Weathering the storm..

The weather has naturally been hampering some deliveries and indeed supplies (it has been snowing in Perpignan for example) but our carriers have generally been doing a sterling job and we are suffering - if any - only minor delays in this, the third week of December. We have had a problem with corks on Casal Garcia so we had to suspend sales of certain lot numbers and this situation is likely to be back to normal only in the week before Christmas - apologies are in order for those of you still waiting for supplies and we must hope the weather does not get too ferocious. Weather updates appear regularly on our delivery page here. Perhaps, after all, a white Christmas is not all it's cracked up to be...

Location..location..

This is rather belated news principally because few countries seem up to speed - although this change was instituted from 1 August 2009. We seemed to have missed the rejoicing in the streets but the EU wine regime is being brought into line with that of food. So the Appellation d'Origine Protegée (AOP) replaces Appellation d'Origine Controllée, the Italian DOC becomes Denominanazione D'Origine Protetta (DOP), and so on. The Vin de Pays are replaced by IGP - Indication Géographique Protegée. Gradually sub regions will disappear - so no more Chianti - all will be Chianti Classico, no more Premières Côtes de Blaye just Côtes de Bordeaux. So simpler in the end. But this simplicity will take about 10 years to 'transition'! We are likely to have two lots of regulations running alongside each other for some considerable time, which is likely to be confusing. Additionally in France (and potentially in other countries if they wish) Vin de Table has been abolished! In its place is Vin de France, which like Vin de Table, can come from anywhere in France but, unlike it, can declare the constituent grape varieties and the vintage on the label. There is a rather strange website which gives further details here. This is really a reposte to the New World, who have for so long sold their wines by grape variety rather than by area and is likely to help in France's export markets - whilst the French home market remains blissfully unconcerned by grape varieties and is much more interested in location..location..

Not so think as ..

There is much fuss and reflection about the British propensity for drink (although it seems to have gone unnoticed that Britons are actually consuming less alcohol than we did 10 or even 5 years ago) with some even suggesting that it is indicative that English has more words for drunk than Eskimos have for snow. Whereas the sober French for example have it so imbued into their culture that they rarely get drunk and do not require or have the variety of synonyms that English has. (The small matter of not actually knowing how many words the Eskimos have for snow doesn't seem to impair the debate.) These suggestions rather miss the fact that English has a larger vocabulary than most other languages - including French. England and the English speaking world has Protestant traditions (the country of the Plymouth Bretheren after all) where drinking was frowned upon - if not made illegal. So when you examine the other words for drunk it turns out that most terms are borrowed and are either ironic or euphemistic or just emphasise disapproval. Have you been slaughtered or just pickled? Or only whoozy or tight? After all none of these words is unique to alcohol consumption - far from it! This doesn't prove that Britons are more drunk - or less sober - than other nations but just that they are linguistically inventive. And no, I haven't been on the sauce.

Hello, 'ello, 'ello

Amid the frightening news that various companies selling wine en primeur for investment, seem only to have ever had one case of wine between them all although their turnover was £2.5m! it is comforting to note that a national fraud line has been set up (to include wine). With some of the eye watering prices asked - and seemingly paid - for 2009 Bordeaux (which, let us remember, is still in the barrel at the Château) wine for investment is probably very attractive to crooks in that it involves large amounts of money for something which, even when bought legitimately, takes about two years to deliver. And as the market in the past has been remunerative for genuine investors, people still think wine will bridge the recession. But, even if we avoid the crooks, with low inflation it may be may difficult to avoid making a loss this time round. And if you wait too long, eventually it all ends up as vinegar.... So, now particularly, proceed with care, as the Constable might say. - Oh and that fraudline number is 03000 123 2040.

Are screwcaps just boring?

There is now debate as to whether screwcap closures are in fact greener than cork. It has been suggested that because the failure rate is much lower than cork (no cork taint) then in fact the screwcap closure avoids wine spoilage and so, even though it consumes more resources to produce in the first place, it is 'greener'. Even leaving aside that barrel taint and cork taint can be exactly the same thing, as these findings generally revolve around quantities of wine that were bottled a decade or more ago (and particularly in the New World where the systems of shipping European corks half way round the world wrapped in plastic were not conducive to high quality outcomes), it is still difficult to draw any firm conclusions. Standards in the cork industry have definitely improved substantially of late and the days of bottling vintage port or Château Lafite under screwcap are still not with us. It is the imperceptibly slow oxidisation that cork allows that reaps such great rewards for the consumer - though clearly without a 100% pass rate. Screwcaps seem to allow change using the oxygen already in the bottle but not anything extra. As with many things it is balancing homogeneity against high (and sometimes low) quality that has us all squabbling.
It is often considered that this variation would not be acceptable for Baked Beans so why should it be for wine? The answer is that Baked Beans in a can would long ago have been deemed to be past their 'use by' date but, subject to the correct storage conditions, should be edible. They are unlikely to improve in quality however. Baked beans in a vacuum sealed glass jar should taste pretty much the same as on the day of production as long as the jar seal remained completely secure. Here wine has an advantage, because not only is it usually in an inert glass container but also contains alcohol as an antiseptic and preservative - so the seal to its 'glass jar' can be less secure. Subject to the correct storage conditions many cork sealed wines will get better. Not a certainty of course - they may just change, but with a judicious choice of raw material 'magic' can result. Perhaps then, we should reckon that corked wines are for fun and screwcapped wines are just for drinking?

Chilean supplies back to normal - but not so for Argentina

We are pleased to say that supplies of Chilean Wine are broadly back to normal. Where there are supply problems it is that there is no Mission Peak Red for example until the new vintage. But in the meanwhile Vicuña Cabernet Merlot should be able to take the strain. The same cannot, however, be said of Argentina where delays in analysis for Natamycin in the very limited facilities available locally continue to cause stock shortages in the UK. There appears little prospect at the moment of much improvement in the situation this year and the best advice seems to be to fill your boots when you can get hold of what you require...

The shape of things to come?

In Pennsylvania, as an addition to state controlled liquor shops, wine is now being sold from wine bottle dispensers. These machines not only require your identity and age to be verified before they will supply but also the customer must undergo a breathalyser test before the machine will dispense your choice! Designed to enable people to buy wine in smaller supermarkets it is experimental to start with but allegedly has, so far, been well received...Just blow in this bag.