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The global grapevine
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8edb3690-89b2-11e1-85af-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1tQXUU9G0
Last updated: April 21, 2012 12:12 am
By Jancis Robinson
Ecuador says it has a vineyard on the equator, while a Napa Valley
vintner will oversee Costa Rica's first wine venture
©Jean-François Chaigneau
Syrian vintners Karim (left) and Sandro Saadé
Wine has become such a universal interest that I'm no longer surprised
when I hear of yet another country's first commercial vineyard or
winery. In fact, a common phenomenon in more exotic locations for wine
production is for someone to plant a few vines, build a cellar door
(often without much of a cellar) and set up shop selling wine labelled
as though it were local, but which depends heavily on bulk imports
from wherever is cheapest at the time (often Chile, sometimes Spain or
Italy).
Yet there are one or two countries emerging as genuine wine producers
that are still capable of inflicting shock. I must say I did a double
take recently when I read that some Syrian wines were being launched
in the UK. Is this really the right moment? On the 30th anniversary of
the Falklands conflict, I picked an Argentine bargain - Viñalba
Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 Mendoza - as my website wine of the week. I
wonder what the correspondent who challenged my choice would make of
Domaine Bargylus in northern Syria?
It was in an attempt to recreate the vineyards established in the
hinterland of the port of Latakia in the Greco-Roman era that the
Beirut-based Saadé brothers, Sandro and Karim, began to plant
Bargylus's 50 hectares of international vine varieties back in 2003.
They could hardly have predicted that Syria would now be hogging the
headlines in such an undesirable way. Asked by Decanter.com about the
impact of current events, Johnny Modawar, the Saadés' head of
communications, maintained bravely, `day-to-day operations are not
affected by the situation. It is not risky, as all the conflict is
taking place close to Damascus and Homs [a hundred kilometres south]',
although he did admit that the technical team, based at the Saadés'
Lebanese vineyard in the Bekaa Valley, is unable to cross in to Syria
and is having to make wine by conference call.
I tasted their current offerings and was particularly impressed by the
2007 Bargylus red, a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot
with real savour and depth of flavour. Stéphane Derenoncourt of
Bordeaux is consultant. The price is ambitious but not ridiculous.
As the best Lebanese and, increasingly, Israeli wines demonstrate, the
Middle East is capable of producing very good reds - especially at
higher elevations where temperatures fall at night.
I was amazed last year to be introduced to the wines of Zumot in
Jordan, whose star products, I thought, were white, made in the image
of Alsace's best. At 15.5 per cent alcohol, Zumot, Saint George
Gewürztraminer 2010 was a heavyweight, but it was quite recognisably
made from this headily scented grape variety, even if I would be
inclined to drink it within a year of release. Bulos Zumot started out
as a vintner as long ago as 1954, with, reportedly, `a dream to give
Jordan its niche on the map of world-class, quality wine'.
I have already written at length here about the exciting progress in
winemaking in Turkey. Greece has been making world-class modern wine
for several decades. I am assured that Cyprus is at last making table
wines to be proud of, although I am yet to taste the evidence.
Further east, Georgia has one of the longest continuous and most
glorious viticultural traditions of all and has been making tentative
attempts at exporting to the west for many years - ever more necessary
since 2006 when it lost its most important export market, Russia. But
it is only now that fine wine is emerging westwards from Armenia.
Zorah is a project financed by a Milan-based member of the Armenian
diaspora who originally planned yet another winery in Tuscany but
realised that the country of his forefathers has its own highly
distinctive grape variety, Areni, and that the time had come for
amphora-aged wine. Italian Alberto Antonini is the consultant on this
particular project.
Vineyards behind what was the Iron Curtain are fertile ground for the
seeds of oenological wisdom sown by western wine consultants. The
developing Russian vignoble has called on foreign expertise, and many
of the projects mushrooming in eastern Europe have some input from a
western European country, often Germany.
The relatively conservative Wine Society in the UK has just taken on a
pair of very impressive Romanian wines, determinedly made from local
not international grape varieties, from the Prince Stirbey estate
revived by Baroness Ileana Kripp-Costinescu, German granddaughter of
Princess Maria Stirbey. The wines have improved considerably over the
past few years, with the fragrant dry white particularly distinctive.
Romania has a long tradition of wine production, nurtured by its
longstanding links with France. Much more exotic, in a sense, was the
collection of surprisingly convincing Dutch wines I was shown the
summer before last by some visitors from the Netherlands. Since then I
have tasted the competent, if not exactly thrilling, Danish wine
served at the famous Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, and have read
about the Riesling vines planted in Norway by Klaus Peter Keller of
the Rheinhessen. Is there no limit to the poleward spread of
viticulture?
Thanks to much more skilful techniques such as deliberately tricking
the vine into dormancy by cunningly timed pruning and leaf plucking,
viticulture has been spreading towards the equator too. The
Ecuadoreans even claim to have a vineyard that is actually on the
equator, while a Napa Valley vintner has just been hired to oversee
Costa Rica's first wine venture.
Sometimes it seems that there is no Asian country without its own wine
industry. China is now a major wine producer. Thai and Vietnamese wine
are old hat. We came across a vineyard when visiting Cambodia last
year, and friends just back from a holiday in Myanmar report drinking,
and quite enjoying, the local Red Mountain Sauvignon Blanc. The third
International Symposium on Tropical Viticulture was held last November
in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, with 43 papers given on various
aspects of wine production specific to the tropics.
I tasted a pair of wines from Kosovo the other day. `War-torn' seemed
a suitable description.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8edb3690-89b2-11e1-85af-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1tQXUU9G0
Last updated: April 21, 2012 12:12 am
By Jancis Robinson
Ecuador says it has a vineyard on the equator, while a Napa Valley
vintner will oversee Costa Rica's first wine venture
©Jean-François Chaigneau
Syrian vintners Karim (left) and Sandro Saadé
Wine has become such a universal interest that I'm no longer surprised
when I hear of yet another country's first commercial vineyard or
winery. In fact, a common phenomenon in more exotic locations for wine
production is for someone to plant a few vines, build a cellar door
(often without much of a cellar) and set up shop selling wine labelled
as though it were local, but which depends heavily on bulk imports
from wherever is cheapest at the time (often Chile, sometimes Spain or
Italy).
Yet there are one or two countries emerging as genuine wine producers
that are still capable of inflicting shock. I must say I did a double
take recently when I read that some Syrian wines were being launched
in the UK. Is this really the right moment? On the 30th anniversary of
the Falklands conflict, I picked an Argentine bargain - Viñalba
Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 Mendoza - as my website wine of the week. I
wonder what the correspondent who challenged my choice would make of
Domaine Bargylus in northern Syria?
It was in an attempt to recreate the vineyards established in the
hinterland of the port of Latakia in the Greco-Roman era that the
Beirut-based Saadé brothers, Sandro and Karim, began to plant
Bargylus's 50 hectares of international vine varieties back in 2003.
They could hardly have predicted that Syria would now be hogging the
headlines in such an undesirable way. Asked by Decanter.com about the
impact of current events, Johnny Modawar, the Saadés' head of
communications, maintained bravely, `day-to-day operations are not
affected by the situation. It is not risky, as all the conflict is
taking place close to Damascus and Homs [a hundred kilometres south]',
although he did admit that the technical team, based at the Saadés'
Lebanese vineyard in the Bekaa Valley, is unable to cross in to Syria
and is having to make wine by conference call.
I tasted their current offerings and was particularly impressed by the
2007 Bargylus red, a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot
with real savour and depth of flavour. Stéphane Derenoncourt of
Bordeaux is consultant. The price is ambitious but not ridiculous.
As the best Lebanese and, increasingly, Israeli wines demonstrate, the
Middle East is capable of producing very good reds - especially at
higher elevations where temperatures fall at night.
I was amazed last year to be introduced to the wines of Zumot in
Jordan, whose star products, I thought, were white, made in the image
of Alsace's best. At 15.5 per cent alcohol, Zumot, Saint George
Gewürztraminer 2010 was a heavyweight, but it was quite recognisably
made from this headily scented grape variety, even if I would be
inclined to drink it within a year of release. Bulos Zumot started out
as a vintner as long ago as 1954, with, reportedly, `a dream to give
Jordan its niche on the map of world-class, quality wine'.
I have already written at length here about the exciting progress in
winemaking in Turkey. Greece has been making world-class modern wine
for several decades. I am assured that Cyprus is at last making table
wines to be proud of, although I am yet to taste the evidence.
Further east, Georgia has one of the longest continuous and most
glorious viticultural traditions of all and has been making tentative
attempts at exporting to the west for many years - ever more necessary
since 2006 when it lost its most important export market, Russia. But
it is only now that fine wine is emerging westwards from Armenia.
Zorah is a project financed by a Milan-based member of the Armenian
diaspora who originally planned yet another winery in Tuscany but
realised that the country of his forefathers has its own highly
distinctive grape variety, Areni, and that the time had come for
amphora-aged wine. Italian Alberto Antonini is the consultant on this
particular project.
Vineyards behind what was the Iron Curtain are fertile ground for the
seeds of oenological wisdom sown by western wine consultants. The
developing Russian vignoble has called on foreign expertise, and many
of the projects mushrooming in eastern Europe have some input from a
western European country, often Germany.
The relatively conservative Wine Society in the UK has just taken on a
pair of very impressive Romanian wines, determinedly made from local
not international grape varieties, from the Prince Stirbey estate
revived by Baroness Ileana Kripp-Costinescu, German granddaughter of
Princess Maria Stirbey. The wines have improved considerably over the
past few years, with the fragrant dry white particularly distinctive.
Romania has a long tradition of wine production, nurtured by its
longstanding links with France. Much more exotic, in a sense, was the
collection of surprisingly convincing Dutch wines I was shown the
summer before last by some visitors from the Netherlands. Since then I
have tasted the competent, if not exactly thrilling, Danish wine
served at the famous Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, and have read
about the Riesling vines planted in Norway by Klaus Peter Keller of
the Rheinhessen. Is there no limit to the poleward spread of
viticulture?
Thanks to much more skilful techniques such as deliberately tricking
the vine into dormancy by cunningly timed pruning and leaf plucking,
viticulture has been spreading towards the equator too. The
Ecuadoreans even claim to have a vineyard that is actually on the
equator, while a Napa Valley vintner has just been hired to oversee
Costa Rica's first wine venture.
Sometimes it seems that there is no Asian country without its own wine
industry. China is now a major wine producer. Thai and Vietnamese wine
are old hat. We came across a vineyard when visiting Cambodia last
year, and friends just back from a holiday in Myanmar report drinking,
and quite enjoying, the local Red Mountain Sauvignon Blanc. The third
International Symposium on Tropical Viticulture was held last November
in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, with 43 papers given on various
aspects of wine production specific to the tropics.
I tasted a pair of wines from Kosovo the other day. `War-torn' seemed
a suitable description.