Challenging Convention
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COMPLIMENTARY Wines of Distinction CHALLENGING CONVENTION ISSUE: #006 WINTER 2015 ISSUE: #006 04 12 Welcome Doing things All fur coat and Contents differently no knickers? Challenging the Laurie Webster from Matthew Clark | Vini | Winter 2015 Christmas is coming, the goose Contributors white table cloth tasting Las Bodegas gets is getting fat… Brought to you by the wine geeks at Matthew Clark behind the label @MatthewClarkLtd Well, I’m not sure about the Siobhan Irons Sam Shepherd goose but our wine list has is one of our is one of our PLEASE NOTE certainly grown with over 40 buyers and after national wine THE CODES LISTED NEXT TO WINES new wines just added to our spending 9 years development ARE OUR PRODUCT CODES WHICH working in the specialist and has 14 16 CAN BE USED TO PURCHASE WINES. range to spice up your lists On-Trade followed Over ten years Parte della famiglia Leading the way PRICES QUOTED ARE LIST BOTTLE for winter. by a stint at of operational PRICE. THESE ARE CORRECT AT TIME Majestic, couldn’t resist getting even experience in bars and restaurants, Richard Smithson of Our bets on these Inside this edition of Vini, OF PRINT BUT MAY BE SUBJECT TO closer to the product by applying for now working to optimise wine Aqua Italia explains the essence top innovators in the CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. we catch up one of our new buying role. Three years later, every opportunities for all businesses of family partnerships world of wine producers, Casa Rojo, to day is still different and she loves the and concepts with Matthew Clark. see how they are injecting the feeling of finding that gem that will WSET Diploma graduate in 2013 make someone’s day and add that and a very keen interest in food, Spanish category with passion little extra to your wine list. wine, spirits and beer from around and creating a great buzz the world. around their wines. Zoe Coombs 19 22 25 is our wine Emmy Webster We look at who’s challenging development is our resident PR My princess of fizz Starter for 10 Reach for the moon the status quo in the world of specialist for the guru and spends Simon Grayson asks Sam Shepherd delves into What have the lads from South West, with most of her time what’s next for Prosecco our wine list with The New Moon Pub Co got wine, whether this is techniques, a passion for talking about, labels, educating, blending or just wine, she’s an writing about or his top 10 up their sleeves now? thinking differently, it’s all here integral part of the team, having tasting wine. Her as we delve into the vast space started with Matthew Clark in 2000 knowledge and thirst for the category of innovation we come across and working within the On-Trade is growing by the day. Her love for the since she was 18. The last couple On-Trade stems from having ran two every day. of years have seen her achieve her On-Trade outlets, she is content on WSET diploma and qualify as a either side of the bar! 28 31 32 Are you doing something WSET Educator. differently with wine you’d like Fiona Stephens Demystifying wine Discover, love, inspire Celebrating innovation to share with us? Or perhaps Tiffany Mogg is one of our Working our way through Save the date for our We catch up with M Restaurants you’ve got a different take on is our Wine national wine the misunderstood flagship tasting next spring on their recent accolades and Marketing development buzzwords of wine innovative ways something you’ve read in here … Manager. Having specialist and Get in touch, we love to chat all worked in the wine has worked in things wine! trade since 2007 wine retail, sales she counts herself and management in the Off- and Cheers! lucky “I work with such like minded On-Trade, both here and in New 36 people, some of which have become Zealand. I have had so much fun Simon the very best of friends”. Tiffany holds working with great people and great The rise of 0% her WEST Diploma and is a qualified wine. Wine is always a central factor The new consumers who are WEST Educator. of my travels; some of my most asking for less from their wine memorable moments have been in California on my honeymoon visiting the likes of Chimney Rock and Dominus and in Tasmania soaking up the sun, vineyards and Riesling! Matthew Clark | Vini | 3 Wine Industry Everything in life is more interesting when you It spread like wildfire. Individual producers started understand more about it, so to understand this uprising constructing a collective voice that sounded so refreshingly Innovation in in South African wine, lets first look at the countries different from those we hear out of France, Australia, Italy recent vinous path. Ours is uniquely intertwined with and beyond… our human journey. This makes us different from many This was just the beginning. It had a direct impact on our other wine producing country across the world. winemaking. We started looking back to the past and It all kicked off with a seemingly unrelated event thousands discovered amazing wines and South African-specific of miles away. It began with the Berlin Wall falling, no longer blends from the 60s and 70s particularly. This in turn led was it appropriate or palatable for the West to prop up the to a renewed confidence in the crafting we had sometimes Apartheid regime, and around 6 months later the release of lacked before. But this time it wasn’t exclusive, arrogant Nelson Mandela was announced. The New South Africa was confidence – it was based on a humble remembering that SOUTH born and with it the opportunity to sell our wine globally. we are privileged custodians of our land. What a balls-up we made initially. It was left to an We began to realise that to be successful winemakers, Englishman, Roger Gabb, to create our first (and still our we only have to reflect our South African stories and largest) export brand – Kumala. But this isn’t surprising, we remarkable environment through our wine; nothing more. were still sifting through the rubble of ourselves, desperately We have many larger-than-life characters in our ranks. searching for what was positive; what we could believe in AFRICA And the renewed confidence we’ve discovered in the rubble going forward. By Bruce Jack of ourselves affords these characters a stage on which Flagstone Winemaker & Founder Around 2004 our generic marketing arm, Wines of South to bedazzle with innovative, delicious wines – now a truer Africa (WOSA), got their speed up with an unusual reflection of the land and the farmer. campaign that linked our natural biodiversity to our wine. There is an explosion of innovation currently Here are just a few of the people that I have found Initially this was seen as risky. Wine-centric commentators particularly inspiring in South African winemaking: happening in the South African wine thought we should concentrate on the differentiating style of our wine – part ‘new world sunshine’, part ‘old world industry; new regions are being opened elegance’. Many marketers thought Africa’s Big Five and – Charles Back pioneered many new different grape up for plantings, heralding vastly Table Mountain would serve as better communication tools varieties, including Viognier, Barbera, Tempranillo, etc… than our flowers. He also led the way in transformation on his farms and different soil types and climates. started the first wine brand JV with his farm workers. It was certainly challenging to link the biodiversity of our flora to our wine, although as a farmer I could immediately – Mariota Enthoven has kept the flame of Old regions are being re-invented see how the soil and climate affects both in very similar transformation burning bright through walking the talk on with hipster marketing. Ancient, ways – if our flora is so mesmerisingly distinctive, so Spier and hosting many mini-conferences, colloquiums should our wines be. Planting the ‘business of wine’ in the and discussions to further dialogue in this regard. forgotten blends are being ‘kingdom of flowers’ and expecting both to flourish seemed rediscovered like Cabernet a bit of a stretch though. – Rico Basson, the CEO of Vinpro has worked But something amazing happened, this initiative forced tirelessly over the last few years to create a sustainable and Cinsault, and a whole us to look from our farm gates, not outward towards the structure for the South African industry that embraces lot of new varieties have gold-paved streets of marketing make-believe, but back the challenges and helps support all the exciting, to the land that makes us different. It immediately, and emerging talent. found their way into bottle. effortlessly, allowed us to be proud again; even if initially it was pride in our flora, whose long-buried seeds were – The Newton Johnson brothers at their metaphorically germinated by the revolutionary fire that eponymous estate near Hermanus have pioneered swept through our country. maritime varieties like Albarino. This new focus somehow started unlocking the stories – Neil Ellis was the first producer to buy in grapes and of our land which were untainted by Apartheid. It felt like produce a sustainable, premium wine offering, when at spring to me. Our re-awakened connection to nature may the time, only those who had inherited old, established have seemed incidental, but it was the spark we needed farms where able to do this. to re-fire our identity and our imaginations.