Beware the Flying Vintner?
There is an interesting trend going on this year with wine barons looking to buy English land suitable for growing vines. Why I wonder? Is it because the world is growing hotter? Land certainly isn’t cheap in England so it can’t be a case of “the price is right.” No, I think it is down to our eccentric Englishness -which is attracting the more whacky wine makers.
Earlier this year England's leading sparkling wine producer, Nyetimber in Sussex, was sold for around £7.5m. That is NOT cheap.
Major California winemaker Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon recently expressed an interest in English vineyards. Randall Grahm is known for his joie de vivre and quirky ways. He produces whimsically named wines such as “Le Cigare Volante” and “Critique of Pure Reisling”. This summer he hired a helicopter to scout out possible terroirs in the county of Hampshire. I wonder if he is responsible for buzzing us recently? Move over the Flying Gardener we now have the Flying Vintner!
Bernard Magrez is another one. He is a little more serious than Grahm as befits a man born in Bordeaux. He owns 35 wine properties (22 of which are in Bordeaux) world wide and is most famous for his Chateau Pape Clement in Graves. According to Adam Lechmere from http://www.decanter.com/ Magrez is interested in finding land in Kent to try and produce a still wine. Magrez would add the property to his portfolio of wines from Bordeaux, Languedoc, Toro and Priorat in Spain, California, Portugal, Argentina, Morocco and Uruguay.
Apparently Magrez is interested in finding 'a little-known region in which to make extraordinary wine'. In my opinion he might be better off concentrating on what he has got.
Since 2000 he has been focusing on vineyards with unheralded terroirs, determined to make special, limited-production wines he calls “micro-cuvées”. Magrez's grand strategy for selling Bordeaux, and all his other wines, is simplicity itself: Do not expect wine drinkers to respond to appellation names; make them respond to the name Bernard Magrez. And so his name is inscribed on each bottle, a bit like a designer label on clothes. Sounds a bit like Chateaux Topshop to me.
So next time you duck at the sound of overhead aircraft, don’t curse the RAF for doing low level manoeuvres, look up in case it is some entrepreneurial wine producer casing out your joint!
Images courtesy of www.freeimages.co.uk
Earlier this year England's leading sparkling wine producer, Nyetimber in Sussex, was sold for around £7.5m. That is NOT cheap.Major California winemaker Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon recently expressed an interest in English vineyards. Randall Grahm is known for his joie de vivre and quirky ways. He produces whimsically named wines such as “Le Cigare Volante” and “Critique of Pure Reisling”. This summer he hired a helicopter to scout out possible terroirs in the county of Hampshire. I wonder if he is responsible for buzzing us recently? Move over the Flying Gardener we now have the Flying Vintner!
Bernard Magrez is another one. He is a little more serious than Grahm as befits a man born in Bordeaux. He owns 35 wine properties (22 of which are in Bordeaux) world wide and is most famous for his Chateau Pape Clement in Graves. According to Adam Lechmere from http://www.decanter.com/ Magrez is interested in finding land in Kent to try and produce a still wine. Magrez would add the property to his portfolio of wines from Bordeaux, Languedoc, Toro and Priorat in Spain, California, Portugal, Argentina, Morocco and Uruguay.
Apparently Magrez is interested in finding 'a little-known region in which to make extraordinary wine'. In my opinion he might be better off concentrating on what he has got.Since 2000 he has been focusing on vineyards with unheralded terroirs, determined to make special, limited-production wines he calls “micro-cuvées”. Magrez's grand strategy for selling Bordeaux, and all his other wines, is simplicity itself: Do not expect wine drinkers to respond to appellation names; make them respond to the name Bernard Magrez. And so his name is inscribed on each bottle, a bit like a designer label on clothes. Sounds a bit like Chateaux Topshop to me.
So next time you duck at the sound of overhead aircraft, don’t curse the RAF for doing low level manoeuvres, look up in case it is some entrepreneurial wine producer casing out your joint!
Images courtesy of www.freeimages.co.uk
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