Summer 2013 | `900 FINE Ambassadors’ & High Commissioners’ Table • Blackberry Farm • Laurent Perrier • Daniel Boulud • Vertu N A P A VA L L E Y C L A S S I F I C A T I O N

Phantom Drophead Coupé A New World Rolls-Royce Motor Cars introduces Phantom Series II. The new generation of Phantom Drophead Coupé epitomises relaxed open-top motoring. Each hood is tailored by hand, and when raised offers a whisper-quiet intimate cabin. At the touch of a button it retracts, embracing the elements for an exhilarating ride. Contact us to experience a car with endless possibilities; a car built for today and designed for tomorrow. Fuel economy figures (l/100km): Urban 22.8 / Extra urban 10.2 / Combined 14.8. CO2 emissions: 347 (g/km). Energy efficiency category: G www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com © Copyright Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited 2012. The Rolls-Royce name and logo are registered trademarks.

F I N E 6 W I N E & C H A M P A G N E I N D I A S U M M E R PAGE 10 FINE Event PAGE 18 FINE Classification PAGE 54 FINE Vintage PAGE 70 FINE Destination PAGE 84 FINE Personality PAGE 92 FINE Spotlight FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 2 0 1 3

W I N E & C H A M P A G N E I N D I A S U M M E R 2 0 1 3 FINE Contents F I N E PAGE 100 FINE Region PAGE 106 9 FINEEDITORIAL FINE Celebration Summer Holiday 10 FINEEVENT FINE India Second Anniversary 16 FINENUIKKI Who Sets the Prices of Collectible Wines? 18 FINECLASSIFICATION Napa Valley Classification PAGE 114 FINE Gastronomy 54 FINEVINTAGE Napa Valley Vintage 2008 70 FINEDESTINATION Blackberry Farm 84 FINEPERSONALITY Daniel Boulud 92 FINESPOTLIGHT New York 100 FINEREGION Discovering Champagne - Montagne de Reims 106 FINECELEBRATION Two Great Centuries of Laurent Perrier 114 FINEGASTRONOMY Champagne’s Favourite Food: Lobster 120 FINELIFESTYLE PAGE 120 A Pearl Among Mobiles FINE Lifestyle FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 7

WRITERS Rajiv Singhal Rajiv Singhal is an entrepreneur who pioneered activities in the luxury sector in India. He studied FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA VOLUME 3 ISSUE 2 Q2 2013 Economics at Yale, and since then has been simplifying access to the Indian market for international clients. Among other path breaking initiatives, he helped set up the market for wine in India over the last 16 years. Mr. Singhal is the Ambassador of Champagne to India, who loves to challenge himself. Editor Pekka Nuikki Rajiv Singhal Pekka Nuikki is an author and one of the leading experts on fine wines in Europe. He is the founder of FINE Magazines and has published over twenty acclaimed international wine and art books. He is an Publisher award winning photographer, who has exhibited his artwork all over the world and has worked as Rajiv Singhal for Fine Publishing India Private Limited creative director of an advertising agency group. Mr. Nuikki is also the luckiest man in the world, Chief Executive Ritu Singhal having hit seven hole-in-ones. Juha Lihtonen Director of Editorial Juha Lihtonen is the manyfold Finnish sommelier champion and was the best sommelier in the Nordic Pekka Nuikki countries in 2003. He is the quintessential Finn, but loves to chat - which earns him a reputation with his 4 a.m. friends. He has worked as a wine educator, a wine host on radio and the wine buyer of a Distribution major cruise line. Besides his day jobs, Mr. Lihtonen studies for the Master of Wine qualification. Amrita Bhageria Art & Creative Sandeep Kaul Essi Avellan MW Essi Avellan is the first Master of Wine from Finland, second ever from the Nordic countries. She was awarded the Lily Bollinger Medal as the best taster and the Tim Derouet Memorial Award as the best Photographs overall student in the Master of Wine examination. Ms. Avellan judges at several wine competitions Akshat Arora and was inducted as Dame Chevalier into the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne. Administration Meri Kukkavaara Avneet Kaur Editorial & Business Offices 6F Vandhna, 11 Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi 110001 E: contact@fine-magazines.in W: www.fine-magazines.in Meri Kukkavaara is an interior designer by trade, who has a wide range of interests in the field of art, as well as education. Since completing her art studies in Florence, Italy she has worked extensively with art exhibitions and antiques, while occasionally contributing to art exhibitions as a free artist. She is also an art therapist, with more than ten years experience. Ms. Kukkavaara is a keen student of life and in her free time enjoys taking up courses such as drumming, Indian cooking and tango. Subscriber Information T: +91 11 23359874-75 RNI no. DELENG/2010/35861 ISSN 2231-5098 Aishwarya Nair Aishwarya Nair is Corporate Food and Wine Consultant at The Leela Hotels, founded by her grandfather. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, she is focussed on bringing a truly global offering of culinary arts to guests, particularly with wine lists that reveal her intense Edited, Printed and Published by Rajiv Singhal on behalf of Fine Publishing India Private Limited. Published from 6F Vandhna, 11 Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi passion for fine wines. Currently based in Mumbai, Ms. Nair is intrigued by film-making and looks forward to taking the company’s culinary philosophy to reverential heights. 110001 India. Printed at Aegean Offset Printers, 220-B, Udyog Kendra Extension I, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201306 India. Oumy Diaw Oumy Diaw is the first and only official Champagne Sommelier™ in the world. She is based in New All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior York where she has been the ambassador-at-large for a prestigious house of Champagne and Cognac since 2004. Ms. Diaw’s first taste of fine wine came as a young child, during visits to her maternal written consent of the publisher. The opinions of the contributors or interviewees grandfather’s home in Bordeaux and armed with an International Business Degree from INSEEC presented in this magazine do not necessarily correspond to nor reflect the Business School, she offers oenological and branding experiences for Champagne. opinions of the publisher or the editorial team. While the editorial team do their utmost to verify information published they do not accept responsibility for its absolute accuracy. Fine Publishing does not keep nor return illustrations or other materials that have been sent in unsolicited, and hold the right to make any 8 Petri Nevalainen Petri Nevalainen has over 30 years’ experience in the media, of which he worked almost ten years for modifications in texts and pictures published in FINE Wine & Champagne India BBC World Service in London, and also for radio and internet. Mr. Nevalainen is a Master of Science magazine. We reserve the right to refuse or suspend advertisements. who has published 15 different non-fiction books, and is very interested in music and food. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

The 2013 vintage of the Indian Summer would go down as hot, humid and harsh. It will sadly be defined by the tragedy of catastrophic magnitude in the holy Char Dham land of Uttarakhand state in northern India. Man has persistently abused mother nature in the guise of development, and meekly surrendered to its fury when thousands were sacrificed to torrential rains. The Indian Economy mirrored this misery. India’s solid macro-economic fundamentals, that have kept the momentum going since liberalisation was initiated, went a bit awry. The Indian Rupee tanked to all-time lows. Stock markets got bear-hugs. De-regulated fuel prices climbed more than they fell to reach unprecedented highs. On cue from western pseudo socialists, a super rich tax was imposed. Market forces equated the prices of some essentials to luxury, and forced their exclusion from some consumption baskets. Economic growth dropped to below 5% for the first time in more than a decade. congregated in Bordeaux for the 17th edition of Vinexpo, the world’s premier wines and spirits exhibition. A couple of days of horrible weather and long walkathons did not deter the rather large contingent from India. We prospected, re-negotiated or firmed up alliances while we tasted a great diversity of wines from around the world. FINE Editorial T he instrument panel on my German-made was on the blink as it announced that the temperature, in the neighbourhood of Lutyens’ Delhi that we were driving through, was 48.5º C. The Delhi Met promptly rewrote records, as the scorching sun confined most in the city to their air-conditioned environs. Meanwhile, famed bubbles from an elusive champagne cellar in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger found their way to the FINE offices, and its flutes were administered in prescribed doses as a heat anti-dote, even if not as often as one would have liked! On the opening night, a gala dinner was hosted by the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855 (Médoc & Sauternes) at the legendary Château Mouton Rothschild. Baroness Philippine de Rothschild welcomed us to the inauguration of the new vat room designed by Richard Peduzzi, with great vintages of some exceptional Grand Cru Classé wines, including the Mouton Rothschild 1975 from the Imperial and a special novelty – the very exclusive private label of the family, Champagne Barons de Rothschild. After all this intense hard work, I had earned my holiday. Nestled in the famous vineyards of Châteauneuf du Pape, The Wine BB was a quintessential Provençal bed and breakfast – the views on the jagged peaks of the Dentelles de Montmirail at dawn were awesome. Pour moi, it was Cannes – an azure blue Mediterranean, bright sunshine with an occasional shower, cooler climes of the Riviera and late night sunsets on the promenade – the perfect setting to enjoy some special bubbles. Alarm bells began to ring. A flurry of reactive interventions were made by the administration, even if their efficacy is in doubt. As India prepares for a General Election in 2014, the focus of spending is likely to be on vote garnering social outlays. Fiscal discipline is highly unlikely. But, India is the land of contradictions – and is known to combat crisis with hitherto unseen energy levels. This optimism led me to a summer “workation”. I joined the international wine professionals who had Rajiv Singhal Rajiv Singhal FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 9

The FINE Ambassadors' and High Commissioners' Table Our Second Anniversary Dinner Text: RAJIV SINGHAL Photography: AKSHAT ARORA 10 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Event O ne year on, and the settings are quite familiar. It is an uncharacteristically mild mid-summer evening in April. I have been ushered through the high security of the Embassy of Finland in the diplomatic district of the capital to arrive at the imposing Residence of the Ambassador. The FINE Wine & Champagne India magazine is hosting the FINE Ambassadors' and High Commissioners' Table to mark another milestone – our second anniversary. This is a unique opportunity for the heads of the participating diplomatic missions to present a wine that represents their country's wine producing traditions. Some go with regional specialities, some break free from the stereotype to showcase rarity and some simply bring what they are fond of. Collectively, all of them have drawn from their own treasure chests. At this years' Table, we will visit new terroirs in new continents. New Zealand, South Africa and the United States of America join the returning missions of Australia, Austria, Champagne (France), Portugal and Spain, lending a better balance between the New World and their European peers in this year's line-up. Twelve Ambassadors' and High Commissioners' have joined the group of FINE friends to celebrate this special occasion. The mood is set, and amidst the large frames of the acclaimed photographer, Pekka Nuikki's Winescapes, we sip and savour the South African Obikwa Sauvignon Blanc 2010 selected by Stefanus Botes, Minister Counsellor (Economic) of the South African High Commission with a Nordic smörgåsbord of canapés presented by the immaculately liveried Residence staff. Under the imposing larger-than-life cover of the newest offering from FINE Wine & Champagne India, FINE India's Chief Executive Ritu Singhal welcomes the FINE gathering, "the last two years have been very exciting. We have challenged the system; we are flattered by your praise; and we are indebted to all for their unstinted support." She thanks our hosts, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Finland New Delhi, Pekka Voutilainen and his wife Tuula, for their Santa spirit. Our hosts have been extremely kind and they have marshalled their troops at the Residence led by Manager Shiv, to deliver a stunning setting. The menu reveals an elaborate dinner crafted into five courses with six distinct wine flights. Chef Sanjay upholds the tradition of the Residence, and all of what is served is prepared in his kitchen with thoughtfully sourced fine ingredients – even the water is the natural spring water from Finland, Veen. Pekka Voutilainen highlights Finland's long standing connect with wine, and reminds us all that Captain Gustave Niebaum, who founded Inglenook in the Napa Valley in the 19th century, and is considered to be one of the pioneers of this wine region, was an enterprising Finn! He adds that Finland is indeed part of the great European wine grape growing traditions, to the surprise of those who FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 11

Mr Uday Varma and HH Maharani Gita Devi of Kapurthala have believed that Arctic climes are unsuited for vitis vinifera. The 2011 vintage of the Babich Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is poured as we sit. The wine's classic asparagus and tropical fruits notes complement the fresh asparagus with hollandaise sauce. High Commissioner Jan Henderson reveals that this label was chosen by Trade Commissioner Richard White, whom we applaud in absentia. For the next course, Chef Sanjay has proposed sesame salmon in a honey mustard sauce, with snow peas and sweet corn. I rise to discharge my official duties as Ambassador of Champagne to India, and share bubbles from the family cellars of Billecart Salmon in Mareuil-sur-Ay. High Commissioner Jan has just confessed that while she doesn't drink wine, she only enjoys champagne – need I add more? Champagne is so unique! I propose a toast to the FINE landmark with the Champagne Billecart Salmon Brut Reserve. The twin on this wine flight is Saintsbury Pinot Noir 2006 from Carneros. The Minister Counselor for Agricultural Affairs at the Embassy of the United States of America, Allan Mustard, traces the progression of wine in California from "one-buck-chuck" in the middle of the 20th century to wines that began to seriously compete with their old world counterparts owing to winemakers who converted potential into opportunity. Plated on the Finland crested blue and gold chinaware, the plat principal is succulent grilled lamb chops with fresh mint sauce, broccoli & duchess potato. With it, a pair of contrasting reds – Umathum Haideboden 2009 by the Austrian Commercial Counsellor,Wolfram Moritz and Flametree Margaret River Cabernet Merlot 2011 12 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA by Bernard Philip, the Australian Deputy High Commissioner. Dr. Moritz' choice is an atypical Zweigelt dominated Cabernet from the Lake Neusiedl region on the eastern borders. Mr. Philip offers a robust Cabernet, that has been specially sourced from the Margaret River by FINE friend Mat Lewis. As he apologised for his absence, H.E. Gustavo Manuel de Aristegui y San Roman, the Ambassador of Spain confided in me that his selection would be Spanish royal treasure. Reserva Real was specially made by Torres from the most exclusive high altitude parcel of Santa Margarita de Agulladolç for the visit of H.M. King Juan Carlos I to mark their 125th Anniversary. Deputy Head of Mission, Ramon Blecua, and oenologue, Isabel Mijares, charm with their poetic description of the wine. The 2003 vintage is showing very young and fresh, marked with good balance, silky tannins and a fruity finish. H.E. Jorge Roza de Oliveira, the Ambassador of Portugal is the messiah for the sweet toothed. The vibrant Port, Quinta Do Crasto 2008 has been decanted one hour prior by Sommelier Gurjit. An excellent pairing with the apple pie in crusted filo pastry with vanilla ice-cream, this vintage port expresses ripe fruit and a yummy longevity. The Foreign Secretary of India, H.E. Ranjan Mathai believes that India is re-discovering wine, and sums up the evening as a celebration of wine. "Wine is one of humanity's greatest products, wine is a gift of the gods", he says. FINE humbly accepts the divine duty to be messenger to share this gift widely, with great pleasure.> Ritu Singhal and Tuula & Pekka Voutilainen

FINLAND FINE & CHAMPAGNE Tuula & Pekka Voutilainen Rajiv Singhal EUROPEAN UNION PORTUGAL INDIA Jessica Hallet & João Cravinho Maria & Jorge Roza de Oliveira Ranjan Mathai NEW ZEALAND FRANCE AUSTRALIA Jan & David Henderson Jean-Marc Séré-Charlet Genevieve Clune & Bernard Philip AUSTRIA USA SOUTH AFRICA SPAIN Wolfram Moritz Allan Mustard Stefanus Botes Ramon Blecua FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA FINE Event The FINE Ambassadors and High Commissioners 13

Fine India Second Anniversary Tasting Notes 89p 84p OBiKWA Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Region: South Africa Appearance: Straw yellow, with a hint of green. Nose: Pleasant notes of ripe gooseberries, figs and crisp green apple flavours. Taste: Intense tropical fruits, gooseberries, and a hint of mangoes and guava. Finish: A long lingering hint of grassiness. Fresh and clean. When to drink: Now Inside Information: Obikwa is a pioneer wine brand in South Africa for sustainability. It launched environmentally friendly bottles that are 25% lighter than normal ones. With these lightweight bottles, the company contributes to a total reduction in carbon dioxide equivalent to emissions of 654 tons per year across the Obikwa range. The bottles are made from biodegradable materials and are fully recyclable including the aluminum capsules. In a nutshell: Good company 89p Billecart-Salmon Brut Réserve NV Region: Champagne, France Appearance: Lemon-yellow. Nose: Citrus, yeast, green apple, slightly muted. Taste: Dry, crisp, mineral, linear. Finish: Long, lemon citrus and green apple. When to drink: Now–2020 Inside Information: Billecart-Salmon is a family company whose wines are known for their elegant and delicately fruity style. This style derives from special techniques where the must is cleansed twice (débourbage) and wine is vinified in very low temperatures with specially selected indigenous yeasts from grand cru villages.The champagne is a classic blend of the grapes – Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier from three different years. In a nutshell: Classy 14 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA Babich Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2011 Region: Marlborough, New Zealand Appearance: Golden hay. Nose: Clean, aromatic notes of asparagus, gooseberry, green grass and hint of tropical fruits. Taste: Intense tropical fruits, delicious, very fruity. Passion fruit with some spicy capsicum. The palate is dry, with medium acidity and complimented with a light body. Finish: A crisp zesty and minerally finish. When to drink: Now–2016 Inside Information: The Babich Brothers have been making wine in Auckland's Henderson Valley since 1916, and established one of the best internationally known brands of New Zealand. Their winemaking philosophy is driven by the right location of their vineyards and the right varietals on these sites. The current Managing Director, Joe Babich aims to create wines that are stylish and refined and have easy drinking appeal. This year marks the 95th anniversary of the founding by Josip Petrov Babich, when new look labels and branding is introduced. In a nutshell: Delightful 84p Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir 2006 Carneros, California, USA Ruby red. Evolved, ripe cherry. Medium-bodied, ripened fruit, mushroom and game. Intense palate with wellintegrated round tannins. Finish: Evolved and ripe. When to drink: 2011–Now Inside Information: Carneros region overlaps the southern part of the Sonoma and Napa Valley. It is the coolest and the windiest region of both the counties. The dense soil is rich in clay and absorbs well the humidity deriving from the morning fog that comes from the San Pablo Bay. This terroir generates refined Pinot Noirs. In a nutshell: Better younger Region: Appearance: Nose: Taste:

85p Umathum Haideboden 2009 Region: Austria Appearance: Deep ruby. Nose: Pleasant nose, notes of ripe red fruits, red cherry and blackberry. Taste: Dry, full-bodied and intense. Notes of blackcurrants, oak and spices. Finish: Intense and spicy. When to drink: Now–2018 Inside Information: The name Umathum is Frankish in origin. The Umathum family settled in the region of Lake Neusiedl and winegrowing has always played an important role in the family history. Until the early 1970s, the family delivered its harvested grapes to a cooperative, but later began to bottle their own wines. Currently the head of estate, Josef Umathum, produces wines organically. Haideboden is a blend of Zweigelt 72%, Blaufränkisch 14 % and rest is Cabernet. In a nutshell: Refined and tasty 91p Flametree Margaret River, Cabernet Merlot 2011 FINE Event 88p Region: Margaret River, Australia Appearance: Deep red with a bright purple rim. Nose: Intense cassis and blackberry, subtle spiciness. Taste: Good concentration, packed with plum and bitter chocolate flavours, refined tannins, ripe fruitiness. Finish: Long and savoury. When to drink: Now–2021 Inside Information: The wine is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon; 20% Merlot; 10% Malbec; 5% Petit Verdot. All grapes come from 100% Margaret River. The vintage 2011 was a warm one, and some parcels of fruit were given a couple of week’s cold soak prior to fermentation. Fermentation temperatures were maintained on average two degrees cooler than the previous harvest, to avoid any excessive tannin extraction. The wine was aged in (40%) new and used tight grained French oak barrels for fourteen months to lend added complexity and structure. In a nutshell: Opulent and juicy Torres Reserva Real 2003 Region: Penedès, Catalonia, Spain Appearance: Deep mahogany red Nose: Fresh, intense, complex and toasty aromas with jammy notes of blackberry and cherry Taste: A wonderful complexity of ripe fruit with leathery flavors.Full-bodied palate with huge concentration, great balance and silky tannins. Finish: Lingering, long, and fruity When to drink: Now–2023 Inside Information: When His Majesty King Juan Carlos I visited Torres for their 125th Anniversary in 1995, he was offered the most exclusive parcels – Santa Margarita de Agulladolç – a high altitude vineyard and home to a 12th century Romanesque hermitage. The llicorella (fine slate) soils produce very small harvests that age in new oak barrels from the forests of Nevers (France). Since 1997, Reserva Real (Royal Reserve) is vinified as a living and expressive testament to the prestige of the great red wines of the Penedès. The wine is a classic Bordeaux blend with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. In a nutshell: Rich and smooth 89p Quinta do Crasto 2008 Region: Douro, Portugal Appearance: Opaque. Nose: Vibrant notes of very ripe red fruits, berries and figs. Lovely scents of lavender and eucalyptus. Taste: Young but very accessible. Full-bodied, rich and round structure. Energetic young tannins. A complex wine that shows a remarkable longevity. Finish: Big, firm and crisp. Decant: 4 hours When to drink: Now–2030 Inside Information: Winemakers Manuel Lobo and Tomás Roquette use vines that have more than 60 years on the traditional terraces. The grapes are gently crushed with the stalks and sent to a traditional stone mill and trodden. The added brandy stops the fermentation and leaves alcohol at 19.7%. Ageing for two years in oak barrels, bottling without filtration. In a nutshell: Explosion of complexity Tasting Notes by Rajiv Singhal with inputs from Gurjit Singh Barry, Sommelier FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 15

COLUMN PEKKA NUIKKI Who sets the prices of collectible Wines? P erhaps somewhat surprisingly, the world’s biggest wine auction house is eBay. Hundreds of wines change hands every day of the year via the site; as I write this, there are more than 85 000 bottles of wine on sale on eBay in Europe alone. A large part of them are vintage wines, with many of them rare and desirable objects of investment. Pricing and bidding follow the same principles as in the auction houses that concentrate solely on wine. The only exception is that the starting price is €0, meaning that the ultimate sale price is entirely determined by the bidders, whereas most auction houses set a minimum sale price for wines. Then why is the world’s biggest wine auction, where the price of wines is genuinely based on demand and cash flow, not the determiner of general wine market prices? The question is valid, as we are speaking of an industry which has for a long time let the desirability, pricing and demand of its products be entirely determined by one man: Mr Parker. Whenever I mention Mr Parker, most outsiders will immediately ask: how on earth have the producers and the wine world as a whole agreed to such despotism? That is a very relevant question, and one which I have as yet been unable to answer properly. The world is quickly changing, however, and individual wine critics are losing their power to the huge masses of the consuming 16 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA public. In the future, diverse blogs and communities with hundreds of thousands of users will increasingly be the ones to tell us which wines are good or bad, and where they can be bought at good prices. eBay has already blazed a trail in wine pricing and free, communal trading, but that is just the beginning. Similar, “free” online auction sites are appearing all the time. As soon as eBay is able to link the auctioned wines to thousands of users’ reviews of the products being sold, the price will almost entirely be determined without the need to consult experts. As a very critical consumer myself, I have noticed that I value the opinions of 1000 users more highly than those of a handful of experts – and this is also true when it comes to other issues such as movies or

FINE Nu i k k i travel destinations. So why should it not work the same way for wines? When a wine collector is trying to ?nd out an average selling price for a speci?c wine, he will often ?nd himself on the Live-Ex or Wineprice.com sites. Both are ?ne sources of information, but neither takes into account sales taking place on eBay. And yet, according to reports by wine auctioneers, only eight bottles of the highly desirable Cheval Blanc 1947 have been sold at established wine auctions this year, while according to my calculations, 43 bottles have been sold on eBay alone. Still, the market prices and price trends are extrapolated from the eight bottles. I have followed the development of wine prices on eBay for a few years, and have noticed a huge rift between the prices charged for the same bottle at most wine auctions and on eBay. Here are some examples from sales made in 2011–2012. Prices are given for comparison (WP refers to wineprice.com and eB to eBay). Pétrus 1961: WP: 18 bottles sold around the world, average price approx. US$6500; eB: 74 bottles sold, average price approx. US$2100. Cheval Blanc 1947: WP: 30 bottles sold around the world, average price approx. US$7300; eB: 83 bottles sold, average price approx. US$1850. La?te 1982: WP: 540 bottles sold around the world, average price approx. US$3650; eB: 159 bottles sold, average price approx. US$2159. Lafleur 1975: WP: 2 bottles sold around the world, average price approx. US$2750; eB: 22 bottles sold, average price approx. US$950. Krug Collection 1961: WP: 2 bottles sold around the world, average price approx. US$2100; eB: 11 bottles sold, average price approx. US$1260. Many experts explain the price di?erences by saying that the authenticity of wines sold on eBay cannot be veri?ed, and that counterfeits abound. True, but they are forgetting the fact that even now some of the world’s leading wine auction houses are in court accused of selling forged wines. The prices of the top wines will continue to rise at the world’s wine auctions in spite of eBay, due mostly to huge demand and a limited supply. To those who feel that the prices of top wines have got out of hand and out of their own price ranges, I recommend taking a look at eBay. The excellent 1947 Cheval Blanc tastes the exact same whether it was bought on the well-known online auction site or elsewhere. Only your wallet will know the di?erence. The list goes on. The only wine I have found that is priced as high on eBay as in other auctions around the world is DRC RomanéeConti. Not even eBay has been able to shake its astronomical price position. Our own wine price index, the FINE Wine 200 Index, will in future also take into account wine sales conducted on eBay. > FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 17

The Napa Valley royalty – Bob Levy, Bill Harlan and Don Weaver. 18 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Classification Classification The world of wine is vast. The number of producers alone is almost 200 000, wine brands number many times that, and there are dozens of wine-producing countries. For the wine consumer the situation is double-edged. On the one hand, the seemingly limitless choice and huge price range means there is something for everyone, but how does the customer find a genuinely quality wine that is worth its price among all the bottles laid out along the shelves of the wine store? Text: Pekka Nuikki & Juha Lihtonen PHOTOS: Pekka Nuikki F or normal, everyday products, consumers can mainly rely on advertising and marketing to help them choose, but selecting which wine to buy is not much more than guesswork. Wine advertising in many countries is either completely banned or, at least, restricted. Because most wine producers’ budgets if they have one at all are still modest, wine-growing countries have evolved ways to make it easier to identify the quality of their wines and make them stand out. The way they do this most often is through classification. Many countries have classified their wines, wine producers or vineyards to sort the wheat from the chaff and make it easier for customers to decide what to buy. Nevertheless, one of the world’s major wine regions, Napa Valley, has never classified its wines. Anyone purchasing Napa Valley wines faces a hard task, because often their high price relies on the subjective estimation of just one critic. Do the best wines of Napa Valley not deserve the same sort of recognition as, say, the classified French wines, which would make things clearer for consumers all over the world? We believe they do. Complete consumer awareness is still a long way off, as is a clear system of classification, but the process has to start now. On what basis then should the wines be classified? There are a number of options, but the most crucial is impartiality so we bravely elected to perform the task ourselves. Up here in the Nordic region, with no wine culture of our own to sway us, we were completely neutral in our approach to the classification. As it is still our mission to help our readers and make it easier for them to make choices when buying wine generally, we thought it was an excellent idea – although one of the wine producers we interviewed at Napa valley simply smiled and said, “Right then. Get ready to travel around the area in a bullet-proof car.” FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 19

Shafer vineyards at Stags Leap District T he two most familiar ways of classifying wines come from France. The first to classify itself was France’s most celebrated wine region, Bordeaux. In 1855 an international exhibition was held in Paris and the French Emperor of the time, Napoleon III, was keen to show the world the best of French wines. A syndicate made up of brokers and traders from the wine industry was given the task of choosing the wines for the exhibition and developing a clear and viable system for classifying them. After much debate and many arguments, it was decided that the main criterion for choosing wines would be the price they fetched on the market. The statistics and documentation used in the classification contained data going back as far as a hundred years and the more expensive the wine had been, the higher it would rank. The 20 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA final system was a division into five categories (cru) based on quality, for which a total of 61 vineyards were selected. The wines in each category were considered on a par with one another. The classification of vineyards in 1855 was not actually based on the quality of the wine or the soil, but merely the name of the estate. This, of course, means that when a second cru estate acquires land from, for example, an unclassified vineyard, the latter immediately becomes a second cru estate as well, even though the quality of the land has not altered, obviously, with the purchase. Many have regarded this as the greatest injustice associated with the 1855 classifications. Although the quality classification system arrived at in 1855 was not meant to be a permanent one, it is still very much alive and well today. Many of the estates are still in their right category according to today’s criteria, but on the other hand many should also be demoted or promoted, as the system is now almost 150-years-old. Wine making methods have changed and the vineyards on a lot of classified estates have trebled in size. These days the boundaries between categories have become blurred, from a consumer point of view, when it comes to a lot of wines. This is mainly due to pricing, which is no longer tied to category. For the consumer, it is indeed better if the wine is priced according to its present quality and not just because of its historical reputation. In 1855, the same year the famous Bordeaux Official Classification was launched, Dr Jules Lavalle published an influential book which included an unofficial classification of the Burgundy vineyards. Lavalle separated the wines into five categories: “tête de cuvée,” 1st class, 2nd class, 3rd class, and regional. This classification remained in force until 1935, when the Institut

FINE Classification Winemaker Michael Silacci, Opus One National des Appellations d’Origine (INAO) developed the system of Grand Crus, Premier Crus and so on, which is what we use today. However, whereas the Bordeaux 1855 classification is purely pricerelated, the Burgundy one is based firmly on site. This classification takes account of both the traditional local hierarchy and other natural factors, such as geology and soil type. But there are drawbacks with the Burgundy classification system too. Most Grand Cru and Premier Cru parcelles today are divided between dozens of wine producers. Each one of them, regardless of their level of winemaking skills or financial potential, can use the cru classification when they display the names of their wines. This has resulted in a huge imbalance in quality within the same category and it is impossible for consumers to be sure that the wine they have bought is a quality product, if they use the classification alone. The Bordeaux classification also set a trend for the Sauternes classification in 1855, the Graves in 1959, and the St-Emilion of 1955. Actually, the StEmilion classification differs from the others because it is mainly based on wine quality, which a committee appointed for the task assesses at tastings every 10 years. C lassifications that have been undertaken outside France have seen varying degrees of success. In 1991, the Australian auction house, Langton, published its own classification of Australian wines. It was entirely based on the price the wine had fetched on the domestic secondary market and not its quality or place of origin. Langton’s classification works moderately well within the borders of the country, but it is an impossible task for the consumer to draw a parallel between it and, say, the Bordeaux classifications of 1855. On the other hand, we might ask whether any classification is better than none at all. Many of the estates included in the Bordeaux classification of 1855, such as Château d´Yquem, Château Lafite and Château Latour, have taken their rightful place in our culture, and are familiar names to everyone, not just lovers of wine. The same is true of the most famous Burgundy Grand Cru parcelles, Romanée-Conti and Montrachet. These names are well known to most consumers and no one is unaware of their value in terms of quality. This is one indication of the power of a successful classification. So what about the Napa Valley wines? Should a system of classification not be employed to grant the best wines of this splendid region the same sort of recognition that the wines from the major wine regions in France have received? Genuine wine connoisseurs obviously know names like Harlan, Araujo or Colgin. However, less knowledgeable consumers, some 99 per cent I would say, would have real difficulty trying to find a place for them in the hierarchy of wines or trying to compare Eisele, say, with the La Tâche vineyard. But what sort of classification system would suit the Napa Valley wines best? This is the question the Editors of FINE Magazines mulled over in the winter of 2008. They eventually came up with a solution in spring 2009. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 21

Kathleen Heitz Myers Heitz Cellars “The importance of any classification lies in its authoritative independence” What makes a classification credible? For a classification to be credible and viable in our view, it cannot just be based on the trading price of the wine. Since the market for top Californian wines excludes ordinary consumers in the main, it is virtually impossible to prove the real value of its wine, even on the open market. Most estates sell almost all they produce via mailing lists and can price their wines how they like. The waiting list for the list itself normally has thousands of names on it. We also do not feel it is viable in California to classify wine according to the prices paid for them on the secondary market, as with Langton. The main reason for this is that the output of many of the top wine producers is minimal and almost imperceptible on the international markets; plus the fact the prices asked for Californian wine in particular are much influenced by the views of Robert Parker. Also, the classification of any wine region cannot rely on the opinions of just one person, however respected he or she is, as they are always going to be subjective. The quality of the wine alone is not an adequate criterion, as opinions also continually lack objectivity. Furthermore, the development of wine quality in California has been so rapid that classification would not do justice to all the estates if the focus was merely on that: Quality. Moreover, reliance on history would not give the right picture of the current situation regarding wines in the valley, though it is true that Napa Valley’s 150-yearold existence counts for something. During our visit to Napa Valley it was suggested several times that we base our classification on the winemakers – not a bad proposal in itself, as in California the winemaker is the star of the show. However, even as the best winemaker cannot produce top wines without a first class terroir 22 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA and adequate financial support, it would be impossible to conduct the classification with the winemaker as the sole point of reference. Besides, the celebrity winemakers, be they of the flying variety or local, change employers far too often. The best suggestion we heard was to classify the parcelles according to the Burgundy model, that is, by vineyard. It was a good idea and a pertinent one, as many estates in recent years have begun to understand the importance of terroir. Vineyard management counts for at least as much as the status of the celebrity winemaker. There has been far more investment in the land, and those responsible for the plots might well be the stars of the future. To make our classification as plausible as possible, we decided to make our lives a little harder and take all these elements into account. Hence, it is based on the wine’s quality, its reputation and the price that reflects this, history, the estate’s winemaking philosophy and finally, terroir. These factors are accorded

FINE Classification Dominus Estate FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 23

Napa Valley’s ultra premium wines have a bright future. As worldwide recognition increases for top tier wines from the area, terroir continues to be an important factor that sets brands apart. – Ann Colgin, Colgin Cellars Ann Colgin 24 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Classification Bart Araujo the following importance when determining the final rankings: the wine’s quality 45 per cent, its price 20 per cent, the terroir 20 per cent, the winemaking philosophy 10 percent, and history 5 per cent. The consumer wants quality in an easily recognisable form The quality of a wine depends on the combined effect of many different factors and events. We believe that the main factor regarding quality is terroir. A good wine, especially a good vintage wine, is essentially the result of the wine region’s geographical location and the local weather conditions. Even on individual estates, the weather changes from year to year. Thus, not even the best winemaker can create a fantastic vintage unless the weather conditions and soil are favourable for vine and grape growth. When we undertook this classification it was the quality of the wine that was by far the most important criterion to take into Winemaker Cory Empting, Harlan and Bond Estate account. It is also, in our view, the only thing that is of real importance to the average consumer. After all, not even the best marketing campaign or a long, prize-winning history can turn a poor wine into a good one. Unlike at St-Emilion, we did not want to base our newly established classification on a single tasting event. Instead, we took account of all our Napa Valley wine tastings that have taken place this decade. At best, the single vintages of the wines we classified were tasted more than twenty times and in the worstcase scenario at least twice. This way we have gained a very comprehensive overview of the quality and trends evident in each estate’s wines and thus eliminated the impact of ‘bad’ bottles in our assessments. We mainly concentrated on tasting vintages from the 1990s. We also opened hundreds of bottles from the 1960s and 1970s and dozens of older vintages. Most of the vintages from the present decade we have tasted over the last two years, and most of them with the producer. Before taking our final decision we held three tasting events this summer, where we tasted one hundred different wines that we had selected for the classification. Most of the wines – including all their vintages – chosen for the classification were tasted over the last five years, from the very first vintage up until 2005. We furthermore decided that in order to qualify for inclusion in our classification, a wine must have a minimum of 15 vintages on the market. Only with history can you strive towards perfection They say that without the knowledge of yesterday there is no prospect of a better tomorrow. Long-term success is also often based on a knowledge and understanding of history and in drawing the right conclusions accordingly. In France, many of the top wineries (Lafite, Latour, Krug etc.) have spent centuries polishing and refining their wines and production methods to produce what are undeniably excellent wines that most consumers are FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 25

familiar with. The system where a new generation proudly continues employing the skills learnt from the previous one and passes them on to the next is classically traditional and one that is worthy of respect. But what if a wine estate has no long history of polished skills and practices behind it, and what if the winemaker represents the first generation? One possibility is to try and create a really impressive wine that thrills the taste buds of the critics and then let the world read about how excellent it is in the columns of wine magazines and prize lists. After that, restrict its production to a minimum and let the demand, which by now has increased tenfold, worry about setting the price. They also say that in America achieving cult status means, in practice, a licence to print money for the vineyard concerned. Actually, what you hear more often is: But does a winery deserve “first growth” status simply because the owner of the brand has the nerve to charge an outrageously high price? 26 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA That was perhaps what happened in Napa Valley in the 1990s, but now ‘millennium history’ is also beginning to carry weight. Unlike the Bordeaux estates that only date back a short while, the Napa Valley vineyards that have sprung up over the past 25 years have not lost their status or desirability – on the contrary. Nowhere else have we encountered such great passion for making wine or a more steadfast belief in a better future than in Napa Valley. There, they examine and study previous vintages humbly and critically, and they are quite prepared to accept their own short history and the drawbacks that entails. The willingness to learn and create internationally prominent wines is huge, as is the realisation that it all takes time. Their readiness to make significant investments to improve the quality of the wine has been very apparent and today the results speak for themselves. We asked top winemakers in the area if Napa Valley should create a classification to improve public awareness of how good the quality of the region’s wines are nowadays. Most of them thought that now was the right time to do this, as Napa Valley wines can and should be classified and openly compared with the world’s best already-classified wines. Hopefully, this totally unofficial attempt to classify the wines of the region will prompt others to carry out a proper and official classification. It is impossible to ignore the importance of terroir when it comes to the quality and character of a wine, but all the same most winemakers who have a direct effect on wine quality rely on the estate’s winemaking philosophy. Having found an ideal vineyard, an estate has to make a number of decisions, each of which will affect the quality of the wine and its character. For example, who to hire as winemaker; what vines are to be grown; the extent of pruning and green harvesting; when to pick the grapes and how; whether to sort the grapes by hand; whether the wine should be fermented in oak, cement

FINE Classification Terroir by Tod Mostero, technical director of Dominus Estate or stainless steel vats; the mixing proportions of the grapes; volumes and maturing times; the type of new or old oak barrels to use; the type of filtering, and so on. In the classification we are now conducting, great importance has been attached to the effect of the past 20 years on the five criteria we chose for it. In that short time the quality of the wines and their price position have, in our opinion, developed steadily in Napa Valley. Furthermore, the region has seen a stable trend in the status of ownership. The greatest variable has been the wine-making philosophy, which has frequently altered when the winemaker has changed or a flying winemaker has landed. Only rarely have estates kept the same winemaker(s) for a long time. That is why, in this classification, we rate the philosophy, and the extent to which it continues, higher than the reputation of the individual winemakers. A survey conducted by Landon and Smith in 1998 on the effect of reputation on a wine?s desirability and image in terms of quality, found that the consumer pays attention not only to a long-standing reputation (history and classification of the estate) but also its short-term reputation (mainly due to the views of an influential critic). However, the longer-term reputation carries more weight and the consumer is happy to pay more when the reputation goes back over a longer period of time. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 27

I think the best Napa Valley wines are being recognised in terms of vineyard site. Cabernet Sauvignon has become the vehicle – like Pinot Noir in Burgundy – to express the terroir of Napa Valley. So with everyone working hard to produce better and better wines in the winery, the defining characteristic of each wine becomes the soil. In the future I see more small producers growing grapes and making wines from small, unique sites. It is a great trend. – Andrew Erickson, the winemaker of Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle and Ovid. 28 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA Andrew Erickson and Janet Pagano at Ovid

We believe that any classification system utilising a pricing model should be derived from secondary market data and not retail pricing. By ignoring the initial retail pricing of a wine, we gain a true reflection of perceived value on the part of consumers. A wine’s reputation and familiarity, the prizes it has won, the recognition it has received and the impartial opinions that critics have expressed about it, have an enormous impact on how well it will sell and the price it will fetch, particularly in the sub-premium and premium wine markets. All pricing information has been derived from the FINE Auctions price database, which stores historical data from all major European and American auctions over the last two decades. The average price that has now been estimated is based on that realised for vintages that have come onto the market in the biggest auctions in Europe, Asia and the USA. Because the average price we estimate is based on data we have collected ourselves, the average price given is only meant as a guide and is not precise. Our original idea – and it was an ambitious one – was to classify the 100 best Napa Valley wines, but we soon had to acknowledge our own limitations and shortcomings concerning the information we needed and our general experience. Therefore, we decided to restrict the classification to just those wines we have had wide experience of over a long period of time, or in other words, the regions’ best and most prestigious wines. After all, these are the wines we know about and which all the FINE publications focus on. We divided the wines into two groups. First and Second Growth was one category, while the second we deemed potential First or Second Growth, with respect to the vineyards that are so new to the region that they have not as yet released 15 vintages. As our classification is founded on the views and assessments of the Editors of the international FINE Magazines, it is, of course, completely subjective. But we also interviewed more than sixty of the main wine professionals in Napa Valley and asked them their opinion on what wines ought to be included in the first or second category. When we had finished our assessment of the vineyards included in the classification, it was interesting to note the percentage of those Napa Valley wine professionals that thought the wine in question belonged in the category chosen for it. Half of the respondents were winemakers and the rest vineyard owners. Altogether, we proposed 32 wines for classification into the first or second category. Just 11 of the wines were spoken of when the First Growth group was mentioned, and 85 per cent of the votes went to three wines. At least the opinion of Napa Valley professionals on the best wines of their region was pleasingly generic. It also led us to believe that it might be possible to find consensus on the official classification of Napa Valley wines, which we hope will take place in the near future. FINE Classification Price First, classifications confer identities on social actors (or objects), and inherently imply social control. Second, classifications create social boundaries and signify the social standing of actors (or objects). Third, classification-making often involves political struggles between different interest groups, and classification systems embody political power. (Understanding classifications: Empirical evidence from the American and French wine industries /Wei Zhao 2005) Doug Shafer FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 29

30 Bond St. Eden Vineyard FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

Criteria Emphasis 1. The quality of the wine FINE Classification HOW TO READ THE CLASSIFICATION 45% To evaluate the quality of the wines, we counted the average scores of the last fifteen vintages of each wine tasted by FINE Magazines’ Editors. These scores reflect the quality of the wine and set the most important emphasis in each wine. 2. Market Price 20% Expresses the demand of the wine on the market, therefore it has to have a great impact on the classification. Average secondary market price during the last 15 years is taken into account. 3. Terroir 20% The terroir factor has a critical influence on the quality aspect of the wine. 4. Philosophy in Winemaking 10% The winemaking philosophy reflects the producer’s relationship with the terroir and its wines. 5. Historical Background 5% The well-established track record of the particular site and its wine should not be neglected, as it reflects the continuity of winemaking on the estate. Wine professionals? opinion We asked over sixty Napa Valley winemakers and producers for their insight into which Napa Valley wines deserve to be listed as First Growth. On the following pages, each profiled wine has a wine professional percentage, which represents how big a percentage of the respondents considered the wine First Growth. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 31

Classification 1st Growth H????? E????? S???????? E???? C??????? S???????? C????? C??????? S???????? H??? L??? V??????? B????? F????? C??????? S???????? A????? C??????? S???????? E????? V??????? H???? C??????? S???????? M?????’? V??????? 32 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Classification 2nd Growth D???? V???? M??? A???? C??????? S???????? M?????? R???? P???????? R?? G???? F????? C??????? S???????? N??? V????? S????? C??????? S???????? H??????? S????? J????? P????? I??????? D?????? O??? O?? D??? V???????? H????? M??????? C??????? S???????? C????? C??????? S???????? S?????? S???????? C?????? M???????? C??????? S???????? E????? S???’? L??? W??? C?????? C??? ?? P?????????? R?? R?????? E????? R?????? P?????????? B???? 2nd As the classification is based on wines that have a minimum track record of 15 years, there are many great wines that do not quite meet the criteria. Due to their superb performance thus far, these wines deserve to be noted as possible future candidates for classification. Among this list, there are also some wines that have the track record required, but we would need to experience more from them in order to consider listing them in the 1st or 2nd growth. However, we are looking forward to including these in future classifications. A???? T????????? B??????? E????? B??? S? E??? B??? P??????? B??? M?????? C????????? P???????? H??? C??????? S???????? C????? IX E????? N??? V????? R?? W??? C????? T?????? H??? V??????? C??????? S???????? C???????? E????? D??? L???? V??????? C??????? S???????? D??? H???? V??????? C??????? S???????? D??????? S???????? C??????? S???????? G??????? V???????? OVX ??? C??????? S???????? H?????? A??? A?? V??????? C??????? S???????? H?????? A??? K???? M????? V??????? C??????? S???????? J????? P????? B????? V??????? C??????? S???????? O??? N??? V????? P??? H???? B?????????? C??????? S???????? T? K???? V??????? P????? T???? V??????? C??????? S???????? R???? C?????? B?????????? T? K???? V??????? C??????? S???????? S???????? S??????? B?????????? T? K???? V??????? C??????? S???????? S?????????? E????? C??????? S???????? S?????? F????? V??????? E????? C??????? S???????? T?? C??????? S???????? B?????????? ?? K???? C???? ? T?? C??????? S???????? B?????????? ?? K???? C???? ??? V??????? ?? E????? C??????? S???????? FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 33

1st Growth Harlan Estate 95.8 p The quality of the wine While Bill Harlan is the turbine of Napa Valley wines Harlan Estate is its vessel. Along with top mechanics Bob Levy, Cory Empting, Mary Hall and Don Weaver, the team build the Bugattis of the wine world. The wines have an immense power with an elegance par excellence. Style-wise, the wine is refined with velvety texture, polished but big tannins, moderate acidity and rich, intense black fruitiness. The mouthfeel is complemented by seductive toasty and perfumy flavours. While its structure is always silky, it has monstrous weight and power that stands out on the palate. Thanks to this balance, Harlan Estate wines are drinking perfectly well when young but will bloom after 15 years of ageing. That the wines are the result of skillful winemaking, does indeed play its part but the essence of Harlan Estate lies in the quality of vineyard site and in the philosophy of the winemaking, where the ultimate goal is always to deliver a sense of place. After various tastings of Harlan Estate wines, we conclude that this wine can be set apart from the rest as the first of the first growths. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 602 Terroir The 240-acre Harlan Estate is located in the western foothills of Oakville, between 225 and 1225 feet. As it is located on the hillside, it has northern, southern, western and eastern orientation. Just 40 acres of the entire estate is cultivated with vines which are located from 325 to 525 feet. “At this mid-slope elevation the soils tend to be more moderate in vigour than either the valley floor or the mountain tops, where the soils are deeper than the mid-slope. The marine influence and summer fog pattern still remain a dominant climatic force. We have a significant cooling and refreshing of the vines after the warm days, as they adsorb the cool moisture from the fog that rolls in 34 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA each day up to about the 500 to 700 foot level, before burning off by midday.” Bob Levy explains. Another factor is the soil composition. The estate’s subsoil is volcanic and oceanic sedimentary. “The volcanic soils tend to give us more depth and concentration along with power. In these soils we derive the ‘Harlanesque’ forest floor notes we have all admired over the years. The sedimentary soils, where we mostly have Merlot planted, tend to be softer and more elegant, with broad mid-palate and great refinement of tannins.” Levy says. Philosophy in winemaking Bill Harlan always had one goal in winemaking – to create a globally recognised ‘first growth of California’. To achieve this, Harlan understood decades ago that he needed land with the potential to deliver the complex and unique characters to the wine. After his team’s ten years of research of Bordeaux and Burgundy versus valuable land and history of Napa Valley, Harlan believed he had found his piece of land in Oakville. Since grafting the first vines in 1985, the Harlan Estate team has been devoted to transferring the sense of place into the wine from their site. The best clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot are grafted on the most suitable rootstocks. The vineyard is nurtured with a huge amount of care throughout the growing season to gain the purest fruit. The harvesting is carried out by an experienced vineyard crew who run the harvest in several pickings, cluster by cluster. This is often repeated 3 or 4 times, after which the fruit is still selected grape by grape, once in the winery. This is done to avoid unripe or overripe grapes or anything other than grape material, such as pieces of leaves or stems, getting into the fermentation tank. Every picking lot is processed separately and vinified in small batches in stainless steel and wooden fermentors. The ageing is completed in French barriques for 26–27 months. No fining or filtration is done. The vinification process is interfered with as little as possible in order to obtain the terroir character. The key to intense fruit is in the low yields. Historical background The land that is now Harlan Estate had never been cultivated earlier. As Bill says “it was a highrisk strategy that was to show in 10 to 15 years if it was worth it. To buy land on a hillside forest was obviously risky, but I love gambling, as it is the excitement of life. Luckily, we did not fail”. Apart from the wineries, Harlan’s passion for wines has made him create the St Helena-based, luxurious Meadowood Resort, complete with a two Michelin star restaurant, as well as an exclusive wine club, The Napa Valley Reserve. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 89 %/FIRST GROWTH Owner: H. William Harlan Founded: 1984 First vintage: 1990 Location: Oakville Vineyard size: 40 acres Average age of vines: 20 years Production: 1650–2000 cases 65 % sold through mailing lists, the rest through restaurants and wine shops. Vineyard manager: Mary Hall (Bob Levy as Director of Winegrowing) Winemaker: Cory Empting (Michel Rolland as consulting winemaker) AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 95.8 p

Cabernet Sauvignon 94.9 p The quality of the wine The Screaming Eagle is the world’s most spoken about cult wine. In 15 short years, the wine, produced in miniscule quantities in a shed in Oakville, has become a wine lover’s ultimate dream to taste. It is not just its rarity that makes this wine taste different to others. It is the charmingly refined style that makes Screaming Eagle so appealing, with its satiny tannins, vivid acidity and very sophisticated fruitiness. It is not a big blockbuster wine with over extraction. Instead, it is an opulent and refined wine that not only drinks well when young but also has great ageing potential. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 1914 Terroir Located at the foot of the Vaca Mountains in Oakville, the vineyard has a multilayered soil composition that is rich in iron. The well-drained volcanic rock mixes well with clay, ensuring the right balance of stress for the vines. The daily cooling fog influence helps the grapes to keep their freshness. “I believe these red, volcanic soils produce some of the most compelling Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc-based wines in the world.” winemaker Andrew Erickson adds. Philosophy in winemaking “First and foremost, I will be perpetuating the fresh, delicate style of wine that has been the Screaming Eagle hallmark since 1992. Across two winemakers before me (Heidi and Andy), that style has stayed remarkably consistent, which is part of the uniqueness of this ranch. The character of the vineyard really asserts itself. What will be new is the discovery of the young vine plots, and the ways that we can farm them individually to get the best site expression possible. It is a winemaker’s dream to be able to truly understand and manage a vineyard acre by acre and spend an enormous amount of time out there with the vines,” Nick sums up. FINE Classification Screaming Eagle 1st Growth WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 78 %/FIRST GROWTH Historical background One of the most respected real estate brokers in Napa Valley, vineyard founder Jean Phillips had brokered deals for people such as Bill Harlan, the Araujos, and the Dalla Valles, among others. Stepping on to the Screaming Eagle property in the 1980s, she knew instantly this was a magical place and that she had to have it. The wines made by celebrity winemaker Heidi Peterson Barrett from 1992, have become the ultimate cult wines of California. In 2006 Jean Phillips sold the Screaming Eagle estate to Charles Banks and Stanley Kroenke, who proceeded to invest a great deal of money in site reconstruction, as well as in plantings and the winemaking team. Charles Banks appointed Andrew Erickson the new winemaker while also bringing in a winemaker consultant, Michel Rolland and vineyard managers, David Abreu and Annie Favia. The vineyards are now partly planted and the winery is still undergoing construction work. Since the spring of this year, Stanley Kroenke has become the sole owner. Owner: Stanley Kroenke Founded: 1986 First Vintage: 1992 Location: Oakville Vineyard size: 16 acres, with a total area of 52 acres Average age of vines: 20–22 years Production: 700-750 cases All wine is sold through the mailing list. This applies also to restaurants and wine shops. Vineyard manager: David Abreu Winemaker: Nick Gislason AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 94.9 p FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 35

Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon 1st Growth Herb Lamb Vineyard 94.4 p The quality of the wine It is the purity of the jammy black fruits, refinement of the tannins, and elegant flavours that define the Colgin wines. All four wines made under the Colgin name – Herb Lamb, Tychson Hill, Cariad and IX – have these distinctive profiles, although each carries its own unique style. The 100 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon from the Herb Lamb Vineyard has been the hallmark wine of Colgin, as it was the first they ever produced. The Herb Lamb stands out as the most masculine wine of the Colgin’s wines. The wine has a rich texture, as well as complex aromas of black fruits, flowers, toast, herbs and cedar. However, Colgin has unfortunate news for all lovers of Herb Lamb: “While we have enjoyed working with the Herb Lamb Vineyard since 1992, the 2007 was our final vintage from this vineyard. The declining health of the twenty-yearold vineyard made it difficult for us to continue to maintain the high quality level displayed in all of the Colgin wines. Now that our own estate-grown vineyards have come into full maturity, our focus has moved to the exceptional sites that produce our IX Estate, Tychson Hill and Cariad wines”, Ann Colgin outlines. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 334 Terroir The small 7.4-acre Herb Lamb Vineyard is located close to Howell Mountain on the eastern side of St Helena. The eastern facing vineyard is situated at an elevation of 600 to 800 feet on well-drained soils, with high a content of rocks. This terroir allows for low yields with a high concentration. Philosophy in winemaking “Our winemaking philosophy has always been to express the true character of each unique vineyard site”, Ann Colgin explains. The grapes are harvested during the night and go through three sortings, starting on the vineyards. The final one takes place in the winery, where 15 people will do the final sorting before crushing the grapes. Moving the grapes, juice or wine is done by gravity. The barrels, tanks and vinification equipment, along with the basket presses, are of the highest quality. “Only the finest neo-classical winemaking methods are used in concert with small yields, gentle handling, attentive sorting and meticulous blending to capture the distinctive terroir 36 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA characteristics of each Colgin wine. Colgin Cellars blends talent with terroir, tradition with technology and passion with precision to create wines with distinctive personalities and a profound sense of place.” Ann Colgin sums up. Historical background It was the Herb Lamb Vineyard where Ann Colgin’s success story as a wine producer started with the 1992 vintage. After hiring legendary Napa Valley winemaker Helen Turley, they created a wine that caught the eye of the powerful critics. David Abreu, who is the vineyard manager for Colgin, took over the management of Herb Lamb Vineyard between 2004 and 2007. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 62 %/FIRST GROWTH Owner: Ann Colgin First vines planted: 1988 by Herb & Jennifer Lamb Location: St Helena Vineyard size: 7.4 acres Average age of vines: 20 years Production: 300 cases The majority of Colgin wines are offered by allocation to mailing list of private collectors. A small portion of the production is distributed to select restaurants in the United States, Europe and Asia. Vineyard manager: David Abreu Winemaker: Allison Tauziet AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 94.4 p

Cabernet Sauvignon FINE Classification Bryant Family 1st Growth 94.1 p The quality of the wine Historical background One of the most concentrated yet opulent Cabernet Sauvignons in the world. A blockbuster wine with great elegance. The wine has an immense balance, with jammy cassis fruit, lovely acidity and super, smooth tannins. The flavour profile is completed by distinctive earthy and smoky aromas. Due to its high concentration and density, it prefers ten to fifteen years of cellaring before delivering its best. It was in 1987 when Don Bryant Jr., a successful St Louis businessman and devoted wine and art lover, decided to purchase a run-down 13-acre hillside vineyard on Pritchard Hill. After the acquisition his viticultural team run numerous experiments involving different varieties and clones. Finally, Cabernet Sauvignon was considered the most successful variety for growing on this particular site. Market price WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 41%/FIRST GROWTH Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 349 Terroir The steep hillside vineyard is located 1000 feet up on Pritchard Hill, allowing Bryant Family’s 12-acre vineyard a unique terroir. The western winds bring the cooling air to the site allowing 5 to 10 degrees cooler growing conditions, which in turn keeps the acidity levels high. The volcanic rock soil provides very little nutrients and water to the vines that yield grapes with a higher concentration. Yet the hillside orientation treats the vines equally when it comes to distribution of sunlight. Philosophy in winemaking Bryant Family’s philosophy is based on super low yields in order to obtain maximum concentration and ripeness in the grapes. The naturally boosted grapes are then vinified using modern technology in gravity-oriented winery facilities. Part of the success story of the Bryant Family wines has been the winemaking team, which has always been led by highly appreciated wine consultants. The famous Helen Turley was the first of these, followed by Philippe Melka and now Mark Aubert together with Michel Rolland. Owner: Don Jr. Bryant Founded: 1987 Location: St Helena (Pritchard Hill) Vineyard size: 13 acres Average age of vines: 20 years Production: 1000 cases. Access to wines through mailing list only. Vineyard manager: David Abreu Winemaker: Todd Alexander (Michel Rolland as consulting winemaker) AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 94.1 p FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 37

Araujo Cabernet 1st Growth Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard 93.8 p The quality of the wine The Araujo Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon has a unique allure to it. Its finesse, purity of fruit, vivid acidity and profound mineral character set this wine apart from the other Napa wines. A sophisticated wine with great potential, its style is almost reminiscent of Pomerol. Thanks to Araujo’s vineyard management, the wines are showing an increasing amount of the terroir character. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 212 Terroir The Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon has a unique character. The vineyard is located in a cove protected by the Palisades Mountains, which draw cool air from the Sonoma coastline to the site from the western Chalk Hill Gap. This helps the grapes keep their freshness and acidity, which is often a challenge given the warm Calistoga district. Another factor is the subsoil composition, which is being shaped by the two tributaries crossing the vineyard. The deep, rocky subsoil is made up of volcanic cobbles from the Palisades Mountains and is well-drained causing the vine roots to penetrate deep into the ground. This allows more mineral compounds to be absorbed, adding minerals and complexity to the grapes. Lying on a gently sloping hill, there are parts of the vineyard with richer soil containing volcanic ash, small stones and red clay, which provide more weight and complexity to the flavour profile of the grapes. Philosophy in winemaking The Araujo commitment to producing estategrown wines of highest calibre and distinction makes them employ cutting-edge practices in farming and 38 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA winemaking. The organic and biodynamic practices are an important part of their vineyard management with organic farming principles adapted in 1998 and followed two years later by the biodynamic practices. The property is free of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. With these practices, the Araujo’s reinforce the unique terroir and ensure the health of the soil and vines and are able to handle better the most common threat to their vines – heat stress. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 82 %/FIRST GROWTH Historical background Eisele Vineyard has been known for decades as one of the most appreciated sites in Napa Valley. It was originally planted with Zinfandel and Riesling way back in the late 19th century, while Cabernet Sauvignon was first planted in 1964. Milt and Barbara Eisele bought the vineyard in 1969 and realised that their unique site produced a crop that deserved to be sold to respected producers other than the local co-operative. They contacted winemaker Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards, and the first wines carrying the Eisele Vineyard label were produced by Ridge Vineyards in 1971. The harvests of 1972 and 1973 were sold to Robert Mondavi, who used them in the prestige blend of Reserve Cabernet. In 1974, the crop was sold to Conn Creek Winery who produced the second vineyard-designated Eisele Cabernet. The following year, the Eiseles found a partner in Joe Phelps, who had exclusivity for the whole vineyard until 1991 during which he produced sixteen Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon vintages, until the Araujo’s bought the vineyard. In fact, the last vintage of 1991 was produced by, both, the Joe Phelps and Araujo brands. Since the Araujo’s acquisition, the winemaking focus has changed. For the first time, the vineyard has a proprietor committed exclusively to producing the wine on estate, all the way from the vineyards to the bottling and cellaring. It is done with prime focus, devotion and absolutely no compromise. Owner: Bart & Daphne Araujo Founded: 1990 First vintage: 1991 Location: Calistoga Vineyard size: 30 acres for Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, total size 38 acres Average age of vines: 19 years Production: 1600-2000 cases Over 50% sold through mailing lists, the rest through restaurants and wine shops. Winemaker: Nigel Kinsman (supported by Director of Winemaking Françoise Peschon and consulting enologist Michel Rolland) Vineyard manager: Caleb Mosley AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 93.8 p

Martha?s Vineyard FINE Classification Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon 1st Growth 92.1 p The quality of the wine Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the most distinctive wines in Napa Valley. The distinctiveness lies in its unique style, with profound aromas of mint and eucalyptus derived from the large eucalyptus trees shading the vineyard. On the palate the wine charms, as it is less jammy than most Napa Cabernets. It is reminiscent of the classic Bordeaux style so often associated with Mouton-Rothschild that it has even been called the Mouton of Napa. The Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon has the most esteemed history of any single vineyard wine in Napa. It is an iconic wine. While many other successful wineries that were started in the 1960s have lost their flair and status on the market, Heitz Martha’s Vineyard is still capable of rivaling the modern cult wines. The best evidence of its greatness was shown in a full vertical Heitz Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon tasting, where all of its 35 vintages ever produced were evaluated. The results were simply amazing, with the wines reaching an average score of 92.1 points. It is fair to say that there are not many other wineries in the world that can provide as stable a vertical. The wines have great balance, elegance and continuity. This is not only the result of a great site but also great winemaking. The grapes from the vineyard have always been in the hands of the Heitz family – first Joe’s and then son David’s. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 109 Terroir Martha’s Vineyard is located in Oakville, just below Harlan Estate, on a gently sloping, 34acre vineyard cultivated with a unique Cabernet clone. “It is gravelly loam on an alluvial soil that contributes an essence of minerals in the terroir.” Kathleen Heitz Myers stresses. The site, with eastern orientation on the foothills of the Mayacamas, enjoys the first rays of sunshine in morning while the direct, hot afternoon sun is avoided and the cooling microclimate can occur. The vineyard is cultivated using certified organic practices. acquired the first batch of fruit from the vineyard he immediately understood that he had something precious in his hands and that it deserved to be vinified and bottled exclusively. The first vineyarddesignated wine in the history of the United States was born from the harvest of 1966. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 47 %/FIRST GROWTH Philosophy in winemaking “An important part of the legacy of Martha’s Vineyard is showcasing the authentic, varietal character of this incomparable Cabernet clone, with its layers of complexity and remarkable overall balance. Through the extended fiveyear ageing process, the wine consistently and elegantly portrays the pure flavours and unique characteristics of Martha’s Vineyard. We continually strive to maintain a balance between innovation and a commitment to our winemaking heritage. While we have made subtle refinements through the years, Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet remains known as a true classic for its consistency in quality and style.” Heitz Myers sums up. Historical background ‘The wine unites’ goes the old saying and two bottles of Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon certainly united two families in a way that the wine lovers around the globe will appreciate. It was all thanks to the generosity of the people who sold their site and house to Tom and Martha May in 1963. The Heitz bottles left as a welcome gift appealed to the May’s palates and they visited the Heitz Cellars. There they met Joe and Alice Heitz and the lifetime bond was created. Later, a handshake sealed the lifetime contract between the families, which ensured the Heitz’s had exclusive rights to the fruit from the May’s vineyard. When Joe had Winery Owners: The Heitz Family Location: Oakville Vineyard size: 34 acres Average age of vines: 13 years. The vineyard was replanted after phylloxera attack in 1992. Production: 1000 to 4500 cases Vineyard Owners: : Tom & Martha May with the son Richard and daughter Laura Winemaker: David Heitz AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 92.1 p FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 39

2nd Growth Dalla Valle Maya The quality of the wine Maya is all about power and volume. This intensely colored wine, rich in tannins and ripe jammy black fruits, has the power to last for decades. It is a mouthfilling wine with a masculine structure and is definitely suited to long-term ageing. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 284 Terroir Dalla Valle estate is situated on a plateau 400 feet above the valley floor, on the hillside of the Vaca Mountains in Oakville district. The Maya vineyard is the most southern facing site of the Dalla Valle estate. A sunny exposure guarantees the Cabernet grapes ripen perfectly, while the cooling Pacific Ocean breeze helps the grapes keep their acidity level high. The well-drained, rocky soils with clay and loam are rich in iron content, therefore providing Maya wine its intense, powerful and rich character. The terroir is perfectly suited to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. “We work hard to subdivide the vineyard, and produce small lots from uniform parts of the vineyard.” winemaker Andrew Erickson enlightens. Philosophy in winemaking “The wines tend to be quite powerful from the Dalla Valle vineyard, so rounding the tannins is one of the focuses of the winemaking. We have been doing longer macerations to smooth out the tannins and increase the mid-palate of the wines there. The defining characteristics of the wines from Dalla Valle are power and intensity, so we try to focus on this in the winemaking. But in the end, there should not be a winemaking “style” reflected in the wine, but a reflection of the terroir.” Erickson says. Historical background Dalla Valle was set up and named after the late Gustav Dalla Valle. Born in Italy, Gustav, along with Japanese wife Naoko, bought their Oakland vineyard in 1982. After Gustav’s untimely death in 1995, Naoko put together a masterful team of 92.7 p vineyard and oenology experts which has only furthered their commitment to producing the highest quality wine. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 18 %/FIRST GROWTH Owner: Naoko Dalla Valle Founded: 1982 First Vintage: 1988 Location: Oakville Vineyard size: 7 acres Average age of vines: 20–22 years Production: 200–500 cases All wine is sold through the mailing list. This applies also to restaurants and wine shops. Vineyard manager: Fausto Sanchez Winemaker: Andrew Erickson AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 92.7 p 2nd Growth Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon Madrona Ranch 92.3 p The quality of the wine The wines are beautifully balanced with acidity, tannins, and ripe fruitiness. The high-level of alcohol is well-integrated and enhances the lovely spicy and mineral characters present in the long finish. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 245 40 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA Terroir The Madrona Ranch is located on the western side of St Helena. The gently sloping hills possess a great deal of alluvium, derived from sedimentary rock, and partly iron-rich volcanic rock. This site produces, in David Abreu’s hands, some of the highest quality fruit in the Napa Valley. Philosophy in winemaking The philosophy is based on the vineyard practices rather than vinification. His aim is to make wines that express the unique terroir of the Madrona ranch. His wines are aged in 100 per cent new French oak for two years, and after this for another two years in the bottle before release. Historical background David Abreu is a third generation native of Napa Valley. He grew up in Rutherford, where his parents were ranchers. At an early age he began working in the vineyard and winery business and worked alongside Napa Valley legends such as Charlie Wagner and Andre Tchelistcheff. After

Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red 91.6 p The quality of the wine Pahlmeyer wines are mostly big wines with great complexity and character. The distinctive, intense jammy black fruit character is always in harmony with balancing acidity, ripe, refined tannic structure and rounding high alcohol. Although the wines are big they are never clumsy, but vivid and energetic instead. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 87 Terroir Volcanic, rocky, deep well-drained soils that are cultivated using sustainable viticulture. The irrigation is minimised to encourage the root system to penetrate deep into the ground. No fertiliser, pesticides or chemicals are used. With these methods, the yields are kept low and the fruit concentrated. spending some time in Bordeaux, he returned with the new vineyard concepts, before founding David Abreu Vineyard Management in 1980. He soon became the most popular vineyard consultant in Napa, consulting the top properties including Colgin, Harlan, Araujo, Bryant Family and Screaming Eagle to name but a few. In 1980 he also planted Madrona Ranch. David’s first wine was made in 1986 at Madrona Ranch but his first commercial release was the 1987 Abreu Cabernet Sauvignon Madrona Ranch. Philosophy in winemaking The whole philosophy of Pahlmeyer wines is based upon selection. The grapes are sourced from their own Waters Ranch vineyard and other Napa Valley vineyards, which are selected every year, in order to find the best quality grapes for the blend. The entire process, from the vineyards to vinification, involves selecting only the best fruit, cluster by cluster, berry by berry. Before fermentation, the selected grapes are cold macerated for 4 to 5 days to extract flavour and colour. The wild yeast fermentation takes place in open-top fermentors. The ageing takes place, mostly in new oak, for 18 months. No fining or filtration takes place. Historical background Jason Pahlmeyer grafted the first wines in Napa from Bordeaux cuttings with his friend John Caldwell, in 1980. Randy Dunn vinified the first commercial vintage in 1986 and continued with the winery until 1992. He was then succeeded by WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 26 %/FIRST GROWTH Helen Turley who convinced Pahlmeyer to invest in the vineyard site at Atlas Peak, which stood over 1500 feet high. Erin Greene has continued the Turley’s work since arriving in 1999. FINE Classification 2nd Growth WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 2 %/FIRST GROWTH Owner: Jason Pahlmeyer Founded: 1980 First Vintage: 1986 Location: Napa Valley Vineyard size: 72 acres Production: 3000 cases Vineyard manager: Amy Warnock (developer David Abreu) Winemaker: Kale Anderson AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 91.6 p Owner: David Abreu Founded: 1980 First Vintage: 1987 Location: St Helena Vineyard size: 23 acres Production: 350 cases Vineyard manager: David Abreu Winemaker: Brad Grimes AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 92.3 p FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 41

2nd Growth Grace Family Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 90.8 p Philosophy in winemaking The quality of the wine When making wines in such minor quantities, as Grace Family does on a good site in St Helena, it is relatively simple to obtain extreme quality. This is a true boutique winery par excellence. The wines are focused, full-bodied, pure and complex. They show immense finesse and elegance despite being rich with fruit and tannins. The wines are tight and closed when young and benefit from 15 to 20 years ageing. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 238 In 1978, it was the superb quality of the fruit that was first recognised by Caymus’ Charlie Wagner who made Grace Family Vineyard wine under the Caymus brand. The philosophy towards winemaking has always been based on the grape material that the Grace vineyard produces. Since the beginning, they have nurtured their parcel with organic care, in order to maximise the quality of the grapes. Richard and Anne’s son Kirk took the winegrowing a step further by introducing biodynamic methods eight years ago. The vineyard now produces an average yield of 6-8 tonnes per acre, and according to Dick Grace “Success is not growing, but maintaining your gain.” Historical background Terroir The rocky hillside, with eastern orientation and good exposure, perfectly suits this unique Cabernet Sauvignon, the cuttings of which originate from the Bosche Vineyard in Rutherford. The grapes were sold to Caymus Winery, who made vineyard-designated wine that was named after the Grace family. In 1983 the Grace Family began to produce the wine under their own label. Originally a 5-acre vineyard, it was diminished to 2 acres after phylloxera struck the vineyard in 1994. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 14 %/FIRST GROWTH Owner: Richard & Ann Grace Founded: 1975, planted 1976 First Vintage: 1978 Location: St Helena Vineyard size: 2 acres Production: 350 cases Vineyard manager: Kirk Grace & Daniel Mendoza Winemaker: Gary Brookman AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 90.8 p 2nd Growth Joseph Phelps Insignia 91.5 p The quality of the wine Insignia represents the classic big Napa wine, with an abundance of jammy black fruits, profound toastiness with vanilla, and a mouth-filling, opulent texture with tender tannins. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 109 42 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA Terroir The secret of complexity in the Insignia relies on the blend of Cabernets from various sites. The high awareness of the soil compositions and their interaction with vines and rootstocks are well understood and supported by biodynamic cultivation. The grapes used for Insignia originate from four different vineyards with deep soils and various compositions – silty clay, gravel, volcanic rock, and pebbles. It is the combination of all these that gives Insignia its complex flavour. Philosophy in winemaking In the beginning Insignia was made from the best grapes available during any given year, but the concept changed slightly in 1977. “We wanted to make the best blend of Bordeaux varieties – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc – from our vineyards and that continued until 1989. At that time our focus changed from sourcing fruit from the winegrowers, to using our own estate vineyards.” Kathie Fowler, Director of Communications points out.

Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select 91.6 p The quality of the wine The Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon has that warm, classic Californian flair to it – loads of ripe and jammy black fruits, smooth tannins and mellow acidity. The wines are always big and as Doug Shafer points out “Napa wines are big wines, no point hiding it.” Still baring the Stag’s Leap District’s smooth style, with tannins that are always very gentle and fine-grained, the Hillside Select is voluminous, but in a discreet manner, making it a very enjoyable and flirtatious wine when young. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 245 Terroir The legendary Hillside Estate Vineyard is comprised of 14 vineyard blocks, varying from one to nine acres in size, on the slopes of an amphitheatre-like hillside. The thin, volcanic rocky topsoil stands on top of bedrock that forms a very low amount of nutrients for vines, thus yielding small grapes with intense flavours. Due to a series of knolls and outcroppings, the vineyard blocks The 2004 was the first 100% “Estate” Insignia. The most significant change in production and style came about because of phylloxera. “When we replanted better rootstocks and clones, and employed better vineyard architecture (soil preparation, drainage, spacing, trellising) and better farming techniques, the quality and the expression of the wines improved.” Fowler adds. Historical background Joseph Phelps fell in love with the tranquil Spring Valley in Napa while working on the construction enjoy various microclimates, which generate grape material with complex flavours. Every afternoon the breeze from San Francisco Bay cools the vineyards, allowing the fruit to retain acidity. their first wine, Shafer Cabernet, themselves. It was released in 1981. This wine was ranked, ten years later during an international blind tasting in Germany, better than legendary Bordeaux wines like Latour, Margaux and Palmer. FINE Classification 2nd Growth Philosophy in winemaking The Shafers are the pioneers of sustainable vine farming, with over 20 years experience. The production is operated using 100% solar power, recycled water and no chemicals. “In the early 1980s we followed the advice of our textbooks from the U.C. Davis winemaking programme and picked early, added acid, etc. Over time we learnt that wine needs to taste good. And we threw out our textbooks and learned to taste the fruit and let the fruit tell us when to pick and also what style of wine it wanted to become. Obviously I hope the future will be about wines that are produced with authenticity, wines that remain true to their site of origin. However, the fact is the future remains, as always, in the hands of consumers.” Doug Shafer comments. Historical background The winery was established by John Shafer, a former book publisher from Chicago, in 1972. In 1978 the Shafers became vintners after crushing of various Napa wineries in the late 1960’s. He bought a farm and turned it into a winery in 1972. The Phelps became famous for exclusively producing the Eisele Vineyard, from 1976 to 1991. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 6 %/FIRST GROWTH Owner: Phelps Family Founded: 1973 First vintage: 1973 (First Insignia vintage 1974) WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 37 %/FIRST GROWTH Owners: John & Doug Shafer Founded: 1972 First vintage: 1982 by the name Reserve (In 1983 the wine was renamed Hillside Select) Location: Stag’s Leap Vineyard size: 50 acres Average age of vines: max 25 years Production: 2400 cases Vineyard manager: David Isley Winemakers: Doug Shafer & Elias Fernandez AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 91.6 p Location: Not a single-estate wine, the grapes come from several regions in Napa Valley Vineyard size: 375 acres of vineyards in St. Helena, Rutherford, Stags Leap District, Oak Knoll District, Carneros and South Napa Valley Average age of vines: 15 years Production: 11,000–13,000 cases (Insignia) Vineyard manager: Philippe Pessereau Winemaker: Ashley Hepworth (Damian Parker is Director of Winemaking) AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 91.5 p FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 43

2nd Growth Dominus The quality of the wine The Dominus Estate has a different tone to any other Californian wine and it is more French and Old World than anything else. The wines are restrained and savoury, with complex nuances of black fruits, spices and toastiness. They are less appealing compared to other great Napa wines when young, but have an aristocratic nature and good ageing potential. Thanks to devoted practices on the vineyard site the wines deliver the pure expression of the terroir. “The Dominus style is precise, polished, refined but austere. It is like an iron fist in a velvet glove.” says technical director Tod Mostero of the Dominus style. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 127 Terroir Located in a narrow area, separating the upper and lower valley of Napa, the vineyard in the foothills of Mayacamas Mountains receives the cool evening air that rises through the valley, while also benefitting from the equally cool breeze that escapes from the upper valley in the early morning. This helps the grapes to keep their freshness and acidity levels high. The estate is farmed without any irrigation, which is highly risky and a very uncommon practice in Napa. With this practice Christian Mouiex is looking to have the rootstock dig deep into the ground, thus increasing the stress on the vines and generating more concentrated and mineral-rich grapes. There is a great focus on caring for the vines individually. The vineyard has 27 individual blocks that are operated separately. Two weeks before harvest, the grapes on the vines are washed, in order to remove all dirt and dust. During the harvest the row of vines are picked in two phases – firstly the side where the grapes are exposed to sunlight, while the shaded area follows soon after. The first sorting of grapes is carried out in the vineyard. It is the practices of the vineyard, with its 27 blocks of various varietals, that creates the complexity that is evident in the final wine. 91.2 p Historical background The site has had a long history since the first vines were cultivated here in 1838. In 1946, the legendary Niebaum family descendant John Daniel purchased the Napanook property as part of the Inglenook Estate. When Daniels sold Inglenook in 1964 he kept this site. In 1982, the world famous Château Pétrus owner Christian Mouiex fell in love with Napa Valley during his studies at UC Davis. In 1983 he became the joint venture partner of the Napanook estate, along with John Daniels’ daughters Robin Lail and Marcia Smith. In 1995, Christian Mouiex became the sole proprietor of the estate. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 6 %/FIRST GROWTH Philosophy in winemaking The winemaking is considered to be a tool that helps the land to express its purest qualities. Fermentation takes place using inoculated yeasts, after the cold-maceration. After the fermentation the grape must is pressed with extra care to avoid any austere compounds. The ageing barrels are steamed and soaked before they are filled with wine. This eliminates the excess smoky and toasty aromas caused by barrel toasting. Owner: Christian Moueix Founded: 1983 Location: Yountville Vineyard size: 108 acres Average age of vines: 25 years Production: 7000 cases Technical director: Tod Mostero AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 91.2 p 2nd Growth Dunn Vineyards Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 90.7 p The quality of the wine Randy Dunn’s wines are known as some of the most powerful and concentrated wines in Napa Valley. The wines commonly have massive black fruit character, firm tannins, cedary and earthy tones, and a mineral bite. However, the alcohol levels are lower than in many other big Napa wines. To soften the wines, a good amount of ageing is required, usually from 15 to 20 years. 44 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 87 receive an extended amount of sunshine per day compared to elsewhere, yielding high sugar levels into the wines. The grapes evolve much thicker skins, which in turn generates more tannins into the wine. Terroir Philosophy in winemaking The isolated Howell Mountain has a unique climate for winegrowing. Due to its high elevation it has higher night and cooler day temperatures than the valley floor. At the same time, the vineyards Randy Dunn’s winemaking philosophy is based upon immense concentration of fruit, rich tannins and good amount of acidity. From these elements he creates monstrous wines with great balance that last for decades.

Opus One Philosophy in winemaking The quality of the wine Opus One has been charming throughout thirty vintages, with its round, supple and classic Bordeaux style. It has shown balance and longevity that can age well for up to 20 years. After Michael Silacci took the position as winemaker in 2001 Opus One has gained some extra substance. The wines have become more dense and concentrated, promising even longer ageing potential for the current vintages than the older ones. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 168 Terroir Sitting on the valley floor in Oakville, the soil is alluvial with gravelly loam. “Our continued efforts and advances in vineyard management – fine-tuning both shading and exposure of grape berries by row orientation and canopy management while minimizing irrigation has yielded deeper rooting of the vines. This has resulted in physiologically riper grapes which retain acidity and reach ideal flavors and aromas.” Winemaker Michael Silacci explains. Historical background After building a respected career as the winemaker for Caymus Winery, Randy Dunn purchased a small, 5-acre piece of land from the Howell Mountain area he had fallen in love with. He worked for Caymus until 1984, but also made his own wine in the meantime. In 1979 he produced his first vintage from the Howell Mountain, which was not at that time considered a winegrowing Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Robert Mondavi shared both a vision and a mutual goal that involved making a wine of balance, complexity, and international appeal. Three principles formed the cornerstone of Opus One’s winemaking in 1979, and remain its foundation to this day, Asleson stresses. “The first is to make a classic Bordeauxstyled wine that can stand in the company of the finest in the world. Secondly, the wine must be a reflection of its two parents, so that some of Pauillac and some of Oakville are perceived in every vintage. And thirdly, the wine must also be unique from either of its two parents.” Silacci comments. Historical background This is a special wine that once united the Old and New Worlds in a manner that had never been seen before. This joint venture between the two famous wine producers was first of its kind and certainly raised public interest around the world, with Napa becoming the most appreciated wine region outside the Old World. The noticeable fact was that the project was initiated because of the respect Mouton-Rothschild owner, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, had for the area. region. However, Dunn made the Howell Mountain famous and many then followed. He is still loyal to its wine style, which no one else dares to make, and he does not make wines in order for them to be consumed young. 90.9 p WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 6 %/FIRST GROWTH FINE Classification 2nd Growth Owner: Constellation Brands & Baron Philippe de Rothschild S.A. Founded: 1979 First Vintage: 1979 Location: Oakville Vineyard size: 159 acres (169 acres in total) Average age of vines: 18 years Production: 21 000 cases No mailing lists. Vineyard manager: Michael Silacci Winemaker: Michael Silacci AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 90.9 p Owner: Randy & Lori Dunn Founded: 1979 First Vintage: 1979 Location: Howell Mountain Vineyard size: 30 acres Average age of vines: 10-40 years WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 4 %/FIRST GROWTH Production: 4500 cases Vineyard manager: Randy Dunn Winemaker: Randy Dunn AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 90.7 p FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 45

2nd Growth Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection 90.7 p The quality of the wine Philosophy in winemaking The Caymus Special Selection was an iconic wine in Napa during the 1980s, as it reflected the classic expression of the Napa Valley Cabernets. Thanks to the Wagner’s great contacts with the growers of the region, they have been able to get the best fruit in their highly respected wines. Over the last decade, the hype surrounding the Caymus wines has subsided. However, the quality is still high and their Special Selection is a great wine that definitely benefits from at least 15 years of ageing. The Wagner’s winemaking philosophy is based on getting the best fruit from selected vineyards in Napa and by blending them they have been able to make wines with great character and complexity. Besides their own holdings, the Wagners also control the vineyards from which they purchase grapes. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 122 Terroir The Wagners have farmed the vines in various places in Napa, from the valley floor to hillsides of mountains reaching 1600 feet. Therefore, the wines have gained complexity from the various terroirs of the Napa Valley. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 2 %/FIRST GROWTH Historical background The Wagner family has a rich winegrowing history in Napa, after starting out in 1906. The Special Selection has been made every year since 1975 except in 1977, 1993 and 1996. The wine was made until 1984 by Randy Dunn, who has always credited the Caymus vineyards for their great fruit. Since then, the Wagners have been in sole charge of winemaking. Owner: Chuck Wagner Founded: 1972 by Charlie Wagner First Vintage: 1975 Location: Napa Valley/Rutherford Vineyard size: 60 acres Vineyard manager: Chuck Wagner Winemaker: Chuck Wagner AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 90.7 p 2nd Growth Stag?s Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23 Proprietary Red 90.5 p The quality of the wine The Cask 23 is a very special wine, yielding from the best and most distinctive fruit of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellar’s two vineyards, S.L.V and Fay. It is only made in outstandingly good vintages and nowadays is a blend of the best fruit from both sites. The Cask 23 wines are concentrated, crisp and mineral-rich, while the fruit is restrained in style. These wines should not be drunk young, instead they benefit from at least 15 years ageing before opening. 46 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 108 Terroir The grapes derive from the Block 4 parcel of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellar vineyard. The volcanic soils add spiciness and firmness to the wine, while the alluvial terrain enhances the perfumy and rich fruitiness. Climatically, the southern, cool breezes help the fruit to keep its acidity crisp and fresh. Philosophy in winemaking The winemaking concentrates on operating from small lots. The harvested grapes are selected

Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Estate 90.7 p The quality of the wine Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon has a unique style that reflects the rugged terrain of Calistoga. It shows earthy characters, combined with lean cassis flavours, vivid acidity and firm tannic structure. It is reminiscent of the StEstèphe classics. The wines are still refined when young but are often closed. After ten to fifteen years of ageing the wines start blossoming and showing the longevity needed for further ageing. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 79 Terroir The vineyard lies on alluvial, sedimentary and volcanic soils, in a partly flat and partly steep, hillside-oriented vineyard at an elevation of 300 to 500 feet. The well-drained gravel subsoil makes the root penetrate deep into the ground yielding profound mineral characters into the wine. The high daytime temperatures guarantee the ideal ripeness of the fruit while the low night temperatures, caused by the cold air from the carefully, grape by grape, and transformed into wine. The 22-month barrel ageing finalises the complexity of the wine. Mount Saint Helena, helps the grapes to maintain their high acidity levels. Philosophy in winemaking WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 0 %/FIRST GROWTH The winemaking techniques remain very simple, with gentle handling of paramount importance. Stainless steel is commonly used with slow fermentation to perfectly deliver the terroir characteristics. The oak ageing is completed using only a small amount (approximately 25%) of new barrels, so as not to mask any terroir aromas. Historical background The Barrett family bought the property in 1972, and shortly thereafter Chateau Montelena stunned the wine world and helped put Napa Valley on the international map when its 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, took first-place, leaving behind the great Burgundies, at the famous Paris Tasting in 1976. The win made Chateau Montelena a world-famous winery overnight. Since then, Chateau Montelena has been listed among the best wineries in California, known equally today for its Cabernet Sauvignon and infamous Chardonnay. vinify this one barrel and keep it separate from the rest – and The Cask 23 was born. The vines in Block 4 are still the original ones and date back to 1972. Historical background When Warren Winiarski and his famous winemaker André Tchelistcheff tasted the different lots of vines harvested in 1974, they found a distinctive wine in one lot. This wine was from Block 4 on the S.L.V. vineyard. It had a flavourful, strong character of crushed violets. However, Winiarski and Tchelistcheff decided to FINE Classification 2nd Growth Owner: Bo Barrett Founded: 1882, from 1972 under the Barrett Family The first vintage: 1978 Location: Calistoga Vineyard size: 84.4 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon Production: 9000 cases Winemaker: Bo Barrett AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 90.7 p Owner: Ste. Michelle Wine Estates & Marchesi Antinori Founded: 1972 First Vintage: 1974 Location: Stag’s Leap District WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 0 %/FIRST GROWTH Vineyard size: 69 acres Average age of vines: Production: 2000-3000 cases Vineyard manager: Kirk Grace Winemaker: Marcus Notaro AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 90.5 p FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 47

Rubicon Estate 48 View over Oakville FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

2nd Growth Rubicon Estate Rubicon Proprietary Blend 90.1 p The quality of the wine Philosophy in winemaking Since the first vintage the Rubicon Estate has charmed with its supple style. It has always had a Bordeaux flair, given that it lacks the jammy fruit associated with Napa wines. It has the restrained style, with black fruit, spicy, cedary and tobacco notes. On the palate the wine rarely shows powerful tones but rather a complex floral and black fruit character and firm tannins within its medium-bodied structure. Great emphasis is placed on the vineyard and the grapes from the Niebaum clones, which are nurtured using sustainable winegrowing practices. The winemaking itself follows the classic Bordeaux style and the winery now uses cutting-edge equipment and the latest techniques. Since last year the estate has been in the hands of the very esteemed Technical Director Philippe Bascaules, who is merited as the former Estate Manager of Château Margaux in Bordeaux where he worked for 21 years. Besides Bascaules, the collaboration with the famous Bordealais wine consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt will continue. Market price Average secondary market price during the last 15 years: USD 71 Terroir The Rubicon wines are made from an exclusive clonal selection of Cabernet on the Rubicon property. It is the historical Clone #29, also known as the Niebaum clone, which has been generated from the old Bordeaux Cabernet clone. It was grafted into the vineyard in 1882 by Gustave Niebaum. It is this specific clone, combined with the unique site, that gives Rubicon its unique style. Historical background The estate has an extremely fascinating history, dating back to 1879 when Finnish sea captain Gustave Niebaum bought the property known as Inglenook. Within ten years, his wines were renowned and the worldwide press hailed his achievements. The success of the winery continued in the hands of Niebaum’s wife’s great-nephew John Daniel Jr., who made wines that became referred to as ‘the greatest in the world’ by some critics. It was this history that convinced Francis Ford Coppola to buy the property in 1975 and continue the legacy of the Niebaum family. For this legacy Coppola has revived the old Inglenook brand on his wines by changing Rubicon wine name to Inglenook from 2009 onwards. WINE PROFESSIONALS? OPINION 0 %/FIRST GROWTH Owner: Francis Ford Coppola (since 1975) Founded: 1880 by Gustave Niebaum First Vintage: 1978 (Niebaum’s first vintage 1882) Location: Rutherford Production: 4300–5300 cases Winemaker: Scott McLeod AVERAGE FINE TASTING POINTS AFTER THE YEAR 2000: 90.1 p

Michelin Guide Three Stars San Francisco Chronicle Four Stars The Restaurant at Meadowoood Worth a Special Journey The Restaurant at Meadowood Chef Christopher Kostow

Relationships are core to life in Napa Valley. F or or the the last last half half century, century, Napa Napa Valley Valley the the original original gathering gathering place place for for the the Valley’s Valley’s has has provided provided the the panorama panorama for for aa burgeoning burgeoning wine wine community, community, Meadowood Meadowood unique unique way way of of life—directed life—directed by by the the has has now now become become an an international international wine wine industry industry and and acted acted out out by by aa host host of of destination destination and and boasts boasts membership membership within within local local players. players. Wine Wine isis the the thread thread weaving weaving the the the the exclusive exclusive ranks ranks of of Relais Relais & & Chateaux. Chateaux. art art of of man man with with the the Come Come for for aa visit. visit. bounty bounty of of nature nature in in Walk Walk the the fairways fairways aa complex complex pattern pattern on on which which Auction Auction of of relationships— relationships— Napa Napa Valley Valley has has relationships relationships that that go go raised raised more more than than $90 $90 to to the the core core of of the the million million since since the the Valley’s Valley’s legendary legendary ?rst ?rst gavel gavel was was raised. raised. way way of of life life and and set set Mingle Mingle with with the the the the stage stage for for aa story story vintners vintners and and growers growers like like no no other. other. as as they they enjoy enjoy their their The The community community club club through through sport sport that that isis Napa Napa Valley Valley activities, activities, recreation, recreation, contributes contributes to to local local and and the the pursuit pursuit of of enterprise enterprise through through lifelong lifelong wellness. wellness. its its vast vast experience experience Dine Dine on on the the private private and and deep-seated deep-seated terrace terrace of of your your relationships. relationships. In In adadguestroom guestroom or or spend spend dition dition to to grape grape growgrowthe the evening evening enjoying enjoying Master Master Sommelier Sommelier Gilles Gilles dede Chambure Chambure ers ers and and wine wine makers, makers, aa meal meal prepared prepared itit includes includes agriculturalists, agriculturalists, great great chefs, chefs, somsom- by by Michelin Michelin Three-Star Three-Star chef chef Christopher Christopher meliers, meliers, maître maître d’s, d’s, gallery gallery owners, owners, innkeepinnkeep- Kostow Kostow in in The The Restaurant Restaurant at at Meadowood. Meadowood. ers ers and and shop shop proprietors. proprietors. All All depend depend upon upon Spend Spend aa day day exploring exploring the the wineries wineries you’ve you’ve each each other other for for their their unique unique livelihood livelihood and and longed longed to to visit visit with with Gilles Gilles de de Chambure, Chambure, lifestyle. lifestyle. Master Master Sommelier, Sommelier, whose whose sole sole role role at at For For the the past past 46 46 years years Meadowood Meadowood Meadowood Meadowood isis to to enhance enhance guests’ guests’ knowledge knowledge has has served served as as the the heart heart and and soul soul of of the the and and enjoyment enjoyment of of wine. wine. winegrowing winegrowing community—as community—as aa center center for for A A stay stay at at Meadowood Meadowood offers offers you you entry entry social social and and family family life life and and as as aa second second home home into into an an extraordinary extraordinary way way of of life. life. Capture Capture for for travelers travelers from from around around the the world world wishing wishing the the magic magic of of Napa Napa Valley Valley and and develop develop your your to to immerse immerse themselves themselves in in the the region, region, its its own own relationship relationship with with the the people people that that de?ne de?ne wines, wines, and and its its people. people. Founded Founded in in 1964 1964 as as this this unparalleled unparalleled experience. experience. 900 900 Meadowood Meadowood Lane, Lane, St. St. Helena, Helena, California California 94574 94574 Tel Tel (707) (707) 968-3153 968-3153 www.meadowood.com www.meadowood.com the the sporting sporting life life at at meadowood meadowood The The forested forested hillsides hillsides of of Meadowood’s Meadowood’s two two hundred hundred ?fty-acre ?fty-acre valley valley slope slope to to the the cool cool green green of of the the estate’s estate’s nine-hole, nine-hole, walking walking golf golf course. course. Presiding Presiding over over the the tranquil tranquil fairways fairways and and the the golf golf teaching teaching facility facility isis Resident Resident Golf Golf Professional Professional Doug Doug Pike. Pike. Meadowood’s Meadowood’s Resident Resident Tennis Tennis Professional, Professional, Doug Doug King, King, isis one one of of the the country’s country’s leading leading tennis tennis teaching teaching innovators. innovators. The The founder founder of of Acceleration Acceleration Tennis, Tennis, aa revolutionary revolutionary teaching teaching system, system, King King isis leading leading the the way way in in reinterpreting reinterpreting the the traditional traditional tennis tennis model, model, working working with with players players of of all all skill skill levels levels from from beginner beginner to to professional. professional. Between Between dining dining and and wine wine experiences experiences we we invite invite you you to to stretch stretch your your legs legs with with aa game game of of golf golf or or tennis. tennis.

Napa Valley Vintage 2008 From Extreme to Supreme Text: Juha Lihtonen PHOTOS: Pekka Nuikki 54 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA FINE Vintage A group of ten or so wine experts excitedly awaits the revelation of fifty foil-wrapped wine bottles. Consisting of sommeliers, winemakers, wine auctioneers and wine writers, the group has spent the last four hours at the table, blind-tasting the top Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons from 2008. Generally speaking, opinions are very positive. In contrast with the Napa Valley Vintage 2007 tasting last year, the wines have much more distinct styles; this is due to the exceptional weather conditions of 2008, which forced producers to use all the tricks in the book to guarantee grape quality. 55

T he harvest in 2008 was very different from the norm in Napa Valley: Mother Nature turned the year into a real thriller, which gripped producers from the beginning all the way until harvest time. The year began in stormy conditions: the valley was buffeted by downpours and storm winds. These then gave way to an agonisingly long dry period. The spring’s rainfall only reached sixty per cent of the average, and went down in history as one of the driest springs in Napa Valley. Due to the mild and dry weather, the vines’ growing season started earlier than ever. The early budding turned out to be crucial, however, as the month-long dry period in the spring was followed by destructive sub-zero night-time temperatures. This was not just on a few isolated nights, but went on for a whole month. The long night-time frosts had a devastating effect on the sprouting vines, cutting harvests by up to one third. During the long frost period, producers pulled out all their tricks to protect the vines. Some vineyards in the valley have large fans, which were used intensively throughout the spring. Areas that did not have fans used sprinklers to water the vines so that the water would freeze on the buds and shield them from the icy cold. The flowering season which suffered from a long dry spring season, led to below-average fruit formation. The summer started off cool and remained so until late August. As a result, the grapes developed slowly and became intense and concentrated. In the late summer, ripening was accelerated by a one-week heat wave, which was followed by dry weather during the harvest. Although the harvest was smaller than usual, the grape quality was excellent. 56 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Vintage VINTAGE 2008 CONCLUSION The year 2008 reminded Napa Valley producers of the climate conditions their European colleagues often battle. The wild weather put the vineyards to the test and required more measures than usual to ensure an optimal harvest. Due to the exceptional weather conditions, the terroir played a significant role in shaping the character of the resulting wines. Some of the influencing factors were soil quality, vineyard-specific weather patterns, the age of vines and the farming methods used. After the extensive 2008 Napa Cabernet tasting, there were no great qualitative differences, however, as the wines at the tasting all represented some of the best that these top producers have to offer. Although the scores ranged between 86 and 96 points, the differences will even out through longer ageing, as the wines will reach their optimum drinkability within 10–15 years. It was wonderful to note that a great deal of the wines were characterised by a seductively succulent fruitiness, which made many of them enjoyable already – more than half of the wines have scored 90 or more points, despite their young age. Whereas the great 2007 vintage contains very refined and long-lived wines, the 2008 wines charmed tasters with their open and generous style, even though their best days are still far in the future. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 57

2008 from the producers’ point of view “Happily, Continuum’s estate vineyards on Pritchard Hill were protected from most vagaries of the weather as a result of our higher elevations and westerly aspect. A heatspike during flowering in May did lower our crop levels but weather patterns were fairly mild from that point until late August, when a week-long temperature jump pushed picking forward. However, no sooner did the heat arrive than it left again and the remainder of the harvest proceeded in a cooler than normal climate. All the fruit was harvested over a period of five weeks, from September 18. Overall, the fruit quality from the estate was very good to excellent in 2008.” –Tim Mondavi, owner and winemaker, Continuum Estate “The 2008 growing season was generally drier than average. The valley experienced no significant rainfall after February, so soils all over the valley, and especially in the hillsides, dried out earlier and the season got off to an early start. Because of the dry soils, vines were low in vigour and consequently produced a smaller amount of fruit. There were fewer berries per cluster and the berry size in general was much smaller. The result is a greater ratio of skin to juice, technically speaking. And this gave us wines that were dense in concentration with aromas that truly centred on the originating terroir. There are more soildriven aromas in our IX Estate Red wine in 2008, such as clay, mineral and crush rocks, than in most vintages. Concerning a comparison vintage, I’d say every vintage is unique and one could never make a comparison. However, if pushed, I’d say that 2008 has the richness of the 2004, with the earthy aromatic profile of 2002. We generally recommend cellaring our wines for at least 5 to 10 years and they will age for twenty years or more.” – Allison Tauziet, winemaker, Colgin “This spring was one of the driest on record, and so vines pushed buds early. Then, a prolonged series of frosty nights kept us working hard in the vineyard to protect the young shoots from the cold. This was followed by a hot and dry spring that led to a lighter crop-load than usual with small, intensely flavoured berries that ripened relatively early. A warm and moderate summer naturally down-regulated the vigour of the vines, so that they could focus efforts on fruit maturation. This meant that a smaller but very intensely flavoured crop was picked mostly in the latter two weeks of September. The 2008 Screaming Eagle would be considered a very characteristic vintage, having all of the freshness, floral and perfume elements, as well as finesse, that is classic for this estate. The 2008 vintage, although showing quite beautifully already, is likely to develop some nice nuances over the next 15–20 years as well.” – Nick Gislason, winemaker, Screaming Eagle 58 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Vintage “Lower than normal rainfall (28.9 inches) in the winter and a dry spring; budbreak on April 1. There was a very erratic weather pattern throughout most of the early growing season. Temperatures fluctuated from extreme lows to extreme highs throughout the spring and early summer with ten days over 38° C between May and September and an equal number of days below 21° C for the same period. This was followed by a cooling trend in mid-September, which allowed for a slow and deliberate harvest, and September finished with about eight days of between 32° C and 37° C. The end of this season was perfect for yielding optimal maturity in most of the lots. Overall, truly a moderate climate for Napa Valley, however the method with which it was achieved was truly unique. Harvest began on September 2 and finished on September 29. Average yield: 1.5 tonnes per acre. During fermentation, the wines showed very forward fruit with very soft and supple tannins. As the wines aged in barrels they gained in both complexity and concentration. The end result shows wines with great finesse and density, sharing both an early approachability and a long lived capability. We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.” – Bob Levy, winemaker, Harlan Estate “After the early start to the growing season, the Eisele Vineyard harvest began slightly earlier than normal, with the first block of Cabernet harvested on September 11 and the final grapes picked on October 1. The 2008 was unlike any vintage we have experienced since 1991, which was our inaugural vintage.A seriously challenging beginning to the season, but very fine growing conditions from veraison to harvest resulted in one of the best wines we have ever produced.” – Bart Araujo, owner, Araujo Estate “The late winter and spring of 2008 was abnormally dry and cold. I was up very early in the morning helping with frost protection and sitting in my truck looking at the thermometer for around six weeks straight. The drought conditions and inclement weather, both then and during the bloom, caused lower than normal yields. The summer was cooler than most years, yet a nice warm autumn allowed for very even ripening. We did a fair amount of canopy management of the leaves and fruit clusters in the vineyards to maximise the amount of sunlight that reached them, yet we managed to avoid sunburnt fruit. We picked each vine several times over the course of 2–3 weeks as the cool spring caused an uneven set throughout the vineyard. The quality of the crop was very good. The small berries in small clusters were intense in colour and showed a good amount of phenolics without being over-extracted. The mild weather and low yields made this vintage very unique, although there were some elements that were reminiscent of 2006 and it also shared some similarities with 2002. The ripeness of the fruit reminded me of 1992, my first vintage in Napa, but we were making wine very differently in the valley back then, so the resulting wines are rather different. The balance of these wines makes them rather approachable at a young age, yet they possess plenty of structure and acidity, which should allow them to age well over a decade and even into the 2020s for the well-disciplined collector out there.” – Kristof Anderson, winemaker, Gargiulo Vineyards FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 59

THE BEST NAPA CABERNET 2008 1 - 20 Ranking 60 Points 1 Dana Lotus Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 96 2 Maya 94 3 Colgin Tychson Hill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 93 4 Gargiulo Vineyards Money Road Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon 93 5 Colgin IX Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 93 6 Gargiulo Vineyards OVX G Major 7 Study 93 7 Shafer One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon 93 8 Screaming Eagle 93 9 Harlan Estate 92 10 Darioush Signature Cabernet Sauvignon 92 11 BOND Pluribus 92 12 Dana Helms Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 92 13 Checkerboard Vineyards King’s Row Cabernet Sauvignon 92 14 Notre Vin Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 92 15 Blankiet Estate Paradise Hills Proprietory Red 91 16 Dalla Valle Cabernet Sauvignon 91 17 Staglin Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 91 18 Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 91 19 The Maiden 91 20 Pahlmeyer Proprietory Red 91 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

Points 21 BOND Melbury 91 22 Dominus Estate 91 23 Continuum Estate 91 24 Joseph Phelps Backus Vineyard 91 25 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 91 26 Stag’s Leap Cask 23 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 90 27 The Matriarch 90 28 Chappellet Signature Cabernet Sauvignon 90 29 Opus One 90 30 Hourglass Blueline Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 90 31 Inglenook Rubicon 90 32 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 90 33 Araujo Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 90 34 29 FINE Vintage 21 - 50 Ranking 90 35 Joseph Phelps Insignia 90 36 Roam 89 37 Darius II 89 38 Inglenook Cask Cabernet 89 39 BOND Quella 89 40 Realm Cellars Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 89 41 Hourglass Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 89 42 Stag’s Leap S.L.V. Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 89 43 Scarecrow 88 44 Colgin Cariad 88 45 Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon 88 46 BOND Vecina 88 47 Paul Hobbs Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 88 48 Stag’s Leap Artemis 88 49 BOND St. Eden 87 50 Stag’s Leap FAY Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 86 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 61

THE BEST NAPA CABERNET 2008 The challenging vintage of 2008 put the Napa vintners in a position whereby the understanding of the terroir factors of their vineyard site proved to be critical. Only by understanding the terroir of each plot of vines was each wine producer able make the necessary decisions in the vineyards concerning the supporting of the vines during their growth cycle, thereby helping them to produce the best quality fruit. Given the results of our tasting, we may conclude that the best Napa Valley wine producers succeeded in that challenge incredibly well: the quality of the wines is great – if not excellent. While all the tasted wines will reach their optimum drinkability after 10 to 15 years, there were a number of surprises according to the wines’ current ‘enjoyability’. The winner of the best Napa Cabernet 2008 is a Napa Valley newcomer, Dana Estates, whose Lotus single-vineyard wine charmed us with its opulence, depth and elegance. 1. DANA LOTUS VINEYARD CABERNET SAUVIGNON The quality of the wine Out of the three Dana Estates-owned vineyards, the Lotus vineyard, located on the hillsides of St. Helena, stands at 1200 feet above sea level and boasts a beautiful panoramic view of the Napa Valley floor. This steep hillside vineyard is spread over the rocky, low-yielding soils and has a western exposure. Thanks to the influence of the afternoon sun, the wines show ripe and rich fruitiness while the three to twelve inches of fractured grey bedrock soil generates the wines’ marked mineral structure. “This is incredibly dry, well-drained soil that has very low water holding capacity and in dry, warm vintages it reflects an outstanding level of grape ripeness,” Cameron Vawter, the winemaker at Dana Estates, points out. 62 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA The vintage 2008 “2008 proved to be a tremendously challenging vintage, yet it ultimately produced some of the best wines of the decade. The vintage characteristics were defined primarily by the strongest La Niña spring for two decades,” Vawter continues. According to Vawter, the dry La Niña winter and an unusually warm March led to the earliest bud break on record for many of Dana Estates’ vineyard blocks: “This seemed like a good thing until temperatures plummeted in late April and gave us the worst frost season in over thirty years. We used our frost fans for 32 nights during the spring. The frost, combined with some cool bloom temperatures, led to a very uneven veraison. This vintage was like no other vintage that I have experienced. A vintage is really made up of winter rains to fill the soil profile, the spring’s ability to dry the profile, summer’s ability to hold constant and then September’s warmth to either push ripening or allow it to happen slowly.” Vawter then goes on to say that the previous generation of Napa winemakers has compared the 2008 vintage to the spring of 1972, when the last, really serious, frost was experienced in the valley. However, apart from spring, he outlines that 2008 was actually a very dry, hot vintage. “It had more heat spikes than any recent vintage. These heat spikes actually stunt a grape’s ability to ripen, and this is one reason the vintage boasts such purity and great acidity. The ripening was very rapid, preserving much of the freshness,” he explains.

FINE Vintage Winemaking Philosophy The winemaking practices are based on siteoriented wine production, the philosophy is adapted from Burgundy and organic farming plays a critical part. “Organic farming allows the vineyard to truly express itself and not rely on input after input from man. The site is irrigated minimally and dry farmed whenever possible, in order to highlight the expression of both vintage and vineyard. In winemaking, the fermentation takes place in concrete vats under the influence of indigenous yeasts,” Vawter says. According to his experience, the concrete tanks enhance the terroir focus, along with the fruit characteristics of the wine, and soften the chunky tannins discreetly. The fermentation process takes place exclusively with native yeast and bacteria. Sulphur additions are kept to a minimum. The wines are aged in French oak barrels for 24–27 months. Furthermore, no fining or filtration takes place. Historical Background Dana Estates is owned by South Korean wine lover Mr. Hi Sang Lee, who first fell in love with wine more than 40 years ago, when he lived in New York. In the early 1990s he founded Nara Cellar, a wine importing business in South Korea. In 2006 he opened Podo Plaza, a cutting edge food and wine centre in Seoul that contains a wine bar, retail store, wine academy (WSET) and cooking school (Japanese Culinary Institute). Through his import business, Mr. Lee has been responsible for bringing the world’s most sought-after luxury wines to the Korean market, including Harlan, Shafer and Colgin, and has increased awareness and appreciation for world-class wines in his home country. The import business has regularly brought Lee to Napa Valley for more than ten years, allowing him to develop an understanding of luxury wine production and form close relationships with the people whose wine he imports. These relationships were integral to him bringing his dream of creating his own wine brand to fruition: Lee was able to acquire coveted vineyard land and gain access to some of the most talented people in the industry. Mr. Lee purchased the Helms Vineyard and the winery in 2005, which is listed as one of the “ghost wineries” of the Napa Valley and was originally built by H.W. Helms, a German vintner, in 1883. The purchase of Hershey and Lotus vineyards took place in 2006. Owner: Hi Sang Lee Founded: The winery located in Rutherford Bench was originally founded by a German vintner, H.W. Helms, in 1883. Dana Estates was founded in 2005 when Mr Lee bought the old H.W. Helms estate. First Vintage: 2006 Location: St. Helena (Lotus Vineyard) Vineyard size: 4.81 acres Average age of vines: 14 years Production: 291 cases Vineyard management: Philippe Melka, Cameron Vawter and Silverado Farming Winemaker: Cameron Vawter Market Price: $325 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 63

THE BEST NAPA CABERNET 2008 2. Dalla Valle Maya 2008 The quality of the wine Maya is all about power and volume. This intensely coloured wine, which is rich in tannins and ripe jammy black fruits, has the power to last for decades. It is a mouthfilling wine with a masculine structure and is definitely suited to long-term ageing. Terroir The Dalla Valle estate is situated on a plateau 400 feet above the valley floor, on the hillside of the Vaca Mountains in the district of Oakville. The Maya vineyard is the most southern facing site of the Dalla Valle estate. A sunny exposure guarantees the Cabernet grapes ripen perfectly, while the cooling Pacific Ocean breeze helps the grapes keep their acidity level high. The well-drained, rocky soils have a great deal of clay and loam and are rich in iron content, therefore providing Maya wine with its intense, powerful and rich character. The terroir is perfectly suited to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. “We work hard to subdivide the vineyard, and produce small lots from uniform parts of the vineyard,” winemaker Andrew Erickson enlightens. Winemaking Philosophy “The wines tend to be quite powerful from the Dalla Valle vineyard, so rounding the tannins is one of the focuses of the winemaking. We have been doing longer macerations to smooth out the tannins and increase the mid-palate of the wines there. The defining characteristics of the wines from Dalla Valle are great structure and rich fruits. So we try to focus on this in the winemaking. But in the end, there should not be a winemaking style reflected in the wine, but a reflection of this great terroir,” Erickson says. Historical background Dalla Valle was set up and named after the late Gustav Dalla Valle. Born in Italy, Gustav, along with his Japanese wife Naoko, bought the Oakland vineyard in 1982. After Gustav’s untimely death in 1995, Naoko put together a masterful team of vineyard and enology experts, which has only furthered their commitment to producing the highest quality wine. Owner: Naoko Dalla Valle Founded: 1982 First Vintage: 1988 Location: Oakville Vineyard size: 7 acres Average age of vines: 20–22 years Production: 200–500 cases All wine is sold through the mailing list. This applies also to restaurants and wine shops. Vineyard manager: Fausto Sanchez Winemaker: Andy Erickson Average Market Price: $297 64 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

3. Colgin Tychson Hill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 The quality of the wine Winemaking Philosophy Historical background Ann Colgin owns two properties in NapaValley: Tychson Hill and IX Estate. The Tychson Hill parcel, north of St. Helena and across from Freemark Abbey Winery, produces extremely elegant Cabernet Sauvignon wines that yield in the hands of the Colgin Cellars’team purely mineral, delicately fruity and polished tannin wines that impress with a flirtive flair year in year out. “Our winemaking philosophy has always been to express the true character of each unique vineyard site,” Ann Colgin explains. The grapes are harvested during the night and go through three sortings. Moving the grapes, juice or wine is done by gravity. “Only the finest neo-classical wine making methods are used in concert with small yields, gentle handling, attentive sorting and meticulous blending to capture the distinctive terroir characteristics of each Colgin wine. Colgin Cellars blends talent with terroir, tradition with technology and passion with precision to create wines with distinctive personalities and a profound sense of place,” Ann Colgin sums up. In 1881, Josephine Tychson, documented as the first woman winemaker in California, and her husband, John, a Danish immigrant, bought 26 acres of the property called Lodi Ranch. They planted vineyards and dreamed of building a winery. Tragically, John died of tuberculosis in 1886 at an early age. But young Josephine was determined and built the cellar and started producing the popular varietals of the time - Zinfandel, Riesling and Burgundy. In 1894, the Phylloxera hit, and she sold the winery to her foreman, Nels Larsen. The property had various owners until Ann purchased it and began the long process of restoring the glory of the vineyards, believed to have been taken out during the prohibition, and rebuilding the house of Josephine. In 1997, two and a half acres of the vineyard was planted with Cabernet Sauvignon under the supervision of vineyard manager, David Abreu. Terroir The special terroir features a unique Aiken soil type which coupled with carefully selected rootstock and clones on the rocky east-facing slope, give a remarkable fresh berry-scented wine of great proportions. FINE Vintage THE BEST NAPA CABERNET 2008 Owner: Ann Colgin First vines planted: In the mid 1850s. Ann Colgin re-planted the vineyard with Cabernet Sauvignon in 1997 under the supervision of vineyard manager, David Abreu. First vintage: 2000 Location: St Helena Vineyard size: 2.5 acres Average age of vines: Production: 150 cases The majority of Colgin wines are offered by allocation to mailing list of private collectors. A small portion of the production is distributed to select restaurants in the United States, Europe and Asia. Vineyard manager: David Abreu Winemaker: Allison Tauziet Average Market Price: $399 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 65

THE BEST NAPA CABERNET 2008 The top 10 66 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Vintage 1. Dana Lotus Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 96p (96–100p) Average Market Price: Bottle Condition Colour: Nose: $325 A1 Deep, purple Intense, toasty, mocha, ripe bramble, cherry liqueur, liquorice Palate: Full-bodied, focused, neat, concentrated, fine-grained powdery tannins, dark chocolate Aftertaste: Long, harmonious, seductive In a nutshell: Irresistible Buy or not: Almost impossible to get – unless you are a friend of the estate owner Tasted: Twice, last in 11/2011 Decanting time: 4 hours Glass time: 4 hours When to drink: 2020–2030 Food pairing: Tournedos Rossini Fake factor: None Inside information: The wine has gone through 27 months of ageing in 100% New French Oak, with 30% aged for 12 months in concrete eggshaped vats. Only 291 cases made. Or try this: Lunch at the French Laundry without a reservation Final verdict: Do anything to get this wine 2. 95p Maya (95–100p) Average Market Price: Bottle Condition Colour: Nose: $297 A1 Moderately deep, purple Rich, dark chocolate, smoky, toasty, burnt wood tones Palate: Full-bodied, elegant fruit, silky tannins, vivid Aftertaste: In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Food pairing: Lingering, smooth texture, refined An elegant power wine Absolutely yes Twice, last in 11/2011 4 hours 3 hours 2018–2025 Grilled Kobe Beef with red wine sauce and roasted pumpkins Fake factor: None Inside information: This is the legendary single vineyard wine of Naoko Dalla Valle. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The wine is aged in 70–80% new French oak, and annual production is less than 500 cases. The first vintage of Maya was made in 1986. Or try this: Hot-air balloon trip over Napa Valley Final verdict: One of the most legendary wines in Napa Valley FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 67

THE BEST NAPA CABERNET 2008 3. 4. 94p (94–99p) Colgin Tychson Hill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Average Market Price: Bottle Condition Colour: Nose: 93p (93–98p) Average Market Price: Bottle Condition Colour: Nose: Palate: $399 A1 Deep, purple Perfumy, smoky, floral, lead pencil shavings Palate: Full-bodied, vivid, firm tannins, concentrated, pure dark fruit Aftertaste: In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Food pairing: Energetic and refined Yes, for further cellaring Twice, last in 11/2011 8 hours 3 hours 2025–2030 Fillet of venison with cassis sauce and thyme-flavoured roasted beetroot Fake factor: None Inside information: A1 Dark, purple Intense, chocolate, ripe black fruits Rich, vivid, intense, chocolate and sweet ripe fruit Money Road Ranch is a 40-acre vineyard located in the heart of Oakville, next to Silver Oak estate. The vineyard has a good terrain for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with its deep, welldrained and very stratified sandy loam and clay composition. The topsoil is gravel alluvial. The temperatures on site fluctuate as much as 16C, between the night-time average of 10C and the day-time average of 26C. Due to high daily temperature fluctuation the wine shows vivid acidity that adds elegance to the wine’s rich and ripe fruit flavours and smooth tannic texture. This single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon wine was first produced in 2000. The unique Aiken soil type, coupled with carefully selected rootstock and clones closely spaced on the east-facing slope, gives a strong personality to this wine. Only 150 cases were produced. Or try this: Château Ausone 2005 Final verdict: Solid finesse Or try this: An overnight visit to the Gargiulo winery Final verdict: Blue velvet 6. 93p (93–98p) Colgin IX Estate Cabernet Sauvginon Average Market Price: Bottle Condition Colour: Nose: $419 A1 Deep, purple Reserved, smoky, wild raspberries, cedar Palate: Full-bodied, silky, smooth, elegant, ripe black fruit Aftertaste: Concentrated, powdery tannins, intense fruit In a nutshell: Elegance par excellence Buy or not: Don’t miss this wine Tasted: Twice, last in 11/2011 Decanting time: 10 hours Glass time: 5 hours When to drink: 2025–2035 Food pairing: Extra aged cheddar Fake factor: None Inside information: The beautiful IX Estate vineyard is located on a high elevation between 940 and just over 1400 feet, next to Colgin winery on Pritchard Hill. The well-manicured IX Estate vineyard produces some excellent Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grapes, not forgetting Syrah, from which Colgin Cellars produces one of the world’s greatest Syrah wines. Or try this: Sassicaia 1998 Final verdict: One of the most refined Cabernets from Napa Valley 68 $87 Aftertaste: Smooth, intense and lingering spice In a nutshell: Voluptuous and smooth Buy or not: Best buy from the Napa 2008 Tasted: Twice, last in 11/2011 Decanting time: 4 hours Glass time: 3 hours When to drink: 2018–2022 Food pairing: Duck breast with cassis sauce Fake factor: None Inside information: Long, focused, spicy 5. Gargiulo Money Road Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 92p (92–97p) Gargiulo Vineyards OVX G Major 7 Study Average Market Price: Bottle Condition Colour: Nose: $145 A1 Deep, purple Intense, chocolate, pencil shavings, blackcurrant, hints of mint Palate: Full-bodied, firm yet elegant, perfumy, fresh black fruits Aftertaste: Intense, satiny, rich chocolate In a nutshell: Like Van Houten cacao powder Buy or not: Buy it! Tasted: Twice, last in 11/2011 Decanting time: 8 hours Glass time: 4 hours When to drink: 2022–2028 Food pairing: Fried fillet of venison Fake factor: None Inside information: G Major 7 Study Cabernet Sauvignon is blended from selected fruit from the Gargiulo’s 575 OVX vineyard, which is located next door to Screaming Eagle. It is named after a classic jazz guitar chord. Like its namesake, it is composed of four of the five classic Bordeaux varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon (85%), Cabernet Franc (12%), Petit Verdot (2%) and Merlot (1%). Annual production is around 900 cases. Or try this: Listen to Django Reinhardt’s Smoke Rings Final verdict: A wine with a beautiful sound

7. 8. 92p (92–97p) Shafer One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon 92p Screaming Eagle Average Market Price: Bottle Condition Colour: Nose: $1891 (92–97p) Average Market $71 Price: Bottle Condition A1 Colour: Moderately rich, intense, ruby to purple Nose: Deep, ripe cassis, chocolate, vanilla Palate: Full-bodied, rich, intense, spicy Aftertaste: Harmonious, long, ripe cassis In a nutshell: A mint Cabernet Sauvignon Buy or not: It’s a bargain! Tasted: Twice, last in 11/2011 Decanting time: 6 hours Glass time: 3 hours When to drink: 2017–2022 Food pairing: Deluxe Wakyu beefburger Fake factor: None Inside information: FINE Vintage THE BEST NAPA CABERNET 2008 A1 Medium intense, ruby Open, aromatic, floral, blackcurrants, violets, smoky Palate: Medium-bodied, refined, vivid, ripe black fruits, spicy toastiness Aftertaste: Long, persistent and perfumy In a nutshell: A pure and delicate wine Buy or not: Yes, if you are lucky and on the mailing list Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Food pairing: One Point Five takes its name from the term “a generation and a half”, coined by John and Doug Shafer to describe their long father-and-son partnership. For 28 years this family team has worked side by side to manage their Stags Leap District winery. The grapes are predominately from two Stags Leap District sites — Shafer’s hillside estate vineyard and the “Borderline” vineyard, which is located about two miles south of the winery. The wine is a blend of 98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Petit Verdot and 1% Malbec. Twice, last in 11/2011 5 hours 3 hours 2020–2025 Roasted elk with creamy chantarelle sauce Fake factor: None Inside information: The first Screaming Eagle vintage to be made in the new gravity-based state-of-art winery, where concrete, stainless steel and wooden casks are skillfully used to make harmonious wines. Or try this: 2009 Château Margaux, Bordeaux, France Or try this: Gargiulo Money Road Ranch 2008 Final verdict: An underdog that drinks much better Final verdict: A wine with great promise and potential today than the Shafer’s legendary Hillside Select. 9. 10. 92p (92–97p) Harlan Estate Average Market Price: Bottle Condition Colour: Nose: Palate: $834 A1 Dark, ruby Complex, toasty, floral, rich Full-bodied, rich, ripe jammy fruit, sweet tannins Aftertaste: Concentrated, intense, warming and spicy In a nutshell: A sophisticated yet big wine Buy or not: It is hard to go wrong with Harlan Estate Tasted: Twice, last in 11/2011 Decanting time: 12 hours Glass time: 6 hours When to drink: 2018–2024 Food pairing: Grilled elk fillet with shiitake risotto Fake factor: None Inside information: Harlan Estate wines are always very balanced, but they tend never to show their charming character when opened young. After years of ageing their vivid and complex character stands out and shows why this wine should be named as the First Growth of Napa Valley. Or try this: 2006 Masseto, Tuscany, Italy Final verdict: Another great Harlan, but still asleep 92p (92–97p) Darioush Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Average Market Price: Bottle Condition Colour: Nose: $85 A1 Dark, ruby Rich, intense, chocolate, blackcurrant, spicy Palate: Full-bodied, smooth tannins, round acidity, ripe black fruits Aftertaste: Lingering, spicy and energetic In a nutshell: Smooth and plush Buy or not: A bargain, go for it Tasted: 5 times, last in 11/2011 Decanting time: 6 hours Glass time: 3 hours When to drink: 2020–2024 Food pairing: Medium-rare steaks Fake factor: None Inside information: The wine is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 4% Malbec. The grapes come from Mt. Veeder, Oak Knoll and Napa Valley. 7073 cases of this wine were made. Or try this: A box of Valrhona Palmira vintage chocolate Final verdict: As smooth as a Persian cushion FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 69

70 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE De stination The dream holiday destination for food and wine lovers “W hat do you think of the wine?” asks Frédéric Engerer, President of Château Latour, handing me a glass of the house’s fine 1961 vintage. I taste it and affirm that the wine is in good condition and excellent in quality. Frédéric goes on opening bottles; next in line is a Magnum bottle from the same year. Around us, sommeliers and waiters are setting a long dinner table for forty guests. The Magnum is also in excellent condition, and if anything even slightly more youthful than the previously decanted normal formats. “Is the 1982 as perfect as I remember?” asks Daniel Boulud, world-renowned chef, who has just arrived, in good spirits as always. He is in charge of the thirty or so chefs who are preparing the dinner in the kitchens above. Frédéric opens a 1982 and hands a glass to Daniel, saying in French; You tell us. Are we in Paris, London or New York?” None of the above; we are far from any metropolis, in the middle of nowhere in Tennessee. The reason we are here is not just the world’s best wine or the abovementioned chef, but the place itself, the wonderful Blackberry Farm. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 71

Y ou have reached your destination, the authoritative voice on my GPS announced a few days earlier. I parked my car in a space next to what I thought looked like a main building, stepped out and looked around me. In the meadow opposite the building a lonely, illuminated kids’ swing swayed in the wind under a long branch, awaiting the morning and the happy bustling of children. On the top of a hill behind my Lexus stood a long, low stone building whose windows gave off a warm light into the pitch-black night. Behind the wooden building, many miles away, dark and rugged mountain tops were wreathed in fog, covering the horizon. It was midnight. The silence was complete. I stepped into the main building and was drawn in by an immediate welcoming feeling. I walked around looking at the objects in the room: old books, maps, wooden miniatures, framed press clippings, dried flowers, jam and marmalade pots and local newspapers. As if I’d gone back to my own childhood. 72 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA I picked out a newspaper from a pile and sank into the soft embrace of a pale leather couch. Moments later a man arrived, cheerful and broadly smiling despite the late hour, apologising for making me wait. He hadn’t heard the silent arrival of my hybrid car. I put aside the paper and smiled back. “Welcome to Blackberry Farm. Shall we leave the formalities until later, sir? I assume you are keen to have a rest after your long journey.” He was right. I had had a long journey: that morning I was still on another continent, and the last three-hour drive from Atlanta Airport had finished me off. I just wanted to go to sleep in my own room. My noiseless journey continued a little longer in a golf cart. My host apologised for the darkness of the night but reminded me that dawn would reveal the landscape in just a few hours. As the golf cart’s lights sliced through the night, we were accompanied only by the sounds of some birds and sheep in the fields and forests along the way. In just a few minutes we arrived at a little house. The rooms at Blackberry

FINE De stination Farm are actually cabins with their own porches and golf carts. I stepped in and stood in the middle of the living room, thankful for the warm air provided by the air conditioning. A large picture window that made up almost a whole wall of the cabin showed a glimmer of lit windows through the trees and a narrow strip of night sky. I unpacked my suitcase in a separate walk-in wardrobe, took a brief but hot shower and collapsed onto the welcoming bed. On the night stand was a small children’s book: The Complete Tales of Blackberry Farm by Jane Pilgrim, whose delightful farm characters and their many adventures lulled me into a deep sleep in record time. D awn broke on Blackberry Farm without any awareness on my part. The sheep, cows, chickens, llamas and horses had been fed and turned out into pasture. The cheese master had started his day in the farm’s dairy, the butcher had chopped and selected the best cuts of meat and the gardener had picked fresh salads and herbs for the brunch table. Some early-bird guests had waded in the slow-running river under the sun’s first rays, using handmade flies to lure glistening trout. Even the spa and gym had provided wellness to the first guests before I even opened my eyes. I woke up refreshed, much later than usual. The perfect silence and wonderful bed had done their thing. I had a cold shower and dressed quickly as my stomach vociferously reminded me of itself, and stepped out in hope of finding some hot brunch. I unplugged the golf cart from its charging bay and started to follow the signs. The narrow driveway widened into a bigger road and my attention was immediately drawn to the faraway misty blue mountains up ahead. I continued to drive slowly among the winding, paved road. After snaking its way through a wood consisting of knobbly thick trees, the path climbed to a densely wooded hilltop and dropped back down to an open space, where the morning sun was FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 73

glinting off a small pond. I passed many meadows with animals, the odd guest house surrounded by large trees whose branches and roots wound around them like gigantic serpents, couples in golf carts, happily waving at passersby, and kids on tennis courts with their parents. Then the path started to rise. Further on there was a hill crested by trees, from among which smoke puffed out. I parked my cart in front of the stone building, switched off the engine and alighted. The surrounding expanse of meadow was sighing in the wind and absorbing all the noise of people enjoying their brunch. Bees buzzed in the fresh morning air and the scent of burning beech wood wafted from somewhere. I gazed at the swing, blowing gently in the breeze. I recalled what it felt like to swing as a child: the wind tickling at your toes and caressing your face while joy filled your belly and having to laugh out loud so your little heart wouldn’t completely burst. I decided to try the swing as soon as I could. 74 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA I n front of the main building, in the open doorway, stood a man clad in jeans and a casual shirt. Curly-haired, he looked younger than his age, fit like a swimmer, with a lively facial expression. He introduced himself as Sam Beall, proprietor of Blackberry Farm. Instead of going in for brunch, we wandered over to the swing. The surrounding scenery was just as breath taking as people had described in their online ratings. The mountains which encircle the area were still partly shrouded in mist, while the wide expanses of forest at their feet enveloped us in their cool, green embrace. There was a strong sense of privacy. “ When you stand out here today, all you can see has been protected by us. In last seven years we have been lucky and have been able to purchase almost every possible piece of land around us as far as the border of the neighbouring Smoky Mountain National Park. Now we can say that everything you are looking at will never change,” Sam explained, serenely. The thought of eternity, timelessness and the unchanging nature of things imbued the landscape before me with a deeper meaning. The concept of time is a given in human life. An hour has a specific number of minutes, a day has a certain number of hours and a year a number of days. Time manifests itself to us through movement. But what about when everything seems to stop around you and movement ceases? Does time stop too? Time is highly subjective, and the thoughts of halted time and permanence that came into my head as I stood on that hill didn’t seem at all bad. The only reminder of time and motion was the swing that waved in time with the breeze. The bubble of timelessness was suddenly burst when Sam asked me if I had had brunch. At least my stomach thought that the best possible reason to keep moving in time. Brunch was served outside, unusually for the farm. Daniel Boulud had conjured up a ten-metrelong banquet table with delicacies made from local ingredients. It was

FINE De stination without doubt the best brunch I’ve ever had. Sam and I sat down at the table on the main building’s terrace and continued our conversation. As I enjoyed the colourful and generous brunch, I couldn’t avoid the question of how important it is that the ingredients are from the farm itself. “Entirely self-sufficient is not our goal. We have spectacular neighbours in our cove and in the region from whom we love to feature great products. What is most important to me is to clearly showcase the beauty of this place. When people travel here from around the world, we won’t be confused with the Four Seasons experience that they just had in New York or Tokyo. Blackberry Farm is a luxury property focused on providing a personal and interactive experience that is unique in location, service and product, while promoting a sustainable and responsible lifestyle.” T o live, man needs water, air, fire and earth. The qualities of the earth are reflected in Sam Beall FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 75

76 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE De stination FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 77

our physical being: we are made of skin, bone and flesh. So is Sam Beall, but he is also so much more. He is a disconcerting mix of youthful energy, a twinkle in the eye, bashfulness and yet the calm confidence brought by experience. In some ways, Sam is in his element right here on this soil, and in other ways he isn’t. What is Sam really made of? “My background and genuine passion and interest have always been in the kitchens, and this exploded during the two years I lived in California: going to culinary school, working at dairies, farmers’ markets, wineries, and The French Laundry restaurant. Perhaps specific to the question, the reason was that the roots and physical place here were so prime for developing or evolving into something more special in the areas that my background and passion were all about. The opportunity could not have been laid out any better than in the uniqueness of these rural hills of East Tennessee.” 78 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA A round us there are numerous buildings. The landscape architecture is beautiful and every construction stands in its place like a temple. When the ancient Mayans built their temples, they paid close attention to the orientation of each building in relation to the sun’s rising and setting. The terrace we sit on is blessed by the morning sun. Enjoying coffee in the morning sun has become something of a ritual for me, which I make sure to enjoy as often as possible. Although temples are often impressive on the outside, it is usually their insides that matter most, and the same is true at Blackberry Farm. The soul of the houses is inside them. “The interior design has always been led by Kreis Beall, my mother. The philosophy, first, is to be as if you were in someone’s home – which in fact you are, because this is why the Bealls purchased Blackberry Farm. It was their home, not a business in those early years. I was born here and still live right in the middle of the property. The only difference is that as a working resort, we just share

T he brunch tables are slowly emptying. To our left there is a young couple with two teenaged daughters, who regularly remind their parents of the riding lesson that is due to start soon. Behind us is a group of four men, who are eagerly comparing their handmade fishing lures. I’d say they were bankers, and it seems they were some of this morning’s early river-waders in hope of trout. In front is a woman immersed in a thick book, slowly enjoying her coffee. Who is Blackberry Farm’s typical guest, or is there such a thing? “We desire a discriminating guest. It is the little things that distinguish FINE De stination our home with more people! In addition, there are really two types of room and interior philosophies here: the old-world, English antique, chintz, Ralph Lauren florals and fluff, and the more contemporary, with clean polished lines and neutral tones being in juxtaposition to the rustic environment that is right outside those same cottage doors.” our service and we love guests who recognise, appreciate and enjoy these special parts of life. We also love to have guests who have not been to or spent much time in Tennessee. We believe that our Smoky Mountain area is one of the most unique and spectacular places on earth and we can prove it to guests when they visit. We want guests who are looking for an experience and who will allow us to guide them through a great new experience – whether that is wine, food, relaxation, or outdoor adventure.” L iving on the receiving end of today’s abundant supply, modern wealthy Americans are not satisfied with things being good, or there being just a little of it. Extensive supply has led to a buyer’s market. Unprofessional or even mediocre operators disappear quickly from the market, because they have no attraction. That leaves only the professionals, which means that even high-quality operations cannot guarantee success. You have to Frédéric Engerer FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 79

80 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE De stination “When you stand out here today, all you can see has been protected by us. In last seven years we have been lucky and have been able to purchase almost every possible piece of land around us as far as the border of the neighbouring Smoky Mountain National Park. Now we can say that everything you are looking at will never change,” FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 81

stand out by a mile, and Blackberry Farm does that. The farm’s wine-related events have been especially widely praised, both by guests and by vintners visiting from around the world. Wine is an important part of Blackberry Farm, even if the estate does not yet have its own vineyard. Naturally, wine is at its best when it is enjoyed – especially in good company. Whether this experience is unique and unforgettable depends on how and when it takes place. The experiences we have with wines are always personal. Each of us contributes something of our personalities and personal histories, making the end result unique every time. At Blackberry Farm, fine wines are not drunk and evaluated purely for the tasting experience; they carry with them long histories and impressions from the local culinary and service traditions. All these elements together make the experience perfect. Blackberry Farm’s reputation has attracted many of the world’s best winemakers to Tennessee – like Château Latour’s Engerer. “In early 2002 I paired Gary Danko, Charlie Trotter and David Kinch respectively with Paul Hobbs, Heidi and Bo Barrett and William Selyem. The interest from our guests and momentum has carried us to do 12 to 17 events per year that have included many greats such as Sine Qua Non, Domaine de Marcoux, Pingus, Screaming Eagle, Colgin, Harlan, Domaine Weinbach, Chris Ringland, Alois Kracher, Le Pin, Latour, Perrot Minot, Chave and many others,” says Sam and he continues: “In the past 15 years, our annual event schedule has brought us amazing talents such as Thomas Keller and Annie Feolde, and winemakers from Latour and Screaming Eagle.” If I had to name just one chef who combines brilliant presentation and management skills with the best culinary competence, I would pick Daniel Boulud, who also stands out thanks to his cheerful personality. Exuding positivity, the master chef joins us now with a suggestion for the evening’s eight-course menu. I leave Daniel and Sam to their plans and wander off pensively towards the still-empty swing. I sit on its cool wooden board and kick off – in reality and in my head. Am I too grown up for fun? Could I experience the joy and contentment of youth once more, even momentarily? Many of us experience happiness as the well-being we feel when we enjoy life. So why should it be impossible? At Blackberry Farm it is not impossible – it’s not even difficult. Beating like a heart enveloped by the misty mountains, the farm is a state of mind: it is like a memory from somewhere deep inside me, a memory of love, hope, faith in people and in myself. Blackberry Farm breathes and exudes this through the surrounding woods and valleys. It is a recollection of a time when life and enjoyment of it were simple and the love of the land was a given. These days we expect everything to happen here and now, but even in our everchanging society some things remain unchanged and can therefore become legendary. Blackberry Farm is one of the few places where even a wine lover’s biggest dreams can feel achievable. Those who come here are living a life that many dream of. Here, faith in life, the world and humanity emanates from the environment, the buildings and the places where you spend time. A place should live and express itself in the same way as the people who call it home. Blackberry Farm must be one of the best examples of passion and faith in one’s chosen lifestyle. It is a beautiful, fragrant reminder of what I dream of for my own life. > Blackberry Farm is easy to get to and hard to leave! Situated on a pastoral 4,200-acre estate in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Blackberry Farm has earned its reputation as one of the most highly acclaimed small luxury hotels in the USA For general inquiries and reservations, please contact us toll-free at 800) 648 4252 or directly at 865) 984.8166. For email inquiries, please contact info@blackberryfarm.com. Blackberry Farm 1471 West Millers Cove Road Walland, Tennessee 37886 82 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE De stination FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 83

daniel B 84 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA B oulud

FINE Personality B w Text: Juha Lihtonen oulot Photos: Pek k a Nuik k i D aniel Boulud, 56, is one of the hottest names on the restaurant scene today. With his three Michelin Star establishment “Daniel”, rated the best restaurant in New York and one of the best in the world, Boulud has cre- ated an impressive restaurant empire with tentacles around the world in cities such as Miami, Vancouver, Singapore, Beijing and London. It is a true American Dream story, which started on a farm in the French countryside and landed in the limelight of Broadway. We met Daniel to find out what it has taken to become a star chef. D a n i e l B o u l u d C h e f & E n t e r t a i n e r FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 85

B 86 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA oulot

B B Boulud Da n i e l W e meet Daniel far from the skyscrapers of New York, in a cosy Tennessee resort called Blackberry Farm. He is here for the weekend to serve his awarded cuisine alongside amazing wines to a number of assembled gastronauts. These gourmands from around the United States have gathered here to meet Daniel Boulud, to learn from him and to enjoy his cooking. Many of them have been his customers for years and have become acquitanted with him in person, while the others know him only from television and his cook books. After this weekend they will consider him their friend such was the intensity of the time spent together. If it was intense for guests, it was certainly even more so for the hard-working Boulud and his team; from early morning preparations for cooking workshops to lunches and latenight dinners. However, Boulud seems fresh and relaxed as he sits in his chef ’s uniform, smiling happily and basking in the bright sunshine that floods the terrace. ”I love being here. It is like being at home on my family farm in France, although this is obviously a much more prestigious place compared to where I am from,” Daniel smiles and he is suddenly transported back to his childhood. “The place where I was born and raised was near Lyon, in a village called St.-Pierre-deChandieu. I grew up immersed in the routine of the farm. We bred chickens and turkeys, grew vegetables and had livestock such as cows, goats and pigs. We also made goats cheese from the milk of our goats and ham and saucisson from the pigs. I used to go to farmers’ market once a week with my father to sell what we had produced. Along with the farm, we ran a small café next door called Café Boulud, which was established by my great-grandparents. This was an inspiring and small world for me. I felt that going to school was not for me, and when I turned fourteen my parents did not know what to do with me.” The young man had a passion for cooking but getting to work in a restaraunt in Lyon without any contacts and references seemed to be all but impossible, however, help was found from one of the family’s clients. Nandron – Highway from hell O ne of the permanent clients of the Boulud farm was a next door neighbour, a wealthy lady to whom Daniel supplied cheese, eggs and vegetables. This woman and her Lyon-based surgeon husband were gourmands and frequently dined in the best restaurants that Lyon had to offer. They knew Daniel as a hardworking and positive boy, and decided to offer him their help. They were acquainted with great chefs like Paul Bocuse, Gérard Nandron and Alain Chapel, and asked around to see if anyone needed a young apprentice. “I consider myself lucky that Lyon-based two Michelin Star chef Gérard Nandron agreed to take me as an apprentice for two months before the next one arrived. It was a hard school and I worked 13-hour days. Actually, at that time it felt like I was in hell,” Daniel recalls. Despite the working environment, he was inspired by the skillful chefs in the kitchen, while Nandron himself was a distant boss who seemed more of a businessman than a chef to the young Boulud. oulu La Mere Blanc – Catching perfection B oulud’s hard work as apprentice paid off and in 1972 he was nominated among the best culinary apprentices in France. The following year he started to work as a cook in La Mere Blanc with George Blanc. It was here that Daniel got to see up-close how George Blanc, who was ten years older than him, was planning and striving to create something new and exciting, by turning traditional countryside cooking into contemporary cooking. “The energy, motivation and passion that George Blanc had was very inspiring. I also saw in him the sense of perfection that you can only find from three Michelin Star restaurateurs.” Le Moulin de Mougins – More than a kitchen B “I found a lot of soul, pass charisma in Roger Vergé as a It did not only exist in his c but in his restaurant, his st the overall expression of th For me, it was very impor learn to understand that th much more involved in the had chosen than to becom good cook. There are man that do not really care for much stock in service or in tails of the place; they just ta of the kitchen and that is fi ger Vergé was not one o people and after working f first as a cook and the chef de partie, I learnt not to like that.” oulud did not witness George Blanc achieving the third star, as he had left him in 1974 for the French Riviera, where he started to work for the famous Roger Vergé at Le Moulin de Mougins, just north of Cannes. It was the same year the restaurant was awarded its own Michelin star. “It was a very exciting experience. When a restaurant earns its third star, the next five-toten months are just an amazing high speed ride. After that the joy turns into a constant pressure to stay at that level,” Boulud explains before saying that the biggest impact for him was not the third star, but something else. Copenhagen Plaza H – Too much too soo A fter Boulud had wor two years at Le Mo Mougins, he wished to retur on. Vergé must have seen gr tential in the 22-year-old, as gested Daniel for the posi sous chef in the four-star Pla tel restaurant in Copenh project which Vergé himself volved in. Boulud was most c ly interested and decided t pone his return to Lyon. “Denmark was already fasc thirty years ago when it c food – lots of creativity and things happening. It felt s being outside France, teach coaching the other young ch exchanging ideas on Scand cuisine, as well as learning use its ingredients. I felt, h that I was far too young to c given responsibility, and I w missing the ambiance of a th restaurant establishment.” FINE WINE & CHAMPA

B Boulud Dan i el Michel Guérard’s Les Prés d’Eugénie – Creating a fantasy A fter a year in Denmark, Boulud found himself at Eugénieles-Bains in the southwest of France. It was here that the famous French chef Michel Guérard was running his three star establishment at the family-owned hotel and health spa. While respecting Guérard’s cuisine greatly, Boulud was also fascinated to learn about the rich culinary history of the region. “During my year and a half working for Michel Guérard, I learnt a lot from him about cooking, but I learnt much more outside the kitchen. I used to spend afternoons taking pictures from every angle of every little thing, both inside and outside the place. Mrs Guérard, who was a daughter of the founder of the beauty brand Biotherm, had such exquisite taste when it came to décor; she is one of the most sophisticated restaurateurs in France. I was very impressed with her eye for detail, and this is important in the restaurant business as the restaraurant is not your home, it is an environment that you create for others. It is the place where you create a fantasy for your guests through the surroundings. I am not saying it is all about the décor, of course the food has to be tasty and creatively done, but once you have both there the fantasy can be created.” New York via Copenhagen – A turning point D aniel left the Guérards to return to Denmark, where he had a crush on a Danish girl. It was not a turning point in his life in 88 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA terms of love, as they broke up in less than half a year, but in his career it can very much be considered just that. It was from here that Daniel travelled to the United States. After working in Copenhagen for less than a year, first as a sous chef in the Plaza Hotel and then in Les Etôiles, the number one restaurant in Copenhagen, Boulud was offered a job as a private chef for Roland de Kergorlay, head of the European Commission delegation. The job was in Washington DC. “For a young guy it was very exciting. I was given a visa, a car and an apartment alongside a lousy salary, but everything else was in line. I worked there for two years. During this time I visited New York and spent a month in a famous upscale restaurant by the name of La Côte Basque, where my friend, a former pastry chef of Roger Vergé, was working. It was fascinating, and I saw how young American chefs were eager to push their cooking to limits that I had not seen in France. The energy in the restaurant and its powerful presence was impressive. It was a superb restaurant with a breathtaking wine cellar. I thought to myself there and then that I wanted to come back to New York one day and show the city what I could do.” Polo Lounge and Le Regence – Stepping on to the stage B ack in Washington, Boulud became friends with the famous chef Jean Louis Paladin, who was the pioneer of a new cooking movement in United States during the early eighties. To Boulud, he was an inspirational chef who as- sisted him in finding a job in New York. His first position there was as a sous chef at the Hotel Westbury Polo Lounge in 1982, where he got to work with many dedicated American chefs. Many of these men have gone on to become the superstar chefs of today, such as Thomas Keller, Alfred Portale and Billy Yosses. After two years at Westbury, Boulud was asked to open a new restaurant for the same owners – Le Regence at Hotel Plaza Athenée. He got the restaurant up and running but then wanted to resign. “I got really sick of working in hotels. The summer was coming and the hotel business slowed down. I was then asked to cut staff costs and to get rid of the pastry chef, as the owners belived that we did not need him during the summer. I came back a week later and told the owners that I had found the solution – I saved them the costs by leaving myself,” Daniel laughs. During his career in Le Regence his cooking had made an impression on many people. Among them was the restaurant’s next door neighbour, restaurateur Sirio Macconi. From Le Cirque to circle – Overtaking New York M acconi recruited Boulud to run his restaurant, Le Cirque, as the executive chef. “It was a big position for me, as an executive chef,” Daniel recalls. “Le Cirque was at that time very famous for its clientele but the food was not on par with the restaurant’s reputation. So, I had the responsibility of lifting the reputation of Le Cirque’s kitchen. I worked there for six years, during which time we earned four stars in The New York Times twice.“ By 1992 Boulud felt that he had achieved his target in New York as a chef, by gaining such great recognition there. He therefore decided to fulfil his dream of establishing his own restaurant and left Le Cirque. However, at the time he was still unaware as to where he should do it. To evaluate possible options he decided to return to Lyon. “I went to France and to Lyon for two summers in a row to see if I could make it there. I tried to open a restaurant but I could not take care of the investments by myself and the banks would not grant me the loans. So, I needed to raise money and I quickly realised that it is best done in New York. I was looking to gather around twenty investors who would each invest 150 000 dollars. Then I met Joe Smilow, the retiring CEO of Playtex, who said that he never thought of investing in a restaurant, he did not know me and did not know how good chef I was, but he liked me as a person. He also said that he would rather like to be the only investing partner.” The Daniel Boulud empire – Dreams come true I n 1993 Boulud’s dream came true as he opened Restaurant Daniel on the ground floor of the Surrey Hotel on Manhattan East 76th street. The foundations of the Boulud success story had been laid. After committing himself to one address in Manhattan – in 1998 Café Boulud opened next door to Restaurant Daniel – he was ready to take a second step. He made his cooking an export good from New York o

FINE Personality ouud and established his first restaurants outside the city, in Palm Beach and Las Vegas. Soon after, he branched out to major cities outside the United States, such as Beijing, Vancouver, London and Singapore. Meanwhile, he introduced new bars and restaurants in New York, including the untried concept of a gastropub in the lower east side of Manhattan. DBGB proved to be more than successful, serving sausages, burgers and seafood platters in an atmosphere that mixed French Brasserie with traditional American tavern. Boulud believes that behind his success is something other than creativity and the ability to find new niches in the restaurant business. “It is the people around me that have made me so successful – good partners and amazing staff. My staff are very young, very dedicated; they trust in me and work very hard. This is very important, as I want the young chefs to trust me and to grow with me. We will work together and we will make it together; I give evertyhing I can to help my chefs succeed and to succeed with them. It is certainly not easy and involves a lot of hard work every single day. But it is not only about the kitchen, as I have already said. We also need to monitor the front of the house constantly. The service is one of the biggest hallmarks and we are really focusing on service – its efficiency, precision and knowhow. It has to be flawless and we also have to be as close to perfection as possible. This is not only important in Restaurant Daniel but in our bistros as well; you must feel the service in our most casual restaurants is as special as it is in any other other of our establishments. This is very challenging, es- pecially in a crazy city like New York. It is almost like steering a spaceship at three hundred miles per hour through a storm: you feel the tension coming from everywhere and yet you have to keep the course perfect. To do that, I need a lot of people, a lot of perseverance, a lot of meetings and a good strategy. Constant reassessments are also needed in terms of menus, the market, service, maintenance, communication, and all the other little details that are so vital. The business can deteriorate very quickly, and we need to make sure we are a step ahead and have a clear target when it comes to what we want to do. My target is to be consistent, but in our business that is always the hardest thing to do.” Due to the increasing pace of new restaurants opening everywhere, it seems that Boulud’s spaceship does not only go three hundred miles per hour in New York, but all over the world. Despite the style of his restaurants, he keeps impressing foodies and critics with his cuisine, which is based on the precise and rich flavours of classic French countryside cooking with a modern spin using traditional techniques. For Boulud, the key is to understand how to combine different ingredients sensitively with each other, in order to create precise and intense flavours. “When it comes to cooking, I think it is very important to understand that it is not all about complexity – it is about precision of flavours. Not every dish is a master piece of beauty. You give me twenty pounds of tripe and I will make you a wonderful dish out of it. It might not be a visually beautiful portion but it will be visually soulful, oulud FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 89

especially when it comes to the taste. It would give me as much pleasure to prepare a pot of tripe as it would to prepare a very sophisticated raw fish dish with different layers of flavours. I am very connected to both the seasons and the market and my cooking is still very driven by the ingredient. I am a man of tradition and invention. I also do not know what my cooking would have been like if I had not had this passion with me. It has perhaps been my ability to be indentified, but within myself I am happy and I make a lot of people happy with because of it. Daniel Boulud has certainly made a number of people happy with his cooking throughout the years, but where does he see himself in the future? “First of all, I still do not know where I belong. I have lived in New York City and I have done everything in New York, but is this really the place where I want my life to stop? I have always had something of the adventurer in me, as you can see from my career. So, let me put it this way: five years from now I am going to do what I am doing now. Ten years from now I hope to take B two months’ holiday a year, minimum. Twenty years from now, I wish to have a little house in Brazil, a little cabaña on the beach and something in Provence. I also want to have an apartment in New York, as I still hope to work around a third of the time. Thus, I would take four months off a year, mostly travelling and dabbling in a little bit of work, but still being very involved. When it comes to my career and future, I must say that I admire Paul Bocuse. I have known him since I was fourteen. He has always been behind me, helping and supporting me. At the age of 84 you can still find him in his restaurant; he is involved, although he does not do any cooking there. It is, however, his prescence that makes the atmosphere so different. So, I wish that I can still be in my restaurant when I am 84. That means that I will be in good health and still in love with what I am doing.” It is undeniable that Daniel Boulud is a talented chef, but one can claim that the secret of his success has lots to do with his personality. The time spent with him at Blackberry Farm proves that he has an amazing ability to connect with, overwhelm and entertain people. It stems from the happiness he is willing and able to share with people, and the way he confronts and treats people, whether they are his workers, clients or complete strangers, is charming. With his humour, mesmerizing charisma and positive energy, he attracts people who want to share the success with him. These are qualities one rarely finds in a chef. Although he is a chef in his heart, he has one quality that makes him stand out from the crowd: he is a great entertainer. > Daniel Boulud’s restaurants and awards: 2012 Cafe Boulud, Toronto 2012 Maison Boulud, Montreal 2011 Boulud Sud, New York 2010 Bar Boulud, London 2010 DB Moderne Bistro, Singapore 2010 DB Moderne Bistro, Miami 2009 Bar Pleiades, New York 2009 DBGB Kitchen & Bar, New York 2008 Bar Boulud, New York 2008 DB Moderne Bistro, Vancouver 2006 Maison Boulud, Beijing 2005 Daniel Boulud Brasserie, Las Vegas 2003 Café Boulud, Palm Beach 2003 DB Moderne Bistro, New York 1998 Café Boulud, New York 1993 Restaurant Daniel, New York – three Michelin stars & No. 8 in the world’s best restaurant list oulud 90 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 2011 Chef of the Year, The Culinary Institute of America James Beard Foundation awards for: “Outstanding Restaurateur”, 2006 “Outstanding Chef of the Year”, 1994 Best Chef of New York City”, 1992

E CH M PAG N A SPOTLIGHT Hudson and Central Park view 92 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

F I N E Spotlight SPOTLIGHT Text: Oumy Diaw Champagne has found a home in New York and the sommeliers show their love by taking risks by the glass, because New York requires the ultimate. Oumy Diaw introduces her favourite champagne spots in New York City. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 93

D espite striking challenges, the City always rises from its ashes and becomes stronger and more attractive than ever. The food and wine scene is no different. It is driven by aspiration of perfection and the next new thing. Every week, new restaurants open and close with no sense of defeat. Celebrity chefs, young and upcoming entrepreneurs, wine bars, farm-to-table dining, trendy hotels and clubs – all of them go through an internal scrutiny so that they can deliver the best to a jaded community which is hungry for excitement and nouveauté. My first time in New York was in 1999 while in college. It was like a wake-up call, especially having lived in Bordeaux and Paris since 1995. Despite the relentless competitiveness of living in New York City, what amazes me on a daily basis is the care for people and both the passion and generosity New Yorkers have, and the service towards patrons and customers demonstrates this very point. Being a sommelier specialised in champagne myself, I am eager to witness the fabulous job wine directors do when it comes to the magic wine. There are several places I consider to be my favourite New York spots due to their champagne selection, ambiance and exquisite food. A number of hotels are included below, which I believe can inspire you to indulge in champagne. > Oumy Diaw, founder of The Champagne SommelierTM Company and the first official Champagne SommelierTM in the world. Oumy Diaw has been based in NYC since 2004. Le Bernardin’s dining room LE BERNARDIN Perfection on Earth! Celebrity chef Eric Ripert’s cuisine, which is centered around delicate fish and seafood dishes, is the finest in NYC for pairing with champagne, and his sommelier, Aldo Sohm, will certainly not disappoint. With an extensive champagne selection available by the glass, as well as unique and young vintages and collectibles, the wine goes beyond the expectations of classic pairing. 94 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA The service is flawless, a real performance. Remodelled a year ago by Bentel & Bentel, Ran Ortner’s striking painting “Deep Water No. 1” dominates the space, allowing the restaurant to offer a whole new dimension of fine dining. You might also come across co-owner Maguy LeCoze’s sharp eye, as she controls every detail l’air de rien. If you are unlucky to get a table in the main dining room, the lounge is operated on a first-come, first-served basis, although it has an exquisite bar menu. What are we drinking? Sometimes we opt for a Comtes de Champagne 2002, but then they also have Agrapart Blanc de Blancs Terroirs Extra Brut and Alfred Gratien Rosé – the options seem limitless. What should we be eating? Everything! Come back if you have to, for lunch or dinner, just so you can taste every single dish on the menu. www.le-bernardin.com 155 west 51st street +1 212-54-1515

This is probably the hardest restaurant at the Time Warner tower to secure a booking for, and we know why: this establishment belongs to another celebrity chef in the form of Thomas Keller, who also owns the acclaimed The French Laundry in Yountville, California. God knows that Per Se has no reason to be jealous of its west coast sister. Therefore, if your visit to the USA doesn’t allow you to travel from coast to coast then put the NYC 3 stars Michelin on your list. Per Se offers pristine service and a wine programme which is managed by one of the greatest sommeliers in the country, Michel Couvreux, who has more than 15 Michelin Stars on his belt, having taken his first steps at Arpège, Paris. Overlooking Central Park and Columbus Circle, the discreet lounge, which is located just prior to the 16-seat dining room, simply invites and encourages its guests to sample a glass of champagne – expect some Bollinger Grande Année by the glass, depending on the vintage du moment, or wait for your table with a José Dhont Blanc de Blancs. SPOTLIGHT F I N E Spotlight PER SE Per Se’s banofee JEAN?GEORGES This place is a passage obligé when visiting New York. Just the sound of his name inspires and adds an exquisite touch to French, American and Asian dishes. Whether it is lunch, brunch,or dinner at Jean-Georges, or, indeed, a wonderful late supper at the recently renovated Nougatine, this Alsatian celebrity chef crafts innovative fusion cuisine. In the evening, you are bedazzled by the spotlights of Trump Hotel, where the Relais & Château is located. Staying faithful to Donald Trump’s extravagance, the hotel’s flashy gold lights welcome you as you step in, like a celebrity ready for paparazzi shots on the red carpet. However, if this is not your scene, then there is always the Terrace restaurant, which offers a stunning view of Central Park during the day. The must-have signature dish? The yellowfin tuna ribbons bathing in an avocado with spicy radish and ginger marinade is delightful. By the glass? Billecart-Salmon Rosé is a recurrent and they often stock the recent vintages of Louis Roederer Cristal, as well as, more recently, Winston Churchill 1999. Whether you are geeky or just there for the bling, the champagne list is pretty complete and amiable to even the most discerning of palates. www.perseny.com 10 Columbus Circle, 4th floor +1 212-823-9335 www.jean-georges.com One Central Park West +1 212-299-3900 Jean-Georges Vongerichten Jean Georges’ fusion FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 95

SPOTLIGHT THE CROSBY BAR AT CROSBY STREET HOTEL Who said that trendy cannot also be champagne geeky? Located in the first NYC Firmdale hotel, which opened in 2009, The Crosby Bar invites champagne connoisseurs and trendy people to mingle for fun. This hotel has it all: 36 champagne references among a wide range of wines from around the world, all of which can be enjoyed amid a setting of chic décor and great sunlight. Champagne by the glass starts at $14, which represents amazing value for money. Expect some fun cuveés of Beaumont les Crayères NV or Delamotte Rosé among the classics, as well as an excellent selection of both rosé and recent vintages. Spot some Magnum Bollinger Grande Année 1999 being imbibed by socialites and models, or indulge yourself with a Jeroboam of Grand Vintage 2003 for only $300. This establishment is hard to beat – especially given they serve food all day long. www.firmdalehotels.com/new-york/crosby-street-hotel 79 Crosby Street +1 212-226-6400 The Crosby Bar THE CHAMPAGNE BAR AT THE PLAZA HOTEL This is an iconic and historical hotel, which boasts spectacular views and lavish banquets. Open to the public, The Champagne Bar comes with white-glove service, and its elegant furniture, which seems to encourage secret conversations and romance, makes it my favourite place in town. Grandes Marques dominate the selection, although the hotel’s bottle service offers a little more diversity in the form of Egly-Ouriet. Furthermore, you can admire the fabulous Coupole architecture during tea (and champagne) at the Palm Court, while, more recently, a new underground shopping mall has been built to satisfy all your material desires. The Plaza Champagne Bar 96 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA www.theplazany.com 1 West 59th Street +1 212-986-9260

F I N E Spotlight DEL POSTO Even though it has a cosmopolitan and multicultural background, New York’s Italian culture is more established than most. Whether it is fashion, art or wine, there is no neighbourhood in Manhattan where you can’t spot an Italian Pizzeria, Salumeria or classic Italian restaurant. We tend to believe that New York has the best Italian food outside Italy, and Del Posto is one of the finest representations of this claim. Co-owned by celebrity chef Mario Batali and the Bastianich family, Del Posto is a jewel that is on a par with haute French cuisine. While their wine list is, understandably, dominated by Italian offerings which span all the regions, I found their champagne list hard to beat in terms of selection and value. It is just heaven for champagne collectors and connoisseurs: the 148 cuvées, with vintages ranging from 1964 to 2006, are organised by brand, which allows Grandes Marques (the best of their wines) to mingle with highly allocated small producers. The plus side? The disgorgement dates (when available) of many flacons are all noted on the wine list. www.delpostonyc.com 85 Tenth Avenue +1 212-497-8900 Del Posto THE MARK HOTEL The Mark hotel bar Designed by Jacques Grange, this boutique hotel is an Upper East Side landmark located on Madison Avenue and is close to Central Park on Fifth Avenue and museums like the Guggenheim. Have lunch under the veranda of The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges, or champagne at the bar and schmooze with wealthy New Yorkers, art dealers or Europeans in town on a quick business venture. New York is full of skyscraper hotels, but The Mark has a different cachet: exquisite elegance, managed mostly by a French staff, so expect a “bonjour” from the Concierge and a “bicyclette” for your picnic in the park. Head to your room, where you can enjoy a large private bar, complete with a black granite counter top with sub-zero refrigeration and freezer drawers. The extra touch? The elegant John Jenkins & Sons crystal glassware, tailor-made for Jean- Georges, which you can use to sample a nice selection of champagne half-bottles; magnums of René Geoffroy Rosé de Saignée or Winston Churchill 1999 are also available if you feel like sharing with new friends. www.themarkhotel.com 25 East 77th street +1 212-744-4300 “Bicyclette picnic” FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 97

Discovering Champagne Montagne de Reims Text: Essi Avellan MW Photos: Michael Boudot Just south of the city of Reims lie the forest hills of Montagne de Reims, home to many idyllic villages that produce wine with the coveted Grand Cru status. It is here that you will find villages such as Verzenay, Verzy, Bouzy and Ambonnay, all of which are known for their top quality pinot noir grapes. In addition to producer visits, it is well worth a look at the Le Phare de Verzenay Champagne Museum, which is located in an old lighthouse. For the adventurous traveller, Verzy Forest and the cosy Perchingbar champagne bar, built up in its winding tree tops, is a must! 100 FINE Wine & Champagne India will publish extracts from Essi Avellan’s new champagne book, Matka Champagneen (Discovering Champagne), in the forthcoming issues. In her book, Avellan visits 50 of the most interesting producers in the wine region. Furnished with maps, the book is also an opportunity for champagne lovers to discover the epicurean’s dream location for themselves, as Avellan opens doors to the region’s best restaurants, hotels and wine stores. In this issue we will feature Avellan’s top recommendations for Montagne de Reims. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

S ometimes it is good to turn from the glamour of big champagne houses to the more earth-bound approach of a pragmatic peasant. Chartogne-Taillet in Merfy, which is located in the northern part of Montagne de Reims, is a paradigm of an enthusiastic and innovative grower-producer. Working side by side with his father Philippe and mother Elisabeth, Alexandre Chartogne acquired his knowledge from the legendary Avizebased Anselme Selosse, and is open to new experiments and quality improvements. Talking with Alexandre, who is dedicated to cultivation and production, takes one deep into the mysteries of champagne production. Most of the vineyards of Montagne de Reims can these days be found south of the city of Reims. The northern vineyards have given way to the expanding city, and, in addition to the damage done by Phylloxera, war has also complicated cultivation in the area. The hills of Montagne de Reims have a strategic view straight to the city of Reims, and this has turned them into battlefields more than once; the planted area in Merfy has decreased from 105 hectares to 45 as a result. Despite its small size and rather unknown status, the south-facing plots of Merfy are able to produce exceedingly interesting wines. Alexandre Chartogne characterises their style as stronger and richer in nuances than those of the wines of southern Montagne, but not quite as fruity. Organic cultivation and the concentrated yield of old vines are key elements to the rich and strong style of Chartogne-Taillet. Their whole repertoire, from the non-vintage standard Sainte-Anne champagne to the prestige cuvée Fiacre, is first-rate, as is their rosé champagne. The most impressive experiences, I have to say, have been derived from the new Les Barres single-vineyard champagne. Chartogne-Taillet owns two plots of rare and ungrafted Pinot Meunier vines, covering only 0.7 hectares. When Phylloxera raged in the area during the 19th century and destroyed almost all the vineyards in Champagne, these vines, which grow from sandy soil, survived the extinction. Alexandre Chartogne tends to these laborious, en foule-planted vines by hand, and is even experimenting by planting 0.5 hectares in a similar fashion, in the hope that the new vines will also be resistant to the pernicious Phylloxera. The 2006 Les Barres was the first interesting single-vineyard champagne from Chartogne-Taillet. Upcoming champagnes are the 100 per cent Pinot Noir Les Orizeaux and the Pinot Meunier Les Allièes. F I N E Region chartogne-taillet ? cHaMPagne cHartogne-taiLLet rM www.chartogne-taillet.typepad.fr 37, Grande Rue, 51220 Merfy Tel. +33 (0)3 26 03 10 17 annual Production (bottles): 80 000. cellarmaster: Alexandre Chartogne Previously, the grapes from the ungrafted vines of the Les Barres vineyard were used to make Chartogne-Taillet’s flagship wine, Fiacre. However, as of the 2006 vintage, we now have the possibility to enjoy the wine from these unique vines. When employing the traditional provigneage planting method, the vines grow very densely, and even in a disorderly manner to the naked eye. Instead of the usual 9000 vines/hectare, this method has 30 000 vines growing in the same area. The planting is constantly renewed by growing new vines from the branches of the older ones and then burying them in the ground. A good example of the amount of work needed is that Bollinger’s 0.52 ha provigneage plantings are managed by four people; Alexandre Chartogne is alone with his 0.7 hectares, though. The house’s tendency of fermenting the wine with natural yeast instead of cultivated yeasts also speaks about the pursuit of maximum authenticity; and if this is not enough, Alexandre’s ambitious goal is to chartogne-taillet les barres 2006 43 43 serving temperature: 10°C Drinkability: 0 – 10 years you can visit chartogne-taillet daily between 8am and 5pm by pre-reservation. the visit and tasting are free, and champagnes can be purchased according to availability. isolate a natural yeast for each individual plot. After all this trouble, it is understandable that Alexandre Chartogne does not want sugar to mask the nuances of the wine. Les Barres is thus a completely unsweetened champagne, or non-dosé. The production amount is minimal, at approximately 700 – 2000 bottles depending on the vintage. Wine production: The wine is fermented in 4 – 9 -year-old barrels with natural yeasts isolated from the plot in question. The lees are removed after a good two years of bottle ageing, but no sugar is added to the wine. After disgorgement, the wine is no longer cellar-aged. Strong, toasty and creamy aromas with bruised apple, vanilla and tropical fruit. The vinous palate is wide and freshened by a lemony acidity. A very vinous champagne, with light oak aromas rising from behind the fruit. Balanced and creamy mousse, and a long and dry but fruity aftertaste. style: 93 P. grapes: Pinot Meunier 100% cuvée sainte-anne brut nV 89 p. • brut rosé 90 p. brut Vintage 2000 91 p. • Fiacre nV 93 p. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 101

nicolas maillart I t is worthwhile to drive a bit further outside the mainstream champagne areas to Ecueil, mainly because Nicolas Maillart knows what he is doing and what he wants from his champagnes. The enthusiastic and visionary Maillart politely answers the inquisitive visitors’ endless questions, and the house wines differ from the typical champagnes in an interesting manner. Maillart’s champagnes are very vinous and extremely well made; any friends of oaky champagnes are sure to be thrilled with these offerings. The producer was previously known as Michel Maillart, but since Nicolas Maillart took over from his father in 2003, it has gone through a complete transformation. The first thing the well-educated and well-travelled Nicolas did was to detach the vineyard from the village’s cooperative, where the grapes used to be crushed. Maillart, who follows sustainable development’s almost organic methods, owns vineyards in three Montagne de Reims villages: Ecueil, Villers-Allerand and Bouzy. The house’s 11 hectares consist exclusively of Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards. In addition to this, Maillart buys grapes. In the production process, Maillart sorts the grapes according to the soil and age of the vines. Part of the wine is fermented in oak barrels, which Maillart buys both new and used, from Chassagne-Montrachet among others. If needed, Maillart lets the wine undergo malolactic fermentation. The wines are then fermented with natural yeasts, and are neither filtered nor cold stabilised. Nicolas Maillart also produces two single-terroir champagnes, where the emphasis on the substrate has been taken even further. Of these, Les Francs du Pied is 100 per cent Pinot Noir, whereas Les Chaillots Gillis consists of purely Chardonnay; the latter in fact comes from several south-facing Chardonnay plots of old vines from Ecueil and Bouzy. Well concentrated and notably oaky, it resembles Chardonnays from Burgundy. The non-vintage standard champagne Platine is faultless, deeply fruity and vigorous. This wine is dominated by Pinot Noir, with a fifth of the grapes being Chardonnay. The proportion of reserve wines is 45 per cent. A quarter of the wine has been fermented in oak, which brings along richness but not overwhelming oak aromas. The amount of sugar is a moderate 7 g/l. The house’s vintage champagne these days follows the same Pinot Noir-dominant style. Maillart’s Brut Rosé Grand Cru is very exceptional. This wine, from the Grand Cru village of Bouzy, is extracted for a good two days in skin contact, then 30 per cent Chardonnay is added. A part of the red reserve wine is aged in Château Margaux’s used oak barrels, which brings a clear oak aroma to the champagne. My favourites are Maillart’s first-rate and less oaky standard champagne and the single-vineyard champagne Les Francs du Pied, which can take even an abundant use of oak without being overpowered by it, thanks to its massive fruit. ? cHaMPagne nicoLas MaiLLart nM www.champagne-maillart.fr 5, rue de Villers aux Noeuds, 51500 Ecueil Tel. +33 (0)3 26 49 77 89 annual production (bottles): 100 000 cellarmaster: Nicolas Maillart Maillart receives visitors on weekdays 9 – 12 noon and 2 – 5.30 pm, by advance booking only. the cellar tour is 5?/person, and it includes a tasting consisting of two champagnes. champagnes can be purchased from the winery. Les Francs de Pieds, produced from the grapes of the Les Coupées plot in Ecueil, is an exceptional single-vineyard champagne. After Phylloxera destroyed vines in Champagne, this plot was also replanted with vines grafted to American roots. However, Nicolas Maillart’s father Michel noticed that the vines still with their original roots were doing better, so in 1973 the plot was once again replanted – this time with original root vines. These are planted separately in rows, instead of the earlier and more prevalent en foule method, with dense planting and constant renewing. The reason why this 0.27 ha vineyard has the unusual ability to resist Phylloxera probably originates from the heavily sandy soil. This south-facing plot in the middle of the hillside produces an extremely concentrated and impressively individual champagne, of which the 2003 is the first vintage. The wine is both fermented and aged in oak barrels, on regularly stirred yeast lees. Only natural yeasts are used in the fermentation, the wine is not filtered or cold stabilised, and it doesn’t undergo malolactic fermentation. No sugar is added during the disgorgement stage, which occurs after long cellar ageing. The wine is then rested for three months before it is released to the markets. Wine production: Deep, lemon-yellow colour. The nose is profuse and rich in nuances with red fruit, spices, vanilla and butter, and on the palate there is a clear but well integrated oak aroma. As the aromas develop, they turn towards toastiness. The intensively fruity palate is mouthfilling without being heavy. The bubbles give a gentle feel to this strong and broad wine, and there is a long, fresh, fruity and balanced aftertaste. style: nicolas maillart les francs de pied blanc de noirs extra brut 2003 65 60 serving temperature: 12°C Drinkability: 0 – 10 years 102 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA grapes: Pinot Noir 100% 90 P. Platine brut nV 88p. • brut rosé grand cru nV 85 p. • Millésime 2005 89p. • Les chaillots gillis blanc de blancs extra brut 2003 87p.

F I N E Region Sights, Restaurants and Bars in Montagne de Reims goLF De reiMs Château des Dames de France, 51390 Gueux Tel. +33 (0) 3 26 05 46 10 www.golf-de-reims.com Golf de Reims is a sympathetic golf course, located just outside the city of Gueux. As one might presume, champagne houses sponsor the course, so, naturally, they have their own tournaments as well as holes named after them. The course resembles a big park and is very nice to play; although the castle-like club house surrounded by a moat is particularly imposing. The best thing about the course is, however, its direct link to champagne; you can easily end up playing a round with the nearby area’s cellarmasters and champagne personalities. “I have always liked driving through the celebrated villages of the Montagne de Reims - especially Verzy and Verzenay, with their rolling hills and sweeping views. I am also fond of visiting Trépail and VillersMarmery, as these villages are very special to the house and to the elaboration of our Piper-Heidsieck Rare.” régis camus, cellarmaster of champagne P&c Heidsieck FaUx De VerZy Verzy, free admission throughout the year The mystical trees of the Faux de Verzy Forest, beautiful in their “deformation”, are fascinating to see – a true gift from nature. A stroll in this natural park is the best way to awaken the appetite at any time of the year. L’escargot Des granDs crUs Route de Louvois, 51150 Bouzy Tel. +33 (0)3 26 52 26 56 www.escargotdesgrandscrus.com Reservation needed. Le Phare de Verzenay lighthouse is a beacon in a sea of vineyards. MUsÉe Le PHare De VerZenay 51360 Verzenay Tel. +33 (0)3 26 07 87 87 Open Tuesday – Sunday 10am – 5pm, on weekends until 5.30pm. An entrance fee is required. www.lepharedeverzenay.com A lighthouse in the middle of vineyards with no sea in sight – one simply has to see that! Built next to a historic lighthouse, Le Phare de Verzenay is one of the few champagne museums in the area. The tour starts with a film on the basics of champagne, from history to cultivation and production, and afterwards the visitor can tour the museum independently with headphones. The museum offers good basic knowledge for new champagne enthusiasts, whereas a more experienced champagne traveller can glean interesting information regarding villages such as Verzenay. A fascinating plus to the visit is the opportunity to climb up to the top of the lighthouse and see the beautiful landscape of Montagne de Reims open up before one’s eyes. “I recommend a visit to a very extraordinary place: in my home village of Bouzy there is an excellent snail hatchery worth exploring between champagne house visits.” chantale bara, champagne Paul bara FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 103

Parc arboxygene Forêt de Brise Charette, 51380 Verzy Tel. +33 (0)6 89 44 73 68 www.arboxygene.eu The opening hours of Parc Arboxygene vary, so it is recommended to check their website before visiting (the park is closed between January 1st and March 20th). Pre-booking is required for groups larger than ten persons. If the scrumptious lunches and dinners start to weigh you down, you can rid yourself of some calories by sweating in the Arboxygene climbing park. Parisian Olivier Couteaut built the park in the Verzy Forest five years ago, and the process was carried out carefully in order to avoid injuring the trees. The climbing tracks built up in the trees vary in difficulty, so even the most amateur of climbers can get started. And how could you celebrate a successful adventure up in the treetops better than with a glass of bubbly up in the Perchingbar champagne bar! “The Verzenay champagne museum is truly worth the visit, as it gives information on the Champagne region and champagne itself in a very comprehensive and concrete way. Its location guarantees a spectacular view over the vineyards of Montagne de Reims.” Mathieu Kauffman, cellarmaster of champagne bollinger L’assiette cHaMPenois 40, Avenue Paul Vaillant-Couturier Tel. +33 (0)3 26 84 64 64 www.assiettechampenoise.com8.5 “Bernard Pagès’ sculpture La Terre welcomes visitors to the village of Mailly Champagne. You can reach the sculpture by walking through the vineyards; I thoroughly recommend this walk, as one can also enjoy a beautiful vista towards Reims and its cathedral while sipping from a glass of Mailly Champagne.” Hervé Dantan, cellarmaster of champagne Mailly grand cru Arnauld Lallement, the chef of L’Assiette Champenois, confesses to be a ”Krugist”. Closed on Tuesdays for lunch and dinner, and on Wednesdays for lunch. L’Assiette Champenois is my absolute favourite fine dining experience in Champagne. This innovative and top quality restaurant has a touch of the molecular kitchen about it, and is located just ten minutes from Reims’ town centre. The young chef, and member of the owner family, Arnauld Lallement has earned the restaurant two Michelin stars. A comprehensive wine and champagne list is amongst the best in the area. The prices for both food and drink are high, but at the same time appropriate. Connected to L’Assiette Champenois you’ll find a small, cosy and stylish hotel, where the rooms are surprisingly affordable compared to the price level of the restaurant. My recommendation is to dine here and stay overnight at least once when touring Champagne. “Another well known landmark of Champagne, in addition to the La Phare museum, is the windmill of Verzenay. Champagne Lanson’s first vineyards were acquired precisely here in Verzenay during the 19th century. We also have a press house in the village, which visitors can see in action during harvest time.” Jean-Paul gandon, cellar Master of champagne Lanson “Perchingbar, up in the treetops of the Verzy forest, offers champagne and a wonderful view towards Reims and Montagne de Reims; it is certainly a unique champagne experience!” nicolas Klym, cellarmaster of champagne ayala 104 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

While the majority of leading Champagne houses are located in town, Canard- Duchêne is situated on a hillside, firmly rooted in the very heart of the vineyards since 1868. Ludes, its birthplace in the Montagne de Reims National Park, epitomizes the magnificent quality of Pinot Noir. The Russian Imperial Family granted Canard-Duchêne the right to adopt its coat of arms, a crowned two-headed eagle. cHaMPagne bLonDeL cHaMPagne PaUL cLoUet Domaine des Monts Fournois BP 12 51500 Ludes France Tel. +33(03)3 26 03 43 92 contact@champagneblondel.com www.champagneblondel.com 10 rue Jeanne d’Arc 51500 Bouzy France Tel. +33(03)3 26 57 07 31 contact@champagne-paul-clouet.com www.bonnaire-clouet.com cHaMPagne canarD-DUcHÊne cHaMPagne Forget-briMont PercHingbar 1 rue Edmond Canard 51500 Ludes France Tel. +33(03)3 26 61 10 96 info@tcd-distribution.com canard-duchene.fr 11 Route de Louvois 51500 Craon de Ludes France Tel. +33(03)3 26 61 10 45 contact@champagne-forget-brimont.fr www.champagne-forget-brimont.fr Forêt de Brise Charrette/Faux de Verzy 51380 Verzy France Tel. +33(06) 07 67 94 42 www.perchingbar.eu F I N E Region Other recommended visits in Montagne de Reims: Key to symbols top producer top visit excellent visit good visit average visit excellent producer Quality producer average producer below-average producer I have awarded a star rating to restaurants as follows: top-class restaurant excellent restaurant Quality restaurant basic visit The price level of each restaurant is classified as follows: expensive restaurant, menu over 50 euros Mid-priced restaurant, menu 25–50 euros inexpensive restaurant, menu under 25 euros average restaurant basic restaurant I have awarded a star rating to hotels as follows: Luxury hotel High-class hotel Quality hotel average hotel The price level of the hotels (overnight stay including breakfast) is classified as follows: expensive hotel, rooms over 180 euros Mid-priced hotel, rooms 90–180 euros inexpensive hotel, rooms under 90 euros basic hotel Vintage tables Vintages are also given a star rating, as follows: R recommended retail price C cellar price top vintage excellent vintage average vintage ordinary vintage Poor vintage FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 105

106 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

F I N E Celebration A Text: Essi Avellan MW Photos: Michel Jolyot t the dawn of its third century of champagne making, Laurent-Perrier is facing a new era due to the fact its long-term leader Bernard de Nonancourt passed away in late 2010. His daughters, Alexandra and Stephanie, are now in charge of the future of the House. Today, at Laurent-Perrier in Tour-sur-Marne, FINE is both celebrating the House’s bicentenary and paying homage to Mr de Nonancourt. We dive into the history of this esteemed champagne house thanks to a great vertical tasting of one of Bernard’s greatest creations, the cuvée Grand Siècle. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 107

LAURENT-PERRIER – DEUX GRANDS SIÈCLES In 1812, the Laurent family stopped being coopers in the Montagne de Reims and instead turned its attention to making champagne in Tours-sur-Marne. Decades later, their son Eugène Laurent married Mathilde Émile Perrier, who found herself widowed at a young age in 1887. She ran the business successfully but had no children and her eventual death brought the house to Marie-Louise de Nonancourt, the sister of Victor and Henri Lanson. There was no room for Marie-Louise at the Lanson family enterprise, so she took the courageous step of buying a champagne business in 1938 despite raising four children alone after her husband’s death. The business survived the Second World War under her leadership, after which Bernard de Nonancourt, Marie-Louise’s second son, took up the running of the business and proceeded to build it up to be one of the biggest and best-known champagne houses. A great Champagne figurehead and believer in the region’s terroir and style of wine, Bernard de Nonancourt made Laurent-Perrier what it is today. As well as envisioning its style to be one of freshness and elegance, he also created its celebrated prestige cuvée Grand Siècle, which at the time of its launch in 1959 was one of the first luxury cuvées after Dom Pérignon, Cristal and Comtes de Champagne. Bernard de Nonancourt worked actively for the company until the very end, which came on October 29th 2010. The entire company and Bernard’s daughters, now running the company, went into mourning, which was only halted by the preparations for the house’s 200th Anniversary A great Champagne figurehead and believer in the region’s terroir and style of wine, Bernard de Nonancourt made Laurent-Perrier what it is today. 108 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA – which were to take place in 2012. The first celebrations, and an homage to Bernard, took place within a closed circle of family, employees and business partners in June. Only in September did the house open its doors to the rest of us, and FINE was present at both the celebration and the opening of its new Grand Siècle cellar.

F I N E Celebration T he ambiance at Laurent-Perrier’s stylish tasting room is emo- Back tional. A small group of international wine journalists are ac- tasting in the room, companied by Bernard de Nonancourt’s daughters Alexandra and we commence Stephanie and the house’s cellar master, Michel Fauconnet. The a vertical tast- purpose is to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the house but the ing of 11 select- festive feeling has a sad undertone. Rather than celebrating, I feel ed we are all paying homage to Bernard de Nonancourt, the House’s cuvées of this great Champagne visionary, who was 90 when he passed away. special historical wine. All the cuvées, mainly tasted in magnum, have been disgorged just 15 minutes ago and are shown to us bare-naked, without any sweetening dosage. This inevitably makes some of the young cuvées crave dosage but it makes them perfectly comparable with each other, as we do not have to worry about the effect of the dosage or post-disgorgement time. THE GRAND TASTING Cuvée after cuvée we dive into the depths of Grand Siècle. Even though Laurent-Perrier chooses not to communicate the three vinWe descend into the brand new cellar area, designed by Jean- tages used for each multi-vintage cuvée, Michel Fauconnet lets us Michel Willmotte, which still smells of fresh concrete and wet in on the secret by explaining the characteristics of each year that paint. The vat room, consisting of small polished inox tanks has been included. Soon, the stylistic consistency of freshness, el- and old enamelled concrete tanks, is stylishly minimalistic and egance and subdued complexity is identified. Still, each cuvée is functional but remarkably atmospheric. We then advance to the different, with an occasional stunner amongst the very fine line-up more historic parts of the cellars and wander our way to the of champagnes. Monks’ Gallery, an area reserved for the library of bottles, magnums and jeroboams of old vintages. We learn that there is still One can really sense the emotion when Michel Fauconnet or- a stock of every cuvée of Grand Siècle, from the very first one (a ders the last magnum, the very first cuvée of Grand Siècle blend of 1955, 1953 and 1952 vintages) onwards, standing neck ever made, to be poured. Even though they still have a decent down with yeast sediments still in the bottle. supply of magnums left, this wine, which was first launched FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 109

Lunch at Château de Louvois in 1959, is a rare treat for the cellar master and the Nonan- Towards the end of the lunch we get another surprise, as we court sisters, too. Even though the quality of the preceding cu- are introduced to the celebration cuvée of the bicentenary. vées has been superb, the last bottle just silences us with its Les Reserves Grand Siècle is a late-disgorged magnum of Grand freshness, harmony and completeness. It rates as of the finest Siècle (cuvée of 1995/1993/1990), which is available only in limited champagnes I have ever tasted – not to mention the occasion at magnums and jeroboams. which it was served. A perfect moment. Enjoying this old, but at the same time youthful, Grand Siècle feels We gather ourselves to praise the last cuvée and enjoy the rest of like the perfect ending to our celebration. It is an honour to pay the glass, declining to spit any out. Suddenly, the ambiance feels homage to its glorious past, but the House is now looking forward much more cheerful and we make our way, babbling and cheering, to a new era; 200 years young, but with the experience of many life- to the lunch venue, the Château de Louvois. times behind it. > A LUNCH OF SURPRISES Laurent-Perrier acquired the noble house of Marquis de Louvois in 1989. We make ourselves at home in the cosy yet luxurious sitting room, and enjoy the current Grande Siècle cuvée vintages (1999/1997/1996) as an aperitif. One can really sense the emotion when Michel Fauconnet orders the last magnum, the very first cuvée of Grand Siècle ever made, to be poured. The lunch that follows is a masterpiece in the matching of champagne and food. The ancient way of serving “à la française”, reminiscent in many ways of silver service, is the perfectly appropriate way to celebrate this bicentenary. Cellar master Michel Fauconnet with de Nonancourt sisters Alexandra and Stephanie 110 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

F I N E Celebration 92p Grand Siècle NV (1997/ 1996/1995) non-dosé Mgm Colour: Medium-deep lemon-gold Nose: Fine toast, floral elegant style Palate: Highly youthful, tight, linear, even lean Ending: Dry, zesty In a nutshell: Holding itself back When to drink: 2013–2025 Food pairing: Grated oysters Inside information: The 1996 gives this a very distinct, powerful and searingly acidic nature. Give this more time than you normally would. Or try this: The 1999/1997/1996 cuvée, which is now available on the market Final verdict: Searing today without much of the 1995 richness surfacing 97p Grand Siècle NV (1990/1988/1985) Magnum Colour: Deep lemon-gold Nose: Beautifully fragrant, developing, coffee, vanilla Palate: Full, muscular, round Ending: Rich and long In a nutshell: Masculine for Grand Siécle When to drink: 2013–2020 Food pairing: On its own, preferably from a magnum Inside information: The 1988 brings freshness and finesse to this very impressive cuvée Or try this: Hard to match, but Grand Siècle Exceptionnellement Millesime 1990 or 1985 will do the trick Final verdict: Stunning, put three top vintages together and sheer perfection will result 92p Grand Siècle NV (1996/1995/1993) non-dosé Magnum Colour: Medium-deep lemon Nose: Overt, perfumy, honeyed, ripe fruit, fresh mushroom Palate: So tight, straight, massive acidity Ending: Drying, almost aggressive In a nutshell: Power machine When to drink: 2013–2025 Food pairing: Scallops or sushi Inside information: The 1996 really overpowers this cuvée. A great champagne but atypical for Grand Siècle Or try this: Any 1996 Final verdict: Turbo-boosted and craves time to open up 92p Grand Siècle NV (1988/1985/1982) non-dosé Magnum Colour: Deep lemon Nose: Mild, soft, vanilla, supple Palate: Restrained, shows evolution, oily-smooth Ending: Less rich, drying In a nutshell: Feels old When to drink: 2013–2018 Food pairing: Hard mature cheeses Inside information: The high-yielding 1982 interrupts the harmony Or try this: Grand Siècle Lumière du Millenaire 1990 Final verdict: Does not sing like the previous wine FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 111

89p Grand Siècle NV (1985/1982/1980) non-dosé Magnum Colour: Deep golden Nose: Pungent, floral, strange, lifted Palate: Drying, acidic Ending: Lacking life and charm In a nutshell: Austere When to drink: 2013–2016 Food pairing: Cold cuts Inside information: Apparently, the 1980 is just putting the 1985 down Or try this: The same but with a dosage Final verdict: Tiring and in a bad phase 95p Grand Siècle NV (1976/1975/1973) non-dosé Colour: Deep golden Nose: Soft, open, sweet, coffee, pastry, nectar Palate: Lively, so fresh Ending: Long, linear, feisty In a nutshell: Vigour When to drink: 2013–2018 Food pairing: Lobster thermidor Inside information: The rich 1976 marries suprisingly well with the 1975, that brings such a beautiful freshness and vivacity to the cuvée Or try this: A Krug from the same era Final verdict: A fine, seamless blend 91p Grand Siècle NV (1982/1979/1978) Colour: Deep golden Nose: Overt but mild, ripe fruity, mushroom, undergrowth Palate: Full, fleshy, mature Ending: Long, concentrated In a nutshell: Autumnal When to drink: 2013–2016 Food pairing: Mushroom risotto Inside information: This cuvée does not do justice to the elegance of 1979 Or try this: Cuvée 1979/1978/ 1976 Final verdict: Not one of the finest GSs. 93p Grand Siècle NV (1973/1970/1969) Colour: Deep golden Nose: Overt, soft and floral with sweet vanilla undertones Palate: Drying, lightly bitter, less refined with but a lot of volume Ending: Dry, austere In a nutshell: Rocked out of balance When to drink: 2013–2018 Food pairing: Époisses cheese Inside information: Apparently, the 1980 is just putting the 1985 down Or try this: The same but with a dosage Final verdict: Crying out for sugar 98p Grand Siècle NV (1955/1953/1952) non-dosé Magnum Colour: Bright, deep-lemon Nose: So fine, elegant, layered, coffee, white fruit, honey, cream Palate: Lacey, youthful, harmonious, complete Ending: Long and fresh In a nutshell: Sheer perfection When to drink: 2013–2020 Food pairing: On its own, such a rare treat that it needs to be admired on its own Inside information: The very first Grand Siècle cuvée Or try this: Hard to match Final verdict: A sip of history that is able to make one speechless 112 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 95p Grand Siècle NV (1979, 1978, 1976) non-dosé Colour: Deep golden-orange hues Nose: Coffee, floral, vanilla, creamy-milky Palate: Full, soft, calm Ending: Lively with power In a nutshell: Charisma When to drink: 2013–2018 Food pairing: Veal entrecôte Inside information: The ripeness and fullness of the 1976s can be felt Or try this: Krug NV from the 1970s Final verdict: Impressive, showing such a character 92p Grand Siècle NV (1970/1969/1966) non-dosé Magnum Colour: Deep golden Nose: Rich, pungent, coffee, mushroom Palate: Full, losing fruit, fleshy but not so much freshness Ending: Short, weighty In a nutshell: Lacking structure and substance When to drink: 2013–2016 Food pairing: Eggs & Truffles Or try this: Krug 1966 Final verdict: Declining and has not taken the test of time as well as those fine vintages promised

F I N E Celebration 93p Les Reserves Grand Siècle NV (1995/1993/1990) Magnum Colour: Medium-deep golden Nose: Fine-tuned, reserved, gentle toast, white flowers Palate: Linear, fresh, deep Ending: Long, refined In a nutshell: Tightly-knit, seamless When to drink: 2013–2025 Food pairing: Fried scallops Inside information: Made in magnums and jeroboams only Or try this: The same cuvée as the original disgorgement Final verdict: Give this at least two more years, it shows too reserved and timid at the moment FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 113

Champagne’s Favourite Food Lobster L obster 50 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Champagne&Fo od Te x t : E ssi Av e lla n M W C h e fs: R e i n o Sa r k a , A n ssi L a h d e n si v u P h o t o s: E lv i R i sta Whenever lobster, the king of shellfish, is brought to the table, its self-evident companion is almost always champagne; only the queen of wines is refined enough to accompany the crustacean’s generous, smooth and gently aromatic meat. Within the spectrum of champagne styles a perfect complement to any lobster dish is guaranteed to be found. And if the menu can be built entirely around these two ingredients, the decadence is complete. U nless you live by the ocean, fresh lobster is a rare treat. The long-lived, large arthropod is never better than when it has just been caught and quickly boiled or grilled. A skilled chef can conjure up highly imaginative delicacies out of it, always respecting the valuable ingredient and using up every available part. Generally, the intense and sweet but marine taste of lobster should be given the leading role in the dish, taking care not to overpower it with the flavours of accompaniments or the cooking method. Correct cooking is the most crucial element, as the succulent flavour and meaty mouthfeel of lobster will quickly fade with over-cooking. After that, it is a matter of taste. Some prefer to have the giant in a Thermidor crust, where eating the meat directly from the shell forms a large part of the pleasure. The meat from the massive claws, served whole, is an appetising sight. On the other hand, there are also opportunities for the more imaginative handling of the flavours and textures of the flesh, shell and roe of the lobster. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 51

Washed down with bubbles The fine-tuned and clean taste of lobster requires a wine that lets it shine in its full glory. In this sense, champagne is the ideal choice, because its own aromas are seldom overpowering. The mineral flavour palette of champagne is well suited to oceanic aromas, while its acidic, light and sparkling nature refreshes the palate even after the strongest seafood. Although champagne is a diverse complement to lobster dishes, those seeking a perfect union of food and wine must choose from a very wide variety of champagne styles and types. Lobster plates with the purest tastes are rounded off best by a fresh, youthful blanc de blancs, which emphasises the maritime aromas of the ingredients. The more intense the flavours of the food, the stronger and deeper a champagne should be chosen. For example, some of the older vintages of a luxury champagne such as Dom Pérignon are refined, but also powerful and resolute. The autumnal blancs de noirs, with their notes of mushrooms or red fruits, are more difficult to pair with lobster, as the latter may empha- sise any latent bitterness. The most baked or burnt flavours should be left to accompany gratinated or barbequed lobster meat, as they run the risk of overwhelming milder flavours. Lobster, being a valuable ingredient, deserves a worthy wine. For the fine wine to also be at its best, the dish should leave room for its multidimensionality to shine through. The main course of our suggested menu, with its plethora of ingredients, demands an equally refined, nuanced and distinguished champagne, such as Roederer’s 2002 Cristal Rosé. Lobster meat is naturally slightly sweet, and many cooking methods, such as simmering in cream, only accentuate this characteristic. A very dry champagne would make the taste of the food too harsh; only an off-dry or medium-dry champagne will make the palate sing. The use of champagne in the actual cooking of lobster will add the final touches to this heavenly combination. Lobster and Champagne Menu Lobster Carpaccio with Champagne Tagliatelle Mumm de Cramant Blanc de Blancs NV Mango and Champagne Sorbet with a Chargrilled Lobster Tail Henriot Demi-Sec NV Lobster Palette Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2002 Petit Fours “Homard” Veuve Clicquot Rich Réserve Demi-Sec 2002 52 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

Lobster Carpaccio with Champagne Tagliatelle The braised and frozen lobster is thinly sliced, before it thaws, onto a plate. Inspired by vitello tonnato, the dish is completed by a mayonnaise made from lobster oil and lightly flavoured with capers. In keeping with the Italian theme, tagliatelle-like strips are cut out of champagne and dill jellies to complement the main ingredient. The plate is topped off with deep-fried capers. Mango and Champagne Sorbet with Chargrilled Lobster Tail This intermediate sorbet course brings together the salty and the sweet, and refreshes the palate for the main course. A sweet sorbet made from mango purée is flavoured with champagne. The lobster tail is cooked on a hot gas flame, partly charring the surface. The charred taste rounds off the sweetness of the mango sorbet. The final touches are a champagne vinaigrette flavoured with toasted sesame seeds, and vanilla salt. Lobster Palette This platter, which plays on the combination of lobster and champagne in many forms, is like a painter’s palette. A lobster roll contains the claw meat inside, which is wrapped in a creamy layer of minced tail meat mixed with pike-perch. Served on the side are pasta coloured with lobster roe, a velvety cauliflower purée, spinach and cauliflower jelly, fluffy cubes of cauliflower foam, champagne-roasted shallots and champagnemarinated tomatoes. The sauce is a lobster and champagne foam. Petit Fours “Homard” These semi-sweet petit fours – a macaron, a marshmallow, a cheesecake and a crumble – are a play on the sweetness of lobster. The main ingredient in all of these is a powder made from dried lobster flesh. The macaron is filled with coconut crème pâtissière. 54 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

Your Personal Wine World “It is great to be part of this extremely advanced wine sharing community. Such a great tool for any professional or amateur to expand their wine knowledge.” Gerard Basset MW MS OBE, UK, The World’s Best Sommelier 2010 “A great site that is easy to use. You can become a part of a friendly, generous community of experienced tasters from around the world who are drinking the world’s greatest wines, often. Where else can you easily find recent notes on 1953 Lafite and 1996 Bollinger VVF for example? Thetastingbook.com is an excellent resource for fine wine lovers and collectors.” John Kapon, USA, CEO Acker Merrall & Condit “Finally I have all my notes in one place and I can share them with the rest of the world” Richard Juhlin, SWEDEN, The World´s number One Champagne expert “Tasting Book finally allows people to access to notes from some of the worlds greatest critics that do not regularly upload to other sites. A revelation!” Gareth Birchley UK, Bordeaux Index “Making tasting notes without writing them, it’s the perfect, effortless way to compose tasting notes. Tastingbook works if you have only a few notes to write, or hundreds. With a single click, anyone can share their notes with friends and all the other members of Tastingbook!” Jeff Leve, USA, The Wine Cellar Insider Create your wine world and join the tastingbook now! It’s Fast, Easy and Free! Sign in: thetastingbook.com © Tastingbook 2013 Powered by: Wine professionals from over 20 countries, FINE – the world’s leading fine wine magazines, Champagne Magazine – the world’s only Champagne magazine, FINEst WINEs

The world’s first intelligent wine tasting tool and social wine community With tastingbook You can: Have an easy access via internet to your wine tasting notes where ever you are. Tastingbook is specially designed for iPad and other tablets. Make a tasting note easy and fast – just in 20 seconds without writing a word Share notes, pictures, and thoughts with your friends, colleagues and wine professionals Find the most up-to-date tasting notes and pictures from all the finest and rarest wines Taste wines using your own language – English, Chinese, Français, Deutsch, Espanol, Portugues, Finnish, Swedish Easily find educational and entertaining information about the wines, producers & vintages. Learn and taste with wine professionals from over 20 countries – the world’s only wine investing & collecting magazine, Acker Merrall & Condit – the world’s number one wine auction house, and You – your world’s most important wine critic.

VER 120 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Lifestyle A PEARL AMONG M BILES RTU Text: Petri Nevalainen, Pekka Nuikki Our individuality is mainly composed of our thoughts and actions. In addition to them, we demonstrate our parked next to it. The examples are numerous, but surprisingly one of the most common everyday originality using everyday utensils like clothes, shoes, utensil, the mobile phone, is seldom used to emphasise bags, watches, cars – the list is nearly endless. These one’s individuality. The reason for this is simple: a phone is objects can tell others a lot about their owner, his mind chosen because of its properties, not for its appearance. and style. A Patek Philippe suggests a different image This is also how phone producers think. All except one: than a Citizen, as does a Bentley compared to the Audi VERTU. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 121

VER I t offers a whole new constellation for customers looking for individuality. The brand’s materials, design and unique Concierge Service make Vertu the most desirable work of art on the mobile phone market. Vertu is desired for its own sake, because it has no credible imitators or plausible competitors. Vertu is very well aware of its luxury design status. It is a phone to be seen with, and its owner knows that he or she belongs to a small community united by the Vertu philosophy. The design is beautiful, functional and exclusive. The owners of Vertu phones relish the feel of the luxurious leather casing. Furthermore, they admire the glittering of gold or diamonds and enjoy the knowledge that possession of a Vertu opens many doors which are closed to ordinary mobile users. For the benefit of its old and new customers, however, Vertu has no intention of resting on its laurels. Reforms and novelties are on the way. The “father” of Vertu is the American designer Frank Nuovo, who was formerly Creative Director and Chief of Design at Nokia. 122 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA LAUNCHED IN 2002 The history of the hand-crafted Vertu phone is relatively short but rather full. Born into the Nokia product family in 1998, Vertu was not like the other children. The unit operated as a subsidiary of Nokia and found its home in the English countryside in the Hampshire village of Church Crookham, around 60 kilometres southwest of London. Formerly known as the site of military barracks, Crookham became widely known among cinema-goers for its appearance in the 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day. Events set in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea were shot here, in Vertu’s hometown. The “father” of Vertu is the American designer Frank Nuovo, who was formerly Creative Director and Chief of Design at Nokia. Nuovo, born in 1961, had come to work for Nokia in the mid-1990s. His role in Nokia’s design progress is considered very significant, and is considered one of the elements that helped Nokia become the sixth most valued brand according to Interbrand. One of the classic Nokias created by Nuovo was the streamlined and glossy 8810, known in some circles as the “Cigarette Lighter”.Nuovo suggested that Nokia set up a specific unit to start a line of luxury phones in 1997. There was demand for luxury models but they did not fit well with Nokia’s basic product selection. Nuovo’s vision of a luxury brand that would develop at its own pace was approved, and work on the first Vertu models began. From the very start, Vertu was the mobile phone world’s answer to luxury watches, fashion brands and cars. It is still a product that many desire but few can afford.

FINE Lifestyle RTU FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 123

“This is a logical step in the evolution of Vertu as the world leader in luxury mobile products.” Oosting said in June 2012 concerning the deal VER between EQT VI and Nokia PRESENTED IN PARIS Vertu was born out of a passion and need to fill the gap in the mobile communications market for luxury products. The brand was first presented to consumers in Paris in January 2002. Nuovo declared then that Vertu had sprung out of nowhere to become a brand that would break down many known barriers. It quickly became the market leader among luxury phones at a time when other manufacturers had mostly only managed to launch limited editions modified from their basic models. From the start, the Vertu philosophy has included peripheral accessories and services which are only offered to the owners of the luxury phone models. After its launch, Vertu quickly garnered the attention of the rich and famous. The manufacturer does not reveal its customers in public, but Madonna, David Beckham and Gwyneth Paltrow have all been observed using a Vertu. Although Frank Nuovo left Nokia during the middle of the last decade, he has stayed on as the Principal Designer of Vertu. He is often seen as one of the cornerstones of the company’s success. From the start, Vertu represented das Ding an sich, a wholly standalone luxury phone company whose relationship with Nokia was akin to that of third or fourth cousins. It may have got its technology from Nokia, but in Nuovo’s words it was like “Nokia’s Formula One counterpart”. A change in Vertu’s ownership was announced in October 2012, with the Swedish investment firm EQT VI acquiring 90 per cent of its shares; Nokia retained a 10 per cent minority holding. At the same time, former Executive Vice President of Nokia Anssi Vanjoki was named Chairman of the Board, while Perry Oosting, who had first-hand experience of luxury products having held executive positions at compa- 124 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA nies such as Bvlgari, Prada, Gucci and Escada, stayed on as CEO. “This is a logical step in the evolution of Vertu as the world leader in luxury mobile products,” Oosting said in June 2012 regarding the deal between EQT VI and Nokia. VERTU OPENS DOORS It is estimated that since the beginning of the 2000s Vertu has sold around 300 000 phones. Many of them have been “basic models” which cost a few thousand euros, but there are also rarities worth several hundred thousand. Their shells are made of gold, platinum or titanium. Sometimes they are embellished with diamonds. The ringtones that emanate from the

FINE Lifestyle RTU The Vertu City Brief service is an up-to-date information pack on the world’s major cities, including tips for things to do. SERVIC ES The se rvices that VERTU offers are unique , indep enden and ca hi-fi speakers have been recorded by t refully tailore to the the London Symphony Orchestra and d specifi c need and de composed by well-known names s sires o f each Vertu from the world of film music, for custom er. Eve service instance. ry is integ in rated to the The Vertu Concierge service Vertu hands At the is available to customers around et. heart o f o e f ach the se the clock and 365 days a year. rvices Concie is Vert u rge, en suring that V ertu is Pressing the Concierge butable to meet a nd exc ton opens a connection e ed the expect ations to a service, available in of its custom ers sea nine languages, which almlessly . lows the user to book hotel rooms around the world, send gifts to friends, buy tick- ets to sold-out performances and access other exclusive items designed specifically for Vertu customers. Concierge customers may also bring guests to Vertu clubs around the world. The Vertu City Brief service is an up-to-date information pack on the world’s major cities, and includes tips for things to do. Vertu also has international partners with specially tailored services for customers. The Concierge service is free for Vertu customers during the first year. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 125

VER DURABLE DESIGN The Vertu product line comprises fi ve collections: Signature, Constellation, Constellation Quest, Ayxta and Ascent. At the top of the range, and boasting the most luxurious and expensive phones, is the Signature collection. In the Vertu Signature Diamond Collection, created by the stellar jewellery house Boucheron, golden cases are embellished with snakes formed out of diamonds. Only eight Signature Cobra phones were made. The Constellation collection includes smartphones as well as simpler classic models. The world’s first ceramic keypad was included in the Constellation collection in 2006. The Ascent models are light and durable, while Ayxta offers flip-top models. The Ascent collection is inspired by the world of motor racing; for example, the titanium-shelled Ascent Racetrack Legend Series has the profiles of famous racetracks etched into the cases. The phones from Church Crookham are designed to last. The use of some of the strongest possible construction materials, such as carbon fibre, means that certain models can withstand being driven over by vehicles weighing several thousand kilogrammes and still remain operational. Motoring is an important theme in Vertu products overall, and a few years ago Vertu began collaborating with Ferrari. The Vertu Constellation Quest Ferrari model combines the uniqueness of Vertu with the craftsmanship of the legendary car maker. 126 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA

FINE Lifestyle “Since Vertu began in 1998, our business has grown every year, due to the efforts of our talented workforce and the unique products and services we offer our customers. We believe that EQT VI will position Vertu to continue to grow and lead in our marketplace.” Oosting says RTU The phone’s casing has the same coating that is used on Ferrari engines. Thinner than a single human hair, it is stronger than steel. The phone’s leather case is crafted in the same Italian workshop that produces the interiors of Ferrari GT cars. The titanium battery cover features the iconic Cavallino Rampante or “Prancing Horse” logo. The keypad is made of sapphire crystal and the phone’s analogue clock is inspired by the rev-counter of the Ferrari 458 Italia. Live recordings of the “heartbeat” of the Ferrari 458 Italia on a test circuit provide a unique set of ringtones. POSITIVE PROSPECTS The ownership change is expected to further enhance Vertu’s future prospects. The deal with EQT VI offered new financial resources for use in development work, and the company has reinforced its board of directors. The brand is healthy, so it should be well set to move forward. Android is considered the next logical operating system choice for Vertu. “Since Vertu began in 1998, our business has grown every year, due to the efforts of our talented workforce and the unique products and services we offer our customers. We believe that EQT VI will position Vertu to continue to grow and lead in our marketplace,” says Oosting. Vertu fully lives up to its name, which is defined in the dictionary as “a love of or a taste for curios or objets d’art”, or “an artistic quality”. > FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 127

“The brand is healthy, so it should be well set to move forward. Android is considered the next logical operating system choice for Vertu.” VER VERTU CONCIERGE Offering luxury lifestyle assistance and enrichment, Vertu Concierge is an independent, tailored service, delivered directly to the customer’s handset. The service is accessed via a dedicated key on the phone, offering contact by voice call or email. When a customer registers a Vertu handset, activating the Vertu Concierge service, they are offered an initial ‘fitting’ call. Whether this takes place immediately at the time of purchase, or at a time of the customer’s choosing, the fitting call is an opportunity to explain, in full, the Vertu Concierge service offering and to match the different Vertu Concierge options to the needs of the customer. This includes the establishment of individual preferences, the scope of the service they would prefer and importantly, the type of contact they wish to receive from Vertu. The Vertu Concierge service provides the customer with round the clock access to a team of lifestyle managers, situated within a network of global hubs covering all the major time zones including London, Paris, Milan, New York, Shanghai, Dubai, Moscow Hong Kong, and San Francisco. Vertu Concierge also has managers on the ground in major destinations in order to build close relationships with specialist suppliers of goods and services specifically for Vertu customers. Their knowledge and insight into the locality ensure that they are able to offer the most up to date information about a customer’s chosen destination. Their expertise is shared with every Vertu Concierge Lifestyle Manager. 128 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA Many customers choose to use Vertu Concierge for their travel and accommodation requirements as Vertu has secured exclusive opportunities for its customers. Being entirely independent, Vertu Concierge can access the widest network of hotels, restaurants and airlines, and can therefore meet the exact preferences and expectations of their clients. Vertu Concierge customers may also require assistance with purchases ranging from small luxury items to additions to their property portfolio. Vertu Concierge can draw upon appropriate experts in their fields to guide and support the customer through every step of the buying process or provide ideas and recommendations if needed, through to purchase and delivery. The dedicated retail team at Vertu Concierge ensures nothing is left to chance. Building on the exclusive services offered by Vertu Concierge is the effortless and intuitive navigation experience, enhanced by a range of carefully curated apps to ensure that the Vertu exclusive services and information are at the customers’ disposal in an instant. The Concierge Live app conveniently displays a real-time status update of live concierge requests to guarantee absolute peace of mind. Providing dedicated and independent lifestyle assistance, 24 hours a day, worldwide, Vertu Concierge is available in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin and Cantonese. Vertu Classic Concierge is included free of charge for one year from the date of purchase of a Vertu handset.

FINE Lifestyle VERTU TIMELINE FEBRUARY 1998 Nokia approves the plan to start a subsidiary manufacturing luxury mobiles. Chief of Design Frank Nuovo begins to vision the Vertu phones. RTU FEBRUARY 1999 The V shape is adopted as the model for the first Vertu phones. JULY 2000 The Vertu head office opens in Church Crookham, UK. SEPTEMBER 2001 Vertu begins to train its employees in phone assembly. It can take up to a year to learn the handcrafted process. JANUARY 2002 Vertu presents its first mobile phone model, the Signature, in Paris. SEPTEMBER 2002 The first task given to the Concierge Service is to book flight from London to New York. JANUARY 2004 Vertu launches its second collection, known as Ascent. OCTOBER 2005 The Concierge Service surpasses 10 000 completed customer requests. JULY 2006 Launch of the diamond-embellished Vertu Boucheron Signature model. SEPTEMBER 2007 Sales of the titanium-shelled Vertu Ascent Ti model begin. NOVEMBER 2008 The Vertu Ascent Ti Ferrari collection is ready to go on sale. JULY 2009 Vertu launches the Ascent Carbon Fibre model, which boasts a carbon fibre casing. It is virtually unbreakable. SEPTEMBER 2009 Launch of Vertu’s first flip-top Ayxta model. MARCH 2010 Vertu opens its own worldwide chain of stores. By 2012 there will be one hundred Vertu stores in around 60 countries. The phones are also sold in a few hundred authorised resale outlets. OCTOBER 2010 Vertu launches its first smartphone, the Constellation Quest. JUNE 2011 A carbon fibre version of the Constellation Quest becomes available. OCTOBER 2012 The Swedish investment firm EQT VI takes over 90 per cent of Vertu shares. Nokia retains a 10 per cent minority holding. FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA 129