Author Archive
In the Rhône, Day 1: Domaine Chave
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The Tête de l’Aigle or 'Eagle's Head' in Saint-Joseph
I can remember my first visit to Chave back in 1987. I tasted Hermitage, vineyard by vineyard, finishing always with the mighty Bessards. Saint-Joseph was never more than an afterthought in the line up, tasted if at all between the white and red Hermitage.
How things have changed. Slowly, Gérard and his son Jean-Louis began reclaiming once famous slopes below their ancestral home of Lemps. Then Jean-Louis started to buy wines from friends and neighbours, and eventually grapes as well. The new wine was given the name Offerus and is a textbook Saint-Joseph which the Society has bought in every vintage (the 2004 is still available at the time of writing).
The picture is of a steep part of Saint-Joseph called the Tête de l’Aigle or ‘Eagle’s Head’ after the striking outcrop of granite that stands in the middle of it. This is part of an estate recently acquired by Jean-Louis Chave. This came when Jean-Louis bought the Florentin estate, the heart of which was the historic Clos de l’Arbelestrier (a source of exceptional reds in particular). With it the Chaves have become masters in Saint-Joseph once again, with a clear intention of making great wine.
So back to my visit: now not just Hermitage is tasted vineyard by vineyard, but also Saint-Joseph, which revealed just how complex this patchwork of largely granite slopes can be. The two vintages tasted were 2010 and 2009 though I did have a little look at a somewhat embryonic and promising 2011.
Both ’10 and ’09 were clearly outstanding, though quite different: 2009 is full and sundrenched with an underlying tannic structure of some substance. 2010 is, if anything, blacker and more intense, but more mineral and shot with a life-affirming seam of acidity. Look out for the 2010 Saint Joseph Offerus which we will include in the Opening Offer due out in January.
We then dined together in a perfect little restaurant where the cooking is simple, homespun and delicious. Jean-Louis bought a bottle he happened to stumble over in his cellar. It was a Cornas from Noel Verset and a 1978 to boot. Completely sensational. For anyone with decent vintages of Verset’s wines in their cellar, there is no hurry!
Marcel Orford-Williams
Pol Roger Anniversary
Posted by: | CommentsThis is the year for Pol Roger, and Sebastian Payne and I were lucky enough to be invited to share some of the fun and a very fine celebration dinner.
The occasion was to mark 21 years of Pol Roger UK ltd which acts as Pol’s representative here in the UK
Pol Roger's Hubert de Billy & Patrice Noyelle
There were many lovely wines from the Pol Roger portfolio, including youthful 1990s from Josmeyer and Drouhin and a quite sensational blanc de blancs 2000 from Pol Roger itself. There was good food including venison which went well with the Drouhin Burgundy but well too with Pol Roger’s Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill 1999, proof if ever there was that Champagne is an excellent food wine.
There were two highlights in Pol Roger’s year worth mentioning. Their brut reserve non vintage was chosen for the Royal Wedding. No mean achievement in itself. And just before Pol Roger hosted a memorable trip for four Wine Society members and their other halves which I had the pleasure to lead.
And, I almost forgot, Pol Roger have had their street renamed after Churchill.
This has been Pol’s year without a doubt, and that before the much anticipated release of the 2002 vintage. More of which later.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Champagne Buyer
Saint Mont Celebrates 30 Years
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Winemaker Olivier Bourdet-Pees (left) & Plaimont president André Dubosc (right) in celebratory mood.
Saint Mont is in the South West, covering a scattered vineyard among rolling hills to the south of the River Adour and along one of the routes to the shrine of Saint James at Compostela. On a clear day, one can just see the Pyrenees on the horizon. The terroir is fairly complex with clays, sands and limestone all contributing to slightly different styles of wine.
The vineyard however had to be recreated from scratch as all that was left after phylloxera were a few isolated vines. The process was painfully slow and was very much the work of people like André Dubosc, a keen ampelographer who would eventually become president of the Plaimont group of cooperatives.
Saint Mont wines exist in three colours with rosé being possibly the least interesting. The reds are based on three varieties: tannat, which is the main grape of nearby Madiran and accounts for about 70% of any blend. Then there is cabernet sauvignon and pinenc. These are full bodied, dark, dense wines that are fruity but also quite tannic, broadly similar in style to Madiran but a little softer.
The whites are based on the Gros Manseng grape, the same as in Jurançon but Saint Mont is always a blend of varieties and the other two are petit courbu and arrufiac. The whites are clean tasting, bright and refreshing
Saint Mont covers some 42 villages and everything is made by the excellent coop. Most of the wines are blends, some barrel aged and sold at different price points. One or two single estates are made separately and sold under a Château name. In the past we have listed the wine from Château de Sabazan which lies of sandy soils and makes a wine of real elegance. The 2008 vintage will feature in the January list.
What amazed me however was just how well these wines keep. To celebrate their 30th, Saint Mont put on a brilliant tasting in London for the trade and journalists. There at the heart of the tasting was a vertical tasting of Château de Sabazan, back to the very first vintage ever made which was 1987, and delightful it was too.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Barbecue Wines: Some Advice
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It seems an Indian summer is upon us, and I imagine several of you will be looking forward to a barbecue in the garden with a few friends; and hopefully not too many wasps (though, as I often try to explain, wasps have their rights too).
Barbecues are often an excuse for wonderful flights of culinary fancy, pieces of meat or fish left to soak four hours in chilli-infested marinades and served wrapped up in banana leaves, etc. The choice of wine might need a little thought. Wines that come from places where people naturally eat outside are often good bets.
Here are a few suggestions:
Obviously something to start with. Sparkling wine is an obvious choice. Perhaps a non-vintage Champagne or our Cava from Sumarocca (which The Sunday Times recently thought was the best Champagne look-alike around). Another alternative would be fine German riesling, maybe a Kabinett from the Mosel and from a light vintage such as 2008.
For me, barbecues are where rosé comes into its own. Nothing else really goes as well with salads, and rosé is one of the few wines that goes well with eggs. The choice in rosé is wider than ever. Salade Niçoise is best with Provence rosé. Greek salad is best with Greek white such as the Hatzidakis from Santorini. If serving anything with goat’s cheese, I’d recommend almost any good sauvignon blanc.
Freshwater fish go well with clean, fruity whites are best: Chapel Down Bacchus from England is a good fit, as would be a Chablis, Sancerre or Jurançon sec. For cold oceanic fish, I recommend a Muscadet, vinho verde, or an albarino from north-eastern Spain; warm oceanic or Mediterranean suit Italian whites, Picpoul de Pinet, or a dry rosé. Prawns, crayfish, crab and other things with claws and shells are heavenly with a fiercely chilled Fino Sherry or opulent table whites like viognier.
With regard to meat, vigorous young reds are the best for pork and/or sausages (Beaujolais would be a good bet). Lamb is well-suited to various reds (New Zealand pinot noir or if you like your wine with more body, a Languedoc red) and indeed full-flavoured rosé such as Muga’s Rioja Rosado.
Pinot noir, especially young red Burgundy, is the best for poultry in my experience, but if prepared using lots of spices then try something stronger from the Mediterranean. Argentine Malbec, young Claret, or New World Cabernet offer suitably hearty choices for beef.
More generally, it’s worth remembering that wines taste different outside and, in hot weather, warm up quickly. Older wines may also oxidise quickly in the sun, which is one reason why I would steer away from them. I would keep unopened bottles inside, away from the sun and if the fridge is already full with salads, then best invest in some ice cubes to keep wines cool. Don’t hesitate to chill the reds, especially younger wines; a cooler serving temperature will often accentuate fruit flavours and the wine will be more refreshing.
Last but by no means least: remember that cheese, like wine, doesn’t often do well in the sun. There is nothing worse than a wilting, sweating piece of fine cheddar!
Marcel Orford-Williams
Think Alsace, think The Wine Society
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Gongs galore at the International Wine Challenge. Presented by judge Charles Metcalfe (left)
I was delighted that the International Wine Challenge voted The Society’s Alsace range the country’s finest at last week’s award ceremony, for the fourth consecutive year.
‘Think Alsace, think The Wine Society’ is what this award means and we are thrilled to get it.
When The Society was founded in 1874, the vineyards of Alsace were in desperate straits struggling against oidium and mildew, and then in 1876 by the phylloxera epidemic which all but destroyed Alsace viticulture. Members had to wait until 1923 for a first listing of Alsace wine but then war once again intervened to disrupt supplies and it was not until some time after the liberation that The Society imported Alsace wines again.
Since then we have not looked back. We were there for the birth of the appellation in 1962 and then the Grand Cru classification. Incidentally, one of the first Alsace wines shipped to The Wine Society was a Kaefferkopf, one of Alsace’s 51 grands crus.
So ours is not the first generation of members to buy and enjoy Alsace wine, though I dare say that quality has improved vastly over the years. Usage too has changed. Back in 1923 ‘stir-fry’ would have been without meaning. Alsace’s wines go perfectly with modern oriental cuisine. And in a world of increasing standardisation and use of new oak barrels, Alsace remains true to itself, producing delicious, impeccable fruit-driven wines that have sophistication and poise.
I think these are very much wines of today which go so well with what we like to eat. Alsace, a capital of gastronomy, has ensured that there is a wine to match practically everything. There is a broad choice of grape varieties, flavours and styles, which are covered by an unusually wide selection coming from 16 different producers.
Many members are already hooked on Alsace; others less so but for all members’ I’ve put together a sampler case for you to try or click here to view the winning range.
Keeping Greece Afloat!
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Bragging about one’s holidays might seem a little tasteless, though they were exceedingly good. So this is not going to be a tale of sun, sand and… but rather of wine and of one particular grape variety: moschofilero.
Finding good white wine in Greece was never easy. Most was often dull or oxidised; beer was usually the only viable answer to quench a thirst. That perception is now out of date. Whatever the shortcomings of the Greek economy, there is a sense of real pride in Greece which is evident in the quality of the wines. Even humble jug wines (sometimes made from saavatiano or vilano grapes) are lovely but, for me, pride and place goes to the moschofilero.
This is often a pink coloured grape and is planted mainly on Peloponnese and produces a light and fragrant wine that has some similarity to muscat but not as pungent and more delicate. Curiously for a variety that is native of Greece, it does not tolerate excessive heat which is why it is often planted at altitude such as among the high mountains of the Peloponnese.
Back to the holiday: The scene is on board a ferry outward bound from Piraeus where the service in the restaurant is perfect and where the chief steward is dressed in navy whites. The food was excellent, tzatziki, squid, grilled meats and a decent salad, and all washed down with a refreshing moschofilero 2010 from Skouras. Heaven!
Click here to view The Society’s ‘Discover Greece’ offer.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Champagne Part 2: Pol Roger, Bollinger & Roederer
Posted by: | CommentsGood wine can always be measured the day after and we all awoke fresh and keen for Pol Roger, where we were met by James Simpson MW and then just after the cellar visit by Christian de Billy (long since retired and representing the family).
Bottles maturing gracefully in the cellars at Pol Roger.
I have to admit to a penchant for chardonnay-only Champagne, an aberration for some, but for me an expression in finesse that is rarely captured in any other wine and Pol Roger make one of the loveliest. It is not made every year but we were treated to a glass of the newly released 2000 vintage. ‘Absolutely sublime’ was my note.
Pol Roger is of course also about Churchill, their best known customer who as of this month has a street name after him in Epernay. Indeed Pol Roger is situated at 1 rue Sir Winston Churchill. A coincidence? His memory also survives in an outstanding cuvée named Sir Winston Churchill and made in a style the great man would have approved and we were served a glass of the very full-bodied, pinot dominated 1999 vintage.
Bollinger
Oak Barrels ready for use at Bollinger.
Here we were back with tradition: barrels, even more than the 1,000-odd we saw at Gratien. Bollinger goes one better and has its own cooper who maintains and restores the collection of barrels (bought second hand from Burgundy). Bollinger’s fortune is to be almost self sufficient: the only grapes they have to buy are the pinot meunier from the Marne Valley which is an ingredient in the non-vintage. The vineyards even include a patch of pre-phylloxera vines just by the Château.
What is unique about Bollinger? Unquestionably its holdings of pinot noir in Aÿ, which delivers big powerful wines that are at the core of the Bollinger style. So too is its treatment of reserve wine, essential for maintaining the consistency of the non-vintage Brut. At both Gratien and Pol this is kept in tank, a blend of one or two vintages. At Bollinger, the reserve wine is kept amazingly enough in magnum, under slight pressure and stoppered with a natural cork. This represents an amazing collection of wine going back many vintages and used judiciously in the make up of the Non-Vintage Brut.
Inevitably, the Bollinger visit finished with a dinner and a chance to savour over food the very fine 2002 Grande Année.
Louis Roederer
The following morning we had to leave the Marne Valley and drive over the “mountain” to Reims, there to sample a wine of the Tsars at Louis Roederer. There is a very fine bust of Alexander II which I can’t help but admire. It was he after all who emancipated the serfs in 1861.
Just as Pol Roger found success in the United Kingdom, so Louis Roederer found favour in Russia, supplying the Imperial court with what was then a sweet Champagne poured from a unique bottle made of clear glass and no punt which could not hide any device that might injure His Imperial Majesty. Such was the birth of the first luxury cuvée: Cristal.
The group outside Roederer.
During the days of the Tsars, the style was undoubtedly sweet. Tastes have changed and today Champagne tends to be a dry wine. Yet the opulence and richness remains at Roederer and the wine, exemplified perfectly by the Brut Premier has a wonderful creamy quality.
But of course this members’ visit was a red carpet affair and we were treated to a delicious buffet. Cristal 2002 was served en magnum and our jaws collectively dropped but for me, the sublime moment was the rosé. Chez Roederer, it is always a vintage and always made using a blend of white and rosé wine rather than the usual red. It means that the colour is much paler, but what fragrance, what finesse.
All good things come to an end. This has been a wonderful experience for all of us and we are left with wonderful memories and a wonderful taste in the month. But after Roederer and the Tsars it was time to get back across the Channel.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Champagne Buyer
Sparkling Members in Champagne. Part 1: Alfred Gratien
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At Nicolas Jaeger's house
The classiest way to go to Champagne is by train. It is a journey that begins within the Victorian Gothic splendour of Saint Pancras station and appropriately enough in the Champagne bar, where our group met and broke the ice over two very fine bottles of Bollinger Special Cuvée.
And then we were off, hurtling through Kent, before entering the tunnel with choice nibbles and a glass of Pol Roger. Out of Paris, the line soon reaches the Marne Valley and the first vineyards not long after. It is true that Paris had its own vineyards which before phylloxera had been extensive but today it is Champagne that is the nearest vineyard to the capital, barely an hour’s drive from the city centre.
The tour was in four parts, each representing a different House, style and method of making wine – in particular the all important non-vintage. We began with a full day at Alfred Gratien.
I shall always remember my first solo visit to The Society’s House Champagne when I got overly complicated directions and then got hopelessly lost in the one way system. Today Alfred Gratien is a small House producing some 300,000 bottles and is becoming quite well-known. Back then it was making less than half that amount and The Wine Society was buying as much as a third of the production.
Alfred Gratien came from Saumur and launched himself into making sparkling wine setting up Houses in Saumur and Epernay simultaneously in 1864. His vision for Champagne was from the start nothing short of excellence where no expense would be spared. His Champagne would be what Haute Couture was to the clothing industry. While most Champagne Houses were changing methods of production over the ensuing decades, Gratien remained wedded to the old ways. Even the cellar masters remained in the same family, something unique in Champagne.
Getting to grips with The Society's Champagne...
Gratien is a real bijoux House. It behaves like a Grand House with a large number of suppliers dotted around the Grand and Premier Cru villages of Champagne. The difference is that here the contact between the Jaegers and the growers is intimate and delivery often the equivalent of just a few barrels. But growers like delivering to Gratien because they know that their hard work is respected. Nicolas Jaeger vinifies everything in small barrel and villages and growers are all vinified separately and kept in barrel over the winter. In some wines, structure is founded on tannin. In Champagne as with many white wines, that foundation is based on acidity and it is for this reason that Gratien chooses to block the malolactic fermentation, which is a bacterial process that changes malic acid into softer lactic acid.
Gratien MD Olivier Dupré & their Cuvée Paradis Rosé.
Lunch was a modest picnic affair in the Marne Valley chez Nicolas and Delphine. Magnums of the still youthful Society’s Millennium Champagne provided the aperitif. There was a little interlude of foie gras and a glass of Exhibition Sauternes while Olivier Dupré, the Boss from Saumur dealt with the lobster. With this we drank Gratien’s outstanding 2007 blanc de blancs. Then Côte de Boeuf and baked potato were paired with a rather fine 1996 Chambertin. Lunch fizzled out amiably at around seven when we invited the Gratien team for dinner at one of Epernay’s better bistro restaurants (and more Champagne).
Coming up in part 2: Pol Roger, Bollinger & Louis Roederer…
Marcel Orford-Williams
Romain Bouchard, 1923-2011
Posted by: | CommentsSadly we have to announce that Romain Bouchard passed away on July 17th.
Romain Bouchard
Eventually he returned to France and settled in a delightful Provençal Mas, Le Val des Rois, surrounded by vines and fields of lavender. His first vintage was 1964, which was 100% grenache and is still good today. Thereafter he began to change the makeup of his vineyard, planting syrah (one of the first to do so) and more controversially gamay, which he felt would do well in this northern corner of Provence.
And so he continued to make vintage after vintage of exceptional wine that, possibly thanks to its input of gamay, always ended up tasting like rather fine old Burgundy. The pragmatism of the citrus farmer remained however, and in an age when it was considered correct to only pick by hand, Romain harvested by machine. As a result, Romain saved potentially dreadful vintages like 1987 and 2002 when incessant rain all but destroyed the crop. In 2003 on the other hand, a vintage marked by both drought and extreme heat, Romain was able to intervene early and pick quickly and made one of the loveliest wines of the vintage.
Romain and his wife Nancy were hosts to a memorable visit of The Wine Society’s Dining Club in 1992 which included the following vintages:
1991: Underrated vintage but here soft, fruity and delicious.
1990: Grander and splendidly full.
1988: Elegant and refined.
1987: A little mushroomy, like old pinot.
1983: Vigorous, full, figgy and full of life.
1978: One of the greatest Rhône vintages, complex, weighty, full-bodied, wonderful.
1971: Made from 100% grenache and tasting like old Sauternes: pale garnet, butterscotch and sweet.
Romain Bouchard was an important figure in the development of Rhône wine. But while some of his colleagues were sometimes tempted by the benefits of overripe grapes, extraction and barrel ageing, Romain kept to his path, which was of beauty, poise and finesse. To itinerant wine buyers like Sebastian and myself, he provided tiny bottles of lavender essence to help us remember his delightful part of Provence. We shall miss him.
Marcel Orford-Williams
A Tasting at Domaine La Grange des Pères
Posted by: | CommentsThe Town of Aniane is neither remarkable nor indeed especially attractive. For years it was asleep, waking up only to vote in its Communist mayor and to harvest its grapes which were invariably delivered to the town cooperative.
It all changed when a new and independent estate burst suddenly on the scene. At first, Daumas Gassac was built as a retreat for its new owners trying to escape from the rat race. But then a visiting friend and expert geologist from Bordeaux remarked on the exceptional quality of the soils. Another Bordelais, Emile Peynaud, nursed the first wine and in so doing created a legend.
Today the “Terre d’Aniane” is a Mecca for winemakers. Chateau Cissac from the Medoc has a vineyard here, as does Gerard Depardieu. Robert Mondavi nearly came, but then came up against local rivalries and the Communist Mayor.
Laurent Vaille of Domaine La Grange des Pères
The Vaille family was local. This was a respected, hard working family who had farmed a few acres for generations. What changed it for them was a son, Laurent (pictured), who had ideas of creating another Grand Vin.
He first came under the wing of Aime Guibert himself who soon sent him to another friend, Eloi Durrbach at Domaine de Trévallon and from there to Chave in Hermitage and Perrin in Châteauneuf. Laurent Vaille returned with cuttings from all these estates, rather like Jack with his beans.
Success was also pretty well immediate, but stardom did not suit this reserved family quite as well. The Vailles remain aloof, reserved and shy of the public gaze. Visiting is tricky and convenient ways of communicating such as email haven’t made their way here. Rather large guard dogs make their presence felt as one approaches the wrought iron gate. Crossing the threshold is a little unnerving. After all the dogs are quite large and Laurent Vaille still hasn’t said anything as we work across the pretty courtyard to the cellars.
At this stage heavy sweaters are put on, even at the height of summer, as these are the coldest cellars for miles around. The wines are tasted, grape variety by grape variety and it is immediately obvious that the wines are like no other; the mourvèdre and counoise for instance speaking as if from the grandest estate in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Meanwhile Laurent still hasn’t said anything, answering my attempts at conversation with at best a smile. The tasting is soon over. Back in daylight and twenty degrees hotter, sweaters come off. The dogs are back to escort me back past the iron gate.
La Grange des Pères makes exceptional wines. The whites, made from roussanne and chardonnay have both weight and finesse and in taste fall somewhere between the Rhone and Meursault. The reds, greatly influenced by mourvedre have spice and Mediterranean warmth. Both are better decanted and both gain in complexity with age.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Languedoc buyer
