10 minute read
the burning question
Gateshead winery defeated by Covid
The owner of the north east’s only urban winery has announced plans to close the company after the challenges of Covid and Brexit proved “too much for our small business”.
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Laneberg Wine – the UK’s most northerly winery, based in the unlikely location of Team Valley, in Gateshead – released its first wines in 2019 to great acclaim from wine critics, customers and retailers.
The company was formed by Newcastleborn Elise Lane, who returned to the region with her family to set up the winemaking venture, having already enjoyed a successful corporate finance career.
Business Live, March 30
No smoke without ire at Napa estate
Well-known winemaker Heidi Peterson Barrett has walked away from a 20-year gig as a winemaker at Napa Valley’s Kenzo Estate over a disagreement with the owners about releasing the winery’s 2020 reds.
The 2020 vintage was interrupted by the Glass Fire, which burst out on September 27 and led to significant smoke over the valley for days.
“I would like it to be public knowledge that I did not make the 2020 reds,” Barrett said.
wine-searcher.com, March 18
• An entrepreneur who set up a wine tasting business before the pandemic struck has unveiled plans for expansion. Tom Newbold was forced to reinvent his Tomelier business when Covid put a stop to face-to-face events. He is now recruiting other wine experts to offer face-to-face tastings across the UK.
Rugby Observer, March 28
?THE BURNING QUESTION
How much disruption has Covid caused you in recent weeks?
�We’ve had a number of cancellations for big tables and for wine classes. It’s definitely had an effect on us in terms of the number of people drinking in. In my view, people are a little more reticent to drink out than they usually would be. I’ve not had Covid, but a staff member had it, and I guess it’s pretty impossible in the hospitality trade to avoid it when you’re always in a bar or a shop. I think it will get easier when the weather warms up and people start to drink outside.”
Derek Crookes Kernow Wines, Falmouth
�We are such a small shop and we have continued to have our blackboard outside saying ‘only two customers at a time, and we’d appreciate it if you’d wear a mask and sanitise your hands’. To be fair, so many of our customers are regulars and know the score, so we’ve been OK. Trading-wise, we can be as busy on a Tuesday as we are on a Saturday – the weekend is shifting.”
Suzy Wood Power Haywood Wines, Bournemouth
�Business has been appalling for the quarter but typically January, February and parts of March are appalling because Glastonbury is a tourist town. I’ve noticed on the high street the Chinese, Americans and Italians, who are a big part of my business, are still absent. I’ve not had Covid, luckily, so I’ve just ploughed on through and my suppliers have all been OK, although yesterday I was told some stuff might have to come via courier as their drivers were off sick.”
Mark Ross The Green Room, Glastonbury
�In Northern Ireland we are still having to isolate and if a member of the team gets Covid, we all have to test and stay away until we have a negative result. So in the past month one person has been off for a week with Covid, and having a member of staff absent for that long has a three-week knock-on-effect of trying to catch up getting everyone’s hours correct. The good news is that we have seen an uptake in business so it’s not affected our cash flow.” Dominic Love H Champagne winner H
The Crafty Vintner, Belfast
Champagne Gosset The oldest wine house in Champagne: Äy 1584
bordeaux blends with an african twisT
Great quality South African blends made from Bordeaux varieties were under the spotlight in our latest virtual tasting with Fells. The company’s wine consultant and master sommelier, Stefan Neumann, guided participants through two wines each from Vergelegen, Warwick Estate and Vilafonté.
“South Africa’s Bordeaux blends are blowing a lot of other regions out of the water,” Neumann said.
“What we really wanted to show is the diversity of South Africa through three estates with a different approach in terms of oak ageing, locations and altitudes.
“There’s a common theme with all the grape varieties from each, but they can be very different.
“From a pricing point of view, South Africa’s pretty hard to beat.”
Vergelegen
Nelson Mandela and Bill and Hilary Clinton are among the notable visitors to this estate, which traces its farming history back to 1700, and has been cultivating wine vineyards since 1980. It’s close enough to the sea to benefit from cooling winds and the winery is built on a hillside, using gravity to power the flow of wine, with little artificial force to transfer between vessels.
Vergelegen’s flagship wines are GVB White and GVB Red. The white is a 50-50 Sauvignon Blanc-Sémillon blend, with the latter coming from some of the oldest vines on the estate, which is noted for its densely planted vineyards. “The yield is relatively low but they give wonderful concentration,” said Neumann. “There is a bit of oak to give structure. “Sauvignon-Sémillon isn’t an easy sell but it is one of those combinations that works really well. Sémillon gives it a lovely honey characteristic and a waxy texture, while the Sauvignon has a racy, punchy acidity with a herbal element. There’s a lot going on.”
The 2014 GVB red is comprised of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 13% Cabernet Franc and 6% Merlot, aged in 100% new oak.
Neumann said: “There is certainly an intensity of dark fruit with this wine, but there’s also a lovely smokiness which is often a signature of South Africa.
“These are wines made with attention to detail: making the most of what the vintage has to offer, embracing heritage but at same time being innovative. It’s a great estate.”
Warwick Estate
This estate is bang on-trend for the recent revival in interest in Cabernet Franc. “A lot of Warwick’s blends are Cabernet Franc-dominated,” said Neumann. “The variety does really well in warmer climates because it retains its acidity and there’s a natural leafiness to it.”
The producer takes fruit from cooler south and south-east facing slopes in Stellenbosch and Simonsberg.
Warwick Estate Professor Black Pitch Black 2017 is a red blend of 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Cabernet Franc, 13% Cinsault, 10% Merlot and 1% Malbec.
“You still get that smokiness,” Neumann said, “but it’s a bit lighter and fresher, because the Cinsault gives it a lift and makes it approachable.”
Trilogy 2018 is a complex and elegant blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Cabernet Franc and 3% Merlot, the proportions changing a little from vintage to vintage.
“It’s one of those wines that takes you on a little bit of a journey,” Neumann said. “Leave it on the side and come back in half an hour; layer by layer it reveals a little bit more.
“It has a smoky characteristic but there’s also some green bell pepper coming through, a green asparagus component, a bit of milk chocolate, some cinnamon, anise and cloves.
“Pitch Black will be attractive to people who are new to the world of wine, maybe millennials who have a bit of money to spend, but Trilogy is for serious wine drinkers who have experienced top class Bordeaux already and want to explore something else.”
Vilafonté
Established by Mike Ratcliffe in 1997, Vilafonté makes just three wines: Series C, Series M and Seriously Old Dirt, a reference to the ancient soils that define the vineyard area, which have seen little glacial or volcanic activity for more than a
bordeaux blends with an african twisT
million years.
The first Seriously Old Dirt was made only in 2013, and the tasting featured the 2019 vintage, a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, 5% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc, aged for 22 months in 24% new oak. “That’s incredibly precise,” said Neumann, “but I think it shows the attention to detail in the way Vilafonté works. It’s very quality driven and very authentic.
“Mike Ratcliffe believes in Bordeaux varieties and this is something for the younger consumer to enjoy with an earlier drinking window than Series C or Series M. It’s less of the smoky character and more about the red fruit component. “It has a bit more of a silky tannin structure, which makes it very approachable.” Series M 2018 is a blend of 45% Merlot, 41 % Malbec, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc. “It’s all about elegance and refined tannin structure,” said Neumann. “When you try this, you understand why Mike decided to start a vineyard there.
“He believed in the soil and the seriously old dirt, and he believed those varieties can thrive really well in South Africa.”
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Vilafonté winemaker Chris de Vries with grower Edward Pietersen
Warwick Estate winemaker JD Pretorius
Gardens at Vergelegen
Moldova in the Midlands
Cristine and Constantin Paunoiu have created a unique shop, specialising exclusively in wines from a small eastern European country they believe has big potential
Wine Chateau is the first shop in the UK to exclusively sell Moldovan wines. Its owners – native Moldovan Cristine Paunoiu and her Romanian husband Constantin – launched their Wellingborough venture last October. They currently import direct from two of the largest state-owned wineries, Cricova and Milestii Micci, and last month added wines from Chateau Vartely to their portfolio. The couple, who are also in their final year of studying for degrees in business and management at Northampton University, had always wanted to start their own business.
Cristine explains that the idea came from their friends’ enthusiasm for the wines they would bring back from Moldova. “They were always asking if we could get them some too,” she says, “so we thought this would be a good way to share our love of Moldovan wines. It’s a good opportunity to showcase the quality of the wines produced in my home country.”
The independent trade is becoming more openminded about wines from eastern Europe, though Moldova has yet to make a major breakthrough.
Wine Chateau hopes to change perceptions through the development of its wholesale arm.
“We now have our AWRS licence, so Constantin is busy travelling around Northampton and beyond introducing our wines to restaurants and other shops,” Cristine says.
“Since we opened Wine Chateau, many wineries have been in contact with us and we intend to work with more, but we have to do this step by step. The wineries are hoping to work with us on an event in the UK, so they want to come over and present their wines to our customers.”
As the past couple of years have demonstrated, many consumers are keen to expand their wine horizons and try new things. Moldova offers an element of exoticism and mystique, but some of the grape varieties are familiar.
“We are working mainly with the European varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay,” says Cristine.
“We have three main indigenous grape varieties, and our customers are keen to try those and compare the wine to European grape varieties. “For example, if I’m talking about Rara Neagră, customers will often ask what grape I could compare it to, so I would liken it to Pinot Noir and then they have an idea of what to expect in terms of taste and aroma.
“We’ve had great feedback and many customers have said that we have brought something new to the town and they are really happy to have a specialist wine shop here.”
