Ludovic Gigou – Jasnières

A recent whistle-stop visit to the Loire valley confirmed that 2012 was a tough year in Northern France. Some wine growers, such as Joel & Ludovic Gigou in Jasnières, lost as much as 80% of their harvest due to a combination of mildew and hail. Yet, as ever, it doesn’t pay to generalise about a wine region that runs from Atlantic-swept Nantes in the West to land-locked Saint Pourçain near the Allier forest, a river journey of 1,000km.

As a general rule of thumb, the further East one went – towards Chinon, Menetou Salon and Sancerre, the better the conditions. The Teillers’ and Vatans’ whites had all the zing that you would hope for in a Loire Sauvignon and the reds from Chinon and the Bourgeuil areas were unexpectedly deep violet in colour and ripe of red fruit on the palate.

Reductions in harvest volume ranged between 10-80% which, although a set back, is certainly no hammer blow after the run of excellent recent vintages between 2009-2011, coupled with farmers’ insurance.

Frederik Filliatreau – Chateau Fouquet – Saumur

Not a great year, but far from a disaster and many good wines were made. However they, like us, will be hoping for a better (and easier) Summer in 2013.

Sauvignon falls into the tiny category of grape varieties that are so popular that people order them in pubs and bistros without even specifying a preferred geographical point of origin – see also Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. While such a cavalier approach (which is even more prevalent Stateside than on these shores) may be leaving a lot to chance it does indicate a remarkable degree of consumer confidence. The trouble is that most grape varieties, even the most prolific ones, tend to be soil and climate sensitive and one has to pay a premium for the best viticultural real estate. If you walk into your local boozer and ask for ‘a large glass of Sauvignon’ you are unlikely to be given a glass of top-notch Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé.

Emilie at Domaine Gardrat

Just as the housing market is constantly looking for new hotspots with undervalued properties ripe for gentrification so wine merchants quest for hidden gems. We are indebted to our friend Isabelle Legeron MW for tipping us off about Domaine Gardrat in her native Charente a few years ago while she was researching her Master of Wine thesis. Here on the chalky uplands above Bordeaux a mild maritime climate, great light levels and a free-draining soil provide an ideal habitat for cultivating Sauvignon Blanc. Jean-Pierre and Lionel Gardrat’s wine does not have the weight and intensity of a premium Sauvignon Blanc with a premium price-tag but it does demonstrate an incredible lightness of touch – restraint even – and it is incontrovertibly great value for money. It has subtle elderflower and nettle aromas and a light, racy, almost ethereal palate with gentle mineral nuances and a delicate, dry finish. It works well as a versatile ‘out of the fridge’ aperitif or accompaniment to salads or seafood. If you were served a glass in a pub you would be thrilled!

Following the inaugural Natural Wine Fair in London in May I entered into an interesting correspondence with a journalist called Sarah Scott who writes for a magazine called Vegetarian Living. Sarah had attended the Natural Wine Fair and had been impressed by some of the wines on tasting there and was keen to write a feature on natural wines. As we have mentioned (frequently) beforehand ‘natural wines’ are fairly loosely defined at present but are fundamentally organic or biodynamic wines that are made with minimal intervention in the vineyard and cellar. Sarah just wanted to double-check on the credentials of natural wines with regard to their suitability for consumption by a) vegetarians and b) vegans.

One could be forgiven for thinking that (as it is made from fruit juice) all wine is suitable for both groups but that is not the case. The crux here is to do with products that are used to clarify or ‘fine’ wines and these can be of animal origin. One might reasonably assume that organic and biodynamic wines cannot be made using animal products but that is not the case either, as I discovered from consulting Monty Waldin’s excellent book ‘Biodynamic Wines’ [Mitchell Beazley 2004]: “If fining agents are used they must not be man-made, so the synthetic free radical PVPP is banned. All other fining agents used in conventionally grown wines – such as gelatin, egg-white, isinglass, and casein – are permitted.”
So it is possible to have a ‘natural wine’ that isn’t suitable for vegetarians or vegans.

This is pretty frustrating from a vegetarian stance as very few natural wine makers deploy either isinglass (which comes from the swim bladders of fish) or gelatin (from animal bones) as a fining agent but at present there is nothing saying they can’t so one cannot assume all natural wines are vegetarian-friendly. More irksome still is the fact there is rarely anything on a wine label telling you anything about this so it is necessary to check at source how the wine has been made if one wants a definitive answer.

The outlook is even more problematic from a vegan viewpoint. Lots of natural wine-makers use egg white (hopefully from outdoor-reared, organic hens) or casein (a milk derivative) to clarify their wines and wines made by such methods are not suitable for vegans. Plenty of natural wines are not fined or filtered at all or are fined without animal products so could be vegan friendly but there is currently no way of knowing without asking the producer or supplier. The use of horses to plough vineyards is increasingly popular in the natural wine making firmament but this, along with the use of animal manure in composts and milk-based sprays for vine treatments may raise issues for strict vegan adherents.

Clearly greater clarification is called for. Or maybe the answer is no clarification at all!

Perhaps I need to get out more…

Here are just some of the vegetarian wines in stock at Yapp Brothers:

• Côtes de Provence: Domaine Richeaume: Cuvée Tradition 2009
• Côtes du Roussillon: Cuvée Tradition 2007
• Vin de Pays Catalan: Empreinte du Temps Carignan 2007
• Vin de Corse Porto Vecchio: Domaine de Torraccia Rouge 2008
• Pic Saint-Loup: l’Arbouse 2009 Mas Bruguière
• Saumur Rouge: Domaine Filliatreau Château Fouquet 2010
• Jasper Hill: Georgia’s Paddock Shiraz 2007

Over the last 2 or 3 years, roughly coinciding with the onset of the Global Financial Crisis (which we used to naively call the ‘Credit Crunch’), there has been a growing ground swell of interest in ‘natural’ wines. One might assume that as wine is made from fermented grape juice it essentially a fairly natural product anyway, but sadly this is not always the case. As with other areas of agriculture, big businesses have left no stone unturned in their efforts to maximise yields and profits and many of them readily deploy all manner of pesticides and chemical fertilizers to achieve those goals. Happily an increasing number of wine drinkers are starting to question the provenance of what they are consuming and are no longer content to buy the mass-produced, ersatz, branded wines so beloved of supermarkets.
One difficulty for the nascent ‘natural wine’ movement is that there isn’t actually an official definition of what a natural wine is. Obviously a natural wine should be made in sympathy with the environment in which it is produced, but unlike organic and bio-dynamic wine there are (as yet) no clear-cut parameters. Enthusiasts agree that natural wines should be made with ‘minimal intervention’ in the vineyard and cellar, but that is open to very broad interpretation. Nearly all natural wines are certified as organic, bio-dynamic or are en conversion to one of these two, but there are some celebrated producers that see the certification process itself as back to front.  Take Ron Laughton of Jasper Hill Vineyards in Heathcote, South Australia: “What I don’t understand, though, is that the dirty bastards who can indiscriminately use agrochemicals don’t require any certification, yet I am being pressurized to be certified to be clean. It’s all topsy-turvy and we should be working the other way, to have the dirty guys certified to poison our environment.”

Ron Laughton - Jasper Hill Vineyards

Natural wine makers eschew the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers and other commendable precepts that they favour are hand-harvesting of grapes, not using cultivated yeasts and not fining or filtering prior to bottling; which inevitably increases the amount of sediment but also makes for more characterful wines.
A further key question is the adding of sulphur dioxide [SO2] to wine as a stabilizing or preservative agent. This is a bit of a thorny issue as there is a small group of purists who don’t hold with deploying any sulphur at all. Personally I think this stance is rather extreme as I have had some nasty experiences with unstable wines suffering from problems, such as secondary fermentation after bottling, and I favour the more catholic stance that ‘low’ levels of sulphur [less than 50 milligrams per litre] are more prudent.

Anyway regardless of doctrine (and I rather like fact that the natural wine movement is broad-minded enough to permit some flexibility) I think it is terrific that people are becoming more environmentally conscious about how wine is produced and are looking for more carefully-crafted, greener and less rampantly commercial wines.
An exciting new development for any discerning wine lover is the inaugural Natural Wine Fair to be held in Borough Market, London in May (Sunday 15th for private customers, Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th for press and trade visitors). This pioneering event is the brainchild of globe-trotting, Gallic wine guru Isabelle Legeron (the first French female Master of Wine: www.thatcrazyfrenchwoman.com) and Eric Narioo and Doug Wregg of inspirational and iconoclastic importers Les Caves de Pyrenne.

Isabelle Legeron MW

The Natural Wine Fair is being co-hosted by 5 founding wine merchant partners, among whom we are very pleased to feature – Dynamic Vines, Wine Story and Aubert & Mascoli completing the quintet. The Fair will play host to over 100 acclaimed wine makers who will be on hand to talk visitors through their wine-making philosophies as they sample their wares.  There will also be talks and presentations by experts on related topics, so this represents an ideal opportunity for those interested in natural wine to get further acquainted with the concept.

Some further happy news is that we have managed to cajole our old chum Glen Baxter into designing this superb poster for the occasion which is sure to become a collectors’ item.

So if you are bored to the back teeth of staid supermarket offerings, want to try some green, characterful and expressive wines, or are just curious what all the fuss is about do visit: www.thenaturalwinefair.com and book your tickets to what promises to be one of the best wine tasting events of the year. I look forward to seeing you there.

Last month we received the sad news that Isabelle Barantin had finally succumbed to the circling sharks and sold the iconic monopole vineyard of Château Grillet to François Pinault of Château Latour. I spoke to Isabelle on the phone shortly afterwards and made the mistake of congratulating her on the sale – the property had been discreetly on the market for quite some time. ‘Ne dis jamais ça’ was her terse response. Isabelle made it very clear to me that she had been a reluctant vendor – still a few million Euros in the current account must sugar the pill to some extent. While it is a shame that this unique 3.8 hectare site is passing out of a family ownership that dates back to the French Revolution at least Isabelle can leave with her head held high having restored the vineyard and wine to their full, outstanding potential during her 17 year stewardship.

Chateau Grillet estate by Jason Yapp.

I speak from direct experience as Yapp Brothers have shipped straight from the Château since the early 1970′s and I cannot think of a wine that has been more commercially controversial. Robert Parker described Château Grillet as being ‘overpriced and overrated’ in his 1997 book wines of the Rhône, which is not what you want to read when you are sitting on pallets of the stuff. For years I had a running dialogue with Jancis Robinson who doggedly catalogued its short-comings (there was even a derogatory comparison to Harrogate springs!) before she was finally won-over by the 2004 vintage: “France’s most idiosyncratic appellation, devoted to one producer with one amphitheatre of Viognier vines has been difficult to love for many vintages but in 2004 white Bordeaux wizard Denis Dubourdieu was brought in to give the wine a good scrub and here at last we have real freshness even at three years old. There’s a deeply mineral nose and then dense fruit and a wonderfully creamy finish. Even the most jaded wine enthusiast would be fascinated by this evidence of a new era at this famous white Rhône landmark.” Which, if you are trying to sell it, is much more uplifting.

Once, after a tasting in the Crown Hotel in Southwold when a room full of Masters of Wine had roundly berated the 1990 vintage, I did consider throwing in the towel but the great Rhône guru John Livingstone-Learmonth (www.drinkrhone.com) persuaded me to keep the faith on the grounds that the terroir at Château Grillet is unique and capable of producing outstanding wines.  Happily he was right (as gurus often are) and the vintage run from 2003 onwards, under Monsieur Dubourdieu’s influence has been fantastic. I tasted the 2005 last week with Farr Vintners boss Stephen Browett at Chabrot Bistro d’Amis  (www.chabrot.co.uk). It’s a bargain there, in London restaurant terms, at £95 a bottle and is drinking beautifully now. It is still a little closed on the nose and merits decanting but it has great vigour, length and minerality and is the perfect foil for classic French cuisine. I think it has a least a decade’s happy drinking ahead of it – as does the 2006 which is also stupendous. We are about to ship the keenly anticipated 2007 which will, I suppose, mark the end of an era. If the rumours of what M. Pinault paid for the property are even half accurate it may well also be the last ever vintage of Château Grillet that is remotely affordable, so my (highly partial) advice is to fill your boots before the Bordelais ramp up the prices – it’s unquestionably a buyers’ market!

Twickenham - West Stand

The England versus France rugby match, ‘Le Crunch’, that takes place at Twickenham every other year affords us a royal opportunity to make merry with our winemaker friends from across La Manche.  This year Messrs Pascal Labasse, Vincent Cantié and Maxime Graillot travelled over for the weekend with high expectations for ‘Les Bleus’.

Pascal Labasse & Vincent Cantié

This enabled us to furnish the traditional pre-match car park picnic (superbly organised by my old friend Charles Allen) with lashings of Jurançon sec, Collioure: La Pinède and Crozes Hermitage: Domaine des Lises.  Pascal commented that it was a treat to be able to drink his own wine in shadow of the West stand while entertaining high hopes for the match ahead.

Carpark Catering

Charles’ catering team, undaunted by the fact that our party had been joined by restaurateurs from Le Gavroche, Café Anglais and Chabrot, had sportingly provided a well-balanced menu with two main courses – a Gallic Beef Bourgignon and England’s most popular dish, Chicken Curry.

Charles Allen

There was as much debate as to which red went best with the curry as there was on who would score the first try, but there was unanimous agreement that Vincent Cantie’s excellent Banyuls was an ideal partner for the Chocolate Brownies and Pascal’s sweet Jurançon was as well-balanced a unit with the blue cheese as the English back row.

Spot The Ball

A torrential shower an hour before kick-off did little to dampen spirits and, unusually, the French saw this as a good omen, potentially negating ‘le Engleesh flair’.  Sadly (pour eux), it was not to be and in a tight, physical contest ‘Les Rosbifs’ came out as winners.  Our guests took it well and any dark mumblings about the referee-ing quality were quickly banished by post-match digestifs. Match analysis went long into the night, accompanied by toasts to good health, long lives and friendships augmented, with promises to do it all again in 2013.

Twickenham - Le Crunch