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Merchant Profile: The Dorset Wine Company

Charles is happy with Poundbury leap of faith

In 1993, the then Prince Charles took a gamble on an ambitious Dorset new town, and 13 years later Jonathan Charles did the same thing when he opened his wine shop in the centre of the community.

As Poundbury starts to properly bed in, Charles is seeing some returns on his hard graft, and beginning to think about some modest expansion for the business.

By Nigel Huddleston

The Dorset Wine Co got a new landlord recently. Sort of. The business is in Poundbury, which sits on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, just outside Dorchester.

When the Queen died last September, and Charles became King, the Duchy passed to his son William. “For a brief period the King was our landlord,” notes Dorset Wine Co’s owner Jonathan Charles.

The farmland on which Poundbury was built lay vacant until 1993 when construction started on a pet project for the then Prince Charles, Duke of Cornwall, a showcase for traditional and classical architectural styles in response to the austerity of post-war modernism and brutalism.

There’s no mistaking Poundbury. Viewed from the A31 as you travel east-west between south east and south west England, it looks something between toy town and fairy land, and has divided opinion for 30 years and counting.

Even those who live and work there don’t seem to know what to call it. “It’s definitely not a village,” says Charles, though he’s reluctant to plump for town, as the population is only currently around 4,000. Even Wikipedia sits on the fence, running with “experimental planned community”.

Charles set up the Dorset Wine Co in 2006, and moved within Poundbury to its current site in the community’s central Queen Mother Square – alongside Waitrose, a pub and numerous other independent traders – on its 10th anniversary.

It’s now on the ground floor of a palatial film set of an apartment block in a site that provides high ceilings and lots of natural light to make for an inviting hybrid wine retailing space.

“It means you can have lots of dark wood and natural materials without it feeling too gloomy,” says Charles.

He previously worked for local brewer Eldridge Pope in its chain of wine shops, and spotted an opportunity to start his own business when Pope pulled out of retail.

“Initially, we were a few hundred yards down the road,” Charles adds. “This didn’t exist when we first moved to Poundbury. When we started out, we were right on the edge of the development. The houses opposite hadn’t been built and the road stopped at our corner.

“We saw it grow up around us and decided we wanted a bigger shop, with on-site storage and room to do tastings.

“We put the feelers out with the Duchy for something in the square, which is the centre of

Jonathan Charles, Poundbury, October 2022

Poundbury. If we were going to go to the expense of moving it had to be here really, or it wouldn’t be worth it. It’s got pretty much all of our storage on site and room for 25-30 people for tastings.”

What was the attraction of Poundbury, rather than starting up in the middle of Dorchester or elsewhere in Dorset?

The Duchy is pro-independent business and it’s quite nice to have someone who’s actively looking for smaller independent businesses rather than the big chains. The rents are much cheaper than in town and the rates were more reasonable. The redevelopment of the old Eldridge Pope brewery is the other big development in this area and the rents are significantly higher than they are here.

It’s all free parking here as well and I felt that would be a really good draw for us. There’s a “Poundbury has reached a tipping point where there are enough businesses to attract more people to come and shop from outside”

growing number of apartments being built on our doorstep, and it’s reached a tipping point where there are enough businesses to attract more people to come and shop from outside.

So how much of your business is people who live in Poundbury?

It’s growing as the population increases, but I’d still say that it’s probably 35%-40% [of sales]. The population’s about 4,000 now, and ultimately it will be 5,000. There’s a mixture of ages and the demographic is still relatively old, but it’s come down a lot since we’ve been here. We see a younger clientele moving in.

It is really different. People who live here love it, but there is still a bit of a stigma about the place – the fact that it is Poundbury and has the royal association. We just try to ignore it.

Are there restrictions on what you can and can’t do that you wouldn’t get elsewhere?

The design brief [of the development] was nothing modern on the façades. There are no road markings, traffic lights or crossings, and the roads widen and narrow to slow traffic naturally. It’s very pedestrian friendly.

We have a licence for pavement seating in the summer but I would love to have more of a garden like they have in the pub next door. We’ve asked many times but it’s a flat “no”.

We do an event once a week over the summer with a mobile pizza van and commandeer the car park for seating.

It’s a generous space you’ve got to play with.

When they build the big apartment blocks they focus on what’s up and not a lot of thought is given to underneath. It’s more of a case of whoever takes it will have to work with it, rather than it being thought-out as a retail unit.

We had our eye on a corner unit on the other side of the square that had a basement which we could have used for cellar storage and a bar, but the Duchy wanted it for a collaboration with a luxury spa, so what was three retail units is now a spa and a café. Those sorts of things are slightly frustrating because it’s a little short-sighted not to insist on more shops and restaurants in the square. They could have made more of it, reduced the parking and given the square a more open piazza-type feel. “I had in my head five or six years of hard graft and a chain of shops. A lot of people probably start off like that and realise it’s a lot harder than they think”

The parking must be handy though.

It is – and it’s great for deliveries. Drivers like it because there are no traffic wardens shaking their heads. And because it’s free parking people don’t feel under pressure to shop quickly.

Have you ended up with what you set out to create?

No. I had in my head five or six years of hard graft and a chain of shops throughout Dorset. A lot of people probably start off like that and realise it’s a lot harder than they think. I wanted somewhere where people could come and get expert advice and where the people in the shop really knew and had faith in the wines they were selling – and just to put together an interesting and eclectic range of wines suitable for all tastes and budgets. We’re still trying to achieve that.

Having started at Eldridge Pope, and knowing their business and clientele, I thought I had a relatively good measure of the people in the area and that there was a great opportunity for a really good independent. There was only Palmers in Bridport and a couple of other people in Poole who were more focused on wholesale. Vineyards in Sherborne opened shortly before us.

How is it being right next to Waitrose?

None of this existed when we started, so it wasn’t there. There had always been a supermarket earmarked for across the road, but that was five or six years down the track. So we had a good head start and there wasn’t a lot of competition. The downside was that, because it was still a building site, no one would stumble upon us, so we had to work quite hard in getting the message out.

How did you do that?

We started at ground zero. We encouraged local people to spread the word and did tastings and events in the shop, even though it was quite small at the time. It was really just a grind of local events, including the county show and some local interest groups. Word spreads quite quickly around Dorchester. But we still have people coming in and saying “oh, you’ve moved” six and a half years later.

People from outside might imagine it’s an area with a lot of money. Is that the case?

It’s not particularly cash wealthy. There are lots of people who’ve lived here for many years and live in the family pile. But when I opened I got the impression it wasn’t as wealthy as I first thought.

Does that profile mean you lean towards the classics like Bordeaux and Burgundy?

Yes, we do. I think that’s because I’ve previously worked for more independent companies – I had a stint at Jeroboams as well – and they were more traditional in their listings, so that’s where my grounding in the wine trade happened. So we naturally lean towards the classic old world, but we have a lot of fun with South Africa, for example. There’s a lot of interest there with producers doing small-batch stuff that’s fascinating and good value. They’re classic grape varieties done in a different way.

Has that customer profile changed as time has gone on?

We’ve noticed an increase in organic, biodynamic and natural wines. In our early days they weren’t at the forefront of people’s minds. That goes slightly hand-in-hand with the average age coming

The Dorset Wine Company relocated to Poundbury’s central Queen Mother Square in 2016

“We’ve noticed an increase in organic, biodynamic and natural wines. In our early days they weren’t at the forefront of people’s minds. That goes slightly hand-in-hand with the average age coming down”

down. The traditional Dorset gent isn’t particularly interested in whether something is organic or biodynamic, whereas the younger consumer just naturally is. We’ve nothing too weird or wacky. We don’t have many customers who want funky, cloudy or cidery wines. We have a couple of wines in crown corks but they’re noticeably slower to move. Trends and fads tend to happen elsewhere before they filter down to Dorset.

How important is the hybrid element in the mix?

We needed an on-licence to do tastings anyway. I was conscious that a lot of retailers who’ve tried the hybrid model ended up being seen more as wine bar than a shop and I wanted to remain a wine shop, first and foremost. We do a few evenings with food trucks that are geared towards drinking-in. I thought there would be a much higher take-up for hybrid generally than there has been. We do have a few people who drink-in within normal retail hours, but it’s not something we’ve really pushed because I don’t think there’s enough space and call for it to justify the extra staffing. We can seat 30 but, realistically, on a regular basis there will be between 10 and 20 max.

How do you structure the on-trade offer?

Normally it’s £5 corkage, but with anything that’s under £10 we make it up to £14.95, so it becomes £6, £7 or £8 corkage – so £8.95 goes to £14.95, and £9.95 also goes to £14.95.

It’s so we don’t have people coming in just for a cheap drink. And so people don’t go to one of our pub customers and say “I can have a bottle of that at Dorset Wine Co for the price you’re charging for a glass”.

What does wholesale bring to the business?

It’s about 25% of turnover. It has been up to 35% but I like to keep it around 25%. Most of the customers are relatively local, so I don’t like to hold too many listings of similar things just for different customers. It’s enough that we can manage it quite comfortably without them being in conflict.

Do you have separate wholesale and retail lines?

No. There are a couple of wines I’d like to ditch from the shop but I have wholesale customers who love them, so I have to keep stocking them. It’s more or less the same list and pretty much everything is online as well.

High ceilings and natural light give the unit added appeal for customers wanting to enjoy wine on the premises

A lot of prospective wholesale customers used to be wary of the fact that their customers could see wines on their list and then online on our site at a third of a price, but I think these days people are much more au fait with restaurant wine mark-ups. They understand about the overheads.

Where does your retail pricing tend to fall?

It’s been increasing over the past three or four years. The sweet spot is probably about £12-£15, but for a long time, before we moved, it was £8-£12, so it’s gone up a notch.

We were fortunate during lockdown that a lot of people decamped from London and brought their budgets with them. We’re selling much nicer Burgundies, Italian wines and Bordeaux.

It’s also partly being in this more prominent location – and the word has got out among a certain set that it’s a good place to come and shop. It’s a combination of little factors but certainly we’re selling better stuff.

Tell us more about the wine range.

We’re at 700 and there’s wine on tap as well. That’s been very successful for us, both on-trade and off-trade. I’m really pleased we did it. We bought a stand-alone machine with three taps in it. We buy kegs from Uncharted, Graft and Caves de Pyrene, and some through Vindependents.

It’s easy when we do by-the-glass over the summer, because there’s zero waste and the kegs are easy to switch over. We do two glass sizes and carafes, and two sizes of bottle to take away and refill. The eco aspect of it is really good, it’s cheap to install and it captures people’s imaginations.

Who are your favourite suppliers?

We do a lot with Vindependents, mostly old world stuff and just a little peppering of new world. It’s easier to manage old world lead times. We use ABS and Bancroft, both of whom we’ve been with since the beginning. We use Alliance, and Astrum for Italian stuff, a bit with Armit, and Sommelier’s Choice – we really like them. It’s just a nice little smattering of different importers that give us a good range.

It’s a very good-looking shop with a lot of

Charles is hopeful of opening a second branch, or possibly a wine bar

attention to detail.

All the cupboards were built for our initial shop and the racking was shipped from the States. They came flat-packed and we put them together. The big ones hold 480 bottles and the smaller ones 144, and they provide display and storage all together.

I first came across them in a wine shop in New York. I took a photo and asked a carpenter friend if we could put some together for me and he declined. So we tracked the manufacturer down and imported them. We then designed the rest of the shop, the platforms and the like around the racking.

There’s a decent range of spirits on one of them. How do they go for you?

I’ve always done a small selection. In our last shop it was literally a cabinet behind the counter. We did quite well out of the gin boom which made us realise we could sell interesting spirits. There’s been a big tail-off in gin, possibly to do with “We were fortunate during lockdown that a lot of people decamped from London and brought their budgets with them. We’re selling much nicer Burgundies, Italian wines and Bordeaux”

Online sales went “bananas” during lockdown, putting a few miles on the clock of the trusty Land Rover

subscription clubs that people can sign up to. Before people would be rushing in to find something they’d heard of for £40-£50, but now it’s all done for them. It’s fine. I don’t want to spend my whole life talking about gin.

Do you still hope to open a chain across Dorset?

Not 100%, but I would like to have something else, whether it’s another branch or a wine bar. It’s just a question of finding the right place and the right people to run it for you.

What about web sales?

Online went bananas in lockdown. The first one happened just before we were planning to launch our new website. That went on hold, but at the beginning of 2022 we started with a new one which is integrated with our tills. It makes everything a lot easier, with one point of updating, whereas before we were juggling three different systems – for trade, retail and online. It was a lot of work but I’m really glad we did it. I think we could spend more time on it now and push it to work a bit harder but it’s about 10% of our turnover.

A substantial part of the business is still good old-fashioned walk-up retail, then?

We are sticking to our original vision. We’re lucky. I think customers here are pretty loyal. We’ve got many who’ve been coming for well over 10 years on a regular basis … so we must be doing something right.

Bottle Shock Tasting can be too precious. Wine is more than the sum total of its defects

Pétrus – What is the wine about? Imagine a cathedral lit with every light and line focused on the high altar. And on the altar, very reverently placed, intensely there, a stave of oak, a punnet of blackcurrants and the gospel according to Robert Parker. (With apologies to HG Wells)

What are the most important factors that affect the way you taste wine? Is it the inherent quality of the wine itself and its potential to communicate itself lucidly? Do your expectations condition how you taste and are you a label junkie? Or is that any fine wine may be thoroughly muted by being served in awful wine glasses, or at the wrong temperature? Or that the food and the surroundings must be appropriate?

All of these are, of course, significant contributing factors to one’s enjoyment of wine. The greatest – and what can turn the promise of fruit into ashes in your mouth – is your mood at the time, and the company in which you are tasting. (I am not talking about the impersonal surroundings of a large wine event when dozens, even hundreds, of wines are being tasted and where pitiless dissection is the order of the day.)

We can be a bit precious vis-à-vis our genuflective approaches to appreciating wine. Some of my most pleasurable experiences of fine wine, after all, have involved necking the liquid straight from the bottle à la Withnail. I have literally gulped great 1er cru Gevrey-Chambertin on the hoof atop Parliament Hill with the most evil greasy doner kebab imaginable (perverse needs must) – ‘twas nectar – and experienced myriad similar crazy hippyhappy juxtapositions and epiphanies. Forty years after swigging Château Talbot ‘78 from the bottle under a Hebridean night sky heaving with shooting stars, I can still summon up the exact aromas and flavours of this beautiful wine. Wine is the means and the end of enjoyment, the catalyst for mood music. Who needs a polished Zalto glass and a table laden with Michelin standard food when you have the great outdoors and captivating views? A negative frame of mind kills natural beauty stone dead. Deader than a dusty wine glass. My theory is that wine responds to the personality and disposition of the individual who is tasting. I have been in the company of wine professionals who seem to wear metaphorical lab coats as they superanalyse the liquid for defects – as if every wine must be reduced to the sum total of said defects. The wine itself seems to shrink under such merciless magnification as the taster puts him or herself not only above the wine but everything that makes the wine unique or personal. The same wine, experienced with open-minded folk, who are determined to discover interest and enjoyment and may also want to understand why the wine is the way that it is, seems to blossom with the relaxed energy of such positive company. Go figure!

We all know people who suck the joy out of wine and make us doubt that this was ever a beautiful, living liquid. The power of negative thought is, to coin a proverb, the proverbial fly in the glass.

When the cultured snob emits an uncultured wow, when the straitjacketed scientist smiles, when scoring points becomes pointless, when quite athwart goes all decorum, when one desires to nurture every drop and explore every nuance of a great wine, surrendering emotionally to the moment while actively transforming the kaleidoscopic sensory impressions into an evocative language that will later trigger warm memories, the wine lavishes and ravishes the senses to an uncritical froth.

Such responsiveness is a kind of pure “unselfing”. Greatness in wine, like genius, is fugitive, unquantifiable, yet demands utter engagement. How often does wine elicit this reaction? Perhaps the question instead should be: how often are we in the mood to truly appreciate wine? Rarely, must be the answer, for if our senses are dulled or our mood is indifferent, we are unreceptive, and then all that remains is the ability to dissect.

Trying to quantify the unquantifiable

Reggio Emilia Doug Wregg is director of sales and marketing at Les Caves de Pyrene

FRESCOBALDI

Tenuta CastelGiocondo is one of nine family-owned estates, each reflecting its special Tuscan terroir

The phrase “cultivating Tuscany’s diversity” sums up the Frescobaldi philosophy.

Company president Lamberto Frescobaldi says: “The joy of even fleeting moments, and delight in its flavours, tastes, and sensory impressions: these are the sensations that are the gift of Tuscany, and what Frescobaldi wants in turn to convey to those who see in wine a true culture, quite beyond just the vine and its grapes.”

He adds: “My dream, and that of my family, is to share our work, our emotions, and our passionate commitment, through our wines. Ours is a life dedicated to understanding and promoting these unique terroirs, to ensuring that they fully become part of the spirit of Tuscany, as ‘the art of the good and the beautiful’.

“Our thousand years of history as a family constitutes for me a unique and irreplaceable treasure of knowledge and traditions, and my responsibility is to pass on to, and share, with future generations respect, passion, and devotion to these places of ours and to these timeless hills.” characteristics to their wines.

Each estate is managed independently, with its own team that directs its viticulture, vinification and wine ageing.

Tenuta CastelGiocondo, “Spirit of Montalcino”

This tenuta, in the Montalcino zone near Siena, consists of 815 hectares, of which 235 are under vine. CastelGiocondo, purchased by

Frescobaldi in 1989, is one of the handful of producers who, in the early 1800s, introduced the first Brunello di

Montalcino. Beneath a castle and a small medieval hamlet, the vineyards enjoy conditions crucial to coaxing the best from the Sangiovese grape: an elevation around 300 metres, south west exposure to capture the afternoon sun, and well-drained soils of the local galestro marl. The two estate crus are Ripe al Convento di CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG, from meticulously hand-selected Sangiovese grapes grown in the eponymous vineyard at an elevation of 350-450 metres, and the 100% Merlot Lamaione Toscana IGT. The estate standard-bearer is CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, the fruit of an almost obsessive quality selection of Sangiovese grapes grown under the rigorous conditions necessary for extracting the finest qualities from this ancient grape. The area’s galestro soils, rich in marls of clay and sand, contribute to the production of a wine of superb structure, great elegance, and fine balance, exhibiting intense, ultra-refined aromas, the quintessential expression of the Montalcino area’s clay, sandy and marly soils.

The portfolio also includes Campo ai Sassi Rosso di Montalcino DOC, a vibrant, well-balanced Sangiovese.

The Frescobaldi wine estates

The nine tenute, or wine estates, are Castello Pomino (Pomino), Castello Nipozzano (Nipozzano), Tenuta Perano (Gaiole in Chianti), Tenuta Castiglioni (Montespertoli), Tenuta CastelGiocondo (Montalcino), Tenuta Ammiraglia (Magliano in Toscana), Remole (Sieci), Calimaia (Cervognano-Montepulciano) and Gorgona (Livorno).

Located in Tuscan districts with centuries-old reputations for making noble wines (DOC, DOCG and IGT), the estates differ in soils and weather, environment and history, thus giving unique

The craft of Carménère

Carménère deserves a bigger fan base. The problem is, it’s a variety that even winemakers have struggled to get to grips with.

TerraNoble has spent 25 years studying the variety and trying to perfect its techniques, both in the vineyard and the winery. Its team has arrived at an interpretation of the variety that avoids unappealing green pyrazine notes, but also steers clear of jammy, over-ripe characters.

Oak influence has been dialled right back and TerraNoble’s wines, all sustainably made, now have a hallmark freshness and fruitiness.

Crucially – as was vividly demonstrated in a recent online tasting involving winemaker Marcelo Garcia and regional director Tomás Uribe – the wines reflect their terroir.

Working with fruit from Casablanca, Colchagua and Maule, TerraNoble exports to the UK via Pimlico Dozen, targeting independent specialists and the premium on-trade.

Feature produced in association with TerraNoble For more information, visit terranoble.cl or pimlicodozen.com Gran Reserva Carménère 2019, Maule

This is TerraNoble’s flagship wine, first released in 1998. That in itself makes it

important. But it’s also a signature wine in the sense that it’s a hallmark of the

TerraNoble way of doing things, not just with Carménère but with all its other

wines: juicy and generous, but elegant too.

There are no pyrazine notes in evidence but there is an appealing herbaceous character lurking in the background. Marcelo is proud of the black pepper note, which he says is a result of old, well managed Carménère vines having the freedom to express the natural balance in the grapes.

The style of the wine has evolved over the years. “If somebody suggested to me about 10 years ago picking the grape in early April or the end of March, I would say you’re crazy,” says Marcelo. “Or even if you said, use a toasted foudre to age the wine. So you see, it’s a continuous evolution. We

are still learning about Carménère and every year can change the expression, a little bit.”

CA1 Carménère Andes 2019 and CA2 Carménère Costa 2018 & 2019, Colchagua

This is a terroir project, designed to show how the same grape performs in very different ways within a single area like Colchagua.

“CA1 is located in the foothills of the

Andes and CA2 in a location called Lolol “You will see more salty notes or bigger tannins in one wine than the other … more

chocolate or coffee, red fruit or black fruit. But still you see the freshness is there; the juiciness is there.”

Marcelo is encouraging even more terroir expression in the wines by moving away from small barrels to larger ones with less toast. He’s also achieving decent results with concrete eggs.

Carignan Gran Reserva 2020, Maule

in Colchagua Valley, which is influenced by the Pacific Ocean,” Tomás explains. “The natural conditions for both wines are

completely different.”

The CA1 comes from vineyards 370m above sea level, where there’s an abundance of organic material and big differences between day and night-time temperatures. The CA2 plot, 120m above sea level, has thinner, more calcareous soil and is influenced by ocean fog.

The CA1 is rounded and opulent, with great structure, while the CA2 is characterised by red fruit and spicy notes. Both have impressive acidity, but for different reasons.

“The natural conditions can highlight the different notes of fruit,” says Tomás. The vines were planted back in 1958 but Chile’s Carignan revival began in the early 2000s. Stung by criticism that its wines were reliable but a little unexciting – the word “Volvo” was often brandished –

producers began to explore new terroir, new styles and new grapes … even if some of those varieties had been in the ground for decades.

Carignan has an enthusiastic following these days, Tomás reports.

Forty per cent of the wine is aged in concrete eggs and 50% in untoasted foudres, with the remainder spending time in very old barrels.

“This is very important because Carignan has a very particular expression,” says Tomas. “You see the expression of red fruit, like cherries, mixed with flower notes, like jasmine, and little mineral notes at the end.

We don’t want to cover those

flavours and aromas using classic toasted barrels.

“It’s a very nice wine to taste in summer because it’s very fresh and the tannins are very soft. It’s a very good choice to enjoy with, for instance, smoked salmon.” The wines were really beautiful and it was really helpful to hear about the differences in planting location and weather for the Carménère, which really make such a difference to the taste. I especially enjoyed the Gran Reserva Carménère, the CA1 2018 and the Carignan.

Afterwards we shared the wines and the Zoom recording with the rest of our sales team and our purchasing manager.

As they are quite high-end wines they sell well in our shops, and we do have some more high-end restaurants we sell into.

We don’t have the Carignan so this will be something we will now look to add.

Debs Page, The General Wine Company, Hampshire

It was great to taste the CA1 and CA2 in different vintages and to compare with the Reserva. We were able to offer the samples for in-store tasting afterwards and sold quite a few on the back of that.

We know TerraNoble well and they offer superb wines at a really good price point. They tend to be a bit under the radar, so hopefully this will have shone a welldeserved spotlight on what they do.

Jane Taylor, Dronfield Wine World, Derbyshire

I thought it was fascinating to see how the same grape variety can be so affected by the site of the vineyard.

I’ve tasted lots of Carménère over the years, but this was a clear indication that these changes in sites can so clearly be reflected in the wine. TerraNoble seem unique in their approach here, which was great to discover.

My favourite was CA1 Andes 2019. It had for me the best balance of graphite fruit on the nose, and a wide, full-on palate.

Simon Evans, The Naked Grape, Alresford, Hampshire

Beers with a sense of place Dark Star has left its Sussex roots, but other brewers capitalise on local links

One of the least surprising beer stories of 2022 was the decision in November by Japanese brewing giant Asahi to close the Dark Star brewery in Sussex. The brewery came as part of a job lot when Asahi bought Fuller’s in 2019 and, despite its Hophead cask beer being something of a modern classic, Dark Star always felt a strange fit for a company with a portfolio geared around international lager brands, including Peroni, Grolsch and the eponymous Asahi.

Born in the Evening Star brewpub in Brighton, slightly ahead of the craft beer curve in 1994, it never really conformed to modern funky beer brand conventions such as bold graphics, fast range churn and keg revivalism in the same way as, say, Tiny Rebel, Magic Rock or Meantime – the Asahi subsidiary that is now taking over Hophead production, despite not being set up for cask production.

Instead, Dark Star was a small regional brewery that behaved like a big one: understated branding, beers with a consistent market presence and a commitment to good old cask and bottles. footprint outside its Sussex heartland even before being taken over by Fuller’s in 2018, but even in later years it still retained an essential Sussex-ness.

There are, thankfully, some relatively recent entrants to the modern brewing scene who manage to achieve national fame while staying connected to their roots.

Surrey’s Hogs Back is a great example, one that’s focused on the farming traditions of its location. Eight years ago it took advantage of the space around its Tongham brewery to plant 3.5 acres of hops.

After relatively small beginnings, it’s more than doubled its plantings of three varieties, including the local Farnham White Bine, first cultivated in the early 1700s just a mile and a half from where the brewery now stands, and rescued by Hogs Back from near-extinction.

Hogs Back makes its community aware of how the local geology – a rich loamy topsoil and chalky sub-strata – is ideal for hop cultivation and has dozens of willing local volunteers when it comes to each year’s harvest.

Of course, cost and space prohibit most brewers from taking a similar path – but neither should they need to in order to preserve a sense of place.

It could equally come from links with community pubs, or wooing the local specialist off-trade, or ensuring that beers, brands and the stories behind them say something about the place in which they were created.

Above all, what Dark Star had, that many modern craft brands don’t, was a quality prized throughout the world of wine: a sense of place.

Though that can never work for beer in the same way as wine – with topography, soil, climate and weather conditions not contributing so directly to the end product – British ale brewing has a tradition of both being an integral part of the communities it serves and reflecting something of them.

Cloudwater makes some amazing beers but they can hardly be considered to be part of the fabric of Manchester in the same way as Joseph Holt, for example, or even Boddingtons before AB InBev royally stuffed it up.

That’s not necessarily Cloudwater’s fault; it hasn’t been around long enough to establish the same heritage equity, for want of a better phrase.

Sure, Dark Star had expanded Hophead’s

Hop harvesting at Hogs Back

British ale brewing has a tradition of both being an integral part of the communities it serves and reflecting something of them

Nature can be cruel, especially in Burgundy. Tasting through the 2021 en primeur wines of Chanson proves the point only too vividly. The quality is sublime; the problem is, there’s very little to go around, thanks to bizarre spring weather that delivered summer temperatures but also catastrophic frost. After that, the problem was mainly rain.

Nobody in Burgundy has the power to defy weather conditions or to foresee what climate change may mean for the region over the coming decades. But Chanson believes it is well placed to make the best of whatever nature throws at it – and mercifully, 2022 is looking bountiful.

The domaine traces its history back to 1750, but 1999 is just as important a date. That year the business was acquired by the Bollinger family and, although Chanson operates independently of its owner, it has benefited from some significant investment from the Champagne house.

Chanson’s medieval bastion on the outskirts of Beaune remains an evocative focal point: a four-storey building with eight-metre thick walls, perfect for the maturation of fine Burgundy. But a new gravity-fed winery was built in 2010 at Savigny-les-Beaune, allowing separate vinification of parcels from different terroirs.

Over the past two decades there has also been some fine-tuning done to Chanson’s entire winemaking approach, as export director Vincent Wallays explained on a recent visit to London.

“In the year 2000, we decided to go back to our original roots, which is a whole-bunch maceration,” he says. “It’s not the easiest approach. You need phenolic ripeness of the stem system, and that’s the last part of the bunch to achieve it: first comes the skin of the berry, then the pulp and the seeds.

“You have definitive phenolic ripeness in the stems or you do not; there’s no in-between. If you don’t, you’re going to create vegetal aromas in the wine, and a tannin structure that will feel like little needles on your cheeks. The wine will not be balanced.

“But it’s the opposite when you do achieve phenolic ripeness. You’re going to create the backbone of the wine; you’re going to provide spiciness. The stem is cellulose, so it’s absorbing some of the alcohol, maybe half a degree. It creates freshness in the wine.”

Chanson also believes that extended cold soaking gives its wines a special character, or at least a character that truly reflects the vineyard from which the fruit – which is organically produced – is harvested. The team has invented a seven-metre cooling tunnel which brings the temperature of the harvested grapes down from perhaps 35˚C to nearer 6˚C. The idea is to delay fermentation and allow natural enzymes to extract aromas from the skins. The cold soak can last as long as 10 days, achieving results that would be much harder to control were the bunches left to their own devices in the tank without prior cooling.

The wines are aged for 19 months and, even at the en primeur stage, there are profound differences between them – as anyone who tasted the 2021 wines in London can attest.

“All the grapes are harvested by the same team and the wines are made at the same place,” says Wallays. “They are aged in the same place for the same time with the same proportion of new oak, which will be between 25% to 30%, and that applies whether the wine is a village, a premier cru or a grand cru. The only difference is that the berries are from different places.”

Despite the natural challenges of 2021, the Chanson wines have emerged fresh and balanced, with a precision that will delight lovers of a classic Burgundy style. Volumes are sharply down, but Wallays says he is being painstakingly fair with allocations so that all markets get to enjoy the results of the winemaking team’s travails.

The 2022 wines, when they emerge, will be a different story, and it shows from Wallays’s telltale smile. “It’s a blessing,” he says. “We had a very, very good vintage and everything was perfect, including quantity.”

Chanson: making the Burgundy terroir sing

Export director Vincent Wallays tells the story of a remarkable transformation

Sponsored by Mentzendorff mentzendorff.co.uk

It’s a small appellation in a large region, specialising in expressive wines with a Mediterranean flavour, as our tasting panel discovered.

Adventures in AOP Languedoc

wind their way up the Massif des Corbières and down the slopes of the Montagne Noire, then extend out along the lakes,” says Cavalier.

“There are vines everywhere, highlighting the incredible diversity of these landscapes – the one constant linking them all being the Mediterranean. Within its strictly defined boundaries, the Languedoc appellation has a range of terroirs expressing the region’s uniqueness.

“The vineyards enjoy a maritime influence, a Mediterranean-type climate which changes depending on altitude and proximity to the sea, producing Mediterranean-style wines with a signature elegance and freshness, across all three colours.”

Another surprising detail about AOP Languedoc is that, although this part of France is dominated by red wine production, the appellation makes more rosé than anything else, with pink styles typically accounting for 58% of the crush. Red remains popular, with just over a third of production, while whites make up the remaining 10%.

Because AOP Languedoc sits in the heart of Occitanie, France’s leading organic region, it’s no surprise to learn

Photo: Florian Vidot / CIVL

Adventures in AOP Languedoc

that 30% of producers have some sort of eco-certification. Many more share these environmental principles but have not yet been formally accredited.

Ethical issues are also high on the agendas of AOP Languedoc producers, who are increasingly going beyond organic farming and addressing sustainability in a broader sense, with reduced energy consumption and innovative recycling initiatives.

The UK is the number two export market for AOP Languedoc, and the AOP is promising continued support for importers and retailers to help them continue that momentum in the year ahead.

CASTELBARRY CUVÉE OR

AOP Languedoc 2021 Blend: Grenache, Marsanne, Rolle

Co-operatives have been upgrading and modernising in the region. This one is based in the hills north of Montpellier and its Cuvée Or impressed the assembled indies. Bruno Etienne of La Cave de Bruno in East Dulwich said: “Every grape plays a role. You have lovely balance there, I’d say. There are definitely customers for this kind of wine.”

L’ESTABEL GRANDE CUVÉE COMTESSE

AOP Languedoc 2021 Blend: Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Rolle, Viognier, Roussanne.

This co-operative is based in Cabrières, a region noted for its rosé and schist soils. The Clairette variety is also an important hallmark of local wines. An aromatic wine with fruity intensity. “It’s a lovely wine; a rounded middle palate and a nice length,” said Penny Champion of Champion Wines in Chislehurst.

CAVE DE ROQUEBRUN COL DE LAIROLE

AOP Languedoc 2021 Blend: Syrah, Grenache

There’s a sea of bland identikit rosés in the wider marketplace but our group of merchants was pleased to find some genuine character here. It’s an aperitif-style wine, easy to drink, with pleasant cherry and red fruit notes. A wine that prompted several tasters to consider taking a deeper dive into the AOP Languedoc rosé offer.

CELLIER DES DEMOISELLES DOMAINE DES VALS ROSÉ

AOP Languedoc 2021 Blend: Grenache, Syrah

This Aude co-operative is making modern, eye-catching wines and our panel enjoyed the structure and depth of this Grenache-driven blend. The highaltitude grapes are picked at night to preserve freshness, and have a gentle spicy kick. “A rosé that works well on its own or with food,” said Nish Patel of Shenfield Wines in Essex.

DOMAINE NOVA SOLIS AURORE

AOP Languedoc 2021 Blend: Syrah, Grenache, Carignan

Although much of what emerges from AOP Languedoc is perfect for early drinking, many of its wines reward a little cellaring, and that was the verdict in the case of this blend from a relatively new producer. A dark, expressive and elegant wine, with notes of liquorice and black fruit.

MAS CONSCIENCE LA PETITE PRISE DE ...

AOP Languedoc 2020 Blend: Grenache, Syrah

Freshness was a running theme through all six wines and that description is apt here. Tasters enjoyed the delicacy of the tannins and the peppery undertones, agreeing it would be perfect with a hearty winter meal. As Bruno Etienne said: “It’s probably best with food. There’s more complexity, there is a structure and a depth there. It’s lovely.”

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