Award-winning bargains
Wednesday 30 June
French wine sales are suffering at the hands of the Australians, Californians, Italians and South Africans in the UK. To add insult to injury, English wines are beating them at their own game: the International Wine Challenge (IWC) has just announced Camel Valley’s 2008 Pinot Noir Brut has taken the sparkling rose trophy ahead of the Champenois. This is another kick in the teeth for the Champagne region, after poor sales in 2009.
What I like most about the competition is the value awards. As a tight northerner, the price of decent wines can make my eyes water. Finding a great wine under a tenner certainly improves my mood. And my dad, a Liverpudlian (an even more notoriously tight lot), will be making a special trip to the supermarket to fill up on bargains when he sees the results (although not to Waitrose, as they haven’t made it as far north as my hometown yet)
So, what are the stars I’ll be sending my dad out to buy:-
Oloroso Trophy winner: Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Oloroso 12 year old for a mere £6.49
La Différence Carignan 2009, France, £5.81, France, Tesco.
Moon Bridge Riesling 2009, Australia, £5.49, Marks & Spencer
Domaine Villargeau Sauvignon Blanc 2009, France, £9.99, Majestic Wine Warehouse
Falanghina Campania 2009, Italy £9.99, Laytons, Oddbins
Brussel Sprout heaven
Monday 28 June
Big Lobster, Limestone Coast: should the Yarra have a Big Brussel Sprout?
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, brussel sprouts are here to stay. Personally, I think they’re a great vegetable and they should be more highly regarded by the vegetable-eating community. So, when I found out that the Yarra Valley is home not only to stunning Chardonnays but the southern hemisphere’s largest brussel sprout farm, I knew I would like the region
I wondered if there was a Big Sprout for tourists to visit – like the big banana in Coff’s Harbour or the Big Lobster on the Limestone Coast (pictured). The Australians are experts at big things and they have become major tourist attractions - I’d certainly make a special trip to see it. Unfortunately, they haven’t got one…yet. Maybe a facebook campaign is on the cards?!
Other than sprouts, the Yarra Valley is sadly lacking in food specialities: there’s no Pauillac lamb equivalent here. Unfortunately, brussel sprouts are normally lumped in with asparagus and artichokes as foods that are a disaster to match with wine. But I won’t take that lying down…
In an edition of Wine Spectator, New York chef Andrew Carmellini paired his recipe for brussels sprouts, pancetta, rosemary leaves, toasted bread crumbs, Pecorino cheese and black pepper with Syrah. Try Sticks No 29 Shiraz Viognier, which has the peppery note and raspberry fruit to match.
Or how about brussel spouts with blue cheese, nuts and bacon with Giant Steps’ elegant 2008 Gladysdale Pinot Noir
It’s unlikely you’re going to eat a whole bowl of brussel sprouts, but if you were so inclined, best match it with a good old Savvy. Try De Bortoli’s 2008 Yarra Sauvignon Blanc
Wave goodbye to Montana
Thursday 24 June
This week it was announced that Montana is no more.
One of the most successful Kiwi brands in the UK has decided it’s time for the brand to fall into line with the USA, where it is known as Brancott Estate.
Apparently the Yanks confused Montana with the US state of the same name; there was also a mix up with Marlborough the wine region and Marlboro cigarettes. So, the rest of us who weren’t in a muddle have to the new name too.
In a press release issued by Montana’s owners, Pernod Ricard, its New Zealand managing director, Fabian Partigliani, claimed Brancott Estate wines would ‘provide a real link back to its Marlborough home, Brancott Vineyard.’ What a load of marketing guff. Everyone in the UK knows Montana; they’ve never heard of Brancott – it’s just going to be another Kiwi brand – and it will take a long time for them to regain their brand equity. There’s also an issue of trust – if the name is different, will the stuff in the bottle be different too?
Partigliani goes on: “Due to the nature of Montana being a much-loved Kiwi icon, in New Zealand we will have dual brand strategy with Montana Classics by Brancott Estate remaining as the Montana brand.” So, Pernod do appreciate that Montana has strong brand loyalty. Dual brand strategies – do they work by easing people in to the new name, or will it just create more confusion? Surely, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?
No doubt, there will be a heap of money thrown behind the rebranding and Brancott’s sponsorship of the 2011 Rugby World Cup will hit home that Montana was just a distant memory.
Champagne: What have they got to hide?
Monday 21 June
What is it with Champagne houses being so secretive?
I was recently researching ferment temperatures and yeast selection (God, my life’s exciting) and asked a couple of Champagne houses if they could tell me. I added that the information would be purely for my MW studies and go no further then me, myself and I.
I managed to get the information on ferment temperatures from Veuve Clicquot’s winemaker but when asked his annual production, he said they ‘preferred to talk about quality not quantity’. What a cop out. It’s all about protecting the exclusivity of the product, I guess. Let’s face it, there’s an awful lot of Champagne made, yet they like to create an aura that there’s not enough to go around.
Similarly I put the request in to Laurent Perrier and was flatly refused. “Usually the wine making is not something our cellar master discusses preferring to focus on the end result,” the said.
What a load of cobblers. What do they think is going to happen? Someone’s going to steal their recipe? Hardly.
I had a moan to Ben Portet, winemaker at his father’s winery, Dominique Portet, in the Yarra Valley. Portet has done several vintages in Champagne and makes his own sparkling wines. He had had a similar experience but was more than willing to share his winemaking methods with me from the yeasts he uses (E118 Prise de Mousse, for all you geeks) to adding red wine at 400g/l of residual sugar in the liqueur de dosage at bottling for his sparkling rosé. If only the Champenois were so relaxed about revealing their methods. That’s big business for you. And it sucks.
Show Stoppers
Wednesday 16 June
I’m devouring a sausage cassoulet lunch with De Bortoli’s Steve Webber. It’s leftovers from dinner the night before, he admits, but it’s all the better for it.
I’m looking out at the vines as the rain comes down in sheets and the trees are stripped naked by the wind. Naturally we’re talking about the Yarra but I’m interested in Webber’s attitude towards wine shows. As chair of judges at the Melbourne Wine Show for the past two years, Webber has some firm views on the Australian wine show system that I’m keen to here about before we make it to dessert.
In the past six months, many of the best wines I have tasted are those that aren’t entered in competitions. Out of context, interesting or restrained wines just don’t cut the mustard in wine shows. It’s well known that the big ballsy wines tend to catch the tired judges’ palates despite many judging chiefs asking subtlety to be rewarded.
Webber agrees, “Shows reward obviousness. We are trying to change the attitude of judges”
Standards have also been increased: a mere 27% of wines won a medal at the most recent Melbourne show; 43% of wines took a gong at the Royal Sydney competition. I’m happy to see fewer wines taking a bronze. I never buy a bronze medal-winning wine because it’s likely to be uninteresting, albeit technically correct. “The show system promotes sameness,” complains Webber.
“Something that’s fault-free and well-made wins a bronze. That’s not good enough for me, it has to show character. We have got to make more interesting wines that don’t have the soul fined or filtered out of them,” he adds.
By making the process more rigorous, it gives the bronze medal winners credibility rather than being also-rans. But it could be commercial suicide. Many of the bigger wine companies (mentioning no names) blanket enter their wines in every competition in the hope that they’ll get something – which they usually do. And that’s what makes money for the shows to continue running. It seems you’re damned if you do change things and you’re damned if you don’t.
Under Webber there has been a shift in attitudes at the Melbourne show, he claims. However like a sausage cassoulet, things will only improve with time.