That's the way to do it - building a French wine brand

If there’s one thing that French winemakers can’t do, it’s create big successful brands, right? Well, maybe not…

It’s true that French wine is traditionally governed by the dictates of the Appellation Contrôlée laws, so that AC (or AOP nowadays) wines are labelled according to their geographical origin. This is fine for really well known ACs/AOPs like Bordeaux and Champagne which are, in effect, brands which transcend the geographical nature of the regulations.

But what about  AOP Côteaux du Giennois? Or AOP Côtes de Toul maybe, or AOP Tursan? A good number of the over 300 wine AOPs in France are househould names, but many more, like these ones, are not. Consumers (and even wine trade folk) cannot be expected to know where they all are and what style of wine will be in the bottle. And why should understanding wine be such a difficult business anyway?

Building a commercial brand often means departing from the strict regulations of the region’s AOP. Consumers want to see a name that they are familiar with, which provides a feeling of comfort and security - without the need to understand French wine law.

The Vin de Pays category, so successful in the 1980s and 90s, did act as a kind of brand. The vast majority were from that huge swathe of vineyard areas in the south, collectively known as Languedoc-Roussillon. Vin de Pays d’Oc was a boon to wine drinkers: often varietally labelled, usually good value red, white and rosé wines that were easy to understand and appreciate.

Now, however, Vin de Pays is no more and wines should instead be labelled as IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée). Though Languedoc-Roussillon producers can also put the words “Pays d’Oc” on the label, as a nod to the good old days of Vin de Pays d’Oc.

French producers who want to include grape varieties outside the rules of the AOP can often use the IGP as an alternative. For those who want to blend between regions, something that is common in the New World, the catch-all Vin de France category is a useful support. And yet thus far, there have been few truly successful French wine brands.

One French wine company which is doing better than many at building brands is Badet Clément. You may not have heard of the name, but you may well have seen their Les Jamelles wines in the Co-op; or perhaps come across one of their Abbotts & Delaunay range on a restaurant wine list. They also have a range of other brands which are more directed towards other markets across Europe and beyond. Their total annual production of 15.6 million bottles gives you an idea of the scale of their operation.

Surprisingly, perhaps, all this is the work of a husband and wife team, Laurent and Catherine Delaunay, who recently celebrated the twentieth anniversary of their business. Of course Badet Clément is more than Laurent and Catherine, who now employ 50 people and boast a shiny new winery to facilitate even further growth in future.

Their Les Jamelles wines are a neat range of varietally labelled wines (all IGP) with plenty of easy-going consumer appeal at keen prices.

Les Jamelles Viognier £5.99 until 12 July (usually £6.99) at the Co-op

A Viognier for people who don’t like the variety’s richness and weight, which can tend to flabbiness. This has good fresh acidity and juicy fruit with just a hint of peach.

Les Jamelles Syrah - £5.99 until 12 July (usually £6.99) at the Co-op

Soft, ripe Syrah with a mix of red and black fruit characters that speaks of the warm south, but with a good brightness and freshness too.

Les Jamelles Réserve Mourvèdre £7.49 at the Co-op

My favourite of the range, this has bags of brooding, black fruit with some herbal character in the background.

Champagne - beyond the brands

Champagne, like no other wine, is dominated by brands. Veuve, Moët, Bolly…I don’t even need to spell out the full name for you to know who I mean.

Brands give the reassurance of familiarity, consistency of quality and a certain cachet. And you don’t need me to tell you to buy them. What you do need from a wine columnist, is a tip for under the radar Champagnes that offer great quality and that over deliver in terms of value for money.

One that springs to mind is Champagne Mailly Grand Cru – a co-operative based in the Grand Cru village of Mailly in the Montagne de Reims. The Wine Reserve in Cobham stocks a range of their high quality, Pinot Noir-dominant, big-boned Champagnes starting at £29.99 for their Grand Cru Brut NV.

This week I had the chance to taste through the range of another Champagne that is not a household name, Champagne de Castelnau.

All Champagnes look to establish a point of difference and in the case of de Castelnau it’s the long lees ageing. For their Brut Réserve Non Vintage blend, that means over six years.

What is lees ageing? 

The Champagne method involves making first a still wine – or in fact a range of still wines. The different grape varieties (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier) and different vineyard parcels will usually be fermented separately. The resulting wines are then reviewed once their fermentation has finished, to assemble the wines to create the desired blend, or cuvée.

The blend is then put into bottle, along with yeast and sugar, in order to undergo a second fermentation – this is the one that will transform the still wine into one with bubbles. Fermentation lasts a few weeks, but all Champagnes must then be left in the bottle for a period of time (legally 12 months at a minimum) before disgorgement of the yeast sediment and re-corking. During that time in bottle, the wine will interact with the lees (dead yeast cells), thereby developing additional flavours and complexity. Champagne makers who want their wines to express youthful fruitiness and freshness in their wines will generally age them for a shorter time on the lees. Those looking for greater depth and complexity will, naturally, want to age their Champagnes for longer – sometimes much longer.

I’m no accountant, but even I can work out that long ageing has a financial cost – not being able to sell your Champagne until it is over six years old is going to impact your cash flow. Champagnes like these cannot be made cheaply or quickly.

Where to find de Castelnau Champagnes?

They are stocked by restaurants and independent wine merchants. Spirited Wines (http://www.spiritedwines.co.uk/) and Nicolas wine shops list the full range of de Castelnau Champagne.

De Castelnau Brut Réserve NV - £29.99 Spirited Wines/Nicolas

This is what they like to call “a Vintage soul in a Brut Non Vintage body”, with its complexity and depth of flavour. It makes for a very versatile style with hints of wild mushroom, toastiness and nuts.

De Castelnau Brut Vintage 2002 - £39 Spirited Wines/Nicolas

2002 is regarded as a great year for Champagne, so this is one for real Champagne lovers to search out. With eleven years on the lees, this has developed a range of quite savoury flavours – it is a gastronomic Champagne to serve with food.

In order to signal their high quality credentials, and to mark their centenary in 2016, de Castelnau are launching a prestige cuvée, dubbed Hors Catégorie, the name a nod to the toughest climbs of the Tour de France. The style is a departure from their house style, with “just” five years on the lees and with a blend of three different years in the cuvée. This finely etched Champagne is made in tiny quantities, in eye-catching packaging. If you spy a bottle, it can be yours for £85.

Romanian wines have come a long way

Sometimes I am brought up sharply by the realisation of just how much change has gone on in Eastern Europe since the fall of Communism.

My children (13 and 14) are very used to rubbing shoulders with tourists from all over the world, including Eastern Europe, on trips to London. So when I tell them that, until the 1990s, for citizens of Poland, Latvia, Romania and elsewhere, free travel to Western Europe did not exist, they have a look of blank incomprehension. The idea that a government could forbid its own people from visiting whichever country they liked is beyond their understanding.

 

Travel was only one area of life that was state-controlled in the not so distant past. The wine industry was too - and industry it certainly was, with no reward for quality but a utilitarian focus on maximising production, just like any other agricultural product in Soviet-era Eastern Europe. In Romania this meant planting vines on unsuitable land and planting low quality (but high yielding) hybrid varieties.

Now these countries are working hard to re-build their wine industries, based on quality this time -  and on making wines that people actually want to drink.

Romania has been one of the most successful in the new, open era and remains the biggest wine producer in Eastern Europe. The vineyard area may be 20-30% smaller now than it was under Communism, but there is an undoubted ambition and pride in what is made there – though we see very little of it here in the UK, as only 3-4% is exported.

Romanian wine producers in recent years have tended to rely on producing good value versions of international style wines from internationally recognized varieties, most notably Pinot Noir. Now, however, more producers are emerging who are also intent on building a reputation for their store of native grape varieties, which represent around half of all plantings in Romania.  

Cramele Recas, one of the country’s biggest and most forward thinking wineries, straddles both these camps, and with some success. They are responsible for producing attractively labelled, consumer-friendly wines made from both international varieties and native Romanian ones – as well as more ambitious wines.

Bradshaw Pinot Noir 2014 - £5 from Asda

Recas make some of the most appealing (and almost bizarrely cheap) Pinot Noir in Romania. It has lightweight, cherry fruit with real Pinot character. Don’t expect Grand Cru Burgundy at this price, but it certainly over delivers for the price.

The Wine Atlas Feteasca Regala 2015 - £4.97 from Asda

Another clever Recas label (this one makes me think of inter-war film posters) with a neat wine in the bottle. You can see why Romania’s native varieties will not be troubling the likes of Chardonnay and Shiraz on the global stage: Feteasca Regala, a white grape, is never going to trip off the tongue quite so easily. However, I like the juicy, ripe, fruit and crisp finish of this, another absolute bargain.

Prince Stirbey, by contrast, is a producer determined to champion the native varieties of Romania.

Prince Stirbey Tamaioasa Romaneasca 2015 - £9.50 from The Wine Society

Tamaioasa, (often known as “the frankincense grape”) is a local clone of Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, a variety known primarily for making lusciously sweet wines with floral, grapey aromas. This, though, is a dry wine, with just hints of exotic rose petal and spice aromas. It is dry and quite fleshy, without being flabby.

Prince Stirbey Feteasca Regala 2015 - £12.50 from Oddbins

Meaning “royal maiden”, Feteasca Regala is Romania’s most widely planted grape variety. It too has some Muscat-like aromas, with a lovely textured palate and a pleasantly dry finish, thanks to the variety’s natural tannins.

The state of the (English wine) nation

Every year London hosts the English Wine Producers’ tasting, featuring hundreds of English - and Welsh - wine, though no Scottish wine (yet) that I’m aware of. I manage to get along to the tasting most years and there is no denying that the overall quality of the wines on show is getting better and better as the years pass.

Proof, if any were needed, that English sparkling wine is really coming of age, is that the Champenois have a bit of a bee in their bonnet about it. Last year, apparently, they were all abuzz about the threat of Prosecco; this year, it’s English fizz that is exercising them. And I’ve already written about Champagne Taittinger’s investment in vineyard land in a joint venture in Kent (see Surrey Advertiser 22 April edition or read it online here: http://yourliquidassets.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-irrestistible-rise-of-english-wines.html.

Some styles of wine are always going to be a challenge to produce in the UK: it’s just not possible to reliably make red wines in our cool climate. There are usually some red wines made, somewhere in England, every year. But it’s unusual for the same producer to be able to make a red wine, year in , year out.

New World winemakers often talk about some of their wines coming from cool climates, but it’s all relative. They should stand in an English vineyard on the North Downs in March if they want to know what cool climate really means.

Still white and rosé wines are a much safer bet in our climate, but it is, still, the sparkling wines that are England’s vinous crowning glory.

My thoughts following the English Wine Producers’ tasting this year:

• Red wines, even in the favourable conditions of 2014, are still a niche style (together red and rosé wines account for just 10% of total production).
• English still rosés do best when they do not try to copy other countries, but develop their own style, with the emphasis on delicate, red fruit, a tiny bit of sweetness to balance the crisp acidity and lowish alcohol.
• There remain too many still white wines that are rather lollyish and floral – a legacy of using Germanic hybrid grape varieties designed to withstand the cold weather.
• Sparkling wines are still the pinnacle of our national wine scene, witnessed by the huge medal haul achieved in international competition this year. Some of the best producers have been at it for a while (such as Nyetimber and Ridgeview), but there are some really exciting newcomers too, including Hattingley Valley and Exton Park.

Here is a smattering of some of my favourite wines from the tasting:

Greyfriars Pinot Gris 2014 - £13.50, available from the vineyard/online

Mike and Hilary Wagstaff took over this vineyard in 2010 and have been focused on growth and quality improvements ever since. This has lovely Pinot Gris juicy stone fruit with a touch of spice. It’s low in alcohol (11.5%) and pleasingly dry. Check out their sparkling Blanc de Blancs too.

Chapel Down English Rose 2015 - £10.49 from Majestic, £10.99 from Waitrose and elsewhere

I think the Rose – not Rosé – in the name is quite intentional. Chapel Down are a long-established name in the English wine scene and manage to make consistently good still wines, as well as sparkling. This Pinot Noir dominant blend makes for a lovely combination of strawberry fruit and a whiff of English hedgerows in Maytime.

Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2010 – widely available at around £33

One of the pioneers and still showing its class. I like the way they release their wines with a bit of age – the naturally high acidity in English wine means they benefit from the mellowing effect of more time maturing on the lees and in the cellar before drinking. This is a blend of the classic Champagne varieties of Pinot Noir (just over half the blend), with Chardonnay and a little Pinot Meunier. It’s a classically rich style with baked apple and bready flavours.

Where to find English wines

English wine lovers should get themselves to a branch of Waitrose or Marks & Spencer. Both have been supporters for a while, but are both in the process of radically increasing the number of English wines on their shelves.

English Wine Week

You can get up close and personal with English wines during English Wine Week, which takes place from Saturday 28^th May to Sunday 5^th June. Details of events, vineyard open days and more can be found here: http://www.englishwineproducers.co.uk/news/eww/

The other Cabernet

In most wine lovers’ books, Cabernet is shorthand for Cabernet Sauvignon, one of wine’s global superstar varieties. However, there is another Cabernet, rather less celebrated, that deserves more recognition – and which might just be on its way to coming out from the shadows: Cabernet Franc.

With such similar names, you might imagine that these two Cabs are related, and you would be right. It might surprise you to know, though, that it is Cabernet Franc that is the genetic daddy, and Cabernet Sauvignon the young pretender.

Cabernet Franc is an ancient variety that seems to have originated in the Spanish part of the Basque country and at some point it headed north to Bordeaux, where it retains a stronghold. Once there it got together with Sauvignon Blanc and the result was Cabernet Sauvignon.

Bordeaux is all about blends, so Cabernet Franc is usually found in a supporting role there and is rarely the headline act, even if its influence is key. Further north, in the Loire Valley, Cabernet Franc gets to sing solo in famous red wine appellations such as Chinon, Bourgueil and Saumur Champigny.

New World winemakers have not, it has to be said, fallen over themselves in their rush to plant Cabernet Franc. But those who have tried, and got it right, are making some delicious, fresh, perfumed and juicy wines that could be stars in the making.

Here are some of my favourite Cabernet Francs, ranging from their French homeland to the foothills of the Andes.

Les Nivières Saumur Cabernet Franc 2014 - £8.99, Waitrose

This is an ever-reliable Waitrose stalwart that demonstrates the variety’s appealingly fresh, sappy red fruit character. This is a perfect summer lunch wine (come on sun!).

Domaine des Roches Neuves “Terres Chaudes” 2013 – around £22 from Les Caves de Pyrène (Guildford) and other independent merchants

This is the other face of Cabernet Franc – here there is elegance, but also ageworthiness and power from a leading organic and biodynamic estate in Saumur-Champigny.

Pulenta Estate Gran Cabernet Franc 2011 - £22.95 from Winedirect.co.uk, £28 from Harvey Nichols

This Argentinian beauty is the New World Cab Franc that really made me sit up and take notice. This is ripe but so refined, with elegant, layered fruit that unfolds on the palate. A stunner, and a great demonstration of what a bright future this variety could have in Argentina. For a more wallet-friendly introduction, search out Bodega Atamisque Serbal Cabernet Franc 2015, £11.99 from New Forest Wines, Fareham Wine Cellar and The Guildford Wine Company.

If you are still in any doubt as to the quality and pedigree of Cabernet Franc, then I suggest you pick up a bottle of legendary St-Emilion producer, Château Cheval Blanc 2000 (47% Cabernet Franc, the rest Merlot) next time you’re browsing the shelves of Hedonism Wine in Mayfair. I tasted it at Cheval Blanc three years ago and it was quite sublime – and a bottle can be yours for a smidge under £1300.

The irrestistible rise of English wines

Something happened a few months ago, back in the dark days of December, something that had been whispered about for years. If you aren’t a keen follower of UK wine trade news you might have missed it, but the fact is that a Champagne house has finally invested in English vineyard land.

Taittinger, one of the most well-respected family-owned Champagne houses, has purchased 69 hectares of land in Kent, which will be planted with the three classic Champagne varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, with the aim of eventually producing 300,000 bottles a year of sparkling wine to be marketed under the name Domaine Evremond. Taittinger is the largest investor in the project, which also involves Hatch Mansfield, their UK importer, as well as other investors.

While the launch of a new English vineyard dedicated to producing high quality sparkling wine is not exactly news nowadays, the fact that the money and expertise behind it comes from Champagne itself is highly significant. For English wine production to gain the seal of approval of a major Champagne name marks an important milestone for the industry.

Overseas investment by the Champenois is not new: Champagne houses have expanded their businesses and extended their brands by investing in the New World over the past decades. For example, Roederer Quartet is Champagne Louis Roederer’s Californian venture; Moët & Chandon has established Domaine Chandon in Australia and Chandon in California. Rumours have swirled around the English wine industry of interest from our friends across the Channel, but, until now, that’s all they have been.

As well as appreciating the boost that outside investment provides for our home-grown wines, we should also recognise the financial realities behind this decision to invest in English vineyards – it’s a pre-requisite that the investors have to believe in the potential to make a high quality product which will be worthy of the Champagne Taittinger name. But it is also true that expanding production via investment in this country is considerably easier and cheaper than it is back in Champagne. There, a hectare of land will cost in excess of 1 million Euros, up to 1.8 million Euros for the very best, Grand Cru, sites. Compare that with an average price here of around £25,000 (a little over 31,000 Euros). Though we don’t know how much Taittinger and the other investors paid for their particular patch of Kent apple orchard, and it is reported to amount to a multi million pound investment over ten years, it will still be many times cheaper than the equivalent in Champagne.

In addition, the currently approved land which is authorised to grow grapes for Champagne is in effect fully planted, so there is just not the same opportunity to buy vineyard land there in the first place. And when a Champagne grower wants to sell up, it’s a seller’s market, hence the stratospheric prices.

So Taittinger’s investment in old Blighty is in part a touching act of faith in the long term potential for English wine – but it is also a hard-headed, prudent way for a growing business to expand in a financially viable way.  As for the wine itself, it will be a decade or more before we get to taste the fruits of Domaine Evremond – sparkling wine is a game that requires both deep pockets and patience.

100 wines every wine lover should try

Do you sometimes feel like you’re stuck in a wine rut? Sticking to the same tried and trusted wines, sometimes tempted to spend a bit more for a special occasion, but not really sure it was worth it?

The Association of Wine Educators are here to help – and in the interests of full disclosure, I should make it clear that I’m the chairman of the Association – with their second annual list of 100 AWEsome wines. That’s AWE as in Association of Wine Educators – see what we did there?

The eighty or so members of the Association spend their working days (and often evenings) educating and entertaining people around the country on the subject of wine. And when they’re not educating others, they are probably attending tastings, masterclasses or embarking on a study tour (yes, tough job I know) to keep their knowledge up to date. So, between us, we know quite a lot about a lot of wines.

The point of 100 AWEsome wines is to share some of our personal favourite wines of the moment – they must all be great value for money as a starting point, but also have that extra something that makes them stand out from the crowd. It could be a textbook example of a classic Rioja Crianza (number 20) or Beaujolais (number 26). Or something more off the beaten track, that, as wine lovers, we would love more people to discover, such as a Tamâioasa Româneasca from Romania (number 12) or a German Pinot Noir (number 55).

Whatever your wine tastes, you’ll find plenty to like amongst the selection. Wines are split between Under £10 sections and £10-£25 sections for red and white wines. There are also rosé, sweet and sherry categories and a brilliant and wide-ranging selection of sparkling wines, from Crémant to Premier Cru Champagne, via Prosecco, Cava, Franciacorta and more.

Below are some wines from the list to give you a flavour:

Days of Summer Miguel Torres 2014, Chile - £7.49 from Majestic (mix six price)

You don’t have to enjoy this off-dry, light and gorgeously refreshing wine only in the summer months – it will bring the feel of summer to you. This is a floral-scented delight and a wine which actually tastes of grapes…and grapefruit, apple, pineapple and mango. (Recommended by Laura Clay)

Les Nivières Saumur Cabernet Franc 2014, France - £8.99 from Waitrose

This delicious red from the south bank of the Loire is produced from the so often undervalued Cabernet Franc grape. Medium-bodied, full of vibrant, intense red/blackcurrant acidity, it can be enjoyed lightly chilled as an aperitif. Especially good with rosemary scented grilled lamb chops. (Recommended by Hazel Tattersall)

AA Badenhorst Secateurs Rosé 2015, South Africa - £11.50 from SWIG (online)

A beautiful salmon colour rosé from the masterful maverick winemaker Adi Badenhorst. A blend of Cinsault and Shiraz, with a touch of both Carignan and Grenache from 50+ year old vines. A lick of tannin lends structure, the acidity is fresh and zingy with yellow and pink citrus, also a basketful of summer red berries. (Recommended by Angela Reddin)

Villa Maria Private Bin Lightly Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc 2014, New Zealand - £11 from Morrison’s

Something a little different, this relatively new “gently sparkling” wine has all the well-loved and inviting flavours and aromas of a still Sauvignon Blanc with a little bubbly frisson to jazz it up. (Recommended by Nicky Ladwiniec)

You can find the entire list of 100 AWEsome wines online via the AWE website here: http://www.wineeducators.com/100-awesome-wines/. If you’d like a physical copy of the brochure, email me on heather@redwhiteandrose.co.uk.

Here’s to making 2016 a year of drinking adventurously!