Club Oenologique | Issue 6

WINE I SPIRITS I LIFESTYLE

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C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E R I O J A’ S C R E D I B I L I T Y I S S U E

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WINTER 2020

OLD & RARE WHISKY

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F O O D & T R AV E L I N A L S A C E

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Contents

48

75 6

134

112 7. ALICE LASCELLES

75. THE COLLECTION

112. PLANTING SEEDS

What’s the true purpose of a cocktail list? Increasingly, it’s about more than just telling you what drinks are available

Our team of specialist experts tastes through a range of bottles to recommend the season’s finest wines and spirits across a range of categories, spanning

Aiste Miseviciute visits Rasmus Kofoed, head chef at Danish restaurant Geranium, who has gone back to his roots over the course of lockdown

8. BRUCE SCHOENFELD Why it’s preferable to have a more intimate relationship with one bottle than a glancing relationship with a dozen 11. SARAH HELLER MW In the UK, the average bottle of wine sells for around £5; in China, consumers turn their nose up at anything less than £20. Why? 13. CLUB O SELECTS Is there such a thing as the perfect all-round wine glass? We cast our eye over the contenders

– Bordeaux B ordeaux 2010 – the second of two consecutive acclaimed vintages – The best new Champagne releases of 2020 – A vertical tasting of every vintage of Napa’s Harlan Estate – Old O ld & Rare Whisky, Whisky going as far back as 1885 – The trophy winners from this year’s International Wine & Spirit Competition

118. YOU’RE SO VEIN Blue cheese doesn’t have to mean Stilton, writes Fiona Beckett 134. ALSACE This charming region of France is home to beguiling wines, dazzling food and a troubled past – as Nina Caplan discovers 144. MARK C O’FLAHERTY Our Jet-Setera columnist might not have been travelling as much as usual recently, but that hasn’t curbed his pasta addiction

PHILIP LEE HA RV EY; DEB ORAH WASTIE; GETTY IMAGES; WILLIAM C RA IG MOYES; C LAES BEC H-P OULSEN; A ISTE MISEVIC IUT E

REGULARS

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20 32

70

124 64

JORGE SAN Z/S OPA IMAGES/ZUMA/ALAMY; FAC UN D O BUSTA MAN TE; LUCY P OPE; JOHN CULLEN

FEATURES 16. WINEMAKER AS ARTIST

42. THE WILD ONE

64. COGNAC

Can winemakers really be considered artists? Maybe, says Harry Eyres, but the best practitioners tend towards the minimalist school

Bill Harlan famously has a 200year plan for his three Napa Valley estates. As he hands over to the next generation, he talks to Adam Lechmere about progress so far

Nothing changes in a hurry in this sleepy corner of southwest France.

But a new generation of distillers is seeking to change that by looking to the past for inspiration

48. ENGLISH HERITAGE

70. CHINESE WHISPERS HEARD IN THE WEST

20. SHOULDN’T WE TAKE RIOJA A BIT MORE SERIOUSLY? Its wines have heritage, provenance and longevity, with the best offering the profundity of classed-growth Bordeaux or Burgundy. So why isn’t Rioja treated as a fine wine, asks Tim Atkin MW 32. OPENING UP Prince Robert of Luxembourg is at the helm of arguably Bordeaux’s most exclusive trio of wine estates. Now he’s on a mission to broaden the region’s reach

Its success with sparkling wine has put it on the global stage.

But as millions more bottles of English fizz are made, are the bubbles in danger of bursting?

It’s the world’s bestselling spirit despite being little known in the west. So can baijiu crack the UK? Amy Broomfield investigates

58. THE STYLE COUNCIL

124. STEVEN SPURRIER

From Cognac to Champagne, maintaining a house style is paramount. Meet the cellar masters charged with identifying and mentoring their successors to ensure a smooth passing of the torch

He’s been at the centre of the wine world for more than half a century. But as he reflects on a glittering career, the august writer and critic says there are more important things in life

C OV E R P H OTO G R A P H O F H A R L A N E STAT E B Y A N D E R S OV E R G A A R D

info@cluboenologique.com

Contributors

EDITORIAL

WRITERS

CLUB OENOLOGIQUE

CONTENT DIRECTOR

TIM ATKIN MW

NINA CAPLAN

SARAH HELLER MW

MARK C O’FLAHERTY

Guy Woodward

Tim Atkin is a Master of Wine and a veteran wine journalist and critic who focuses particularly on the wines of South Africa, South America, Burgundy and Rioja through his comprehensive digital reports. In this issue, he argues that Rioja is perennially underappreciated, and deserves more respect in the fine wine world.

Writer of the award-winning wine column in the New Statesman and in the Times’ luxury magazine Luxx, Nina Caplan frequently works on faraway shores, writing for Condé Nast and National Geographic Traveller.

We sent her to Alsace, to document its wine, food and complex history.

Italophile Master of Wine and Club O columnist Sarah Heller was born and raised in Hong Kong, where she covers wine for Asia Tatler, disseminating her sometimes idiosyncratic wine recommendations across the continent.

Writer and photographer Mark C O’Flaherty splits his time between London and New York City. His words and pictures appear regularly in the Financial Times and the Telegraph, as well as in a variety of international editions of Architectural Digest.

EDITOR-AT-LARGE

Adam Lechmere CONTENT EXECUTIVE

Laurel Bibby CONSULTANT EDITOR

Joel Harrison WHISKY CONSULTANT

Colin Hampden-White SUB-EDITOR

David Tombesi-Walton Sands Publishing Solutions DESIGN ART DIRECTOR

Roger Fawcett-Tang Struktur Design PICTURE DIRECTOR

Caroline Metcalfe FOUNDING CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Rashna Mody Clark PUBLISHING CEO, FINE WINES AND SPIRITS

FIONA BECKETT

Award-winning food and drink writer Fiona Beckett is wine columnist for the Guardian and author of 25 wine books. She also publishes the website matchingfoodandwine.com and is co-founder of the wine podcast Bâtonnage.

HARRY EYRES

Harry Eyres is a journalist, author and wine writer.

Formerly a columnist for the FT Weekend and a Times theatre critic and arts writer, he has written several books, including Horace and Me. In this issue, he considers whether winemakers are justified in calling themselves artists.

AMY BROOMFIELD

Amy Broomfield is the lifestyle editor at Harrods, where she writes and edits food and drink, home, and technology content for the magazines, social media and harrods.com. With a Chinese heritage, she was the perfect candidate to consider the likelihood of China’s national spirit – baijiu – cracking the west, and the cultural obstacles standing in its path.

ROBERT JOSEPH

Robert Joseph has been writing about wine since the 1980s, in UK newspapers, consumer wine titles and over 25 books. Since 2007, he has focused on the global wine business in his role as columnist and editorial consultant to Meininger’s Wine Business International.

We asked him to analyse the success of English sparkling wine – and its sustainability.

RICHARD WOODARD ALICE LASCELLES

JOEL HARRISON

Joel Harrison is a spirits writer, Keeper of the Quaich, Musketeer of Armagnac and Gin Guild ‘rectifier’. Now in his 40s, he has given up all hope of ever playing for Oxford United.

Christelle Guibert

BRUCE SCHOENFELD

In addition to writing about sport for the New York Times among other outlets, Bruce Schoenfeld enjoys subverting the civilising mission of Club Oenologique by drinking enamel-stripping Spanish white wines while shouting obscenities at televised football matches.

Columnist Alice Lascelles writes about drinks for the Financial Times and was the Fortnum & Mason Drinks Writer of the Year 2019.

AISTE MISEVICIUTE

Former model Aiste Miseviciute is now a food journalist and blogger. She runs her own blog, Luxeat, and organises culinary events around the world.

Richard Woodard is a freelance drinks writer who covers a wide range of wineand spirits-related subjects.

He contributes to magazines, websites and media outlets including Just-Drinks, Imbibe and distillerytours.scot. For this issue, he surveyed the current scene in Cognac.

SALES CONSULTANT

Richard Morley PRINTING REPRO

Eric Bailey Ladd Pixywalls Limited PRINTER

Geoff Neal Group SUBSCRIPTIONS

PHOTOGRAPHERS, ARTISTS AND ILLUSTRATORS NOMA BAR

ANDERS OVERGAARD

STUART PATIENCE

ALEXANDER RUBIN

Based in London, Noma Bar is an award-winning Israeli graphic designer, illustrator and artist. He has illustrated over 100 magazine covers, published more than 550 illustrations and released three books of his work.

Danish-born photographer Anders Overgaard now lives in New York where he has worked for the past 15 years. His editorial work has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and the New York Times Magazine. His shot of Harlan Estate graces this month’s cover.

London-based illustrator Stuart Patience has had his work published internationally by clients including the Guardian, the New York Times, Esquire and Wallpaper.

Based in Napa, Alexander Rubin has been a full-time photographer for 15 years, focusing on food, wine and travel. His studio’s commercial clients include several Napa Valley estates and Fortune 500 companies.

For this issue, he shot our tasting and interview with Bill Harlan at Harlan Estate.

cluboenologique.com/shop FACUNDO BUSTAMANTE

Facebook @cluboenologique Instagram @cluboenologique Twitter @cluboenologique Email: info@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 therefrom. 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.

Food, still-life and lifestyle photographer Facundo Bustamante has 18 years’ experience in the creative industries, and he shoots the Club O Collection in each issue. He lives in London.

PHILIP LEE HARVEY

Philip Lee Harvey is a London-based awardwinning photographer and filmmaker. His editorial assignments have taken him around the world for Lonely Planet magazine, Vanity Fair and GEO. For this issue, he visited the vineyards of Sussex in the UK to chronicle the growth of English wine.

TOM PARKER

A contributing photographer for Condé Nast Traveller, Departures and Architectural Digest, Tom Parker is based in the Lake District in the UK, but his assignments have taken him to more than 85 countries. He is renowned for capturing epic scenes – as seen in the opening shot of our profile of Prince Robert of Luxembourg at Bordeaux first growth Château Haut-Brion.

LUCY POPE

London-based Lucy Pope specialises in locationbased lifestyle, food and portraiture. Her work has appeared in titles ranging from the Sunday Times Style to the Observer, and her commercial clients include Harrods and Chateau Musar.

We sent her to Dorset in the UK, to photograph the family home and vineyard of esteemed wine critic Steven Spurrier.

DEBORAH WASTIE

Deborah Wastie has a background in graphic design, working mainly in the charity sector before she left full-time work to pursue photography. She now designs still-life images.

Editor’s letter

his issue was originally conceived in January, when the world was a very different place. It soon became clear, though, that it wouldn’t be possible to put together a magazine to our usual aesthetic standards with the restrictions we were all living under – try doing a photoshoot under social distancing guidelines, for example.

As a result, we resolved to wait until the climate was more conducive to such an enterprise.

That time still isn’t fully upon us, of course, but the joys of remote working mean we’ve been able to produce this, our sixth issue, with what we hope is a vibrant mix of content to provide a welcome distraction from more sobering matters.

As far as possible, we’ve tried not to dwell on the C word; I’m sure we can all agree it has already dominated our lives sufficiently over the past year. Instead, we’ve tried to tell uplifting, intriguing and thought-provoking stories through visually engaging and cerebrally stimulating material.

In so doing, we’ve asked some probing questions: Can winemakers ever really call themselves artists? Can China’s most popular spirit make a splash in the west? And why isn’t Rioja considered a fine wine? We’ve put some of the world’s top wines, whiskies and glasses to the test, while presenting the top performers from the thousands of entrants at this year’s International Wine & Spirit Competition. We’ve profiled some of the sharpest thinkers and most engaging personalities in the wine and spirits world. And we’ve showcased the joy of food and travel, from Copenhagen’s pioneering, agenda-setting restaurant (no, not that one) to the timeless beauty of Alsace.

Ultimately, we’ve tried to celebrate the wonderful world of wine and spirits, food and travel. We hope you find time and space to do likewise this winter season – and, more importantly, throughout 2021.

GUY WOODWARD NOVEMBER 2020

C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E

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FRAPIN FAMILY ESTD IN 1270

1270 2020

[ COLUMN ]

The drinks list at Harrods’ ritzy new Baccarat Bar seems to think it’s closer to a conceptual artwork. It’s ridiculously OTT

ALICE LASCELLES

ILLUSTRATION: STUA RT PATIENC E

IN LONDON

hat is the purpose of a cocktail menu? To tell you what drinks are available at the bar, and how much they cost, of course. But some cocktail menus have rather grander ambitions than that.

The drinks list at Harrods’ ritzy new Baccarat Bar seems to think it’s closer to a conceptual artwork. Inspired by light refracted through crystal, it starts with white, then arranges drinks by the colours of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. By way of light waves, flavour diagrams and works commissioned from students at the Royal College of Art, it plumbs the emotional and philosophical depths of each colour, vessel and taste: the ‘calming’ effect of bananas; the ‘cleansing’ potential of crimson red crystal flutes. There are gnomic pronouncements on the emotional independence of chanterelle mushrooms and the indomitable spirit of Japanese knotweed. Scattered among the drinks are quotes from Einstein and references to Monty Python and Yeoman Warders. It’s ridiculously OTT. But then again, we are talking about Harrods here.

The Baccarat Bar is not the first to explore taste in a visual medium.

Paris bar Little Red Door famously commissioned 11 artists to interpret a drink each from the list and then collated the results into a bound menu.

No other information was available to the guest (unless they pulled back a tab) – they just chose their drink on

the basis of the pictures. The aim was to encourage people to bypass their bibulous prejudices: to get the tequila hater to try an añejo or the whisky lover to experiment with gin. And it worked very well.

Trick Dog in San Francisco commissioned 14 artists to create murals all over the city, inspired by the drinks on its list. Dead Rabbit in New York turned one of its menus into a fully fledged graphic novel. One list I’m sorry I never got to try was the Gummy Bear cocktail menu at Singapore’s Tippling Club, which saw guests issued with a bag of 12 colourful Gummy Bears, each of which corresponded in flavour to one of the cocktails on the list. If you liked the taste of the sweetie, then you ordered the full-size drink.

I like a bit of playfulness – but sometimes creativity can get out of control. There was definitely a time in the late noughties when menus got unbearably pretentious, full of longwinded accounts of the gin craze, copperplate illustrations and recipes so obscure they actually necessitated a glossary. You have to wonder whether these menus were designed for the benefit of the guest or the aggrandisement of the bartender’s ego. Anyone who managed to wade through one of these must have been on a seriously bad date.

I don’t like menus that are wordy – they’re real conversation-killers. But I do love a menu with a map that tells

me something about where the wine or whisky or cocktail came from. That, to me, is interesting. And it’s the kind of information you can absorb without interrupting the conversational flow.

At Lyaness on London’s South Bank, award-winning drink-smith Ryan Chetiyawardana plots all his cocktails on a set of axes – rich/light, day/night – so you can see at a glance what style of drink you’re in for. This might not be necessary for the average cocktail bar, but when the ingredients include tomato seed, wheat levain and ‘infinite banana’, it can come in handy.

The Baccarat Bar may favour the purple approach, but I think the trend more generally is for cocktail lists on the simple side – one-page inventories that read like a menu rather than a copy of War and Peace. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised in this new age of social distancing if we see a growing number of bars do away with sticky-fingerprinty shareable physical menus altogether.

At the tiny Gen Yamamoto cocktail bar in Tokyo, they’ve done it this way all along – guests just surrender, omakasestyle, to whatever cocktail tasting menu has been created by bartender Gen that day. (Omakase roughly translates as ‘up to you’.) That sounds like heaven to me, because more and more these days, I find myself skipping the menu, turning to the bartender and simply saying, ‘You created this list – what do you recommend? In which case, I’ll have one of those.’

C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E

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[ COLUMN ]

I’ve come to believe that it’s better to have a more intimate relationship with one bottle, even one less exalted, than a glancing familiarity with a dozen

BRUCE SCHOENFELD

ome years ago, to mark one of those birthdays that end in a zero, I organised a tasting. The theme was Cos d’Estournel, which is my favourite Bordeaux.

In those days, I belonged to a monthly group with the evocative name of Lagniappe, a French Cajun word that describes an extra benefit or gift, an added touch of sweetness. The Lagniappe tastings added sweetness to our lives through the likes of a retrospective of 1990 Côte-Rôtie, a definitive Diamond Creek vertical, a snapshot of several vintages of white Burgundy and occasionally creative concepts such as the lesser-known wines of renowned producers – for example, Château Margaux blanc.

We’d take turns providing the bottles for dinners at one of the local restaurants that would let us bring them in; it’s technically illegal in my state of Colorado, as preposterous as that sounds. Then we’d drink and eat, and rate and debate, deep into the night.

I gathered the bottles for the Cos d’Estournel tasting over a number of years. I started buying the wine in the late 1980s, so I had the ’88, the superb ’89 and the equally superb ’90. I added the ’94, ’95 and ’96 en primeur. I found a reasonably priced ’61 and ’62 at auction, and someone gave me a ’70. It was simple enough to fill the line-up with some lesser examples. I ended up with 18 vintages.

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C LU B O E N O LO G I Q U E

As it turned out, the tasting was a huge hit. That ’61, made from grapes harvested in my birth year, remained vibrant, though the ’62 had turned lifeless under a cork that crumbled into sand. The ’89, so fragrant and evocative, was my favourite. The ’85 was almost as delicious. But nearly a dozen wines that, on any other night, would have ranked among the most exciting I’d drink all year went almost unnoticed – by me and everyone else – because they lacked the lustre of the very best. I should point out that the judgments we made were based on one-fourteenth of a bottle – or less than that, actually, because of sediment. So not only did we not have a second or third glass to experience how the wine evolved over the course of the meal, but we really didn’t have a first glass.

I’m no longer a member of Lagniappe, or any other wine group. I appreciate that those tastings gave me an opportunity to sip more RomanéeConti, first-growth Bordeaux and cult Cabernets than I ever could have done in a lifetime. But I’ve also come to believe that it’s better to have a more intimate relationship with one bottle, even one less exalted, than a glancing familiarity with a dozen.

Do I feel a pang of regret when I hear about the tastings still being staged by the group that Lagniappe has morphed into? Of course. Twenty-four vintages of La Landonne? A comparison of

1996 and 1999 cru Barolo? Who could possibly have something better to do on those nights?

But then I remember those 20 bottles of Cos. I imagine what it would have been like to have savoured them over the course of a month, a year – or even several years. Each would have been the centrepiece of a dinner, perhaps with a friend or two. We’d have had the first half-glass on its own while I was finishing cooking, a second and a third during the meal, and then finished the bottle before dessert. By the end, we’d have become intimately familiar with the wine’s nuances, the qualities that emerge from a glass as the minutes pass or that are there all along but only noticed after we take the time to look beyond the obvious.

By the end of a meal, we can come to understand and appreciate even wines of a lesser reputation – Cos d’Estournel’s underrated 1994 or easily dismissed 1987, for example.

After all, not every dinner companion can be our best friend.

I stopped buying Cos d’Estournel with the 2004 vintage, when the price jumped precipitously. But I do have a few bottles left from the 1990s. Next weekend, I’m going to drink my last 1996. I’ll open it as I start to cook – medium-rare lamb, probably, with green beans and wild rice. I’ll pour glasses for me and my wife. Then we’ll sit down and find out what it has been doing all these years.

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[ COLUMN ]

In China you’ll encounter serious scepticism that any wine costing below £20 would be worth drinking

SARAH HELLER MW

ILLUSTRATION: STUA RT PATIENC E

IN HONG KONG

aving spent the past decade in the whirlwind that is the Greater Chinese wine market, I’ve dedicated much of that time to attempting to understand its most drooled-over and yet elusive denizens: young Chinese consumers.

In my part of the world, a substantial cohort of young Chinese consumers is, despite comparatively low annual income, defining wine culture by treating it as part of the luxury lifestyle to which they aspire. Contrast that against the well-documented impact of western millennials on the wine market. Or should I say non-impact? Given their relative lack of cash and apparently lukewarm interest in the subject, young westerners’ lasting impact on the global wine scene, particularly fine wine, is questionable.

While the average price of a bottle of wine in the UK is still only just north of £5, for example, in China you’ll encounter serious scepticism that anything below 200RMB (£22) would be worth drinking.

And a bottle worthy of taking to a dinner party might cost closer to £80.

When I was developing a wine brand with some partners, our Chinese distributors strongly advised against ‘tainting our image’ with anything below £25. There are a few reasons for this attitude, which I will admit is not universal (witness the success of web influencers like Lady Penguin, aka Karla Wang, who trades in wines as inexpensive as £3 a bottle). One reason is that the relatively high taxes on wine (at least in mainland China)

compounded by punitive retail markups, often leave a bottle of Yellow Tail at 7-Eleven costing £20 or more. So the idea that a bottle of wine costs a decent chunk of money is ingrained.

Another is that, unlike in traditional wine-producing countries, there is no established habit of daily wine consumption, so wine is generally viewed as a luxury rather than a staple.

Some members of the wine trade who were pleasantly surprised by the finding in my Master of Wine thesis that young Chinese consumers favoured a perbottle price of around £20 – and the youngest were more likely to favour higher prices – were deflated when they realised that many of them only indulge once or twice a quarter.

These patterns play out at all levels of consumption. Whereas in the US or UK, a Wednesday night gathering of wine lovers might feature a nice Chablis or Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the equivalent gathering in China could involve 1990s Solaia, Ornellaia or Tignanello, some very fine Pomerol, and 1980s Madeira for good measure. But such bacchanalia is likely to be followed by several days of abstention.

Many of my wine colleagues shake their heads at such behaviour. They insist we must find a way to integrate wine into Chinese consumers’ everyday lives – or they’re disdainful of China’s ‘show-off culture’. I’m less sure.

Attempts at popularising wine are usually flawed (if I hear one more person claim that wine is just as enjoyable out of a plastic cup, I will probably upend

it on them), and I’m not sure I agree with the premise. Trying to persuade people who see wine as luxurious that it’s merely a beverage seems fundamentally wrong-headed.

In any case, there are signs that things are changing. Young Chinese consumers at both extremes of the market are becoming increasingly adventurous. Karla Wang notes that as wine purchasing has slowed because of the pandemic, the big brands are having a more challenging time as shoppers look for differentiated products. Isabella Gao, proprietor of high-end wine bars The Merchants and M Natural in Beijing, describes a move away from formal drinking and more curiosity about categories like natural wine. She says millennials who have returned from studying or living abroad will expect, as a matter of course, to order wine at a restaurant, and they’re on the lookout for new styles and regions.

It seems the pandemic has shifted the situation from one where the most renowned brands are valued solely for their price tags, to one that’s more diverse and down to earth. I still think pushing all the way down to the realm of indifferent ‘everyday wines’ would be a shame, though. Even I don’t really believe people should be drinking every day – neither human nor planetary health supports it. Instead, I hope we can all consider emulating the young Chinese consumers who are building a healthy wine culture – one where wine is seen as a treasure to be consumed infrequently but thoughtfully.

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I’ve enjoyed Club O’s online coverage so much this year –

it’s been so original and current, and struck just the right tone,

which hasn’t been easy during lockdown.

Even better, several times it has made me laugh out loud!

ALICE LAS CELLES, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, FINANCIAL TIMES

What’s the best all-round wine glass?

R I E D E L H A S S T E M WA R E F O R E V E RY G R A P E ; G A B R I E L R E C KO N S O N E G L A S S F I T S A L L .

W E T E ST E D E I G H T O F T H E B E ST A L L-R O U N D E R G L A S S E S O N T H E M A R K E T TO F I N D O U T I F T H E R E R E A L LY I S A S I N G L E O P T I O N F O R E V E RY W I N E A N D E V E RY O C C A S I O N

CLUB SELECTS

I N T R O D U C T I O N A N D R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S BY A DA M L E C H M E R E A N D M AT T S M I T H

Selecting the right glass is one of those tasks that wine lovers take very seriously indeed while the rest of the world looks on with bemusement. Even within wine circles, it’s a polarising subject – the established Austrian manufacturer Riedel, for example, makes hundreds of different glasses for different grapes; there are several options for Pinot Noir alone, depending on where it comes from. But there’s been a backlash against such profligacy, with most wine drinkers concluding that life’s too short (and houses too small) to keep different glasses for Old and New World Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and five different regional renderings of Pinot. Jancis Robinson MW, who launched a range of glassware with designer Richard Brendon in 2018, insists you need just one glass for all wines. Swiss producer Gabriel is of the same opinion.

With that in mind, our aim here was to find the best single go-to glass. We asked the manufacturers to send us whichever model they considered their best all-round glass. Some found this easy; others, less so. Riedel, for example, said that its Syrah/Shiraz glass is the ‘nearest we have to an all-rounder’ but also sent its Champagne glass, which it often suggests to restaurants as a good versatile option.

We felt the Syrah/Shiraz glass was too big for white wines, so we included the Champagne glass as the nearest in shape and size to our other samples.

We also encouraged producers to send their topof-the-range glasses to ensure as level a playing field as possible.

We tested the glasses on four criteria: practicality (robustness, for example); appearance, feel and balance; how they showed off a wine’s aroma; and how they showed off its palate. Each glass was tested with the four wines listed below. On the question of practicality, all the glasses are dishwasher-proof; however, they are delicate. The Spiegelau scored top marks for durability because it looks and feels unbreakable, even when washing up after a boisterous party; but the Zalto snapped off at the stem mid-clean.

The best glasses worked with the wine as a conductor works with an orchestra. They highlighted the notes that needed to be brought forward and muted the lesser notes – and they did it subtly, allowing the wine to be shown in all its complexity, without shouting for attention themselves.

Wines: Dourthe, Réserve Sauvignon Blanc, Bordeaux 2019; Martín Códax, Albariño, Rías Baixas 2019; Louis Latour, Marsannay, Burgundy 2018; CVNE, Imperial Reserva, Rioja 2016

Jancis Robinson – whose glass is shown here – advocates using the same vessel for all types of wine

ZWIESEL RIESLING GRAND CRU Price: £49.90 ($65) Weight: 97g (3.4oz) Score: 36.25/40 Beautiful shape and proportions: a generous rounded bowl with an elegant sweep up to a fine, narrow mouth. Excellent balance in the hand. The Zwiesel 1872 range is much loved by many sommeliers.

It’s one of the lightest glasses in the line-up, and it pulls off the magic trick of feeling almost weightless while having an undeniable presence.

This is a glass that works on every level: it looks and feels gorgeous, and it works very hard indeed to coax the most recalcitrant flavours from the wines.

Verdict: Aesthetic and practical, with a preternatural ability to seek out and display the finest attributes of the wine.

GABRIEL GOLD EDITION Price: CHF80 (€74/$88) Weight: 86g (3oz) Score: 36.5/40 Seemingly spun from some crystalline gossamer, the top-of-the-range Gabriel is of a helium lightness, the elegantly waisted, paper-thin bowl floating on a match-thin stem.

But the bowl plumply bottoms out. For all its delicacy, it looks robustly functional; and despite weighing little more than a cobweb, it has an artisanal heft in the hand. This is a very, very nice glass, developed by the Swiss wine writer René Gabriel with the claim that it works for all wines, ‘red, white, sparkling and dessert’.

Verdict: A gorgeous artefact, with serious practical purpose. Lovely to hold and to use.

ZALTO DENK’ART UNIVERSAL WINE GLASS Price £38.50 ($50) Weight 110g (3.9oz) Score: 36/40 Straight-sided and angular with a wide mouth and deep bowl, plus a delicate but utilitarian feel. Excellent balance in the hand; feels almost weightless. A really lovely glass to hold. An all-round star performer, this brought out the finest attributes of the wines – for example, showing the creamy density of the Rioja while dialling back the dry oak character. With the exception of the Bordeaux white, which it rather flattened (this is a wine that demands a glass with a narrow mouth to focus and channel the aromas), the glass unerringly picked up the most desirable characteristics of each wine.

Verdict: A star allrounder, though beware very structured, bone-dry whites.

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Clockwise from top: Zwiesel, Gabriel, Zalto, Jancis Robinson x Richard Brendon, Nude, Riedel, Spiegelau, Eisch Bottom left: Gabriel’s approach to red and white

CLUB SELECTS

JANCIS ROBINSON x RICHARD BRENDON Price: £70 ($91) for two Weight: 116g (4.1oz) Score: 34.25/40 Jancis Robinson MW and designer Richard Brendon set out with the admirable aim of producing just one glass for every wine – the exact opposite of the Riedel approach.

The glass is elegant and strong-looking, with a nononsense straight-sided bowl and extremely thin rim. It’s nicely balanced, the distinctive base (of an unusually large circumference) providing a counterweight. It performed well across the four wines but with a very slight bias to the whites. On the Burgundy, it didn’t show the cherry aromas that we saw in the Zwiesel and Zalto, although the palate came through as complex and structured. The glass came into its own on the whites, the Bordeaux showing a sweet and attractive nose, with the bowl concentrating the aromas into lime zest and delivering a citrus punch on the palate.

Verdict: An elegant glass that would enhance any dinner table; performs marginally better on whites than reds.

NUDE STEM ZERO MASTER Price: £41 ($53) Weight: 91g (3.2oz) Score: 30/40 A very delicate, smallfeatured, elegantly proportioned tubular glass sits lightly atop an almost invisible stem on a petite round base; it looks like a glass specifically for white wine. Lovely balance and feel in the hand. It works far better for whites than reds, though on both it seems to highlight structure, acidity and tannin rather than fruit. The Burgundy showed bright and fresh on the nose but lost a bit of weight on the palate, while all the acidity and hard-edged tannins came to the fore on the Rioja. On the whites, the Bordeaux came over as rather bony; the Albariño, composed and elegant but lacking generosity or openness.

Verdict: A really pretty, balanced glass but too small and narrow to be universal.

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EISCH SENSISPLUS BORDEAUX RIEDEL VERITAS CHAMPAGNE WINE GLASS

SPIEGELAU AUTHENTIS WHITE WINE GLASS

Price: £55 ($72) for two Weight: 123g (4.3oz) Score: 30/40

Price: £34.95 ($45) for four Weight: 165g (5.8oz) Score: 28.25/40

A very elegant, solid, oldfashioned unflared tulip bowl, with a nice premium feel. I’d be very happy to have this as my house glass. You don’t see this shape anymore, but it really delivers, concentrating the cherry fruit aromas on the first swirl of the Burgundy, and accentuating the deeper bass notes of the Rioja, giving it character, depth and intensity. It was slightly less successful on the whites, emphasising structure – acidity and texture – rather than fruit and sweetness.

The Speigelau, made by Riedel, is an outlier. A workmanlike glass, heavy and thick-rimmed, blocky and solid in the hand but with a pleasing, everyday shape. It channels aromas quite well, bringing out the sweet cherry flavours of the Burgundy and the earthy notes of the Rioja, but we’ve seen how a really sophisticated glass can pick up a dozen nuances instead of one or two. It worked better with the whites, bringing out the sweetness of the Bordeaux and some fine citrus on the Albariño. Still, it’s a blunt instrument and rather out of its depth in this company.

Verdict: A consistent and dependable house glass.

Verdict: Solid and unassuming, a couple of steps up from a rental glass.

Good for picnics and parties.

Price: €22 ($26) Weight: 173g (6.1oz) Score: 26.5/40 A hefty, cumbersome, old-fashioned glass, with a thicker stem, straight sides and a wide mouth.

Feels solid, business-like, indestructible. The Eisch was disappointing on both red and white wines. The wide mouth and almost imperceptibly flared sides meant that crucial aromas were lost. On the Rioja, it accentuated tannin and structure, but we lost the creamy floral notes that are so essential for balance – the wine came across as rather hard-edged. The Albariño felt subdued; the most desirable components were muted: you can see the wine there but, frustratingly, can’t reach it.

Verdict: Solid and practical, but it doesn’t show the wines at their best.

STRIKE A SEASONAL NOTE THIS CHRISTMAS Justerini & Brooks. Supplying Fine Wines & Spirits since 1749.

[ WINE AND ART ]

WO R DS

I L LU S T R AT I O N S

H A R RY E Y R E S

N O M A BA R

Winemaker as artist

C O M M E N T A T O R S H A V E L O N G D E B A T E D T H E C O N C E P T O F W I N E M A K I N G A S A R T.

I T M AY W E L L B E VA L I D , A R G U E S H A R RY E Y R E S, B U T I N T H E C O N T E X T

O F T H E W I N E R Y, T H E G R E A T E S T A R T F O R M I S M I N I M A L I S M

This is not going to be another of those grandly philosophical essays that attempt to answer the question of whether wine can be regarded as art. Such enquiries tend to run swiftly into metaphysical quicksand: wines can be complex, certainly, and can occasion worthwhile aesthetic debate. But can a Burgundy or Barolo possess the philosophical and spiritual depth of Eliot’s Middlemarch or Bach’s St Matthew Passion?

Instead, I take it for granted that there are elements of art in wine. My question is, where might we find those elements? And can we give any credence to the notion of winemaker as artist?

This is already dangerous territory. For me, an amber warning light (the ‘pseud alert’, to be more technical) starts flashing when I come across any winemaker claiming to be an artist. In truth, very few of the world’s most admirable winemakers make such claims. The vignerons of Burgundy, the winzer of the Mosel or artisan producers in Piedmont tend to be rather humble, not least because they see their work as founded in agriculture: they are wedded to the soil and to the seasons.

It’s also the case that nowadays the training for winemakers and viticulturists is overwhelmingly a scientific one. The power of science in winemaking has increased immeasurably over the past few decades. The micro-biological and biochemical processes involved in wine growing and winemaking are now well understood and can be controlled to an extent unimaginable half a century ago. Not to mention such novel techniques as reverse osmosis or micro-oxygenation. (Remember, even malolactic fermentation wasn’t really understood until the 1950s – or even the 1980s in some parts, including rustic corners of Burgundy that I won’t name.)

Many contemporary winemakers and wine growers regard their work as primarily scientific; they speak in the language, and numbers, of science. All the same, most wine experts would agree that some winemakers can make a wine sing, while their neighbours – in the next-door château, plot or row of vines – can singularly fail to do the same. Some have a feel for wine that is denied to others.

But what are we talking about here? Is it really a matter of ‘doing’ things or even ‘making’ wine? Hardly anyone nowadays disputes the primacy of the idea of terroir or that winemaking starts in the vineyard. Similarly, we are often told it’s mostly a matter of letting the terroir speak and express itself and that it’s the voice of the terroir not the voice of the winemaker that you want to hear. So, can the interpretation of terroir be an art?

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[ WINEMAKER AS ARTIST ]

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Winemakers today start from a position of humility that is very different from the demurgic heroism of a Michelangelo

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Olivier Humbrecht of Domaine Zind Humbrecht in Alsace believes it can, ‘absolutely, and it can be badly or superbly done. Understanding a great terroir requires a sensitivity that goes beyond science,’ he says. For Eden Valley’s Stephen Henschke, speaking of the 150-year-old grandfather vines in his Hill of Grace vineyard, ‘When we walk through the vineyard during harvest, tasting the grapes, that is when we feel the grace, magic and mystique of the site, and this is the art.’

For both Humbrecht and Henschke, art and sensitivity involve a commitment to biodynamic farming and principles that certainly go beyond science. For Humbrecht, biodynamics comes in where science meets its limits – ‘when one cannot understand any more the concepts of life, consciousness, taste, energy’.

If that sounds somewhat mystical, then Humbrecht’s care of his vines is more measured. ‘Each vine (especially from a massal selection) can be considered a different individual. Each individual will react differently to all the variables that can influence them: climate, human intervention, ecosystem. The art of the wine grower and winemaker is to adapt, change their attitude and react differently to face all these challenges. People also change: taste, ideas, mood… So the artistic wine grower may want to change his or her interpretation as the years pass.’

Humbrecht’s artistry is not a complete rejection of modern scientific winemaking, but rather an acknowledgment that this approach is not the answer to everything.

Some go considerably further. Among the most seminal exponents of what is known as natural wine is Josko Gravner, Friuli’s pioneer of orange wine. Gravner once told me he had tried all the modern methods and theories of wine growing and (white) winemaking but decided that the best treatises on the subject had been written by the ancient Romans, notably Columella. He ferments his white and orange wines – skins, pips and all – in large Roman-style clay amphorae imported from Georgia. You could say his artistry consists mainly of leaving things be, but the results are extraordinary: majestic, almost solemn wines that somehow resemble the gnomic Gravner himself.

Another noted ‘natural’ winemaker is Frank Cornelissen on the north slope of Etna. He sees himself as more an artisan than an artist – though in the ‘oriental way, where great artisanship is a form of art’. As for where the artistry lies: ‘Sometimes the decisions that are made in a split second are the “genius” and/or artistic elements in the process,’ he says.

Douro producer Dirk van der Niepoort doesn’t go as far as Gravner or Cornelissen in the natural direction (‘I have nothing against sulphur,’ he says, though he uses little), but he is another inspired winemaker who leaves an artistic touch without claiming to be an artist. He’d just spent a week in New York with some wild-sounding musicians when I caught up with him earlier this year. As a result, he had decided that he was definitely not an artist. ‘They are people who overdo everything,’ he said of the music-makers. ‘I was the only sensible person there.’ That has to be taken with a pinch of salt, as anyone who knows the exuberant Niepoort will understand.

‘There are certainly winemakers who are engineers, and others I might consider to be artists,’ Niepoort says. ‘The artists are the ones who don’t consider themselves to be artists.’ He is dubious about the very term ‘winemaker’. ‘In the past, nobody talked about winemakers. There were cellar masters, who respected the terroir. Bringing up a wine is like raising a child – letting it get hurt, but not too much.’

An obstacle to true artistic freedom for Niepoort is universities or colleges ‘where they tell you how to make wine. We don’t work according to recipes – we respect nature and adapt according to the year.’ I ask about the timing of the vintage, and once again Niepoort defies orthodoxy: ‘I like a touch of greenness, which they tell you in the universities is a fault. They talk about “physiologically ripe grapes”, which, for me, are overripe.’

Niepoort’s sensible, pragmatic approach, which still incorporates a kind of artistry (and is relatively tolerant of sulphur), seems to me to be shared by the team at Dry River in New Zealand’s Martinborough. Here, though, founder Neil McCallum undoubtedly sees himself as more of a scientist than an artist; he is a research chemist by training. McCallum’s key discovery – that light matters more than heat, and that phenolic ripeness without excessive sugar and alcohol, leading to complex and long-lasting wines, can be achieved through maximum light exposure – sounds more scientific than artistic. Or rather, it is a rather wonderful fusion of science and art, just like the wines themselves.

[ WINE AND ART ]

Burgundy is the cynosure for winemakers or wine growers all over the world. The quest to make a great Burgundy has been described as something like the search for the Holy Grail. (To be strictly Arthurian, it was only Galahad who was considered sufficiently pure of heart to attain it, which begs the question, who is the Galahad of Burgundy?) So, presumably, Burgundian winemakers are wine’s ultimate artists?

Well, yes and no. Maison Joseph Drouhin’s head winemaker Véronique Drouhin says it ‘absolutely’ makes sense to think of the vigneron as artist. The artistry ‘starts in the vineyard. Pruning the vine and giving it its shape is a form of art close to sculpting.’

When it comes to interpretation of terroir, Drouhin says she often compares her terroirs to masterpieces of music. ‘Each of us will make wine according to our own sensibility. We could be a couple of winemakers working the same terroirs, the same piece of music. Each of us will have our own way of expressing it.’ Similarly, blending ‘is like conducting an orchestra [to] get the best harmony’.

On the other hand, there is perhaps no wine region in the world where the term winemaker seems more inappropriate. Burgundian vignerons, who trace their lineage back to Cistercian monks, are the ultimate servants of terroir. The whole intricate and minutely subdivided system of crus and climats in Burgundy prioritises the sanctity of the land over human self-assertion and ego.

I have heard Burgundian growers describing their wines in terms of spirituality and grace. These would not be qualities imparted by a human winemaker. Frédéric Mugnier of the celebrated Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier, in an interesting aside, once quoted Glenn Gould’s remark that his 1955 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations contained ‘too much piano playing’. This seems to imply a minimalist approach to wine growing and winemaking – or at least to an aspiration to let the terroir speak for itself.

Wine growers and winemakers today start from a position of humility that is very different from the demiurgic heroism of a Tolstoy, a Beethoven or a Michelangelo.

They are shepherds of terroir at the mercy of the weather, the season and all kinds of pests (as we all are, it turns out). But within those strict parameters, they can exercise their touch, their feel, their sensibility and – yes, in the least egotistical way possible – their artistry, too. Long may they continue to do so.

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Shouldn’t we take a bit more seriously?

Rioja

W H Y I S N ’ T R I O JA T R E AT E D A S A F I N E W I N E – A N D I S N ’ T I T A B O U T T I M E I T WA S, A S K S T I M AT K I N M W

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JORGE SAN Z/S OPA IMAGES/ZUMA/ALAMY

[ RIOJA ]

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A

winemaker friend in Rioja sent me a photo he’d taken in a Spanish discount store the other day. It was a 2011 Cepa Lebrel Gran Reserva, on the shelf at €3.89. ‘This is what we’re up against,’ he wrote.

Funnily enough, I’ve tasted wines under the same Lidl own label in the UK. They’re a bit more expensive here – blame HM Customs and Excise and exorbitant duty rates – but they’re pleasant enough, offering the kind of flavours that have made red Rioja Spain’s most popular wine export: soft tannins, sweet vanilla oak and summer berry fruit, all wrapped up in an appealing package. Ready to drink after nine years in barrel and bottle, the Cepa Lebrel has some age, too. No wonder it sells.

This, in essence, is Rioja’s problem, if problem is the right word.

Very cheap wines from most of the world’s major wine regions are invariably undrinkable. You’d be taking your life in your hands opening a bottle of Barolo, Bordeaux or red Burgundy at that price.

But Rioja is rarely terrible, even when it’s sloshing around in the depths of wine’s bargain basement. This is a plus point in some ways – what’s wrong with a bit of reliability in topsy-turvy times? – but it also means that, in many people’s eyes, Rioja lacks gravitas.

In the fine wine world, it is, to quote TS Eliot discussing Hamlet, ‘an attendant lord, one that will do / To swell a progress, start a scene or two’. Rioja rarely holds centre stage.

The people who run the very influential local Consejo Regulador don’t see it this way, of course. They can rightly point to the fact that at a time when many regions in Spain and elsewhere are uprooting vineyards faster than you can say, ‘Where’s the subsidy payment?’

Rioja continues to expand. The area under vine is now 66,239ha, up 913ha on 2018’s figure. As recently as 1990, there were just 43,074ha.

Rioja has grown exponentially in the past 30 years. It’s a success story in many ways.

This all sounds pretty positive, but a lot of these new vineyards are not in the best spots as far as quality is concerned. Significantly, the Rioja Alavesa – where there is a disproportionate number of world-class wines, as well as a greater incidence of family-owned bodegas – has lost 211ha in the past two years. The Rioja Oriental, generally hotter, more productive and dominated by cooperatives, has added 601ha. I recently read about a co-op in the Rioja Oriental harvesting 100,000kg of Tempranillo Blanco for its ‘premium wines’.

Money talks and bullshit walks, as someone says in the classic mockrockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.

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Previous page: Marqués de Riscal is the oldest winer y in Rioja, but its striking hotel, designed by Frank Gehr y, can overshadow this longevity. It’s an effect that encapsulates the downside of the region’s popular appeal Above and right: The Ygay cellar of Marqués de Murrieta and the vineyards of La Rioja Alta offer fur ther evidence of the region’s venerable status

Rioja makes some amazing wines. It has long done so.

And yet the region as a whole doesn’t benefit from, or even trade on, its top end

A LAMY; CAMERA PRESS

[ RIOJA ]

In the public imagination, Rioja is marooned in the ‘good value’ category. There are worse places to be, I know, but appealing prices are only part of the story. Judging Rioja by its big-volume wines is like basing your assessment of Burgundy on its generic bottlings, with no thought given to the village wines or premiers or grands crus. Imagine Burgundy without Musigny, Chambertin, Montrachet and CortonCharlemagne. Would it be considered a great wine region based on the quality of its Bourgognes rouges and blancs? Obviously not.

Rioja makes some amazing wines. It has long done so. Taste a mature gran reserva from a classic vintage like 1964 or 1970, and you are in the presence of something sublime, something that ages as well as any red wine on the planet. I’ve tasted vintages back to the 1870s at Marqués de Riscal that were still fresh and sprightly, fully the equivalent of a hallowed French wine. And yet the region as a whole doesn’t benefit from, or even trade on, its top end.

There are several reasons for this. First, Rioja makes a lot of wine – 270m litres in an average year – and there’s always an unspoken fear that the mass-market wines won’t sell, even if the prices are low. This means that the Rioja brand – what a former director of the Consejo Regulador laughably called the ‘grand château’ – is promoted and marketed above the best wines. The tail is wagging the dog when it comes to quality.

The second reason is that the big companies that make up the Grupo Rioja – a powerful 55-bodega-strong association that sells 75% of the region’s production and effectively controls the Consejo Regulador with the help of its allies in the cooperative and trade union sectors – has little interest in disturbing the status quo. Flogging large quantities of cheap wine at small but profitable margins suits them fine. ‘The big companies just want to get bigger,’ one small producer in the Rioja Alavesa subregion told me.

The third reason is political. Rioja’s soils are diverse – arguably as diverse as Burgundy’s – but most of the top wines come from the north and northwest corner of the region, especially from the area that is informally known as the Sonsierra, on the slopes below the cloud-fringed peaks of the Sierra Cantabria. The Sonsierra covers villages such as Briñas, Elciego, Elvillar, Labastida, Laguardia, Lanciego, Samaniego, San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Villabuena and Villalba. This is Rioja’s equivalent of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, and just like Burgundy, many of these vineyards are on clay/limestone soils.

There are great vineyards elsewhere in the region – my list would include Badarán, Briones, Cárdenas, Cuzcurrita, the Moncalvillo, the Monte Yerga, Quel and Tudelilla – but most of Rioja’s top sites are on the north bank of the River Ebro. This is where the politics come in. The majority of these vineyards are in the Rioja Alavesa subregion, which is part of the Basque Country – and the rivalry between the Basque province of Álava and neighbouring La Rioja has, in recent years, been simmering dangerously. There is still a very real possibility that some Basque producers will leave and label their wines as Viñedos de Álava, splitting Rioja in two.

Rioja would be taken more seriously as a fine wine region if it were to publish a serious study of its soils. As things stand, there is no such document. Or rather there is, but it hasn’t seen the light of day. In 2000, the Consejo Regulador commissioned an expensive, in-depth overview by Professor Vicente Gómez of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, but the results (or rather the implications of the results) were considered too controversial to be made public. This is a shame.

The more consumers know about region’s vineyards, villages and subzones, the more in demand its best wines will be.

The fourth obstacle is blending. I don’t mean blends of grapes.

Tempranillo is the dominant variety but has always been combined

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with others, most notably Garnacha, Mazuelo, Graciano, occasionally Cabernet Sauvignon and more recently rediscovered Maturana Tinta. No, I’m talking blends of subregions. Most commercial Riojas are marriages of two or more subregions, married for volume and consistency. Some of the very best Riojas are indeed pan-regional blends, but the overwhelming majority come from single villages or vineyards. They are site- or commune-specific wines; this is at odds with the grand châteaux.

But it’s not all bad news. Rioja, not before time, has finally embraced change, with the introduction of new and more specific categories: Viñedos Singulares (Single Vineyards), Vinos de Municipio (Village Wines) and Vinos de Zona (Regional Wines from one of the three subregions). These aren’t perfect, but they’re a start. The first of them arguably has the most potential, but sadly, with a couple of exceptions – Castillo de Cuzcurrita’s Tilo and Ostatu’s Gloria de Ostatu – the owners of Rioja’s best sites have not applied to join this particular club, at least for now. Where are Artuke’s La Condenada, Bodega Lanzaga’s Las Beatas, Finca Allende’s Calvario, Marqués de Murrieta’s Castillo Ygay, Pujanza’s Norte and Viñedos de Páganos’s La Nieta?

What else would elevate Rioja to the ranks of the world’s finest wine regions? A greater understanding of vintage variation is one thing: so-called Atlantic and Mediterranean harvests can be very different indeed. Rioja should also change the restrictive rules about the way its wines are aged in oak, at least if they’re labelled as crianza, reserva or gran reserva. This is why so many of the region’s outstanding producers prefer to sell their wines as genéricos, eschewing a classification that is solely based on time in bottle and barrel rather than on quality. As that Lidl Gran Reserva shows, the old categories don’t mean much any more.

Some Riojas have already stepped on to the fine wine podium – Contador, Las Beatas and the top bottlings from Sierra Cantabria, Muga, López de Heredia and La Rioja Alta – but most remain comparative bargains. Convincing consumers to pay more won’t be easy, but it’s essential for the future of the region. To take just one example, UK retailer The Wine Society is currently selling the 2014 Viñas Leizaola El Sacramento, one of the best reds to emerge from Rioja in the last decade. The society’s website displays both the wine and, below it, a comment by one of its members: ‘Enjoyable. Good length and complexity. £39 is a bit of a stretch in comparison to betterpriced Rioja. You may take the view that there is better value available around the £20 mark.’ Well, £20 is better than £5.49, I suppose, but the comment reveals that Rioja is still carrying a significant handicap in the global fine wine race – public perception.

Overleaf: The ageability of fine Rioja – as seen here at Bodegas Campillo – bears comparison with the world’s premier fine wine regions

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A LAMY

Right: The high-profile Bodegas Ysios, sympathetically designed to fit its surroundings, is typical of the huge investments going into the region

[ RIOJA ]

I’ve tasted vintages back to the 1870s that were

fully the equivalent of a hallowed French wine.

Yet the region as a whole doesn’t benefit from,

or even trade on, its top end

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[ RIOJA ]

The Best of Rioja White LÓPEZ DE HEREDIA, VIÑA TONDONIA, BLANCO, RESERVA 2007

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Drink 2020–30 Still ludicrously cheap for one of the world’s greatest wines, Tondonia Reserva is a thing of wonder. This is every bit as good as the 2006, made from Viura with 10% Malvasía and showing freshness, saltiness, oxidative notes and a bready, yeasty, dried mushroom-like finish. Subtly wooded, beautifully defined. 12.5% £38.49 Noel Young Wines PUJANZA, AÑADAS FRÍAS, GENÉRICO 2016

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Drink 2020–28 Sourced from a 1.5ha parcel planted in 1989, Carlos San Pedro’s pure Viura is one of Rioja’s outstanding whites, and it ages superbly. Wild flowers, lemon, lime zest and a dollop of cream combine brilliantly on the palate here, with bracingly chalky minerality underpinning the wine. 13% £66.70 winebuyers.com ABEL MENDOZA V GENÉRICO 2018

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Drink 2020–28 Viura and Malvasía are the two dominant grapes in this blend, with Garnacha Blanca, Torrontés and Tempranillo Blanco, which is always one of Spain’s most complex whites. Combining intensity with freshness, lift and palate length, it’s a subtly wooded delight, with citrus, quince, tangerine and nectarine fruit. 14%

C EPH AS

£31.17 The Fine Wine Company

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LA RIOJA ALTA, 890 SELECCIÓN ESPECIAL, GRAN RESERVA 2005

MARQUÉS DE MURRIETA, DALMAU, RESERVA 2014

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Drink 2020–35 Made with grapes from some of the winery’s oldest parcels in Briñas, Labastida and Villalba, this really is one of the best ever 890s, produced in an exceptional vintage both for Rioja and La Rioja Alta. Blending Tempranillo with 3% Graciano and 2% Mazuelo, it combines the grace and elegance of a great Musigny with the sweetness, focus and balance of a classic Rioja grown on limestone soils. Scented, complex and very long, it’s unashamedly traditional and all the better for that. Drinkable now but will reward patience. 13.5% £ 106.67 Armit ARTUKE, LA CONDENADA, GENÉRICO 2017

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Drink 2024–35 The sandy soils don’t look particularly promising, but this 0.75ha parcel in Baños de Ebro, rescued from neglect in 2012 by Arturo and Kike de Miguel, produces worldclass wines from a blend of Tempranillo and 20% Graciano, Garnacha and white grapes.

Fine, focused and beautifully balanced. 14% £65 Old Chapel Cellars BODEGA LANZAGA, LAS BEATAS 2016

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Drink 2024–35 Made with nine co-planted varieties, with Tempranillo accounting for 60% of the cuvée, this is a thrilling wine. If the 2015 was like a Musigny, this is more of a Clos de Bèze, showing masses of wild herb perfume, dark plum and blackberry fruit, stylish, scented oak and a long, poised, balanced finish. 14% £175 Noel Young Wines CASTILLO DE CUZCURRITA, TILO, GENÉRICO 2013

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Drink 2020–28 Tilo comes from a wild mountain vineyard located above the castle in cool-climate Cuzcurrita. Made in a tricky vintage by the brilliant Ana Martín, this is a stunning all-Tempranillo red: complex, chalky and nuanced, with elegant tannins, sappy acidity and a long, tapering forest-floor finish. 15% £112 Christopher Keiller Fine Wine Services

Drink 2022–35 Unlike the other Murrieta reds, Dalmau is aged exclusively in new French oak. Made with a blend of Tempranillo, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Graciano, all from the Canajas vineyard, this is a supremely elegant, refined red that has classic green-herb notes, subtle oak and the freshness of a cooler Atlantic vintage. 14% £48 The Champagne Company MUGA, PRADO ENEA, GRAN RESERVA 2011

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Drink 2022–35 The latest in a string of brilliant Prado Eneas from Jorge Muga, this comes from the bodega’s highest and coolest vineyards – up to 600m in some cases – and will age every bit as well as its distinguished predecessors. Dense, dark and brooding, with chalky freshness, scented wood spice and a lingering finish. 14% £42 The Wine Society EL ESPINAL DE EXOPTO, GENÉRICO 2017

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Drink 2022–27 The second vintage of this brilliant Maturana is every bit as good as the first.

Made with grapes from Miguel Ángel Mato’s isolated parcel at 650m in San Vicente, this was picked on 20 October and has fine tannins and flavours of leaf, graphite and black cherry, as well as a wonderful fragrance and some clove spice. 14% €29.50 ideavinos.com VIÑAS LEIZAOLA, EL SACRAMENTO, GENÉRICO 2014

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Drink 2020–26 One of the most exciting wines to emerge in Rioja over the past decade, El Sacramento is the brainchild of Belgian wine importer Etienne Cordonnier, who sold a Bordeaux château to create an estate in Rioja. It’s a subtle, stylish, beautifully crafted blend of Tempranillo with 8% Graciano. Serious, yet polished. 14% £39 The Wine Society MARQUÉS DE RISCAL, FINCA TORREA, GENÉRICO 2017

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Drink 2023–32 From southeast-facing slopes in Elciego, not too far from this destination winery, this blend of Tempranillo and 5% Graciano sees only French wood and is a more modern style. Scented, floral and stylishly oaked, with fine tannins, some chalky freshness, impressive underlying structure and layered berry fruit. 14.5% £30.99 FIne WIne Direct

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CAMERA PRESS ; ALAMY; TIM ATK IN MW

Red

[ RIOJA ]

Top: the Vivanco Museum of Wine Culture, in Briones.

Bottom, clockwise from left: Tasting at the Hotel Marqués de Riscal; Vicente Cebrián of Marqués de Murrieta; drawing young wine at La Rioja Alta; Mercedes and María José López de Heredia, producer of Viña Tondonia; Pablo Eguzkiza and Telmo Rodríguez of Bodega Lanzaga

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[ PROMOTION ]

Top of the tree Tuscan producer Banfi has spent a decade identifying just the right type of Sangiovese for its finest vineyard

t is the grape that defines Tuscany, the most planted in all of Italy. Synonymous with the country’s finest wines, it graces the world’s most exclusive lists, commanding some of the highest prices; and it has a history that’s believed to predate the Romans. So it’s somewhat surprising that we knew so little about Sangiovese until just a few decades ago.

Revered for its high acidity, firm tannins and ethereal complexity, the late-ripening variety forms the backbone to the majority of Tuscany’s fine wines, from Chianti Classico to the newer breed of so-called ‘Supertuscans’, and is the sole grape permitted in the classic Tuscan red, Brunello di Montalcino.

Although the variety was known to be highly prone to mutation, there had been no significant research into the various clones of Sangiovese until the early 1980s, when

Above and right: Banfi’s Poggio alle Mura wines are the result of a decade of research into Sangiovese clones; the Brunello Riserva spends a minimum of 30 months in oak

Tuscan producer Banfi – back then, a relatively new kid on the block – collaborated with the University of Milan on an ambitious study.

The goal of the research was not to identify a single ‘wonderclone’ but rather, a small selection that would best suit the different soil types, altitudes and exposures around the historic hilltop town of Montalcino.

The results were astounding, revealing almost 650 different clones of Sangiovese within the Banfi estate itself, or its immediate surroundings. These were whittled down to 180, planted in an experimental vineyard and microvinified, with 15 clones finally identified as superior. From that selection, Banfi chose three that it considers best suited to its terroir – Janus 50, Janus 10 and Clone BF30, for those conversant in such technicalities – which, when combined, offer “perfectly matched elegance, power

Opposite page: the Poggio alle Mura vineyards lie on a slope rising towards the imposing Castello, which sits proudly as the emblematic centre of the Banfi estate

and ageing potential,” says general manager, Enrico Viglierchio.

“As a leader of Brunello di Montalcino, Banfi has developed a strategy focused on finding the most suitable micro-territorial areas of the estate,” adds Viglierchio.

“Sangiovese is very sensitive to the different conditions of soils or climate, and this has allowed us to make a range of Brunello that holds differences in style.”

Founded in 1978 by Italian-American brothers John and Harry Mariani, Banfi is named in honour of their great aunt, Teodolinda Banfi, whose profound knowledge of food and wine was an inspiration to the family. Having successfully built one of America’s largest wine importers, the brothers were motivated by a pursuit of the finest Brunello di Montalcino, leading them to acquire a prime patchwork of plots long

[ PROMOTION ]

considered optimum for Sangiovese, with the imposing Castello Poggio alle Mura at its emblematic centre.

With almost 3,000 hectares in Tuscany, Banfi is now one of the biggest names in Italian wine, with a reach that extends well beyond the ancient walls of Montalcino, to Bolgheri on the coast and Piedmont further north. Still family owned, it is also Italy’s biggest grower of plums, produces upmarket olive oil, posh pasta and one of the finest balsamic vinegars money can buy.

Scientific research and a relentless focus on new technology lie at the heart of Banfi’s strategy for the production of premium wines which now extends far beyond the groundbreaking study into the clonal origins of Sangiovese. There has been significant investment in ‘Zonation’, for example, a project to provide detailed analysis of soil structure, identifying the optimum planting densities for specific plots within the vast estate. A bespoke vine training system – ‘Alberello Banfi’ – has also been developed to promote sustainability (including a reduction in the use of water) and improve the overall quality of the grapes. In the enormous winery, constructed just over a decade ago, the ‘Horizon’ programme has resulted in the construction of patented, purpose-built hybrid fermenters combining wood and stainless steel to harness the finest qualities of both materials, specifically for Sangiovese.

While the innovation has been at the cutting edge, tradition remains integral to the Poggio alle Mura wines, the grapes for which come from vineyards surrounding the Banfi Castello. “These wines represent the pinnacle of ten years of research,” says Jgor Marini, European export manager for Banfi. “The style is a little different, a bit more modern if you like, but of course it also retains the traditional characteristics of Brunello.”

Poggio alle Mura (literally meaning ‘the walls around the hill’) has lent its name to three estate-specific wines, in a tiered structure defined by length of ageing: a Rosso

di Montalcino DOC, with up to 10 months in French oak; a Brunello di Montalcino DOCG with two years oak ageing and a further year in bottle before release; and, at the summit, a Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Riserva, which spends a minimum of 30 months in oak – a mix of barriques and large casks – with the wines only released six years after harvest.

“The three clones of Sangiovese that were identified in the research, combined with the specific characteristics of the terroir, revealed by the zoning project, make Poggio alle Mura a more contemporary style,” says Marini. He

describes it as “a bit more concentrated, with deeper colour and a little more complexity, perhaps a touch spicier, with the tannins just a little softer”.

Today Banfi has an expansive range of wines that show the full range of the house style, from those that harness the character of a single vineyard to those that are drawn from across the estate to combine all its qualities.

But with Poggio alle Mura, says Marini, the wines are not just about Banfi – “they’re about the many different expressions of Brunello di Montalcino itself.”

WO R DS G U Y WO O DWA R D

Prince

and the revolution

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[ DOMAINE CLARENCE DILLON ]

T H E F I R ST G R OW T H S O F B O R D E AU X U S E D TO B E O F F L I M I T S TO M O ST W I N E L O V E R S . N O W P R I N C E R O B E R T O F L U X E M B O U R G , O W N E R O F H A U T- B R I O N E T A L ,

TIM HA LL

I S L E A D I N G A C H A RG E TO M A K E T H E R E G I O N’S R I C H E S M O R E AC C E S S I B L E

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W

e all have our tales of lockdown. For Prince Robert of Luxembourg, owner of Bordeaux empire Domaine Clarence Dillon, it comes on a suitably lavish scale. ‘We were heading to the Caribbean for a holiday to celebrate my son’s 18th birthday,’ says the urbane aristocrat behind châteaux Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion and Quintus. ‘We ended up on what turned out to be the last flight out of Switzerland to Miami and were then marooned in the Bahamas for eight weeks as the only guests at a hotel that had just opened.’ He doesn’t confirm it, but one suspects the hotel wasn’t the Bahamian offshoot of Premier Inn. The prince is talking by phone in August from his home in a small town near Montreux where he has been ever since, ‘surrounded by mountains – it’s been rather blissful’. So, how did he spend lockdown?

‘I’ve been trying to improve my guitar-playing,’ he says in his deep, rounded, British-sounding tones. ‘I’ve been an eternal beginner, so I tried to get beyond that – without success, I’m afraid to say.’ It’s the first of many examples of a deep-seated creative streak.

The prince is about to take his official annual leave but says he is having difficulty switching to vacation mode while remaining in the same environment he has been since April. ‘Usually, in the summer, we go to Maine in the US for three weeks,’ he says. He has a property there and loves ‘just pottering around’ and racing old sailboats. He claims he turns off all forms of communication for at least 10 days.

One senses, however, that switching off from the day job isn’t part of the prince’s natural modus operandi. Instead, there seems to be a blurring of the lines between his professional commitments and his personal life. In a normal year, he says, his role would see him travelling ‘all year long’. ‘Summer is the only time when I don’t go anywhere,’ he says. (The annual jaunt across the Atlantic obviously doesn’t count.)

We originally met for this article in February, at the suitably upscale Harrods in London, which stocks several of the group’s wines. The immaculately presented prince, his pocket square stiff and straight, his beard regal and refined, was energised by grand plans for the two châteaux. ‘We’re going to be opening a visitor centre,’ he announced.

While such a venture might seem fairly standard fare for most wine properties around the world, in Bordeaux, and at a first growth, the concept is nothing short of groundbreaking. Only 20 years ago, it would have been considered rather vulgar – and even today, there are few classed growths in the Médoc that open their doors to unannounced guests. Haut-Brion, though – just 15 minutes from Bordeaux’s town centre in Pessac-Léognan – is the exception.

The venue will essentially be a wine shop (the first time the group will have sold its wines on-site), with dining rooms for hire and a cellar available to book for private tastings. The aesthetic will mirror that of the group’s Parisian wine shop Le Cave du Château and two-

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[ DOMAINE CLARENCE DILLON ]

Prince Rober t of Luxembourg at his Paris restaurant Le Clarence (left).

Previous page: Château Haut-Brion

Michelin-starred restaurant Le Clarence. ‘We’re receiving more and more visitors [at Haut-Brion],’ says the prince. ‘Up until now, we have tried to receive anyone who requested to come and do a tour.

But we just have too many requests these days.’ The two châteaux receive around 10,000 people a year, of whom 4,000 are professionals: buyers, distributors, retailers, restaurateurs and press from around the world. ‘We organise tours for free, and everyone gets a glass of wine. It’s wonderful, but it means salaries for five to ten people and pouring bottles of wine that are worth hundreds of pounds, all for free. Unfortunately, that model isn’t sustainable.’

The prince is keen to add, however, that he hopes the visitor centre will mean more guests, not fewer. ‘We want people to come and enjoy the fruits of what we have – and to be free to do what they would like: to have their own guests, hire a room, have a formal tasting, dinner and the rest of it.’ The facility won’t be a restaurant as such, he adds; catering will be provided by external suppliers. ‘I was naive enough to open a restaurant [in Paris]: it’s a whole different business, and I’m not ready to take that on again…’

His self-deprecation is false modesty – Le Clarence, on Avenue Franklin Roosevelt in Paris’s 8th arrondissement, has been a huge success, garnering two Michelin stars and numerous plaudits in its five years. Even during lockdown, the €19 three-course takeaway menu from the staff canteen proved a draw. ‘Lockdown made us all more aware of what social creatures we are,’ says Prince Robert. ‘The little things we take for granted, like sitting in a café or a pub for a little while… I haven’t been to a restaurant since February, and I miss it.’

The interior of the restaurant is based on the living quarters of Château Haut-Brion but has been adapted by the polymath prince, who, it transpires, also fancies himself as something of an interior designer. ‘I’ve never used professional designers or decorators; I’ve always done it myself. It’s the same with our wine labels: I’ve tended to design or redesign all of them. I designed the logo for our company, too. And the Christmas card that we send out. That’s something I very much enjoy.’

An artistic streak runs deep in the family. As well as serving as US ambassador to France and then secretary to the treasury under

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presidents Kennedy and Johnson, his grandfather, Douglas Dillon, was chairman of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, while his grandmother, Phyllis Chess Ellsworth, was on the board of the city’s Museum of Modern Art. Dillon accumulated a substantial art collection, which he donated to the Metropolitan Museum on his death, also creating the venue’s Asian Collection, whose Chinese and Japanese galleries are named after him. Now the prince has taken up this public service mantle in Bordeaux, where, as he says, ‘the whole tourism experience has developed enormously’. It is a development that he is keen to encourage. A week before we met, he had co-hosted a fund-raiser for Bordeaux’s wine museum La Cité du Vin at the Louvre in Paris, where 200 guests were served dinner cooked by Le Clarence chef Christophe Pelé with wines from the group. The event raised more than €250,000.

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The Cité du Vin is funded entirely by its own takings and private donations – a rarity in France, where most cultural spaces are subsidised by the state. The prince was involved personally right from the start, ten years ago, before his family became, through its foundation, founding members. Then, when construction started, Domaine Clarence Dillon was one of the main supporters, with Prince Robert president of the cultural committee. When the museum was built, it was via the largest private donation of any public project in France. ‘The reason I got involved was that Bordeaux was becoming more of a destination,’ says the prince. ‘The Cité du Vin was built in a neighbourhood where there were about 120 acres of land that had been pretty much abandoned; now we have the Cité du Vin and two other cultural sites there,’ referring to the Maritime Museum and a new arts complex.

[ DOMAINE CLARENCE DILLON ]

We want people to come and enjoy what we have

and to be free to do what they would like

A new visitor centre at Château HautBrion will also shine a light on the neighbouring La Mission Haut-Brion

This support of cultural enterprises comes naturally to the markedly cosmopolitan prince, who credits travel as providing his most important education. He grew up at the family home, Château de Fischbach in Luxembourg, whose ambience he compares to ‘a mini Downton Abbey but without the pomp and grandeur’. His formative years were spent in England, boarding at Worth Abbey in Sussex, which was run by Benedictine monks, before he headed to Georgetown University in Washington, DC, for a philosophy and psychology degree that never quite materialised. Pursuing African studies and Buddhism, among other facets of philosophy, he says, opened his eyes to the outside world, and he determined to discover it – so that’s exactly what he did, dropping out of university to journey through the Middle East and North Africa, India and Nepal, and Central and South America. ‘I was a young man without responsibility, constraints

or family commitments – a total idealist starting out on life. It’s a wonderful time: you have this purist vision of the world, and it’s something that I think is important to try to hold on to and not get lost with all the pressures that come later in life.’ So, has he managed to do so? ‘I hope so,’ he says. ‘Meeting people from all different religions and philosophies and not judging the world from my particular viewpoint was one of the most valuable things I could have learned. We work in a global marketplace, and you need to respect and understand all these cultures you’re working with.’

To that end, his wife, Julie, is on the board of the Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation, which supports young artists. Music is a shared love, with jazz a particular passion, but the prince’s musical tastes are as eclectic as his background, spanning everything from Buddhist chanting and tribal African music to American rap. In a revelation that

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comes as something of a surprise, it transpires that he has seen both Jay Z and Kanye West in concert. His wife, he says, ‘is more of a fan than I am’, but he declares himself ‘interested’. A more long-standing admiration, though, is for Bruce Springsteen. ‘I love him,’ says Prince Robert. ‘The most recent of his concerts that I attended, I was amazed not only by the music but by his tenacity in being on stage for four hours non-stop at his age. Amazing.’

With a partly American heritage, education and wife – and a fledgling career as a screenwriter in LA – the prince seemed set, at one stage, for a life in the US. But in 1994, he recalls, ‘There was very clearly a need for someone of the young generation [of the family] to become more actively involved.’ It was his grandfather – a man well versed in transatlantic relationships – who persuaded him that his future lay in Bordeaux. Douglas Dillon was the second generation to have overseen Haut-Brion after its purchase in 1935 by his father Clarence Dillon, a Texan banker of French descent. It was Douglas Dillon’s daughter, though, Joan Dillon, who, without Wall Street or Washington to distract her, was able to focus on the estate full time and propel it towards the 21st century. Her marriage to Prince Charles of Luxembourg (a descendant of King Henry IV of France) yielded two children, including Prince Robert, and also gave him his royal title.

After Charles’s death, she remarried, this time into French aristocracy in the form of the Duc de Mouchy, who later served as managing director of Domaine Clarence Dillon for 23 years.

It is now approaching a similar amount of time that Prince Robert has performed such a role, and the intervening years have evidently restored the Francophile in him. He has gone on record to bemoan a

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[ DOMAINE CLARENCE DILLON ]

Since Haut-Brion’s purchase by Clarence Dillon (bottom left) in 1935, the group that now carries his name has added two fur ther premium Bordeaux proper ties, a twoMichelin-starred restaurant (far left and below) and a high-end wine shop (left, on the same site in Paris’s starr y 8th arrondissement), plus a range of more accessible, generic Bordeaux wines

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‘global homogenisation of style’ that champions ‘more concentration and sugar’. Instead, he values subtlety and elegance in a wine, and in pursuit of that pairing, he gravitates towards France. ‘France still has an extraordinary amount of wines that are made not according to [the taste of] any particular critic but according to personal passion, love and the culture of the winemakers,’ he says. ‘I don’t think they’ve wavered much in this; they’re wonderfully headstrong and say, “This is the kind of wine I want to make and drink.” It’s a very iconoclastic, French characteristic and is driven by a desire to defend the originality of terroir-driven wines, rather than the bottom line.’

A case in point is the group’s St-Emilion estate Château Quintus, which Prince Robert feels is underappreciated. ‘To say I feel it’s worthy of more attention would be an understatement. I treat Quintus as a premier grand cru classé A of St-Emilion. I make no bones about that. My feeling is that it’s just a case of the market realising that and catching up.’ The estate lost its previous grand cru classé status when it was bought by the group in 2011 and changed name from Tertre Daugay (the neighbouring L’Arrosée was added two years later), but as the prince is quick to point out, ‘We’re already in that [more elevated] category price-wise.’ Not just that, he says, but the south-facing slopes of the St-Emilion plateau on which Quintus lies share a similar outlook to some of the appellation’s most venerated names – Ausone, Angélus and Canon among them.

Bordeaux, though, is not a place where things change overnight – ‘especially when we were, by local standards, considered revolutionary and possibly stupid to do away with two classified growths and come up with a new name that didn’t make much sense to people,’ he admits.

‘And initially, they say, “Oh, Domaine Clarence Dillon is coming in here, telling a tall tale, talking about dragons and whatever. [Quintus’s logo is a dragon.] It’s all hogwash; they’re just trying to put one over on us so they can sell wine at a higher price to an Asian market.” That’s the short cut that people can and have made,’ he says. ‘But the terroir was always among the top terroirs of St-Emilion, going back decades – centuries, even. And whereas the two estates used to produce 120,000 bottles of grand vin between them, today we’re producing 30,000 bottles of the first wine, so the selection is dramatically different. But because of its style – it’s softer and has a certain charm – it suffers by comparison to our other wines, which have more of a tannic structure. No one wants to be the first person to come out and say, “Actually, this is great.” But,’ he predicts, ‘I think that within the next two years, there’ll be a turning point in the way Quintus is perceived.’

It certainly won’t be for lack of effort, though the prince is equally keen – if not more so – to trumpet the merits of his Clarendelle range of affordable generic wines as he is the higher-profile offerings. More than anything, he evidently relishes the challenge. Many scions of Bordeaux winemaking families refer to themselves as ‘custodians’.

It is clear, though, that Prince Robert sees himself as more than, in his words, ‘a mere caretaker’. It’s important, he admits, that he is able to innovate. ‘I don’t want to rest on my laurels and feel special just because I was associated with this trophy asset,’ he says. ‘I want to grow it. If you’re just twiddling your thumbs, saying, “Aren’t we great,” it’s not going to motivate people. It’s certainly not going to motivate people like me, who are excited by growth and change and challenge.

But I’ve noticed that through the likes of Clarendelle, Quintus and Le Clarence, my colleagues are motivated too.’

Given such restless energy, 2020 has doubtless been a year of frustration for the prince. The visitor centre, originally slated for September, has, for obvious reasons, yet to open its doors, while a three-year overhaul of all of the Haut-Brion facilities – including its cellars and attendant buildings – has also been delayed. Don’t expect him to stay still for long, though. ‘Any problem is an opportunity,’ he says. And any twiddling thumbs will probably soon find an outlet – be it on guitar strings or via grander plans.

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The prince at Château Quintus, which he feels is underappreciated in wine circles

[ DOMAINE CLARENCE DILLON ]

I don’t want to rest on my laurels and feel special just because I was associated

with this trophy asset. I want to grow it

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WO R DS

P H OTO G R A P H Y

A DA M L E C H M E R E

ALEXANDER RUBIN

The wild one H E H I T C H - H I K E D H I S WAY A R O U N D A F R I C A B E F O R E B E C O M I N G A H I G H S TA K E S P O K E R P L AY E R . H E M A D E M I L L I O N S F R O M R E A L E S TAT E B E F O R E E S T A B L I S H I N G A 2 0 0 -Y E A R - P L A N F O R H I S N A P A P R O P E R T I E S , N O W, A S H E E N T E R S H I S N I N T H D E CA D E, B I L L H A R L A N I S H A N D I N G OV E R TO H I S C H I L D R E N

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[ BILL HARLAN ]

ess than a month after Bill Harlan’s 80th birthday, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant and dozens of cabins at Meadowood, his luxury resort at St Helena, burned to the ground. The buildings were casualties of the Glass Fire, the terrible blaze that swept through Napa Valley in early October this year.

I spoke to Harlan a few days later, when the smoking ruins of Meadowood were still too dangerous to enter. It was a desperate time, he said in his usual dry, even tone. Homes and livelihoods had been lost – but nobody had died.

‘We have had fires before [Meadowood burned in 1984, not long after opening]. And phylloxera; that was the most devastating. It wiped out most of the vineyards – but it enabled us to progress. We replanted with varieties that were more suited to the valley. Phylloxera helped things happen in 25 years that would have taken 50 to 100 years under normal circumstances.’ We can think of this a clean slate for the future, he added. ‘That makes me feel optimistic.’

Writing about the memorable three-decade vertical tasting that Harlan hosted for Club Oenologique at the estate just before lockdown (see p92), I suggested that Bill Harlan ‘measures time not in weeks, months or even years, but decades, half-centuries, centuries’. Some people like to take the long view: Harlan began his wine odyssey with a plan for the next 200 years. It puts losing mere bricks and mortar – devastating indeed, but replaceable – into perspective.

Longevity has always been the plan, ever since 1984, when Harlan, vineyard consultants Ric Forman and David Abreu identified six acres of hillside above Oakville as having the potential to make a first-class wine – an American counterpart to the great wines of Bordeaux that Harlan knew and loved. It was a heavily wooded parcel, chiefly volcanic and sedimentary soil bedrock, which over time would be expanded to a 100ha (240 acre) estate. ‘I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to pass it on to the next generation,’ Harlan told me. ‘I found the land, then I met the right person [he married Deborah Beck at the age of 45], and the kids were next. I started out with this 200-year plan, and part of the plan was that if you can’t make it from the first to the second generation, you’re not going to make it to 200 years.’

Harlan is one of Napa’s wealthiest landowners. A slight, otherworldly figure, he favours old-fashioned blouses with ruffed shoulders, which together with his chin-strap beard and hawkish features give him the look of a 17th-century church elder. I asked estate director Don Weaver, who’s known Harlan for nearly 40 years, what he’s like. Weaver thought about it. ‘He has the most curiosity of any man I’ve ever known,’ he said.

‘He’ll be interviewing you, not the other way around.’ I certainly felt I was

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being appraised by the amiable, soft-spoken presence across the table.

Harlan often prefaces an answer with a dry chuckle, which I imagine in his poker-playing days must have been disconcerting. He made his fortune in real estate after a youth straight out of Kerouac: hitch-hiking the length of Africa, high-stakes poker at Lake Tahoe (he lived in a hotel suite for two years, comped apparently), parking cars, motorcycle racing, driving the Mille Miglia, aerobatics, daredevil stunts such as swimming from Alcatraz Island to prove that escape was possible… ‘I used to be 100% focused on the now,’ he has said. Realising that ‘the now’ wasn’t necessarily a recipe for future prosperity, in 1975, in his mid-30s, he set up the Pacific Union Land Company with a partner, focusing on San Francisco Bay Area condominium projects, eventually selling some $2bn of real estate in California, Oregon and Washington.

One of his early purchases was Meadowood. Then there is Harlan Estate, that wild, horseshoe of ridge, shallow valley and mountainside with aspects to all points of the compass; sister winery Promontory; Bond, which makes wine from five sites in the valley; and the 60-acre private members club Napa Valley Reserve. (None of the wine properties was damaged in the fire.) The wineries are the core of the project.

From the beginning, Harlan had wanted to build up his production to 10,000 cases, but the piece of land he owned wasn’t big enough. ‘I started out making one wine, but I found out when I was looking for the land that the properties were too small to be able to have a certain size – we had to have distinction in character from any other wine, as well as great quality. So, to get to the size I wanted, I had to have other land that wasn’t adjacent; that’s how it grew in three different ways.’

The 900-acre swathe of Mount Veeder that is now Promontory was identified early on – it had been planted over the decades by several different owners – but only in the past few years has the wine been released under the Promontory label, from vineyards that make up only 10% of the entire estate. The wines of Bond, the third part of the collection, come from five ‘grand cru’ vineyards (whittled down from over 80 sites, Harlan says) on both sides of the valley, from Spring Mountain in the north to Oakville in the south. Harlan doesn’t own the vineyards, but they are fully managed by his estate team.

Harlan’s wines are rare and extremely expensive, but there is a grounded quality to them; the name doesn’t have the self-conscious glamour of its Oakville counterpart Screaming Eagle, for example.

Indeed, the idea of Harlan selling to a football mogul, as Screaming Eagle did, or to a French tycoon, as the Araujos did (to Latour owner François Pinault) is unthinkable. Instead, he sets great store by continuity. ‘Bob Levy has been our director of wine growing for 38 harvests; [winemaker]

Left (from left): Director of wine growing Bob Levy, estate director Don Weaver, Bill Harlan, Will Harlan, winemaker Cor y Empting and associate director François Vignaud

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[ BILL HARLAN ]

I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to pass it on to the next generation. I started out with this 200-year plan BILL HARLAN

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that is not fixed but changing as the vines age. Harlan returns to this theme. He talks of having ‘captured’ the land, of its protean nature: ‘As the roots go deeper, the shapes of your blocks move and evolve like amoebas. It’s organic – you don’t lay out the blocks for good, you learn how they change, by being out there in the field.’

The next part of the 200-year plan is now in train: to hand over to the younger generation. Will Harlan, 33, has long been involved; he had a brief stint on a tech start-up but was never far from wine. In his 20s, he developed The Mascot, wines he made from younger vines on the Harlan and Bond estates, to be distributed among his friends. He wasn’t allowed to put his or Bond’s name on the label; just over 3,000 cases are now produced. Will’s younger sister Amanda will also be involved, but she doesn’t take part in the tasting or any of our interviews.

When I meet the Harlans again, this time on Zoom, they’re sitting in the library at Promontory, surrounded by leather-bound books – Harlan has a collection spanning four centuries. I see Harlan Jr has grown a beard and mutton-chop whiskers and looks very like his father: the two of them might have just stepped off the Mayflower. They both have a

ANDERS OV ERGAA RD

Cory [Empting] joined us 20 years ago, Don Weaver joined in 1986.

The same team has been working this land for a long, long time. And we’re still learning.’ Promontory, he points out, has only been going 12 years. They might have turned the first spadeful yesterday, he implies.

Our three-decade vertical makes two things clear. First, Harlan is not a polished or smart wine; second, it is very much a work in progress.

The Harlan style runs through the wines and is more pronounced in the later vintages. The wines are brightly perfumed in youth, mellowing to dried petals and dried herb as they age; there is earth, blue fruit ageing to dark, a certain savouriness and sometimes an animal tang. (‘Most of the estate is wild land,’ Harlan likes to remind you.) The energy is understated but precise. The wines have weight and heft – you know where you are with them – but rarely are alcohol or overripeness an issue. There is marked vintage variation; the notoriously cool and wet 2011 or the famously warm 1997, for example, are unmistakable.

To my mind, a smart wine is one made for an audience. Harlan Estate doesn’t give that impression; rather, you understand that here is a winemaker and a team searching for an interpretation of a terroir

[ BILL HARLAN ]

Left: Harlan Estate bathed in the light of sunrise. Above and right: Long-serving estate director Don Weaver describes his boss as having ‘ the most curiosity of any man I’ve ever known’; Bill Harlan will soon pass the reins over to son Will, whose perspective, he says, ‘is ver y different from how I feel’

slow and deliberate way of talking, taking time to get their meaning across. There are 50 years between them, so how similar are they in outlook? ‘We’re not in agreement all the time,’ the elder Harlan says.

‘Will looks at things very differently. We agree on long-term vision but don’t always agree on how we get there.’

Will: ‘I would say, maybe, one conversation that keeps coming back is the way to engage with people.’ He chuckles, as if the quaintness of that concept has only just occurred to him. But he’s at pains to stress he’s not talking about Instagram here. ‘How do we form the best possible relationship with people today, and how do we curate that relationship?

That’s the biggest one: how to engage with people.’ It’s Harlan Sr’s turn to chuckle now. ‘Will’s perspective is very different from how I feel.

We’ve never had a marketing person, with a marketing plan, thinking about brand building and so on.’

Brand building aside, it’s obvious where the interests of both father and son lie. Will’s need to know the land is as urgent as his father’s.

Both talk about using science to ‘understand the variables’ and thereby reduce the risks. ‘It takes a long time to understand the true character of

a place, and we’re trying to accelerate that discovery using technology to know a place in all its elements,’ Will says.

This is one of the things that makes Harlan an unmistakably American project: you don’t hear the Burgundians talking about speeding things up. The fact that the Harlans don’t have a millennium to experiment, as the monks did, lends an urgency to the 200-year plan. This is why Harlan, in his ninth decade, can look at the ruins of his hotel (or the ravages of phylloxera) and see opportunity: ‘Now we can move things on.’

Above all, he gives the impression of a man who lives his life as if it were one grand and exhilarating experiment, carried out with rigorous attention to risk but an experiment nevertheless. And he’s still at it.

The official handover to the next generation is another leap into the unknown. ‘Everything seems to be in place,’ Bill says. ‘They’ve never done this before, and I’ve never done it before, but it’s working well.’ His son looks at him and agrees: ‘It’s about a vision,’ he says in his careful way. ‘And if we do our jobs right, it will persist way beyond our lifetime.’

For the vertical tasting of Harlan Estate, see p92

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[ THE COLLECTION ]

WO R DS

P H OTO G R A P H S

R O B E R T J OS E P H

PHILIP LEE HARVEY

English heritage

E N G L I S H W I N E ’ S R E P U TAT I O N H A S R O C K E T E D.

BUT AS MILLIONS MORE VINES ARE PLANTED

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A N D M I L L I O N S M O R E B OT T L E S M A D E,

ROBERT JOSEPH ASKS WHETHER THE BUBBLES ARE IN DANGER OF BURSTING

[ ENGLISH WINE ]

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H

ow has English wine jumped from being a joke to becoming one of the hottest sparkling wines on the planet? It’s a question Tom Stevenson, one of the world’s leading experts on bubbles, is often asked by producers in other countries. These are people who have spent decades trying to make an impression on the market and are concerned about how their prices have dropped, he says. Meanwhile, English fizz commands ‘prices they can only dream about’. It’s not jealousy, he adds, but curiosity mingled with admiration. ‘They want to know how we did it.’

One response has been to say, ‘We’re British. God gave us ideal conditions, and we simply got on with it,’ and presume that everything that has been achieved is merely an overture to the operatic success that is our national due. No one expresses this rose-tinted outlook better than Oz Clarke in his new English Wine, which is not so much a book as a wonderful love letter to an industry he’s watched grow from a tiny seedling over the decades.

The alternative is to take a level-headed look at how the industry has evolved and to consider how serious the opera is going to be and the size of audience it is going to command. No one is better placed to do that than Tamara Roberts, CEO of Ridgeview, one of the country’s longest-established wineries. This year, she and her family are celebrating the 25th birthday of the business launched by her father Mike and mother Chris in 1995, close to the East Sussex village of Ditchling. Unlike many other English producers, the Roberts family weren’t farmers with a spare paddock, or wealthy businessmen with a few million pounds to spare. From day one, Ridgeview had to be a profitable enterprise with long-term potential for growth and a return on its investment.

One of the first points Roberts makes is that, even in the UK, English sparkling wine is far more talked about than experienced. According to the latest report from the trade body WineGB, approximately 5.5m bottles of English wine were sold in 2019. Of these, 67% were sparkling, and since a tenth of these went overseas, that only left around 3.5m bottles for UK consumers to drink – compared to 13m of Champagne and a whopping 110m bottles of Prosecco. So, it’s hardly surprising that English fizz isn’t easy to find. ‘Waitrose may have a range, including Ridgeview, but other supermarkets have yet to follow. And it’s a rare merchant with more than a handful of examples,’ says Roberts.

Previous page: the manicured environs of Nyetimber, one of the pioneers of English sparkling wine Right: Ridgeview, which celebrated its 25th anniversar y this year

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[ ENGLISH WINE ]

Around 3.5m bottles of English sparkling wine were sold in the UK last year, compared to 110m bottles of Prosecco

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Below and right: while English vineyards conjure an idyllic scene (as here at Bolney and Nyetimber), Ridgeview’s Tamara Rober ts says too many producers focus on the intricacies of making wine, rather than how they are going to sell it

This is about to change. Between 2014 and 2017, England and Wales annually produced between around 4m and 6m bottles of still and sparkling wine respectively. In 2018, production shot up to more than 13m. Of these, says Stevenson, 9m had bubbles.

A further 1.6m vines were planted that year, followed by 3.2m more in 2019. Today, vineyards officially cover 3,500ha – still only a tenth of the size of Champagne – but all these UK figures are approximate because, unlike most other wine regions, in Britain nobody is really keeping close count. For Roberts, this is ‘one of the biggest problems for our industry. There is no official data collected, and business decisions are swayed by who you talk to rather than hard facts.’

Most people rely on viticultural consultant and English wine veteran Stephen Skelton MW, who publishes harvest reports and other news on his englishwine.com website. ‘But’, Roberts continues, ‘even he would have to admit that he couldn’t be 100% accurate, because he has to do the investigative work to find new growers who’ll tell him what they are planting.’

Fortunately, many new growers have been hard to miss, thanks to the scale of their ambitions: the UK competes with ultra-rich Napa for the amount of cash pumped in by wealthy individuals over such a short time. Leading names like Gusbourne, Hattingley Valley, Rathfinny, Chapel Down, Nyetimber and Coates & Seely all owe their existence not just to skill and enthusiasm, but access to financing.

So Gusbourne, which cost Lord Ashcroft’s wine investment company £7m to buy in 2013, made annual losses in 2017 and 2018 of over £1.5m.

Last year, investors pumped in an extra £3.7m. Long-established, sizeable, self-funding family-run wineries like Ridgeview, Camel Valley and Bolney are the exceptions to the rule.

Domestically, the competition is grower Champagnes at really keen prices TA M A R A R O B E RTS, C E O, R I D G E V I E W

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[ ENGLISH WINE ]

While acknowledging that the heavily funded operations can ‘skew the market’, Roberts believes that ‘if their motive is to create something big and bold, that’s not a bad thing… The marketing rubs off on the rest of the industry, and a lot of good has come from it.’

However, she also accepts that ‘if you don’t need to make a return and you want to disrupt what’s happening, there’s absolutely a risk’.

For some in the industry, ‘disruption’ could include a move to simpler, quicker and cheaper production methods. English sparkling wine has built its reputation and success on using the same methods and grapes as Champagne. What happens when it is made from a different grape variety and carbonated – as Chapel Down is doing with its well-received Sparkling Bacchus?

The problem in competing with Champagne is that UK vineyards produce, on average, less than a third as much wine as their French counterparts do in their weakest vintages. The climate here is more variable too, with harvests that can swing from a disastrous 600 bottles per hectare to a generous 3,600 – and while climate change is bringing warmer temperatures, it’s also increasing the variability.

Some estates are a lot more productive than others. Skelton estimated that in the extraordinarily bountiful 2018 vintage, three quarters of UK vineyards produced less than enough wine ‘to maintain a viable and sustainable business’. Grapes like Bacchus produce higher yields, and it makes a lot of sense to carbonate the wine you make from them – the same process, essentially, as is used to make Coca-Cola – and get the wine on to the market quickly, with a price tag of £15 or so.

‘It’s a really tricky area the industry is trying to navigate,’ Roberts says. It’s too late to lay down laws on how English fizz should be made, she adds, but ‘labelling will have to be very clear’. Even then, she asks, ‘How do you trust your reseller not to put wines made by different methods next to each other?’

Roberts believes productivity will improve as more wineries grow the right grapes in the right way in the right places. Unlike some English producers who have put all their eggs in one basket by investing in a single chunk of land, Ridgeview follows the Champagne model of sourcing grapes from a number of different growers.

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[ ENGLISH WINE ]

Another 1.6m vines were planted in 2018, and double that in 2019,

but plantings are still only a tenth of those in Champagne

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[ ENGLISH WINE ]

Previous spread: Nyetimber is among the countr y’s largest vineyard owners This spread: while English fizz has built its reputation on the Champagne grape varieites – as here at Ridgeview – the likes of Chapel Down are ‘disrupting’ the norm with a sparkling Bacchus

Higher yields would, however, bring their own challenges. Justin Howard-Sneyd MW – former head of Waitrose’s wine department and now owner of a French wine brand and a small English one – estimates that even if planting stops now and sales rise fairly healthily, by 2028, stocks of fizz might be as high as 70m to 80m bottles – around 15 times as many as are currently being sold. If planting continues – and a quarter of UK producers say that’s what they intend – a glut seems inevitable, along with a collapse in prices.

With that in mind, and given the need to lay down a ‘substantial strategic reserve’, Stevenson is wary of annual UK sales going above 3.5m bottles in the next two to three years, though he thinks 10m or 12m a year would be manageable in the longer term. Banks are now ready to offer financing to English producers based on inventory, as they have traditionally done in France, but if Howard-Sneyd is right, this could involve warehouses holding seven or eight years’ stock.

Roberts points out that people have been warning about overproduction for more than a decade, and it hasn’t happened yet.

As volumes grow, English wine producers will, for example, be able to supply UK hotel groups that they cannot handle today. Smaller estates like Peter Hall’s brilliant Breaky Bottom will have no problem selling everything they make to loyal local fans. Exports will grow too, but Roberts acknowledges that achieving the industry’s target of 20% of sales overseas may not be as straightforward as some gung-ho producers seem to imagine. ‘Domestically, the competition is Champagne. In America and in the monopolies of Scandinavia, it’s more competitive. The sparkling wine sector is phenomenal. And you are up against grower Champagnes at really keen prices.’

When the English sparkling wine industry regularly produces 10m bottles, it will be roughly the same size as Trentodoc and Franciacorta – established regions that, even with a global network of Italian restaurants and delicatessens and a huge generic promotional budget, still struggle to hit that 20% figure.

Too many English producers’ business plans, Roberts says, are based on planting vineyards and making wine, without focusing on how they are going to get people to buy it. The philosophy often seems to be based on the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams – ‘If you build it, they will come’ – rather than on commercial reality.

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Marketing is a dirty word for many winemakers and enthusiasts, who prefer not to think about the inconvenient truth that around a quarter of the cost of any bottle of well-known Champagne has gone into advertising, sponsorship and glad-handing. Roberts freely admits that UK wineries that aren’t able to spend at least that much will struggle.

Taking all this in, the tone here is rather less celebratory than most other articles on English sparkling wine. Quality is no guarantee of success – as plenty of restaurateurs have discovered (and anyone who saw Sony’s Betamax lose the battle to VHS will recall). And winning the first set does not mean that you will win the match – just as this year’s US Open tennis championships so excitingly demonstrated.

English sparkling wine has done brilliantly, but as Skelton says, ‘Recently, I have seen more grapes being offered for sale than ever before. The storm is on its way, for sure.’

No doubt there will always be hobbyists who don’t need to turn a profit from making wine, and it’s true that we’ve only scratched the surface of wine tourism in this country – there will be plenty of small estates happily selling bottles of fizz along with cream teas and local pottery.

However, the smart money suggests that, in a decade or so – as the number of bottles produced every year increases and the range of styles and production methods broadens – a lot of English sparkling wine will be on sale for significantly less than its typical £30 today. It will still be a success story, especially for estates like Ridgeview, but a rather different one from what we have seen so far. And those foreign rivals will still be wondering how we’ve done it.

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The style council F O R S O M E C O G N A C, C H A M PA G N E A N D W H I S K Y P R O D U C E R S, M A I N TA I N I N G A H O U S E S T Y L E I S M O R E I M P O R T A N T T H A N E X P R E S S I N G P E R S O N A L I T Y. B U T S U C H C O N S I S T E N C Y I S O N LY A C H I E V E D V I A SY N E R GY O F T H O U G H T A N D H A N D S - O N M E N T O R S H I P B E T W E E N A C E L L A R M A ST E R A N D T H E I R S U C C E S S O R. W E S P O K E TO T H R E E L E A D I N G L I G H T S

Baptiste Loiseau Louis XIII When Baptiste Loiseau was appointed (or perhaps anointed) cellar master at Rémy Martin in 2014, he was just the fifth person to hold the title in 90 years. With Loiseau responsible for the production of the most famous Cognac of all – the regal, rarefied Louis XIII – you might think that his name, along with those of his predecessors, would be etched in the limestone that defines the cellar walls and soil in this renowned region.

In most creative fields, after all – witness the pre-eminent Paris fashion houses – the top designers enjoy celebrity status, acclaimed for their creativity and innovation. But things are done a little differently in the sleepy Charente countryside 300 miles southwest. Here, the cellar master is not meant to take centre stage.

And with good reason…

Such is the prolonged evolution of Louis XIII that it will be impossible to assess Loiseau’s efforts in his lifetime. Indeed, Loiseau himself will never get to taste the fruits of his labours. Louis XIII is made from a blend of up to 1,200 different eaux-de-vie that were distilled many years ago, by his predecessors, and are constantly fine-tuned as they develop over the decades. Only after this extended ageing are they bottled in the distinctive studded Baccarat-crystal decanter.

And if the cellar master’s guiding influence were not discreet enough, there is a further twist: Loiseau is not seeking to put his own personal stamp on the brandy. Instead, Louis XIII is intended to conform to a house style, so that it remains stylistically consistent over the ages. ‘We are here temporarily,’ Loiseau says, ‘but we have to ensure the story of Louis XIII lives on.’

When he says ‘we’, Loiseau is referring to his elite group of predecessors. The bond between them is clear. For the earnest Loiseau, the responsibility of completing the work of

his peers evidently holds emotional as well as professional significance. He pulls out a measuring tool – designed to gauge the level of liquid in a cask – that was presented to him

by Pierrette Trichet on her retirement after 38 years at the house. ‘I don’t use it,’ he says, with a slight crack in his voice. ‘I’m just keeping it for the next generation.’

Like those before him, Loiseau was appointed by his predecessor. He recalls the moment as if it was a Jedi tutorial from Star Wars. ‘Pierrette told me that she couldn’t teach me any more,’ he says. ‘I’d learned all the science, now I had to feel it. She told me I was ready.’ Luke Skywalker and Yoda had nothing on this.

Loiseau will now start the search for his own successor. For the time being, though, he is focused solely on making the best – and most consistent – Cognac possible. Trichet understands the significant nature of those early years in the role. ‘Making my first final blend was a huge responsibility,’ she says of the moment when she selected the eaux-devie that had been crafted by her predecessors more than half a century earlier. ‘When the tasting committee [at Rémy Martin] told me that I hadn’t changed anything, it was the most moving compliment they could make.’

As with a non-vintage Champagne, the goal in creating Louis XIII is to blend different parts to yield a consistent style, so that a bottle made in 1960 (the first year of the now 96-year-old André Giraud’s tenure as cellar master) will taste the same as Loiseau’s debut 54 years later, and as that of his successor when blending the eaux-de-vie that Loiseau is distilling today.

The goal is a haunting yet powerful rendering of dried fruits, honey, leather, cigar box and floral tones – flavours that seem to go on for ever. Cognac, perhaps more than any other drink, is all about time – as Loiseau and his three counterparts know all too well.

G U Y WO O DWA R D

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Louis XIII cellar masters past and present: (from left) Georges Clot, the incumbent Baptiste Loiseau, Pierrette Trichet and André Giraud

[ MENTORING ]

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[ MENTORING ]

Julie Cavil Champagne Krug

In many professions, a senior executive moving into the top job regards it as an article of faith that they should stamp their personality on the organisation. Julie Cavil – who in January this year took over from Eric Lebel as chef de cave at Champagne Krug – sees her role somewhat differently. Coming in and making her own rules would be easy, she says.

‘Anyone can do that. The true challenge – and what really motivates me – is to be able to re-create the same level of excellence, year after year, circumstance after circumstance.’

In Champagne, consistency is all. It’s not a matter of having a style (Cavil says there is no such thing at Krug) but instead achieving something both simple and intangible. On one level, it’s straightforward: the winemaker’s job is to follow the founder Joseph Krug’s ambition to make ‘the very best Champagne … every year, regardless of annual climate variations’.

This expression of excellence must take account of so many variables, however, that it can become as complicated as a game of 4D chess. Not only are you blending wines from dozens of different vineyard sites – ‘paying close attention to the vineyard’s character, respecting the individuality of each plot’ – but you are also tapping into an extensive library of reserve wines from many different years.

This is not something you can learn at business school. Cavil worked with Lebel for 13 years before being anointed cellar master.

(The word ‘anointed’, with its implications of conferring divine or holy office, is appropriate.) The first thing he taught her, she says, was patience: ‘A journey with Krug is a lifelong milestone. Just as I cannot tell you at what precise moment a reserve wine will be ready until the day I taste it and the decision becomes obvious, passing the torch is

something you feel but cannot always explain.’

For Cavil, it came relatively soon after joining Krug in 2006. ‘After two years, Eric and I had chosen each other,’ she says. ‘We both knew I would be his successor.’

At this level, all of Krug’s six winemakers naturally have the necessary skills to make Champagne. But there are also what Cavil calls the ‘intangible aspects of craftsmanship: intuition, passion and an intimate knowledge of each plot’. These elements can’t easily be taught but, rather, seem innate. So should a chef de cave share character traits with their predecessor? ‘I would say so, for one very important reason: when you become Krug cellar master, you become one with the house, the guardian of its legacy. At Krug, each cellar master naturally arrives in this role because he or she shares the values of excellence, attention to detail, curiosity, quality without compromise, and respect for heritage – all with a maverick spirit. I am no different whether I am at Krug or at home; it is part of who I am, just as it was for my predecessors.’

Making Champagne is, of course, a business as well as a craft – and like all businesses, it must be safeguarded for the future. The mentoring process is continuous. ‘My role at Krug is threefold,’ Cavil says. ‘It relates to the present, the past and the future.’ The vineyards must be husbanded, the reserve wines selected, and a successor must be groomed. ‘Carrying on the legacy of a Champagne house that has existed for six generations means you make it your mission to protect and perpetuate this heritage, just as you would pass on a legacy to your own child.

When mentor and mentee share this vision, the future of the house is secured, which is what matters most.’

A DA M L E C H M E R E

Krug chef de cave Julie Cavil says she has ‘become one with the house, the guardian of its legacy’

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[ MENTORING ]

Richard Paterson The Dalmore

Richard Paterson has been involved with the revered Highland single malt The Dalmore for an unbroken span of 55 years. Its longstanding master blender, he started in the whisky business in 1966, aged 17, as an office junior at A Gillies & Co before spending time in Campbeltown learning how to make Scotch.

In 1970, he joined the respected blending house Whyte & Mackay, becoming chief blender in 1975, responsible for its famous blend of the same name, as well as a host of other brands – from the Jura distillery, to the Shackleton blend – and single malts such as Fettercairn and The Dalmore. While he remains at Whyte & Mackay, today Paterson is focusing his attention solely on The Dalmore, the company’s flagship single malt – and on the task of grooming his successor.

Known as ‘The Nose’, Paterson is widely acknowledged as the most experienced master blender in the business. In recent years, he has been assembling a new team of blenders to continue his legacy. Surprisingly, the training involves more time in the warehouses than in the blending room.

‘When you work with a variety of single malts, they all have their own personalities,’ he says, ‘but the DNA is always the same for each of them. With The Dalmore, it is a chocolate orange note, with lemon grass and citrus fruit that develops into a spice note after spent time in cask. It’s a matter of making sure there is a harmony between the spirit and the casks.

This is where blending starts: not with a load of samples in a room, but with choosing the right casks to hold the whisky for many, many years.’ This is the first thing Paterson teaches his team of whisky-makers, the current generation of which is led by Gregg Glass, whisky-maker across the Whyte & Mackay group and Paterson’s designated successor.

The new team will be taught ‘to recognise the personality in the cask and to make sure it never deviates from that’, Paterson says.

‘It’s particularly important with the amount of wood purchases we have lined up to ensure we have a consistent relationship between spirit and oak. This element is more important than ever. When I started 55 years ago, a cask was a cask. That’s not sufficient now. We have to make sure we know exactly where that cask has come from; if it has wine seasoning or

The first priority, says Richard Paterson, is to maintain house style; ‘ the second is consistency – that is sacrosanct’

whatever; what its past has been and what its future holds…’

When composing a blended Scotch whisky, the master blender’s palette is wide and varied, drawing on thousands of casks from hundreds of distilleries to produce a liquid that is, time and again, the best facsimile possible of what has gone before. Yet when it comes to single malt, the selection of casks is limited to those that contain spirit from just one distillery, so keeping the house style the same – and consistent – is a whole new challenge.

‘I cannot emphasise enough how much experience plays a part in this,’ says Paterson.

‘You could read a book about it, but ultimately it’s all about the experience of nosing and tasting. Even things like where the cask is stored in the warehouse are important, and this is where the skills come in. A lot of people think that you put spirit in a cask and then pour it into a glass. But it really is a matter of fine-tuning, like an orchestra.’

Paterson mentions that he is soon due to

take the blending team to the warehouses, where they evaluate thousands of casks. ‘This is where this next generation will be watching and learning,’ he says, ‘to see why we’ve chosen [specific] casks and how they have matured.

Knowledge of where the casks have been and why they have matured in a certain way is vital.

We can then fine-tune in the blending room.

Our first priority is to maintain the DNA of our house style,’ Paterson continues. ‘The second is consistency – that is sacrosanct; we must maintain it at all costs.’ Despite occasional pressure from sales and marketing colleagues to get the whisky on to shelves, he says they make that decision as a team: ‘Sometimes you have to be firm enough to wait a bit longer. If it’s not ready, it won’t be going out the door.’

Paterson also says blending is harder now because ‘people are more knowledgeable about the whisky they are drinking: they know if flavours change, so are more demanding.

This,’ he says, ‘is the challenge for the next generation of blenders.’

JOEL HARRISON

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WINE WRITING AT ITS FINEST

‘by the most knowledgeable insiders

and most entertaining outsiders’ Steven Spurrier

‘a lively companion’ The Times

10 GREAT WINE FAMILIES A Tour Through Europe Fiona Morrison MW

IN VINO VERITAS A Collection of Fine Wine Writing, Past and Present

CHATEAU MUSAR The Story of a Wine Icon

Available from academieduvinlibrary.com

WO R DS R I C H A R D WO O DA R D

C H A N G E C O M E S S LO W LY I N C O G N A C . B U T N O W A G E N E R AT I O N O F PROGRESSIVE CELLAR MASTERS IS CHALLENGING CONVENTION IN T H I S M O S T C O N S E R VAT I V E O F R E G I O N S – BY R E V I S I T I N G I T S R O O T S

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[ COGNAC ]

JOHN C ULLEN

S

outh of the sleepy town of Jarnac, the rolling chalk-bleached hills of Grande Champagne measure the passage of time not in years or decades but in centuries. History is written by the winners, and in Cognac’s case, the winners were the early merchants and blenders. Their descendants – the big four houses of Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin and Courvoisier – are today responsible for 85% of all the Cognac consumed around the world. And the vast majority of what they make is blends, painstakingly constructed from hundreds of individual eaux-de-vie.

Now, though, the status quo is being challenged, and much of the change is coming from within. A younger brigade of distillers is experimenting with innovative cask maturation techniques and championing a fresh emphasis on that most French of concepts: terroir. Some would like to go even further, ripping up Cognac’s strict rulebook to allow the doors of creativity to be thrown open. Instead of just using oak casks for maturation, why not chestnut? Or mulberry?

The new wave of brandies that these mavericks are creating come not in the glitzy crystal carafes that embody Cognac’s luxury lifestyle status but in plain, elegant bottles featuring functional labels that tell a story of cask numbers, bottling dates and precisely annotated ABV levels.

It’s a far cry from the primitive scene 750 years ago, when the Frapin family settled near Segonzac, in the heart of Grande Champagne.

The Frapins were wine growers back in 1270, but when they moved into distillation, the connection with the vine was maintained.

Today, Frapin makes every drop of Cognac from its own vineyards (some 240ha in Grande Champagne, the jewel in Cognac’s crown, carpeted as it is with the region’s finest vineyards) and doesn’t sell to anyone else – a rarity in a region built on the power of broker and merchant.

‘It was very dry here in 2018, but it’s not a problem for us,’ says Patrice Piveteau, Frapin’s cellar master, surveying the late autumn vineyards near Frapin’s home at Château de Fontpinot. ‘The chalk here is like a sponge.’ The subsoil is so crumbly that vine roots can stretch 10 to 12 metres down to find water; this is one of the keys to the supreme quality and longevity of Grande Champagne Cognacs.

Nothing changes quickly in the sleepy environs of Cognac (top), but producers such as Frapin (above) are now placing a greater focus on the region’s terroir – both in the spirit itself and in the cellars in which it is aged

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We want to show what the vineyard does in any year – really closer to wine than to the conventional idea of Cognac

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JOHN C ULLEN

[ COGNAC ]

Like Frapin, Hine has its roots in the vineyards. Both cellar masters – Eric Forget and Pierre Boyer – joined from the wine industry, and that mentality has aided the creation of Domaines Hine, a series of vintage bottlings from Hine’s 80ha of vineyards in Bonneuil, in the heart of Grande Champagne.

Traditionally, these deep chalk soils create eaux-de-vie that demand long ageing, but Domaines Hine vintages mature for less than a decade, with an unusually gentle cask influence. ‘We want to show what the vineyard does in any year – so closer to wine than to the conventional idea of Cognac,’ says Forget.

The fourth bottling from Domaines Hine Bonneuil, from the 2010 vintage, is due to launch this autumn, following releases from 2005, 2006 and 2008. Each yields no more than 20 casks, or a few hundred bottles.

The Cognacs encapsulate the raw character of Grande Champagne – hugely floral, with lime and vine flower – before time and oak can fully exert their influence.

In some ways, Delamain is the opposite of Frapin. It owns no vineyards but acts as a blender and bottler of eaux-de-vie. It, too, is exploring the possibilities of provenance, in a new range under the name Pléiade: singlecask, single-vineyard Cognacs are arranged into three tiers of progressively old liquids – Collection Révélation, Collection Plénitude and Collection Apogée.

The first tranche of cask-strength releases, labels crammed with enough information to satisfy the most demanding spirits nerd, name-checks the communes in which the grapes were grown: Malaville, Mainxe and Verrières. Aged for more than 30 years, these are Cognacs that express terroir in its entirety, from soil and grape variety to maturation and the human art of cask selection.

Grande Champagne may be the most illustrious subregion in Cognac, but each locale plays its part, from the lighter chalk influence of Petite Champagne to the claylimestone of Fins Bois and the more diverse Bons Bois appellation. Eaux-de-vie from Fins Bois and Bons Bois may lack finesse and longevity, but they have plenty of fruit and structure to keep the blenders happy.

Then there is the Borderies enclave, north of the Charente river and the smallest of the subregions. Here, there is less chalk on the surface, and the eaux-de-vie are delicate, floral and beguiling in their youth. Martell has always been a big fan of Borderies, but the biggest landowner here is Camus, whose vineyards sit on a mineral-rich plateau, yielding single-estate VSOP and XO Cognacs of unique character.

Camus has done more than most to explore the extremes of the hugely diverse Cognac region (France’s largest in terms of white

Three cellar masters pushing the boundaries (clockwise from top left): Patrice Piveteau of Frapin, which makes all its Cognac from its own vineyards; Alex Gabriel of Ferrand, which is challenging the dominance of Ugni Blanc by planting Colombard; and Cyril Camus, whose eponymous house is exploring the outer limits of the Cognac appellation

wine), including its bottlings from the northwesterly outpost of the Ile de Ré, off the coast at La Rochelle and dubbed ‘the Orkney of Cognac’ for its distinctive maritime salinity.

The vineyards of Monbazillac, south of Bergerac, are about 250km from the Ile de Ré, but this is Cognac country, too – or at least it was historically. Here, Camus discovered the last remaining Cognac vineyards in St-Aulaye, replanted them and created a limited run of 3,000 bottles of a Cognac finished in Monbazillac sweet wine casks.

Beyond its historic provenance, Camus’s Monbazillac Cask Finish project was notable for its exclusive use of the Colombard grape variety. Theoretically, you can distil any one of six varietals in Cognac, but the region’s

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[ COGNAC ]

vineyards are 98% Ugni Blanc – Italy’s bland Trebbiano, here at its northern limits, which produces light, acidic wines perfect for distillation.

Few distillers are interested in anything other than Ugni Blanc (although Frapin is experimenting with Folignan, a modern cross between Ugni Blanc and Folle Blanche). But Camus isn’t alone in exploring other possibilities.

‘Every time we can, we plant Colombard,’ says Alex Gabriel, founder of Grande Champagne-based Maison Ferrand. ‘It comes from Cognac originally… It’s delicious, full of grape-flower flavours and much more aromatic.’ A little Colombard is used in the blend for Ferrand’s Ambrée Cognac, and Gabriel would like to use more in future.

Such experimentation is evidence of a growing appreciation in Cognac that notions of provenance and terroir can take many forms, spanning vineyard location, soil, grape variety and the process of maturation. Here, the rules are tight – too tight for Gabriel, who would like to use outlawed mulberry or chestnut barrels, as well as oak – but there is still scope for originality. Some 20% of Ferrand’s 10 Generations Cognac is matured in ex-Sauternes casks, while even Courvoisier has ‘finished’ a VSOP in Oloroso Sherry casks.

If cask types are one area of potential flavour creation, maturation conditions are another. As a producer wholly based in Grande Champagne, Frapin’s vineyards are relatively lacking in diversity – so Piveteau builds in different flavours during ageing.

Eaux-de-vie maturing in humid cellars lose more alcohol than they do water, creating more roundness and suppleness, while those in dry, warmer cellars lose more water than alcohol, making for robust flavours but more elegance and finesse. This is apparent in Frapin’s newly launched 1992 vintage Cognac. The 3,000-bottle release spent 26 years in the dry conditions of the Marie Frapin cellar, bringing a refined elegance to its mix of ripe and rich dried fruits.

There’s no doubt that the Cognac region remains one that is instinctively focused on the art of blending – the highly skilled creation of Cognacs that are greater than the considerable sum of their parts – and that will remain the lifeblood of the region for the foreseeable future. But Cognacs like those now being made by Frapin, Hine, Camus and Delamain – unblended, distinctive and rich in provenance – are adding new layers of colour and interest to what can sometimes seem a rather staid and solemn drink.

As this movement expands and evolves, you might soon find yourself arranging your Cognac collection not by age classification but by vintage, vineyard location and terroir type.

Five of the new wave DELAMAIN PLÉIADE, COLLECTION PLÉNITUDE 1980 VINTAGE

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Sourced from the hamlet of Mainxe, between Jarnac and Segonzac, this 40-year-old Cognac is at first a little tight-knit and austere, demanding patience. Richly aromatic, with fig and dark chocolate, it expands into caramel and dark honey, lifted by hints of mint. Complex and beautifully balanced. 380 bottles; 44% £580 The Whisky Exchange, Master of Malt

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FRAPIN MILLÉSIME 1992, 26 YEARS OLD

From the bumper 1992 harvest, this Cognac spent 26 years in the dry Marie Frapin cellar, resulting in a relatively powerful expression of the elegant Frapin style, mildly muscular, with dark liquorice and dried plum notes undercut by the freshness of bright orange and lime flowers. 3,000 bottles; 40.5% £150–160 The Whisky Exchange, Master of Malt DOMAINES HINE BONNEUIL 2008, BOTTLED 2018

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Ten years is young for Grande Champagne, but the philosophy behind the Domaines Hine vintages is to express the character of the house’s vineyards in Bonneuil, with the cask playing a supporting role. Lively notes of red fruit and hedgerow florals are accompanied by light honey from the oak. 450 bottles; 42.7% £88.50 Selfridges, Hedonism, The Whisky Exchange CAMUS BORDERIES VSOP SINGLE ESTATE

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Camus is the biggest owner of vineyards in the small Borderies enclave, where the clay-limestone soil peppered with flint gives a rich, pungently floral style of VSOP: full of bright mandarin notes and rounded out with plenty of spice and vanilla. 40% £48–50 Waitrose, The Whisky Exchange PIERRE FERRAND 10 GENERATIONS

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A Grande Champagne blend with a twist: 20% of the eaux-de-vie were matured in ex-Sauternes casks, lending this vibrant young Cognac a sweet and vinous character. Plenty of floral notes – especially orange blossom – and drier flavours of ginger and lightly roasted nuts. 46% £37 The Whisky Exchange

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Chinese whispers heard in the west

[ THE COLLECTION ]

I T ’ S T H E W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O N S U M E D S P I R I T,

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B U T M O S T W E S T E R N E R S H A V E N E V E R H E A R D O F I T.

N O W, S E V E R A L C H I N E S E P R O D U C E R S A R E T R Y I N G T O C H A N G E A L L T H A T. S O, C A N B A I J I U B R E A K T H E U K ? B Y A M Y B R O O M F I E L D

A FAC UN D O BUSTA MANTE; GET TY IMAGES

s a child in Beijing, Qiqi Chen recalls running through her family kitchen. What stays with her are the aromas: a symphony of spices and oils – and the unmistakable sweet, sharp scent of baijiu.

‘Just like Europeans might have red wine on hand to add to a dish, in my home, baijiu was always on the kitchen table,’ she says.

Today, Chen is managing director of the company she set up, Cheng International, which distributes premium baijiu brands – including two of China’s most renowned producers of the spirit, Fenjiu and Wuliangye – outside of China. Her key task?

To introduce baijiu to a UK market.

It is not a straightforward task, she says.

‘One of the biggest challenges is changing the perception that baijiu is just some sort of firewater. It’s actually a very nuanced spirit, with so many fragrant and complex layers.’

In China, around 8 billion litres of baijiu are made each year, from 6,000 distilleries

[ BAIJIU ]

(Fenjiu alone makes 160m litres a year). Just 0.5% of this is exported. So the question is, is the western consumer ready for – and willing to absorb – such complexity?

Baijiu (meaning simply ‘white liquor’) is China’s national drink, dating back thousands of years. During the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century, it was drunk only by royalty and high society during celebratory events. Today it is drunk right across China.

And while few in the west are familiar with it, domestic consumption, which is worth £65bn a year, means it is the world’s most consumed drink. Earlier this year, China’s best-known baijiu brand, Kweichow Moutai, was crowned the country’s biggest public company and the largest drinks business worldwide – worth an approximate £198bn.

Yet at its heart, baijiu remains a craft proposition – made entirely by hand in a process that, says Chen, cannot quickly be picked up but is inherited and passed

down through ancient techniques and understanding. It is produced via a range of methods but typically involves cooking up a variety of grains such as sorghum, barley, wheat or rice, before blending this with a starter culture known as qu. The mixture is then left to ferment and mature in water for anywhere between five and 50 years.

Flavour-wise, different styles ensure a wide spectrum, but Chen describes its essence as marrying the floral, fruity notes of a white wine with the clean purity of vodka.

Such a marriage also echoes how baijiu is consumed: like wine, it is enjoyed during a meal, but similarly to vodka it can also be taken in shot form.

Where baijiu becomes infinitely more complex is when you look at its three main types, which are so wildly different from each other in aroma and taste that they barely seem like the same spirit. Fenjiu, with a 6,000-year heritage, is among the oldest –

Baijiu is the product of fermented grain matured in steam vats.

Chinese distillers want to transform the spirit into the new tequila for US and European consumers

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But will such singular flavours find favour with a mainstream western audience? In an attempt to spread the word in the UK, Cheng International has teamed up with a number of bars and hotels around London.

The Stratford Hotel held a competition that saw bartenders challenged to come up with a cocktail incorporating the spirit. Chef Lee Che Liang at Park Chinois in Mayfair switched the better-known Shaoxing rice wine for baijiu in his menu and found the spirit lifted new layers and aromas from his dishes. Meanwhile, pâtissier William Curley created a special-edition truffle with baijiu – in this case, Fenjiu – which he found ‘complemented the chocolate to create a truffle that is rich in flavour but also balanced and long-lasting on the palate’.

Despite such exposure, Dixon still isn’t convinced baijiu is going to go mainstream.

‘The bottle prices tend to be rather prohibitive,’ he says. ‘Add to that the fact that baijiu is such an unknown category over here, and it starts to become a tough sell for bartenders. I also think the strong-aroma examples are simply too flavour-packed to make for a balanced mixed drink.’

Club Oenologique contributing editor Joel Harrison sampled a wide variety of baijiu while researching his book Distilled and is in two minds. ‘It’s definitely an acquired taste for the western palate,’ he says. ‘I would

There is something of a stigmatised view

that tarnishes the reputation of baijiu.

It’s down to a lack of understanding

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IVAN DIXON, FORMER HEAD OF DRINKS, HARVEY NICHOLS

EYEVIN E; GETTY IMAGES

and most premium – brands specialising in the light-aroma variety. Its baijiu is made in the Shanxi province of North China, where it is double-fermented and distilled, before being matured for up to 30 years in ceramic pots. Fragrant, light and delicately floral, it provides a little heat before the flavours spread across the palate into something much sweeter.

On the other side of the spectrum are strong-aroma varieties such as the aforementioned Kweichow Moutai and Wuliangye; the latter has been made in the same fermentation pits for 650 years, and part of the production process involves leaving a quarter of the distilled grains in the pits to infuse the surrounding pit mud, resulting in an incredibly potent aroma, with strong hints of overripe pineapple and papaya.

Finally, there’s the sauce aroma, which bears more savoury notes of herbs and mushrooms, achieved by being fermented and distilled eight times over the course of production.

Ivan Dixon, former head of drinks at UK department store Harvey Nichols, has tried them all. ‘I enjoy the subtleties and balance of light-aroma styles, which tend to be less forward, but my favourite is the sauce aroma, which has an amazing, savoury umaminess that you can’t find in any other spirit.’

describe it as agricultural, with a sweet backbone and some lovely floral notes – when you find the right one.’ Like Chen, he thinks it can and does work well in cocktails – particularly sours – but he also feels producers face a struggle in winning over western consumers. However, he points out that this is the case with many spirits. ‘Once you get used to it, it really does have some hidden depths,’ he adds. ‘Smoky whisky can be challenging from a flavour perspective, but once you understand the nuances, it can really come to life.’

Complex flavours and varieties aside, could there be cultural obstacles preventing baijiu from going mainstream? ‘I do think there is something of a stigmatised view that tarnishes the reputation of baijiu,’ says Dixon. ‘It’s down to a lack of understanding – not least when it comes to context and the correct drinking occasion, but also because of some substandard products that have made their way into the hands of the trade.

So, yes, it could be an uphill battle.’

Chef Andrew Wong, owner of the Michelinstarred A Wong in London, has long challenged western perceptions of Chinese food and drink, which he believes are based on deep-seated, at times unconscious prejudice. Besides being an acclaimed chef, Wong spends a lot of time delving into China’s gastronomic history and the cultural significance of ingredients used. He argues that baijiu is a misunderstood spirit with a spectacular range of flavours – but also that it boasts an incredible cultural significance that goes unappreciated in the west. ‘As China opens up even more, people will begin to explore its intricacies and move away from the misconception that baijiu is an unrefined, low-cost spirit,’ he says. ‘It can be fermented glutinous rice, rice or sorghum, and the outcome greatly varies, from dark and rich to light and chamomile-like. But to me, it is primarily important because of its role within social affinity and sharing; it is an integral part of dining in China.’

Chen strongly supports this view. ‘My mission is to change the perception and stereotypes of what is Chinese in the west,’ she says. ‘To me, premium baijiu – every single drop – is the concentration of my Chinese ancestors’ wisdom and craftsmanship. It has witnessed thousands of years of history, and I believe it will stand the test of time on a global scale.’

[ BAIJIU ]

So how does it taste?

Six gold-medal-winning baijius from the 2020 IWSC FENJIU, BLUE FLOWER, QING HUA 20-YEAR-OLD, CHINA (LIGHT AROMA)

96

Complex nose, with apple and pear followed by dried floral notes; earthy, grassy and savoury. The intense palate shows a creamy, textural mouthfeel with balanced fruit and soft spice. Lifted, forward finish; refreshing and delicious. 42% £90 Harvey Nichols

YUSHAN KAOLIANG, LIQUOR AGED 6-YEAR-OLD, TAIWAN (LIGHT AROMA)

96

Lovely, fresh, well-integrated nose, with fruit and savoury notes of chocolate, nuts, soy sauce and roasted vegetables. On the palate, a rich mouthfeel with hints of menthol, dried honeysuckle, sorghum and spices. Long umami finish. 56%

GANSU BINHE, LONG PAI, CHINA (STRONG AROMA)

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Roasted vegetable and grain, with tropical fruits in the background and an overall savoury impression on the nose. Juicy mouthfeel, with ripe fruit flavours of pineapple, pear, melon and grape, finishing with sweet spiced potatoes and aniseed. Long and flavoursome. 42% From top: in China, baijiu is consumed both in shot form at formal affairs such as weddings, and over the course of a meal, in more informal surroundings; Qiqi Chen of Cheng International, who is seeking to grow baijiu’s presence in the UK; US President Richard Nixon toasts Chinese Premier Zhou with baijiu in 1972

QUANTU SELECTION SOFT STYLE, CHINA (SAUCE AROMA)

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Slight colour; explosive, opulent nose, with high ester aromas such as dried pineapple, mango, walnut and liquorice, plus a strong note of soy sauce. Rich and savoury on the palate; saline and intense, with more soy sauce, bok choy and a lovely, long, focused cereal finish. 53%

RONG TAI HE, 15-YEAR-OLD, CHINA (SAUCE AROMA)

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Distinct soy sauce and fermented doujiang on the nose, combined with sesame and brown butter, guava, dried stone fruit and nuts.

Smooth palate, well-integrated alcohol; rich and long, with tropical fruit flavours. 53%

YIDU, ZHENCANGJI, CHINA (SAUCE AROMA)

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Dark chocolate, with nutmeg, liquorice, mango and lychee notes on the nose. Dry palate; round, ripe fruit character, with grapefruit, roasted red pepper and savoury undertones. Incredible, complex umami-and-pepper finish. 53%

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[ THE COLLECTION ]

Club Oenologique

Collection 6 P H OTO G R A P H S FAC U N D O B U S TA M A N T E

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[ THE COLLECTION ]

This month, in the Club Oenologique Collection...

‘It’s all about vision,’ says Will Harlan, who this year took over from his father as the head of the great Napa estate. ‘If we do our jobs right, it will persist way beyond our lifetime.’ When it comes to wine – and whisky – the concept of persistence has several meanings. First there must be length on the palate. Second, the liquid itself must be capable of evolving, often for decades.

Then there’s the third meaning: the persistence of the project. The Harlans, father and son, expand on this idea in our feature on p.42, but it’s a concept that any winemaker or distiller will instantly recognise: they are not only making something that will last moments on the palate and many years in bottle, but the winery or distillery must also endure.

You can apply those three criteria to any of the wonderful wines and whiskies we recommend in this issue’s Collection. In March, we visited Harlan for a complete vertical from 1990 to 2016 and found wines that will be hitting their stride when many of us are contemplating our own infinity. Our Champagne expert Essi Avellan MW has been tasting some very fine cuvées from Bollinger, Krug, Taittinger, Dom Pérignon and their peers, most with at least 10 years in bottle and barely out of the starting blocks. Then Ella Lister explores the brilliant 2010 vintage in Bordeaux; some wines are drinking beautifully now, she reports, while ‘others need another decade to unfurl their brilliant colours’.

In terms of age, of course, these venerable Cabernets and clarets are mere toddlers compared with some of the drams at London’s Old & Rare Whisky Show. Back in the spring, Colin Hampden-White and his colleagues spent a day in a veritable time machine, sipping their way back through the 1980s, ’70s and ’60s, all the way to 1885. His verdict? ‘Spectacular.’

Lastly, we present the trophy winners from the 2020 IWSC, our sister company. Twelve pages are packed with wines and spirits that represent the very best of their type – from classic English sparkling and Champagne, Rioja, Riesling, Chardonnay and Cabernet, to the best rums, whiskies and gins, and the finest spirits from Japan and China. There’s even a shochu from Scotland. Spectacular, indeed.

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 COLLECTION ]

The tasters ESSI AVELLAN MW In addition to being a Champagne specialist, journalist, educator and wine judge, Essi Avellan has written several wine books.

ELLA LISTER The founder of wine investment analysis site wine-lister.com, former private wine consultant Ella Lister is an authority on fine wines.

ADAM LECHMERE Adam Lechmere has been writing about wine for 20 years. He launched decanter. com in early 2000, has contributed to numerous publications and is editorat-large of Club Oenologique.

COLIN HAMPDEN-WHITE IWSC judge Colin Hampden-White is a presenter on Amazon Prime’s The Three Drinkers and has been writing about wine and spirits for more than 10 years.

LORA HEMY Head distiller at Roe & Co in Dublin, Lora Hemy has previously held roles at Atom Brands and Halewood Wines & Spirits, specialising in Irish whiskey, whisky and gin.

CHARLES MACLEAN Charles MacLean is one of the world’s leading whisky experts. He is a prolific author who has been researching and writing books and articles about the spirit since 1981.

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Champagne’s dandy dozen E S S I AV E L L A N M W P R E S E N T S H E R T O P 1 2 P I C K S O F T H E L AT E S T C H A M PAG N E O F F E R I N G S – B OT H V I N TAG E A N D N V – I N T H E H O P E W E M I G H T S O O N H AV E S O M E T H I N G T O C E L E B R AT E

Few of us have felt like cracking open the Champagne in recent months – a fact that is borne out by the region’s deflated sales figures. But with glimmers of normality returning, and a new year to celebrate (and boy, will most of us be glad to see the back of 2020) it feels like an apposite moment to review the year’s new releases and look ahead to more convivial times. Not least because there have been several notable launches in the second half of the year.

Perhaps most significant has been the flurry of 2012 vintage fizz coming on to the market. After the hype around 2008, 2012 slipped under the radar, but it is a vintage that stands with the finest of the century so far.

The wines are refined, harmonious and vivacious, and have decent ageing potential. You’ll find four exquisite examples on the following pages.

Then there are the interesting releases from vintages that weren’t widely declared. The headline-grabber here is Dom Pérignon’s release from the rot-troubled 2010, a year when most producers decided not to make a prestige cuvée. By the same token, ephemeral cuvées (as one-offs and limited editions are called in Champagne) are absolutely on-trend, and in this spirit Ayala’s Cuvée No 7 expresses some of the 2007 vintage’s best qualities. The great Chardonnay fruit harvested that year also encouraged Billecart-Salmon to craft its always coveted Cuvée Louis Blanc de Blancs.

Completely new cuvées from the classic houses are rare treats, but this summer saw an exciting leap into premium blanc de noirs by Bollinger. Meanwhile, another blanc de noirs specialist, Philipponnat, has created a wholly new single-vineyard Champagne, La Rémissonne, from its home village Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, complementing its classic line-up of site-specific Champagnes.

Despite the globally shared challenges of the era, it seems Champagne continues to strive to offer something new…

For Essi Avellan’s review of more recent releases from the second half of the year, see cluboenologique.com

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KRUG GRANDE CUVÉE 168ÈME EDITION NV

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Drink 2020–35 Based on the fine yet small-sized crop of 2012 and complemented by a wealth of mature reserve wines, this perfect blend comes with a refined yet expressive nose of ripe stone fruits, candied lemon, baked apple and ginger, followed by charismatic notes of oak, yeast and honeycomb. On the palate, it is tight, with brisk acidity lining the ample fruitiness, its every drop just oozing ageing capacity. 12% £112.50 (in bond) Justerini & Brooks

[ THE COLLEC TION | CHAMPAGNE ]

95 DOM PÉRIGNON BRUT 2010

Drink 2020–45 The 2010 vintage was challenged by botrytis, but the LVMH-owned house was at the top of its game.

Flirtatiously fragrant nose, with complex toasty and charred tones. The fruit is pure and appetising, but it’s the palate that carries the most pleasant surprise – such volume and generosity, yet with an acidity that rolls in at just the right moment.

The palate finishes with fine mineral sensations of great length, its reserved nature hinting at more to come. 12%

95

TAITTINGER COMTES DE CHAMPAGNE 2008 Drink 2020–35

£103.33 (in bond) Bordeaux Index

BOLLINGER LA GRANDE ANNÉE 2012

95

Drink 2020–35 On the elegant nose, this wine’s fine, cool fruitiness is at the fore, with lovely spicy, oaky and nutty notes in support. Lemony fruitiness with yellow apple and ripe apricot emerge in the glass. On the palate, the key word is balance; this is a very complete Champagne with freshness, intensity, refined tension and chalky salinity all in perfect harmony. The 8g/l dosage is spot on. Still young, but this has the building blocks of longevity. 12% £73.33 (in bond) Justerini & Brooks

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VEUVE CLICQUOT LA GRANDE DAME 2012 Drink 2020–35

The 2008 already reflected the new and improved La Grande Dame, approaching blanc de noirs in style, with only a splash of Chardonnay supporting the Pinot Noir.

But the 2012 beats it in both precision and purity.

Soft yet coolly fruity and harmonious on the nose, with lemon confit, sweet apricot, refined smoke and buttery pastry notes.

Complex – but reserved for now, promising longevity. Much more driven, tightly packed and fine than we are used to from this cuvée. 12.5%

Patience has been rewarded with this muchanticipated super vintage of Comtes de Champagne blanc de blancs. The nose is radiantly fruity, with gorgeous gunpowdery toastiness lingering above the zingy lemon, lime, peach and grass notes – refined and elegantly restrained. The palate is linear and precise, with long, juicy length lining the brightly fruity and luxuriously creamy texture. Tightly packed, generous and mineral, this slowly evolving Comtes will keep on giving throughout the years to come. 12.5% From £175 champagnedirect. co.uk, Hedonism

£160 Selfridges

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PERRIER-JOUËT BELLE EPOQUE ROSÉ 2012

Drink 2020–35 The 2012 vintage has brought about a particularly elegant and vibrant Belle Epoque rosé, with a notably delicate and purely fruity appeal: peach, gentle spiciness and lemon zest. I can already say that it sits among my all-time favourite Belle Epoque rosés. The fresh and vivacious palate has satiny and lacy charm and a long, pure fruity finish, with appetising saline bite at the very end. 12%

CHARLES HEIDSIECK MILLÉSIME 2012

94

Drink 2020–30 The nose jumps at you via stunning smoky toastiness and rich biscuit notes that are complemented by generosity of fresh and dried fruits, ranging from apricots to tropical fruits and zesty lemony layers.

It sits between reductive and oxidative in style, leaning safely towards the former. On the palate, the marriage of the velvety texture, the invigorating tension and the fine bubbles is disarming.

Creamy and generous, but ending on a fresh note of stylish bitterness. 12% £66 (in bond) Lay & Wheeler

£215 Hedonism

92

BOLLINGER PN VZ15 NV

Drink 2020–30 This is a new premium non-vintage blanc de noirs with a sense of place. After a complex nose of spices, apple, yeast and brioche, the palate surprises with its racy, saline, cool Verzenay fruitiness, married to the generosity of Aÿ, Bouzy and Tauxières fruit. In the mouth, it offers textured richness from a big splash of reserve wines from Bollinger’s special, long-aged magnums.

An exciting novelty that shows off the house’s Pinot wealth and know-how. 12% £58.33 (in bond) Bordeaux Index

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[ THE COLLEC TION | CHAMPAGNE ]

BILLECART-SALMON CUVÉE LOUIS SALMON BLANC DE BLANCS 2007

91

Drink 2020–30

POL ROGER CUVÉE SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL 2009

In 2007, a summer than was cool overall resulted in disappointing Pinot Noir, but Chardonnay excelled, presenting itself as fresh, pure and feisty. BillecartSalmon’s Cuvée Louis comes with a sumptuous, creamy richness and fresh lemony appeal: lemon meringue tart, baked apple and yuzu. Its appley fruitiness is intense, and the palate is beautifully textured and long. Overt and enjoyable but lined with stylish, crisp acidity. 12%

Drink 2020–35

£113.81 (in bond) Millesima

92

A fine vintage for this famous cuvée, which is true to 2009’s lush character, with generous fruitiness and a soft, textured feel. This round and muscular wine comes with sweet, ripe, vanillaladen fruit complemented by spicy, yeasty tones.

Overt and enjoyable already, but there is more complexity to emerge over time. 12% £113.33 (in bond) Bordeaux Index

PHILIPPONNAT LA RÉMISSONNE 2009

91

Drink 2020–35 A brand-new singlevineyard Champagne from a blanc de noirs specialist.

The La Rémissonne plot lies adjacent to Clos des Goisses in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ and yields a wine packed with character – a big Pinot, with a nose full of ripe fruit. The hints of oak and liquorice are particularly charming, while its bold and mouthfilling palate allows for a beautiful acidity to shine through. Very dry, structured and dense, this is a fine addition to the Philipponnat range. 12%

AYALA CUVÉE NO 7 2007 Drink 2020–30

90

This is the newest member of Ayala’s collection of one-off prestige cuvées. The rich, evolving, yeast-infused nose brings Chardonnay’s lemony and buttery tones to the fore. Behind, there is ripe apple and candy-floss sweetness. Comprised of fruit from seven grands crus, this is intense and creamy. The maturity and complexity of the nose marry well with the freshness and vigour of the palate. A long, seductively textured and clean finish. 12% £61.49 TheDrinkShop.com

£90 (in bond) Bordeaux Index

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WO R DS ELLA LISTER

Bordeaux 2010 I T W A S T H E S E C O N D O F T W O A C C L A I M E D V I N T A G E S I N A R O W, A S T R U C T U R E D B E A U T Y A F T E R T H E H E D O N I S T I C 2 0 0 9. A D E C A D E O N , H O W A R E T H E W I N E S E V O LV I N G ? E L L A L I S T E R G I V E S H E R V E R D I C T

It was hard to imagine, after Bordeaux’s heaven-sent 2009 vintage, that the following year could match – or even outclass – its riches. Yet 2010 does just that. It is, however, chalk to 2009’s cheese. Some will prefer the hedonistic, seductive style of the 2009s, but give me the structured, classical, fresher 2010s any day. While not as readily inviting as the ’09s, many of the ‘10s are, surprisingly, delightfully approachable 10 years on. Others need another decade to unfurl their brilliant colours.

If 2010 yielded more complex wines than 2009, this is a reflection of the respective growing seasons. Where the 2009 harvest was all too perfect and easy (sometimes lulling growers into a false sense of security, resulting in overripeness or overextraction), 2010 was less straightforward.

Alcohol levels are just as high as in 2009 but are the result of a largely cooler, even drier vintage. This happy coincidence of dry, cool weather in August and September – with especially cool nights – led to small, thickskinned berries with perfect polyphenolic ripeness. October continued dry, sunny and now warm, allowing producers to harvest at will. Concentrated, expressive wines resulted, with high levels of very fine tannins.

Pauillac and Pomerol are the standout appellations. All three Pauillac first growths – Latour, Mouton Rothschild and Lafite Rothschild – are majestic. In Pomerol, the top two names – Petrus and Le Pin – are excellent, but happily for consumers’ wallets, it’s the next rungs down that really outperform – from Vieux Château Certan and La Fleur-Pétrus to Gazin, L’Evangile, and Clinet.

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Compared to those highs, the Margaux appellation falls a little flat, other than Château Margaux itself, its second wine Pavillon Rouge and Château Palmer – the only three Margaux offerings to make my top picks. Likewise, Pessac-Léognan features three times, with Smith Haut Lafitte the appellation’s 2010 hero. St-Julien produced a solid, consistent range of excellent wines, while in St-Estèphe, the two esteemed second growths – Cos d’Estournel and Montrose – stood out. Back on the Right Bank, St-Emilion was more successful than in 2010 (though sadly the Cheval Blanc was corked.)

The 2010s were considerably more expensive than 2009s en primeur, the last straw for the stretched fine wine market, which saw prices plummet a month or so after the 2010 campaign, in the summer of 2011. This crash was led by Bordeaux, whose prices dropped by as much as 40% in the following three years. Original purchasers of 2010 claret will only recently have emerged from the red and, on some wines, are still out of pocket a decade later. The 2010 vintage remains one of the most expensive recent Bordeaux vintages on the market.

But whereas on release its prices went way beyond those of 2009, a basket of 120 top 2010s today averages £1 less than their 2009 counterparts, according to Wine Lister data.

The good news is, for those interested only in their drinkability, the best wines undoubtedly merit their price tags.Last year I advised caution choosing wines from the more heterogeneous 2009 vintage. In 2010, it’s harder to go wrong, but the following are my top picks for those wanting to guarantee optimum gratification.

[ THE COLLECTION | BORDEAUX ]

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100

CHÂTEAU MOUTON ROTHSCHILD, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ, PAUILLAC

Drink 202 2–50 Toasty, hedonistic aromas of cedar and sandalwood and the invigorating salinity of a rockpool – deep, dark and impenetrable. Then a lifting bouquet of fresh dahlias picked in the warm August rain in my grandmother ’s garden. This Pauillac first growth – with the now outgoing Philippe Dhalluin masterfully and quietly at its helm – has driving salinity on the palate, which leads you through a panoply of other flavours, all the while so achingly, sensuously smooth to the touch. The wine laps at your tongue like the saltwater lapping against your skin in the Dead Sea. Meditative. £5,725 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

99

CHÂTEAU MARGAUX, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ, MARGAUX Drink 2020–45

CHÂTEAU LATOUR, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ, PAUILLAC Drink 2025–50

100

Still in Pauillac, still a first growth, this one takes me to another sea: the feel of the liquid in your mouth is like the feeling of the Sea of Sardinia on your skin when you plunge in – beyond silken.

This comes after a supremely confident bouquet – magisterial, dark and sultr y, with aromas like flickers of luminosity; scintillations. There are flashes, variously, of violets, cocoa nibs, blossom and peat. Then, back in the mouth, the grippy, chalky, purring, stroking tannins take over. It has Tantric length and self-possession. A complete wine. £5,350 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

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Another first growth – this time fur ther south, in Margaux – seems to open the doors to its inimitable neo-Palladian château with this 2010, inviting you to snuggle up by its fireside. A toasty, smoky wine on the nose: peaty, pretty, powerful. In the mouth, it has sublime poise. Ethereal and delectable with sweet, lacy fruit. So flavoursome you feel you’re eating, but so feather-light it melts into air. And then you realise it’s vigorous, massive, majestic – but so deft that you feel right at home at its hear th. £1,505 (three bottles) Bordeaux Index

[ THE COLLECTION | BORDEAUX ]

CHÂTEAU FIGEAC, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ B, ST-EMILION Drink 2025–45 Immediately exotic, the bouquet is all spice market and damask rose, with a deep core of dark fruit – damson and blackberr y – lending it a sense of inky blackness. On the palate, there is an absolutely stunning, oh-so-Figeac grosgrain ribbon texture to it. You chew this, and it keeps on giving. Satisfaction in a glass.

A regal wine, wor thy of Figeac’s exceptional terroir and of this outstanding vintage. £1,811 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

99

99

99

98

CHÂTEAU LAFITE ROTHSCHILD, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ, PAUILLAC

VIEUX CHÂTEAU CERTAN, POMEROL

Drink 2024–50

Drink 2020–35

Drink 2028–48

The last vintage of Château Lafite to be released before this wine - China’s darling led the fine wine market crash in the summer of 2011. The bouquet is so lifted and serene it’s almost other worldly, and yet it is so firmly in this world, in nature.

It’s like the beginning of spring, or a single rosebud representing all of Mother Nature in its modest magnificence.

On the palate this is lithe and luscious, with building, soaring, driving fruit energy. And yet it has that classic Lafite restraint. Never shouting, never flir ting, always itself. Long finish.

A veritable Pomerol gem, this VCC has an inviting nose of concentrated ripe red fruit, with a touch of 2010 spice that seems to be a signature of the vintage across Bordeaux. The wine is voluptuous, polished and perfectly in propor tion in the mouth. It captures ever ything generous about 2010 and combines it in a harmonious whole. Again, ver y hard not to swallow; it has a cer tain restraint and is immensely appetising.

Lovely, lingering, lyrical; when VCC is good, it is ver y, ver y good. Made

by Alexandre, one of several prominent Thienpont cousins; this Belgian family is now as embedded in Bordeaux’s Right Bank as any Bordelais.

This is the second vintage of Palmer with some biodynamic experimentation, ultimately leading to its full cer tification in 2017.

The 2010 is enigmatic, brooding, spellbinding.

There’s a perfume that’s more refined, elegant and layered than any wine yet. You want to savour it, and then you want to dive in. You get ever ything the nose promised: a complex yet subtle flavour profile and a caressing yet firm structure. There’s a quiet, dreamy poise to this wine. The wood will cer tainly integrate with more time – because this needs a lot of time.

£3,650 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

CHÂTEAU PALMER, 3ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, MARGAUX

£1,450 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

£216.67 Bordeaux Index

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98

CHÂTEAU LA FLEURPÉTRUS, POMEROL

CHÂTEAU SMITH HAUT LAFITTE, CRU CLASSÉ, PESSACLÉOGNAN

Drink 2020–35

Drink 2025–43 The bouquet of the 2010 Smith Haut Lafitte is open-knit and alluring, with nostril-filling aromas of home-made fruit pie (light on the sugar). It’s a beautiful wine, with a natural style and grace. This striking Graves château was acquired in 1990 by former Olympic skiers Daniel and Florence Cathiard, and this is like watching a French skier doing parallel turns down a black run and knowing you’ll never be able to emulate the effor tlessness (I speak for myself ).

Savour y, balanced and perfectly pitched in terms of weight, texture and ripeness, it’s a masterclass in a restrained 2010. £555 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

98

CHÂTEAU HAUT-BRION, 1ER CRU CLASSÉ, PESSAC-LÉOGNAN

Drink 2026–46 This is the only Bordeaux first growth south of Bordeaux, on the city’s outskir ts – with hotter temperatures than its Médoc counterpar ts as a result. So concentrated, it’s almost impenetrable on the nose at first, because there’s no way into that tight core.

Then slowly but surely, delicate aromas star t peeking through. Soft, subtle and trembling with fresh rose petals. This is a monumental wine, with immense intensity on the palate. It is unctuous but never cloying, boasting a surprising lightness of touch and an air y quality, with a long, imposing finish. £3,100 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

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CHÂTEAU PETRUS, POMEROL

98+

Drink 2030–53 King of Pomerol, Petrus’s 2010 vintage is characteristically royal blue on the nose.

But it is backwards, in hibernation. Again in the mouth, this is not the most expressive Petrus I’ve known. It is longlimbed and thoroughbred; exceedingly dense and tightly coiled. With an edible, caressing texture, this is one to come back to in a decade. £16,850 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

98

CHÂTEAU GAZIN, POMEROL

97

Drink 2021–36 Owned by the Bailliencour t dit Courcol family (once upon a time, a king gave this name to a [shor t-necked?] ancestor for his braver y in the 1214 Battle of Bouvines), Gazin’s 2010 is a real stunner. The suave and attractive nose displays pure, ripe blue-purple fruit: cassis and mulberr y. On the palate, there’s a divine, pure, blue-fruit raciness and drive. The wine is aerial and smooth, regal like a queen floating through her palace.

This is pleasure and elegance wrapped in a brocaded gown. £576 (six bottles) Crump, Richmond & Shaw Fine Wines

The bouquet of a wet spring garden; the fresh smell of the soil mingling with sprouting May buds. In the mouth, this is pure and limpid, a sweet, candid embrace of harmonious fruit and silken tannins and a gorgeous, long dark chocolate finish; totally refined, totally moreish.

There’s a siren’s song willing you to swallow it, but I’ve still got 45 wines to taste… It’s still glorious and delectable a minute after it leaves the tongue. £175 Lay & Wheeler

97

CHÂTEAU PAVIE, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ B, ST-EMILION Drink 2026–44

This 2010 Pavie – predating the château’s reclassification in 2012 – has a ripe, boiled-sweet nose, with baked fruit, soft spices and a musky under tone. It is fresher on the palate. A huge and concentrated wine but with the terroir breaking through to bring a lifted, spicy, stony savouriness.

The tannic bite frames the boisterous juice and reins it in. Brawny and grainy but dressed in a Savile Row suit: Daniel Craig’s James Bond. A long finish. £1,500 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

CHÂTEAU LE PIN, POMEROL

97

Drink 2020–40 Le Pin is the precursor of garage wines, as well as being Bordeaux’s most famous wine without an actual château attached to it. The Pomerol estate is owned by Jacques Thienpont (cousin to VCC ’s Alexandre) and his Master of Wine wife Fiona Morrison. The bouquet has bright, blooming sweet red fruit at the fore that melts into a gentle, sweet flower press of childhood memories. The fruit is bluer on the palate: still sweet, still pure. This wine is a million miles from the gravitas and complexity of the Pauillac first growths in 2010. It’s really quite simple, but beautifully so: ingénue milkmaid rather than savant countess.

Secondar y market

[ THE COLLECTION | BORDEAUX ]

96+ CHÂTEAU COS D’ESTOURNEL, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, ST-ESTÈPHE

Drink 2024–42 St-Estèphe’s most recognisable château, with its oriental architecture of pagodalike turrets and its elephant motifs. At first sniff, this is restrained and watchful, standing in the corner taking ever ything in and waiting for the right moment to make its mark. Dark and handsome, it slowly gives up aromas of bilberr y, blackcurrant leaf and juniper berr y. In the mouth, it possesses that same dark, enigmatic character. Spicy and savour y, chocolatey and sumptuous, but not big or brash, this is back to the elegant style of Cos after the famously rich and ripe 2009 – and is much the better for it. £1,885 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

CHÂTEAU PICHONLONGUEVILLE BARON, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, PAUILLAC

96

Drink 2025–42 Pichon Baron is owned by the AXA insurance group, which takes its winer y investments (including Por t and Tokaji) ver y seriously. On the nose, this wine has immense, resonant blue-fruit purity – blue plums and tar t blueberries – and it keeps spilling over with aromas, from flower pollen to sweet hay. In the mouth, it is pure to the taste and smooth as silk to the touch. It shares its immaculate transparent quality with its Countess neighbour across the Route des Châteaux: two prancing Pauillacs.

This one finishes saline and slinky. £1,430 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

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96

CHÂTEAU LA MISSION HAUT-BRION, CRU CLASSÉ, PESSACLÉOGNAN

Drink 2025–45 La Mission in 2010 has a bright, bouncy, friendly bouquet, with perfectly ripe summer fruit and a touch of potpourri. The mouthfeel is luscious, with a building sweet envelopment. There is a lovely quality of tannins that 2010 had in spades and then a spicy, energising finish. £4,560 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

96

CHÂTEAU LARCIS DUCASSE, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ B, ST-EMILION Drink 202 2–42

96

CHÂTEAU PICHONLONGUEVILLE COMTESSE DE LALANDE, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, PAUILLAC Drink 2025–42 Acquired in 2006 by Louis Roederer, the Champagne house that spares no expense, this wine gets better and better. In 2010, it was already divine: limpid, luminous and nimble, with a scent that has you at hello – blueberries, tobacco and charcoal.

On the palate, this is a magnificent, majestic wine. It’s woven together the power, poise and classicism of the vintage with élan; both transparent and profound at once. £1,530 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

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From top-notch StEmilion terroir, Larcis Ducasse is something of a hidden gem, and back in fine fettle after a slightly disappointing 2009. The 2010 brings a bass note, with deep, rich aromas and a cer tain gravitas. There’s also an animal, almost gamey character, which blends into wet undergrowth and leaves a kind of feral scent underlying the sweet, floral perfume.

A satisfyingly complex bouquet. It has a beautifully pitched weight and texture in the mouth: just the right balance of chewy and melting, harnessing the concentration of the vintage without being overpowered by it. £70 Grand Vin Wine Merchants

[ THE COLLECTION | BORDEAUX ]

95

96

CHÂTEAU LÉOVILLE POYFERRÉ, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, ST-JULIEN

CHÂTEAU GRAND-PUYLACOSTE, 5ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, PAUILLAC Drink 202 2–35

Drink 2025–45

This has sweet, penetrating fruit on the nose: macerated strawberries and raspberries, with rosewater and a hint of pomegranate molasses.

The enveloping bouquet is far from the usual blue-fruit character of GPL but ever y bit as lovely. On the palate, we get closer to the classic style, with darker, purer and more driven fruit – no hint of oversweetness here. Then come the trademark elegant, inky, chalky tannins.

There’s a beautiful restraint to the power, and the finish is long.

The most modern of St- Julien’s Léovilles, the Poyferré 2010 has a slightly muted but alluring woody perfume that is at once masculine, gentle and hypnotic.

That same perfumed woodiness comes through deliciously in what is a supremely present, energetic, imposing and potent wine. Ever ything is in total balance. This wine was promising from its youth and is star ting to show its full potential, but it shouldn’t be drunk yet if you can bear to wait. £528 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

£700 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

CHÂTEAU LA CONSEILLANTE, POMEROL

96

Drink 202 2–40 Also family-owned, by the Nicolas cousins (no relation to the chain of wine shops), La Conseillante in 2010 has a rich, spicy nose, hedonistic with fresh-cut wood and nostril-tingling spice: black pepper, juniper and paprika. In the mouth, it has the most wonderful, joyous limpidity; it floats and caresses. Then its latent tannic power builds up and strokes the inside of the cheeks, testament to the deft touch of thenwinemaker Jean-Michel Lapor te. It leaves you with a savour y after taste. £148.33 Lay & Wheeler

CHÂTEAU L’EVANGILE, POMEROL

95

Drink 2024–44 Another Pomerol punching above its weight in 2010, L’Evangile is part of the Lafite Rothschild stable, and this is one of its finest expressions.

The purple-fruit bouquet is penetrating and assertive, with a sweet, unctuous core, enrobed in chocolate notes.

The bottle had just arrived at the tasting via courier and was nice and cold; I think this served it well, cutting through the richness and accentuating the sophisticated black-fruit and graphite suaveness.

Nonetheless, the wine is, characteristically, immensely concentrated and powerful. It has a long juicy finish and is built to last. £2,000 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

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95

PAVILLON ROUGE DU CHÂTEAU MARGAUX, MARGAUX

Drink 2023–36 At the end of a comparatively lacklustre Margaux flight (the eponymous first growth coming later), suddenly we’re on to something more regal and highfalutin with Château Margaux’s second wine.

This has a slightly higher forehead, if you will.

In the mouth, it boasts luscious, succulent, high-toned fruit with a delicate, precise frame. A delightful wine with a velvetfisted, powerful core wor thy of the vintage. £835 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

CHÂTEAU BRANAIRE-DUCRU, 4ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, ST-JULIEN Drink 202 2–34

95

The 1934 Branaire-Ducru features in Roald Dahl’s wonderfully black shor t stor y ‘Taste’. The 2010 would have worked well as the wine served blind in this twisted tale for adults. It is reserved at first, mysterious; the bouquet is a profound dark pool of tight-packed dark fruit – plush purple – with animal and herbal notes coming through. On the tongue, it is harmonious and ar terial; nothing fancy but ever ything just right.

Drinker ’s delight (reader ’s fright). £600 (six bottles) Berr y Bros & Rudd

CHÂTEAU MONTROSE, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, ST-ESTÈPHE Drink 2023–40

95

This is majestic and a bit haughty; if it were a member of the royal family, it would be Princess Margaret rather than the Queen. On the palate, it has a gorgeous intensity of rich fruit, framed with finesse. There are pleasing chalky tannins on the finish. £858 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

CHÂTEAU BEYCHEVELLE, 4ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, ST-JULIEN Drink 2024–40

95

The nose of this St- Julien investment staple is ebullient and full, with generous swathes of fruit. No shrinking violet, then, it delivers in the mouth: juicy, full, luscious and lithe. The opulent liquid is drenched in dark fruit and ink – that midnight-blue purity that Beychevelle so often boasts.

Tannic savour sends it into a long finish, and it has a long life ahead. £915 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

CHÂTEAU ANGÉLUS, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ B, ST-EMILION

95

Drink 2024–38 Angélus, under the auspices of the young and determined Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal, is a wine gaining in precision each year, and I can’t help thinking that the 2010 would be even better if made with the same perfectionist tweaks applied at the château today. Nonetheless, the bouquet belly-dances hypnotically, with supreme confidence in its darkfruited appeal. As you go deeper, more saccharine, sweet fruit notes come through: black plum, boysenberr y and vanilla. It is warm but not hot to the smell. Again, in the mouth, this is just on the right side of sweet and extracted.

The wine invites you to luxuriate in its gorgeous, enveloping richness, to admire its elegant and expensive frame. £3,140 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

94+

CHÂTEAU LYNCH-BAGES, 5ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, PAUILLAC

Drink 2026–46 This bombards your nostrils with rich, full fruit: it’s like you’re bobbing around in the vats with the juice. The wine is so open-armed and inviting, but it might crush you with its friendly giant hug. There’s more zing and acidic lift on the palate, which carries the opulent fruit and brings energy.

This needs years to soften and recede a bit from its almost bellicose concentration and sheer magnitude; it multiplies and swells in the mouth. £1,315 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

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[ THE COLLECTION | BORDEAUX ]

CHÂTEAU CLERC MILON, 5ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, PAUILLAC

94

Drink 2021–34 Made by the same exemplar y team as at Mouton Rothschild, this is – as usual – more discreet and delicate than its brother, d’Armailhac.

The 2010 Clerc Milon has more delineated, defined spices on the elegant bouquet: whole cardamom pod, juniper and coriander seed. On the palate, it oozes refined power, tightly coiled and smooth as satin; toned and polished. Then lots of savouriness to relish on the finish. £845 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

CHÂTEAU CANON, 1ER GRAND CRU CLASSÉ B, ST-EMILION Drink 2023–40

94

Canon has been owned by the Wer theimer family of Chanel since 1996, and the interior of the château is the most pleasing mix of perfectly harmonious juxtaposition of different prints and textures I have ever laid eyes on. In recent years, the wine is similarly effor tlessly layered. The 2010 on the nose is a plush, potent purple-fruit embrace, with a touch of chocolate indulgence – confident and cheerful. On the mouth, it is tightpacked, with concentrated fruit and spicy tannins. Black-fruit sweetness and concentration build on to a long finish.

This doesn’t yet possess the elegance of today’s Canon, but the terroir is there, and it shines in this vintage. £116.40 Crump, Richmond & Shaw Fine Wines

94

CHÂTEAU CLINET, POMEROL

CHÂTEAU LÉOVILLE LAS CASES, 2ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, ST-JULIEN

Drink 2020–30

Drink 2023–35 Like looking into big wet, brown eyes, this wine speaks to you without words. It has sweet fruit on the nose, just quivering there.

It’s got its own special, unusual elfin character.

It’s not big, nor is it rich, but it’s persistent, intriguing. A touch dilute, though – surprising for the vintage.

CHÂTEAU GLORIA, CRU BOURGEOIS, ST-JULIEN

94

Drink 2020–32

This is a toasty, opulent Talbot, with attractive ripe brambles coming though on the nose. In the mouth, it is graceful and voluminous, without being weighty. Swar thy tannins lend a lovely contrasting texture on the finish; it goes from light and weightless to an inky, lip-licking finish.

A superb value StJulien, outperforming its cru bourgeois classification in 2010 as in 2009. There’s a medley of sweet fruit on the nose – strawberr y, apples, rhubarb and pear – then an intriguing note of miso. The aroma suggestions are endless, flitting from one to the next, switching and changing as you get lost in the bouquet; totally one of a kind. On the palate, it is bright and exuberant, with lifted, fresh spring flowers and per t fruit. The wine is not without its heft of tannic grip towards the finish. All in all, quite a remarkably singular style, with a rhubarb and custard after taste.

£90 Vinatis

£51.14 Lay & Wheeler

£990 (six bottles) Bordeaux Index

CHÂTEAU TALBOT, 4ÈME CRU CLASSÉ, ST-JULIEN

94

Drink 202 2–34

94

Yet another Pomerol punching above its weight. Clinet’s owner Ronan Laborde was appointed president of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux in 2019. This 2010 is coquettish, with fresh hay and ripe strawberries – transpor ting me to the bucolic countr yside of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles – and then a chocolatey charm. Rounded and encompassing, like a balloon in the mouth expanding into ever y corner. A breath of fresh air, but not without its savour y, tobacco and undergrowth gravitas, suppor ted by a long, accomplished tannic finish. £1,352 (case of 12) Bordeaux Index

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Harlan Estate, 1990–2016 I N T R O D U CT I O N A N D TA ST I N G

J U ST B E F O R E LO C K D OW N , W E V I S I T E D N A PA

N OT E S BY A D A M L E C H M E R E

VA L L E Y F O R A U N I Q U E TA S T I N G O F E V E RY V I N TAG E O F O N E O F I T S STA N D O U T P R O P E RT I E S

The idea of putting on a full vertical of Harlan for Club Oenologique took root when I met estate director Don Weaver in London in September 2019. We finessed the plan over numerous emails. ‘We all agree that it could be something quite special,’ he said. Indeed it was.

The tasting took place at a long table in the fermentation room at Harlan Estate in early March 2020 – just in time. It was the first complete vertical the winery had hosted for many years, and the first to which outsiders had been admitted. The entire team was there: Bill Harlan presided. (‘This is a first,’ he said as he surveyed the vats and the table glinting with glasses.) I sat between him and his son Will; also around the table were Harlan associate director François Vignaud, director of wine growing Bob Levy, winemaker Cory Empting and Weaver himself, along with wine educator Kelli White, Jamie Ritchie of Sotheby’s Fine Wine, California-based critic Elaine Chukan Brown and long-time Harlan collector Jim Walker.

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In all, 27 vintages were tasted – 2016 to 1990 – all pre-poured from magnum and tasted young to old, in three flights of nine. Harlan talks of his project – the ‘200-year plan’ – as a work in progress, and this tasting was a snapshot of it. There was a clear progression as the vines had got older, the estate increased in size and parcel selection had become more targeted. Today, a blending session comprises up to 150 wines, taken from multiple different vineyard samples, tanks and barrels.

The wines were tasted with intense concentration and in almost total silence. After each flight, Weaver led the discussion: Levy was frequently called upon for his wide knowledge of the land; Harlan himself spoke with haikulike economy. Describing the entire Harlan project in a phrase, you might turn to its owner’s description of the 2016: ‘Understated, delicious, lots of detail.’

The combined comments of the group can be seen at cluboenologique.com/harlanvertical

[ THE COLLECTION | HARLAN ]

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HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2007

All wines were tasted from magnum

Drink 2020–40

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2016

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HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2011 Drink 2020–40

Nose fresh and bright.

Creamy blueberr y, sweet bramble, luscious palate; acidity hits instantly, mineral and bright.

Powerful; leather and ear th and a deep layer of perfumed ear th. The texture is ver y fine and grainy, the finish long. Primar y fruits and youthful tannins. 15%

Wow. The character of 2011 shines out: the bright herbaceous nose, sage and leather and an animal aroma, skin and muscle, barnyard, hay in the stable. Palate with minerally blackcurrant, fresh, precise, ver y juicy and charming, the tannins green rather than sappy. No fat to this at all; it’s lean, serious and slightly angular. The quality of the tannins is ver y different from that of its sister wines.

At first taste, they are dr y, mitigated by drops of juice; but as the wine opens in the glass, they soften and charm. This is an outlier, of course, and probably not with the ageing potential of the others. 15%

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2015

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Drink 2025–50 Lovely – a savour y intensity builds on the palate, ver y bright and fresh. So concentrated: dark leafy fruit, bramble and ear th, with juicy acidity washing through the whole. Ver y precise, the tannins soft and ripe, perfumed, mouth-filling. 15% £1,480 ( 75cl) Hedonism

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2014

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Drink 2027–50 Dark, almost purple core, with lighter ruby rim. Shy nose giving a hint of wet stone and baked ear th, then old hay barn. The palate is concentrated, developing; there’s hay here and herb, a mineral under tow, fresh with superb ear thy black fruit, soft, mouthcoating tannins and always juicy acidity.

One for keeping. 15% £9,580 (300cl) Hedonsim

ALEXANDER RUBIN

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Drink 2025–50

£5,737 (six bottles) Fine+Rare

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2013

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Drink 2030–50 I love the nose on this: creamy, full, generous plummy aromas, with a hint of oak. The tannins are now robust and insistent and pulling away from the acidity; six years on, and the components are finding their place, tension working all ways, the finish dr y and intense, juice fighting against the tannins. Young and not nearly ready, this will be mighty in a few years and will last for decades. 15% £8,417 (six bottles) Fine+Rare

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2012

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Shy nose, savour y; it’s fascinating to detect the aromas as they lift lightly out. Tannins kick in instantly, present, correct and insistent, dr yness washed with shots of juice, acidity finding its way through.

Dark fruit, minerality, violet perfume – amazing concentration and precision, chewy, even sappy at the end, and always the bright acidity pushing through to the finish. 15%

Such a charming nose; floral perfume – rosewater and luscious sweet fruit: bramble, blackberr y more than blueberr y, some mint and graphite. Delicious.

Tannins incredibly soft and fine-grained, the acidity fresh and sweet. 15%

£3,915 (six bottles) Fine+Rare

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2010

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HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2009 Drink 2025–50

What an absolutely lovely nose; shy and reserved but showing delicate red fruit – charming.

The palate is dense and tightly wound, a sense of coiled energy; reserved, slightly closed. The fruit on the palate is sweet – blueberr y and ripe plum – the tannins with a powerful grip, old-fashioned beasts to be left alone for a good few years. The finish is endless, the juice sappy.

This is a superb example of finesse and power. 15%

£789 ( 75cl) Fine+Rare

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2008

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HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2006 Drink 202 2–40

Ver y deep purple, with a core the colour of fresh liver. Fresh, open, ver y generous nose of dried sage; full of life. The palate is ripe, luscious and sappy, tannins fresh and ripe, length generous. Woody, brambly mid-palate, the tannins still fresh and grainy. Complex and ripe, with juicy acidity and a lovely persistent finish. 15% Secondar y market

£1,611 (magnum) Fine+Rare

Drink 2025–50 Inky dark core, shot through with red velvet.

The nose has hints of bitumen and chaparral (Napa garrigue), with sweet, dark fruit developing a sloe-like concentration. So young in profile, the tannins kicking in; staying, lovely concentration and heft, with an impression of dr yness. There’s an austerity about this. I love the bed of tannins that underpins the whole structure, the juice coming through, allowing a cer tain fatness. 15%

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£2,289 (magnum) Fine+Rare

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Drink 2020–50 Graphite and mineral, with a herbaceous waft of leaf. Suddenly the tannins are softening, and you feel this uncoiling. Fruit rides with the tannins in harmony rather than fighting for a place; the acidity is melded now, ever ything integrated, and there’s a lovely intimacy to the perfume – a lavenderscented oak drawer opened for a second, then fine floral notes and savour y dark fruit.

Still hints of austerity here, the tannins soft in the mid-palate but gripping to the end. 15%

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2005

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Drink 2020–40 Dark, opaque blood-red colour, with a broad, light ruby rim. Amazing savour y nose: ferrous, with old cracked leather and plum skin. Palate is light and fresh, ver y charming; a hint of salted plum and blackberr y, salinity, cataracts of juice washing over the whole.

Absolutely ready. 15% £4,194 (six bottles) Fine+Rare

£1,291 (magnum) Fine+Rare

£1,280 ( 75cl) Hedonism

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HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2002 HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2004

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Drink 2020–40 Wonderful perfumed old armoire nose and a lovely, fresh open palate: savour y and mineral, with dense, fresh, dark savour y fruit and fine acidity. The tannins have a dr y dusty grip, and the juice comes later; the eucalypt and varietal character ver y strong. 15%

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Drink 2020–40 Intense tarr y nose, ver y deep with secondar y character coming through: tar, molasses, dark treacle, burnt muscovado sugar – almost PX-like. Palate awash with juice, so irrigated, mouthwatering and generous – an oasis, delicate and precise but luscious all at once, with potpourri and dusty rose petal and fine-grained tannins to the end. 15% Secondar y market

£689 ( 75cl) Fine+Rare

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2000

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Drink 2020–30 This is ver y different from its peers and has the most elusive perfume.

Savour y nose, dried herbs. More immediately tannic and linear, an impression that the mid-palate is missing.

Hollow at the core, and the tannins are dr y for a wine this age. A sommelier would look to move this on. 15% £735 ( 75cl) Fine+Rare

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 2003

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Drink 2020–30 Ver y high, sweetperfumed dark damson and violet notes on the nose (or as it might be, tar and roses).

Really luscious and charming, the garrigue now mellowing to dried rose petals with hints of dried sage. The palate has more rosepetal perfume, allied to dark fruit and fine juice, and soft tannins that have superb grip.

Ready now and evolved to a stage that would suggest ageing will be shor ter than for its sister wines. Quite evolved for a magnum. 15% £884 ( 75cl) Hedonism

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HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEYY 2001

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Drink 2020–40 The nose has a tinge of dried blood, a ferrous edge. The palate is soft and generous, with lovely sweet dark fruit and dried petals, high notes of cooked ear th and garrigue. The tannins are gripping but soft and velvet-coated, the finish long and delicate. 15% £1,233 ( 75cl) Fine+Rare

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1999

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Drink 2020–40 Lovely, complex, savour y nose, with hay and sage. Dark and rather brooding, the powerful tannins kicking in early.

Soft mid-palate, with dark fresh fruit and fine acidity and tannins.

Really fine length, the tannins bright, alive and well integrated. 15% Secondar y market

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1998

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Drink 2020–27 Ver y fine fresh nose, with an unmistakable savour y, animal tang. The acidity is ripe and full. Ver y fresh, light and soft in the midpalate with ear thy tannins, but tightening later. It is giving ver y little away at this stage, though I can’t see the tannins loosening their grip or releasing any more juice as it ages. 15% £1,244 (magnum) Fine+Rare

[ THE COLLECTION | HARLAN ]

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1996 HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1997

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Drink 2020–40 Luscious, fresh, intense nose. Bright juice and acidity – and still that amazing fruit: ripe blackberr y and dark cherr y; texture of black chocolate. And with that, it’s approachable and fresh and warm, if not too warm; for the first time, the alcohol is apparent.

The great ’97 as you’ve never seen it – a big, fine and voluptuous wine. 15% £1,361 ( 75cl) Fine+Rare

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Drink 2020–27

There’s a fine linen aroma here on the nose.

It’s fresh and bright on the palate, with good tannic heft and lovely power to the acidity. As the palate progresses, it remains dense and bright, the tannins dr y and washed with juice.

This is a venerable, aged wine, absolutely ready. Some lovely fruit is still evident but gradually receding. 15%

The ’93 is utterly Napa: that woody, slightly carnal perfume of the Bay and some sappy snapped twig. The palate is quite evolved: perfume and freshness, full of life but also passing into a second stage with fruit that is slightly raisined.

The tannins are dusty, and acidity and juice carr y through to the end. Still luscious and with potential. 15%

Secondar y market

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1995

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Drink 2020–27

FACUND O BUSTAMANTE

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1993

Really lovely nose – and evolving just as you’d expect. Mint, bramble and blackberr y jam on the palate; soft tannins with edge. The perfume carries through on the mid-palate to the end, then the tannins strengthen and grip, and you fear they are dr y.

The finish is complex, long and evolved. 15% Secondar y market

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1994

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Drink 2020–27 The nose is sweet and perfumed: classic Napa garrigue, with hints of elegant rot.

On the palate, the first impression is of juice – a wonderfully irrigated mouthful, with notes of dark fruit and a saline tang that sets off the juice. Really venerable old wine, sweet and tannic, ver y pure. The tannins are still robust and present but without an edge of any sor t – they melt into the wine. 15% £1,243 ( 75cl) Fine+Rare

£741 ( 75cl) Fine+Rare

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1992

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Drink 2020–25 Deep damson dark fruit nose. Charming palate, fresh and long and juicy, with lovely hints of herb and sage in the midpalate, then river mud and soft dark fruit. The tannins are ver y insistent and the juice fresh; not enough of it at the end, but that’s a minor cavil.

This is a really lovely old wine, absolutely ready to drink. 15% £842 ( 75cl) Fine+Rare

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1991

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Drink 2020–25 This is fresh, but the tannins are almost fierce – where are they going to go? Fine raisiny fruit and still a sweet hint of raspberr y leaf and some good acidity. Fine old tannins are dr ying, and the whole mouthful is slightly lacking in energy. Heading into the final straight but still going strong. 15% Secondar y market

HARLAN ESTATE, NAPA VALLEY 1990

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Drink 2020–30 Elegant Burgundian rot on the nose: compost and estuar y mud. It’s fresh and soft, the tannins bright alongside ver y evolved fruit, all plum and damson but stewed with sugar – a fine evolved sweetness. A little bit of green on the end palate.

The whole is elegant, utterly charming, viable and moving to a long, long old age. 15% Secondar y market

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I NTR O D U C TI O N

TA S T I N G N OT E S

CO L I N H A M P D E N -W H IT E

CO L I N H A M P D E N -W H IT E , C H A R L E S M AC L E A N A N D LO R A H E M Y

Old and rare whisky LU C K Y LO N D O N - BA S E D W H I S K Y LOV E R S H A D TH E O P P O R T U N IT Y TO S A M P L E A S T U N N I N G R A N G E O F D R A M S AT A JAW - D R O P P I N G E V E N T J U S T B E F O R E LO C K D OW N . F O R TH OS E W H O M I S S E D O U T, H E R E A R E TH E H I G H L I G HTS . . .

Among the plethora of many good, even great, whisky shows and festivals around the world, there is one that stands out above all others. Nowhere on earth are whisky collectors likely to find as many treasures by the dram as at the annual Old & Rare Whisky Show. The event was the brainchild of private whisky consultant Angus MacRaild and Jonny McMillan of Berry Bros, and, with the financial backing of Sukhinder Singh (owner of The Whisky Exchange, Elixir distillers and whisky.auction), Old & Rare was born. Hosted in Glasgow for its first three years, this year the show moved to London – just prior to lockdown.

The USP of Old & Rare is that it allows consumers the opportunity to taste the rarest whiskies the world has to offer, in one venue, without having to buy a bottle. Ticket price covers entry, and visitors then pay by the dram. One-centilitre pours give sufficient volume to get a sense of the spirit – and to continue tasting a good number of different whiskies while remaining in control of one’s faculties. The quantity of liquid on offer also largely keeps the cost of each dram from being exorbitant – pours range in price from £3 to £300. While hardly inexpensive, this represents incredible value for money once you see the types of whisky being shown.

Enthusiasts – both trade and consumers – come from all over the world for this event, bringing together great whisky collectors, auctioneers, producers and bartenders selling rare drams.

Among them were Hideo Yamaoka from Japan, Joe Hyman of Skinner Auctioneers in the USA, Christian Dully from Switzerland, home-grown talent like Jon Beach, owner of Fiddler’s on Loch Ness, and Phil Thompson of the Dornoch Castle Hotel, and producers such as Gordon & MacPhail and Diageo-

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owned Justerini & Brooks. The latter has a unique proposition as the producer of its own single-cask whiskies made available for purchase through a caskownership scheme called the Casks of Distinction.

Special casks, known to be of the highest quality, are offered to private clients; they are subsequently bottled by Justerini & Brooks, which also then helps sell them, should the client wish to do so. In this category, a handful of very rare bottles found their way into the show, including a 40-year-old Port Ellen and a 50-year-old Glenury Royal.

The drams are spectacular. The oldest Scotch we tasted on the day came from the US auction house Skinner. It was from 1885 and represented a special piece of history that demonstrated production methods from that era and a hint of how 19th-century whisky might have tasted. The oldest liquid of the day came through a good friend, Tim Forbes of WhiskyOnline Auctions, who had a bottle of potcheen from the 1820s that still tasted wonderful. It had come from a hoard of around 100 bottles found buried in Ireland; as the builders dug them out, around 40% broke. Luckily, enough of them survived to provide attendees with a taste of something that is now around 200 years old.

There were many whiskies that had been more purposefully long-aged, including the superb 1968 50-year-old Glenury Royal on the Justerini & Brooks stand. Other highlights were a 1939 Longmorn from Gordon & MacPhail, and a 36-year-old Clynelish from Elixir distillers. With such differing flavour profiles, it was quite impossible to choose a best-in-show. But if you find a retailer selling any of the whiskies on the following pages (prices are, in most cases, a guide), I’d suggest you make an enquiry.

[ THE COLLECTION | WHISKY ]

CLYNELISH, 36-YEAR-OLD COURTESY OF ELIXIR DISTILLERS ROSEBANK, 21-YEAR-OLD 2020 COURTESY OF ELIXIR DISTILLERS Rosebank has been closed since 1993, so it is always a pleasure to come across whiskies from this distillery.

This was a particularly good example. With lots of tropical fruits, especially mango, there were subtle rose aromas on the nose too. On the palate, roasted pineapple comes through, and some spice emerges on the back of the palate.

The Rosebank trademark has recently been sold by Diageo, and the distillery is being rebuilt by Ian MacLeod distillers. It would be nice to think that, in another 30 or so years, we might have more whisky like this. 52.6%

Old Clynelish is hard to come by, and this was an absolute cracker. Perhaps the whisky of the tasting, it had classic waxy flavours and linseed oil, with red fruits in abundance, especially redcurrants.

The Sherry flavours held all these competing characters together. With a little air, even more complexity follows, along with white pepper, heather, bog myrtle and gorse flowers, and on the finish a very slight smokiness and nutty flavours. 47.1% ÂŁ995 on release

ÂŁ875 on release

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BOWMORE, 31-YEAROLD 1957 COURTESY OF WHISKY.AUCTION

LAPHROAIG, 10-YEAR-OLD 1980 COURTESY OF ANGUS MACRAILD

Bowmore is known for its tropical flavours, especially Bowmore from the 1950s and 1960s, and this expression from 1957 didn’t disappoint.

Joining the tropical aromas and flavours, there is a wisp of smoke, coal dust and hemp. Left on the palate for a short while, melon fruit joins the papaya, and the balance of the whisky becomes very evident. 40.1%

Old Laphroaig is very sought after, and we could see why when tasting this 10-yearold, bottled around 1980.

There are oily aromas and echoes of cordite and fired shotgun. Fruit flavours of fleshy peaches mix with candle wax and lots of smoke. The dram is elegant overall and has a satisfying savoury back palate. 43%

BRORA, 1982 GORDON & MACPHAIL COURTESY OF GORDON & MACPHAIL Brora closed its doors in 1983 and was mothballed.

However, it is soon to be reopened and the distillery brought back to life by Diageo. Back in 2014, a 40-year-old Brora was the most expensive whisky Diageo has sold, at £7,000.

This expression by an independent bottler is not quite as pricey but is still impressive. It is oily, with quite a bit of smoke; orchard fruits mix with sweet tablet and toffee, and a savoury flavour akin to chicken skin rubbed with sage rounds it out. 43%

£2,000 The Whisky Exchange

£22,500 The Whisky Exchange GLENURY ROYAL, 50-YEAR-OLD 1968, CASKS OF DISTINCTION COURTESY OF DIAGEO

SCOTCH WHISKY 1885, IMPORTED BY ME BELLOWS’ SON, NYC COURTESY OF SKINNER AUCTIONEERS Tasting whisky of this age is an experience and a privilege rather than a pleasure. This mostly smelled of mothballs and creosote, but on the palate there were some tropical fruits underlying the eucalyptus and tar. There was still a good structure and a finish that lasted quite a while. ABV unknown £2,000 Est GLENLOCHY, 38-YEAR-OLD 1965 COURTESY OF ANGUS MACRAILD This was a surprise, because Glenlochy is not seen often and is frequently not as good as this bottle.

Very fruity, with plenty of esters presenting as hair lacquer and candied fruit.

Desiccated coconut and dried pineapple mix with a delicate smoke. Subtle incense and cloves come through at the end in a very complex whisky. 42.3% £1,860 Hedonism

This Glenury Royal is another cask bottled by Diageo under its Casks of Distinction programme and a brilliant example of how good very old Glenury Royal can be. With aromas of freshly laundered linen, it is a fragile whisky, but there is lots of complexity, with dried marzipan, sweet nutty flavours, desiccated coconut and sawn pine wood. There are hints of spice on the finish. 45%

£800 The Whisky Exchange GLENMORANGIE, 23-YEAR-OLD 1963 COURTESY OF WHISKY.AUCTION

£7,200 Est OLD PULTENEY, 8-YEAR-OLD 1970s COURTESY OF FIDDLER’S, LOCH NESS Until recently, Old Pulteney was the most northerly distillery on mainland Scotland. Built in the seaside town of Wick, it is known for its sea salt character. This whisky, young but made in the 1970s, has this character and much more. There are aromas of machine oil and typewriter ribbon; a spicy kick comes in on the mid-palate after a sweet start; the finish is smoky and dry. 38.5% £150 Est

SMITH’S, GRAND LIQUEUR SCOTCH WHISKY, PRE-1910 COURTESY OF SKINNER AUCTIONEERS This whisky had been imported to the USA before Prohibition by a company that seemed to be trading on the name Smith because of the more famous Smith’s of Glenlivet. However, it was a pleasure to taste – complex, with sweet buttery vanilla, tinned fruit syrup and peach skins, then touches of marzipan on the finish. £1,000 Est

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These days, Glenmorangie is known for being fruitand vanilla-led, with the Glenmorangie Original being a perfect example.

However, in the 1960s, when direct-fired stills were used, it had more industrial aromas. Cordite and gun oil are present in this 1963 expression; it is very fragrant. The fruit flavours come through with baked apple skin, redcurrant jelly and concentrated orange juice. Smoke holds the dram together, with subtle but distinct rose flavours at the end. 43% £2,250 The Whisky Exchange

[ THE COLLECTION | WHISKY ]

ARDBEG, 18-YEAR-OLD CADENHEADS, 1974 COURTESY OF ANGUS MACRAILD This whisky was bottled for the 150th anniversary of Cadenheads, a famous independent bottler based in Campbeltown. Distilled in 1974, it was bottled in 1991. With sweet smoke and tinned sardines in brine, it is classic good old Ardbeg.

Minerally and metallic, with iodine and seaweed all in the mix. Smoke flavours persist throughout as if from a spent peat fire.

There are also savoury flavours under the maritime notes, including lava bread and sage. 57.6%

GLEN GRANT, 15-YEAROLD, 100% PROOF, 1970s COURTESY OF ANGUS MACRAILD

BRORA, SIGNATORY 1982 COURTESY OF FIDDLER’S, LOCH NESS In this tasting, we had two Brora expressions from 1982, and they are quite different, though neither betters the other. This one was quite meaty, like a roasting pan. There was still classic oiliness, but the fruits were dried, like malt loaf and sultanas.

The palate is spirit-led suggesting a weak (wellused?) cask, but the whisky is by no means weak. Spices come through on the finish, with youthful touches of caramelized syrup. 58.4% £435 Est PORT ELLEN, 40-YEAROLD, CASKS OF DISTINCTION COURTESY OF DIAGEO Forty-year-old Port Ellen is a rarity, and although a legendary whisky, not all bottles are as good as the expectations of tasting them. This, however, was very good. It was bottled by proprietor Diageo for a private client under the Casks of Distinction programme. This had sweet smoke and iodine, a metallic top note and hints of salinity, with toasted turnips on the back palate. It is complex, with fresh green apples keeping the whisky fruity as the salty flavours build across the palate. 44.4% £23,500 Est

Thankfully, old examples of Glen Grant can be found more easily than whiskies from other distilleries, since it is often very good and not as expensive.

This Speyside Scotch has typical smokiness of a bygone era when peat was used to dry barley everywhere, not just on Islay. It is like eating toffee apples next to a bonfire.

There are also blackstrap molasses mixed with spice, white pepper and rape seed oil. On the finish, pencil shavings and furniture polish bring the dram to an end. 55%

£8,600 Est LINKWOOD, 37-YEAROLD CONNOISSEUR’S CHOICE, 1939 COURTESY OF GORDON & MACPHAIL

£400 Est

HIGHLAND PARK, 8-YEAR-OLD 1970s COURTESY OF ANGUS MACRAILD In the last century, whisky ranges would often start with a young expression, and Highland Park was no exception. This was bottled in the 1960s as an eight-year-old and is full of character. It has the typical Highland Park smokiness but also has a vegetal edge in the form of artichokes.

Richer flavours of baked apples come through on the palate, along with slightly overcooked apple crumble on which the fruit has started to caramelize. 38.5% £625 Est

Linkwood from this era is rarely seen, and this expression was created shortly before the distilleries closed during World War II. It is very fragrant, with herbs and lots of juicy red fruit. There is a subtle struck-match aroma in the background, giving it depth and adding to a full-bodied whisky that includes white pepper and spices that take time to build up on the palate. 43% £4,000 The Whisky Exchange MACALLAN, SPEYMALT 1950 COURTESY OF GORDON & MACPHAIL Macallan is perhaps the most famous distillery of them all. The whiskies produced there have a reputation to uphold, and it is examples like this that gave Macallan its reputation in the first place.

Aromas of rose petals, potpourri and Turkish delight give an overall sweet first impression. This is an elegant whisky with leather and Pan Drops on the palate and spearmint in the background. Spices throughout make it complex and pleasurable. 43% £7,400 oldandrarewhisky.co.uk

BALBLAIR, 15-YEAR-OLD 1970s COURTESY OF FIDDLER’S, LOCH NESS Balblair is a north highlands distillery known for its fruity highland character.

This dram from the 1970s is a typical example of an ester-driven Scotch.

Esters provide fruity flavours in whisky. There are lots of confected fruit flavours like foam prawns (prevalent in sweet shops in the ‘70s). Hand cream and baby wipes give a clean floral character. The palate brings in tinned fruit salad, candle wax and snuffed-out candle smoke on the finish. 40% £400 Est BRORA, 35-YEAR-OLD COURTESY OF DIAGEO This 35-year-old Brora is the third Cask of Distinction from Diageo in the tasting, and it’s just as good as the others. It has the classic oily character associated with Brora, with floral notes of hyacinth and sweet notes of raw honey and beeswax. It is an old, elegant, fragile whisky that beguiles as it retreats from the senses, forcing the drinker to keep going back to it. There is a thread of smoke throughout, and right at the end, a sweet note of crystalline sugar.

A very fine whisky. 48.6% £1,850 The Whisky Exchange

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IWSC wines of the year AT T H I S Y E A R ’ S I N T E R N AT I O N A L W I N E & S P I R I T C O M P E T I T I O N ,

THOUSANDS OF ENTRANTS WERE WHITTLED DOWN TO 4 6 STA N D O U T P E R F O R M E R S – 3 0 W I N E S

The IWSC was created more than 50 years ago to reward excellence in drinks worldwide. Its global experts – including buyers, sommeliers, distributors and influencers – judge commercially available wines and spirits throughout the year – a challenge in 2020 but, fortunately, not an insurmountable one. Samples are assessed using the ‘double-blind’ method, meaning judges only ever see what is in the pre-poured glass in front of them, never a bottle.

Each wine and spirit is assessed by a specialist team within its category, such as red Rioja reserva, and scored out of 100 by each judge. Only those that, after discussion, have an average of 85 and above receive an award. The highest scorers – 95 and over – receive a gold medal and are put forward for a second tasting to qualify for a trophy – the highest accolade an individual wine or spirit can receive.

The following 30 wines and 16 spirits are the best in show from this year’s IWSC winners, each one awarded a coveted trophy. To ensure that the very best wines received the recognition they deserved, the wine trophies were not awarded within categories this year, unlike the spirits. This meant that, for hotly contested categories such as sparkling wine, where only one trophy was previously awarded, England’s Black Chalk Classic Brut can now rub shoulders with Champagne royalty such as Lanson’s Noble Cuvée. For spirits, meanwhile, each trophy winner is deemed the very best of its type, from rum to mezcal to whisky.

A N D 1 6 S P I R I T S, A L L L I ST E D H E R E . . .

BLACK CHALK, CLASSIC BRUT, HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND 2016

95

Fresh white fruit on the nose, with the palate showing beautiful midpalate fruit. Expressive, savoury and citrusy, with a crisp and refreshing finish. Very well balanced and consistent from start to finish. Lovely. 12% £35 Black Chalk

95

95

LOMBARD, BRUT NATURE, GRAND CRU CHOUILLY NV, CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE

A classic, impressive blanc de blancs style exuding a complex melange of citrus and green fruits, radiant gold colour and elegant, sweet honey. Biscuity notes tease the palate. The minerality is palpable. A masterpiece: well balanced and a concentrated composition. 12.5% £58.50 Harvey Nichols

100

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WAITROSE, BRUT SPECIAL RÉSERVE, CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE 2008 Elegant, glittering and ostentatious. Brimming with piercing stone and citrus fruit aromas. On the palate, there is an edgy nuttiness, smooth creaminess and rich marzipan. Balanced acidity reverberates harmoniously. Its youthful mouthfeel and impressive finish deliver great poise and potential. 12.5% £25.99 Waitrose & Partners

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95

WEINGUT KARL SCHAEFER, UNGSTEINER WEILBERG GG RIESLING, PFALZ, GERMANY 2017 Intense, confident and perfectly paced. The nose shows the way with citrus and tropical notes, then the palate embraces in lavish, glowing ripe peach and mango, richly balanced with Christmas cake and sparks of acidity. Poised, with handsome typicity. 13.3% N/A in UK

95

95

LANSON, NOBLE CUVÉE BRUT, CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE 2002

MAX MANN, PINOT BLANC NAHE, GERMANY 2019

Persuasive nose with coconut and truffle – all very poised. The palate is rich and creamy, showing beautiful evolution, and it is backed by fresh fruit and savoury notes. Structurally superb, with marked mineral acidity and a long complex finish. 12.5%

A supremely elegant nose of white flowers and orange zest with malty characters, focused mineral top notes and scant salinity.

The fully realised palate gives ripe stone fruits, apple, lime juice and delicate spice, balanced by fresh acidity and yeasty undertones. 12%

£120 Champagne Direct

N/A in UK

95

PFAFF, RIESLING, GOLDERT GRAND CRU, ALSACE, FRANCE 2018

Ripe ginger and pink grapefruit are balanced out with a hint of petrol on the nose. Complex and slightly honeyed on the palate, with ripe peaches and brioche. Touches of perfect stone fruit lead to a clean, long finish. 13% N/A in UK

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95

BIRD IN HAND, TED EDWARD ANDREW CHARDONNAY, ADELAIDE HILLS, AUSTRALIA 2017

96

CASTELLI, IL LIRIS CHARDONNAY, DENMARK, WESTERN AUSTRALIA 2018

Richly layered abundance of aromatic pleasure: ripe yellow plum, exotic blooms, woodsmoke, citrus, lime curd, bacon and pineapple. Elegant, refined and controlled, with a mouthwatering acidity and a finely textured palate. A superb, citrus-scented stonefruit finish. Longevity and grace. 13% N/A in UK

95

LA CAVE DES VIGNERONS DE PFAFFENHEIM, CUVÉE ANCESTRUM GEWURZTRAMINER, ALSACE, FRANCE 2018

Ripe but balanced notes of candied passion fruit and dried grape. The palate is deliciously sweet and rich, with complexity and spice.

Wow – how it evolves in the glass. Quite brilliant. 13.5% N/A in UK

102

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Creamy, seductive, jasmine-scented honeyed beeswax and lemon meringue adorn this dreamily textured, harmonious cornucopia of a wine. Sublimely lengthy and substantial of weight, acidity and fruit – made for food. Classical profile and the potential to live forever. 13.5% £85 Frontier Fine Wines

95

SUR ANDINO, ALTALUVIA CABERNET FRANC, MENDOZA, ARGENTINA 2018 This is like floating on a languid river of vibrant black fruit, with heady spicy florals in the air and wet stone gleaming throughout. The tannins have good, restrained bite, the oak is polished and the acidity glimmers.

Balanced, intense and perfect for pairing. 15% £25 Winebuyers

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95

BOOTHS (LA RIOJA ALTA), GRAN NORTE RIOJA RESERVA, RIOJA, SPAIN 2015 A step back in time with this traditional style, allowing the American oak to bring out the complex typicity of coconut, toast and mature undergrowth.

The harmony of oak, fruit and acidity makes a wine that is jampacked with intensity and ripeness. 14.5% £13.50 Booths

95

BARTINNEY, SKYFALL CABERNET SAUVIGNON, STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA 2015 MUM’S BLOCK, SHIRAZ, BAROSSA, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 2018

96

Powerful yet restrained and elegant; the nose displays evidence of evolution, from tomatochutney characters to classic ripe berry fruits.

The oak influence is beautifully intertwined to create balance and harmony. 14.5%

Hawthorn and hedgerow.

Complex and irresistibly smooth and supple below the (rose) hip.

Tease me with cigar and tobacco, and watch me evolve into something delicious, something divine. A Stellenbosch at its most prime. 14.5% £37 Humble Grape

N/A in UK

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95

SORDO PERNO, BAROLO, PIEDMONT, ITALY 2016

Opulent, encapsulating and oh so fragrant.

A procession of ripe fruits, with strawberries, raspberries and plums leading the way.

Mesmerising graphite minerality, with a touch of toasty oak. Distinguished yet delicate, and the tannic structure remains tense and dashing. Cellar for five years to enjoy it at its best. 14.5%

95

TENUTE PICCINI, BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO, TUSCANY, ITALY 2015

Flows from one sense to another – utterly seamless and natural. Refined red fruits, chestnut and truffle/savoury aromas on the nose, with velvetsmooth tannins and refreshing bright acidity on the finish. Truly a remarkable wine. 14%

N/A in UK

N/A in UK

95

FORTANT, GRANDS TERROIRS, MINERVOIS, LANGUEDOCROUSSILLON, FRANCE 2018

A complex and ripe start, with forest fruit, a hint of blueberry and peppercorn aromas. This is full and creamy on a bold, rich palate, with a massive oaked cushion of fruit.

There’s white pepper and a long, complex finish. 14.5% N/A in UK

95

GEMMA, COLAREJ, BAROLO, PIEDMONT, ITALY 2016

Precise, elegant and really well made. Stony minerality leads to sweet, ripe cherries.

Excellent complexity on the palate, with floral and spicy characteristics.

Vanilla notes evolve into firm, dry tannins on the finish. Wonderfully composed, this is drinking beautifully now and will be showing its best in the coming years. 14% £35 Oddbins

104

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96

QUOIN ROCK, RED BLEND, STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA 2015

Delicate and focused nose with black fruits and floral notes. Concentrated and well-balanced palate, with ripe tannins and nicely integrated oak. This is a plush yet elegant example that shows complexity and length. 15%

KAMANTERENA, ST BARNABAS COMMANDARIA, CYPRUS 2002

£41.25 Frontier Fine Wines

95

BOOTHS (MAISON SICHEL), SAUTERNES, FRANCE 2017

97

MÁD, LATE HARVEST TOKAJ, HUNGARY 2017

95

Expressive sweet notes of honey, molasses and fig. With underlying spice, the wine is still fresh, giving notes of bruised red apple and nutty characteristics. Amazing length with hints of coffee and chocolate. 15% N/A in UK

Beguiling and utterly delicious, with welldefined aromas of canned pineapple, greengage and bruised apple. A lusciously sweet core is brought beautifully into line by a refreshing stream of acidity.

Fantastic concentration throughout – an excellent example of its type. 13% £14 Booths (375ml)

An excellent example of a Tokaj nose, with lovely dried apricot, honey, straw and lime-peel notes.

The palate is rich and ripe, with lovely acidity and freshness. Loads of spice and real finesse – a benchmark for Tokaj. 12% £19.99 (375ml) Borders Wines

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95

WILLIAMS & HUMBERT, DOS CORTADOS, PALO CORTADO AGED 20 YEARS SHERRY, SPAIN

The enduring nose highlights big aromas of vanilla, dried fruits, roasted hazelnuts and coffee beans. Rich and compelling on the palate, with a smorgasbord of cooked exotic fruits, all delectably seasoned with a pinch of sea salt.

Divinely memorable. 21.5% £25.30 (500ml) Field & Fawcett

97

EMILIO LUSTAU, OLOROSO VORS 30-YEAR-OLD SHERRY, SPAIN

Wonderfully expressive on the nose, with zesty orange peel and sweet roasted hazelnuts. Clean, dry saline notes contrast brilliantly against sweet dried dates, overripe figs and candied walnuts.

Altogether, tremendously intense and vital, with a long, persistent finish. 21% £75 (500ml) Noble Green Wines

96

MORRIS, CELLAR RESERVE GRAND MUSCAT, RUTHERGLEN, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

Scrumptious sultana, burnt caramel and charming coffee. The palate is so rich and so complex, with delightful figs and delectable Christmas pudding; it leaves you begging for more. 17% N/A in UK

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D’OLIVEIRAS BOAL, MADEIRA, PORTUGAL 1980

95

Glorious, abundant nose of buttery caramel, dried figs and hazelnut nougat.

Generous lashings of Seville orange marmalade, dried dates and candied walnuts are cut through with puckering acidity and underpinned by a lusciously full mouthfeel, making for a seriously stylish wine. 20% £145 Delicias UK

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95

MORRIS, CELLAR RESERVE GRAND TAWNY, RUTHERGLEN, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

Stewed black fruits unfurl in fabulous concentration backed by hot white pepper and mace notes. A very fine rancio character appears alongside divine notes of caramel and butterscotch, while the alcohol is integrated perfectly on a superbly balanced palate. 19% N/A in UK

95

VINHOS FERREIRA, QUINTA DO PORTO, VINTAGE PORT, PORTUGAL 2017

Refined rustic fruits on the nose. Elegant juicy black fruits on the palate, with vibrant spicy wood notes.

Full of energy, with fine tannins and a beautifully rounded punch at the end.

A true knockout, with excellent prospects. 20% N/A in UK

96

QUINTA DO PÉGO, VINTAGE PORT, PORTUGAL 2017

CÁLEM, COLHEITA TAWNY PORT, PORTUGAL 1961

A bright nose with intense plum and sweet cherry notes that unexpectedly step aside to reveal deeper aromas of tobacco, lavender and eucalyptus.

Beautiful ripe plum and blueberry flavours on the palate, with a deliciously wicked finish. Youthful and expressive. 20%

Sophisticated, with a superb nose that radiates the beauty of sumptuous plump raisins and soft figs with the delicate toastiness of tobacco and cedar. Incredible concentration of fruit; the divine buttery finish causes the palate to sing joyfully. 20%

N/A in UK

£193 Amathus Drinks

95

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IWSC spirits of the year

98 99

GLENFIDDICH, 40-YEAR-OLD SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY, SPEYSIDE, SCOTLAND

THE WESTFALIAN, PEATED 6-YEAR-OLD SINGLE MALT WHISKY, GERMANY

Distinguished and decadent. Deep, dark wood aromas, with hints of leather and old books.

Complex but well-balanced palate of apples and dried pears, with a great sweet/ spice balance. 45.4%

Incredible aromas of toasty malted milk and vanilla flowers. There is outstanding depth to the palate: warm flapjacks and sweet honeycomb, balanced by aged leather and dried tea leaves – and a building crescendo of intense, savoury peat smoke.

N/A in UK

98

N/A in UK

£5,000 (70cl) The Whisky Exchange

The Single Malt Scotch Whisky 25 Years and Under Trophy

98

BUNNAHABHAIN, 25-YEAR-OLD SINGLE MALT SCOTCH, ISLAY, SCOTLAND

Well balanced, with finesse and elegance. Soft vanilla sponge, orange liqueur and grapefruit zest on the nose. The spice and oak are integrated well, with fresh fruit and dried apricot on the palate. 46.3% £345(70cl) Master of Malt

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UNCLE NEAREST, 1820 SINGLE BARREL WHISKEY, TENNESSEE, USA Bold, with abundant dark dried fruits on the nose, underpinned by appealing vanilla and sweet nut clusters. Complex and rounded, with luxurious dark chocolate and rich praline. Highlights of red fruit and lifted oak culminate in an alluringly long finish. 58.6%

The Single Malt Scotch Whisky 26 Years and Over Trophy

Worldwide Whiskey Trophy

Bourbon Trophy

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Contemporary Gin Trophy BOULDER SPIRITS, GINSKEY, COLORADO, USA

Grape Brandy Trophy

98

The seductive nose displays big bourbon characteristics, with an abundance of rich woody sweetness, vanilla oak and dark cherry notes.

Exceptionally balanced spirit, with bold, spicy fruit culminating in a heady perfume of floral notes and a juniper-rich finish. 47% £45 (50cl) Master of Malt

Vodka Trophy

98

CHÂTEAU DU TARIQUET, PURE FOLLE BLANCHE 15-YEAR-OLD BASARMAGNAC, FRANCE

Very elegant, with intriguing rancio nose – but it has retained its freshness. Very luxurious, with the alcohol working the aromatics perfectly; clotted cream, raspberry jam and chocolate truffles on the finish. 40% POA (70cl) Master of Malt

98

DISTILLERIE DE LA TOUR FAMILLE, NAUD FRENCH VODKA, CHARENTEMARITIME, FRANCE

98 London Dry Gin Trophy

Superbly luxurious, expressive vodka: smoky citrus notes meet vanilla and coconut, ripe stone and tropical fruit.

There is a deliciously sweet, warming quality, almost rum-like, and a candied chocolate creaminess to boot. 40% £27.95 (70cl) Master of Malt

HELFORD RIVER DISTILLERY, MONTEREY GIN, ENGLAND Full, dry, resinous and aromatic, this magnificent elixir entices you to linger over fragrant coriander, zippy lemon and sweetly scented herbs. Boldly enriched by a rounded, warm, dry palate culminating in a deep, cooling finish. 43% £43 (70cl) Monterey Gin

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Rum Trophy FOURSQUARE 2008 RUM, BARBADOS

95

Focused and elegant, with notes of mandarin peel, nutmeg and allspice.

Oaky and rich, and there is a gentle heat that accentuates the core sweet-spiced character.

Mouthwateringly moreish. 60% £60 (70cl) The Whisky Exchange

Agave Trophy

98

Shochu Trophy BREWDOG DISTILLING, INUGAMI SHOCHU, ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND Gingerbread baked with spices and coated in rum caramel sauce creates an enticing aroma that leads to a palate of rose-petal confectionery. Aroma and flavour are well combined and comforting in their smoothness. Ginger and spice continue through to the finish. Layered, complex, enjoyably intriguing complexity. 23% £26.95 (70cl) Brewdog

110

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MEZCOLATRA, COLORES TÓBALA MEZCAL, MEXICO

95

Rich and intense, with balanced aromas of smoke, wood and clay.

Focused flavours of rustic fruit and wild mint offer a superlatively bright, prolonged finish.

Elegantly textured and, in short, absolutely awesome. 42.5% £52 (75cl) mercadomezcal.com

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Blended Scotch Whisky Trophy

98

GLORY LEADING, 45-YEAR-OLD BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY, SCOTLAND 1972

Demerara sugar on the nose, with hints of melted wax and honey.

Some lovely freshness on the palate considering it is a mature whisky.

Pure class. 47.8%

Cognac Trophy

98

HERMITAGE, 1960 GRANDE CHAMPAGNE COGNAC, FRANCE

Exceedingly complex and broad in its depth of aromas and flavours.

Prominent notes of refreshing and zingy sherbet are united with red berries and smooth hints of fine leather for a seamlessly crafted and decadently enjoyable palate. 40% £662 (70cl) Hedonism Wines

N/A in UK

Baijiu Trophy QUANTU SELECTION SOFT STYLE, CHINA

96

Slight colour. Explosive, opulent nose with higherester aromas, such as dried pineapple, mango, walnut and liquorice; strong soy aroma. Rich and savoury palate, saline and intense, with soy sauce, bok choy and ending with a lovely cereal finish – long and focused.

N/A in UK

Fruit Spirits Trophy

98

Liqueur Trophy YAMAMOTO SHUZO, NIGORI UMESHU, JAPAN

98

Very expressive and bold, with a big sweetness balanced by zesty green plums. There is a nice smooth rice note, with plenty of ripe and green plums. 12% N/A in UK

DISTILLERIE MASSENEZ, FRAMBOISE SAUVAGE VRP EAU-DE-VIE, FRANCE

Fresh natural raspberries with a slightly crisper, greener note on a hint of sweet, ripe fruitiness. An array of raspberry in a clean and well-made form, covering all the natural aromas and flavours that the fruit can deliver. 40% £34 (70cl) The Oxford Wine Company

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WO R DS

P H OTO G R A P H Y

A I S TE M I S E V I C I U T E

CLAES BECH-POULSEN A N D A I S TE M I S E V I C I U T E

Planting seeds T WO T H I N G S D I C TAT E T H E T H I N K I N G O F R A S M U S KO F O E D,

N A T U R A L L Y, T H E N , H E U S E D L O C K D O W N T O G O B A C K T O H I S R O O T S

H E A D C H E F AT D A N I S H R E S TA U R A N T G E R A N I U M : FA M I LY A N D V E G E TA B L E S.

Right: Rasmus Kofoed Opposite (left to right): Skull painting in the inspiration kitchen, by German-Danish ar tist Christian Lemmerz; a welcome message from the restaurant team; Kofoed and the writer

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C LAES BEC H-P OULSEN; A ISTE MISEVIC IUTE

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Rasmus Kofoed is a creature of habit. When I first met him in the spring of 2020, he was preparing for a marathon. He’d been out for a run that morning, as he has done almost every day since he was a child. The marathon never happened, of course, but now, late into this strangest of years, the Danish chef and restaurateur is still running.

‘Running is a gift. It makes you physically and mentally stronger,’ Kofoed says. He sees the activity as a way of challenging himself and of getting closer to nature, which, in Humlebæk – the fine harbour town 35km north of Copenhagen where Kofoed lives with his wife Maja and their three children – is all around. He also finds that his longer runs provide the necessary mental escape and equilibrium to stimulate creativity. He often finds himself thinking up new ideas for the restaurant mid-run, which he notes down as soon as he gets home.

The triple Bocuse d’Or medallist had just finished the busy lunch service at Geranium – the three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Copenhagen where he is head chef and co-owner – that day in March. Geranium sits in the somewhat unlikely setting of the eighth floor of the city’s football stadium. It seemed an odd choice when the restaurant moved here in 2011, but the huge windows

and the ever-changing light make for a dramatic setting. I find it hard to keep my eyes from wandering to the huge park, the Fælledparken, that the restaurant overlooks, with Copenhagen’s famous green copper roofs dotting the horizon.

We’re sitting in the lounge next to the main dining room, opposite the open kitchen.

The design is sleek but cosy Scandinavian minimalism, a perfect incarnation of hygge, the Nordic idea of comfort, conviviality and contentment. Sitting opposite me, the 45-year-old Kofoed, the only chef in history to win bronze, silver and gold in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or (three statuettes are behind a glass panel next to me) is carefree and cheerful.

Winning the Bocuse d’Or – a competition that started in Lyon in 1987 and is considered the ultimate achievement of excellence by young and aspiring chefs – has been a major influence on his career and the way he manages his staff, he says. ‘The only way to perform well in the competition is to be calm and stay focused. You can’t create a great meal if you’re stressed.’ And it’s true: one of the most striking things about a day spent in the Geranium kitchens is the calm. There’s music – I heard rap from Nas, trippy oldschool electronica from Jean-Michel Jarre’s

Les Chants Magnétiques, and heavy beats from Danish rockers The Minds of 99 – but there’s no shouting. Everyone is completely focused, whether they are grilling quail over Japanese binchōtan charcoal or tweezerdecorating dishes with tiny pink blossoms.

The open-plan layout allows the staff to move around the large kitchen and talk to guests, while at the same time staying focused. ‘We’re doing the best we can, but we’re also enjoying the time, the moment, the view.’

Kofoed uses the word ‘balance’ a lot.

He talks about balance with nature, the environment, in the kitchen, at work and in his personal life. As part of this quest for harmony, he decided to close the restaurant from Sundays to Tuesdays so that staff could spend weekends with their families; he suggests that in the future, they might close on Saturdays as well. ‘We need to look at everything in the long term,’ he says. Not easy six months later, when the restaurant’s opening hours could change at a stroke, but for now, Geranium remains open for dinner from Wednesday to Saturday, when it is also open for lunch. With tables already well spaced, they haven’t been forced to reduce the number of covers, though guests must leave the restaurant by 10pm.

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Above (left to right): The Geranium team in the open kitchen; head sommellier Søren Ledet; chefs at work From far left: Ledet showing a prized asset from the cellar; Kofoed’s pinboard in the Inspiration Kitchen

Far right: Restaurant manager Mikael Båth prepares a Geranium signature juice Below (left to right): With the team after service; scallop ‘red stones’ and horseradish, a signature dish; Kofoed in the lounge area

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A ISTE MISEVIC IUTE; C LAES BECH-P OULSEN

[ R E S TA U R A N T S ]

Kofoed grew up a vegetarian – his mother was a forager long before it was fashionable, and with five children, she had to make ends meet. Organic food wasn’t easy to come by in 1970s Denmark, so the Kofoed family would forage or buy their food from biodynamic farms. He fondly remembers milk that was half-fat, half-liquid, along with other natural products that have all but disappeared.

Kofoed reveres his mother. ‘She’s my vegetable hero. She raised me on vegetables, and that affected me a lot. We didn’t have any money, so we never ate out. We knew nothing about fine dining or Michelin-starred restaurants. We didn’t have a television, and anyway, programmes like Masterchef didn’t exist. So now, I just want to pass on the love she gave me by cooking tasty and healthy vegetable dishes.’ He did so in part by naming his plant-based pop-up Angelika after her. The outpost closed its doors at the end of September (because ‘I don’t need another restaurant in my life at the moment’), but Kofoed is not ruling out a rebirth in another form one day. In the meantime, he experiments via the staff menu, which changes every day and is often vegetarian or even vegan. Kofoed himself has been vegan since the beginning of the year and is an advocate of presenting less meat and fish on his menus. ‘I’d like to see more restaurants going in that direction,’ he says.

My lunch at Geranium consists of 20 dishes, all of which are tiny, sometimes just one or two bites, but each has a story to tell.

The first is a miniature plate of greens and crispy pickled walnut leaves, decorated with delicate white, purple and violet flowers.

The next, perfectly shaped razor clams, is inspired by Kofoed’s childhood walks on a beach with his grandfather. It’s a trompel’œil: the razor clam, shell and all, is made of dough; the ‘shell’ is painted with algae and charcoal, and the meat is a creamy tartar sauce of soured cream. Another dish, Oscietra caviar and pumpkin seeds, comes on a plate made of hardened volcanic ash; the recipe was designed around the plate, I’m told, and the contrast of the inky black caviar and the black plate is as vivid as the flavours.

There’s an intense beauty about the whole experience: Kofoed’s signature dessert, The Forest, with wood sorrel and woodruff, is equally dramatic. And the heightened attention to aesthetics isn’t restricted to the kitchen. Art and ceramics are everywhere, from the fresco by the Danish artist HuskMitNavn (‘RememberMyName’) in the entrance, to the mosaics created from broken plates that decorate the dining spaces.

A typically striking dish at Geranium: crispy leaves, walnut oil and pickled walnut leaves

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Three of Kofoed’s standout dishes

Razor Clams A brilliant trompe-l’œil, this is thin, crispy dough painted with algae and charcoal to resemble a razor clam shell. It is then filled with a clam tartare with crème fraîche, parsley, lemon and tarragon.

The Forest One of the most Instagrammed desserts in the world, The Forest is a delicate feast of wild forest plants. A cream made of woodruff (a sweet-scented wild flower common across European woodland), with iced wood sorrel pastilles and chervil, is topped with a twig made of compressed prunes.

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[ R E S TA U R A N T S ]

The End

C LAES BEC H-P OULSEN

One of Kofoed’s renowned sign-offs, this salted liquorice-mousse skull used to be the pure black of its liquorice base. Painted gold, it exudes a decadent, graveyard humour, a louche memento mori for the sated diner.

These aren’t just any plates, either. They’re handmade on Bornholm island, a centre for glass and ceramics, and are very beautiful, very expensive and very easy to break. It seems to fit Kofoed’s philosophy, however, that any casualties from the restaurant floor should be recycled into artwork on the walls.

With over 8,500 bins (it’s one of the largest in northern Europe), the wine list is rich in both variety and history. ‘When we opened Geranium in the old location in 2007, we decided to have an all-organic list,’ explains Søren Ledet, Geranium’s wine director and co-owner. ‘Everyone said you can’t do it – that if you want to have a decent wine list, you have to have some of the classic wines.

We did it anyway, and we made a really good list and built upon it over the years.’

Sure enough, though, as the restaurant’s reputation and reach grew, it started seeing a demand for both more classic and more non-European wines. While the launch list comprised solely organic and biodynamic wines, the bon viveur and wine connoisseur Lars Seier Christensen, one of Geranium’s investors, championed the addition of the classics: Bordeaux and Burgundy, Champagne and the Rhône, as well as Italian, Spanish and California staples.

Today, while continuing to offer a large number of smaller niche brands that are doing things in a more minimal way, there are more familiar names too. ‘We focus on both, so we can serve wine to Copenhagen hipsters, as well as international business travellers, who each have very different ideas about what they want to drink,’ laughs Ledet.

‘Natural wines are amazing, well made and beautiful, but they’re not for everyone,’ he underlines. ‘Some people really want a Barolo or Bordeaux. Although some of the more expensive wines in the world are in fact “natural” and “biodynamic”, but it’s not a prerequisite for us. Often we don’t even know that a wine is organic or biodynamic.’

It’s not just wine where provenance is key, however. The restaurant boasts a carefully thought-out tea selection and exclusive coffee blend from Danish roasters the Coffee Collective. Meanwhile, juice pairings make up around 10–15% of drinks. ‘A lot of people don’t want to drink alcohol, and nonalcoholic options should be equally as good,’ says Søren. The underlying philosophy of Geranium, he says, is that ‘the diner should be happy’.

Happiness has been a more elusive concept of late. My first interview with Kofoed took

place just before the full extent of the pandemic took hold. This article, along with life in general, was put on hold. We had a chance to chat again over the phone more recently, when we discussed his lockdown on Samsø island with his wife and children.

He’s been working on future plans for the restaurant, as well as for a TV show in which he will showcase plant-based food.

The benefit of good-quality ingredients and eating more vegetables and plants is something that I experienced myself over the past few months. At Angelika, Kofoed was focusing on food as medicine – food that ‘builds you up’ rather than ‘breaks you down’. Food as medicine that brings us closer to nature? Maybe that’s the future.

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FIONA BECKETT

D E B O R A H WA S T I E

You’re so vein

B LU E C H E E S E C O M E S I N TO I T S OW N I N W I N T E R, A N D

F O R M O S T O F U S, T H AT M E A N S S T I LT O N . B U T W H I C H A R E T H E

OT H E R G R E AT B L U E S, A N D W H I C H W I N E S S H O U L D W E DRINK WITH THEM? FIONA BECKETT HAS THE ANSWERS

If Christmas dinner is all about turkey, the Christmas cheeseboard is dominated

by Stilton. Certainly in the UK, at least, where your family – and most definitely the in-laws – would expect nothing less.

There’s no doubt that such a choice is traditional – partly because Stilton benefits from being made with rich summer milk, partly because it was historically served in an impressive-looking truckle. The irony is that it’s basically a mouldy cheese we’re celebrating. Like other blue cheeses, Stilton gets its colour from the addition of a blue mould – Penicillium roqueforti – that is spread through the cheese by piercing it periodically with needles. Apart from introducing the characteristic blue veins, this also accelerates the ageing time: blues typically age in three to four months rather than the 12 months or more needed for a good cheddar. ‘Most cheeses are soft or semi-soft, the open texture allowing the blue mould to spread more easily throughout the cheese,’ explains Ned Palmer, in his hugely readable A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles.

That’s the basic technique for making a blue, but there are different styles: the rich buttery Stilton style, which is protected by a crumbly grey rind; softer blues like Gorgonzola and Brie-style cheeses; and sharp, saline blues such as Roquefort. The taste and texture of the cheese will also depend on the type and breed of animal – cow, goat or sheep – what they’re feeding on, the time of year they’re milked and how long the cheese has matured.

Top Stilton alternatives, clockwise from top left: Devon Blue, Younger Buck, Stichelton, Darling Blue, Biggar Blue, and Cote Hill Blue

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A LL C HEESES SUPPLIED BY TH E COURTYA RD DAIRY

[ CHEESE ]

Most cheeses are soft or semi-soft, the open texture allowing the blue mould to spread more easily throughout E

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‘Many of the smaller farms have been looking at improving how their cows are bred and fed to get the most diverse flavour, and a better texture and mouthfeel. It’s a move away from conventional farming, which focuses on efficiency and costs,’ explains Andy Swinscoe of Yorkshire’s Courtyard Dairy. ‘Part of that involves re-sowing traditional grasses and herbal leys, using hay meadows and less additional feed. The feed and breed affect the structure of the milk – not just the protein and fat quantities but also the type of those fats and proteins within the milk, which determine its flavour.’

Blue cheese can provoke the kind of machismo normally associated with hot sauces, but more heavily blued cheese isn’t necessarily better. What counts is how the cheese’s blueness is distributed. ‘When buying a blue cheese from a dedicated cheesemonger, you will notice that blue cheeses have veining running from edge to edge because they are keeping the cheeses in the right conditions,’ says Patricia Michelson of London’s La Fromagerie.

‘When the veining is in the centre, that means the cheese has been kept too cold and the blue has not been able to spread.

So, appearance is important, because the veining of blue threads is the essential part of the taste and breakdown of the cheese.’

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There’s obviously much to celebrate in the fact that Stilton has a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), but also much to lament.

These days it has to be pasteurised, which makes it ironic that the much-acclaimed Stilton-style cheese Stichelton can’t use the name. Not because it’s made by an American or outside the designated regions of origin – it’s made in Derbyshire, one of the three permitted counties, along with Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire – but because it’s made with raw milk.

The cheese was invented back in 2004 when Randolph Hodgson of Neal’s Yard Dairy collaborated with cheesemaker Joe Schneider to try to make Stilton as it used to be made, from unpasteurised milk.

Because of the PDO, they had to call it Stichelton (the ancient name for the village of Stilton). It also takes longer to make – 20 weeks on average, compared to 10 for many commercial Stiltons – and is hand-ladled, a laborious procedure (similar to the gentle pressing winemakers try to give their grapes) that treats the curds more carefully and results in a creamier texture.

Doesn’t Schneider feel indignant that he can’t use the name for his cheese? ‘Of course I do, and others should, too,’ he says. ‘No Stilton in the 1920s was made with pasteurised milk. Now, someone who

[ CHEESE ]

How to store and serve your blues…

‘The festive season seems to get longer and longer, and blue cheeses are perfect “keepers”, because they can be kept in a cold fridge much longer than other cheeses without spoiling,’ says Patricia Michelson of La Fromagerie. ‘Or if you have a cold spare room, attic or shed, wrapping blues in waxed paper and then a thick layer of newspaper before storing in a box will keep them for several weeks. Newspaper is a perfect “cheese blanket” because the pulped paper holds moisture, preventing the cheese from drying out.’ Like other cheeses, blues should be taken out of the fridge a good 45 minutes before serving, to allow the flavour to develop.

Because of Stilton’s PDO (protected designation of origin), when two cheesemakers decided to create a version with unpasteurised milk, they were forced to name it Stichelton

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wants to make a cheese in the production area out of their own raw milk can’t do it.’

Although he himself has benefited from it (‘We can sell every bit of cheese we make, so it’s not a financial thing’), the awkward name is a barrier to entry for other small farmhouse cheesemakers, he says.

Is Stichelton as good as Stilton, though?

Swinscoe thinks so. ‘For consistency, you can’t rival Colston Bassett Stilton,’ he says.

‘But the highs of Stichelton are impossible to beat – even sweeter and sharper, with incredible butterscotch and yeasty notes.

It’s a little glimpse of perfection.’

And supposing you are to defy tradition, and serve another blue; what would that be? There are, of course, the great European blues – Roquefort, Gorgonzola and Cabrales – that would sit on French, Italian and Spanish tables respectively, not so much as part of a cheeseboard but as a hero cheese. On home turf, there is Shropshire Blue (an orange Stilton-type cheese that actually originated in Scotland and is coloured with annatto), and the newer Sparkenhoe Blue, which is made by the producers of the excellent Sparkenhoe Red Leicester. Scotland has Lanark Blue, the country’s answer to Roquefort, and more recently the goats’ milk-based Biggar Blue, also made by the Errington family, which has intriguingly truffley notes.

It’s this new generation of unpasteurised British blues that is particularly exciting.

I also like Young Buck, a Stilton-type cheese from Northern Ireland; Cote Hill Blue, a seductively soft Brie-style blue from Lincolnshire; and perhaps most of all, Darling (endearingly named after the heroic lighthouse-keeper’s daughter Grace Darling, who rowed a lifeboat to rescue survivors from the shipwrecked SS Forfarshire in 1838). It’s made by Northumberland cheesemaker Doddington and has a strikingly stripy appearance, a rich, almost biscuity flavour and a melt-inthe-mouth texture.

I still love Stilton, of course, but I could just be tempted to stray this year.

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[ CHEESE ]

…and what wines to drink with them Port is a given – as is Sauternes if you’re serving Roquefort – but which other wines can you pair with blue cheese?

RIVESALTES Most fortified wines work with blue cheese, but Rivesaltes, a massively underrated wine from the Roussillon, is one of the most intriguing, with a similar beguiling nuttiness and oxidative character to an aged Tawny Port and a tremendous ageing capacity.

AMARONE AND OTHER RICH OFF-DRY REDS If you enjoy the brambly sweetness of a LateBottled Vintage Port but find the alcohol a little high, Amarone (and other ripasso-style wines) will give you the balancing richness that blue cheeses crave. Especially good, as you’d imagine, with Gorgonzola.

CENTRAL OTAGO PINOT NOIR A recent discovery – and a bit of a surprise to me. A really good Central Otago Pinot can be a sensational pairing, especially with the new generation of blue cheeses that are less aggressively blue.

TOKAJI The dried apricot and marmalade flavour of a 5-puttonyos Tokaji is sensationally good with Stilton, Stichelton and other mellow British blues like Barkham Blue – especially with a bit of bottle age. Light too, at around 11–12% ABV. ORANGE WINE Not to everyone’s taste, but if you’re a fan of the deep rich, amber-hued styles that taste irresistibly of quince, try them with a salty sheep’s-milk blue like Beenleigh Blue or Ireland’s Crozier Blue.

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Someone to love Something to do Something to look forward to...

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WO R DS

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A DA M L E C H M E R E

LU C Y P O P E

[ STEVEN SPURRIER ]

ST E V E N S P U R R I E R H A S B E E N AT T H E C E N T R E O F T H E W I N E WO R L D F O R S I X D E C A D E S, B U T A S H E T E L L S A D A M L E C H M E R E , T H E R E A R E M O R E I M P O RTA N T T H I N G S I N L I F E – STA RT I N G W I T H A RT

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ate one night, sometime in the mid-1960s, Steven Spurrier came back to his house in Fulham to find his sitting room full of people. His lodger, a Swiss au pair who was trying to get into the music business, had invited a few friends home. When Spurrier put his head round the door, ‘a young black guy clutching a guitar got up and said, “Hi, I’m Jimi.”’ Spurrier politely returned the greeting, wished everyone good night and went off to bed.

The next morning the au pair – whose name was Susi Spörri, from Zurich, he recalls – asked him if he’d enjoyed meeting Jimi Hendrix.

Spurrier, who is 80 next year, can remember episodes from 50 years earlier with a granularity of recall most of us couldn’t summon from last week. Who else can remember the exact spelling of a lodger’s name, complete with umlaut, from half a century ago?

Photographs from the period show Spurrier often embraced the sartorial spirit of the age: Sgt Pepper moustache, leather trousers, psychedelic shirts… Hendrix might have recognised a fellow hepcat when the young wine merchant made his all-too-brief appearance.

Spurrier’s memoir, Wine – A Way of Life (soon to be reissued as A Life in Wine), is packed with such minutiae. The wines, of course, form a kind of chorus – here he is at Coates’s Wine Bar in Old Broad Street: ‘I have pleasant recollections of Château MacCarthy [from] St-Estèphe and Langoa-Barton 1953, both at 13/6- (65p) a bottle; Pichon-Comtesse just two shillings (10p) more, and a whole raft of 1955 classed growths at the same sort of price.’ He scours the Portobello Road for antiques (a pair of Georgian candlesticks here, a Stubbs there); meals are recounted as if he can still taste them. On his wedding day, he tracked down ‘punnets of fraises des bois from Morocco that were destined for Annabel’s’.

And it’s not only wine and strawberries and Georgian silver. When he buys the Fulham house (the one Hendrix dropped in on), it needs a bit of work: ‘The tired stretch of lawn in the west-facing garden was replaced by slabs of York stone, in the middle of which I had a fountain built, whose large basin could accommodate many bottles of wine for summer chilling. The basement became a dining room and large kitchen, while in the hallway I installed face-to-face wine racks that held 360 bottles each.’

The presence of money, and lots of it, lends Spurrier’s life a novelistic quality. In 1964, the 24-year-old Steven and his brother Nick were given

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[ STEVEN SPURRIER ]

Previous page: Spurrier and two canvases by his namesake Opposite: Spurrier in his cellar at home in Dorset Left and right: Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Gaia, both by Marzia Colonna; below: Matisse’s Jazz, a 2005 reproduction of the original 1947 Téiade publication by Editions Anthèse, one of the most precious editions in Spurrier ’s librar y

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There’s very much a sense of

a life moving into a new,

more relaxed phase

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[ STEVEN SPURRIER ]

Bride Valley vineyard, where Spurrier and his wife Bella (top right, at home) have planted 10ha of Champagne grape varieties. The estate’s English sparkling wine is now celebrating its tenth vintage

cheques for £250,000. (His grandfather had just sold his sand-and-gravel business to Blue Circle Cement, and this was the boys’ dividend.)

In today’s terms, that would equate to at least £5m. ‘It completely unbalanced my life,’ he says during one of our many conversations over the last few months.

Up to then, the young Spurrier had been happy with a private monthly allowance of £60 and his £10 weekly salary from the wine merchant Christopher’s, a more-than-adequate income for a young man about town in the ‘60s. He became exceedingly wealthy at a stroke, but that didn’t him stop working at Christopher’s and, later, at a new wine merchant called Murray & Banbury. ‘I had a very strong work ethic – I was never a playboy,’ he says.

Nonetheless, his wealth made him a target for the plausible rogues who were a feature of swinging London. He sank money into nightclubs, including a new branch of Sybilla’s (‘How could anyone be so stupid as to put money into a nightclub in the Bahamas?’); into films that never quite got the distribution they deserved (or didn’t deserve, as the case may be – 1968’s Dolly Story is a classic of its time and worth searching out on YouTube); into restaurants that never saw the light of day… ‘I got the money in spring 1964, and by the winter of 1967, half of it had been taken away from me.’

Like a 20th-century version of one of Henry Fielding’s or Thackeray’s heroes, it’s luck rather than money that seems to have directed Spurrier’s life. He spends most of the ‘60s zooming around Europe in an opentop car (a Triumph Herald first, then a Vitesse – ‘I could have bought an E-Type if I’d wanted, but I never threw money around’) with Bella, whom he met at the Queensway Ice Skating Rink in 1964 and who is a warm and acerbic presence at his side, more than half a century later.

They hop from the Douro to Provence, Champagne to Chablis in a whirl of auberges and hotels and the villas and pied-à-terres of doublebarrel-monikered friends. Houses are bought and sold, business deals ventured upon and lost, until the Spurriers land in Paris. There, one day, happening on a dingy wine shop called La Cave de la Madeleine, Steven turns to his friend and says, ‘That’s exactly the kind of shop I would like to buy.’ ‘Let’s go inside,’ the friend replies.

The rest of the story is well documented. The Spurriers threw themselves into the life of Parisian wine merchants with brio and imagination. Spurrier quickly got rid of the tanks of vins ordinaires at the back of the shop and started bringing in wine direct from the vineyards. He imported Hambledon Vineyard for a visit by the Queen and Prince Philip, and built up a thriving clientele of professional American expats.

In 1976, to celebrate the bicentennial of American Independence, Spurrier – increasingly impressed by the wines that were coming out of the west coast of the United States – decided to hold a tasting

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Above: The oldest par t of the house dates from the 1600s, and the staircase – as ever ywhere inside – is lined with pictures and sculpture, in this case Torso by Marzia Colonna.

Bottom (left to right): The complete 33-print set of Goya’s Tauromaquia; Reading Hare, by Clare Trenchard; leafing through Circus by the ar tist Steven Spurrier, which rests on Matisse’s Jazz

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[ STEVEN SPURRIER ]

comparing the best offerings from California and France. At the last minute, he thought to make it blind, reasoning that the French critics he had invited would be naturally biased. The California wines came out top, and he was instantly propelled to the fame – and a degree of notoriety – that has been with him ever since.

I went to see the Spurriers at their manor house on the Dorset coast in March, just before lockdown. They bought the house in 1987 (retaining their roomy Hammersmith flat as a London residence). It’s a fine old stone house in the village of Litton Cheney with extensive gardens and a farm, 10 hectares of which have been planted to Champagne grape varieties to make the highly regarded Bride Valley English Sparkling.

While Spurrier is – naturally – the figurehead, the vineyard is run by Bella and winemaker Ian Edwards, who vinifies at the neighbouring Furleigh Estate. The house, and garden, are given up to Spurrier’s twin passions of wine and art.

There’s very much a sense of a life moving into a new, more relaxed phase. (This feeling is made even stronger when I drop into the Hammersmith flat. It’s just been sold, the walls are bare and Spurrier is wrapping his, literally, hundreds of paintings). Down at Litton Cheney, the sculpture garden is now complete. Spurrier takes me around.

Monumental abstracts by Marzia Colonna (an old friend and former neighbour) and Caroline White stand among the beech trees, with a small brook running between them. There’s a pond, the old grey walls of the house, and then behind us rise the lush green hills of the Jurassic Coast. It’s a discreet and intimate space, open to the public now and attracting a few dozen visitors a week. ‘Other wineries spend millions on their tasting rooms, but this is all very personal,’ Spurrier says.

He always comes out to say hello to visitors, who are taken around the vineyard, stroll the sculpture garden, and visit the upstairs room in which are displayed their host’s many awards and gifts from his long life in wine.

It’s a scene so modest and understated – and so very English.

Spurrier has traded on his Englishness since he first bought La Cave de la Madeleine and put an ad in the International Herald Tribune declaring, ‘Your wine merchant speaks English.’ In reality, he’s a genuine cosmopolitan, as comfortable at the corrida in Seville as in a London

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Above: Man with Bird, by Marzia Colonna Opposite: Spurrier in his study. The small sculpture is The Kite Flyer, by Marzia Colonna; the large figure is ‘a pure Ar t Deco lady I bought in an antique fair in Napier, New Zealand. Apar t from her being a great desk lamp, I love her – and I can see people staring up at her from the street’

Steven Spurrier: A Life in Wine is published on December 1 and is available to pre-order from www.academieduvinlibrar y.com Club O readers can enjoy a £5 saving by using the code CLUB20

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club. He’s always cut a dashing figure – dark suits in winter, light in summer, handkerchief in breast pocket – but his shoes are hand-made in Paris, and the cut of his jacket has always been a little bit too sharp for St James’s Street.

This worldliness is reflected in his tastes. There are those in the wine world who can talk about nothing but wine; Spurrier’s interests range far and wide. His windfall unbalanced his life in one way, but it freed him to indulge his passion for collecting. Every wall of the house in Dorset is covered; on every sideboard or chest of drawers sits a sculpture.

‘The house is a matter of aesthetics and pleasure. You improve and embellish for your own pleasure and for others,’ he says. There’s a Stubbs engraving, the first picture he ever bought, in 1958, ‘for six guineas’. There is a whole set of Goya’s Tauromaquia in the study – ‘I used to follow bullfighting’ – Bella’s watercolours on the stairs, a portrait of Steven aged about 12, looking keen in a school blazer. A particular favourite, and a chance discovery, is the artist Steven Spurrier (no relation), a prolific Royal Academician who died in 1961. Spurrier is delighted at the serendipity of the name. ‘There’s no value for money in him. I buy his work for enjoyment rather than possession.’ Such qualities are seen in a large canvas with red-faced drinkers, dancing sailors and women singing lustily in a scene that gives a sense of postwar debauchery.

Spurrier has a reputation – which he cheerfully acknowledges – for a lack of business sense. He was certainly a mark for conmen in the early days. ‘A lot of money was stolen from me,’ he says. ‘People who had ideas and no money found me an easy touch.’ And so many of his ventures eventually collapsed. Even the fame brought by the 1976 tasting couldn’t prevent the folding of the Paris business, which had expanded into the Académie du Vin school (now resurrected as the publishing house Académie du Vin Library, a sister company to Club Oenologique), and Spurrier returned to London more or less broke. But like that Fielding hero again, something always turned up. Capitalising on his reputation within the wine industry, he became Harrods’ wine consultant (he fell out with the then owner, Mohamed Al-Fayed, soon afterwards); then he met Sarah Kemp, who was publishing director of Decanter and made him the face of the magazine, a counterpart to éminence grise Michael Broadbent MW. Decanter put him back on his feet. ‘Having a permanent position as a columnist on a monthly magazine changed everything.’

Sitting in the kitchen in Litton Cheney with a bottle of Bride Valley Dorset Chardonnay (the 2018 vintage was warm enough to produce a notably zingy still wine), Spurrier is leafing through a dog-eared first edition of Elizabeth David. ‘I’d no idea we had this,’ he says. He’s talking about collecting, looking back over his early years in London, when he was at LSE, visiting Cork Street galleries and Portobello Road. ‘I had a magpie collecting instinct. I still find it very hard to pass a gallery without buying something.’

Funnily for someone so indelibly associated with wine, whose biography is titled A Life in Wine, we spend very little time talking about it. In the end, he says, there are more important things. For the new edition of his book, he’s written two more chapters. ‘The final chapter is called “Wine and Art”, and I come down on the side of art,’ he says. ‘Wine has been my life, but art has been an addictive hobby.

Wine is a way of life, but art is the real thing. Art means more to me emotionally than wine – there’ s no contest.’

He has now come to a quieter existence in Dorset. There are three important things in life, he says: ‘someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to’. In his case this means his 50-year marriage to Bella (‘the companionship is enlivening’); curating his art and books; and the progress of his vineyard and consulting for the IWSC and Académie du Vin Library. ‘This is the idea of a gentleman’s way of life,’ he says. In that peculiar English way, he is a strange mix of the passionate and the laconic. ‘Discreet and elegant, that is the key – no bling.’ He is describing his winemaking philosophy, but it could just as easily stand for his life.

[ STEVEN SPURRIER ]

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AL SAC E

I T ’ S T H E P R E T T I E ST O F W I N E R E G I O N S, Y I E L D I N G T H E P R E T T I E ST O F W I N E S. B U T B E H I N D A L S A C E ’ S C H O C O L AT E - B OX I M AG E RY A N D BA L L E T I C R I E S L I N G S L I E S A H I S T O RY O F C O N F L I C T A N D U P H E AVA L .

N I N A C A P L A N S E T S O U T O N A V O YA G E O F D I S C O V E R Y

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[ TR AVE L ]

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T

he region between the Vosges mountains and the Rhine is so absurdly pretty, so seemingly unmarked by time, that driving through it is like being on a film set – a landscape of pure peace. Yet Alsace has had more than its fair share of disruption. There was the rift, 35 million years ago, that exposed the famous mosaic of grand cru soils and divided the Vosges and Black Forest mountains. Then, in more recent times, the ownership of this easternmost sliver of France has been endlessly squabbled and fought over with neighbouring Germany. And I haven’t even started on religion yet…

Such tensions seem a world away as we bowl past half-timbered medieval houses clustered below vine-wrapped slopes. We have come south from Villa René Lalique, a six-suite hotel with a twoMichelin-starred restaurant and an exceptional cellar of more than 12,000 bottles. I had expected the former home of a designer of topend glassware to be luxurious but tacky: crystal bling. In fact, it has graceful, measured Art Deco curves and an all-window restaurant where etched-glass lamps and crystal vases glow against the spruce forest beyond. The museum dedicated to the eponymous René, who died in 1945, is an easy coast on the villa’s electric bikes and is filled with marvels from an era that associated luxury with progress and believed that the more beauty existed in the world, the more beautiful a place that world would become. No wonder he ended up in Alsace.

Here, church spires rise like needles, their sides steep enough to shrug off snow. The local winemaking families also seem to have

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[ TR AVE L ]

Top: the rooftop terrace of the Cattin winer y; left: Villa René Lalique’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant turns out such intricate dishes as this Hazelnut Mousse with Spruce Meringue and Cep Mushroom ice cream (above) Previous spread: looking out over the village of Hunawihr, towards the medieval town of Ribeauvillé – home to the Trimbach winer y– in the distance

weathered the centuries unscathed, each generation buckling down to business when Papa retires. Or sometimes before then: in Ribeauvillé, at the foot of the Geisberg grand cru, where the vines for Trimbach’s renowned Cuvée Frédéric Emile seem about to topple on to the winery roof (‘Geisberg translates as Goat Mountain, because it’s so steep,’ Jean Trimbach tells me), conversation pauses as a frail old man wrestles with the gates. Jean, who is 12th generation, smiles.

‘That’s my father, Bernard. He’s 89 and a bit deaf, but otherwise he’s fine.’ Adjusting his mask, Jean adds that, despite living through the war, taking over the business aged 22, and rescuing it from the postwar slump, Bernard has never seen a year like 2020.

We are on a tour of the region, via wineries, bars and restaurants, plus the odd church and museum, which makes for a breezy itinerary.

From Cattin winery’s scenic rooftop bar in Vœgtlinshoffen, it’s an eight-minute drive to Eguisheim via Husseren-les-Châteaux, the highest village in the Alsace vineyards, and the view as you descend is breathtaking. Eguisheim is one of many uncannily preserved villages, but rifts are visible in the winery names – Leon Beyer on one street, Emile Beyer on another; Charles Baur and Leon Baur within spitting distance. Handing down the family business doesn’t always go smoothly – and ancient disagreements become part of folklore.

I ask Stéphanie Ginglinger, co-owner of Domaine Pierre-Henri Ginglinger, about the other Ginglinger in the village. Paul and his brother separated their business around 1684, she tells me. PierreHenri apparently kept the homestead; the tasting room dates from 1610, though the rooms they rent out are comfortably modern.

Walking to Wolfberger, the huge local cooperative that makes wines from 15 of the 51 grands crus, I find treasure. A winery sign says Christian and Véronique Hebinger; I’d never heard of them before the previous night at Jean-Luc Brendel’s extraordinary restaurant La Table du Gourmet. In a glowing red room that dates from 1707, we ate

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in cream; knackwurst; pungent Tomme d’Alsace cheese), and its wine tour features a short, well-made film on the winery’s history that’s cleverly projected onto their giant oak barrels, themselves a signature of the region. Everyone we visit displays these grand wooden containers, some decorated with intricate carvings. In Riquewihr, before a tasting of outstanding wines, Jean-Frédéric Hugel (14th generation) shows us St Catherine, built in 1715 – the world’s oldest surviving barrel, still in use.

‘Why do some barrels have decorations and others not?’ I ask Alain Beydon-Schlumberger as he bumps us around the Domaines Schlumberger vines that take up most of the grand cru soils of the Unterlinger mountain. Alain, who claims to get vertigo standing on a stool but has no difficulty on his high ancestral lands, pauses the jeep on a ledge above the vines. Decoration, he explains, is Catholic; Protestant barrels are more austere.

At Josmeyer, family member Céline Meyer displays a different kind of barrel decoration: whimsical drawings in a style reminiscent of Jean Cocteau. ‘My sister Isabelle, our winemaker, wanted to be an artist,’ she explains. When Céline adds that she had rather fancied bookselling as a career, I catch another waft of the discipline that a family winery requires. Like her sister’s, Céline’s personal passion spills into her professional life. ‘Granite is poetry,’ she says, poetically, pouring racy Riesling and Pinot Gris from Brand, a granite grand cru.

In Alsace, Christianity is the other rift. French Protestants came here fleeing Catholic persecution; so did Catholics, from Protestant Germany. While the divide remains (some winemakers claim there are Protestant and Catholic terroirs), everyone stays on friendly terms. There’s a lovely little church just above Trimbach’s famous Clos Ste-Hune vineyard that still alternates Catholic and Protestant services.

I have tried the exceptional Riesling from that vineyard, with its pure,

In Alsace, Christianity is the other rift.

Some winemakers even claim there are Protestant and Catholic terroirs

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4 C ORN ERS IMAGES; WILLIAM CRAIG MOYES

a tasting menu sourced entirely from Brendel’s garden. Sommelier Anne Humbrecht was more than up to the challenge, and our second wine – with a ‘liquid salad’ including beetroot, rhubarb and fermented hibiscus – was Hebinger’s Sommerberg Grand Cru Riesling 2017.

Sommerberg is granite, which I love, and this wine even worked with fermented hibiscus. I was delighted to stumble on its maker.

The Hebingers have no formal tasting room, but a bell brought Véronique, who summoned her son Denis, and in the 10 minutes before their next appointment, I tasted five extraordinary wines – all because of a chance discovery the previous evening. This is my favourite aspect of dining out: tasting great, obscure wines that you would never find alone. Sommeliers always know. At Villa René Lalique, Romain Iltis – a Meilleur Sommelier de France who also wears the prestigious tricolour lapel of a Meilleur Ouvrier de France – had given us a mini-tour of Alsace’s other white grapes (other than Riesling, that is). ‘A good Muscat should make you hungry,’ he said, pouring Domaine André Lorentz’s 2018 Clos Zisser, which exuded melon, honey and spice: ‘It’s the aperitif par excellence.’ The lemon perfume and bay-leaf bitterness of Paul Kubler’s 2016 La Petite Tête au Soleil was a similar revelation after the many dull Sylvaners I’ve tried.

Sommeliers know wines – but winemakers know restaurants.

To showcase his Patergarten Pinot Gris and Rosenbourg Riesling, Philippe Blanck, of winery Paul Blanck, recommended Larochette, an outstanding restaurant 20 minutes’ scenic drive from his winery.

When your family has been in the same place since the 16th century – Philippe is the 19th generation – you tend to be familiar with the local gems. Blanck is among several winemakers trying to ensure that even casual visitors enjoy their visits. He organises vineyard picnics and summer ‘gourmet aperitifs’. A master of the Chinese martial art qigong, he offers training sessions in the vines.

At Zeyssolff, farther north, the café serves local delicacies (herring

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Top: the restaurant at Villa René Lalique, where the desser ts, such as Opera Gâteau with roasted barley ice cream (left) are suitably extravagant Above: ‘big mouth’ chef Roger Bouhassoun in the kitchen of Hostellerie La Cheneaudiere Facing page: the half-timbered style of houses, seen here in Petite France, Strasbourg’s lively hub, is typical of the region Previous page, clockwise from top left: barrel decoration at Zeyssolff; ‘Cr ystal Christ’ ar t at the Lalique Museum; amphora in the Josmeyer cellar, with ‘Cocteauesque’ ar twork by winemaker Isabelle Meyer; the stained-glass windows at the Wolfberger winer y

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GETTY IMAGES

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stony flavours from the pulverised remains of fossilised creatures known as Muschelkalk. Like tolerance flowering from oppression, it’s another example of turbulence producing something marvellous.

All that sublimated tension may just make better wines. Certainly, the taut, mineral elegance of the best whites – the four noble varieties are all white – contrasts noticeably with the relaxed charm of the people who make them. Trimbach’s Pinot Noir is excellent, too, and noble status (the right to call the wine ‘grand cru’) has been applied for, though nobody expects a swift result: the current rules on grands crus were only formalised in 2011, and everyone still seems to disagree on their boundaries.

We turn our back on the Rhine and wind west, up through the Hochwald (‘High Wood’), to Hostellerie La Cheneaudière. Owner Nicolas Decker is the third generation – in Alsace, even hotels are handed down – but he conceived the three-storey spa, with its saunas, pool and jacuzzi offering exceptional views over the forested hills.

There’s hiking and biking and a bread oven and a thickly planted herb garden, overseen by lively, opinionated head chef Roger Bouhassoun. (‘My staff gave me those,’ he says, gesturing to a giant fork and spoon

on the kitchen wall, ‘because they say I have a big mouth.’) With his superb dishes, another terrific sommelier, Emmanuel Vuillaume, pairs more discoveries: David Ermel’s old-vine Riesling; an unlikely but tasty orange Chardonnay from Wolfberger; and a delightful vendange tardive mischievously named Cuvée Hors La Loi (‘Illegal Cuvée’), because Alsace’s great sweet wines aren’t supposed to be made from humble Sylvaner.

The last winery we visit is Muré, where we get a glimpse of how they are approaching the next great conflict: climate change. Thomas and Véronique have dedicated a tiny portion of their 29ha (71.5 acres) to Syrah. This is heresy here, but then the heating earth makes a mockery of bureaucracy, and Alsatians are used to dealing calmly with crisis. A variety that ripens three weeks later than the more traditional Pinot Noir is an opportunity to retain freshness and acidity as the world warms. (Harvests now start in August; 30 years ago, it was October.)

Quantities are currently tiny, but the quality is surprisingly high. Or perhaps, only surprising if you’re not from Alsace, where heresies take root in the varied soils as readily as vines, and the locals are content to tend to both.

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Above: The cellars at Villa René Lalique

WILLIAM C RA IG MOYES

Below (left to right): Jean Luc Brendel, Michelinstarred chef of La Table du Gourmet; René Lalique with one of his creations; Maison Hugel winer y is situated on the corner of the two main streets of Riquewihr; Museum Lalique’s contemporar y facade belies the heritage of its exhibits

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Accommodation

Wineries

VILLA RENÉ LALIQUE, WINGEN-SUR-MODER

(Tastings free unless otherwise stated, but booking usually essential)

Suite from €365, breakfast €28 villarenelalique.com HOSTELLERIE LA CHENEAUDIÈRE & SPA, COLROY-LA-ROCHE Room from €200 (including use of spa), breakfast €25 cheneaudiere.uk

TRIMBACH, RIBEAUVILLÉ trimbach.fr/en/trimbach-estate JOSEPH CATTIN, VOEGTLINSHOFFEN cattin.fr/en

B VINTAGE, RIQUEWIHR

HEBINGER, EGUISHEIM

Gorgeous retro house, sleeps four, from €249 per night jlbrendel.com/en/hotel/b.vintage.html

vins-hebinger.fr

HAMEAU D’EGUISHEIM, EGUISHEIM

wolfberger.com/en/boutiques/wolfbergercellar-eguisheim

WOLFBERGER, EGUISHEIM Gîte for two people from €180 for two nights hameau-eguisheim.com/en

PAUL BLANCK, KAYSERSBERG

Restaurants LA ROCHETTE, LABAROCHE larochette-hotel.fr LA TABLE DU GOURMET, RIQUEWIHR jlbrendel.com/en/table/the-table-du-gourmet.html

blanck.com/en Tasting from €10 per adult PIERRE-HENRI GINGLINGER, EGUISHEIM vins-ginglinger.com/en ZEYSSOLFF, GERTWILLER zeyssolff.com Tasting from €7 per adult HUGEL, RIQUEWIHR hugel.com JOSMEYER, WINTZENHEIM josmeyer.com Tasting €10 for five wines (free if you buy six bottles) DOMAINES SCHLUMBERGER, GUEBWILLER domaines-schlumberger.com MURÉ, ROUFFACH mure.com/en

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I spent hours following online tutorials to make cacio e pepe. I ate it repeatedly – to the tune of about 11lb of extra body mass, in fact

MARK C O’FLAHERTY

D

riven mad by my addiction, I turned to hypnotherapy. Pasta had become a big problem; perhaps hypnotic suggestion could recalibrate my intake. And it worked – to a point.

An hour of whispered repetitive dissuasion while in a trance-like state on a sofa on London’s Harley Street left me able to walk past Camisa & Son in Soho without going in for a shamefully large box of veal ravioli. I also stopped making carbonara for four, just for me. Yet still, today, when at large in Italy (my first stop post-lockdown), I am the piggy recidivist, notorious for carbonara consumption at Felice in Rome, among many other places.

During one of my last actual (rather than virtual) trips to the Pitti Uomo fashion show, I clocked up 13 plates of carbs over three days at a variety of Florentine trattorie. Modus operandi: spaghetti to start, followed by seconds (‘for the table’ – a total lie), rounded off with tortellini instead of tiramisu.

Pasta is the ultimate comfort food.

It means a lot, to many. In the early 20th century, the Futurists – led by controversialist and japester Filippo Tommaso Marinetti – declared it

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political. Marinetti published The Futurist Cookbook, offering recipes such as ‘explosive peas with the sauce of history’. He waged war against tradition and wanted pasta outlawed for inducing ‘nostalgic inactivity’. I’m all for the next big thing, but for me, the promise of inactivity is the whole appeal. Eat it in beyond-comfort quantities, and it releases beta endorphins. It’s essentially bronze-cut Xanax. I love it more than air.

When the world was on hiatus earlier this year, and I was deprived of dining out, I spent hours following online tutorials from London restaurant Padella to make cacio e pepe from scratch. I ate it repeatedly – to the tune of about 11lb of extra body mass, in fact.

I am not alone in my obsession. Pasta is the global common denominator for culinary pleasure – from the perfect spaghetti at London’s family-run Ciao Bella, to the overcooked atrocities of chain restaurants in the US. But divides have opened up as pasta enjoys a ‘moment’. Classic vs new wave: what’s best? In New York, there is the wild boar ragù served at Via Carota in the West Village and the gnocchi at Frank in the East Village. Both trad and truly superb. I most frequently return to Supper – sibling and neighbour to Frank. The wine is ambitiously priced and the place is cash-only, but there are few better experiences below 14th Street than sitting al fresco on an autumn evening with a bowl of al dente ‘priest stranglers’ (strozzapreti) in ‘Dad’s Sunday marinara sauce’.

Familiarity is part of pasta’s appeal, so when unfamiliarity comes, it must do so with purpose. Last summer, I visited Davide Caranchini’s restaurant Materia, on Lake Como. It was a multi-course lunch for the ages, and his linguine pastificio Felicetti, with fishy butter and dried mango powder, was an early climax. I urge you to experience it at any cost.

Sometimes, though, you have to go back to basics. One of my favourite Italian restaurants anywhere was L’Artusi, in Lisbon – which sadly closed a few years ago. The couple in the kitchen cooked only recipes from Pellegrino Artusi’s 19th-century book The Art of Eating Well, including a revelatory lasagne: béchamel-free, but with countless layers of wafer-thin sheets. I miss it so. Similarly, the two branches of Padella keep punters in an hours-long holding pattern with the promise of a few dishes done simply and superbly.

For all its millennial buzz – and the buzz of the millennials that frequent it – Padella doesn’t rely on photo ops for its success. The chefs at Borough Market and Shoreditch know what makes pasta memorable: it has to seem effortless, and it has to taste great. Linguine, ragù et al don’t make for a photogenic plate.

Unless it has been tortured into a bitesized twirl as part of a fancy tasting menu, pasta is impolite in generosity and appearance. It should be big and glistening, a statement of plenty not subtlety. Classic or with a masterly twist, it is impossible not to love.

ILLUSTRATION: STUA RT PATIENC E

IN TRANSIT

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