being the château’s trademark). Violets and an intriguing, almost soapy note. In the mouth, this has the feather-light texture characteristic of La Conseillante during the 2000s. Towards the finish, the wine yields more meaty flavours. There is lots of fresh acidity from start to finish, which lifts it now, and will do long into the future. Finally, a long, delicate aftertaste.
The 2009 was the last vintage that Figeac’s longtime owner Thierry Manoncourt lived to see harvested. The spicy, heady bouquet ever so slightly lacks definition but has appealing savoury, animal notes. It has a welcome fresh vein drawing you in. On the palate, the terroir glimpses through the powerful vintage. Heat is apparent but tamed, reined in. The wine has a long presence on the palate, with freshness maintained in counterpoise to the heat.
There is a noble purity to the blue-black fruit aromas on the nose here. With a melting, limpid lusciousness on the palate, this is gentler and less headily hot than many other Right Bank wines. It is a wine for drinking, succulent and refreshing thanks to no overripeness of fruit or overextraction. Very refined.
To 2036 RRP £120
CHÂTEAU FIGEAC, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ B 2009, ST-EMILION
RRP £76
CHÂTEAU LÉOVILLE BARTON, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, ST-JULIEN
CHÂTEAU PICHONLONGUEVILLE BARON, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PAUILLAC
This second-growth Pauillac, often thought of as the more masculine of the two Pichons (nominative determinism?), is imposing and confident in 2009. On the palate, it has a subtle, building sweetness. The concentrated, svelte juice is cloaked in velvety tannin, leading into a long finish. This is characteristically accomplished.
110
CHÂTEAU GRAND-PUYLACOSTE, 5ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PAUILLAC
To 2034 RRP £115
CHÂTEAU HOSANNA, 2009, POMEROL
From 2021
95
To 2036 RRP £196
Another Moueix wine, but this time more opulent. The bouquet is of pure, piercing damson fruit and flashes of mocha. In the mouth, the wine is openknit and silky, with vibrant, vivid dark fruit and notes of tobacco that seem to come from wood without it feeling at all synthetic or made up. Unadulterated pleasure in a bottle.
CHÂTEAU CANON, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ B 2009, ST-EMILION From 2019
94
To 2034 RRP £102
Putting your nose into the glass is like walking through a gate into a wild flower garden: soft, pretty, intriguing. The perfumes draw you in one direction and then another. This wine has a gorgeous, velvety mouthfeel, stroking the palate patiently. Underneath is an energetic core of ripe fruit, hot and long onto the finish.
95
CHÂTEAU LA LAGUNE, 3ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, HAUT-MÉDOC
CHÂTEAU LANGOA BARTON, 3ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, ST-JULIEN
From 2019
From 2021
To 2031
RRP £44
La Lagune is the Bordeaux outpost of the prolific Caroline Frey, who also makes wine in the Rhône (at Jaboulet), Burgundy and now Switzerland. This 2009 has breed, tone and raciness on the nose. There’s the tiniest hint of reduction before the rich, ripe, generous dark fruit overflows onto the palate. I love the balance, immediacy and resonance of this wine. It is above all classy.
CHÂTEAU COS D’ESTOURNEL, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, ST-ESTÈPHE From 2025
94
To 2040 RRP £200
This has softened and settled since I tasted it last just under a year ago. It’s still hot and brawny, but it’s not Port-like on the nose today. It’s a far cry from the more finessed style of the past few vintages. In the mouth, it comes into its own, with enveloping, luscious, ultra-ripe (but not overripe) fruit. If it is a monster, then it is one of Maurice Sendak’s friendly creations from Where the Wild Things Are. The style is not for everyone, but wait longer still and you may find it tamed.
To 2033
95 RRP £44
This makes an admirable companion to its sister, Léoville Barton (which is in fact made at Langoa; the two wines share a château and winemaking facilities). It has aromas of creamy dark chocolate and a pebbly, saline minerality. Concentrated in the mouth; high-toned, potent dark fruit forms the skeleton of this serious wine, filled in with fleshy, sumptuous redder fruit and finishing on fresh floral notes.
PAVILLON ROUGE DU CHÂTEAU MARGAUX, 2009, MARGAUX From 2019
94
To 2029 RRP £162
The second wine of Château Margaux is aristocratic and polished on the nose, with coffee-bean and suede aromas that mimic the grand vin. In the mouth, it has perfect pitch and poise – nobility, even. The fruit is ripe, the structure fine and the weight just right. It is a very accomplished second wine, with a long finish full of flavour.
95
CHÂTEAU PICHON LONGUEVILLE COMTESSE DE LALANDE, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PAUILLAC
CHÂTEAU PAVIE, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ B 2009, ST-EMILION
From 2019
From 2022
To 2034
RRP £115
Arrestingly coy (if that is not too much of a contradiction in terms), the Comtesse in 2009 is sweet, beguiling, floral and then gradually more confident on the fruitforward nose. On the palate she brims with sweet, fresh fruit – a crowd-pleaser. I’ve struggled with this vintage of Pichon Comtesse in the past, thinking it should be more defined and refined, but it has found its feet 10 years on (perhaps not surprising given it borders Château Latour, whose 2009 is a masterpiece).
CHÂTEAU GLORIA, CRU BOURGEOIS 2009, ST-JULIEN
From 2019
To 2029
93 RRP £39
The only cru bourgeois to make it into my top picks, this represents excellent value. On the nose, sober and understated, with mandarin top notes lending a beguiling freshness. Then in the mouth, the wine is radiant, luxuriant and vivacious while all the while somehow maintaining its restraint and poise. Delectable.
94+
To 2042 RRP £258
Bottle age has softened this wine, and the terroir is shining through the maquillage. The nose is enigmatic, promising immense power. In the mouth, the power is very much there, and the enigma too: this wine is still cloaked and somewhat muted. With more time, the promising foundations of this wine should come to the fore, but it may never attain the elegance of Pavie’s recent vintages, with a lighter touch gradually introduced from 2014 onwards.
CHÂTEAU MALARTIC LAGRAVIÈRE, CRU CLASSÉ 2009, PESSAC-LÉOGNAN From 2019
To 2029
93 RRP £40
Bought by the Bonnie family in 1996, this property has been entirely renovated and quality brought to the next level. A great-value Pessac-Léognan, the 2009 in particular is showy, opulent, attractive and appealing. In the mouth, it is crammed full of suave, flamboyant, yet balanced dark fruit. With some graphite on the finish, this leaves you wanting more.
C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E
111
TASTING FEATURE
Burgundy 2017 W I T H YO U N G W I N E M A K E R S TA K I N G OV E R F R O M T H E I R PA R E N T S A N D K E E N O U T S I D E R S M OV I N G I N , T H E WO R L D ’ S M O ST V E N E R AT E D W I N E R E G I O N I S B U R ST I N G W I T H TA L E N T –
S HUTTERSTO CK ; 4 CORNERS IMAGES
A N D T H E R E’S N E V E R B E E N A B E T T E R T I M E TO B U Y
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WO R DS SARAH MARSH MW
We live in the age of the celebrity, and wine is no exception. Burgundy is quietly gripped by a cult of winemakers who share the limelight with their celebrated vineyards. Their wine is difficult to obtain (even more so with the added pressure of a run of small harvests) and is shared among an expanding world of Burgundy enthusiasts. But there are plenty of magnificent and obtainable wines. If you’re just beginning to explore Burgundy, 2017 is a good year to start because there is no shortage of wine: it’s the first good-sized vintage after a string of low crops, 2016 being particularly small. There has never been such a time of opportunity, optimism or burgeoning talent. The superstar winemakers are sharing their wisdom and experience with a new generation, which is revitalising old family domaines that have hitherto relied on the reputation of their famous appellation. There is an expectation of quality, and there are young winemakers who relish fulfilling it. Some have spent a decade or so honing their vineyards and winemaking, and they now challenge the cult winemakers in all but fame. You should pounce on them while their following is small. There are also newly minted domaines, such as Clos de la Chapelle and Terres de Velle. You can bemoan the culture of outside investment in Burgundy or enjoy the results. The energy in Burgundy today has also fuelled the rise of the small négociant, the merchant who makes wine from grapes
purchased from multiple sources. It’s a time-honoured system that is no longer the preserve of the merchant houses but is widespread at many domaines as land prices soar out of reach. And for many aspiring winemakers, with no land of their own, it offers an exciting, if expensive, chance to edge in. Among the most interesting négociants are those starting from scratch, like Jane Eyre, or Géraldine Lochet in a barn in Rosey, or Andrew and Emma Nielsen at Le Grappin, who began by making wine in a garage. There are now many more opportunities for passionate incomers. Australians such as the Nielsens, Mark Haisma and Jane Eyre; Belgian Gilles Moustie of Domaine de la Douaix; former taxi driver Ludovic Martin – are all perfectionists, micro-négociants, sourcing small quantities of fruit from interesting terroir. Some of these are well on their way to celebrity, but equally there are many unassuming winemakers, such as Pierre Damoy and Rémi Jobard, quietly making delicious wines and staying under the radar. In 2017, Pinot Noir produced an abundance of ripe red fruit, and the whites are discreet and bright. In terms of energy and substance, the Côte de Nuits has the edge over the Côte de Beaune, where overcropping can be an issue. But these are cavils. It’s a fruity, upfront, softly tannic, relaxed and friendly vintage. It’s immensely pleasurable – and rather usefully, many of the wines can be drunk young.
Burgundy 2017 – whites
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NICOLAS FAURE, BOURGOGNE ALIGOTÉ, LA CORVÉE DE BULLY
MEURGEYCROSES, MACON UCHIZY
From 2019
From 2019
To 2021
This top-notch Aligoté Doré, from 100-year-old vines in Pernand-Vergelesses, hits the palate with lively sapidity. Slightly smoky, spicy and nutty – a grippy food wine. Nicolas is a talented one-man band négoce/domaine with a 20-barrel winery on the Hautes-Côtes. Stannary
85
To 2020
Sunny, rounded and ‘come hither’, with a crisp finish, thanks to a malolactic fermentation that petered out leaving some appley malic acid to balance the richness. As a boy, Pierre Meurgey would visit his grandmother in Uchizy. After resigning as CEO of Maison Champy in 2014, he bought fruit from her neighbours to fulfil his winemaking dream.
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DOMAINE JUSTIN GIRARDIN, SANTENAY BLANC, LES TERRASSES DE BIEVAUX
DOMAINE AGNÈS PAQUET, ST-AUBIN, LES PERRIÈRES 1ER CRU
From 2020 To 2022
From 2020 To 2024
Attractive sapidity. Interesting blend of umami and fruity freshness and a firm savoury finish. Justin (Vincent Girardin’s nephew), who is in his early 30s, took over from his father Jacques about five years ago. He’s quiet and unassuming and focused on making bright, pure wines.
Plenty of energy on this citrussy wine. It’s fresh and zesty and finishes on vibrant minerality. In 2001, Agnès stepped in to save the family vines in Auxey from being sold and learned to make wine on the hoof. Stannary
Goedhuis
Private Cellar
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MAISON GÉRALDINE LOUISE, MONTAGNY, LES CHANIOTS 1ER CRU
DOMAINE TERRES DE VELLE, MONTHELIE, LES SOUS-ROCHES
From 2020 To 2023
From 2019
RRP €28
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To 2022
A very good Montagny with mineral grip, firm structure and energy. Intriguing marzipan note. In 2016, talented white-wine maker Géraldine Lochet left Domaine Philippe Colin to established her micro-négoce in the Chalonnais. In 2017, she added Givry and St-Romain. A fledgling to follow.
Lime-blossom aroma with a juicy mid-palate. Slim and bright. The keen chalky finish showcases this steep, limestone vineyard. Engaging and talented young couple Fabrice and Sophie Laronze purchased old vineyards in Puligny, Meursault, Monthelie and in Auxey-Duresses, where they built their winery.
geraldinelouise.com
Raeburn
DOMAINE DES HÂTES, CHABLIS L’HOMME MORT 1ER CRU From 2019
88
To 2024
90
DOMAINE JEAN-CLAUDE BACHELET, ST-AUBIN, CLOS DE LA CHATENIÈRE 1ER CRU From 2021
To 2027
This has a fresh attack with a clear gun-flint note, generous body and some mid-palate grip. It finishes on smooth-stone minerality. Punchy Chablis from this lieu-dit within Fourchaume. Pierrick Laroche established his domaine in 2010 and is already a rising star with a fresh approach.
Firmly structured StAubin with density and intensity. Ripe but not rich. Savoury salty finish. Meticulous vineyard work and winemaking from JeanBaptiste Bachelet: he takes his time with a long cold ageing process. Excellent terroir definition. The lesserknown star of St-Aubin.
Stannary, Lea & Sandeman
Justerini & Brooks
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DOMAINE CLOS DE LA CHAPELLE, PERNANDVERGELESSES, SOUS FRÉTILLE 1ER CRU
DOMAINE SYLVAIN LANGOUREAU, PULIGNYMONTRACHET, LA GARENNE 1ER CRU
From 2020 To 2027
Think mini CortonCharlemagne: this arresting, savoury wine is straight and lively, with cold sappy minerality. Quiet American Mark O’Connell flies under the radar. His style has refined in 2017, with silkier tannins for his reds. N/A UK closchapelle.com
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DOMAINE PERNOT BELICARD, PULIGNY-MONTRACHET, CHAMP CANET 1ER CRU
CHATEAU GÉNOTBOULANGER, MEURSAULT, LES BOUCHÈRES 1ER CRU
DOMAINE YVES BOYERMARTENOT, PULIGNY-MONTRACHET, CAILLERETS 1ER CRU
From 2020 To 2025
From 2020 To 2025
From 2020 To 2027
From 2022 To 2027
A nervy wine, pure and straight. White flowers. Light and clipped. Fifth-generation Gamay vignerons Sylvain and wife Nathalie have a light, fresh style. Little known, they sell direct and sell out.
Ripely rounded, elegant and creamy. Pink rose-petal aromatics and silky texture on the finish. Seductive wine from this warm climat. Young chap on the block in Puligny, Philippe Pernot took over his father-in-law’s estate in 2008 and is really beginning to hit his stride.
Slightly exotic, seductive and flowery, with a honeyed note and a tannic bite. Urbane Guillaume Lavollée likes to crush the white grapes and press quite hard. He’s looking for substance and structure – and a touch of tannin in his whites.
Impressive, concentrated, compact and layered, with a strong stony core. Often seen on his tractor managing his 19 lieux-dits, good-humoured, hardworking 30-something Vincent went organic in 2018 and introduced concrete eggs for ageing, continuing the steady increase in quality here since he inherited in 2003.
domainesylvainlangoureau @orange.fr
Justerini & Brooks
Stannary, Flint
Charles Taylor, Montrachet
DOMAINE LAMY-CAILLAT, CHASSAGNEMONTRACHET, LA ROMANÉE 1ER CRU
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DOMAINE BALLOT MILLOT, MEURSAULT, LES PERRIÈRES 1ER CRU
DOMAINE RÉMI JOBARD, MEURSAULT, GENEVRIÈRES 1ER CRU
DOMAINE MARCANTONIN BLAIN, BÂTARD-MONTRACHET, CHASSAGNE MONTRACHET
DOMAINE BERNARD MOREAU, CHEVALIER-MONTRACHET, PULIGNY-MONTRACHET
From 2022 To 2030
From 2021
From 2022 To 2026
From 2023 To 2032
From 2025 To 2035
Excellent La Romanée typicity – high toned, saline, streamlined and vital. Pure as a whistle. In a cold cellar in Chassagne, Sebastien seeks to capture the best of traditional techniques using an old mechanic Vaslin press. Intentionally reserved, tight and savoury, this style needs time.
Powerful yet retrained. Channelled with clipped edges and excellent focus. Excellent ageing potential. A star swiftly ascending, Charles Ballot makes tight, pure and reserved whites and refined reds showing delicate tannin management.
Delicately woven with bright mineral freshness and haunting perfume. Exemplary Genevrières. Rémi’s wines have become increasingly precise and intense over a decade. This is top quality under the radar.
Powerful and full, with a light sheen of muscularity. Volume with airiness. Wonderfully long and aromatic finish. MarcAntonin is a rising young star in Chassagne, apprenticed under his famous father but with his own style. He also makes excellent terroir-precise Beaujolais.
Compactly layered and shaley, focused and cold. Reserved, but with marked intensity and a chiselled persistent finish. Alex Moreau goes from strength to strength, offering very high quality and reliability.
Private Cellar
Stannary
To 2027
Lea & Sandeman
Stannary
Haynes Hanson & Clark
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DOMAINE DE LA DOUAIX, VIEILLES VIGNES, CÔTE DE NUITS VILLAGES
85
86
From 2020 To 2022
From 2020 To 2023
From 2020 To 2025 RRP £39.50
From 2020 To 2025
Belgian Gilles Moustie kicked off with the 2006 vintage using vines sold to his father by the mayor of Arcenant. Spookily, the reds are fermented in tombs. Robust and attractively chewy wine with a chunky texture, plenty of dark matter and a liquorish bite.
Thomas Bouley works tirelessly in his vineyards and has elevated the quality of this Volnay domaine to a very high level. Excellent range of Volnay and Pommard. Vibrant and zesty with crispness and sweetness of fruit. Sweet, light crunchy tannins. Vivacious.
This former taxi driver has no wine education; highprofile wine friends have guided his gentle approach. A light and subtle Nuits with a soft, fine texture, this glides gently across the palate on wafting red fruit. There is a light, fresh aniseed crunch on the finish.
Galeyrand abandoned a career in cheese in the Loire to study in Beaune; he made his first wine from a tiny parcel he purchased in 2002. Such a pretty, wafting elegant Fixin, with silky tannins and redcurrant fruity freshness.
Howard Ripley, Goedhuis
DOMAINE JEAN FOURNIER, MARSANNAY, CLOS-DU-ROY
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LUDOVIC MARTIN, NUITSST-GEORGES, LES LONGECOURTS
Lea & Sandeman
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DOMAINE JEANMARC BOULEY, BOURGOGNE HAUTES CÔTES DE BEAUNE
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90
DOMAINE JÉRÔME GALEYRAND, FIXIN, LES CHAMPS DES CHARMES
The Imperial Wine Company
martinludovic21 @hotmail.com
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90
DOMAINE ROLLIN PÈRE & FILS, PERNANDVERGELESSES, ILE DE VERGELESSES, 1ER CRU
DOMAINE BERTHAUTGERBET, GEVREYCHAMBERTIN
From 2020 To 2025
From 2020 To 2027
From 2020 To 2027
From 2021
Laurent Fournier has matured into an accomplished winemaker drawing the very best from Marsannay. Both appellation and winemaker still lack the following they deserve. Sweet, ripe and juicy red fruit balanced with a crunchy freshness. Rather succulent tannins. Very moreish and satisfying.
At this domaine, which focuses exclusively on Pernand-Vergelesses, Rémi Rollin’s son Simon goes from strength to strength. Red and white are consistently good. This glides across the palate, satin-smooth with cherry-blossom perfume above, sweet fruit in the middle and a cool mineral thread beneath.
Amalie Berthaut is young and talented – a star in the making. She’s taken on 20 cuvées from her father and is shaking things up, using some whole bunches and shorter ageing. The results are showing. Supple, silkytextured Gevrey, this ripples elegantly across the palate on juicy ripe fruit. Seductive.
Berry Bros & Rudd
Berry Bros & Rudd, Tanners, Raeburn Fine Wines
The immensely likable Pablo Chevrot is a tour de force and a walking encyclopedia on the geology of Maranges. Chevrot wines are eloquent ambassadors for the true potential of the Maranges. Look out for their Fussières Blanc. Supple, seductive, dark. Smooth richness underscored with graphite minerality. Those monks knew a thing or two.
Stannary
DOMAINE CHEVROT, MARANGES, LE CROIX MOINES 1ER CRU To 2029
Private Cellar
91
DOMAINE STÉPHANE MAGNIEN, MOREY-ST-DENIS, FAÇONNIÈRES, 1ER CRU
LE GRAPPIN, BEAUNE, BOUCHEROTTES 1ER CRU
From 2021
From 2020 To 2027
To 2030
Young Stéphane is coming into his own at this fourthgeneration domaine since taking the reins in 2008 showing increasing transparency to the terroir. Juicy and spicy attack. Slightly burly in the middle, but with a smooth texture and finishing on fine whitepepper aromatics and a touch of salty mineral. Lay & Wheeler, Nickolls and Perks
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Australian Andrew Nielsen worked with Patrick Bize before making his own Savigny. He purchases fruit from young growers with underrated appellations. Andrew focuses on Pinot’s perfume, describing his approach as ‘no-touch winemaking’. Tannins are a delicate wisp. Floral and fresh, this softly rounded, juicy wine is very inviting, with its svelte texture and succulent fruit.
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DOMAINE JEAN TARDY, NUITS-STGEORGES, AUX ARGILLATS 1ER CRU
DOMAINE Y CLERGET, VOLANY, CLOS DU VERSEUIL 1ER CRU (MONOPOLE)
JANE EYRE, GEVREYCHAMBERTIN, LES CORBEAUX, 1ER CRU
From 2021
From 2021
From 2022 To 2032
To 2029
Guillaume’s style has evolved since taking over from his father in 2001. He’s dialled down the tannin, while encouraging a richer, fuller body. Still relatively unknown and well worth seeking out. The cold wind in Argillats gives whitepepper aromas that belie the palate’s sweetness. Juicy, plump and ripe, with the tannins giving a zesty bite. An engaging Nuits.
To 2028
Thibault Clerget took on the family domaine in 2015. He’s learning fast, already doing impressive work, and shows great potential. The satin texture is striking. An instant harmony and poise. A seamless quality. Haynes Hanson & Clark
RRP £79
Australian Jane Eyre launched her micronégoce with Savigny and now has a portfolio from Beaujolais to Grand Cru Corton Maréchaudes. Firm, layered and vigorous wine, with a depth of dark fruit and a spicy, smoky edge. Long, punchy finish. jeyre21@gmail.com
Stannary, Flint
legrappin.com
MARK HAISMA, MOREY-ST-DENIS LES CHAFFOTS 1ER CRU
94
DOMAINE HEITZLOCHARDET, POMMARD, RUGIENS 1ER CRU
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From 2021 To 2030 RRP £55.50
From 2021
Dr Bailey Carrodus at Yarra Yering was mentor to Haisma, who left his native Australia in 2008 to become a small négociant in Burgundy. He describes himself as a lazy winemaker, preferring to let the terroir speak through pure and airy wine with a fine bone structure, delicate tannins and a savoury salty finish. You sense the cool site and chalky soil.
Young Armand Heitz was fortunate to inherit great terroir in 2013 from his grandmother and still more in 2018. He has learned fast and is rightly attracting attention for his light touch and gossamer-textured reds. High-toned, red peppercorn. Delicate, lacy texture, threaded with cool saltiness. Refined.
mail@markhaisma.com
Stannary
To 2029
96
98
DOMAINE PIERRE DAMOY, CHAMBERTIN CLOS DE BÈZE
98
DOMAINE HUDELOT-NOËLLAT, VOSNE-ROMANÉE, LES SUCHOTS 1ER CRU
DOMAINE LAUNAY HORIOT, LATRICÈRESCHAMBERIN
From 2022 To 2032
From 2023 To 2032
From 2023 To 2032
Charles van Canneyt continues to raise the bar at his grandfather’s domaine, which he took on in 2008, aged just 20. He makes satin-textured wine but with tannin properly present. A well-judged balance of substance and elegance. Full, dense and juicy, with smooth muscle and layering. There is a rich vitality to this wine.
Xavier Horiot was a jet pilot who won an 11-year battle to take on the family’s neglected domaine in Pommard in 2011. This wine has alluring rose petal aromatics. ‘Light’, but with lovely intensity, neatly edged, straight and mineral, with delicate tannin, integrated seamlessly. Fine persistent finish entwined with floral aromatics.
Flint, Stannary
Stannary
Pierre and Victoria Damoy usually pick late to make opulent wines. Pierre has an embarrassment of celebrity vineyards, including Chambertin and Chapelle-Chambertin. Clos Tamisots, effectively their garden, produces among the best Gevrey village wines. Gorgeous velvety depths. Rich, sumptuous, but not at all heavy. Seductive rose-petal aromatics carry the finish. Heady delights. Fine+Rare
Spotlight on… TYRRELL’S VAT 1 HUNTER SEMILLON 2013 GOLD OUTSTANDING, IWSC 2018 Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Hunter Semillon is one of the legends of Australian winemaking. Tyrrell’s has been making wine continuously in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales since Edward Tyrrell produced his first vintage in 1864. Their first Semillons (originally known as Rieslings, in the New World tradition of calling wines by easily recognised European varieties) were produced in the early 1960s. It wasn’t until 1989 that fourth-generation winemaker Bruce Tyrrell became convinced Hunter Semillon would repay long bottle ageing. Against his family’s wishes, he put 1,000 cases aside. ‘I wasn’t supposed to. There were lots of family fights about it, so I hid it,’ he recalls. The result was amazing. What starts as a fine but relatively neutral white, with high acidity and low alcohol, after five years develops luscious honeyed, citrus flavours and an intense, silky palate. ‘Wow – where did this wine come from?’ Bruce said after that first experiment. Tyrrell’s Vat 1 is capable of ageing and improving for 20 years and more; connoisseurs regard it with veneration, as unique among the great Semillons of the world.
D EB ORAH WASTIE
Average price £31/$41 tyrrells.com.au
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A LA MY; MARKUS MA RKUS KIRCHGESSN K IRC HGES SNER, ER /LAIF/CA LA IF, CAMERA MERAPRESS PRESSLOND LONDON; ON MALTE JAEGER, MALTE JAEGER LAIF/CAMERA / LA IF, PRESS CA MERA LOND PRESS ON ; LOND LE NEUVIÈME ON ART
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If asked to visualise French cuisine, many would probably think of the grand dining rooms of Paris. However, for most French people, the culinary heart of the country is Lyon. As far back as 1935, the renowned French food critic Curnonsky, also known as the ‘Prince of Gastronomy’, described Lyon as ‘the world capital of gastronomy’. The home of the late great chef Paul Bocuse, Lyon boasts a galaxy of Michelin-starred restaurants, in addition to a fine food market, terrific bakeries such as Boulangerie du Palais, in the old town, the deservedly renowned chocolate shop Bernachon and a great selection of restaurants specialising in more local cuisine. La Mère Brazier is one of Lyon’s historic restaurants. It was awarded three Michelin stars under Eugénie Brazier in 1933, the year Michelin adopted its current scoring system. The restaurant held its stars until 1968, then it declined; it has recently been revitalised by the talented Mathieu Viannay, who in the last decade has won back two stars. The cuisine here is classical and includes interpretations of traditional local dishes. The pâté en croûte is a thing of beauty – delicate pastry encasing a rich filling of foie gras and chicken from nearby Bresse. The kitchen shows off its skills in dishes such as ravioli of langoustine with a jus of girolle mushrooms – the shellfish, of impeccable quality, tender and with a hint of natural sweetness, contrasting with the earthiness of the girolles. Further classical cooking skill is shown in the signature Grand Marnier soufflé, as light and fluffy as an orange-flavoured cloud. Much less famous and very different, but also terrific, is the restaurant Le Neuvième Art, with Christophe Roure in the kitchen. Like Viannay, Roure is a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, a title awarded at a fiendishly competitive culinary contest held every four years. Dishes such as scallops with black truffle, rolled up into a cylinder, and savoury îles flottantes show how a
Le Neuvième Art is an off-the-radar restaurant that deserves to be far better known
great kitchen can innovate while maintaining its roots in top-notch classical cooking skills. The pastry section is no slouch either, serving fabulous chocolate ganache with a rich, smooth chocolate sorbet. This is an off-theradar restaurant that deserves to be far better known.
Scenes and dishes from (facing page) La Mère Brazier, under chef Mathieu Viannay, and (this page) Le Neuvième Ar t, under Christophe Roure
Away from the world of fine dining, Lyon is famous for its bouchons, casual places that specialise in very local, rustic dishes such as sausages and pâtés. The oldest – established in 1726, according to some sources – Comptoir Abel is arguably the best of this style of restaurant. It is known for its chicken with morels, crayfish gratin and the signature pike quenelle, a kind of savoury dumpling. You can also eat salad Lyonnaise, with a poached egg and hot bacon to give a local touch to the salad leaves. This is a simple place with bare tables, a wood-panelled room and tightly packed seats, but with skilfully prepared food that represents the essence of Lyon’s cooking. It is well worth a visit if you find yourself in the city.
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SUPER-INGREDIENT
Butter
BUTTER HAS BEEN AROUND FOR MILLENNIA, AND IT HAS DOZENS OF FORMS AND
T H O U S A N D S O F U S E S. J U ST D O N ’ T K E E P I T I N T H E F R I D G E
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P H OTO G R A P H S
FIONA BECKETT
D E B O R A H WA S T I E
Judging by the amount of space devoted to it in the average supermarket, few people eat butter these days, let alone worry about which type to buy. Yet good butter spread on freshly baked bread is one of the simplest, most delicious treats. The French, at least, still value their jambon beurre. It wasn’t always like this. In Mongolia, where butter is believed to have originated, its use is ubiquitous – it is even added to tea and plays a role in religious ceremonies, weddings and birthdays. In other countries, too, butter dates back millennia. It was first derived from camels, yaks, and reindeer, as well as farm animals. According to a fascinating new book called Bread & Butter: History, Culture, Recipes, ‘there are even mythological tales of yak butter being made accidentally by children kicking yak-skin sacks filled with yak milk’. France, though, is still the heart of butter culture. French butters are traditionally made from cultured cream – that is, cream to which bacteria have been added or allowed to develop then matured for between 12 and 24 hours. This process results in a more savoury, tangy taste – some 150 different flavours in all, according to Patrik Johansson of artisanal producer Butter Vikings. ‘Most
of the 150 taste components are under the FTV [flavour threshold value], but there seems to be a synergistic effect that gives a complex, deep real butter aroma/flavour. Industrial butter has artificial butter flavour added, which mainly consists of diacetyl.’ Johansson started making butter on the Isle of Wight and is in the process of relocating to Somerset. Along with Abernethy Butter in Northern Ireland and Fen Farm Dairy in Suffolk, he is one of a new band of UK-based artisanal producers reviving traditional styles. Fen Farm makes a raw milk cultured butter from its Montbeliarde and Friesian cows,alongside an award-winning Brie-style cheese called Baron Bigod. If Diane St Clair’s Animal Farm creamery in Vermont is anything to go by, they have a profitable future ahead. Butter from St Clair fetches $50 a pound in the United States; it’s incredibly scarce, thanks largely to interest from top American chef Thomas Keller. French butters such as Échiré and Beurre d’Isigny are paler than British ones partly because of the cattle breeds they rear (we tend to have more Jersey and Guernsey cows, which metabolise beta carotene in the grass more effectively to create a richer-coloured butter) and because fewer cows are grass fed.
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Three ways to use butter WHIPPED BUTTER Often spotted in hip restaurants, this is easy to make at home by beating milk or water into soft butter (easiest with an electric hand-held mixer), preserving the buttery taste but making it much airier and even dippable. You can also flavour it with fresh herbs or honey, maple syrup or brown sugar for a dessert butter. (See butterjournal. com for a useful list of recipes.)
BROWN BUTTER Also known as beurre noisette, essentially this is butter heated until it is a nutty brown. (Obviously you need to watch it like a hawk to make sure it doesn’t burn.) You can use it in savoury dishes – the most famous being raie (skate) au beurre noir, where it’s cooked with lemon juice, parsley and capers – but it’s also a delicious substitute for butter in home-baked biscuits and shortbread.
Sheep and goat butters are generally paler, too, though carotene is another additive that can be added to butter, undeclared. The other, more obvious difference is between salted and unsalted butter. Unsalted is recommended for baking and patisserie, but a wide variety of cooks choose it on the basis that they can then decide how much salt to use. It may depend more on what you want your butter for – and the time of day you use it. For breakfast, it may be a mild sweet butter you can enjoy with jam; for a lunchtime or evening snack with a few radishes and a glass of wine, salted butter – or at least butter sprinkled with salt – may be more apposite. But the most important factor in the appreciation of butter – as with cheese – is to serve it at room temperature. ‘People complain uselessly about the fact that butter is hard to spread,’ says Johansson. ‘Keep the butter in old-fashioned butter crocks or bells at room temperature, and it will be perfectly spreadable.”
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BEURRE MANIÉ One of the oldest tricks in the French culinary repertoire, this ‘kneaded’ mixture of butter and flour is the perfect way to thicken a sauce or an English gravy without getting a floury taste or texture. Simply work 25g of flour into an equal amount of soft butter, whisk it into your pan juices over a low heat – et voilà!
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State of the art
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Opposite: The Things We Search For and the Pictures We Take (2017 ), by John Messinger. Below: Reflection (2018), by Yukiko Yanagida
I T ’ S H A R D LY A S U R P R I S E T H AT A C I T Y A S C R E AT I V E LY S U C C E S S F U L A N D D I V E R S E A S S A N F R A N C I S C O I S A B L E T O H O S T A N
UN IX GALLERY; YUKI SIS GALLERY (YUKI- S IS.COM)
A R T FA I R O F N E A R LY 1 0 0 G A L L E R I E S E A C H Y E A R . R O B S A N D A L L P I C K S O U T A R T I S T S W H O A R E T U R N I N G H E A D S
‘We’d found this old repurposed train station in San Francisco, and everyone was telling us it “wasn’t suited” and “wouldn’t work” for an art fair. And I guess we just made it work anyway.’ Perhaps that is something of an understatement when it comes to Art Market San Francisco (AMSF), a fourday annual event that attracts 30,000 art lovers and collectors to The Golden City each spring. Co-founder Max Fishko, a third-generation gallerist hailing from NYC, says that, somewhat unusually for a fair of this nature, they didn’t particularly need to start small. ‘Back in 2008, the art scene in San Francisco was absolutely thriving,’ he says. ‘Not only was there a large number of galleries working to very high standards, but the city itself was full of people who appreciated that art. What it was missing, from our perspective, was a significant fair that could bring all of that together. The galleries were enthusiastic from the outset, and we opened our first edition in 2009, with between 65 and 70 of them.’ That number has risen to almost 100 as AMSF heads into its ninth edition, accommodated within the stunningly cavernous Festival Pavilion at the Fort Mason Center, a short drive along the north coast from the Golden Gate Bridge. Fishko – who additionally runs Art on Paper (NYC), Market Art + Design (Bridgehampton, NY), Seattle Art Fair and Texas Contemporary – credits the continued growth and success of the San Francisco offering to the city’s perfect storm of academia, creativity and wealth. ‘You’re looking at a lot of people who are creative here, a lot of important academic institutions, and a lot of people who have made their careers out of their creativity,’ he says. ‘So, adding all that together results in an ideal environment for galleries and artists to find support from collectors locally, in addition to those visiting from out of state, all of whom are buying regularly within the contemporary market.’ Andrew McClintock of Ever Gold [Projects] – a major gallery that has returned to AMSF every year for the past six years – concurs, noting that
a new class of collector is emerging within the city. ‘My experience is that Max gets the elusive young Bay Area tech professionals in the doors of the fair who are ready to buy at the under-50K range. We’re meeting the demand of the new local clientele that makes up a growing part of our collector base. Other fairs in San Francisco and the art institutions that support them tend to alienate the very people whose attention they’re trying to captivate. That’s only deepening the divide between the old SF society and a new generation of collectors and philanthropists who are already running the Bay Area. As Bob Dylan said, the times they are a-changin’.’
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First out of the (Golden) Gate A LT H O U G H A S M A L L M I N O R I T Y O F G A L L E R I E S WO R K W I T H I N T H E M O D E R N A RT WO R L D, T H E FA I R L A R G E LY E X H I B I T S W O R K S F R O M T H E B U R G E O N I N G C O N T E M P O R A RY ART SCENE. THOSE ARTISTS RANGE, OF C O U R S E , F R O M T H E N E W LY D I S C O V E R E D TO T H E W E L L E STA B L I S H E D
ALEXANDER KORI GIRARD, JOHANSSON PROJECTS Grandson of noted architect and designer Alexander Girard, this LA-based visionary has received critical acclaim for his multiculturally influenced, dreamlike abstracts. AMSF tends to see his works sold out by the end of each edition, proof in gallerist Kimberly Johansson’s mind that collectors’ first impressions of contemporary art tend to be uniquely impactful. ‘Working the art fairs, I found it exciting to see so many people having the confidence to pull the trigger and follow their instincts so that they didn’t miss out when viewing an artist such as Girard for the first time, collecting work that is personally interesting versus being bound by conventional categories,’ she says. ‘[He sells out because] people feed off each other’s enthusiasm in the booth.’ Those looking to jump on his works before they’re red-dotted should expect to pay between $3,000 and $17,500 (£2,350–£13,650).
Above: Brilliant Rivers (2018), Alexander Kori Girard. Below: Hyakki Yagyō (2018), by Masako Miki. Opposite: Changing Color series, Purple to Green (2018), by Zhuang Hong Yi
Osaka-born and currently a resident of Berkeley, California, Miki makes sketches, paintings and sculptures that have captivated the Bay Area and beyond, with lush, ethereal watercolours that draw from Shinto traditions. Cult gallery founder Aimee Friberg notes that the works couldn’t be more in context with today’s challenges. ‘The fact that these shape-shifting “ghosts” or spirits in Miki’s work can take any form relates directly to this current cultural moment where the notion of non-binary space is addressed with gender fluidity, bi-racial identity and multiculturalism,’ she says. ‘Masako is an immigrant to the US from Japan, and I think this perspective of interconnectedness and empathy resonates with many people.’ Keen collectors can buy in for as little as $5,000 (£3,900) for earlier works and small sketches, with larger new offerings commanding as much as $80,000 (£62,350). JOHN MESSINGER, UNIX New Yorker John Messinger has earned considerable acclaim for his photo tapestry art. Using thousands of photographs, he creates large-scale works that simultaneously delight as works of art in their own right while asking larger questions concerning the ubiquity of the photo in a digital-focused society. These abstract-within-abstract works, which add a notable element of contemporary threedimensional interaction to traditional tapestry, currently fetch between $10,000 and $30,000 (£7,800–23,400), appearing in exhibitions, fairs and private collections across the US.
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JOHAN SS ON PROJECTS GALLERY; CULT GA LLERY; N IL GALLERY
MASAKO MIKI, CULT
ZHUANG HONG YI, NIL GALLERY Born in Sichuan province, China, and currently living in the Netherlands, Zhuang Hong Yi is known for an attention to detail delivering beauty, sophistication and an effortless juxtaposition of influences from his homeland and a subtle western allure. Working in numerous formats, from paintings with ink and acrylic with rice paper to porcelain and wood sculpture, he has recently embraced a unique signature technique that sees his works of art change colour gently and warmly according to the position of the viewer. Those captivated by the colourscapes of works such as his Flowerbed series can expect to pay between $10,000 and $40,000 (£7,800–31,200).
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Performance’s unique optic impact not only adds a pleasing visual aspect to the bowl, but also increases the inner surface area, allowing the wine to open up and fully show every aroma and subtle nuance.
CABERNET/ MERLOT
SYRAH/ SHIRAZ
PINOT NOIR
CHAMPAGNE
RIESLING/ GRÜNER VELTLINER
OAKED CHARDONNAY
SAUVIGNON BLANC
OPTIC IMPACT
RIEDEL.COM
WO R DS
I L LU S TR ATI O N
ZO E W I L L I A M S
RODERICK MILLS
CLAY-PIGEON SHOOTING
Giving it a shot
Z O E W I L L I A M S D I S C O V E R S T H E J OY O F S H O O T I N G – A S LO N G A S S H E R E M E M B E R S TO R E L E A S E T H E SA F E T Y C ATC H
Tobias Gorn is an expert in shooting, the authentication of fine wines, and cigars. His epitaph, if pushed for space, would simply read, ‘Life’s finer things.’ Strolling with him around the EJ Churchill shooting ground near the town of West Wycombe in the south of England, I find it briefly impossible to imagine anything more clement. It’s beautiful. The air is alive with the exciting smell of ammunition, and I have my own gun. For a minute, I’m even considering taking it up as a fitness pursuit: the gun is quite heavy, and there is a fair amount of walking involved, from the grouse butts to the high tower. But then I realise that I’d just end up with one really strong shoulder. Oh, and if all went well, much faster reactions. But that doesn’t give you a six-pack. We’re clay shooting, naturally; if these were real birds, the spectacle of me failing to kill them would be prohibitively wasteful. The discs, emulating grouse, arc high and fast across a grey English sky, disappearing skittishly into the trees as I studiously miss each one by three feet. The trick is to aim slightly ahead of where you can see the disc, to adjust for – I don’t know – the speed of light, maybe? That is a lot
easier said than done. Not because it doesn’t work; it does. On the one occasion I manage it, there it is, a palpable hit, the most satisfying feeling, like confetti made of pottery. It’s just incredibly hard to persuade your fingers and brain to aim not at The Thing but at the space around The Thing. I feel sure a philosopher would be able to solve this, but a shooting instructor’s infinite patience, in the face of what must look like a maddening failure to heed basic commands, is enjoyable too. Grouse – did I mention this? – are quite hard. Harder still, though, is the Olympic skeet, a semi-circle where discs fire at you from all directions, high, low, sideways, straight into the sun like cunning enemies in a Boy’s Own adventure. It is more fun to watch Tobias than it is to try. There is a lot of process involved in loading a gun and shooting it. You have to remember to take the safety off, not to point it at people – almost as if these things were dangerous. Once you know a tiny amount, to watch an expert doing it all unthinkingly looks as graceful as a very macho ballet. We turned, finally, to rabbits, and these little critters are much easier. They roll across the ground,
still exceedingly fast but more predictable. A minuscule amount of success gave me a huge surge of bloodlust, feelings of authentic violence against the whole of clay rabbit-kind, as if I’d caught them eating my clay lettuces. The paraphernalia is almost as engrossing as the pursuit. In the gun room, exquisite pairs worth more than a one-bed flat rested serenely. The rules of keeping a gun at home are so stringent – you must have a proper cupboard slot for each – that even an enthusiast will run out of space before he (or she) runs out of appetite, so the guys are constantly swapping and selling things to each other, like a conker market for grownups. And perhaps because shooting is squarely rooted in the aristocracy, where they don’t have to do much drudge work elsewhere, they absolutely fetishise the cleaning. ‘You get this grease on your white shirt, you can forget your white shirt,’ Tobias says with such great authority that I actually manage to concentrate on what I’m doing. Like choux pastry or the Eurovision song contest, I doubt I will ever be anything but a novice at this game. But I’ve come alive to its charm.
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A DAY WITH THE ARTISAN
Cutting a Dashel G I V E N T H E F U L L ( C O R N I S H ) A R T I S A N T R E A T M E N T, T H E H U M B L E CYC L E H E L M E T S U D D E N LY B E C O M E S T H E E P I T O M E O F C O O L
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WO R DS
JA MES BEDFORD
FA N N Y J O H N S TO N E
If you’re an urban cyclist, your bike helmet plays a major part in your life. Whether it’s on your head, slung on the sofa, sitting on your desk or dangling from handlebars in the hall, it’s hard to miss. A helmet can complement or compromise your whole look, so it helps if it’s easy on the eyes, as is the case with the Dashel. Like other urban cyclists who want to arrive for a meeting or date feeling suitably dressed, Londonbased entrepreneur Catherine Bedford found that she disliked the aesthetics of pretty much every bike helmet on the market. But rather than pedalling on regardless, she felt moved to act. ‘You feel silly when you’ve got something stuck on your head,’ she says. ‘You feel self-conscious, when you just want to feel like yourself.’ After spending years looking into all aspects of bikehelmet design, figuring out why she didn’t like most of what was available, Bedford designed a helmet that is a light, smooth hybrid between retro style and modern artisanal technology. ‘I liked the idea of getting people who hadn’t looked at sports goods before to take a fresh approach. For example, the people who did the branding and graphic design specialised in jewellery brands. I liked the idea of making Dashel a product that people would want to keep as an accessory, rather than trying to compare my helmets to other bike helmets.’ The result looks iconic, even though it is brand new. Like Jackie O sunglasses, Burberry trench coats and Brompton panniers, the Dashel has everything it takes to be a timeless fashion icon – the bike accessory of the present and future. It comes in a range of strong colours, like 1970s orange and Brompton red, and bespoke colours are also available. At £185, they’re not cheap. ‘Yes, they’re expensive,’ Bedford says, ‘but people spend the same amount on sunglasses or a leather rucksack. It makes them feel good.’ Dashel’s family-owned factory is as sleek, minimalist and elegant as the helmet itself. The Atlantic Highway runs alongside Cornwall’s north coast, bringing you to the golden sands and crashing waves of Bude, the seaside town where Dashel helmets are made. Meaning ‘thistle’ in Cornish, the name Dashel nods at the thorny plant’s characteristics: it is designed for selfprotection, but it’s also light as a feather (just
Dashel’s Cornish workshop; the range of helmets; accessorising with a Brompton; (top right) owner and designer Catherine Bedford
320–390g, depending on your head size). The company is Cornish to its roots: after each day of making the helmets by hand, the 12 members of staff go surfing and fishing. The Dashel is for the cruising commuter and the Saturday cycler. It is not for the slick sports cyclist. But its main purpose is to protect your head, and it does that well. The weight-to-strength ratio of the Dashel is down to the carbon fibre and the way the manufacturers lay the composites together. Ultimately, though, protection comes from the foam-like Arpo layer inside (not only made sustainably, but designed to be super-slim so that it sits snugly on your head), which is built to absorb impact and bounce back from a second immediate hit. The helmet’s individuality is obvious in its dapper cap profile, its stylishly linear ventilation holes on top and its carrying loop. Finally, the magnetic buckle secures it as an all-round easyto-wear item. Where traditional helmets can painfully pinch the skin under your chin while you try to click the buckle shut, the Dashel’s strap magnets naturally seek each other out. Surely these helmets – like skateboards and guitar cases – are crying out to be customised? Bedford agrees. ‘There’s a store in Zurich that has an art gallery with a graphic design studio behind it. They sell Dashels there, and people have started decorating them. It’s wonderful how people are making them their own. We get fan mail from around the world. But we’re also getting on to the radar of luxury brand collections, so it’ll be interesting to see that unfold.’ Urban cycling – whether pedal-powered or on e-bikes – has taken off in Europe and the Far East in the past decade, but according to Bedford it’s in America that things have recently started to shift. ‘In LA, cycling’s cool. New Yorkers are getting it, too.’ Demand is so strong that Dashel is opening a second factory to supply the United States, South Korea and Israel. Does Bedford dream of a world where every city hallway sports a Dashel? ‘I love the way bikes look. I’ve got a folded Brompton in our hall and another bike leaning against the hedge. I wanted that same feeling with the Dashel: it’s not just a helmet – it’s part of my style.’ The full range of helmets is available at www.dashel.cc
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WA S T H E A L L U R E O F A B S I N T H E – R O M A N T I C A N D M A L E V O L E N T BY T U R N S – S I M P LY T H E I N V E N T I O N O F T H E LO U C H E C A F E C R O W D ?
It was called la fée verte (the green fairy), and it inspired – and terrified – writers and artists from Oscar Wilde and Hemingway, to Manet, van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso. Wilde allegedly saw ‘monstrous and cruel things’ after a night drinking absinthe, and Hemingway said it made him do knife tricks one night in Key West. Absinthe epitomised la belle époque. Five in the afternoon in Paris became l’heure verte, when water would be dripped through sugar cubes into absinthe, turning the green liquid cloudy. It’s a process known as louching, from a word meaning one-eyed or, by derivation, obscure. Thus, to be louche is to be romantically shifty or disreputable. Absinthe had other properties. French troops in 1840s Algeria were dosed with it to kill germs; its main ingredient, wormwood, was thought to cure ringworm. After the phylloxera louse devastated Europe’s vineyards, the cheap drink’s popularity rocketed. It was blamed for hallucinations, blackouts, a celebrated Swiss murder, and van Gogh’s self-mutilation. Historically, thujone, the chemical compound in wormwood, was credited with psychedelic powers, but science now shows doses were so low that wild behaviour was simply due to alcoholism. By 1914 it was banned in France, much of Europe and the United States; production only restarted in the 1990s, when European Community rules set safe thujone limits. Absinthe Blanqui’s famous poster, printed around 1898 by L Revon, is a snapshot of that golden afternoon before the First World War. The artist is thought to be an unknown employee of the company (hence the anagrammatic signature). The knowing smile, kohl-dark eyes, sinuous green ribbons and seductive serpent clasp have an unmistakable message: here temptation lies. And as Wilde famously said, he could resist anything but that.
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BR ID GE MAN IMAGES
The demon drink
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