A long-standing joke amongst sommeliers is the one about a customer who states that they dislike chardonnay – but love Chablis. The joke being that Chablis is made from the chardonnay grape.
In fact about 99% of all white Burgundy is chardonnay – Mâcon, St Véran, Pouilly-Fuissé, Meursault, to name but a few. The differences being very slight climatic and soil variances between villages and how the winemaker likes to make his wine.
If riesling seems to becoming more popular lately and people requesting less oaky fresher styles of wine, so why are the wines from the riesling heartland – Germany – still struggling for sales?
Maybe it’s the connotations of the seventies; flared trousers, bad haircuts and dinner parties have kept us away from these wines. At this time, mass produced cheap, one dimensional wines paid for a lot of new Mercedes but did irreparable damage to the German reputation for quality (ironically most of the liebfraumilch produced was made by the müller-thurgau and not the riesling grape – but its image was forever tarnished)
Recently I went on a trip to Burgundy organised by Boutinot wines. We were going to Gevrey-Chambertin, hopefully to catch the tail end of the vendange and participate in a bit of pigeage with the fermenting pinot noir must.
Vallet Frères is the négociant side of Domaine Pierre Bourée, they own 5ha made up from some Charmes-Chambertin, Gevrey 1er cru Champeaux, village Gevrey (including the lieu-dit monopole Clos de la Justice) and some Beaune 1er cru les Epenottes. Father Louis (now in his 80’s) is ‘retired’ but still keeps a watchful (if not interfering) eye on his son Bernard.
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We held a very exclusive £2,000 a ticket dinner featuring the wines of Latour with the gerant (manager) Frederic Engerer at the Greenhouse restaurant. Frederic is an amazing hands-on manager, who is involved in every stage of the wines journey from the vines, winemaking and the final sales and marketing. His contribution to the quality of Latour and his attention to the details have resulted in a wine that can proclaim to be one of the best in the world.
For most of us Australia holds the image of surfboards, hot sun-drenched beaches and big, bold full flavoured wines. For round, buttery, tropical fruit chardonnays and muscular, warm, spicy shiraz there is no better place to look. Unfortunately it can be a little bit more difficult to find the crisp, sharper styles of wines. The Clare valley and the Adelaide Hills do make some nice Rieslings and Sauvignon blancs but when you want antipodean acidity look to New Zealand.
De Bortoli premiered their ‘Sauternes’ with the 1982 vintage and celebrates their 25th vintage with the 2007. The conditions in the Riverina area were perfect for botrytis development – with long hot days and cool misty mornings. Inspired by a 1975 Ch Coutet, Darren de Bortoli started production of what would later (from 1990 onwards) be called Noble One.
Ronan is a very valuable member of the Master Sommelier Organisation.
His knowledge and passion for wine is frequently passed on to candidates at all levels of our education programmes.
He is an accomplished lecturer, and has a way of putting his subject matter over to candidates in a manner which promotes the learning process. Candidates respond positively to his approach and up to date knowledge of the subject.
Ronan's skills also extend to his practical work in the restaurant where he demonstrates benchmark standards.
His ability to taste and analyse wine has been proved with his success in gaining the Master Sommelier Award.
Bryan Dawes, Education chair, Court of Master Sommeliers
