Bottle of Chinon Blanc from Baudry-Dutour sealed with a screwcap

Interesting comments from Hervé Lalau on Vinocamp and its cork sponsors here on his Chroniques Vineuses.

White Chinon from Baudry-Dutour closed with screwcap

'Here are my views on the "environmental" side of the cork issue. I did not try to make a very elegant text (not to be reproduced as such), but the ideas are there.

The « environmental issue ».

First of all, it is very difficult to find adequate data. And, when it is available, it is so biassed by the sponsor of the study that you can question its validity. So, I shall stick to the ideas, not their figures.

“Against” the aluminum: it takes electricity to extract the metal from bauxite. That is true.

Objection: once aluminum is available, it is very easy to recycle. You just don’t recycle cork.

“Pro” oak bark: it keeps local manpower at work and maintains the forest.

Objection: the number of manual workers actually involved in the collection of the bark (once every 8-12 years or so on any individual tree), and the number involved in “keeping the forest tidy” is very small indeed.

Moreover, most places (see Alentejo) where the cork-oak is found are no forests any more. You find the trees in clusters amongst other agricultural activities (wheat for instance).

The transportation issue

The volume (in bulk) for corks and screw-caps is similar, from the manufacturer to the end-user. But cork is heavier (marginally so, I admit).

Aluminum (raw material), when journeying between the production site and the manufacturer, takes very little room indeed. Cork needs a lot of volume, even unprocessed. And the places in the world where it is harvested are scarce and very concentrated (Portugal amongst others).

The air pollution issue

Manual workers invade the places of harvest with diesel vehicles and use combustion engine driven tools in a plenty (mostly two-stroke). By and large, they need to cover a lot of kilometers (from one collection site to the other)

The bark treatment issue

Suffices it to read the producers’ own site and take a look at the steps needed in the manufacturing of final corks: it is water and chemistry (chlorine) from one end to the other.

As a summary: yes, extracting aluminum from its ore demands electricity but recycling decreases this disadvantage. No, cork-oak forest for the purpose of collecting the bark is NOT an activity with sustainable advantages.'

See my recent post on screwcaps here.  

Jean-Martin Dutour

While tasting at Baudry-Dutour I asked Jean-Martin Dutour whether there had been any communication with the producers of Bourgueil since his recent election to president of InterLoire. Bourgueil has recently left Interloire to go their own way. There hasn't been any contact and I rather gather that the feeling is that Bourgueil is being left to discover how feasible, in particular the level of what additional costs there are, it is to promote themselves without the aid of a body like InterLoire, covering the region from Nantes to eastern Touraine.

We discussed in some detail the tricky question du jour – who has precedence: Jean Martin Dutour as president of InterLoire or his business partner Christophe Baudry, maire of Cravant-les-Coteaux since March 2008. Initially Jean-Martin thought it was Christophe as he was chosen by the electors (some 300-400) of Cravant. However, Sylvine Teston, the export director, pointed out that Jean-Martin had been elected by some 1400 producers. Clearly further reflection is required before a ruling can be made on this tricky question of etiquette. In the meantime I will have to decide who to greet first when I see them at the Salon des Vins de Loire.

Baudy-Dutour's screwcapped Chinon Blanc

We also discussed the advantages of using screwcaps on both aromatic whites, typified by Sauvignon Blanc, and less aromatic but often delicate whites such as Muscadet or Chenin Blanc. Baudry-Dutour screwcap their stainless steel fermented Chinon Blanc for export markets but use a cork for France because French sommeliers continue to oppose screwcaps. Jean-Martin is convinced that screwcaps are the best closure for this type of white. It appears that the sommeliers oppose screwcaps because it does away with the ceremony involved in wielding a corkscrew when opening a bottle and that once this is done away with their role will appear redundant.

Of course any sommelier who thinks that their only role is to remove the cork from a bottle is a complete waste of space. The real and most useful role of a sommelier isto offer advice to their customers to help them choose a wine that they will enjoy, that will match/complement the food they are having and is at a price they can afford.

Jean-Martin says that once they explain to their private customers the benefits of screwcapping wines, they have no problem buying wines closed with screwcaps. If this is the way a large number of Loire producers think, then it is long time for them to stand up and have the balls make a statement just as the Riesling producers of Clare did in 2000 and the New Zealanders did the following year. Get together, bottle your wines under screwcap, explain to the media why you are doing this and I fancy the sommeliers' opposition will melt away. But it has to be a concerted effort.

Something for the new president of InterLoire to add to his agenda?

PS: See also a post by my fellow Cinq du Vin, Hervé Lalau here. 

The 2010 Bush Vines, Chenin Blanc from Zalze is still very youthful with fresh, floral aromas. Easy drinking with a touch of sweetness – it has 3.8 g/l residual sugar. 60% of the grapes were harvested in a slightly botrytised state to give richness, while 40% were harvested earlier to provide freshness and acidity. Pleasantly easy drinking at present – somewhat two dimensional but could gain additional complexity with a year or two in bottle. A sample – currently available in the UK through Waitrose@£6.49.

The Zalze is closed with a screwcap, which is a reminder that 10 years ago 16 Riesling producers in Australia's Clare Valley bottled their 2000 vintage in screwcap, provoking a revolution that continues to this day.

Screwcapped Casal Garcia

Portugal is the largest producer of cork in the world and has long been quite understandably resistant to the idea of using screwcaps to close wine bottles. Over the past decade Portuguese cork producers have deployed a range of arguments to attempt to stem the increasing popularity of alternative wine closures. These have included warnings of environmental disaster and the loss of fauna and flora if we do not continue to use their sometimes defective product to stopper our wine bottles.

However, it is clear that some of Portugal's largest wine companies believe that screwcaps are suitable at least for their rosés. About a year of so ago I came across half bottles of Mateus Rosé in a Lisbon supermarket closed with screwcaps. Mateus is made by Sogrape, Portugal's largest wine producer. This week we tried a bottle of Casal Garcia Vinho Verde Rosé, which is made by Quinta da Aveleda, another very large Portuguese company, Casal Garcia being one of their biggest brands of Vinho Verde. Incidentally, well chilled, the rosé was pleasantly easy drinking with raspberry and cherry flavours.

How far the use of screwcaps on Portuguese wine in their home market will spread remains to be seen. Quinta do Cotto have used screwcaps on their Douro red.

Doubtless the cork producers will cite this impertinent break with the divine order of cork as a reason that Portugal didn't win the 2010 World Cup!

Cross above Chavignol looking towards Sancerre

This morning we had 34 wines from Terres Blanches (clay-limestone) to taste. The Terres Blanches are mainly the steep hillside vineyards like Les Monts Damnés, La Grande Côte and the Clos de la Poussie. Wines from this terroir tend to be the longest lived from Sancerre but are often initially closed – much less forward than those from the Caillottes.

Of the 34 there were five that were corked, which is an extraordinary high rate of 14.70%.  Although this one can hardly draw conclusions from just 34 wines, this does suggest that the Sancerrois ought to be considering whether their wines wouldn't be better under screwcap. They might also show greater vibrancy.

A rare sight in Sancerre: screwcap bottling line@Domaine Henri Bourgeois

At the offices of Decanter magazine today for a tasting of 2009 white Sancerres. Out of 81 wines we tasted on the first of two days – eight tasters tasting 40 wines each – only 5 or 6 were closed with a screwcap. Dr. Damian Martin of the Wine growers of Ara, who happened to be visiting Decanter's offices that day was surprised at how few there were. In a tasting of New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs all, with possibly a rare exception, would have been screwcapped. In France the on-trade's resistance to scewcaps has so far proved a decisive block on their use.

We had a few corked wines today and, at home, we certainly had a corked bottle of 2000 Cabernet, Clos Roche Blanche. Initially it seemed just rather disappointing and rather past it but as the air got to it the malodorous cork came out in its full splendour and the wine went down the sink.

Tomorrow we have about another 60 Sancerres to taste – 30 each.

12 December 2009

Screwcapped Selections des Haut Pémions

If Muscadet was made in New Zealand all of it would be closed with a screwcap. It is telling that to find a Muscadet closed with a screwcap is relatively newsworthy or, at least, worthy of comment. It is nearly a decade since Australia's Clare Valley Riesling producers started the screwcap revolution with a joint venture bottling in 2000. To me a delicate white like Muscadet ought not to be closed with a cork and that screwcap is probably the best closure we have at the moment for this wine. The slowness on the part of Muscadet producers to move to screwcap is in part an illustration of the conservatism of French wine producers but also an acknowledgement that investing in a screwcap bottling plant is a significant investment. It was also a significant investment for the Clare Valley producers but they agreed to work together.

This Muscadet comes from the Colchester Wine Company, whose general manager, Hugo Rose MW, describes himself as a screwcap luddite. "When I saw this Muscadet with its screwcap, a light bulb went on in my head!' It certainly means that Hugo won't need to get out his sword out to open the bottle.

This 2008 is attractively fresh with some lemony weight and mineral finish. Good as an apéritif but also worked well with some prawns as well as smoked salmon with horseradish and Greek yoghurt. This Muscadet is made by Christophe Drouard, 44690 Monnières, Tél : 02.40.54.61.26
email : muscadet.drouard@free.fr

2008 Les Haut Pémions, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine £9.95 per bottle, Essentials price per £8.45.

Florent Baumard@the 2006 Salon des Vins de Loire with his screwcapped Clos du Papillon, Savennières

It's now well over three years since Florent Baumard became the first top quality Loire producer to opt to bottle his wines in screwcap. While the move to screwcaps in the Loire continues to be fairly slow, less slow amongst the négociants, agreed, but slow with many individual producers, it has now made surprising progress in Portugal – the heartland of the world's cork industry. This morning I was surprised to see a half bottle of Mateus Rosé sealed with a screwcap. Admittedly full sized bottles on sale were still closed with a cork but presumably these will move in time to screwcap too.

If Sogrape now feel comfortable to use screwcaps on Mateus in Portugal, when will producers in Sancerre, Pouilly and, especially, Muscadet follow suit? After all it is now nearly 10 years since the Clare Valley Riesling producers set off the screwcap revolution in 2000.

2008 Le Claux Delorme, AC Valençay and 2008 Menetou-Salon, La Tour Saint-Martin

It is always surprising how quickly a bad cork will destroy a wine. Last night I was looking forward to tasting and enjoying a bottle of Albane and Bertrand Minchin’s 2008 Menetou-Salon white. It was not to be – a badly corked bottle and this Menetou-Salon had only recently been bottled. Time enough for the malodorous cork to have done its worst and completely stuffed up the wine.

Fortunately I had a bottle of Albane and Minchin’s 2008 Le Claux Delorme, Valençay. 100% Sauvignon Blanc this is deliciously citric and zippy and was perfect with some large prawns and garlic chips.

The resolute stare Bertrand uses on suppliers of bad corks!

It is a pity that many producers in the Loire’s Central Vineyards, like Le Tour Saint-Martin, are not bottling at least their whites and rosés in screwcap. When I visited Henri Bourgeois last Thursday I watched them bottling their Petit Bourgeois white in screwcaps. “We would like to have more of our Loire wines in screwcap but as well as continuing resistance in France to this closure, you need much more storage space as screwcaps are more fragile than cork,” explained Jean-Marie. “They have to be stored upright.”

Le Petit Bourgeois being screwcapped: 18.6.09

A return to Parsons Green this morning for a tasting of rosés from Provence – Côtes de Provence, Coteaux d'Aix en Provence and Coteaux Varois en Provence. Incredibly of the around 80 wines in the tasting a maximum of four were closed with a screwcap – completely stupid if the producers of Provence rosé are serious about increasing their share of the UK market.

There is still plenty of room for debate over whether screwcap is the best closure for wines designed for long aging but I think there is little doubt that screwcaps are the best option for wines that will be consumed quickly and informally. Screwcaps make these wines easy to open and to seal – ideal for picnics or busy restaurants. They avoid cork taint – much more apparent on a delicate rosé than a robust red. Furthermore major UK retailers now expect screwcaps for these types of wines as both Nick Room (wine buyer for Waitrose) and Chris Hardy (head wine buyer for Majestic Wine Warehouses) confirmed at the tasting.

I suspect that once again the tyranny of the French sommeliers and their resistance to screwcaps bears a significant proportion of the blame for keeping Provence rosé producers behind the times and crippling their UK export drive.

•••

The Provence rosé producers are continuing their misguided campaign against blending white and red wine to make rosé – long standard practice in Champagne with a petition here. Although this morning there were some pleasant enough rosés, many of the 80 odd rosés shown this morning were pretty bland and anonymous. Fine on a fine day in a restaurant on the Côte d'Azur with some grilled fish but hardly worth rushing to the barricades for even if their future was threatened by the new proposals – which it is not.

This evening happily drinking and enjoying Frédéric Mabileau's 2008 Osez Rosé de Loire with its attractive pear and red fruits flavour and fresh finish. 12% alcohol compared to 13% or more for most of the Provence rosés.

Fellow writer, Hervé Lalau, has another posting on the rosé controversy. This time from a Swiss perspective.

Yesterday there was this telling comment on the wine-forum of Tom Cannavan’s wine-pages about some 2007 Vouvrays that he bought from Bernard Fouquet:

‘Mark Henderson: I bought a mixed case of Aubuisieres but my only reservation has been that both the Silex and the Girardieres (demi-sec) are under plastic cork.’

I certainly agree with Mark’s reservations about putting plastic corks into good quality Vouvray that is capable of aging well over several decades. Pull the cork on either of these two wines in 10-15 years they may well be badly oxidised under these plastic corks. Even after five years this may well be the case. Surely the better option to avoid the problem of corked bottles would have been to go to screwcaps.

Unfortunately the take-up of screwcaps in the Loire, outside of the big groups, has been slow despite many of the white wines being ideally suited. The opposition of many French sommeliers to screwcaps may have played a significant role here. During the Salon des Vins de Loire Jean-Marie Bourgeois told me that he was surprised by the sommeliers’ continued opposition, while Pierre Sauvion (Château du Cléray, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine) said he would move to screwcaps if there was less resistence to it from sommeliers in France.

Fed up with the incidence of corked wines, a number of Loire producers have opted for plastic corks – not really a problem for wine to be consumed young, although these corks can still be difficult to remove from the bottle – but certainly a mistake for wines capable of medium to lomg-term aging.

I suspect the sommeliers’ opposition is largely about protecting their roles by guarding the mystique that can be built up around extracting a cork from a bottle and checking that the cork hasn’t spoiled the wine. If I am right then they will have much to answer for if good Vouvray turns out to have been oxidised because of the use of plastic corks.

2007 Chinon Blanc, Baudry-Dutour

Good to see that leading Chinon producers, Baudry-Dutour, have put their 2007 Chinon Blanc into screwcapped bottles – an admirably modern and stylish presentation. Screwcapped bottles do not have to look cheap.

•••

Elsewhere pertinent comments by Michel Smith about blending white and red to make rosé on Hervé Lalau's blog.