UKVA SCHOLARSHIP Darren Brogden

Transcription

1 UKVA SCHOLARSHIP Darren Brogden ENGLISH WINE A GOOD YEAR? The English wine trade is in good cheer. A bold statement, particularly in the light of a poor 2012 harvest that left many growers with little or no grapes to harvest, but English wine has never been so highly regarded or widely appreciated. It s difficult to establish exactly when this renaissance began but there has been a gently growing murmur of hushed appreciation around the nation s dinner tables and soggy barbecues this summer. It seems that a number of factors are finally combining to give English wine that extra boost that it needed to become mainstream. Let s briefly examine a number of them. investment improved viticulture greater skill in the winery emergence of English styles confidence in the English brand consumer awareness boosted by competition success Jubilee and Olympics feel good factor INVESTMENT The growth in UK hectarage has been unprecedented with a remarkable rise of 60% in just 5 years production exceeded 3 million bottles but this was down on 2010 which had much higher yields. Grapes are now being grown on over 400 vineyards. Perhaps the most impressive investment ever made in the UK is happening at the Rathfinny estate where Mark Driver has invested an estimated 10 million and planted the first 50 acres of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Riesling in March this year. A further 50 acres of vines are due to be planted each year until 2020, peaking at 400 acres. The investment doesn t stop in the vineyard and a state of the art winery is due to be completed next year. Rathfinny has been careful to bring in experienced personnel too with Cameron Roucher from New Zealand, where he managed the super premium Two Gates Vineyard, to manage the estate. Jonathan Médard, fresh from California, to be the winemaker and help in the design of the winery with Gerard de Villier of South Africa. Interestingly Jonathan hails from the Champagne region and gained some early experience working for Moet & Chandon.

2 IMPROVED VITICULTURE / VINICULTURE Many vineyard owners in the UK are self-taught and have learned their trade from books and bitter experience, but that is slowly changing. Plumpton College continues to produce highly qualified graduates from its Viticulture and Oenology BSc course and graduates often gain experience working overseas. Continued investment in new equipment, particularly at the larger estates is helping to harness the potential of improved quality in the vineyard. Spur pruned Scott Henry vines at Down Ampney Estate near Cirencester ENGLISH STYLES Clearly, sparkling wine is the Cinderella story and is taking all the plaudits but there s much more to English Wine than just bubbles. Take the success of Bacchus at this year s English Wine Awards where many wines showed real concentration and finesse. Aromatic, low alcohol wines such as Bacchus and the less prestigious Madeleine Angevine are showing that they can compete with the Loire and New Zealand. Sam Lindo, chief winemaker at Camel Valley certainly believes that English Wines should distinguish themselves from Champagne, I believe we are the only English Sparkling wine producer that makes fizz with a flavour profile you wouldn t be able to find anywhere else in the world Camel Valley s flagship sparkling wine, Brut, uses about 60% Seyval Blanc with Reichensteiner and Chardonnay contributing about 20% each. Camel Valley s Bacchus is also a market leader, winning the Dudley Quirk memorial Trophy at this year s English Wine Awards, and Sam enjoys working with grapes that are suited to

3 the cool English climate rather than aiming for international styles. This gives a distinctive and recognisable sparkling wine that differentiates the estate s output from its competitors within the UK market and overseas. CONFIDENCE Rathfinny s ambitions are bold and reflect a greater confidence in the English wine scene. Speaking to the Drinks Business earlier this year, Mark Driver said, English sparkling wine is already very highly regarded and I hope Rathfinny will be compared favourably with the likes of Bollinger and Pol Roger. I want Rathfinny to be sold not just in the best restaurants in London, but in Paris, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong as well. Explaining further, he went on to state, The Rathfinny project is not just about making wine: we are committed to supporting the wider ambitions of the English wine industry and that means nurturing the skills it requires to fulfil its potential. Esteemed merchant, Corney & Barrow in their decision to take on Wiston Estate, has also demonstrated confidence in English wine. Rebecca Palmer, wine buyer at C&B feels that English wine now deserves to be taken seriously and plans to position Wiston as England s benchmark sparkling fine wine and supply to their best ontrade customers. This confidence from some of the big players inevitably trickles down to the smaller producers. The English Wine Producers trade tasting in May had no shortage of producers with ambitious plans for their brands. Increasing production, assured confidence in the quality of their wine and a desire to explore new markets, chiefly the Far East, were common themes. CONSUMER AWARENESS English sparkling wine has had an enormous amount of good press and publicity this year. Blind tastings such as the one organised by the Institute of Masters of Wine in September, where a Nyetimber single vineyard wine took second place behind Roederer NV, demonstrate time and again that English sparkling wine can compete on the world stage. Bolney Estate s Sparkling Cuvée Rosé 2009 won a competition organised by Naked Wines, beating a bottle of Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial Champagne, which was slipped into the line-up and revealed at the end of the event. Bolney was also the recipient of the IWSC s Competition s Gold Outstanding medal for its 2007 blanc de blancs. Capitalising on the success of their Pinot Noir Rosé Brut 2010, which came first in the largest blind tasting of English Sparkling Wines in March 2012, Camel Valley produced a limited edition (only 6 bottles) Methuselah. It s this kind of innovation and marketing awareness that has helped drive Camel Valley s already considerable success and ensured that are known throughout the UK and not just in their native Cornwall.

4 Bob Lindo of Camel Valley with one of his special edition Methuselahs These numerous competition successes and the subsequent excitement in the national media have played their part, but tourism is also an important driver of consumer awareness. It s really only the larger wineries that have embraced this in any real capacity and it s a large part of the daily routine at Camel Valley with tours running throughout the day. All the staff take part and Sam Lindo is often seen in the vineyard talking to the visitors. Camel Valley s Sam Lindo acting as tour guide

5 Further interest was generated by the Apprentice TV show. Despite a lacklustre performance by the contestants that only succeeded in reinforcing old-fashioned wine stereotypes, the publicity ignited an enthusiasm in the general public that hadn t been seen before. The timing couldn t have been better, coming just before the 2 big national events of the summer. JUBILEE AND OLYMPIC EFFECT The Queen s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics were a massive boost for English wine sales with retailers reporting substantial uplifts in sales. Waitrose reported an increase of 96% for English wine during the week running up to the Jubilee. Marks and Spencer claimed to have sold 50,000 bottles of their sparkling wines supplied by Ridgeview and Chapel Down. These are exceptional numbers and demonstrate the power of patriotism. The challenge now is to hang on to those new customers and the latest figures released by Waitrose, an increase of 30% year on year for English sparkling wine, suggest that this customers are coming back for more. PROBLEMS AHEAD Of course, it s not all plain sailing ahead; this year s dreadful harvest has reinforced that message with even large producers such as Nyetimber abandoning their whole harvest. The industry is still fragmented and costs are high without many economies of scale. There is a serious risk of over-production with estimated sales of 5 million bottles by Sales of sparkling wines are expected to hit 4-5m bottles by 2020 and this is over 10% of the estimated UK Champagne sales in that year. The challenge is to continue the momentum of this year and explore export markets while continuing to improve quality. If the English wine producers can meet that challenge then there is certainly a great deal to be cheerful about.