Blog Entries for Steven Spurrier

Very Old Burgundies

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:51:57 +0100

The invitation read: “I’ve got a lot of old Burgundies and don’t know whether they are still drinkable, so can you come to dinner and we will see”. This was from Roy Richards, partner in Richards Walford, one of the key importers and wholesalers of wine in the UK, dealing only in the best family-owned estates, where wines are still hand-made in a manner that pleases the owner.

I first met Roy [...]

A Milestone Birthday with Wine

akash@envigo.co.uk — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:30:00 +0100

In early October I turned 70, and this milestone birthday was the subject of three celebrations, one in Singapore, and two at our home in Dorset. They could not have been better and provided great compensation for being born in such a rotten year.

The first celebration was organised prebirthday by Australian Michael Hill-Smith, MW in late September in Singapore at the time of our and Hong Kong–based Jeannie Cho Lee, MW’s visit as wine consultants for Singapore Airlines. < [...]

Bordeaux 2010 An Embarrassingly Good Vintage

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:30:00 +0100

Having had the quote “the best vintage of my lifetime” splashed across the cover of last June’s Decanter Magazine, I agree with this title from Bill Blatch’s highly regarded Vintage Report and I am happy that most of the chateaux owners are of the same opinion. While none of them committed themselves in the weeks preceding the early April tastings to saying which they preferred, during the week itself the general agreement was that 2010 was more &ldqu [...]

My Southern Burgundy Masterclass

akash@envigo.co.uk — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:00:00 +0100

This October, I headed up a wine tour under the title Master Class in Southern Burgundy.

First stop was L’Hameau du Vin in Villefranche-sur-Saone, Georges Duboeuf’s magnificent creation that can rival any wine museum in the world, with its stunning collection of artifacts and the dedication to explaining this historic and under-valued region.

Wine lovers who miss out on the exceptional 2009s, described by Duboeuf himself as “the vintage of a lifetim [...]

Argentina: Not just Malbec country

akash@envigo.co.uk — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:00:00 +0100

I was in Argentina in early October, along with the Decanter team to wave the flag for the Decanter World Wine Awards that I wrote about last month and to congratulate the wine producers for getting 4 International Trophies – the same as the whole of France!

Argentina as a wine country is the world’s 5th largest wine producer, the 7th largest wine exporter, the 8th largest wine consumer (8 gallons per capita) and with 228,575 hectares, the 9th in cultivated s [...]

The Judgement of London - The Decanter World Wine Awards

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:00:00 +0100

On September 1st at London’s Royal Opera House, Decanter held the Presentation Dinner for the Decanter World Wine Awards. From 4,500 entries in the 2004, exactly 10,983 wines were judged this year, making the DWWA the largest wine competition on the planet. 66% received a Commended, Bronze or Silver Medal and 208 (2%) a Gold, 99 Regional Trophies selected only from wines that have already won a Gold, and 28 International Trophies selected from these, with 14 f [...]

Twelve of the best

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:00:00 +0100

When choosing the wines for the WSI offer, it was natural to choose those that I had particularly liked during the “en primeur” tastings, wines that had not only impressed me for their intrinsic quality, but what had also stood out amongst their peers. In making the selection there were, of course, some choices and I tended to choose the wines that represented for me the best value for money as well as the best value for [...]

Why it pays to buy En Primeur

akash@envigo.co.uk — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:00:00 +0100

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 fi [...]

Bordeaux 2009: The greatest vintage in living memory?

akash@envigo.co.uk — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 17:00:00 +0100

“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.

Charles Chevallier, who oversees L’Evangile in Pomerol and Rieussec in Sauternes as [...]

A wine writer’s year

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:00:00 +0100

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 companie [...]

Rising stars of the New Portugal

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0100

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.

The Douro, the wine region in northern Portugal, is named after the river Douro that is known as the Duer [...]

Tasting the finest from France

akash@envigo.co.uk — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:00:00 +0100

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 an average of 18.5 and above on the 20 point scale - a Gold Medal ranking in the Decanter World Wine [...]

A testing week at Vinexpo

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0100

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, where low-ish expectations of the exhibitors in the current economic [...]

The Berlin Tasting

akash@envigo.co.uk — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:00:00 +0100

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 known as "The Judgement of Paris". It was the first comparativ [...]

The Importance of Comparative Tastings

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:00:00 +0100

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 certain estate to an older, more mature version: same soil, same grapes, same win [...]

The 2008 vintage in Bordeaux

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:00:00 +0100

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 market on this very early judgement.

The reason is that, historically, the wi [...]

Grape Varieties: the reds

akash@envigo.co.uk — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:00:00 +0100

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 co [...]

Grape Varieties: the whites

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Blog: Steven Spurrier

Almost all wines today are produced by a type of vine known as vitis vinifera, which has been refined and developed over the centuries for the production of grapes for wine, rather than for the table. Different families of vines have evolved that carry specific names and these are known as grape varieties, or “varietals”. Wine from a single grape variety are called “varietal wines” and the characteristics of each grape variety wi [...]

Burgundy-the 2007 vintage

akash@envigo.co.uk — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Blog: Steven Spurrier

Burgundy – the 2007 vintage

Each year in January, the UK wine trade holds a series of tastings of the last but one vintage in Burgundy . Over two weeks, literally thousands of wines are tasted by the trade and Press and much of the wine is sold at that time. The most exciting vintage in recent years was far and away 2005, but the 2006s were well received, especially the white wines that are made 100% from Chardonnay. [...]

How to Taste Wine

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Tasting wine is easy: if you can taste food, you can taste wine, for the senses of smell and taste that enable you to capture the aromas, flavours, spices and texture of food are the same as you use for wine. But there is a difference between tasting and drinking, which is Paying Attention.

After the first experience or two, you don't need to pay attention to the taste of Coca Cola or of Kingfisher Beer, for the taste will always be the same. But the taste o [...]