It started off with a topical visit to the Brancott Estate stand. Topical because Brancott Estate is an official sponsor of the Rugby World Cup, and rather than just hang out the bunting to mark the occasion, the producer launched a celebratory sparkling wine made from Sauvignon Blanc earlier this year.
So as I started my first Wine Walk at the Tesco Wine Fair in Brighton a couple of weekends ago, I thought it might be a good place to start for lovers of fizz/Sauvignon Blanc/rugby.
As it turns out, I wasn’t quite prepared for how popular this wine would be. Everybody absolutely loved it, even those who were sceptics of fizz and/or Sauvignon Blanc; the hallmark NZ Sauvignon pungent passion fruit intensity combined with the freshness of the bubbles (from the Charmat method, in most cases, I’ve been advised) is clearly a winning formula.
So it got me thinking about how far NZ could take this new trend.
And just as that thought sat bubbling away (no pun intended) in the back of my head, when I turned up at last week’s portfolio tasting of Negociants, an importer of Aus and NZ wine into the UK, I noticed another cheeky little fizzy Sauvignon Blanc in the corner - on the stand of Marlborough producer, Ara.
Granted, it’s not an uncommon wine to see these days, but it’s clearly becoming more prolific, so I took the opportunity at the Negociants tasting to ask David Cox, head of New Zealand Winegrowers for the UK & Europe, how popular this style is really becoming, and whether its existence is merely a useful way of mopping up all that surplus Sauvignon Blanc fruit that the country seems to produce every year.
David said: “Some of them might have started out that way, but now they’re really coming into their own because they’re really good wines, and so yes, there are quite a few coming onto the market.”
Ara’s One Estate Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc Brut aside, other sparkling Sauvies that have just been, or are about to be, launched include one from a new brand called ToiToi, one from sustainably committed producer Yealands Estate, one from NZ’s historically best known sparkling producer Lindauer, one from Marlborough producer Allan Scott and even Sainsbury’s is about to launch a Taste The Difference version, David tells me.
But that’s not all from NZ’s sparkling wine scene, as David is keen to remind me. He adds: “There are two categories of sparkling wine coming out of NZ, there are these ones as well as those using the traditional method (for, dare I say, Champagne-style wines) as we have all the right grapes and conditions for that. I want to make NZ the one-stop shop for New World sparkling wines for people.”
Let’s hope NZ’s sparkling wine prowess can be seen at the New Zealand wines table at The Wine Gang fairs, in London on 29th October and Edinburgh on 12th November.
Hope to see you then!
As I pushed the Leo-occupied buggy through Oxted town centre yesterday, Leo’s mother, top career women and fantastic mother to boot (basically, Superwoman in my eyes) - Amy, told me she fancied a bottle of red yesterday evening.
She went on to say that a new independent merchant had opened in town and would I investigate on her behalf as to whether she was right in thinking they were worth supporting. How could I resist?
Wine One Hundred turns out to be the sister venture of multi award-winning store The Secret Cellar in Tunbridge Wells (www.thesecretcellar.co.uk). And after a few minutes nosing around and screening off Leo off from any potential wine bottle domino games, Amy reached for a NZ Pinot Noir because she wanted something “fruity and bright”.
Meanwhile, my urge to remind my generation that European wines can be as fantastic as New World ones got the better of me, so I had my eye on a tasty-looking 2009 (great vintage) Juliénas, a Cru Beaujolais. We placed our respective bottles on the counter gladiator-style, eyeing the other one up (the bottles and each other!) and even though I had confidence in the “fruity and bright” qualities of my wine, I was dubious Amy would agree.
But the gamble paid off. As we tasted the two alongside each other, prefaced by my “now if you don’t like this you HAVE to tell me” remarks, lo and behold, even though the NZ Pinot was undeniably juicy and delicious, she actually preferred the Juliénas.
I think Amy surprised herself with her decision, and she definitely surprised me, but I feel so chuffed when this happens as it’s exactly this kind of ‘discovery’ for a wine drinker that, for me, is one of the most exciting things about wine.
My teeth are happy. Today they’re having a little break from judging at this year’s International Wine Challenge, which yesterday ended with a line-up of blockbuster Australian Shirazes after flights of Rioja Reservas, Chilean Carmenères and Cabernet Francs, and even some Turkish Öküzgözü thrown into the mix.
While these judging stints are tough on the teeth (especially for those who are doing the full 2 weeks) and attention spans are tested to the max, judging days like this fly by because they’re fun and well run but also because they’re a great chance to catch up with the rest of the wine trade, to benchmark your palate against others and to test your palate in general, especially if you taste without knowing any detail about the wine at all, which is what happened on Monday when winemaker John Worontschak was my panel chair.
John, whose garden happens to back onto that of David Cameron’s house (no, not Number 10, before he moved to Westminster), is a consultant winemaker all over the world, from Russia to England’s very own Denbies Estate.
He was great fun as a judge, but serious when he needed to be too. And his preferred tasting system – that of identifying the grape/region/country at the end of each flight - really encouraged us all to focus, which I guess I must have done, having correctly spotted a flight of Valpolicellas and then a flight of Chiantis. Maybe I can justify that trip to Vinitaly 2 weeks ago after all….
Back into the fray tomorrow for the last day’s judging, the results of which will be revealed the London International Wine Fair in May, where (shameless plug alert), The Wine Gang area will show its stonking Top 100 selection from the past year, see http://2011.londonwinefair.com/content/what’s-on/the-top-100 and each of us will be hosting a seminar for the South West of France too, see http://2011.londonwinefair.com/zone/ExhibitorList/Exhibitor/4313/SouthWestFranceWines
So come and say hi if you’re there! You’ll see great wines and a huge smile, although if my teeth are as black as last night, I’ll understand if you don’t want to see the latter!
Marmalade