Matt Reflects… Loire and Supermarket Own Labels

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Thierrys

Hi

Today’s reflection is about two subjects – one is very close to my heart – Loire wines; the other is supermarket own labels – close to my heart but for different reasons.

Loire wines first. I’ve just come back from the big annual Loire wines fair in Angers, a couple of hundred stands filled with all sorts of amazing wines and then some very disappointing stuff as well. The Loire valley is unusual in that is one of the few places in the world that is capable of producing such a diversity of styles – crisp dry whites and reds, amazing sparklers, more complex reds that will age well and keep, and of course the most luxurious Chenin-based stickies known to man. This makes the fair a joy to attend, and it is easy to get into raptures tasting stunners such as the sweeties from the ever-excellent Domaine Soucherie, or the consistently brilliant Sancerres of Alphonse Mellot. Sadly though, not all was as consistent. 2011 brought a lot of rain in August, and those who were not careful in their grape selection during harvest have ended up with the dreaded geosmin in their wines. This can create in the worst examples a very mouldy smell and taste, and I’m sorry to say that there was an awful lot of dross there. Let’s just hope not too much of it makes its way to the UK, although my suggestion would be to avoid very cheap Muscadets for a while. Oh, and thanks to the guys at Bouvet-Ladubay for a truly entertaining, if slightly bonkers, evening!

And now to the other subject of this week’s blog – supermarket own labels. I’m going to put aside the snob value of the label for a moment, and focus on the intrinsic quality. In theory, these should be significantly better than ‘other’ labels, especially when you buy the equivalent of Finest or Taste the Difference – and many are. Why? Because again theoretically, there is no margin in the middle for a brand owner, so you’re getting a much better quality of wine for the price. Serious product sourcers at the supermarkets also work very hard to ensure that the blends are right for the UK consumer. And when this works, these wines are not only great, but great value too. However, I do quite often find examples of lazy buying, or blending, or big promotional deals masquerading as something better. One of our missions is to help these wines get better and I predict a bit of a surge in quality of good supermarket own labels and sales as a result. Watch this space.

See you next week

Matt

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Diversity Tasting

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Thierrys

There was no easing us gently into 2012. Instead, we wanted to show off some of the new discoveries we had been talking about over the past few months. Countries like Croatia, Moldova, Slovenia and Turkey are not exactly new to the wine world, but considering the recent leaps in quality, we feel they are hugely under-represented in the UK market. We put it to the test last week, by hosting a tasting at St. John’s Wood-based Turkish restaurant, Fora.

The response has been overwhelming, and overwhelmingly positive. Not only were the wines themselves on show but the respective wineries had sent over their representatives to give more insight into the many different wines and grape varieties. We were very pleased to welcome Giorgio Flessati, consultant winemaker at Acorex, who was introducing his new ‘Taking Root’ venture in Moldova. Turkish winery, Kavaklidere was out in force, with a whole host of wines from traditional Turkish varieties. Ali Başman, the managing director and one of the three (all female) winemakers Ahu Çamli Tokgöz (who was interviewed for www.lovethatwine.co.uk to show off some Turkish grape varieties) were there to lend their expertise. Karmela Tancabel, who is interviewed by Lindsay Talas below was able to lift the lid on Croatian variety Graševina. The feedback on the various wines was very encouraging.Some tasters felt there still exists some degree of snobbery against Eastern European wines in general, but the tasting showed that it really is time to change that attitude.

In a wine market that is becoming increasingly consolidated, it is refreshing to see a focus on indigenous grape varieties as well as the more international ones and to celebrate the diversity of wine. Our Buying Directors Lindsay Talas and Dominique Vrigneau, who were also on hand to introduce the wines, summed it up, “These are not ‘novelty’. They represent a real opportunity to give the more adventurous consumer something genuinely different. The massive increase in quality of these wines means they can stand proud against the competition and thereby provide real value for money in the £8 – £10 range in particular.”

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Matt Reflects… on Carmenère

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Thierrys

Hello

Here we are at the end of January and it feels already that this year is passing more quickly – maybe time gets faster as you get older!

I want to take the opportunity this week to talk about quality. I’m not just talking about decent wines, but those producers who have a single-minded approach and a very deep focus on producing the very best quality they can in their chosen field. I promised myself when I started writing the blog that I would not focus on any one individual producer, but I’m going to make an exception just this once, because I’d like to give a nod to the dedication and efforts of Casa Silva in Chile at bringing amazing wines to the market and giving them a great reputation – and the grape variety I’m talking about is Carmenère.

This old Bordeaux grape variety, now sadly hardly present in Bordeaux, was taken to Chile by some of the first Europeans to arrive in the country. It most resembles Merlot. In fact even today in many of the vineyards the two grape varieties are planted together, so a lot of inexpensive Chilean Merlot is actually Merlot/Carmenère. If not handled correctly this can produce some pretty rough, green-tasting wines. The family-owned Casa Silva winery have been on a twenty-year search to find the greatest expression of Chilean Carmenère that they can, and I’m not going to go into the full details, but more information can be found on their website. Suffice to say, they consistently trump the competition when it comes to awards, and are regularly cited as the benchmark Carmenère producer (as well as doing many of the premium supermarket own label blends). Their recent trophy success at the Wines of Chile awards for their Doña Dominga Gran Reserva Andes Vineyard Carmenère 2010 from Colchagua is testament to this.

What is it that drives them? It is probably easier to sell Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah, especially from Chile. So why the obsession with Carmenère? It is hardly recognised as one of the world’s great grape varieties. But that’s not to say it can’t be great. And I think this is what makes a winery like Casa Silva stand out – it’s that constant drive to understand every aspect of a great quality grape. They are not afraid to experiment with the grape and investigate a unique point of difference in the resulting wines. This attitude is how some of the world’s great wines became great (think of Pinot Noir on the slopes of the Cotes in Burgundy), and Casa Silva are constantly striving for that single-minded dedication and focus on quality – for this they should be highly commended.

See you next week

Matt

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Discovering the Wines of Croatia

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Thierrys

By Lindsay Talas, Buying Director.

Agrokor Vina is the wine arm of a vast Croatian conglomerate which employs 37,000 people in the agriculture, food, beverage and retail sectors. The 7 wineries and 1650 ha of vineyards in the group and their sales and marketing teams comprise approximately 120 employees. Wine is a small, but premium part of the business. I was so impressed with the passion for quality and optimism of the teams. The ambitious owner has an eye for quality and has invested heavily in renovating the wineries and estates, many of which which he acquired in the aftermath of war.

Croatia’s 12 wine subregions can be grouped as follows:

- Coastal Croatia

• The Istrian peninsula – Istria’s coastal continental climate, and myriad of terroirs thanks to differing altitudes, exposure and soil types, enables this region to succeed with a range of international and local grape varieties. My pick of the bunch is undoubtedly the indigenous white grape Malvazija. The food and culture here, understandably is heavily influenced by its neighbour Italy (just a short hop over the Adriatic). The elegant Malvazija is perfect with seafood, salads and creamy pasta dishes.
• The South / Dalmatia – has a typical mediterranean climate. Plavac Mali, genetically identical to Zinfandel is the star here.

- Continental Croatia

• The Danube – this area bordering Serbia has a continental, dry climate, making it the perfect home for the excellent Graševina whites, plus some really good Traminer wines. These richer white wines accompany the smoky charcuterie and robust paprika laced casseroles. The late harvest and ice wines are stunning.
• The Northwest – bordering Slovenia has a continental humid climate.

After initial tastings and research I decided to focus on the two wineries in the group which I felt had the most potential for this first trip.

Agrolaguna winery, Istria

After driving through wintry mists from Zagreb I arrived at the winery on a dark night.  It was a shame to miss the Adriatic coastline and bay views, which I am told are stunning!  The young winemaker Milan was there to welcome me and Karmela, (the group’s export manager) and show us around the winery.  Milan has travelled widely and has gained experience working in many parts if the wine world.  He is proud of his 7 million litre winery, its kit and its quality systems (ISO9001, ISO14001 & HACCPs). It was built in the 80’s, with recent investment in many more stainless steel tanks, a new Bertolasi bottling line (it had to be Italian) and quality systems. Milan led us through a great tasting, from Pinot Sivi (aka Pinot Grigio, but better than many northern Italian versions) through to the excellent Malvazija whites, the lighter red Teran (a relative of Italy’s Refosco grape), finishing with some classy, expensive, barrel aged reds made from Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet.

By then I was ready to eat and the resident chef had prepared a true Croatian feast for us. The local salamis are excellent and Agrolaguna make a top notch olive oil. Truffle pasta followed so I was in my element!

The beachside night clubs and fun fair were all closed for the season, which was lucky as we had an early start to tour the vineyards the next morning before a long drive.  Agrolaguna own 550 hectares of vineyards and even run tourist trains through them, taking visitors on a daily tour to a viewpoint for a tasting. Milan showed me the different soil types – shallow potassium rich red soils, and deeper, calcium rich white soils. The red soils give a more tropical style of Malvazija whereas the white soils produce elegance and a saline minerality. Milan likes to blend the two terroirs to make a fresh, delicately textured style of Malvazija with orchard fruits, quince jelly characters and a tangy, saline mineral finish.

Top opportunity – Malvazija – which retailer will be the first to launch a premium own label?  Agrolaguna have relaunched their brand as a designer ‘Spirit of Istria’ concept which may be too modern for our UK market.  We’ll have more details soon and would value your thoughts.

As we move on we find out the motorways are excellent in Croatia, but when they stop further east, the roads become a patchwork quilt of pothole repairs. Our 4 hour drive from Istria to Iločki was delayed for a couple of hours by a road closure for mine clearance in Vokovar! Twenty years on and this former war ravaged area still shows the physical and human scars (the shelled water tower being the most poignant reminder) and is still investing in rebuilding the community.  Yet the team at Iločki winery, all locals who started returning to the area in 1997, are full of an inspiring optimism and warmth.  Their town is the last town before the Serbian border.

Iločki Podrumi, Podunavlje – Croatian Danube

We arrived at dusk at the flagship Principovac estate and ultra modern guest centre for a quick snack before touring the 340 hectares, mainly planted with Graševina. We said goodnight to the man standing guard in the amidst the vines (he is there to guard the vines laden with precious grapes destined for icewine) then we headed to the 15th century cellar. The estate was given to the family of prince Odescalchi as a gift from Pope Inocent XI in the 17th century. The family restored the old castle and built a winecellar beneath it.  Today the top dessert wines are aged in barrels in these cellars and a collection of older vintages are aged in bottle there. This historic cellar produced the Iločki Traminer which was served at Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation banquet!  The cellar is surrounded by a characterful boutique hotel, restaurant and tasting room. Iločki winery’s experienced female winemaker joined us to conduct a tasting with Karmela helpfully translating.

I was wowed by the Graševina wines, both dry and dessert wines. No wonder the Principovac Graševina 2008 scooped a Gold medal at the IWC.  These whites are textured and rich, yet fresh, aromatic and with lovely fruit and length. The Traminers were good too.

Early the next morning I toured the 4.5 m litre capacity winery.  Built in ’68, but kitted out with new tanks and hoppers, this winery crushes grapes from the 340 ha of their own vineyards as well as grapes from 700 ha from other farmers. I tasted 2011 standard quality Graševina from tank and was truly amazed that such good wine came from a 500k litre tank, so I tasted another and it was just as good.

Top opportunity – Graševina! The Fat Duck now lists one. Could this be the year for Iločki winery to re-establish links with the Royal Family for the Diamond Jubilee?

Karmela then drove her new convert to Croatian wines back to Zagreb for her flight home!

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The Diversity of Turkey

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Thierrys

We have noticed genuine excitement recently around some of new and emerging countries in the world of wine. In previous posts we discussed a few of the countries we think are showing fantastic promise and we make it our aim to seek out some of the best producers in the various regions. In fact, Thierry’s buying team were so wowed by some of the wines Charles Metcalfe showed us at the LIWF last year, we made a point of investigating Turkish wines in more detail. We felt consumers are ready to embrace something new. Thierry’s own winemaker, Jeneve Williams, jumped on a plane and took her first trip out to Turkey to see and taste for herself and follow up on the research we conducted in the office.

The aim of the visit was to gain a better insight in the variety and style on offer from Turkey. Hosted by the generic body “Wines of Turkey” there was ample opportunity to really get to grips with the country’s vinous treasures. This was also a chance to meet a wide range of producers and talk to them about the opportunities the UK market can provide for them as well as the inevitable challenges. Combining food and wine is always a fantastic way to show off both and dining in some of Istanbul’s most talked about restaurants on either side of the Bosphorus, the strait separating Asia and Europe, gave us a real taste of how well the authentic Turkish cuisine matches the truly individual wines the country’s winemakers are capable of producing.

The Winery Visit.

Jeneve went to see the Ankara based Kavaklidere winery. Based on what we knew already about Kavaklidere, the strength of their portfolio, the modern facilities and a brilliant team, we knew we were onto something good. Their wines have also garnered some very positive comments from the likes of Jancis Robinson and Tim Atkin recently. The company was established in 1929 and is now run by Mehmet Basman and his sons. Mehmet Basman oversaw the development of the company in the 1980′s to become what it is today. The visit was hosted by Ali Basman, the Managing Director and he introduced us to this impressive company with a huge range of wines. The winemaking is overseen by a groundbreaking, all-female team of four Turkish winemakers as well as a French consultant. Their core strength is their acute awareness of international wines and styles. They regularly travel the wine world, making a point of benchmarking their own wines against those of the international competition. One of the winemakers, Asli Odman, was singled out by Jancis Robinson at the recent ‘Beyond Bordeaux‘ tasting at the Hong Kong Wine Future conference, which included some of the Kavaklidere wines.

Although the company’s base is in Ankara, which also houses its largest production facility of around 13.5 million litres, the grapes for the wines are grown the length and breadth of Turkey’s wine lands. The company also holds smaller sites, the Chateau style winery at Cappadocia, south east of Ankara and the Cotes d’Avanos Vineyards for example. Western Anatolia is home to the Pendore Estate, another chateau style winery producing around three million litres annually.

Tongue Twisters.

Kavaklidere produces wines from international as well as the many indigenous Turkish varieties. The various regions produce their own styles with Cotes d’Avanos being more focussed on French styled wines, either single varietal or blends. The Pendore site has a mixture of indigenous varieties and things like Syrah for example. With a portfolio of in excess of 40 wines from 11 different ranges most wine styles are represented by the company. This ranges from entry-level table wines to premium lines, sparkling wines as well as a fortified wine called ‘Tatli Sert’ (Sweetheart). This is made from the local white Narince grape. According to Jeneve it is all gorgeous caramel, guave and nectarine, developing a creamy nuttiness that lingers forever. Incidentally, the leaves of the Narince grape tend to be the ones used for the Turkish delicacy ‘dolmades’. The grape variety is one of the most planted in the country and can produce a wine in many different styles and also blends well with Chardonnay, combining ripe fruit with a complex minerality.

On the red side there are a few indigenous varieties that stand out. The Kalecik Karasi produces a wine similar in style to Grenache according to Jeneve. Sour cherry juice, vibrant rich cherry fruit character and great colour are its hallmarks. It has a capacity to show the terroir specifics in its minerality and texture as well as a wonderful fruit ripeness. Karasi means black and the origins of the variety are thought to be around the village of Kalecik where it gets its name from. The Okuzgozu produces a wine with an elegant but ripe, rich tannic structure and a nose not unlike Malbec. The fruit is pure and concentrated but with balancing acidity providing freshness. Then there is Bogazere, a big tannic monster. Apparantly birds don’t eat the grapes because the skins are so think and rich in tannin. It produces rich, sweet plum and cherry fruit. Firm phenolics but with the intensity of the fruit it carries it off with aplomb.

International Styles

In terms of international styles it seems Bordeaux varieties work well including straight Sauvignon Blanc, but Jeneve felt Syrah had the most potential. She also commented on a generally strong sense that varieties are planted in suitable areas and proper thought had gone into site selection. The climate, although variable depending on the specific region can be described as being somewhere between Mediterranean and continental. Vines tend to be grown as bushvines and altitude varies depending on region but is normally between 250 and 850 metres.

Now she has had an opportunity to delve in we wanted to know how Jeneve would sum up Turkish wines in a nutshell. Her answer was overwhelmingly positive. Well-balanced wines with good natural fruit ripeness, great concentration and purity. This is one country to watch and we are delighted to be working together with Kavaklidere in bringing a taste of Turkey to the UK wine consumer very soon.

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