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Welcome to the World of Wine. We report on latest news, review a range of wines and report on all the major tastings.

Wine Goose Returns

Written by Frank Corr

Monday, 14 March 2011 08:54

This article originally appeare din the February/March 2011 issue of 'Hotel and Restaurant Times'

As head of Chateaux Lynch Bages, Jean Charles Cazes is a ‘Wine Goose’, in that he is the direct successor of John Lynch who emigrated from Galway to Bordeaux in 1691 and whose son Thomas inherited an estate in the village of Bages in 1749. The family ran the estate for 75 years before selling to the Swiss Jurine family. They took charge for the next century before selling the property in 1934 to Jean Charles’s grandfather , who died in 1972 at the ripe age of 95.
And so, Jean Charles felt at home when he visited Ireland in February to taste his wines with distributor Michael Barry of Barry Fitzwilliam, restaurateurs, retailers and wine writers.
Born in 1974, Jean Charles, grew up at Lynch Bages, with his parents and three older sisters. He went to the Tivoli school in Bordeaux, where he did the Bac Scientifique, then studied economics and finance in Bordeaux, followed by internships in finance in New York and Paris. He worked as financial controller in the automobile industry for a while, living in Brazil, but returned to Bordeaux in 2002 to work for JM Cazes Selections, the branded wines production and distribution company of the family business.
Two years later, in November 2006, he took over from his father as head of the family estates of Chateau Lynch Bages, Chateau Ormes de Pez and Villa Bel-Air. His responsibilities also extended to the Michel Lynch brand of Bordeaux varietals; L’Ostal Cazes and the Circus line of wines from the Languedoc , the distribution company, JM Cazes-Selection, Xisto, a joint venture with the Roquette family in Portugal’s Douro Valley and Tapanappa, a joint venture in South Australia undertaken with the Bollinger family.
He put his experience in financial management and marketing skills to good use as ceo particularly in his approach to pricing which he based on market realities rather than the law of supply and demand. This strategy was at odds with traditional Bordeaux pricing philosophy- but it won him and Lynch Bages, many friends in international markets, particularly in times of economic recession.
The Chateau Lynch Bages estate is relatively small, just 90 hectares situated on the Bages plateau near the village of Bages itself, just southwest of Pauillac. The soil is gravel over chalk and sand, and the vineyards are planted with cabernet sauvignon (73%), merlot (15%) Merlot, cabernet franc (10%) and petit verdot (2%).

Jean Charles is not the winemaker- that post has been filled by Daniel Llose since 1977, and he was joined by Nicolas Labenne in 2006. The team has largely stuck with a style that has made Lynch-Bages world-famous apart from Blanc de Lynch Bages which gives more prominence to the sauvignon grape than in the past. The new style will mean less fermentation in barrel, with some remaining in tank to keep acidity and freshness higher.
The reds however remain largely unchanged. ‘Our red is like a cruise ship. You don’t make any fast turns’ Jean Michel said in a recent interview.
Among the wines he presented at the Dublin tasting were Chateau Ormes de Pez 2000, Chateau Villa Bel Air, L’Ostal Cazes, Michel Lynch Red and White (big sellers in Ireland) and the interesting Xisto which is the result of a collaboration between the Cazes family and Jorge Roquette from Quinta do Crasto in the Duoro Valley of Portugal. The wine won coveted awards when the 2003 vintage was launched at Vinexpo in 2005. Made from Portuguese grapes including Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz and aged in French oak, the wine is modern and reflects the traditions of the Duoro and Bordeaux.

Jean Charles three sisters are very much involved in the business. Katrine, lives in New York State with her Israeli husband and two children, eldest sister Kinou is in the US with her Iranian husband and three children and middle sister Marina works in Bordeaux alongside Jean Charles in JM Cazes Selections.

Tradition means much to the Cazes family, including their links with John Lynch of Galway.

ends

Grapes of Wrath

Written by Frank Corr
Monday, 14 March 2011 08:52
This article originally appeared in the February/March 2011 issue of 'Hotel and Restaurant Times'. Major and minor weather events have wreaked havoc with harvests wherever grapes are grown, since time immemorial. Wind-borne bacteria have spread the dreaded phyloxera disease in many wine regions around the world, while early and late frosts wipe out large sections of the harvest in regions from The Rhine to Niagara. Last year a massive earthquake devastated vineyards and wineries in Chile, and this year it has been the turn of Australia. While the first wave of flooding was concentrated on Queensland, and particularly the area around Brisbane, it avoided most of the vineyards. A second wave in January however hit Victoria in the South East of Australia which is a major wine-growing area. Here, growers lost an estimated 20 per cent of their crop to battering rainstorms and flooding just weeks ahead of the harvest. Where grapes remained standing, they became vulnerable to fungal diseases. The worst hit areas have been Grampians, Great Western and Pyrenees. Throughout southeastern Australia, downy and powdery mildew are already threatening to become the primary concerns this vintage. In the Clare Valley in South Australia, locals estimate that more than 10 percent of the region’s crop has already been affected by these fungal diseases. As floodwaters from both the Victorian and Queensland floods make their way toward the river systems of the Riverina and Riverland, Australia’s largest wine regions, there are widespread fears of outbreaks of botrytis. This catastrophe follows closely on several years of drought in the Australian Murray-Darling basin which left thousands of acres of vines gasping for water. With typical courage and pragmatism the Australian wine industry has responded to these weather events with a series of initiatives which include new viticultural practices, more careful husbandry of water supplies and , in the wake of the most recent flooding, a major fund-raising drive to help winegrowers and their families whose crops have been destroyed. The combined impact on the Australian wine industry has been a downturn in production which will again be evident this year. In 2008 Australia crushed 1.83m. tonnes of grapes but this fell by almost 7% to 1.7m. tonnes in 2009. Best estimates are that the current harvest will be around 1.4m. tonnes. The impact of these smaller harvests on Australian wine prices has not been very evident however for the good reason that the country has been producing more wine than it can sell in bottle for many years and has large stocks of good quality wine in stock. Even in recent years Australian wine companies have been selling bulk wine to export markets for blending and have been exporting large quantities of entry-level wines which are bottled in Europe and the USA. Unlike a ‘weather event’ in Bordeaux or Burgundy, which can send prices soaring, the overall impact of the droughts and floods on mainstream Australian wines, is likely to be negligible. Major retailers like Tesco and Lidl may find some difficulty in sourcing low-priced wines in Australia this year, but if this is the case, they will simply turn to other volume producers such as Chile, Argentina or South Africa for their supplies. Much depends on what vineyards are hit. If they are owned by volume producers, then prices will remain much the same, but if they are premium estates with a small production, prices will probably move upwards. At this distance we can remain detached from the earth quakes, floods and droughts which afflict wine-growing areas, but we should nevertheless spare a thought for the thousands of farmers and wine industry families whose life has been devastated by wind, rain and storm.

NZ Harvest 'Promising'

Written by Frank Corr

Monday, 14 March 2011 08:47

The 2011 New Zealand grape harvest is underway with grape growers and wineries buoyed by recent developments.

'A warm summer and favourable weather in the last few weeks has ensured many regions are experiencing a slightly earlier vintage. We have high expectations for the 2011 harvest quality, provided we continue to experience a typical New Zealand autumn of warm dry days and cool, clear nights', said Philip Gregan New Zealand Winegrowers’ chief executive officer.

Industry optimism has also been boosted by the stronger than expected sales performance in the current year. 'Bottled wine exports are continuing to grow at 10% annually and our performance in key export markets is encouraging. As a result, we now estimate total sales for June year end 2011 will be 220 million litres compared to earlier forecasts of 205 million litres. This new forecast suggests that 2011 sales will exceed production from the 2010 vintage by 30 million litres, meaning lower stock levels for many wineries going into the current harvest. This stock reduction is an important step in rebalancing the sector.'

With stocks lower and total 2011 sales now forecast to be the equivalent of a vintage of 310,000 tonnes, New Zealand Winegrowers is unsurprised its pre-vintage survey of medium and large wineries is forecasting a larger harvest in 2011.

However, Philip Gregan accepts challenges still remain for the industry. 'Profitability for both growers and wineries is an on-going concern for all participants in the sector. Lower prices and retailer-owned brands have been part of the export growth in the past year. As an industry we need to remain focused on recovery of winery and grower profitability as a pre-requisite to sustainable growth.'

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Contact hospitalityenews

The Editor: Frank Corr: fcorr100@gmail.com
Sales & Marketing: Helen Clarke: helendclarke@gmail.com