It has not been an auspicious start to the 2007 Bordeaux En Primeur tasting week. After a Saturday of glorious sunshine, Berrys’ Buying Team arrived in Bordeaux to cold, driving rain. Certainly there is little evidence of the global warming that was discussed (and slightly worryingly, rather welcomed by some) at the Climate Change and Wine conference in Barcelona in January.

Having arrived a day earlier from a sunny Paris, I had spent the night in Bordeaux at a friend’s house. All had gone very well until I broke his 19th century blind in typically clumsy English fashion (sorry Bernard and Sophie). As we drove through the Médoc the skies were forbiddingly grey with any sunny breaks swiftly replaced by yet more rain. And of course the tasting week was starting on the 1st April. It was all very symbolic.

Berrys’ Buying Team is stronger than ever this year with the welcome return of Wine Director Alun Griffiths MW and a new addition, leading wine journalist and head of the The Fine Wine School in Hong Kong, Jeannie Cho Lee. I would like to think that the views of Berrys’ 8 Bordeaux experts with, well, let’s just say a lot of experience between them, will offer a balanced and well-informed report that will be hard to beat. To add a touch of spice to proceedings we are also being accompanied by a TV crew working on a documentary about wine for the BBC (to be hopefully aired in February 2009). In other words, it is definitely time to remember what our parents taught us, and mind our Ps and Qs.

So, despite the phenomenally strong euro, despite a lousy summer, and even despite the unhelpful pricing of so many Bordeaux châteaux last year, reports from the Bordelais seemed to show an admirable bullishness about their 2007s. Certainly, an early foray by Sales Director Simon Staples and Oliver East a few weeks ago had revealed a handful of surprisingly attractive, soft and succulent wines including 2007 Ch. du Tertre, but this week would be the real acid test. Could 2007 Bordeaux be the sexiest thing to come out of France since Carla Bruni-Sarkozy or would it be more like, err, a piece of lettuce: green, thin and not very fruity?

As we criss-cross Bordeaux this week tasting as many wines as we can from the 2007 vintage, I will be publishing regular reports on this blog (notwithstanding biblical floods, hypothermia and technology meltdowns) along with full tasting notes and as many podcasks as we can manage. I hope you will join us for the ride.

It’s going to be a tricky one to be honest. If Oliver (our Fine Wine Purchasing Manager) and I hadn’t just tried a handful of 2007s in February (watch out for a spellbinding 2007 Ch. Giscours this year…as long as the price is correct it’s a cellar must-have) I would be packing my well used tasting book and gnarled biro without a great deal of enthusiasm, as on paper, the vintage looked to be a bit of a damp squib.

Bordeaux had as dreadful a Summer as we did, with very little warmth and particularly little sunshine, but a vintage saving blast of Indian Summer has been credited in turning this bad boy round and if the wines we tried earlier in the year are anything to go by, we are genuinely excited about flying down for the week and quaffing some soft and attractive wines.

Sadly not every year can be 2005, but I have a feeling that the châteaux who took pains (and costs) in the vineyards with their rigorous selection of ripe grapes, will be offering a more generous wine than the majority of 2006s.

If the châteaux take pity on us and acknowledge a Euro that is 15% stronger than our poor old pound then we have a campaign…but that’s a rant for another day.

Follow our exploits next week with notes, pictures and podcasks on bbr.com, and if you have any specific questions do let me know…Viva 2007 En Primeur!! 

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It has been clear for while that the growing imbalance between supply and demand in Champagne, fuelled by burgeoning international demand, is set to lead to shortages in certain markets, with concomitant higher prices and hopefully a more carefully selected distribution chain.

Pretty much every corner of the 33,500 hectares where vines are permitted to be planted has now been planted. A victim of its own success perhaps? A licence to print money for the lucky few? Stark economic reality weighs in favour of the cherished concept of terroir. On one side of the fence a hectare will be worth a modest €5,000 , on the other a rather more impressive € 1 million. There is clearly an argument to extend the area for the vines, modestly, but to do so in such a mannered and punctilious fashion, the process gives off a semblance of propriety rather than profiteering.

So the INAO have done the research, have employed the geologists, the climatologists, in short all possible experts and have identified 40 new communes where, apparently, the quality of the land, soil, aspect and so forth is deemed suitable for Champagne vines. Just for good measure 2 communes have been expelled; their ‘terroir’ deemed no longer, to coin a phrase, ‘fit for purpose’. A slight imbalance, at first blush.

Vines, of course, take rather a long time to produce good fruit; this addition of the number of communes from 319 to 357 will only engender suitable fruit from 2021, and logically, will  thereafter increase production by somewhere in the region of 12-15%.  If global demand continues to grow at its current rate, this will only have a minor effect in the grand scheme of things. The majority of the new communes are in the Marne Valley and in the ’satellite’ enclaves of Aube and Aisne; none especially near to the famous Grand Crus such as Avize and Le Mesnil-Sur -Oger.

It is easy enough to snort at Tartuffian double standards and the rather belated discovery of the intrinsic merit of this new land, yet one has to remember that Champagne has built its astonishingly strong market position through the labours of caution and a disinclination to favour short term gain. One may, contrary to atavistic inclinations, perhaps, give the Champenois the benefit of the doubt  and see this expansion as both necessary and well-planned. After all, at one point, a century ago, the delimited area was almost double its current size. In that light the expansion seems modest and, dare one say it, sensible….

Whether you’re a chameleonic Chardonnay or a complex Cabernet, sometimes it’s good to tempt your tastebuds with something new. Friends constantly tell me that finding their next palate-pleaser isn’t always a walk-in-the-park, so if you’re reluctant to risk your time and money on a vinous impostor, allow me!

I’ve set myself the (dreadful!) task of tasting some delicious, popular grape varieties alongside their lesser-known counterparts. As standard-bearers of style and quality from classical wine regions, I’ll be using Berrys’ Own Selection wines as the benchmarks, and will select alternative varietals around the same price point.

Part 1 – Chardonnay

This week I gathered a group of Chardonnay aficionados to compare Berrys’ White Burgundy with a Viognier and a Chenin Blanc alongside some monkfish and prawn skewers, and a fresh crab, walnut and pear salad.

Although the Big Daddy of white wine grapes expresses itself in different forms, Burgundy is Chardonnay’s spiritual home and I thought Berrys’ White Burgundy from J-Luc Terrier & Christian Collovray would be a wonderful example of a very affordable ‘old world’ Chardonnay which is well-balanced and elegant - the pure fruit balanced by just a whiff of oak.

Lured by the pure, unadulterated simplicity of the prawn and monkfish skewers combined with the effortless elegance of this wine, we found the combination perhaps a little too tempting - and had to make up another batch of skewers to try alongside the alternatives!

Switching sips:

Viognier

We found Domaine Michel Ogier’s 2005 La Rosine from Viognier’s spiritual home, The Rhône, was every bit as elegant and well-balanced as the Chardonnay.

Bursting with ripe fruit and sumptuous peach notes on the nose and palate, its more distinctive flavour was at home with the monkfish and quickly cosied up with the crab too!

Chenin Blanc

2006 Pecan Stream Chenin Blanc from the Waterford Estate in South Africa is stylistically very different to its Chenin Blanc counterparts from the Loire Valley. Boasting apricot and guava with impressive depth and richness, it combines the exuberance of the New World with the specific personality of the grape variety.

We found it to be a wine which boasts the same depth and rich texture of Chardonnay, with additional stunning pear aromas and guava notes, all of which were echoed beautifully by the pear salad.

Tried any exciting new wines recently? Don’t forget to let us know.

With St. Patrick’s Day looming on the Emerald Isle our thoughts are turning to all things Irish. What is classic Irish cuisine? And what are the perfect wine matches for contemporary Celtic gastronomy?

There was a time when boiled bacon and cabbage was considered a traditional dish to be served on St. Patrick’s Day. Nowadays I imagine there are few homes serving up such fare. Nonetheless what would be the ideal accompaniment to this long-established dish? The bacon is quite salty, the cabbage bland and the parsley sauce rich. For me a classic Burgundian Chardonnay would be a great match, with plenty of body to stand up to the bacon and parsley sauce and slight sweetness to cut through the saltiness. Patrick Javillier’s Meursault les Tillets would be my choice.

For my ideal St. Patrick’s Day dinner, however, I would look more to contemporary Irish produce such as Dublin Bay prawns to start. There is nothing quite like the succulent texture of this tasty shellfish, simply pan-fried in butter and with a squeeze of lemon. A nice crisp bottle of Chablis would do nicely, such as the Domaine Billaud-Simon. For main course I would look to Ireland’s world famous beef. If entertaining a crowd I would serve a decent roast to share or for two there is nothing easier than a lean fillet steak. I always serve a red Bordeaux with beef, my current favourites are Chateau Petit Val St. Emilion or Berrys’ Own Pomerol.

I always like to round off a good meal with a cheese board and what to serve with cheese often sparks some debate – port or dessert wine? I am happy to serve either – Berrys’ William Pickering 20-year-old tawny is hard to beat for complexity of flavour. The intense nutty flavours go well with a variety of cheeses, from soft to blue. Or if I am in the mood for dessert wine I might be reaching for a bottle of Chateau de Malle Sauternes. Slainte!