Hot, Hot, Hot!

A week may be a long time in politics but two weeks sure is a long time in the wine industry. The past two weeks have seen an fairly ordinary, coolish season turn into a tumultuous, steamy, damaging fortnight of extreme temperatures and frightening forest fires.

Vineyard owners have watched their grapes slowly cook over the past week and have been left with no choice but to start harvesting in a bid to save some of the crops. Some people have talked of 80% losses and though this seems extreme, yields are inevitably going to be lower than was previously expected. Whilst this may be good for reducing the current surpluses, it is likely to hit those already affected by low grape prices even further. Who said that wine was glamorous?!

The hot weather seems to have followed me on my trip, culminating in 48 degrees in Adelaide with a night time temperature that didn't dip below 34. Adelaide is now in the 9th day of the heatwave and it looks to be last year's record for long term heat

Highlight of the last week (of which much was spent in offices tasting bulk wines) was the trip to Tasmania to visit Domaine A and Clover Hill. Domaine A is always a fascinating visit - quite different from almost anything else in Tasmania or Australia. Peter Althaus' single minded dedication to making world class Cabernet is not only utterly mad, but totally inspiring. Having battled media scepticism and Tasmanian wariness, Domaine A is now firmly on the map as one of the country's leading cool climate wineries.

Tasting through the entire range is an important reminder that current "bagging" of the industry overseas is based on ignorance. There are fantastic winemakers in Australia, many of whom are taking "the route less travelled" and as a result making delicious, class, characterful wine.

Driving north, towards the Pipers River region of Tasmania ( through towns as madly monikered as Bagdad!)the heat built up so that by the time I reached the beautiful Clover Hill vineyard the mercury was rising towards 35+.

Sat out on the terrace of the petite winery, we tasted through an historic line-up of every vintage produced since the inaugural 1991. The complexity of style and crisp acids do not change throughout, though more recent changes to wood ageing of reserve wines has added more richness in latter vintages. Two wines stood out....

The 1998 Clover Hill Brut was on top form. Delicious, nutty, broad and honeyed with crisp acids and a long finish, this was the pick of the regular bottling. The 2001 Blanc de Blancs, not commercially released, was superemely delicious with tangy, honeyed citrus fruit, complex floral, mineral character and great length. Would be the perfect aperitif for my forthcoming wedding!

World's Apart

2009 and the world is a very different place. The economic turbulence currently affecting the UK and much of the world is being felt in all corners of the global wine world so where better to travel to in January than Australia!

I'm currently in Adelaide where the temperature rose to 46 degrees today and was the third highest temperature ever recorded in the city. Throughout Australia the heat is rising for vine growers and winemakers as they realise that the combination of a rapidly declining economic outlooks and a huge oversupply of wine is crippling the industry.

Here in South Australia the effects are far reaching as wineries try to clear stocks prior to harvest. Though this provides opportunities for enterprising wine merchants ( such as myself who is in Australia at exactly the time many are in the UK for the Aussie tastings), the long term effects of the current crisis are deeply worrying. Already there is much talk of huge amounts of fruit not being picked due to over supply and low prices. This may well lead to many warm climate irrigated vineyards being left to die - this is a sad sight but the shortage of economic warm climate fruit that may result in the future could provide wild price spikes in the coming vintages.

Cape Wine 2008

Though this view of the mountains of Stellenbosch might suggest that a visit to Cape Wine 2008 is idyllic, the reality is obviously very different! Believe me, days spent tasting wine and eating vast quantities of meat takes it toll...eventually.

This is my 4th visit to Cape Wine and this year promised a larger show with a more confident, mature industry ready to show that it can meet the very significant challenges that it faces on the export market. After a couple of days at the show and a further couple out with suppliers, it seems that, as ever, the picture in South Africa is mixed and there remains some work to do.

Our first day was spent with Bruwer Raats in the Polka Drei subregion of Stellenbosch. That many consumers are yet to work out where Stellenbosch is no obstacle to the many who are supportng further fragmentation into sub regions but though this move may be premature, there is no doubt that people like Bruwer Raats are the future of the industry.

Rather than taking a "scatter gun" approach to wine making, Bruwer takes a more focussed path and has become renowned for making just Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc from grapes grown on soil specific sites. His search for the sites that contain his ideal soil profile is exhausting and is paying dividends with precise, minerally, textured Chenin and bright, crunchy, fresh Cabernet Franc with terrific balance and drinkability.

The time spent at the show has been enlightening though there does not appear to have been the great leaps forward that perhaps have been seen in previous years. There is a continuing move to new, unique terroirs and overall handling of tannin and oak appears to hav improved. However, the continuing inability or seeming scientific research into what causes the dusty, rubbery character still to be found in many reds, is a a huge frustration and will keep the industry back from making the advances that many of its more ambitious winemakers deserve.

A couple more days to go on this trip and further visits to Stellenbosch await so perhaps the weather will improve - the winter here has been unusually long and harsh with snow on Table Mountain fairly recently - something that is almost unheard of.

More to follow.....

Winning Cruises

After a brief (!) break from blogging for the purposes of getting out there and selling some wine, it is time to get up to date....

Firstly, Alliance has had an amazing time at the awards over the last few weeks. At the International Wine Challenge, we've got no less than 6 trophies! Good ol' Prof from Majella has come up trumps again and took an incredible 4 trophies for his Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 - including best Aussie red for the 2nd year. Always nice to see the good guys winning through....

Domaene Wachau, our new Austrian producer also got in on the action and took 2 trophies - for best Austrian white wine and best Gruner Veltliner...

As if that wasn't enough, we've just heard that at the New Wave Spanish Wine Awards, we've also got 2 trophies. Well done to Cilar de Silos and Luis Canas!

Away from the awards winning business, I'm just back from a slightly surreal weekend doing a wine tasting on the 3rd largest cruise ship in the world. DLA Piper, the global legal firm, had it exclusively hired out for the weekend (can't see too many wine companies following them) and we (Robin and I) were the entertainment on the Saturday afternoon. After manfully struggling through Friday's opening party and then the added stress of which sunscreen to wear on the Saturday morning, it came as something of a shock to have to don the suit and do 2 tasting sessions on Saturday afternoon. All went well though and, with a little Zimbabwe-esque vore rigging, the competitive Spain versus France tasting ended in a draw. Well done to Robin for standing up for French pride in the face of my Spanish attack.....

After leaving the ship, I met up with the irrepresible Reg Ward...our man in Spain. After a somewhat fraught car hiring experience, we left Barcelona and headed in the direction of Rioja. Gorgeous weather and scenery all the way, a dreary lunch in a basement restaurant that seemed to be serving "all" the bits of a rabbit and then on to see Victor and Guillermina at Finca Manzanos. Watch this space for some significant changes to closures on these wines....Rioja goes all modern....

Sunday night in Laguardia was spent watching the football. Suprisingly subdued, the locals watched their country win the Euro final as we munched croquetas and drank a fantastic bottle of Contino...

Monday in Rioja was spent searching for a new wine to fill the Rioja slot in our new brand, Los Pecadillos. Not yet launched, this is set to be the most exciting project we have completed yet....you will all hear about it very soon!!!

Winds of change.....

A week into my latest trip down under and I've finally found some time to update the blog courtesy of a dismal evening in Christchurch, South Island! It always strikes me that although the countryside of New Zealand is spectacular and beautiful, some of its towns are a little less salubrious. After a tour of the possible eating venues this evening, I began to see why there also seems to be a variety of stores selling mind-bending drugs!

The week began in Melbourne and after a freshen up at the airport, it was straight into with a visit to the Shelmerdine vineyards up in Heathcote before ending up in the Yarra with Steve Webber of De Bortoli. Shelmerdine's wines continue to get better and better and though Heathcote remains perilously drought ridden, the Yarra vines have bounced back from the widespread frosts of 2006 with a good potential crop. The overnight stay with Steve Webber was an excellent opportunity to not only drink some nice wine, but to hear more of Steve's views on "wines with detail"......wines that rely on texture and complexity rather than fruit.

A visit to the Lusatia Park vineyards ,that provide the fruit for the PHI joint venture between Shelmerdine and De Bortoli, the following day rounded off my visit to the Yarra

Australia and New Zealand often appear to be quite close together but travelling to N.Z from Melbourne seemed to take an age. The flight to Auckland was delayed so the connection to Blenheim was missed and an overnight stay in Wellington resulted. An early flight the next day and finally I had reached my destination...Marlborough.

This region is positively booming with vineyards as far as the eye can see. The debate rages as to exactly how much further it can expand and retain credibility but it is quite clear that the N.Z Sauv Blanc bubble shows no sign of bursting. The purpose of the visit was to visit Owen and Wendy Glover whose Zephyr wines we have just taken on. With vines dating back to the mid 80's, their Dillon's Point vineyards are some of the most established in the region and have a good track record of supplying quality fruit to high profile labels like Wither Hills and Grove Mill. The first releases of Zephyr Sauv Blanc and Gewurz are just about to hit the UK so keep an eye out for what promises to be one of the best new releases for a long while. It's a real family operation and the quality of the wines is backed up with a passion and belief in the quality of what they do....

Tomorrow I'm off to Adelaide for a hectic couple of days with suppliers and also a significant UK buyer so it's going to be a busy but fun couple of days before the final leg in glorious Margaret River. Hopefully I'll get a chance to update again before I head off next Saturday.....

Winning Ways!

As many of you might have seen, Alliance had a great year at the International Wine Challenge this year with our suppliers picking up 4 trophies and us picking up the award for Best Australian Merchant. We also were runners up in the award for Best Spanish Merchant.....always nice to get some recognition!

Thanks must go to all of our Australian and Spanish suppliers and especially to "Prof" at Majella and Juan Luis Canas who both picked up 2 trophies this year. We'll be pushing to win both categories next year......

Keep an eye out for some great Aussie offers to tie in with the award........

Totally Wild!

After 11 hours on a plane with the company of 2 screaching infants (not mine!) beside me to remind me of the joys of British Airways cattle class, I arrived in the Cape on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, my luggage had not yet decided to get on the plane from Edinburgh! Couldn't even blame Heathrow this time....

After what they claim to have been one of the coldest, wettest winters on record, the Cape appears to be emerging fairly rapidly from the gloom with temperatures up to about 23 degrees yesterday - something we could only have wished for over our summer. First port of call was to see Virgin Earth - something Kobus du Plessis (also the owner of Havana Hills) has been pestering me about for years.

About 3 years ago, Kobus started talking about this amazing place far away from established wine regions and very close to both where he grew up and to his heart. Over a few drinks one evening in his Cape Town flat, we came upon the name Virgin Earth and the estate has been called this ever since.

Virgin Earth has recently been granted status as the only winery in the new Langeberg-Garcia district and after my visit, I feel sure that we are going to hear rather a lot about what is happening here. 44 000 acres sounds like a large property, but nothing can prepare you for the wide open expanses and sheer wilderness that confronts every one of your five senses.

Less than 20 hectares are planted to vines, with the rest being mountains and scrubby karoo terrain. A huge variety of native flowers and trees provide a habitat that is home to a wide variety of creatures. 3 hours riding in the dirt-eating rhino buggy exploring this wilderness brought sightings of Springbok, Oryx, Wildebeast, Ostrich, Terrapin, Tortoise, Antelope and Baboons - not to mention a huge variety of birds. Apparently leopards and foxes are also regular visitors just to add to the variety.

This is all extraordinary stuff - difficult to take in over such a short period of time and one can see why Kobus is so attached to the place. Perhaps more extraordinary still is the lengths that Kobus has gone to make this a quality wine estate. A lack of cool storage space for barrels early on in the development of Virgin Earth led to the bizarre but succesful practice of submerging barrels in the lake! Strange as it sounds, Kobus is convinced that the cool, dark surroundings lead to a a nice slow wood integration and helps to keep the wine tasting fresh. Not sure I can see Gallo adopting this approach just yet!

The challenges set by this remarkable terrain are various. During the growing season, the cool winds sweep down over the vineyards making it difficult to stand up and driving yields down. As one would also expect, water could also be a problem but Kobus has tapped into the natural water supplies from the mountains to fill various lakes and dams so that water is plentiful. Contruction of a huge lake is nearly complete and when finished, huge fountains will rise from the centre which, when caught by the wind, will spray just enough water over the vines to cool them down and slow the ripening process - ambitious stuff!!!

Kobus is not used to people saying no to him and doesn't accept that anything is impossible. Having seen Virgin Earth, it's easy to accept that whilst entirely mad, Kobus' inventive, visionary approach has made something that seemed to impossible to many, a reality.

We're yet to see the best of Virgin Earth and the 2008 vintage is possibly going to see the first wines that truly put the property on the map. I'm personally really inspired by projects like this - it's nothing about return on investment, it's not about making ordinary, consumer friendly wines but it is about pushing the boundaries and proucing wines with a real sense of place.