Big wine retailers following biodynamic principles as cosmos demands to be taken seriously

As soon as I saw the sub-head (Supermarket chains check lunar calendar before inviting critics to drink) I just knew I was going to love this story. The idea is by no means a new one: the taste of wine is affected by the moon. How so? Well, just as the moon affects large bodies of water like oceans, some believe they affect small ones as well, right down to a 750ml bottle of vino. Cosmic.

What is more surprising (at least for this cynic), is that the UK's major wine retailers have now bought into the belief that the day, and even the hour, on which wine is drunk, alters its taste. Believe it or not, Tesco and Marks & Spencer, which sell about a third of all wine drunk in the UK, now invite critics to taste their ranges only at times when the biodynamic calendar suggests they will show at their best.

It gets better: the lunar wine calendar has been published for the last 47 years by a gardening great-grandmother called Maria Thun, who lives in rural Germany. She categorises days as "fruit", "flower", "leaf" or "root", according to the moon and stars. Fruit and flower are normally best for tasting, and leaf and root worst. The theory was put to the test at a tasting hosted by David Motion, a London Wine Merchant. Jo Ahearne, winemaker for Marks & Spencer, is now absolutely convinced of the moon's impact after sampling more than 140 wines over two days. "Before the tasting, I was really unconvinced, but the difference between the days was so obvious I was completely blown away." The Guardian conducted its own tests and reported five out of seven bottles showing a marked improvement on 'fruit days' over 'leaf days'.

Others are far from convinced, as the Scotsman pointed out, "including Waitrose [and] most scientists, who point out that the ultimate inspiration for Thun's calendar is Rudolf Steiner, who came up with the notion after reportedly consulting with spirits, although not of the liquid variety. Steiner, a well known educational reformer, also believed that the moods of humans could cause earthquakes". 

On reading all of this one person was foremost in my mind: 'Randall Grahm', one of the original 'Rhone Rangers', proprieter of Bonny Doon vineyard and widely respected as one of the finest winemakers in California. Here is a man who can happily spend hours explaining each and every natural and scientific facet of the winemaking process, only to finish-up telling you that it all comes down to where you put the magic crystals (straight-up, we've discussed this with him at length). And if his wines are anything to go by, maybe there is something to all this cosmic stuff after all?

More tax on wine

Surprise, surprise: yet another above-inflation tax rise for wine. We won't go on, just to inform you that the Treasury has whacked another 4 pence on a bottle of wine, and 5 pence on the fizzy stuff. As Jeremy Beadles (no relation, we're assured), chief executive of the Wine and Spirits Trade Association said: "At a time when the Government is offering other industries a helping hand it is extraordinary that it wishes to hurt the drinks industry with further tax increases". Quite so Jeremy, quite so. To which we might add: what with having run the pound into the ground against the Euro (hiking up the price of European wine by a good 25%), increasing the government's own 'wining-and-dining' budget from £550 to £800k per annum, they really are taking the p... But we did promise not to go on.

What's in a wine club?

Not alot, according to the Guardian's consumer affairs correspondant Miles Brignall. Just a classic case of sour grapes? identifies three main problems with the endless wine club offers that have moved on from sunday supplements to bank statements and tea-time TV: (i) the 'to good to be true' introductory offers, (ii) the 'book club' style automated repeat purchase and (iii) the domination of the wine club market by Laithwaites/Direct wines, which shifts a staggering 4.5 million cases to some 800,000 customers across its numerous brand tie-ins every year.

Since we're about to relaunch our own wine-club, we have more than a passing interest in this subject. But while it seems fair to question the current status quo, Brignall's article skirted the most important question: just how good is the wine? Taking his concerns in turn it seems a little harsh to question the need for a 'sexy' introductory offer - everyone from Love Film to Fitness First starts uses free tasters as to lure in new customers. As to 'membership', the most important question is how easy is it to (in this case) skip, cancel or return cases? Again, while Laithwaites may be guilty of reducing its font size when it comes to the Ts & Cs, this is (right or wrong) standard commercial practice; there is nothing in the article to suggest that Laithwaites locks people into financial liability for wine they don't want. Its almost certainly easier to cancel a Laithwaites membership than a contract with a mobile phone or broadband supplier, for example.

But here's where the water gets a little muddy: Laithwaites and Direct Wines are behind, among others, Virgin Wines, The Sunday Times Wine Club, the Richard & Judy Wine Club, Bordeaux Direct, NatWest Wine Club, Barclaycard Wine Service, British Airways Executive Wine Club and Warehouse Wines. So what's the problem? As anyone with a simple grasp of neo-classical economics will tell you: market share means economies of scale which means savings for the consumer, right? Not necessarily, this model may work for toothpaste, washing powder and other factory produced goods, but when you apply it to wine it means just that: mass produced, factory-made, 'bulk wine'. Think about it, how else can you fill 800,000 cases (that's 10 million bottles by the way) when you're selling most of it at £4-£5 per bottle?

Sour grapes on our part we hear you say. Not a bit of it: we'll be back shortly with the relaunch of our own wine clubs (like Laithwaites we'll be tying these in with corporate partners) and will take the 'pepsi challenge' with any of the cases sent out under the brands named above, or your money back. Watch this space.

Rosé wine hits retail price index, EU upsets producers

For some reason the newspapers took great delight in the ascendancy of rosé wine to the "nation's shopping basket" - "people are turning to pink wine, hot cooked chicken and parmesan as boxes of wine and tinned cat food fall out of favour", reported the Times in fairly typical fashion. I guess its just easier for journalists to write about the shopping habits of those with 2.4 children than address what's actually happening to the retail price index and the implications for our economy. We're not even going to pretend we understand, content to simply jump on the bandwagon with this genuinely fantastic rosé offer - £3 off the stunning Arbaude of Provence.

Those with a taste for the pink stuff may also be interested in EU proposals that would allow wine producers to mix red with a splash of white, and bottle the result as rosé - heresy as far as France is concerned (particularly in Provence, the spiritual home of rosé itself), and more fun for newspaper headline writers (e.g. "French rose producers pink-faced over EU wine plans").

To placate the French, the European Commission is proposing that its rosé wine would be specially designated and labelled as "traditional rosé", with "rosé" itself up for grabs by anyone who wants to make a pink wine drink. Given the questionable heritage of much of the rosé in the UK, it probably won't make much difference to the "average consumer", but then nor apparently does the taste. Learn more about traditional Provence rosé here.

A tale of two tastings - Italian style

Gambero Rosso 2009 ... more like 'gamble on a rosso'!

On 16 February 2009 a number of us attended the Gambero Rosso tasting of Italian wines at the Landmark Hotel in London. 57 top wineries, over 200 wines, it promised to be good overview of Italian wines and after last years decent effort I was looking forward to it immensely.

My aim was to taste widely and benchmark the Tuscan wines in particular to the Chianti and Brunello wines my company imports. First we attended the seminar taking a look at a wide range of wines from Italy's top regions - it was a 6 out of 10 at most. Though the wines were generally well made, too many didn't quite hit the spot on the palate or in your heart. Also, I was confounded that Steven Spurrier presented, no disrespect to him but his knowledge of Italian wines seemed limited and I couldn't help feeling that an Italian wine tasting expert would have been better.

So it wasn't a great start, onto the main tasting room. The first thing I noticed was that the tasting included a lot of the big boys of Italian wine and their respective importers - for my liking there were too many large commercial producers here and some of the wines reflected that. I liked the wines from Donnafugata, Masi and in particular Mastroberardino (the last two being imported by Berkmann - well done!) Mastroberardino's whites were lovely with the Greco di Tufo (a fantastic white grape) 2007 showing a pronounced floral nose, stoney minerality and drinking perfectly - this is a wine you could fall in love with immediately. Their Sannio Falanghina 2007 was diferent, more fruity but equally mineral and slightly heavier. The red Taurasi was superb.

Illuminati and Sella & Mosca also tasted well, as did Tenuta San Guido whose 3 reds showed great character, depth and power. I must say I was baffled by some of the so called superstars. Biondi-Santi's '04 Brunello was limpid and acidic and showed close to nothing (2004 was an excellent vintage as well!), I poured it out. Il Molina di Grace from Chianti was average as was Ruffino and Fontanafredda in Piedmont didn't work for me at all. Now these are some big names, and names that regularly get good ratings. Overall my experience of the tasting was quite hit and miss - too many wines were acidic and unapproachable and many had little character. Overall, I preferred the whites over the reds (wierd for Italy). I would also warn anyone who buys Italian wine based on ratings to be ready for disappointment. Far better to taste widely, put your trust in a good quality merchant or two and make your own mind up. Italy hides real treasures in the wine world and overall is my favourite country to buy wine from at the moment. Unfortunately for them I'm don't think this tasting did them too much justice.

As an aside - this was the second UK based tasting this year that seemed to heavily feature large commercial wineries. Is this a credit crunch thing - only the big boys can afford to exhibit in London? I hope not - I'd hate to see the disappearance of small boutique producers at these tastings. Maybe it's just the direction of Gambero Rosso? Who knows?

Faith restored in Italian vino

Thank god! Last week's taste of Tuscany tasting restored everything that Gambero Rosso succceeded so well in destroying. Hosted in the Dorchester's Crystal room the tasting featured small independent producers, interesting native grape varietals, styles ranging from the steadfastly traditional to modern and avant garde and even wine made from a new and unknown grape variety (it tasted like something between a cabernet and a merlot - the perfect Bordeaux singel varietal?)

Stars of the show:

- Petra - superb range and brand proposition, all the wines were superb (classic french and italian grapes and lots of blending) and had impressive levels of balance, supreme drinkability and stunning low-yield fruit. Damn Alivini for already representing these guys! Really switched on wineries with such a comprehensive package and such a good product are few and far between in the wine world. I would recommend these wines to anyone.

- Fattoria di Gratena - great range featuring 'Siro' that wine made from an unknown (and unamed) grape varietal, interesting and very different. Lousy packaging though - shame.

I also tasted some very intersting Brunello and Chianti though luckily nothing better than our own Tenuta di Riseccoli and Castello di Romitorio.

What's in a medal?

Wine writers took great delight this week after an extensive study concluded that wine judges rarely gave consistent assessments of the same wine. The four-year investigation into judging at America's oldest wine contest found that only one in ten judges ever regularly rated a wine the same. Researchers at the California State Fair wine competition tested judges' consistency by giving them repeat samples of the same wine during large blind tasting sessions. They discovered that 90 per cent of the judges failed to give identical samples poured from the same bottle matching or close scores at repeated tastings. One panel of judges even rejected a particular vintage twice only to award it a double-gold medal the third time they sampled it.

The study also found that even the most reliable judges were not consistent over subsequent years. It did note, however, that judges tended to be more consistent when it came to wines they did not like. In the light of the findings, shoppers considering medal-adorned bottles on wine shelves are advised to have a "healthy scepticism" about awards handed out at competitions, said Dr Robert Hodgson, who conducted the research. "Consumers need to gain more self-confidence in their own opinions and tastes rather than listen to what other people think wine should be like," he told the Los Angeles Times. The reults of the study are published in the current issue of the Journal of Wine Economics - you can read the full text of the article here.

The stock standard repsonse of UK wine judges was along the lines of "well, it obviously depends on the competition in question". This may be true, but only to a point. The best advice we've come accross was this from the LATimes blog: "I have been a commercial winemaker for 10 years now, and have participated in numerous blind tastings of many different styles and price ranges of wines. It should come as no suprise to anyone that a lot of the so-called "best wines" (which is rubbish because anyone who has even an ounce of knowledge about wine knows that smell and taste are perceptive) are routinely beaten hands down in these blind tastings by small vineyards/wineries that sell for $10-$20. The wine show circuit is just as swayable with "gifts" as any other political establishment. Drink the wine you like. Always remember the best tool for drinking wine is a brown paper bag. Get rid of the marketing, get rid of the perceived eprception of a wine before you even taste it, and taste it on it's own merits. The best wine in the world.....is the wine that you like".

The art of wine by Sandro Chia

To make a great wine one needs
a madman to grow the vine,
a wise man to watch over it,
a lucid poet to make the wine,
a lover to drink it.
- Salvador Dali

Castello Romitorio is the sort of wine that sells itself. The Tuscan hilltop, the 12th century castle, the allure of the legendary Montalcino appellation, and the fact that the whole operation is run by one of Italy's most famous living artists: Sandro Chia. Sandro says that as soon as he bottled his first 'Romito del Romitorio' in 1984, he could not escape what he then realised were symbiotic passions - "the pursuit of an artistic perfection that displays itself not only on the painted canvas, but also in the glass". This may sound like the perfect line for a brand trying to cash in the reputation of its founder, but it reflects a truism that tells us as much about the wine industry as the great man himself.

It is an old adage that "the best way to make a small fortune is to start with a large fortune and set-up a winery". Sandro Chia is man whose art is exhibited all over the world, whose canvases and sculptures routinely sell for six figure sums - a man who is quite plainly not in the wine business for the money. Instead he is living the dream of pretty much everyone who loves fine wine – the Tuscan estate, the grapes, the viniculture. In the words of Sandro Chia: “We understand wine as the ultimate, seductive fusion of art and agriculture. I have heard some say that grapes are the language of Mother Earth is the – but her dialect is difficult to understand. It is up to us to interpret her and reveal our own character with her Bounty”.

The bottles are works of art and the wine itself is nothing short of magical. The Italians can’t get enough Morellino di Scansano and its always been a favourite of mine. On offer at under £10, I defy anyone to find an Italian red to better the Morellino di Scansano (2007) at this price point. Its big brother, the Morellino di Scansano ‘Ghiaccho Forte’ (2006) is even better. It has a wonderful dollop of syrah in the mix that provides a rounder, fuller palate, spicier overtones and an altogether more complex wine. I had the Brunello di Montalcino with my Christmas dinner and it doesn’t disappoint – a huge tannic wine of incredible structure rivalled only by the best Barolo’s. I decanted this in the morning and while it opened up nicely, the leftover glass I had that evening was as pleasurable as anything I drank over Christmas, suggesting that about 12 hours prior decanting will reward drinkers. I haven’t tried the Costanza or the ‘SuperTuscan’ Romito yet, but needless to say I’m looking forward to it. And when I grow up/win the lottery/sell enough wine, I want to be just like Sandro Chia.