Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i Decanter

Decanter|December 2016

The joy of terroir

The joy of terroir Wallis Vineyard, Lokoya Estate, Napa Photograph: Michael Sugrue Lokoya Estate’s Wallis Vineyard covers six hectares of the Diamond Mountain District, an American Viticultural Area in California that sits along the Mayacamas mountain range in the northwest of Napa Valley. The vineyard was planted in 1997, mainly to Cabernet Sauvignon plus some Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and since 2014 its fruit has been sold to Jackson Family Wines, used in its Lokoya collection of Cabernet Sauvignon wines. The location, at 180m to 240m above sea level, lessens the impact of the cooling fog that seeps along the valley floor, and increases the vines’ exposure to sunlight. The volcanic and loamy soils, meanwhile, are porous enough to prevent conditions becoming too warm and provide good drainage, giving…

1 min

Decanter|December 2016

In brief

In brief No early sale of Brad Pitt’s and Angelina Jolie’s Provence wine estate Château Miraval is expected, despite the couple’s marital split. Rumours of its sale circulated before Jolie filed for divorce, but their winemaking partner, Marc Perrin, of the Perrin family of Château Beaucastel, denied reports. China has sent grape vines into orbit, launching Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot plants on board Tiangong-2, the country’s new ‘space palace’ laboratory. Scientists hope that growing the vines in space will trigger mutations to make them more resistant to the harsh climate in some of China’s emerging vineyard regions. UK officials are planning to ask for a share of the European Union’s 42,000-bottle wine cellar as part of Brexit talks, according to reports. With the UK set to begin the…

1 min

Decanter|December 2016

Andrew Jefford

Andrew Jefford ‘Does wine-tasting experience imply the loss of wine-tasting innocence?’ MY FRIEND JULIEN came to stay back in May, and we tasted a few wines together, as well as talking about what we’d both been tasting recently, and what he enjoyed drinking. He’s a Frenchman who has lived in China for 13 years and taught wine there for the last 10; we’d tasted professionally together in the past, but never really had a chance to compare notes in a more relaxed setting. My guess is that most Decanter readers are familiar with these kinds of discussion – like music fans comparing notes on favourite composers or bands, or book lovers chatting about novelists or poets. Because the frame of reference is so familiar to both parties, the talk moves…

4 min

Decanter|December 2016

Rewards of patience

MATURING WINE Rewards of patience Lack of storage, our ‘want it now’ culture and the expense of purchasing already-mature wines mean that fewer wine lovers are enjoying well-cellared bottles. And that’s a shame, says Anne Krebiehl MW Photograph: Mike Prior ARE YOU MISSING out on the most fascinating aspect of wine? Most drinkers are abundantly familiar with the primary, varietal aromas of young wine; say the blackcurrant notes of Cabernet Sauvignon or the peachy perfume of Viognier. Likewise, they recognise secondary winemaking aromas such as vanilla from new oak or the creaminess associated with malolactic fermentation. Tertiary aromas, however, which only develop with time, slowly unfolding as a wine matures – and possibly the most arresting scents – are lost on so many. There are clear reasons for this. Few…

Bollinger, R.D. 1976 Champagne, France A legend because… R.D. stands for ‘Récemment Dégorgé’ and although Bollinger is not the only Champagne house that sometimes ages its vintage wines on the lees for longer than the usual three years, this has become a legendary wine. The style was created by Madame Bollinger in 1961 with the 1952 vintage. Although it is usually assumed that this prolonged ageing is beneficial, the precise date of disgorgement is important, and it is not Bollinger’s practice to disgorge every R.D. cuvée at the same time. Enthusiasts argue that the extended period of lees-ageing preserves freshness and magnifies richness; however, others believe a vintage wine is fully mature when originally disgorged, and will not benefit from further bottle-ageing. The outcome will vary depending on the vintage,…

3 min

Decanter|December 2016

John Stimpfig

John Stimpfig ‘It was definitely a good day at the office for Team Decanter’ DECANTER HAS ALWAYS sought to attract and keep the most knowledgeable, talented and entertaining writers. And judging by the number of wine-writing awards our contributors have been garlanded with over the past four decades, it’s clear we’ve been pretty successful. In fact, it’s probably the most important factor as to why Decanter is the world’s best wine magazine. And so to the 2016 Louis Roederer Wine Writers’ Awards which were recently held at the Royal Academy in London. If you’re unfamiliar with these particular prizes, they are widely accepted as the wine Oscars to those of us who scribble about this glorious subject for a living. One reason the Roederers are so highly regarded is because…

2 min

Decanter|December 2016

Letters

Letters Enraged or inspired by what you’ve read? Email editor@decanter.com, or write to: The Editor, Decanter, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU, UK The tyranny of scoring JANE ANSON’S COLUMN on scoring (November 2016) was thought-provoking. The fact that ‘you can pretty much forget about opening’ young wines with a score above 90 points and may find far more pleasure (and value) in an 88- or 89-point wine from the same vintage will make me consider my purchases for immediate consumption more carefully. But the reaction of producers to scores below 90 is an understandable commercial response to the way that wine buyers with limited time and knowledge are driven by the judgements of critics such as Robert Parker Jr – and Decanter . In the same…

3 min

Decanter|December 2016

Hugh Johnson

Hugh Johnson ‘What other subject calls for an annual guidebook for a new vintage?’ IT WAS KING George III’s brother who said to the author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ‘Always scribble, scribble, scribble, eh, Mr Gibbon? Another damn’d thick square book, eh?’ (Poor Gibbon had just dedicated his life’s work to him.) He summed up the writer’s life pretty well; scribbling is about the size of it. And most of the time it’s a deadline for 1,000 words. They can be hell to extrude, on time or not – and then they’re gone. Who keeps newspapers and magazines (Decanter apart, that is)? What a waste, I thought, as I went through the attic filling black plastic bags. They must have amused someone at the time.…

Grape varieties with Julia Harding MW Sagrantino The late-ripening, tannic Sagrantino variety is rarely mentioned without reference to its central Italian homeland – the town and environs of Montefalco, between Spoleto and Perugia in Umbria. (The Montefalco Sagrantino DOC was created in the 1970s and promoted to DOCG in 1992.) While it is also planted to a limited extent on Sicily, Italy’s roughly 1,000ha are concentrated around Montefalco. The wines are generally dry and firmly structured, often smoothed by time in oak, and with a fine bite of cherry and mulberry fruit. A traditional sweet wine made from dried grapes (passito) is now rare (try, for example, Tabarrini’s Colle Grimaldesco) but can be delicious. Sagrantino owes a huge debt of gratitude to Marco Caprai, who rescued it from virtual extinction…

1 min

Decanter|December 2016

Collector’s corner

Collector’s corner Dom Pérignon Michael Riedel Creator Coffret £ 155 (Blanc 2006) £345 (Rosé 2004) Harrods, Hedonism, Jeroboams Selfridges Dom Pérignon collaboration with German artist Michael Riedel. Bruno Paillard, Blanc de Blancs 2006 £80 Bibendum PLB, Walker & Wodehouse The seventh blanc de blancs vintage release, with a low 5g/l dosage, and a label painted by Swedish artist Jockum Nordström. Armand de Brignac, Assemblage Two, Blanc de Noirs £675 Berry Bros & Rudd, Harrods Bottled in 2011 and disgorged in June 2016. A blend of Pinot Noir from 2008, 2009 and 2010. Just 2,333 bottles were made.…

1 min

Decanter|December 2016

A month in wine

A month in wine All the important issues affecting you across the globe compiled by Richard Woodard Grape thefts rise in tricky Burgundy year A SURGE in the number of grape thefts is adding further challenges to Burgundy’s difficult 2016 vintage – already impacted by a combination of frost and hail. At least four complaints of grape theft had been registered with the police in Beaune by early October – a record for the region – with winemakers throughout the Côte d’Or reporting incidents. Meanwhile, the severely reduced yields this year have forced six prominent producers to pool their grapes and produce a joint bottling of Montrachet Grand Cru. The six – Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Domaine Leflaive, Domaine Guy Amiot et Fils, Domaine Lamy-Pillot…

5 min

Decanter|December 2016

Letter of the month

Letter of the month Playing fair with delivery I CONGRATULATE THOSE commended in your 2016 Retailer Awards (November 2016 issue). Yet, on reading your parameters – ‘imagination, drive, creativity, energy, evangelism and even hedonism’ – I wondered why ‘access’ and ‘fair play’ were excluded. Of the 12 winners, only three met my criteria, plus five runners-up. ‘Access’ and ‘fair-play’ refers to the postcode lottery of delivery costs. Living where we do in Speyside, Scotland, charges range from mildly offensive to punitive to surreal. If you live in ‘mainland UK’ and meet minimum-order requirements, you do not usually suffer such charges. This is perfectly acceptable, but ‘mainland UK’ does not seem to apply to north of the Edinburgh-Glasgow corridor. I researched wine delivery charges, via websites and leaflets of 162 UK…

1 min

Decanter|December 2016

LETTER FROM NEW TUSCANY Richard Baudains

LETTER FROM NEW TUSCANY Richard Baudains ‘Having a history to recount is indispensable to wine marketing’ THE GRAND DUKE of Tuscany Cosimo III (1642 – 1723) may have been the least charismatic of the influential Medici dynasty, but he does have one major claim to fame. In 1716 he issued a decree that defined the geographical borders for the production of what we can assume were the four most important wines of that period: Chianti, Carmignano, Pomino and Val d’Arno di Sopra. The significance of the law is twofold. Firstly, it established that wine names be derived from their places of origin, and secondly that only wines from a defined area could be entitled to the name of that area. In other words, that Chianti (the wine) comes from Chianti…

Tasting notes decoded Cabernet fruit This is used as shorthand to describe the typical aromas and flavours you would expect from the Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Cabernet Franc grape. These include varied herbaceous notes and red/black fruits, depending on where the grape is grown. In a Bordeaux context, blackcurrant and blackcurrant leaf are usually the dominant fruit characteristics. If the wine is oaked, typical aromas/ flavours would include cedar, cigar box or tobacco. (Tasting note from p103)…

1 min

Decanter|December 2016

Champagne edges into the spotlight

Champagne edges into the spotlight Traditionally seen as a ‘slow burner’ in investment terms, Champagne has bucked the trend, hitting new highs thanks to the post-Brexit impact on sterling plus a raft of stellar releases Compiled by Richard Woodard MOST PARTS OF the fine wine market have enjoyed a bright and positive summer, buoyed by the impact on sterling of the UK vote to leave the European Union – at the time of writing, the pound had hit another 31-year low against the dollar. But Champagne in particular has caught the eye in recent months, thanks to a blend of this post-Brexit vote surge and a series of starry releases. Salon 2004, Krug 2002, Krug Clos du Mesnil 2002 and Gosset Celebris Extra Brut 2004 – all have been unveiled…

4 min