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Our latest drinks blogs round-up features a discussion on the future of Alsace, a special bit of DIY whisky blending and we show off a little with our French-to-English translation skills.
There were some spirited online exchanges in response to Jamie Goode’s suggestions that Alsace should improve the marketing of its entry level wines.
Despite stressing his view that Alsatian wines are "brilliant", Goode pointed to the limited awareness of this quality in the UK, maintaining: "I think it needs to be admitted that there is a problem."
Goode’s suggestions included the adoption of a Burgundian bottle shape, "modern and elegant" labelling, dry styles – to start with at least – and clear communication of grape varieties, with an initial focus on Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gewürztraminer. He also advocated the pursuit of sustainable or organic viticulture as a key part of the region’s "brand".
By and large, these recommendations received support from the blogging community. However, there were some reservations about the need for organic viticulture and a degree of support for the existing "aesthetically pleasing" bottle shape.
The post sparked such interest that the CIVA added its own response to Goode’s suggestions. "No one is more aware than us that Alsace Wines can be prisoners of our own past, particularly when it comes to labels and marketing our wines to the consumers," a spokesman acknowledged. In line with this realisation, he noted: "For the last five years we’ve been telling Alsace producers how important it is to give the information that the consumer is looking for on the label and have suggested a ‘sweetness scale’". Howevever, he stressed, "we can’t force them to take it up."
Sud-Ouest (translated from French)
Wine critic Robert Parker has said that the Bordelais are playing a “dangerous game” with their price increases every year.
Speaking to Agence France Presse, Parker said that it would be “an error to raise prices again” and that Bordeaux was too focused on the Asian market.
He warned that if prices continued to rise, “we could see a financial crisis or the emergence of a ‘Bordeaux bubble’.” He recommended a drop in price of 10-20% below that of 2009’s prices, the opposite of what most châteaux have done.
Parker lamented that, with the weak dollar, it was becoming harder to find good Bordeaux on restaurant lists and in shops in the US as they dropped the wines for less expensive ones.
“It’s a very dangerous game to keep raising prices because the world’s economy is still very fragile,” he continued, “lowering prices below those of 2009 would be an intelligent move and a positive sign for the markets and consumers.”
Joel Harrison at Cask Strength has taken to blending his own whisky from his favourite drams of the last 10 years in readiness for his 40th birthday in four years time.
Having bought a five-litre demijohn for the blending vessel and started the whisky selection process, “I soon realised that I had some whiskies which had been open for longer than they should- probably past their best, but worthy of inclusion. I also had a huge number of half empty sample bottles, with some superb drams in – some of which were too good to be lost in the abyss of a five-litre blend, so I drank those along the way.”
Harrison says the as-yet-unnamed blend will be composed of 40 different whiskies (grain, single malt and Japanese whisky) and “it’s coming on superbly. Last night, I tweaked it, by adding in some older peated whisky, as well as a healthy measure of vintage grain from Invergordon and the whole thing has really come alive.”
Those who know Harrison might want to keep in touch in the hope of receiving a 40th birthday party invite at some point, as he admits his aim is to “replicate something as sensational as Duncan Taylor’s Blackbull 40 Year Old, which combines very old whiskies but some how manages to maintain a wonderfully youthful zeal, amongst such complexity. Surely the key to all great old blends?
“I’m toying with the idea of transferring the lot into a very small cask for a little while, to see what a secondary maturation would bring, but to be honest, it’s drinking really well now so I think i’ll just bottle up five one-litre bottles, to be liberally consumed during the party. That’s if I can wait another four years!”
Matthew Rumbold recommends Asda’s South African Fairtrade Chenin Blanc partly because of quality, and the awards it has won, but mainly because it’s a simple solution for the weary buyer exhausted from “scouring the net to see if Cheryl Cole’s got webbed feet, googling your own name, posting your highest ever score on Angry Birds”.
For those that don’t know the relatively new site, Wines of the Week publishes a handful of wine reviews on a weekly basis because, “It is a scientifically proven fact that every Friday afternoon the only subject the human mind can focus on is how much drink can be consumed that evening.”
db, 17.06.2011