Sommaire pour December 2021 de Decanter

EDITOR’S LETTER It’s about time Wine can be intensely of the moment, but it can also be very much about the passing of time. That first taste can bring an instant flash of sheer pleasure. Yet we also acquire wines that may not reach their best for many years to come, laying down a marker for some point in the future when we hope we will be able to sample what time has done to those precious bottles. And it is that latter trait that we should harness when we think about how climate change is going to affect all of us, our descendants and their descendants. When you examine the current state of things, it’s clear that if we want to preserve much of what we value, we need…

REBULA/RIBOLLA GIALLA The rebel story continues The Brda Home of Rebula Wine Experience, now in its fourth year, is aimed at building a global reputation for a local grape WRITER CAROLINE GILBY MW The Brda Home of Rebula Wine Experience brings together Italian and Slovenian producers from the hilly Brda–Collio terroir (which straddles Italy and Slovenia) to build a global reputation for this incredible grape. Rebula/Ribolla Gialla can be exciting in a range of styles: fresh, fruity wines; complex, oak-matured versions; skin-contact orange wines; and sparkling and sweet wines. The variety delivers real quality on the region’s steep terraces and opoka soils (ponca in Italy), a complex mix of marl and sandstone on a calcium carbonate base, that forces the roots to 10–12m deep, and gives Rebula great resilience in…

SPIRITS FIVE OF THE BEST: SUSTAINABLE SPIRITS RECOMMENDED BY JULIE SHEPPARD The process of manufacturing spirits can have a detrimental effect on the environment, if it isn’t done sustainably. Energy use, sourcing of raw ingredients, water management, packaging and dealing with waste are key issues for producers to tackle. The following brands are worth seeking out for your eco-friendly drinks cabinet. 1 Absolut Vodka £20-£25/70cl Widely available Sweden’s Absolut is made in the world’s most energy-efficient distillery. Located in Ahus, it’s carbon-neutral and aiming for zero-emissions, zero-waste and 100% recycling by 2040 – all while producing more than half a million bottles of vodka daily. This is a versatile vodka with notes of grain, vanilla and liquorice on the palate. Alcohol 40% 2 Ketel One Vodka £23-£26.95/70cl Hard to Find…

PERFECT PAIRING White onion tarte tatin with mustard seeds A delectable combination of creamy texture, mustard heat and the sweetness of the onions makes for a challenging match – but it can be met with wines of equally strong character and dimension STORY BERTRAND GREBAUT At the age of 30 – having trained at the famous Parisian gastronomy school Ferrandi, and then with three-star Michelin chefs Joël Robuchon and Alain Passard – I decided, with my high-school friend Théo, to open a restaurant in Paris’ 11th arrondissement. Our ambition was to build a space we had not experienced anywhere else in Paris, liberated and unpretentious, with first-class cuisine, a beautiful setting, friendly service and a list of the natural wines that we love. Septime opened its doors in 2011. This…

World of difference: the importance of enzymes The breakdown (metabolism) of alcohol differs between Asians and Westerners. Ethanol is broken down in two steps by different enzymes. The first enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase (also the one that’s in the stomach) converts ethanol to acetaldehyde, a toxic substance. Westerners have an enzyme that eliminates this toxicity instantly. Many Asians, however, lack the gene that produces the enzyme, so acetaldehyde accumulates in the blood, leading to, among other things, flushing and general discomfort in individuals who drink even minimal amounts of wine. The syndrome affects roughly 50% of Japanese, 40% of Chinese and 30% of Koreans. In contrast, only 10% of the Thai and 4% of the Indian population is affected. Not only is the syndrome socially embarrassing, but the build-up of acetaldehyde…

Editors’ picks Each month our editorial team tastes a lot of wine but not all of it manages to make it onto the page. So here’s our in-house pick of other great wines we’ve tried NAPA STALWART MAKES IT ACROSS THE POND TINA GELLIE For the first time consumers in the UK and Europe can now buy wines from Napa’s oldest estate, Charles Krug (founded in 1861) through importer Top Selection’s retail arm 9 Elms Wines. Charles Krug has been owned by Peter Mondavi Sr and family since 1943, with a focus on Bordeaux varieties, although there’s an excellent Chardonnay (see ‘Weekend Wines’, p136). While the 2018 Merlot (£39.49) and Cabernet (£53.49) are both plush and primary with toasty oak, it is the two premium reds that will really impress…

EXPERT’S CHOICE Greek Xinomavro With an effortless ability to express its origins, paired with its unmistakably Greek flavours, this northern native offers a fascinating insight into the country’s wines, says Yiannis Karakasis MW Latterly considered the king of Greek grape varieties, Xinomavro’s protagonist role can be attributed to several factors. First, the distinctive, heavily scented wines it makes have abundant Greek aromas of dried tomatoes, olive tapenade and thyme, around a core of cherries or strawberries. Second, it can produce some of the country’s most thrilling and highly refined wines. Finally, the wines can age effortlessly for, without exaggeration, more than two decades. Greatness comes at a cost, as Xinomavro is a capricious variety that requires attention and affection by both the grower and the producer. In the vineyard, the…

Marketwatch News from the world of investments and auctions COMPILED BY CHRIS MERCER Optimism reigns as wine outperfoms others There have been more signs of confidence in the market, ranging from figures showing that wine has outperformed handbags, watches and other luxury investment assets, to Sotheby’s announcing plans for regular auctions in France. Recent data showed that Knight Frank’s Fine Wine Icons index rose in value by 13% in the 12 months to the end of June 2021. Specific labels weren’t named, but wine outperformed all other asset classes. Watches provided the nearest challenge, with this index up by 5%, followed by cars, up 4%. ‘Wine is doing really well, not going crazy, but growing nicely,’ said Nick Martin, CEO of the Wine Owners exchange, which compiled Knight Frank’s wine…

Meet the Decanter experts SARAH AHMED is an awarded wine writer, educator and judge who specialises in Portugal and Australia. She is the DWWA Regional Chair for Portugal and publishes her own website thewinedetective.co.uk SIMON FIELD MW is the DWWA Regional Chair for Champagne. A Berry Bros & Rudd buyer for more than 20 years, he now consults on areas which particularly interested him in that time, with Champagne topping the list in France ALDO FIORDELLI is a widely published journalist, wine writer and author, a DWWA judge and regular Decanter contributor. He became a qualified sommelier in 2003, and has written books on food, wine and art RUPERT JOY is an international consultant and former UK and EU diplomat. He has a longstanding interest in wine and has written for Decanter for…

UNCORKED Hugh Johnson ‘What can irritate me is change for change’s sake’ ILLUSTRATION SAM KERR/DEBUT ART ‘New’ is the second most popular word in any sales catalogue. (The first is ‘Free’.) We scribblers can’t resist it: it guarantees copy of one sort or another. Even in the slowly evolving world of wine, where the main ethos of the product is historical continuity, ‘new’ sells. To someone like me with a strong sense of history, not to mention conservative tastes, it can be a bit unsettling. It’s not really change that bothers me. There is always room for improvement. What can irritate me is change for change’s sake. Champagne has certain attributes; we know what to expect. Claret, too, various as they are. ‘Burgundy’ leads you to expect a set of…

SUSTAINABILITY Rethinking your drinking Winemaking has an impact on the environment – that’s inarguable. Efforts to lessen that impact have begun across the industry, but what can the concerned consumer do? STORY RUPERT JOY ‘Having a proper sustainability strategy is a bit like the new internet: it will make or break businesses of the future’-PierreMansour, TheWineSociety This month, world leaders are gathering in Glasgow for COP26 – a conference described by Sir David Attenborough as possibly ‘our last opportunity’ to make the necessary step-change towards protecting the planet from a ‘crippling’ climate crisis. Wine will not top the list of global concerns at COP26. Its carbon footprint is modest compared to domestic heating or aviation. But the glass of wine in our hands still contributes significantly to environmental damage and…

Distilled Your guide to the latest trends in spirits and cocktails EDITED BY JULIE SHEPPARD A spirited read… If you’ve ever wondered what arrack is, or want to know how to make a Zoom cocktail, the new Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails is the book for you. A comprehensive A to Z guide to all things spirituous, it’s edited by drinks experts Dave Wondrich and Noah Rothbaum, with contributions from a glittering array of the top names in the bar and spirits world. The first major reference book to cover spirits and cocktails from a global perspective, it’s an authoritative take on the subject, with knowledgeable entries on topics ranging from how spirits are made to the emergence of cocktail culture and the history of classic serves. A must-have…

Ask Decanter Each month our experts answer your burning wine questions. Email your questions to editor@decanter.com CONCRETE & WINE How does the use of concrete in winemaking affect the taste of the wine? Does its contact with the wine give aromas and flavours of stone dust or wet gravel? [As the use of oak can bestow a toasty oak character.] Mats Wedel, Gamleby, Sweden Decanter contributing editor Andy Howard MW replies: Today, there are so many materials available for the storage and maturation that it can be confusing to see what each brings. Wine can be matured in stainless steel, clay amphorae, oak barrels or foudres, or even larger wooden vessels, glass and concrete. The latter is very interesting as it was widely used as a material for storage and…

PANEL TASTING California Pinot Noir What’s not to like? These deliciously fruit-filled, rich Pinot reds from around the Golden State’s regions scored consistently and highly REPORT RONAN SAYBURN MS The 2004 movie Sideways may have rekindled excitement for California Pinot Noir while simultaneously hammering a nail in the coffin of Merlot. But while the characters in the film talked of this ethereal, ghost-like variety that danced across the palate, that may not have been the exact style of many Pinots at the time. Particularly back then, but still today, winemakers have been guilty of producing jet-black, heavily oaked, alcoholic wines with little varietal character. Thankfully the tide is turning and we are seeing a new generation focusing on elegance rather than power in their Pinots, following the lead of California…

WEEKDAY WINES Looking for everyday drinking wines that won't disappoint? The Decanter in-house tasting team has done all the hard work for you, picking out 25 exciting and accessible wines that are all ready to drink now, are available in the UK and priced at £20 or less RECOMMENDED BY NATALIE EARL, TINA GELLIE, JULIE SHEPPARD, AMY WISLOCKI & SYLVIA WU Augustí Torelló Mata, Cava Reserva Brut, Spain 2017 £17.50 Basco From vines up to to 40 years old. Subtle aromas of green apple, apricot pastries and ripe lemon. Evolved honeyed notes alongside fresh apple and citrus. Creamy in texture, and there’s a fresh lift of grapefruit acidity on the finish. Good value for money. JS Alcohol 11.5% Chaffey Bros Wine Co, Funkelpunkt, South Australia, 2018 £17.75-£19.95 Great Wines Direct,…

Spotlight: California Slow but steady gains Top-end wines from the Golden State are performing well and have great potential, but global distribution and awareness are still key challenges There has been buyer and trade enthusiasm for California’s 2018-vintage releases, yet there is still a sense of the region finding its way on the international fine wine market. Releases of top Cabernet Sauvignon and ‘Bordeaux blend’ wines from the 2018 vintage have added some spark to the California sector of the market this year. ‘We’re seeing much stronger demand for blue-chip 2018s than we did for the 2017s,’ said Ryan Woodhouse, domestic wine buyer for K&L Wine Merchants in the US. Interest in 2018 also appears to be reflected in data from Liv-ex, which describes itself as a global marketplace for…

A drink with… Vanya Cullen Fifty years ago, Margaret River pioneers Kevin and Di Cullen planted Cullen vineyard in Wilyabrup. Daughter Vanya Cullen became chief winemaker in 1989 and has ensured that quality, integrity, sustainability still underpins everything they do. Cullen Wines was certified organic in 2003 and biodynamic in 2004, was Australia’s first winery to be certified carbon neutral in 2007, and has been carbon positive since 2019 INTERVIEW BY SARAH AHMED ‘In 1998, the vineyard was in decline. Dad [a doctor] had seen the effects of chemicals on farmers, so mum and I adopted organics, then biodynamics. We noticed a wonderful difference in vine health and grape quality. Our wines have become more individual – unique, purer expressions of site, with a thread of the land through them…

UNCORKED Andrew Jefford ‘A wine’s visual cues shout, stamp, whistle and roar’ Disconcerting: I couldn’t forget this bottle for days afterwards. Still can’t. Back in August, wine critic Lin Liu MW (together with her partner Philippe Lejeune of Château de Chambert in Cahors) came to dinner, en route to a short holiday in Provence. One of the bottles Lin brought for us to try together was the 2018 Les Rocheuses, Parcelles No 5 et 6, from Château Le Rey in Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux. It came in a slope-shouldered bottle, not a classic Bordeaux bottle. We tried it with some Rhône wines. I kept going back to it. I couldn’t make it taste like Bordeaux – at all. It kept tasting like a mid-Rhône wine – as indeed it did…

SUSTAINABILITY 10 PRACTICAL WAYS YOU CAN HELP As The Wine Society’s Pierre Mansour puts it, ‘wine drinkers need to understand the consequences of their choices’. Here are 10 ways you can purchase wine more sustainably and help to influence positive change in production, packaging and transport practices: 1 Think about the provenance, packaging, transport and life cycle of every wine you buy. 2 Do your research and buy from producers committed to minimising their environmental impact. Many are signed up to sustainability schemes and use logos on their labels. 3 Favour wine merchants and supermarkets that work with sustainable producers. 4 For immediate drinking, buy wines in alternative packaging such as aluminium cans and PET bottles that are less carbon-intensive than glass to recycle. 5 If you are buying still…

The finest Ports for all seasons If ever there were a winter season to explore and indulge in the heady satisfactions of the Douro Valley’s fortified delights, then surely it is the end of this year and into 2022… FEATURE RICHARD MAYSON There is a Port for all seasons if you know where to look. When the weather turns cold, there is nowhere like the Douro Valley for capturing the warmth of summer. The slatey schistous soils and drought-resistant grape varieties combine to produce wines that can be wonderfully satisfying in their first flush of youth or transform into something gloriously ethereal with age. Deeper, darker fruit-driven styles tend to be the first choice for the winter months. Ruby, crusted, late bottled vintage (LBV) and vintage Ports have provided centuries…

COGNAC Cognacs with a sense of place: eight to try SELECTED BY RICHARD WOODARD 1 Camus Single Estate Borderies VSOP £45.99-£52.75/70cl 23 Wine & Whiskey, Master of Malt, The Whisky Exchange, Tyndrum Whisky, Virgin Wines, Waitrose Cellar From the smallest Cognac cru comes this lovely example of its signature style, with plenty of restraint but charming perfumed fruit and a floral undertone, backed up by vanilla and spice. Alcohol 40% 2 Delamain Pléiade, Collection Révélation, Bonneuil £190/70cl The Whisky Exchange This is a very different Bonneuil Cognac to the Domaines Hine example: long-aged, with scents of vine flowers, some almost confected fruit – sweet cherry to the fore – and alluring notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. Alc 45% 3 Domaines Hine Bonneuil 2010 £89.40-£89.95/70cl Hedonism, House of Malt, Master of…

HOW TO… Match wine with cheese Hard, soft, blue, goat… How on earth do you find a cheese and wine match? We share a few basic rules of thumb: 1 If you want to give the lead role to the cheese, pick a wine with less character that will complement it and stay in the background. If you want the wine to be the star, go easy on the forcefulness of the cheese. 2 Hard Go for a rich, dry white wine or a light to medium-bodied red. 3 Soft Many of these cheeses have big personalities. Choose a wine with good acidity to cut through the high fat content of these cheeses. 4 Blue The obvious match is sweet wine. This works particularly well if the cheese is a creamy…

PANEL TASTING White Graves Top Bordeaux dry whites can be delicious in their youth, but can also cellar extremely well – best to buy early and seek your merchant’s guidance REPORT ANDY HOWARD MW This was an illuminating tasting, providing an insight into some of the Graves region’s recent vintages while also providing an opportunity to taste older vintages and see how the wines have developed. The panel were left with more questions than answers but, in the right hands, it’s clear that the best white Graves wines can be a match quality wise for some of the better-known Burgundy Côte d’Or appellations, and often at considerably keener prices. The panel tasted dry white wines from Graves and Pessac-Léognan. Both APs lie to the south and southwest of Bordeaux, with…

WEEKEND WINES Planning to splash out a little bit more to celebrate your weekend in style? As a companion selection to our 25 wines under £20, the Decanter team has selected seven standout bottles that are sure to impress, all available in the UK and priced between £20 and £50 RECOMMENDED BY NATALIE EARL, TINA GELLIE, JULIE SHEPPARD, AMY WISLOCKI & SYLVIA WU Wiston Estate, Cuvée, West Sussex, England 2015 £40 Wiston Estate This Pinot Noir-dominant blend is fermented in neutral Puligny-Montrachet barrels and cellar-aged for three years. Complex nose of baked apple, toast and a hint of miso. Savoury and leesy with sourdough and bruised-apple depth. SW Alc 12% Domaine du Tunnel, St-Péray, Rhône, France 2017 £27.88 Lay & Wheeler A hearty Roussanne full of apricot crumble, poached pears,…

Monitor: the latest sales activity California riding high A recent auction in the US conducted by Hart Davis Hart (HDH) has demonstrated solid buyer interest in several California big names. ‘Demand for top California wines was very strong in our September auction,’ said Marc Smoler, senior vice-president, client services at HDH. Seventy lots of Harlan Estate wines fetched a combined hammer price of $306,450 (£224,534) versus a total pre-sale high estimate of $300,950, showed HDH data supplied to Decanter. On the same basis, HDH sold 16 lots of Dominus for $34,050 (pre-sale high e: $29,600), eight lots of Scarecrow for $16,900 (pre-sale high e: $14,700) and nine lots of Screaming Eagle for $57,000 (pre-sale high e: $56,500). Other top-selling names included Sine Qua Non, Spottswoode, Colgin, Joseph Phelps (Insignia) and…

WORKING WINE TO 5 Linda Johnson-Bell Wine and climate change researcher How did you end up here? I wanted to speak at the Royal Anthropological Institute’s climate change conference in 2016, but they wanted speakers who were affiliated with a university or an institution. I’d been looking to join a think-tank, but none of them focused on the research I wanted to do. I quickly thought of a name, The Wine and Climate Change Institute, built a website and then filled in their application, which was accepted. After the talk, they asked me to publish my paper Wine or Water? Viticulture’s global water footprint and irrigation: an unaffordable luxury?. It has grown from there and become my main focus. What’s the best thing about your job? Being able to hand-pick…