The Bottleneck, Broadstairs, Kent: Supplier of Quality Wines

Australian Wine

Matthew Jukes says that Australia is the benchmark for worldwide wines a position it has taken over from the French, and if you’ve tasted the best wines from the 2006 vintage of Bordeaux Chateau then you may feel he has a very valid point. The wines have more fruit than you would imagine possible, I remember tasting maturing Bordeaux wines in the seventies and eighties and to say that they were unpleasant at the tender age of six months old is understating the case.

I am aware that many wine lovers dismiss Australian wines but the truth is we love them. The French may call the English “Roast Beefs” but the truth now would “Chicken Curries” a nation changes but the image of times passed persist. I am sure that you would agree that most of the world’s best wines are French and the best wines from Australia as Matthew Jukes says could be written in a pamphlet rather than a book, but make no mistake the pamphlet is getting bigger!

The Australian wineries biggest asset is it’s willingness to change, so if something doesn’t work, tear up the vines and start again, after all it’s no good making a wine in the traditional way if no-one wants to buy it. Australia now faces it’s biggest challenge ever it’s biggest vintage was in 2005 a record 365,550 tonnes thanks to the weather being at it’s kindest but Australia wants to sell all of the wine produced it has no wish to go down the route of Italy and France and distil quality wine into industrial alcohol so Australia is looking for new customers.

The UK and the USA  make up 80% of Australia’s export market for wines but emerging markets are to be found in China, Canada, Scandinavia and mainland Europe, when I visited the Australian vineyards on the “Wine flight of a Lifetime” in 1998 with a group of 25 Brits another group doing the rounds at the time were from Germany and they were very interested in the mellow red wines. It’s certainly true that Australia has come a long way in the passed 20 years, when we came to the Bottleneck in 1988 the previous owner said “Don’t bother with that Australian muck no-one wants to buy it” he also said “Don’t run out of Liebfraumilch” but that’s another story!!!!!

Wine Spotting

You find them every where fussing over the temperature of the wine, the size of the glass, the colour, the aroma (never ever smell, wine doesn’t smell, it has an aroma or nose) then there is the taste, it’s ok if you’re in the wine trade to utter, malolactic fermentation, carbonic maceration, not enough aeration etc but say it too often and even the trade will get bored!! The wine snob uses these phrases to impress,  but to others who are starting out in this wine tasting malarkey, it sounds impressive but it’s just plain off putting, the novice will find this a set back, he will not ask what this means, he’ll go home read it up in a reference book hiding his shameful ignorance!!!!! Next thing you know he’s learned a little more and is also guilty of blinding others with science . There is a very simple reason that wine tasting has a jargon, otherwise we’d have no wine writers, who do their best to impart knowledge to us, after all you can’t just say ooohh this tastes like good red wine or yuck this tastes like bad white wine, where is the romance in these descriptions. The wine snob, is usually lacking the broad perspective of wine, but is extremely knowledgeable on particular Chateaux or areas (Bordeaux is the particular area, closely followed by Burgundy and other top European areas) they are rarely interested in New World areas although Grange and Cloudy Bay are acknowledged passable wines!!!!!!!!  A wine snob of my acquaintance said that she had never enjoyed New World wines because they tend to “burn the palate” and the only white wine of any consequence is Champagne. Wine is there to be enjoyed, it’s not enjoyable if your interest extends only to particular areas, vintages, etc so if any of you suspect that your taste in wine is narrowing and you are starting to write down descriptions, keeping records, collecting new terms for describing the wines you revere, you maybe turning into a Wine Spotter, but the garb is not usually an anorak but a bow tie and a lounge suit and a twirling glass held by the stem obviously!!!!!!!!! Ahem,  that’s how I hold a glass……………….never a bow tie…...not my style… so that’s alright then………...and I’ve never described a wine in terms of angels dancing on the tongue, trust me someone did!!!! 

 

Roman Wines

The first site of a Romano-British vineyard has been discovered at Wollaston in Northamptonshire the site is at the Nene Valley and is about  10 hectares in size. It has been confirmed as a vineyard by identification of vitis pollen from the decayed vines. The date of the vineyard has been given as 2nd or 3rd century.

The excavation team was led by Ian Meadows of Northamptonshire County Council and by Tony Brown of Exeter University’s School of Archaeology and they have uncovered 3 distinct vineyards in the area. The team found a regular pattern of bedding trenches 5 yards apart, which conform to the classical advice on how to lay out a vineyard. There is evidence of individual root balls every 1.5 yards. Although the site is on a flood plain it would have been much dryer in Roman times and the calcareous soil is perfect for vines.

The team have yet to find pruning knives and other tools used in the vineyards but the acidity of the soil may have destroyed these artefacts, although  the site may yet yield further finds.

 In the vicinity production of amphorae had been known about for sometime and it is possible that the wine was supplied to the army in the far north.

 

The Top Ten

Every year a list of the top ten selling wine countries in the UK appears, this is the result for 2006 with a few observations thrown in for good measure;

1. Australia, despite having had an appalling time in their vineyards 2006/2007 they still sit on top of the UK off sales charts for wine. The good news is the wine glut they were experiencing has dried up but it’s the bad news too  only to be replaced with fears that the continuing drought will mean they cannot fulfil all of their export commitments. Average bottle price in 2006 £4.34 production 14.7 million hectolitres

2. France, still in number two spot although there are distinct signs of a revival in their fortunes, but they must be on their guard, overproduction and increasingly reliance on brands will do them no favours. Although their top wines are still nectar of the gods! Average bottle price in 2006 £4.45 production 53.6 million hectolitres

3. California, I wish I could say more about California but we just find it really difficult to sell their wines, if we had to rely on sales of their wines we’d be in trouble. We've just bought in some Ironstone Vineyard Wines and Francis Ford Coppola wines this year  just to see if we can sell them but we suspect that their success is fuelled by sales of Blossom Hill and E&J Gallo  wines. Average bottle price in 2006 £3.97 production 20 million hectolitres                

4. Italy, the saving grace of Italy has been Pinot Grigio, about three years ago it became the new “Chardonnay”, previously Sauvignon Blanc had occupied that spot, but there are distinct signs of Sauvignon fatigue in regular wine drinkers. Italy’s best wines are red and we are thinking about going down that route and early signs are hopeful. Average bottle price in 2006 £3.72 production 49.3 million hectolitres                                                                                 

5. South Africa, Ops yet another wine glut. South African wines are a cross over point from old world to new world they’ve been making wine since the 1600’s longer than some areas of Europe and there are some great wines to be found including. Hamilton Russell, & Brampton wines. Average bottle price 2006 £3.88 production 9.9 million hectolitres.

6. Spain, umm Rioja, Rioja and more Rioja, having said that at last other areas are emerging and their 1970’s image of cheap carafe wines for the less discerning wine drinkers is a thing of the past. Average bottle price 2006 £3.80 production 40 million hectolitres

7. Chile, you could say it’s come in from the cold, after years of bottom feeding the UK wine trade Chile is coming of age, we are selling vast quantities of Chilean rosé at £5.99 bottle and also Carmenere Reserve at £7.99 bottle and a fabulous Cabernet Sauvignon at £9.99 bottle these prices would have been unthinkable a decade ago. These wines stand up well against the opposition are great value for money. Average bottle price 2006 £3.83 production 8.4 million hectolitres

8. Germany, well we’d almost given up on Germany but as there appears to be interest in Riesling we are trying again with a little success, the Dr Loosen wines have sold well, so don’t think Liebfraumilch, think Kabinett or Riesling. Any country that calls Pinot Noir Spätburgunder has to have a lot to offer. Average bottle price 2006 £2.89 production 9.2 million hectolitres

9. New Zealand, I’ll always have a soft spot for New Zealand and Jackson Estate’s helicopter, what a way to keep frost off your vines!! In prime Hobbit Middle Earth some of the most attractive wines in the world are made, New Zealand showed the rest of the world how Sauvignon Blanc should be made and they are starting to make top quality Pinot Noir too. When I visited in 1998 the larger companies were convinced that the smaller boutique wineries would disappear, but it seem they were wrong. The small wineries still exist because they are all quality driven, they make their wines with passion. Average bottle price 2006 £5.95 (yes the highest average price from any wine producing country) production 1.3 million hectolitres

10. Argentina, the wines are the vinous equivalent of the Tango, in that Argentina does it differently than anywhere else. They make the most charming whites from Torrentes grapes and the chunkiest, warmest reds from Malbec grapes. A feature that appears on bottles of Argentinean wines is the altitude at which the grapes were grown! If you fancy something new Argentina could provide it. Average bottle price 2006 £3.64 production 14.5 million hectolitres.

The above round up of the UK favourite wine countries tell  many interesting stories, who thought that the production of New Zealand wines was so small, who would have thought that Australia and Argentina produce the same quantity of wine?

Who would have guessed that the average price of a bottle of wine would be so low?