★彡☆彡The Next Big Thing☆彡★彡

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Whatever the industry people are always after the next fashionable thing, the “Next Big Thing” - trends and fads are not exclusive to the world of fashion.  In the wine and spirits industry right now, it’s all about the Gin Palace.  No one is into Prosecco any more (that was so last summer) – the “in thing” right now is artisanal G&Ts to be sipped only from Gin Balloons (similar to a Brandy glass but with a longer stem).    

I admit I’m not totally into this trend, actually I think it's a little lame.  Drinking from a gin balloon is like drinking from a fish bowl - the kind of thing you did as a teenager holidaying in Magaluf.  And yes, while some gins are better than others (I’ll take Martin Miller's over Gordon’s any day), the general flavour profiles can be very much the same – hints of juniper, cloves, etc.  But I have come across another emerging trend, something I find very intriguing – wines of Asia and the Far East.

Chinese businessmen have long had a penchant for French wines, particularly Bordeaux.  Some would argue that this is more of a status symbol than a love for the actual product.  Perhaps this was the case 10 years ago but out of China’s rapidly growing middle class has emerged a growing number of wine connoisseurs - no more red wine cola cocktails, thank you.  Couple this with their growing economy and you start to see the development of Chinese vineyards and wines by both national and international investors.  This is also the case in India, Thailand and Japan.  And let us not forget that these countries indeed do have a very long history of wine making, it is just the case that it has never been on the international wine agenda.  We've been listening to those Old World wine snobs for too long!  

I personally find this exciting stuff – winemakers can experiment with the whole wine making technique and who knows what can happen...what crazy, mind-blowing stuff they can create?  Also, I like to experience new and exciting tastes, take my taste buds beyond what they are used to.  But I know some of my friends find the whole idea a little absurd.  Who would want to drink Thai or Indian wine? Why would you fearlessly try something, which may be revolting (i.e. not suited for the "educated" western palate)?  We have so many great wines from France, Italy, and Spain – what is the appeal?  I understand their concerns, it is clear that the majority of these wines are destined for the domestic market for the time being but I see no harm in giving them a try.

It is possible to find one or two Indian or Chinese wines in supermarkets and wine shops here in the UK so I thought why not.  Let's see what this stuff is like.  The Indian white wine was a Chenin Blanc by Sula in Nashik (north east of Mumbai) and was what I can only describe as an assault on the senses.  Perhaps I should have been as suspicious as my friends!!  I got some "unusual" notes on the nose – antiseptic mixed with hints of tropical fruits and tinned asparagus.  On the palate, it was quite intense with some tropical fruit and what felt like a lot of sugar.  It had the makings of a southern French Chenin Blanc but the sweetness was overpowering and dampened what could have been nice tropical notes, basically making it short fall of the mark.  Certainly in the west, sweet wines (not dessert) are seen as out dated, almost archaic and perhaps this is not the case in India with consumer’s favouring sweeter white wine styles.  It did however prove itself to be a very useful cooking wine but at the price, around £10, it might seem an extreme alternative to the usual white table wine. 

Sula Vineyards Chenin Blanc (>_<)

The second wine was from Thailand – 100% Colombard made by Monsoon Valley.  Colombard is usually used as a filler grape varietal meaning it is blended with other more aromatic and better tasting grapes like Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc and as such doesn’t have any loud and flashy flavours.  But I admit this wine was a rather lovely surprise.  It didn't make me gag like the Indian Chenin.  The nose was packed with scents of green apples, and unripe peaches and melon.  It had a delicious buttery taste on the palate that lingered on the finish and there was little of the green fruit coming through too.  It wasn’t overly expressive, which is a quality you would expect from a filler variety such as Colombard but it was certainly enjoyable.  Something cool, crisp and refreshing, perfect for a summer evening.  Yet again the price, around £10 was a little high (I'd rather spend it on a mini manicure) as there was not enough complexity or intensity of flavours. 

Monsoon Valley Colombard

My wonderful friend Tom Bicknell, who is equally as curious and insane as I am tracked down some Mexican wine online.  On describing the wine to me, his exact words were “It tastes of fire and sugar.”  Awesome!  To me, this sounds intriguing yet terrifying.  Tasting fire and sugar might be fun but those are not the characteristics I look for in a wine!  But at £4 a bottle, what have you got to loose!  I’ll definitely be trying it soon since the crazy man has bought a whole case...apparently there was 20% discount when buying in bulk!  Lunatic!

If you look at the history of the wine and spirits industry, there are so many cases of what was once thought of as repugnant or uncool becoming the fashionable drink of the season.  Take Japanese whisky.  Once considered a bit of a joke by western whisky connoisseurs, it now enjoys a stellar reputation, with highly sought-after bottlings from distilleries such as Karuizawa and Hanyu changing hands on the secondary market for many times their original price.  

Suntory Time

  
So, there may be some hope for these developing economies and their wine. And while many wine critics, including my friends and colleagues, think that wines from these emerging economies have a long way to go in terms of style and taste, I think they’ve made a really interesting start.  So, if you want to be a hipster trendsetter get on this Asian and Far Eastern wine stuff because I have a feeling this will be the “Next Big Thing”!

Haters Gonna Hate: The Sorrowful Story of Chardonnay by Tom Bicknell

So what do we know about Chardonnay?

We know that it’s one of the most widely planted grapes in the history of viticulture.
We know that its origin is thought to be Burgundy.
We know that it is a bone of contention for many wine drinkers.
We also know that it is responsible for some of the most awesome wines on Earth and is an all-around bloody brilliant grape.  Yet never before has a simple grape managed to divide the wine drinking community quite as much as this little baby. 

So why the hate?

Lets have a little look at the history of the almighty Chardonnay, and see if we can find any answers.

One theory on the ancestry of Chardonnay involves a trip to the Middle East. Lebanese and Syrian winemakers argue that Chardonnay was taken to Europe by the returning Crusaders. However, there is little evidence to suggest this theory is true.

What Beauties?  Chardonnay Grapes up close

A more likely scenario, assisted by modern DNA fingerprinting techniques, suggest Chardonnay is a cross between Pinot Blanc, commonly grown by the French aristocracy, and Heunisch, a grape variety thought to be brought over to France by the Romans; the Pinot being the grape of choice for the aristocracy, and Heunisch being widely cultivated by French peasants. Due to the close proximity of the vines, they had plenty of chances to interbreed. As the parent plants were so genetically distant, a process called heterosis took place and the resulting hybrids became kind of Incredible Hulk-esque and became more powerful than you could imagine. 

---Sorry to interrupt Tom but it’s time for some Science:

Heterosis or hybrid vigour refers to the phenomenon that progeny of diverse varieties of a species or crosses between species exhibit greater biomass, speed of development, and fertility than both parents (Birchler et al. 2010, The Plant Cell).  While it occurs in both plants and animals, there is no consensus as to the underlying mechanisms for heterosis (is it a case of dominance, overdominance, or pseudo-overdominance?).  However, it could prove to be an interesting tool to help increase agricultural productivity.  Different research groups dealing with the issue of increasing crop productivity reached conclusions that the solution lies in improved biomass production by way of enhanced light capture and use efficiency, modified photosystem biochemistry, and improved partitioning of assimilates to the economic part of the plant all of which can be achieved through the process of heterosis (Blum 2013, Journal of Experimental Botany).

---Alright Alex, don’t go all Stephen Hawking on us! Chill!

How about looking at Chardonnay from a viticultural point of view?

Chardonnay has a wonderful reputation for being a bit like a sponge. The surroundings, climate, soil, and even the winemaker all have a massive influence on the resulting wine. Chablis is a perfect example of this. The majority of Grand Cru vineyards in Chablis (Burgundy) are planted on predominantly limestone and chalk, giving the wine itself a fantastic minerality.  Jancis Robinson MW even goes so far as to say that Chablis is the most true and pure expression of the Chardonnay grape.

It’s pretty straight-forward to cultivate, and can easily be manipulated to behave how you want it to.  For instance, it’s an early budding vine, which means it can be susceptible to frost damage. One way this was countered in Burgundy was to give the vines an aggressive pruning just before they try to do their thing, which shocks the vine into holding back on budding usually for about 2 weeks once the danger has passed and the warm weather kicks in.

So far we’ve learned that Chardonnay is easy to grow, historically significant, and a bit like a blank slate. So why does this make people hate the little guy?

Oz Clarke said that Chardonnay is “...the ruthless coloniser and destroyer of the world's vineyards and the world's palates." While I do not agree that Chardie is responsible for destroying the worlds palate, I do agree with his view that Chardonnay was an invader. Countless acres of indigenous varieties were pulled up all over the world to accommodate this newly popular, easy-to-pronounce, easy-to-make-into-wine variety that was taking the world by storm.

Italy and Spain were hit incredibly hard by this, both seeing ancient Negroamaro, Primitivo, Grenache and Mataro vines ripped up in favour of new plantings of Chardonnay.

The new world will also have a share of the blame for the anti-Chardonnay attitudes seen around the world. 

"Borrowed" Chardonnay

A story that I find hilarious about early Chardonnay wine making in Australia is that of Murray Tyrell, based in the Hunter Valley. His entire vineyard was planted from cuttings that he “borrowed” from Penfolds, by hopping their fence at night and giving their vines a bit of a prune… This then went on to become one of the most commercially successful Chardonnays ever. Brilliant, only in Australia!

Now thankfully I’m too young to remember this, but when Chardo-mania hit the world in the mid to late 80s popularity increased across the world, so did demand. Australian farmers simply could not keep up, and had to cut a few corners to continue to meet the demand. One of these corners was adding “filler” varietals, such as Semillon and Colombard to pad out the dwindling supply of Chardonnay grapes. Sadly, the quality went down. And to save time, a lot of winemakers were using oak chips or staves instead of extended barrel ageing. Giving us wines with incredibly acrid and abrasive (verging on abusive) oak flavours. 

In the early 90s Australian Chardonnay, once the farmers had sorted themselves out, was in a wonderful place – polar opposite of the Burgundian style. These wines were big, loud, shouty fruit-bombs, rich and voluptuous with huge hits of tropical fruit. Very appealing to the modern wine-consumer. Over the course of the next 5 years, Chardonnay planting down under increased fivefold. Chardonnay was now seen as ‘fashionable.’

But why would this cause people to recoil in fear when you suggest they try a Chardonnay?

Well, as with all things that become incredibly popular the producers realised they didn’t really need to treat their wine with the respect it deserved. People were still going to buy it by the gallon.

This is where the New Worlds tendency (and the Old Worlds reluctance) to label the variety on the bottle, in my opinion, did the most damage.  Let’s say you buy an Aussie chard from the supermarket and it’s rubbish. Then you do the same thinking it was just a blip and buy another bottle of rubbish. Eventually you’ll tar all Chardonnays with the same brush and develop the mindset that “Chardonnay sucks! I’ll just stick to what I know I like”, even if what you like is a Chardonnay masquerading behind a French word like “Pouilly-Fuissé”, “Mâconnais” or “Chablis.”

Even in 2013 working in wine retail I see examples of this on a weekly basis. One of my favourite questions to be asked at work is “Can you recommend me a wine? I don’t like chardonnay, but really like Chablis” – this makes me both happy and sad. Sad because Chardonnay has been unfairly stigmatized, but happy because people are still enjoying it even if they’re ignorant to what they’re actually drinking.

So next time you’re buying wine and see a Chardonnay, don’t be afraid.  Give in to temptation. 

Do as Kath, Kim & Kylie would do, kick back with a lovely glass of C(h)ardonnay - remember the "H" is silent...it’s nice, it’s different, it’s unusual.

Time For An Upgrade

Bacchante is currently going through a make-over!  

I have never been one to conform to a stereotype (my other blog The Lab Bench is my Catwalk is testament to that).  So I decided it was high time that I stopped trying to be a "serious/boring" wine blogger.   Be a bit more fun and funky...a bit more me...

I will still continue to write about wine, and try and include little pieces about spirits, but I shall not aim to preach or be boringly informative.  I love drinking/learning about wine and I have a hell of a lot of fun doing it so it is important to me that you do too.

So keep a look out for Bacchante Mark II...