I love Madeira and  can feel the pressure building again to do something about it. At the very least  I’m long overdue for a visit. I was there often in the  1990s, but not since  1999.  There are very few producers left, and, sadly, virtually no culture of grape growers Maturingland bottling their own wines. So findingsomething hi quality, interesting and different to import is well-nigh impossible. The Barros brothers ,  for my money, make the best wines on the island in their own unique style. But they have never taken the trouble to export. It is the greatest regret of my professional career that I have not (yet) persuaded Edmundo or Artur Barros to make the plunge to the  international market. Had they done so, I have no doubt that both they and their wines would enjoy an immediate and sensational success.

I pulled this bottleout from the rack the other day to remind us how good their wines are. No artificial heating. No caramel additions and absolutely no burN on the palate. This is a style they used to call  Extra Reserve. It was about 12 years old when bottled in 1998. I’m not sure they  use this label any longer, but the wines they still produce are just as incomparable. All are light, tangy, but with no bitterness and  the texture is always silky! And, most unusually for Madeira, they can definitely be described as fruity. This Sercial has a rich tangy nose, oxidaktive notes, of course, and a lovely dry, faintly woody whiff. There are some Seville Orange notes perhaps, and the palate, unusually for Madeira, is totally dry. Light, elegant and pure- three of the best adjectives available to describe any wine.

The oysters in Whitstable were plentiful and delicious, and the beer was ok too.  But the highlight was getting the pop-up BBQ to light to cook our Tesco sausages as drizzle threatened on Saturday night. I had the brainwave of using the car-powered air pump (brought along to inflate the mattress) to encourage the charcoal to glow (hence the proximity to the car) and we had, as you can see a sizzling bangers in no time.

The Cathiard Nuits was my first look at one of his 2008s for a year. I sensed the wines needed time when we last tasted. The wine was really vibrant, edgy and delicious. On first opening the wine showed on the nose with almost no oak (there is about 35% new) but with a delicious sour cherry, red fruit energy and very expressive. On later tasting next day the oak character seemed a little more pronounced. On the palate the wine was crisp and juicy and fresh. It shows the obvious mark of the coolness of 2008, but the acidity really seemed to make the wine delicious and  more-ish. There was a real juicy energy to the wine. Not a lot of flesh on the bones at present but a very nice Nuits-like firmness to the wine. I don’t mean tannic dryness, the wine didn’t seem to have a lot of tannin, just what I want to describe as an almost steely-like flavour.  For a nutter fopr young wines, which I have to confess to, I thought it was great. But I think another year or so will bring more pleasure.

Ralph was well established in Magdalen when I went up to Oxford in 1980, and had a reputation as a slightly austere figure; a rigorous philosopher, and an occasionally fierce Junior Dean of Arts (a role which occasionally required him to work as college policeman, when parties went on too late, or volumes were turned up too loud.)

But I quickly found, when he became my philosophy tutor, that he is a great and sympathetic teacher; extremely helpful, encouraging and patient. I was not a naturally gifted philosopher in those days (unlike now!) but I found my tutorials greatly improved my confidence as a Classics student.  Ralph is terrifyingly well-informed on any topic one might ever choose to discuss with him and will always offer a concise but comprehensive summary of any argument.  I wish I had had confidence to attend his now famous Philosophy Discussion Group on Sunday evenings.

Of course in my case, it helped enormously that Ralph was also college wine steward (and still is) and gave his generous support, encouragement and presence to Magdalen Wine Society where I suppose I could say I began to cut my teeth.  He has never claimed to know much about wine – unlike us young Undergraduates who, of course, already knew everything  – though of course his knowledge and experience from attending tastings on behalf of the college cellar over more than thirty years is enormous. Here is an example of another quality:  exceptional modesty.

So, 150 colleagues and former students met for a couple of short seminars. Firstly led by Professor Terence Irwin:  an account of 16^th Century philosopher Francisco Suarez, and his ideas on when it is or is not acceptable to lie. After that, and tea, Christopher Peacocke talked about Descartes and the Cogito – provoking queasy memories of uneasy philosophy tutorials, struggling to grasp the concepts.

Then it was dinner in Hall, with the wines – all chosen by Ralph – coming exclusively from Clark Foyster Wines. Both Isabelle and I were extremely touched, and a little too proud: two of his ex students now supplying wine to the College.  The President,  David Clary, gave a generous speech of thanks to Ralph, and Ralph replied briefly but wittily and humorously.  When he sat down the whole of Hall stood and we applauded him till dawn. It was incredibly moving to see just how fond everyone is of this man who has given almost his whole teaching life to Magdalen and its students.

Thank you for everything, Ralph!

For the record, the wines he chose from us were:

Champagne Jacques Picard, Brut Reserve NV

Gobelsburger Kamptal Gruner Veltliner, Loessterrassen 2010

Feiler-Artinger Blaufränkisch, Umriss 2007

Mas Cristine Muscat de Rivesaltes 2010

No sooner was Australia out of the way than it was time to prepare for one of our biggest events of the year, the annual Austrian Wines tasting at the Institute of Directors. We were joined on the day by a number of winemakers who had come over to support the event and pour their wines. We were really pleased to see a good turn out from the trade and the press. It was apparently the best ever visitor numbers for Austrian Wine Marketing.

IOD tasting of Austrian Wines

Then it was back to London for a couple of days of tastings round our restaurant customers with Michael Moosbrugger. As ever, it was a busy day so we maximised efficiency with a few trips on the bike.

This time the sky was also bright and the atmospheric pressure was high, but the temperature was 30 degrees lower – altogether more conducive to quiet, calm, contemplative tasting.

We had a small, focused event – serious trade customers only – and can boast great conditions for tasting. Proper Riedel Burgundy glasses – thank you Riedel for the sponsorship – space to taste, and  – for long periods – hear-a-pin-drop-silence. Tasting should always be fun, but sometimes lovely wines deserve quiet attention.

Burgundy 2010 tasting

Jean-Marie and Vicki Fourrier joined us, as did Sylvain and Odette Cathiard. We placed their tables facing each other at either end of the room, though actually they seemed to spend most of the day chatting to each other. Gevrey and Vosne are a long way apart , you know. They need to come to London to meet half way. Perhaps they need neutral territory, who knows.

Anyway the wines looked good – we showed Vosne Village, Nuits Thorey and Vosne Malconsorts from Sylvain, and from Jean-Marie we showed Gevrey Village, Gevrey Goulots and Gevrey Clos St Jacques. We also showed the full range from Henri et Philippe Jouan in Morey, the full range from Francois Bertheau in Chambolle, most of the range from Confuron-Gindre in Vosne, four wines from Heresztyn in Gevrey, and two new wines from Henri Delagrange in Volnay

From quiet conditions to noisy ones! We had a dinner for thirty, with Sylvain and Odette Cathiard at 28-50 the same evening. Maybe the wine fuelled noisy exuberance, but the decibel level was high. we put out a few 2010s left over from the tasting as a pre dinner “drink” then served Champagne – Jacques Picard, of course followed by Amoureuses 2007 from Bertheau, Clos St Denis 2007 from Jouan and then from Sylvain Cathiard, our guest of honour: NuitsThorey 07–Vosne Orveaux 05–Vosne Malconsorts 06.

Sylvain Cathiard and guests

Saturday was marmalade making: glorious, house-filling aromas of bitter Seville oranges (VERY GOOD)  followed by Brentford v  Walsall: aimless, frustrating 0-0 draw when they should have walked to victory (VERY BAD). Notice I write “they” not “we”.

Sunday was bus tour around London, including a special meeting with the Queen.

The Queen meets Sylvain and Odette Cathiard

Warming up at Riding House Cafe

On Thursday it tipped down with rain all day, albeit was very mild.  Friday was lovely. Here’s a shot looking across from the south to Chambolle.

Growers are anxious there seems to have been, so far, no real winter and sap has not really sunk back into the plants. There are potential serious problems if a sudden cold snap comes on. Thousands of plants were lost in December 2009 when temperatures dropped suddenly to minus 20 Celcius. This was just the start of a whole series of reasons why 2010 is such a small harvest.

We’ll publish the Burgundy offer tomorrow,  (9th January) but for a preview,  it will be featuring the following:

Henri Delagrange, Volnay (NEW) -  wines of great freshness and energy; spice and red fruit notes and well-priced.

Domaine Heresztyn, Gevrey Chambertin – consistent as always: elegant , supple forward style; very fine, good value.

Domaine Fourrier, Gevrey Chambertin – dramatically reduced quantities; tragic as this is a great year for them.

Domaine Henri et Philippe Jouan, Morey St Denis (NEW) – tiny artisanal domaine; supple, charming and delicious wines.

Domaine Francois Bertheau, Chambolle-Musigny – our second year working together; brilliant, pure intensity throughout the whole range.

Domaine Confuron-Gindre, Vosne Romanee (NEW) – another Confuron, this one for the first time in UK; cool elegant styles, great vineyards, but again small quantities.

Domaine Sylvain Cathiard, Vosne Romanee – the great Sylvain’s final vintage.

Domaine Guyon, Vosne Romanee – powerful, structured wines, lots of whole bunches.

We’ve been to Burgundy a lot in the last year, and have been blesed with some great tip-offs about up and coming estates. It seems doubly fortunate for us that the last two vintages have been so good.  It’s not our preference to squeeze an allocation out of an already well-known estate, but to look and think and explore for ourselves. So don’t be put off if some of these names are new to you. Our track record is proven from the 12 years we’ve been working with now famous names such as Sylvin Cathiard and Domaine Fourrier, so we trust you’ll have confidence to give some of the others a try.

Quantities are tiny from some domaines, and this, if it is coupled with heavy demand, will mean that we will have no wine for new customers  for the established names. But there is plenty of excellent wine in the offer, and 2010 is a beautiful vintage.

Lance Foyster

If you can't take the heat...

For Isabelle’s birthday a couple of weeks ago we made a family trip to London’s Best Retaurant which happens also to be Her Favourite Restaurant. Our daughters are now 9 and 12, well-behaved and heavily exposed – if only that they can’t help hearing their parents’ conversations – to the world of London fine dining. They have actually been quite (very) conservative for most of their lives with the food they will try unless they are forcefed, or unless there is the carrot of a piece of chocolate as reward. On a memorable moment Yasmine was reduced to tears faced with the challenge of a mussel on a plate in a restaurant in Banyuls. But that was three years ago. Recently, however, we have seen encouraging developments, so we thought it time to try again.

The Ledbury also happens to be a very important customer for CFWines so we know the team well, which always makes for a relaxed and friendly experience.  The place was buzzing on a busy Saturday lunch and we spotted a few bottles of “our” wines on various tables. The flame grilled mackerel was as marvellous as ever, and for main courses we ate between us pork, lamb, venison and sea bass. All the plates went back respectably empty. For dessert - no doubt with the girls in mind – Brett sent up a whole range of desserts for us to work our way through. With help from the younger members, we rose to the challenge!

And then a quick chat downstairs with Brett and the team.  Isabelle reported a great birthday. Thanks to all!

Most of the sales-related activities of our business seem to involve putting on or attending tastings, visits to customers and also taking customers to meet our suppliers. We’ve just waved goodbye to Mike Eaton from TerraVin NZ and Mac Forbes from the Yarra Valley Australia  both of whom were here for a couple of weeks to justify the distances involved. At various events they both met a large number of our (and their) customers.

Our Portfolio Tasting was the focal point of their visit, and they were joined by another half dozen of our suppliers from Austria, France and Portugal. It came hard on the heels of the inaugural Dirty Dozen, which, for many who came seems to have been the best tasting of the last 12 months. But for us the  Portfolio Tasting is the big event in our calendar where we show well over a hundred wines, and feature a selection from everyone we’re buying from. The day we picked was one of those crazy hot days, where London was hotter than Athens and most other parts of Southern Europe, and so tasting conditions were quite challenging, and we spent a lot of money on ice! But we had a successful event, and a very positive write up from Anthony Rose in the Independent on Saturday (15/10/2011)

Now next week we have Jose Lievens in London. Jose is winemaker and owner, with his wife and sister in law, of Champagne Jacques Picard. He is coming over to visit some clients with us, but also to present his wines at a Champagne tasting at Fortnum and Mason where his wines, last month, were featured as Champagne of the Month. We are thrilled and very proud to have made so much progress with Jose’s wines in less than a year. The Non Vintage is poured by the glass  at Chez Bruce, Texture and 28-50, and the Rose is poured at The Ledbury. The Art de Vigne vintage is poured (from magnum of course) at Helene Darroze at The Connaught and from bottle at Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley. If I count correctly , that’s 7 stars! And if you’re prepared to buy it by the bottle there are plenty of other places we can recommend. Please ask.

After all this, it’s heads down, run for Christmas and hope the world doesn’t collapse!

There was so much activity in June and July that blog entries sank down the office priority list. As a result we were not able to share with all our readers (!) how much activity we were packing in.

It’s too late now for a detailed account of everything we gzot up to, but to fill in the gaps, – and show of some nice photos – here is a summary.

Trip to Champagne Jacques Picard

"A solera, for Chardonnay? you're joking?" "No, of course I'm serious!"

At the beginning of July, in one of those hot spells, we drove to Champagne- 8 of us in an un-airconditioned minibus. We had a magnificent tour of Champagne Picard and were royally looked after by Jose Lievens and his wife and family. I ate the best oysters I can ever remember, and we absorbed some very detailed information on Champagne in general, but particularly on the specifics of how things are done chez Jacques Picard.  There is, for example, a chardonnay  solera, which makes of almost 50% of the reserve wine for the Brut Reserve.  Jose is a wonderful host; full of enthusiasm and a mine of information. We look forward to welcoming him again in October here in London when he comes over again to meet his admiring public.

Sylvain Cathiard “Inauguration des Nouvelles Installations”

A week after this, Isabelle and Ishot to Burgundy for a very special party  chez Odette, Sylvain et Sebastien Cathiard.  Ostensibly this was to thank all friends, supporters and the local workers who have been involved, over the last two years, in the building of  first the new cellars and more recently the new cuverie. There was a great mix of a few of Sylvain’s customers, local workman and long standing friends and family.

We first had a cocktail, then drank Chablis with the starters followed by  Cathiard Vosne Romanee 2005,  Orveaux 2005 and Malconsorts 2001 in varying sized bottles, as you can see. We danced talked and sang, ate and drank, and then “hey presto” it was 2 am and we were pretty well the last to leave. We staggered throught the vineyards, back towards Vougeot and just resisted the temptation to climb over the Clos walls.  Then we slept till 11, knowing the children were safe in London and had enjoyed the Bryan Ferry concert at Kew gardens. Sunday was a bit dull, but we hired cycles and freshened ourselves up with a spin through the Cote, and a light lunch at Le Chambolle Musigny.

Oh yes, and on Saurday we called in to do just a touch of work with Francois Bertheau: we looked at his 2010s and found them already in really great shape.  We’ll be back next month for our proper look at all the 2010s but the reports we’re beginning to read about 2010 seem to corroborate what we found at this tasting: weight and ripeness-quite a surprise given the cool unsung summer, but refreshing liveliness in the mouth.

Skopelos

And then as school broke up, Isabelle solved the holiday question “where shall we got?” by finding a great late deal on the Sunvil  website for a villa , with pool and car, in Skopelos, one of the northern Sporades. I last visited while preparing for O levels in 1977! Our family all agrees that there is no better holiday destination than Greece, and not because both Clark and Foyster read Classics. The food is simple and fresh, the wine is just wine, the sea is clear and warm, the sky is blue and everywhere looks like a postcard. It did on Skopelos, anyway, and we didn’t even realise util we arrived that this was Mamma Mia island! So the girls were very happy too and we had the most relaxing holiday we’ve had since our last trip to Greece. Tans have faded now, but we came back browner than we have for years.

Disaster struck a week before the event, when the suite of rooms we had booked was put out of action by a collapsed ceiling. Fortunately, the venue managed to provide a smart marquee in the courtyard as an alternative, but the space was pretty tight for the numbers who turned up.

In spite of the congestion, the response was very enthusiastic, and that’s not just because it was hard to get to the spittoons! There was a real buzz in the room and the feedback has been hugely complimentary. Judging from this, we seem to have achieved our aim, which was to highlight the great wine ranges imported by small specialist independents. It was also a truly collaborative effort where all the importers pulled together and shared their time and resources to make this happen. We’re already looking forward to the next event!