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“Snow Business like the Wine Business!”

Helen Brotherton — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:31:46 +0000

We have just returned from a mad pre-Christmas Wine trip by car to the UK to visit the necessary “rellys” and friends, exchange pressies and deliver festive bottles of Vilmart champagne to all our
nearest and dearest. I suppose one of the teensy downsides of becoming the sole representative of a chic, exclusive artisan and award winning grower Champagne house, is that everyone expects to be given a bottle of the magic fizz at Christmas time! Not that we are complaining – we know how much pleasure a sip of sensational Coeur de Cuvée can bring!

Also, the exercise ensures sufficient allocation of boot space for the slightly bonkers return journey, which requires us to load up with a wild and whacky range of non – French wines bought in the UK to bring back down to the Riviera to use on our WSET® courses. We have quite a run of courses planned for the first quarter of 2010 and naturally, as per the WSET® syllabus requirements, need to have particular wines from all around the world for the practical (and very pleasant) side of our courses. You try sourcing a Hunter Valley Semillon, and Austrian Grüner Veltliner or a Dry Oloroso Sherry here in b****y France.!! Love ‘em to bits, of course, but it is a tad frustrating that an entire wine producing nation has no interest (or belief that anyone else could have an interest) in tasting anything other than French wine. We have yet to suffer a routine Customs search at Calais by perplexed Douane officials if they open our boot and find 100+ bottles of eclectic “foreign” wines stashed – one day, it’s bound to happen.
The snow chased us down from North Yorkshire to Dover: we crossed the channel OK, only to meet the blizzards head on in Northern France, which slowed down our homeward journey and meant an extra unscheduled stopover en-route. As the snow and ice got heavier and road conditions worsened, we hoped that Day 2 of our journey might see us as far as a Northern Rhône overnighter – stupidly started fantasising about a white St Joseph followed by a hearty Crozes Hermitage to accompany dinner that
night. But, the Great Snow God was in charge and forced us off the road and to head for shelter in Maçon by mid-afternoon. So Supper was a more Burgundian affair with a simple Maçon Blanc Chardonnay to accompany the snails (curious how when in Burgundy, one cannot avoid the lure of these funny little molluscs with garlicky butter…), then a more robust Beaujolais, a Morgon, with our Côte de Boeuf. All extremely pleasant and a testimony to the old Food & Wine Matching adage that you won’t go far wrong if you stick to the traditional fare of the region with the local wines.
So here we are, counting down the hours to the BIG DAY! I would imagine most of you have already decided on what you are going to drink to celebrate Christmas 2009. Funnily enough, having ranted
earlier at how frustrating it is to be limited to just French wines when living in France and envying the UK for their hugely diverse and exciting global wine availability, when it comes to Christmas, you just can’t beat the classics! Champagne is a must – I know, I’m trumpeting the “V” word again (Vilmart), but myself and my marvellous husband will be indulging in a glass (or 3) of the classic vintage Grand Cellier d’Or 2003 as we open pressies. Lunch (for the first time in I think, 25 years….) is being cooked by SOMEONE ELSE!!!. All we have to do is show up at 1.30pm brandishing a couple of pre-chilled Vilmart Grand Cellier NV and we will be admitted and fed and entertained royally! The Turkey feast
itself will, I gather, from one of my ex WSET® pupils who has kindly invited us, is to be accompanied by a trip round France encompassing the Loire, Burgundy and Bordeaux – can’t wait.
Never one to leave the apron hung on its peg for long, and not having had the task of preparing the
festive bird itself, we are having a very English Boxing Day Buffet for friends and with a Glazed Ham, a Home-made Raised Pork Pie with Piccalilli & Winter Coleslaw followed by Raspberry & White Chocolate Trifle & Mince-Pies, we are sticking local, however, for the wine. Chateau de Chaberts in the Var with their cut above Provence wines will provide the quaffers for our Boxing Day gathering.
The trick is to spend “just the right amount” on your Party Wines: go too cheap and you’ll find your indoor house plants suffering from a surfeit of poured away plonk and all your guests will remember is
the hangover. Don’t raid the cellar for the good stuff, either – nobody will notice or be nearly reverential enough if the atmosphere is convivial. Take the time to select a pair of good “all rounders” to see you through and to please everyone. As we seem to be sticking to France, may I suggest you turn your thoughts to the Southern Rhône for the Red and to the lesser known villages (avoid the mad prices demanded by Châteauneuf du Pape, for example) – go for a Visan, a Séguret or a Vacqueyras. For a
White, the fashionable variety at the moment is Sauvignon Blanc – no need to go over the top with a Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé – try a straight varietal from a good producer of one of the above – my mind has wandered to the Sancerre producer La Porte, whose simple Vin de Pays Sauvignon Blanc (from the same vineyard area – durrr!) but at half the price,is a no brainer!

That’s it folks! Fine Wine Works is signing off for 2009 – your last chance to share any quality time with us is at our New Year’s Eve event in Cannes on 31st December (check out our Forthcoming Events page for details).

Bon Fete!

Helen Brotherton
22.12.09

“Valking in a Vilmart Vonderland”

Helen Brotherton — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:35:31 +0000

Oh, gosh is that a hideously, schmaltzy, yuck way of introducing what we are up to over the festive period with Christmas? Sorry, folks, that’s me!! Bit on a wave of excitement here at FineWineWorks with our recent activities with our very own Vilmart champagne. Firstly, we’ve brought in a supremely experienced “Marketing Marvel” in the form of John Burke – a trusted friend, a graduate of all 3 levels of our WSET® Wine Courses with FWW (so he’s really seen us in action with a corkscrew), and coincidentally an amazingly experienced Marketing Consultant with a background history of working with some of the real big guns in the industry.

His past experience was with some of the biggest drinks companies (for example Diageo) where their marketing budgets were absolutely stratospheric! (he conducted the UK research that led to their sponsorship of the McLaren Formula One team with Johnny Walker Black Label). And its come to this….a non-paying position as Chief Marketeer and person “who knows what they are doing” with Fine Wine Works to truly launch, promote, encourage and assist us to endorse the extraordinarily different, “breathtaking” and exciting champagne house of Vilmart & Cie.
We’ve instigated campaigns with all the local media (check out the Riviera Times website and monthly publications, look out for our revealing interview in the Riviera Times and hear me whiffle on about the fab Vilmart champagnes on Monaco’s Riviera Radio). We’ve thrown caution to the wind and are madly offering a “first bottle free” when you order 12 of our gorgeous 92 Parker Points breathtaking “Vilmart Grand Cellier Brut NV” (normal RSP 35€). We have given an in depth interview which appears in this Dec / Jan “Riviera Reporter”. We’ve hooked up (‘scuse the pun) with Dan & Lucy Luger at Nice Rugby Club – watch this space for some rather exciting “co-promotions”, including a very romantic plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day in February (are you seeing hearts, roses and pink Champagne….????)
We are, as ever, proud sponsors of the International Club of the Riviera and wearing my professional ex-actress “hat”, I was deeply content and happy to be asked to join the panel of judges for the International Schools of the Riviera Speech Contest on 13th November. I assumed my stage name of Helen Patrick for the evening, and was, (quelle surprise?), vociferous in my thoughts, feelings and beliefs about the contestants that night. Public speaking, holding an audience and enchanting, informing and illuminating them is no easy feat and I think the final winner and (very) close runner up performed a brilliant feat – well done!
A few people have been asking if I have a secret Mulled Wine Recipe as a Wine Expert and Gerant of FWW – yes, I do! Some of you came to find out for yourselves at the International Club’s “Fusion Christmas Gala” last Saturday on La Croisette, Cannes (see www.internationalclub.fr) for piccies. If you didn’t join us for a glass – my secret is to stud a whole orange with cloves, then roast it in the oven for 40 mins. Add to a large heavy casserole with a couple of sticks of cinnamon, 2 or 3 star anise, a couple of bottles of red wine, 1/2 litre of orange juice. A triple shot of port, a double of brandy and a single of Cointreau or triple sec and a scoop of sugar to taste (try fair-trade brown sugar for a richer, more caramelised character).
Our Vilmart champagne will also be offered at the ICR’s New Years Eve Event – c’est moi doing the catering so please allow a brief plug!
No surprise, then, as to what we shall be brandishing when invited for a social event over the festive period, and I’m afraid our long suffering friends and family will all (secret present alert*%$//???””£*) be getting a bottle of Vilmart champagne in their Christmas stocking this year 2009. It’s the wine of choice when celebrating anything – and here’s to all of us who have “survived” and indeed enjoyed 2009!

Helen Brotherton
07.12.09

Champagne Tasting

Helen Brotherton — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:12:59 +0000

Wine Tasting in Champagne

I know it sounds glamorous and I can’t deny it was a great pleasure BUT it still counts as work!! A trip by car to the UK to celebrate hubby Nigel’s 60th in birthday in March and the happy coincidence of needing to source a “house” champagne for our newly launched small (but perfect) Fine Wine Works “Wine List” meant that we would be driving down past Reims and Epernay on our way home to the Cote d’Azur.

Until such time as we can source a New World Fizz (or indeed an English sparkler!) at the right price and which delivers a real point of difference, we decided we needed to offer just one Champagne. But it’s a “Name Dropping Fizz” – we’ve dropped the idea of using big names! Rather than go for a brand or so called Grande Marque which I believe hold falsely high retail prices almost through a monopoly pricing strategy, we’ve hunted out a small but highly regarded Champagne house to be the FWW Champagne of choice.

In starting to do some research into the sourcing, I soon decided that a Grower Champagne (you may see the words Récoltant- Manipulant on a bottle which shows the producer to be grower who sells to the Houses as well as making his own champagne) could be the most interesting. We were looking for a non “big brand” to use for our events and wine tastings; to use as a model example in our wine training courses and to sell to our discerning clients – all at a fair price. To unveil some of the mystery of Champagne it is worth unravelling a few key facts: There are around 260 Champagne houses (some names such as Bollinger, Moet & Chandon, Laurent Perrier are instantly recognisable) which account for nearly 90% of all Champagne exports, more outside of Europe yet they only own approximately 12% of the vineyard area within the appellation. But there are just over 40 co-operatives and in excess of 5,000 growers (out of some 19,000 grape producers in the region) selling under their own name. So how to stumble on the perfect one to meet the FWW criteria? Working backwards then, and starting with my own favourite fizzy tipple – I’ve always been a Krug girl, (so never a “cheap date”) and understanding that what makes Krug “special” and very different is the use of oak – fermented in small barriques without malolactic fermentation and with serious quantities of reserve wines from older vintages to give ultra fine bubbles, aromas of dried fruits and toasted nuts and a profoundly rich palate. Very few champagne houses follow this path, preferring the purity of stainless steel for first fermentation BUT (and here’s the exciting part), there is a small Grower Champagne which most people won’t have heard of but which commands an almost cult following from those in the know.

Vilmart & Cie from Rilly–la–Montagne have producing their distinctive Champagnes since 1890 from their own bio-dynamically farmed Premier Cru status vineyards and use larger oak “foudres” for all their non vintage Cuvées and smaller 225 litre “barriques” for their vintage and premium wines. Owner and winemaker, since taking over from his father in 1990, Laurent Champs kindly invited us to visit and taste the range, which we duly did last week. To say I was bowled over by the tasting is putting it mildly – a real “wow” factor made its presence felt and I felt an almost evangelical need to bring at least one of the range to a wider customer base here on the Riviera and to share this very special experience.

Grande Reserve NV: Can’t quite believe this is their “entry level” champagne! 70% Pinot Noir in the blend (actually no Pinot Meunier used in any of their Cuvées), this had such finesse and delicate aromatics – fresh fern, honeysuckle and jasmine and notable white fruits (pear, nectarine and Mirabelle plum) on the palate then a delectable length with a hint of ginger-nut biscuit on the finish. This is the one we’re opting for initially, although I would hope to offer perhaps one or two of the more premium wines at a later stage once word spreads. 22.90€ TTC

Grande Cellier NV: Here the blend is reversed with more briochy Chardonnay to the fore. Pale gold, with almonds and hazelnuts on the nose then a frank citrus explosion of tangerine and grapefruit and crystalised lemons. This one would improve in bottle for a few years – if you can resist its youthful charms now!

Grande Cellier d’Or 2002: Brioche and vanilla are the first notes that strike then exquisite apricot flavours. Fresh yet nutty, this delivers striking complexity and length. No wonder that top sparkling wine writer, Tom Stevenson says of Vilmart that they are “ the greatest Grower Champagne I know”.

Coeur de Cuvée 2000: The finest selection and the unsurpassed king of the Vilmart range, this is the one critics acclaim as a “mini – Krug”. Kirsch and coffee compliment the grassy vanilla scents, more tropical fruit on the palate and taut tingly acidity as the backbone. Balanced like a true diva!
Robert Parker gives it 94/100:
“This is a richly textured, intense wine loaded with ripe fruit and sweet toasted oak. Today it remains quite primary, but it will be stunner in a few years’ time, once the full range of its tertiary aromas and flavors have developed. Patience is the key. Coeur de Cuvee is 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir from 50-year old vines.”

To sum up, we are bursting with anticipation to start showcasing the Grande Reserve at our Events and Tastings and although perhaps the English translation is a little quirky, I like the quote from Laurent Champs, the winemaker at Vilmart, that it “will accompany any peculiar moment of your life” – in other words, one to drink anytime, any place, anywhere! Vive la Vilmart!!!!

Helen Brotherton