- Home
- Wine
- European wine news
- France
Nouveau Beaujolais reaches Tim Atkin's attention this week. The "quintessential young wine's" fall from grace has seen it go from "front page news" in the mid-Eighties to a current "non-event" in the UK. The problem with Nouveau stemmed from the fact that it undermined the Beaujolais reputation as a whole, he argues. And while Atkin concedes "there's nothing wrong with Nouveau" it is the "hilly area north of Lyon" that in fact produces the best wines. There are ten crus but it is usually easier to split these into three groups, he says. These comprise of: "The light, fragrant ones (Chiroubles and St Amour), the middle-weight ones (Cte de Brouilly, Chnas, Brouilly, Fleurie, Rgni) and the more serious ones (Julinas, Morgon and Moulin Vent)." His recommendations include a 2006 Fleurie, Domaine de la Madone (11.99, Thorman Hunt) for its "crunchy, summer-pudding-like" nature and a "complex and structured" 2006 Morgon, Marcel Lapierre (14.73, Bibendum).
Read more...
|
According to JAMIE GOODE, there's only one type of wine that should be ordered with shellfish: crisp, dry whites'. Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Pinot Grigio ought to do the trick, he says, before suggesting a few examples to try. First on his list is 2004 Paul Mas Sauvignon Blanc Vin de Pays d'Oc (4.99; Waitrose, Asda).
Read more...
A rant from JANE MacQUITTY this week. Miffed that judging her Top 100 Wines list 'gets harder instead of easier', she despairs at fine wine merchants, who 'put forward a clutch of ropey old has-been bottles, thereby forcing me to reject some 19 20 red Burgundies and dismiss most of the clarets before I could find a trio of each to recommend'. This week, she highlights 2004 Jindalee Chardonnay (3.75; Somerfield until 5 July; 2003 Casillero del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc (two for 3.99 each; Majestic); and 2004 Paul Mas Sauvignon Blanc (4.99; Waitrose).
Read more...
Burgundy negociant Louis Latour has taken over Beaujolais producer Henry Fessy for an undisclosed sum.
Read more...
Languedoc producer Domaines Paul Mas is carrying on a programme of growth with AOC wines released from the south of France.
Read more...
When: Wednesday 14 March, 10am-5.30pm
Where: The Nursery End Pavilion, Lord's Cricket Ground, London NW8
Contact: Tina Coady on 01638 614 775 or register at www.franceunderoneroof.co.uk
Read more...
Sauvignon Blanc from Touraine, Sancerre and Pouilly-Fum are undoubtedly the most successful of the 2006 wines from the Loire Valley, combining ripe fruit balanced with acidity.
Read more...
Will Duke, director of on-trade sales at HBJ Wines, told his business clinic session that nothing in his presentation was rocket science', but whatever you do in business, it is about making customers happy.
Read more...
Say no to oak - help put the fruit back in wine.' This sign, posted up behind the tasting bar at Trimbach, is a neat summation of the charms of Alsace. Wines with great poise, a good structure of acidity and, of course, some of the best food wines you'll ever taste. Why, then, does it appear to be an underappreciated wine region, one that never grabs the headlines?
Read more...
The most baffling thing about Sauternes is how its producers survive. It's not just the unpredictability of Botrytis cinerea; in 2004 the yield at Chteau Climens was less than four hectolitres per hectare (4hl/ha). At Chteau Suduiraut in the same year they left three-quarters of the grapes behind. The opening price of the wine, what there was of it, was 32 at Climens, 22-26 at Suduiraut. Both prices were less than the cost of production.
Read more...
Talking to dozens of winemakers on a recent trip to New Zealand, a common topic of discussion was Sauvignon Blanc and what a double-edged sword it has become for the Kiwi industry. Sure, being known as the place that does brilliant Sauvignon' is a coup that gives a small wine country enormous global visibility, but it is also a potential glass ceiling that could stifle other aspects of the New Zealand industry.
Read more...
Paul Stratford, managing director of Stratford's Wine Agencies, has decided to focus the attention of the business on searching for new wines from cooler climates.
Read more...
Oz Clarke is one of the best-known names in the wine trade.
Read more...
Prestonfield
Priestfield Road
Edinburgh EH16 5UT
Tel: 0131 662 2305
www.prestonfield.com
John Power began his career at the five-star Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, where he trained as a sommelier before moving to the Witchery by the Castle in 1998. Earlier this year he took on the new role of central wine buyer for all of James Thompson's Edinburgh restaurants, including the Witchery by the Castle, Tower restaurant in the Museum of Scotland and Rhubarb at the five-star Prestonfield hotel, where he is now based.
Key suppliers: Raeburn Fine Wine, Cheviot Wine, Corney & Barrow, Justerini & Brooks, Fine & Rare Wines.
Read more...
What possessed you to buy a shop on a really busy A' road between the two parts of a Kent village?
Read more...
It's easy to conclude that hiring an external wine list consultant is purely for the restauranteur with more money than sense. How hard can it be to write a wine list after all?
Read more...
Across many northern hemisphere countries, the 2005 vintage was exceptionally dry, while a few had the opposite problem. Harpers rounds up the most important harvest reports from an already much-hyped year
Read more...
How did you get into this business?
I was in the RAF for seven years, in a catering squadron, and when I left I planned to go home to Sydney. But I had a house in Torquay that I wanted to sell first. In the interim, I needed a job and I spotted an ad for a general assistant at Gidleigh Park Hotel. I had never heard of Gidleigh and had no idea about Relais & Chateaux or Michelin stars. I remember driving down this narrow, winding road and coming round the last corner to see this mock-Tudor mansion embedded in the hillside. Paul Henderson, the owner at the time, is a former US marine, so we spent most of the interview discussing my time in the service. He took me on and I ended up staying until 2002.
Read more...
France Under One Roof
Wednesday 22 March
The Nursery End Pavilion,
Lord's Cricket Ground, Wellington Road,
London NW8 (North Gate Entrance)
10am-5pm
For more details contact Jane Hunt MW on 01451 831682; janehuntmw@aol.com
Read more...
A new Burgundy brand, Adamas (Greek for diamond'), has been launched in the UK by recently established Beaune-based ngociant La Nouvelle Alliance (LNA).
Speaking to Harpers at the launch in London on 23 February, LNA's Franco-Scottish co-founders Manol Bouchet and Dan Connolly said that they had already secured several distribution agreements around the world and were looking for regional wholesalers with whom to work on an exclusive basis in the UK.
They have linked up with Wine Services to cover the London market and Inverarity Vaults for Fife in Scotland. Abroad, they have gained listings with Discovery Wines in Bermuda, Duty Free in Singapore and, most recently, the Swedish state monopoly.
Read more...
