It was only my second visit to Austria but my inaugural, and most satisfactory, encounter with the fine estates of Knoll, Nikolaihof, Ehmoser, Bründlmayer and Pichler-Krutzler; along with Prager, Schloss Gobelsburg, Moric and Wachter-Wiesler. I sense a most exciting offer beckons this autumn!

Austria’s 2011 vintage, echoed across much of Europe, was characterised by a dry spring (and season overall), tricky June/July followed by a late summer but early harvest of fruit rich in phenolics (tannins), low in acidity, relatively low in alcohol, and with little evidence of botrytis. On paper then a vintage perfectly aligned for the earlier ripening varieties of Gruner Veltliner versus that of Riesling (just as Barbera seemed to shine brighter than Nebbiolo in the Langhe…)

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Barbara Drew, our Wine School Administrator, has recently returned from a training trip to Burgundy, and has shared her thoughts on the visit in a triumvirate of triplets!

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Last week I nipped up north to Alsace from Barolo to touch base with domaines Ostertag, Weinbach, Zind-Humbrecht, Josmeyer, Rolly-Gassmann, Mittnacht, Trimbach, Schlumberger, Hugel and Deiss as I prepared the ground for Berrys’ September offer.

Two issues: terroir, and in particular ‘Crus’, along with the sometimes sticky point of how to communicate the wine’s style (dry through to sweet) seem to be preoccupying the producers. The two would appear to be related: they both influence sales (or the lack of).

The first has arisen, as one of the above pointed out, because of the simple fact that Alsace Grand Crus are not selling out. Everyone knows that when the Alsace Grand Cru system was created in the 1980s it was a botched job that ridiculed the otherwise serious French notion of what a ‘Grand Cru’ meant. Doomed from the start as negociants. Hugel, Trimbach et al. publicly scuppered the process, it played into the hands of the dominant cooperatives who wanted to have their cake and eat it. But then as Severine Schlumberger neatly put it: Alsace effectively missed the ‘train of fame’ (the ‘gravy train’?!) that had already called in at other stations, notably Bordeaux and Burgundy in the early 20^th century. Alsace caught a later (delayed) one during the 1960s by which time it was all about supplying the (domestic) market with volume. Today, of the 6000 domaines only 250 bottle their own wine, yet the domestic market has changed & the cooperatives have been slow to adapt to a new, export world where quality is valued over volume.

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Olivier Bernstein came to Basingstoke for the day to present his superb range of 2010s: an early Eurostar, cross London by tube, and then a quick jaunt by SouthWest trains to sunny Basingstoke, and an hour or two with the Fine Wine team, tasting the range of 13 wines – one village Gevrey-Chambertin, four red premiers crus, five red grands crus and three white wines.

Olivier’s confidence has grown noticeably over the four years we have been dealing with him and his wines, and with good reason. He knows that he has filled his boots with a superlative range of wines in 2010, with his usual hallmarks of seductive rich fruit nonetheless faithful to each terroir, but now with an extra degree of refinement. As well as his own confidence – and mine – in the wines, he is happy too with the reaction of the international press, notably Allen Meadows, Steve Tanzer and Jancis Robinson.

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Yesterday evening we had the pleasure of tasting at Ch. Leoville-Las Cases and thoroughly enjoyed the flight of wines in the Domaines Delon stable. Chapelle de Ch. Potensac was fine and fruity upfront and promises to be great value drinking wine, whereas Ch. Potensac was refreshingly fresh. Le Petit Lion and the Grand Vin (excellent concentration and beautiful quality of fruit,  something for the long-term) have both been notable successes this year.

This morning we spent our last day of Bordeaux 2011 En Primeur week with a 9am start at Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion, tasting both the Grand Vin and La Mission itself. We’d spent the journey from Margaux to Graves preparing ourselves for the final First Growth and discussing that there have been three or four wines that we are really impressed with this week – and that rival some of the Firsts in terms of quality. Ch. Haut-Brion’s viticultural history can be traced back further than its Médoc First Growth counterparts and the wine this year was notably fragrant on the nose and suitably fresh. Interestingly, we also felt La Mission’s deep black cherry and cassis aromas were all nicely balanced and the nose particularly charming. It is certainly one to consider. Haut-Brion found that the Cabernet Sauvignon suffered with the heat and drought in spring which necessitated strict selection in the vineyard and the crop was further reduced by the optical sorting machine which removed an extra 5% of the volume. The properties new wine, Quintus, was well thought of too and as the winemakers start to learn about this different terroir just 20% of the yield was included in the first blend.

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Ending Wednesday evening with a tasting at the most consistent First Growth of recent times, Ch. Latour, was a great experience in their modern tasting facility – a stark contrast to many of the other more traditional rooms we had experienced earlier in the day.  Very much within the context of 2011, the Les Forts De Latour was a joyful wine to taste. A wonderfully perfumed nose, opulent fruit, power and silky interwoven tannins. 2011 Ch. Latour is very precise, elegant and focussed, a result of careful vinification and extraction. The wine also shows layered complexity which has been missing in all but a few wines this week.

The evening tasting set us up nicely for the tasting of two other First Growths and many Super-Seconds on Thursday Morning and we started at Ch. Lafite Rothschild (which is typically very difficult to taste En Primeur – Mr Chevalier often mentions that he would prefer to show his wines in June when they have begun to flourish and this is perhaps even more relevant this year). Ch. Duhart-Millon shone, with an abundance of juice on offer. Ch. Montrose was next up and we were particularly impressed by the second wine, La Dame which showed lovely fruit (72% Merlot and 50% of the crop this year, usually just 38% – much stricter selections having taken place). The Grand Vin yield is 10 hectare liters per hectare down this year, at 35 hectare litres, and it is very well integrated with oak, fruit, silky tannins and overall elegance. It is perhaps one of the most harmonious wines yet.

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The terms Left Bank and Right Bank refer to the two parts of the Bordeaux wine region that lie on either side of the River Garonne and the huge Gironde estuary, into which the Rivers Garonne and Dordogne flow. These waters exert a significant influence on both the climate and the soil structures of each sub-region in the appellation, by virtue of their sedimentary deposits.

Starting at the most northerly point of the Right Bank, Bourg and Blaye lie up river near to the southern tip of the great estuary itself, while you have to travel much further south to the banks of the River Dordogne before you stumble across Fronsac and Canon Fronsac, then Pomerol and Lalande de Pomerol, and finally St Emilion and its satellites.

It is the fleshy Merlot grape which dominates this side of the river, which is sometimes supported by Cabernet Franc in the blend (although at the famous St Emilion property Château Cheval Blanc, Cabernet Franc predominates). The soils are more mixed than on the Left Bank, with clay on top of limestone underpinning the rich, fruity wines of Pomerol. Styles vary more in St Emilion, depending on the predominance of sand in the lower lying slopes, or limestone on the hillsides and plateau.

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Another overcast and gloomy morning greeted us as we jumped aboard our minibus to start tasting on Wednesday and we were still buzzing after a wonderful evening spent tasting at Ch. Palmer with Thomas Duroux and Bernard de Laage. The dark, grey skies followed us all the way to Pauillac and our first stop of the day Ch. Pichon-Lalande, one of the most important ‘Super Seconds’. The quality of tannins (superb), precision and constituent parts are all in evidence, but it is perhaps a little lean at this early stage. If it puts on weight in barrel, it could be a really excellent wine.

Perennial Berrys’ favourite Ch. Batailley followed and they have continued their recent form of providing excellent drinking wine.  Ch. Batailley is typically one of the best value wines from Bordeaux and they suggest that 2011 is a year which will demonstrate the importance of terroir and the quality of the winemaker – similar sentiments to those we heard from Thomas Deroux last night. We tasted many wines from the stable and were delighted to see a weight of fruit throughout the range. Our Fine Wine Director Simon Staples found the Grand Vin to be delicious and Alun Griffiths MW commented on the successful management of fine grained tannins which were well balanced alongside fleshy dark fruits. Ch. Batailley believe the fate of the campaign is in the hands of the First Growths and believes that it will commence within the next two and a half weeks. There seems to be widespread recognition that an early (and quick) campaign is necessary this year, which is of course music to our ears.

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We are delighted to announce the launch of our 2009 Extra Ordinary Claret, one of our most popular wines since its launch in 2005, and the older cousin to our Good Ordinary Claret. The 2009 vintage in Bordeaux is considered to be one of the finest in many years, and the quality was superlative across the entire region, so we are proud that the 2009 blend of Extra Ordinary Claret is probably the finest to date.

To try it out for ourselves, we ran a small tasting yesterday to see just what all the fuss was about, and found, as expected, that this really is a very classy Claret. Comments by Oli Barton, Laura Atkinson, Emma Brown and Lucy Christopher.

Oli: That’s a very vibrant red! Very inviting!

Laura: Yes, there’s a very classic Ruby hue to this, it’s quite lovely.

Emma: It smells darker than it looks though: I’m getting lots of rich, dark berry fruit on the nose.

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It was dark and gloomy as we awoke for day two of our tasting trip and it began with a fabulous opportunity to try many wines all alongside one another at a négociant (Joanne) on the outskirts of Bordeaux. This is a very big operation and the beauty of tasting in such an environment is the instant comparison our team can make between wines from different properties.

Joanne is an incredibly atmospheric location to taste wine, their cellars which are decorated with wonderful art and lighting make it really something to behold. We made our selections from the extensive ‘menu-like’ list, donned our bibs and began tasting the Haut-Médocs. There were some lean wines on show that are just a bit short of fruit (probably a result of the cold summer) and displaying a little too much oak. Where wines have been successful, fruit comes to the fore, they show some weight on the palate alongside a little sweetness and there is great complexity and concentration on the finish.

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It was beautiful, crisp and sunny as we awoke this morning and the early drive to the Right Bank was really stunning passing through many wonderful vineyards and opulent Château. Following a brief taste of one or two 2009 and 2010s last night, our taste buds were certainly whet and raring to go.

Our first stop of the day was Moueix where Christian Moueix suggested that 2011 was a difficult vintage for growers, with seasons not being reflective of their usual characteristics, spring- like conditions in summer and vice versa, followed by drought and a warm autumn. If he had to compare 2011 to another vintage, 2004 and 2007 would be his choice. We tasted many wines but focussed on  Lafleur-Gazin and La fleur-Petrus. Oak dominates both at the moment, but the wines show early promise where fruit is in concentration.

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Following a remarkably pleasant flight (and a particularly enjoyable glass of wine at the airport) we have landed in Bordeaux and can’t wait to start tasting the wines of 2011.

Our schedule is remarkably similar to previous years (if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it), so all of the eager anticipation that’s been building during the course of the last few months will finally be released on the Right Bank tomorrow morning. We have a busy diary as usual in St Emillion, starting at Ch. Figeac and Ch. Angélus before moving onto Ch. Ausone and Ch. Cheval Blanc among others in the afternoon.

Everyone is excited, of course, at the prospect of a fantastic week tasting some of the most famous wines in the world, but the most appropriate words to describe the mood of the team as we make our way from the airport to our base in Margaux are intrigued, interested and fascinated. Very little has been written about this vintage so far and the main reason is that it is very hard to generalise about it. Bordeaux is a very large area and just about everything has been thrown at it during the growing season. It has not been the hottest, driest or coldest vintage on record and the wines are likely to be a mixed bag as a result. We haven’t had the chance to taste any 2011s as yet, but early indications suggest that those who have produced gems will be similar to 1996 in terms of style, but even those who haven’t made wines of blockbuster appeal will not be bad – considering the advances made in winemaking technology during recent years. The good news is that this 2011 vintage is likely to have produced lovely drinking Bordeaux to fill up your cellars, with those that bought 2002, 2004 and 2008 aware of what great value these wines are and of course how delicious they are.

2011 does not look like being a winemakers’ vintage, rather a wine merchants’ vintage, where consumers will have to rely heavily on their merchants to secure the right advice and the right wines. We hope to answer many questions, create best buy lists and start to offer the best advice where we can throughout the course of this week where we visit the likes of Ch. Palmer and Ch. Margaux on Tuesday, Ch. Lynch Bages and Ch. Latour in Pauillac on Wednesday, Ch. Lafite Rothschild, Ch. Mouton Rothschild in Pauillac and Ch. Léoville-Poyferré in St Julien on Thursday and draws to a close tasting the wines of Ch. Haut-Brion, Ch. Haut-Bailly and Domaine de Chevalier on the Left Bank in Péssac-Leognan on Friday.

Look out for our daily blogs and for up-to-the-minute tasting snippets and thoughts from the team, follow us and Simon Staples, our Fine Wine Director, on Twitter @BerryBrosRudd @BigSiTheWineGuy.

The terms Left Bank and Right Bank refer the two parts of the Bordeaux wine region that lie on either side of the River Garonne and the huge Gironde estuary, into which the Rivers Garonne and Dordogne flow. These waters exert a significant influence on both the climate and the soil structures of each sub-region in the appellation, by virtue of their sedimentary deposits.

Travelling north to south, the Left Bank includes the appellations of the Médoc, Haut-Médoc and Pessac-Léognan which predominantly produce top-class red wines, then Graves where the great dry whites come from as well as some red wines, and finally Barsac and Sauternes which are renowned for their sweet white wines.

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The 8th March saw Berrys host the UK launch of the great 2002 vintage for Pol Roger at the Cabinet War Rooms in London. Tickets to the event were sadly limited by the venue’s size, but we were joined by 100 of our Cellar Plan customers who were the quickest to reply to our e-mail about the event a few weeks earlier.

The venue had been picked by us and Pol Roger UK, because Churchill was such a fan of Pol Roger’s Champagnes. In 1940, shortly after becoming Prime Minister, Churchill stood in the War Cabinet Room and declared: ‘This is the room from which I will direct the war’. The evening started with a tour of the museum which gives a fascinating insight into the nerve centre of wartime operations from London. The Cabinet War Rooms includes the Churchill Museum, which gives a deeper insight into Churchill’s life and work.

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Like the wildebeest at the beginning of the rainy season wine buyers from around the world will migrate to new pastures very shortly. The Bordeaux Châteaux will open their doors to wine professionals in order to present the new 2011 vintage. I, along with 6 of my colleagues will be travelling to Bordeaux the 1^st week of April to taste the 2011.

Very little has been written about this vintage so far and the main reason is mainly because we cannot generalise about it… This is not the hottest nor the driest nor the coldest and maybe not even the cheapest vintage ever. Bordeaux is a very big area and just about everything has been thrown at it during the growing season, all in different places and at different times. Cold in early summer, wet in august and a long ripening season intertwined with some hail storms have made it very difficult for the media and the merchant to speculate.

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We’re approaching the busiest time of the year here at Berrys: Bordeaux en primeur. If you’re new to the wine world you might not have heard of this concept, so here’s our guide to en primeur…

En primeur is the French wine trade term for wines that are sold before they are bottled. Buying wines in this way is a fairly recent phenomenon, and whilst Bordeaux is perhaps most commonly known for selling its wines this way, it is not exclusive to this region. For example, we also offer Burgundy, Rhône and Italian wines en primeur. Wines sold en primeur are amongst the most sought after in the world, so buying them before they’re bottled offers a chance to secure them at what is often the lowest price available – a key factor when buying wines for investment.

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Joining Berrys’ impressive line-up of Barbaresco producers (Rivella, Cascina delle Rose, Luisin, Roagna, and Marinacci) at this year’s ‘Grand Tour’ Italian tasting at Lindley Hall, London on September 6^th will be one Olek Bondonio, whose first vintage was in 2005. He is just one of the increasing number of exciting Barbaresco producers now emerging from this once much-maligned region.

The observant among you will have spotted that ‘Olek’ is no ordinary Piemontese name, while one look at him, blond and now fetchingly moustached, hints at his Polish blood. Tragically, much of that blood was spilled at the hands of the Germans as many of his grandmother’s family ended their days in a concentration camp. The ones that got away from the ghetto sought far-flung places such as the USA, while a notable few of Olek’s relatives were mentioned in despatches by Winston Churchill in writing for their valour in battle alongside the Allies.

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It was a celebration of structure, style, shape, shades, silhouette, scent, subtlety with a semblance of sweetness, spiciness and seasoning!  The Pickering Cellar was transformed from the home of Berrys’ Wine School, to an elegant catwalk last Saturday. Think whimsical, enthralling, stylish, inspiring and magical…

To celebrate Mothers’ Day, we invited two great St James’s neighbours to join us in our cellars: Lock & Co. Hatters and Floris (also Royal Warrant holders and old established family companies). The day was an extravaganza for the senses!

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We caught up with Katie Cooper to ask her a few questions about what it’s like working in her role as Wine Club Manager here at Berrys.

How did you get into wine?

Like many students, I developed a healthy interest in wine (and gin….and vodka…!) at university and after graduating with a degree in English and Latin Literature, decided to pursue a vinous path, rather than the more obvious routes of publishing or teaching. I joined the graduate scheme at Majestic Wine and learnt a huge amount about both wine and management, passing the WSET Diploma in Wine and Spirits whilst working my way up to Senior Manager.

What brought you to the role of Berrys’ Wine Club Manager?

After five years, I was ready for a new challenge and a move away from the shop floor. After a brief stint as a Wine Advisor in Berrys’ Sales and Service department, I got the job as Wine Club manager. I love speaking to customers and I love all the behind-the-scenes work that running the Wine Club involves, so it’s a perfect combination for me and felt like a natural progression from what I’d done before.

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The sad news has just come through that Maria Thun died on February 9th, two months before her 90th birthday. While many of us who have become interested in biodynamics in agriculture, gardening or viticulture might feel doubts when confronted with the evangelical fervour and contorted texts of Rudolf Steiner, Maria Thun provided a much more credible path to understanding.

On her farmland in Germany, Maria Thun conducted many trials comparing the same product being planted on fruit or flower or leaf or root days. Were there consistent differences? Evidently so. While this sort of experiment does nothing to indicate what scientific truths there may or may not be behind the seemingly fanciful approach of biodynamic practices, it is very welcome to see proponents conducting field trials with proper rigour.

She also, latterly with her son Matthias, produced the admirable annual biodynamic gardening calendar, celebrating the 50th edition this year. This is an invaluable tool for its daily information, as well as for the various essays detailing recent trials and new thoughts about biodynamics.

We are currently revising our management of organic and biodynamic wines on our website. On the organic front, we have decided only to flag up those who are certified as organic, or in conversion towards certification (a three-year process). For biodynamic farming we take a slightly different view as we regard biodynamism as a philosophy more than a regime. We therefore plan to highlight both those who are certified biodynamic, and those who are comfortable in being described as ‘broadly biodynamic’.

More and more of our Burgundy producers are tending towards the biodynamic – and I am sure they are all aware how much they owe to Maria Thun.