Buying “en primeur” is buying forward, buying wines when they are first on the market, but before they are bottled and will be sold for general commercialisation.

This is a practice that dates back to the 1960s, when the estates who produced Bordeaux wines, known as “chateaux”, began to offer their wines to the powerful wine merchants in the City of Bordeaux in the spring following the vintage, for they needed the money to pay the back bills and to finance the year up to and after the vintage to come. 

 

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“The best in my lifetime” were the words used by France’s foremost wine critic Michel Bettane to describe the 2009 vintage for Bordeaux red wines.  Jacques Thienpont, owner of Pomerol’s Chateau Le Pin said that it was quite rare to be able to say that weather conditions were perfect throughout the growing season, but that it was true of 2009.

 

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July, August and December are the only quiet months for UK wine writers.  For the rest of the time, there may well be a wine tasting or wine event every day of the week, sometimes more than one, to the extent that Harpers Wine and Spirit, the trade magazine - contrasted to Decanter, the consumer magazine - along with the Circle of Wine Writers (of which I have the honour to be the current President) manages what is called The Wine Trade Diary.  Countries or companies intending to hold a wine tasting for the on-trade (hotels and restauraunts) and off-trade (wholesalers and retailers) contact the Diary to find out what would be a good day where there is little else of importance going on.

 

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The Old World encompasses more than just France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Portugal is often overlooked, but has recently become much more visible due to its increasing quality standards and continued modest pricing.

The Wine Society of India's Spring Selection will be a focus on Spain and Portugal, hence this blog's focus on Portugal.

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During the past month I have attended three in-depth tastings at Decanter magazine, covering wines and vintages that are just now coming onto the market. These tastings are of course blind, but the vintage and appellations are known, so comparisons are fairly tight. The tasters are drawn from specialists in each region, always a smattering of Masters of Wine (MWs), and wines that have received ..Read More >>

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Blog: Steven Spurrier

"Our vineyards cover only 4% of the whole region, but represent 34% of wines sales and 95% of the estates are family-owned".  This statement made at a morning conference at Vinexpo (the world's largest wine trade fair) in Bordeaux last June did not refer to the Haut-Medoc, but to the Napa Valley.  Family ownership seemed the over-riding theme to this bi-annual jamboree,

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Blog: Steven Spurrier

 

My last communication was on The Importance of Comparative Tastings, telling the story of a tasting I organised in Paris in 1976 that compared (blind, of course) California Chardonnays against top white Burgundies and California Cabernet Sauvignons against the finest chateaux from Bordeaux.  This tasting, where a California wine was judged top in both categories, became

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Blog: Steven Spurrier

 

One of the great joys of wine lies in comparisons. Even if a type of wine can stand on its own - Champagne is the perfect celebration glass for example - there is no reason not to compare the taste of one Champagne to another, or of Champagnes in general to the excellent sparkling wines made all over the world. Another fascinating comparison is that of a young wine from a

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Blog: Steven Spurrier

The wine market in Bordeaux, the world's largest fine wine producing region with over 110,000 hectares under vines and a history going back to the Romans, is unique in that its wines are tasted by international professionals only a few months after each vintage and long-ranging decisions are then taken by the estates who have their wines to sell and the international wine

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Blog: Steven Spurrier

Last time we looked at the principal white grape varieties - grapes that were once identified with specific regions in the traditional vineyards of Europe, but are now seen in wine-producing regions all around the world.

This time, it's the turn of the reds. It's worth noting that, with very rare exceptions, the pulp of a vitis vinifera grape is colourless. If you squeeze the grape, the juice is clear, because it is the skin of the grape that contains the pigmentation. By macerating the skins with the pressed juice before, during and after fermentation (the process which transforms the grape's sugar into alcohol), that gives the colour.  All red grapes can be used to make a rosé wine, the pink colour coming from a very short maceration period.  The skin of the grape also contains the tannins, which, along with the fruit, allow red wines to age.

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