Charles Metcalfe:

Some rather depressing research done by UK supermarkets on the level of wine knowledge amongst British wine drinkers. 58% think that Chablis is a grape variety; 43% think Chardonnay is a region and only 16% think Champagne comes from France, often thinking it comes from Italy and Spain. Only 3% consider what they are eating when choosing a wine. Price is the most important factor, even more important than the wine's colour.

Cristiano van Zeller (one of the Douro Boys)

The Douro Boys is a brilliant example of producers working together to promote not only their own wines but also their region.

A survey into what makes a wine producer interesting and credible came up with four important factors. These were small production, good reputation in their home country, wines coming exclusively from their own vines and the estate being family owned.

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Jancis Robinson MW
With Julia Harding MW, Jancis is now busy writing a new study of grape varieties. Of the 1600 different varieties in the world, 10% come from Portugal which is quite extraordinary for a small country.


Advertising by generic bodies is a waste of resources. Jancis cited the large amount of money spent by Bordeaux wines on adverts that were absolutely worthless.

The 50 best Portuguese wines chosen by the journalist who wins the Portuguese wine writer of the year is a very good initiative.

The enthusiasm of the ambassador is helping to promote a country's wines and can be very important, especially in providing recommendations for press and trade tastings.

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Portuguese Wine & International Media

Kristine Baeder (Meininger), Elin McCoy (Bloomberg), Simon Tam (Independent Wine Center, China)

Kristine Baeder

Sadly Kristine's presentation was dreary. Quite why she thought that delegates would want to travel from around the globe to listen to a tedious presentation of her employers' business is beyond my understanding. Still she is not the first to have made this mistake at a conference.

Fortuntately the poor start was rescued by Elin McCoy and Simon Tam. (more to add)

Jancis Robinson MT (master of tweeting)

Ryan Opaz: always a tweet to see Ryan!

Charles Metcalfe


Alastair Marshall (Adnams)

Christine Austin

Neal Martin

Ana Sofia Oliveira, director of marketing VinPortugal

Carrie Jorgensen (Cortes de Cima)

Ken Payton (Reign of Terroir)


 

 

I have recently received a review copy of Tony's new book. He is one of Canada's leading wine writers and probably the longest established. His Cellar Book is subtitled: 'How to design, build, stock and manage your wine cellar wherever you live'.

As you would expect from a writer of Tony's experience this is well written and a good read – he also writes wine crime detective stories. Subjects covered include why you should store wine and where to store it. As well as the basics a considerable part of the book is taken up with what wines to put into your cellar.

Naturally my first check was to see what Tony would recommend in the Loire. His dream Loire cellar includes Silex and Pur Sang from Didier Dagueneau, Grand Clos from Château de Villeneuve, Bonnezeaux from Fesles, Les Rouannières from Château Pierre-Bise, Quarts de Chaume from Domaine de Forges, La Belle Dame from Vacheron and Les Millerits (Anjou Villages) from Domaine des Rochelles. I would be happy with any or all of these choices.

However, Tony has rather exaggerated the area under vines in the Loire – citing 300,000 hectares. This may have been the total pre-phylloxera, there are only around 70,000 ha planted now.

Jancis Robinson MW

Earlier on in the book Tony cites Jancis Robinson MW's guide to grape's aging potential. She gives Loire Chenin Blanc – 4-30 years, which was a bit of a surprise. Having tasted a number of Chenin Blancs well over 30 years of age – some more than 60 years old, this seems to me a bit of an underestimate.

Tony Aspler's Cellar Book is published by Random House, Canada Can$32.95, 339 pages, sepia illustrations.

(Apologies that this post has been rather disjointed for the last few hours but have been caught up with working on the post on my investdrinks-blog.)