Gap in the knowledge

Over the past year I have attempted to cultivate a sense of gratitude for all that I have and the good things that come into my life. Along with this positive energy one is to be grateful for things that do not go ones way, for it is an opportunity to learn something and be set back on the right path. Clearly the latter is more difficult to do, however, it was something I have been taught, and as a dutiful student I have attempted to embody this way of thinking. You may wonder why on earth I am talking about Buddhist practices when this blog is dedicated to wine, but this very thought is from where I bring you my blog this week.

As the story would go, last Wednesday evening I was invited to meet a well-known wine industry personality Stuart Gregor founder and CEO of an alcohol and lifestyle PR firm Liquid Ideas. As you can imagine with my passion for wine, I was giddy with excitement. Liquid Ideas manages the PR for wine industry monster Treasury Wine Estate and such brands as Taylors and Wolf Blass. 

Obviously I was keen to impress with all the research that I have been doing. Including regions and varieties, climate as a determinate for the grape selection and the winemakers impact on the wine. No doubt he was going to discuss tricky topics like the main varieties grown in Alsace France and the noble white varieties, so I polished up on my homework and made my way to Liquid Ideas.

Stuart was friendly and jovial when he invited me in for a chat and to ask why I was interested in the wine industry. I gushed about my passion for the industry and how Australia was particularly ahead of the game in its ability to blend traditional varieties to make new and interesting wines that are impressing the world over. 

"Oh really" he said, "very good, tell me five wineries that are doing interesting things", 

"Ahhh..." gulp! My eyes widened as I frantically searched for anything I had read in gosh, what's that wine magazines name... Gourmet wine? No...

"Ahhh..." sudden flash of brilliance, "off the top of my head I can't recall as I have been doing a lot of reading. Actually the trend in the market is actually toward boutiques and aspirational wine which is what I have really been focusing my attention to", big teethy smile, Phew!

"Great" says Stuart, clearly not totally impressed, but not dismissive either "so, give me the names of five of your favourite Australian boutique wineries"

Crap, crap, crap! I hold the teethy grin, which becomes somewhat strained as I completely rack my brain to try and think of something, ANYTHING! But nothing comes...

"Ahhh... Off the top of my head..." There is no need to finish the sentence as the opportunity to shine has passed. Where had my brilliance disappeared to in the time of need?

"Well, your are clearly enthusiastic, which is great." He smiles whilst rubbing his head thinking, 

"Steep learning curve though I am thinking!"

The conversation continued and luckily my charm and luck didn't see me booted out the door immediately. I did however leave with a feeling of gratitude. You don't know what you don't know until somebody points it out. I set off on my merry way with a whole new list of topics to learn.

The first place that I thought I would go to find out who were the leading Australian wine producers was Google. When searching for premium wines I came across Investment grade wines. There is an index called the Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine Index (LCAWI). This index tracks 28 of the leading Australian wine producers over time in five exceptional vintages. I thought this would be a good place to start learning about Australian wine.

You can check out the index at http://www.langtons.com.au/tools/wineindex.aspx

Some of the top producers listed include:

Penfolds, Bass, Cullen, Henschke, Leeuwin Estate, Moss Wood, Mount Mary and Rockford.

Hmmm... I can see this might take awhile. Until next time, have a glass for me. Alex Mac.


www.liquidideas.com.au

The Business of Booze

As a commodity wine and alcoholic beverages are as interesting in their market behaviour as they are to consume. In July 2011 the Australian beverage category declined for the first time in five years. While markets whirled and shook the world over throughout 2008, total beverage retail sales increased. Not until three years after the world’s greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression did the domestic retail sales decline.

It is possible to conceive that during times of hardship people may turn to alcohol to help them through. The idea being that they simply continue to drink but substitute from one price point into another lower level brand. This may be one reason the sales have remained buoyant, however there are few other key elements at play, which have dictated the movement of Australian produced alcohol and wine in particular. Despite the seemingly continued growth in the market through pure sales figures, the Australian wine market is in crisis.

From the 1980’s to the early 2000’s Australian produced wine was the Golden child of the global industry. It assisted in the development of a consumer market worldwide and particularly in the UK, the USA and Canada. Australia built itself up to be the 6^th largest wine producer in the world after (France, Italy, Spain, the USA and Argentina).

The great advantage Australia has in its capacity to produce wine is the vast differences in the climate range. Grape varieties from all over the world have been brought to Australia and grown successfully in conditions not that far off their original old world climate counterparts. In Australia’s ability to produce quality wine and sell it on the international market at a lower price than competitors throughout the 80’s and 90’s, it did.

Due to the success of the export industry investment continued to flow into the industry and vines continued to be planted in our vast land. All the success came to a screeching halt however when all of a sudden the Australian dollar increased in value and we no longer became competitive. The local industry was stuck with an immense oversupply of grapes and unsellable wine.

Farmers began to go broke, unable to sell their fruit; wine makers couldn’t sell their wine and were forced to sell at a basement price in unlabelled ‘clean skin’ bottles; and distributers could not export as the other new world wine countries had become more competitive as the value of the Aussie dollar remained sky high.

This is the reality that the industry remains in today. While the wine glut may have subsided somewhat from it’s highest point, there still remains an oversupply. The Australian wine industry is completely dependent on export as in reality there simply are not enough people in Australia to consume the product, even if every man, woman, child and pet drank a bottle a week.

The problem that the industry faces over the next few years remains to be a simple economic concept of demand and supply. While there is low discretionary spending throughout the rest of the world, low consumer sentiment and a high Australian dollar it is not possible to recreate balance within the demand and supply relationship.

However, as always there is another player that comes into the picture when we talk about Australia. Asia is our neighbour, kind of like our big brother who keeps just out of trouble just enough so mum and dad don’t find out. If somehow Australia can speed up the process of Asian consumers coming around to the taste and custom of drinking wine, then maybe a bright future is closer than we thought.

Just something to ponder over your next glass of wine. Alex Mac.

And then there was Champagne!

There is a stereotype about the French that they are incredibly sophisticated and sometimes look down at other nationalities as inferior. I have heard many people say that the French are a little rude and when we travel in their country that they aren't friendly and refuse to speak anything other than french.

Whether this stereotype is true or false is irrelevant to the topic. I was recently having this very conversation with a friend who said to me "throughout history the French have brought the most refined, exquisite and sophisticated luxuries to the world including the invention of Photography and Film, created movements of art that changed the world, Haute Couture, Michelin stars, mouth watering pastries and wine. If you had created all these things, would you not turn your nose up a little too?"

Quite clearly I am a Francophile through and through. The word luxury rings like bells in a church tower and there is nothing that says luxury like Champagne! It is the drink of kings and has been hailed as the ultimate in sophistication since the 1600's. Unlike many other wines Champagne is as a symbol of upward mobility in society. This time for wine club we decided to splurge and have Champagne club instead. In preparation for our phenomenal little event I did a little research on my favourite drink on the planet and found out a few little gems that might come in handy at your next dinner party.

The reason Champagne is perceived to be so exclusive is simply a supply and demand equation. True Champagne only comes from the Champagne region in Northern France. This area is made up of a few towns including Epernay and Reims that reside on the most fertile and exquisite land that produces the highest quality grapes. As there is such a small area in the world that can legally produce this style of wine and call it Champagne, a premium price can be charged for the product. However there are other parts of the world that make wine in the same style with the same grapes and effervescence, they simply cannot be called by the same name therefore reducing the prestige. 

There are three types of grapes that are used to make Champagne Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. Out of the three grapes Chardonnay is the only white grape, and in fact it is the only white grape grown in the Champagne region. The three grapes are generally blended together over a number of years to maintain consistency in the flavour of the Champagne house. When the vintage is particularly good the winemaker might create a wine made from only that year. A wine like this will have a different characteristic to it depending on the growing conditions of the year it was produced. Vintage wines will generally be more expensive as they are the best grapes.

Types of Champagne include

Prestige Cuvee

This is the wine that is generally considered to be at the top of the producers range. The most famous of this would be Cristal, which is produced by Louis Roderer or Dom Perignon, which is produced by Moet & Chandon.

Blanc de Noirs

Quite literally means 'white of blacks' - white wine produced of black grapes. The grapes in this Champagne would be Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. This is a rare type of wine.

Blanc de Blanc

This is Champagne produced with only Chardonnay grapes. This is also an expensive variety of Champagne that is great for celebrations.

Brut

This is the most common of the Champagne varieties and is produced by mixing the three grapes together. It can be non vintage or vintage.

Next wine club we will try a Bollinger Vintage Brut, Veuve Clicquot Non-Vintage Brut and an Australian version of the wine. It is going to be a good night! 

Until then, have a glass for me. Alex Mac

As Plain as the Nose on Your Face

Unfortunately when it comes to wine, the nose or the aromas that are described on a poetically crafted label are not as plain as the nose on ones face. In fact quite often they are completely elusive and leave the wine taster feeling underwhelmed and a little shaken for confidence.

Well then my friends, the news that I learnt recently will be music to your ears. The aromas that are mentioned in wine labels actually speak to the molecular construction of the wine. Simply put this means that the same molecules that make up a scent, e.g. lemon are also present in the molecules that make up the wine. Therefore the exact same particles that make up the smell a lemon has are present in the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that you probably drank over Christmas. 

Going into detail in the scientific element of this is most certainly going to put you to sleep. However, the point of the matter is that one should not feel intimidated or silly if you can’t smell these components in the glass you are drinking. As mentioned by the legend of wine aromas himself Jean Lenoir ‘some of these aroma compounds are mere traces, and are hardly detectable by our powerful analytical tools’. If this is true, then how can we possibly expect our little old untrained nose pick them up? Let’s face it, if you can smell even one or two different things in your favourite wine you are doing well.

Now that we have all had a little ego boost and can face our next glass of wine with greater confidence, the next step is to focus on the scents or aromas that are more obvious. It is likely that the aromas that smell the strongest are in fact just that and there are simply more of that particle in your wine.

Wood in chardonnay comes from the barrels

If you think of your favourite wine or even least favourite wine, you can probably think of some of the aromas or flavours that are associated with it. The interesting thing is that even if you can only think of the flavours, these are in fact the aromas. As you take a sip of the wine, the aromas enter the back of your nose and are transported to your brain sending you the signal that says ‘I love the passionfruit in my Sauvignon Blanc’ or ‘I can’t stand the strong wood in my chardonnay’. See, you are actually better at this than you thought!

Now that we know that specific aromas and flavours that we perceive in our wine are actually to do with the nose, it is possible to pay attention and train our nose. The best way that I have found to do this is focus on your favourite wine first. What do you like about it? Does it smell like anything you particularly like? Does it taste fresh? If it tastes fresh, what other fruits or vegetables do you get the impression of freshness from? It is great to think about these questions when you have your first sips. It will build up your knowledge really quickly.

I am very excited about the little discovery that I have made this week. There is nothing worse than feeling silly in front of people, especially if you think that the others have more knowledge than you. More often than not they don’t know either.

If you have any questions about this or anything else about wine, please write them on my AlexMacWine Facebook page, for some reason I can’t get comments to work here. Also, if you like my tips please share them. It is my goal to make the world a more wine friendly place.

Until next time, have a glass for me. Alex Mac.