Published: 18 January, 2007
I would be surprised if I was the only one who attended the French Wine Awards evening who had no inkling that three of the six gongs meted out to the UK wine trade went to members of the judging panel (or to their companies; Harpers, 21 October, p.4). A spokeswoman' was reported to have said that when the nominations are announced, if any of the judging panel has been nominated, we ask them how they want to play it'. So that's all right then
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Published: 18 January, 2007
I am writing to address some of the inaccuracies contained in your news article Italian grape prices collapse' (Harpers, 14 October, p.3). The fall in grape prices is not unifying', as the article stated. As always in Italy, generalisations soon come unstuck when you look deeper into such a varied wine industry.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
John Hoskins MW is the MW student's MW, thanks to his ability as a communicator and taster. The admonishment is less stinging, and the encouragement more uplifting, because of his evident integrity, informed opinion and passion, and sound priorities. The same qualities shine through in his list at The Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire (where he also
has three inns), making him the wine lover's restaurateur as well.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
A few weeks ago, a new whisky called The Spice Tree slipped quietly on to the market. It is the latest offering from John Glaser's Compass Box in London. With total annual sales approaching 7,000 cases, this bespoke whisky company is unlikely to have big Johnnie Walker quaking in his boots. But in his small way, through independent specialists and top-end on-trade accounts, Glaser is doing his bit to reinvigorate premium Scotch in the UK. And for once, this is not a story about single malts.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
The talk in the Square Mile is of bumper bonuses for bankers, based on the boom in mergers-and-acquisitions business. There have been several notable deals already this year, not least the takeover of Allied Domecq by Pernod Ricard, but companies are enjoying strong cash flows, interest rates are comparatively low and unlikely to go higher in this cycle, and target companies remain relatively cheap - classic corporate-expansion backdrop.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
Thinking I had burned my boats with The Guardian, I was surprised, some weeks ago now, to be contacted by a (perhaps desperate) news editor who wondered if I could write, by 6pm (it was then lunchtime) for the morrow's edition, 400 words on Rick Stein, the cuddly ex-Oxonian adulterer who waffles on about food on BBC television. Stein has become an artless fool (he is not alone; why is it all these TV chefs insist on being so egregiously patronising? Only dear old Auntie Delia managed it authentically), but his pronouncements are, so it seems, noteworthy. However, in this instance it seemed to me that what he said was nothing so ignoble as a grotesque attempt, via the Radio Times, to drum up publicity for his new
TV series.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
Regarding your news story Boutflower quits Laymont & Shaw for Tanners' (Harpers, 30 September), I feel a few clarifications are needed.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
In response to Hans Vinding-Diers' letter on the subject of Super-Tuscans (Harpers, 14 October), we did not, in the context of Tuscany, confine the definition of international' to wines containing French grapes, but extended it also to wines in which the oak character seems dominant over that of the fruit (like, in our view, Suolo, which we indicated is 100% Sangiovese). So we see no inconsistency' there.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
Nicolas Belfrage mw and Franco Ziliani look at the Italian market.
The Italians may not be everybody's cup of tea, or rather glass of wine. They have never made wines that are easy for punters to love: all those tannins, all that acidity, and the accent on vegetal or savoury rather than fruity flavours. The old clich that Italian wine needs food is all too true for most Anglos. Perhaps that's why Italian wine has never really caught on in the UK in the way that its appassionati deem that it should. Brits tend to drink their wines as beverages, like beer or whisky, and are not, on the whole, interested in having to seek out subtleties and nuances or taste combinations with various foods. The obvious upfront aromas and smooth textures of New World wines will do nicely for most occasions, and when something special is needed, there's always France (or there was).
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Published: 18 January, 2007
I write in response to the column by Nicolas Belfrage MW and Franco Ziliani in Harpers (9 September). As a winemaker,
I absolutely respect everyone's right to judge a wine organoleptically in their own way, and if the authors of the column feel that Tenuta di Argiano's IGT Rosso Suolo wine (the 2002) has been drowned in international-oak aromas', then who am I to disagree, even though my winemaking style (if you can call it that) is to try to favour fruit flavours over those of wood, something I learnt from my winemaker father [Peter Vinding-Diers], who was recently described, in Monty Waldin's Biodynamic Wines (Mitchell Beazley), as habitually using less new wood than is found in the veneered dashboards of most company cars'.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
With Greek wine increasingly respected by the UK wine trade, Mitchell Beazley's latest addition to its Classic Wine Library is The Wines of Greece by Konstantinos Lazarakis MW.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
To judge from Hugh Johnson's latest book - Wine: A Life Uncorked (20; Weidenfeld & Nicolson) - he has spent the past 40 years purely swanning around the world enthusing over fine wines. Of course, Hugh has had two strokes of luck: as Andr Simon's adopted' son, and being chosen by publishing genius James Mitchell to edit the first of his two masterpieces, The World Atlas of Wine. But this ignores the enormous effort required to write those two classics, the Atlas and The Story of Wine. He also largely passes over the contribution he made to spreading the gospel of wine through The Sunday Times
Wine Club. Unfortunately, such omissions make the book seem rather self-indulgent.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
If further confirmation were needed about how tough wine retailing is in the UK, it has come from the world's largest producer, Constellation Brands. In a recent update on trading, including second-quarter earnings figures, chairman Richard Sands said the company's sales growth was a little lower than expected' and that this reflected tougher trading conditions in the UK market' due to consolidation among retailers.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
So how was it for you, this week's Mega Tasting of South African wines? Presumably you ate your fill of biltong and snoek pt, said howzit' to a few of the 280-plus producers flogging their wine, caught up on the latest industry skinder, and learnt that meetings promised just now didn't mean now,
this very instant' but rather in a little while' or sometimes not at all Being in the wine business, you presumably also enjoyed a dop or three (hopefully without too much of a babbelas the next morning).
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Published: 18 January, 2007
The harvest of 2005 will certainly not be as big as that of 2004 - the long dry spell over parts of southern France has seen to that. But the authorities at INAO are making sure that even this quantity is reduced, by setting lower yields this year.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
With the global wine and spirits business consolidating further, Robert Sands, the chairman and CEO of Constellation Brands, is determined not to be left on the sidelines, says Ron Emler.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
What is a South African doing with a hotel and restaurant on the shores of Loch Tay?
Enjoying it! I opened four restaurants in London over a period of 10 years, but I fell in love with Scotland and the salmon fishing, so I had to move somewhere I could fish! We looked further north initially, but from an economic point of view it didn't really make sense. The advantage of this place is that it is within commuting distance of Glasgow and Edinburgh, so people can leave work on a Friday evening and be here in time for dinner. Our policy here is that we don't close the dining room until the last guest has checked in.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
We try harder.' The Avis slogan is one Pernod Ricard would like to adopt now that the takeover of Allied Domecq is complete, says Ron Emler. Chairman Patrick Ricard even believes it might be possible to catch Diageo in about 10 years' time in terms of volumes. Equally, Paul Walsh of Diageo is pleased he has a readily identifiable no.2 against which to measure his group's performance in global wines and spirits.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
Judging by the recent Whisky Live event in Glasgow, the malt-whisky business remains as innovative as ever, especially in the wood-finish department.
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Published: 18 January, 2007
Just when you thought it was safe to open a magazine without coming across yet another bloody list of the greatest whatevers of all-time, ever, I'd like to introduce you to the fourth Langton's Classification of Australian Wine.
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