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F 8 FINE I N E A U S T R A L A S I A M A G A Z I N E C O N T PAGE 16 Fine WHiTe PAGE 26 Fine PeRSOnALiTY PAGE 34 Fine eSTATe PAGE 50 Fine 100 BeST CHAMPAGneS PAGE 64 Fine eSTATe PAGE 80 Fine TReASURe E N T

I N E A U S T R A L A S I A M A G A Z I N E C O N T E N T FINE Content F PAGE 90 Fine VinTAGe PAGE 104 Fine DeSTinATiOn 11 15 16 24 26 FineWHiTe On a Clare Day – Australian riesling 2002/2012 FineSUCKLinG Vintage: 1982 Bordeaux FinePeRSOnALiTY David Bicknell FineeSTATe Château Cheval Blanc 48 FinePAULSOn Why I Love Half Bottles 60 64 80 86 FineCHAMPAGne 100 Best Champagnes FineROBinSOn 1368 Varieties FineeSTATe Cullen Vineyards FineTReASURe Wreck Champagne – Heidsieck 1907 FineKAPOn The 1945 Pétrus 90 FineVinTAGe Bordeaux 2011 98 FineLeMiRe Whole bunch 100 104 FineVinTAGe Dom Pérignon 1973 FineDeSTinATiOn Central Otago “Pinot Central” 122 FineGADGeT Vinopur – more wine from a bottle 124 FineLARSSOn The art of single dining 126 PAGE 140 Fine LiFeSTYLe FinenUiKKi A Never Ending Story 34 50 PAGE 126 Fine FOOD FineeDiTORiAL Welcome to the first issue of FINE Wine&Champagne FineFOOD Champagne’s Favourite Foods: Shellfish 134 FineAUCTiOn The Decade of Destiny 140 FineLiFeSTYLe The Art of Wine Writing 148 FineLiHTOnen FINLAND: The World’s most revered fine wine location C O N T E N T 9

F I N E – A U S T R A L A S I A M A G A Z I N E W r i t e r s FINEMAGAZINES 100 Pall Mall St James, London SW1Y 5HP United Kingdom WWW.FINE-MAGAZINES.COM Tel: +44 (0) 20 76648800 Managing Editor fax: +44 (0) 20 73213738 Ken Gargett ken.gargett@fine-magazines.com Editor-in-Chief Pekka Nuikki pekka.nuikki@fine-magazines.com Publishing Editor Juha Lihtonen juha.lihtonen@fine-magazines.com Copy Editor Creative Director Graphic Designer Craig Houston info@chlanguages.net Teemu Timperi teemu.timperi@fine-magazines.com Aija Sutinen aija.sutinen@fine-magazines.com Senior Editors Charles A. Banks Photographer Pekka Nuikki Contributors Essi Avellan MW, Juha Lihtonen, Stuart George, Jancis Robinson MW, Andreas Larsson, Jan-Erik Paulson, Mario Sculatti, David Lemire MW, Rajiv Singhal, Ken Gargett, Jeff Leve, Dirk Niepoort, James Suckling Communications Director Markku Vartiainen markku.vartiainen@fine-magazines.com Media Account Manager Martine Mäkijärvi martine.makijarvi@fine-magazines.com Translator Financial Manager Price Printing House Paper Orders & Queries Eva Malkki Noora Mähönen noora.mahonen@fine-magazines.com Single Issue AU$ 15 US$ 15 including delivery Single PPDM, Password Protected Digital Magazine 15$ Newstyle Printing Satin Art www.fine-magazines.com subs@fine-magazines.com Tel. 010 289 1000 +358-10 289 1000 Publisher Fine Publishing Helsinki Ltd Liisankatu 27 F 26 00170 Helsinki, Finland www.fine-magazines.com © Copyright: Fine Wine Magazines Ltd 2014 FINE Wine & Champagne Australasia ISSN 1799-2222 FINE Magazines does not keep nor return illustrations or other materials that have been sent to us without request. The opinions of contributors or interviewees presented in this magazine do not necessarily correspond to the opinions of the publisher or editorial staff. We withhold the right to make any modifications in texts and pictures published in FINE Magazines. We reserve the right to refuse or suspend advertisements. 10 FINE Ken Gargett Managing Editor Ken Gargett first worked as a lawyer, after obtaining degrees in his home town of Brisbane, Australia, and London. He specialised as a banking lawyer, practising in London, Washington DC and Sydney, and then finance, commerce and property back in Queensland. Even though from a family that did not drink, he became obsessed with wine while at university and moved to wine writing as a full time profession nearly twenty years ago. Since that time, he has been a regular contributor to the AGT Wine Magazine for many years. He has also contributed to a number of books, including the Global Encyclopaedia of Wine and his own guide, ”Don’t Buy Wine Without Me”. He won the Vin de Champagne Award back in 1993, and then in 2003 was inducted as a Chevalier of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne. In 2005, he was a recipient of the Len Evans Scholarship and has done extensive show judging in Australia. He was a co-founder of www. spitbucket.com. Outside wine, he also occasionally writes on cigars, fishing, travel and food. Pekka Nuikki Editor-in-Chief Pekka Nuikki, founder and editor-in-chief of FINE Magazines, is an author and one of the leading experts on fine wines in Europe. He has published over twenty international wine and art books, among them In Vino Veritas, a book on investing in wines, Drinking History on fine wines and their vintages between 1870– 1970, a book about the Château Mouton-Rothschild – Wine and Art 1924/1945–2003 and most recently a book about the Best Wines of the 20th Century. Mr Nuikki is also an award-winning photographer, who has exhibited his artwork all over the world and he has worked as executive creative director of advertising agency group. He is also the luckiest man in the world, having hit seven hole-in-ones. Juha Lihtonen Contributor Juha Lihtonen is the editor of FINE – The Wine Magazine and its American & Scandinavian editions and manyfold Finnish sommelier champion. He was selected as the best sommelier in the Nordic countries in 2003. Mr Lihtonen has worked as a wine educator, a wine host on a radio programme, as well as the wine director of a major cruise line. He has written books on combining wine and food. Essi Avellan MW Contributor Essi Avellan is the editor of FINE Champagne magazine. She was awarded the Lily Bollinger Medal as the best taster and the Tim Derouet Memorial Award as the best overall student in the Master of Wine examination. Ms Avellan contributes to several newspapers and wine magazines internationally. She judges at several wine competitions, such as the Decanter World Wine Awards and the Wines of Argentina Awards. Ms Avellan has been awarded the title of Dame Chevalier of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne. James Suckling Contributor James Suckling has been writing about and tasting wine for over 30 years. He worked for 28 years as a senior editor of the American wine magazine The Wine Spectator, and in July 2010 he left to start his own website www. jamessuckling.com and wine events company. He also is wine editor of the Asia Tatler group with luxury magazines through the region including Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, and Malaysia. His specialty is Italy and Bordeaux, but he enjoys tasting and discovering wines from all over the world. His most recent great wine adventure was tasting 57 vintages of Château Petrus in the Hamptons, and he also just enjoyed sharing great Barolos from Bruno Giacosa, Roberto Vorezio, and Giacomo Conterno with wine lovers in Seoul. Jancis Robinson MW Contributor One of the world’s most influential wine communicators, Jancis Robinson writes for JancisRobinson.com, The Financial Times, and a worldwide syndicated column. She is also editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine, co-author with Hugh Johnson of The World Atlas of Wine, and co-author of Wine Grapes – A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours. An award-winning TV presenter, she is invited all over the world to conduct wine events and act as a wine judge. In 1984 she was the first person outside the wine trade to pass the rigorous Master of Wine exams and in 2003 she was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen, on whose cellar she now advises. Andreas Larsson Contributor Andreas Larsson is the 2007 Best Sommelier of the World, the best sommelier in Europe in 2004 and the best sommelier in the Nordic countries in 2002. Mr Larsson has worked as a sommelier in the best restaurants in Stockholm and won the Wine International Sommelier Challenge in 2005. He is a member of the Grand Jury Européen and has occupied many wine juror positions around the world. Mr Larsson is also a wine writer and educator. David Lemire MW Contributor David LeMire MW is a wine business professional with experience in retail, distribution, and brand management. A two year stint in London in the mid 90s gave him a ‘eurocentric’ palate, which he further developed in Australia in his roles with Negociants Australia, a leading importer of fine wine to Australia. From 2000 – 2007 he was Imports Manager with Negociants Australia, overseeing a portfolio that included many of the great names of Burgundy, including but not limited to Coche Dury, Roulot, Bonneau du Martray, Roumier, and Domaine de la Romanee Conti. He has run his own consulting business, has a share of a small wine production business, writes regular columns for Australia’s Wine Business Magazine, is an irregular wine show judge, and is co-convenor of the Australasian Institute of Masters of Wine Educational Seminar. In 2010 he joined the team at leading Adelaide Hills winery Shaw + Smith, in a broad role that includes tasting, talking, and writing.

I N E – A U S T R A L A S I A M A G A Z I N E FINE Editorial F Welcome to the first issue of Fine – Wine & Champagne, for Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan. We are delighted that you have joined us on our journey through the world of great wine and champagne. We look forward to sharing thoughts and articles from some of the world’s great wine writers, both local and offshore. There will be famous names with which you will be familiar­ and some shining new stars. We’ll cover ­exciting new regions, producers and wines as well as the usual suspects and those that have reigned at the pinnacle of wine for decades. Tastings, events, controversies and more. And, of course, photography of the highest calibre. If you’ve picked up this magazine then you know that fine wine is a lifestyle and we’ll be bringing the best of it to you. And what could be better than great champagne? Essi Avellan MW looks at the top 100 champagnes of the year. And from the best of today to one of the most extraordinary wines ever tasted – the 1907 Heidsieck, a champagne which spent decades maturing at the bottom of the ocean. An amazing story. I had the chance to try it several years ago and I’ll never forget how, despite its great age, it foamed up and out of the bottle like a brand new bottling! Bordeaux lovers will be right at home. We’ll look at how the 2011 vintage measures up? Meanwhile, James Suckling goes back to a ­favourite, 1982, and we all know how good it is. In addition to that, a profile of the legendary­ Cheval Blanc. Locally, does Southern Hemisphere ­Cabernet get any better than Cullen’s Diana Madeline from Margaret River? We look at stunning Clare Valley Rieslings from the brilliant 2002 vintage. 2012 is the latest to enjoy the hype and no vintage has received as many accolades as that great year as the recent 2012. Does it match 2002? And has any wine ­region in the world ever achieved so much so quickly­ as Central Otago, in New Zealand’s South ­Island? We assess the progress of Pinot after the first 25 years. All this and so much more. We hope you ­enjoy our inaugural issue. The good news is that things will only get better from here. > Ken Gargett Managing Editor “Among the many great features in our next issue, we have the Fine Wine Australia competition for the ‘Best Australian Wine of the 21st Century” – many great wines but only one winner”. E D I T O R I A L 11

Michelin Guide Three Stars San Francisco Chronicle Four Stars The Restaurant at Meadowoood Worth a Special Journey The Restaurant at Meadowood Chef Christopher Kostow 70-79_CH5_champagne_weekend.indd 70-79_CH5_champagne_weekend.indd 70 70 11/10/10 11/10/10 12:58 12:58 PM PM 70-7 70-7

:58 :58 PM PM Relationships are core to life in Napa Valley. F or the last half century, Napa Valley the original gathering place for the Valley’s has provided the panorama for a burgeoning wine community, Meadowood unique way of life—directed by the has now become an international wine industry and acted out by a host of destination and boasts membership within local players. Wine is the thread weaving the the exclusive ranks of Relais & Chateaux. art of man with the Come for a visit. bounty of nature in Walk the fairways a complex pattern on which Auction of relationships— Napa Valley has relationships that go raised more than $90 to the core of the million since the Valley’s legendary ?rst gavel was raised. way of life and set Mingle with the the stage for a story vintners and growers like no other. as they enjoy their The community club through sport that is Napa Valley activities, recreation, contributes to local and the pursuit of enterprise through lifelong wellness. its vast experience Dine on the private and deep-seated terrace of your relationships. In adguestroom or spend dition to grape growthe evening enjoying Master Sommelier Gilles de Chambure ers and wine makers, a meal prepared it includes agriculturalists, great chefs, som- by Michelin Three-Star chef Christopher meliers, maître d’s, gallery owners, innkeep- Kostow in The Restaurant at Meadowood. ers and shop proprietors. All depend upon Spend a day exploring the wineries you’ve each other for their unique livelihood and longed to visit with Gilles de Chambure, lifestyle. Master Sommelier, whose sole role at For the past 46 years Meadowood Meadowood is to enhance guests’ knowledge has served as the heart and soul of the and enjoyment of wine. winegrowing community—as a center for A stay at Meadowood offers you entry social and family life and as a second home into an extraordinary way of life. Capture for travelers from around the world wishing the magic of Napa Valley and develop your to immerse themselves in the region, its own relationship with the people that de?ne wines, and its people. Founded in 1964 as this unparalleled experience. the sporting life at meadowood The forested hillsides of Meadowood’s two hundred ?fty-acre valley slope to the cool green of the estate’s nine-hole, walking golf course. Presiding over the tranquil fairways and the golf teaching facility is Resident Golf Professional Doug Pike. Meadowood’s Resident Tennis Professional, Doug King, is one of the country’s leading tennis teaching innovators. The founder of Acceleration Tennis, a revolutionary teaching system, King is leading the way in reinterpreting the traditional tennis model, working with players of all skill levels from beginner to professional. Between dining and wine experiences we invite you to stretch your legs with a game of golf or tennis. 900 Meadowood Lane, St. Helena, California 94574 Tel (707) 968-3153 www.meadowood.com 70-79_CH5_champagne_weekend.indd 70-79_CH5_champagne_weekend.indd 71 71 11/10/10 11/10/10 12:58 12:58 PM PM

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I N E FINE Nu i k k i F A never ending story E very wine has a story. Sometimes the story I would like FINE magazine to allow you a glimpse grows from the courage and pioneering spir- of a fascinating world that your taste buds cannot it of the winemaker. Other times the story almost describe. Our sincere wish is that you, dear reader, ends with a sudden spring frost only to be revived could share the world’s finest wines with us and re- by the harvest sun. At its saddest, the story is not joice. The experts assembled at FINE magazine will about the wine but the pest that destroyed it. help you to develop and understand the challenging combination of your sense of taste and feelings. The story may emerge from the connoisseur’s jour- What a magnificent adventure into the world of ney to the wine or the wine’s journey to the con- taste and self-knowledge awaits you! noisseur. Many times the story begins only when the wine is enjoyed and continues its life in our We will, through this magazine, tell you only about memories. wines and producers who base their operation on personality, integrity, and uniqueness. Briefly put, I am not sure whether I enjoy the story more than you need belief and skill that together produce a the wine itself. Enjoying the story will not succeed whole experience. These are the foundation of our unless the quality of the wine is at a par. Simple work. I believe that as long as making this maga- words and phrases will not make a bad wine better, zine is based on the same values as its content, we but they can make a good wine taste and feel un- will be able to create something new, revolutionary forgettable. and valuable, for you as well as for ourselves. > Wine is at its best when consumed, and particularly when enjoyed in good company. That the experience becomes unique and memorable depends on how you consume the wine. The wine experience is always very personal. Every one of us brings a part of his or her personality and history to it. The final “blend” is different every time. I try to contribute with an unprejudiced attitude, a positive frame of mind and humble respect for the wines that have often experienced more than I have. In my opinion, top wines should not be consumed nor evaluated on taste alone, because their long history and local culture are a part of the wine itself. I put not only my soul into the tasted wine, but also the period and culture that produced it. Together they make a perfect experience. Pekka Nuikki Editor-in-Chief NUIKKI 15

16 FINE

FINE White R iesling is undoubtedly Australia’s most frustrating grape. Winemakers, critics, retailers and almost anyone involved with the industry love it. The public, not so much, but the industry lives in hope (or possibly denial). There have been more sightings of a ‘Riesling revival’ than of Elvis, and there is surely more chance of actually finding the King. It is the white that winemakers love to drink, and that includes plenty from Marlborough – sacrilegious as that might sound. Text: Ken Gargett RIESLING 17

J ancis Robinson has described it as “indisputably the greatest white wine grape in the world”. Many of us would agree (anyone wishing to enter the fray on behalf of Chardonnay is welcome to do so, but the entry price is a bottle of Montrachet) that it is undoubtedly the most versatile. Think of the extraordinary German Rieslings, moving from the delightful off-dry Kabinett styles through to the incredibly rich, luscious Trockenbeerenauslese wines and the curious Eisweins. Australia offers wines in a much drier style, though it also has plenty of fine late harvest and botrytis-infected examples. New Zealand also moves across the spectrum but must deal with fearsome levels of acidity. When they get the balance right, however, the wines can be amazing. And yet, the public has joined the ‘sauvalanche’ with all the fervour of any gold rush, and is ignoring the joys of Riesling. They much prefer this one-note wine to the symphony that Riesling can be. Sure, there are some extremely good examples of Sauvignon Blanc (Cloudy Bay, Dog Point, Greywacke from Marlborough and Shaw & Smith from the Adelaide Hills, to name but a few before we even consider Sancerre and Pouilly Fume), but they do not come close to the complexity, intensity and length of so many top Rieslings. Rieslings can age magnificently. In Australia, Clare Rieslings eventually morph into wonderfully complex wines with floral notes 18 FINE and characteristics such as lemon butter on toast, honey and nuts, as well as so much more. Comparing a well-aged Riesling (and also a well-aged Hunter Semillon) with wines like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and plenty of others, is like comparing a Picasso with your neighbour’s kid’s finger-painting stuck to their fridge door with magnets. And the increasing use of the screwcap for Riesling, now almost universal in Australia and New Zealand, will only add to the lustre of cellaring these wines. A blanc canvas Few varieties can express their specific terroir to the extent that Riesling does. They may turn into a Picasso, but even his works were originally a blank canvas. Even that other great reflector of terroir, Pinot Noir, will exhibit far more of the winemakers’ touch than Riesling. Dry styles of Riesling are perhaps the least interventionist, from a winemaking perspective, of all wines. There is inevitably the question of how much of what is in the bottle represents the winemakers’ thumbprint and how much is simply terroir? For Clare Riesling, terroir rules. Of course, there are small influences: some will use only free-run juice while others will include a small amount that has had contact with skins – too much quickly leads to phenolic wines. Oak is effectively unknown. Whilst a certain amount of acidification was part of ‘the formula’ in days past, viticultural improvements have led to better balanced grapes and in most years nowadays, it is unnecessary. 2012 was such a year. Alcohol usually sits between 11.5% and 12.5%. Part of the image problem that afflicts Riesling has been the enduring confusion of just what it is, or was. And what style? A dollar for every time I’ve suggested opening a Riesling, only to be told ‘we don’t like sweet wine’. In Australia, it was not until 2000 that government legislation required correct labelling. Before that, truckloads of ‘Riesling’ were sold, notwithstanding that there was not a single drop of true Riesling amongst it (and a lot of it was either mawkishly off-dry or seriously sweet). Local winemakers who made true Riesling were forced to name it ‘Rhine Riesling’ to differentiate it. But it didn’t end there. We had wines labelled Clare Riesling (Crouchen) and Shepherd’s Riesling and Hunter Riesling (both Semillon).

FINE White “2002 was heralded as the next ‘great year’ and it has proved so. 2005 and 2009 are both exceptional and 2012 looks like another stunner. 2002 though, does stand above all others.” Made in Germany Riesling’s home is, of course, Germany, and we have seen what Alsace can achieve. In Australia, there is hardly be a region across the country where someone isn’t making Riesling, and, usually, doing it very well. The Clare Valley in South Australia is recognised as our most important region, producing wines of finesse, intensity and great ageing potential. The Eden Valley, also in South Australia, is a close second. Travel west across the country to the Great Southern region for Rieslings that continue to garner accolades; with some age, a lovely honey note so often emerges. The Canberra region is an underrated district, but has strong proponents in makers such as Helm Wines and Clonakilla. Ken Helm is so besotted with the variety that he has co-authored a book on Riesling (‘Riesling in Australia’ by Ken Helm and Trish Burgess) and in 2000 instigated the ‘International Riesling Challenge’ (www. rieslingchallenge.com), which has gone from strength to strength. It is a competition for Rieslings from around the world, with many hundreds of entries, and a plum appointment for wine judges. There are also fine Rieslings from Tasmania, parts of Victoria and elsewhere. It is easily forgotten that only a few decades ago there was more Riesling in Coonawarra than any other variety, including the famed Cabernet Sauvignon. Shot by his own camel The Clare Valley is quintessential Australia. Scenic rolling hills, gum trees, stone buildings dating back decades and sweeping vineyards. Wine has been made there for more than 160 years and was first produced in the area by John Horrocks, an Englishman, who began planting grapes in 1840. Unfortunately, he is best known for his curious death, given that he is reported to have been shot by his own camel. Apparently, the camel lurched unexpectedly fertile alluvial soil to the north, sandy loam and quartz in the Skillogalee Valley and terra rossa over limestone in Watervale. Rainfall largely occurs in winter and spring, while the low humidity helps to prevent disease. Conventional wisdom would decree that any region with the warm to hot summers found here would be an unlikely place for high quality Riesling. The heat summation sits at the same level as Rutherglen and is above that of the Barossa. Cool afternoon breezes help to ameliorate the heat and cool to cold nights assist in ensuring that the ripening of the grapes is a much slower process than one might expect. The varying altitudes, aspects and soils lead to variations on the theme within the Valley. There is actually more Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon for that matter, grown in the Clare, but it is Riesling which is the gem. Balance is the key when he was exploring and his gun accidently fired. He died from the injuries a month later, though not before he’d had his poor camel shot in a rather petty act of revenge. During the early days in South Australia, the Clare Valley was called ‘the Garden of the North’ and locals still refer to their vineyards as ‘gardens’. The Clare sits between 400 and 500 metres above sea level and enjoys considerable diversity of soils – slate in the Polish Hill region, During their youth, they can be quite austere, lemony, steely and slightly floral, and often exhibit a generous dose of freshly squeezed lime juice; other flavours include grapefruit, rose petals, bath salts, green apples and passionfruit. Perfumed aromatics are a large part of their appeal. There should be good intensity and persistence, and the intensity should linger throughout. Balance is key and there will be delightfully refreshing acidity. They then develop into richer, toasty styles, with lemon butter and sometimes notes of RIESLING 19

honey, gaining considerable complexity. Now that almost all Clare Riesling is bottled under screwcap, they have the ability to age for two decades or more. Some develop a kerosene, or ‘petrolly’, note. Certain winemakers, including the man who was regarded as the finest Riesling maker of all, John Vickery (the great examples from Leo Buring made during the 1960s and 1970s are some of Australia’s classic wines), believe that this character is a fault. Others believe, in small doses, it adds to their complexity. In the end, it really comes down to whether one likes or even accepts a little of this character in their Riesling. Terroir-based expression In recent years, there has been a move to emphasise the various subregional differences. Some maintain a blend of the various districts but many now prefer a more terroir-based expression of Riesling, though often that is enforced as their vineyards are restricted to a single sub-region. The Clare is a region some thrity kilometres long and twenty wide, in general, and consists of seven sub-regions, each with varying characteristics – the warmer Auburn/ Leasingham; the more rounded and aromatic Watervale; Skillogalee Valley; Sevenhill; North Clare; East Clare Ranges; and the coolest, Polish Hill River, with its pristine, intense, ‘slatey’ notes. Watervale and Sevenhill were the first districts planted. As Jeffrey Grosset says, “Watervale is the classic Clare Riesling”. Andrew Mitchell describes Watervale Riesling as having “generosity and intensity of fruit flavour”. In general, Watervale will offer a more rounded character, as it is broader, more aromatic and has more fruit weight. The wines from Leasingham are often very similar to those from Watervale, while the other key sub-region, Polish Hill River, was described as having a “butterfly laciness to the aroma”. The best are uncompromisingly intense, minerally styles with a lime and slate note and paper-cut acidity. Vintage variations Suggestions that regions like the Clare experience little vintage variation are way off the mark. The first really great years of modern times were 1982 and 1990. When 1997 came around, there was almost universal acclaim. Superlatives and predictions of decades of glorious drinking filled the wine columns of the day. I say ‘almost universal’ as one or two dissenting voices felt that the excitement 20 FINE was somewhat misplaced. Neil Pike of Pikes always believed that 1998 was a better year and he has been proven correct (Neil has always been one of those winemakers who ‘tells it as it is’, warts and all, and he remains my ‘source’ for accurate vintage information). The Rieslings from 1997 were certainly fine wines but they proved more forward than anticipated. 2002 was heralded as the next ‘great year’ and it has lived up to the hype. 2005 and 2009 are both exceptional and 2012 looks like another stunner. 2002 though, does stand above all others. The reason for this we really saw the screwcap take hold. The original Australian Screwcap Initiative was launched by thirteen Clare Valley producers in 2000. There were concerns from some, and indeed a number of producers hedged their bets by placing half under cork and half under screwcap (the public took to it so quickly that not only did the ‘screwcapped’ wines sell out first, but some wine lovers actually refused to then buy what was left under cork), but by 2002, almost everyone was on board. Ability to age Ten years is an appropriate time to assess progress. As These three wines were the stars of the day for me. Stunning Jeffrey Grosset, one of stuff. the Kings of the Valley, It is worth noting that a year or so ago, Neil Pike put says of the dry Rieslings on a vertical of all Pikes’ Rieslings from several decades. made in the Clare: “The This included the ‘Traditionale’, which is his standard Clare ability of a wine to age Riesling, and ‘The Merle’, his reserve. The Merle is named in is fundamental to its honour of Neil’s mother, a lovely lady who once uttered the greatness... it is what we delightful quote: “Neil, that sauvignon blanc juice is so much do, first and foremost.” nicer before you turn it into wine”. Pikes’ Rieslings have a very Andrew Mitchell refers strong following, because they are top wines sold at great to it as “long established prices. Among the stars at his tasting were the 2002s, with the styles with a continual ‘Traditionale’ actually nudging the ‘Reserve’, as it was then. It evolution”. It was a was an absolutely brilliant wine, and as fine a Clare Riesling as stunning tasting, with 25 I’ve seen. On this day, it was again a wonderful wine, though wines from the vintage not quite at that earlier level. The Reserve was not shown. presented blind. Only one All the wines were opened shortly before serving and most wine truly disappointed, have been tasted numerous times over the years. Some are but it had shown well wines that friends and/or myself have bought, cellared and elsewhere and it was enjoyed since their release. These wines occasionally appear assumed that the bottles at Australian auctions and still represent extraordinary value. of it opened here were Grosset’s Polish Hill is probably the most expensive ‘02 at from a bad batch. The around $60 to $70, but upon release, most of these wines wines were served in five would have been little more than $20. Even today, current brackets of five – two releases will be $20 to $35, with wines like Grosset’s Polish sets from Watervale, one Hill and Pikes’ Merle nearing the $50 mark. As a result, the from Polish Hill River and fake factor is minimal at best. I would strongly recommend the other two a mix of purchasing any of these wines, if the opportunity arises. several sub-regions. All of the wines were stored at the same time, in identical conditions, at Sevenhill Cellars. For lies with the extremely cool summer which the sake of fairness, any wines not stored at occurred in January and February. By the that time were not considered. Autumn equinox, temperatures are usually For me, there were three stunning and cooling but in this topsy-turvy year they world class wines, which have been set increased slightly, resulting in the grapes out below. Another four were a hair’s hanging on the vines for considerably longer breadth behind them – Skillogalee, Pikes, than normal. Picking extended to the end of O’Leary Walker ‘Watervale’ and the Wilson the second week of April – in comparison, Vineyard. Yet another dozen were close – in 2012 it was over by the second week of Koonawla, Eyre Creek, Mitchell’s, Crabtree March. Watervale, Jim Barry and the Jim Barry And so, the opportunity to taste through a Lodge Hill, Kilikanoon’s ‘Mort’s Block’, Mt selection of these wines a decade was simply Horrocks, Grosset ‘Watervale’ (now called far too good to miss. Aside from the brilliance ‘Springvale’), Tim Adams, Petaluma and of the vintage and the almost universal Penna Lane. > success across producers, this was when The Superstars

FINE White A View from the Front The critics loved them, and so too did the Riesling fanatics, but what about the winemakers themselves? David O’Leary of O’Leary Walker Wines –“The 2002 Vintage was typified by a long and relatively mild growing season and, in particular, no sunburn on the exposed fruit; sun damaged fruit often gives the wines a slight caramelised character and adds a deeper colour. The colours in the wines were perfect, pale green. Pure Riesling character, much like the 2012 wines. Lovely purity of fruit and flavour.” David actually described them, perhaps with a dose of wishful thinking, as “SBK’s” – meaning ‘Sauvignon Blanc Killers’. He also mentioned the extraordinarily vivid colours of the red wines from this vintage – “again similar to the 2012” – and how fresh those wines are today. Jeff Grosset of Grosset Wines – “2002 was a cool year early, making the season later than normal, but then from mid-February it was warm (but not hot, so no heat wave conditions) and the even weather conditions were pretty much ideal. The nights were cooler than average, which maintained higher acidities. That is why often it is quoted as cool but sometimes moderate and relatively dry – it depends which end you look at, as March and April were thankfully warmer than average. It was late and so sometimes the wines seemed a little Sauvignon Blanc-ish, as in perfumed, lifted and powerful in flavor, but not generous early, as in not generous in weight. In that respect, 2012, for example, is a more ‘typical’ year than 2002 but the relatively lean palates, with perfume and backbone or structure in 2002, made everyone confident that it was a year to put down. 2012, by comparison, is a ‘put down or drink’ year in my view. I like 2012 and years like it. These show what can be done in typical heat years, thereby challenging the theory that the cool years are always the best. They can be stand-outs like 2002. It always depends on how they unfold, as cool on its own is not necessarily a positive. The joys of primary production – if only it were that simple we could all just move to Tasmania, but it’s not.” Jeffrey Grosset. Neil Pike of Pikes Wines – “The 2002 Riesling vintage in the Clare Valley is definitely rated in the top 3 or 4 vintages since the new millennium. Along with 2005, 2009 and 2012, the 2002 wines reflect one of the cooler vintages here in our region. The summer Andrew and Neil Pike. of 01/02 was actually South Australia’s coolest summer on record. As a result, the long, slow ripening period which preceded harvest provided clean fruit with excellent levels of natural acidity and concentrated flavours for winemakers to ply their trade. I really do like the ‘02 Rieslings and clearly they are terrific, but I do have a soft spot for the 2005 wines. Our ‘05 Merle and ‘05 Trad are both as good as we have made and I find it hard to separate them.” As much as I enjoy Neil’s 2005 Rieslings, I’d still opt for the 2002s, given the choice. Peter Barry of Jim Barry Wines – “2002 was a very cool vintage with vines without stress. All the wines looked good from day one.” In typical Pete Barry style, he looked beyond the facts and figures to the end result: “It is a life pleasure to be drinking those wines from the 2002 vintage”. He also couldn’t help mentioning that on his birthday in 2002 he took delivery of a ‘Monaro’, which he is still driving (though anyone who has ever been in a car with Pete might just wonder how). Peter, Sam and Tom Barry. RIESLING 21

96p 2002 Clos Clare Riesling Colour: Pale gold Nose: Imagine the fresh morning dew in a lime orchard Palate: Very fine, very elegant, great finesse. Balanced, focussed and with drive. Still tight with hints of citrus, spices and florals 97p Colour: Pale lemon Nose: Fresh toast smothered with your Finish: Great persistence In a nutshell: If you were not aware that this was a grandmother’s lemon butter. Wet slate, fresh limes. A hint of chalk and rose petals. 2002 wine before tasting it, it is difficult to believe anyone would have guessed it was a decade old. Palate: Amazing freshness. Pure, elegant and intense. The complexity has slowly built up over the years and this gradual development has been spot on. Perfectly balanced. When to drink: Hard to imagine it will get better, but it just might. Inside information: The ‘clos Clare’ Riesling comes from a site that, in Aussie Riesling terms, is our equivalent to Montrachet – the famous Florita vineyard. This was the site that provided John Vickery with the fruit for some of the greatest Rieslings this country has ever seen, his Leo Buring Rieslings from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Leo Buring originally purchased the vineyard in the 1940’s, planting sherry varieties, Crouchen and Shiraz, but not Riesling. When Buring died in 1961, Lindemans purchased the business and retained a young, talented winemaker called John Vickery, who would become one of the earliest proponents of screwcap closures. At the time, there was a move from fortifieds to fresh whites. The 32-hectare vineyard was replanted, almost entirely to Riesling (leaving one hectare of Crouchen – who knows why?). In 1986, the corporate two-step in which so many of our major wineries were indulging saw Lindemans’ owners, Philip Morris, offload the vineyard, for a pittance. Peter Barry, of Jim Barry Wines, knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, though they had to part with five acres, and the house, to help cover costs. Those five acres went to a local artist who sold the grapes to Grosset’s, before eventually establishing ‘clos Clare’ in 1993. It was sold in 1996 to Noel Kelly and then sold again in 2007, back to Peter Barry and his sons, Sam and Tom, completing the circle. Those five acres continue to make the ‘clos Clare’ Riesling. The remainder of the block is used in the Jim Barry Watervale, however since 2004, when the trademark on the ‘Florita’ name expired, a small amount of the finest grapes went to an individual release under that name. 2002 Sevenhill Riesling Finish: Quite incredible. In a nutshell: Probably about $15 when released, making it a bargain on the scale of the Dutch shifting a few beads, cloth and hatchets for Manhattan. When to drink: Extraordinary to think that this is only ten years old. Any time over the next few decades. Food pairing: Fresh prawns Inside information: The oldest winery in the Clare, established in 1851 by the Jesuit Order. The Order has always supplied the winemakers until very recently, and this wine was made by Brother John May, who spent nearly fifty years there before his recent retirement. Or try this: Prayer? Final verdict: One of the great wines from a brilliant vintage. If this doesn’t thrill, then you really don’t like Riesling. This is a near perfect dry Riesling. Or try this: Jim Barry ‘Florita’ Riesling 2005. Final verdict: A wine that more than lives up to the Florita pedigree. 96p 96p 2002 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling Colour: Still a very pale, youthful appearance Nose: Delightfully fresh, promising, youthful. Fine citrus notes, fresh lime juice Palate: Minerally texture overlaid by bright, clean, pure, pristine, citrussy Riesling. A spider-web of acidity. Gossamer steel. Great intensity that never misses a beat. Finish: How long have you got? In a nutshell: Austerity has evolved into elegance. When to drink: Glorious now and will drink well for many years to come. There is room for further improvement. Inside information: Grosset has suggested that this might come to be seen as the greatest Polish Hill of them all (and who would argue?). The vineyard is shaley, vines working hard in the ‘less generous” soil. There are few more austere, lean wines in their youth, nor more promising ones. Or try this: Pike’s Merle 2002. Final verdict: A great Clare Riesling with a wonderful future. 2012 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling Colour: Gin clear. Almost water. Nose: Intense limes, spices, the pith from a grapefruit. Palate: There is a thrilling vibrancy to this wine. Great intensity but impeccable balance. Paper cut acidity. Tight and elegant. Finish: Balanced, and very, very long. In a nutshell: Put a case or two in the cellar to make your grand-kids very happy, indeed. When to drink: A joy to experience the intensity, freshness and focus of this wine now but, well cellared, it will be drinking superbly for decades to come. Food pairing: The freshest oysters. Inside information: The 32nd vintage of this iconic wine. Jeff Grosset has described making Riesling as “the purest form of winemaking”. This is compelling evidence of that. Free run juice only. Or try this: O’Leary Walker Polish Hill River 2012 or Pikes Merle 2012. Final verdict: Not that easy to find world class wines under $50 but this is one. What a wine! And what an incredible bargain. And for the future 2012 has every Riesling lover excited. It is undoubtedly a very fine vintage, and at least as good as both 2005 and 2009. Whether it matches 2002, only time will tell. It was a much earlier vintage than 2002, largely due to the nights being a little warmer. 22 FINE If forced to pick just one wine from among the excitement, I would go for the Grosset Polish Hill Riesling: scintillating now, it will age and become ever more complex over the decades. The good news for Riesling lovers is that 2013 is another fine vintage.

Peter Gago PENFOLDS Chief Winemaker At PENFOLDS wines, we’ve taken our time to establish the place we now occupy in the world’s premier wine cellars. Since PENFOLDS was established in 1844, we’ve lavished the same pride and passion upon all our wines, from Koonunga Hill to the iconic Grange. That commitment to excellence has not only earned us international awards and praise from major wine publications, but also the respect of leading wine connoisseurs and Master Sommeliers throughout the globe. They recognise that, with over 165 years’ worth of experience in every drop, PENFOLDS has become one of the preeminent wine producers of the world. P ETER G AGO AMONG THE TOP 50 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN T HE D ECANTER P OWER L IST 2011 F EATURED IN W INE S PECTATOR’S T OP 12 W INES OF THE 20 TH C ENTURY N UMBER 7 IN D ECANTER MAGAZINE’S 100 G REATEST W INES OF ALL TIME www.penfolds.com

COLUMN JAMES SUCKLING Vintage: 1982 Bordeaux T he 1982 vintage in Bordeaux changed my life as well as the wine world. It was the first vintage I tasted from the barrel as a young wine writer working for the American magazine The Wine Spectator, and I was amazed at how gorgeous the quality of a young red could be from the barrel. I remember the first barrel samples I tasted during the summer of 1983 at Château Prieure-Lichine with the late wine author and vintner Alexis Lichine. The wines were so fruity with soft and rich tannins. They seemed too drinkable for a young wine, yet Lichine, who had over forty years of experience tasting young wines, told me the wines were “exceptional” and “some of the greatest young wines ever produced”. He had invited some of his winemaking friends from the Médoc to a lunch at his chateau following the tasting, and he kept telling them, who happened to include such names as Bruno Prats (then Cos d’Estournel), Anthony Barton (Léoville-Barton) and Jean-Eugene Borie (Ducru-Beaucaillou), that young writers like myself were the future of the region 24 FINE and that they had to make me understand that 1982 was a great year. He was upset that the New York Times and some other magazines had come out saying that the new vintage was not outstanding due to its seemingly early drinkability. It was also the time an American lawyer in his mid-30s began writing about wine on a full-time basis, creating a newsletter called The Wine Advocate in the process. Many say Robert Parker built his career on advocating the greatness of Bordeaux’s 1982 vintage, although he obviously did much more. More importantly, the 1982 vintage marked a big change in the way Bordeaux was produced. It underlined fruit and ripe tannins in reds as well as a slightly higher level of alcohol and less acidity. This is what gave the wines such wonderful texture, or drinkability, in their youth. It was a big change from most vintages before 1982, which had produced hard and tannic wines that needed years, even decades, to soften. The 1982 vintage became a model vintage for red Bordeaux in the future, and arguably for the wine world at large. Think of all the fruit-forward reds that are produced today in the world – for better or for worse. Alcohol

levels are at least two, sometimes three or four degrees higher. Tannins are stronger yet riper, and natural acidities are lower. Chapitalization – adding sugar to the fermenting grape must to increase alcohol – seems a thing of the past. “Young wines are so drinkable now,” said Alexandre Thienpont, the winemaker at Pomerol’s Vieux-Château-Certan and Le Pin. The latter made its reputation on early drinkability. “It’s what people expect in a modern wine today”. I believe some of the changes with the 1982 were due to the “California”-like growing conditions the Bordeaulais spoke of at the time. The summer was extremely hot and sunny, while the harvest was warm and mostly clear of precipitation. Grape yields were high, with many of the best wine properties making more wine per hectare than authorised by the French authorities. In fact, the late Jean-Pierre Moueix of Château Pétrus always told me that the 1982 vintage would have been at the same level as the 1945 or 1949 vintages if yields had been lower. Yet, the experience of the growing season and harvest in 1982 made a whole new generation of winemakers in the region understand the importance of picking grapes later and riper. They understood early on when wine critics such as Parker and myself, as well as members of the U.S. wine trade, enthused so FINE Suckling James Suckling Contributor James Suckling has been writing about and tasting wine for over 30 years. He worked for 28 years as a senior editor of the American wine magazine The Wine Spectator, and in July 2010 he left to start his own website www. jamessuckling.com and wine events company. He also is wine editor of the Asia Tatler group with luxury magazines through the region including Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, and Malaysia. His specialty is Italy and Bordeaux, but he enjoys tasting and discovering wines from all over the world. His most recent great wine adventure was tasting 57 vintages of Château Petrus in the Hamptons, and he also just enjoyed sharing great Barolos from Bruno Giacosa, Roberto Vorezio, and Giacomo Conterno with wine lovers in Seoul. much about the 1982 reds from the barrel. This also was the beginning of the critic-driven barrel sample scores becoming more popular and therefore a determining factor among the players in the wine trade. The U.S. market was the biggest market in which to buy top-notch Bordeaux from the 1982 vintage. It began a decade of intense buying of Bordeaux in the United States, with consumers buying First Growths and Second Growths as well as Pomerols and St. Emilion. Americans regaled in the wine’s juiciness and beauty. They also made a great deal of money if they had held on to the wines in order to sell them later. For example, most of the First Growths sold for about $40 a bottle in 1983 as futures and some are now as much as $3500 a bottle. Prices for 1982 are down slightly now, but the price appreciation over 30 years is impressive. So, indeed, is the quality of the wines for the most part. I am lucky enough to drink top 1982 on a regular basis, and the best ones never cease to amaze me with their generous and complex fruit and polished, ripe tannins. Bottle variation can be a problem because many of the top names have been bought, sold and stored all over the world, but on the whole it is a treat to drink a great 1982. And, of course, this vintage always reminds me of my beginnings in the wine world. > COLUMN 25

David icknell 26 FINE

FINE Personality Text: Ken Gar gett D avid Bicknell, chief winemaker for Oakridge Wines in the Yarra Valley, is highly regarded for many reasons. Punctuality is not one of them. Way back in 1992, emerging from Roseworthy College and keen to start work with de Bortoli in the Yarra Valley, he stayed with nearby friends the night before his first day. Next morning, full of promise and potential, he set off on his bicycle. Turns out that ’nearby’ was actually 36 kilometres and he was dreadfully late. “It seemed so much shorter in a car”, he mused during our recent chats. He also missed the plane for the first day of the Len Evans Tutorial a few years later, but more on that later. Oa k r i d g e Wi n e s David Bicknell DAV I D B I C K N E L L 27

Oakridge wine making team 28 FINE

FINE Personality BicknelL dav i d B icknell, known to all in the industry as ’Carlos’, has very quickly become one of the leading figures in Australian wine, but it wasn’t his first career choice. Coming from a family that regularly drank wine, not all that common in those days, was an advantage. Bicknell’s father – his family was from Scotland and David himself was born in England – was in the Merchant Navy and subsequently a ship’s captain. The extensive travel meant an exposure to a wide range of wines, not least from the Mediterranean and Argentina. The family moved to Melbourne when David was just 8 and “they took to Aussie wines with gusto”. His father’s favourites at the time were big, bold Aussie shiraz but in time, he drank almost nothing but pinot noir. Bicknell raised family eyebrows when he became the “first generation of about eight that didn’t go to sea”, working as a nurse in the Prince Henry Hospital in Melbourne. One of his good friends at the time, knew the Rutherglen region very well and the two of them spent plenty of time tasting and buying their way throughout. It was natural that they then also visited places such as the Yarra, though David still had no idea that he would end up forging a career there. A few years later, on a visit to Italy, he had “a lightbulb moment”. He simply decided that he’d like to study winemaking and, rather prophetically, decided that he “might be quite good at it”. His father’s reaction? “You are mad”. Roseworthy College followed and then to de Bortoli in 1992, joining Steve Webber and David SlingsbySmith. Steve and his wife, Leanne de Bortoli, had kicked off the winery a few years earlier, transforming the image of the family from a bulk producer to the quality winery of today. Sadly, Slingers, as he was known to all, is no longer with us but was a very popular winemaker throughout the region. ly involved with winemaking trials, and also managed to duck to the Alsace with Paul Blanck. In 1995, he returned to France, working at Chateau du Bluizard in Beaujolais, joining a long line of well known Australian winemakers – Dean Hewitson, Steve Pannell, Steve Flamstead, Kerri Thompson, Tony Davis, Matt Steele and Adam Chapman among others. veloped some different views on styles and on to how to get the best into the bottle. Also, with Slingers his senior and with de Bort’s a family winery, he had probably gone about as far as he could. It was “time to follow a different line”. Evans & Tate, a high-flying operation from the West, had recently taken over Oakridge Wines in the Yarra and were looking for a head winemaker. Bicknell gave notice prior to the vintage, though worked right through it – which was “a little awkward at times”. He helped train Paul Bridgman as a replacement but also had to run the Oakridge vintage. His assistant there was a young winemaker called Adrian Rodden, who had been knocked back for a job at de Bort’s, making things even more awkward. He concedes, Adrian “turned out to be fantastic”. Much of Oakridge’s harvest that year was processed at de Bort’s. Bicknell simply didn’t have any confidence in the facilities he’d inherited. The polite translation of Bicknell’s view of Oakridge at that time was that it was ’stuffed’. Bicknell quickly immersed himself in all matters winemaking. In 1994, he managed four vintages – de Bortoli at Griffith (site of the bulk wine production), de Bort’s in the Yarra, Louis Latour in Burgundy where he was large- De Bortoli was “a great place as a young winemaker, lots of benefits”. That translates to sharing an endless array of great wines with Steve and the other winemakers, but after ten years, in 2002, Bicknell was ready for a change. He had also de- Before long, he was wondering what on earth he had done. From Day One, he “fought non-stop with everyone at E&T”. It was “totally under-resourced” and there was “no support”. He did feel he won on the major issues and, with the benefit of the passing of time, sees the unintended advantage of being allowed to “go down our own pathway” and how it “worked in the long run”. It may not have helped that the previous owners had gained huge public- DAV I D B I C K N E L L 29

BicknelL dav i d ity by releasing a $100 Merlot, by far the highest priced merlot in Australia and one of the most expensive of all Aussie wines at the time (possibly the most expensive). When Bicknell was interviewed by the media, shortly after joining, he pretty much declared it rubbish, affected by brettanomyces and from lesser clones. The winery was left with a lot of very expensive, unsold Merlot. One of the ’stylistic’ differences was that Bicknell wanted to concentrate on fruit from the more southern regions of the Yarra, which de Bort’s had no interest in, at that stage, though things have changed now. He thinks that they have “seen the light”, believing that this is where you find quality chardonnay and pinot noir. A further difference was his strong interest in single vineyards, believing it “logical”. “It is hard to make generalisations when vineyards are not planted cheek by jowl and what we had was a loose collection of vineyard sites”. When the troubles at E&T were at their peak, Oakridge did lose several growers but that has stabilised and he is very happy with the growers now on board. The best wines Bicknell makes at Oakridge fall under the ’864’ label and he believes that “we have three to four growers for chardonnay who are definitely capable of making that level; and perhaps three for the pinot noir”. The wines across the board are considered some of Australia’s finest but pride of place does go to the ’864 Chardonnay’, one of our very best. Oakridge also has its own vineyards, providing around 20 to 25% of their needs, including some of the best cabernet and shiraz they make. 30 FINE ’864’ represents the best wine from a variety in a vintage – from either a single vineyard or often, “down to a block selection”. Although Bicknell aims for consistency across a vineyard, it is of course, not always possible, especially with long rows or changes in altitude. He says that cabernet especially does not like a “height difference”, claiming that it leads to “passive/aggressive wines: high alcohol yet green tasting”. Bicknell loves taking sommeliers through the vineyards, allowing them to see “where the site is, the slope, does it face the sun”, giving them, “a penny-dropping moment”. In 2005, Bicknell was accepted as one of the twelve scholars in the annual Len Evans Tutorial – a week of intense study in the Hunter Valley, designed to educate young members of the wine industry and to improve judging skills. During the week, scholars taste and assess more than 300 of the world’s great wines, many of them decades old. Sadly, this was Evans’ last Tutorial before he passed away but his vision has been carried on by others. Despite missing his first flight to the Tutorial, Bicknell was deservedly named as Dux, winning a trip around some of the great wine estates in Europe. I say ’deservedly’ as I was one of the other scholars that year and none of us had any doubt who would ultimately be named dux. The trip allowed him to join another de Bort’s winemaker and pinot specialist, Bill Downie, in Gevrey-Chambertin as, for a few years, de Bertoli’s made an Australian version of Burgundy. In late 2006, E&T finally fell over. There was a lengthy period of uncertainty but Bicknell, and almost all the staff, stuck at it. Just when it seemed that things could not get any worse, frosts in October of that year effectively wiped out the fruit from their vineyards, leaving a lengthy period of virtually no wine in the cellar. Just before Christmas 2007, Oakridge got its new owner – Tony d’Aloisio, the former Chairman of the Australian Investment and Securities Commission. Bicknell has a small equity position. You can hear him cringe when he remembers those days. “We worked so hard in 2008” taking on any contract work they could find, but in d’Aloisio, Oakridge had found someone fully prepared to support it. Bicknell says that most importantly, he brought in “business discipline” and they were eventually able to turn things around. When Bicknell joined in 2002, production was around 25,000 cases. Under E&T, it dropped to 8,000 cases “and never came close to breaking even”. Now, not only is the winery profitable but production is almost back to pre E&T levels. More importantly, the quality has never been higher. Bicknell has embraced show judging and has judged in most of the major shows around the country. In 2011, he became Chairman of Judges at the Melbourne Show, following on from Steve Webber. They have helped revitalise the entire show system. The dinosaurs who had occupied the administrative positions, entrenching ancient views, have been replaced. The contentious Jimmy Watson Trophy, Australia’s most prestigious, was finally and belatedly changed from an award to an almost always unbottled one-year-old red to the best bottled red, from the last two

FINE Personality vintages – infinitely more sensible. They have also replaced the traditional 20-point system with the much more universally accepted 100-point range. Sparkling wines and rosé are judged chilled – “that is how people drink them”. Judging panels now include both technical and non-technical people. In other words, winemakers have been joined by retailers, sommeliers and writers. Personally, while he obviously loves Burgundy and pinot noir in general, Bicknell cannot point to any one wine that flicked the switch. “There are just so many wines that blow you away”, and he does not have “an absolute standout”. He does love DRC and Coche-Dury from Burgundy and also Pegau and Rayas from the Rhone. Then he starts to reminisce about old Aussie wines and gets really excited, naming wines like the amazing old Hunter shiraz from the 1959 and 1965 vintages (Lindemans), as well as old Wendouree wines, and even wines that were basic commercial releases at the time, like Wynn’s Ovens Valley Shiraz from 1966. “Just incredible”, he purrs. As to the future, Bicknell’s view is that “innovation is part of how we operate. How that plays out in ­the future is just crystal ball gazing.” Finally, why ’Carlos’? Go back to that very first day. As the staff at de Bort’s lined up to watch the exhausted and tardy rookie pedal furiously up to the winery, one of them remarked that it looked like his legs were going as fast as Carl Lewis. It soon became ’Carlos’ and the name stuck. > DAV I D B I C K N E L L 31

CHÂTEAU CHEVAL BLANC – A THOROUGHBRED OF THE WINE WORLD Text and Photos: Pekka Nuikki D espite the icy wind and lashing rain, a large group of villagers had gathered on the narrow streets of Saint-Emilion to receive Henry IV, King of France. He was expected to stop at the village on his way from Paris to his birthplace of Pau. The weather conditions and the long journey were taxing, however, and the exhausted horses in the King’s retinue had to be replaced. The King’s famous pedantry threatened to ruin the expedition, as he would only accept a white horse for his steed. Luckily, one was found: the only white horse in the area lived in the stables of a small inn five kilometres from the centre of Saint-Emilion. The owner of the inn gave the horse to the King as a present, and so the journey could continue through the village. The horse became legendary as the white steed of King Henry IV, and was immortalised in many paintings and sculptures. The origins of the story are difficult to trace, but it is probably no coincidence that 250 years later, those stables became the site of a vineyard named 34 FINE Cheval Blanc – White Horse. Today, the white steed carries a new king: Pierre Lurton, who is adorned with the golden crown of Château d’Yquem.

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Pierre Lurton 36 FINE

Pierre Lurton’s fate was decided many generations ago. It is said that only in the mafia are family bonds stronger than in the wine industry. The wine world is dominated by many families with histories that stretch back hundreds of years. In the Bordeaux region alone there are several dynasties that control many vineyards and large wine wholesalers. However, only a handful of families still run the same wineries they did in the early nineteenth century; almost all the estates in Bordeaux changed owners during the 1900s. Global financial crises, wars and a series of poor vintages, especially in the 1930s, fuelled changes in ownership. Many family businesses that were established as wine wholesalers enjoyed greater financial stability than plain winegrowers did. In bad times, some of them managed to buy estates that had fallen into financial difficulties, often for a bargain. Many of today’s most prosperous wine families are descended from large banking or wine merchant families, whose wealth allowed them to transition into the winegrowing business. The Lurton family is one of the most renowned and largest of such families. The Lurtons arrived in Bordeaux in the late 1800s. They acquired their first vineyard, Château Brane-Cantenac in Margaux, in the 1930s. The then head of the family, François Lurton, also acquired a significant stake in the celebrated Château Margaux. He later traded that for the Clos Fourtet winery in Saint-Emilion. Although Pierre Lurton’s great-uncles André and Lucien only had access to limited capital, they confidently bought more than a dozen vineyards in the years following the Second World War. Many of the estates were in poor condition, deeply scarred by the War, the economic crisis and the devastating frosts of 1956. Therefore they were sold cheaply, and, to André and Lucien’s great fortune, later turned out to be real goldmines. André Lurton, who owned six estates, had seven children. His brother Lucien had around ten estates and as many descendants. The cousins grew directly into the family’s wine business, and soon there was talk of a Lurton family empire, so powerful were they in Bordeaux. Today the family controls more than twenty-five châteaux in the region. Jean Laussac-Fourcaud can be credited for instance with planting Cabernet Franc in the vineyards in 1870. Pierre, the son of Dominique Lurton, is today the most renowned member of the family, and for good reason. He manages the world famous estates Château Cheval Blanc and Château d’Yquem. Pierre took over the reins of the Château Cheval Blanc estate and wines in 1991. He describes his demanding task as follows: “All the Lurtons are in the wine business, and they have spread out around the world. I am related to most of my business partners. I have long worked in close contact with my father and my uncle, and they have taught me diplomacy and care above all, because our family tree is very complex. Although I deal with my relatives, I have to be very tactful.” Cheval Blanc before Lurton In 1832, the prospects were poor for the Figeac vineyard in Saint-Emilion. FINE Estate Château Cheval Blanc – A Thoroughbred Of The Wine World Madame Félicité de Carle-Trajet signed an agreement to hand over 16.3 hectares of gravelly land to the Ducasse family. As a widow, she paid a high price for her late husband’s mistakes. On the brink of bankruptcy, she was forced to give up their once magnificent wine estate piece by piece. It was now in a terrible state, with many buildings collapsed and several other corn varieties being cultivated there besides wine. In the early 1800s, Figeac was the most renowned vineyard in Bordeaux, together with Haut-Brion. The poor widow would scarcely have been comforted by the knowledge that her actions would give rise to a new success story, with Ducasse and his sons-in-law as the pioneers. Ducasse began by having a castle built on the land, and later extended the plot by a further 15.4 hectares. After this, the estate’s muddy, gravelly and waterlogged soil was dried to improve the quality of its wines. Ducasse continued to sell his wines under the Figeac name until 1853, when the first bottles of Cheval Blanc were launched on the market. Son-in-law Jean Laussac-Fourcaud continued Ducasse’s praiseworthy efforts in quality development. He can be credited for instance with planting Cabernet Franc in the vineyards in 1870, which has since become an essential part of the Cheval Blanc identity. Having later changed his name to Fourcaud-Laussac, Jean became internationally recognised at the London and Paris fairs of 1862 and 1867. The diplomas received at those fairs still have pride of place on the Cheval Blanc label. Despite this acknowledgement, it would take another fifty years for Cheval Blanc to become truly world-famous. C H ÂT E A U C H E VA L B L A N C 37

“Although my job involves all of the duties included in managing the vineyards, I feel I am a winemaker above all.” 38 FINE

FINE Estate C H ÂT E A U C H E VA L B L A N C 39

“My main aim for the near future is to maintain the Cheval Blanc character and style” A star is born Although Cheval Blanc had received recognition at international fairs, it was by no means among the most esteemed wines in Bordeaux. The famous classification of 1855 had mercilessly left all the right-bank estates in the shadow of Médoc, Graves and Sauternes. After the ownership changes and a later infestation of phylloxera, Figeac was but a shadow of its former self. Belair and the historic Ausone, which had once again shot to fame, were the only prominent wineries on the right bank. The 1921 vintage changed everything, however. 40 FINE The estate only produces approximately thirty-five hectolitres per hectare. The extremely hot year produced two legendary wines: Château d’Yquem and Cheval Blanc, both of which trumped all other Bordeaux wines. With this vintage, Cheval Blanc rose to the vanguard of great Bordeaux wines and achieved star status, especially on the British market, where its breakthrough was down to one man in particular. Wine Director Michael Broadbent of Christie’s declared Cheval Blanc the best red wine of 1921. An exception without compare Since 1921, Cheval Blanc has asserted itself as one of the most eminent Saint-Emilion wines. However, it is much more than that; it is the only top wine from Bordeaux that uses a majority of Cabernet Franc grapes in its blend, and as such it is also the most prestigious Cabernet Franc wine in the world. The Cheval Blanc wines are exceptional in that their character is more reminiscent of Pomerol than Saint-Emilion.

A new king The first thing you notice about Pierre Lurton is his unruly, boyish presence that exudes energy. This energy is essential, because in addition to Cheval Blanc and Yquem, he produces other wines, including Cheval des Andes, which are made from Malbec grapes at his Bodega Terrazas de los Andes in Argentina. Lurton still considers his most important task to be supervising operations on the estates and working in the wine cellar: “Although my job involves all of the duties included in managing the vineyards, I feel I am a winemaker above all.” The Cheval Blanc estate employs five senior oenologists who look after approximately 6000 cases of Cheval Blanc and 2500 cases of the estate’s number two wine, Petit Cheval, produced each year. Lurton stresses the importance of the soil and explains that the operations in the cellar are simply fine-tuning. “Cheval Blanc does not follow trends or bow to fly-by-night wine gurus. Cheval Blanc is timeless, produced using traditional craftsmanship. We believe that it is not enough for a truly Lurton has mixed feelings about the price trend. great wine to be excellent; it must also have a personality that makes it unique. This means that a brilliant wine cannot be made by closely following instructions from a manual. Naturally the winemaking operations in the cellar are important, but the character and personality of the wine come from the terroir. The terroir consists of the combined effects of the soil, the local climate and the vines,” Lurton says. Multilayered Behind Cheval Blanc’s unique character and blend lies a multilayered soil base in which Cabernet Franc thrives better than anywhere else. The 41-hectare estate is located on a gravelly plain on the northwestern edge of Saint-Emilion, and flanks the legendary region of Pomerol. Its closest neighbours are L’Evangile and Le Conseillante, while Pétrus is just a stone’s throw away. The earth comprises three different ground types. On the surface are sand and gravel, which are low-nutrient materials. Below these, at a depth of 80–90 cm, is ferrous clay. In some parts of the vineyards, there is still a multilayered gravelly soil stratum beneath this. The large number of stones on the surface of the earth trap warmth and thus guarantee the ideal “They will think I have gone somewhat crazy” ripening of the grapes, even in cooler weather. “At Cheval Blanc, it is a combination of gravelly topsoil and heavy, clay-based soil deeper down. The gravel content gives the wine its refined nature, whereas the clay provides its ‘full-bodiedness’ and velvety tannins. The great Cheval Blanc is born out of the combination of these two soil types,” Lurton explains. FINE Estate In the light of these factors, Cheval Blanc is truly an exception without compare among Bordeaux reds. This was noted by the world’s seventh-richest man and owner of the LVMH holding company, Bernard Arnault, together with his Belgian business partner, Baron Albert Frère. In 1998, they acquired the vineyard for around 155 million euros from the FourcaudLaussac family, in whose ownership it had been since 1832. Now Arnault owns both of the wineries responsible for those legendary 1921 vintages, Château Cheval Blanc and Château d’Yquem. He has put his right-hand man Pierre Lurton in charge of the operations of both. The warmth of the soil ripens the grapes relatively early. This supports the use of later grape varieties such as the tannin-rich Cabernet Franc rather than the early-ripening Merlot. Just over one half of the cultivated area on the Cheval Blanc estate grows Cabernet Franc, while a bit less has Merlot. In addition, around one per cent of the acreage consists of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. “My main aim for the near future is to maintain the Cheval Blanc character and style while increasing its quality by limiting the harvest and further specifying the choice of grapes,” Lurton says. Quality assurance at Cheval Blanc is maintained by restricting yields to the low quantity of 35 hl/ha. This is achieved thanks to the older-thanaverage 33-year-old vines, with minimal use of natural fertilisers and by grafting the vines onto low-yield Riparia rootstock. Yields are kept low using the Guyot Simple single-cane vine training system, in which the number of flowers is lower than average. In very sunny and warm crop years, the vines must be thinned out in order to maintain quality. Lurton has also made development efforts in the production process. Fermentation takes place at a temperature of 30–32 degrees Celsius and the temperature is allowed to fall naturally without artificial regulation towards the end of the fermentation process. During the initial stages of fermentation, Lurton uses the pumping-over method for both colour extraction and in order to prevent reductive aromas from building up. After fermentation, skin extraction continues for three weeks before pressing. The extraction time is based on the amount of extraction agents formed in the grapes, and is decided after tasting by a jury. The jury includes former management members from the estate, who have solid experience of various vintages of Cheval over the decades. C H ÂT E A U C H E VA L B L A N C 41

For pressing, Lurton’s team has, after numerous tests, found old-fashioned hydraulic presses to be preferable to the pneumatic alternatives. They found that their wine tasted better before blending when it came from a pneumatic press rather than a hydraulic press, yet after blending, the hydraulically pressed wine was surprisingly of much higher quality. After blending, the wine matures in French oak barrels, of which only some are new; this is to ensure that that the oak does not overshadow the terroir. We love oak In the cellar, several rows of piled-up barriques stand on the ochre-coloured floor. They contain everything that will go into the next vintage of Cheval Blanc. “Our technique is very traditional, even old-fashioned,” explains winemaker Pierre Olivier Clouet almost apologetically. The young winemaker studied agriculture in Normandy, after which he qualified in winemaking from the esteemed Ecole du Vin in Bordeaux. He was recruited as an oenologist by Cheval Blanc immediately after graduation, which is a remarkable achievement. “The vineyards are divided into 32 plots whose aromas vary significantly due to the different soil compositions,” he says. “The grapes from each plot are fermented separately in their own tanks, and the oenologists do not decide which plot’s wine to use for the Cheval Blanc blend, and in what proportions, until after the winemaking process.” The estate only produces approximately thirty-five hectolitres per hectare, so the vines must be cut during the summer to restrict the crop. The wine matures in new French oak barrels for 20 months, in order to develop its characteristic structure and tannins. “We love oak,” Clouet confesses. 42 FINE “The building will meld into the surrounding landscape, but it will stand out as something completely new and previously unseen in this region,” “During fermentation and ageing, wine samples are only pumped out once or twice, and even that is done very carefully to prevent oxidation.” This handcrafted process has its price, but the end product is worth it. It makes the wines more intense and complex. The blend is made after two months of barrel ageing, as a team effort between the oenologists and Managing Director Lurton. “There are no guidelines for the proportions of grape varieties in the wine. Nor is the quantity of finished wine decided in advance. At the end, all that matters is that the wine is a typical Cheval Blanc,” Clouet says. After this, the cuvée is aged in wooden barrels for another year. Once the label is afixed, the price of the bottle can exceed 400 euros, depending on the vintage. The subscription price for 2006 was 480 euros, while the price for the 2007 vintage is already around 500 euros. Lurton has mixed feelings about the price trend. “Price inflation has been a problem for the most renowned wines. Of course I understand you have to pay for a quality wine. Cheval Blanc, for example, is clearly a luxury product – very expensive and rare. However, it is not my aim to produce a wine that is objectified and used as a bargaining chip by investors. We produce wine for people to drink; it’s that simple. I do understand that the price is an inevitable consequence of the quality and desirability of our wines, but we will not change our style just to receive better scores from critics. Many critics seem to like our style of winemaking, and this naturally leads to our products being traded in auctions,” Lurton says. Lingering aftertaste Cheval Blanc is a name that awakens the interest of any wine enthusiast, and has done for 80 years. It has enjoyed many legendary vintages, the best so far being 1921, 1947, 1950 and 1982. The Cheval Blanc brand also became widely known to the public thanks to the Alexander Payne film Sideways in 2004, which portrayed Cheval Blanc 1961 as the most precious wine in the universe. In the real wine world, however, that title belongs to the legendary Cheval Blanc 1947, which the world’s well-known wine critics place at the top of the world’s best wines ever produced, together with Margaux 1900 and Mouton Rothschild 1945. Pierre Lurton describes Cheval Blanc: “Cheval Blanc is a strong but not aggressive, mellow, silky, faultlessly elegant and sophisticated wine based on the essence of Cabernet Franc and coloured by Merlot. It is reminiscent of a Pomerol rather than a SaintEmilion. Its crispness and cashmeresoft tannins make it age beautifully, and it only becomes more rich in nuances over time.”

FINE Estate Château Cheval Blanc – A Thoroughbred Of The Wine World Technical Director Ken Van Leeuwen, who is in charge of the vineyards, goes on: “Although this wine is very attractive already when young, it has incredible development potential. The reason is probably the location next door to Pomerol. The fabulous, long and extremely refined aftertaste is the result of successfully ripened Cabernet grapes. The ultimate ambition in our entire winemaking process is to bring out these characteristics in the Cheval Blanc wines without any artificial tricks that might affect their character.” The symbol of a new Bordeaux Throughout our interview, the Cheval Blanc estate is enveloped by a strong, cool wind. It makes the vine leaves and tablecloths flutter day and night. This climate keeps the grapes dry and healthy. The estate’s pale main building, dating from 1860, has narrow turrets and white shutters, and even includes its own little chapel. The buildings look much larger in real life than in photographs. Between the main building and the refined orangery are wooden chairs and light-coloured garden umbrellas. Behind the vineyards you can discern Château Figeac in Pomerol, whereas the roof that is visible behind the estate belongs to Château Pétrus. Perfectly manicured lawns and meticulously pruned orange trees, rose bushes and shrubs are surrounded by paths and courtyards covered in pale gravel that crunches underfoot. Alongside the road to Château Cheval Blanc stands a battered sign C H ÂT E A U C H E VA L B L A N C 43

onto which someone long ago painted the name of this resplendent château. Following the sign, you arrive at the building’s security gate, which can only be opened with a code or by a security guard for those who have made a prior appointment. We arrived as agreed and now sit upstairs in Lurton’s office, which is decked out in light-coloured wood, enjoying the fantastic view from the windows. On the large desk there are folders, magazines and photocopies. From a plastic pocket in one of the folders, Lurton extracts a plan for renovating the image of Saint-Emilion. He intends to build a new cellar for Cheval Blanc. “They will think I have gone somewhat crazy,” he says and tosses his head towards the surrounding estates that bathe in the evening sun. The building known as the chai, in which Clouet and his colleagues make the wines, is slated for demolition, in order to make way for a building the likes of which has not yet been seen in these parts. It has been designed by Parisian top architect Christian de Portzamparc, whose handiwork includes the new home of the Rio de Janeiro Philharmonic Orchestra, Cidade de Musica Hall, Luxembourg´s 44 FINE La Philharmonie Hall and, as it happens, a skyscraper owned by the LVMH Group in Manhattan. He also designed the French Embassy on Berlin’s Pariser Platz, so he is certainly not short of references. The question is how do you get such a renowned architect to design you a wine cellar? At the intersection point of the spiral there is a terrace intended for private use by customers, where wine and food can be served directly from underground facilities. “The building melds into the surrounding landscape, but it stands out as something completely new and previously unseen in this region,” Lurton says. “Portzamparc’s cellar isn’t intended as a simple wine cellar; it is the ‘symbol of a new Bordeaux’,” Lurton says solemnly. The two floors of the modern cellar is placed within an artificial hillock. The top floor holds steel vats for vinification, while the bottom floor contains the oak barrels, which are visible from above through a glass floor. Lurton hashed out all the details of the building – for example grape delivery and unloading, as well as the use of gravity rather than pumps – in numerous meetings with Portzamparc’s designers. The structure contains storage for old vintages and a tasting facility. Clearly visible from afar, this “symbol of the new Bordeaux” looks like a concrete ramp rising towards the skies. From its midpoint, the ramp twists around itself in a spiral. At the top edge there is a roof terrace from where guests can enjoy a breathtaking view of Saint-Emilion and Pomerol. Such audacious architecture has indeed not yet been witnessed in Bordeaux; similar structures have thus far mainly been erected in Spain and on the other side of the ocean. The cost of the 7000-square-metre building and its surrounding parkland is around 10 million euros. “A completely ordinary, wellequipped cellar would cost almost as much,” Lurton says. The park and the viewing platform are accessible for tourists interested in winemaking, and that makes this the first top-rated wine estate that opens its doors, at least partly, to the wider public. Even if the visitors cannot afford to buy the estate’s wines, they can peer into the cellar from above and witness it being produced. This will help to lift the veil off the legend – a legend that has unquestionably maintained its status as a fine wine for more than 150 years. >

99p 1921 Château Cheval Blanc Average auction €6450 / 2011 price: Colour: Bright, moderately intense, brick red Nose: Earthy, leathery, ripe strawberries, a 100p 1947 Château Cheval Blanc Average auction €4800 / 2011 price: Colour: Deep, very dark, mature, promising Nose: Sound, open, chocolaty, leathery, port-like, sweet, rich, mocha, spices, pepper bit wild and volatile Palate: Medium-bodied, vivid, mellow tannins, Palate: Rich, exciting, full-bodied, perfect warming alcohol, silky Finish: In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Food pairing: balance, feminine, smooth tannins, wow Long, silky smooth finish Finish: Super long, silky, flavourful, lingering, Very much Pauillac in style If you are 100 years old today – buy! 3 times, last in 1/2011 15 minutes 30 minutes Now Roasted duck breast with cranberry sauce Fake factor: Very low Inside Only a few château-bottlings around. information: This is the vintage with which Cheval Blanc made its reputitation Or try this: Pétrus 1921 Final verdict: What took them so long FINE Estate The Best Cheval Blanc Vintages thrilling In a nutshell: Can´t live without it Buy or not: A sure bet Tasted: 66 times, last in 1/2014 Decanting time: 1.5 hours Glass time: 2 hours When to drink: Now to 2025 Food pairing: The less food, the better the wine is Fake factor: Very high – especially among Van Der Meulen and other negociant bottlings. Also quite a few fake magnums and bigger size fakes are around. Be very careful. Inside information: The Cheval Blanc 1947 has been tasted by us on more than 60 occasions, but it has scored a faultless 100 points only 31 times. Its track record falls below the Latour 1961s and Mouton 1945s, mostly because there are so many variable négociant bottlings available. And regrettably, there are also quite a few frauds around. Or try this: Château Mouton-Rothschild 1945 Final verdict: A perfect, out-of-this-world experience 98p 1950 Château Cheval Blanc Average auction €1150 / 2011 price: Colour: Deep, clear brick red Nose: Powerful, sound, elegant, ripe dark fruits, dark chocolate, coffee, spices, truffles, rich, mint Palate: Concentrated, rich, opulent, full- bodied, great balance, fleshy, velvety, complex Finish: In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Food pairing: Beautiful, refined, long Classic St.-Emilion Absolutely yes 31 times, last in 12/2013 30 minutes 1 hour Now to 2020 Grilled T-Bone steak with green peppers Fake factor: Medium Inside The 1950 is an underrated vintage in information: Bordeaux, and in many cases rightly so. This was, however, an excellent vintage in Pomerol, St. Emilion and parts of Graves. Or try this: Pétrus 1950 Final verdict: Very hard to resist now, but should 97p 1952 Château Cheval Blanc Average auction €1110 / 2011 price: Colour: Deep, dark-red, healthy Nose: Elegant, sound, elegant, cedar, vanilla, white chocolate, coffee Palate: Harmonious, balanced, rich, mediumbodied, sweet, multi-layered Finish: In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Food pairing: Fake factor: Balanced, delicious, eternal As good as Pétrus 1952 Yes 20 times, last in 12/2013 1.5 hours 1 hour Now to 2020 Beef Welliington Beware of fake Van Der Meulen -bottlings Inside information: This must be the best price-quality ratio Cheval Blanc that can be found. The vintage was very good overall in Bordeaux but especially on the Right Bank. A warm spring and hot summer from June until the end of August ensured good vegetative growth. Only the cold September ruined the dreams of outstanding quality. Or try this: Cheval Blanc 1953 Final verdict: Thoroughly okay! easily last through to 2020, at least. C H ÂT E A U C H E VA L B L A N C 45

The Best Cheval Blanc Vintages 97p 1959 Château Cheval Blanc Average auction $1450 price: Bottle A1 conditition: Colour: Dark, deep, brick red Nose: Intense, open, tick, clean, leathery, spicy, dark chocholate, cedar, plum 96p Average auction $740 price: Bottle A1 conditition: Colour: Deep, full, mature, Brick red Nose: Emerging, accessible, chocolaty, mineral, pepper, sweet, leather, blackcurrant Palate: Full-bodied, complex, balanced, warming alcohol, velvety, sweet Finish: Extensive, silky, flavorful In a nutshell: Precise Buy or not: One of the best 1959 Bordeaux Tasted: 21 times, last time 1/2014 Decanting time: 45 minutes Glass time: 2 hours When to drink: Now to 2025 Fake factor: Very low Inside information: The year is dry and warm, though it will give a small yield of 20 ho/Ha. Grape picking takes place around September 25th. Everyone praises the vintage as exceptional. It has 13° of alcohol. But in fact, at Cheval Blanc things are more mixed: some grapes are not sufficiently pressed during wine production and that will give average quality bottles. One can also find splendid ones with a thick nose. At that time barrels were bottled without blending, which explains the irregularity from one bottle to the other. Or try this: Pétrus 1959 Final verdict: The best bottles are superb 98p 1982 Château Cheval Blanc Average auction €970 / 2011 price: Colour: Intensive, bright red Nose: Charming, complex, chocolate, mocha, ripe blackcurrants, butterscotch, truffles, caramel, cinnamon Palate: Fleshy, opulent, concentrated, fresh, vivid acidity, ripe, firm tannins, harmonious balance Finish: In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Food pairing: Fake factor: Inside information: Or try this: Final verdict: 46 FINE Rounded, long, wide, intense Long awaited Cheval hit! In cases 15 times, last in 5/2013 2.5 hours 2 hours Now to 2040 Grillled lamb chops None The birth year of Pierre Lurton’s first child Hermitage La Chapelle 1978 Cheval at its hardcore best 1964 Château Cheval Blanc Palate: Full-bodied, enthusing, firm, good balance, feminine, suave tannins Finish: Harmonious, silky, flavorful, persistent In a nutshell: Cultivated Buy or not: Yes Tasted: 31 times, last time 1/2014 Decanting time: 1 hour Glass time: 1 hour When to drink: Now to 2025 Fake factor: Very low Inside information: This is an atypical vintage for Bordeaux, an excellent one for Cheval Blanc. The vine grows slowly in the cold and rainy spring. Then the nice weather prevails and later the heat. 1964 will have a scorching summer. The grape picking takes place from September 22nd to October 9th in good weather. The yield is 37 ho/ha. It has 12° of alcohol.The malolactic fermentations are done entirely in the new wooden barrels. Or try this: Lafleur 1964 Final verdict: A perfect out-of-this-world experience 99p 1990 Château Cheval Blanc Average auction €1090 / 2011 price: Colour: Deep, dark, tile-red Nose: Powerful, complex, caramel, vanilla, truffles, exotic fruits, mint, mineral scents Palate: Full-bodied, well-balanced, pure, toasty, multi-layered, exotic Finish: In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Food pairing: Fake factor: Inside information: Or try this: Final verdict: Warm, long, savoury, thrilling Supercar! Buy half-bottles for everyday use 38 times, last in 5/2013 2 hours 2 hours Now to 2030 Grilled fillet of lamb None Yields below 40 hl/ha; average natural alcohol content was 13.6% Dominus 1992 Unstoppable

2014

COLUMN JAN-ERIK PAULSON Why I love half bottles M y wife doesn’t drink wine. Or, to be more precise, she doesn’t drink wine other than her favourite Kracher wines, a glass of champagne every now and then and, of course, a little vintage port at Christmas. The above is the main reason I buy half bottles for my private cellar whenever possible. My daily (weekday) routine includes a glass of champagne after work, as this is a great recipe for instant relaxation and builds my appetite for the forthcoming highlight of the day: dinner. For this occasion, I pick a suitable half bottle from my cellar. This amount of wine is perfect for a good night’s sleep and a fresh start the next morning. However, when I open a regular size bottle, and the wine is good, I have a tendency to drink a glass or two more than I should. This has often led to regrets the morning after. 48 FINE Another reason for my love of the smaller bottle variety is that I have poured wine worth a small fortune down the drain over the years. It is true that many wines still taste good next day, but maybe my wife had cooked something that didn’t match with that particular wine, we went to a restaurant for dinner, or I just felt like drinking something different. That old saying that a wine tastes better the larger the format does not hold true in my experience, and I think this partly goes back to the time when wine was bottled by the cask. It is likely that the best casks were reserved for the larger formats. It is true that the half bottles tend to mature slightly faster than the larger formats, all other factors being equal, and this is, for me, is an advantage when it comes to red Bordeaux, which can be closed and unapproachable for a decade or more. This is especially so for restaurants, as they can rarely afford to lay down

their wines for decades. Furthermore, it is of course nice to be able to order a number of wines with a meal, otherwise you are left with one wine which needs to go with every course. It is surprisingly difficult to find half bottles of these wines and I believe that more wines would be sold and drunk if available in smaller sizes. If stored under good conditions, half bottles can age very well. I remember a private dinner with Anne and Olivier Bernard at Domaine de Chevalier where we drank 1959 Château Margaux, 1949 Domaine de Chevalier and 1929 Château Cheval Blanc, all in half bottles, and each wine was in excellent condition. The one wine where half bottles don’t make sense is champagne. An opened bottle keeps beautifully in the fridge for several days, as the pressure of the carbon dioxide will prevent oxygen from entering the bottle. Also, most champagne houses do not age the champagne in their half bottles but instead fill them from larger size bottles. This can lead to a loss of quality and it certainly leads to prices that are quite a bit higher than half of the regular size bottle. Bottling smaller size formats is particularly sensible when it comes to sweet wines. A regular size bottle of Sauternes or port is very rarely consumed by, for example, four people over the course of dinner. Many restaurants offer sweet wines by the glass, which in theory is a good thing, but the problem is that you don’t know for how long the bottle has been open. F I N E Pa u l s o n Jan-Erik Paulson Contributor Jan-Erik Paulson is one of Europe’s leading authorities on mature wines, specialising in Bordeaux and Austria. Mr Paulson has been internationally renowned for his top tastings for over thirty years and for his Rare-Wine.com online shop. He is a passionate golfer and lives in Germany with his family. It is, however, said that Sir Winston Churchill’s favourite size of champagne was the imperial pint, as he considered this to be the ideal amount for one person at breakfast, and he did win both a war and a Nobel prize. > COLUMN 49

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100 Best Champagnes FINE Text: Essi Avellan MW Photography: Pekka Nuikki Illustration: Minna Liukkonen Champagne shelves are not short of choice. How is a consumer to pick out a champagne that is truly high in quality, worth its price and at its best on that particular day? This is where FINE Champagne’s shortlist of 100 best champagnes comes into play. This year we blind tasted 350 champagnes that are currently available on the market. Any champagne that makes into the Top 100 in our rigorous tasting can be warmly recommended. Still, there can only be one winner. In 2010 the title was given to Armand de Brignac Brut Gold NV, in 2011 Piper-Heidsieck Rare 2002, and in 2012 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2000. This year offers a tribute to the Vintage champagne category, as the winner of great value and class outdid even a long list of outstanding prestige cuvées. 1 0 0 B E s t C h a m pag N E s 51

C ontrary to common belief, the scope in style and quality is at least as wide for champagne as any other fine wine of the world. Perhaps even wider due to champagne’s blended nature and the large role played by the cellar master in crafting the final product. Even if many markets are saturated by just a few famous names, the reality of champagne is incredibly diverse. Champagne is made under thousands of different labels, by large houses, cooperatives and small growers alike. It comes in variable types, from prestige cuvées to vintages and non-vintages. Its styles range from blanc de blancs to blanc de noirs, rosés and alternating sweetness levels. In the following we will guide you to make the best picks for each of the types and styles. The world’s best champagne – today Our aim with this annual ranking is to taste the entire offering on the international markets in order to select the champagnes that are showing best at this very moment. The most important criterion is the quality of the wine and its accessibility today. In fact, we believe these to be the only characteristics that really matter to the consumer. We assess the wines on the 100-point scale. We do not give points for future expectations, which is the reason most of the top champagnes' points are likely to rise as they approach maturity. We may mention the wines cellaring potential in the verbal evaluation, and will also give our estimate of when the wine should be at its best. As many age-worthy prestige cuvées are released young, they may not be able to show their true character at this early stage. These are the wines the consumer should leave in the cellar for a number of years. 52 FINE Contrary to many other wine rankings, this list of the 100 best champagnes is not based on a single tasting; instead, we wish to take into account all of the tastings that we have been privy to during the year. At best we have tasted individual champagnes more than ten times, and even at worst at least twice. This gives us a comprehensive view of the quality and enjoyability of the wines and allows us to eliminate the odd “bad” bottle from our ratings. Before our final decision, we conducted three more large-scale tastings. For the shortlist we chose the three hundred and fifty champagnes and carried out a blind tasting. Results The average score of the wines chosen for the list was, similarly to last year, 89 points, which is a great achievement for young wines that have only recently become available. The competition was tight in the top 10, the wines 2–10 were within a 1.4 points-range. However, we had a clear winner, which charmed every taster at every tasting occasion, averaging a magnificent 95.19 points. After our winner, Charles Heidsieck Vintage 2000, prestige cuvées expectedly occupied the majority of the top spots, and make up around 35 per cent of the whole Top 100 list. Quite satisfactorily, the non-vintage wines take up a further 38 per cent, with the first of them – Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve – achieving an amazing second position, seven positions up from last year. Its ‘little brother’, PiperHeidsieck Brut, performed better than ever, arriving in seventh position. The vintage category was better represented in this list than before, with 27 wines making it to the Top 100.

100 Best Champagnes FINE Top vintage champagnes All in all, the older champagne vintages on offer stood out as attractive wines with their generous, developed character. The variable and ripe-charactered 1998 vintage was represented successfully by Comtes de Dampierre Prestige (30) and a magnum bottle of De Castelnau Millésimé (70). Out of the soft and mellow 1999s it was Charles Heidsieck Rosé Millesimé (4), Pommery Cuvée Louise (48) and Deutz Cuvée William Deutz (79) that shone the brightest. The bold, impressively rich 2000 vintage is still performing well. Our winning wine, Charles Heidsieck Vintage, as well as the third-placed Krug Vintage, came from the year. Also, Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart (20), Pol Roger's regular (53) and as Blanc de Blancs (78) vintages all made it on the list. There are still great offerings available from the excellent 2002 vintage. Our winner in 2011, Piper-Heidsieck Rare (7), is holding strong. Some great and still youthful cuvées were submitted: Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé (18), PerrierJouët Belle Epoque Blanc de Blancs (31), Dom Pérignon Rosé (36) – all of which will undoubtedly rise in points as time goes by. The hot 2003 season produced rather unusual wines, and many houses skipped the vintage altogether. Henriot’s rich 2003 finished in 16th position and is followed soon by Dom Pérignon’s approachable 2003 in 22nd position. One of this year’s most successful vintages was the fine and energetic 2004. Piper-Heidsieck Millésime (11), Louis Roederer Cristal (12), Cristal Rosé (13), Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Rosé (23), and Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé (33) were amongst the finest. The ripe 2005 vintage had a few highlights. Pierre Gimonnet excelled, with Special Club (13) and Fleuron (64) making it into the Top 100. Other excellent wines were Taittinger Vintage (28) and Palmer & Co Millésime (43). Palmer Vintage performed even better in the 2006 vintage (6). This vintage was also successful for Canard-Duchêne Brut Millésimé (40) and Thiénot Cuvée Garance (52). There were few wines submitted from the 2007 vintage but Heidsieck & Co Monopole Gold Top (26) and Deutz Rosé Millésime (39) show promise for the launches to come. Not one of the few submitted 2008s made it on the list. Pleasant surprises in non-vintages Yet again, a magnificent performance for Charles and Piper Heidsieck in the non-vintage category. Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve finished in second position and Piper at eighth. Taittinger followed with its greatvalue single-vineyard champagne Les Folies de la Marquetterie in 14th position. De Saint Gall Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru did well again in 15th position, as did Palmer & Co Brut Réserve in 17th. Of the non-vintage rosés, Henriot’s toasty, rich Brut Rosé charmed its way into 8th position and was followed by Jacquart Brut Rosé (25) and the two most famous non-vintage rosés, namely Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé Brut (27) and Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé (29). The annual list of the 100 best champagnes available on the markets is based on tastings and ratings by FINE Champagne Magazine’s editorial team and selected expert guest judges. The final point score of each wine consists of the average of the blind tastings. > 1 0 0 B E s t C h a m pag N E s 53

Interview with Régis Camus Chef de Cave and Winemaker for Champagne Piper-Heidsieck What is the significance of excelling in wine competitions to P & C Heidsieck and to you personally? It is a great pride for the team, for the brands, for the house and a personal satisfaction. It tends to confirm that my work to renew the quality of the Piper-Heidsieck wines is on the right track and that we were able, at the disappearance of Daniel Thibault, to perpetuate the style of Charles Heidsieck. This responsibility I have now passed on to Thierry Roset. What is the biggest lesson you have learned from your predecessor Daniel Thibault? Daniel Thibault taught me the importance of communicating about the wines that I was elaborating, sharing and to share my vision and my passion with the trade and the consumers. And, of course, to listen to their comments. What is the best champagne you have ever tasted? There are so many exceptional champagnes that I have tasted. However, one more recent occasion comes to my mind: last year, I tasted two bottles of Charles Heidsieck 1928 with the three generations of the Descours family, our owners. It had the extra taste of sharing an inheritance of the past with our house’s future. What do you drink if not champagne? When not drinking Champagne, I greatly enjoy drinking white wines from Burgundy or red wines from Bordeaux. But I also enjoy tasting wines from everywhere in France and around the world, for the pleasure of discovering other ways. Which of your accomplishments makes you most proud? Having brought on subtle changes, over the past 15 years, to the blend and style of Piper-Heidsieck, helping it join the class of the great international houses that it belongs to. Thus, sourcing more Pinot Noirs from the Côte des Bar, extending the period of maturation on lees and post-disgorgement, creating a collection of younger reserve wines specifically adapted to the house’s style, etc. In your mind, what is the most important characteristic of a great cellar master? I believe a winemaker needs to know how to follow his intuition, of course – but must never forget to be foreseeing. When tasting the wines of a harvest, one needs to think of the future wines as well as the wines that can be elaborated that year – in other words, always ensuring one has the reserve wines one might need for the future blends. That is the price of stability in style, which I consider to be essential for a champagne house. What is the best champagne you have ever made? I believe it was my first try alone at the Rare blend – so that would be the Rare Vintage 2002. It was an excellent year, but we decided to put a lot of wines aside for the reserve wine collection, after we had a more difficult 2001 harvest. We therefore did not release any brut Vintage – but elaborated a Rare 2002, which still today is as refined as I had wished it. 54 FINE Régis Camus

100 Best Champagnes FINE Charles Heidsieck – A Serial Winner Text: Essi Avellan MW A podium position is nothing new to Charles Heidsieck, which has been the number one ranked Champagne brand in major international wine competitions throughout the last decade. But in this year’s FINE Champagne TOP 100 ‘Charlie’ hit the jackpot with its three cuvées – Millésimé 2000, Brut Réserve NV and Rosé Millesimé 1999 – making it into our top four. It is the richness of the Charles Heidsieck style, the wines’ aged, sweet opulence that charms in blind tastings, but it seduces in open tastings, too. With a track record of excellent cellar masters, the founding blocks of Charles Heidsieck’s top form of today were laid by the late Daniel Thibault, who was snatched from Henriot to Charles Heidsieck when Rémy Martin acquired the house in 1985. Rémy Martin supported Thibault’s vision of creating what was targeted to become the best non-vintage on the market. Thibault started collecting an enormous stock of reserve wines, aiming ideally for 40 per cent of reserve wines in the blend. Also, the wines held back for future blends were to be much older than the usual 1–2 years, averaging 4–5 years and including some 12-year-old wines. It is these reserve wines that allow Charles Heidsieck to craft their non-vintage cuvée into a rich, seductively toasty, honeyed wine of great depth. Its toasty nature fools many into thinking there is oak involved in the manufacture. But the wines see only stainless steel vats and are kept for an extended amount of time in the vessels on the lees, which brings the richness of flavour and texture to them. Piper Heidsieck became a part of the group in 1990, and since then a merging of the two houses has taken place. The company is now P&C Heidsieck, with all vinification taking place under the same roof at the new, ultra-modern winery. After Daniel Thibault passed away unexpectedly in 2002, the winemaking responsibility was given to Régis Camus, who had worked together with Thibault for years. If anything, the quality has only increased during Camus’ time, winning him numerous titles as the Sparkling Wine Maker of the Year. In 2012, Thierry Roset, who had been working with the two previous cellar masters for 23 years, was promoted to look after Charlie as the cellar master, while Régis Camus still oversees the winemaking of both Piper and Charles Heidsieck as the cellar master of PiperHeidsieck. Although Charles Heidsieck is the higher ranked of the two, Piper was the obvious choice for Régis, to whom Charles was always Daniel’s baby and Piper his. Simultaneously with the cellar master change, the Charles Heidsiecks were dressed in new bottles and labels with some alterations in the wine, too. The assemblage remains as the classic equal blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The blend was reduced from 120 villages to a still outstanding but selected assembly of 60. The blending is followed by a highly respectable eight-to-ten years of ageing on the lees. Even though the non-vintage Brut Réserve is a real masterpiece, the entire range is superb. Our winner this year, Charles Heidsieck Vintage, gets an even longer lees ageing time, extending to over ten years. We have been enjoying the vintage 2000 for years already, with the wine showing divine quality year after year with no signs of tiring. The third superb Heidsieck this year was the Rosé 1999, which, in accordance with the house style, is particularly rich, toasty and gastronomic. But, as Charles Heidsieck has learned, there’s a long way from winning competitions to the shopping baskets of champagne drinkers. P&C Heidsieck’s new owners since 2011, EPI, are still struggling to bring Charles into the limelight, a position deserved due to both the quality and pricing of their cuvées. 1 0 0 B E s t C h a m pag N E s 55

100 Best Champagnes 56 FINE Ranking 1 - 25 Points 1 Charles Heidsieck Millésimé 2000 95,,19 95 2 Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve NV 93,,00 93 3 Krug Vintage 2000 92,,14 92 4 Charles Heidsieck Rosé Millesimé 1999 92,,13 92 5 Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Collection 1993 92,,00 92 6 Palmer & Co Blanc de Blancs 2006 91,,79 91 7 Piper-Heidsieck Rare 2002 91,,76 91 8 Piper-Heidsieck Brut NV 91,,75 91 9 Henriot Rosé NV 91,,67 91 9 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2002 91,,67 91 11 Piper-Heidsieck Millésime 2004 92 12 Louis Roederer Cristal 2004 92 13 Pierre Gimonnet Special Club 2005 91 14 Taittinger Les Folies de la Marquetterie NV 91 15 De Saint Gall Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru NV 91 16 Henriot Millésime Brut 2003 91 17 Palmer & Co Brut Réserve NV 91 18 Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Rosé 2002 91 19 Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2004 90 20 Billecart-Salmon Cuvée Nicolas Francois Billecart 2000 90 21 Krug Grande Cuvée NV 90 22 Dom Pérignon Brut 2003 90 23 Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Rosé 2004 90 24 Palmer & Co Amazone de Palmer NV 90 25 Jacquart Brut Rosé NV 90

Points 26 Heidsieck & Co Monopole Gold Top 2007 90 27 Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé Brut NV 90 28 Taittinger Vintage 2005 90 29 Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé NV 90 30 Comtes de Dampierre Prestige 1998 90 31 Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Blanc de Blancs 2002 90 32 Pommery Brut Royal NV 90 33 Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé 2004 89 34 Georges de la Chapelle Cuvée Nostalgie Brut NV 89 35 A. Robert Cuvée Le Sablon Brut NV 89 36 Dom Pérignon Rosé 2002 89 37 Henriot Blanc de Blancs Brut NV 89 38 Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV 89 39 Deutz Rosé Millesimé 2007 89 40 Canard-Duchêne Brut Millésimé 2006 89 41 Laurent-Perrier Alexandra Rosé 2004 89 42 G.H.Mumm Mumm de Cramant Blanc de Blancs NV 89 43 Palmer & Co Millésime 2005 89 44 Vilmart & Cie Grand Cellier NV 89 45 A. Margaine Cuvée Extra Brut NV 89 46 Armand de Brignac Brut Rosé NV 89 47 De Saint Gall Brut Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru NV 89 48 Pommery Cuvée Louise 1999 89 49 Henriot Brut Souverain NV 89 50 Charles de Cazanove Vieille France NV 89 1 0 0 B E s t C h a m pag N E s 100 Best Champagnes 26 - 50 FINE Ranking 57

100 Best Champagnes 58 FINE Ranking 51 - 75 Points 51 Charles de Cazanove Grand Apparat Brut NV 89 52 Thiénot Cuvée Garance 2006 89 53 Pol Roger Vintage 2000 89 54 Pannier Egérie de Pannier Extra Brut 2002 89 55 Laurent-Perrier Millésime 2004 89 56 Canard-Duchêne Charles VII Blanc de Noirs NV 88 57 Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Magnum NV 88 58 De Venoge Cordon Bleu Brut Select NV 88 59 Jacquart Millésimé 2002 88 60 Gosset Grand Millésime 2004 88 61 Duval-Leroy Rosé Prestige Premier Cru NV 88 62 Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial NV 88 63 Didier Ducos Brut Millésime 2006 88 64 Pierre Gimonnet Fleuron Blanc de Blancs 2005 88 65 Guy Charlemagne Brut Nature NV 88 66 Dom Caudron Millésimé 2006 88 67 Pierre Gimonnet Oenophile Blanc de Blancs 2004 88 68 Pierre Mignon Brut Prestige NV 88 69 Laurent-Perrier Brut L-P NV 88 70 De Castelnau Millésimé Brut Magnum 1998 88 71 Château de Bligny Clos du Château de Bligny Cuvée 6 Cépages NV 88 72 Devaux Cuvée D Brut NV 88 73 Jacquart Blanc de Blancs 2006 88 74 Guy Charlemagne Mesnillésime Grand Cru 2004 88 75 Collet Brut Grand Art NV 88

Points 76 Joseph Perrier Blanc de Blancs 2004 88 77 G.H.Martel & Co Cuvée Victoire Premier Cru NV 88 78 Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs 2000 88 79 Deutz Cuvée William Deutz 1999 88 80 Prat Confidence Brut NV 88 81 Pierre Mignon Année de Madame 2005 88 82 Boizel Brut Réserve NV 88 83 Piper-Heidsieck Cuvée Sublime NV 87 84 Joseph Perrier Brut Rosé 2004 87 85 Philippe Gamet Cuvée 5000 NV 87 86 Barons de Rothschild Blanc de Blancs NV 87 87 Pierre Paillard Bouzy Blanc de Blancs Les Mottelettes 2007 87 88 G.H.Mumm Brut Rosé NV 87 89 Deutz Millésime 2006 87 90 Dom Caudron Camille Philippe Brut NV 87 91 Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle NV 87 92 Gratiot-Pillière Rosé NV 87 93 Veuve Clicquot Rosé NV 87 94 Pommery Rosé Apanage NV 87 95 Armand de Brignac Brut Gold NV 87 96 Dom Caudron Camille Philippe Rosé NV 87 97 G.H.Martel & Co Brut Rosé NV 87 98 Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut NV 87 99 P. Lancelot-Royer Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut 2005 87 100 Cattier Clos du Moulin NV 87 1 0 0 B E s t C h a m pag N E s 100 Best Champagnes 76 - 100 FINE Ranking 59

COLUMN JANCIS ROBINSON 1368 Varieties S o far I’ve been lucky, crazy and industrious enough to be responsible for more than 20 books about wine, including The Oxford Companion to Wine and, with Hugh Johnson, The World Atlas of Wine. But none is quite as beautiful as Wine Grapes – A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours, which was published on both sides of the Atlantic at the end of October. Wine Grapes is a 1200-page, 3.2kg monster that has particularly blighted the lives of my coauthors, Julia Harding MW and Dr José Vouillamoz, for the last four years. On 26 September 2008 I received the following email from José who, at that stage, I knew only by reputation as a Swiss-based specialist in the application of DNA profiling to grapevines: ‘I have an important proposal for you: the cowriting of a book on the history and origins of the most important classic grape cultivars of the world (Cabernets, Syrah, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, Pinot, etc). Indeed, many people have asked me over the years if I had a book with all the stories I usually present in my talks. And I always must say “no, but if you want an up-to-date reference, just buy the third edition of The Oxford Companion to Wine”. Given the numerous recent discoveries made on the most important grape cultivars by DNA profiling (by my colleagues or by myself ), I think it’s now time to write a book on this subject that is popular but with all necessary 60 FINE references. I am convinced that my expertise on the subject together with your most valuable skills in grape and wine writing and your considerable knowledge of the subject (OK, enough flattery...) would be a perfect match for a long-term reference book. I have already accumulated a lot of historical and genetic material about most of the classic grape cultivars which could be crossed with the detailed information found in your Guide to Wine Grapes.’ ‘I could plan the writing for 2009–2010.’ ‘I will be in London on Sunday 9 November from about noon until 6pm and on Monday 17 November for the whole day (8am–8pm) during stop-overs before and after a trip to South Africa. If your November schedule is not yet fully booked, I thought it would be an opportunity for us to meet in London and talk about this book project and, last but not least, meet you in person.’ Poor José. He had no idea when I invited him and my long-suffering assistant Julia Harding to lunch at Rowley Leigh’s Café Anglais that Monday to discuss his proposal, how ambitiously I would expand it – to every single grape variety making wine commercially, which, after many pluses and minuses, finally came to almost 1400 of them. As he reflected very recently: “when I was saying yes to this brilliant idea, I was ­anxiously and mentally trying to estimate how many additional months of work it would represent. I seriously under-estimated.....”

FINE Robinson Jancis Robinson MW Contributor One of the world’s most influential wine communicators, Jancis Robinson writes for JancisRobinson.com, The Financial Times, and a worldwide syndicated column. She is also editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine, co-author with Hugh Johnson of The World Atlas of Wine, and co-author of Wine Grapes – A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours. An award-winning TV presenter, she is invited all over the world to conduct wine events and act as a wine judge. In 1984 she was the first person outside the wine trade to pass the rigorous Master of Wine exams and in 2003 she was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen, on whose cellar she now advises. My literary agent Caradoc King presented our ambitious project to several publishers and eventually we went with Penguin, or rather their leading non-fiction imprint, ­Allen Lane. When they asked me for a steer on the design, I lent them various books whose design I admired – notably Inside Burgundy by Jasper Morris MW, which had been prepared for publishers Berry Bros by Carrie Segrave and her husband Chris Foulkes (who, incidentally, published my first book on grape varieties Vines, Grapes & Wines back in 1986). But I also showed them various old ampelographies in my possession. Ampelography is the science of the identification of vine varieties by studying what they, and particularly their leaves, look like. It was a particularly popular sport a century ago and so these dusty old ampelographies had a decidedly late Victorian look. The result is that our book, with its collection of classic typefaces and curlicues, looks not unlike these beautiful old volumes – not least because we have been able to faithfully reproduce 80 stunning botanical paintings from the classic ampelography of all time, that were produced by Pierre Viala and Victor Vermorel during the first decade of the last century. (This was possible only thanks to an enormous amount of ­effort involving complicated searches in the British Library’s archives and the kindness of two lucky owners of the first edition, Swiss winemaker Josef-Marie Chanton and British Master of Wine Neil Tully.) But all has not gone smoothly with our beautiful tome full of alphabetically-listed grape varieties. When the publishers finally started to calculate how many pages their original, space-hungry design would need, they were horrified to find that A-K alone took up 800 pages. The designs had to be compacted (they are still pretty spacious, I think) and we authors had to fight very hard to keep the book in a single volume. The funny thing is that despite its extremely classic appearance, our book illustrates the very latest facts about the plants responsible for our favourite drink – many of them published for the first time. While Julia is the only person in the world with a top MW qualification and a professional background as a copy editor of the most persistent and pernickety sort, José is both a botanist and grape geneticist. He is able to analyse the DNA of plants and see precisely how they are related. The science of analysing microsatellites (types of DNA markers) now substantively complements the eye with its study of leaves and shoot tips, and hence we are able to spell out exactly what links, for instance, Syrah and Pinot, Savagnin Blanc and Grüner Veltliner, Merlot and Malbec. Our book is therefore home to 14 unique family trees painstakingly assembled by José and, as usual, minutely checked by Julia. Like those for Brianna and Prior, the Pinot one is so big that it needs a pullout section that runs over two whole pages. Pinot’s pedigree includes all manner of unexpected relatives among the 156 charted. Wine Grapes really is full of surprises. The result of our intense, demanding and at times apparently almost impossible task has been that I have learnt an enormous amount that was not known in the 1980s when I last tackled this subject in depth. Although this new book has been described by several commentators as an update of Vines, Grapes & Wines, it is in fact a completely new work, based on José’s original research into the world of vines and DNA, Julia’s original research into who has what planted (a daunting task when applied to the whole of the wine world – the latest Italian statistics date from 2000) and my vantage point as someone who has been fascinated by the revealing world of grapevine varieties for nearly 30 years. > WE HOPE YOU WILL FIND THE RESULTS INTRIGUING AND REWARDING. MORE DETAILS AT WWW.WINEGRAPES.ORG COLUMN 61

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FINE Estate Text: Ken GarGeTT Cullen’s Diana Madeline Cabernet Blend – “The Song of the Land” I n the battle for the heavyweight crown of Australian wine, most pundits would have the championship between Penfold’s Grange and Henschke’s Hill of Grace. Grange’s longevity, consistent quality and international reputation would probably earn it a narrow nod, though personal preference is the ultimate arbitrator. So often linked, and both brilliant wines, they differ in many ways – think big budget corporate winemaking opposed to a small, high quality and family-run operation. Grange is almost always a Shiraz Cabernet blend, relying largely on the Barossa but also sourcing its fruit from numerous regions – even on occasion venturing past the borders of South Australia into neighbouring states. It is, and always has been, aged in Ameri- can oak. Quantities vary but there are suggestions that in some vintages production has been as high as 15 000 cases. Hill of Grace is a single vineyard wine, hailing from the eight-hectare vineyard at Eden Valley in the hills surrounding the Barossa Valley; it is 100 per cent Shiraz, and these days sees mostly French oak. Quantities are a fraction of that of Grange, because, although the actual vineyard also has mataro, semillon and riesling, Hill of Grace comes only from the ancient shiraz vines, some of which date back around 150 years. The first Grange, experimental though it might have been, was 1951; the first Hill of Grace was 1958. At this juncture, I would like to propose a third contender. C U L L E N V I N E YA R D S 65

It doesn’t come from the ancient vineyards of South Australia; it isn’t even a Shiraz. 66 FINE It doesn’t come from the ancient vineyards of South Australia; it isn’t even a Shiraz (a suggestion close to heresy in Australia); and it is made under biodynamic principles. Cullen Wines, in Margaret River in Western Australia, makes a number of superb wines but none better than their Diana Madeline (DM), a ‘Cabernet and friends’ blend. Production is at Hill of Grace levels – between 1000 and 3000 cases, depending on the vintage. Those who argue against the credentials of DM could cite the concerns above – not South Australian, not Shiraz and nor does it have the international reputation enjoyed by Hill of Grace and especially Grange – but they are hardly relevant. More legitimate would be that this is a wine which has offered less than thirty vintages. Consider the first decade (‘81 to ‘90) as the ‘decade of establishment’, which came immediately before the ‘decade of emergence’ (1991 to 2000), and now we have just seen the ‘decade of stardom’ (2001 to 2009). For me, we saw enough in the nineties to know a new star had arrived in the Australian wine firmament, and this last decade has more than confirmed the greatness of the wines. They have earned endless plaudits from every local critic and will surely do so from those outside Australia in time. Humble Beginnings Dr Kevin and Diana Cullen moved to Western Australia in the late 1940s, when it must have resembled the last frontier. Kevin was a local doctor in the small town of Busselton and established the Busselton Health Survey, which has attracted worldwide interest from the international medical community. He and Di also had an interest in farming and purchased land in the Margaret River region for sheep and cattle. For the next twenty years, the region, several hours south of Perth, was seen as agricultural land and, for those prepared to make the journey, one of Australia’s most exciting surfing destinations. It was an odd mix: farmers, surfers and the occasional hippie. The Cullens were not the first medicos in the region; in fact, if you had to get ill in a wine region, Margaret River was definitely the one to pick: Dr Tom Cullity set up Vasse Felix in 1965, followed by Dr Bill Pannell at Moss Wood and the Langans at Xanadu. Dr Peter Pratten then founded Capel Vale soon after. Studies in the sixties by the famous agronomist Dr John Gladstones suggested the region might be suitable for viticulture, not least because of the maritime climate, low frost risk, ample sunshine and equable temperatures. He felt it compared to St Emilion and Pomerol. Gladstones was following the work of the

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Whether simply through the power of suggestion or something more serendipitous, the tannins in Margaret River Cabernet are often described as ‘gravelly’. 68 FINE

FINE Estate Vanya has found that biodynamics strengthen the vines making them more able to resist insect attack on their own. American geologist, Dr Harold Olmo. It was enough to tempt the Cullens, at Gladstones’ direction, into planting an experimental plot – a mere quarter of an acre. In 1971, this was followed by a further seven hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling. It would be nice to think that this was an inspired decision but, in reality, these were the only varieties they could source at the time. The Riesling has long gone, even though it provided the winery with some of their earliest successes in the show system, but the Cabernet proved fortunate in the extreme. The Cullens have now expanded their vineyards to 28 hectares. Margaret River For a very long time in Australia, Coonawarra was King. Cabernet Sauvignon was the noble grape and nowhere did it half as well as Coonawarra. Then, in the 1990s, Shiraz began its inexorable climb to the top of the tree. If that wasn’t enough to spoil a Coonawarra winemaker’s day, that upstart place full of hippies and surfers in the far corner of Australia was suddenly making Cabernet that the critics were placing on a par with those from the famous cigar-shaped strip of terra rosa soil. Margaret River has now established itself as Australia’s premier location for classic Cabernet – and it has patches of superb Chardonnay, as well. Some will argue that it has every claim to be the finest region for the variety outside Bordeaux, but that will always be an argument for late nights. Their climates are quite similar, with Margaret River’s Mediterranean climate and low rainfall over the summer period providing an even accumulation of warmth. It can be too hot (2012 is very likely to fall into this category) or too cool and wet – the latter affected the 2006 harvest – but generally it has the unfair advantage of too many absolutely superb years. I asked Di’s daughter and senior winermaker Vanya if that ever got boring. “Oh God no”, she gasped, horrified at the thought. The soil is dominated by gravel and sandy loam over granite. Whether simply through the power of suggestion or something more serendipitous, the tannins in Margaret River Cabernet are often described as ‘gravelly’. The region leapt from curiosity to ‘flavour of the month’ when nearby Cape Mentelle picked up successive Jimmy Watson trophies (Australia’s most desirable wine trophy) for their Cabernet in the early eighties (the 1982 and 1983 in the Melbourne Wine Shows of 1983 and 1984, respectively). Suddenly, a district seen as a fringe curiosity became the name, and wine, on everyone’s lips. The Vineyards and the Winemaking Early success saw expansion and Di Cullen left her physiotherapy practice to become a fulltime winemaker. She took over in time for the 1981 vintage. The early wines were straight Cabernet, making their debut with the 1975 vintage. In 1978, a Cabernet Merlot blend was also made. The straight Cabernet was discontinued after the 1981 vintage, as it was felt it was often a little too hard. Reserve wines were also made from 1988 to 1994, but the practice was discontinued after that vintage. Vanya (named after Chekhov’s character), who had attended Roseworthy College, was only the second woman in Australia to become a full wine judge. She is considered to have one of Australia’s finest palates and took over as senior winemaker in 1989, after stints with Robert Mondavi in the Napa Valley and Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy. In 2000, she became the first woman to be named ‘Australia’s Winemaker of the Year’. Sadly, Kevin Cullen passed away in 1994 and Di followed in 2003. The vines that now provide the Diana Madeline – the wine was so dubbed with the 2001 vintage, as a tribute to Vanya’s mother – were planted in 1971 (with some subsequent plantings in the 1990s from the Mangan Vineyard, used because they mature “ The Song of the Land ” C U L L E N V I N E YA R D S 69

sufficiently to provide top-notch fruit), using what are known locally as the ‘Houghton clones’. Cullen Wines is located in the Wilyabrup subregion of Margaret River, which features the granitic soils typical of Margaret River. The old vines have sent their roots down seven metres into the granitic soil, thereby moderating the tougher years. The vines are on Scott Henry trellising. Vanya’s belief is that this assists in providing darker fruits and more supple tannins, as well as a “better ripeness at lower alcohol levels”, all of which helps to instil “a feeling of place” into the wines. Cabernet is the dominant variety, with varying amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and even occasionally some Malbec and Petit Verdot, all of which are vinified separately and then matured in a mix of new and used French oak for a year and a half, as a general rule. The oak is usually about 50 per cent new (again, it varies from vintage to vintage), with Vanya preferring the tighter grained French oaks. Her preference is for barrels from the Taransaud cooperage. Vanya believes that the vines now have significant age to provide a much greater depth of fruit, describing the style of DM as “about freshness and complexity, structure and suppleness”. She believes that the soil, in warmer years, imparts ironstone nuances to the wines. In cooler years, this comes across more as a seaweed character. Vanya is one of Australia’s strongest proponents of biodynamics, which she sees as “the combination of working with the soil, the plants and the cosmos”. Certification was granted in 2003, with the first vintage following a year later – they had been fully organic since 1998. She believes that it achieves “greater individuality of site through working with nature rather than against it”, and that it improves the level of oxygen in the soil, allowing for better dispersal of the root system. “ The Song of the Land ” 70 FINE

C U L L E N V I N E YA R D S 71 FINE Estate Furthermore, Vanya finds that the “vines are more balanced” and that this alleviates the need for thinning. There is better ripeness when alcohol levels are lower. This also allows her to pick earlier, sometimes finishing before neighbouring vineyards have even started. Operating under the theories of Rudolph Steiner, Cullen Wines makes their own compost. Preparations of 500 (cow manure buried under female cow horns over the winter and used “when the moon is in opposition to Saturn or on a descending moon” – seriously), which is sometimes combined with fish emulsion, and 501 (ground silica, again buried under female cow horns but this time over summer) are applied twice in the autumn and twice in the summer, with extra 501 if there is a problem with insects or poor ripening, though Vanya has found that biodynamics strengthen the vines making them more able to resist insect attack on their own. Causurina tea is applied to prevent powdery mildew and botrytis – two litres for every hectare is usually sufficient. Cullen’s use an under vine weeder, which controls the South African garden weevil; the weevil has no known local predators and the weeder disrupts its breeding cycle. Not surprisingly, Vanya is delighted with the result, describing it thus: “This is how we see the vineyard being sustainable – the old vines will produce consistent, balanced, quality fruit for many years to come!” Cullen Wines has also set up beehives for improved pollination (and for some of the delicious honey icecream that is occasionally available at the restaurant). The restaurant also benefits from the biodynamic and organic garden that allows the kitchen team to select ingredients on a daily basis. Few producers anywhere take such a holistic and committed approach, not only to their vineyards and wines but to their entire operation.

“ The Song of the Land ” The noticeably finer tannins in recent years are attributed to the move to biodynamics, however Vanya believes that it is the use of basket presses, since 2008, which has taken the tannin structure to an entirely new level. What she believes is important, though, is not so much setting up an “intentional direction” but rather the outcome. Her view is that “the most important decision my parents ever made was the choice of site”. There has been no fining of the reds since 1999 and native yeasts have only been used since 1996. No wine has had any acid addition, which is almost compulsory in Australia, since the 2006 vintage. What was extraordinary about the tasting of these wines was the freshness evident through the entire range and the longevity – twenty years is no challenge at all for these wines. Indeed, it seems almost necessary. It confirmed that Margaret River is not only one of the world’s finest regions for Cabernet-based 72 FINE wines but that Cullen’s is surely the leading proponent of the style. It is difficult to imagine any producer from Coonawarra or Napa Valley, or any but the very best of Bordeaux, being able to put forward three decades of Cabernet with such brilliant quality year after year. The Future To celebrate their 40th anniversary, Cullen’s hosted a weekend tasting which took participants through their entire range. The Chardonnay, named ‘Kevin John’ in honour of Vanya’s father, sits comfortably among Australia’s top examples, but this tasting provided compelling evidence that the DM is the nation’s finest cabernet. And it might just be good enough to take the top gong for Australia’s best wine. Cullen’s will continue to work biodynamically, committed to wines of the highest quality that offer a real sense of place; and not just Margaret River but their own small vineyard site, with some of the oldest vines in the region. As Vanya says, “the song of the land is in the bottle”. It is a poetically appropriate description, as Vanya also loves music and is convinced that certain wines respond better when drunk with different music, thereby increasing one’s enjoyment of both. For me, this is another way of saying that if you are drinking a wine you are enjoying while listening to music that appeals, then it is likely that the entire experience will be enhanced. And it is certainly far less curious than the Sherry producer in Jerez that has taken the genome sequence of its yeast, set it to music (don’t ask me how) and now plays it back to the barrels of maturing Sherry. So, the final piece of the puzzle: just what does enhance Diana Madeline? For Vanya, the perfect song is Jimi Hendrix’s version of Dylan’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’, though most rock will suffice. Bruce Springsteen

FINE Estate “The most important decision my parents ever made was the choice of site”. Vanya is convinced that certain wines respond better when drunk with different music, thereby increasing one’s enjoyment of both. and Led Zeppelin also rank highly, as does Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ and most Wagner. If we move to whites, most notably the ‘Kevin John’ Chardonnay, Mozart, Beethoven and Bach all do the job. I have difficulty envisaging Michael Broadbent and Hugh Johnson, earphones on and glass of Latour in hand, rocking along to Led Zeppelin or Slade, but who knows. We didn’t quite establish whether different vintages require alternative music. It is a strange place, Margaret River, and perhaps with the passing of time, the hippies have morphed into winemakers. Whatever the rationale, though, it does produce the finest Cabernets in Australia, and none is better than Cullen’s ‘Diana Madeline’. > C U L L E N V I N E YA R D S 73

Cullen Wines Vertical 1981–2008 The Baker’s Dozen plus one 91p 1981 Cullen Wines Cabernet Merlot Average auction price: Prices for more recent vintages, especially the better ones, are creeping up but in general they do not appreciate anything like the top European wines. This is, in part, due to auctions not playing such an important role in wine sales in Australia. The wines tend to sit within A$20 to $50 of the current release price, which is now around A$120 to $150: brilliant buying in comparison to wines of equivalent quality from certain other regions of the world. The reality is that although the wines are exported to numerous markets, they will very rarely be found on the secondary market outside Australia. Expect that to change in time. Bottle Condition: All bottles for this tasting came from the cellars at the winery. If there was any question at all about the wine, before or during the tasting, a replacement was immediately provided. Cork taint was particularly prevalent during the 1990s in Australia, despite wineries receiving assurances that they were purchasing the best corks available. Vanya found a rate nearing 20 per cent in wines from this decade. With the move to screwcap in recent years, this issue is no longer relevant. 2001 saw the first experiment with screwcap and the winery quickly moved to bottling almost all of their production under this form of closure. A small quantity is still bottled under cork for sections of the American market, as are larger format bottles. Colour: Brick-red, soft and mature. Impressive for its age. Nose: Spice, dry herbs, lightly roasted meat notes. Hints of truffle and earth. Palate: A lovely, supple style. Fully mature, fine grip. A structure that peaked some time ago but which has held up superbly since then. Aftertaste: Holds its length. No great intensity but a lingering delight. In a nutshell: A fading beauty that has held up amazingly well. Buy or not: The chances that these bottles are likely to be available for purchase, even in Australia, are slim. The occasional one will, however, pop up at an Aussie auction. If you see them, grab them. Tasted: The tasting notes all come froma vertical tasting held recently. I had seen almost all of the wines at varying times over the past few decades, especially the more recent releases. Obviously, the older wines will have matured and evolved over that period but the younger wines revealed themselves to be remarkably consistent. Decanting time: All wines were opened, checked and decanted approximately two to three hours prior to tasting. Glass time: The wines were served in flights – 1981 to 1990; 1991 to 2000; and 2001 to 2010 – and we had extensive time to taste each flight, allowing for evolution in the glass. When to drink: No time like the present. Won’t get any better. Food pairing: Rabbit pâté. Fake factor: Unlikely. At this stage, if Australian wine is to be faked, Penfold’s Grange is the leading candidate, though we’ve seen attempts to fake entry level wines, so nothing is sacred. At present it would be surprising but as the reputation of this wine continues to grow, it will undoubtedly raise the interest of counterfeiters. Vanya is not aware of any attempts to fake this wine. Inside information: A hot, dry vintage. Moderate alcohol of 13%. Yields of 1.2 tonnes per acre. As well as the Cabernet and Merlot, there is a dollop of Malbec. At the time, it was seen as an atypically tannic vintage. Vanya discovered in her family’s records that they needed ten egg whites per barrel. As Vanya says: “Old wines make you feel very humble and, yes, choosing a good site has helped but my parents didn’t really know that at the time. Yet, it was Mum’s first vintage and you think, ‘Wow, how good does that look?’” Perhaps the most insightful comment came from Peter Mammone, Cullen’s viticulturist, who readily admits to not being much of a taster. “That wine smells like its soil.’’ No one would know that better than Mammone. Vanya was utterly delighted, and for her it was a vindication of decades of work. Her reply was that, “it was such a beautiful point to make”. Or try this: A solid Second or Third Growth from 1982. Final verdict: For a first time effort, this is extraordinary. Remember that these vines were barely a decade old, it was Di Cullen’s first vintage as a winemaker and the region had hardly made so much as a blip on the vinous radar of the day. It was an early indication of just how well Cabernet from Margaret River can age. 74 FINE 93p 1982 Cullen Wines Cabernet Merlot Average auction AU$ 450 price: Colour: Astonishingly, still offering some brightness. Soft reds. Nose: Alluring fragrances, fresh herbs, a tiny note of mint, rose petals. A flick of chocolate emerges with time. Palate: The freshness is quite baffling. Lighter than many but offers a regal elegance. Finely balanced. Aftertaste: Dances. Very fine tannins, almost imperceptible. In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Elegance personified Yes 2011 2 hours 1 hour Perhaps the question should be when wouldn’t you drink it? And I could not imagine any time. But sooner rather than later works better. Food pairing: Lamb stew Fake factor: None Inside information: An excellent vintage and the one that put Margaret River on the map, but it wasn’t this wine that did it. Close neighbours Cape Mentelle won Australia’s most coveted wine trophy, the Jimmy Watson Trophy, which is awarded annually at the Melbourne Wine Show to the best One Year Old Red (and yes, the insanity of having your major trophy awarded to a red that usually has not even been bottled is not something that has escaped notice, but is a topic for another day). Cullen’s was a close runner-up. Having tried both wines recently, there is no doubt that the judges got it the wrong way around. This wine has held up superbly; sadly, Cape Mentelle less so. Cape Mentelle rose again with their 1983, and on that occasion it was a clearly superior wine to Cullen’s. Yields were 1.5 tonnes per acre for the Cabernet and a miserly 1 tonne per acre for the Merlot. A 73/27% blend which spent 22 months in oak. The long, cool ripening period was ideal for Cabernet. Harvest was not until well into April, rather than the more usual March picking. Di Cullen was so pleased with this wine that it led to the decision to drop the straight Cabernet and concentrate on the blend. Mind you, it took three years to sell this vintage – at A$6 a bottle. Or try this: A date with Audrey Hepburn Final verdict: Would-be perfection, watching your favourite rugby team, or the ballet, if you prefer.

1986 Cullen Wines Cabernet Merlot Average auction AU$ 350 price: Colour: Depth. Less of the red mature hues, more of the slash of ‘murder mystery’ red. It immediately announces itself as something a bit special. 93p 1990 Cullen Wines Cabernet Merlot Average auction AU$ 200 price: Colour: Red cherry, slight mature notes around the rim. Nose: Delightful floral notes waft endlessly. Showing more red berry notes. A gentle spice cabinet. Cigar box and cedar. Nose: Cassis, cigar box, dry herbs, exotic spices and a flick of tomato bush. And then imagine sniffing handfuls of warm earth and fresh truffles. Palate: This is more richly flavoured than the nose indicated. Seriously complex. Complete and seamless. Palate: There is a richness and a depth of flavour here that was not encountered in any of the earlier wines. Wonderful complexity, imperial balance. Textbook Cabernet structure. Aftertaste: Great length here, which maintains its intensity throughout. Still exhibits a flick of bright acidity. In a nutshell: Still in the prime of life. Think of the fun you could have sneaking this into a lineup of 1986 Bordeaux. Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: 2 hours 1 hour Now is good but there is absolutely no need to rush. Good bottles will sail through the next ten to fifteen years. Food pairing: Roast beef sandwich Fake factor: None Inside information: After the disappointing 1985, the least impressive wine in the tasting, this was a glorious return to top form. 1986 was the best season enjoyed by the Cullen’s up to that point, with a cool summer certainly helping matters. It produced classic Cabernet across the region and this was always going to be a vintage for the cellar. Yields were 2 tonnes/acre for Cabernet and an excruciating half a tonne per acre for Merlot. A March harvest; alcohol 13.5%; and 24 months in barrel with 30% of the new oak. Or try this: The thrill when a ten-pound brown trout takes your dry fly Final verdict: This is the wine that announced Cullen’s ‘coming of age’. 94p Aftertaste: Layers of fine tannins in a finish that lingers and lingers. In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Any given day 2011 1991 Cullen Wines Cabernet Merlot Average auction AU$ 200 price: Colour: Still vibrant and alive, an enticing combination of maturity and fresh strawberries. In a nutshell: Compelling evidence as to Margaret River’s ability to provide elegant, ageworthy Cabernet. Buy or not: Yes Tasted: 2013 Decanting time: 2 hours Glass time: 1 hour When to drink: Now and for the next ten years Food pairing: Barbecued duck Fake factor: None Inside information: 1991 has been described as a textbook vintage. A perfect ripening season, a short period of heat in January and then a long spell of mild conditions. Cropping levels were very similar to 1990, with Cabernet down a smidge. The Cabernet was harvested in the last two weeks of March and the first two of April. The other varieties came in on March 11. 13.5% alcohol. A blend of 60% Cabernet, 30% Merlot and 10% Franc. The wine saw 20 months in oak, half of it new. Again, a Reserve was produced, which enjoyed an extra year in oak, but again, my preference was for the ‘standard’ blend. The Reserve, as good as it was, still exhibited a little extra oak influence and lacked the finesse of the other wine. Or try this: Margaret River has many stellar performers but the “First Growths” would most likely include Moss Wood, Woodlands, Cape Mentelle, Vasse Felix and Pierro, as well as Cullen. Final verdict: Anyone believing that great Australian wine begins and ends with the blockbuster Barossa Shiraz is about to have their world turned upside down. 2011 2 hours 1 hour Not yesterday, not tomorrow: today is perfect. But tomorrow and any time over the next ten years would also be pretty good. Or try this: A mature Saint Luis Rey Double Corona – from 2001 if you can find any Final verdict: A match for the Reserve of that year, but I prefer this as it avoids the hint of oak influence shrouding the Reserve. Was there anywhere on the planet that didn’t excel in 1990? 95p 1994 Cullen Wines Cabernet Merlot Average auction AU$ 300 price: Colour: Quite concentrated dark hues. Nose: The aromatics are so entrancing that one almost forgets to drink the thing. Cassis, dark fruits and a spice garden. Palate: Great concentration here. Serious complexity. Immaculately balanced with a fine line of vibrancy and finesse running the length of the wine. Aftertaste: Very long and it maintains its intensity throughout. The tannins not quite as velvety as in some years, but are still very fine. Aftertaste: Fine velvety tannins. Like Pinocchio’s nose, it just kept getting longer. Yes, cheaper than most of it’s rivals and the usual blend were produced. The difference was simply that the Reserve saw more time in oak. Both wines, which were identical blends, spent two years in oak, half of which was new. The Reserve was usually then transferred to all-new barrels for a further year. In this vintage, it spent an extra 11 months in oak. Alcohol was 13% and the wine was a blend of 65% Cabernet, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Harvest was the first week of April, though the Merlot came in a little earlier. Yields were higher than usual with 2.9 tonnes/acre for Cabernet, 4.2 tonnes/acre for Merlot and 4 tonnes/acre for the Franc. At one stage, it looked like it might be an extremely difficult vintage, even though a mild and dry summer was an ideal start, with Cyclone Vincent bearing down on the region, but in the end there were only a few showers during the harvest. These helped rather than hindered and 1990 kicked off a dream decade for excellent vintages. Palate: Finesse and elegance. The wine is complex, balanced on a knife-edge and as seamless as satin. What we call, in Australia, a cracker Food pairing: Mushroom risotto Fake factor: None Inside information: The third vintage where both a Reserve Nose: Floral notes, a mix of raspberry and strawberry fruits, with black fruits lingering in the background. A bit like sticking your head into Grandma’s spice cupboard. FINE Estate 95p In a nutshell: The pedigree of the site, as well as the vintage and the grapes, makes this a must. Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Absolutely yes 2013 2 hours 1 hour Now until 2020 but good bottles will exceed this Food pairing: Roast lamb and caramelised onions Fake factor: None Inside information: A vintage from the Gods. Someone up there must love Margaret River. As if the duo of 1990 and 1991 weren’t enough, some rated 1992 as highly. Then along comes 1994, the best of the decade (some rate 1995 on a par and 1996 only a whisker behind, while 1999 is another standout). A hot, dry summer, which happened to be the first of the drought years, led into a cooler period. Visiting Domaine Dujac in Burgundy years ago, I was told that 1990 was such a perfect vintage that even the Estate’s dogs could have made the wine. Talented animals perhaps, but 1994 in Margaret River was that sort of year – no disrespect to any winemakers. Harvest was the first few weeks of April for the Cabernet, with the others occuring much earlier. Yields were low – a meagre 1.6 tonnes/acre for the Cabernet, 3.6 for Merlot and 3.1 for the Franc. Alcohol was 13% and the blend was 65% Cabernet, 30% Merlot and 5% Franc. Just under two years in oak. Or try this: Watching Anthony Hopkins play Lear Final verdict: A wine that had Coonawarra winemakers ripping their hair out in frustration C U L L E N V I N E YA R D S 75

97p 1994 Cullen Wines Reserve Cabernet Merlot Average auction AU$ 200 price: Colour: Even darker and richer than the ‘standard’. 95p 1995 Cullen Wines Cabernet Merlot Average market AU$ 200 price: Colour: A mature and enticing red. Nose: Cedary notes. Alluring spices and a mix of red and dark berry fruits. If ever the expression, ‘the contents of an old lady’s handbag’ was to be applied to a wine, this is it. Nose: A richer nose here. Simply cracking fruit. Cassis, leather, cloves, black cherries. Palate: Exchanges the finesse of the standard for extra density, concentration and layers of richness without losing anything and yet maintaining complete balance throughout. Utterly seamless. Aftertaste: In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: Cuddly tannins. Great length. Such life and promise. A glorious wine. Great value 2011 3 hours 1 hour The debate on the day was what on earth would this wine be like in twenty years? Rather special, I suspect. Food pairing: Venison Fake factor: None Inside information: This, and the lesser pair of ‘93s, was the first time I have preferred the Reserve to the ‘standard’. And for the first time, this was not simply the ‘standard’ embalmed with extra oak. Vanya identified the best patches of Cabernet in the vineyard and they were harvested later, on April 21, than the grapes for the ‘standard’. Only five barrels were made and the wine was much more Cabernet-dominant, at 85%. There was 10% Merlot and 5% Franc. The wine saw only 21 months in oak. Or try this: Sir Laurence Olivier playing King Lear? Final verdict: Great vintage or not, and without offering offence to the Dujac dogs, this is a testament to the sublime skills of Vanya and her team. A triumph. 96p Palate: Maturity is evident. More fleshy than some. Bright acidity and as fresh as imaginable. Aftertaste: In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: with richly flavoured complex aromas. Dark berries, especially blackberries, espresso coffee, leather, spices, chocolate, florals, cigar box notes – think Partagas 8-9-8s. Palate: Everything in place to ensure a wine of perfect balance, fine length and a seamless structure. The textural component is delightfully supple. Nadal and the staying power of Djokovic. Perfect buy 2011 3 hours 2 hours Glorious now but try to save a bottle of two for 2030, if you think you’ll still be around. Food pairing: The finest dark chocolate Fake factor: None Inside information: A wine nearly ruined by Elaine, Vance and Gwenda. They are not disgruntled pickers or abstemious neighbours but three tropical cyclones, each of which threatened to create havoc in the region. As I said, someone upstairs likes this place, as all three turned away and did nothing more than toss down a little intermittent rain. Sadly, the same could not be said further north, where the full force of the weather Gods was felt. Prior to this, January and February offered cool temperatures with southerly winds, followed by a lengthy warm period. Vanya described it as “the most glorious Indian summer, which lasted for weeks and produced one of the best red wine vintages of the decade”. Yields were low – 1.9 tonnes/ acre for the Cabernet, 2.3 for Merlot and 2 for the Franc. Harvest was late February - early March for the Cabernet and March 4 for the others. The alcohol crept up to 14%. The oak regime was 18 months, with 50% new. This was the first vintage to see the addition of Petit Verdot, albeit only 1%, from the Mangan Vineyard. The remainder was 74% Cabernet, 20% Merlot and 5% Franc. Or try this: Directing the captain to swing the yacht around to Monte Carlo for lunch. 76 Final verdict: The complete package FINE 2011 2 hours 1 hour Has the life to ensure it will drink beautifully for many years, though it is close to its peak. Or try this: Virgin space travel Final verdict: Confirmation that dropping the Reserve was the right decision. 95p 2001 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Average market AU$ 150 price: Colour: Red cherries, with possible hints of purple still evident. Nose: Chocolate, spices, black olives, florals, black cherries, mocha, cigar box notes, new leather, blackberries. Palate: Offering a more voluptuous, riper style than many vintages, yet just as complex, and with an underlying tightness still in place to ensure long ageing. Juicy acidity. Mouthwatering. are close to invisible. Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: A sure bet and 1994 (and 1990) as 10/10 vintages. As with the ‘94, there was effectively no rain between October and the harvest in March. Vanya believes that this wine confirms her view that if the vines are healthy and not overburdened, they will regulate themselves and achieve physiological ripeness easily – “and therefore the greatest fruit concentration”. It was the fastest ripening season Cullen’s have experienced but gave superb fruit. That self-regulation inevitably led to low cropping – 1.4 tonnes/acre for the Cabernet, 3.5 for the Merlot and 3.7 for the Franc. The blend was 70% Cabernet, 23% Merlot and 7% Franc. 13.5% alcohol. This was the first year without a Reserve wine. Vanya believed the quality was so good across the board it was pointless. Half the wine saw barrel fermentation and half saw extended skin maceration – for four weeks. The wine then saw 17 months in oak – just 20% new, 30% one-year and the rest in two-year-old barrels. Aftertaste: Great length and perfect poise. Tannins In a nutshell: The grace of Federer, the excitement of Ethereal Food pairing: Lamb shanks Fake factor: None Inside information: Andrew Cailliard MW rated both this year 1999 Cullen Wines Cabernet Merlot Average market AU$ 150 price: Colour: Saturated crimson notes. Real depth here. Nose: This wine makes an immediate impact Lingers beautifully before a slow, gentle fade. Aftertaste: Great intensity. Ripe tannins that are so soft and velvety. In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: If wine could dance! Yes, any day 2013 3 hours 2 hours A baby. Tasted blind, it would surely be impossible to pick as a ten-yearold. Now until 2040. Food pairing: Oxtail stew Fake factor: None Inside information: 2000 replicated 1999 with a series of cyclones (Steve, Norman and Olga), though the results were not so fortunate. Yields were minuscule but the wine was more impressive than it had the right to be, if more for younger drinking. In contrast, 2001 was the driest season in 126 years, but it led to “one of the most brilliant harvests... for ripening”. The negative was Marri – the local name for the red gums. The conditions led to poor flowering in the gums, which led to increased bird damage in the vineyards. The blend was restricted to 75% Cabernet, 25% Merlot, both of which yielded just above 2.5 tonnes/acre, with harvesting throughout March. 14% alcohol. The wine spent 18 months in oak, with 40% of that new. Or try this: Imagine sitting in a dark, smoky club in Havana, in the fifties, listening to Celia Cruz. Final verdict: The first wine under the ‘Diana Madeline’ tag and a most worthy tribute to the woman who did so much for wine here.

2004 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Average market AU$ 150 price: Colour: Dark reds, crimsons. Nose: Black cherries, hints of fresh truffles, mocha, violets and the very last vestiges of a whiff of sweet oak. 94p Average market AU$ 150 price: Colour: Red/purples, opaque. Nose: As rich as Grandma’s plum pudding. Chocolate, mocha, cassis, cloves, black fruits. A whiff of campfire aromas and warm, fresh soil. Palate: Everything in place. A truly superb wine. Impeccably balanced. Has a thrilling vibrancy. Aftertaste: Cushiony, velvet tannins. Longer than a Fidel speech. In a nutshell: Buy or not: Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: On this evidence, long live biodynamics. great vintages that just keep coming. Caillard rates 2007 to 2010 all as 10/10, with 2011 9/10. Other regions must stick pins in Margaret River dolls. 3 hours Buy or not: The price is still very much a great bargain in world terms 2 hours dry months of January and February. A hot March hastened the ripening, but with biodynamics now firmly in place this seemed to benefit the grapes, which achieved optimum ripeness. Yields were 2.48 tonnes/acre for Cabernet, harvested the last week of February and first week of March, 3.36 for Merlot and 2.85 for Franc, both of which were harvested late in March. The final blend was 83% Cabernet, 12% Merlot and 3% Franc. Various parcels were fermented on skins for periods between 8 and 29 days. Then, 18 months in French oak barriques, 51% of which were new. Or try this: The Three Tenors at their peak Final verdict: Has Australia made a better Cabernet than this? 2009 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Average market AU$ 150 price: Colour: Still enough purple surrounding the crimson to confirm its youth. Nose: Dark berries, smoked meats, minerals, violets, plum, cassis, espresso coffee. Palate: Walks the fine line between the generosity and richness of 2007 and the ethereal elegance of the 2008. The best of both. Supple, focussed, linear and beautifully balanced. Sublime. Aftertaste: The cashmere-like tannins are so deceptive. Incredibly persistent. In a nutshell: Good enough to pip the 2004. Vanya’s Mozart vintage is on song. This wine is as good as any they have made. Buy or not: Why wait? Tasted: Decanting time: Glass time: When to drink: complexity. Full-flavoured with bright acidity. Aftertaste: Infinite length, soft, silky tannins. In a nutshell: The first in an extraordinary series of 2014 Food pairing: Game pie Fake factor: None Inside information: Good rainfall preceded the cool and 95p Palate: Ripe, supple and seductive. Early For your children’s eighteenth birthday It surely has thirty to forty years ahead of it, if you can keep your hands off it. 2013 5 hours 2 hours How long have you got? 2015 to 2040. After that, anyone’s guess. Food pairing: Braised belly of pork Fake factor: None Inside information: Rain in the later parts of 2008 provided the ideal base for this vintage. The early months of 2009 saw a small amount of rain, though just enough, and no unduly hot weather – a total of just four hours where the mercury climbed above 33C. Vanya called it the “dream vintage”. There was some crop loss due to Looper caterpillars but the red gums had a fine year also, managing to keep the birds at bay. They were replaced by kangaroos, who acquired a taste for the grapes. Netting and proper fencing is now mandatory. As a vintage, this was as good as it gets. Cabernet was harvested between March 10 and 30 at 2.03 tonnes/acre; Merlot on March 11 at just 0.87; Malbec on March 2 at 1.32; and Franc on March 9 at 1.6. Alcohol was just 12.5%. The final blend was 88% Cabernet, 6% Franc, 4% Merlot and 2% Malbec. It spent 13 months in French oak, 55% of which was new. Or try this: Front row at a Springsteen concert, just as he breaks into ‘Jungleland’. Final verdict: A couple of cases of this or a single bottle of First Growth? A wine like this must terrify Bordeaux. 2007 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline FINE Estate 96p Tasted: 2011 Decanting time: 4 hours Glass time: 2 hours When to drink: 2015 to 2040 Food pairing: Lamb medallions Fake factor: None Inside information: An extreme change from the cold and disappointing ‘06, and the vintage that Vanya saw as providing a strong indication as to how they might fare with climate change. There was heat aplenty but rain at the right time ensured “outstanding quality”. Vanya was delighted – there won’t be so many sleepless nights about the potential devastation of climate change now. Yields were very low – 1.84 tonnes/acre for Cabernet, picked in the second week of March; 2.1 for Merlot, picked February 22; 2.34 for Franc, picked March 7; and a miserable 0.9 for Petit Verdot on March 13. The final blend was 84% Cabernet, 8% Merlot and 4% each of Petit Verdot and Franc. Alcohol is 14%. The wine spent just 14 months in oak, 48% new, 40% one-year and 12% two years. Or try this: Hoyo de Monterrey Edicion Limitada Pyramide 2003. Final verdict: Vanya dubs it “one of the greatest DM’s”. No argument. 95p 2008 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Average market AU$ 150 price: Colour: Bright crimson. Nose: Fragrant, rose petals, violets, blackfruits, cedary. Delightfully perfumed. Palate: Chalk and cheese compared to the ‘07 – the exuberance of that wine replaced by finesse and elegance. Regally balanced. Thrilling stuff. Aftertaste: Gossamer tannins, so silky as to be invisible. Great persistence. In a nutshell: What a wine! So much elegance in an Aussie wine at one time is almost unimaginable. Buy or not: As it gets older – it gets better, so will the price Tasted: 2013 Decanting time: 4 hours Glass time: 2 hours When to drink: 2014 to 2040 Food pairing: Game pie Fake factor: None Inside information: 2008 is Cary Grant to 2007’s Errol Flynn. Plenty of rain towards the end of 2007 set the scene for this vintage but it did lead to the ‘splicing of some vine leaves’, which resulted in small berries and lower yields. Warmth had arrived by mid-December and ensured a classic year, if less obviously generous than some. This was the first year the newly acquired ‘Mistral’ machine was in use – it assists in removing infertile berries, leaves and various other matter. Vanya believes it has contributed to “cleaner fruit and finer tannins”. This vintage was a Cabernet Merlot blend only (86/14%) with just 12.5% alcohol. The Cabernet was harvested throughout March with yields of 2.53 tonnes/acre. The Merlot was picked on February 29 with yields of just 0.78 tonnes/acre. Or try this: Ferrari California Red Final verdict: A wonder from Down Under! C U L L E N V I N E YA R D S 77

On the morning of 3 November 1916, the German submarine U-22 stopped a small Swedish schooner, Jönköping, off the Finnish coast. In the cargo hold of this unlucky ship were 3,000 bottles of champagne, 10,000 gallons of cognac, and 17 barrels of burgundy wine that had been ordered by the court of Tsar Nikolai II. The commander of the U-22 decided to sink the schooner but save the lives of 80 FINE its crew. The ship sank into the depths of the North Sea in less than an hour. On the morning of 15 April 1998, in an auction hall in London, the tap of a gavel ended a long-running tender competition – a world record had been born. More was paid for a champagne bottle that had lain in the cargo hold of Jönköping for 82 years than for any other champagne bottle before that.

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Jönköping was built at the Sjötorp shipyard in 1896. It was 20.5 metres long and 6.67 metres wide, and was equipped with an 18 horsepower oil engine. The ship was loaded in Gävle on 26 October 1916, and was ready to make its way to Rauma, Finland, for the tenth time that year. After a few hours of travel, however, poor weather interrupted the journey, and Jönköping had to anchor down and stay put for a few days. The unsuccessful attempt of the ship to return to Gävle on time created a rumour that a German submarine had sunk it – a rumour that ironically later proved to be prophetic. By 2 November, the weather improved noticeably, and the captain along with his crew decided to continue the journey toward Rauma. At the same time, a German submarine U-22 was positioned 12 nautical miles southwest from Rauma. Even though the commander of the submarine, Bruno Hoppe, had along with his crew already the previous day sunk two Swedish ships, it did not fully satisfy the captain. The sun had not quite risen yet, but the lookout could see and hear for 8 miles despite the slight morning fog. At 5am, he suddenly heard a weak sound. It was the sound of a motor. The commander was called to the lookout spot, and he immediately decided that they should look into the matter. The U-22 left its position and guided towards the sound that was coming from the west. The night was tranquil and calm on the Jönköping. The ship had made its way across the North Sea without any troubles. Because of the dusk and fog, however, the Finnish coast could not yet be seen. Therefore, the schooner cruised calmly in front of 82 FINE Rauma, waiting for dawn. Suddenly, a small island was detected from the ship, and fearing that the coast was already too close, they turned Jönköping toward the open sea. Soon they noticed, however, that the island was not an island but rather a German submarine, which quickly overtook them! Commander Hoppe ordered the captain of the schooner, E.B. Eriksson, to turn off the ship’s engine and go up to the submarine to show the ship’s papers and explain its cargo. Hoppe soon realised that the cargo contained contraband, and he announced to Eriksson that the ship was to be sunk. Eriksson did whatever he could to save his ship. He suggested that they throw the entire cargo into the sea and even offered to transport it to the nearest German harbour. Hoppe had, however, already made his decision and stuck to it; this was Jönköping’s tenth journey that year with contraband, and Hoppe’s message was – there is a limit to everything, Jönköping’s time had come. Two crewmembers of the U-22 rowed to the schooner carrying explosives. After setting the explosives, the men in a hurry took as many bottles of champagne as they could from the ship and then left it. Except for these few bottles, the whole cargo load sank deep to the bottom of the sea along with the ship. The search for Jönköping commenced at the end of May 1997, in which a Swedish search party found the wreck at a depth of 64 metres. Only in July, when the diver returned from the wreck with a bottle of Heidsieck Monopole Goût Américain from 1907 in hand, was it confirmed that it really was Jonköping. (The same product and vintage had also been stored on the Titanic when it sunk in 1912.) The first bottle that the diver brought up, however, did not have a label or anything that would have immediately told what champagne the bottle in question held. The leader of the search party, Peter Lindberg, had the honour of opening the first bottle. This is how he reflected upon it: “I stood at the bow of my ship with my whole crew around me holding plastic cups, waiting for me to open the bottle. I held the cork tightly and tried to pull it up, but suddenly it was really tightly stuck. I had to use force to get it to move, and finally the cork got loose from the bottle accompanied by a little ‘plop’ sound. I was surprised that my heavy-handed handling had not broken the cork. I carefully smelled the cork. My first reaction was that it did not smell very good. There was, however, writing on it: Heidsieck & Co. Reims at the bottom and Goût Américain 1907 on the side. I handed the cork forward and placed the bottle underneath my nose and smelled. Already it smelled much better than the cork, and I knew immediately that the bottle did not contain water but instead champagne. The others around me also smelled the cork, and their reactions were somewhat similar to mine. Therefore, when I placed the bottle on my lips and tasted the first gulp, I thought I sensed crazy things. The taste was very strong, sweet, and fruity. The drink was actually very good! The others were observing me very closely to see my reaction. I took the bottle from my lips, and a smile lit up my face. As a result of this, many plastic cups were immediately held out in front of me. Because I had survived the first sip, my crew wanted to enthusiastically also get to taste this brilliant champagne.”

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FINE Tr e a s u r e Peter Lindberg, diver and leader of the search party, established the Swedish rescue group C-Star, which had acquired the rights to the schooner’s cargo. However, in early spring 1998, before C-Star had made it back again to the wreck, another ship was already there. Finnish businessman Peter Fryckman had quickly arranged for a ship and divers, and they were also trying to save the golden cargo. Fryckman demanded the right to the cargo, the part that would have belonged to his grandfather. Fryckman, however, could not prove his right to this claim. The local coast guard could not act and intervene in the matter at hand and asked the court for a decision on what to do. At the same time, a minor war was already escalating between the two rescue groups. There were accusations, rumours about death threats and sabotages, and small-scale violence in the air. On 3 July, a Finnish court ruled in favour of C-Star. Thus, the Finnish group should leave the area. On 5 July, all the divers from the Finnish ship suddenly moved to the Swedish ship. The Swedish group had simply offered them 25% of 99p everything that they could lift up, and they all joined their enemy’s group. As a result of this, the “war” seemed to be over for good. Fryckman, the leader of the Finnish group, did not comment in any way. His lawyer did, however, have a comment on the departure of the divers: “It’s horrible; all the things people do for money.” the water pressure at 64 metres had preserved the bottles in impeccable condition for 82 years. When Jönköping sank, its cargo hold contained some 50 wooden boxes of champagne, 60 bottles in each. Of these, some 2,500 bottles were lifted after seven successful rescue trips, and I have had the pleasure to taste three of them. In early 1900, Heidsieck & Co Monopole was the market leader in Europe. The rulers of Germany and Austria-Hungary, such as Tsar Nikolai II, were its faithful customers. Champagne was already known worldwide when in 1911, the King of England granted the Heidsieck & Co Monopole champagne house the prestigious royal warrant, in which the house then became “Purveyors of Champagne by appointment to his Majesty”. In Russia, for its part, where Heidsieck’s champagne was very well known and famous, Tsar Nikolai II’s personal orders even before Jönköping’s fateful journey exceeded a modest 400,000 bottles. The North Sea’s temperature, hovering around four degrees, the total darkness of the sea bottom and The first of these bottles was bought from the same Christie’s London auction house in 1998 where one of the bottles lifted from the schooner was sold for 4,068 dollars – the highest price that has ever been paid for an individual champagne bottle. The second bottle was acquired by Winebid.com at the beginning of 2001 for a price of 800 dollars, and the third from a German collector for the price of €1,000. The bottles were packed in wooden boxes and were covered in dried mud and fish-smelling sludge, as if straight from the bottom of the sea. The second bottle was completely oxidised and non-potable due to the poor shape of the bottle’s cork, but the first and third bottles were in excellent condition and surprisingly fresh. Champagne Monopole Goût Américain 1907, Heidsieck Excellent level; decanted five minutes before tasting. A high dosage wine. No malolactic fermentation. The result of the analysis: alcohol 12.35°, PH of 2.93, 42.55 grams of sugar, total acidity 5.35g H2SO4/litre. Drink now Pale and light, almost youthful color. Still has some bubbles left. Sweet, fruity, and fresh nose dominated by honey and exotic fruit and raisins. One of the richest champagnes I have tasted, and has amazingly good balance and structure. Not very sweet, even though the Heidsieck Goût American style had a relatively high sugar dosage. Very long and so pleasing wine, which moved smoothly and easily down the throat, leaving a most memorable and historic aftertaste. HEIDSIECK 1907 85

COLUMN JOHN KAPON THE 1945 PÉTRUS F a generous contribution from my newfound best friend. The Leroy had a truffle, mushroom and sous bois nose at first, with some dirty earth and soupy bouillon tones followed by secondary rose and citrus aromas. Its acidity was still extraordinary, and my host told me the story of how one evening this bottle showed even better than all the top Bordeaux, including a 1947 Cheval Blanc. ‘The power of Burgundy’, I thought to myself. The wine got better and better with each sip, shedding some of its dirt to reveal chocolaty flavours with borders of various nuts. Hints of tomato joined the citrus, chocolate and earth flavours, and the wine fleshed out in the glass as well. However, it could not beat the Bordeaux that would follow, and possibly even lost a point accordingly (94 points). Five years in my making, and sixty-five years in the bottle, it was finally time for the 1945 Pétrus. This was an original, no doubt about it by the looks of the bottle. Perfection or many years now, I have heard the story of this particular batch of 1945 Pétrus: when Wilf Jaeger tells you that it is the best bottle that he has ever had, it is hard not to listen. It just so happens this batch rested comfortably in the ‘Imperial Cellar’ for many years, and for most of those years I had to hear Wilf tell me over and over how great it was, digging my desire a little bit deeper with each recollection of their magical evening, which also saw the 1945 Trotanoy as a distinguished runner-up. Low and behold, the last four bottles turned up in our record-setting May auction, and immediately after the sale I made my move on the buyer, who happened to be the top buyer of the event. I asked if we could share one together, my treat, as I had to have this bottle before it disappeared forever like that girl you never asked out during high school. I was determined for that not to happen again. The first evening of my latest trip to Hong Kong saw the 1945 Pétrus make its way to the dinner table, at long last. First, we started with a 1955 Leroy Mazis Chambertin, 86 FINE

FINE Kapon John Kapon Contributor CEO Acker Merral & Condit came to mind upon the first whiff, as its nose was a kaleidoscope of greatness, pulling in every great quality from all the Pomerols right in to my glass. Aromas of plum, chocolate and royal garden marched into my nose with style and precision. Fine was an understatement, as its elegance and breed were of Olympic equestrian level, carrying over to its fruit, which was elegant but at the same time beyond wealthy. Its concentration was golden, as in bars not bracelets. I could not get over its density, both in the nose and on the palate. The 1945 was all that and then some, and it seduced me like a gorgeous woman. Its colour was still dark and vibrant; this wine could last another fifty years without issue. Its royal garden qualities upgraded to Versailles status, and flavours of mocha abounded on its dense and deft palate, with nice traces of chalk on the finish. There were pinches of wild herbs emerging, in a rosemary meets wheat way, as well as a baked goodness in a coconut direction, but it was not quite coconut. Our sommelier noted, ‘strawberry’. The chef at Otto E Mezzo, Hong Kong’s version of Mario Batali, gushed that it was “so young and so healthy”. What was so great about this bottle, and this vintage for the Right Bank in general, is that it still possessed a tension to its fruit, unlike 1947, which produced concentrated and much sweeter wines in general. I can only hope to taste this nectar again in my lifetime, but I strongly suspect that it will be difficult to achieve the heights that this bottle took me to. It touched my soul (99+ points). It was a nice warm-up for the week that followed, a casual Monday that was anything but. > COLUMN 87

C L I V E . C O M

B R I T I S H L U X U R Y I N T E R I O R S b y C L I V E C H R I S T I A N

2011 B The ORDEAUX Fine Harvest report – 2011 is a dangerous vintage Text: Jeff Leve Photography: Pekka nuikki/ Jeff Leve A ll agricultural regions enjoy, or suffer from, the capricious vagaries of Mother Nature. For Bordeaux, 2011 was one of the more difficult growing seasons in recent history. Things began as they normally do. After the cold winter faded, spring arrived; but far too early. In fact, by the time April rolled around much of Bordeaux was enjoying conditions more suited to summer – the first half of the year was one of the warmest periods enjoyed by the region for six decades! However, accompanying the warmth was very little rain. By the time Bordeaux usually begins to warm up, things had changed once again, but this time it was worse. In July, the warm and dry conditions that had been in place since February suddenly packed up and left, leaving July as one the coldest months for more than three decades. While some rain fell at the right moment, offering nourishment for both the vines and many growers, fears of rot were not uncommon. Producers who had enjoyed stunning back to back vintages with 2009 and 2010 were faced with a number of choices. However, all these choices required extensive work and selection in the vineyards. If that wasn’t enough to cope with, a massive storm slammed into the Northern Medoc on September 10, causing some 90 FINE growers to begin their harvest earlier than anticipated and further reducing their yields in the process. 2011 will be known as one of the earliest harvests in history, competing with 1893 for that record. Producers that were willing to ruthlessly discard unripe or damaged berries were able to make good wine. Yields are low. For some chateaux, they set records for the smallest yields in their history, while others had to go back to 1961 to find a year with such low yields. How did the Bordelais cope with the vintage? We spoke to numerous vintners, who shared their experience of the 2011 growing season with us. “2011 is a dangerous vintage. We lived through drought, rain and a lot of sun – in that order. The drought did not impact on our vineyard very much, because we have different terroirs. With each terroir, we performed specific work in the vineyards and we were lucky in our choices. The entire Right Bank of Bordeaux seems to be a success so far and yes, this includes not just St. Emilion but Pomerol as well. From my recent tastings, Bordeaux 2011 seems to be a mix of two Bordeaux vintages: 2007 for the smoothness and 2009 for the maturity and sucrosité,” says Jean Luc Thunevin.

FINE Vintage I n 1989, Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle Andraud bought a small 0.6-hectare plot of vines, with the dream of making great St. Emilion wine. The name of the estate is personal: Valandraud is a combination of the location and something more meaningful. The Val comes from Vallon de Fongaban, the second part, Andraud, is Murielle’s maiden name. Things have changed at the estate since its birth. They Andraud’s have acquired more land and, perhaps more importantly, the Valandraud is now made entirely by Murielle. Indeed, 2007 was the first vintage that Murielle was completely in charge of, as she called every shot in terms of winemaking. This, in my humble opinion, was a good move. Valandraud 2009 and Valandraud Murielle Andraud 2010 are two of the finest efforts from this unique Bordeaux wine producer. The current 2011 vintage marks the 20th vintage for Valandraud, as their first effort was the Valandraud 1991. Jean-Luc Thunevin: “We waited patiently for our grapes to reach the right concentration before harvesting. We started on September 7 and managed to finish by October 13, which is about two weeks earlier than usual. Bordeaux 2011 is about sorting, sorting and more sorting. We sorted in the vineyards and in the cellars. Since the 2007 vintage, we have been using the Tribaie sorting machine, which helps us to remove more of the bad grapes based on the levels of sugar concentration in the berries. The machine performs ‘densimetric’ sorting, which is based on the desired levels of ripeness and sugar levels.” BORDEAUX 2011 91

The 2011 B The day starts before the sun rises Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion started harvesting their young vine Merlot on August 29, which is early for the First Growth estate. To give you an idea of how early, in 2010 HautBrion started to pick their young Merlot vines on September 8, and in that vintage harvesting continued until October 9. Between the two Pessac Leognan properties, where there are both red and white grapes to pick, the schedule is very busy. The harvesters begin their day working on the grapes for their white wine, often starting before the sun rises. Jean-Philippe Delmas explains why they harvest early in the morning: “The purpose of picking the white grapes early in the morning is to ensure the fruit remains cool. This helps the berries to retain their unique, fresh aromas. This year, we picked our white grapes between 7am and noon. We do this because by that time of day the skins are dry and none of the dew from the night remains.” ORDEAUX The earliest harvest on record since 1893 Château Lafite-Rothschild began to harvest Cabernet Sauvignon in their northernmost parcels, located not far from Château Cos d’Estournel, on September 2, 2011. This is one of the earliest harvests on record for the property. You will, without doubt, be reading quotes from many Bordeaux wine producers that Bordeaux 2011 will, for many chateaux, be their earliest harvest on record since 1893. How­ever, growers situated in some parts of Bordeaux have moved their timetables forward and are harvesting even earlier than previously expected. Due to the freak barrage of hail and rain in the Northern Médoc, centred near the Pauillac-St.Estèphe border, many chateaux in the vicinity have decided to start picking earlier than they had originally planned, in order to avoid possible problems with the onset of rot. The most notable property is the famed First Growth, Château Lafite-Rothschild. It is possible that the storm, which dropped more than half an inch of rain in a twenty-minute period, caused some flooding to the cellars of Lafite-Rothschild. “With our 2011 harvest, we harvested earlier because the growing of the vines was earlier than usual, due to the very hot spring. But the summer maturation weather conditions were fresh and cool, so the wine is of a cooler style than a late vintage. The nice weather conditions at the end of August and September were very good for phenolic ripeness,” Fabien Teitgen from Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte explains. The 2011 vintage is not simple to handle Smith-Haut-Lafitte is not only making great white and red Bordeaux wine in Péssac Léognan, they are at the forefront of technology as well. They were one of the first Bordeaux wine producers to begin using 92 FINE

FINE Vintage Fine Harvest report – 2011 is a dangerous vintage Optical Sorting, which came in handy when dealing with the difficult 2011 Bordeaux harvest. Fabien Teitgen, the long-time managing director, joined us for a long, detailed conversation concerning what took place at Smith-Haut-Lafitte during the 2011 Bordeaux vintage. “To my mind, 2011 is balanced by low pH and medium alcohol. So, for those who picked at the right time, their wines will be balanced with a good concentration and good freshness. This vintage is not so simple to handle.” Château Cos d’Estournel, St.Estèphe, started their 2011 Bordeaux harvest on September 5. Jean-Guillaume Prats believes that 2011 set a modern day record for early harvesting at Château Cos d’Estournel: “This was the estate’s second earliest harvest on record. To find an earlier date, we needed to go back to 1893!” While the specific date to start picking was not set in stone, the original plan was not to begin their Bordeaux harvest as early as they did. However, due to a ferocious storm that swept through the area, any hope of waiting went out the window. “We initially planned to start around September 9 with the young vines. After the storm, we gave ourselves time over the weekend to assess the situation and make the appropriate decision about whether to wait and see how the weather would develop in the days to come. We were “lucky” this vintage was extremely early. The damage in terms of the phenolic ripeness of the grapes should be very minor. If this was a later year, such as 2008, 2009 or 2010, the effects would be much worse,” said Prats. Since Patrick Maroteaux purchased Château Branaire Ducru in 1988, he has been on a mission to produce the best wine possible from this Fourth Growth estate. While 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2009 are all ­potential candidates for Branaire-Ducru’s best wine yet, I am willing to place a bet that the 2010 turns out to be his strongest wine to date. But, what about 2011 Branaire, and where does the most recent vintage stand? Patrick Maroteaux explains: “We will produce a rather powerful and colourful vintage due to the low ratio between the juice and the skin. So far, the tannins seem rather approachable and elegant. The complexity of the structure will probably not be at the same level as the 2009 and 2010 vintages. We can position the 2011 vintage in the category of very serious wines. We now know for sure that this vintage will show a very interesting balance.” 2011 is a great year for Cabernet Sauvignon Château Kirwan, located in the Margaux appellation, has been on a slow and steady course of improvement since the early 1990s; in 1991, the estate brought in Michel Rolland as their consultant. ­Kirwan is managed by Sophie Schyler, who is ably assisted by their winemaker Philippe Delfaut. This is a Bordeaux property that strives to produce the best wine possible, while over the past few years they have restored the château and built a new barrel cellar. With the 2011 vintage currently ageing in barrel, Philippe Delfaut candidly discusses the “To my mind, 2011 is balanced by low pH and medium alcohol. So, for those who picked at the right time, their wines will be balanced with a good concentration and good freshness. This vintage is not so simple to handle.” Jean-Guillaume Prats BORDEAUX 2011 93

The 2011 B “The first part of the growing season, from bud burst to flowering, was very early in 2011. What made a big difference was the speed of the growth and the ripening process between the flowering season and the picking.” 2011 Bordeaux vintage and harvest. “The first part of the season was very promising, with hot and dry weather. Then the excessive heat and drought caused withering and scorching of the grapes, leading to a reduced yield. Certain varieties, such as the Petit Verdot, suffered acutely from the drought, and the Cabernet Sauvignon withered to a greater extent than the others. The 2011 vintage is extraordinary, as we are witnessing a heretofore unimaginable development: the alcohol content in the Cabernet Sauvignon is vastly higher than that of the Merlot! There can be no doubt: 2011 is a great year for Cabernet Sauvignon on the Left Bank. Although the Merlot and the Petit Verdot offer brilliant fruit, one must admit that the taste is somewhat lacking in depth. However, the Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon reveal an incredible richness that has never before been achieved at Kirwan. The 2011 Bordeaux vintage is one of contrasts, and it is probably one of a kind!” 94 FINE ORDEAUX The 2011 will certainly be more nervous than the 2009 OR the 2010 Bordeaux vintages Château Palmer is on a roll. In fact, they’ve been on a roll since Thomas Duroux joined the team just in time for the 2004 Bordeaux vintage. To find out how Château Palmer handled the difficult 2011 Bordeaux vintage, we spoke with Jean-Michel Laportre Thomas Duroux. Duroux, as usual, offered great comments on what is taking place at their Margaux property. “The first part of the growing season, from bud burst to flowering, was very early in 2011. What made a big difference was the speed of the growth and the ripening process between the flowering season and the picking. In 2003, for example, the time for this was shorter than normal. The result, in certain circumstances, cooked the wine’s aromas and produced dry tannins. At this stage, we have ’normal’ alcohol levels: 13 to 13.5 for the Merlot and we expect 12.5 for the Cabernets.­ The pH levels are a little lower than last year and the malic acid levels are also low. This means that the final acidity will not be much lower after malolactic fermentation. The 2011 will certainly be more nervous than the 2009 or the 2010 Bordeaux vintages.”

FINE Vintage Fine Harvest report – 2011 is a dangerous vintage The 2011 is a winemaker’s vintage A complicated summer in Pomerol With its clay soils and preference for Merlot grapes, Pomerol is usually the first of the major Bordeaux appellations to commence harvesting. However, this was not the case with every châteaux in this difficult Bordeaux vintage. Each chateau picks their fruit at the time they think will allow them to produce the style of wine that offers the best representation of their terroir. Jean-Michel Laportre of Château La Conseillante discussed their 2011 Bordeaux harvest and growing season while explaining what they are seeking to achieve with this tricky vintage. “Maturity should be perfect. The main interest is that the weather is normally better at the beginning of September than at the end of the month or in October. So, it is less stressful and there is less hurry to harvest, but more chances to improve the maturity. The spring was very warm and dry, while the summer was quite complicated. But, the vines got through it quite well. They never really suffered from the drought, as the growing season began very early and they had the time to get used to it. It would have been more dangerous if the spring had been very rainy, and the summer very dry and hot. We suffered more in 2003 because of the hot weather, and the heat took its toll more than drought. We will probably have a better balance than 2009 and 2010, allowing for a more classic Bordeaux style. The alcohol should be lower and the acidity a bit higher. This will certainly help the freshness and taste to explode!” Château Troplong Mondot produced one of the best St. Emilion wines in 2010. However, that year was a much easier vintage for their limestone and clay terroir. Troplong Mondot is a true family-managed property: Christine Valette and Xavier Pariente have been on top of things for close to 15 years. To find out what they were doing with the 2011 vintage, we spoke with Xavier Pariente. “The 2011 Bordeaux vintage will be a typical Bordeaux vintage. It is classical, yet distinguished, fruity and well balanced. The characteristics of the 2011 vintage are those of a classic Bordeaux vintage. The wines display medium alcohol content with a good acidity, allowing for a good ageing of this vintage.” Christine Valette Hubert de Boüard has been at Château Angelus in St. Emilion for 30 years. You might think by this time he would have seen it all, but that is not the case. According to de Boüard, the 2011 Bordeaux growing season is unprecedented thanks to its unusual weather patterns. With two estates in St. Emilion, Angelus and Bellevue, as well as a busy consulting practice, Hubert has had his hands full of late. However, he still finds time to sum up this wonderful and unusual vintage: “In 2011, we experienced the summer before the spring. The weather conditions this year were quite unpre­ cedented: spring was particularly sunny and hot, encouraging the vines to develop very early. The weather durHubert de Boüard ing summer, however, was relatively uncertain, and this meant we had to work on the vines constantly. The 2011 is a winemaker’s vintage. More than ever, this year will reflect each winegrower’s keen perception and responsiveness.” > BORDEAUX 2011 95

E N J O Y C H A M P A G N E L A U R E N T- P E R R I E R R E S P O N S I B LY.

“All my life I have sought the simplicity of a single line.” ANTOINE wATTEAU

COLUMN DAVID LEMIRE MW WHOLE BUNCH F our staggeringly good red Burgundies stole the show at a recent dinner at Celcius in Adelaide, which I attended with ten young South Australian winemakers: Leroy Latricières Chambertin, Rousseau Chambertin, and Domaine de la Romanée Conti Romanée St-Vivant, all from 1999, and Comte George de Vogüé Bonnes Mares from 2009. Given that two of these wines were made from completely de-stemmed grapes (the Rousseau and the Vogué) and two were from ‘whole bunch’ ferments, the subject of stems was hard to ignore. Fermenting with whole bunches is the winemaking trend of the moment, spreading from its most entrenched territory in Burgundy and the Rhone Valley to diverse regions and varieties. The most famous examples are, of course, those Burgundians mentioned above, along with the hugely influential Domaine Dujac, where stems have always been part of the winemaking routine and the personality of the wines. But for many other producers, working with stems represents a step back in time. De-stemming was rare in Burgundy prior to the 1980s, when the influence of Henri Jayer, who popularised the technique, coupled with the demand from the USA for plush, opulent styles of Burgundy, saw it become widespread. Including stems, normally by way of whole uncrushed bunches, but sometimes via 98 FINE destemming and then returning some stems to the vat, will normally add tannins to the wine, and reduce colour as some is absorbed by the stems. The wine’s pH will rise, due to the potassium in the stems; the temperature of the ferment will be moderated; the ferment will tend to be longer as it is less efficient; and slightly less alcohol will be produced. The impact on flavour can be significant, and using stems that have sufficient ripeness is crucial if green stalky notes are to be avoided. And, of course, with the whole bunches having completely intact berries, some carbonic maceration can add to complexity. Ironically, for most people using stems, the aim is not to make more tannic wines. In fact, whole bunch ferments work well with another key trend in Burgundy – that of gentle maceration. On a recent visit to Burgundy, several producers told me that rather than doing one or two pigeages per day, for the 2009s they did one or two during the entire three-week period on skins. This resulted in less extraction by agitation and more, gentler extraction by an extended ferment, with the stem tannins contributing. In Australia, whole bunch has been widely practiced for Pinot Noir, with Gary Farr (who has done around twenty vintages at Domaine Dujac) perhaps the most successful exponent. For Shiraz, though, it is a more recent phenomenon, but one that is gaining currency

each year. The wines of leading cool climate Shiraz producers, Clonakilla (up to 30 per cent whole bunch) and Mt Langi (up to 40 per cent whole bunch) make a compelling case for the technique’s appropriateness for Shiraz in Australia. Perhaps the most important thing to understand about this trend is the changes in philosophy that it reflects. Certainly, there is the move away from high levels of extraction, with less desire for plush and inky wines. However, working with whole bunches also fits the ambition to make wines of more personality and less homogeneity. Whole bunches also fit the aim to make wines with less intervention and which more clearly express and reflect the site rather than the winemaker’s stamp. FINE Lemire David Lemire MW Contributor David LeMire MW is a wine business professional with experience in retail, distribution and brand management. A two-year stint in London in the mid 90s gave him a ‘eurocentric’ palate, which he further developed in Australia in his roles with Negociants Australia, a leading importer of fine wine to Australia. Between 2000 and 2007 he was Imports Manager for Negociants Australia, overseeing a portfolio that included many of the great names of Burgundy, including, but not limited to, Coche Dury, Roulot, Bonneau du Martray, Roumier and Domaine de la Romanee Conti. He has run his own consulting business, has a share in a small wine production business, writes regular columns for Australia’s Wine Business Magazine, is an irregular wine show judge, and is co-convenor of the Australasian Institute of Masters of Wine Educational Seminar. In 2010, he joined the team at leading Adelaide Hills winery Shaw & Smith in a broad role that includes tasting, talking and writing. There’s no doubt that whole bunch ferments fit well with the spirit of winemaking in many parts of the world – not least Burgundy, where so many producers abandoned it. But don’t expect everyone to follow suit. Burgundy’s best winemakers have strong views on the best way to make wine at their domains, and won’t be easily swayed. I suspect there’s as much chance of Francois Millet at Comte de Vogüé embracing stems as there is of the team at Domaine Dujac eschewing them. But when one considers the beauty that these styles at each end of the spectrum can achieve, and the myriad variations between them, then hopefully polite disagreement, rather than furious agreement, will continue to thrive. > COLUMN 99

no. 545 Dom Perignon 1973 Text and Photo: Pekka Nuikki Y ears ago, I was on a long filming trip in the Austrian Alps. Exhausted returned to that hotel lobby from which we had started; we had not by the long weeks, my then girlfriend and I decided to enjoy found a single vacancy for the night. ourselves by driving to Prague to spend a romantic New Year’s Eve Continuing the trip was not possible and did not excite us. We could together, just the two of us. However, like so many other times in the get gas for the car only with coupons, and finding a gas station that was past, fate intervened, and the New Year that we had planned to spend open or a person selling coupons under the table seemed to be even romantically with each other turned out to be the complete opposite. more difficult than finding an open hotel room. A notable role in all of this was played by Dom Pérignon 1973. The only option seemed to be to spend New Year’s Eve in our car, fit for two. After we had driven through mountainous Austria, we arrived mid- With that tremor-inducing and less than romantic image in our minds, afternoon on New Year’s Eve at a small border crossing station between we tried again to explain our uncomfortable situation to the hotel Austria and Czechoslovakia. Even if I knew from experience that the attendants, appealing for anything. Perhaps our persistent appearance border guards would be very frustrated to be working on New Year’s Eve, or the festive mood made the attendant relent in the end: he gave us the the conduct of the annoyed customs officials equipped with machine unoccupied resting room of the hotel’s housekeepers for our use for one guns was surprisingly poor. Apparently, my sports car and my beautiful night. We were sincerely grateful and happy for our room, which certainly companion only added to their irritability, and indeed they took over four resembled a cleaning closet more than a room, but the place was very hours to search our car and belongings. As dusk began to fall we were warm and had a bed and that was enough, especially since the clock was finally able to continue our drive towards Prague, cold and hungry. nearing midnight. During the journey, our attention was fixed on the darkness and quiet We could hear that there was a big New Year’s celebration going on in that was all around us. The houses alongside the roads were dark, the the restaurant on the top floor. The hotel attendants suggested that we streets empty, and there was not even a gleam of light in the small should hurry there quickly if we wanted to raise our champagne glasses mountain villages. As we approached Prague, our worry that had in honour of the New Year. And a glass of champagne was exactly what increased little by little grew even worse when the gas stations and even we just now needed. larger villages seemed empty and abandoned. Behind all the darkness, The other hotel guests had apparently also heard the celebration, however, light soon began to shine in the sky: the city lights of Prague because a line had formed in front of the elevators. Two elevators went could be seen far away shimmering against the sky, and they eased our by. Finally, we were able to get on the third one. insecure state. After we arrived in the city, we quickly noticed where all of Just as the elevator doors were closing, we noticed to our horror that it the people from along the way were — masses of people wandered about started to sink downward towards the cellar. All twelve guests who were in the city ready to greet a new, better year. dressed in their best suddenly forgot their good manners and tried to get Following an old technique that we had found to be good, we parked out of the sinking elevator without a care for anyone else. Only two of the our car in front of the best hotel in the city and expected to easily book most unscrupulous men who were the closest to the door were able to a room with money – but we were wrong. No rooms were available, and climb out of the elevator before the opening between its roof and the the hotel attendant kindly, but ominously, suspected the situation to be floor of the hotel lobby was too small for a human to get through. the same in the other hotels as well. Still, we decided to try. After an exhausting two-hour search, we 100 FINE Luckily for us, the elevator stopped at a depth of about two metres. A gap of some twenty centimetres remained between the elevator roof

FINE 1000 545 I myself think the Dom Pérignon vintage of 1973 is the last great Dom Pérignon. no. DOM PÉRIGNON 1973 101

and the floor of the hotel lobby. Through it, the hotel staff came to tell us comfortingly that we had descended to the bottom of the shaft, and that there was no fear of a larger fall. On the other hand, there was no hope of lifting the elevator before the morning. There we were, ten shaken passengers in a six-person elevator at the bottom of the shaft, and the time was just a few minutes before midnight. We quickly realised that this was going to be a memorable New Year’s Eve, and we figured that a few bottles of bubbly would ease the situation. I desperately asked the hotel attendants to bring us the best champagne in the house. And we did not have to wait for long before an apologeticlooking attendant lowered a few bottles and glasses toward outstretched hands in the elevator. I was expecting to receive some Russian sparkling wine, but can you imagine my face when a magnum bottle of Dom Pérignon 1973 was handed down to me. My fear of being in a confined space and my worry about having to sleep standing up on New Year’s Eve vanished all at once. The monk who had brought the champagne to the whole world’s consciousness – of whose better champagne vintages was now waiting in my hands to be released – saved and freed our distressed minds for a moment or two. I opened the bottle carefully and poured the sparkling elixir into the glasses that had already gathered around me. It made us all forget our strange unwanted environment and connected ten strangers together for a small moment in a way that would forever remain in our memories. I cannot remember anything more about the taste of the champagne itself, but I do remember the disappointment that occupied my mind after those two bottles were finished and German sparkling water was lowered to the elevator. The festive atmosphere disappeared, and the reality that we were in a cramped elevator with eight others without any chance to get out for many more hours, shook my mind and body to the core. When we got out of the elevator at 6:30 in the morning, my topmost memory was that of a unique New Year’s Eve with my wife-to-be in the distinguished company of Dom Pérignon. Together with Krug, Dom Pérignon is seen as the best champagne of 1973. Even though the 1973 vintage was almost catastrophic in large parts of the French wine regions, the Champagne province succeeded in producing a fairly good vintage. The main reason for this was an exceptionally hot summer and a warm autumn. The hard rains at the end of September weakened the quality of the harvest, however, and few other Champagne Houses released a champagne vintage that year. According to Dom Pérignon’s chief winemaker, Richard Geoffroy, the year was identical in terms of weather conditions to the excellent vintage of 1988. The vintage of 1973 produced rich, multidimensional and long-living champagnes, of which perhaps the best example is specifically Dom Pérignon. I myself think the Dom Pérignon vintage of 1973 is the last great Dom Pérignon. Even though it is not as concentrated or multidimensional as many other 1960s Dom Pérignons, it is still in a different class from most other vintages born thereafter. The main reason for this is the multiplying of its production since the mid-1970s. The availability of the 1973 vintage on the market is still good, especially now that Möet & Chandon released an Oenotèque version of it just a few years ago. Prices start at around 300¤ ending with the 900¤ price of Oenotèque. 102 FINE 94 p 1973 Dom Pérignon Moët & Chandon (Champagne) 2013/2020 x 23 D 10 min / G 40 min Bright, golden colour with attractive, playful small bubbles. The pronounced nose is broad and very toasty with chocolate and smoky mineral tones. Quite dry, medium level of acidity and very rich mousse. Fresh and elegant toastiness with good fruitiness and hints of yeasty aromas. The finish is delicate and medium-length. Overall the wine was very humble in style and reflecting the innocence of its pure character.

Join Jancis Robinson’s Purple Pages for a daily taste of wine online As a Fine reader, you can now secure 12 months’ unlimited access to the award-winning Purple Pages of JancisRobinson.com, source of so much valuable inside information on wine, for just £59 (approx €75) instead of the usual £69 (approx €88). What Purple Pages, updated daily, offer: • More than 70,000 wine reviews, from Penfolds Bin 51 Riesling 2012 back to bottles dating from the 18th century • More than 9,000 articles good enough to win JancisRobinson.com the inaugural Louis Roederer International Wine Website of the Year award • The world’s only online Oxford Companion to Wine (RRP £40/€51) • Exclusive online access to all the maps in the World Atlas of Wine (RRP £35/€45) • ‘The most courteous wine forum on the planet’ (according to La Revue du Vin de France) To secure your special Fine discount, go to www.JancisRobinson.com, click on the Join now button and insert promotional code FINESAVE in the box top right. Offer expires 31 Dec 2012

“Pinot Central” C entr al otag o 104 FINE

he crowd erupts. Wearing matching snakeskin suit, shirt and shoes, and looking for all the world like a large, lumpy python, Duncan Forsyth from Mt Edward Wines has just been named ‘most sartorially inappropriate’, pipping perennial rival, contract winemaker Dean Shaw to the title. The occasion is the annual Feraud Dinner, named in honour of the first man to plant grapes in the Central Otago region of New Zealand, back in 1864. They didn’t last, but no matter. The dinner is to celebrate the region’s first 25 years (measured from their first commercial release). Around 170 winemakers, owners, viticulturists, families and friends are sardined into the largest room they could find, which happens to be at Northburn Station. The tables are groaning under many and varied wines – this is a BYO event – and bottles are passed from friend to family to friend. They range from old to new, representing the efforts of the last two and a half decades – mostly Pinot Noir, of course. There are also a few tables with some big name Burgundies and someone has even FINE De stination t had the audacity to bring a bottle of Margaux. No one minds too much. The speeches seem endless and are mostly impromptu, with several of the pioneers telling tales from the early days. Someone reads messages of support and apologies from those who could not be there, making it seem for all the world like a wedding. Another speaks of the virtues of all the women behind the scenes and this gets a huge cheer (reading the weather report would most likely get a huge cheer on this night). Yet another provides moving tributes to those pioneers no longer with us. Someone tells a story about how a bunch of friends nearly built a winery on his property. They didn’t, but no one cares. Someone else provides a bottle of Waiheke Island Malbec (Waiheke being a trendy destination in Auckland Harbour, far to the north, where variable wines are made) and it is auctioned off for a local childrens’ charity, bringing in $1200. The winemaker bemoans that this is just a third of the cost of production, though it is, in fact, many times its actual value. Everyone cheers. There are some very bleary-eyed winemakers in Central Otago the next morning. C E N T R A L OTAG O 105

a cartoonist might draw the region as a runaway locomotive, with a bunch of winemakers hanging on desperately for the wild ride. Has any wine region ever come so far, so fast? From an obscure, hidden away, semi-arid district in the south of New Zealand’s sparsely populated South Island, best known for its plague-like proportion of rabbits, it has become the toast of the wine world. How? Simple. Discover that you can produce sensational Pinot Noir and the world will beat a path to your door. Rightly or wrongly, Pinot from Central now has a reputation which is only bettered by Burgundy itself. That seems horribly unfair to regions like Martinborough, on New Zealand’s North Island, Oregon and several areas in Australia, but the folk here are not complaining. And did I mention that it is quite possibly the most stunning wine region on the planet? Scenery to take your breath away. It is the world’s most southerly wine region and, given its success, it is no surprise that Pinot makes up around 80 per cent of the plant- 106 FINE ings. Other wines include complex Chardonnay, textural Pinot Gris and scintillating Riesling. Actually, locals believe that their success is built on something special, and it is on display for all to see at the dinner. They just refer to it as ‘the people’. The comradeship and camaraderie throughout the region is the cornerstone of their success. No one ever gets ‘too big for his boots’ and if anyone needs a hand, it is all in. Blair Walter, the winemaker from Felton Road, is the perfect example. He always reminds me of Tim Kirk from Clonakilla in the Canberra region of Australia. Two nicer, more humble blokes it would be impossible to meet, yet both are very much leaders in their respective regions, as much as they might be horrified at the thought. Much of the international reputation of Central has ridden on the back of the stunning wines of Felton Road and the efforts of Blair, and owner Nigel Greening, to promote them tirelessly around the globe. Yet talk to the locals back home and if someone has a question about vintage, needs to borrow a piece of machinery, or wants a second opinion on a wine, then Blair is the first to stick up his hand to help. It is an attitude shared across the region. History After Feraud’s efforts failed to take hold, Roman Bragato surveyed New Zealand in the late 19th century in order to seek out the best sites. Central was described as having the ‘utmost potential’, but these were the days when the region’s gold was dug from under the earth, not grown in it. Sheep, skiing and tourism followed. Small scale viticulture dipped a toe in the soil in the second half of the 20th century. The short version is that in the ‘80s, a cooperative approach led to a white, grown from several sources, being presented to Jancis Robinson. She was encouraging without going overboard. There is a single bottle left, possibly destined for a future museum. The early names involved with this were Taramea, Gibbston Valley, Rippon, Black Ridge and William

FINE De stination “How? Simple. Discover that you can produce sensational Pinot Noir and the world will beat a path to your door. Rightly or wrongly, Pinot from Central now has a reputation which is only bettered by Burgundy itself.” Hill. Central is an extensive and diverse region, and the impracticality of a co-operative approach was soon acknowledged. A number of people were instrumental in establishing viticulture in the region but if any one man deserves the title of founding father, it must be Alan Brady, who, at the time, found himself a long way from his Belfast home. Brady founded Gibbston Valley and then Mt Edward Winery soon after. The region’s second gold rush was on. Quartz Reef, Mt Difficulty, Chard Farm, Felton Road, Peregrine and others appeared. By 1996, there were eleven wineries; by 2003, it had increased to 52; and today there are 120. In 2003, there were 700 hectares under vine. These days, that figure has more than doubled but is still significantly less than a tenth of Marlborough. The number of tonnes harvested has exploded in the last decade – 1825 in 2003 to 8115 – but none of this explains the importance of Central to New Zealand wine. C E N T R A L OTAG O 107

“Pinot Central” Cent r al otag o 108 FINE

FINE De stination Wine tourism aside, the Kiwis garnered international attention with their incredibly distinctive Sauvignon Blanc. Savvy, with all the goodwill in the world, will never allow a country to be seen as the home of truly great wine. Pinot Noir will. The Kiwis were, at this point, attracting serious interest in their Pinots from Martinborough and, to a lesser extent, Marlborough, Nelson and Canterbury, but the arrival of Central took things to the next level. Although plantings have definitely slowed, and there may be ‘sales issues’ similar to those being experienced by most top regions around the globe, the consensus is very much that the future is truly exciting. Sub-regions There are two schools of thought here. One is that far too many people around the world have enough trouble locating New Zealand on a map, let alone Central Otago, so to try and bring in a range of sub-regions would be nothing but confusing. Others feel that the differences between the various sub-regions are enough to make the exercise worthwhile. Of course, getting everyone on board to agree on exactly what the sub-regions and their borders are is no easy task. Some claim there should be an all-in ‘Cromwell Basin’, but as the Bannockburn sub-region is part of it, and has been so important, it is hard to see those wineries agreeing to be shoehorned into a more amorphous larger region. Taking into account some blurring, here are the basic subregions and their characteristics – remember that these are quite large and nothing like the tiny appellations found in Burgundy. Cromwell, including Lowburn/ Pisa, is situated to the west of Lake Dunstan, and runs 25 kilometres from the town. It is known for delightfully seductive, satiny styles. Bendigo, to the northeast of Cromwell, is a relatively recent region and is as warm as anywhere in Central. The wines are more burly here, with consid- erable intensity. Bannockburn is home to many of the region’s big guns, with wonderfully silky and compellingly complex wines. Located to the south of Cromwell, it is one of the warmest, driest sites in Central, and produces highly distinctive wines. Picking can sometimes be an entire month ahead of Gibbston. Wanaka is a long drive away but worth it because of the stunning scenery. There is an appealing delicacy to the wines from this cooler and often slightly damper district. Alexandra is in the far south and one gets the impression that they feel a bit like the long-forgotten cousin. The wines, in general, have good structure and good aromatics, with one local claiming the region enjoys the South Island’s warmest and coolest temperatures. Gibbston is close to Queenstown and benefits from the tourist traffic. It is the highest of these districts, and the coolest. The wines are lighter in style, but there is an underlying intensity. C E N T R A L OTAG O 109

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“Pinot Central” Ce n tr a l ota g o e europe Comes to Central – Quartz reef Quarz Reef owner Rudi Bauer. 112 FINE Rudi Bauer must have felt a bit like a fish out of water when he landed in Central many years ago. He arrived in New Zealand in 1985, having studied and made wine in Austria and Germany, and subsequently California and Burgundy – Meo Camuzet, no less. Qualified winemakers were as rare as the proverbial hen’s teeth back then. In the late ‘80s, Rudi worked at Rippon Vineyard, moved away, came back and then settled for good in the region, before pioneering the Bendigo sub-region. It was inevitable that he would set up his own operation and he did so in 1996, with the first vintage following two years later. He has been part of almost everything that has happened in the region since he arrived, working tirelessly to promote not just his wines but the region in general. The extremely likeable Rudi picked James Halliday and myself up at the Queenstown airport on this most recent visit and his first question to us was would we be interested in doing a full vertical of all his wines, standard Pinots and the ‘Bendigo’ wines, as he’d never done one himself. We jumped at the chance. Rudi is undoubtedly one of the region’s premier winemakers. His wines are very much from the more robust end of the spectrum. No delicate, light, wishy-washy wines here – just Pinot with flavour, grunt and, occasionally, finesse. The tasting was wonderfully instructive, and revealed that Pinot from Central is undoubtedly a wine that can age and improve, especially considering the youth of the vineyards. 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008 and, especially, 2010

FINE De stination were all stunning. From the Bendigo range, 2004 being the first vintage, there was a string of superb wines. Again, I loved the 2010. 2009 was the only year where the wine did not shine, and Rudi made the brave, and expensive, decision not to release it. If Central had first growths, Quartz Reef would be a shoo-in. “A number of people were instrumental in establishing viticulture in the region but if any one man should be seen as the founding father of the region then it must be Alan Brady.” Photo: Andrea Johnson the Undisputed Champion – Felton road Felton Road owner Nigel Greening and winemaker Blair Walter. They may have made an occasional wine with which they are not completely happy, but I doubt Felton Road have ever made a bad one. I first met their winemaker, Blair Walter, when visiting Domaine de L’Arlot in Burgundy in the mid ‘90s. Blair was doing vintage in order to gain experience; he also worked in California, where he gained a wife. Blair returned to New Zealand to head up Felton Road in the nascent Bannockburn sub-region. It had just been founded by Stewart Elms, with the plantings dating back to 1992. Stewart sold to the charismatic Nigel Greening in 2000 and the estate has gone from strength to strength ever since. A strong proponent of biodynamics, Felton Road has been certified since 2002, it sometimes seems that Blair loves nothing more than digging holes around his vineyards and learning something new every day. Pinot is, of course, the focus. They expanded from their standard Pinot, now called ‘Bannockburn’, because too many people were seeing it as some sort of second wine behind the ‘Block’ series – it is not – to ‘Block 3’ and ‘5’, as well as their ‘Cornish Point’ and, intriguingly, their ‘Calvert Vineyard’. They work the ‘Calvert’, found at the base of their own vineyards, for a friend and, in the past, shared the fruit with Pyramid Valley and Craggy Range, which provides a wonderful opportunity to compare the influence of a winemaker on terroir. Felton Road recently purchased Calvert’s neighbouring block, though more as an insurance policy than anything else. They also make wonderfully complex Chardonnay (‘Bannockburn’ and ‘Block 2’ – in 2004 and 2006, they made a ‘Block 6’ but found it richer and heavier than the minerally, citrus expression found in ‘Block 2’) and thrilling Rieslings (‘Dry’, ‘Bannockburn’ and ‘Block 1’). Felton Road is the yardstick by which all Central wines are judged. They are, however, guilty of some shameless pandering to certain wine critics – the winery cat is called ‘Jancis’. C E N T R A L OTAG O 113

a Pioneer takes it to the next level – Mt edward Winery Most winemakers following in the footsteps of Alan Brady, the godfather of the region, might struggle to emerge from his giant shadow. Not Duncan Forsyth. Snakeskin suits aside, he has taken production from 1500 cases to 6000 and has plans to raise this to 10 000 – all the while, not just maintaining quality but, in the eyes of many, increasing it. Duncan took over from Brady back in 2004 and has incorporated new vineyards into the portfolio. He was no newcomer to the region, however, having been winemaker at Chard Farm in the early days. 114 FINE “My initial experience of this estate was at the ‘Spring Tasting’ at Rippon, where the wines greatly impressed.” Mt Edward’s location, in the Gibbston sub-region, allows easy access from nearby Queenstown, and for Duncan to slip into town to share his wonderful homemade salami and chorizo with friends. Aside from his wonderfully voluptuous Pinot, the star turn here is the range of thrilling Rieslings. Furthermore, he also makes a peppery, creamy-textured Gruner Veltliner. These are wines that deserve an international audience.

The union of winemaking power couple, Sarah-Kate and Dan Dineen, is Australia’s loss and New Zealand’s gain. S-K dragged Dan back to the wonderfully scenic family farm in the Wanaka region, though one suspects he was a compliant victim. Both were highly regarded when working in the Hunter Valley, hardly great training for Pinot Noir, with Dan appointed to make the wines for Len Evans at Tower Estate, and surely there can have been no harder taskmaster, while S-K took Tempus Two to national prominence. The vineyard, on a steep northfacing slope, was first planted in 1994. They have Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc, but, of course, the passion is Pinot. The ‘reserve’ Pinot is called ‘Mt Maude’ and the 2010 was my top wine from all the 2010s on display at the Spring Tasting. Enough said. Under the radar – Domain road My initial experience of this estate was at the ‘Spring Tasting’ at Rippon, where the wines greatly impressed. Graham and Gillian Crosbie had, for a long time, associated themselves with Central – holidays, relatives from the days of the gold rushes, even employment – and they watched the explosion of vineyards around them with fascination, before, in 2002, yielding to temptation and planting on their 6.5-hectare site. Last year they got serious, purchasing a further 11 hectares of the most prized Bannockburn land, adjacent to Felton Road. It will be quite a few years before we see anything from it, but it is most cer- in the Hands of the gods – Ceres Ceres is the Roman Goddess of Agriculture (is it curious that the deity for working in fields was female?). It is also the name of the Dicey family’s home district in South Africa, though they are well established in Central these C E N T R A L OTAG O 115 FINE De stination nations Coming together – Maude Wines tainly a statement of intent and a resounding vote of confidence. Pinot Noir dominates – though I am not aware of a winery in Central to which that does not apply. They also grow Riesling, Pinot Gris and have some of the only Sauvignon Blanc found locally. The wines are made under contact by Vinpro, which is very common for the region – the small wineries are simply not in a position to run their own operation. Vinpro and Dean Shaw’s ‘Central Otago Wine Company’ look after a large percentage of the small guys, but there are others. Graham is also a car nut and driving around the vineyard in his early ‘60s Jaguar was a lot of fun.

days. Patriarch Robin, one of the region’s pioneers, is part of Mt Difficulty Vineyards, while Son Matt is their winemaker and other son, James, is one of the leading viticulturists in the region. Ceres is the brothers’ own winery. Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Riesling feature, with the Pinot named ‘Composition’ as it is a blend of the brothers’ private small vineyards. The usual blend is two barrels from the Inlet Vineyard and nine from the Black Rabbit Vineyard. The first vintage, of just 50 cases, was 2005. The wines have steadily improved, with recent vintages superb. Single vineyard wines are yet to arrive but they are in the pipeline. I’d never seen their ‘Excelsior’ Pinots before, which are a relatively recent Reserve range, and they take this winery to a new level. Stunning stuff. They also have a very pleasant entry-level Pinot called ‘Unravelled’. Carrick also makes Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. Francis Hutt recently joined as winemaker and he knows what a legacy his predecessors have established. Only around six barrels of the Excelsior are made, and only in good vintages (no 2008 or 2011). They are among the most expensive wines from the district, but worth it. The 2005 was good; the 2009 one of the best Pinots from the region; and 2010 not far behind. a Famous name Comes to town – Cloudy Bay a regional Classic – Carrick Wines Steve Green’s ‘Carrick Wines’, in Bannockburn, has long been a personal favourite due to the quality of the wines – I always loved their 2003 Pinot, and seeing it again recently reminded me of how lovely it was. That said, 116 FINE No Kiwi winery has done more to put New Zealand wine at the front and centre of the thinking wine drinker’s palate than Cloudy Bay, but it has always been a Marlborough operation. They have finally dipped a toe in Central, and will offer a Pinot from this region. Called Te Wahi, the first release is the 2010. The wine is blended from three of the sub-regions – Bannockburn, Bendigo and Lowburn, and 1000 cases will be released. It does not mean a less- ening of their love for the wines of Marlborough, but rather that they perceive the wines to be different as opposed to better. A sneak preview revealed the Te Wahi to be a delightful amalgam of raspberry scents, freshly picked beetroot, florals, chocolate and the merest hint of earth and leather. It will be one to keep an eye on and may herald an exciting stage in the evolution of both Cloudy Bay and the region. Coming Home – PJ Charteris PJ Charteris has been making wine in that most quintessential of Aussie regions, the Hunter Valley, for so long that it is easy to forget he is a Kiwi. As laconic as is imaginable, PJ was such an integral part of Brokenwood for so many years that it is hard to imagine him anywhere else. However, his CV is extremely extensive: Viligard in Waikato; Brokenwood, Lindemans, Penfold’s, Tim Knappstein and Rouge Homme in Australia; Jaboulet in France; Adelsheim in Oregon; and Flowers in California. Eventually, the lure of home, skiing, trout fishing and great Pinot saw PJ and wife Chrissi establish a very small operation in Central, although he still works as a consultant on various other projects. Pinot has stolen his heart, and three have been released so far: 2008, 2009 and 2010. The

less rain per annum than Australia’s Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the Outback thanks to the intervening mountains. There are plenty of places to stay, ranging from seriously luxurious to backpacker chic. The St Moritz is excellent for those seeking something a little more upmarket, while backpacker beds are advertised for as little as $26 a night. There is a wide range of restaurants, cafes, bars, coffee shops and a casino, but there is one culinary delicacy that must not be missed: the Fergburger Bakery offers ‘pork belly pies’. Sensational. Central is a large region and travelling between the various sub-regions makes a base at Queenstown impractical. It is fine For a leisurely winery lunch, Mt Difficulty and Carrick are both ideal. Furthermore, there is no better place to stay than Carrick Lodge in the township of Cromwell. It may be your basic country motel, but it is still one of the friendliest places I’ve ever enjoyed. This is very much ‘Lord of the Rings’ country, with plenty of the film shot around here (and reputedly, much of the ‘The Hobbit’, as well) – Arwen being chased by the Black Riders before they are washed away (in the nearby Shotover River) was shot just near the Bendigo vineyards. The West Road, Misty Mountains and Eregion Hills were all filmed around here, and Amon Hen is up a nearby summit. The Kawarau Gorge was home to the giant statues of for Gibbston but for the Bannockburn/Wanaka/Bendigo/Lowburn districts, Cromwell is the better option and a much more laid back destination than Queenstown. The vibe here is definitely relaxed. The last excitement was when the town got its first roundabout, though it also brought on an air of despondency as most townsfolk realised it was unlikely they would live long enough to see a set of traffic lights grace their streets. Dining is not quite on a par with Queenstown, but ‘Feast’ in the town mall is terrific and there are more than enough alternatives. the Kings of Gondor, very close to the Chard Farm winery, and it is also where you can find the world’s first commercial bungy jumping operation. The Bendigo region was where New Zealand’s most famous sheep (not a statement I ever thought I’d write) was found. ‘Shrek’ avoided capture for six years and developed a massive fleece which was large enough to make suits for twenty men. New Zealanders were fascinated by this animal and it was even taken to meet their Prime Minister. Shearings were televised. Visiting Flying into Queenstown is the best option, and first timers to the region should ensure they have a few days there to begin with. An achingly beautiful tourist destination, it is perched on the edge of Lake Wakatipu, with the Remarkables, one of the world’s true north to south mountain ranges, overlooking it. Tourists of all shapes, shades and sizes visit this town and it is a firm fixture on every backpackers’ bucket list. As well as the various water sports, including the famous jetboats at the Shotover River, lake cruises, fishing trips (lake and river – some of the world’s finest trout fishing is found here), Queenstown is the hub for New Zealand’s best skiing in winter (though snow can fall at any time, as we discovered on this trip). There are many walks of all grades, including the famous Milford Sound Track, as well as white-water kayaking and rafting – levels range from beginner to certain death – and a spectacular cable car right behind the town. It is worth noting that Milford Sound is apparently the second wettest place on the planet, with metres of rain falling every year. Just a few hours away, parts of Central Otago are effectively desert, given they receive C E N T R A L OTAG O 117 FINE De stination gorgeous 2009 is the star and would sit happily in any portfolio. PJ conducted an extensive search for the vineyard of his dreams, and in August 2007 he found a small, perfect, unnamed block of 1.7 hectares, with clones Dijon 115, 777 and Abel. Situated in Bannockburn, the fruit ripens 10 to 14 days later than most of that sub-region. “Great for acid retention and a finer structured style of Pinot”, he told me. The only thing that remained was a name. PJ found the vineyard during an enforced stay-over caused by winter weather and discovered that the surname of the major owner of the block was Winter, making it an easy choice. The ‘Winter Vineyard’ Pinot was born. PJ has also got his hands on some Chardonnay and Riesling from 2012, so there is plenty more excitement to come.

But for every sheep found here, there must be thousands of rabbits. They are pests, and near impossible to kill. This led one winemaker, according to local legend, to come up with the rather novel idea of capturing one and tying an explosive to it, knowing that as soon as it was released it would flee down the nearest burrow. Unfortunately, the confused rabbit fled in the opposite direction and straight under the winemaker’s car, blowing it to pieces. 118 FINE the Spring tasting and More The Spring Tasting is an annual, and ever-expanding, event where wineries from Central Otago submit Pinot Noir, from recent vintages, for a tasting in front of about half a dozen wine writers from around the world. The wines are all served blind. Wineries usually submit their current releases, which can skew an overall vintage assessment. For example, Felton Road submitted only its 2011

FINE De stination “As for food, these wines have enough flavour and such a delightful silky texture that they are very easy to drink on their own.” wines, which I felt added to the lustre of that vintage. Their 2010s were shown last year and are superb wines. It means that there may be a number of wines from some wineries, while others may be pre-release or sold out completely. Hence, the tasting including nothing from such prominent wineries as Mt Difficulty, Chard Farm, Akarua and Sam Neill’s Two Paddocks. No matter – one can only assess both vintages and individual wines by what is before us and we had 75 wines, so more than a reasonable cross section. What was especially exciting was that there were so many new names and previously unseen wineries with seriously good wines. With more vine age, increased expertise and experience, things can only get better. All of the wines were decanted during the hour before tasting. The Spring Tasting was held at Rippon, which provided us with the most extraordinary views imaginable from any winery in the world. During the visit, we saw numerous other wines, including some of the oldest made in the region. Some were blind, others not. In general, auction prices from these wines are largely irrelevant. Certainly, producers like Felton Road have a strong following, but as most of these wines are cur- rently available there is no point attempting estimates. Older wines would have some secondary market support but there would be few that, at this early stage, have ventured much beyond current prices. To date, these wines do not seem to have been dragged into any ‘fake wine scandals’, but one wonders if it will simply be a matter of time. As for food, these wines have enough flavour and such a delightful silky texture that they are very easy to drink on their own. However, they can easily be paired with the usual range of dishes that suit good pinot. Duck, game and certain offal dishes would all appeal. > C E N T R A L OTAG O 119

Six Crackers! 95p 97p Colour: Deep, deep purples Nose: The instant you stick your nose in 2010 Quartz Reef ‘Bendigo’ Pinot Noir the glass, the wine screams Central Otago. Dark berries, chocolate notes, spices, violets, coffee beans and waves of black cherries. Colour: Purples and plums Nose: Plenty of florals notes here but this is no shrinking violet. Lovely fragrances. Plums and a hint of molten chocolate Palate: Extraordinarily supple wine. There are considerable tannins but they are almost invisible. There is complexity developing, plus ideal balance. A generous, voluptuous, velvety wine. Palate: Good intensity, matched with ripeness and plushness. This has concentration, yet retains balance. Cashmere-like tannins Finish: Not only great length but maintains Finish: Has serious length. Hang on for the intensity of flavour throughout. ride Buy or not: Every chance you get. Tasted: Looked at it three times during the trip. Buy or not: At NZ$75, it is one of the more expensive Pinots from the district, but if you can find a Burgundy for the same price that comes within cooee of this quality, please let me know. Twice, almost identical notes/scores. The final time, I rated it a little less but it was a much colder bottle and this made it seem a touch more stalky, with more herbals emerging. In a nutshell: The Darth Vader of Central Pinot. When to drink: Will sail through a decade. Inside information: On a visit to the region quite a few years ago, Rudi drove me up one of the ranges to a hunters’ hut for a tasting of some wonderful wines, looking over the amazing scenery, though my abiding memory is Rudi crawling around under the hut for half an hour, looking for his camera lens cap. On the way back, he showed me his new, and as yet non-producing, vineyards at Bendigo. Rudi really was the sub-region’s pioneer. His first vintage was 2004 and, with the questionable exception of 2009, the wines have improved every year. This is, for me, the star so far. Rudi describes Bendigo as more “muscular” than the usual Central Pinot. His ‘Bendigo’ is a six barrel selection, the best from the vineyard, with the remainder used in the standard QR. Or try this: The QR ‘Bendigo’ Pinot Noir from 2006, a wine needing time. It has the same underlying power but comes from a vintage that does offer some finesse and elegance. Fascinating to try two such different wines from the same vineyard. In a nutshell: This is the sort of wonderfully evocative, silky, seductive, yet structured Pinot that makes all pinotphiles wonder why anyone would ever look at a Cabernet. When to drink: Whenever you can. Long future. Inside information: 60 to 70% whole bunches here, but you’d never know it. They have throttled back from the 85% used in the 2009. The fruit is from their north-facing vineyard, originally planted by Sarah-Kate’s parents in 1994. The 10-5 clone was first used and, according to Dan and Sarah-Kate, needs maturity and attention to succeed. Dijon clones were added, with 115 looking the most promising. The vineyard is unirrigated – very rare in Central. Or try this: Imagine a night wallowing in the finest satin. Final verdict: If there have been many Pinots emerge from Central that are more compelling than this wine, I would love to see them. Final verdict: Central Otago Pinot on steroids. 96p 2009 Carrick ‘Excelsior’ Pinot Noir Colour: Vibrant reds, deep purples. Nose: Incredibly alluring. Has that aroma that makes you wonder whether the wine could possibly be as good as the nose suggests. Spices, dry herbs, dark fruits, plums and an overriding impression of a freshly baked black cherry pie. Palate: Generous, vibrant, plush, balanced. Well structured and offering a line of elegance behind a fine structure. A brilliant mix of opulence and refinement. Wow! Finish: Has a nice underlying flick of acidity that carries right through on the seemingly endless finish. Buy or not: Not easy to find but grab it when you see it, though it is one of the more expensive Central Pinots. In a nutshell: Rarely seen but worth hunting. When to drink: Special occasions, over the next eight to fifteen years. Inside information: The public focus has moved from 2009 wines to the more readily available 2010/2011 vintages, but this bottle reminds us just how good 2009 is. A cooler than average year. Clones from the Excelsior Block are 13 and 10-5. Fermented in small, open top fermenters, with a pre-ferment cold soak for around a week. Wild yeasts and 10% whole bunches. The wine spends 12 months in French oak, of which a third are new barriques. A barrel selection is then made and the six best make up the ‘Excelsior’ (in the best vintages). The wine then spends a final six months in old oak. Or try this: One of the Felton Road Block series. Final verdict: Takes Carrick into the Champions League of Central Pinot producers. 2010 Maude ‘Mt Maude’ Pinot Noir 93p 2011 Terra Sancta ‘Mysterious Diggings’ Pinot Noir Colour: Purples, hints of maroon and ripe cherry Nose: Coffee beans, plums, dark fruits, black cherries. Dry herbs. Palate: Approachable style with cushiony tannins, generous and plush. Made for immediate enjoyment but offering a much finer structure and balance than it has any right to do, at this price – approximately NZ$25. Seriously silky tannins. Obviously youthful and with a good future, but delightful now. Finish: Impressive length. A wine that personifies the joy of Pinot, and does so for a long time. Buy or not: Stock up. Mad not to. In a nutshell: I can’t think of a Pinot that is better value. From anywhere. When to drink: At this price, any time. Don’t be fooled into thinking that it must be a ‘drink asap’, because it is so cheap. This has legs. Sure, a joy now but will reward for a good few years to come. Inside information: At the Spring Tasting, I wondered why no Olssen’s wines. I also wondered why I had not seen the Pinots from Terra Sancta before, given how well they showed. Mystery soon solved – Olssen’s recently transformed into Terra Sancta. Olssen’s in Bannockburn had been a solid performer; Terra Sancta has much more lofty ambitions. New dynamic owner, brilliant winemaker in Jen Parr, exciting future. 25% whole bunches. A five day cold soak with nearly three weeks total time on skins. All older oak. Or try this: Winning the lottery. For Pinot to be this good and this cheap – same thing! Final verdict: This is not the best Pinot from Central; it is not even the best Pinot from this winery, but it gets the nod because it is such amazing value. Great stuff. 120 FINE

2011 Felton Road ‘Block 3’ Pinot Noir Colour: Bright purple. Nose: Entrancing aromatics. Lifted. Black cherries dominate with plums, spices, dark brooding fruits and a whiff of fresh cherry pie. Imagine plucking a handful of fresh herbs from a field and crushing them into your face. Palate: This has that wonderfully sensual texture found in the very best Pinots from Central. Seamless and seductive, the flavours maintain their intensity right through. Plenty of tannins but they are delightfully silky. Finish: Any longer and it would be inconvenient Buy or not: Definitely, if you get the chance. In a nutshell: Exciting wine that will only add to the lustre of the legend of Felton Road. For me, the wine of the vintage. When to drink: This one is here for the long haul. Inside information: Block 3 was planted in 1992. Felton Road moved to full biodynamic certification in 2002. Unlike the ‘Calvert’ and ‘Cornish Point’ vineyards, almost all of the fruit grown in Block 3 (and Block 5) goes into the final wine of that name. The other vineyards also contribute to the ‘Bannockburn’. Blair Walter sees 2011 as a more ‘repressed’ vintage. He backed off the whole bunch contribution, reducing it to around 20%, from the usual 30%. Blair believes that the soil profile (digging those holes comes in handy) in Block 3 provides more “finesse and complexity” while a similar profile in Block 5 offers “more weight”. Or try this: Grand Cru Burgundy from a top producer. Final verdict: There is a reason why Felton Road FINE De stination 97p 95p 2012 Felton Road ‘Bannockburn’ Riesling Colour: Gin clear. Nose: Lovely florals, lemony notes, lemon blossom. Transports one to a spring orchard in the early morning. Palate: Balance that almost has to be experienced to be believed. There is some very gentle fruit sweetness but nothing to convey what the “figures” would demand. Has the fresh acidity of the region, but in perfect harmony with the sweetness. Finish: Not a hint of cloying. Knife-edge balance which lingers for a very long time. Remains fresh. In a nutshell: If Felton Road was not so universally renowned for their Pinots, they would surely be acclaimed as one of the great Riesling wineries of the New World. When to drink: Should drink superbly for years, though will mature through various stages. Inside information: Blair asked me to guess the ‘figures’. Needless to say, I was nowhere near. No one ever is. I was thinking 12-15 grams/litre of residual sugar. The true amount is a mindboggling 64 grams, with 9.5 grams of acidity. The Block 1 Riesling from 2012 has even more extreme figures and is also a brilliant wine, though I just couldn’t go past the expression of Riesling that wine this offers. Or try this: A top Dr Loosen Spatlese. Final verdict: Amazingly deceptive. A must try. A joy. is the King of the region. World class wines like this one. A wine that draws you back, time after time, offering something new, every sniff or sip. Vintages and wines A tale of two vintages. 2010 has the acclaim as the pick of the two, according to conventional wisdom. It is ripe and plush, richly flavoured, wonderfully textured. This is a vintage offering wines in the style we have come to see as typical Central. Bold flavours, richness, cushiony tannins, delicious. 2011 is a different beast. It is very much an atypical vintage for the region, incorporating more finesse and elegance than usually seen. The wines are lighter and fresher, with bright acidity. The colour of the 2011 wines was decidedly less deep and dark, much more reds than purples. In general, drink the ‘11s before the ‘10s. What was perhaps surprising was that when one sat down and reviewed notes, there was a near equal spread of top wines from both years. Older Pinots to Savour Pinots that impressed from 2010 and 2011 Other Wines that Excite Carrick ‘Excelsior’ Pinot Noir 2010 Ceres ‘Composition’ Pinot Noir 2010 Domain Road Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010 Folding Hill Pinot Noir 2010 Mt Edward ‘Muirkirk’ Pinot Noir 2010 Prophet’s Rock Pinot Noir 2010 Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 2010 Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2010 Wooing Tree ‘Sandstorm’ Reserve Pinot Noir 2010 Coal Pit ‘Tiwha’ Pinot Noir 2011 Felton Road Pinot Noir 2011 Felton Road ‘Calvert’ Pinot Noir 2011 Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir 2011 Gibbston Valley ‘Glenlee’ Pinot Noir 2011 Felton Road Pinot Noir 2000 Pisa Range ‘Black Poplar Block’ Pinot Noir 2002 Carrick Pinot Noir 2003 Quartz Reef ‘Bendigo’ Pinot Noir 2006 Mt Maude ‘Family Vineyard’ Reserve Pinot Noir 2007 (forerunner to the ‘Mt Maude’) Felton Road ‘Block 5’ Pinot Noir 2008 Aurum ‘Mathide’ Reserve Pinot Noir 2009 Coal Pit ‘Tiwha’ Pinot Noir 2009 Felton Road ‘Calvert’ Pinot Noir 2009 Rippon ‘Mature Vine’ Pinot Noir 2009 Quartz Reef ‘Chauvet’ 2000 (Rudi’s sparkling wine, disgorged 2012) Felton Road ‘Block 2’ Chardonnay 2010 Felton Road ‘Block 2’ Chardonnay 2011 Felton Road ‘Block 1’ Riesling 2012 Maude ‘East Block’ Riesling 2012 Mt Edward ‘The Drumlin’ Riesling 2011 C E N T R A L OTAG O 121

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FINE Gadget This section introduces fine wine lovers’ must-have gadgets VINOPUR more wine from a bottle Text & Photos: Pekka Nuikki It all began with a bottle of Château Latour 1959 in one of Monte Carlo’s finest restaurants. A fine dinner between friends ended with the lamenting of having left a whole glass of wine in the bottle to be thrown away, as is standard practice in removing sediment during decanting. One of the diners, Mr Rudolf Gantenbrink, saw the high cost and extravagant wastage in this practice and determined to find a method of consuming that final glass. The plight of Mr Gantenbrink was not a new one. Many methods have been tried to filter sediment from wine over the years but never with any great success. Either too much was filtered off losing the wine’s flavour in the process, or then too little making the wine cloudy. Coffee filters were also unsuitable as they tended to give off unwanted flavours to the wine. As a wine lover, graphic designer and self-taught engineer of recent robotic inventions, Mr Gantenbrink was poised to solve this age-long dilemma of wine wastage that had grieved so many compatriot consumers. Having come from a renowned glass dynasty, Glasshütte Limburg, it was natural for him to try his hand at using glass as the filtering agent; glass having the advantage of not giving off unwanted flavours. The particles in the sediment of wine are so small that it would be impossible to produce a filter enough finely meshed by drilling or by casting glass into forms. Mr Gantenbrink found success in a new method of heating miniscule glass pearls to a temperature where they fused with one another, thereby forming a network of tiny passages large enough for the wine to pass through, but small enough to retain the particles of the sediment. It was only after numerous trials with varying sizes of the glass pearls, that he was able to reach the desired result. The outcome was Vinopur, a sturdy and solid wine filter that requires no spare parts, and that has been successfully tested countless times. It has been used effectively over 1,200 times by the sommelier at the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco alone. Its genius lies in its simplicity – following decanting, the wine is poured through the Vinopur filter which has been placed onto the glass or decanter. It then takes only a few minutes to produce a clear and sediment-free wine. Fabricated from industrial glass, the filter can be cleaned in the dishwasher and even dried in an oven after being rinsed with clean water. Rinsing after use is essential as staining will occur if sediment is left to dry in the filter. Vintage Port also tends to block the tiny passageways if not rinsed thoroughly. With time it may start to stain or it is possible for mould to grow in the filter if not rinsed and dried properly. As this will give off unwanted flavours to the wine it is advisable to use the cleansing set available from Vinopur from time to time, and the filter will be as new again. Fine wines deserve a Vinopur. The simplicity, financial benefits and success rate are reason enough to invest in this useful gadget. But beyond that is the satisfaction and pleasure that will come from drinking that final glass of 1959 Latour. Price: 110 euros Available from: Paulson Rare Wine Internet: www.rare-wine.com Email: paulson@rare-wine.com V in o p u r 123

COLUMN ANDREAS LARSSON The art of single dining A s much as I like to share great bottles, meals and memories with colleagues and friends, I have to admit that I do have a certain sweet spot for the luxurious pleasure of dining alone. I wouldn’t go as far to say that I ­enjoy drinking alone, as it might evoke thoughts about miserably drowning one’s sorrows in hideous amounts of cheap plonk... No, let’s focus on fine drinking! When you’re alone, you get so much more time to think, to reflect, to taste. Nothing gets between you and your bottle and the wine gets the attention it hopefully deserves. Not the least; you actually have the time to scroll through the comprehensive wine list of La Tour d´Argent without getting interrupted by toasting and discussing the originality of the Amuse Bouches. Nor do you need to democratize and agree on menu choices or wine budgets. No, it´s all about your own pleasure – because you’re worth it! In our modern society where e-mails, cell phones and blackberries made us slaves, that always must be reached, it´s such a relief to escape from the cyber world and make a deviation into a vinous sanctuary where you get to contemplate the wines without the desruptivenes of the everyday life outside. Nothing defined this better than my power lunch yesterday - after having just arrived in Paris, slightly tired after a morning flight, slightly hungry after a rather deficient airplane breakfast with white bread, artificial juice and dull coffee, and with a full afternoon at my dis- 124 FINE posal, I suspected that I would soon end up in a bistro eating a steak frites quenched down with a carafe du rouge. Indeed I did, although this bistro was not that modest after all, considering their rather short, but utterly tempting wine list that offered a plethora of French classics at undisputedly modest prices. 1999 Haut-Bailly for 60 euros caught my attention at first, and so did 1996 Clos Fourtet at 45 Euros. As I already decided on entrecote grille avec frites et béarnaise, I couldn’t escape my thirst for a good old claret, as it is so inextricably linked to this legendary dish. My eyes finally fell on 2001 Roc des Cambes, which is undeniably a great wine. It showed the usual finesse on the nose with an aromatic complexity, very floral and fine with layers of red berries and minerals. Having the time to gently follow its evolution, it really opened up 2 glasses later, just as the viande arrived sizzling from the grill. At this stage the wine displayed seductive aromas of truffles, sweet wild berries and even more intensity on the palate, with smooth tannins and a classical freshness. I did enjoy this particular bottle just some weeks before this occasion, but this time the wine tasted much better. So much in fact, that I didn´t think twice about ordering a generous piece of Brie de Meaux to accompany the last delicate drops. So much for French connections. On a recent trip to New York, my schedule was just

as packed as it usually gets, but somehow a Thursday night just happened to be all open. This left me with two options – get invited to a dinner or go out for dinner alone. I chose the latter. Not because I am a loner or socially inhibited, but just because I could! It was no coincidence that I ended up at the fantastic restaurant CRU for the third consecutive night, albeit this time I was appetizing on my glass of 2006 Emrich Knoll Riesling for a good while, thoroughly studying all of the alluring Burgundies on the list. As I had my time, I was so tempted to take something from the late Phillipe Engel (Domaine René Engel), whose wines no longer exist after 2004. A lot of people have their doubts about Burgundy 2001, and generally not too many wines were made in the years that will explode in your mouth or deserve the highest ratings. Although you can’t always get instant gratification such as 99 point concentrated fruit bombs, as little as you can you enjoy the Goldberg Variations by fast forwarding. No, some things needs TIME, and I just adore this style of elusive Burgundy with elegance, finesse and perfume rather than extraction, colour and oak, this was exactly what I wanted and had the time to respectfully enjoy. I settled for the Echezeaux 2001, and again I need to stress the fact that if you make some research, it is always possible to find good wines with a certain maturity at good prices in restaurants. This particular example commanded around 160 dollars, considerably less than you would find in a wine store today, and add to that the low rate of the dollar and we could talk about a true bargain! What about the wine then? A very delicate example with a refined perfume, that needed some time in the glass, before revealing its great, although shy, personality. The palate was so silky and complex. Despite its relative lightness it was so flavor-intense at the same time. It was at this stage evolved and drunk at a good stage of maturity. It is doubtful the wine would get high points in a blind tasting, not being a show wine per se, but having around two hours to yourself with a huge Riedel glass filled with this nectar, and with a great plate of pasta with roaster and cep mushrooms, the wine got the attention it needed and couldn’t have been better. Maybe the ultimate luxury for the single diner after a hard day’s work is to pamper oneself by enjoying a mature Burgundy. Having lectured at Grythyttan, Sweden, some time ago, I dined at a restaurant with a 7 000 bottle wine cellar and a mighty impressive wine list. Again it is fascinating to find wines from the 1980’s that are far from expensive, such as the white 1980 Joseph Drouhin Clos des Mouches. In these days of pre-oxidation and early maturing white Burgundy, this wine proved a great example how well, after a long and uninterrupted rest in the cool cellar, a seemingly more modest wine can develop. This is not a wine one reads about, even if it had FINE Larsson Andreas Larsson Contributor Andreas Larsson is the 2007 Best Sommelier of the World, the best sommelier in Europe in 2004 and the best sommelier in the Nordic countries in 2002. Mr Larsson has worked as a sommelier in the best restaurants in Stockholm and won the Wine International Sommelier Challenge in 2005. He is a member of the Grand Jury Européen and has occupied many wine juror positions around the world. Mr Larsson is also a wine writer and educator. most of the virtues one associates with a complex white Burgundy. From the starter via the turbot to the cheese, the wine was impeccable and showed an incredible youthfulness. A few weeks back I had the pleasure of indulging the last bottle of 1966 Clos de la Roche, Domaine Louis Rémy, at the same establishment. This is not really a domaine I am familiar with, but I tend to be more easily pleased by Burgundies rather than Bordeaux if we go back to the 60:s and 70:s, especially for lesser known wines or more modest appellations. This bottle was no exception. As a matter of fact, it was so darn good with a perfect maturity, incredibly smooth palate, great intensity of flavor, and magnificent length. Add to that my great relief after impatiently having waited for a considerable time for the waitress to find the bottle in the cellar, as well as my egoistic ”this is all mine” factor. I don’t even remember what I ate, but you don’t always need to, since the wine played the first violin that night. To summarize it all – finding these special moments is a great way of understanding and appreciating a wine in a different way. We must remember to integrate the sheer enjoyment factor when we drink wine. I immensely enjoy sharing great bottles with friends, and I do that most of the time. But when you find yourself having the time alone on your business trips or on other occasions why not enjoy the moment in style? Single dining is a true art that we mustn’t forget... > COLUMN 125

King Crab with Fennel-Scallop Purée 126 FINE

Food FINE Champagne’s Favourite Foods: Shellfish With recipes straight from the top of the culinary world Te x t : R i st o K a r m av u o Phot os : Ar z a k, Ro c k po o l B a r & G r i ll, Te t su ya’ s, Da n i e l, R e e t ta Pa sa n e n Che f s : N e i l P e r r y, Te t sua Wa k u da , Jua n M a r i a n d E le na A r za k , Da n i e l B o u lu d, P e k k a Te r ä v ä Aphrodite, or Venus to the Romans, was born out of sea-foam and floated to shore on a seashell with only her wavy tresses to cover her, at least according to Botticelli’s famous painting. Veneridae, or Venus, clams, the thick-shelled and salty main ingredient of traditional clam chowder, were named after the goddess of love; they are not the subject of Botticelli, however, as a true connoisseur will correctly identify the shell in the painting as a cockle. In today’s culinary world, love and the sea are symbolically joined in the union of champagne and seafood – the foam in the glass and the mysterious shell on the plate. ShEllFISh 127

C hampagne is often paired with mussels, clams, oysters and many other bivalves which are nearly impossible to categorise generically in gastronomy. They are all in the phylum molluscs, which comprises of around 15 000 species – and even that is a most conservative estimate. It is this diversity which makes bivalve molluscs such a fascinating ingredient, as they are equally suitable for both everyday stews and haute cuisine. Thanks to their variety of flavours and uses, it is surprisingly easy to combine these shelled creatures with champagne; after all, there are champagnes suitable for a wide range of purposes. For this article, we requested mollusc recipes from top chefs around the world. Australian chef Neil Perry, of the Rockpool Bar & Grill, chose the traditional mussel as his ingredient; Juan Mari and Elena Arzak from Spain flavoured their shells with “ink”; while Daniel Boulud, a U.S.-based chef, favoured us with his caramelised bay scallops with clementines and cauliflower. Star Australian chef Tetsuya Wakuda pampers us with his scallops cooked like oysters, and in the recipe by Pekka Terävä of Olo Restaurant, scallops are conjured into a foam with fennel to accompany king crab. Standard champagne for classics Although it is hard to associate the adjective “common” with champagne, standard champagnes do represent the basic level of the 128 FINE wine. A standard champagne is easy to open on a weekday, so it is a perfect accompaniment for classic and simple seafood dishes. The traditional blends in particular, where every champagne grape variety is represented, mix very well with cleanly but richly flavoured bivalve courses, and are perfect for time-honoured dishes such as moules marinière, clam chowder or grilled scallops. For example, try a basic champagne such as Billecart-Salmon or Jacquesson with Neil Perry’s steamed mussels. Blanc de blancs and a breeze from the sea French seafood restaurants usually have a plateau de fruits de mer, a huge selection of shellfish, as their flagship dish. They often include mussels and oysters served raw and flavoured with just a dash of lemon juice. The taste conveys the freshness of a sea breeze. The refined flavour should be complemented by an elegant and mineral wine, so the obvious choice is Chardonnay. The Grand Cru villages of the Côte de Blancs – Avize, Cramant, Mesnil and Oger – produce just the right kind of sharply acidic and minerally blanc de blancs champagnes. Indeed, these champagnes are practically born and raised for a union with seafood, as Chardonnay typically grows in a limestone-rich soil with fossil sediments that originate from seashells. This kind of mineral blanc de blancs champagne is a suitable companion for Terävä’s fennel and scallop mousse, while a good body is needed to stand up to the meaty king crab. Scallops like oyster

A somewhat aged but still able-bodied vintage champagne has a complex and subtle palate that perfectly supports a mild but skilfully made bivalve dish, while still leaving room for its aromas. The characteristic apricot, honey and brioche bouquet of a mature champagne also nicely counterbalances a light spiciness in the dish. Arzak’s recipe, with its tomatoes, olives and garlic, definitely demands a multidimensional champagne. Excellent choices within vintage champagnes can be found, for example, in Pol Roger or Veuve Clicquot – the latter having particularly emphasised this category in recent years. As we approach the cusp of haute cuisine, the standard of the accompanying drink must rise accordingly. This is the time to fetch out the cellar’s prestige blends. Beware of choosing too young a bottle, however, as many prestige champagnes are fairly nondescript at a young age. If the choice is limited, I recommend a bottle from Taittinger or Laurent-Perrier, whose prestige champagnes are enjoyable even when young. A rich and creamy mousse makes a multidimensional prestige champagne a suitable match for Boulud’s subtle but rich scallop course, with its challenging sweetness, as well as Tetsuya’s fresh and flavourful scallop dish. A prestige champagne should never be served too cold, to ensure it opens up fully. It is, in fact, a gastronomer’s virtue to prepare calmly and patiently for the delicacies on the plate. Haste is no good for either food or love – surely Venus would agree with that. PEKKA TERÄVÄ’S RECIPE FOR FINE King crab with fennel-scallop purée A recipe from Head Chef Pekka Terävä of Restaurant Olo, adapted for home kitchens. Pekka would pair this dish with a blanc de blancs champagne. Pulse the dill and oil in a blender and then sieve the mixture. Break the egg yolk into a bowl, add the seasoning and mustard, and whisk in the dill oil in a thin stream. Check flavour. Fennel-scallop purée Jerusalem artichoke 100 g fennel 50 g (approx. 2) scallops 1 shallot 1 garlic clove salt, pepper, sugar white wine Peel some organic Jerusalem artichoke, slice thinly and place in iced water to crisp it up. Before serving, pour off the water and dress with lemon vinaigrette. Dice the peeled shallot, garlic and fennel, and braise in a pan. Add a dash of water and enough white wine to just about cover the vegetables and simmer until soft. Pan-fry the scallops and place in a blender with the other ingredients. Blend until smooth, strain through a fine sieve and check the seasoning. Radish Follow the instructions for the Jerusalem artichoke. Toasted fresh hazelnuts Toast the nuts in a pan in oil or butter. King crab Shell the crabs and remove the intestines and gills. Roll the crabmeat tightly in cling film. Refrigerate for 3–4 hours. Season with salt and pepper just before frying the meat quickly in a hot pan. Dill mayonnaise 1 egg yolk 1 bunch of dill 100 ml grapeseed oil salt, pepper mustard Compose the dish on a low-edged plate as in the first picture, with the fennel-scallop purée at the bottom and drops of dill mayonnaise around. Pekka Terävä Olo – Helsinki, Finland Pekka Terävä is a well-respected Finnish chef, who runs a highly decorated Michelin star restaurant in downtown Helsinki by the name of Olo. He is considered an ambassador of modern Nordic cuisine. ShEllFISh 129 Food Prestige champagnes and haute cuisine FINE Vintage champagnes can stand up to spices

We asked a number of top chefs from around the world to create an ideal shellfish dish for champagne. Steamed mussels with spicy broth Neil Perry’s RECIPE FOR FINE Steamed mussels with spicy broth I love the simplicity of this dish. The butter at the end enriches the sauce, but if you don’t like it by all means just leave it out – it will still be delicious. To give the dish more substance, add some cooked pasta just before serving. I also love to serve a dollop of freshly-made aioli on this dish, as the more garlic the merrier when it comes to mussels. Serves 4 Ingredients: 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded extra virgin olive oil 1 red onion, sliced 4 garlic cloves, sliced 1 teaspoon chilli flakes 2 tablespoons salted baby capers, rinsed 1/2 bunch flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, about 75 g (21/2 oz), roughly chopped 150 ml (5 fl oz) dry white wine 3 tablespoons unsalted butter freshly ground pepper juice of 1 lemon Heat a little oil in a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Add the onion, garlic and chilli flakes and sauté for about 5 minutes. Add the mussels, capers, parsley and wine, then cover and cook until the mussels open, discarding any that don’t. Add the butter and stir to combine with the pepper and lemon juice. Check the seasoning and serve with toasted bread. ROCKPOOL BAR & GRILL SYDNEY 66 Hunter St Sydney NSW 2000 Australia www.rockpool.com/sydney/bar-and-grill/ 130 FINE Neil Perry The Rockpool – Sydney, Australia Neil Perry is one of Australia’s leading and most influential chefs. Neil’s restaurant Rockpool in Sydney is considered, together with Tetsuya’s, to be one of the best on the continent. He also manages several restaurants in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth alongside his Rockpool Consulting business. Furthermore, Perry heads a team of five consultants which was set up to work closely with Qantas Airways. Elena & Juan-Mari Arzak Arzak – San Sebastian, Spain Elena and her father Juan-Mari are the third and fourth generations of their family to run Arzak, which is known as an institution of modern Basque cuisine. Their persistence and constant need to strive for perfection has kept the restaurant among the world’s best for many years.

FINE Food TeTsuya Wakuda’s RECIPE FOR FINE Scallops like oyster Serves 4 Ingredients: 8 raw scallops without roe 60 g foie gras 1 finger lime 30 g fresh Ao nori micro shiso or red garnet chive & leek batons sea salt Tetsuya Wakuda Tetsuya – Sydney, Australia This charming Japanese chef is a highly esteemed superstar in Australia and belongs, without doubt, to the elite of the world’s best chefs. Tetsuya has featured in Restaurant Magazine’s (London) World’s 50 Best Restaurants since the list’s inception in 2002, and since 2010 he has expanded his culinary venture to Singapore, where his restaurant Waku Ghin is located. The cellar master of Dom Pérignon, Richard Geoffroy, believes Tetsuya is the world’s best chef when it comes to pairing food with champagne. Vinaigrette 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger 4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 1 teaspoon castor (superfine) sugar 1 teaspoon soy sauce 6 tablespoons grapeseed oil 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice To make the vinaigrette, whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl or in a jar. Method: Wrap a plate with cling film to put the scallops on. Remove the muscle from the scallops. Dab with paper towel to remove excess moisture. Slice scallops as thinly as possible depending on the sizeusually 4–5 slices per scallop. Slice the foie gras with hot knife into small rectangles no more than 2mm x 3–5 mm. Place 1g of ao nori on foie gras and wrap in scallop slices. Daniel Boulud Daniel – New York, United States Daniel Boulud is one of the hottest names on the restaurant scene today. With his three Michelin Star establishment, “Daniel”, rated as one of the best restaurants in New York and, indeed, the whole world. Boulud has created an impressive restaurant empire around the world, and has eateries in cities such as Miami, Vancouver, Singapore, Beijing and London. Arrange on plate, garnish with micro shiso or red garnet, finger lime, chive & leek batons and sea salt, dress with vinaigrette. Best served with: 1996 Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1996 Dom Pérignon Rosé TETSUYA’S RESTAURANT 529 Kent Street Sydney Australia www.tetsuyas.com ShEllFISh 131

By JuaN Mari aNd eleNa arzak / ARzAK RESTAURANT’S RECIPE FOR FINE Clams in ink Ingredients needed to serve four: Black sauce (filling of the clams) 25g onion, fried in oil 20g green pepper, fried in oil 10g toasted bread 1 clove of garlic, fried 20g of sauce of ink of squid 100g water 15g black sesame salt and pepper Clams 12 bulky clams Confit potatoes 1 big potato 1dl slightly smoked olive oil salt and pepper Crispy crums 150g breadcrumbs 200g tomato juice 20g sweet red pepper 1.5dl olive oil salt, pepper and sugar Cereal powder 10g buckwheat 10g barley 10g millet 10g rye In addition olive oil 132 FINE Clams in Ink Preparation Black sauce Mix and mince all the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Clams Cook the clams gently in a microwave oven and open with a small pointy knife while keeping them together in one piece. Confit potatoes Peel the potato and cut it to cubes of 1.5 x 3 cm. Cover the cubes with smoked oil and cook them. Season with salt and pepper. Crispy crumbs Chop the breadcrumbs very fine and fry them in olive oil. Drain the oil out well, add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and store. Cereal powder Fry the two types of rice so that they become crispy. Cook buckwheat, barley, millet and rye separately in salt water. Once they are cooked, let them dry a little. Heat the oil and fry the cereals separately untill they puff. Mix all together and season with salt and pepper. Result and presentation: Cook the clams lightly so that they stay fleshy and keep the structure. These clams are served with a dark and thick sauce. Place the clams up-right on the confit potatoes and garnish with crumbs and cereal powder, so that you’ll have different crispy elements on the plate tasting of peppers and different cereals. ARzAK Avenida Alcalde José Elosegui 273, 20015 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain www.arzak.es

Food FINE daNiel Boulud’s RECIPE FOR FINE Caramelised bay scallops with clementines and cauliflower Makes 4 servings Ingredients: 1 head cauliflower (about 1 pound), trimmed, cut into 1-inch florets, stems peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices salt and freshly ground pepper 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 dozen bay scallops (about 2 pounds) freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon 4 clementines, peeled and segmented julienned zest of 4 kumquats 3 tablespoons Sicilian capers, soaked in cold water for 20 minutes, rinsed and drained 1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves Caramelized bay scallops 1. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the cauliflower and cook until tender, 7 to 9 minutes. Drain well. 2. Put the cauliflower into a food processor and purée until smooth, taking care not to overwork the mixture. Season with salt and pepper and stir in 4 tablespoons butter. Transfer the purée to the top of a double boiler, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the purée and set aside. 3. Warm the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and the olive oil in a large skillet over a high heat. Pat the scallops dry, season with salt and pepper, and slip them into the pan. Cook, turning the scallops as necessary, until they are golden on all sides and just cooked through, which should take around 4 to 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the lemon juice. Add the clementines, kumquats, zest, capers and parsley to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook, while stirring, until heated through, which should take about 1 minute. To serve: Divide the cauliflower purée among four warm soup plates. Arrange the bay scallops on top and spoon the clementineskumquat mixture over. Serve immediately. DANIEL 60 East 65th Street NYC 10021 danielnyc.com ShEllFISh 133

The Auction report of 2000–2010 134 FINE

FINE Au c t i o n R e p o r t of Destiny TexT: Stuart George As the “noughties” came to an end, the global economy remained in a fragile state. The credit crunch that began in 2008 and spread like wildfire in 2009 forced Greece and Ireland to seek financial aid from the EU and the International Monetary Fund. By January 2011, Portugal was on the brink. The world as a whole is richer than it was in 2000. But stock market investors have spent ten years getting nowhere. The Dow had its worst decade since the 1930s, while the dotcom crash, 9/11 and the financial meltdown all sent shares plummeting. By December 2010, it was up by only 2.2 per cent on its January 2000 level. Apple shares, which are one of the success stories of the decade, were worth less than $30 in 2000; now they are close to $350. In January 2000, a case of Lafite 1982 was worth, according to figures from the London-based fine wine exchange Liv-ex, $3895. By December 2010 it was worth $60 151, an increase of 1544 per cent. In October 2010 the price spiked to $107 248. It has been an unprecedented decade for fine wine, ten years in which where, how and for how much wine is sold has changed forever. DEcaDE oF DEstINy 135

C The China syndrome N A new order There has been a fundamental change in the market worldwide over the last ten years, with growing numbers of people beginning to take an interest in wine, continuing dynamic economies and new emerging markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China – the so-called BRIC nations. In 2000, not a single Bentley was sold in Russia. In 2009, 103 were sold. At the start of the decade there were two million mobile handsets in India. By 2010, there were 545 million. As these figures show, the world has become both richer and taller. In 2000, the world’s tallest building was the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur at 452 metres. By 2010, it was the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The fine wine trade is dependent on the rich and, even after the credit crunch, there are plenty of those around. These days, a fine wine trader’s only concerns are likely to be Parker points, theft of his stock and end of year bonuses in the financial sector. Fine wine is booming so much that Tonnellerie Quintessence, one of the leading suppliers of barrels to fine wine producers, has made the Fleur de Quintessence “Premium Barrel”. (It has not yet been proven that it makes the wine taste any better.) 136 FINE In a remarkably short time, China’s economy has blossomed into the second largest in the world. Only five years ago, China’s GDP was half that of second-placed Japan, which the Chinese eclipsed in 2010. Next stop: the mammoth U.S. economy – a milestone that is a decade or two away and yet all but certain. Things have changed since China was cloistered away behind a bamboo curtain and its major diplomatic ally was Albania. The new Chinese embassy that was opened in 2008 is the largest in Washington. Just as all but one national economy has been overtaken by China, the “traditional” fine wine markets in London and New York might feel as though it is the end of their world. They have had to hand over the keys to the cellars of the Quai des Chartrons in Bordeaux to the Asians. In April 2003, the SARS outbreak made Hong Kong a no-go area for everybody, including wine merchants, who mostly serviced Asian clients from offices in London or New York. Now half the fine wine world is there, including all the major UK and US auctioneers and retailers. G Growing pains The prices of top Bordeaux 2000s redefined the en primeur campaign. By 2010 and the aftermath of the 2009 releases, it was no longer a matter of securing the wines at the least expensive price – it was a matter of securing allocations that could be sold on for even higher amounts. Although there was indignation at the release prices of the 2000s, 2003s, 2005s and 2009s, one cannot blame the Bordelais for selling their wines as extravagantly as possible. They make the wine, after all, and if anybody should profit from them it is the producers themselves. The three expensive Bordeaux en primeur campaigns in the first half of the decade created a conundrum: release prices would have to decline or secondary market prices would have to increase. Finally, in 2007, the secondary market exploded like the Tsar Bomba. Suddenly there were more lavish, hardback catalogues than ever before – perhaps increased buyer’s premiums are partly due to the enormous printing bills incurred by the auction houses. Location became the great mantra of wine auctioneers. Location, location, location became the great mantra of wine auctioneers. More attention than ever was being paid by auctioneers, merchants and buyers to criteria that might affect the value of a wine: its provenance, condition, previous sales and drinking form. Prickly consumers forced standards to go higher and authenticity became the priority. “Traditional” collectors, including the wine trade, wine press and enthusiastic amateurs, were overwhelmed by the new money in Asia. Chinese started looking for wines with which to fill their expensively built cellars. Auctions appeal to them because they can acquire a lot of wine in a very short time – over a few hours an entire cellar can be established. Anyone with cash to spend can wave their paddle and buy at an auction. Several hundred free-spending individuals entered the fine wine market and changed it radically.

DEcaDE oF DEstINy 137 FINE Au c t i o n R e p o r t

G Go east, young man Virginia Woolf wrote in her 1924 essay “Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown”, “On or about December 1910, human character changed.” The fine wine market’s character changed in February 2008, when Hong Kong banished tax on wine. This was even more significant than the reintroduction of wine auctions to New York in 1994. It completely changed the dynamics of the international fine wine trade. Indeed, it has probably been the most momentous (and lucrative) addition ever to occur to the fine wine industry. Hitherto, the most sought-after lots went to New York. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, there was a steady flow of wine from Europe to the USA, which became the foundation of the large collections established by Lloyd Flatt, Marvin Overton III and others. But now all that wine started to travel eastwards. To paraphrase the British art dealer Joseph Duveen, America has a great deal of wine, and Asia has a great deal of money. With the addition of an insatiable Hong Kong to the already thriving London and New York, the market was flying. But on 15 September 2008, Lehman Brothers collapsed like Thomas de Quincey’s dissolving palace of snow. With their long lead times, auctioneers were powerless to prevent prices and clearance rates from becoming like Lady Throbbing and Mrs Blackwater’s “portrait by Millais” in Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies, which “made a record in rock-bottom prices.” 138 FINE But sometimes the darkest hour is just before dawn. Thanks to the economic strength of China, which was largely untouched by the credit crunch, the market recovered quickly and it took less than three years for the market’s de facto capital to relocate. 2010 was the first year that auctions in Hong Kong were more valuable than those in the whole of the USA. It is easy to understand the attraction of Hong Kong to wine merchants and auctioneers, as selling wine there is largely painless. There is no import tax, so paperwork is greatly reduced. To hold an auction all you have to do is rent a room and find some wine to sell – but that has become increasingly difficult, with several new auction houses entering the fine wine crucible recently. T The end of the beginning There is no future without a past, so we can perhaps make some fairly random predictions for 2011 and beyond, based on what happened during the previous decade. With old treasures so increasingly rare, auctioneers and merchants need younger wines to ensure liquidity and cash flow. The still unbottled Lafite 2009 made HK$300 000 (US$39 000) at an October 2010 auction in Hong Kong. It is possible that the Bordeaux en primeur campaign could be conducted via auctions in the

Fine wine – like art and property – is, in the long-term, a one-way bet. L Lust, caution The current Asian wine market is like a queen bee fed on royal jelly. But caution is advised. The fine wine market more and more resembles the tulip mania that gripped the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, when the price of tulips reached a level over ten times the annual income of a skilled craftsman but then suddenly collapsed. In 1637, some tulip bulb varieties briefly became the most expensive objects in the world. Logistics in China – the movement and storage of bottles of wine – and the ongoing battle against fake wine will continue to be challenging. Producers will have to resort to sleight of hand to defeat the counterfeiters. Latour, for example, now puts microchips in its labels. The old saying “when America sneezes, the world catches a cold” now seems to apply to China more than the USA – after all, Shanghai’s February air is notoriously fluridden. If the Asian market slipped, the fine wine industry would be in trouble. There has already been a Chinese stock bubble, which burst in February 2007 and caused havoc on global stock markets. There will be a shakeout in Hong Kong at some point. It is close to saturation point and only the most professional and bestplanned wine businesses will survive. China might be the dazzling future of the First Growths but it is not going to be the salvation of the Côtes de Bourg. There is a risk that the market will become like a pan of boiling water and run dry. Asia is interested only in probably a couple of hundred privileged labels that by their very nature are in short supply. Nowadays auction houses need to be as tenacious as the anonymous narrator of Henry James’s The Aspern Papers. Hong Kong is gobbling up wines that might previously have gone to London or New York. Perhaps we might see large private collections of wine from Chinese cellars being sold by 2020. As in any decade, some people became richer and others became poorer. There were visionaries and there were rogues. So was 2010 the end of history as far as fine wine is concerned? No – it was the start. > Lafite will continue to be the most sought-after fine wine, though the other Firsts all have stories to tell and will increase their presence in Asia. Lafite begins the new decade working with ASC Fine Wines in China, a company that is positioned to be hugely influential over the next ten years and beyond. What might have seemed like a bubble in Hong Kong has turned out to be an interstellar balloon. China and others will continue to drive growth and demand. There are more wine collectors with deep pockets than ever before, all of them clamouring for the finest bottles. Fine wine – like art and property – is, in the long-term, a one-way bet. In his Wine and Spirit Education Trust lecture in October 2007, Christian Seely of AXA Millésimes said: “In almost every habitable place on the globe there are a growing number of people wanting to consume wine that can only be made in one place. This is a good longterm position if you are the producer and you own the place in question.” DEcaDE oF DEstINy 139 FINE Au c t i o n R e p o r t future. The châteaux and negociants could set the reserves and estimates to their satisfaction – that is, as high as they like – and watch a bidding war break out. The short-selling of Lafite 2009 on Liv-ex in June 2010 caused “outrage”. People had better get used to this sort of thing. Wine has become a commodity, albeit nonfungible, and it will be traded as such. The Internet will continue to make “darkness visible”. There might be increasing use of the Internet as a relatively cost-effective way to sell wine that also makes prices more transparent – why pay more in London than New York, or Hong Kong, for that matter? The traditional auction house business plan, with offices scattered across the globe, is looking increasingly anachronistic, its format like a fly trapped in amber.

The Pleasure of Wine W ine Writing W riting ...C Text: Pekka Nuikki Photos: Omas omplex, full, silky... Refined words form in rich ink on the pages of my tasting journal… and a seductive bouquet. From time to time I set down my fountain pen to rest on the weathered desk top and sip the red wine in my glass. Elegant and harmonious... I continue in the smoothly flowing ink: The Château Lafite 1797 remains a very enjoyable and lively wine, with... I taste the wine again, close my eyes and picture how it once matured in an oak barrel in Château Lafite’s dark, damp cellars in order to be just as enjoyable now, more than two hundred years later. The fountain pen that is writing my wine appraisal ...a fine, well-balanced aftertaste, eternal... has been made from that very barrel. 140 FINE

OMAS 141 FINE L i f e s t y l e

The Pleasure of Wine Writing Although these days I type most of my critiques on an iPad, it is hard to think of a more suitable writing tool to describe a Château Lafite than a beautiful OMAS Château Lafite Rothschild limited edition fountain pen, which was made from the wood of historic wine barrels from the estate itself. It even smells of Lafite. Despite the iPad, my OMAS Lafite fountain pen has two important tasks. Firstly, I use it at elegant dinners, where it would be in bad taste, if not impolite, to bring an iPad, and where the pen functions as a part of my outfit, just as a fine watch or a pair of diamond cuff links would; secondly, it is what I prefer to use to sign my name. The individual and unique autograph is still considered a legally valid form of identification, although no one signature is the same as another. Anyone with any self-respect can identify himself with a signature. Our signatures are an important part of our identities. Throughout the ages, signatures have been used to start and end wars and marriages, and to validate countless agreements – from small purchases to treaties on national boundaries. Not even the United States Declaration of Independence came into effect until John Hancock, President of the Congress, had signed it with his flourish. Every American President since George Washington has used a pen to sign official documents. Dwight D. Eisenhower took the idea even further and created the idea of celebrating historical events with special writing instruments. He formally ended World War II with a new kind of ballpoint pen: the Esterbrook pen, which months later was on sale for the 142 FINE astonishingly low amount of 12 dollars in department stores all around the country. Eisenhower can thus be considered the father of limited edition and anniversary pens. Montblanc is perhaps the most renowned producer of limited-edition pens. One of the best-known is its Writers Edition, with pens named after famous authors. The designs of these pens incorporate a characteristic of their namesakes, as well as the author’s signature. The clip of the Agatha Christie is shaped like a serpent, whereas the Edgar Allan Poe has a raven on the nib. These pens are highly valued by collectors; for example, the Ernest Hemingway pen is worth about 3000 dollars on the American market! The Second Life of Krug The Italian company OMAS is also known for its fine pens, which are produced in limited, numbered quantities. Naturally, the OMAS Château Lafite Rothschild pen is the dream instrument of any wine writer. Even before the Lafite pen, however, OMAS had already made a special fountain pen for the Krug Champagne House. In 2004, OMAS launched its new “Essential Woods Collection” made of very precious and rare wood types. The restyling of the volumes of this wood collection enhanced the innovation and modernity of the products, being very elegant and contemporary. Silver finishing underlined the

Helmut Newton used his Montblanc 149 fountain pen to express his love of words. A classic example of this is the timeless phrase “I love you”, which is written on the shoulders and breasts of the models in his own hand. FINE L i f e s t y l e The heart of the Fountain Pen is the nib. OMAS is well known worldwide for the performance in writing of its fountain pens. OMAS has studied its nib shape to grant the perfect mix of smoothness and performance. Made of either 18-carat gold, 14-carat gold or titanium, OMAS nibs are available with 11 different types of tip, so that the writer can adapt the technique to his or her personality. beauty and uniqueness of these writing instruments. OMAS decided to complete the wood pens with a limited edition realised in a very particular wood: the mature oak from Krug casks used for the first fermentation of all their champagnes from 1969 to 2002. This special wood represents the “memory of time”: the memory of the Krug family, handed down from father to son for six generations, and of winemakers who capture the personality of each wine and recreate, vintage after vintage, the essence of Krug. The pens are a reminder of this magnificent oak, shaped year after year by stupendous Krug vintages that are sensual to the touch, and which liberate the flavours of the various grapes and wines. The wood undoubtedly deserved a new lease of life, which took the form of the limited edition “Krug by OMAS”. Harmony of the senses, harmony created by wood and silver, and harmony developed by two passionate houses that celebrate the art of blending and the art of writing. Writing with Wine Barrels OMAS’s wooden pens are well known for their extraordinary balance, polished shine and surprisingly pleasant feel. They guarantee these characteristics by using rare natural materials such as cotton resin, celluloid, wood, titanium, gold and silver, which can be difficult to work. (work with or make work as a pen?) Extremely sensual, precious and selected from the rarest and most valuable elements, wood requires particularly long and accurate handcrafting to guarantee the desired result. During its history, OMAS has chosen many special, rare and precious kinds of wood for shaping the body of its pens, including snakewood, which is one of the rarest and most precious woods in the world; African ebony, a precious black, oriental and very hard wood; and Indian palm, which has a typical grain (what is a typical grain?) of streaks chasing one other. Perhaps the most exceptional wooden pen, however, was made from the very old wood of Château Lafite’s wine barrels. The Krug pen was a success and sold out in no time; a very limited amount – 843 fountain pens and 843 rollerballs – had been made. OMAS 143

Following the great success of the “Krug by OMAS” Series, OMAS decided in 2007 to launch another limited edition in cooperation with one of the most celebrated French estates, Château Lafite Rothschild. “Both trademarks are joined by a common philosophy that favours excellence, harmony and a passion for manufacturing exclusive and unique goods,” says Marta Cruciani, Marketing Manager for OMAS. One Lafite Cask Holds 1,797 Pens 1797 is the vintage of the oldest bottles preserved in the Château Lafite Rothschild cellars. The same magical figure is repeated in the writing instruments produced thanks to the joint venture between the two influential companies. The body of the pen was taken from the oak used for the casks where the precious wine had rested for so long. The unique rounded shape of the pen in this very special limited edition was inspired by the form of the barrels. The red enamel on the end of the pens is reminiscent of the intense colour of the Château Lafite Rothschild, while the silver finish gives a balanced contrast to the two other materials. The moment you put this fine designer writing device to paper, you will experience the ultimate writing feel. The overall look of Wine W ine 144 FINE Writing W riting the OMAS pen is as distinct a combination of style and character as Château Lafite’s wines. Naturally, only 1797 pens were made: 1000 fountain pens and 797 rollerballs. Solaia Pen: an Homage to Antinori’s 600-Year History As an Italian company, OMAS felt it was only a question of time as to when it would make a special edition pen for one of the leading lights of the Italian wine world. A natural partner was found in Piero Antinori, whose family has been making wines since their forefather Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the Guild of Winemakers, the Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri, in 1385. Throughout its history, spanning 26 generations, the family has personally managed the business, making innovative and sometimes courageous choices but always maintaining an unwavering respect for the tradition and the land. Marchese Piero Antinori, the 25th generation president of the company, has brought in novel, dynamic and visionary views that have led to Italy’s recognition as a producer of worldclass wines. In 2010, OMAS corroborated its own passion for the wine world with a new limited edition dedicated to the prestigious Italian wine tradition. It pays homage to Antinori’s six-hundredyear history. OMAS and Marchesi Antinori, both symbols of the refined exclusivity of Italian products, went down an exciting path to create a prestigious limited edition that reflects the handcrafted tradition and the attention to testing and innovation of the two Italian companies. “It is a privilege for us to firmly link one of our writing instruments to a prestigious product like Solaia. We like to think that the collaboration between OMAS and Antinori gives life to an object that can celebrate a completely Italian excellence,” said Bryan Lee, Executive Director of OMAS. Solaia was first produced almost accidentally in 1978, thanks to Marchese Piero’s intuition. Solaia, meaning “the sunny one” in Italian, is a 10-hectare southwest-facing vineyard planted 351-396 metres above sea level. It belongs to the Tignanello Estate, which is located at the heart of Chianti Classico, 30 kilometres south of Florence. In 2000, it was the first Italian wine to be selected as Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator and it continues to grow and take on worldwide markets.

The oak of the Marchesi Antinori barriques, where the precious wine once aged for years, has now been revived in the Solaia Limited Edition. Elegant engravings recall the world of this famous wine: the family coat of arms and the vine plant (is this the right term?) dominate the cap surface, while the rhombus which is found in the Marchesi Antinori shield decorates the knob. The first historical Solaia wine year is represented by the 1978 numbered and limited edition in silver items produced: 1200 piston filling fountain pens and 778 rollerballs. The box, inspired by the Solaia wine packaging, reflects the wine’s fine taste and exalts the beauty and splendour of the precious writing instrument. OMAS also made a very limited Solaia High Luxury Limited Edition, adorned with precious materials. It is dedicated to the Solaia vintages, with each of the 25 unique pieces linked to a particular wine year. Art of Blending OMAS Marketing Manager Marta Cruciani explains that their artisanal philosophy has many similarities with fine wine production: “The skilful blend of design and handcrafting, the use of precious materials and the innovation all constitute the values around which each OMAS pen is FINE L i f e s t y l e At the White House, Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy had at least nine secretaries who could imitate their signatures and deal with fan mail. For official signatures, Kennedy favoured the Parker 45 fountain pen, as did Presidents Ford, Nixon and Carter. developed. First and foremost, a pen is a creative tool and an attractive and fascinating means of expression. Imagining and creating these instruments requires a deep understanding of emotions and a passion for beautiful things.” “OMAS pens have always been characterised by their timeless, elegant and essential design and strong personality, which highlight the characteristics typical of Italian style and stand as examples of Italian creative excellence in the fountain pen sector. These valuable writing jewels combine to perfection aesthetic high quality, performance and a sophisticated image with the pleasure of writing.” “It is thanks to this tradition and uncompromising savoir faire that the design of OMAS pens is capable of harnessing and interpreting the spirit of the age, ensuring an ever more modern creative impulse and inspiration.” To conclude, I cannot resist asking Cruciani about the future of fountain pens in our increasingly technology-oriented world. “People use this kind of writing instrument, especially fountain pens, just for the pleasure of writing. OMAS’s fine jewels of writing are a perfect blend of aesthetic excellence and extreme ease of use, combining a sophisticated image with the pleasure of writing. Moreover, these precious writing instruments are considered luxury accessories, just like watches or fine wines.” > OMAS 145

Pleasure The History of Writing of Wine W ine W Writing 146 FINE

COLUMN JUHA LIHTONEN FINLAND: The World’s most revered fine wine location I t has been some time since I dined with my wife at one of my ­favourite restaurants in Melbourne, Number 8 in the Crown Casino. We were discussing the wine list in front of us, which has been recognised as one of the finest lists in the world by respected names such as Wine Spectator and Gourmet Traveller Wine. Due to our rather unique and exotic language, the sommelier could not help but ask where we are from. Upon hearing that we originate from Finland he became very excited, exclaiming that rarest and most expensive wine in their selection actually comes from Finland! He then introduced their $13,200 champagne, Heidsieck & Co Monopole Goût Américain 1907, which was found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in 1997. The sommelier was excited to learn that the several bottles I had already tasted had been drinking perfectly well. ‘Finland’s champagne’ first reached the world’s attention in the spring of 1998 when it became the most expensive champagne ever sold at Christie’s in London. The price was an incredible 4068 US dollars. It still stands out as the most expensive champagne on the planet; the Ritz Hotel in Moscow has it listed for an astonishing 275 000 euros. 148 FINE It was not long after we returned home that another extraordinary shipwreck champagne find was spotted near the coastline of the Åland Islands, a small group of Finnish islands. Finland was again in the headlines thanks to its champagne treasure. This time, the bowels of the doomed vessel were laden with champagnes dating back almost two hundred years. The champagnes – then of unknown origin – were then rescued from the old schooner, which was resting at a depth of 47 metres. Unlike the Jönköping find, which had over 2000 salvaged bottles, only 145 bottles finally saw the light of day after the two-week rescue project. This time, the champagnes were revealed to be the non-vintage versions of Champagne Juglar (which was later to merge with Jacquesson), Veuve Clicquot and Heidsieck &

FINE Lihtonen Juha Lihtonen Managing Editor Juha Lihtonen is the editor of FINE – The Wine Magazine and its American & Scandinavian editions and manyfold Finnish sommelier champion. He was selected as the best sommelier in the Nordic countries in 2003. Mr Lihtonen has worked as a wine educator, a wine host on a radio programme, as well as the wine director of a major cruise line. He has written books on combining wine and food. Co, with the origin determined to be somewhere between the late 1820s and 1840s. The bottles were deemed to belong to the government of the Åland Islands, which are an autonomous region of Finland. It proceeded to organise a large press conference event and a champagne auction, where over one hundred journalists were given details of the find before the luckiest ones were afforded the opportunity to taste these well-kept champagnes. The auction, led by the world’s biggest wine auction house Acker Merrall & Condit, fetched a record auction price for a bottle of champagne: 30 000 euros. This was the first in a long line of events and various actions that the government representatives had planned for these special champagnes. The events, designed to market Åland and promote the islands’ tourism industry, include auctions, champagne events, diving excursions and branded champagnes – which will be partially blended with a small amount of the shipwreck champagnes – made especially for Åland. It was fascinating to see how the Åland government decided to both brand their islands as a champagne destination and create a number of job opportunities using just 145 bottles of champagne. As the rugged waters of Finland have constituted an essential route throughout the centuries for ships carrying goods to Russia, many ships have met a watery and untimely end in the region. Indeed, every year between ten and twenty wrecks are found around the coast of Finland, and we wait with bated breath to see what this underwater cellar will reveal next. One can only expect more of these treasures to be found in the future, given the expected increase in shipwreck diving in the area. Although all eyes have recently been on China with regards to the world’s finest wines, Finland has stolen the limelight from the wine heavyweight with its champagnes. I believe there is more to come, given the increased interest in locating more treasures from Finland’s “underwater wine cellar”. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to find out what the market prices of these rare nonvintage champagnes from the 19th century will be if they ever become available. I am excited to see whether Number 8 can surprise me on my next visit by having one of these few bottles listed next to their current Jönköping one. The price would presumably be sky high, but what could be more rewarding than sipping this extraordinary champagne made by Madame Veuve Clicquot herself after a successful night at the Crown Casino? > COLUMN 149

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