The Wine Merchant issue 127

THE WINE MERCHANT.

An independent magazine for independent retailers

Issue 127, August 2023

Consumers bemused by big increase in wine prices

Independents find that even some trade customers are unaware of August duty hike that adds at least 44p to a bottle

Independent merchants are being forced to justify big price increases on their wines to customers as the August duty hike comes into effect.

Retailers are finding that consumers, and even some trade customers, have either forgotten that the increase was coming, or else were unaware of it in the first place.

Although the headline duty increase is 44p, many wines will see prices jump far higher than that as suppliers also apply inflationary increases.

Hannah Wilkins of Vineyards in Sherborne, Dorset, says: “I was looking at prices and I saw a wine that I’m now buying for the same price that I was selling it for five years ago.

“I look back at what the duty was in 1998, as opposed to what it is now, and I’m absolutely appalled by it.

“The winemakers aren’t making any more money. That’s all I care about, because we’ve got to look after the people that are making the stuff.”

Dean Pritchard of Gwin Llyn Wines in Gwynedd says wine merchants “have just become tax collectors for the government”.

He adds: “It’s going to be hard enough for retailers – we’re just passing on the cost. But I feel for the restaurateurs with the

Not many hotels have their own on-site specialist wine shop. But Llys Meddyg in Newport, Pembrokeshire, is a rare exception thanks to the arrival of Dave Cushley's Feral Pig Wines, which has opened where its dining room used to be. Story: page 6.

Dogs of the month: Norman & Colin Derventio Wines, Malton

Boutique hotel welcomes Feral Pig to the premises

Independents warn that some wines will go up by more than 44p

From page 1

utility bills and everything else … this is the last thing they need.

“Honestly, I don’t think anyone who brought this out has got any clue about what they’re doing. Wine is the most popular drink, and brings in most tax. The government would be raising more money in the next 12 months if they had left duty on wine alone.”

Some suppliers have been issuing graphics that help merchants explain to their customers how different categories have been affected by the duty hike. Still wine has typically gone up by 44p a bottle, sherry by 97p and port by £1.30. Sparkling wine at 11% abv is down 51p and at 12% abv by 19p.

Wilkins argues that the reductions on sparkling wine are not necessarily as welcome as the government has portrayed them to be.

“It’s an absolute smokescreen,” she says. “Actually, it’s more headache work, because you have to go back to the producer to find out what the percentage is going to be on

their next batch, then work out whether duty’s going to be added or whether we’re having 19p taken off of it. Equally, if the producer hasn’t increased their prices in the past year, then they might want to add 25p on the bottle too for their costs.

“I’d hate to be a producer right now. Long term I think it’s going to make the wine trade in the UK less appealing for producers. If I was making sherry or port I wouldn’t be interested in the UK market.”

Pritchard (pictured) says: “It’s quite amazing, because we’re mentioning it to customers and they had no idea that duty has been increased and about the repercussions that’s going to have.

“As we get deliveries from next month with the new price increase, we will just have to pass it on.

“We’ve only got a few trade customers and I was letting them know months ago, but they’ve not been stocking up, to be honest. As we’ve had the new prices from our importers, I’m readjusting our prices. It’s not exactly what the hospitality industry needs in August.”

Editor and Publisher: Graham Holter graham@winemerchantmag.com

Assistant Editor: Claire Harries claire@winemerchantmag.com

Advertising: Sarah Hunnisett sarah@winemerchantmag.com

Accounts: Naomi Young naomi@winemerchantmag.com

“Long term I think it’s going to make the wine trade in the UK less appealing for producers,” says Hannah Wilkins of Vineyards in Sherborne

Vinorium relaxed about scaling back

The Vinorium is moving to a smaller premises in Ashford, Kent, as owner Stuart McCloskey steers the Australian specialist through some major changes.

“Our current HQ is 7,500 square feet – it is massive,” says McCloskey. “We just don’t need that space. We pay a whopping £65,000 a year in rent, plus rates. And now we sit on more stock under bond than we do duty-paid, and freeing up cash flow. So we thought, what’s the point of being here?”

The new premises still offers plenty of room for the business, with warehouse space of 1,000 square feet and a larger office space above for the team.

McCloskey had been working on an ambitious project to relocate The Vinorium to a 4.5-acre plot in Egerton, Kent. The green build, which included eco credentials such as rainwater harvesting and a vineyard and wildflower meadow, would also have offered education facilities. But as costs started to spiral, McCloskey hit the pause button.

“We put in £1.2m of our own money,” he explains. “We did the demolition, the groundworks … the whole thing was a go. The war hit, and the cost just went through the roof. It went up and up and up again. You get to a point where you know it is not justifiable.”

McCloskey is sanguine about the experience. “I would say maybe about half a million has been spent on nothing,” he says. “I don’t dwell on it. It’s not that we can afford to lose the money – we can’t. But I just think there are so many displaced people around the world …”

McCloskey expects to open a shop at the new premises in October, but is being deliberately cautious. “95% of our business is e-commerce,” he says “so there will be full retail but on quite a small scale. There’ll be a range of around 300 wines, predominantly Aussie, and a smattering of

others. We’ll see what happens over the next 12 to 18 months.”

McCloskey is looking to establish a hub in Belgium next year. “We miss the EU hugely,” he says. “We’ve lost £1m in turnover in the last 24 months.

“We could ship most of our producer wines into Belgium, and then distribute from there right into the EU and not have The Vinorium has several specialist retail items looking for a new home. Some are free and others have a fee attached, as listed below. All must be collected from The Vinorium by August 21. Interested merchants should contact Stuart McCloskey on 01622 859 161.

How the expansion plans were envisaged

the issue that we’ve got now, because we just physically cannot supply wine to private clients unless they pay a fortune for shipping. That will be a big step for us next year.”

Wine equipment going begging – if you're quick

• Unused original wooden cases (Penfolds): Circa 100 six packs

For sale

• 11 x trays of Riedel Vinum glasses, 25 glasses per tray, including glasswasher tray: £125

• 4 x 8-bottle Enomatic machines: £500 each

Free

• Eurocave modular racking: Total of 76 modules (capacity 24 bottles per module)

• 2 x Enomatic gas bottles (free if purchasing a machine)

• 1 x Wine Gen Preservation Generator: £350

Rugby indie shuts as footfall drops

Gallachers of Rugby closed its doors for the final time in June.

Debbie and Russell Gallacher launched the business on Regent Street, Rugby, in 2018. Debbie says the decision was made due to “low footfall, low sales but still high bills”.

The couple are currently working on a local delivery service for subscribers, which they will operate from their home.

• The Ramsbottom branch of Grape to Grain ceased trading last month after five years. A post on its social media said: “The usual combination of rising costs and dwindling sales in a faltering Rammy market mean we simply cannot keep our doors open.” Tom Sneesby continues to run the Prestwich shop.

• Bottle London, established in Highgate in north London in 2020, has closed. Rebecca Smithson, who launched the “coffee, wine and beer destination” with two colleagues, is now focusing on TwentySix, the event bar business she started 18 months before Bottle London opened.

The swine of wine

When it comes to shop names, wine merchants have proved to be a creative and pun-loving bunch. Dave Cushley, owner of the newly opened Feral Pig Wines (see page 6) has a good, but slightly self-deprecating explanation for the name of his new business. “It follows the notion that a feral pig was once a domesticated pig that has gone wild,” he says. “A feral pig is known to eat and destroy everything it lays its eyes on – including a vineyard. The idea that feral pigs could be wine pests resonated with me. I’d like to think the name is somewhat of a self-portrait.”

Some inevitable Blur jokes

Kilo kicks

on with new site in Quorn

Kilo Wines, just outside Loughborough, is expanding with the launch of a second site, in nearby Quorn.

Owner Nick Robinson says that, while the new site will be a hybrid, “the main focus will be on the wine bar”. Kilo is supplied by sister business Marcato Direct.

Taking Henley closure on chin

Henley-on-Thames independent Chin Chin has closed after just a year of trading.

Owner Adrian Fry says: “While we’ve continued to tick over, unfortunately a wine shop that doesn’t sell enough bottles of wine simply isn’t a viable business.”

• Less than a year after opening, Vinoteca’s Birmingham branch has closed. A statement from the business reads: “The challenges of a much-changed economic landscape over the past 12 months of rising costs, inflation, spiralling energy charges and regular train strikes have proved too great for a site which Vinoteca had hoped to continue to grow over the coming years.”

Congratulations to Blur bassist Alex James, who has teamed up with Furleigh Estate to launch a sparkling wine called Britpop. We assume that James was educated the expensive way, and knows his claret from his Beaujolais. No mention on the label about the wine being made in the traditional method, however. So we have to ask the obvious question: is James the model of a charmat man?

Do we trust the new pilots?

Winebuyers.com has been sharing the “exciting news” about its takeover by a consortium of investors, which hasn’t done much to change perceptions of the business among merchants it shortchanged in its previous incarnation. Maybe the “new” team should find a moment to sort out their homepage link to recent Trustpilot reviews. One example: “I bought some hair for my highschool graduation and the hair lasted a while after. The hair was some good quality hair.”

Correction

In our July issue we incorrectly gave David Almeida from Vinotopia the title of Master Sommelier in his Rising Star profile. This was a mistake entirely of our own making and we apologise for our error.

Rebecca Smithson

Nick Robinson

Tim Dolan Kaesler Barossa

Valley

Kaesler is more or less situated smack bang in the middle of the Barossa. We are only a short distance from some worldfamous wineries. We count ourselves very lucky to be involved with a great community of like-minded companies that are striving to make iconic Barossa wines of the highest quality.

There is clonal difference between the Shiraz at our two vineyard sites. Typically, the bunches in Marananga are more elongated, with smaller berries, compared to our “home” blocks. The soil type at our Marananga site is complex and incredibly varied, from deep loam to shalier and rocky soils on the steeper slopes. Around the Kaesler winery, the soil type is quite consistent: sandy loam over clay with little change in aspect. The Marananga parcels typically ripen a little earlier and produce crops that are lower yielding and more concentrated.

Old vines are typically old for a reason: they consistently produce fruit of excellent quality. If they didn’t, it would be a simple exercise in economics to pull the block out and replant with something that improved yield and quality, and the bottom line.

Vineyards that are over 100 years of age are in rare air. The team have a huge responsibility to ensure the vines are first and foremost healthy, and that they

Old Bastard 2020

Released autumn 2023

From the oldest vineyard on the Kaesler Estate, planted in 1893. There are just 12 surviving rows, producing minuscule quantities each year. The 2020 is a monumental wine, coming from a very dry and challenging year. The wine is well balanced and a fantastic representation of what a 125-year-old vineyard can produce in a difficult season.

capture the essence of what the Barossa is most famous for. Virtually everything is done by hand. The winemaking team try to take a hands-off approach to making the wine. We’re really trying to capture the work that has been done in the vineyard.

Our grapes are now typically picked a lot earlier than in the period from mid to late 2000s. Average alcohols have reduced considerably, the fruit profile is much more pronounced, and the new oak percentage has slowly been dialled back to provide a strong backbone, rather than being the most obvious feature of the wine. Kaesler has always been known for producing wines that are typically rich and generous; we don’t shy away from that. But we are receptive to consumer tastes and want to ensure that we slowly evolve to remain relevant in the marketplace.

In the Barossa we’ve seen a trend away from those high-octane red wines that were prevalent throughout the late 90s and 2000s to a far more balanced approach. This change has been partly consumerled, but there’s also been a realisation

The Bogan

RRP £32.95

Full of warmth and personality, this full-bodied Shiraz is made from a blend of parcels of estate fruit from vines planted between 1899 and the 1960s. The wine is lifted and complex, with sweet black and red berry fruit on the palate and seamlessly integrated oak.

The Kaeslers arrived in the Barossa Valley in the 1840s and by 1891 had acquired 96 acres. The estate was planted to bush-vine Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro in 1893 – and some of the original Shiraz vines still produce intense fruit that is destined for the flagship Old Bastard. Wines imported by Jeroboams Trade

that making wines of this style wasn’t sustainable. The vines were put under too much stress, and the resulting wines would often not cellar well.

Consumer tastes have evolved to a more medium-bodied style of wine; fruitforward and with immediate drinkability. We have seen increased demand for Grenache and Grenache-based blends. This coincides with a demand for more fragrant, slightly lighter styles of Shiraz and Cabernet. Kaesler is well-suited to both these styles, along with our more traditional offerings, The Old Vine Shiraz and Old Bastard, which are richer, more intense wines that demand more time in the bottle to reach their full potential.

In 2007, our viticulturist Nigel van der Zande engaged with Trees for Life to set about planting a 15-acre parcel of land on the Kaesler Estate. This area is on a flood plain and unsuitable for vines, so Nigel could activate his inner hippie and revegetate it with native species of trees and bushland. He and his team realised they could reduce our carbon footprint, lower the water table and thus reduce soil salinity. They have also set about replanting other areas not under vine with native trees. We have seen native fauna return, including some rare bird species – a success Nigel probably values more than the quality of fruit he produces.

Reach for the Sky Shiraz

RRP £22.95

From a block of the Marananga vineyard that was planted using cuttings taken from the renowned Old Bastard and Alte Reben vines. Deep in colour, it has a vibrant nose of blueberry and blackberry notes with layers of mocha and spice. The silky palate is rich with plums and berries, hints of fruit cake and ripe, supple tannins.

Dave Cushley launched Feral Pig Wines within the premises of boutique hotel Llys Meddyg in Newport, Pembrokeshire, last month.

Cushley, who has a background in the on-trade and worked as a head sommelier for many years, moved back to south Wales

Boutique hotel in Wales now has its own specialist wine shop

during the Covid lockdown.

“I became a restaurant manager and forgot about wine for a couple of years, really,” he says. “But getting back to the wine was always what I wanted to do. I wasn’t intending to stay in Pembrokeshire, but I got offered the space at Christmas time and it’s perfect.”

Cushley had overseen the expansion of the restaurant – which he formerly managed – into the gardens during Covid, and now he has launched his shop in the original dining area.

“I’m right at the front of the hotel, opposite reception,” he explains. “I’m covered by the hotel’s licence so I have a little wine bar section as well. I have

five or six wines open at any one time. There’s a big focus on organic, natural and sustainable wine in the shop.”

Aside from sourcing wine from local producers including Velfrey Vineyard in Narberth and Hebron Vineyard in Carmarthenshire, Cushley is working with suppliers including Ally Wines, Carte Blanche, Indigo and Iberian Drinks.

“I’ve got over 100 different bottles and there is room to expand,” he says. “It’s very seasonal so I’ll probably expand over the summer and slowly contract until Christmas time.”

Cushley has already made a start on the first of many food and wine events in the shop with chef Lewis Wilson.

Dave Cushley

© Adrian Davies Photography

NOT YOU AGAIN!

customers we could do without

I know you were dealing with Aaron before, but let’s just say he’s no longer with the Fork & Firkin Group Ltd, so I’ll be your contact for all future orders … and I’ve gotta be honest, I’m talking about a complete overhaul of the current list you do for us … there’s absolutely no point us selling wines that people can buy for a quarter of the price in the Londis down the road … well for example Rioja, which you charge us 12 quid a bottle for, I can get one of those in the Co-op for £7.35 … pretty much all your French range looks a bit toppy, price wise – £24, £29, £38 and higher is what we’re asking people to pay for Alsace

Pinot Noir or Chablis Premier Cru but customers see a huge range of French gear for less than a tenner in Aldi … well you say you’re dealing with artisan producers and premium wines but it all tastes the same to me, and if it tastes the same to me – and I’ve been on catering course – then how are our customers going to tell the difference? Look, I haven’t got time now, you have a think, sharpen your pencil and see what you can come up with … oh and by the way, I spotted a silly typo in that last list you printed … there was an E missing at the end of the word Brute in some of the Champagnes … we’re not selling aftershave …

•

ANAGRAM TIME

Can you unscramble these Greek grape varieties? If so, you win 12 suggestions for new online banking passwords, devised by Tommy Cannon.

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5. Choirs Fool Me

49. Mark Mumpsworth

DAVID PERRY

Irregular Thoughts

Money talks, but I don’t always listen, despite my Peter Dominic credentials

Many years ago when there were a few chains of wine shops and managers had deputy managers and deputy managers had staff, we invested in staff training.

My view was that my deputy’s job was to do my job and that my job was to train him to do it well. That worked as it allowed me to go off and do other things, confident that my shop would be OK in his hands. Peter Dominic (remember them?) had just embarked on a journey of takeovers and mergers and I was one of three shop managers selected to design and deliver training to the staff of overtaken companies.

A few times I had to drive from Derbyshire to Brighton and back. The mileage allowance more than paid for the purchase of my old Citroen 2CV even if I did have to stop for 2-star petrol three times on the journey.

A lot of the training was mundane systems stuff. Some of it was more exciting, like explaining the importance of stock control on return on investment. I taught the theory but didn’t live it in practice.

Back in those days we were encouraged to aim at 4.3 weeks’ stockholding to improve the company’s return on investment. My area manager would ask why I had eight weeks’ stock and I would say I have exactly 4.3 weeks; the problem was that he was calculating it based on previous sales, whereas I was using forecast sales.

I argued that reducing stock meant

I couldn’t improve turnover. Reduced stocks meant reduced sales leading to further reduced stocks, and then we are on a downward spiral. I had ordered huge amounts of stock on the expectation of selling it all and how could I hit my dizzying targets without the stock to do it? Grand Metropolitan could afford it and my well-trained staff would make it happen. Miraculously, the following week, one customer bought all 12 of the Château d’Yquem I’d just ordered, and my area manager turned a blind eye to my profligacy from that point on.

Fast forward almost 40 years and I understand the importance of cash flow. It’s a lot different when it’s your own cash, or rather that of your suppliers. 4.3 weeks is about the average credit term from a lot of suppliers, unless your ordering cycle is very precise. In the early days of owning Shaftesbury Wines it dawned on me that managing cash flow and ensuring everyone got paid in full and on time was achievable but there was never a point when you could just stop. You had to buy more stock to sell to pay for the stock you had just ordered. That was OK. Everything was more or less

under control as long as I kept a close eye on cash flow. We muddled along, remaining solvent and without an overdraft for years. Then the potentially existential Covid crisis hit.

Initially we didn’t know if we could trade or not. I sat down in front of my beloved spreadsheets and did the sums. The shelves were pretty much full and the cash in the bank was by now, after 10 years, enough to clear all current invoices and leave enough to pay the rent for about 12 months. I realised that I had achieved that magical point where I could just stop – if I had to. I could put everything in mothballs, and isolate for a year – if I had to.

I’d got as far as putting boards over the window displays when, a few days later, we found out that we were “essential”. We were allowed to open. The problem was that the rest of the population was under house arrest. I had a lovely time driving around deserted lanes in the spring sunshine delivering vast amounts of entry-level wine to the wealthy parents of children evacuated to their homes in the country. It sounds smug, and I apologise to the many people, including my wife, for whom lockdowns weren’t much fun, but the pandemic was great for our business. I’m quite nostalgic now and sure we were not alone in coming out of it in better shape financially than we went in.

When I pay an invoice now I don’t have to look away from the screen or squint to avoid a panic attack. I can order as much as I want in the knowledge that it will get paid for, even if it doesn’t sell in 4.3 weeks.

I could take advantage of discounts for larger orders. I could, but I don’t have enough space. I know that stockholding expands to fill the space available but, with virtually no space available, we still have to live hand-to-mouth with multiple, smallish deliveries almost every day. (Suppliers, please take note!) This means a low(ish) stockholding and a healthy(ish) looking return on investment. Lucky, really, because I’m damned if I can remember any of the training.

David Perry is owner of Shaftesbury Wines in Dorset

Rising Stars

It’s great to travel and gain experience in far-flung countries, but sometimes there’s just no place like home. After honing his hospitality skills in New Zealand and Australia, Peter Drew returned to the UK in 2021 and, keen to further his career near his hometown, took the role of manager at hybrid bar and shop Corkage.

Owner Andy Dore says: “Our previous bar manager, Claire, was French and she’d been with us for about three years but she really missed her family during lockdown and decided to go home. We advertised locally for a replacement and Peter walked in.”

Andy says that after lockdown he wasn’t sure what the future looked like for the business, so he wanted someone part-time to start off with.

“It suited Peter as he would be the first to admit that he was feeling a bit burnt out by the time he got back to the UK,” says Andy. “It’s been a meeting of minds, really. He’s got a kind and gentle personality. He’s absolutely brilliant with the customers; he takes time with each and every one of them. His background means he’s very knowledgeable and he’s got a very, very good palate as well. He’s helping me with refreshing some of the stock and he’s introduced a couple of new suppliers. We enjoy working together and we’ve got a similar sense of humour, attitude and approach.”

Peter first visited Corkage as a customer for a tasting event and, when he saw Andy was looking for a premises manager, he didn’t hesitate to apply.

“It had always operated very much as a shop and tasting room, which sounded great,” Peter says. “I thought with such a gigantic product line there was plenty of scope to develop it into more of a bar. It was more familiar to me to do something like that. Over the course of that time, I’ve gone from getting people through the doors and getting them interested, to going out and buying wine for the company.”

There’s a large range of wine available by the glass at Corkage, including the wines on the Enomatic. “Our customer base and the people who continue to find us are very open to a voyage of discovery,” explains Peter. “We like to introduce them to more than Bordeaux and Burgundy. This month we had a tasting with summer wines, something a bit off the wall like Italian blends from Australia. We like to show that there’s certainly far

Peter Drew Corkage, Guildford

more to wine than just one continent; there’s lots more fun and stories to be had from it. We try and mix and match the traditional with the non-conventional. It’s all about just finding a little balance.”

Peter has his WSET Level 3 and, although he enjoys studying, is not convinced that further wine qualifications are for him right now. “I’ve never ruled it out, but there needs to be a practical application,” he says.

As Andy will attest, events and hospitality seem to come easily to Peter. But Peter himself admits that, while it’s the role he enjoys the most, it’s something he’s had to work hard at to accomplish.

“One of the reasons I got into hospitality was because I was terrified of speaking to people,” he says. “I was terrible at public speaking, but I wanted to be able to do it and hospitality forced me to do it. I’ve come to love what I do so much, especially with wine.

“Andy gives me the freedom to really expand and take a couple of risks now and again. I can only thank him for that because it’s allowed me to broaden my horizons in terms of wine and just become even more knowledgeable and better at my job.”

Peter wins a bottle of Domaine Ferret Pouilly-Fuissé

Tête de Cru Clos des Prouges 2020

If you’d like to nominate a Rising Star, email claire@winemerchantmag.com

Everflyht Rosé de Saignée 2020

This Sussex producer, down the road from Ridgeview, has hit the ground running and its blend of Pinot Noir (66%) and Pinot Meunier (34%) feels like an instant classic. A warm September brought out the best in the fruit: there’s a precision and persistence to the wine, with its luscious cherry flavours and hint of salinity, that goes beyond what England used to be capable of.

RRP: £40 ABV: 12%

Berkmann Wine Cellars (020 7609 4711) berkmann.co.uk

Arizcuren Solomazuelo 2018

Mazuelo (or Carignan if you prefer) goes solo in this fresh take on Rioja. The grapes come from pebbly, north-facing, high-altitude soils and the juice is fermented in 500-litre French oak barrels before ageing in concrete eggs. There are notes of cloves, plums and leather, but virtually none of oak, with the winemakers at pains to capitalise on, and to preserve, natural acidity.

RRP: £33

ABV: 14%

Carte Blanche Wines (01256 772233) carteblanchewines.com

Santa Rosa White Malbec 2022

From an outpost of the Zuccardi empire in Mendoza, this isn’t going to win any awards for label design. But the contents of the bottle provided pretty decent entertainment for the money on a July evening when the wind and rain were taking a deserved breather. Lots of character, with flowers and peaches and a little bit of spice in the mix.

RRP: £10.49 ABV: 12%

Cachet Wine (01482 638877) cachetwine.co.uk

Chateau Ksara

Cuvée de Printemps 2021

Gamay and Tempranillo join forces in this arresting Lebanese blend, made with semi carbonic maceration. We often notice a certain stiffness to Ksara reds, and that’s the case here, but it maybe mellows with age or judicious decanting. We also noticed, too late, the “servir frais” advice. Violets, red fruit and a little tar too.

RRP: £14-£16.50 ABV: 12%

Berkmann Wine Cellars (020 7609 4711) berkmann.co.uk

Quinta do Paral Colheita Selecionada Tinto 2017

Portugal continues to offer insanely good value with its premium wines, this Alentejo blend of Alicante Bouschet, Cabernet Sauvignon, Touriga Nacional and Syrah illustrating the point in fine detail. A wine that gives you a great big soft hug, with intense blackcurrant and berry notes, and distant vanilla and black pepper.

RRP: £25.95 ABV: 15%

Propeller (01935 315539) propeller.wine

Muses Estate Clio the White Muse 2021

Central Greece is a region that intrigues more and more indies and when its wines are as quirky and affordable as this, that’s really no surprise. Half Assyrtiko, with Roditis and Savatiano making up the balance, it’s got a subtle pot pourri fragrance, a hint of tarragon and lovely lemon zestiness. Joyful stuff.

RRP: £13.25 ABV: 12.5%

Hallgarten & Novum Wines (01582 722538) hnwines.co.uk

Ventisquero Grey Glacier GCM 2020

Few wines pack so much into a sub-£20 blend and yet make the finished product seem so streamlined and elegant. Colchagua Garnacha (62%), Carignan (19%) and Mourvedre (19%) meld to create a wine that’s both complex and simple, with polished tannins, rich red fruit and a warm, earthy undertone.

RRP: £18.49

ABV: 14%

North South Wines (020 3871 9210) northsouthwines.co.uk

Viña Aquitania Chardonnay Sol de Sol 2022

From Chile’s Malleco Valley, a Chardonnay that was fermented in oak, underwent malolactic and then aged on its lees in barrel for nine months and yet still somehow emerged keen and minerally, with quite a salty smack. Delightfully textural, with a herbal, spearminty lift on the finish.

RRP: £25 ABV: 13% Vinicon (020 8150 5600) vinicon.co.uk

47: Quarterly Wine Club

Sarah Hatton & Virginia Myers Tenaya Wine, Sheffield

In a nutshell: A customised version of the classic wine club set-up, with options to purchase an ongoing discounts.

Tell us more.

“Virginia was a winemaker in California and wine clubs are very popular over there. She was really keen for us to do our own. We select the wines in advance and we see it as a way of getting people to broaden their tastes rather than just sticking with the things that they know they love. Sometimes they just need a little nudge in the right direction.”

How have you set yours up?

“We’re fully aware that the economy isn’t that good at the moment, so we’ve taken a softer approach. Rather than the commitment of a rolling subscription, every quarter we send out an email announcing the new box. Customers can just duck out if they want to: they have the choice to buy the box every quarter or not. There’s no pressure.

“There’s a three-bottle (£50) or six-bottle (£100) option. For the first box we had some real summer classics that we love. There was a pet nat, a red and a white. We include tasting notes, and with a maximum of six bottles it feels more manageable to learn something about each one.”

What are the perks?

“If you buy a box you automatically get 5% off bottle purchases in store for the

rest of that quarter. You also receive a free branded cotton tote bag. We had them made to easily hold six bottles. There’s nothing worse than a bag that’s too skinny!”

Boujee artwork – what’s the story?

her and see what happens? We messaged her and she said she’d love to do it.

“In the first year of business money is always super tight, but I think it was worth paying for this because it really sets us up as a brand. Aesthetics are really important to us.”

What’s next?

“We only launched it last month, and we had 10 people purchase in the first week, which I think is a good uptake for a new business. We’ll continue to build on that and keep doing something a bit different with it. I don’t like the idea of it just staying static. We want it to be a more interactive experience. Maybe at Christmas, for that quarter’s box, we’ll do an in-store tasting so they can get a sense of what they’ve got in there. We want to make customers feel that they’re included and getting a sneak peek into the world of wine and possibly getting a bottle of something that’s not yet been launched in the shop.”

“It’s by a wonderful artist called Louise Sheeran. Both Virginia and I have really liked her for a long time and we have some of her prints in store. We had one of those moments where we were daydreaming and said, ‘wouldn’t it be incredible if we could have someone like her design for us?’ We thought we could never afford her because she’s too amazing. We decided, why not ask Sarah

Sarah and Virginia win 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

(left) and Virginia

Favourite Things

Tearful vignerons can call helpline

A helpline has been launched to provide psychological support for French winegrowers to cope with the damage from this summer’s mildew, which is reported to have impacted up to 90% of vineyards.

Fred Davids

Kelder Wines, Manchester

Favourite wine on my list

For a wine which never disappoints I must choose Pirivano’s Salento Rosso. Malvasia Nera and Negroamaro produce wines which are ruby red in colour, rich and inviting, with notes of dried fruit, tobacco and leather. On the palate, it’s full bodied, soft, almost sweet, but also persistent.

Favourite wine and food match

This has to be a great Malbec with a succulent steak sandwich. It might be basic, but it works for me every time, and I believe in life’s simple pleasures!

Favourite wine trip

My heritage is South African so when I get to visit my family in Cape Town, I love to take a trip out to Stellenbosch or Franschhoek.

Favourite wine trade person

Phil and Julian Garrett from Winos in Oldham. They have supported us from the day we started selling wine at the local artisan market and have provided us with great advice and support for what must be over seven years now. Their kindness and generosity will never be forgotten.

Favourite wine shop

Ad Hoc in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. It’s unpretentious and has a great range of wines and beers. I encourage all our team to check it out when they are in the city. I always leave there feeling inspired.

French authorities felt the service was necessary after a spell of unusual weather wiped out swathes of vines in the Bordeaux region.

The crops’ failure has left growers feeling “dejected” and re-evaluating the viability of their farms, according to industry experts.

Nicolas Morain, who has been manning the helpline, reported that the wife of one grower had called him in tears. “These calls are from people who are really in distress,” he said.

The Telegraph, July 21

Kingsland sources Ukrainian wines

From August, Kingsland Drinks will be importing a range of Ukrainian wines. The Bolgrad range, sourced from Odesa, includes Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir rosé, Cabernet Sauvignon and Saperavi.

Odesa is one of the emerging territories in Eastern Europe, an area known for its diverse range of grapes and growing conditions, microclimates and high-quality wines.

About Manchester, July 24

US firm bypasses London wine fees

US investment firm Vint has created Vint Marketplace, a retail site that allows customers to access fine wine

investment without involving a UK agent.

CEO Nick King says: “Prior to the launch of Vint, interested Americans had to work with an agent, mainly in the UK. You would send someone in London $50k and you would get a list of wines back. We saw an opportunity there, as that approach was opaque and largely inefficient.”

Decanter, July 19

Philip Tuck MW

Hatch mourns one of its founders

Philip Tuck MW, who co-founded and served as the director of wine for Hatch Mansfield, has died in a cycling accident in France.

Born in 1963, Tuck graduated from Sussex University and went straight into the wine trade, joining Avery’s of Bristol, after which he spent time working in wineries in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, California and Tuscany.

In 1999 he became a Master of Wine and later sat on the MW Council.

He was also an accomplished sportsman, being an active member of the Wine Trade Sports Club, and was noted as a keen cricketer and squash player.

The Drinks Business, July 21

Different outcomes for winery plans

A planning inspector has backed Medway Council’s decision to turn down Foster + Partner’s proposed £30m winery in the green belt outside Rochester in Kent.

The winery building, which would have featured a café and visitor centre, was planned to be 85% underground and featured a curved roof with a chalk grassland roof. The development would also have included a car park and new access road.

Architects’ Journal, July 23

• A Kent-based wine producer has secured permission for a new winery after a planning committee voted to back the development. Chapel Down’s plans involve an 11,900 sq m winery and up to 8,000 sq m of warehouse at Canterbury Business Park, off the A2 near the village of Bridge.

BBC News, July 27

An extract from a debate about yeast

French politician Richard Ramos has launched a bill in the country’s Legislative Assembly that would require producers to state if a wine is made with the aid of commercial yeast.

Ramos argues that, while “many French people consume wine daily, the vast majority of them are unaware of its composition”, adding that “very little information is on the label”.

Patricia Taillandier, microbiologist at the Toulouse Chemical Engineering Laboratory, points out that many industries use cultured yeasts, including the bread, yogurt and beer sectors. “Why target wine in particular?” she says.

Wine Searcher, July 23

How good is your palate?

�We did a tasting not that long ago, and people kept saying that there were notes of citrus and pineapple and there was an absolute zero response from me because I couldn’t taste either. So I’ll be honest with you and say that I do rely on other members of the team because I’m not great at being able to taste various different things. I try to go along with what people say and what they’re experiencing from a taste perspective.”

Joey Hosier

�I think I have a palate for commerciality, so I I can taste wines and know that they are going to sell well to the consumer, whether I like them or not. For about 18 months after having Covid, I had a real sensitivity to acidity. We’d be tasting and I’d be complaining to the team, saying ‘this wine is really bitter’, and they couldn’t understand what I was talking about. It was quite disconcerting, really, but now it’s back and I’m really appreciative of my palate.”

Simon Parkinson

�I would say my palate is in development. It’s not bad, it’s getting better all the time, but it’s got a long way to go. I’m definitely better at picking out fruit flavours – I can identify stone or citrus fruits, but with floral notes I can probably tell you I’m getting a floral smell but can’t necessarily tell you whether it’s white blossom or something more specific. To me it’s just quite a delicate smell that I can’t put my finger on.”

Charlotte Fenwick VIN, Gateshead

�I’m learning all the time. I feel relatively confident in identifying the flavours and typical characteristics. I blind taste from time to time – my girlfriend will pour a glass of wine and I’ll try and guess what it is and try and guess the country and price as well. Probably my success rate isn’t particularly great, but it’s the only way to hone your palate, really.”

The oldest wine house in Champagne: Äy 1584

The Fold, Sidcup

VinSanto, Chester

Daniel Read H Champagne winner H New Forest Wines, Ringwood

Champagne Gosset

GRAHAM HOLTER Editorial

The reality is that a modest wine habit will cost you about the same as your energy bill

Wine is expensive. I mean, fiendishly expensive. We tell ourselves that it’s not, but it really is. Allow me to horrify my 12-yearold former self with a public demonstration of arithmetic.

The average price of a decent bottle of still wine – by which I mean a bottle that you’d find in a specialist shop rather than a supermarket – is £15.70. That’s what The Wine Merchant survey told us this year, but that was before the duty hike hit.

Let’s pretend this has been the only inflationary pressure to afflict the industry since our January poll. So now we’re adding a nominal 44p, and that price tag has jumped to £16.14. (We’ll ignore VAT for now, if only because it’s so boring.)

We’d like to hope that people who really engage with wine will open a bottle at least three times a week; maybe one on Wednesday night and a couple at the weekend. So that’s a minimum weekly spend of £48.42. Over a year, that comes to £2,517.84, or £209.82 a month.

You’ll note that this fag-packet mathematics assumes that our consumer never treats themselves to a specialoccasion wine, never hosts parties, and never buys a bottle as a gift. Neither are we factoring in the wine they might buy in restaurants – or, if they’re feeling reckless, a pub. But let’s keep the numbers on the conservative side, to avoid any suggestion of hyperbole or exaggeration.

If that figure of £2,517.84 sounds kind of familiar, it might be because a number about that size is regularly quoted in conversations about energy bills. According to documents in the

House of Commons Library, “the average annual gas and electricity bill for a direct debit customer with ‘typical’ levels of consumption is £2,500”. People are struggling to cope with bills of that magnitude. So what makes us confident they can afford to spend the same again on something as non-essential as wine?

Yes, we know that certain sections of society are insulated from the cruelty of the cost-of-living crisis, and that consumers in these categories won’t worry unduly about how they fund their wine habit. But, talking to independents all over the UK, I’m hearing that even some of these lucky people are cutting down or trading down.

Irecently had an instructive chat with a long-established merchant who has seen 15% disappear from his turnover this year, even though footfall is up. It’s been suggested that, instead of placing his premium wines at eye level, he moves them to the bottom shelf and gives the prime slots to a small selection priced £10 and below.

These form part of what he’s calling a cost-of-living range, with wines that can deliver a 30% margin even at prices as low as £7.50. He’s a shrewd buyer, and has been sourcing some surprisingly good quality varietals from Eastern Europe. One Bulgarian Chardonnay, he tells me, “is like Mâcon-Villages … it’s fantastic”.

It sounds like a plan to me, and one that many independents will soon be putting into practice in one form or another, if they haven’t already. But congratulations to any merchant who is able to take this latest duty increase in their stride.

GINGER COSMO

It’s a design fault of the Cosmopolitan that its inherent pinkness – along with baggage from its days as a staple of Sex & the City – leads to things like “is the Cosmo a girly drink?” cropping up on lists of popular Google searches for it. There is, of course, no such thing as a girly drink, but if that description is intended to imply sickly sweetness, I’d contend that the Cosmo’s balance of sweet, sour and bitterness rules it out of contention. For the avoidance of doubt, however, this spicy twist brings an orangey shift in colour and flavour.

5cl vodka

2.5cl Cointreau

2.5cl lime juice

2cl ginger syrup

Put all the ingredients into a shaker over ice. Shake and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with an orange peel twist.

snap happy

Getting hold of decent bottle shots can be a frustrating task. Even when the photos are OK, there will almost certainly be inconsistencies in the backgrounds, lighting and camera angles between wine suppliers and producers.

When you’re putting together a web page, social media post or newsletter that includes a selection of bottle images, these details make a big difference. It’s no wonder that many indies are now taking a DIY approach to their photography.

Native Vine in Bristol is a good example, creating eyecatching shots of its wines, bringing the colours and textures of its surroundings into the photos taken by Charlie Jones and his team.

“At first it felt like it was going to be a bit of a challenge taking unique photos for everything,” Jones says.

“We had an in-house studio for a bit at first. But you’ve got to measure where your camera is, and make sure that everything is perfect, because if you’re just a couple of centimetres off the results can wind people up.”

The second-hand SLR camera bought for the purpose is now put to more creative use.

“We’ll just grab a few bottles, whatever we’ve got new in stock, and try and have fun with them. Pick out things on the label that maybe speak to things that are in the architecture around us.

“We’re quite lucky in this corner of Bristol – there are lots of interesting buildings, textures, foliage, posters and street art.

“Anyone who’s caught twiddling their thumbs will just get snapped up and told to be a hand model for half an hour.”

Native Vine in Bristol doesn't ask for bottle shots from suppliers. Charlie Jones and his team prefer to get creative

Stars of Setúbal

5. White blends

We may mainly associate the region with its trademark Fernão Pires grape, at least for white wines, but vignerons in Portugal’s Setúbal Peninsula work with literally hundreds of white varieties. Arinto, Verdelho, Moscatel Graúdo and Antão Vaz regularly crop up in white blends, as do international superstars like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Setúbal Peninsula’s white varieties are grown all over the region; many vineyards are quite close to the ocean, and it’s very common to identify an Atlantic freshness in the wines. But generalisations aren’t always helpful here: the region is bursting with creativity and, with so many combinations of grapes to work with, winemakers have a habit of producing wines of surprising complexity and individuality.

Horácio Simões

Tradição Branco 2021

Festa RRP: £23.50

Winemakers in the Setúbal Peninsula don’t always think it’s worth bothering their consumers with too much information about the varietal make-up of their creations, and you’ll find no clues about the composition of the blend on this back label. All we know is that the vineyard is over a century old and contains a mixture of cultivars. A symphony of flavours, suggesting everything from toasted hazelnuts to lemon and sage, all enhanced with some adept use of French oak during both fermentation and ageing.

Casa Ermelinda Freitas Dona

Ermelinda Branco 2021

Atlântico RRP: £9.49

A blend of Fernão Pires, Arinto, Antão Vaz and Chardonnay, grown in sandy soils mostly associated with the peninsula’s red varieties, where the climate is more Mediterranean than Atlantic. A little oak ageing accentuates the wine’s explosion of flavours; there’s a lot to unpack here, but we identified honey and tropical fruits as well as tangerine peel and some refreshing pithy notes. It’s a great example of some of the region’s riper, more exuberant styles of white wine, and superb value for money at under £10.

Vinha dos Pardais 2021

Raymond Reynolds RRP: £14.99

Filipe Cardoso is one of the region’s most charismatic and experimental winemakers and here he proves that Sauvignon Blanc and Fernão Pires can be natural bedfellows. The blend produces a fresh, bracing wine with just a hint of Atlantic spray. The fruit may be dialled down but it’s by no means austere, revealing teasing tropical characters as it plays on the palate. A classy, structured and very persistent wine that would work with all kinds of foods but might actually live its best life as an aperitif.

Portuguese Story RRP £24

Arinto and Fernão Pires join forces in a wine that really tastes like it’s been made in the most hands-off style possible. There’s a wild, fumey edge to the aroma, which conjures up the interior of the most exciting type of garden shed, an attractive graininess to the texture, and a satisfying sting on the finish. Lots of citrus notes and a healthy sprinkle of salt make it one of those wines that will never last very long at the table once the bottle has been opened.

In association with Setúbal Peninsula Wines

Quinta do Piloto

Herdade do Cebolal Branco 2021

Partners in Wine

hallgarten & Novum Wines and guido berlucchi

This family winery, established in Borgonato in 1955, put Franciacorta on the map with the region’s first traditional-method sparkling wine. A restless quest for quality, and sustainability, is built into its DNA

“In 1961, Guido Berlucchi and Franco Ziliani became the first to release a commercial sparkling wine with a Franciacorta label. Berlucchi is now, undoubtedly, one of the two or three market leaders in the category.”

Jim Wilson, portfolio director, Hallgarten & Novum

We first began working with Guido Berlucchi in August 2022. This was Hallgarten’s first venture into Franciacorta, a region we have often kept our eye on and admired.

Franciacorta has so much going for it to help differentiate it from other, similar sparkling wines, showing why it is such a hugely popular sparkling wine region in Italy.

While there are similarities between Franciacorta and Champagne, there are also notable differences: a warmer climate, perhaps encouraging a rounder style of wine and longer ageing; and it is driven by a vibrant Italian restaurant sector, which will feed into off-trade purchases.

In 2022, Guido Berlucchi were named Winery of the Year 2022 by Gambero Rosso. They have a lot going for them! It is now our responsibility to ensure the UK’s independent merchant sector are aware of the quality of the traditional-method sparkling wines being produced in Franciacorta.

“As pioneers of Franciacorta, we feel compelled to promote our wines in international markets, embarking on a journey towards widespread recognition. The UK has demonstrated a particular affinity with sparkling wines.”

Paolo Ziliani, president, Guido Berlucchi

We proudly uphold the pioneering spirit of our father, Franco Ziliani, who is also considered the father of Franciacorta. At the same time, we embrace innovation to improve our grape growing and winemaking processes, while respecting the environment and tradition.

Our goal is to strive to achieve excellence in every harvest, by carefully selecting our grapes and using them as the basis for products with different organoleptic properties. We constantly seek to adopt agricultural practices to avoid waste, respect the environment and limit our impact. All of our directly operated vineyards have been certified as organic since 2016.

We aim to offer a selection of wines qualified to meet the highest global standards. Our objective is to establish Guido Berlucchi as a benchmark of excellence beyond national borders, as a real worldwide emblem of distinction.

Nature’ 2015 RRP £45.49

‘Palazzo Lana Extreme’ Extra Brut Riserva 2010 RRP £86

‘61 Satèn’ Brut NV RRP £36.49

The van spent a day touring east London and Essex

Holly, Jaime and family

The campaign includes a mock-up image of an outdoor billboard

BATTLING ZOMBIES

Essex merchant Vino Vero hopes that a marketing campaign urging consumers not to be “wine zombies” could reap benefits not just for its own business, but independents generally.

The campaign, which was created by an east London advertising agency, features distinctive cartoon artwork by Rob Pybus, whose previous commissions have come from clients including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and the Kaiser Chiefs.

Vino Vero owner Jaime Fernández explains the message behind the concept. “A lot of people have spent the last 20 years thinking about the food they’re consuming and how they’re eating, but that hasn’t really translated to what they’re drinking,” he says.

“So it’s really trying to push people towards making a conscious decision about what style of wine they’re buying, and the wider impacts on the environment based on what they’re choosing to buy.

“I think people do subconsciously just grab a few bottles when they shop in the bigger supermarkets without really thinking: what has been done to produce these wines that cost so little to buy?”

There are several versions of the artwork, which Vino Vero has deployed on its website and across its social media. It also hired a van carrying a billboardsized version of one of the designs, which drove around east London before heading for the shop’s heartland in Leigh-on-Sea.

The agency, which is run by Jaime’s brother, came up with the concept some time ago but Jaime and wife Holly – who bought the business in 2020 from founders Sam and Charlie Brown – decided to keep it on ice for a while.

“We thought it might have been a bit too early in our rebrand to push that sort of aesthetic,” Jaime says. “So we held off for a bit. But with the slowingdown of trade in independents over the last few months, we thought it would be a good time to go ahead with it.

“One of our main concerns, and why we left it so long, was that we didn’t know if it would be a bit too much for people. We obviously have some older clients who buy more traditional styles of wine. But the reception has been absolutely amazing.

“We’ve had so many comments in the shop and loads of messages and Instagram posts. So the feedback’s been way better than we’d hoped. I think our initial concerns about it being a bit too much were a little short-sighted.”

Jaime admits to having “no idea” if the project has paid for itself in terms of added sales. But he says: “We’ve had more importers reaching out to us as a result of the marketing campaign. I think it resonates a lot with independents, and other shops have commented on it.

“For us it isn’t all about Vino Vero. It’s more of a call to arms, really, for other independents. From discussions we’ve had with importers and other shops, I think it’s really tough for a lot of people at the moment. So it’s about creating a bit of unity and getting people to choose independents wherever they are.

“If it helps other shops in the north, or wherever else, because people have seen the campaign and realise they need to be shopping locally a bit more and supporting independent shops, then it’ll definitely be worth it.”

A slightly gruesome marketing campaign by an indie in Leigh-on-Sea hopes to persuade consumers to think twice before buying cheap supermarket wine

Northabout

Vikings are fine. As a wine merchant, it’s the Vinmonopolet that worries me

It’s not every day the shop phone rings and it’s John Pienaar on the line. Yes, that John Pienaar, the newsreader. To be exact it was a producer from a drivetime show Pienaar hosts on Times Radio. “Would you be willing to be interviewed just before six?” she said. “I suppose so,” I replied. “What’s it about?”

I didn’t really need to ask. For days at the start of July, Orkney topped the news agenda across the UK, and was mentioned in reportage from the USA to Australia. For once, our 15 minutes of fame was not due to some stunning new archaeological discovery, but contemporary politics –though history played its part too.

The headlines promised the breakup of Britain:

• ‘Revolutionary’: Orkney

independence vote

• Why Orkney decided to ‘join Norway’

• Rishi Sunak says ‘Norway’ to Orkney

Brexit-style breakaway bid

A new word entered the vocabulary of journalists around the world: Orkxit. So what’s all the fuss about? To answer that question, we need to go back more than a thousand years.

Vikings had been visiting our shores for decades and gradually settling here when, in 875, King Harald Fairhair officially claimed Orkney and Shetland as part of Norway. We became their western outpost and stayed that way for nearly six hundred years.

In 1468, Margaret, daughter of King Christian I of Norway, was due to marry

King James III of Scotland. Christian had trouble gathering the money for a dowry, so pledged the isles as an IOU. Four years later, the requisite 210kg of gold never having been paid, Orkney and Shetland were “absorbed” by Scotland. And that’s where we’ve been ever since. Though as the original IOU has never officially been cancelled, some think that we’re really still part of Norway – or would be, if they asked for us back! In fact they did do that, for centuries. Various Norwegian kings and diplomats voyaged back and forth trying to reclaim these islands through negotiation, threats or hard cash. To no avail: Scotland ignored all entreaties.

The final attempt to claim the isles for Scandinavia came in 1667, in the Dutch

city of Breda, as part of negotiations to end the Anglo-Dutch war. The English ambassador refused to countenance the idea, and his opposite number caved in, though he did insist on having it recorded that the Scandinavian claim should “remain whole and entire until a more favourable occasion”.

What happened in the first week of July this year was that Orkney Islands Council, frustrated by a lack of recognition and support from both Edinburgh and London governments, passed a motion to “explore options for alternative models of governance”. This could include looking to the constitutions of other archipelagos such as Faroe and the Channel Islands. And also to establishing stronger ties with Scandinavian countries like our old friend Norway.

There’s no denying the strong cultural bonds many Orcadians feel with the Nordic countries. Almost all our placenames have Old Norse origins, for instance, as do many personal and family names – including both “Kirkness” and “Gorie”. And Orkney is scattered with reminders of our Norse era, from Viking drinking halls to the stunning St Magnus Cathedral opposite our shop.

But do I believe this is the “more favourable occasion” discussed at Breda in 1667? Not really: those six centuries of integration have established pretty close ties with Scotland. Come to that, we’ve been part of the UK for three of those centuries, so we’re doubly tied-in to our southern rather than our eastern neighbours.

What’s more, have you seen how they sell wine in Norway? Through staterun outlets called Vinmonopolet – the Wine Monopoly. It would be hard for an independent Orcadian wine shop to give up deciding what and how to sell – even in exchange for a horned helmet.

Duncan McLean is proprietor of Kirkness & Gorie, Kirkwall

Norwegians on a booze cruise to Orkney

Wine shops of the world Garrafeira Imperial, Lisbon

Heading east, Shenfield is as far as you can go on the Elizabeth Line. As you wend your way alongside the Olympic Park, past Romford greyhound stadium and finally beyond the confines of the M25, the landscape widens, the sky gets bigger, and you find yourself no longer in London but very definitely in the home counties.

Shenfield is not a large place – the population is less than 6,000 – but it seems to support two quality butchers, two excellent independent wine shops, and all manner of eateries. There is money here, perhaps not all of it legit. As we are greeted on the doorstep of Liquorice, manager John Kernaghan observes a Range Rover being driven on the wrong side of the road by a man wearing a balaclava. The Canadian smiles. “Welcome to Essex,” he says.

Liquorice is looking like it might have been purpose-built by retail gurus as an exercise in demonstrating what the ideal 21st-century hybrid wine shop and bar could aspire to be. Big windows. Outdoor seating, demarcated by planters. Wine to the fore, of course, and a long wooden table at which to sit and enjoy it, should you be in the mood. The work of local artists on the walls. A back-lit spirits display and then a room full of beer to the rear, some of it on tap.

What catches the eye, perhaps more than any of these things, is the food. Charcuterie gleams in a four-deck chiller. All manner of packets, tins and jars beguile the browser from a multi-coloured wall of sweet and savoury goodies. The cheese cooler is big enough to accommodate customers as well as comestibles. When reticent types are encouraged to open the door and get inside and explore, they can’t quite believe their luck.

It all looked very different a decade ago, when John – who had left a career as a broker in the City – was working in the shop that once stood on this spot. It was, according to Jo Eastwood, “an old-fashioned sticky off-licence with neon signs everywhere”. But the former Harrods buyer was looking for a business opportunity, and John convinced her the place could be transformed into something much more exciting – and profitable.

Did you have a blueprint in your minds for what you wanted Liquorice to be?

Jo: We put our heads together and worked out what we wanted. We had ideas from what we’d seen travelling and at ski resorts – that kind of vibe. We

LOVING LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN

Like many indies, Liquorice Wine & Deli saw its sales boom during the pandemic. When turnover looked like slipping back to pre-Covid levels, the business searched for new ways of keeping its customers engaged. It invested in its delicatessen offer, and introduced a full programme of evening events. The plan ensured that Liquorice has had plenty to celebrate in its 10th anniversary year.

By Graham Holter

wanted something that suited the area and so we brought in a designer. Ten Green Bottles in Brighton was one of my inspirations. I went there with a friend and came back raving about it.

John: We wanted it to be open-plan. The original shop had a massive white corkscrew counter right down the middle, so like most traditional shops there was a counter here, two elbows on it and a dude leaning against the wall. The whole idea was to smash the whole thing open.

How did the wine range come together?

Jo: When I took over the business it was all about volume lines: Pinot Grigio was our biggest selling wine. We had case after case after case of it from the wholesaler. We sold tinnies and we sold cigarettes, which used to be 10% of our turnover. We don’t sell tobacco now, apart from cigars, and they have maybe taken 50% of that turnover.

Dan [Gough] has always bought the beers. It was a big beer business and then with the development of the shop we brought in craft beers. We’ve probably got the best range in Essex. We’ve got a reputation for that now.

We have quite a good core spirit business. Dan also took over on spirits and we are now full of small-batch, artisan lines.

John: We evolved the range and carried over John E Fells, Liberty and Bibendum and we’ve expanded on that. We have taken on Ellis quite heavily, and Carson & Carnevale. There’s a few others in there … we work with Pol Roger and New Generation for a few bits and bobs.

Are you the moderating influence on John’s expensive tastes?

Jo: I’m always saying “buy more”. John’s got a fantastic palate, he’s got great taste; very eclectic. He’s very brave and bullish and he’s highly regarded in the trade. He’s not afraid of price, he changes the range all the time to make sure we’ve got a really great balance. We’re still asked for things that we haven’t got because that’s always the way – we’ve got very limited space. You try and be all things to all people because you have to be. We cater from 20-year-olds to every age group.

“ We had ideas from what we’d seen travelling and at ski resorts – that kind of vibe. Ten Green Bottles in Brighton was one of my inspirations”

John Kernaghan and Jo Eastwood, Shenfield, July 2023

What’s the demographic like in this part of Essex?

Lisa Chisholm, sales assistant: With the connection from Liverpool Street to Shenfield, you get a lot of the finance industry who live in Shenfield but work in London. It’s the bankers and the brokers. That correlates to house prices and shops – it’s all linked. So the demographic is high net worth and good disposable income.

Jo: I do think it’s one of those economic bubbles in the UK. Shenfield is very top-end, a bit like south Manchester and Cheadle, that kind of thing. Where else would an area be able to support two wine shops, and also two butchers, just 100 metres apart?

A lot of people come in and say, “oh, why don’t you come and open a shop near me?” But we have targeted this area and the business has evolved to suit it. To lift it and put it somewhere else is not necessarily going to work.

John: We have people who have originally come from the East End and made good. They’ve made a lot of money but aren’t prepared to be ripped off. So you get people coming in that think “no biggie” when they buy a Montrachet because they’re having roast chicken. The next person might pull up in a Rolls and be bashing for every single discount they can get and pay in cash. It literally is reading the person when they come in and not just presuming.

Can you take them into some slightly experimental directions? Orange wine is usually the barometer of these things, isn’t it?

John: Orange wines is an interesting one. We’ve been tasting a lot. I’m not a big fan of it, but Dan loves that kind of stuff. The thing is, you either like it or loathe it. We’ve got a couple but we don’t have a queue of people going “where are your orange wines?” There are places championing orange wines, and good on them, but I don’t know how well that translates into consistent sales. I heard someone describe it recently as the emperor’s new clothes.

How are you refreshing your wine knowledge?

We see you at a lot of tastings.

John: That’s my kick now. After Covid, I threw myself back into the into the industry in a big way. Because we didn’t taste anything for all that time. I prefer the smaller bespoke events and I think that’s how you do it. You can take as many courses as you want but until you start chatting to the

winemaker or owner and get that connection … I love the industry, but every time I get off at Liverpool Street, my neck gets that kink because I could have been retired right now.

I don’t have any regrets. I love the whole connection with travel – and the idea of a bottle of wine is about location, isn’t it? It’s a piece of plot somewhere in the world. It’s got a story behind it. It’s somebody’s passion and you meet these people constantly.

You’re from Toronto. So is there a full range of Niagara wines in the shop?

John: There are two up top – pay homage before you leave. We had Thomas Bachelder in store recently, literally an afternoon with Jo’s parents and two customers. We sold seven bottles at £36 each and then messaged someone else who had wanted to be there and they ordered 42 bottles for over a grand. That’s an example of doing something you don’t expect will be massive but is. Then we could hold a really good evening with a well-known Chablis producer, have 25 people sitting down and not sell a thing. There’s no consistency, but that’s OK.

What do you do locally in terms of marketing?

Jo: When the new website is up and running, that will be the core. We’ve got Instagram, and 1,000 followers on Mailchimp at the moment and we

“ We do one or two events a week. Our programme has got to be eclectic and different to reflect the store, so we’re constantly looking for new ideas”

Jo Eastwood: “Shenfield is one of those economic bubbles, a bit like south Manchester and Cheadle”

target them every week.

John: We send out our programme of events to let people know what’s coming up, and outside of something really totally weird, everything is usually sold out within 48 hours. It’s deposit-paid as well, so it’s a locked-in event.

You have a full programme of events. Is that a team effort?

Lisa: Anyone can suggest an idea and that’s what’s nice. Someone can see something in London and we make a tasting out of it, or a friend might say they haven’t had a Chablis tasting in a while. We have done music nights, and some great fun events that you might not think would be associated with a wine shop.

Jo: We do one or two events a week. Our programme has got to be eclectic and different to reflect the store, so we’re constantly looking for new ideas.

John: Emily [Parkinson] gets involved with the deli side too, so some events are deli-led and the wine is just the back focus. We can comfortably seat 25, maximum, in this room, another eight in the back and about 18 outside.

It’s hard work, but it sounds like you enjoy running events. Are they all profitable?

Jo: Yes. It has certainly helped since lockdown because we have now got the tables, which are much higher margin. The events are also much higher margin. And so we can spread the cost across high-margin areas and become more profitable as a result. We’ve got a high cost base here. We have eight members of staff; four are part-time.

What’s a typical price for an event?

Jo: £35 and that includes a full cheeseboard, five wines and us.

Have you noticed changes in customer behaviour since Covid?

John: The late-night train business never returned. We used to work up to maybe 8.30pm and when the last train would come in you’d get another few people in store.

Lisa: My husband works in the City and his contract has changed so he works three days a week from home now. They don’t want to pay for the floor space anymore, so most people are working from home.

Jo: We did really well in lockdown. Our turnover doubled and we thought: do we go back to where we were before, or do we find a way to give us the turnover that we don’t want to lose now, thank you very much? That’s why we introduced tables, events and deli, and pushed the floor space so that we ensure every inch works.

How does revenue break down?

Jo: Wine is 60% if you include fortified and sparkling. I would say the deli is about 15%.

John: But it’s 70% of the time.

Jo: Yes, that’s true, it takes forever to wrap a piece of cheese.

John: At Christmas, Dan was cutting about 10

pieces of cheese. It was a good sale: it came to £38 and it took him about eight minutes. Then someone I’d not seen before pulls up outside and buys three bottles of Napa and spends about £250. So that’s the weird balance. But if you don’t have the cheese then you don’t have half the customers sitting here on a Friday and Saturday – that is so important.

Lisa: The thing to note about the deli is that there’s nowhere else like it. If you’re of a certain age where you don’t want to sit in a rowdy bar, you want to chat with your girlfriends or chat as a couple, there is nowhere else you can go if you don’t want a full meal. You can get a beautiful cheeseboard and charcuterie and a lovely bottle of wine. You get the best of all worlds and it’s a reasonable evening out. That’s the win for the local community.

Do you have a fixed corkage for everything?

Lisa: Yes, it’s £10, so the higher you go up the better value it is. Our by-the-glass list has been popular. We’ve introduced some unusual grapes

and different producers. The Furmint has been so successful.

John: It’s not a massive list but we have three red, three white and two rosés and change it every month.

What are your future plans?

Jo: We are nearly at the point where we can launch the website, and that will become an additional selling arm. Online is our next growth area. I would imagine we would be looking at local sales, not national, but we’ll see where it goes. It’s very competitive and we don’t want to be competing at that [discount] level.

John: If we can tap into wider Essex, there’s a lot of business to be had. One of our biggest customers during Covid lived in High Ongar. They are probably ordering their wine online now. I doubt that someone who drank that amount has suddenly given up drinking, so if we can tap into that again …

Would you consider a second shop?

“Online is our next growth area. I would imagine we would be looking at local sales, not national, but we’ll see where it goes”

The core Liquorice team. From left, Lisa Chisholm, Dan Gough, John Kernaghan, Emily Parkinson and Jo Eastwood

Jo: I did open a second shop, in Buckhurst Hill in 2016, but it failed miserably.

John: That was a hard one because it was a beautiful little shop with a ridiculously low break-even, in a mega wealthy area.

Jo: We got out after two years rather than let it drag us down. Obviously, I’m a businesswoman and I’m always looking for opportunities. But I’m not getting any younger and there will come a time when I can’t be the face of my business anymore. You have to realise when it ends.

I’ve got three very competent managers so the business could run without me very successfully. We have a system that drills down to every single line in the business. We run it like a big business. We have very tight management controls, financial controls – we have to. I could step back happily. Probably do one or two days. I don’t know.

John: You could run it from your yacht in the Med. Rock up on a Zoom call every Tuesday.

Jo: I have options! The most important thing is that it is sound and well run.

food for thought

Emily

Tell us about the deli.

The deli is predominantly cheese and charcuterie as well as ambient goods. We want beautiful products that work well for gifting; items you can’t find in the supermarket. That’s one of the biggest challenges because supermarkets are really upgrading those sorts of products.

There’s a balance as well between items that are exciting and attractive but not so skewwhiff that you’re only going to have a couple of customers buying them.

I work regularly with 12 to 15 suppliers. Being outside of London, it can be tricky, because they want a minimum spend or you end up paying high delivery charges, which unfortunately you have to build into the pricing.

Do you work directly with any local farmers?

There are no producers that we’ve seen in Essex for cheese, which is a shame.

We mostly have British and French cheeses, but people are wanting more British cheese, because with Brexit the prices are rising. In November European cheese is going to become more expensive. They’re going to have to check it in France or Spain to make sure that it is safe to eat, and then they will have to check it in the UK again. So that’s going to increase paperwork and increase the price, which I think will drive people even more to British produce.

Has the cheese room made a big difference to sales?

We usually have about 45 to 50 different cheeses in there. We have to ensure that we’re retailing cheeses quick enough so that people are buying them in the best quality that they can be. We don’t have an electronic system for it, so it’s all with paper and pen. The only way you can really keep on top of it is by checking them every week. We minimise waste by using up cheeses on our cheese boards. We look at the dates and then we’ll say these are the cheeses we're going to push on the platters this week.

Liquorice deli buyer

Parkinson explains how the store’s food range has evolved

Cheese, charcuterie and good wine: “You get the best of all worlds”

Trust is the glue that holds the trade together

David Williams watches the Sherry-Lehmann saga play out in all its lurid detail. It makes him reflect on just how fragile the wine trade is – and how reliant we all are on everyone in the supply chain keeping their promises

Whatever else you might say about tabloid journalists, they do have a way of ferreting out the telling details that make a story come to full, seedy life in ways that other, more sober news sources just can’t manage.

That, at least, was what I was thinking as I read the New York Post’s reporting on one of the biggest stories in US wine retail at the moment: the fall of Manhattan wine merchant to the rich and famous, SherryLehmann.

For those of you who don’t follow the ins and outs of the US wine retail scene, Sherry-Lehmann – an upmarket wine-retailing institution that is roughly equivalent in size, status and influence to Berry Bros & Rudd or Justerini & Brooks on this side of the pond – has been in serious trouble for a while now, fending off lawsuits from customers over unfulfilled wine orders running into hundreds of thousands of dollars; struggling to pay its bills to its landlords, its suppliers, and, most ominously, the US tax authorities; and the subject of an FBI inquiry which saw its Park Avenue store raided by agents in late July.

In its take on the story, the Post

inevitably has a lot of fun with the luxurious, high-rolling lifestyle of Shyda Gilmer and Kris Green, who acquired the business in 2006 from the highly respected founding Aaron family who had been running it since it first opened in 1934.

Gilmer and Green “have enjoyed lavish travel perks, regularly taking helicopters and private jets to the Hamptons and Saratoga Springs to schmooze with wealthy clients and vendors at racing and auction events,” the Post story says, making full use of the clause that states that, in tabloid land, perks are always lavish.

“The pair are said to be regulars at The Masters, Wimbledon and the Super Bowl,”

the story goes on to say “and – to the consternation of staff – in recent weeks have been in Paris, just as the crucial holiday selling season is ramping up, according to sources.”

Rather more pertinent to the allegations confronting Gilmer and Green than these gobbets of classic tabloid insinuation, however, was the Post’s accusation, via several current and former employees at the firm, that the duo had a habit of making off with the store’s best wines without paying for them.

Magnums of top Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne were allegedly taken as a matter of course to NYC’s smarter restaurants (one employee told the Post that celebrity hangout sushi restaurant, Nobu 57, was Gilmer’s “office from 11am to 11pm”), while “Sherry-Lehmann staffers were also supposedly instructed to send cases of fancy Champagne, Burgundy and rosé to Gilmer’s summer rental pad in the Hamptons at zero cost to him – and the tab rose to staggering heights”.

This is where the gossipy fun stops and the story begins to get rather more serious, and troubling, with

Sherry-Lehmann has been fending off lawsuits over unfulfilled orders running into hundreds of thousands of dollars and struggling to pay its bills

the accusation going to the heart of the FBI investigation and the various lawsuits Sherry-Lehmann is fighting. The allegation is that Gilmer and Green weren’t simply drinking their own profits, and living it up on the company account; they are also alleged to be selling rare and expensive wines stored on behalf of customers in their warehouse, to other customers.

It’s a depressingly familiar story in the United States, with John Fox, owner of celebrated fine wine retailer Premier Cru in Berkeley, California, found guilty of fraud after selling wines that he didn’t in fact own to customers as recently as 2016. Fox, who in a satisfyingly sleazy twist was also being blackmailed to the tune of $10,000 a month by a prostitute, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison and ordered to pay $45m in compensation.

Both stories will bring up uncomfortable memories in the UK, too, of Mayfair Cellars, the fine wine merchant that went under in similar circumstances in 2005, after customers’ stock held in storage by the firm worth more than £1.2m was resold without consent by a rogue staff member.

Taking customers’ money and then not fulfilling orders was also very much at the core of the recent issues surrounding winebuyers.com, which went into liquidation in 2021 owing its 200-plus creditors more than £1.5m.

As ever for those not directly involved, there is a frisson of excitement in the telling of these true-crime tales. But, without in any way wishing to underplay their seriousness, what makes the stories of SherryLehmann, Premier Cru, Mayfair Cellars and winebuyers.com all the more remarkable to me is that they don’t happen more often, given how so much of wine merchanting is based on trust.

That’s especially true when it comes to the trading of fine wines where storage is involved, notably en primeur, where

huge sums of money are handed over in good faith for a product that won’t even be available for a year or two.

But the delicate and complex network of trust has threads running from grape (is the grower really harvesting that variety and that yield?) to bottle (is that wine really what it says it is?) to store room (is that case of 2010 Cheval Blanc really where they say it is?).

To join the world of buying and selling wine is to make a tacit commitment to preserve that fragile network. If the wine merchant had a Hippocratic oath, it would no doubt include something about abstaining from deceiving any customer. That’s why, when we’ve had our fill of the shocking and titillating details, what most of us feel when we hear about wine’s rogue traders is something like disgust.

Patti McConville / Alamy Stock

Photo

The Sherry-Lehmann store in midtown Manhattan

THE DRAYMAN

Roll out the barrels

Evidence of oak was once seen as a fault in wood-aged beer. But it can be a boon

This year is a landmark one for two Scottish beer producers with a fascination for barrel-ageing. Naturally, for both Innis & Gunn and Harviestoun, casks from the Scotch whisky industry feature prominently in their operations.

Indeed, for Dougal Sharp at Innis & Gunn, the passion for cask-aged beer began when he was approached by William Grant to supply an ale for the distiller to season casks for a beer-aged whisky. But, he thought, what if we did it the other way round?

Historically, oak was used to make fermentation vessels in the years before stainless steel ubiquity, but any transfer of woody flavour into the beer was considered to be a fault.

“If oak of many different provenances and fillings can add such complexity and intrigue to whiskies and wines, then why should the same not be true for beer?” says Sharp, quite reasonably, of his epiphany.

That was 20 years ago, and Innis & Gunn has since become the UK’s most prominent

wood-aged beer specialist.

As for Harviestoun, the brewer celebrates its 40th birthday this year. Its Ola Dubh stout, aged in Highland Park whisky barrels, has become recognised as a modern British brewing classic.

As you might expect, both anniversaries will be marked by special products. Innis & Gunn’s The Original: XX Edition has been matured in Speyside whisky casks that were laid down in the year it was founded.

Harviestoun’s 40-year-old expression of Ola Dubh will commemorate the early exploits of home brewer Ken Brooker, who for the first three years made beer in his shed before a proper brewery was built. Stuart Cail was its master brewer for 25 years until Amy Cockburn took over the reins last year.

Harviestoun was ploughing the craft beer furrow before it had even been given the

name and Innis & Gunn was also early to the party, predating Brewdog by four years.

It’s hard to recall that when Sharp was cranking up his fledgling wood-ageing operation it was pretty much virgin territory for the industry, in the UK at least. Matters weren’t helped by HMRC indecision on how such beers should be taxed, an impasse that for a while stopped early experiments by Fuller’s coming to the market.

Both that and internal industry squabbles about wood-ageing definitions have been ironed out over time, and I&G and Harviestoun are by no means alone in pushing the boundaries.

Derbyshire’s Thornbridge currently has versions of its Necessary Evil stout aged in triple sec, Calvados and Pedro Ximenez casks, among others.

Adnams’ Both Barrels is the Suffolk brewer’s Broadside ale aged in ex-bourbon casks over an added twist of a layer of cherries.

As with oak-aged Chardonnay, punchy vanilla is a typical woody beer characteristic, but the whisky origins that prevail in Broadside’s maturation regimes also bring smokiness, rich dried fruit and marmalade flavours to the fore. It makes for beers with wonderful layered complexity that change both over time in the bottle and once cracked open.

In a craft beer landscape where generic session pales increasingly dominate, woodaged beers offer genuine excitement. It may be two decades since Innis & Gunn helped break down the door, but it feels like the fun is only just beginning.

As with oak-aged Chardonnay, punchy vanilla is a typical woody beer characteristic, but whisky barrels also add smokiness, rich dried fruit and marmalade

Just add chainsaw

Barbara

Barbara Widmer is holding court on the 55th floor of a Docklands skyscraper, where the vibe is anything but Tuscan, but the wines she’s pouring give an authentic taste of home.

Yet there’s a gentle Germanic, rather than Italian, lilt to her accent. “We are a Swiss family and we came to Tuscany because my parents had the dream of a holiday house in Tuscany,” she says. “They purchased the house in 1981. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by some vineyards. So they had a new hobby –which became my work.”

Barbara studied architecture at university and still retains an interest in design. “Sometimes it’s better to have certain things as a hobby, not as a profession,” she says. “If you come to the winery, some of the furniture we have is designed by me.”

In addition, she designed Brancaia’s Maremma winery, which she describes as “simple and functional”. The winery in Chianti Classico was transformed by her architectural skills. “I changed it a lot, but it was not my design from scratch,” she says.

Clearly, she’s keener to talk about her wines. “I like the idea that wines are here to enjoy,” she says. “Making wine is always a challenge. But every year, you learn something more. I always think the most exciting vintage is the next one.”

Rosé 2022, Organic

The only rosé in the Brancaia portfolio is made with early-harvested Merlot from Maremma vineyards. “It’s on the lighter side, but it’s got structure,” Barbara says. That’s partly due to three months spent on the lees.

It’s an elegant and uncomplicated wine, with faint notes of rhubarb and orange in addition to red fruits. In a world of boring

The brilliance of Brancaia

pink wines, this one has a bit of personality about it.

Il Bianco 2022, Organic Brancaia’s only white wine is a Sauvignon Blanc, from vines in Castellina in Chianti. “We keep the skins in contact with the juice for 12 to 24 hours, then there’s a slow fermentation at low temperature, with no malolactic to keep the acidity as high as possible,” says Barbara.

“Afterwards the wine will stay for five months on the lees, with bâtonnage once a week. One third is in used oak. We don’t want to have wood flavours; we just want to have some micro-oxidation.

“The wine definitely evolves in the bottle. If you keep it in your cellar, you will see a beautiful evolution, but you can definitely drink it now.”

Tre 2021, Organic

A blend of Sangiovese (70%) Merlot (15%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (15%). Two thirds of the grapes come from the coast and a third from the Chianti Classico region.

“We don’t really have specific blocks to produce grapes for Tre,” says Barbara. “We believe that each block has the potential to end up in our top wines, and we do everything with every single block to achieve the best possible result.

“Working this way means I’m never obliged to make a compromise on my top wines and can also offer a pretty cool entry-level wine.

“The silkiness comes from the grapes from the coast and then we have freshness

and acidity from the Chianti Classico region, which I think makes this wine very easy to enjoy with or without food.

“I like to say it’s easy, but not simple; there’s character, it’s structured. It’s serious red wine without being complicated.”

Chianti Classico 2021, Organic

The fruit comes from the south-facing Brancaia vineyards at an altitude of 230m and the similarly exposed Poppi vineyard 400m above sea level.

“It’s a pure Sangiovese which ages for 12 months in stainless steel and in concrete,” Barbara says. “So no oak, very fresh, bright, clean and straightforward. I like to call this wine the naked Sangiovese, because it's all about the fruit. Like all our red wines, it goes through spontaneous fermentation.”

N°2 2021, Organic

This pure Cabernet Sauvignon, with its silky tannins and blackberry and plum notes, shows just what the variety is capable of on the Maremma coast. There’s no problem getting Cab to ripen in these parts. But Brancaia favours restraint over richness.

“The freshness is very important to me,” says Barbara. “I always need acidity. In this region I’m extremely careful about not missing the perfect picking time. In Chianti Classico you can pick one, two or three days late and it won’t have a huge impact on the acidity. That’s not true in the Maremma. We’re always the first estate picking grapes and everybody used to laugh at us. Probably not anymore.”

Brancaia makes exciting Tuscan wines, imported in the UK by Enotria&Coe.

Winemaker

Widmer came to London to talk us through a selection of what she produces

Few would dispute the idea that climate change has played an outsized role in the rise of English and Welsh wine over the past few decades.

According to an extensive 2022 report co-authored by a team of University of East Anglia academics and weather forecasting firm Weatherquest, temperatures during the growing season in south east England have gone up by 1°C since 1980, and that rise has “supported much more reliable yield and quality” of, most notably, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

For all the increase in reliability and quality, however – and for all that they’re likely to improve still further as temperatures rise by another 1.4°C by 2040 – the UK remains at the northern limits of wine production, which means coping with vintage variability is very

much part of life for wine producers.

The past two vintages are perfect cases in point. 2021 was an immensely challenging year for English and Welsh winemakers, with a much cooler, wetter growing season than the previous three years, and considerably fewer sunshine hours. Frost and, particularly, rot (rampant downy mildew) caused widespread problems; yields were low – in some cases vanishingly so – and sufficient ripeness, certainly for still wines, proved elusive.

2022 could not have been more different. It was a year that saw days of immense heat (including the highest-ever temperature recorded in the UK) during a long, warm, sunny growing season in which disease pressure remained at a minimum. Harvests advanced by as much as three weeks on the average.

While some growers reported smaller crops, with the heat reducing bunch and berry sizes by as much as 30% in some warmer areas, in general this was very much a bumper year, with 12.2 million bottles produced, according to Wine GB, versus the 9 million of 2021.

In his excellent, detailed report on the vintage published by English and Welsh specialist wine retailer Grape Britannia, Felix Robertson quotes the team at Martin’s Lane, in Essex, who offered a line that summed up the positive vibes around the vintage. “2022 fulfils all we would ever ask in this country […] to grow grapes comparable with any international standard.”

But Robertson also sounds a note of caution. “It would be remiss not to consider the extraordinary summer

England, where the temperature

As warmer weather helps producers hit new heights with their wines, quality levels –and expectations – are being elevated too. David Williams takes stock of some of the opportunities and challenges facing English and Welsh wineries

conditions of 2022 in their broader context of rising global temperatures, and the meteorological and environmental challenges this rise will bring.

“While it is still too early to say what conditions summer 2023 will bring, it seems likely that more extreme and volatile weather conditions will become increasingly the norm for English and Welsh winemaking. Issues such as irrigation and alcohol levels will likely gain increasing significance, as well as questions over the role of English and Welsh wine in the broader market.”

The rise of Pinot

When you speak to English wine growers and buyers, 2018 seems to have been something of a year zero for the reputation of the country’s red wines. A long, sunny

is rising

season much like 2022, it saw a huge step change in the quality of Pinot Noir in particular, instilling a new sense of confidence in growers about the potential for the variety in southern England.

While the benign conditions of the season may have played their part in 2018 (and in 2022, where some Pinot has come in with potential abv up to 14.7%) other factors have been just as important in shaping the improvement in English Pinot that has taken place since. The vines themselves have matured, that extra vine age bringing greater concentration and depth. Winemakers, too, are now much more likely to set aside specific plots for red wines, as opposed to thinking of these as a sideline to their sparkling production. Finally, expertise, as in all forms of winemaking in the UK, has vastly improved. There’s a sense that winemakers have a much better idea of what they want from their Pinot and where and how they can go about it.

Among the producers setting the tone

for high-quality still English Pinot are Gusbourne, Balfour/Hush Heath, Simpsons Estate, Oastbrook, Danbury Ridge, Martin’s Lane, Litmus and Lyme Bay – although it’s not just reds. Many producers are also making great still blanc de noirs wines, with recent star performers including Litmus White Pinot and Simpsons

Derringstone Pinot Meunier.

The discreet charm of charmat

One of the more divisive issues in English and Welsh wine over the past five years has been the emergence of charmat as a genuine alternative for sparkling wine production.

The trend kicked off back in 2018 with the launch of two charmat-method sparklers, both of which claimed to be the first in the UK: a rosé from Flint Vineyard in the Waveney Valley in south Norfolk and the Fitz brand from Sussex. More recently the charmat supply has grown significantly with the emergence of Kent’s MCDV, notably with its Harlot brand, but also

The Hundred Hills estate near Henley in Oxfordshire

with the Bramble Hill own-label that its sister firm Vineyard Farms produces for Marks & Spencer.

For English charmat advocates, the position is clear. There has been a vast expansion of the English vineyard over the past couple of decades, with a 74% jump to 3,924ha in the past five years alone, with a further 400ha going in the ground this year, and with an expected total of 7,600ha by 2032. On current trends and consumption patterns, supply is very soon going to outstrip demand: there are, according to this view, simply not enough people in the UK with the will or the cash to pay the premium prices that traditional-method sparkling wines require if producers are going to break even. Moving into charmat, and possibly even carbonisation, is the best and only economically viable way of diversifying and picking up consumers at lower (circa £15), if not rock-bottom prices, while also offering consumers a greater stylistic range of English sparkling.

However, for many of the established English sparkling brands, who had bet the house on traditional method and have spent years developing the image of English fizz as a premium product that rivals Champagne, and with a price to match, the arrival of charmat was about as welcome as a late-spring frost, and their initial reaction was no less chilly. Charmat wines are doing nothing but diluting the brand, in their view, in a way that would simply not happen in Champagne. Hence the focus on creating the Classic Method hallmark for bottle-fermented, PDO wines, which was introduced in late 2020.

As more and more charmat wines have emerged, however, with the prospect of many more to follow, there is a sense that some of the heat has come out of the debate, with Wine GB now explicitly presenting the idea of a two-tiered sparkling scene, divided between “the main style” of Classic Method and “other sparkling wine styles” that “make best use of more aromatic varieties and illustrate the diversity and innovation of wine production in Britain today, providing different entry points to wine drinkers new to our industry”.

Sussex PDO, but the way is Essex

Another issue that has sometimes generated rather more heat than light over the past few years is the development of a PDO for Sussex. After years of wrangling, led by leading Sussex producers Rathfinny, Ridgeview and Bolney, the appellation was finally rubber-stamped by Defra and introduced last summer, marking something of a step-change for English wine, and granting the wines the same status as Stilton and Jersey Royals.

The PDO covers wines from both East and West Sussex, and both still and classic method sparkling (but not, as you may have gathered from the section on charmat above, other styles of fizz), with rules stipulating, among other things, permitted grape varieties, minimum alcoholic strength, yields and sulphur levels.

While some Sussex producers celebrated, however, others thought the move was a retrograde one that makes little sense as a means of communicating quality. They argue that Sussex is a purely administrative boundary, and a somewhat arbitrary one for wine, with a wine grown on chalk in Sussex having more in common with a wine grown on chalk in Hampshire, for example, than it would with a Sussex wine

grown on one of the county’s other soils (such as greensand). Lending weight to their argument, they give the example of Nyetimber, still arguably the leading sparkling wine producer in the UK (and, indeed, Sussex) but which sources its grapes from three counties.

If there is to be a greater focus on local provenance in English wine, many Sussex PDO critics believe it should be based on terroir, such as the chalk of the North and South Downs, or on much smaller geographical units, such as Essex’s Crouch Valley, described by Jancis Robinson as England’s Côte d’Or, which is fast emerging as the best place in the country for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

For their part, the Sussex PDO producers are sticking to their guns, pointing to the precedents of Burgundy and Champagne, both of which are wide administrative areas encompassing many different terroirs, and arguing that the PDO is all about pushing the idea of “provenance”.

Arguments about the merits of appellations? Inter-regional beef? If nothing else, the Sussex dispute shows that English wine has ever-more in common with wine in the rest of Europe.

A green and orange land

Making organic and biodynamic wine anywhere in the world is not the easy choice; making it in the marginal climate of the UK is something close to masochistic. As English and Welsh wine matures, however, an increasing number of brave souls are now employing the methods – with many also bringing their natural spirit to the winery, adding greatly to the stylistic diversity available on these shores.

Among the organic pace-setters are Davenport in Kent (organic since 2000), Oxney Estate in East Sussex (which currently has around a fifth of the total organic vineyard in the UK), and the biodynamic pair Albury Organic Estate in the Surrey Hills and Domaine Hugo in Wiltshire.

For natural wines, it’s hard to look past the pioneering funky work and quirky range of Tillingham in East Sussex, but over the past year the variously sourced, meticulously made work of Daniel Ham of Offbeat Wines has stood out, as has Battersea urban winery Blackbook’s skin-contact Slow Disco Sauvignon Blanc.

I’m chilling out with an ultramarathon

Alittle bit of stress in life is good – it makes me efficient and decisive. A lot of stress, not so good.

Cat Brandwood of Toscanaccio in Winchester has had her nerves frazzled by some issues that her local council doesn’t seem able to help her with. So now she’s decided to do something Scilly

Starting a business is the most stressful thing I’ve ever done. Not long after opening I realised that I had to find a way to cope with stress: it was paralysing. I took up running, and it became my meditation. It’s seen me through a lot, a global pandemic seeming like an easy ride compared to some of the other shit over the years.

Running keeps me sane, for the most part. My running shoes are a part of me, going everywhere I do. Those early morning miles, whatever the weather, clear my mind. Unfortunately, a spell of Covid last year, combined with what was probably a bit of burnout, knocked me sideways and recovery has been slow, so perhaps I haven’t been as resilient against stress as I might usually be.

Annoyingly, there’s been a lot of stress here recently. A bit more than the usual. I’ve spent the last year arguing with the local council about something that really is very obviously wrong. No need for chapter and verse here but suffice to say it involves

a neighbouring extractor fan. Every single person who has visited the site has agreed that “no, that isn’t right” – but almost a year into reporting the problem it still it persists. No department wants to do anything; the path of least resistance (not doing any work, it seems) is the path they choose. It’s not been fun.

My usually resilient self has perhaps not dealt with this as well as it could have. My good friend wine has been involved. And this time it’s got me in trouble. Big trouble. I’ve done something very stupid. My mother-in-law thinks I need to stop drinking and getting into these scrapes, and for once I agree with her.

What started out as a bit of a joke among friends became the rash decision, after a few drinks, to sign up for an ultramarathon. It was sold out, you see, and it seemed like a good time to commit to something I had no chance of getting into.

Unfortunately, the race in question had so many applications that they increased the number of places. And, stupidly, I paid for mine instead of politely declining. So in June next year I’m going to the Scilly Isles to run round all the inhabited ones. Fool.

I am no novice – with 10 years of running under my belt there is no way I can claim that – but I’ve always run despite my bacchanalian lifestyle. I run most Sunday mornings with the dehydration that comes with the memory of last night’s wine. My well-worn logic being that if I train in adversity then a week of sobriety before a race will give me that push to smash my time.

A few years ago, I asked a former wine shop-owning friend turned ultramarathoner whether I could train for an ultra, alongside running the business. His answer? An emphatic no. In fact, knowing the speed of my shuffle, he’s also not confident that I will make the checkpoints to finish the race. Because obviously I have signed up for a race with strict time cut-offs. Not fast enough? The boat leaves for the next island without you.

Naturally, I am full of good intentions with no real concept of how I’m going to achieve this. I guess I’m going to need to put down the Dominos and embrace a new, sober me. Chances that it lasts the month?

Meet these producers in London on September 6

• Pedro Branco – Quinta do Portal, Douro, Portugal

• Chuck Cramer – Rutherford Hills, Napa Valley, USA

• Amandine Marchive – Domaine des Malandes, Chablis, France

• Gary & Kathy Jordan – Jordan Wines, South Africa

• Léon Femfert – Nittardi, Tuscany, Italy

• Will Coren – House Coren, UK

• Daniel Shaw – Philip Shaw Wines, Australia

• Karl Lambour – Tokara, South Africa

The ABS Portfolio Tasting

Meet more than 40 of the people behind your favourite wines

Wednesday, September 6 10.30am – 6pm Unit X, The Stables, 25 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2 9LH

This year's Awin Barratt Siegel portfolio tasting promises to be an essential event for independent wine merchants. Taking place in a fresh, new and more contemporary venue in Covent Garden, it will have a unique atmosphere, featuring wines from across the entire ABS portfolio, and no shortage of interesting people to talk to. Here are just two highlights.

Zinio Bodegas, Rioja

María Martinez and Mariola Varona will be representing this Rioja Alta winery, new to the ABS portfolio, where women make up more than 80% of the workforce. Originally established in 1986 as a cooperative of 200 growers, Zinio works with 450ha of vineyards and specialises in fresh and elegant wines that really reflect their

terroir. Attention has also been paid to the way the wines are presented, with the Terroir de Zinio and Street Art Collection ranges sporting particularly eye-catching labels.

Corryton Burge, South Australia

The Burge and Awin families have been friends for many years so Corryton Burge, established by sixth-generation siblings Trent and Amelia Burge, is a very natural fit for ABS. The estate is located in the rolling hills of the Barossa, where the Burge name can be traced right back to the earliest European settlers. As well as making fruit-forward Barossa Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, Corryton Burge also offers well balanced Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Gris from Eden Valley and the Adelaide Hills, poured at the tasting by Trent Burge.

As an incentive to attend, those doing so will be eligible for a 15% discount on their order following the event. This offer is valid on a single order following attendance until September 30. The discount is effective on published list prices, and stock dependent.

• Jean-Luc Lavaille – Domaine d’Ardhuy, Burgundy, France

• Aude Olive – Mas de Restanques, Southern Rhône, France

• Karl H Johner – Weingut Johner, Germany

• Molly & Darrel Roby – Twill Cellars, Oregon, USA

• Meliza Jalbert – Hope Family Wines, Paso Robles, USA

• Alberto Guolo – Casas del Bosque, Chile

• Simon Cowham – Sons of Eden, Australia

• Alexander Stodden – Weingut Jean Stodden, Germany

• Konstantin Guntrum – Louis Guntrum, Germany

• Sascha Schömel – Dönnhoff, Germany

• Alessandro Fabiano – Viver Wines, Italy

• Enrico Piantato – Laficaia, Italy

• Pascale Proust – Mas de Cadenet, Provence, France

• Giacomo Rallo – Flavia Wines, Sicily

• Kate Hart, Lena Funke, Louisa Lorenz – Dr. Loosen, Germany

• Hagen Viljoen – Zevenwacht Wine Estate, South Africa

• Vivek Menon – Domaine de Galuval, Rhône, France

• Romik Arconian – Château Canon-Chaigneau, Bordeaux, France

• Tommy Bland – Templar’s Choice Cider, France

• Jacques Roberto – Ramborn Cider, Luxembourg

• Liam Tinston – Tinston Cidery, West Sussex

• Kieron Atkinson – English Wine Project

• Neil Bruwer & Stefan van Rooyen – Cape Chamonix, South Africa

• Wendy Killeen – Stanton & Killeen, Australia

• Graham Cranswick-Smith – Cranswick Wines, Australia

• Emma Jullien-Prat – Maison Montagnac, Bordeaux, France

• Melanie Soto – Vinibegood, France

Sponsored feature

Trent and Amelia Burge of Corryton Burge María Martínez of Zinio Bodegas

Great Greek Grapes

David Williams presents a brief guide to an interesting country’s most interesting varieties, and the wines they produce

ASSYRTIKO

Gaia Estate Wild Ferment Assyrtiko, Santorini

2021 (Hallgarten & Novum Wines)

Easily the best known of Greece’s grape varieties, Assyrtiko is also one of very few found outside the archipelago, albeit in tiny (Australian, Lebanese and Californian) quantities so far.

It is widely planted in Greece these days, too, although its renown is principally based on one of the wine world’s great combinations of variety and terroir: the volcanic soils of Santorini are where the most thrilling Assyrtiko is made, with producers on the island able to capture a thrilling salty minerality from what are often very old vines, alongside the characteristic lemon pithiness and racy acidity.

As its name suggests, Gaia Estate’s Wild Ferment

is fermented using indigenous yeasts, part of a winemaking regimen that sees the juice of the 80-year-old vines fermented in a mix of French and American oak and acacia barrels and stainless steel and ceramic tanks, with four to six months of lees ageing and frequent bâtonnage. It’s a serious wine with a quality of nervy concentration that has led more than one critic to describe it as a Greek answer to top white Burgundy.

MOSCHOFILERO

Bosinakis Moschofilero, Mantinia, Peloponnese

2021 (Maltby & Greek)

If Assyrtiko at its best is all about energy, nerve and minerals, then the other of Greece’s biggest white varietal names, Moschofilero, is defined by its distinctive fragrance: this is an aromatic variety par

excellence, with something of the rose, honeysuckle or jasmine floral splendour of Gewürztraminer, Muscat or Torrontés, but combined with an effortless lightness of touch (and, generally speaking, of alcohol), a lemon-grove freshness, and a citrussy zip on the palate.

Pink-skinned and generally made with little or no oak or leesy influence to obscure its aromatic charms, Moschofilero is widely planted in the Peloponnese, where it is strongly associated with the Mantinia PDO, home of Katerina and Sotiris Bosinakis’ family affair, which operates from vineyards at 700m altitude.

Bosinakis makes a fine orange bottling from the variety, with a 45-day maceration bringing plenty of textural and exotic interest; the cold-fermented Mantinia PDO white is a precise expression of Moschofilero’s brisk, aromatic delights.

MALAGOUSIA

Domaine Gerovasilliou Malagousia, Epanomi 2021 (Hallgarten & Novum Wines)

The great Malagousia renaissance is one of the more heartwarming stories in the contemporary wine world. A grape variety that was all but extinct by the 1980s was brought back from the brink largely thanks to the tender ministrations of a group of university professors and a handful of growers.

Among those growers, it was Evangelos Gerovasilliou who gave Malagousia its biggest early boost, giving the variety a central, starring role when he replanted his family’s vineyards in Epanomi in Macedonia in 1981.

In the years since, Malagousia has spread its wings, with plantings in several Greek PDOs.

If Assyrtiko is all about energy, nerve and minerals, Moschofilero is defined by its distinctive fragrance

The island of Symi, in Dodecanese

But Gerovasilliou remains the master of Malagousia, with its single-varietal bottling (the winery also bottles a 50/50 Assyrtiko Malagousia blend) a stand-out modern Greek white with a large and loyal cult following thanks to its pristine, fluent expression of fleshy, peachy stone-fruit, beguiling floral tones (jasmine, honeysuckle, orange blossom) and subtle peppery freshness.

DAFNI AND VIDIANO

Domaine Lyrarakis Dafni White Psarades Vineyard, Crete 2021 (Thorman Hunt) and Diamantakis Vidiano, Crete 2022 (Vindependents)

Rather as the wine culture (culture full stop) of Sicily is so utterly different from that of the Italian mainland, so Greece’s equivalent large southern island, Crete, has its own unique way of doing things.

Bisected by a succession of towering mountain ranges, it has a plethora of indigenous varieties, many of which have only recently been brought back to full commercial life, and with each having its own distinctive personality.

Among the varietal names making a splash in recent years are reds Mandilari and Liatiko, and the white Thrapsathiri, but here we’re focusing on two Cretan whites that offer different but complementary qualities: the intensely aromatic Dafni and the soft, languid Vidiano.

Dafni’s signature is also what gives the variety its name – dafni is the Greek for laurel and the wines often exhibit an aroma of laurel (aka bay leaf), along with other Mediterranean herbs and a dainty trickle of citrus in wines such as the Psarades single-vineyard bottling from Domaine Lyrarakis, the producer that has done more than any other to revive its fortunes.

Much more widely planted, Vidiano brings a lovely cushiony feel and

RODITIS

AOTON Roditis, Attica 2020 (Southern Wine Roads)

From País to Bobal, and from Cinsault to Carignan, one of the most intriguing features of 21st-century winemaking all over the world has been the kind of reputational makeover that turns a formerly derided, workhorse variety into a fashionable thoroughbred responsible for seriously fine wine.

Given how under-rated Greek wine has been outside its own shores until very recently, you could argue that all of the country’s varieties have benefited from the world’s willingness to give recidivist grape varieties another go of it. But, within the country itself, one candidate presents itself above all the others: Roditis.

Greece’s most widely planted white variety has been – and still is – responsible for some rather mediocre wines (and an awful lot of very average retsina). But, provided yields of this pink-skinned grape are kept to a minimum, the flat and the bland can become something full of intrigue and personality, not least in the example produced by the AOTON winery in Attica, central Greece. Made in stainless steel with 10 days’ pre-fermentation maceration and aged on the lees with plenty of bâtonnage for 11 months, it’s an arrestingly textured, nuanced show of faith and a deserved Greek star in this year’s Wine Merchant Top 100 competition.

XINOMAVRO

Thymiopoulos Earth & Sky Xinomavro, Naoussa, 2021 (Eclectic Wines/ Berkmann Wine Cellars)

Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Nerello Mascalese … these are just some of the varieties that critics tend to reach for when they’re trying to get across the character of Xinomavro. In part, that’s a matter of style. Xinomavro does indeed have elements of each of those varieties: thin-skinned and therefore rather pale of hue; tangy, cherry-ish or rosehip-like acidity, and lots of it; wiry, chewy tannin (and plenty of it); a hard-to-define ethereal quality; intensely savoury … but it’s also a matter of cultural

Just as Sicily’s wine culture is utterly different from the Italian mainland, so Greece’s equivalent island, Crete, has its own unique way of doing things

importance. Xinomavro is the base of the vast majority of Greece’s finest and most interesting reds: wines of expressive beauty that can improve for many years in the cellar.

Without doubt, the leading exponent of the variety is the prolific Apostolos Thymiopoulos, who has played the role of ambassador for Xinomavro, and specifically Xinomavro from the Naoussa region of Macedonia in northern Greece, since he oversaw the family’s transition from grape grower to estate winery in the early 2000s.

Thymiopoulos’ Earth & Sky cuvée remains a Xinomavro benchmark for winery, region, and country: a hugely evocative red that combines fine red fruit, warm earthy tones, and aniseed with surging redcurranty acidity and sinewy tannins.

AGIORGITIKO

Kokotos Agiorgitiko, Stamata, Attica 2020 (Maltby & Greek)

The Barbera to Xinomavro’s Nebbiolo? Or the Gamay to Xinomavro’s Pinot Noir? Both of these questions imply a certain secondary status for Agiorgitiko, suggesting that it falls some way behind Greece’s currently fashionable big gun in the pecking order.

That the points of comparison are somewhat different is illustrative of another of Agiorgitiko’s qualities/problems (delete according to temperament): it’s highly versatile and stylistically varied, with producers making both juicy, succulent, often carbonically macerated southern European takes on Beaujolais and intense, spicy, chewy, oakaged reds in a style more akin to southern Italy, Priorat or southern France.

Still, for all that it might live in Xinomavro’s shadow when it comes to awards and media coverage, Agiorgitiko’s versatility (it also makes some excellent rosé and sweet reds) has helped it become Greece’s most widely planted red grape variety.

No matter the style, the best – whether soft and vividly juicy, like Kokotos’s from Attica, or complex and silky, like Gaia Estate’s from Nemea – are undeniably worthy of a place at southern European red wine’s top table.

MAVRODAPHNE

Papargyriou The Black Daphne, Korinthos 2021 (Southern Wine Roads)

There was a time, and it really isn’t all that long ago, when the only Greek wines you’d be likely to find in most retailers were the pine-resin reminders of holiday good times known as retsina, or the sicklysweet Greek Port-alikes of Mavrodaphne of Patras.

Both styles have been through a renaissance of late, with a new wave of modern producers thinking in terms of quality over quantity. But it’s the dry wines made from the grape varieties used for both styles that are perhaps most interesting.

When it comes to Mavrodaphne, it’s a development that the Greek wine authorities have yet to catch up with. As Southern Wine Roads’ Maria Moutsou pointed out during a recent Wine Merchant tasting, dry wines made from Mavrodaphne still can’t put the grape variety on the label – only sweet reds have that privilege.

Moutsou’s own portfolio shows the folly of this position, with producers such as Papargyriou, from Korinthos in the northern Peloponnese, using an English translation of the variety in their wine’s brand name. Sourced from vineyards at 800m above sea level overlooking Corinthian Bay, it’s deep, dark, full, rich and full of sweet (but not “sweet”) dark fruit.

A Thymiopoulos vineyard

Earth & Sky remains a Xinomavro benchmark, a hugely evocative red that combines fine red fruit, warm earthy tones and aniseed

FOUR IS THE MAGIC NUMBER

That’s

The Tejo region of Portugal is defined by the river that shares its name. Also known as the Tagus, it winds its way through fertile plains before reaching its destination of the vast estuary south of Lisbon.

Known until 2009 as Ribatejo, the region has reaped many cultural and economic benefits from its proximity to such an important body of water. Tourists have no shortage of historical treasures to explore, from Roman ruins and Gothic castles to Manueline monasteries and medieval hilltop villages.

From an agricultural perspective, Tejo is known as the land of vineyards, olive groves, cork forests, Mertolengo cattle and the famous Lusitano horses. Vineyards have been a feature of the Tejo valley since Roman times and provide the perfect conditions for many of Portugal’s wealth of native grapes.

That’s Tejo, in a nutshell. But to understand the region properly, we need to focus on its four main terroirs.

Bairro

This sub-region is located north of the Tejo river. Its highlands are comprised of rolling hills and

Portugal’s

sweeping plains, rich with limestone and clay soils, which particularly suits red varieties.

Tomar Schists

Further north, near the city of Tomar, there are some isolated schist deposits encouraging the vines to put down deeper roots. Here the altitudes are much more irregular than in the rest of the region, with vineyards planted as high as 400m above sea level.

Charneca

To the south of the Tejo, the Charneca is a dry, flat area marked by poor, sandy soils that force the vines to struggle, and in turn produce more complex fruit. In this zone, higher temperatures compel the grapes to mature faster than in the rest of the Tejo region.

Campo

This sub-region, best known for its white grapes, lies along the very edges of the Tejo riverbanks. This proximity to the river creates a more maritime climate, moderating the temperature and helping to contribute to the fruitiness, acidity and freshness in the wines. The alluvial soils of these plains provide good drainage and sustain the many vineyards located here.

how many sub-regions there are of Tejo, one of

most dynamic wine regions. Here’s your quick guide to all of them

Look out for a guide to the Tejo wine region free in this month’s edition of The Wine Merchant.

Trevor Durling

Beaulieu Vineyard, Napa Valley

I was born and raised in wine country, in Sonoma County, but I was originally intending to go into the US Air Force. I was very close to my grandfather, who was in the US Air Force for nearly 38 years, which gave me an affinity with that from a young age.

During my first year at college, I took an introduction to winemaking course. I did it out of personal interest – I’d grown up around wine, with wine at the dinner table. But until I took that course, I never considered it an option as a career. I like to build and cook, and I liked the way wine seemed to mix craft, art, science, and agriculture. That was the angle that interested me, and the following summer I took a job as a winemaking intern. I switched major to winemaking and, after graduation, I took a full-time job at a Cabernet producer in Sonoma.

I am one of those winemakers who never tries to copy what other people make. I love Bordeaux and I love Burgundy, even if my wallet doesn’t. But, even if I am very inspired by the First Growth houses, I’m not trying to copy Bordeaux. We have to embrace our own terroir. We have a warmer climate than they do in Bordeaux and Bordeaux-style producing regions in Europe, and because of that we’ll have a different take on Cabernet.

At Beaulieu I am lucky enough to work with some of the greatest vineyards in

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

RRP £40-£45

A blend of fruit from BV’s three vineyard sites in Napa, it always has a little Petite Sirah in the blend. A soft, approachable, but deeply flavoured wine offering rich black cherry, blackcurrant and chocolate, fine suave tannins and a fresh, bright finish.

California. We have 1,000 acres, across the Napa Valley, with half in the Rutherford district, and some in Carneros near San Francisco Bay and some in the warmest part in the far north, in Calistoga. The Rutherford vineyards are on the western bench. It’s an alluvial fan, with clay loam, sand and gravel, well-draining. It gently slopes to the east, to the Napa River, which gives us what I think of as vertically challenged hillside vineyards, with a nice diurnal shift. The cool night-time temperature really helps keep acidity.

In the 1960s, André Tchelistcheff said it takes a lot of Rutherford Dust to grow great Cabernet. Rutherford Dust is special because it’s a soil but also a sensory description: the cocoa-powder texture and flavour on the mid-palate. The texture is not aggressive, and it creates a unique scenario where you can enjoy the wines for years.

California has started to gravitate away from those big extracted wines of the late 90s and early 2000s. The profile of people interested in wine in the USA has changed – they’re looking more for

Rutherford Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

RRP £75

A “baby Georges de Latour” – a slightly different block selection, a slightly softer version of the grand vin. 85% to 90% Cabernet, with a little Petit Verdot and Malbec. With that pleasing ruffle of dusty but not drying tannin, it’s unforced and intensely pleasurable.

Beaulieu is one the oldest and most revered wine producers in California, credited with creating the region’s first cult Cabernet. Its wines remain among the most collectible and highest-scoring in the state.

Imported by Treasury Wine Estates

freshness – and that is an international change. We’re one of those producers leading the charge to dial things back. That’s really important for me. Part of my duty is to explore different regions, to see what’s going on, and there was a point of time when California was out of step. I’m pleased that’s no longer the case so much.

Cabernet is going to be king for a long time in Napa Valley. But I believe that farming practices are adapting and that’s how we’re going to combat climate change. Going in to replant the right rootstocks, the right clones, the right varieties – embracing that and putting the best thing on each particular parcel to get the best quality. We are one of the few producers with varieties such as Touriga Nacional (we even bottle a small 100% version), Tempranillo and Charbono in our vineyard in Calistoga. We call it the fruit salad vineyard, and we’re very protective over it: it’s a winemaker’s playground.

I really recognise the importance of history at Beaulieu Vineyards. It was founded in 1900 by Georges de Latour, a Frenchman, who came from a family with a background in viticulture. That may not be that old by the standards of some European estates, but in California it’s very unusual to have that much history behind us.

Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet 2018

RRP £125-£135

Made since 1936, this is really the first California wine to be widely accepted as a First Growth level of quality. It has a luxuriously deep cassis nose and gorgeous tannins. Suave and seamless and a subtle bloody streak – perfectly ripe fruit and incredible length.

A happy return

Exactly a year after our first buyers’ trip to the Setúbal peninsula, we’re back, with a new group of merchants but a similar mission. We know that there are wines and wineries here that are a perfect fit for independents, and we intend to unearth them.

The region is just south of Lisbon, accessed from the Portuguese capital via the 17km Vasco da Gama bridge, one of the longest in Europe, which spans the vast Tagus estuary. It’s one of three bodies of water that have an influence on the local climate, the others being the Sado river to the south, and the Atlantic to the west. This is a hot corner of Europe, to be sure, and the peninsula’s wine growers are grateful for the moderating oceanic influence.

We begin our visit with some facts and figures.

About 80% of the region is comprised of ancient sandy plains with low water retention, we are told, which suits the red varieties nicely. The rolling

limestone hills to the west are home mainly to white grapes, with Moscatel de Setúbal the stand-out variety. Overall about 65% of the peninsula’s production is red wine, 30% white, and 5% fortified.

Understanding Setúbal peninsula’s appellation system is pretty easy. The Setúbal PDO itself, dating back to 1907, is just for fortified wines. Most of these are Moscatel de Setúbal (the local variant of Muscat of Alexandria) but in the past 30 years the pink-hued, more perfumed Moscatel Roxo has been enjoying something of a comeback. Both macerate for at least six months on their skins before fermentation is stopped with brandy. Moscatel de Setúbal must then age for at least 18 months in barrel, and Moscatel Roxo for at least twice that time. Locals drink these wines as aperitifs and digestifs, rather than during meals, though over the course of our visit we prove that they can work with cheeses and desserts too.

Then there’s the Palmela DO, taking its name from the town just north of the

Graham Holter and a group of seven independent wine merchants spend a fruitful few days in Portugal’s Setúbal peninsula

Trip organised in association with Setúbal Peninsula Wines

port city of Setúbal. It’s mostly associated with red wines, which must have a minimum of two-thirds of Castelão in the blend, and may also contain varieties such as Trincadeira, Touriga Nacional and Alicante Bouschet.

The rules for whites are more relaxed. The main varieties are Fernão Pires, Moscatel and Arinto and there’s no specified minimum quantity for any of them.

Finally, we have the Peninsula de Setúbal PGI, which approves a mind-blowing 150-plus varieties in red, white, rosé and fortified styles. It’s under this banner that many winemakers have most of their fun, and we’re about to join them for some of it.

Six producers are presenting their wines at a walk-around tasting, giving us chance to cover a lot of ground quickly. There are some treats in store, such as a minerally Verdelho from Serenada with a delicious citrus-pith bite; an exotic and very rare unfortified Roxo from the Adega de Palmela co-operative; and a juicy, fresh, 100% Castelão from Herdade de Cebolal made using carbonic maceration and served lightly chilled.

Sangue Real is pouring Colheita Tardia Moscatel, the only botrytised wine we encounter, while Cadeado Wines’ highlights include an unoaked Aragonês/ Castelão/Syrah blend with a peppery kick.

José Mota Capitão of Herdade de Portocarro happily abandoned a career as an architect to become a winemaker. Revelling in his reputation for making wines that either delight or dismay, he names his range after buses and native American chiefs and is apparently having a crack at growing Sangiovese. He’s showing a Tinta Roriz/Touriga Nacional/Cabernet Sauvignon blend that he delights in telling us will “explode” in our mouths. It does, in a good way.

Our first visit is to José Maria da Fonseca, a sixth-generation family producer whose cellar, dating back to 1775, is home to some bats who could do without our intrusion. The red wines

have a pleasant rusticity and there’s an almost tropical note to some of the whites. All are underpinned by a well-judged acidity.

Our next stop is Palmela Wine Company, not exactly a co-operative but a private company owned by small producers. The winemaker is Filipe Cardoso, whose main job is running Quinta do Piloto. One of the highlights is Serra Mãe Reserva, a 100% Arinto which has a delicious salty tang.

We try a spicy, unfiltered 2020 Castelão. “For me it’s always the variety of Setúbal. We express it very differently to other regions,” Cardoso says. The market may have a slight downer on oak, but Cardoso is a master at deploying it sensitively. “Some wines need a little micro-oxygenation to polish the tannins,” he maintains.

Day two begins with a visit to Fernão Pó, where winemaker João Palhoça explains at length the meticulous cleaning regime involved for his treasured concrete tanks. It sounds like a full-time job in itself.

Palhoça likes to “season” his Castelão with other varieties. Cabernet Sauvignon proved too dominant for his taste, so he prefers Touriga Nacional and Tannat.

A natural showman, Palhoça captivates the group as he talks about some of his more experimental wines, such as ASF Oaked 2017, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with a barrel of Syrah also in the mix for good measure. It’s a

Filipe Cardoso at Palmela Wine Company João Palhoça at Fernão Pó

Left, Luis Mota Capitão of Cebolal and right, José Mota Capitão of Portocarro

one-off wine, he says, that simply tells the story of a difficult vintage. There’ll be other stories to tell in future years.

We then call in at Filipe Palhoça winery, which produces 1m litres of wine a year but has plenty in its range to interest importers looking for lower-volume wines. We try impressive rosés: one made with Castelão, which has an appealing Atlantic freshness, and another made with Roxo. It has notes of passion fruit and roses and is a hit with Lisbon restaurateurs.

The afternoon shift starts with a visit to the Pegões co-operative, which has capped its membership at 100 growers –apparently there’s no shortage of farmers willing to sign up. Setúbal peninsula’s white blends are among its hidden treasures, with a simple drinkability and mineral freshness that seldom drifts towards blandness. Pegões epitomises the art, and is achieving good things with Fernão Pires, Arinto and Verdelho, and even a little Antão Vaz.

Last stop of the day is Espirra, where 32 of the 36 hectares of sandy vineyards are devoted to Castelão. We’re briefly distracted by the resident peacocks before winemaker Ana Varandas leads us through the 40-year-old ungrafted vines. Heat damage is a real challenge in this part of Portugal, we’ve been hearing, and Varandas confirms that already 20% of this year’s fruit has been reduced to raisins. The grapes that do survive the blazing summer will be hand-picked and foot-trodden.

It’s a pleasure to experience the wines over dinner. A tomato-tinged rosé (85% Castelão, 15% Aragonês) is a delight with our gazpacho, while the red blend of Alicante Bouschet, Aragonês and Touriga Nacional has the acidity to work perfectly with the range of cheeses in front of us.

Our final morning includes a visit to Venâncio da Costa Lima. It’s famous for its fortified Moscatel – “the pride of the winery” – which has picked up several accolades in the Muscats

du Monde competition. We start with some well-crafted Verdelho and Castelão wines and then the fortifieds are revealed.

There’s a sure-footedness about these wines that can’t fail to impress. We detect a host of flavours and aromas, including tea, herbs and honey, even in the least expensive wines. We finish on a 1983 Moscatel de Setúbal that stops us in our tracks with its deep, concentrated prune notes and amazing persistence.

We also call in to see Filipe Cardoso, this time at his family winery Quinta do Piloto. Cardoso has mastered all the classic styles of the Setúbal peninsula but seems to gravitate towards underdog varieties, and

has a restless urge to experiment.

He makes a fresh, salty white with 100% Síria, a grape only found in small pockets of the region: he likes it so much that he’s just planted another hectare. He also roots for Roxo, preferring it to the more popular Moscatel de Setúbal variant, and has a cult following for his unfortified style.

His sideline Trois project, involving two friends, produces a superb Alfrocheiro which is designed to be served chilled and has an unmistakable aroma of rhubarb.

Before we leave, we’re given a sneak preview of the Moscatel de Setúbal wines that are currently ageing in rum, tequila and Scotch whisky barrels, due for release next year. They’re tasting spicy, herbal and vegetal, in that order, and it’s anyone’s guess if they’ll be deemed “typical” enough for PDO approval. Cardoso might have to declassify, he admits. But you sense that won’t take any of the fun away, either for him, or for those lucky enough to get their hands on the bottles.

Setúbal peninsula’s white blends offer a simple drinkability and mineral freshness

Our merchants give their verdicts

After two and a half days of Setúbal Peninsula immersion, the group of visiting indies had sampled every style on offer in the region and met many of the winemakers behind them. Here’s what they had to say about what they discovered

Tom Green Reserve Wines, Manchester

I am a lover of Portuguese wines in general. The distinct range of terroirs, varieties and climate that the relatively small country has to offer is incredible and Setúbal was no different. The wines here were honest, and reflected the peninsula perfectly with the influence of the Atlantic underpinning almost every wine we tasted on the trip.

I loved tasting everyone’s different interpretations of Castelão. They all had their own way of expressing the variety, whether it be blending with a little Touriga or Tannat because the vines are still too young, fermenting in stainless or concrete, oak ageing, foot treading, auto vinification or carbonic maceration … the list goes on. All unique, yet all still distinctly Castelão/ Atlantic/Setúbal.

I believe Castelão could carve out a gap at a number of price points in the UK. But it will need the help of independents to handsell these wines and put them in front of customers.

The sheer value offered by so many of the entry-level wines we saw, which were relatively simple but well-made and mostly well presented, should have people begging for them for their by-the-glass offerings, and filling out pallets so they can grab a few cases of the more niche exciting things.

Radu Vasile Loki Wine, Birmingham

I was amazed by how well Moscatel de Setúbal ages and evolves with time. Elegant and crisp blends such as Fernão Pires and Verdelho, with or without oak, pleasantly surprised me too. And the fruit concentration of the older vineyards of Castelão stood out for me.

I believe that the fortified styles of Moscatel, summery white Fernão Pires blends, and Castelão blends – with Merlot to soften the main grape – will perform very well in independents. They will have to be hand-sold, but I believe they will ultimately be successful.

Suzi Nemethova of Wilding in Oxford with Espirra winemaker Ana Varandas

From entry-level to the more ambitious

Tim Robertson

The Wine Cellar, Woburn and Olney

The quality on display was very good and the wines were certainly excellent value. Styles and philosophies were varied enough that I never felt fed up with tasting “another Castelão”. The best examples delivered a lot of character and complexity. They’re certainly fruit-forward, but there was often spice, a herbal touch and a tangy finish.

While I think that the fortified Moscatel wines would be easier to find a place for on our shelves, some of the Palmela DOC wines had significant commercial potential for customers looking for a crunchy, bright red with similar characteristics to Barbera.

Emily Silva

The Oxford Wine Company

The dry wines showed impressive fruit concentration with an overriding theme of salty minerality and powerful acidity, making them a great match for local cuisine. The fortified Moscatels showed a surprising diversity of styles, from bright, floral and fruit-forward to nutty and complex.

I was very taken with the restrained styles of old-vine Castelão – high acidity and powerful tannins promise longevity and the ripe, soft fruit made them approachable and enjoyable while young.

Wines made from indigenous grape varieties such as Castelão, Arinto and Verdelho would really appeal to our customers who look for something unique and enjoy exploring new varieties and regions.

Alex Hirst

Theatre of Wine, London

There is almost uniformly high quality across red, whites and fortified as well as value for money, with an exciting amount of experimentation beginning to emerge.

I found the more ambitious wines to be seriously impressive, with evidence of ageworthy old-vine Castelão already with significant bottle age. Complex white varietal wines made with Arinto and Fernão Pires were also very good, with some brilliant winemakers showing their potential. I hope that more growers look to add premium white wines to their offering.

I think the UK independent trade will always be looking for solid, attractively priced entry-level reds and whites, so Castelão and Fernão Pires blends should do well. Plenty of fruit but not often overripe, and notably fresh acidity for a warm climate was a winning combination.

But increasingly I think more ambitious varietal wines, old-vine examples and more premium wines will be successful too. These seemed very fairly priced and often had lovely stories attached – always a boon for hand-selling.

Fortified wines are a tougher sell, but I think Setúbal stands to gain here as other examples become more expensive and the value becomes even clearer.

Pictured, from top left: Tim Robertson; Alex Hirst; Emma Dawkins, Tanners; Tom Green; Radu Vasile

"

The influence of the Atlantic underpinned almost every wine we tasted

Basilica Cafaggio

Chianti Classico

Dating back to the 15th century, this progressively-minded producer has vineyards in some enviable locations, all of which are farmed organically

Imported by Vinicon Ltd

Call 020 8150 5600 for more details

Basilica Cafaggio is blessed. To be a Chianti producer, located in Panzano, with 30 hectares of vineyards in the Conca d’Oro (golden basin), is the wine equivalent of winning the lottery.

The vineyards are among the highest in Greve in Chianti, and are planted in glorious natural amphitheatres, where the grapes can ripen in the generous summer sun. The stunning topography is matched by galestro soils that are ideally suited to Sangiovese.

The friable marl and clay soils have excellent water retention capacity – vital in the long, hot summers – and a high mineral content. Cafaggio is fortunate too to have the white calcareous albarese soils in its vineyards.

All Cafaggio’s vineyards have been certified organic since 2017, a year after the property was bought by Trento-based financial services company Istituto Atesino di Sviluppo.

Organic viticulture is an important part of Cafaggio’s goal to make terroirdriven, elegant wines. Some vineyards are being replanted, to increase the quality of the grapes. Investment from ISA has allowed for upgraded kit in the cellar too.

TO SELECT YOUR SAMPLE …

… scan the QR code to receive a selection of Basilica Cafaggio wines

Winemakers Laura Zeddas and Attilio Pagli have new stainless steel tanks, a smart tangential wine filter and an up-to-date bottling machine at their disposal.

Cafaggio’s Chianti Classico and Chianti Classico Riserva wines are joined by three Crus: Solatìo San Martino and Cortaccio.

The Chianti Classico wine sets the tone. Grapes are picked from vineyards across the Conca d’Oro. The wine is aged for 12 months in 65-hectolitre Slavonian oak barrels, and then a further year in cement tanks. The final wine is given three months in bottle before being released to market.

Cafaggio Chianti Classico is a delicious expression of the style, brimming with ripe, red berry fruits, accompanied by light touches of spice. It’s a versatile red with juicy, easy-drinking appeal and a structure that will appeal to foodies.

The Riserva enjoys 18 months of ageing in smaller Slavonian oak barrels and subsequently spends another 12 in cement. As you would expect, this is a fuller-bodied Sangiovese which crucially retains the grape’s natural freshness and acidity.

Solatìo is the first of the Cru wines. The vineyard was planted in the early 1990s and covers a mere 2.2 hectares at an altitude of 345m. It is one of the sunniest sites in the Conca d’Oro, being entirely south facing. Only the finest Sangiovese grapes are selected, and the wine is aged for 30 months in Slavonian oak. A year

in cement follows and then six months of bottle ageing. The final wine is serious and structured, with distinctive minerality, spice and elegant tannins.

San Martino is another bold, fullbodied wine with a 15% presence of Cabernet Sauvignon that adds breadth and complexity to the wine. The south and south east-facing vineyard is just under four hectares and about 20m higher than Solatìo. The international feel of this wine is enhanced by 18 months of ageing in 225-litre French oak barrels (notably second and third fill).

Facing south west, and at 355m above sea level, Basilica del Cortaccio is planted just with Cabernet Sauvignon, for the Cortaccio wine. The soils here are siltyclay loam with pebbles, originating from calcareous marl. The ageing mirrors that of San Martino, both wines spending 12 months in cement after their time in barriques. Cortaccio is a lovely expression of an exceptional vineyard: a wine with great complexity and ageing potential.

Recent vintages have been a gift to Cafaggio. 2020 was a wonderful year, yielding balanced wines that had both terrific freshness and structure. 2021 was similarly good and the wines also have impressive structure and ageing potential. 2022 was a small but beautiful vintage and will be delicious to drink in the years to come.

Amathus Portfolio Tasting

The importer and retailer will be showcasing more than 100 wines and 50 spirits.

Around 30 winemakers and distillers will be on hand to discuss their products and perhaps open a bottle of something old or rare to show alongside their current range. A series of masterclasses run by key producers is scheduled.

For more information and to register, email Gala@amathusdrinks.com.

Tuesday, September 5

The Royal Society of Chemistry

Burlington House

Piccadilly

London W1J 0BA

WineGB Trade & Press Tasting

Expect to taste wines from longestablished producers as well as new arrivals on the English and Welsh winemaking scene.

Still wines from the 2022 vintage will be available to taste alongside 2018 Classic Method sparklers and pet nat wines. Masterclasses are also on the agenda.

Head of marketing Julia Trustram Eve says: “Our industry is at a real turning point and is growing fast, with plantings predicted to reach 7,500 hectares in the next decade.

“There is a great deal of excitement about the sector, not only in the UK but in key export markets too, and we want to reflect that dynamism and energy in our event.

“Visitors can look forward to discovering new wines from across the UK, meeting many of the producers in person and immersing themselves in this exciting

industry, all under one roof.”

To register, visit winegb.co.uk/events.

Tuesday, September 5

Battersea Arts Centre

Lavender Hill

London SW11 5TN

Charles Taylor Wines Portfolio Tasting

The first in a series of tastings from this specialist importer will include more than 50 wines.

These come from domaines in Burgundy, the Rhône, Champagne and the Loire, as well as Bordeaux châteaux and family estates in Germany and Portugal.

To register, email harry@ charlestaylorwines.com.

Tuesday, September 5

Charles Taylor Wines

11 Catherine Place

Westminster

London SW1E 6DX

Awin Barratt Siegel Portfolio

Tasting

An opportunity to meet and talk with many winemakers in person and to hear the latest winery news and vintage updates.

The ABS team will be bringing together a wide selection of their producers from around the world.

These include Meliza Jalbert from Hope Family Wines, Paso Robles, Tom Hicks from The Hedonist, Australia and Sascha Schömel from Dönhoff, Germany.

There will also be first-time appearances from Will Coren and Mariola Varona of House Coren and Zinio Bodegas respectively.

For more information and to register, email lesley@abs.wine.

Wednesday, September 6

The Stables, Unit X

40 Earlham Street

Covent Garden

London WC2H 9LH

Vines at Zinio Bodegas, Rioja. Wines will be on show at the ABS tasting

Wines of Portugal Trade Tasting

Wines of Portugal has put together a tasting with 23 producers from all over the country, all with a focus on specialist independents and the premium on-trade.

A masterclass, Modern Premium and Authentic Classic Wines of Portugal, hosted by Dirceu Vianna Junior MW, will take place at 2pm.

Exhibitors include Adega de Pegões (Peninsula de Setúbal), Casa Relvas (Alentejo), Quinta da Pedra Alta (Porto e Douro) and Soalheiro (Vinho Verde).

Registration for both the tasting and the masterclass is mandatory. Email winesofportugal@thewineagency.pt for full details

Monday, September 11

The Caledonian Club

9 Halkin Street

London SW1X 7DR

Swig South Africa New Release Tasting

The South African specialist is preparing a tasting of 60 wines from the best of the country's New Wave producers.

These include big names such as Adi Badenhorst, Duncan Savage, Pieter Walser of Blank Bottle, Alex Starey of Keermont, Berene Sauls of Tesselaarsdal, Craig Wessels of Restless River, and Franco Lourens of Lourens Family Wines.

To register, contact robin@swig.co.uk.

Tuesday, September 12

67 Pall Mall

London SW1Y 5ES

Graft Wine Portfolio Tasting

A selection of 100 wines that will give guests a focused and efficient insight into what’s hot and fresh in the Graft portfolio.

The range will include the recentlyarrived new Ravensworth wines by former Clonakilla winemaker Bryan Martin, as well as new Burgundy agencies: Dominique Gruhier (Épineuil and Chablis) and Au Pied du Mont Chauve (ChassagneMontrachet).

There will also be a new arrival in the form of the importer’s first Jura wines, from Domaine des Carlines.

To register, email nik@graftwine.co.uk.

Tuesday, September 12

One Events

1 Marylebone Road

London NW1 4AQ

Wines of Chile Annual Tasting

More than 250 wines from a mix of small to large wineries, some seeking UK distribution, will be on show.

Alistair Cooper MW will host two masterclasses giving an update on the current Chilean wine scene, what to expect from this year’s vintage and how winemakers are adapting to climate change and sustainable practices.

Focus tables include Chile Champions, Carmenere Karma, Southern Stars & Chilean Classics. There will also be a pisco bar.

For more information email anita@ winesofchile.org.uk.

Wednesday, September 13

RHS Halls, Lindley Hall

80 Vincent Square

London SW1P 2PE

The Dirty Dozen Tasting

The Dirty Dozen are back with a diverse collection of 300 wines.

Each “Dirty” has a specialist field and as a group they say they operate a “norepeats guarantee”, ensuring visitors will taste new producers, new wines and new vintages from each of the 12 importers.

The Dirty Dozen comprises Astrum Wine Cellars, Carte Blanche Wines, Clark Foyster Wines, FortyFive10, H2Vin, Howard Ripley Wines, Raymond Reynolds, Swig, The Wine Treasury, Top Selection, Ucopia Wines and Yapp Brothers.

For more information and to register, visit dirtydozentasting.com.

Wednesday, September 13

Somerset House Strand

London WC2R 1LA

Maisons Marques et Domaines Icon

Tasting

The tasting is an opportunity to discover the award-winning prestige cuvées from the MMD portfolio.

The event will feature wines from Cristal, Castillo Ygay, Ornellaia, Siepi, Tenuta Luce and Diamond Creek among several others.

To register and for more details, email lucy.bland@ mmdltd.co.uk.

Tuesday, September 19

Wild by Tart

3-4 Eccleston Yards

London SW1W 9AZ

Hallgarten & Novum Wines Portfolio Tastings

The Hallgarten & Novum team will be in London, Cambridge and Glasgow in September, presenting a cross-section of wines from a vast portfolio.

For more information and to register for any of the dates, contact sarah. charlwood@hnwines.co.uk

Monday, September 18

Smith & Wollensky

1-11 John Adam Street

London WC2N 6HT

Monday, September 25

Gonville Hotel

Gonville Place

Cambridge CB1 1LY

Tuesday, September 26

St Lukes & The Winged Ox

17 Bain Street

Glasgow G40 2JZ

Vindependents Portfolio Tasting

Vindependents will be showing around 300 wines from its range this autumn.

More than 40 producers will be at the event including David Marco from Marco Abella, Bernard Ecker from Weingut Ecker-Eckhof and Monty Petrie from Gladstone Vineyard.

To register for the event and for a full list of wines on show, contact Louise Vaux: louise@vindependents.co.uk.

Tuesday, September 19

Cecil Sharp House

2 Regent’s Park Road

London NW1 7AY

Thorman Hunt Autumn Tastings

Thorman Hunt will hold the first of its three autumn tastings in London.

Bristol is next on the list followed by Manchester in early October. The importer will be showcasing 100 premium, artisanal wines produced by family growers from France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Lebanon, California and Argentina.

Highlights include Lyrarakis, Massaya, Brumont, Fourny, Paul Prieur, Vieux Telegraph, Bruno Sorg, The Hilt, Talley Wines, Argiano, Durigutti, Le Soula, Jean Luc Jamet, Vincent Girardin and many more.

To register, email vanessa@ thormanhunt.co.uk.

Wednesday, September 20

67 Pall Mall

London SW1Y 5ES

Tuesday, September 26

Paintworks

Bath Road

Bristol BS4 3EH

Wednesday, October 4

Salut Wines

11 Cooper Street

Manchester M2 2FW

Marta Mateus of Marta Vine

Grapest Hits

Hosted by Condor Wines, Marta Vine, North South Wines and Hayward Bros, this tasting is an opportunity to see the very best the four indie-friendly importers have to offer, with more than 200 wines on show.

Register at events@condorwines.co.uk.

Monday, September 25

Crypt on the Green Clerkenwell

London EC1R 0EA

Wednesday, September 27

The Tetley

Hunslet Road

Leeds LS10 1JQ

Hatch Mansfield Autumn Tasting

Hatch is promising that all the producers in its portfolio will be represented at its London event, with several winemakers flying in to join the fun.

The portfolio includes such names as Taittinger, Robert Oatley, Esk Valley, Louis Jadot, Chapoutier, Errazuriz, CVNE, Kleine Zalze and Zuccardi.

For more information, contact Pippa Carter: pippacarter@hatch.co.uk.

Tuesday, September 26

116 Pall Mall

London SW1Y 5ED

New Thorman Hunt boss Simon Thorpe MW

There are few things in life I find as enjoyable as Ann Meikle, insightful author of truisms such as you like everything just so, don’t you Phoebe (yes, but I’ve got a bit better with hiding this, haven’t I Ann, these days things being ‘not quite right’ don’t explode into words and walls but rather eat into my “soul” like the green toon-killing acid in Who Framed Roger Rabbit). More recently, she offered Phoebe doesn’t like fun, really –she likes jazz.

There are few things in life I find as enjoyable as jazz. Sitting in a room with some trumpet player, preferably the never-ageing Phil from the hippy shop (not that one) screeching some kind of thing in time/not in time on a bashed-up cornet while I shake my head at people not applauding the solos sounds like the best Sunday night ever, and indeed was, during the Laphroaig years.

There are few things in life I dislike as much as Laphroaig coming through your pores on a Monday morning.

There are few things in life I like as much as Valhalla’s “Sexy Mondays” featuring Ann and Jordan’s foolish search for Sexy Monday Soup. Soup isn’t sexy, it’s hot and lumpy.

Lunches are sexy but also boring: fun and not fun, two horns on the same goat. In their truest form, they’re not about enjoyment, they’re about sustenance. They’re the motorway fill-up of meals, expensive and soulless, dry, carb-laden, confusing, subject to items not necessary for practical fulfilment of the activity. Cuddly toy? Carnations? Uno?

There are few things in life I dislike as much as the motorway fill-up lunch, and yet there are few things in life I like as much as the Full Afternoon Lunch. The lunch with little bits coming and

32. VIEW FROM A STEP-LADDER

going. Preferably outside looking down at something, an effect easily achieved with a step-ladder in the confines of a wine shop, time passing, the two-till-eighter, the twotill-I-get-home, brush my teeth, pretend to read some Proust and pass out.

There are few things in life I find as infuriating as people who pretend to read things. See Lunch Archive: The first time I was barred from The More and Mor, repeatedly shouting YOU HAVEN’T READ IT, HAVE YOU? until the bouncer escorted me from the premises.

There are few things in life I find as enjoyable as cheerful grouch Chris Bain, King of his Castle of Wine in Castle Douglas, which would have been a better name IMHO. You look like the bird woman from Home Alone, he said as I wheeled through the door to his establishment, late again, ready(ish) to talk cheese to bored farmers and Paddy Power’s daughter. He’s not a huge fan of fun either, especially as recently he’s given up gluten.

Later, after we had filled people up with Wine ‘n’ Cheese that everyone failed to truly appreciate, philistines, I touched on the gluten subject – because obviously as a fellow Independent Wine Merchant he’ll have read about my on-again-off-again love affair with bread. No, he said – they’re too long And I’m never in them. Well you are now, Chris, if you can be arsed reading the 400 words that precede this. We will see.

There are few things in life I find as enjoyable as Ann Meikle, because every month she puts on her big specs and sits on the step-ladder and reads my Amazing Lunch. Very Funny, she says, and I put a little gold star next to her name in my diary that night.

Phoebe Weller of Valhalla’s Goat in Glasgow

takes an elevated position and settles down for the joy that is the

Full Afternoon Lunch

gonzalez byass uk

The Dutch Barn Woodcock Hill

Coopers Green Lane

St Albans AL4 9HJ

01707 274790

info@gonzalezbyassuk.com www.gonzalezbyassuk.com

@gonzalezbyassuk

London NW1 8UR

0207 449 1665

orders@walkerwodehousewines.com www.walkerwodehousewines.com

@WalkerWodehouse

Congratulations to the Walker & Wodehouse producers who made the list of the World’s Best Vineyards 2023 list, and especially to Catena, VIK, Creation and El Enemigo Wines, all of whom came in the top 10.

A special mention to Catena (pictured), which not only topped the list but was also the winner of the best overall South American vineyard. The World’s Best Vineyards is a prestigious list of the finest vineyards experiences from across the world, announced annually and chosen by over 500 tourism and wine experts.

LOUIS LATOUR AGENCIES

Viu Manent promoted to Second Growth

For the fifth year running, Viu Manent has been included in the World’s Best Vineyards, a ranking that recognises the world’s 100 best wine estates for tourism. Viu Manent offers a comprehensive experience including tours and activities, food and wine experiences, lodges and an equestrian club.

Viu Manent continues to receive recognition for the quality of its wines. This year critics including Tim Atkin MW, Alistair Cooper MW, Luis Gutierrez (The Wine Advocate) and Joaquin Hidalgo (Vinous) have all given overwhelmingly positive reviews.

A special highlight is Tim Atkin MW’s recognition in his 2023 Chile Report. He named ViBo Vinedo Centenario 2020 one of his Wines of the Year for Bordeaux Blends and promoted the estate from 4th to 2nd Growth in his 2023 Chile Classification.

Available from UK stock now, recommended by Luis Gutierrez in The Wine Advocate, is El Incidente 2019 (94+ points). It is Viu Manent’s top Carménère, made from a selection of their best plots, that demonstrates Carménère’s potential when expertly handled.

GCF EXCLUSIVE

1, rue Division Leclerc, 67290 Petersbach, France

chris.davies@lgcf.fr

07789 008540

@FamilleHelfrich

@gcf_exclusive_uk

vindependents

Jessica Hutchinson

jessica@vindependents.co.uk

www.vindependents.co.uk

@vindependents

You are Invited!

As the only UK agency supplying uniquely to Independent Wine Merchants we invite you to the Vindependents Portfolio Tasting Tuesday 19th September (11am 5pm)

Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regents Park Road, London NW1 7AY

• Come and meet fellow Indies and find out how Vindependents works

• Try our range for yourself including wines featured in The Wine Merchant Top 100 Competition over 60% of wines entered featured which goes to show the quality of our portfolio!

To register please contact louise@vindependents.co.uk 0770 994 5016

They’re all smiles to your face …

jeroboams trade

7-9 Elliott's Place London N1 8HX

020 7288 8888

sales@jeroboamstrade.co.uk www.jeroboamstrade.co.uk

@jeroboamstrade

vintner systems

The computer system for drinks trade wholesalers and importers

16 Station Road Chesham HP5 1DH

sales@vintner.co.uk www.vintner.co.uk

mentzendorff

The Woolyard

52 Bermondsey Street

London SE1 3UD

020 7840 3600

info@mentzendorff.co.uk

www.mentzendorff.co.uk

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

Sea salt, ocean breezes and galloping horses...

A cold glass of La Gitana Manzanilla can transport you to the iconic Sanlúcar de Barramenda races!

For more information, please contact your Mentzendorff Account Manager

With a range of wines including Belles du Sud ros é , Picpoul de Pinet Les Flamants, Reserve Champs des Nummus Chardonnay, Lion de Ciceron Corbière, Le Lion Minervois and Faugères Domaine Gabaron

Based in the heart of the Languedoc in Lezignan-Corbières, Domaines Auriol is a family-owned winery set up by Claude Vialde and is one of the largest producers of organic wines in the area.

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

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 £75 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.

richmond wine agencies

The Links, Popham Close Hanworth

Middlesex TW13 6JE

020 8744 5550

info@richmondwineagencies.com

@richmondwineag1

RWA launches English Pink Rose 2022

Old friends Clem and Sam both have a passion for good wine. Clem Yates is a Master of Wine who has spent the past 20 years making wine around the world, while Sam has a background in events, hospitality and business. It was over a bottle of particularly good rosé in Sam’s Somerset kitchen that they came up with the idea of Pink & Co and started the project to make a high quality English Rose.

This English pink has a glistening pale pink colour and fragrant notes of red berries and delicate strawberries. The palate is concentrated with summer fruits with a creamy texture, a crisp dry finish and more-ish length. The wine is a blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grown on clay soil. The grapes are handled carefully and fermented in stainless steel at cool temperatures to ensure fresh, delicate aromas and flavours come through in the final wine

On offer during August – contact us for more details

You are invited to join us at a contemporary new venue in central London, close to Covent Garden Tube Station. Don’t miss an epic day of tasting, meet our growers jetting in from around the world, all eager to tell latest vintage tales and stories of upcoming winery projects.

please contact lesley@abs.wine

liberty wines

020 7720 5350

order@libertywines.co.uk

www.libertywines.co.uk @liberty_wines

top selection

23 Cellini Street London SW8 2LF

www.topselection.co.uk info@topselection.co.uk

Contact: Alastair Moss

Telephone: 020 3958 0744

@topselectionwines

@tswine

Sustainability in English wine

Founded in 2010 by husband and wife Mark and Sarah Driver, Rathfinny Wine Estate produces traditional method Sussex Sparkling wines – including the IWC 2023 Gold medal-winning 2018 Blanc de Blancs – from their 93-hectare estate on a prime south-facing slope in the South Downs, vinified with minimal intervention to preserve the purest expression of place and vintage. Rathfinny’s commitment to sustainability has always been multi-layered, embracing biodiversity, soil and vine management, water and energy use, reducing carbon emissions and using locally sourced materials. In April 2023, Rathfinny became the first sparkling wine grower-producer in the world to achieve B Corp status, the gold standard for ethical and sustainable business practices, verified to high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.

WineGB Awards 2023 Newcomer of the Year Candover Brook has also long championed sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices and is a founding member of Sustainable Wines of Great Britain. The natural balance they strive for in their five-hectare Hampshire vineyard and the richness of the soil’s biodiversity are reflected in the subtle qualities of Candover Brook wine. Their NV Brut is based on the exceptional 2018 vintage and won the English Classic Blend Sparkling Trophy at this year’s International Wine Challenge.

Looking to strengthen your German o ering? Then Nik Weis wines should be on your radar!

Nik Weis and his family have been practicing sustainable viticulture for generations in the Mosel and Saar valleys. Today, the estate covers 40h and owns vineyards in 5 VDP Grosse Lagen (Grand Cru) vineyards. Among these are famous sites such as Ockfener Bockstein, Leiwener Laurentiuslay and Piesporter Goldtröpfchen.

“It’s all about single sites and even single parcels within them...above all, it’s about old vines.“

Nik Weis

Q&A

The Oxford Wine Company

Who’s your favourite music artist? The Beatles – the quality never fades. Failing that, Beethoven.

Who’s your favourite wine critic? Tim Atkin. I just enjoy his style. Very readable and not pompous.

What’s your most treasured possession? An 1896 Oxford rowing oar with accompanying photo which belonged to my grandfather. The heaviest in the boat was fractionally over 11 stone!

What’s your proudest moment?

Winning the No 1 spot in the Harpers top 50 UK Wine Merchants. But most are sports-related, such as running out at Twickenham for Loughborough in two university cup finals. Also, scoring an 80-yard try v Gloucester at a capacity Kingsholm – that was all I did all day! I was even in the pre-Olympic squad for high jump but knew I wasn’t going to be good enough, so decided to play cricket instead. I could also mention my eldest Chris playing a few first-class cricket matches and scoring a double hundred for the Free Foresters CC, and my youngest George getting 80 at Lord’s in the MCC Twenty20 finals. William, the middle one, played for Exeter University at rugby, so we are a proud amateur sporting family.

What’s your biggest regret?

Ted Sandbach was born in 1953 and launched The Oxford Wine Company in 1992. It’s regularly cited as one of the UK’s largest and most successful independent merchants, with thriving wholesale and retail divisions. He is also the owner of The Oxford Wine Café and a director of Sandy’s Piano & Wine Bar.

What’s the first wine you remember drinking?

A hock given to me by my father when I was about 15, considered suitably low enough in alcohol to be appropriate.

What job would you be doing if you weren’t in the wine trade?

A sports agent or manager, either in cricket or rugby.

How do you relax?

Gardening. Masses of vegetables but I have a greenhouse too and grow a variety of tomatoes – you cannot beat tomatoes on

toast for breakfast. If no family are at home, we are virtually self-sufficient.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Very thought provoking and it makes you realise how women’s aspirations were so curtailed in the 50s and 60s. A few unexpected twists in the story too –couldn’t put it down.

Give us a Netflix recommendation. The Diplomat. This has everything you can expect from a great series: drama, comedy and a very impressive cast.

Do you have any sporting loyalties?

I am a season ticket holder at Exeter Chiefs and passionate about the club, even though it is a 260-mile round trip these days. I was born in Axminster and we have a house in Beer on the south coast, so Devon is very close to my heart.

Not learning French. I can get by in a crisis, but I feel dreadfully inadequate at times.

Who’s your hero?

The rugby player David Duckham, who died recently, and set the field alight in his heyday.

Any hidden talents?

After a few pints I’m quite an impressive bottle walker. What is that, I hear you ask? I will demonstrate at the next suitable opportunity!

What’s your favourite place in the UK? A valley in rural east Devon.

If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

That we cut the number of MPs, pay them a decent salary, don’t allow them to become one until 40 years old and start attracting leaders. The behaviour of most of them has been an absolute disgrace in recent years and left the country on its knees.

“After a few pints, I’m quite an impressive bottle walker”

Ted Sandbach