33 minute read
lightfoot wines
Matt Thompson, Wentworth, August 2021
Let there be light
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For 30 years, Lightfoot Wines was adored for its defiantly old-school approach and its mysterious dark corners. Under new ownership, the tiny South Yorkshire shop is a much brighter place and has been modernised just enough to keep the locals onside. Business has boomed, as Nigel Huddleston discovered on a recent visit
Ask most outsiders what they associate with South Yorkshire and they’d put its industrial heritage in coal and steel near the top of the list. The lush green farmland that lies east of the M1 between Barnsley and Rotherham is less feted, but it’s here on the main street through the village of Wentworth that you’ll find Lightfoot Wines, a tiny, traditional wine merchant in an old stone building, next to the village pub and across the road from the general store.
Once a butchers, the site has been a wine shop for 35 years, most of those in the guise of Lightfoot Wines, the name given to it by former owner Derek Lightfoot who retired four years ago.
That’s when it was bought by wellknown local businessman Sir Dave Richards, whose interests also included a company importing wine to the UK to be consolidated for onward export.
The Lightfoot building is part of the Fitzwilliam Estate that owns much of the village and specifies the shade of green that its door and window frames have to be painted. Half a mile up the road is the tourist hotspot of Wentworth Woodhouse, reputed to be the largest-fronted house in Europe.
“We can’t actually ever own our building,” says Matt Thompson, who worked with Sir Dave in the export business before taking the managerial reins at the shop on its acquisition. “The rent is nothing really, because of the square foot of it, and we utilise every space we’ve got.
“People are amazed by how small it is, but they look around and realise how much we’ve got here. We have tourists coming and asking if they can take a picture. I don’t think there are that many old-fashioned bottle shops like this left.
“The estate likes to have it as a wine shop because it’s a destination and gives them a bit of kudos. And they give us a bit of kudos. It works both ways.
“There are a lot of people who work on the estate who are roofers, stone wallers, proper blokes, who’ll come in here and ask for a Vinho Verde. I suppose it’s just because it’s been here for 35 years and it’s managed to change a few attitudes in that time. They’re interested, eclectic customers.”
What was the thinking behind buying the wine shop?
We had an office down the road, so we knew of this place and always liked the quirkiness of it. We needed another string to our bow. Derek was coming up to retirement and he offered it to us. We tried to cut a deal straight away but it wasn’t enough for him to retire, so he waited a couple of years, did a bit of seething, frantically saved for his pension by phoning everyone he could for orders, and then he eventually sold it to us. It’s an oldfashioned wine shop and we didn’t want to change that in any way. A lot of the regular customers were sceptical that we would come in and modernise it.
So what have you done?
Tidied it up. It was used almost as a store cupboard. Derek had his regular customers
but he was never very interested in finding more. He knew what he made every year and that was enough for him. He was very old-school; he’d work by going through the phone book and ringing people up. You used to have to come to the door and ask him for what you wanted and he’d go out the back and shuffle around looking for a bottle and he’d find it after half an hour. It was really dark. We put new lights in, carpet, a lick of paint, heaters for the winter, and just sectioned everything off into countries. We wanted to actually get people in the door – like it should have been.
What other changes did you make to the way the business operates?
We’ve put a system in that does all the stock and accounts. Derek literally used to write down every sale on paper for the tax man. You just couldn’t do that now. It didn’t even have carpet; you couldn’t even see the floor. It was a mess. We wanted a bit of mess, but we wanted it to be usable.
What’s the customer base?
People come from all over the place. Because we’re very close to the M1 we have a couple of people come in from Leeds. You can get to Leeds in 35 minutes from here. We’re five minutes from Sheffield, technically in Rotherham, and Barnsley is two minutes down the road. We’re right in the middle of a very populous area with a chunk of green and it attracts people. There’s not that much green around in South Yorkshire. The old mining towns like Goldthorpe and Mexborough are very close
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to here, so you get a real eclectic mix of people, from landowners to retired miners.
Does the product range reflect that?
Yes, we go from £5.99 to very fine wines. We’ve got some old Cristal magnums from the 1980s in the original rosewood boxes, and they’re close to £2,000. The whisky range goes from £24 to old Macallans from the 1980s which are getting up to £1,000 a bottle. People phone us and want to make an offer but we’re never in a rush to sell them because they never go down in value. We’re never desperate for cash flow so we don’t have to sell things like that. We’d rather keep them because it retains value in the business – and at the right time we’ll let them go.
What does Lightfoot look for in a wine?
We’ve got a real random, eclectic mix. We’ve got some bottles of Chinese wines in the back room which sell. We quite like eastern Europe. Romania does really well and Germany is coming into its own. Romanian wine has developed a bit of fanbase. People like it because it’s different. You can’t ... well, perhaps you can go into Aldi and buy a bottle of Romanian wine, but it would be on the cheaper side, I think. We sell some more premium Romanian wines and they do very well. The older customers find it difficult to get some of the old-fashioned sweeter red German wines like Dornfelder, so they do very well. We do a really old-fashioned eastern European red called Sangele Ursului, or Bear’s Blood. The name’s in Latin, not that there are many Latin speakers round here. But we have a quite fanbase for sweet reds like that. Not even your posh London wine merchants do too many of them anymore.
We try to cater for everyone. Sometimes the patrons of the house, who live on Jersey, come in, and they want your Montrachets and other Burgundies. We can literally cater for all tastes and all pockets. That’s the customer base: anyone and everyone.
What’s the supplier portfolio like?
We’ll buy off anyone, including receivers of companies that have gone bust. We got quite a lot of wine from Jamie’s Italian, ex-stock via the receiver. If you went on the website you could see it’d been charging £23 or £24 a bottle and it was just standard kind of Fiano or Greco, though it did taste quite good. We got it really cheap.
Then we go for big boys like Boutinot. The Romanian and Moldovan wine guy is a one-man band in Halifax called a traditional looking Riesling]. You could probably put a fancy piece of artwork on it and double the price. If you pick your wines well in the first place, you often find they’ve been farming like that for years anyway, so I don’t really understand it.
Do you import directly?
We did bring in some ourselves from Spain, but the local bond closed down, so it became increasingly difficult for us to do. The nearest one now is Burton upon Trent. We do occasionally bring stuff in, but we try to get other people to do it for us now, especially after Brexit.
How has that impacted the business? We sell baijiu, the Chinese spirit. There’s a big Chinese community in Sheffield but,
Transylvania Wine. His wife’s a doctor at Leeds General and he was an old general in the Romanian Army. We like him because his net doesn’t reach that far, so we get something fairly exclusive to us in this area.
I like some of the things the big companies do, but everyone else is selling them as well. We tried to support other independent businesses I suppose, and then you get something different.
How does the whole organic, vegan, biodynamic, natural thing go down in South Yorkshire?
I’m not entirely sure I subscribe to that movement of putting a fancy piece of artwork on the bottle and not actually telling you what it is. If you look at half the German stuff, they’ve been doing it for years anyway. They have vegan wines and don’t even shout about it [pointing to rather randomly, we have a customer in Denmark for it. It’s a hard thing to get in Europe. The customer is just outside Copenhagen and orders two bottles of the most expensive baijiu, which is £60 a bottle. They ended up paying £100 on the delivery yesterday. I had to fill in a different form and go online and give a very accurate description of what’s in the package, or customs somewhere will send it back. You also have to apply for a EORI number, which is basically your tax code with GB and two zeros on the end. You have to fill in a form for them to send you a number you already know … but you’ve got to do it.
What about with stock coming in?
Prices are shooting up, but to counter that we’re buying more in bulk to get a better price. We put in an order with North South Wines the other day. We usually order 60
The building is owned by the Fitzwilliam Estate, which insists the door must be painted green
cases, but we realised we’d get a better price if we put a 100-case order in, so I did that. It brought the price back down to where we were before. Transport costs have gone up considerably. It’s not worth bringing in a pallet in anymore. You could bring one in for about £200 but now it’s about £500. They say the costs are coming from delays at the ports because lorry drivers are spending an extra night in the cab doing the paperwork in a layby. Eventually, that will be streamlined and maybe the cost will come back down.
What about Covid and the lockdowns. How has all that been?
It was strange here because half the people were very cautious and the other half are farmworkers who are out in the open air who carried on as if nothing had happened. We had the door shut at first [in March 2020]. But the website was going mad, the phone was going mad, and people were literally banging on the door. I think we served just about everyone in South Yorkshire at some point.
After lockdown, some customers who we’d picked up from the supermarkets left us – and they were probably always going to, which is fine. But we retained the good ones, who were happy to have found a really good independent wine merchant. We made some brilliant customers who probably wouldn’t have searched for us, but couldn’t go to where they normally bought wine and found someone closer to home.
So not all bad then?
No, people have tended to go back to local and independent. Some people may have had a perception of this place as being really expensive and you had to be one of the local landowners to come in. But you can get a sweet bottle of rosé for £5.99 if
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that’s your thing, and we’ll not look down on you.
We also tried to make ourselves as convenient as possible, so we deliver free locally. I’ll close up early and do the deliveries on the way home. I live on the south side of Sheffield, so I can cover quite a lot of ground without going too much out of the way. One customer said, “Could you deliver some wine dressed as Elvis?” We drew the line at that. And anyway, we don’t have an Elvis costume.
How do you put yourself out there in normal times?
We’ve got a wine tasting at the house for charity in September. Everyone kind of supports each other locally. The house attracts a lot of people and they do a lot of weddings, so they push that business back to us, and, in return, I’ll do the charity wine tasting up there.
There’s an antiques shop up the road, and they like doing social media, so they help us with that. We share each other’s posts and it all sort of snowballs. It can be very touristy with people pottering around, so we send the tourists up and down between us.
You’re right opposite the village shop. Is that a friendly relationship?
They buy wine from us to sell but they’ve found more success with local beer recently, which we don’t do. We did beer in lockdown because people couldn’t get to the supermarket but we’ve never really been known for beer. They stock all the local beers, so if anyone asks for beer we send them over the road. It’s £2.50 a can, so there’s not enough per spend in it for us to do a couple of cans, but it works for them.
What about spirits? There’s quite a range in the shop.
Spirits have always done well, especially whisky, because it’s so collectible. People might buy some whisky because their money’s dead in the bank, and they buy one to drink and one to stick in the loft.
You can always tell when one of the collectible whiskies has gone out of circulation. If we’ve got some left in stock, all the whisky nerds come in and ask how many of them we’ve got and look a bit sheepish.
We’ve got the Filey Bay whisky from Yorkshire. They do a Rioja Cask, a Moscatel Cask and a Peated Finish and we literally put them on the shelves and they were gone.
People round here like Yorkshire products. We also stock the local wines from Renishaw Hall, which are popular because it’s a Sheffield postcode, even though technically I think they’re just over the Derbyshire border.
How’s the shop laid out?
It’s by country. More new world in the front, and eastern Europe, with old world at the back. Although we have California and New Zealand in there, but don’t ask me why. It’s just the way it is. Or the way it was. You can’t change too many things. The locals won’t like it.
I remember coming in to do a stocktake with Derek – which was nigh on impossible – when we wanted to make him an offer, because we wanted to check a crosssection of the stock. One of the locals was here and looked at me and said: “Don’t you change it too much or I’m not coming in again.” We didn’t change it too much; we just made it better. He still comes in and he loves it.
Have the changes that the locals allowed you to make resulted in growth?
It’s got to be close to 100% from just making a few changes. We still see Derek now and he comes in and says: “I should have done all this, but I didn’t”. But he was on his own and he didn’t get any support. I’ve got the support of Sir Dave. He comes and covers for me on my days off and he’s got great contacts. Derek’s a customer now. He still comes down and sits on a stool and chats to me. And when a customer comes in, he can’t help himself and starts trying to sell them stuff. I have to remind him he doesn’t work here. The customers wonder who he is.
So what’s mainly driven that growth?
Social media, building a proper website … opening the door helped, turning the light on helped. Some people come to see us now and they’re surprised they can get in the shop.
Iwas in my third office having lunch. Not the office with the prehistoric Shitchair of Back Doom, nor the newly renovated Zenden office, built to alleviate the pain induced from the Shitchair – allowing me to lie down on the zedbed on the freezer with a snooker ball in my shoulder-blade and respond to emails and post hilarious content on Instagram – but the al fresco “third office” next to the river where I sit cross-legged on the wall, alarming people coming up the steps from the salmonfilled/trolleyfilled/ occasionally idyllic Kelvin and where I would, in the good ole bad ole days, smoke rollies and casually pose to “by chance” run into someone who I fancied.
Lunch was leftovers – dahl & olives & mayonnaise & something fermented – and I was looking at the trees and breathing and along comes that nice customer who likes Citra-hopped IPAs but isn’t a dick about it.
We talk about the difference between the West Coast of Scotland (Sinking! Low!) and the East Coast (Noble! Rising! Alarming! Harsh!) He’s talking and the sun is shining and I grok a little bit more about him: we both know the A92 and the Moray Coast
11. ICE CREAM
Phoebe Weller of Valhalla’s Goat in Glasgow would like to make a TV programme about expat Italian ice cream makers but instead she’s attempting to convince people that you can make soup out of crisps.
and we had a little moment of shaking our heads because they’re Tories up there (in Scotland!) and another little moment where I shared my idea for a TV show where I’d visit expat Italian and ScottishItalian ice cream makers – like Angelo in the weird 80s peachplumped parlour up the road in Jordanhill, making good ole plain ole vanilla ice cream every day for 60 years from a recipe his dad gave him.
In Moray, an excellent day can be had walking between Portsoy and Cullen, sampling and resampling the minute differences between the two vanilla ice creams (favourite: Portsoy). In my hometown I knew Luvian’s not as a wine shop but as the home of the “chocolatecoated mystery ice-cream bombe” (favourite: lemon sorbet) and its nemesis, Jannetta’s 100 flavours (favourite: Sky Blue). In Glasgow’s West End there’s Jaconelli’s and the Uni Café (immortalised by Bourdain pointedly not sampling the ice cream, having been given a bum steer from the unlikely cameo of Janey Godley. Anyway, thanks for leaving the coast clear for my travelogue-cum-social documentary-cum-food show, Anthony. RIP).
This is not an idea I will be sharing with the lunch and rest of time stealer, Natural Jim, who has recently yoked me into some weird gang called The Ideas Factory. I have submitted one idea to the factory: Soup to Crisps – plain crisps with a sachet of condensed, dehydrated soup powder a la Salt ‘n’ Shake because can you think of a soup that wouldn’t work as a flavour of crisps? I can’t. Jim doesn’t get it and keeps sending me pictures of soup from Pinterest which doesn’t help because I know what soup is.
The big problem with the Ideas Factory is that none of the Ideas Labourers have any ideas1 nor can be bothered helping anyone else with their ideas. So if anyone has any ideas to help me push forward either the TV show or the crisp thing or the QR code thing, let me know. I’ll be in the third office.
1 Well actually there was a good idea about QR codes for recycling things more efficiently. Dear Wine Industry, please could we have QR codes on every bottle leading to tech sheets etc etc? AN EXCELLENT IDEA!
THE WINEMAKER FILES // Almudena Alberca MW Entrecanales Domecq e Hijos
Almudena joined the business in 2015 as head winemaker, leading a transformation of the wine company, which owns vineyards and wineries in Spain’s most renowned wine regions, including Bodegas Cosme Palacio in Rioja and Bodegas Viña Mayor in Ribera del Duero.
The fact that I’m Spain’s first female Master of Wine has proven very
newsworthy. I think it’s something that stood out as there continues to be more men than women in the world of wine.
My career started out developing top-end wines for very special boutique wineries, where I worked solely with very old vineyards in
obscure and magical places. I also worked on selecting Spanish wines for an American distributor. I was named as one of “Spain’s Young Guns” by Decanter, and the wines I had made obtained very high scores both nationally and internationally. A short time afterwards, in August 2018, I completed my Master of Wine studies.
Family-owned Entrecanales Domecq e Hijos has over 125 years’ experience
of crafting high quality wines, and is known for being a pioneering and progressive wine company, creating wines that tell a unique story that reflects the character of each place.
Sustainability is a key part of
our philosophy. Committed to the environment, our wineries were pioneers in Spain in being carbon neutral and using 100% renewable energy. We are implementing an ambitious regenerative viticulture project.
Cosme Palacio wines have always been
ahead of their time. Cosme Palacio was an entrepreneur and visionary who founded the winery in 1894, using winemaking techniques that were revolutionary at the time. The Rioja Alavesa is one of the best places in the world to cultivate Tempranillo due to its altitude, climate and the quality of its soils. The wine is fantastic, full of personality, and is made from grapes from various old vines in the area. We are also lucky to own one of the very few vineyards granted “viñedo singular” status.
At Viña Mayor, we aim to make wines that are easy to drink, without losing
the typical character of the area. They should maintain the natural acidity and fruit concentration combined with the complexity added by the area’s old vines. I want to be able to enjoy a Ribera del Duero at any moment of the day and not need a very heavy meal alongside it.
I think our Viña Mayor wines fulfil everything that the growing number of Ribera del Duero consumers in the
UK are looking for. In terms of Rioja, our wines also stand out in the competitive UK market as they show typicity, they are approachable, easy to drink without lacking complexity, enjoyable to drink in any situation. In addition, there is a solid foundation to the project, which is committed to important values such as sustainability. It’s the complete package.
Find out more about Entrecanales Domecq e Hijos at entrecanalesdomecq.com Wines are imported into the UK by North South Wines 020 3871 9210 www.northsouthwines.co.uk
Cosme Palacio Reserva
DOCa Rioja Tim Atkin 94 points
RRP: £26.99
A wine that manages to achieve fruity complexity in ripe and full serenity. Enveloping and fleshy, powerful, yet approachable and delicate with sensations of sweetness due to its ripeness, it has very fine tannins and is mature and elegant, well-made and balanced, with a silky, very long finish.
Viña Mayor Crianza
DO Ribera del Duero Tim Atkin 92 points
RRP: £19.99
A rounded, intense, lively and bright wine. It has good fruit intensity, with great concentration and firm tannins. Pleasant and full-flavoured, we can find aromas and notes of red fruit and forest berries. Perfumed notes of liquorice. Secondary notes of coffee, toasted notes, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. Rich and delicious.
Glorioso Selección Especial
DOCa Rioja Tim Atkin 91 points
RRP: £13.99
A more classic wine in terms of ageing, a mixture of the essence of Rioja combined with the winery's expertise. A good intensity of fruity aromas combined with oak spices and some leather notes from the bottle ageing. A good balance between fruit and tannins, with a medium body and fleshy texture.
Nothing beats a traditional ice bucket and custom printing means you can promote your favourite labels in-house. This superstrong but stylish bucket has a capacity of six bottles and is available in sleek frosted or matt satin black finish. Waitersfriend. co.uk. Branding available from 52 pieces
Vacuvin counter display unit
These nifty display cases come pre-packed meaning you can open the box and start making the most of impulse purchases at your till point.
The filled display case takes up minimal counter space at just 50cm x 43cm x 40cm and contains 12 wine save stoppers (sets of two), 12 active wine coolers (silver), 10 wine saver pumps and stoppers and seven winged corkscrews. Wine merchants will save 15% compared to buying products individually and will receive a free reusable display case. When stocks start to run low simply top up individual items, which can be bought separately as and when required. Available from October. wbc.co.uk And there it was, gone. Summer 2021 was for the most part a damp and breezy squib, so we have no apologies for hastening towards a warming cocktail suggestion for the autumn. This is loosely based on a recipe by Jeffrey Morgenthaler of the Bel Ami Lounge in Oregon in 2008. His original called specifically for rye whiskey and the herbal liqueur Liquore Strega but there’s some creative wiggle room available on what style of whiskey or brands to use.
3cl bourbon or rye whiskey 3cl Calvados 3cl good quality sweet vermouth 1cl herbal liqueur Two dashes of Angostura bitters
Fill a tumbler or old fashioned glass with ice. Add all the ingredients and stir well. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.
SAYV argon gas canisters
Since Coravins and mini wine samples came into our lives, even the least scientifically-minded among us have come to appreciate the merits of argon: an inert and odourless gas that protects wine from the damaging effects of oxygen.
Start-up business SAYV is marketing canisters of argon that can simply be pumped into any open bottle of wine, through a food-grade silicon tube. Replace the cork or screwcap and the company says the liquid will be perfectly protected.
Each canister can preserve up to 15 bottles of wine.
Master of Wine Angela Mount has tested and endorsed the system and is acting as SAYV’s UK ambassador. Sayvwine.com/trade, RRP £5 (12 canisters per shelf-ready carton)
Catching up with Charline Drappier
One of the eighth generation now running the famous family Champagne house, Charline discusses Wine Merchant Top 100 victories for Carte d’Or and Clarevallis, the role of still wines in the range, and why green issues are so important
Azienda Agricola Cortese: more than organic
Azienda Agricola Cortese, in Sicily’s south-eastern corner of Vittoria, is a fully sustainable estate, producing organic wines from indigenous, ancient grape varieties, which are aimed at independent retailers.
Owned by brother and sister Stefano and Marina Girelli, passionate advocates for sustainable and organic winemaking, Cortese is a near neighbour of Girelli’s original organic Sicilian estate, Feudo di Santa Tresa, but the two estates could not be more distinct in style.
Acquired by the Girellis in 2016 after a long six years of negotiation, Cortese has always been farmed organically, but was in a terrible state of decay, with both vineyards and winery in need of a great deal of maintenance.
On closer inspection it transpired that, despite the wild appearance of the vineyards, there were a lot of very old and extremely interesting vines which were producing excellent fruit, and surprisingly good results were achieved. It became clear that these mature vineyards had some unique clones – and that the fully ripened grapes were truly exceptional, despite the condition of the vines.
All of the grapes for the top range, La Selezione, are grown on the estate, while for the second-tier Nostru range, the grapes are bought in from trusted growers.
The more obscure indigenous grapes include the white varieties Catarratto Lucido (the highest quality in the Catarratto “family”) and Carricante, as well as the red Nerello Mascalese. Nostru is a great expression of Nerello Mascalese, which is predominantly grown in the Etna area, where the wines command much higher prices.
In the vineyards
Using selezione clonale, vines are field-grafted onto rootstocks from the Cortese estate. This ensures that only the optimum clones are used for each specific vineyard. Vineyards are treated as individuals – there is no standardisation. Cortese avoids any chemical treatment of the soil: each strip of land is encouraged to grow and develop according to its own rhythms, expressing individuality and unique character.
Going back in time
Organic certification is important, but Cortese goes further than that. There is respect for the ecosystem, which means natural fertilisers and traditional methods are preferred. As the Girellis put it, they are going back to the time when making wine organically was not a choice, but the
only way. Even adverse conditions contribute to maintaining the natural balance, allowing the vines to grow strong and healthy, building natural defences, with absolutely no need for chemical interventions of any kind.
Wait, don’t force
It’s important to have confidence in nature, but this needed to be balanced by investing time in scientific research. It is vital to understand, decode and protect the important interactions within the vineyard and to allow the personality of each single vineyard to evolve.
Courage in the winery
Taking tradition as inspiration, Girelli employs ancient winemaking techniques such as fermentation in terracotta, which allows skin contact for a particularly long time. The wine is fermented on the skins, finishing the fermentation in botti, and wine is kept on its fine lees for at least nine months. Fermentation in open barriques means that small parcels of wine can be fermented at any one time – a kind of micro-fermentation.
Stefano Girelli explains: “2016 was our first vintage and it was really an experiment – we were surprised to have such great results. Now in 2021, I am happy to say that Cortese is delivering the quality that we want in wines which are a true reflection of the personality of the Cortese estate.
The wines
Nostru
The Nostru labels are unusual and striking – vibrant colours and images which reflect the island of Sicily – with the idea of giving them a memorable, distinctive shelf presence, instantly recognisable as Sicilian and organic. The Selezione labels are more elegant, classic and premium.
Cortese Nostru, approximate RRP all £11.99 • Catarratto Lucido, Terre Siciliane IGP • Carricante, Terre Siciliane IGP • Nerello Mascalese, Terre Siciliane IGP • Nero d’Avola Sicilia DOC (no sulphur added)
La Selezione
The La Selezione labels have an understated, elegant, classic and premium look. Cortese Selezione: • Vanedda Biano Siciliane IGP, £17.99 • Sabuci Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG, £20.99 • Senia Nero d’Avola Terre Siciliane IGP, £20.99
September is Cortese month!
To coincide with Organic September, North South Wines is running Cortese Month for independent retailers. Activities include the following: • Zoom masterclasses hosted by Stefano Girelli • Consumer Zoom tastings hosted by select retailers with Stefano • In store customer tastings hosted by North South Wines • Sampling stock for customers to support purchases in store • Organic September promotions
The wines are available to the trade via North South Wines. Please contact felicity@ northsouthwines.co.uk for further information.
www.agricolacortese.com Twitter: @CorteseSicilia FB: @aziendaagricolacortese Insta: @aziendaagricolacortese
A TOUR OF CHILE IN 10 WINES
The diversity encouraged by Chile’s variations of soil type, climate, altitude and vineyard stewardship was evident in an online tasting hosted by Wines of Chile.
Master of Wine and Chile expert Alistair Cooper MW led the tasting in which winemakers from across the country’s wine regions talked about wines that showed its depth.
“I see Chile as being the most diverse and dynamic new world producing country,” said Cooper.
“Chile ticks so many boxes and has so many aspects that resonate with today’s engaged consumer.
“Chile, possibly more than any other country in the world, has a plethora of old vines. There are a huge amount of volcanic soils, which is quite topical at the moment, because of that minerality, salinity and smokiness they can give.
Ten winemakers told those taking part in the tasting what makes their wine part of this dynamic period in Chile’s winemaking history.
Casas del Bosque Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2019
Casablanca ABS Wine Agencies, RRP £12.30
Sam Harrop MW, consultant winemaker: “Yields are very low because we don’t have as much water in Casablanca as in other parts of Chile. That results in smaller berries and lower crops. It means we get greater intensity, higher natural acidity and greater balance in the fruit.” The company has recently launched a premium coolclimate Syrah, La Trampa. Viña Undurraga TH Chardonnay 2019, Limarí
Hallgarten & Novum Wines, RRP £18.99
Rafael Urrejola, winemaker: “The TH range comprises 20 wines from 11 different regions. The whole idea is to show the diversity of Chile and the extraordinary differences we have between soils and climates. Limarí offers a personality and character that’s very unique for Chilean Chardonnay – a cool influence from the Pacific coast and chalky soil.” Viña Leyda Las Brisas Pinot Noir 2020
Leyda Enotria&Coe, RRP £16.95
Viviana Navarette, winemaker: “We want to be very respectful of our grape varieties and try to go into the bottle as pure as we can. We are obsessed with Pinot Noir and we’re using only lots that have granitic soil. We were looking for a palate that had vibrancy, with a backbone of acidity, and the granite gives more energy and bit of grip.”
Viña Morandé Adventure Mediterraneo 2018, Maule
Berkmann Wine Cellars, RRP £24.49
Ricardo Baettig, winemaker: “This is a blend which is mostly grafted Grenache, with some old root Carignan, and some Syrah, Marsanne and Roussanne. Grenache is not prominent in Chile, but we have the climate and felt it was a natural next step for this area. Chile has more than enough diversity of soil and climate to produce a variety of good quality Grenache.”
IN 10 WINES
Odfjell Vineyards Orzada Carignan 2019, Maule
Alliance Wine, RRP £20.99
Arnaud Hereu, winemaker: “Carignan is something very special for us. The Cauquenes vineyard is old, established and balanced. It’s planted in red clay with deep roots. You need that. We are trying to make wines that are transparent and authentic – they are what they are. We try to be simple but it’s very difficult to be simple, to try not to do anything.”
Viña Casa Silva S7 Single Block Carménère 2018, Colchagua
Jackson Nugent Vintners, RRP £27
René Vásquez, vineyard manager: “This comes from Los Lingues, in the foothills of the Andes in the eastern part of Colchagua. With Carménère, each part of the soil is really important; we need a touch of sand and clay, but we also have alluvial soil. The key for Carménère is balance. We planted seven blocks in 1997 and today they are 24 years old, so the balance in the vineyards is very natural.” Sutil Limited Release Syrah 2018, Limarí
Castelnau Wine Agencies, RRP £19.99
Camilo Viani, winemaker: “The vineyard has chalk and limestone that gives the wines minerality, saltiness and a sense of origin. The Syrah we grow there takes all this influence of the place, the soil and the latitude. The wine talks about complexity in a good way because it’s not too heavy; it’s very easy to drink.” Emiliana Organic Vineyards Coyam 2019
Colchagua Boutinot Wine, RRP £22
Noelia Orts, winemaker: “This is a very big blend of nine grape varieties, mostly Syrah and Carménère. The percentages can change but the soul of Coyam is always intact because we work with nature. This blend has 5% Carignan, and we are increasing the amount of Grenache, Mourvèdre and Cabernet Sauvignon. They give a nice acidity, freshness and tension which we really like.”
Viña Valdivieso Caballo Loco Grand Cru, Maipo
2017 Bibendum Wine, RRP £28
Brett Jackson, winemaker: “The Grand Cru range is individual examples from the vineyards around Chile used in the Caballo Loco blend. We’re in the upper Maipo here. It’s got a real nice cooling effect from the mountains. It’s a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. We want to maintain freshness in the wine and Cabernet Franc reinforces it. It brings a nice savoury edge to the wine.” Viña Errázuriz Don Maximiano 2017
Aconcagua Hatch Mansfield, RRP £64
Francisco Baettig, winemaker: “Don Maximiano was 100% Cabernet Sauvignon but we’ve been changing it into a Cabernetbased wine with some other Bordeaux varieties over time, playing with the varieties each season to add complexity. The challenge in Chile is how to preserve freshness. We try to avoid the plant suffering stress, so we might irrigate a bit more or promote a little bit more vigour so that the leaves protect the fruit.”
