THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 110, February 2022
Dog of the Month: Coco Gnarly Vines, Walthamstow
Independents say: blame Brexit for shipping delays Survey reveals ongoing chaos in the wine supply chain, with EU withdrawal regarded as a bigger culprit than Covid
E
ighty per cent of independents say they are facing long delays
on wines shipped from the EU,
and almost three quarters say they are experiencing the same problems with deep-sea shipments.
This year’s Wine Merchant reader survey
paints a worrying picture of supply chain problems, which merchants believe are
caused more by Brexit than they are by the Covid crisis.
A minority of respondents – just over a
third – say they are confident the problems are being resolved.
More than 200 businesses took part in
this year’s survey, 166 of which responded to the question about the supply chain. Responses were encouraged both
from merchants who organise their own
shipping, as well as businesses which buy from importers.
When presented with the statement “we
are facing long delays on shipments from the EU”, 37% of respondents said they
agreed strongly and 42% said they agreed to some degree.
When we asked about deep-sea
Half Cut Market is the latest independent wine business to open its doors in north London. As well as offering its customers an imaginative range of wines and beers, the Islington store is acting as a recycling point for corks and plastic packaging. Read more on page 4.
NEWS
Inside this month
Indies warn of reduced choice in ‘unmitigated disaster’ of Brexit
4 COMINGS AND GOINGS
‘Brexit is the gift that keeps on giving – and it is very much an
The French are coming to
unwanted gift, like a badly-made toy with toxic parts’
Northampton, and Vinotopia is reborn in a barn
21 the burning question How do you decide on the music you play in your store?
bottleneck was eased as retailers
When asked if Brexit is making it harder
stage two bites. Covid didn’t help.”
delays were an issue, with 38% agreeing to some degree.
to source the wines they want, 31% agreed
24 david williams Why it could be time to think about more cross-vintage blends
strongly and 34% to some degree. When asked if Covid was also a factor, 13%
agreed strongly and 34% to some degree. For many merchants, both Brexit and
Covid have conspired to cause difficulties.
28 the smiling grape
“Brexit is the gift that keeps on giving,”
The record-breaking pub
says Marc Hough of Cork of the North
crawler tells his story
38 focus on new zealand Kiwis face conundrums after a disappointing 2021 vintage
46 rioja and ribera We zoom in on two of Spain’s red-wine powerhouses
in Manchester, “and it is very much an
unwanted gift – like a badly-made toy with toxic parts.
“We have had to fundamentally change
the way we do business. We have now
had to pause importing wines on our own
because of the current pandemonium with the constantly-changing rules.”
David Perry of Shaftesbury Wines in
52 make a date Could March see tastings get back to some sort of normality?
55 supplier bulletin
shipments, 35% agreed strongly that
Dorset adds: “Brexit is an unmitigated
disaster. Suppliers’ responses to Brexit
delays, by buying in larger amounts earlier, overwhelmed warehousing capacity – especially at LCB.
“The loss of staff due to Brexit – and
Amazon – made this even worse. That
stockpiled. But the cause of the issue is still with us and likely to get worse as Brexit
Euan McNicoll, of McNicoll and Cairnie in
Broughty Ferry, says: “The delays we have suffered, or the non-availability of some products, were down to Brexit.
“Covid made things worse, but let’s not
use that as an excuse; Brexit is the main
culprit. Some small-scale specialists aren’t exporting to the UK any longer, and the effect of that is to reduce choice.”
Chris Connolly, of Connolly’s in
Birmingham, adds: “It’s hard to see how
supply chain problems might be resolved when we have a government intent on pursuing a hard Brexit, enforcing new importation conditions and failing to
provide importers and HMRC with the
appropriate tools and information to deal with those regulations.”
Yet the appetite for direct imports does
not appear to be dented, with fewer than 6% of respondents saying they plan to
scale down this element of their business. • Read more on pages 26 and 27.
THE WINE MERCHANT MAGAZINE winemerchantmag.com 01323 871836 Twitter: @WineMerchantMag Editor and Publisher: Graham Holter graham@winemerchantmag.com Assistant Editor: Claire Harries claire@winemerchantmag.com Advertising: Sarah Hunnisett sarah@winemerchantmag.com Accounts: Naomi Young winemerchantinvoices@gmail.com The Wine Merchant is circulated to the owners of the UK’s 996 specialist independent wine shops. Printed in Sussex by East Print. © Graham Holter Ltd 2022 Registered in England: No 6441762 VAT 943 8771 82
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 2
Half Cut’s plans are fully formed December saw the opening of Half Cut Market in Islington. The wine range at the boutique store has been selected by former Noble Rot sommelier Holly Willcocks, who co-owns the business. Keeling Andrew, Noble Rot’s sister
import business, is among the suppliers Willcocks is working with. “I love their wines so much, I couldn’t live without them,” she says.
Wines from Graft, Newcomer Wines
and Beattie & Roberts are also in the mix.
Willcocks says: “I’m hoping to source from
Dean Euden has worked for Majestic and Avery’s
as many small independent importers as I can because we’re trying to work with the smallest producers possible – we’re the
little people that want to help all the other little people.
“For drinking-in we have three by-the-
From left: Paul Rosser, Edwin Methu, Holly Willcocks and Danny Eilenberg
glass options, from KeyKeg,” Willcocks
plastic recycling.
white and a Spanish Tempranillo on at the
been really excited to see us.
explains.
“I have an English sparkling, an Austrian
moment and then at the weekends I’ve been opening something from the shelves. That
“We’re going for a neighbourhood vibe,”
says Willcocks, “and so far people have
“A lot of restaurants converted into
Stuart Vass, who established York
mostly turned back so we
his colleague Alexandra Edwards.
nicely.
York when she was looking to relocate
that I want to try or
something that someone We can do that because
Flying the craft beer flag for the business
is fellow co-founder Edwin Methu, who has ensured draught beer is on the menu with
a selection from new and exciting brewers including Floc Brewing Co.
The team, which also includes Paul
Wines 35 years ago, retired at the end of
are losing all those spaces,
According to Edwards, the Sheriff Hutton
which I think worked really
is particularly asking for. flexible.”
little shops or minimarts during
lockdown and now they have
could be something
we are a small place, we’re
“We would definitely like
to extend beyond the one shop,
and we need to get this one rolling
first before we plan for a second. But in terms of scale, it makes sense to have a couple.”
• Mec Coffee is a new specialist coffee and natural wine shop in Cardiff. Tomos Bull
Rosser and Danny Eilenberg, is taking its
and Will Davies, wine and coffee enthusiasts
serving as a drop-off destination for soft
trade.
green credentials seriously. Initiatives include a cork recycling scheme and
Alexandra takes the reins at York
respectively, joined forces and opened the business just in time to catch the Christmas
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 4
December, having sold the business to
shop caught her eye on her first visit to from London.
“I actually took a photo of it as I was
going past in the estate agent’s car,” she says.
After moving to the neighbouring village,
Edwards became a regular customer
and about three years ago, when Vass
mentioned his intention to retire, they
came up with a plan, which has resulted in a smooth and steady transition.
“I started working here in 2019 so it’s
been a gradual thing,” she says.
“I actually bought the business in August
Bacchus last year and, although Stuart is now
Perry faces the music
retired, he’s going to be around if we need help or advice.
“It runs really well as it is – Stuart built
it from a little hobby to the business it is
today, which is brilliant. Like everyone else, our online sales have grown exponentially in the last couple of years and have stayed buoyant, so I’m definitely planning to maintain that, if not increase it.”
V&B plants its flag in Northampton French hybrid retail group Vins & Bières has arrived in the UK and opened its first branch in Northampton. Harriet & Florian Poupinel are working
in partnership with the V&B group.
Florian was working as head of area
management for V&B when the couple decided to move back to the UK. They
approached the retailer with the idea of
a joint venture and everything has finally come to fruition.
“If this one takes off as we hope and
expect it to, then yes, the plan is to develop and open more stores across the UK,” Harriet confirms.
They first secured a Grade II listed
building, which was formerly an Ask Italian restaurant, back in 2020, got the keys in October 2021 and opened in December.
“We are really happy with the premises,”
says Harriet.
“It’s a charming building with so much
character and it really suits our business. It’s got lots of original features like the
parquet flooring upstairs in our tasting room.
“Being a franchise, we had to respect the
colours, but luckily the V&B colours are beautiful.
“Normally in France the colours are the
Marchtown movies
Marchtown, the ever-resourceful indie on Glasgow’s Southside, has come up with a new game to brighten up those occasional quiet moments. “We create a film or TV show using only the names of new wines that come in of a week,” explains owner Anthony Reynolds. “We proudly present Lucky’s Skins From Sunday Fiction, coming soon from Marchtown Studios.”
other way around, so the shop space is
green and the bar areas are red, but we
decided to switch them as the green looks so beautiful on the walls upstairs.”
While 60% of the stock will come from
the logistics centre in France, the couple are free to source the remaining 40%.
Their inaugural event in the first-floor
tasting room, a gin masterclass, sold out in two days. The couple are looking forward
to welcoming French winemakers to future events.
The retail and bar areas are clearly
separated on the ground floor but there is plenty of flexibility, Harriet says.
“Really everything in the shop is
available to drink in by the bottle for a corkage fee,” she adds.
“The beauty of it is that if someone
is looking around the shop and sees a
particular bottle but they are not quite The building is Grade II listed
Wine merchants are famously adept at identifying the perfect bottle for people they have never met and know absolutely nothing about. David Perry of Shaftesbury Wines in Dorset has clearly graduated to the upper levels of this art form. “I had someone ask for a wine for her friend: ‘He’s a drummer’. “Can you give me any more info?” “Yes, he also plays the trombone.”
sure, we can open that and give them a
taster and then it can join the other bottles behind the bar to be sold by the glass.”
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 5
We’ll call you, Duncan
Many thanks to all the merchants who took the trouble to take part in this year’s Wine Merchant reader survey. We had a record entry, despite shoehorning in an unprecedented number of questions. The final one, as always, solicited suggestions for how we could improve the magazine. “More jokes,” demanded Duncan Murray, of Duncan Murray Wines in Market Harborough. Oh yes – such as? “What’s the difference between a kangaroo and a kangaroot? One is a marsupial and the other is a Geordie stuck in a lift.” Duncan’s team, as you can imagine, are used to this kind of thing.
Lucy likes to be beside the seaside Southsea will soon be home to a new wine shop. Once all the licensing has gone through, Lucy Reynolds hopes to
Considering Reynolds’s previous career,
mixed cocktails.
“I’m already thinking about what I’m
explains Pineau.
can we expect some show-stopping retail displays?
going to do for my first window,” she says.
open Wines by the Sea by mid-March.
sourced locally.
“My boyfriend and I were both working
He is extending his spirits range too.
from home – a one-bedroom flat in
“We are going for some really unique and
London,” she explains. “We made the move
interesting whiskies, and some sake. We
back to Portsmouth, where we are both
I thought I’d take what I learnt from the
course and what I know about retail and apply it all to my own shop.”
Reynolds has attended a few trade
will be selling our own cocktails as preThe Curds & Cases store in Worthing
Brighton indie heads west the beginning of February.
She also intends to support UK vineyards,
two years ago. He also has three cocktail
Pineau, who launched Cases in Hove just
to have a section in the shop dedicated to
L’Atelier du Vin so it’s no surprise that he’s
local drinks.
We’re going to start with a selection of
seven different ones, including the classics like Negroni and Old Fashioned.
It is the second shop for owner Steve
Watts at The Wine Bank in Lee on Solent.
breweries and distilleries as she would like
mixes, either 100ml or as a litre bottles.
Curds & Cases opened in Worthing at
tastings, and has had some help and
guidance from Janine Pert and Debbie
big selection of Spanish wines with a
Pineau says the cheese and charcuterie is
prompted a career change.
“When I decided I didn’t want to carry
and Bordeaux but we will also have a
good pairing.”
Selfridges and M&S, before lockdown life
on travelling to London three days a week,
“We will still specialise in Burgundy
cheeses. Amontillado and cheese is such a
merchandising for large retailers, such as
so I qualified as a sommelier.
slightly different from our Hove business,”
good range of sherry to sit alongside our
Reynolds worked in visual
from, and I wanted to do something new,
“Our main focus at Curds & Cases will be
bars in Brighton operating under the name also introducing his own range of pre-
Bordeaux and Burgundy are specialisms
“I’ve found a really good location in the
shopping centre in Worthing – it has a
really nice frontage. I think as Brighton gets more and more expensive, people
are moving out to Worthing. It is up and
coming and so it is good to be there at the start. Lucy Reynolds hope to have resolved licensing red tape by March
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 6
“There are not many cheese or wine
shops there so I think we will do very well,” he adds.
Bush (pictured bottom right) was “looking for colours and ideas that were different”
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THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 7
Vinotopia will be reborn in a barn Vinotopia has unveiled plans for a wine barn in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, which is set to open in September. The new operation is a partnership with
food retailer Brown & Green, featuring a
wine shop on one side and a farm shop on the other.
Vinotopia’s Andy Cole says: “We want
to enhance our current offering and make the wine barn a destination for both our
local and regional customers and make it a welcoming place for all our wine club members.
“We have over 500 lines at the moment
and we’re not looking to massively increase that, but we will make the layout more user-friendly.
“Customers will be able to come in and
flop on the sofa, get a glass of wine, read the papers and watch the world go by.”
The brand new build is bursting with
eco credentials. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure it’s as green as
possible,” explains Cole. “There will be a
ground source heat pump, solar panels and rainwater harvesting.”
While the planners and builders continue
to do their thing, Vinotopia has moved
Vinotopia’s Sarah Hoddy in the temporary new hub established in the warehouse
“We hold two big tastings a year – a
As well as direct importing about 40%
from its shop in Tetbury and set up a new
spring and a winter one – and then we also
of its wines, the business works with UK
new build.
availability wines and small parcels – the
from Gusbourne, Greyfriars, Nyetimber
operational hub from the warehouse,
which is based on the same estate as the
“Once the project is complete the wine
barn will be our retail focus, and the
warehouse will continue to cover the
do another three wine club exclusives,” says Cole. “They are generally limitedfun stuff, really.”
suppliers including Liberty, Alliance and
Condor and stocks a range of English wines and Stopham.
wholesale side, the big corporate orders
and the events side of the business,” Cole says.
Vinotopia’s wine club, which currently
has around 500 members, gives
subscribers the opportunity to buy wine at a better price than any of its trade
accounts, as well as access to tastings.
The new barn will incorporate a farm shop as well as the Vinotopia store
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 8
Expansion for the Woonton clan
of around 200 wines twice a year and
This month sees the opening of Vinoteca
Spain and Romania as well as working
normally changes half of it, making sure
the range is kept refreshed with new finds.
In addition it imports direct from France,
in Borough Yards, near London Bridge. This will be the sixth site for the business
and number seven will follow in a few
months, in Birmingham – the company’s
Artist’s impression of the Borough Yards site
first foray outside London.
[during lockdown] and we topped up on
launched in 2005 with its first shop
and engaged, so we’ve been OK.”
Founded by Charlie Young, Brett
Woonton and Elena Ares, Vinoteca
and bar in Farringdon. Young describes the company’s subsequent growth as
“manageable” and is confident the team has retained its ability to “turn on a
sixpence,” which certainly helped the business through the past two years.
“We do have a few sites but we’re not a
huge company,” Young says. “Like a lot of
other operators we spent a lot of time and effort in keeping in contact with our staff
the furlough. So when we were ready to reopen we had a really good core team ready It wasn’t the intention to open two large
sites in a short space of time, but that’s just the way it worked out, Young says.
“It’s always a bumpy ride,” he adds. “After
you’ve done it a couple of times you expect delays and we’ve certainly had those on
this project. Borough Yards is a cracking
site. It’s a busy area and everyone trades there really well.”
Young says Vinoteca reviews its list
From left: Vinoteca founders Brett Woonton, Elena Ares and Charlie Young
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 10
with an “old friend” in South Australia
who produces Vinoteca’s own-label wine, Rodney and the Horse.
“We don’t wholesale – we’ve thought
about it but I think we have enough on our plates,” Young says.
With the Birmingham site set to open in
May, what’s next for Vinoteca?
“We are keeping a close eye on a couple
of places that would suit us really well,”
Young reveals. “One example is Battersea Power Station which is an amazing
development. We were first looking at that about seven years ago but it’s such a big
development. That’s probably going to be
the end of this year, but who knows. We’ve
learnt that from the moment you identify a site it takes a very long time.”
Bush (pictured bottom right) was “looking for colours and ideas that were different”
PORTFOLIO TASTING Wednesday 23rd March 2022
The Music Room, South Molton Lane, London W1K 5LF. 10.00-18.00.
Join us to discover the latest additions to our award-winning portfolio. Highlights include over 200 wines to taste, 3 winemaker masterclasses and the UK debut of several new agencies.
Register at: events@topselection.co.uk Strictly for trade and press only. Registration essential.
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 11
TRIED & TESTED
Royal Tokaji Dry Furmint 2019
Pessimist by DAOU 2018
It was a decent year for dry Furmint (“warm and
This Paso Robles blend, which includes Petite Sirah,
is ripe and round but there’s a leesy sensuality at work
serious business. It’s a symphony of flavours, from
early”), making this wine a good ambassador for the
variety, especially in its smart new packaging. The fruit too, and the bass note of a little new oak, both of which combine beautifully with the grapefruit and tangerine characters that zip around the palate. RRP: £10.95
Zinfandel and Syrah, announces itself with a soothing puff of vanilla but then we’re straight down to the
sweet ripe berries all the way through to liquorice
and charcoal, and despite the concentration there’s a tenderness to each of its many movements. RRP: £25.99
ABV: 13%
ABV: 15%
Carson & Carnevale (020 3261 0929)
Bibendum (0845 263 6924) bibendum-wine.co.uk
carsoncarnevalewines.com
Piedra Negra Arroyo Grande Organic Malbec 2020
McPherson Sunburnt Chardonnay 2018
The arid Arroyo Grande is inhospitable to agriculture,
Hot summer days in the Goulburn Valley of central
the terrain that nurtured it, and its brooding, savoury
Indeed this is a nicely balanced and unshowy
so naturally Francis Lurton guessed it would suit vines. This sturdy Malbec shares much of the ruggedness of edges will defeat timid imbibers. Stick with it and enjoy the blueberries and herbs as they emerge. RRP: £14.49
Victoria are moderated by cool nights, and the grapes suffered none of the damage that the name suggests.
Chardonnay, with just enough of everything; the part barrel fermentation adds an extra layer of interest. RRP: £12.49
ABV: 14.5%
ABV: 13%
Vintrigue Wines (01207 521234)
Condor Wines (07715 671914) condorwines.co.uk
vintriguewines.com
Philippe & Vincent Jaboulet Ermitage 2015
Casa Lo Alto Trena 2019
The Jaboulets claim to be the only producers in
Requena, this is 100% Tardana – a native grape
Produced in an old 160ha estate based in Utiel-
the region to make their white exclusively from
with a thick skin. As can be the case with all
Roussanne, and there’s no mistaking the exotic floral perfume: you half expect bees to be investigating
your glass. Rich, full bodied and a little decadent, it’s a great way to kid yourself that spring has sprung. RRP: £62
ABV: 14.5%
Vindependents (020 3488 4548)
slightly unfamiliar varieties, we found it deliciously
disorienting: we enjoyed the floral notes, perhaps a
distant tang of fossil fuel, and a retro waft of pick ‘n’ mix. Lots to explore and get to grips with. RRP: £20.95
ABV: 13.5%
Buckingham Schenk (07544 769267)
vindependents.co.uk
buckingham-schenk.co.uk
Rathfinny Wine Estate Classic Cuvée 2018
Domaine Jones Vineyard Collection Carignan 2018
It should be possible to make a judgement on the
“Carignan is the bad boy grape of the Languedoc,”
hitting its stride with a low-dosage, Pinot-driven blend
that bulks out blends hereabouts. Powerful and
Rathfinny project with a bottle of its flagship wine
from “the vintage of the decade”. And we find it really that seems to reflect the wild seas, flinty downs and
(in 2018) generous sunshine of its East Sussex home. RRP: £29.50
ABV: 12%
Liberty Wines (020 7720 5350) libertywines.co.uk
claims Katie Jones. Her 100-year-old vines produce something rather different to the high-yield fare
concentrated, it’s brimming with berries, spice, plums
and liquorice: a perfect accompaniment to the Mistral. RRP: £19
ABV: 13.5%
Domaine Jones (+33 6 86 67 94 68) domainejones.com
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 12
SPONSORED EDITORIAL
A WARM WELCOME TO CASANOVA DI NERI Family-owned Brunello di Montalcino producer partners up with family-owned Pol Roger Portfolio
C
asanova di Neri, the Brunello di
Montalcino producer, has joined Pol Roger Portfolio’s stable of
producers.
The Italian winery celebrated its 50th
anniversary last year, and enters 2022 with an exclusive agency agreement in the UK. In the 1970s founder Giovanni Neri,
a grain merchant from near Florence, had a long-standing dream to make a
great Italian red. Although the region of Chianti Classico was on his doorstep, it
was the remote and relatively unknown Brunello di Montalcino that piqued his
interest. Achieving DOC status just four years previously, and with only around 30 producers in the area compared to
nearer 250 today, it offered the perfect
opportunity for a man with a clear vision. After Giovanni’s death in 1991, his
son Giacomo took the reins, and is now accompanied by his sons, Giovanni and Gianlorenzo.
Casanova di Neri is seen as one of the
pioneers of single-vineyard Brunello, and consistently produces some of the best wines in the DOCG. Its seven vineyards are located in diverse terroirs across
Montalcino: Fiesole, Cerretalto, Collalli,
Podernuovo, Pietradonice, Giovanni Neri, and Cetine.
T
he variety in terroir, exposure,
vine age and micro-climate allows for a distinctive expression of
Sangiovese, showing its unique potential. Casanova di Neri’s luxurious, rich and
The Casanova di Neri estate includes seven vineyards
lusciously textural wines are the result of a
Portfolio. Together with Champagne
extensively and then further refined with
Romano, Maison Joseph Drouhin, Domaine
meticulous approach.
All fruit is harvested by hand, sorted
an optical sorter. The underground winery allows the wine to be treated as gently as
possible, with a combination of low impact and gravity flow technology.
Fermentation takes place in
temperature-controlled, open-topped,
truncated conical vats of steel and wood.
The wine is left to age in French oak for 12 to 45 months, depending on the vineyard and vintage.
Casanova di Neri now sits alongside
the outstanding range of family-owned producers represented by Pol Roger
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 13
Pol Roger, the agency wine range now
comprises Domaine Vacheron, Dal Forno
Josmeyer, Bodegas Artadi, Robert Sinskey
Vineyards, Staglin Family Vineyard, Abreu, Gallica, Kinsman Eades, TOR and Grand Tokaj as well as Glenfarclas Highland Single Malt.
For more information visit www.polroger.co.uk or call 01432 262800 Twitter: @Pol_Roger
Rising Stars
Roxane Gosse Blanco & Gomez, London
‘I am a chatterbox, apparently. I always do my best to go the extra mile’
R
oxane had only been working for Carlos Blanco for one week before lockdown hit in March 2020 and then had to work from home. Carlos explains how her dedication and commitment from the get-go has continually impressed him. “As a business we don’t have the infrastructure for employees to work from home, but Roxane made a success of it,” he says. “At the earliest time of the pandemic, when online sales skyrocketed, even though she couldn’t physically come to the shop, she took on all the logistics and basically made my life a lot easier. “She was so supportive and generous with her time and this is how I saw she was as an employee. I had only known her only one week before lockdown and she demonstrated such professionalism. This showed me her potential.” Roxane’s background in “very high-end hospitality” has many transferable skills when it comes to working in wine retail. “Roxane is the duty manager,” Carlos says. “This is more than coming in and just running the shop. It’s everything we do as a business in terms of logistics, the orders that have to be prepared on a national and international scale, the e-commerce, the private client sales, how to promote the wines … and she is in charge of staff training, too.”
O
riginally from northern France, where she studied hospitality in Le Touquet, Roxane’s first job was as a sommelier in St Tropez. Then came seasonal work in Morocco and Turkey, where she helped to create and build a hotel and nightclub, before heading to Monaco where the luxury hospitality experience exists all year round. “To get the position of manager in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Monaco is really difficult,” explains Roxane. “I had to work in room service first and then the only chance I had was when one of my co-workers broke his legs. I didn’t push him over; he was playing football! “I came to the UK because I wanted to improve my English and I worked for a Michelin-starred restaurant in
Bristol for a couple of years before coming to London. I loved my job but when I got to 30, I thought I’d like to work more sociable hours and have at least some of my weekends free, so decided to look at wine shops. “I printed off my resume and visited the wine shops in my neighbourhood, and that’s how I met Carlos.” Roxane says her favourite part of the job is dealing with customers face-to-face. “Whether it’s online or in the shop, I like that interaction and knowing that I am making the customer happy,” she says. “I am a chatterbox, apparently, and I like to always do my best to go the extra mile. “Working for Carlos has been a great experience. He is understanding and empathetic. He would do anything to make things comfortable at work and make sure you have the right training. He also has amazing patience, which I don’t!”
Roxane wins a bottle of Domaine Vacheron Sancerre Blanc ‘Les Chambrates’ 2019 If you’d like to nominate a Rising Star, email claire@winemerchantmag.com
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 14
The Wine Merchant Top 100 is now accepting entries This is the only competition judged exclusively by independent wine merchants. And the only competition in which all of the entries are exclusive to the independent trade. If your wine deserves to be among our winners in 2022, visit winemerchanttop100.com or contact claire@winemerchantmag.com Entry deadline: April 18
Holly Plumeridge On the Road
There are people who have been with the business for a long time, some for 20 or
30 years. A main priority is finding good
Feature sponsored by Alliance Wine
people and holding on to them. Certainly
For more information about
that our career progression through the
Call 0208 959 9540
in the sales teams we feel that there are lots of opportunities and flexibility, and
the company, visit alliancewine.com
company doesn’t have to be linear.
Our buyers have done such a fantastic job sourcing new wines despite the lack of travel opportunities. I feel we have
been able to keep up with the changing
demand in the market, especially on the
HOLLY IS HEAD OF OFF-TRADE AT ALLIANCE WINE, WITH HER OWN PATCH COVERING THE SOUTH WEST OF ENGLAND, INCLUDING THE CHANNEL ISLANDS
One of the best things about my patch is how much coastline there is. I love sea swimming and walking and fortunately I
get to combine a lot of that with my travels. I can be cajoled into a bit of all-weather sea swimming and I have been known to go in on Christmas Day. It’s one of my favourite things to do.
My first job in the wine trade was at DBM Wines in Bristol. I’d been
orange and natural wines front. There is
lot of really exciting stuff we have taken on over the last couple of years, particularly from Spain, but I say watch this space:
there is plenty more to come this year.
There is so much in our portfolio that I want to talk to our customers about. Some of the producers we work with, for
alternative packaging, where we really want to find the right solution for the
long term, to how we can reduce and be more sustainable in our business travel and use of samples. We’ve appointed a
sustainability manager to co-ordinate this business-wide project. Basically if it’s a
decision that we can make and influence, then it’s being reviewed. The scope and
challenge is huge, but it’s at the absolute heart of what we do.
One of the most important things I see
example Bodegas Altolandon in Spain
as a rep is the fortitude and resilience of
and fun labels really sum up Alliance’s
how they have all worked to the whims of
… the quality of the winemaking, their
sustainability practices, and their beautiful energy. Those sorts of products get me
really excited and I know they will jump out and shine on retailers’ shelves. As a business we are looking at
sustainability in a holistic sense. From
my customers in the way they run their
businesses. It’s been quite incredible to see current events and the challenges of the
supply chain. I think it comes down to the
indies really focusing on what they do well
and then having the confidence to run with that. It’s great to be part of it and support their successes.
Vineyards at Bodegas Altolandon
in recruitment and had a bit of sales
experience and I’d worked in hospitality.
The private client sales arm at DBM gave
me the opportunity to hone my sales skills as well as gain more retail experience. But I’d always wanted to be a rep. The travel aspect and the thought of meeting and
working with lots of different people just appealed to me. I became very focused on getting the right qualifications and
knowledge to become a rep but my biggest
stumbling block was that I couldn’t actually
drive! So I took a week’s driving course and passed my test.
I joined Alliance in 2019 as sales rep for the south west, so I am still fairly new.
THE WINE MERCHANT FEBRUARY 2022 16
Thirty years of Daniel Lambert Wines This month’s edition of The Wine Merchant includes a 12-page supplement celebrating the 30th anniversary of a unique wine supplier that, for many indies, needs no introduction: Daniel Lambert Wines. The company takes satisfaction in the connection it’s forged with the independent trade, which is due, in no small part, to the values that Daniel Lambert and his team share with indies. The business prides itself on its low-cost model and no-frills approach, with all resources and energies ploughed into delivering a broad range of indie-friendly wines from around the world at prices that are realistic for customers. The agency roster has grown to include names like Calmel & Joseph, Trefethen Family Vineyards, Famile André Lurton, De Saint-Gall Champagne, Enate, Hollick, Clos Galena … the list goes on. Find out more in the pages of the supplement.
NOT YOU AGAIN!
customers we could do without
31. Simon Vassensmauer OK. Maybe I’m making this sound more complicated than it actually is … so there are these six bottles of Côtes du Rhône, right, and they’re for a works reception and need to go on the company credit card … all these whites and rosés and whatnot are completely separate, for our daughter’s baby shower, so I’m paying for those on my own card, but I’ve got £25, sorry, £27.80 in cash to put towards those … what I’m asking is if you can put the 10% case discount on the reds towards what I’m paying for the Sauvignon and
Supplier of wine boxes and literature • 12 Bottle carrier box with dividers • 6 Bottle carrier box with dividers • 12 Bottle mailing box with dividers • 6 Bottle mailing box with dividers • 4 Bottle mailing box with dividers • 3 Bottle mailing box with dividers • 1 Bottle mailing box with dividers
01323 728338 • sales@eastprint.co.uk • www.eastprint.co.uk
Congratulations to the five Wine
Whispering Angel … plus I’m bringing back this LBV port
Merchant reader survey respondents
my accountant bought me and is an unwanted gift, so can you please apply that £15.70 credit to the £32.90 tawny I’m buying instead … I’ve got quite a few points on my loyalty card so can those be used against the delivery costs of © Innovated Captures / stockadobe.com
this malt I need to send to my brother-
whose names were drawn at random
AM ANAand TIaMCoravin, GRwho E courtesy of each win
our partner Hatch Mansfield. Can you unscramble these English wineries? If so, you win a year’s supply of cress. Peter Fawcett, Field & Fawcett, York
in-law in Kirby Misperton, which I’ll be paying for online this evening with my wife’s PayPal … he’s actually a radiologist, does he qualify for any sort of NHS discount?
1. Athens Fin Borges, Treaty The Wine Centre, Anthony 2. Bye, Wiry Melany Great Horkesley, Essex 3. Newcastle Pothead Zoran 4. CuterRistanovic, Dragon City Wine Collection, 5. Hating Mill London Daniel Grigg, Museum Wines, Dorset Riaz Syed, Stonewines, London
THE THEWINE WINEMERCHANT MERCHANT february october 2021 2022 18
29: Cocktail Masterclass
ight ideas br
Steve Tattam Winyl, Manningtree, Essex
In a nutshell: It doesn’t matter if you
and showed how to prepare each cocktail
an emerging number of indie-friendly
measuring out the ingredients and mixing
properly with the correct garnishes using
don’t have a fully-stocked and primed
the shaker, but of course the hard work of
cocktail bar of your own when there are
them has already been done. You’re just
specialists on hand. Steve worked with
adding the final flourish.”
a local RTD cocktail company to give his customers a masterclass.
What did your customers think?
Ready-to-drink cocktails? Tell us more.
“If you’ve got friends around for cocktails you don’t really want to spend all that
”We went to Imbibe Live in September and
money on the different juices and
I realised there was a noticeable amount of
condiments required, it’s a big investment
pre-mixed drinks, including cocktails. RTD
to buy full bottles of spirits as well. So we
products do well for us because there’s a
wanted to get across how achievable it is to
lovely beach at Manningtree, so we sell a
lot of our tinned wines during the summer as people prefer to take those to the beach rather than a bottle.
“We’re not really set up in the shop to
The Winyl Lounge
do our own cocktails – you need a lot of
free and certified vegan.
glass, and tinned and bottled beer. Plus,
he hadn’t done an indie tasting.”
ingredients to do it properly. We’re very
much about wine by the bottle and by the
there is a bar in town that stays open very late and does the whole cocktail thing.
“Theo, the owner, had previously done a
few trade shows and that kind of thing but Tell us about the evening.
have these great tasting cocktails at home without the hassle and expense.
“Although our guests said their
preconceptions were that tinned drinks
would not be very nice, as they had tried mass-produced supermarket versions in
the past, everyone said the Niche cocktails
tasted freshly made and just like ones they
would drink in a bar. The event completely changed perceptions about what a premixed cocktail could be.”
But when I saw the pre-mixed options, I
“We used to do wine tastings in the shop
How did you find the right partner?
It has a downstairs cellar, which was the
“We retail them at £3.80 in the shop and
with a fully-fitted kitchen and bathroom
as Niche do direct from their website. Most
thought this was something we could offer.” “We only sell vegan drinks, so that was an important factor, and we’re very keen on
being eco-friendly, so the tins appeal to us for that reason too. We are a plastic-free
store and the whole town has plastic-free community status. We started talking to
a local company called Niche Cocktails in Framlingham, Suffolk. Their drinks are
made using fresh ingredients, are sulphate-
but we recently bought the flat next door and converted it into the Winyl Lounge. clincher for me because it means I can
take on and store more wine! It also came upstairs. It’s a really great space and you can comfortably get 15 seated in there. “We sold tickets for £15 per head,
provided the cocktail glasses and
garnishes, and Theo came along with his
cocktail shaker. He talked through each one
What about pricing?
we charge £5 to drink in. On the night we
did boxes of six for £20, which is the same people bought six and then came back
and made repeat purchases. We had other people coming in who’d heard about it.
We regularly stock six from the full range
and we’ll definitely do another masterclass with them in the spring or summer.”
Steve wins a WBC gift box containing some premium drinks and a box of chocolates. Tell us about a bright idea that’s worked for you and you too could win a prize. Email claire@winemerchantmag.com
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 19
BITS & BOBS
Favourite Things
Dutch retailers have pulled some ports from the shelves over worries about how old they actually are. A study, conducted by the University of
Groningen, revealed that the average age of 7-, 10- and 20-year-old ports was younger
Kilo Wines, Loughborough Favourite wine on my list
San Cassiano Valpolicella Superiore Alene DOC produced by Mirko Sella, who is a very good friend, really does take some beating. He is such a talented winemaker and so modest.
amounts of synthetic alcohol, the CIO said.
Cheval Blanc and Château Ausone in July
Royal Oporto 10-year-old port and Kopke
Premier Grand Cru Classé “A” estate out of
ports are believed to contain tiny, harmless Hans Burghoorn, director of the Royal
Association of Dutch Wine Traders, said 10- and 20-year-old ports were among
those that were removed by Makro, Albert Heijn and Gall & Gall.
Wine-searcher.com, January 24
Favourite wine trade person
If I don’t mention my wife here then I will almost definitely be sleeping in the dog house. Rebecca at Marcato Direct imports some of the finest Italian wines in the country.
Favourite wine shop
Corkage in Guildford is one of my favourites. Peter, although not the owner, is a most excellent host.
St-Emilion classification. The withdrawal follows those of Château
2021.
Currently only Château Pavie remains a
the original four having been promoted, alongside Château Angélus, in the 2012 ranking.
Describing the St-Emilion classification
as “once a source of progress”, Angélus said it had become “a vehicle for antagonism
I could talk about food all day, and then I remember I am supposed to be more often than not talking about wine. Such a simple one, which always amazes people is Soave and green olives. Enrico Marcato of EM Family wines produces the amazing Iprandi Soave DOC. Even my late father who really knew nothing about wine (except what he liked) was wowed by the combination. No need to complicate things any further.
Piemonte is close to my heart and the hospitality of the producers we work with and just the general public there is a standard which the rest of the world should take note of. So relaxed, but also for me with some of the best grape varieties with Nebbiolo, Barbera and Cortese just three to get me started.
Bordeaux’s Château Angélus has withdrawn its candidacy from the next
Favourite wine and food match
Favourite wine trip
Angélus pulls out of St-Emilion club
than that indicated on the bottles, with a
margin of error of two years. Two further
Nick Robinson
Magpie
Are ports as old as they claim to be?
and instability”.
Decanter, January 5
‘Wild’ glass bottle claims an eco first Anthony Barton
Laithwaites has launched a wine that
Gentleman of Bordeaux dies at 91
comes in a 100% recycled bottle, a move
Fond tributes have been paid to Anthony
Frappato 2020 – an organic Sicilian red –
Barton, the “gentleman” of Bordeaux wine who has died aged 91. Admired for his sense of humour
and charisma, Barton was also widely
respected for modernising family estates
Léoville Barton and Langoa Barton in the St-Julien appellation.
Barton was credited, too, with
maintaining a relatively modest pricing
strategy during a major period of growth for Bordeaux wine.
Decanter, January 20
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 20
the merchant said marked a UK first for the industry. The W/O (standing for “without”)
is packaged in a bottle made with “wild” glass – the name bottle manufacturer Estal
has given to its 100% recycled product.
The launch, which
forms part of the
company’s pledge to become
net zero and halve its carbon footprint by 2030, marked a “UK first for wine”, according to Laithwaites. Decanter, January 25
Bolney sells up to German wine giant
?
THE BURNING QUESTION
What kind of music do you play in your shop?
�
I made a living as a DJ for over 20 years, so I feel music is incredibly important in setting the atmosphere in the shop. I play it through YouTube. You don’t want anything morose so I play stuff that’s light, jazzy. I may even whip out a bit of Stranglers. The Nightfly by Donald Fagen is a great album and I might also play Koop, who are a Swedish electro jazz outfit. Over Christmas I was playing UB40’s first album and one of my customers said how nice it was to listen to instead of bloody awful Christmas music!
Henkell-Freixenet, the world’s biggest sparkling wine company, has acquired Bolney Wine Estate in Sussex. The German sparkling wine giant owns
Champagne, crémant, Cava, and Prosecco brands in more than
10 countries, together with UK-based
Iain Smith H Champagne winner H Smith’s Wines, Exeter
distribution company Freixenet-Copestick.
Sam Linter, Bolney’s
managing director and
head winemaker, will stay on as managing
director. She declined to disclose the value of the sale.
Wine-searcher.com, January 17
�
Music plays a part in telling the story of who we are and what we do. We can’t always play our personal preferences, it has to be right for here. We put a playlist on Spotify and currently we are listening to lots of soul jazz during the day and then we move to Afrobeat at night. I think the best music is when customers don’t notice it – it just becomes part of everything.
”
Aberlour rarities stolen from Moray
Alex Grahame SugarBird Wines, Aberdeen
�
We create playlists on Spotify that go out every couple of weeks with our newsletter. These include songs that have been getting airtime in the shop. Whoever is running the shop has control over the stereo, with the caveat that nobody plays anything with too high a BPM or anything classical. We don’t always agree. My colleague has begged me to stop playing Meat Loaf recently after a week of hearing I Would Do Anything For Love in tribute to the great man.
Tens of thousands of pounds of whisky has been stolen from a distillery in Moray. A number of whisky bottles were taken
from the visitor shop at Aberlour Distillery between December 22 and January 5.
”
Police said the highly unique bottles
would be “easily identifiable” as no other
bottles from the batch have yet been sold.
Oliver Dibben Gnarly Vines, Walthamstow, London
STV News, January 27
South African wine booms in the UK The UK, South Africa’s leading export market, saw a jump in exports of
�
We rarely move the dial from Radio Fip, to be honest. It’s a pretty eclectic mix, involving every genre you could possibly imagine. It can flip from Led Zeppelin or Tony Allen to Beethoven or Billy Bragg, then it’ll just weird you out with a bizarre cover of a James Bond song or something. It is very good wine shop music although, being French, it does go a bit too jazzy some afternoons. Richard Holloway The Stroud Wine Co, Stroud
”
20% by value during 2021, despite challenges caused by the pandemic. The UK currently accounts for 25% of
all exports by value and 12% in terms of volume.
”
Champagne Gosset The oldest wine house in Champagne: Äy 1584
The Drinks Business, January 20
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 21
. T H E D R AY M A N .
The dark arts Don’t get too fixated about the technical differences between stout and porter. Both styles are benefiting from endless new interpretations by innovative brewers
T
he US-based Beer Judge Certification Program released
sweet, Irish, Irish extra and tropical).
updated guidelines on beer styles at the very end of last
Perhaps the most important question should be, “is it time to
year. This is a list of 34 identifiable families of beer,
stop worrying about the difference between porter and stout?”.
sub-divided into anything from two to 10 particular beer styles,
To which I’d suggest the answer is: “Unless you’re judging an
each with a description of the typical ingredients, flavour profile
international beer competition, yes, it probably is.”
and historical background. It aims to provide a benchmark for
For, just like any other beer style or tributary thereof, there
competition judges to assess whether particular beers match the
are great porters and mediocre ones, and amazing stouts and
style they purport to be.
workaday ones. Being called one or the other doesn’t denote
Don’t worry, there isn’t going to be an exam at the end. But it
quality, just its place in beer’s history.
is the place to go if any reader feels the urgent need to detect the subtle variations between American, Belgian, black, brown, red, rye, white, brut, hazy and double IPAs.
T
he beauty of both styles is their versatility, as the
As we were deep into dark beer season at the time they were published, it seemed a good hopping-on place to search for answers to one of the thorniest of thorny
numerous subdivisions testify. Dark beers provide a robust enough backbone to carry the saltiness of
oysters or the sweetness of dark fruit. Titanic Plum Porter is a leathery-rich, fruity beer worthy of the “modern classic” epithet.
beer questions: the difference between
It’s become so iconic in beer-nerd world that Aldi launched a
a stout and a porter. It’s a question that
lookalike last year.
has almost as many answers as there
Fresh off the blocks is Vocation’s Honeycomb Chocolate Stout.
are beer experts and is wrapped up in
It’s a lazy fall-back to describe a tipple as something in a glass
18th century brewing history, grain
(sunshine, Christmas, a vineyard etc) but this really is as close
content and degrees of bitterness and
as you’re likely to encounter to a Crunchie in liquid form –
sweetness. It’s quite the rabbit hole.
decadent, warming, moreish.
The BJCP guidelines present as
More refined, with a bitter-sweet dark chocolate/liquorice
many questions as they answer,
thing going on is Thornbridge’s Cocoa
however, even creating new ones,
Wonderland chocolate porter, which
including what is the difference
packs a punch at 6.8% abv, reinforcing
between a porter and a
the non-rule that porters are usually
porter, and between a
lighter in abv than stout, except when
stout and a stout? They
they aren’t.
identify
distinct
These and many others have taken
types of porter (English,
four
two closely-related classic dark beer
American, Baltic and
palates and created exciting new-
pre-Prohibition)
and
ness in what was pretty much a one-
eight shades of stout
brand beer category two decades ago
(American,
– not so much vive la difference as
imperial,
foreign extra, oatmeal,
vive la similarité.
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 22
JUST WILLIAMS
Why bet the farm on the vagaries of vintage? As he considers the inflated prices of 2020 Burgundy, anticipating the shortfall created by the 2021 vintage, David Williams wonders if more wine producers might consider blending not only between regions, but harvests too
A
s I write this, the UK wine
trade is in the middle of its
annual celebration of the most
influential wine region in the world. With
numerous omicron-inspired cancellations,
Burgundy 2020 en primeur season may not have been quite up to full strength in terms of physical tastings. But what might be
called the Burgundian worldview has never been more powerfully dominant.
Burgundy, after all, is the home of the
singular, the place that has done most to promote the idea that quality – or at the
very least interest – in wine comes in the smallest possible discrete units of space and time.
It’s there that you find the most vivid
example of the Google Earth-zoom view
of vineyard hierarchy, the idea that, as you
zero in on Europe-France-Bourgogne-Côte
de Nuits-Vosne-Romanée-La Tâche, each step represents an exponential rise in quality and price.
Burgundy is also, of course, one of the
homes of the single-varietal wine, the idea being that those infinitesimal changes in terroir are best displayed in wines
made from one variety, whether that’s Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.
Most of the coverage I’ve read about
2020 Burgundy, as well as the few wines
I’ve managed to taste myself, suggest that
it’s a vintage in which Burgundy’s singular virtues were fully on display. Despite the
hot, dry growing conditions, it was a year of fresh wines with high acidity, with
whites being particularly, consistently
good, but plenty to charm in the reds, too. Yet it was also a year in which the best
sites stood out, when the grands crus really
With so many producers having a much-reduced crop, it’s clear that most have taken the decision to recoup the anticipated loss from 2021 by adding a few digits to the price of their 2020s THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 24
were that crucial bit more interesting,
more vibrant, more focused than their village peers.
Curiously, however, while 2020 may be a
classic Burgundy vintage, the en primeur
campaign also prompted questions about
the value of the last element of Burgundy’s singular vision: the single vintage.
As is clear from the early offers, the price
of Burgundy 2020, and not just for the tiny production top wines of the region’s star producers and crus, is going to be high, even in the context of a region that has
become a magnet for the world’s super rich.
The reason is simple enough: the frost-
bitten, hail-battered, yield-shredding
struggle that was 2021. With so many
producers, at all levels, having a much-
reduced (in some cases, disastrously so) crop, it’s clear that most have taken the
decision to recoup the anticipated loss of
funds from 2021 by adding a few digits to the price of their 2020s.
Of course, such is demand in Burgundy,
this is a perfectly rational move, if
not exactly welcome for impecunious
Burgundy-lovers like me. But the stark juxtaposition of 2020’s graceful plenty
© Massimo Santi / stockadobe.com
For many of my press colleagues, a fixation on labels is just not the done thing. Any discussion of packaging beyond a brief aside is liable to provoke under-thebreath muttering about books, covers and philistines: it’s the definition of superficial Ominous clouds at Vosne-Romanée
with 2021’s miserly rations did make me
singular. Developed at a time when
are already a feature of the climate crisis
marginality was shoved 300 miles north
wonder. Could – should? – the sharp swings in production from vintage to vintage that (and which are only likely to get more extreme) herald a shift away from the
Burgundian obsession with the singular elsewhere in the word?
I
t’s a question that many Europeans are asking as they count the cost
of their empty tanks this winter. At
times like this, the terroirism of Burgundy
feels almost absurdly risky, or at least liable to offer a life of hair-raisingly stressful ups and downs – and the supposedly outdated classic model of another north eastern
French wine region, Champagne, starts to look a whole lot more attractive.
That model can be summarised as
a celebration of the multiple over the
Champagne was still at the margins
of viticulture, long before the line of by the bludgeon of global warming,
in the region has been in the rise of single growers, working with single vineyards and plots in single vintages.
unreliable climate.
B
varieties and sub-regions in the knowledge
Last year alone saw the launch of two very
Champagne’s houses made a virtue of the
blend from the necessity of dealing with an The insurance policy was partly
viticultural: spreading the risk across grape that some years are better for Pinot from
the Aube, others for Chardonnay from the
Côtes des Blancs. But it was, famously, also temporal: putting away a substantial part of that bountiful vintage for a rainy year. Of course, the direction of travel in
Champagne during the 21st century has been similar to that taken all over the
world: away from the traditional blending model towards something much more
Burgundian. So much of the excitement
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 25
ut I’m not the only person
wondering if we’re about to
see a reversal of that trend. The
wine world already has its examples of fine wines that mix up space and time.
high-profile examples: Louis Roederer’s
solera-based, “multi-vintage” replacement for Brut Premier, Collection 242, and the
latest of Penfolds’ blend of five vintages of Grange, g5.
As more and more producers come to
terms with the realities of a new severity of vintage variation, I reckon we’ll start
seeing a lot more of these celebrations of
the multiple, and a steady shift away from the singular.
SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES “Brexit has not made it harder for me to list the wines I want, but this is because I don’t believe the full impact has yet hit the UK. “Last year we were able to navigate around the delays and out-of-stocks; my outlook is that this year will be worse than last year. “I am not confident, as an independent, that we can continue to outmanoeuvre the fallout from Brexit. “Covid has stopped me attending most trade tastings and visits that I would normally attend, so I have not been able to list and refresh the producers we work with.” Sam Howard, HarperWells, Norwich
80% of indies say wine longer to reach them.
Our reader survey found that merchants of all sizes are experiencing proble supply chain delays, some are pragmatic … and a few argue that things aren’
“The main issue for us hasn’t been Brexit, but the Covid situation. “At the start of 2021 there were some delays getting wines into the UK. However, we’ve had more issues with the shortage of drivers and distribution staff which has resulted in longer delivery times and less guarantee of orders arriving on time. “Also, cut-off times at Christmas were a lot earlier than previously, meaning we had to bulk buy earlier and take a gamble to ensure we had the stock.” Mark Stephenson, Grape & Grain, Morpeth, Northumberland
“Our shipments from France have not been as badly affected as those from Spain, Italy and Portugal. “The main thing with both our own shipping and that of suppliers is that it has been so unpredictable. This makes it harder to plan and maintain stock levels.” Alex Edwards, York Wines
“Brexit is a nightmare. Stock reliability has gone out the window. We sell what we can get.” Dorset merchant
“Although we don’t directly import, I found 2021 was the hardest year in retail to have consistency in the supply chain. Pressures on card, glass and logistics caused stock shortages and delays on many SKUs. “It was fairly easy to switch over retail customers to different products, but communicating these widespread stock issues to wholesale customers was a little more tricky.” Jefferson Boss, StarmoreBoss, Sheffield “We’ve never experienced the delays in restocking certain wines as those seen this past year – and which seem to be continuing. “Even the shipment dates, when we ask suppliers, are totally uncertain and almost invariably inaccurate.” Nichola Roe, Wine Therapy, Cowes
“Brexit is causing the fuck-ups, and Covid is used as the excuse.” Henry Butler, The Butlers Wine Cellar, Brighton “There are more reasons for delays to occur than prior to the pandemic, and many of them are rooted in more unnecessary bureaucracy. The whole business is more complicated and it is much easier to trip up.” Robert Boutflower, Tanners Wines, Shrewsbury “Brexit, coupled with Covid, was our trade’s worst nightmare. Brexit was always going to cause massive issues and so it came to pass: delays, increased costs, etc. A total and utter shit show from start to finish. Impossible to ship wines out to Europe for customers there too. An absolute joke.” London merchant “The biggest threat to my business has been Brexit. I’ve lost on average £1,000 per month on EU sales and have to watch my prices continue to rise.” North east England merchant
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 26
“Red tape and increased costs as a result of Brexit are a joke and making shipping individual pallets way less attractive.” Dafydd Morris, Cheers Wine Merchants, Swansea “The supply chain is slower, more complex, more expensive, more hassle, less efficient.” East of England merchant “If we put the Teletubbies in charge of the government we could have more hope that they might listen to, and understand the needs of, our industry.” Andrew Lundy, Vino, Edinburgh
You can still get the wines you want – if you plan ahead, argue some merchants
is taking Here’s why
e ms. Some are furious about t as bad as everyone feared
“It is not so much a matter of the supply chain issues being resolved but rather that we and the suppliers we use are learning to adapt to a world that no longer operates on a ‘just-in-time’ basis. “Realistically a global reset of two to three years, providing there are no further disruptions, can be reasonably expected.” John Kernaghan, Liquorice, Shenfield, Essex “I’ve been surprised by how the predicted shit storm didn’t quite materialise. Yes, there were problems, but one benefit of being predominantly retail is that we aren’t as tied to specific lines. “Most of our wholesale business is done using Boutinot, and they’ve been pretty good with allocations and notifying of any impending problems.” Rob Hoult, Hoults Wine Merchants, Huddersfield “You can still get the wines that you want if you plan ahead and allow for delays.” Jon Moore, Mumbles Fine Wines, Swansea “Our experiences over the last year have not been too bad. We have just had to build an extra couple of weeks into the timeframe for European shipments.” Sussex merchant “Delays have been the bane of our existence in the past year. But totally understandable, and hopefully we’re on track to more dependable supplies now.” Kiki Evans, Unwined Bars, London
Fitz Spencer
“Getting wines from suppliers from the GB mainland to Northern Ireland has been a real pain at times, and we’ve seen month-long delays between order placement and order arrival on goods, which would normally have taken three to four days to get to us. “On the flip side, we’ve started to source wines ourselves direct from Europe, and can have these delivered within a 10 to 14-day timeframe, by avoiding GB mainland altogether.” Andrew Imrie, KWM Wines & Spirits, Kilkeel “If you want it, you can get it. We have to adapt with the times. Look to the future, not the past.” South west England merchant
“We had some supply issues in the runup to Christmas, but we have generally managed to improvise and sort things out one way or another. For example, we had to buy our wicker hamper baskets in advance and store them, rather than risk not having them. That was a lucky gamble on our part, as it turns out. I feel confident the problems are receding now.” Essex merchant
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 27
“Deep sea shipments are very unreliable at the moment, especially for entry-level wines. I don’t see any evidence that this is improving. However, shipments from the EU have been getting better since the start of 2021.” West of England merchant
“We don’t supply any wholesale accounts so we are perfectly positioned to adapt to any supply issues. When we’ve not been able to get hold of a particular wine, we just get something else.” Manchester merchant
“People are working so hard to keep the chain moving and I really appreciate this. It is so tough with transport costs rising and raw materials increasing. Plus vintage difficulties! It is so tough. We need to be mindful it will be a challenging year and work within that situation.” Somerset merchant
MERCHANT PROFILE
Matt Ellis, St Neots, January 2022
‘We’re selling happiness. That’s what wine is’ Matt Ellis has always found a reason to smile about his job, even when it involves leading a wine tasting trip to Chernobyl. Nigel Huddleston pays a visit to his Smiling Grape store in St Neots
M
att Ellis’s nickname has been Smiler for as long as he can remember. “I used to get
into terrible trouble at school,” he says.
For the past 13 years, however, he’s been
channelling his sense of mischief and a flair for disruption into The Smiling Grape, the wine merchant with a happy face in the
Cambridgeshire town of St Neots.
flat-pack furniture “recovery” case. There
has involved wine karaoke, film nights,
food to popular TV shows to items of
In addition to a great wine range, over
the years the Smiling Grape approach
record-breaking pub crawls, wine trips to countries of the former Soviet Union and
mixed cases with unconventional free gifts, such as a screwdriver which came with a
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 28
are in-store tasting notes that recommend wines to drink with everything from fast
underwear sold in Victoria’s Secret. Some bottles have tags for wine horoscopes.
The décor includes pictures of Barack
Obama, the queen and Daniel Craig as
THE SMILING GRAPE James Bond drinking wine.
“We want to make people smile through
wine,” says Matt. “We’re selling happiness. That’s what wine and booze is.
“We started off as a classic fine wine
merchant, the first there had ever been in the town.”
Having opened on St Neots’s main
‘We match wine with anything you can imagine, like doner kebabs or celebrities. People just want to have a bit of fun looking at the shelves’
drag, the business moved a few yards to
a site adjacent to the car park of the local Waitrose in 2012.
“It’s twice the size and half the cost and
we’ve got parking outside,” Matt adds. “We realised after about four years the footfall had really dropped and we needed to cut costs.
“Wholesale was a big part of the business
what they’re talking about. We find a lot
of customers now come in here and select
their wines and then go over there and buy their food.
How important are the off-beat tasting
then and we needed more storage. Lorries
notes as a sales tool?
was very inconvenient constantly going
like the Mr T of wine. We also match with
couldn’t turn up outside where we were.
We match up anything you can imagine:
backwards and forwards to get stock.”
music, like hard rock and heavy metal,
We had a warehouse outside town, but it Since the pandemic hit, Smiling Grape
has ditched its wholesale custom and ramped up an online revenue stream
called Low Cost Beer, selling short-dated or out-of-date stock, that launched as an experiment in 2019.
Matt started the Smiling Grape business
with mum Denise and dad Robert, who’s now retired. Denise keeps her hand in,
things like doner kebabs or celebrities,
There’s one here for Michelle Williams; she was in that dreadful film with Tom Hardy;
something to do with giant teeth – Venom! You go into some wine shops and get
told about barrel toast levels and what the winemaker does to the wine, but people don’t care about that. They just want to
have a bit of fun looking at the shelves and some of them need a bit of help. How did it start?
and things from everyday life like angling
The whole concept was to keep matching
Abbey and Midsomer Murders.
and walls of wine and no one has any idea
and wines to thanking your neighbour for
watering the plants, or shows like Downton We always do a Strictly match. There are
people who come in just to read the labels and don’t buy any wine. We keep it fun.
wine with everyday life, whereas if you
go into the supermarket there are walls what’s going on.
Continues page 30
helping in the packing department for online orders.
“She’s not too keen to be at home
watching cricket,” notes Matt.
Looking back, was the change of location a good piece of business? The best thing about the shop is we’ve got
Waitrose outside. It’s great because there’s nobody there who can give advice on
wine. Somebody told us they went in there and asked someone about the organic wines they sell and they didn’t know
anything about them, and they suggested they come over here. They’re constantly
sending people over if they have no idea
Pick a wine to accompany Midsomer Murders
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 29
MERCHANT PROFILE
From page 29
If they want, customers can take the
tasting notes away with them, so we’re
constantly printing new ones out. They’re very good for dinner parties; you can line up all the wines with funny tasting notes. It’s a good icebreaker. We used to sell
earplugs with a Cheryl Cole wine, but I’m not sure where that’s gone.
You’ve also got one for the best seller. We just pass that one around different wines in the shop to help them move. It’s not necessarily the best seller? No.
Just the one you’d like to be the best seller. That’s it.
What’s your overall approach to merchandising? We used to have sections for things like
of buying. Some of the natural wines we
show at tastings are so wacky and people love that.
We do quite a lot with Jeroboams Trade.
We’ve done bits and pieces with Myliko who are quite good.
We like to have a good cull of suppliers.
We like to see how well they’re performing in terms of supporting us and get rid of
the ones who come and see us every three years and tell us about wines we could have been selling years ago.
If we don’t get any support and nobody
comes to see us there’s no point in buying from them.
Probably our biggest supplier now is UK
Wine in Derby, who deal in bankrupt stock, overstocks and bin ends. That’s really how our business has changed since lockdown,
which is completely different from how we
people drinking. We did have a Donald
cracking stuff. We picked up a whole lot
we have added in the pictures of famous Trump picture but we took it down
because it made people quite angry. He
doesn’t drink anyway, so that was probably quite a good move.
I think a lot of people were coming in
and couldn’t work out where wines were,
so it was easier to keep it simple. When we started in the old shop we merchandised
by taste and that really confused people. If they were looking for an Italian white, for
it went completely bonkers and we haven’t stopped. We were doing a couple of orders a week when we launched it and we’re doing 50 to 100 now.
All this stuff is available because a lot
of breweries don’t want to keep beer past its best-before date, so they’re throwing it away. They’ve either made too much or they’re not very good at selling. We
thought we could save it and become the
beer rescuers and get some good margin, anything up to 100% – and the beer’s perfectly fine to drink.
One of the best deals we had was in
February 2021 for kegs from cancelled Oktoberfest parties in 2020. We were
pouring it non-stop for orders all over the country.
‘Low-cost beer is about 60% of our business now. This stuff is available because breweries don’t want to keep it past its best-before date’
Lovely Jubbly and OMG but now we’ve
decided to keep it quite traditional, but
nicely ticking over – then from March 2020
We’re now dealing directly with
started.
breweries who contact us and we get some
of spirits from a Chinese restaurant in
and we do it for £1.50. We’ve become a
We also go to auctions and buy some
London that went under. We rebottled them in 5cl miniatures
amazing beers. We’ve got a beer from Brew York which is £5 [at normal retail price]
kind of a Poundshop for beer. Why did you decide not to
and made a lucky dip basket. We pick up some really good stuff
return to wholesale after
you’ve got to sit there for hours
probably about 50% of
and the margins are fantastic.
lockdown?
and make sure you don’t get
our business. Then all the
The trouble with auctions is
Before lockdown it was
carried away when it comes to bidding.
restaurants closed down and, because
Where do your wines come from, in the
things.
main?
Low-cost craft beer is about 60% of
everyone that we had been supplying
example, it took forever to try to find it.
Les Caves de Pyrene have been really good. I think their wines fit with our quirky way
Tell us more about the beer side of
our business now. We started it as an
experiment, built a website and it was
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 30
we were making so much better margin through the website, we decided to tell to look for a new supplier when they reopened.
We’ve found we’re making the same
THE SMILING GRAPE
Ellis has culled the wine range from 700 to around 160. “It’s much better for cash flow”
amount in sales as were doing in wholesale
What earns a place on the shelves?
And wine retail ... ?
sell anything and if there’s a funny story
but with a much bigger margin.
It’s still always to do with quality. They
It’s still a big seller but it’s taken more of a
behind it, that always helps when you’re
back seat. We cut down the size of the shop to make more storage and packing space. We used to have 700 wines when the
shop was much bigger but now we’ve now
cut it down to a maximum of 160. It’s much better for cash flow and it means we can swap things in and out more often and always have something new.
I think when you’ve got 600 to 1,000
wines it does get a bit confusing and
overwhelming for people. This is nice
and compact and means there’s always
something new when people come back in.
have to be carefully tasted before we
point to talk about the wines. That was very successful before. We’ve still got a cinema screen.
Where did the wine travel angle come
doing tastings.
from?
do loads of charity tastings in London. It
wanted to do something a bit different with
Before lockdown, outside tastings were
quite a big part of the business. We used to will come back but we’re doing nothing of
that sort at the moment. We can’t fit events in the shop now but we do have plans for
tastings in the store room. It’s quite a good space for tastings if we can get the right layout.
I think we’re going to start doing the
movies again. We’ll match the wines with the movie and stop the film at a certain
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 31
We came up with the idea for Smiling Grape Adventure Tours in 2018. We
wine tourism, so the first trip we did was
a wine tasting in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
The idea was to take people round
Chernobyl – you’re only allowed 10
minutes in front of the reactor before the Continues page 32
MERCHANT PROFILE Well we’re an award-winning company, so I guess as an award-winning company we
must have an award-winning wine club. It’s quite popular. We have about 50 people in it. It’s just a conventional club, where we supply wines every month.
Outside of the club, probably our biggest
sellers are the online bargain wine cases, which are £60 for 12 bottles.
We picked up a lot of new customers
from supermarkets during lockdown and we’ve kept about half of those. They keep coming back for more.
It’s amazing how we’ve gone from selling
lots of fine wines to our biggest sales now being bin ends. We always like to say we want to try something new, and cheap
wine and cheap beer took off, so while it’s
The wine club has around 50 members
From page 31
alarms start going off and you have to get out. In the evening we did a wine tasting
with the locals in a hotel – Ukrainian wines and some wacky ones. That was quite
interesting. We took eight people on that. We organise the tours and the
accommodation but we can’t organise
flights because we don’t have a licence,
so they have to organise that themselves. We’ve since done quite a few trips to
Moldova, which has amazing ex-Soviet
wineries where things haven’t changed much since those times.
We’re taking a group to Moldova again in
February and we’re doing a tour to Georgia in April. We’ve got 10 wineries lined up, so it will be quite busy.
Then in 2018 we took people on a world
pub crawl: eight countries, four continents
working we might as well stick with it.
Are there any other ideas left up your
and 25,000 miles. We did London, Brussels,
sleeve?
and London.
last year. We’re looking possibly to do a
Prague, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Malaysia,
Australia, Hawaii, Los Angeles, New York This was a world record? No, that’s something different. I hold
the [official Guinness world] record for
the most pubs visited in 24 hours by an
individual, which was last year, starting in Cambridge and finishing in St Neots.
Most of the time it was soft drinks; under
Guinness World Records rules you have to be a responsible drinker. I spent a week
We do a farmers’ market for the beers. It
works really well and was very successful franchise to take that up and down the country.
The latest idea is to have like a
Wetherspoon’s model for a wine bar, beer
bar and beer shop which we’ll call the Best Before Bar. We’ve been offered so many
out-of-date kegs from wholesalers, so we could do some cracking deals on pints. Would that be here in St Neots?
doing interviews with the press in the US,
It’s a bit saturated in St Neots; there are
You advertise your wine club as award-
looking for somewhere locally but not
Australia, India, Turkey. winning.
‘We picked up a lot of new customers from supermarkets during lockdown and we’ve kept about half of those. They keep coming back for more’ THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 32
32 pubs, loads of bistros and bars that
have kind of overtaken the town. We’re in the town. However, it’s the biggest
growing town in Cambridgeshire. They’re building something like 3,000 homes up
the road. There’s a lot of growth here and
opportunities to open new things. St Neots could be a good place to start. It would mean bringing in somebody with bar experience. I’ve no idea what to do.
THE WINEMAKER FILES //
Gordon Russell Esk Valley
Gordon has been Esk Valley’s head winemaker since 1993, three years after joining the Villa Maria-owned business in Hawke’s Bay. Now acclaimed as one of New Zealand’s best winemakers, Gordon is on a constant quest to explore different varieties and to express new possibilities from this now-famous terroir.
Sir George Fistonich purchased the historic Glenvale site at Bay View in the north of Hawke’s Bay in 1986 and renamed it Esk Valley. The first vintage on site was 1989 and mine as winemaker was 1993. Esk Valley has benefited immensely from the ownership of a larger company, having access to resources beyond its size. Esk Valley has in turn been allowed to run independently with its own unique wine styles, winemaking techniques and loyal customers. When I think back to the earliest of our wines back in the 1990s, I see a naivety and a more formulaic approach to winemaking. With each of my 30-plus vintages another piece has been added to the puzzle, and the wines have become more expressive, now relying solely on a better understanding of the vineyards and their inherent personality. Better picking times, wild yeast, longer lees ageing and less new oak all contribute to the better textures and complexities in the wines. Initially concrete fermenters were all we had. The old winery at Bay View housed 23 open topped, 5-tonne concrete vats dating back to the 1930s, set into the earth with no temperature control. The artisanal nature of making wines in these old vats, employing a gentle but thorough tannin extraction, also began to shape a more holistic approach to winemaking. The understanding that we could make premium wine without refrigeration, relying instead on the cool earth surrounding the vats, was very satisfying.
Albariño, Gamay and Chenin Blanc are the new additions to our portfolio and each offers another page in the Esk valley story. All three of these varieties are from the same block, the Two Terraces Vineyard at Mangatahi. This inland site on an old gravel river terrace exemplifies the search for cooler Hawke’s Bay sites, ideal for earlier ripening varieties such as these. With its warm days and cool night time temperatures, this vineyard seems more akin to Marlborough than traditional sub regions such as the Gimblett Gravels.
New Zealand has been very fortunate to enjoy global success with Sauvignon Blanc. The right grape at the right time. This is both a blessing and a challenge for our other varietal wines, irrespective of their quality. Across New Zealand’s wine regions, a wide variety of climates and soil types can be found. Many of the other regions can be matched with specific varieties, making world-class quality wines: nowhere more so than the Bordeaux-inspired reds and Syrah from the Gimblett Gravels here in Hawke’s Bay. It’s just a matter of telling the story. There are always things on the horizon that will keep me interested. Once in your blood, it’s hard to let it go. Each vintage offers new opportunities and I feel my 30-plus Hawke’s Bay vintages allow me to make some assured decisions. Current areas of interest include replanting blocks which have been uprooted due to disease, organics, and producing light reds of complexity.
Esk Valley wines are imported into the UK by Hatch Mansfield 01344 871800 www.hatchmansfield.com
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 33
Hawke's Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2021 RRP: £14.15 Pre-2008, Esk Valley was a 100% Hawke's Bay brand, including Sauvignon Blanc sourced from cooler inland sites. This release is a return to our roots. An elegant wine, its texture enriched by a significant portion of barrel fermentation in seasoned oak. Ideal with a wide array of dishes, especially seafood.
Artisanal Chardonnay 2020 RRP: £19.40 A blend of two premium Hawke's Bay vineyards, barrel fermented with wild yeast and given extensive lees ageing. With only 10% new oak, it showcases the excellent 2020 vintage and the quality of the sites in which the grapes are grown. A mix of classic peachy Hawke's Bay fruit and a complex mealy note from the lees.
River Gravels 2019 RRP: £26.80 Formerly our Winemakers Reserve label, representing the finest we can do from the Gimblett Gravels. Old vines, hand-picked fruit, fermentation in concrete with wild yeast and aged in French oak, this is the latest edition of one of New Zealand’s most premium wine offerings. A classic and famed Hawke's Bay wine.
Strength A in depth
s a proud Austrian, Stefan flies the flag for his native Grüner
Veltliner, but has been won over by
antipodean interpretations of the style. Seifried Grüner Veltliner 2021
(Nelson, RRP £16.49) impressed our
tasters with its freshness and vibrancy.
For Camilla Wood of The Somerset Wine Company, it is a “lovely” wine with “a
surprising richness, weight and mouth feel, and some crisp green apple notes”.
The Seifried family are originally from
Austria, which may help explain
their adeptness with the variety, which they grow in stony
vineyards 15km from the coast in Nelson, in the northern part
Last month, Master Sommelier Stefan Neumann guided a group of indies through an online tasting of seven stars of the Fells line-up. It’s fair to say that the group were impressed by what they discovered
Wilkins of Vineyards, who enjoyed the saline notes.
“This is just the perfect wine for sea
food,” agreed Stefan. “There’s a certain
saltiness and an iodine component that
you always get with it. Also a citrus side, initially.”
Cold maceration but warmer
fermentation temperatures gives this Albariño its richness and generosity, Stefan said, also identifying a quince
characteristic in the mix. “I think a wine
like this is a wonderful crowd pleaser, in the best possible way.”
For John Kernaghan of Liquorice Wines, Te
of South Island. “Nelson is small
Mata Elston Chardonnay 2019 (Hawke’s
said.
tasting.
compared to Marlborough and
Fells believes that its New Zealand lineup offers independents a real taste of the diversity on show in the country’s modern winemaking scene.
detected a tang of sea spray, as did Hannah
a super boutique area,” Stefan
Bay, RRP £31.99) was the “winner” of the
produced a very approachable
opposed to the modern trend towards pure
“The 2021 vintage has
style of wine,” he added. “It has
the Grüner characteristics, with slightly
floral notes, and for a wine of this age quite a few layers and a lot of complexity.
“Whenever I pick up a Grüner I always
think about a vegetal component, more
like white asparagus than green asparagus. Here it’s more like the white part of a
radish. There are quite a few layers there and it certainly has a softer and rounder mouthfeel and is maybe less linear than some Grüners from Austria, which I
think is great because it makes it more approachable.”
Next up was Nautilus Albariño 2021 (Marlborough, RRP
£21.99). “Personally I think
Albariño is quite well suited
to Marlborough,” said Stefan. “There is good draining soil and relatively good water
retention. Albariño needs to be
a bit stressed and if you get the right clonal material, these are wonderful, lovely wines.”
Matt Monk of Whalley Wine Shop
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 34
“It’s nice to see a good balance of oak as
minerality,” he said.
He was not alone in his
praise: several tasters were wowed by the wine, with
Hannah Wilkins of Vineyards enjoying its “silky, elegant mouth feel” and delicious
butter notes. “I could drink it all afternoon,” she added.
Stefan said: “I think the
entire Te Mata range is rather impressive. We all look for
alternatives to our beloved
Burgundy these days and we all look for different things to discover and with Te Mata you’re in safe hands.”
The fruit comes from the oldest estate
vineyards on the hills above the winery,
so there is complete control over picking times. “That really contributes to finding the perfect ripeness,” Stefan explained. “The very smart use of oak as a
supportive rather than a dominating
element … that is what strikes me more
than anything else. There’s a bit of bottle
maturity, which I think is great, and really makes a difference to this wine.
“Let it sit a bit in the glass, maybe with
© Khun Ta / stockadobe.com
Sam Neill of Two Paddocks in Central Otago: a proud farmer as well as an actor
some fish and chips. Wines like this are
great on their own and even better with food.”
Actor Sam Neill initially set up Two
Paddocks as a passion project to make wines for his friends. His genuine love of the land is apparent to anyone who watches his social media videos.
Two Paddocks Picnic Riesling 2019
(Central Otago, RRP £19.99) is an organic wine from vines on ungrafted rootstock.
“For me he hits the nail on the
head here with the name Picnic
because that’s exactly what it is,” said Stefan.
“Initially you get the white
peach and apricot character,
sweet lemon, a sweet orange tang. A little bit of residual
sugar [10-12g/l] really makes
it so enjoyable. I think it’s super harmonious.
“It’s a very classic Riesling. It’s not trying
too hard and it’s a very sappy fresh vibrant style of wine.
“I would struggle in a blind tasting to put
this into New Zealand.”
Tasters agreed that the sweetness gave
the wine an extra lift. “Two Paddocks
Riesling was simply a delight to taste,” said John Kernaghan. “That would work as an aperitif-style wine or fusion food winner every day. A definite re-list!”
The red line-up started with Nautilus Southern Valleys Pinot Noir 2017 (Marlborough, RRP £24.99).
The wine comes from “the cool part
of Marlborough”, Stefan said, and is
made with Burgundy clones and sees a
combination of new and old seasoned oak. “It’s good to have four solid years of
ageing before you have this in your glass,” he added.
“There’s a little bit of whole bunch, which
really gives you that aromatic lift with
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 35
age. It’s slightly vegetal and there’s a bit of spice. It’s quite savoury but with enough fruit to make it interesting.
“What I like about it is it’s not trying to
be Burgundy, it’s trying to be Marlborough. There’s initial fruit and an earthy element there which makes it so easy
to pair with many things, and
the acidity is present – but not too much.
“It’s a lot of wine for not that
much money. Try to find any
2017 Burgundies in that price range. Good luck!”
John Kernaghan agreed
the pricing compared well to
regions like Sonoma or Central Otago, as well as Burgundy.
Camilla Wood “loved” the wine,
highlighting its cherry fruit, spice and
farmyard characters. “A good weight and lots of layers,” she added. “So good.”
Continues overleaf
New Zealand is gaining a reputation for
its Cabernet Franc and Seifried Aotea
Cabernet Franc 2019 (Nelson, RRP
£22.99) helps justify the enthusiasm.
“The vineyard is 10km away from the sea so there’s a little bit of coastal influence there,” said Stefan.
“It’s another wine that takes you on a journey. There’s a
spice element there which is
rather lovely, and a black and
blue fruit component, and it’s sort of playing with you.
“It’s one of those wines that
greatly rewards patience, but also greatly rewards you if you drink it now.
“Initially when I pick
Hermann, Heidi and Chris Seifried among their Nelson vines
this up, I would say it’s a little bit like Sangiovese – there’s a dark cherry
component there – and a certain warmth
and roundness to it. A slightly riper style.
“Also a slight mint component; bay leaf.” Some of the tasters said they prefer
this more generous style to some of the
classic Cab Francs of the old world. “It’s surprisingly floral,” said Camilla Wood.
“Roses, violets … it’s less vegetal than the
Loire Cabernet Franc. It’s a more versatile style.”
Sara Saunby of Salut Wines said: “I love
this grape and this is lovely. Perfect with a
winter bean stew and some crusty bread.” Te Mata Estate Merlot/Cabernets 2019 (Hawke’s Bay, RRP £19.99) is a blend of 44% Merlot 36% Cabernet Sauvignon 20% Cabernet Franc, all estate-grown.
The producer has been
Dramatic scenery at Te Mata in Hawke’s Bay
A mixture of new and old seasoned oak
growing vines here since the
adds to the complexity, and contributes a
with Bordeaux varieties. Wines
said Stefan, “and with Cabernet, and in
1890s and exemplifies what
can be achieved in Hawke’s Bay are often very long-lived.
“Such an inviting nose, such
a complex palate,” said Hannah Wilkins. “There are so many
layers, you just don’t know where to start.”
subtle layer of sweet spice. “With Merlot
you get that approachability and softness,”
particular Cab Franc, you get a slight minty, eucalyptus character which gives it a wonderful warm lift.”
He added: “This is one of those wines
that I really want to see age.”
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 36
Feature produced in association with Fells To find out more about the complete range of New Zealand wines,visit www.fells.co.uk or email info@fells.co.uk 01442 870 900
Premium, diverse, sustainable – and profitable Sign up for the New Zealand Winegrowers independent retailer promotion and you could win £1,000 in Kiwi wines from any supplier of your choice
M
erchants in the UK have better access to the full breadth of New Zealand’s wine offer than retailers in any other export market. That’s the belief of Chris Stroud, UK market manager for New Zealand Winegrowers, as he unveils this year’s promotional campaign for independents. Merchants are invited to run an imaginative two-week campaign, any time between the beginning of April and the end of June, which showcases the premium, diverse and sustainable attributes of New Zealand wines. Three merchants who are judged to have run the most interesting and effective promotions will receive £1,000 to spend on New Zealand wines with suppliers of their choice. As was the case last year, consumers are also involved. In a separate competition, 10 customers will win £100 vouchers redeemable against New Zealand wines from their nominated independent. Stroud is keen to give indies freedom to explore all corners of the New Zealand wine industry when they put their promotions together. “They need to include at least six New Zealand wines,” he says. “Ideally we’d like three different varieties or regions represented. Typically they would have a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir from somewhere; maybe a Hawke’s Bay Merlot or Syrah, or a Riesling. “Perhaps look at something like Canterbury Pinot Noir, or Nelson Riesling. Or maybe indies would like to major on the organic and biodynamic wines that are becoming more and
more important. “There are no hard and fast rules, as long as the promotion shows innovation and diversity.”
L
ast year’s winners were Reserve Wines, Colchester Wine Company and Campbells of Leyburn, who managed to organise effective promotions despite the challenges of Covid restrictions. “Hopefully this year indies can do more in-store tastings and education as well as digital stuff,” says Stroud. “We’re looking for really creative ways of engaging people with New Zealand wine. “We’d be looking for them to get support from their suppliers and we will help too. “We’ve got POS, posters, shelf barkers, bottle collars and education material. “We’ve got a lot of info on our website. We’ve got two or three-minute video clips of many of the regions and specific varietal guides that people can take information from, and a general booklet on New Zealand wine that we can send people to help get them started.” He adds: “We’d like to encourage more independents to work with their trade customers too, as well as focusing on their own customers. “The UK has one of the most diverse ranges of New Zealand wine available. You can pretty much get something from each area of the country in the UK. So we’re looking forward to seeing what the independent trade will do this spring to really inspire their customers to make new discoveries.”
To find out more and to register your interest, please contact Chris Stroud at chris.stroud@nzwine.com www.nzwine.com Picture credits: New Zealand Winegrowers and (centre) Wairau River Wines
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 37
© Kushnirov Avraham / stockadobe.com
Vines at Lake Wanaka, Otago
A
s a wise man once said, you can
only have a shortage of something
people want or need. And, as many
Wine Merchant readers will have noticed
perhaps more than ever over the past year, an awful lot of people want New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
As we reported back in September, a
combination of factors has meant it has been something of a challenge to keep
servicing British wine drinkers’ apparently insatiable thirst for the inimitable
gooseberry bush bungee-jump flavours (to
paraphrase the New Zealand journalist Bob Campbell MW’s memorable pen portrait of the style’s appeal).
The main contributing factor is the
shortness of the 2021 harvest – down 19% on the previous year, largely because of what New Zealand Winegrowers called “inclement” late spring weather. But
long-term labour shortages, which were
exacerbated by New Zealand’s strict Covid
travel restrictions preventing the arrival
New Zealand is also far from alone in
of temporary workers during harvest, also
experiencing another of the issues that
to keep up with growing global demand
network. As reported in September, delays
played their part.
With many producers already struggling
in previous, bumper years, the 2021
shortfall has meant a period of careful
stock management and tight allocation,
with some importers stretching out their 2020 stocks a little longer. At the same
time supermarkets and other small-margin operators have had difficulty sourcing the
kind of bargain-basement prices that most brands and wineries in any case believe
are damaging to New Zealand’s premium image.
has impacted on stock availability in the UK: problems with the global shipping
of several weeks and months have been experienced by UK importers on wines
from the southern hemisphere thanks to a
chickens-coming-home-to-roost moment in which Covid restrictions, long-term global shortages in shipping containers and HGV drivers, and post-Brexit paperwork have all combined to give headaches to UK importers.
2022 and beyond
New Zealand is not the only country
As the country’s winemakers look ahead
down, with some producers in that other
harvest, steps are already being taken to
dealing with a smaller crop in 2021.
Production across Europe was massively leading Sauvignon zone, the Loire Valley,
confronting losses as high as 80% thanks to a mix of late frost, hail and mildew.
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 38
to what they hope (and, at the time of
writing, believe) will be a bigger 2022
address the significant challenge of labour shortages.
The problem is rooted in the New
the kiwi conundrum New Zealand’s wines are in higher demand than ever, at a time when supply is under unprecedented pressure. David Williams considers the state of play in a country where life for winemakers is nothing like as straightforward as they would like it to be
Zealand wine industry’s reliance on
nationals are employed by the domestic
Winegrowers a decade ago – and all but
28,360ha of New Zealand’s total 40,323ha
Zealand’s agricultural workforce notorious,
reached NZ$2bn (£1.03bn).
overseas workers, especially at harvest time. In Marlborough – which, with
vineyard, accounts for almost three-
quarters of total production – help from overseas, which traditionally included a high number of backpackers, including
numerous trained winemaking graduates from Europe, the US, South Africa and
wine business. With labour shortages also biting in other industries, and with New
in the words of New Zealand Winegrowers, for its “immobility”, the wine industry will be hoping that this will be the last vintage in which travel restrictions play a part.
elsewhere, usually accounts for around
The effects of popularity
Covid travel restrictions essentially closing
managers blessed with more good players
two-thirds of the harvest workforce.
Of course, any problems New Zealand
the border to all travellers, including
than they have spaces for in the team tend
With New Zealand’s exceptionally tough
overseas-based NZ nationals, since the
pandemic began, the industry had to lobby the national government hard to allow a
might be facing are the kind that football
to describe as “the right kind of dilemma”:
The team at Nautilus Estate, Marlborough
to expand the seasonal worker visa scheme
they are all a product of the country’s
particularly during the seasonal peaks of
pass yet another milestone that was
pruning and picking.
Currently, around 21,000 New Zealand
Winegrowers), the underlying indicators remain strong for New Zealand.
Certainly, the UK, where double-digit
off-trade growth has been a feature preshortage, and where the average retail
per-bottle price is now more than £1.30
higher than the GB average and rising, New Zealand remains in rude health.
Consistent work by both the industry as
pick of some of New Zealand’s best and
due to come into force until the end of
incentives to help grow the local workforce,
for 26 years, according to New Zealand
countries in the world (see below for our
restrictions for foreign nationals are not
this year, as well as developing a variety of
to June 2021 (the first fall in exports
of – if not the – greenest wine-producing
government’s plans to relax travel
closely with the New Zealand government
led to a drop in sales during the year
years has established New Zealand as one
At the time of writing, the New Zealand
The industry has therefore had to work
pressures alluded to earlier in this piece
brands over a period of more than 25
an exemption to enter the country in 2021.
April 30.
And if some of the supply-chain
Zealand Winegrowers) and by individual
cohorts of 2,000 individuals) to be granted
will be allowed to enter the country from
By the end of December 2020, exports had
a collective (through the medium of New
limited number of seasonal workers (two
harvest this year: fully vaccinated travellers
unthinkable as recently as the early 2000s.
astonishing success.
The past year saw New Zealand wine
considered ambitious when it was set as an official target by New Zealand
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 39
most adventurous organic, biodynamic and natural producers).
Uniquely, New Zealand Winegrowers
make adherence to a set of rules on
environmental best practice (Sustainable
Winegrowing New Zealand) a precondition
of inclusion in the organisation’s marketing and promotional plans. The NZ wine
industry has a target of being carbon
neutral by 2050 and, as it prepares to meet the target, New Zealand Winegrowers
New Zealand’s wild side carried out extensive research, asking
all of its member vineyards and wineries to provide details about their greenhouse gas emissions.
With concerns about sustainability and
carbon footprint arguably never higher
in the UK in the wake of COP26, the focus on sustainability has proved to be a wise
strategy commercially as well as ethically. “Sustainability credentials now play
an important role in the perception of
premium products,” is how New Zealand
New Zealand has always been a leader, certainly in the new world, when it comes to organic viticulture. According to industry body Organic Winegrowers New Zealand, more than 10% of New Zealand producers are certified organic, with many more currently in conversion or following organic precepts. The country has also had more than its share of biodynamic producers, with some of its biggest and most respected fine wine names – Millton, Seresin Estate, Felton Road, Rippon Vineyard, Quartz Reef, Pyramid Valley (now in the hands of Craggy Range founder Steve Smith and his business partner Brian Sheth) – either fully certified or closely following biodynamic principles.
are produced with respect for the natural
New Zealand’s pronounced green tinge has given rise to an annual event: New Zealand Organic Week, with a range of online and offline events for consumers and trade including, last September, the first inperson New Zealand tasting since Covid began, which featuring than 70 organic and biodynamic New Zealand wines.
modern, informed consumers.”
For all New Zealand’s head start in sustainable viticulture, however, it’s taken a while for the country to develop its response to the related trend for minimal intervention winemaking: the natural scene in New Zealand has been much slower to reach critical mass than in Australia, California and South Africa.
Winegrowers puts it in the organisation’s informative annual report. “Goods that
world, and for the people throughout the
value chain, are seen as more desirable to
Pinot’s progress While any press attention about potential shortages from New Zealand inevitably
tends to focus on Sauvignon Blanc, many independent merchants have been more
troubled by scarcity of the country’s other varieties, notably Pinot Noir, which, given that barrel ageing means it takes longer to
make, will be felt a little later down the line. The crop for Pinot Noir was roughly a
third down in 2021 versus 2020, and with the area devoted to the variety having
That too is rapidly changing, however. And wherever you stand on the divisive natural question, it’s hard to dispute that New Zealand’s growing group of natural wines has added an important element of creativity and edge to a vinous culture that has sometimes been accused of a certain clinical conservatism. Among the producers helping to challenge the stereotype is Churton (pictured below). Founded in the 1990s (first vintage in 1997) by British couple Sam and Mandy Weaver, Churton has been a pioneer of biodynamics, with Sam for a while being the chair of the Biodynamic Farming Association of New Zealand. The Weaver way has produced impeccable, often beautiful wines from Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot from their Marlborough estate. But with sons Ben and Jack are now also working in the business, the family has added a natural range – Natural State. Made in an avowedly hands-off way using natural yeasts, with minimal additions and featuring a blend of Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc and Petit Manseng, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot, the range combines funkiness with the sleekly pristine qualities that made the Churton name.
increased only very slowly in the past 10 years (from 5,388ha in 2012 to 5,779ha
in 2021), the Pinot crush was less than a tenth the size of Sauvignon’s.
With quality inarguably never higher,
thanks to a combination of greater vine
age and accumulated experience, Pinot can be seen as both a microcosm of the wider New Zealand industry, as well as being reminiscent of another Pinot region.
Just like Burgundy, 2021 New Zealand
Pinot Noir is a study in just how high
The Churtons are not the only family-run company taking a natural turn. Also in Marlborough, Hunters’s Offshoot label now features two pet nat sparklers, a red and a white. And for the classic natural hipster micro-productions, names to look out for include Sato, Kindeli and Vandal.
demand for something can go when supply gets scarce.
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 40
THE WINEMAKER FILES //
Andrew Donaldson, Akitu I had a business associate in London, who had an amazing cellar which he raided for my benefit. Over time I developed a meaningful attraction for the heartbreak grape. At about the same time (early/mid 1990s) Central Otago was experiencing something of a gold rush with a number of fantastic grape growers and winemakers being drawn to the region to see what they could make of this amazing Pinot Noir fruit that they could grow here. So my most special place in the world became the most exciting place in the new world to grow my favourite varietal. We’ve not rushed anything in this project. We waited more than 10 years before we were sufficiently confident in our vineyards’ ability to grow exceptional fruit before we were happy creating the Akitu brand.
Right when we needed a name, my wife found one in an old Maori dictionary. We chose Akitu for its “summit” meaning, both mountains and aspirations, plus I loved the symmetry of the word. I didn’t know there was an ancient Sumerian harvest festival of the same name. I think they call it fate. The Wanaka sub-region of Central Otago is the closest to the Southern Alps and that proximity brings risks as well as benefits. Our climate is more temperate than most of the other sub-regions – we have longer hang time at the end of the ripening period. In March and April we can often have glorious calm days with
maximum temperatures in the early 20s and overnights all the way down to low single figures: perfect Pinot weather. This means we can hang on to our fruit longer without sugar ripeness of berry physiology forcing us to pick before all those fascinating Pinot profiles fully evolve. Yes, we are close to the edge, but that’s exactly where Pinot plants perform best.
I don’t have the palate or subtlety to meaningfully contribute in the detail of the winemaking process. But I am fascinated by these 36,623 vines who have just had their 20th birthdays. We need to make long-term strategic decisions (we’ve just started our transition to full organics, for example) and we need to make vintagespecific tactical decisions. It’s like playing backgammon with the weather gods. It’s a lot of fun. Winemakers do amazing things in the winery, particularly in troublesome years, but for me I think the best Pinot is made in the vineyard and 20 years of vine age is where it starts to get interesting. So I was in no rush and the excitement starts now.
We aim for structure and complexity in our Black Label and generosity and approachability in White Label. We want to make elegant wines that are distinctive but are generally characterised by fine silky tannins and lovely fresh acidity. Of all the main varietals I do think Pinot is the most fascinating. The variability
Born and raised in Wanaka in Central Otago, Andrew graduated in mechanical engineering before embarking on a career in finance that took him far from home. On the way he fell in love with Pinot Noir, eventually returning to the scene of his childhood to create Akitu. Akitu wines are imported into the UK by Mentzendorff 020 7840 3600 www.mentzendorff.co.uk
and multidimensional character makes for a pretty compelling experience in the glass if it’s properly made, and you concentrate. However, when we started Akitu we wrote that “we make wine for our friends and for their friends” and I hope we have stayed true to this. Lots of people love wine and fortunately lots of our friends (old and new) love our wine. But in the end, the conversation always and most appropriately moves on from the wine to the people, and in the end we make wine for people to enjoy. End of story.
Akitu A1 Pinot Noir 2019
Akitu A2 Pinot Noir 2019
Akitu Pinot Noir Blanc 2021
The first aroma gives a hint of the depth and complexity that lies beneath. Layers of graphite, brown spice, wild herbs and dark plummy fruit. Ripe dark cherries, dark rose petal and a hint of sous bois are all coiled very tightly. I feel like I need a side of espresso martini to ensure I stay focused long enough to see the detail unfold.
Dark garnet with a crimson glow, it’s almost opaque at the centre of the glass. The aroma opens with spicy dark cherry and a hint of fresh cinnamon over thyme and a wonderful waft of dark liquorice. There is a lift of graphite on the nose with depth coming from dark rose petal and a hint of violets. Excellent depth and complexity.
Brassy, rose-gold with a faint green hue and a platinum fleck; mica-like shimmer. On the nose, dusty river rock minerality, rose petals, Turkish delight, wild herbs, and a hint of sourdough mother but more brioche than that. A risqué bouquet of rouge compact and red-hot lipstick entwined with ripe peaches and musk sticks.
RRP: £42
RRP: £30
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 41
RRP: £30
ZOOM TASTING
A new look at New Zealan Blackenbrook Pinot Blanc 2020
Blackenbrook Gewürztraminer 2019
Lamont Chardonnay 2019
Nelson
Nelson
Central Otago
RRP £18.50
RRP £17.50
RRP £28
“Pinot Blanc is not a variety you would
“Now there’s a lot of Gewürz
“Central Otago is famous for its Pinot Noir
planted,” explained Lithgow. “Two of
most widely planted white
readily associate with New Zealand
and that’s because only about 11ha are those happen to be at Blackenbrook.
“They’re a small family-run business
making lovely wines at accessible prices,
just over the mountain from Marlborough in Nelson.”
Ursula and Daniel Schwarzenbach are
originally from Switzerland. Daniel’s love of aromatic varieties was nurtured at Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace.
Lithgow added: “This is
from young vines. It’s vinified in stainless steel, whole-
bunch pressed. The winery is entirely gravity fed so there are no pumps interfering
with the quality of the must. It has extended lees contact
for texture, no fining, and just a light filtration and 8g/l of residual sugar.
“I find sometimes Pinot
Blanc doesn’t have a huge
amount of character but this has lovely
peach, pear and a little bit of chamomile and a yoghurty lees note adding further
complexity – maybe a little bit of almond in there as well.”
Will Heaton-Livingstone of Selected
Grapes echoed the views of a number of
tasters saying that the “balanced residual
sugar lends a nice weight”, while Maxwell Graham-Wood of Satchells enjoyed its “fresh and fruity style”.
planted in New Zealand,”
said Lithgow. “It’s the fifth
variety. I tried some pretty
good examples from across the country as part of this purchasing project.
“This is hand-harvested,
as everything is at
Blackenbrook, whole-bunch pressed, tank fermented at
low temperatures and given
extended lees contact with no fining.
“Nine per cent sees a bit of old oak just
to add richness and complexity; a textural element.
“There’s 6g/l of residual sugar so it’s
towards the drier end of the Gewürz scale. “On the nose it couldn’t be any other
variety with that classic lychee and rosewater.
“You can find New Zealand Gewürz with
an overtly perfumed character, which is
sometimes a bit too much, or you can get this style, which is a bit more smoky and musky.
“There are almost some elements of
charcuterie in there too, which adds an interesting savoury dimension to that tropical fruit.”
Bruce Evans at The Grape & Grain, not
normally a Gewürz fan, enjoyed the “hint of oak and spice” while Fitz Spencer of Honky Tonk Wine Library “loved it ... great on the
nose and not overpowered with perfumed sweetness”.
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 42
but looks much more like Scotland than Burgundy,” said Lithgow.
“It’s much drier than Burgundy and you
have a higher diurnal swing, so the grapes retain their acidity.”
Lamont, owned by Craig and Angie
Gasson, was a chance discovery for
Amathus. Craig began as a viticulturalist at Lamont in 2002, returning in 2011 –
after spells at Chapel Down in the UK and the Okanagan Valley in Canada – to buy out his former employer.
“We were just stunned by the quality
of this wine,” added Lithgow. “It’s from
26-year-old vines near the shore of Lake Wanaka.
“This is very much towards the
Burgundian end of new world
Chardonnay: a lot of matchstick reduction, a smoky complexity, grilled nuts, lots of nectarine, a little bit of pineapple.
“A really rich, creamy, textural wine
with the acidity to hold it all together.”
Our group of tasters noted
a mineral, almost saline edge to the finish.
“I’m definitely getting
that minerality,” said Sarah Truman of Sarah’s Cellar. “It’s a really interesting Chardonnay.”
Chloe Malone of Champion
Wines described it as
“stunning stuff”, with “delicate nuts and marzipan” flavours.
nd
Amathus Drinks wine buyer Jeremy Lithgow MW leads a group of Wine Merchant readers through a selection of the company’s ecelectic Kiwi portfolio, beyond the familiar Marlborough Sauvignon. For more information, visit amathusdrinks.com or call 020 8951 9840. Email jeremy@amathusdrinks.com
Lamont Pinot Noir 2018
Paritua Stone Paddock Scarlet 2018
Paritua Syrah 2018
Central Otago
Hawke’s Bay
Hawke’s Bay
RRP £34
RRP £20.50
RRP £32
Lamont’s Pinot Noir comes
“Hawke’s Bay is one of the warmest
Lots of Syrah wines owe a debt to the
here, close to the 400m
Bordeaux and Rhône-style reds,” explained
spot.
from the Bendigo Terraces. “You’ve got a bit of altitude mark, so you get some
finesse in the wines,” said Lithgow.
“What I love about this is
the purity of the fruit and
the fact they haven’t actually done that much with it in
terms of extraction.
“The grapes are destemmed and cold
soaked before fermentation on skins
for three and a half to four weeks. The wine spends 11 months in 25% new
oak, medium toast, with the other three quarters of the wine going into old oak.
vine-growing areas of New Zealand and is carving out a reputation for high-quality Lithgow.
Paritua’s vineyards are planted in the
Bridge Pa Triangle near the Gimblett
Gravels. While the terrain here is stony and free draining, there is some soil to work with in this ancient river bed.
“Paritua was planted in 2003,” said
Lithgow. “The head winemaker, Jason
Stent, was a professional cyclist for a few years and fell in love with wine while he was living in Bordeaux.
“It’s a no-expense-spared project with 50ha or 60ha of vines, and
a smart architect-designed
“This is very much towards the red-
winery with all the latest kit,
fruit end of the spectrum, with raspberry
including optical selection.
and mulberry, and the wood’s hovering
“The Scarlet is 37% Merlot,
in the background offering a little bit
32% Cabernet Franc, 22%
of supporting spice. There’s some
Cabernet Sauvignon, and 9%
Burgundian sous bois lurking in there too.”
Malbec, all estate fruit. There’s
He added: “Central Otago has come a
a fairly brief fermentation, with
huge distance in a very short space of
the varieties blended at a late
time to produce some world-class Pinot and I think this sits comfortably among some of the best.”
The wine proved popular with tasters,
who remarked on its raspberry tartness. Graham Sims of New Forest Wines
praised it as “balanced and classy”.
Will Heaton-Livingstone of Selected
Grapes described it as “beautiful ... lovely soft, well-integrated tannin and smooth red fruit”.
stage before barrel ageing for 12 months.
“It’s got some lovely lift from
the Cabernet Franc, which gives a slightly herbal note.
“It’s not an overtly new world take on a
Bordeaux blend. A lot of what comes out of Hawke’s Bay combines a lot of new world lushness and ripeness with some slightly more savoury old world dimensions and elegance.”
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 43
Rhône but in this case, argued Lithgow,
the influence is more genuine and easy to That’s partly down to the use of
the Chave clone, which is popular in
Hermitage and Côte-Rotie, and can also thrive in Hawke’s Bay.
“It gives you a lot of spice, white pepper
and clove, and bacon fat characteristics,” Lithgow explained.
“In this wine the grapes are partially
destemmed, 20% are whole bunches
in the tank. The wine spends 12 to 14 months in barriques and puncheons, including 50% new French oak.
“It’s very far removed from what may
be considered an Australian style of Syrah. It’s medium to full bodied and really silky; the oak is present but not dominant.
“For me the spice element from the
Chave clone really comes through, along with the blackberry and dark cherry notes.
“This will get better over the next two
or three years, but there’s no real reason to wait.”
For Alex Edwards of
York Wines, this is a “really beautifully balanced wine
with a really great finish that lasts”.
For Bruce Evans, the wine
was simply “class”, while Maxwell Graham-Wood
anticipated more to come from it as it ages.
O
ne day this month I had
Lebkuchenhaus made from dehydrated
who once asked me to match a wine with
definitely didn’t write last year but some
greying mince and how much I like my pen
cheesecake for lunch.
that I’d lost, which I found again, which I
That nice cook from next door
things just get lost in the midst of/mists
his new perfume (any damn day, add to
LinkedIn profile) and who once went out with the Ancient Chief Hippy’s daughter
and managed to weather the break-up in a remarkable show of not giving a fuck
brought me in a slice of baked cheesecake. You’ll like this, he said, because he was a big fan of CHEESEORNO* which has,
yes, died a bit recently because I am fed up being glued to my shiny whizzbang
15. CHEESECAKE Phoebe Weller breaks her self-imposed ban on sugary indulgences when a chef calls bearing lunchtime gifts. But was she right to take the plunge?
device and looking to the Social Media for affirmation of my existence and evidence of my considerable imperfections.
I wasn’t going to eat any cheesecake
because fundamentally refined sugar
is bad and more generally I was feeling super-resolved that the Indulgences
Must End having just come back from a week of holiday/existential angst/
indulgence where I wrote an Amazing
Lunch about not having lunches and not
being in work having a negative effect on
the affirmation of my existence and some miserable ranting about the government, the darkness, the littering, the coldness
etc and then realised it was pretty much exactly the same Amazing Lunch I’d
written at the same point last year. (It
did however have some nice bits about a run-in with professional yellow-label
seekers in St Enoch one Sunday night, a
of time, both of which work, don’t they?
I once had a long, irresolvable late night argument about “bog standard” vs “box
standard” (both of which work, don’t they? And actually the latter makes more sense) when I was of the opinion that being right
mattered and maybe more importantly that there is a right.)
Y
ou’ll like this, he says, it’s got a
whole Brillat-Savarin baked in it. Was it just kicking around the
kitchen? I says.
Oh no, I ordered it in specially, he says,
a remarkable gleam of not giving a fuck in his eye. I inhaled, knowing the price of a Brillat-Savarin.
Did you take the mould off it? I says,
thinking woaaah, has he come another
route to the great Savoury Sweet akin to
my forgotten Cheese Trifle of yesteryear (ladyfingers in PX, layered Dolce
Gorgonzola and Mascarpone, Sauternes jelly, figs and shavings of Parmesan to garnish)?
Naw, he says, I just whizzed it all up, hee
hee. Off he skipped with that look in his eye.
Calm Matt and Enterprise Iain said it just
tasted gash but I think he had something
there, something not entirely pleasurable
and possibly a confusion of “cream cheese” and “triple crème”, but who am I to judge? What is life without some mistakes, and if you don’t give a fuck are they really mistakes? Nobody’s perfect.
* Arguably Glasgow’s top cheese-related quiz. Search Instagram. Ed.
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 44
Wine No More A glass of red wine gets knocked over and – sharp intake of breath – it’s spilled all over the carpet/tablecloth/your customer. Do you a) apply salt, b) chuck a glass of white wine on top, followed by cold water and some furious dabbing with a cloth or c) panic? Wine No More! is a red wine stain remover spray formulated without any bleach or harsh chemicals. Lakeland claims this product will successfully lift red wine stains from clothing, carpet and upholstery. Sounds like a home and work essential. Lakeland.co.uk, £6.39 for a 250ml spray
There’s more than one to skin a cat. It’s the same with making a Sidecar cocktail, and each of them is a much more pleasurable experience I’m sure. The classic version of the drink involves Cognac, triple sec (such as Cointreau) and lemon juice, but you can switch the main spirit for brandy flavours such as apricot or cherry, or the juice for escalations of sweetness like pomegranate or pineapple. This twist axes the orange liqueur for something a little fresher that looks forward to spring.
5cl Cognac 3cl St Germain or another elderflower liqueur 3cl fresh lemon juice
Better by halves Smaller formats are here to stay. Virtual tastings often call for half sizes, and restaurants are increasing their half bottle ranges to add an extra dimension to their by-the-glass listings. In response to this growing market, WBC has launched a new budget range of sustainable transit outers specifically for 36.5cl half bottles of wine or Champagne. They also accommodate 50cl beer bottles. Made in the UK from strong double-walled BC fluted cardboard, the transit outers come flat packed for easy storage, contain 80% recycled content and are 100% recyclable. Available for six and 12 bottles, prices start at £1.16 excluding VAT. There’s no minimum order and free next-day delivery on orders over £150. wbc.co.uk
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 45
Shake all the ingredients together over ice. Strain into a Martini glass.
© chiyacat / stockadobe.com
The Ysios winery in Laguardia
The modern face of Rioja For all the gains made by regions elsewhere in the country, Ribera del Duero and Rioja remain Spain’s most recognised wine regions. David Williams explores the latest developments in both places and picks out some of his favourite wines and producers
T
he past five years have been
transformative for Rioja. The era starts in 2017 when, after years
of discussion – of lobbying and counterlobbying – the Rioja Consejo approved two new categories, both of which
acknowledged the changing realities
and fashions in the region and the wider winemaking world.
The first, and most important, of those
categories, Viñedo Singular, was all
about acknowledging the thirst of both
winemakers and high-end wine consumers for wines with a sense of place by officially recognising some of Rioja’s best vineyards and the wines that come from them.
VS was about terroir. But it was about
quality, too, and the barrier for entry for
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 46
qualifying as a single vineyard was set
high: the vineyard had to be more than 35 years old, to have yields that are naturally
low (less than 5,000kg per hectare for reds and 6,922kg per hectare for whites), to be farmed with “environmentally friendly”
growing practices, and to be harvested by hand.
The wines from those vineyards,
meanwhile, had to go through a two-stage evaluation by a panel of tasters – once
just after they’d been made and once as
they were about to go on sale – to earn the official Viñedo Singular stamp. With 84
sites initially approved (and a further 20
since, taking the number of Viñedo Singular sites above 100), the category was met
with the approval of Rioja’s terroiristes,
© chiyacat / stockadobe.com
The Marques de Riscal winery in Elciego
and Ribera del Duero albeit not without the odd grumble and
Sparkling developments
what colour and style – could be produced
given the nod in 2017: Rioja DOCa Quality
caveat (shouldn’t the regulations be more
Also just starting to gain traction are the
in a classified vineyard? Should there be
Sparkling Wine. Few in Rioja would argue
prescriptive about what kind of wine – still more emphasis on quality?).
Five years down the line, the changes
are starting to bed in, however, and over
the past 18 months, the first VS wines have started to emerge to generally enthusiastic reviews.
After a slightly slower than hoped for
take-up initially, the category looks set to take its place as a quality cue alongside,
rather than in opposition to, the region’s
traditionally temporal approach to ranking
by time spent in the bottle and barrel, from Crianza to Gran Reserva.
first wines of the other category first
that its sparkling wines are ever likely to be more than a niche concern. But their
official acceptance – including as part of
the selection of wines used in the Consejo’s own marketing at events around the world – is an important part of Rioja’s efforts to emphasise the diversity now available in the region, as enshrined in the strategic plan published earlier this year.
The plan ushers in another five-
year period and is highly ambitious in
scope, with a headline target according to the Consejo of “bringing total
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 47
commercialisation to 312 million litres by 2025” with “exports to account for 44%
at 137 million litres”. There are also plans to increase “turnover of the Rioja brand
by 25%” and – coming back to that idea of diversity – to grow the share of the white and rosé categories significantly so that
they account for respectively 12% and 5% of Rioja’s production.
As the Consejo plan points out, that
would be in line with recent developments in Rioja’s performance in what remains its most significant export market: the UK. British drinkers account for slightly
more than a third of all Rioja’s exports,
and the most recent full-year sales figures
published by Nielsen show a jump of 19% in volume sales of white Rioja and
© juanorihuela / stockadobe.com
a whopping 35% for rosé. That’s against
a backdrop of a generally healthy outlook for Rioja in the UK, with double-digit
growth in value over the past two years. Improvements in the UK and other
export markets have to be seen in the
context of what has been a very difficult pandemic period for Rioja producers’
domestic market. With sales of Rioja in
Spain heavily skewed towards the on-trade, the complete closure and subsequent
restrictions on opening hours imposed by national and regional governments have
left a lot of Rioja producers with significant
stocks on their hands – and that in turn has allowed UK supermarkets to snap up some knockdown prices for own-label.
T
he presence of cheap Rioja in the
market will likely put pressure, too, on the fault lines within Rioja itself.
The Ribera del Duero Consejo Regulador’s head office
A certain amount of tension has always existed between Rioja’s smaller, often
Optimistic but realistic
owning their own vineyards, and the bigger companies with their vast output and their
across in the strategic plan is upbeat: optimistic while remaining realistic.
family-owned producers, many of them
network of partner growers. Some of the former periodically threaten to boycott
(or, in the case of Artadi in the mid-2010s, have actually left) the official appellation
in protest at what they see as a tendency to
favour the brute commercial imperatives of
the bigger firms which they believe devalue the Rioja brand.
This dispute over Rioja’s priorities and
positioning has been exacerbated recently by moves by a group of more than 96
producers in Rioja Alavesa looking to quit the Rioja DOCa for their own, exclusively Basque DO, Viñedos de Alava.
The group cites issues with Rioja’s image
as part of its motivation. But there’s a
powerful political element, too – the move is favoured by local Basque nationalist
politicians with a seat in Spain’s fragile socialist-led coalition.
For now, however, the mood that comes Among other things, the DOCa has made
important progress on its bid to establish Rioja as a “leader in sustainability” with
targets of reducing the region’s net carbon footprint by 10%, and its use of pesticides by 50%, in the next five years.
There are also bold plans to build on
Rioja’s growing status as a wine-tourism hotspot, with support (in the form of
ad campaigns and other promotional
initiatives) for the more than 250 wineries (a third of Rioja’s total) now welcoming wine tourists to the region. And the
Consejo has said it’s looking to quadruple Rioja’s online sales in the next five years,
as part of a wider campaign to grow Rioja’s space in the online world.
All of which feeds into the UK activity.
Many independents cite Rioja Wine UK near the top of their lists of supportive
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 48
and effective generic offices. With a now
familiar round of activity including Rioja
Wine Month in October, the Ultimate Rioja blind tasting (in which leading industry
experts pick out the region’s best bottles), and the ever-informative Rioja Bootcamp training sessions, Rioja continues to
dominate Spanish wine sales in the UK,
accounting for 46% of total Spanish value, and 37% of volume.
Ribera del Duero: A region that’s come a long way since the days of Parkerised excess
A
similar sense of possibility and optimism can be sensed in the
British marketing plans organised
by PR firm Cube Communications for the
Ribera del Duero Consejo.
while the region specialises in a single
be as pronounced as 28°C in the growing
region by Tim Atkin MW, with the latest
reflection of the Burgundian variety of
I
The centrepiece of the region’s 2021
activity is a selection of 100 wines from the list released at a tasting for the trade in London in November.
As Atkin himself says, the list, which
was drawn from tastings of more than
500 Ribera wines, is remarkable for the
consistent quality it represents: all of the wines scored 94 points and above.
It also seems to reflect a consensus
that Ribera del Duero has come a long
way from the time when it had become all but synonymous with a kind of
internationalised, Parkerised excess, with
wines that had become rather lifeless: too extracted, too alcoholic, too oaky … too much.
As Atkin’s list – and my own extensive
recent tasting of Ribera wines – confirms,
grape variety in Tempranillo, it is capable of a remarkable range of styles. That’s a terroirs found across the region (more
than 30 soil types), as well as its incredible wealth of old-vine material. A third of
the region’s 22,000ha of vineyard is bush
vines of more than 35 years old; more than 800ha were planted before 1920.
All the same, the best Ribera wines do
share a common trait, no matter where they’re sourced or how they’re made.
Whether the winemaker is going for a more traditionally Spanish approach
involving long ageing in barrel, or a natural, low-intervention joven style, Ribera’s top
bottles all have the seam of freshness that comes from exploiting the cool night time temperatures across this high-altitude
plateau, and a diurnal variation that can
Bela, located in the premium D.O. Ribera del Duero, is the latest jewel to be added to the C.V.N.E. crown, representing our ongoing ambition to take our winemaking expertise to exciting new Spanish regions.
Scan for more information about the wines and to request samples
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 49
season.
mproving understanding of all these
factors is very much a part of the Ribera del Duero strategy under Cube, with
independents a key target for a region that remains focused on the premium end of the market.
Like Rioja, Ribera wines saw a rise in
interest in the UK over the pandemic with
double-digit sales growth helping to offset some of the domestic difficulties.
As the shape of the post-Covid world
begins to take shape, the consejo’s target is
to add 60 new producers to the UK market.
It’s testament to the changes in Ribera over the past decade that a goal that would once have seemed ludicrously ambitious now seems eminently achievable.
10 Wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero to grace any indie list
Finca Villacreces Pruno Ribera del Duero 2016 (Liberty Wines) Owned by the impeccably stylish Rioja producer Izadi, and with vineyards neighbouring
the great Vega Sicilia, this is Ribera Tempranillo (or Tinta del País as its known in this part of the world) at its most gorgeously polished, deep and plush. Quinta Milú Roble, Ribera del Duero 2020 (Indigo Wines)
Germán Blanco’s boutique project goes from strength to strength, with his very old vines from altitudes above 900m providing the base for the superbly fragrant, succulent and supple reds he makes using low intervention methods and minimal oak influence. Bodegas y Viñedos Alnardo PSI Ribera del Duero 2018 (Corney & Barrow)
Pingus man Peter Sisseck’s side project started up as a kind of altruistic mission to protect Ribera del Duero’s old-vine heritage. It’s now consistently one of the region’s best reds, showing all the silky texture, shimmering concentration and balance of Sisseck’s top wines.
Bodegas Arzuaga Navarro Reserva Especial Ribera del Duero 2015 (Roberson)
As chosen by David Williams
Although Bodegas Arzuaga Navarro began its life as recently as the 1980s, the estate
adheres to a more classical style of winemaking with the beautifully ripe fruit here given layers of savoury flavour and smoothly polished tannin after a lengthy sojourn in oak. Sierra de Toloño Rioja Alavesa 2019 (Lea & Sandeman)
One of Rioja’s most exciting young producers, Sandra Bravo represents a new wave of
producers using minimal oak influence (she uses amphorae and neutral old barrels) and exploiting very old, high-altitude vines. This fluent, spicy red exemplifies her style. Ramón Bilbao Lalomba Rosado, Rioja 2020 (Enotria & Coe)
Across a large portfolio, Ramón Bilbao is one of the most consistently stylish producers in Rioja, and its Lalomba single-vineyard operation is very much the cherry on top. The reds are beautifully made expressions; the rosés among the most elegant in Spain. Navajas Rioja Blanco 2017 (Walker & Wodehouse)
One of the best value white wines around, Navajas’ 100% Viura is a brilliant wine
to recommend to customers looking for an affordable alternative to oak-aged white Burgundy: full of toasty flavour and creamy texture, it’s impeccably balanced with freshness.
CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva Rioja 2015 (Hatch Mansfield) One of Rioja’s most familiar names it may be, but CVNE’s top wine remains a standout in
the region (and portfolio). Sourced from two small vineyards in La Rioja Alta, and aged for 24 months in French and American oak, it’s the very definition of complex mellow Rioja. Abel Mendoza Jarrarte Rioja 2020 (Alliance Wine)
The very opposite end of the winemaking and taste spectrum to a traditional gran
reserva, this joyously youthful wine from the gifted Abel Mendoza is an unoaked, carbonic maceration explosion of vivid blackberry fruit and supple tannin. Queirón El Arca Single Vineyard Rioja 2018 (Boutinot)
The home estate of the Pérez Cuevas family behind Bodegas Ontañon, Queirón makes
some thrillingly off-beat wines, with this beautifully complex, detailed, fragrant 100%
Garnacha from a tiny plot of very old vines a brilliant example of Rioja’s newest category.
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 50
THE WINEMAKER FILES //
Alejandro López Grupo La Rioja Alta
After graduating from university in Rioja, Alejandro spent two years advising the region’s winemakers on organic wine production. He then travelled the world as a flying winemaker, joining La Rioja Alta in 2019. His remit includes Torre de Oña in Rioja Alavesa and Áster in Ribera del Duero.
I studied organic viticulture just to open my mind. Today we have 36ha of organic vineyards. We started slowly with one, then 10, and now in one of our wineries, Áster, nearly 30% of production is organic because the climatic conditions are perfect. In Rioja we have 16ha of organic vines. The objective is simply to make better wines. In La Rioja Alta we make traditional wines with blends of different blocks. With Torre de Oña we make more singlevineyard wines and so you have this representation of the year.
In Rioja Alta we go to the region’s limits of production. There is influence from the Mediterranean but also a really important Atlantic influence. The mountains stop the wet air from the north. Our main variety is Tempranillo, a native to the Rioja Alta subzone. It doesn’t need a lot of heat or sun to ripen. In Rioja Alta it has a longer ripening cycle. We have limestone soils with a clay component, which retains water. So the wines are very elegant and balanced, without too much alcohol and good acidity for ageing. When you move to Rioja Alavesa, to the west, in just 20km the climatic conditions change, with more Mediterranean influence. The soils are very chalky. Here we make wines with elegance and balance that age really well.
The Torre de Oña project started in the
90s in Rioja Alavesa. It’s surrounded by 47ha of vineyards. As with La Rioja Alta, our philosophy is only to work with our own grapes. We have different soils across the different plots.
The Torre de Oña project is growing. We’ve recently bought another 30ha of old vineyards, with an average age of 50 years. This year we’re vinifying the wines separately, just to check the different plots. We are creating a small winery within the winery, with six tanks, just to separate all of these new vineyards, and to try new possibilities. We think Rioja Alavesa has a really interesting future. Sustainability is important. We are applying a new system of pruning. It respects the sap movement in the vines and it extends their life because you make fewer cuts and there is less opportunity for fungus. We have been eliminating herbicides and using grass cover, which reduces erosion of soils. We work with pheromones to control butterflies and eliminate insecticides. We have meteorological stations in vineyards to check humidity and temperatures to know when a problem like mildew is coming. We have a biomass boiler and solar panels.
We rack using the light of a candle in the traditional way. But when we clean the barrels we use a robotic arm like they use in the car industry. We believe in traditions but we don’t forget that technology is there to use. The objective is to make the best wine every year.
La Rioja Alta and Terra de Oña wines are imported into the UK by Armit Wines 020 7908 0600 www.armitwines.co.uk THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 51
Torre de Oña Finca San Martin Crianza 2017 RRP: £14.70 This is 100% Tempranillo from a plot with soil that expresses the freshness and acidity of the grape, without too much structure. It’s a wine that’s easy to enjoy even if you’re not a wine expert. In Rioja Alta we work in a traditional way. In Torre de Oña we have this more modern style.
Torre de Oña Finca Martelo Reserva 2015 RRP: £28.90 These are the oldest vines at Torre de Oña. Based on Tempranillo, a small portion is a field blend of varieties like Garnacha and Mazuelo and white grapes too, all vinified together. It’s south facing so we have structure and power. We age in French and American oak. It’s really soft and easy to enjoy.
La Rioja Alta Viña Arana Gran Reserva 2014 RRP: £35 The Tempranillo is vivacious and fresh and there’s a percentage of Graciano for colour, acidity and support so the wine can age in perfect conditions. We only work with American oak, for three years, racking every six months. We then make the blend and, when we bottle, it remains in the winery for three or four years.
MAKE A DATE
Nekter Spring Wine Tasting (All About Dem Reds) Nekter’s February 22 tasting showcased 40 sparkling, white and orange wines. Now it’s now the turn of the reds, and there will be 60 available to taste. Short tasting sessions last about 90
minutes, and there will be timed slots
RSVP by scanning the relevant QR code. Monday February 28
The Dissection Room Summerhall Newington
Email arthur@nekterwines.com.
Tuesday, March 1
London venue TBC
For more information about the
event or to register, email tim@ richmondwineagencies.com.
67 Pall Mall
St Martin-in-the-fields Trafalgar Square London WC2N 4JJ
Armit Italian Tasting
Ultimate Rioja Tasting
Armit’s annual event has long been
The tasting is designed to showcase
attend, with over 100 wines to taste. It’s an
best in class in seven categories following
producer of Whispering Angel.
Contact rioja@thisisphipps.com.
London SW1Y 5ES
Richmond Wine Agencies will be
such as Château d’Esclans, the Provençal
comfortable for all those attending.
Wednesday March 2
some of the finest wines of Rioja and the
along with old favourites from its stable
capacity and ensure the space is
Thursday, March 3
Richmond Wine Agencies Tasting showing new additions to its portfolio,
sessions throughout the day to manage
Edinburgh EH9 1PL
to ensure appropriate social distancing measures are observed.
The tasting will take place in two
diversity of styles. Visitors can taste through 48 wines from
39 producers, which were deemed to be
a tasting of hundreds of wines by a panel composed of industry experts.
Ultimate Rioja is a walk-around, free-
pour tasting including both imported
wines and those seeking representation.
an important date for Italian wine aficionados. Around 20 producers are expected to
opportunity to discover the terroir-driven, organic wines of recently signed agency Viticoltori de Conciliis from Campania.
To register and for information on the
day’s masterclasses, contact events@ armitwines.co.uk.
Wednesday, March 9 One Great George Street London SW1P 3AA
Tuesday, March 1 The Airstream Main Courtyard
Paintworks Event Space Bath Road Bristol BS4 3EH
Alliance Wine Portfolio Tasting The Scottish and London tastings will focus on the wineries “at the heart” of the business. This is an invitation to meet producers “who create honest, sustainable and unique wine”.
Vineyards at Badarán in Rioja Alta
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 52
The Vindependents tasting takes place on March 21
Occitanie Annual Trade Tasting The Occitanie tasting returns after three years away, to celebrate its 10th edition and to present diverse wines from the south of France. Over 300 wines will be on show to
demonstrate how the region has been steadily progressing.
This year’s line-up focuses on innovation,
organic and sustainable production.
Visiting producers will show new wines
not yet available in the UK, and importers will show latest vintages.
Producers and winemakers coming
from the Languedoc, Roussillon, south
west and the Rhône Valley include well-
established co-operatives and négociants, as well as artisanal producers looking for distribution.
Masterclasses by Occitanie expert
Matthew Stubbs MW will put into context the appeal of these wines for the UK
market, from entry level to the top end. Register at www.suddefrance.co.uk/
The company will be showcasing 100 key
St James’s Room
portfolio wines as well as introducing three
67 Pall Mall
Wednesday, March 16
Vindependents Portfolio Tasting
estates from Italy, Portugal and Greece. 67 Pall Mall London SW1Y 5ES
London SW1Y 5ES
Vindependents will be featuring a
ABS French Snapshot Tasting
selection of wines from over 150
Royal College of Surgeons of England
A tasting to showcase the ABS French
38-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields
Portfolio, with more than 20 producers
London WC2A 3PE
represented, between them covering the
Jeanneret Wines from Clare Valley and
annualtasting2022.
Thursday, March 10 The View
length and breadth of France.
Mentzendorff Annual Portfolio Tasting Join the team at Mentzendorff as they bring together winemakers from around the world to share their range of Champagnes, wines, fortified wines, spirits and more. Two masterclasses are scheduled. Places
are limited and will be confirmed by your Mentzendorff account manager.
Each producer will be showing three key
wines to give a snapshot of their style. Among those joining in person will
be Amandine Marchive (Domaine de
Malandes), Pierre-Eric Jolly (Champagne Rene Jolly), Emma Jullien-Prat (Maison Montagnac), Romik Arconian (Château
Canon Chaigneau), Marion Cousin (Château Fontesteau) and Maud Négrel (Mas de Cadenet).
To register, contact lesley@abs.wine.
Thursday, March 17
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 53
producers that are exclusively imported into the UK for its members. New Aussies to the portfolio are
Ironcloud Estate from Ferguson Valley.
New agencies from South Africa include
Idun from Elgin Valley and Kloovenburg from Swartland.
Other notable additions to the portfolio
include New Zealand producer Matawhero,
based in Gisborne, and Viña Siegel from the Colchagua Valley in Chile.
Full details of producers can be found
at www.vindependents.co.uk. To register, email kevin@vindependents.co.uk. Monday, March 21 Cecil Sharp House 2 Regent’s Park Road London NW1 7AY
MAKE A DATE
Daniel Lambert Portfolio Tasting
Astrum New Agency Tasting
themed tables of low intervention wines,
Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Daniel
Astrum has a lot to celebrate with over
Lambert Wines will be presenting its
20 new agencies in its portfolio, many of
first portfolio tasting in two years.
which will be represented in person this
indies travelling from outside London.
More than 200 wines will be on show,
from 11 countries, covering 27 regions.
Owner Daniel Lambert says: “We pride
ourselves in having an indie-friendly, highly awarded range that offers a balance
between niche wines and commercial appeal.”
North American
agencies include
Lamoreaux Landing (Finger Lakes),
Westcott (Niagara), Klinker Brick (Lodi) and Trefethen (Napa).
Among the French producers are Calmel
& Joseph (Languedoc), Famille André
Lurton (Bordeaux) and Domaine Philippe Raimbault (Loire).
Scan the QR code to register.
tasting. The tasting welcome a host of new
wineries, and marks Astrum’s 25th
3 Kingdom Street, Sheldon Square
Top Selection Portfolio Tasting An opportunity to discover all the latest additions to Top Selection’s awardwinning portfolio. Highlights include over 200 wines
to taste, and the debut of several new agencies. There will also be three winemaker masterclasses.
Register at events@topselection.co.uk.
Wednesday, March 23 The Music Room South Molton Lane London W1K 5LF
home.
There is also a bursary scheme to assist For more information, email
winesofportugaluk@thewineagency.pt. Tuesday, March 29 St Mary’s Church
anniversary.
Wyndham Place
its first Georgian producer, and meet some
The Big Fortified Tasting
This is an opportunity to discover the
expansion of its French offering, taste from of Italy’s rising star winemakers (Gian
Luca Colombo and Elena Fucci). More than 100 wines will be available at what will
London W1H 1PQ
be Astrum’s first exclusive tasting in over
The UK’s only trade tasting dedicated
astrumwinecellars.com.
BFT website by March 24.
seven years.
Register by emailing info@
Wednesday, March 23 The Trafalgar Room
(Sainsbury Wing Entrance)
exclusively to all types of fortified wines. Attendees must be pre-registered via the For more information email admin@
thebft.co.uk.
Thursday, March 31
The National Gallery
Church House
London WC2N 5DN
Westminster
Tuesday, March 22
Novotel Paddington
rare grapes and wines looking for a UK
London SW1P 3NZ
Wines of Portugal Wines of Chile Annual Tasting Trade Tasting This tasting will feature around 70 Portuguese producers and 600 wines,
January’s tasting was postponed but has
representing 10 of the country’s wine
now been rescheduled for March.
regions.
Featuring a number of focus tables,
With more than 250 indigenous grapes,
masterclasses and visiting winemakers,
enthusiastically engaging with Portugal for
the market, and to explore the different
and diversity in styles, there is still much
to be discovered by indies, who have been a number of years.
Wines of Portugal has organised two
masterclasses as part of this tasting event: Putting a Face on Diversity by Dirceu
Vianna Junior MW and Why are Portuguese Wines so Suitable for the On-trade? by Oz Clarke.
The free-pour area will include three
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 54
this is an opportunity to taste wines from the latest vintage, wines that are new to regions of Chile.
For more information and to register,
contact info@winesofchile.org.uk. Thursday, March 31 The Lindley Hall 80 Vincent Square London SW1P 2PE
SUPPLIER BULLETIN
LOUIS LATOUR AGENCIES 12-14 Denman Street London W1D 7HJ
0207 409 7276 enquiries@louislatour.co.uk www.louislatour.co.uk
A tale of two banks: discover left and right bank Chablis Premier Crus from Simonnet-Febvre Simonnet-Febvre produces a wide range of premier cru Chablis and we have a selection of both its classic and organic ranges in the UK.
Premier Cru Fourchaume – classic and certified organic wines available A right bank Chablis, known for its wine’s generosity of flavour. Its south and south-west exposure ensure that it receives many hours of sunshine and, its downstream location means that it benefits from the rich soils created from the alluvium carried by the river.
Premier Cru Montmain – classic and certified organic wines available A left bank Chablis with south-east exposure which enjoys the morning sun but becomes cooler and windier as the day progresses. Simonnet-Febvre’s Montmains is more restrained than Fourchaume and is marked by more pronounced mineral characteristics. Premier Cru Vaillons – classic wine available Also located on the left bank with south and east exposure, Vaillons is one the largest and most well-known Premier Crus. Its soils contain a high concentration of Kimmeridgian limestone with less clay than the right bank. Simonnet-Febvre’s Vaillons is pure and focused, typically with great balance between generosity and minerality. Also available from the left bank: Côte de Lechet Also available from the right bank: Montée de Tonnerre, Mont de Millieu
hatch mansfield
A Taste of Hatch ...
New Bank House 1 Brockenhurst Road Ascot Berkshire SL5 9DL
Hatch Mansfield are delighted to be offering ‘A Taste of Hatch’ – a bespoke sampling service created exclusively for Independent Wine Merchants.
01344 871800 info@hatch.co.uk
Choose from a wide selection of Indie friendly wines, including exciting new additions and classic favourites, to make up your own personalised selection box of up to SIX wines free of charge.
Enjoy ‘A Taste of Hatch’ at a time convenient to you
www.hatchmansfield.com @hatchmansfield
For more info or to register scan the QR code or visit hatchmansfield.com/a-taste-of-hatch
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 55
SUPPLIER BULLETIN
liberty wines 020 7720 5350 order@libertywines.co.uk www.libertywines.co.uk @liberty_wines
Introducing the new Blank Canvas ‘Settlement Vineyard’ Pinot Noir An exciting addition this month from Blank Canvas – the “art-meetsscience” project of husband-and-wife team Matt Thomson and Sophie
Parker-Thomson MW – is their inaugural 2019 release from a small onehectare north-facing slope of the stunning, organically-farmed Settlement Vineyard, based in the Omaka Valley of Marlborough’s Southern Valleys.
One of the warmest subregions in Marlborough, Omaka produces
some of the thickest-skinned Pinot Noir with an abundance of natural fruit tannin. Dubbed the ‘Back Block’, the parcel from which the new
‘Settlement Vineyard’ Pinot Noir is sourced is planted to 100% Clone
777, a perfumed Dijon clone that delivers naturally small bunches. The small berries and thick skins give real density and power to the wine, and
it is, says Matt, “definitely a food wine – it is incredibly structured and is built to age.”
The 2019 ‘Settlement Vineyard’ Pinot Noir complements Blank Canvas’ ‘Escaroth
Vineyard’ Pinot Noir from the rugged Taylor Pass subregion, the newly arrived 2019 vintage of which Matt and Sophie are quietly confident is their best yet. The dry-farmed Escaroth Vineyard lies on very low-vigour clay soils – among the oldest in the region –
and the (just under) one hectare of Pinot Noir vines are a mixture of Dijon clones 777 and 115, giving lovely complexity and fragrance in the resulting wine. We echo Matt and
Sophie in expecting exceptional things from both these small-batch, single-vineyard expressions of Marlborough Pinot Noir.
richmond wine agencies The Links, Popham Close Hanworth Middlesex TW13 6JE 020 8744 5550 info@richmondwineagencies.com
@richmondwineag1
RWA SPRING PORTFOLIO TASTING With our warehouse full of wine we would personally like to invite you to our 2022 Spring Portfolio Tasting. We will be showing new additions to the portfolio, old favourites, along with the range from Chateau d’Esclans. DATE: Tuesday 1st March 2022
VENUE: The Airstream | Main Courtyard | Paintworks Event Space | Bath Road | Bristol | BS4 3EH TIME:10.00am to 3.30pm
Please do RSVP to tim@richmondwineagencies.com and we hope to see you then!
THE THEWINE WINEMERCHANT MERCHANT september february 2022 2021 56
hallgarten wines
New producer: Badia a Coltobuono
Dallow Road Luton LU1 1UR 01582 722 538
From the Gaiole sub-region of Chianti Classico, we are delighted to welcome this historic producer to our portfolio.
sales@hnwines.co.uk www.hnwines.co.uk
@hnwines
The property’s history dates back to 1051 where it was resided in by Vallombrosan monks, and was later purchased by Florentine banker, Michele Giuntini, and has since been passed down six generations of the Stucchi family who are considered to be pioneers in the region, having cultivated the land for over 175 years. In 2003 they were certified organic across their entire range and emphasise the use of minimal intervention on all their wines to maintain the purity of the fruit and terroir. Please get in touch for more details.
malux hungarian wine
WINES
020 8959 2796 For stand out-wines please contact sales@ hungarianwineandspirits.com hungarianwineandspirits.com
SPIRITS
BEERS & CIDERS
@maluxhungarian CBD, SOFTS & 0% ABV wine_spirits
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 57
SUPPLIER BULLETIN
Fells Fells House, Station Road Kings Langley WD4 8LH 01442 870 900 For more details about these wines and other wines from our awardwinning portfolio from some of the world’s leading wine producing families contact: info@fells.co.uk
www.fells.co.uk
@FellsWine je_fells
top selection 23 Cellini Street London SW8 2LF
SAVE THE DATE
www.topselection.co.uk info@topselection.co.uk Contact: Alastair Moss Telephone: 020 3958 0744 @topselectionwines @tswine
PORTFOLIO TASTING W ED NE S DA Y 23 R D M ARCH 2 0 22 Venue:
The Music Room, London W1K 5LF Trade & Press Only. Email: events@topselection.co.uk
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 58
mentzendorff The Woolyard 52 Bermondsey Street London SE1 3UD 020 7840 3600 info@mentzendorff.co.uk www.mentzendorff.co.uk
AWIN BARRATT SIEGEL WINE AGENCIES 28 Recreation Ground Road Stamford Lincolnshire PE9 1EW 01780 755810 orders@abs.wine www.abs.wine
@ABSWines
WIN A TRIP TO CAPE WINE WITH JORDAN
Join our 2022 Jordan Promotion, running from 1st February to 31st July, which will see 3 trips to Cape Town up for grabs for the best wholesaler, retailer and online retailer across the period. The lucky winners will each win an all-expenses paid trip to Cape Town/Stellenbosch, hosted by Jordan. O U T LI N E I TI NE R AR Y 2nd October - Depart London 3rd October - Land Cape Town 4 nights accommodation at Jordan Wine Estate, wine tasting & tour of Jordan, transfers to/from Cape Wine along with free time for sightseeing. 7th October - Depart Cape Town 8th October - Arrive London
F OR MO RE D ETAILS O N H O W TO ENTER TH E CO M PETIT ION, PLEASE CO NTACT Y O UR ABS ACCO UNT MANAG ER T&C’s Apply
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 59
SUPPLIER BULLETIN
BERKMANN wine cellars 10-12 Brewery Road London N7 9NH 020 7609 4711 indies@berkmann.co.uk www.berkmann.co.uk @berkmannwine @berkmann_wine
buckingham schenk Unit 5, The E Centre Easthampstead Road Bracknell RG12 1NF 01753 521336 info@buckingham-schenk.co.uk www.buckingham-schenk.co.uk
@BuckSchenk @buckinghamschenk
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 60
walker & Wodehouse 109a Regents Park Road London NW1 8UR 0207 449 1665 orders@walkerwodehousewines.com www.walkerwodehousewines.com
@WalkerWodehouse
Juvé & Camps joins Walker & Wodehouse
Ultra-premium Cava, Juvé & Camps, has joined the Walker & Wodehouse portfolio. Juvé & Camps is the worldwide leader of Gran Reserva Cava. This family-owned, 100% estate-based producer is revered in Spain for its painstaking focus on quality and sustainability. A winegrowing family for over 200 years, Juvé first started producing sparkling wines under its own name in 1921. It has been a pioneer in the viticulture and production of Cava since then. Juvé & Camps farms its 271ha under a certified organic regime (likely the largest producer entirely certified as such in Spain) and hand harvests all grapes. The Juvé & Camps range includes Rosé Brut NV, Reserva de la Familia Gran Reserva, Singular Gran Reserva and Gran Reserva. For more information, please contact your account manager.
Famille Helfrich Wines
Orange Wine New addition to the list in February. Why not add a case to your order to try?
1, rue Division Leclerc, 67290 Petersbach, France chris.davies@lgcf.fr 07789 008540 @FamilleHelfrich
Terroir: Jura
Vinification: White wine vinified like a red wine, with skin
maceration allowing the extraction of material in the skins and pips Nose: Very zesty; tangerine, white lemon blossom, a hint of yellow fruit, slightly roasted hazelnut notes; a woody touch
Palate: Very balanced, lively, pleasant, good balance between the zesty side and the ripe yellow fruit. A wine with good tension,
mineral, sapid, almost saline. Discreet woody touch; silky sensation of velvety tannins
Food pairing: Old Comté cheese, raclette, fish in cream sauce, veal They’re all smiles to your face …
tartar, spicy food, smoked trout, bacon and soft-boiled egg salad, roast veal with sweet spices Shelf life: 3 to 5 years
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 61
SUPPLIER BULLETIN
gonzalez byass uk The Dutch Barn Woodcock Hill Coopers Green Lane St Albans AL4 9HJ 01707 274790 info@gonzalezbyassuk.com www.gonzalezbyassuk.com @gonzalezbyassuk
The Wine Merchant Magazine Essential Oil ... is not yet available. While we work on that, the only way to experience the heady, just-printed aroma of your favourite trade magazine is to get your own copy, and breathe it in while it’s fresh. If you don’t qualify for a free copy, you can subscribe for just £36 a year within the UK. Email claire@winemerchantmag.com for details. Or you can read every issue online, as a flippable PDF – just visit winemerchantmag.com. There’s no registration, and no fee. And, sadly, no aroma. © aleutie / stockadobe.com
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 62
condor wines Henge Court Thame OX9 2FX 07508 825 488 orders@condorwines.co.uk www.condorwines.co.uk Condor_Wines Condor.Wines condor_wines Condor Wines
vintner systems The computer system for drinks trade wholesalers and importers 16 Station Road Chesham Bucks HP5 1DH sales@vintner.co.uk www.vintner.co.uk
Vintner Systems has been supplying specialist software solutions to the wine and spirit trade in the UK and Ireland for over 30 years. After 300 installations at a wide range of business types, we have developed the ultimate package to cover everything from stock control and accountancy to EPOS, customer reserves, brokering and en-primeur. Whether you are a specialist wine retailer, importer or fine wine investment company, our software will provide you with the means to drive your business forward.
THE WINE MERCHANT february 2022 63
