After a recent bout of insomnia, in the early hours of the morning with the glow of my Kindle tempting me to download something new I stumbled on "I Blame Morrissey" by Jamie Jones. So far so good, it’s always reassuring reading another music obsessive's take on the 1990s indie bands. For me, it started years ago & although I grew up around music (my mum is Grade 8 classically trained, although my dad played everything loud – not many people did that with Peters and Lee and Doctor Hook but there you go).
I’m still friends with my school mates and we still are obsessive about bands. Way back at school we all loved AC/DC but some of us dabbled on the darker side of rock (yes, Progressive is the word I’m trying to avoid). Rush are a Canadian band, still going strong and about to celebrate their 50th anniversary. In 1981 however they released an album (yes, vinyl) called 'Moving Pictures'. As I’d just started teaching myself to play guitar this was a real eye opener – cracking guitar parts, hooks aplenty, odd time signatures and a great instrumental track called 'YYZ' – that we’d all try and work out how on earth to play it (Mark “Benny” Jones taught me the solo part over a long week of evenings that summer). This was around the time of our ‘first gigs without parental involvement’, John saw Rush before me (at what was in effect a Cow Shed in Staffordshire, AKA Bingley Hall) – I saw them at the NEC on the next tour. The crowd went bananas during 'YYZ', I assumed just because they liked it. So, signs, being a Canadian band, I now years later realise that 'YYZ' is the airport code for Toronto Pearson International Airport – hence the expats getting (over) excited.
As I’d worked my way through a number of cheap (“cheese grater”) guitars back then I decided I’d better get a half decent one – Joe Strummer always played a Fender Telecaster, and this was because he’d seen Wilko Johnson of Doctor Feelgood playing one – so I wanted to follow suit. I still have my beloved first Fender Telecaster years later (and a few others but that’s just collecting I guess) – but the Fender logo still reassures me. Last week I even upgraded the face plate to a genuine ‘mint green’ one – again with my much loved Fender Logo.
In the wine world, there are many logos that appear – but last night I opened a new Yapp wine (Vin de Pays de Vaucluse: Domaine de Durban Viognier 2014) that as I’d opened the bottle straight from the fridge I saw the stamp “Vigneron Indépendant” – so being reassured I waded in – and safe to say it was all it should be, just like Fenders! After eating I picked up another glass of the Viognier, picked up a Telecaster and pondered writing a song called BRS (Bristol Airport’s International Code) – but thankfully thought better of it!
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.
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!
The start of our trade event season for 2011 began this week with our hosting a stand at The Specialist Importers Trade Tasting event (SITT) 2011 in Manchester (Monday) and London (Wednesday). We have worked at this event for the past couple of years and watched it grow into an already much talked about interesting show for the smaller, specialist merchants in the UK wine trade.
The SITT acronym is an ironic one as a long day is spent on one’s feet tasting, chatting and advising a steady flow of guests including Sommeliers, Journalists, fellow wine merchants and consultants. There was certainly precious little time to sit!
Michael and Tom attended the Manchester event, which as a rule is a little quieter than the London one. Tom the hot footed it back to help Jason and I look after things in London at Vinopolis in the historic Borough market near London Bridge.
We always try to keep our wine selection fairly small and snappy, but equally try to reflect as much of our varied and wide-ranging portfolio as possible. This tasting provided a good opportunity to look at some of our 2009 vintages that are going to be firmly at the forefront of our 2011 list. The white wines were all particularly well received on the day (which may partly reflect the ambient temperature of a packed hall)!
I thought that our Condrieu Terroirs 2009 (100% Viognier) from Francis Merlin was an excellent wine; good body, with lots of that AC typical minerality that makes Viognier wines from this area so interesting and different. One of the comments from a journalist who tasted it on the day was that it was refreshing to try a Condrieu that actually tasted like Condrieu is meant to, which is something very different from Viognier found elsewhere in the wine world. A third of the assemblage is put into oak and this helps carry the complex flavours through to a long and satisfying finish. This is a great early showing for the 2009 Rhône wines that we have been telling you about for the past couple of months.
Domaine Saparale Vin de Corse Sartène Rosé 2009 (Nielluccio, Sciacarello and Vermentino) is a stand out rosé wine. From sun-blessed Corsica, it has a lovely pale Salmon colour with lots of mouth-filling summer fruit flavours as well as crisp, slightly savoury tinge. This is Spring/Summer drinking out on the terrace with a salad or some seafood.
All of the reds that we had on show are firm favourites of mine and I am really pleased that our Pascal Frères Gigondas 1999 was well received by people on the day. Gigondas is generally a younger, more rustic cousin to the refined, maturity of good Châteauneuf du Pape and it is not often that you can find it available with any decent age. We are fortunate to have a long standing working relationship with Yves Cheron and he continually delights with his late release of these great value wines. Don’t get me wrong, this Gigondas does not have the rich complexity of good Châteauneuf, but to be fair it also does not have the price tag! Beautiful autumnal flavours expand on the palate, the rusticity of youth has been mellowed with age into a smooth, warming wine. Plenty of classic cigar box aromas and long finish, make this a wine for slow, relaxed contemplation. A great value wine in my opinion.
Overall, it was another successful event, lots of interesting wines on show and a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and new. When the doors finally closed after a busy day dispensing wine, we continued the long standing wine trade tradition and swapped the grape for the grain with a quick refreshing beer from the nearest market tavern, albeit though, still no seat to be had.
It’s our final day in the Rhône valley and we are beginning to flag a little as we wend our way out of Orange once again at 8.30am. We’ve long since given up trying to convince friends and family that tasting wine is an arduous task, but you can have too much of a good thing. We are now well into three figures for wines tasted and considered this week for our Rhône 2009 vintage report, so we are both looking forward to getting back home. Yet it’s hard to feel sorry for ourselves as we roll up at Domaine Saint Gayan in 20 degree sunshine. Its 9am and Mont Ventoux towers above us in a blue sky, beautiful but brutal, and Jean-Pierre Meffre takes us through his gamme covering Sablet, Rasteau, Gigondas and Châteauneuf-du-Pape (where he owns less than a hectare that abuts the vineyards of Beaucastel). We taste a succession of vintages and its clear that the 2009's will have a freshness and elegance by comparison with their beefier 2007 siblings.
Heading north (on the home stretch now) we arrive at Domaine Biguet just outside Saint Péray, west of Valence. We’re an hour late for our tasting but Jean-Louis Thiers remains relaxed and promptly shows us in to his neat tasting room. Saint Péray is commonly recognised for its sparkling wines that historically out-priced Champagne, but the still version (also made from 100% Marsanne) deserves to be better known, with aromas of orchard fruit and a ripe, rich palate.
Our final tasting en route to Lyon airport is fittingly at Domaine Georges Vernay in Condrieu. Here we taste the range of 2009 Viogniers for which the estate is justifiably world-renowned, as well as red Côtes du Rhône (interestingly from vines within the AOC limits of Condrieu) and a sleek St Joseph from 35 year old vines. Paul Amsellem (Christine Vernay’s husband) is gamely hosting a large party of Norwegians, so winemaker Christine conducts our tasting and the conversation flows from yields and lieu-dits to the ‘dematerialisation’ of the music industry.
Alas, we have to flee as our return flight beckons, but it’s been one hell of a week!
Jason & Tom.
A few years ago I had the good fortune to be introduced to the artist Glen Baxter after a rather long lunch (me not him) at the Academy Club in Soho. I am sure I gushed on at length about what a great admirer of his work I am but fortunately Glen has a tolerant disposition and I managed to procure (and not lose) his e-mail address.
I’ve been big on Baxter ever since I graduated with an enormous overdraft in the late 1980’s and found (almost) gainful employment delivering faxes around the vast offices of Arthur Andersen's management consultancy on Surrey Street off the Strand. The up-side of working in such a capitalist stronghold was the chance to admire their superb collection of modern art as I toured the labyrinth of corridors delivering uber important missives and smutty jokes to the power-brokers therein. Andersen’s owned lots of Glen Baxter paintings and I loved their nostalgic imagery of cowboys, girl guides, and explorers in pith helmets - all in mad-cap scenarios coupled with hilarious captions in the distinctive Baxter font.
There is an old maxim that one should never meet ones heroes but after gingerly exchanging e-mails with Glen I soon discovered that he was a keen oenophile and Francophile and something of a kindred spirit. To cut a long-ish story shorter I eventually managed to cajole Glen into illustrating our 2008 wine list which he did with aplomb inspired by bottles of his personal favourite - Christine Vernay’s ‘Le Pied de Samson’ Viognier. The finished list, which was verging on being a graphic novella, was a great success and by popular demand we also produced a set of ‘Adventures in Wine’ postcards and a limited edition poster both of which are destined to become collectors’ items.
Glen’s distinctive and witty work is not only popular on these shores he regularly contributes to Le Monde newspaper in France and his paintings are widely exhibited all over the world. This summer the attractive University town of Poitiers, in mid-west France played host to a major exhibition of Glen’s work celebrating the rich gastronomic culture of Poitou-Charentes. Colourful images depicting all-manner of culinary specialities from Macarons de Montmorillon to Chevreau à la Poitvine were displayed in the principal libraries and galleries and huge monochrome images were hung to dramatic effect on the sides of municipal buildings. This Baxter-fest was too good an opportunity to miss so at the end of our summer holidays I re-routed our 700 mile return journey through Poitiers so that we could marvel at the biggest Baxters known to man. To have the tedium of a long drive broken by an artistic treat was terrific and I even managed to send Glen one of his own postcards to prove we’d made the pilgrimage.
If you want to find out more about the weird world of Glen Baxter then I would heartily recommend that you pay a visit to his website: www.glenbaxter.com
‘Adventures in Wine’ postcards are available from Yapp Brothers at £4.95 per pack of 10 postcards (including postage and packaging) and signed ‘Adventures in Wine’ posters are available at £45 (including postage and packing).
Here at Yapp Brothers we love our staff tastings but it is sometimes, in these days of multi-tasking and role covering, quite difficult to muster a respectable turn out. However last Friday was one opportunity when most of the Yapp team were present in Mere, so we made full use of the time to further our vinous education with a tasting based around a theme of aromatic wines. These make for wonderful summer drinking and are generally lighter, cool climate wines, usually unoaked, but big on bouquet. We tasted a flight of three Rieslings – two from our Australian producers and a classic example from the Alsace.
Our Neagles Rock Vineyards’ Riesling 2007 from the Clare valley (an area renowned for Riesling) is bottled under Stelvin® screwcap and comes in at 12.5% abv. We’ve just finished the 2007 vintage which was superb with a few years bottle age, and the 2009 compared well. This was very lively with the classic kerosene aroma, tight and minerally with plenty of lemon and lime characteristics. This would be perfect with spiced Asian cuisine (with chilli and coriander) but also ideal as a bracing aperitif.
Next up was the Jasper Hill Riesling 2009 (12%) from Heathcote in Victoria. This originates from a much warmer area of Australia, and is not currently commercially available as it is ‘dry-grown’ without irrigation and yields have been hit hard by drought over successive recent vintages. The reason wine-maker Ron Laughton doesn’t want to irrigate his vines is because as water gets ever scarcer, there will surely come a time when there will be a hefty financial charge for its use. If winemakers are already irrigating, they will either have to pay for the privilege in the future, or their vines will die because their root systems will be too shallow to reach any moisture. Again, the wine displayed a strong lemon and lime character, less minerally than the Neagles and a little more honeyed with an elegant petrolly finish.
The Alsace Riesling 2004 (12.5% abv) from Charles Schléret was much darker in colour and very interesting to note that it was much fuller and more concentrated on the nose that it’s Australian counterparts. So often it’s the other way around with other grapes. This is a much bigger wine all round – fruitier, richer, more honeyed, mellower and full of flavours of mango and lychees. A perfect food wine.
Now to the Viognier comparisons. A tricky grape to grow but well worth the effort. Even though its heartland is in the Northern Rhône, it doesn’t mind the heat, so the Jasper Hill Georgia's Paddock Viognier 2009 which we have available for the first time at Yapp, thrives in the warmer climes of Victoria. It had a golden straw colour and it showed a very concentrated nose, with some oak influence and mango and peach notes prominent. A big wine (15% abv) – muscular and buttery but still nicely balanced. We then tried the Condrieu Terrasses de L’Empire 2008 from Domaine Georges Vernay located in Viognier’s spiritual homeland. Georges’ daughter Christine took over the wine making here in 1997 s and still retains the exacting standards set by Georges when he, virtually single-handedly resuscitated the appellation during the 1970’s. Lighter in colour than the Jasper Hill, but showing the typical white flower and soft fruit nose of peach and pear. A decidedly fleshy palate of minerals and mango – very elegant and more restrained.
Two other wines which were very appropriate for the aromatic category were also from Charles Schléret - his Alsace (Tokay) Pinot Gris 2007 (14%abv) and the Gewurztraminer 2007 (14.5%abv). The former is made from the same grape that gives you the blandest versions of mass-produced Pinot Grigio, this was the opposite with a deep straw colour and a very rich nose of dried fruits and marzipan with a hint of yeast. The palate was typically Alsatian – oily and unctuous with a complex minerality in the finish. An ideal partner to foie gras. The final wine of the tasting was one of Charles’ finest – a terrific example of what Gewurztraminer should be like. A big, rich, but well-balanced wine, full of the classic aromas of turkish delight, rose petals, and lychees with a fine minerality and a hint of white pepper. Again foie gras or the pungent local Münster cheese would make for fine accompaniments.
Our taste buds were so stimulated by the aromatic wine experience, that some of us promptly ordered a Chinese that evening to experience the various flavours with food. The wines paired up extremely well with a variety of dishes. I wonder if I can book that out on expenses?
