December 2005 LOTS OF NEW WINE FOR THE WINTER SEASON What's been happening here recently at The Winery? As we write, we are currently waiting for B52's to hit The Winery! All we can say for now is they 're German, they're Pinot Noir, and they're utterly spellbinding - look for the stand-out labels in the shop, emblazoned with the date 1479. After going to the Loire, Burgundy, Spain, Italy, California and Germany (twice) in the last eleven months, the fruits of those visits sees our cellar bulging with new arrivals: NEW - WHITE BURGUNDY - Classy Puligny, Meursault, Auxey-Duresses and Rully from Moret-Nominé. NEW - RED BURGUNDY - Elegant, fragrant Chambolles and Moreys by Sigaut - Back in. NEW - SPAIN - crisp refreshing Verdejos from Nieva in Rueda. Big reds from sun-scorched Jumilla near Murcia. NEW - ITALY- Catch Schola Sarmenti’s juicy reds from Puglia - they arrived a couple of weeks ago and are flying! NEW - CALIFORNIA - finally docking after a long sea voyage - who knows which way they came? We have had offers to greet the vessel! Many favourites are on board, Green & Red, Rabbit Ridge and many new finds from our latest trip. Spine-tingling Pinot Noirs from the Russian River Valley and beautiful Chardonnays from Alexander Valley. NEW - GERMANY - Too many to list here! Check out the following pages, a whole host of new growers, including reds, whites, and sparkling. Our next few Tastings on 8th December, 18th January and 9th February will see us opening the new wines, so come along and see what we've uncovered! We've also been running a couple of food and wine matching events at Liberty, which have been a huge success and enjoyed by all who attended - look out for news of more of these, as we've enjoyed putting them together! Now on to our staff profiles : Guillaume Aubert is a Parisian and came to England six and a half years ago. We poached him from the local Nicolas. Guillaume studied for a wine degree in the Loire valley followed by stages working in the vineyards of Hungary, Cahors and Médoc. We came across Louise Holstein in Andrew Edmunds, the Soho restaurant famous for its fabulous wine list. As well as working for The Winery and Andrew Edmunds, Louise is also developing her career in screenwriting. Debbie Holt moved to London from San Francisco after experiencing the Dot-com bubble from the inside. As well as bringing her knowledge of California, Debbie has been responsible for much of the cosmetic "uplift" of the shop and, less visibly, enhancements to our computer systems. 15 years ago Agustin Sanchez Vicente moved from Salamanca (a stone's throw from the Toro region of Spain) to London where he travels everywhere by bus - his knowledge is encyclopaedic! He worked with Louise at Andrew Edmunds, surrounded by wine. It was his idea that he and Louise should do the WSET (Wine + Spirit Education Trust) courses - the rest is history... From tabloid journalist to wine-loving hooligan, after studying Keats, Zeren Wilson began work as a roving reporter , then moved into advertising sales, before a wine epiphany changed his career direction. His other passion is football - he is a life-long supporter of Tottenham Hotspur. Zeren has made his mark in many ways, lately broadcasting weekly on his notice board outside the shop! Heidi Whitelock - how does she do it? Helps out in a vineyard near Henley, speaks four languages, foodie with hotel and catering experience and a stint at La Reserve running their cellars and tastings...and now working at The Winery! Almost forgot - she also plays the harp. She has now started her maternity leave. Ai Watanabe moved from Yakuza town Osaka to a Japanese boarding school in London at the age of 15 and never went back. After several years working with autistic children she moved into wine and joins us from a stint with Berry Brothers. Our newest addition is Nick Trower who joins us from Fulham Road Restaurant “Tartine”. If he’s not at the shop he can also be spotted whizzing around Ladbroke Grove on his scooter. David Motion continues to balance his parallel careers in Wine and Music, travelling extensively searching for new wines, appearing in interviews for the Ham & High, NW Harpers (the wine trade magazine), Classic FM and Radio 4. Recently wrote the music for the Transport for London Ad and co-wrote the soundtrack to Lynda La Plante’s “Trial and Retribution” with classical percussionist Evelyn Glennie. The Winery - We actually go there! CONTENTS Germany 3 Rheingau 4 The Ahr 5 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer 6 Mittelrhein 9 Sachsen 9 Rheinhessen 10 Nahe 11 Württemberg 12 Pfalz 13 Franken 14 Spain 15 Rueda 15 Extremadura 15 Jumilla 15 La Mancha 16 Valdepeñas 16 Aragon 16 Carineña 16 Toro 16 Ribera del Duero 17 La Rioja 18 Alta 18 Alavesa 18 Baja 18 France 19 Burgundy 19 Cote Chalonnaise - White 19 Cote de Beaune - White 19 Cote de Nuits - White 20 Cote de Nuits - Rose 20 Cote de Beaune - Red 20 Cote de Nuits - Red 21 North Burgundy 22 South Burgundy 22 The Beaujolais 23 Bordeaux 23 Rhone Valley 24 Northern Rhone 24 Southern Rhone 24 The Languedoc 25 Roussillon 25 Provence 26 Alsace 26 Champagne 27 Sparkling 28 Loire 29 Central Vineyards 29 Touraine 29 Anjou 30 Pays Nantais 30 Italy 31 Piedmont 31 Veneto 33 Friuli 33 Tuscany 34 Puglia 34 Australia 35 England 35 California 36 Dessert Wines 37 Beers & Cider 37 Grappa, Liqeur de Fruit, Schnapps 38 Fruit Nectar, Olive Oil, Vinegar 38 2 GERMANY So what is it about German Riesling? Many people turn their noses up and say it’s sweet. But often the same people might, at the right time, enjoy a glass of Sauternes or an off-dry wine from Alsace or the Loire. Sweetness may not be the issue. The Germans have responded to the general trend towards dry wines by producing “trocken” styles and consume enormous quantities domestically. Many estates are producing anything between 60-80% of their wines in the dry style now. To many, the glory of German wine remains within the classic Prädikat system - wines with natural ripeness increasing in sweetness from QbA (quality wine from a specific location) through Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese to the dessert wines; Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein. “it’s like electricity!”… Fans of German Riesling talk in evangelical terms and certainly many have had personal epiphanies - a wine that just clicks, when the heavens open and it suddenly makes sense! Could it be the exquisite balance between sweet and sour? A sceptical friend of ours tasted one of our dry Germans and said immediately “it’s like electricity!”…Even the sweetest wines have incredible racy freshness that stop them from becoming cloying or heavy. Could it be their versatility with food? They’re great with fish, chicken, veal and the perfect partner for pork; particularly good with spicy foods - try a Spätlese with Thai or Indian, for instance. Another attraction may be, as with Burgundy, the real sense of terroir - that this particular wine comes from a tiny little plot on a steep hillside with a long history and tastes different to one from 200m away. Also they are brilliant value. The finest white Burgundy can cost between 35-50, whereas an equivalent German will be 15- 20. Following our recent trips we now have wines from all the key regions and many from the already legendary 2003 vintage; the delicate but steely Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, the rich and earthy Nahe, the perfumed Rheingau, the more tropical Pfalz and Franken with its minerals and the mad bottle shape. We have a wide spread of growers - many, like Diel or Crusius, with long-established reputations, some, like Herrenberg and Prinz, just starting up, but all united by the pursuit of quality. So, put any memories of Liebfraumilch sugar water to one side and try these fascinating wines with food or on their own! Naturally Sweet (edelsüß) or Dry (trocken)? The Prädikat system as we know it (or are confused by it) was finalised in 1971. It was designed to give the most accurate indication of what you would find in the bottle. The quality levels (Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese etc.) simply describe the ripeness (Oechsle) level of the grapes before fermenting. In the 60s and 70s there was huge demand for sweeter wines. These were made by stopping fermentation before it was complete by adding Süssreserve (unfermented grape juice from the same batch of grapes). There was also the additional benefit of being able to produce a palatable wine even in an unripe vintage. Nowadays, with the growers we are working with, this style is made by quickly chilling the tank to kill the yeast. The idea is to create a wine with a perfect harmony between sweetness and acidity. This is also why in this style the alcohol levels are so low, often in the range of 7-9% alcohol by volume. An interesting point that emerged during our visits was the sense that 100 years ago, when classic German wines were the most expensive in the world, the yields could be as low as 15-20hl/ha and many wines were allowed to ferment out dry. Perhaps these cutting-edge garagistes are actually creating a more traditional German wine than we think. A note about the 2003s Everyone was talking about the 2003s. Some writers and some growers (including Fred Prinz who had access to the extensive data and collection of the state domain Kloster Eberbach) drew strong parallels with the 1959s.