  New from Waihopai Valley,  "This is the kind of Pinot Noir that makes sceptics fall in love with this wonderful varietal."  2013 Jackson Estate Gum Emperor Full RRP £33.00 Stuart McCloskey "I do love the colour – blood orange melds with dried blood. It’s haunting in its perfume and provides the most welcoming of autumnal hugs. Woodsmoke, forest berries, soused cherry, mushroom broth, soy, dried orange peel, fresh pencil shaving and leather. I do enjoy the exotic lift provided by baked spices along with the important role played by the florals: dried rose, lavender, alpine herbs and fresh mint. Smoked charcuterie with more aeration. The palate feels pure and nourishing – acidity bringing waves of vitality. She’s in a good place and shows no signs of tiredness. Red forest fruits, undergrowth, blood orange, rosemary, oregano, garrigue are meticulously stitched together. Umami at its best… The tannins are long and slender – perhaps a smidgeon of wood dust. This is the kind of Pinot Noir that makes sceptics fall in love with this wonderful varietal. Choose the right day (and mood) and sit back and marvel at its righteousness… Beguiling and simply wonderful to drink from now to 2028. Served using Zalto Burgundy stemware. I did not decant – there’s no need..."  I live on the fringes of Stodmarsh nature reserve – some 240 hectares, I believe, which is sizeable and a beautiful expanse. A large orchard separates my home from the reserve (as seen in our lead photo) which adds to the glorious views. Unequivocally, I am blessed to be surrounded by such beauty. Equally, my garden is generous and requires at least 20-hours of hard work each week. I believe I could work on it full-time and still fail to keep on top of all the tasks. I care deeply for my surroundings and take my position in nature seriously. I garden without the use of one single chemical. It’s down on my knees for hour upon hour of weeding. I have five, huge bays which take all my garden waste, and with regular turning, produce all my organic compost. I shred larger off cuts which is great mulch for my trees and borders. Comfrey grows in abundance and makes (albeit rather smelly) an excellent liquid fertiliser, that is especially rich in potassium, making it the ideal feed to promote flowers and fruits in a range of plants. I also use organic liquid seaweed – better fragrance too… When I am not toiling, I sit and watch nature pass me by (with wine, of course). It is the best television by far and teaches you so much about the equilibrium of life. During lockdown, I saw a rare white-tailed eagle over the reserve. I believe it made local and national news. Nature thrived during the pandemic. They enjoyed the reprieve from human activity and positively flourished. Humans returned to day-to-day-life and nature retracted. I certainly haven’t seen the magnificent white-tailed eagle, which I imagine is now back on the west coast of Scotland enjoying the splendour of God’s country. As with all keen gardeners and particularly those with an intimate knowledge of their surroundings, this year’s weather has been unsettling with a broader impact for farmers (including fruit growers). Scrumping is a part of our childhoods and one pastime that I may continue to partake in (given my surroundings). As far as the eye can see – I am surrounded by apples which are looking particularly good this year. Their colours are more pronounced than any year I can recall, which the farmer confirmed in our conversation of a few weeks ago. He also confirmed yields were down… However, and despite looking ripe for the taking, they are flavourless. Far too much moisture and not enough sugar. Too much rain, I wonder, which has diluted flavour? October is harvesting time in the UK for apples and grapes, but I am not sure ’24 will go down as a flavoursome year. Certainly, a few more weeks of sunshine would help to build sugar however, intermixed with heavy downpours adds to the dilution problem. The 2022 UK grape harvest was a record-breaking year for the country's wine industry, with a 51% increase in volume from the previous record in 2018. The harvest was made possible by a number of factors, including: One of the hottest and driest on record, with double the average sunshine hours and low rainfall. Nature paid the price which I witnessed with my own eyes. My honeybees could not cope and were dominated by invading wasps who physically attacked my hive (an endemic problem for many beekeepers in this area). I moved my hive to another keeper, who and after a few weeks reported the same problem. In the end, surviving colonies were encouraged to leave their home and to find a safer ‘wild’ shelter. Of course, their rate of survival was slim. Skip to ’24 and pollinators have severely declined. I have spotted three wasps and two European hornets in my garden versus large nests in a ‘normal’ year. Bumblebees always flourish here – I am lucky to enjoy many of the UK species. That said, I ensure their respective habitats are in the best shape possible. Butterflies, as reported, are scant this year. To my eyes, the volume and frequency of spraying in the orchards is at another record high. At peak – every 72-hours which I find disturbing. What could be sprayed? Perhaps, insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. 80% of orchards are treated with growth regulators too… I must state that I am not privy to what the farmer is and is not spraying and I cast no aspersions as everything coming out of his large air sprayer could be organic. Some UK winemakers are reporting a difficult ’24 harvest. Surprise April frosts caused significant damage and losses. Rain has been bountiful this year, which has played havoc with ripening (some wineries will not be making red wines). Researchers from the University of East Anglia have suggested that over the next two decades, southern England’s average temperatures during the growing season could increase by up to 1.4%, creating optimal conditions for producing high-quality still red wines. This change could see regions like Kent, Sussex and Hampshire expanding their repertoire beyond sparkling wines to include robust reds. An increase in temperature brings an increase in rainfall, resulting in humid conditions and the onset of disease amongst the vines and fruit trees. Mildew being the biggest issue. Vigilant vineyard management and lots of man-hours must be undertaken to prevent issues like mildew however, I am seeing more spraying in the orchards, which and unless these are organic (super-costly) destroy the environment. Moreover, and for the fourth year in a row, the UK Government have authorised the use of a banned neonicotinoid pesticide for use on sugar beet. Circa 100,000 hectares of land is planted with sugar beet (about 0.57% of the UK's agricultural land. This is similar to the amount of land used for vegetable production and shows the enormity of the problem). Neonicotinoids, or ‘neonics’, are a group of pesticides that include the chemical thiamethoxam, which is lethal - even a miniscule trace of this toxin can disrupt a bee's ability to navigate and reproduce, significantly reducing the chance of survival. Expand this environmental disaster by some 100,000 hectares and you can start to imagine the impact on our future… What is left to naturally pollinate our orchards, vineyards, vegetables etcetera…  The image above is not frost damaged. Instead, a simple but ingenious sprinkler system to fight against the lethal consequences of frost. When temperatures drop the sensors turn on the system spraying water onto the vines, and as the water cools it creates a frozen layer of ice around the bud. The science behind it is: when water is freezing, it generates a small amount of heat which will protect the bud. Across the pond, and specific to south-east Australia, many wine makers / farmers are coming to grips with the fallout from last month's unseasonally cold overnight temperatures, with some calling for the event to be treated as a natural disaster in order to trigger urgent government assistance. A series of overnight freezing temperatures hit large parts of the country in mid-September, with the damage known to have extended from Kangaroo Island to the SA border, through the Mallee in Victoria and into the central west of New South Wales. As reported, the Barossa Valley vigneron Michael Kies said he had never experienced a frost event so severe in all his 55 vintages. “I would sum it up as devastating.” The fifth-generation grower reported the frost had destroyed at least 80 per cent of his vineyard. "It freezes the moisture in the shoots and then it's just like a blowtorch coming along and burning it off. If you're doing a job somewhere and have a bad day, you just have a bad day and it's gone, but this is our crop, this is our livelihood gone." For growers like Jim Giahgias, who supply their grapes to wineries, waiting for secondary buds may not be viable unless wineries release their prices early. "They need to come out and say, 'Listen, we believe that we can pay X amount of dollars knowing what their markets are, and we believe that if you've got a crop try to grow it or if you haven't got a crop that's big enough you might as well mothball it, because it's going to cost you more money to try to grow it and give it to us for peanuts. Without the growers, they won't have a winery.” He goes on and describes the frost event as a "national disaster" and believes governments need to provide assistance, "quite urgently." I am neither a wine evangelist nor an aging Greta Thunberg. I am someone who has worked in the wine market for 25-years and can see the market teetering. Economically, most of us are challenged, a direct consequence of war and imbeciles that lead governments. The notion that ‘consumers will have to pay more’ is becoming ridiculous. With what, I ask you…? I sell to consumers and our customers' buying habits have changed enormously, and in most cases, for the worse. The frequency of orders-per-customer has reduced, the value of those orders has reduced dramatically, most customers want and demand a ‘deal’, most customers are taking advantage of their home cellars and not replenishing at the rate of old, and most customers expect / want to drink a Ferrari, but at the cost of a clapped-out old Cortina. Accordingly, low yields and higher costs to produce those yields is pushing pricing up. Soon, the UK will introduce a new, idiotic alcohol duty regime (Feb ’25) which includes 30 tax bands for wine. The new system will also require producers to pay more duty for every 0.1% increase in the wine's strength. Lobbying against such stupidity has been ongoing however, and given Mr Starmer’s position with people’s money, this is surely going ahead. I imagine this will be part of 30 October budget announcement. The increase in costs and complexity for retailers is unfathomable, who and if anything like The Vinorium, are running on at least 20 to 30% less margin than 2022. Despite impressive price reductions during this year’s Bordeaux 2023 En Primeur campaign – it has been roundly declared a failure in the region, with Château owners and négociants publicly wringing their hands. "I've never seen this before. The results are catastrophic," said Emmanuel Cruse, director-general of Cruse Lorenzetti (which covers Châteaux d'Issan, Pedesclaux, Lafon-Rochet and Lilian Ladouys). That sentiment is echoed by La Conseillante's Jean-Valmy Nicolas who said the 2023 En Primeur was, "the worst campaign in 30 years for one of the five best vintages. The interest in our wines was significantly lower than in other years," he added. I bumped into an old Bordeaux comrade whilst attending Domaine Evremond’s grand opening a few weeks back. I left the Bordeaux market after 17-years’ service – he continues and was scathing at their greed and stupidity. In short, he hopes they continue to fail, and he believes the writing is on the wall for some négociants. What on earth does Bordeaux do next year? Skip En-Primeur and attempt to sell directly? Very few would succeed. At what price? Would prices 20% cheaper than this year attract buyers? My God, the value of recent, physical vintages would fall through the floor. The anger from recent buyers / investors would be palpable. Confidence would be zero. Ergo, next year’s En-Primeur campaign is looking doomed before we even see Christmas. Those that continue to push En-Primeur wines will argue against this position, but of course they would! If war stopped in Ukraine and interest rates fell to 2% (all in this year), we may see a better, financial position in 2026 / 2027. The outlook for 2025 remains on-par with the past 18-months. Many of us need to get out of our higher mortgage rates to enjoy the extra cash in our pockets! Expecting customers to pay more because costs have increased is delusional (save for fuel and food, but look at the rates of poverty, starvation and cold related deaths in the UK). Within two-years, everyday wine has become a luxury with many preferring to defer their drinking habits until better times. Increasing duty rates will put more in the Governments' coffers however, this will damage hospitality further. Allegedly, there is a £22 billion black hole in the UK coffers. Hospitality contributed £54 billion in tax receipts to the Treasury last year. In the last 12 months, company insolvencies have increased in the hospitality sector more than in any other sector, according to the latest insolvency figures for England and Wales. In fact, the sector comprises 16% of all recorded company insolvencies in the same period. Implementing such a complex and unwise duty system will help our industry how? According to the latest Hospitality Market Monitor from CGA by NIQ - Closures across Britain's hospitality sector slowed from eight sites a day in 2023 to four a day in the first quarter of 2024. Is that ‘slowing’ or are some of the stronger venues (those that thought they could weather the storm) accepted to the reality of life during a cost-of-living-crisis. I don’t believe excessive mark-ups applied to some / many wines in restaurants (routinely 300% of retail price) help either. Overwhelmingly, the proposed, new duty rates are going to hit hard. From importer to the end buyer, to everyone in between. During lockdown, we supported fifty-Aussie producers (some 500 wines) on an exclusive basis. This number has markedly reduced because 1. We could not afford to fund so many wines whilst sales continue to reduce 2. Wines that fail to sell at their RRP do not pay our bills. We reverted to buying some wines from established UK importers who we previously used however, and in most cases, this model does not work. Put simply, there isn’t room for three in the bed – the producer, the importer, and the wine merchant. Three amounts of profit for you, the end user, to absorb. In this market and under these financial constraints…? We’ve highlighted these facts to the importers who, at their selling prices (to us) should be selling direct to consumer. There are many wines that are 30-40% more expensive than their Aussie retail value (it costs £1.00 to ship a bottle by sea). For this reason, we have reverted back to our model of buying more wines direct which offers our customers the very best value versus quality. There are few relationships that accept three in the bed – it just doesn’t work in the long run…  One of my honeybees laden with pollen. To some degree, Australian wine pricing is equally out of kilter with reality. There is a worrying number of producers who believe La Place de Bordeaux is the best avenue to sell overpriced wines. We’ve spoken to the negociants, and we monitor the sales. It is the wrong decision. Furthermore, I am genuinely gobsmacked by how little they understand the fine wine market. Clearly, they have been seduced into the Bordeaux honey trap however, if top Chateaux cannot sell their wine – what chance have they got! Zilch, as the figures prove… Equally, I am taken aback by the $100+ a bottle club. I was $60 last year, but now I believe I am worthy of $100+. Super, and good for you, but do you honestly expect to add the same 60+% increase onto your export prices. The large swathes of Aussie producers falling into the Bordeaux trap of fashionable stupidity is alarming. I must follow my neighbour / competitor mentality which will get you to the same place where Bordeaux is today. Thankfully, there are an equal number of producers who accept life and business for what it is. It is shit and we must stem all the bollocks, to quote one of our new producers. We are working against nature, which in turn, is working against us. No side is winning. Each side is losing. Consequently, and regardless of fashionable nonsense (an overwhelming curse in my books), the costs associated with failed or reduced yields is mounting-up versus an ever-reducing sum of available money to spend on wine or day-to-day produce. We need to be kind to this world. We need to be kind to our neighbours. Farmers certainly need to consider the consequences of life with or without bees (as we all must). We all need to travel the correct and same path for a better future rather than a quick fix for tomorrow.   NEW TASTING NOTES "All-in-all, a fantastic example of Cabernet Sauvignon that shows-off the landscape of Margaret River in the most beautiful of ways."  Nocturne Wines Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 New Tasting Note Stuart McCloskey "I am huge fan of Julian’s wines however, both single vineyard wines required some bottle time, and reason why I have waited so long to provide my tasting note. The bouquet screams Cabernet Sauvignon from cooler climates. Blackcurrant, mulberry, fresh bay-leaf, violet, rosehip, red pepper (capsicum), mint-chocolate, pencil shaving, cedar, new saddle leather along with a good whack of alpine herbs. Wonderfully fresh and so inviting – the bouquet really gets your engine revving. The palate is medium-bodied, tannins are long and svelte – the acidity brings freshness. There’s no shortage of flavour which comes by way of blackcurrant, blueberry, Moroccan mint – there’s sweet spice, liquorice and it is beautifully etched with minerality. The amazing levels of succulence cannot be ignored however, this brings its own problem – it’s difficult to put down! Give it a few minutes to enjoy the olive tapenade. Neither Julian nor the wine try too hard, and yet the deliverance is top drawer. This wine is packed with aromatics, flavour and bountiful energy. All-in-all, a fantastic example of Cabernet Sauvignon that shows-off the landscape of Margaret River in the most beautiful of ways. Sadly, we have lost the agency to a major UK importer. Their pricing is much higher and now sits around £37 to £40 per bottle, which and odd to say, I would still recommend. Enjoy the brilliance of Julian along with exceptional, Vinorium value. Drink now (decant for 2-3 hours) to 2035+. Served using Zalto’s Bordeaux stemware." Julian Langworthy "Ladies and gentlemen, drum roll if you please. Cabernet is back, you know it, you can’t deny it… Suggesting Cabernet is tannic and unyielding while sculling three-year-old Nebbiolo always left me a little bemused. The long and the short of it is that Cabernet, AKA the greatest grape, is a vinous dream and makes some of the world’s best, most accessible wines. Tannin? It’s a thing and a wonderful, cerebral thing at that. Something to be celebrated and embraced. If ya wanna drink cordial, find some overpriced Pinot and marvel at its lack of complexity. 2021, I’d be lying if I said it was easy, I lost hair, and the hair I had left went grey but we got there in the end… Due almost entirely to the inherent quality of the Sheoak vineyard. Inheritably elegant is how this ‘21 Cabernet Sauvignon should be described: resolved, gentle tannins with lovely, lightly framed red fruits and great length. We started picking Sheoak Cabernet on 7th April. Underwhelming at first, it’s a wine that’s grown in charm but possibly not stature from the start. Instantly perfumed but lightly framed, the wine spent 12 days on skins with a peak fermentation temperature around 28ËšC. The wine was pressed to tank and settled briefly, before being transferred to a combination of new (30%) and two and three-year-old barrels to undergo malolactic fermentation. The wine was only racked once in this time and, after 16 months in oak, was emptied from barrel. 100% Cabernet from 100% this very cool site. The Sheoak vineyard makes expressive, medium-bodied, silky structured wines. More red fruit in spectrum with crunchy cranberry characters framing the high notes of cassis and the suggestion of cedar like oak this is a very fine boned release of the Nocturne SV." £33.95 per bottle Buy 6 and SAVE 20% - £27.16 per bottle "This is graceful and a serious wine. Certainly, sensitively handled. This comes highly recommended."  Nocturne Wines Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2021 New Tasting Note Stuart McCloskey "It has taken several years for this wine to bed in and it has another decade of development ahead of it. There’s a lovely perfume of meyer lemon, confit lemon peel, grapefruit, green apple skins, flint, toast, and bags of salinity. Noticeably fresh and tightly coiled. Fresh ginger and peach emerge with 20-or-so minutes in the glass. The palate captivates and flows along uninterrupted. It feels glossy but backed-up with a stony, fine boned component. This is graceful and a serious wine. Certainly, sensitively handled. Saline drives the wine forward as does the tension. The balance is beautiful – super long and I do love the dab of fresh ginger on the finish. This is far from being ‘big’ and ‘blousy’ yet takes command of the glass. Lots of density. This comes highly recommended and best served with a plate of baked scallops and Zalto’s Burgundy stemware. Aeration is key – decant for 20-30 minutes and do not serve in small glasses. I have snaffled a dozen bottles as it will be fascinating to see how this developments over the next 10-years." Julian Langworthy "So in keeping with change this year sees a new site for Nocturne’s SV Chardonnay. The Forrest Vineyard in central Willyabrup. My first and devastatingly brutal love, the tiny Tassel Park vineyard was wiped out in 2021 and in 2022 but hope springs eternal and I have learnt to love again. This pilot wine from this new site is pretty darn cool and whilst a change a very exciting one. Only 128 six packs made, I drank a few of them too. The fruit is of course from a single site, the Forrest Vineyard in the Willyabrup sub-region of Margaret River. Moreover this wine is from a tiny ridge section from within the middle of this vineyard selectively picked for this wine. Planted to the classic WA Gin Gin clone it’s a wine of unbelievable natural acid presence and structural drive. The vineyard is otherwise largely flat and quite close to the coast some 3kms only and in common with Tassel Park is planted on deep silver-grey sands. The picking date is generally relatively early in the chardonnay season given the vineyard's low yielding nature. The grapes were handpicked on 19th of February; and whole bunch-pressed directly to new, one and two-year-old puncheons, with no settling or fining processes. This juice was then carefully monitored and spontaneous fermentation kicked off on day four after pressing. After a four-week ferment the wine remained on gross lees unsulphured until August of that year. In December the wine was emptied from barrel, settled, filtered and bottled. This is an exciting site that holds amazing acid structure and lovely al dente tannin. It needs some time to truly unfurl, unfold, and show its true colours but one sniff will show that it has the character that Nocturne’s SV Chardys are famous for. Flint, funk, just-ripe stone fruit, grilled limes and hope… In hope that change is always to grow and to hopefully improve. Get around this acid laden baby it’s a bright new future out there." £33.95 per bottle Buy 6 and SAVE 20% - £27.16 per bottle "Genuinely gobsmacked by the transformation, the shape, the form, and most importantly, the flavour… The bouquet is epic and immensely pleasing."  Nocturne Wines Sub Regional Chardonnay 2021 Stuart McCloskey "From An Ugly Duckling Into A Swan: I struggled with this when she first arrived – too tight, too mean and if I dare say, far too ordinary. By chance or mistake I recently opened a bottle at home and was genuinely gobsmacked by the transformation, the shape, the form, and most importantly, the flavour… £24.00 per bottle Buy 6 and SAVE 18% - £19.68 per bottle     Viña Cobos is the vision of a dreamer who one day took on the challenge of making wines like never before, in Argentina. It has been 25 years since their first release and 19 years since I started buying and selling their world-class wines. Paul Hobbs set to the challenge of placing Argentina next to the great producers of the world, which and alongside his Californian winery, he has achieved admirably. During 2005 / 2006 I spent much of my time climbing and cycling combined with a little ‘wine’ work which was just enough to pay the bills, but I do recall some very lean months. I first met Paul in London at Bluebird, Chelsea for a tasting of his wine (Cobos and Paul Hobbs) followed by a delicious supper. Despite the event taking place 19 years ago, my memory remains as lucid as the day itself. I remember enjoying a G&T prior to the tasting and the perfectly cooked beef for supper. I also remember the blooming long walk down the King’s Road as taking a taxi was too much of a luxury in those days! The wine tasting was a behemoth experience – the entire line-up was packed with ripe, rich fruit and colossal structure. Given my ‘classical’ background, these were a shock to the system – the high quality of winemaking was clear as the light of day, and this was never in question, given that Paul was the winemaker at Robert Mondavi, Opus One and Simi Winery. Paul had become renowned for the quality and potency of his wines, which and to this day, remains unchanged. So, my journey started with his 2005 Malbec Marchiori Vineyard; ’05 uNico and ’06 Nico which I sold to my customers and which were far removed from my Bordeaux offerings. I have remained faithful and continued to purchase and sell, often to the same group of customers. Demand has grown as critics and consumers around the world recognise the quality. Moreover, and in the wine-world which is obsessed with scores (huge article coming later this month on this subject) they often sell-out before they are released in the market. Demand for mature vintages is extraordinarily high as are the prices – often exorbitantly so, and not justified in my opinion, but there you go… Undeniably, Viña Cobos has put Argentina on the map for world-class wines, defying existing standards and firmly positioning Malbec and Argentina on the international fine wine scene. This release includes wines from the celebrated 2018 vintage as well as their new range, ‘Vinculum,’ which pays tribute to the wealth of growers that have worked with the Estate for decades in some of the finest parts of Luján de Cuyo and Valle de Uco. The properties such as Touza, Rebon and Los Arbolitos are now the foundations of this new range, but with improved winemaking techniques and incredible blending from very special sites, the Viniculum wines are exceptional. As well as the new range, there have been some changes to the brand architecture for the rest of the wines. What was Bramare Vineyard Designate is now Viña Cobos Vineyard Designate and focusses on the three main estates of Chañares, Marchiori and Zingaretti.    Vina Cobos Cobos Malbec 2018 99 Points - James Suckling “Incredible purity of fruit in the nose, offering crushed, perfectly ripe blackberries and currants with raspberries and citrus. Some black liquorice, too. It’s full-bodied with density, precision and gorgeously fine tannins. Great length going on for minutes. A blend of mostly Chañares with some old-vine fruit from Marchiori and Zingaretti. Such precision to this. Tight now. Try after 2026.” Was £680.00 per case (3x75cl) Under Bond   Vina Cobos Volturno 2018 98 Points - James Suckling “Blackcurrants and blackberries in the nose with licorice, sweet tobacco, iron and tile. Black olives too. Full-bodied, tight palate with intense, super fine tannins that give the wine a seamless and almost endless finish. I like the iodine and tile undertones to this. Wonderful center palate. Perhaps the best Volturno yet? 88% cabernet sauvignon, 11% malbec and 1% cabernet franc. Try after 2025.” Was £540.00 per case (3x75cl) Under Bond  Vina Cobos Marchiori Estate Malbec 2018 97 Points - James Suckling “Blackberry, blueberry, dark-mushroom and dark-walnut aromas follow through to a full-bodied, tight palate and a gorgeous, dark-berry center palate. Creamy and polished. Lovely finish. Violets and mushrooms. From 80-year-old vines. Hard not to drink now, but better in 2024.” Was £315.00 per case (6x75cl) Under Bond  Vina Cobos Vinculum Chardonnay 2019 97 Points James Suckling “Intense aromas of cooked apple, pie crust, butterscotch and salted caramel follow through to a full, intense and deep palate with layers of fruit, light phenolics and savoriness. It’s a plush, rich white.” Was £175.00 per case (6x75cl) Under Bond |
