corked wines

Wine benefits from end of lockdown

Global wine consumption edged up in 2021 with the reopening of the ontrade, although trends vary greatly between regions.

Global consumption is estimated at 236 million hl, marking an increase of 0.7% on 2020 volumes, according to figures released by international wine organisation OIV.

This represents a slight uptick on a downward trend since 2018, although volumes remain down on pre-pandemic 2019 figures of 260 million hl.

Beverage Daily, May 16

One way to increase the figures

Sekt set for sector categorisation

Austria’s sparkling wines with a protected designation of origin have seen their three-tier categorisation amended to the designations Sekt Austria, Sekt Austria Reserve or Sekt Austria Grosse Reserve.

The new Sekt Austria PDO aims to put this category in a stronger position as it prepares to challenge international sparkling competitors.

The move not only requires grapes used for this style of wine to be grown purely within Austria, but also promotes the country of origin more clearly.

The Drinks Business, May 30

?THE BURNING QUESTION

How big a problem are cork-tainted wines these days?

�In my previous job I was consistently opening a number of corked bottles every day, but then the volume of wine I was opening was significantly higher and we were opening older vintages and things like that. Since opening Half Cut I am yet to open a corked bottle, and I’ve not had any returned to us from a customer either. We mainly have everything under cork but some of our younger customers have actively asked me for screwcap wines.”

Holly Willcocks Half Cut Market, Islington

�We are 99% cork, so it does happen. I was chatting to our Chablis supplier and they are now going 100% synthetic because they are sick of having corked wines. The synthetic cork technology has really come on. They can select the density to allow a certain aging process and aeration. I had a wine recently that was slightly corked and it’s only because I know the wine that I noticed. If someone didn’t know the wine they might have thought it was just a bit oaky.” Jean-Paul Hourlier H Champagne winner H

Pierre Hourlier Wines, Derbyshire

�With modern cork technology it’s happening less and less. We opened some big bottles last night for a birthday, some really old stuff, and they were in really good condition. There have been occasions where I’ve been sent samples and they’ve been corked, but that is rare. Wines now are being made to be drunk in a couple of years rather than for laying down, where you are more likely to get an issue. Sometimes with natural wine you might get a bit of cork taint.”

Will Heaton-Livingstone Selected Grapes, Bridport

�It’s very rare these days, to be honest. It’s reduced dramatically over the past couple of years. We have a system in place so if it does happen we pass it back to the suppliers with lot numbers etc. We’re surprised if we see something coming back, but there are fewer corks in general. There’s still some of the old favourites like Chateau Musar with people bringing it back and saying it’s corked, when really it’s not corked at all, it’s just the style.”

Simon Jackson Yorkshire Vintners, Ripon

Champagne Gosset The oldest wine house in Champagne: Äy 1584

THE UPSIDE OF GLOBAL CATASTROPHE

The planet’s soaring temperature isn’t welcome news for anyone, though it does make wine production viable in places like the Vale of Glamorgan. Alex Griem and the team from Cardiff independent Chilled & Tannin have taken a punt on an acre of land where they hope Rondo and Cabernet Cortis vines will help reduce their carbon footprint.

Claire Harries finds out why the C&T squad wanted to get their hands dirty

Cardiff indie Chilled & Tannin now has its own vineyard in the Vale of Glamorgan. The oneacre plot in Llanbethery has been planted with 350 vines of Rondo and Cabernet Cortis.

“When we set up Chilled & Tannin we wanted to have a wine business that was as sustainable as possible,” says co-owner Alex Griem.

“We’ve done lots of things, including offsetting carbon on all our deliveries and repurposing packaging where we can, and we try to pick wine from more sustainable producers.

“We already stock quite a few Welsh wines and, apart from being fantastic wine, it cuts down the road miles.

“From the outset we wanted to have the approach of grape-to-glass with as little intervention as possible, so the first part of that was, let’s try to plant some vines and get our own grapes.

“Our next plan is to have some sort of urban winery set-up in Cardiff. That way we feel we could probably have wine with road miles potentially of just eight to 10 miles.

“We’re under no misconception that owning a vineyard isn’t going to involve some sort of carbon footprint, but equally we shouldn’t need to irrigate it too much. We’re going to see how it goes.”

Griem and his team are very much part of the Welsh wine scene and he has been doing some voluntary work with the Welsh Drinks Cluster.

They have established relationships with a number of Welsh producers, as well as winemakers from further-flung parts who supply their shop. “We’ve been looking at how we can set Welsh wine apart from everything that’s happening in England and the rest of the world,” he says.

“One of the key things around that is typicity of the wine and having grapes that are not grown everywhere else, which is why we thought Rondo would be good. Montgomery do really good things with their Rondo.

“Cabernet Cortis is a grape that ripens quite early and is resistant to damp. It’s a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon, which I think you’d have to be off your rocker to plant in south Wales, and Solaris, which is a grape we were quite keen on originally.”

The business has been gifted the land by a loyal and obviously happy customer, someone who Griem says “shares our vision”. The vineyard has also been welcomed by the locals, some of who remember the plot as the old market garden for the village.

The site also happens to be situated between two solar farms.

“Someone else has done an enormous amount of expensive research to find out the sunniest site for the solar farms and we have just lucked out as our vineyard is right in the middle,” says Griem. “It’s on a slope with a fairly southerly aspect. It’s a proper sun-trap with loamy limestone soil.”

How confident is Griem in his viticultural skills? “We’ve not employed a vineyard consultant, so the guys are relying on me and what I learnt at the beginning of my WSET Diploma on wine production,” he admits.

“It’s a real labour of love and the goal for the next three years is to get healthy grapes and to crack growing the vines as sustainably as we can. “We are not going to try to create a Bordeauxstyle fine wine for the first few years,” says Griem.

“We are going to have some fun with it, in the same way that we have our philosophy in the wine business – not to take things too seriously and enjoy it. We might make a pet nat as it’s fairly simple to do and it’s quite a fun wine.”

Griem’s thoughts are never far from the project’s environmental implications.

“The irony is we are creating a wine business that is trying to slow down environmental catastrophe,” he says.

“I suppose in a way we are betting slightly that things will get a bit warmer and taking advantage of that. We’re reliant on global warming while trying to stop it!”