"Them motherfuckers racist": how Jay Z's Armand de Brignac is coming out of the darkness and into the light

This article appears in the current issue of Meininger's Wine Business International

Eyebrows were raised when Champagne Armand de Brignac announced last year that it wanted to take its bottles “out of the night and into the daylight”. After all, this is multi-millionaire rapper and businessman Jay Z’s brand, it comes in a gold-embossed bottle with an Ace of Spades motif. It’s as closely associated with nightclubs as Frank Sinatra is with Las Vegas.

That spade shit...Jay Z and Armand de Brignac

The company – Armand de Brignac is now wholly-owned by Jay Z, who bought it outright in 2014 – is unambiguous about its new ambition. “We want to take it out of nightclubs and into the daytime,” marketing director Gerald Loparco said. “We’ve seen a strong evolution in the night industry. The new strategy is to establish the brand in the daylight. We’ve been in nightclubs too much.”

Mindful that bringing a brand blinking into the daylight also means there are fewer dark corners to hide in, the team behind the Champagne has been carefully updating its pedigree and ironing out the inconsistencies in the story of its creation.

The circumstances of Armand de Brignac’s birth are well-known, although the details remain foggy. In 2006 Jay Z – who had been wedded to Roederer’s top marque Cristal for at least 10 years, selling it in his numerous clubs and sports bars and other concessions – took offence at a remark made by Roederer’s new CEO Frederic Rouzaud. The latter, asked what he thought of the rap community being such fans of Cristal, replied, “What can we do? We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business." 

“Them motherfuckers racist” was how Jay Z pithily expressed his reaction in his song On To The Next One, adding, “so I switched gold bottles, on to that spade shit,” a reference to Armand de Brignac which – and this is where accounts diverge – he discovered in a New York bottle shop. In another video, Show Me What You Got, he waves away a bottle of Cristal in favour of Ace of Spades.

Armand de Brignac Brut Gold

Eight years later, in 2014, he bought the entire brand from New York drinks company Sovereign Brands.

Armand de Brignac is made by Champagne Cattier, a family-owned house with a couple of hundred years history in the premier cru village of Chigny-les-Roses. Its vineyards, notably the 2.2ha Clos du Moulin, are distinguished, but Cattier has no great international prestige. Indeed, when Armand de Brignac first came to Jay Z’s – and the world’s – notice, Cattier was not identified as its maker. The fact that Armand was a joint venture with Sovereign Brands also took some years to come to light.

From the start, journalists  in both the wine and the music business were intrigued. Armand de Brignac had appeared, fully-fledged and, at over $200 a bottle, in the front rank of Champagnes, almost literally overnight. Critics such as Jancis Robinson MW were effusive. She thought it so good, it made one of her favourite fizzes, Pol Roger 1999, seem “diffuse and ordinary”, she wrote in 2009.

But others were unsatisfied. Forbes.com’s Zack O’Malley Greenburg found the story “unravelling” as he delved into it. It was full of  inconsistencies, he said. The idea that Jay Z had found it in a New York store, for example: Armand de Brignac didn’t start shipping to the US until months after the gold bottle made its first famous appearance in Show Me What You Got. “When I confronted the folks at Cattier about this, they backtracked,” he wrote. He was told, “There’s a misunderstanding regarding how Jay saw the bottle. It was in New York, but not in a store.”

"You can't create a Champagne out of thin air..."

Over the ensuing ten years, Armand de Brignac has become used to fielding questions about its provenance. Its executives are notable for their accessibility and openness. “The Jay Z connection is very simple,” CEO Sebastien Besson tells Meininger’s. “He’s talented about spotting consumer trends.” Was he involved in creating Armand de Brignac? “Of course not. You can’t create a Champagne out of thin air.”

Besson is frank about their ambitions and reiterates what the other senior executives of the company say: their aim is to be spoken of in the same breath as Dom Pérignon, Ruinart and Krug. “We’re not shy about being a new brand. We’re not as visible as the prestige brands at the moment, but it’s amazing how much ground we’ve gained. If we’re in a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York, we’re fighting against the prestige brands.”

Price, rarity, history and quality - in that order

To exist in the rarefied atmosphere of the great Champagne marques, one has to satisfy four criteria – price, rarity, history and quality – often in that order. The first two are amply taken care of. Last year the new ultra-cuvée of Armand de Brignac was launched, a Blanc de Noirs that retails in Harrods for £695. There is another new wine, a demi-sec, which sits alongside the original Brut, a Rosé, and a Blanc de Blancs, all of which sell for between £250 and £350. Some 3,000 bottles of the Blanc de Noirs are made, and its price puts it in the same bracket as Krug Clos de Mesnil, Dom Pérignon Oenotheque, and other icons. One level down, the Brut and its siblings are on a par with Salon, Dom Pérignon, Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque and the like.

Creating a history for Armand de Brignac is trickier. The company now takes care that Jean-Jacques Cattier and his son Alexandre are on hand to provide a bit of Gallic credibility. The Cattiers were there at last year’s launch at the Churchill Hotel in London, sticking gamely if lugubriously to the story. “This is a big adventure for us. We launched the prestige brand less than ten years ago and we’re now in more than 100 countries. We can’t quite believe it,” Jean-Jacques said.

Armand de Brignac and nightclubs "like Sinatra and Vegas..."

The setting for the tasting was a windowless book-lined room, reminiscent of a St James’s Street club, all dark wood and plush armchairs. The leather-backed volumes on the shelves were real, although they had a slightly ersatz look; closer inspection revealed they were unreadable Victorian treatises on land management, or bound editions of engineering periodicals.

If the bogus-yet-plush setting was somehow appropriate, it has to be noted that there is nothing fake about the wine in the bottles. Armand de Brignac is a very good Champagne, from excellent terroir. It’s not only Robinson who rates it highly. Two other critics of international standing, Tom Stevenson and Essi Avellan MW, called it “extraordinarily exceptional.” In 2010, the Brut Gold NV was voted the world’s best Champagne by Fine Champagne Magazine (the winner in 2014 was Roederer Cristal Rosé 2002).

But there are dissenting voices too, and discreet enquiries around the London trade are likely to be met with a gentle pursing of the lips, and an arched eyebrow. “It definitely has a following but I’m not convinced of its quality,” one major London merchant told Meininger’s, making the point that “part of its cleverness is its anonymity – no one knows it’s Cattier”. Back in the Churchill, critics drew ironic comparisons between the fakery of the décor and Armand de Brignac’s lurid packaging.

The juice is exceptional...

Chief marketing officer Bernadette Knight (who comes from luxury conglomerate LVMH, whose list includes Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon, Krug and Ruinart) is unfazed by the criticism. “There’s some work to do on messaging,” she said. “We’ve got a job to do to reintroduce the brand. But the juice is exceptional and there is passion on the winemaking side. It’s an authentic and honest brand.”

Knight and her global marketing team (“all wine and Champagne specialists”) have been on a charm offensive, running “traditional tastings which allowed both trade and consumers to better understand, taste and feel the attention to detail, pride and passion that the 11th generation family winemakers, the Cattiers, have put into each bottle of Armand de Brignac.” She has placed the wine in upmarket restaurants worldwide, from Zuma and Hakkasan in London to LA’s Beverly Hill’s Hotel and Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, Johannesburg’s Signature and the St Regis, Singapore. “As we grow, what will remain most important to us is the continued focus on craftsmanship, quality and small batch production,” Knight adds.

The input of Jay Z himself is harder to nail down. He has an empire that is estimated to be worth some $550m, so a few thousand bottles of Champagne can’t occupy him that much. “He brings his sensibility to the brand. He was involved in  the design of the bottle, and he directs where the company goes, but he isn’t involved in the winemaking process,” Alexandre Cattier says.

Knight adds to this: her boss is looking far into the future. She tells Meininger’s, “He wants to create a legacy for his family. He has said, ‘This is the legacy I want to leave behind for my children’s children.’ Jay is a businessman. He wants to make a true luxury brand that stands with or without him.”

Every multimillionaire wants to own a winery. Jay Z has a brand, but is he looking around for something more concrete? “This is a family company,” Besson reiterates. “There may be a vineyard in France, one day.”

"Of course more Cabernet will be planted..." Changing times on Napa's Spring Mountain

This article was first published in Decanter magazine

Spring Mountain District is one of the five great mountain appellations of the Napa Valley. It covers a lot of ground – its lower reaches abut the quiet residential streets of St Helena town, before the road climbs in vertiginous switchbacks 2000 feet into the Mayacamas Range and the borders of Sonoma. Wine has been made here since the mid-19^th century – the Beringers, already established in St Helena – planted a vineyard in 1880. In its heyday, before phylloxera and Prohibition, there were some 250 wineries working on Spring Mountain.

Spring Mountain Distict: "One of the five great mountain appellations of Napa"

Today there are thirty, and you’re unlikely to find a more diverse crew of winemakers and grape farmers in Napa, or indeed in any American, appellation. There are rangy individualists like the Smith brothers at Smith Madrone, whose ranch is a piece of Napa history, unchanged since they arrived in the 1970s, their interesting list including a  Riesling that is renowned, and delicious (though not as original or unusual as their Cabernets). On a quiet evening you can hear their shotguns booming from miles away – the estate is dotted with buckshot-peppered targets. There are polished, millionaire-owned start-ups like Vineyard 7&8, or Newton, now owned by LVMH but an early pioneer, of whose light and elegant 1981 Cabernet Sauvignon I wrote in my notes, “among the best Napa Cabs I’ve ever tasted.” There are hidden treasures like Stony Hill, started by the McCrea family in 1942, whose winemaker Mike Chelini pressed his first vintage in 1977.

While Bordeaux varietals dominate – over 800 of the appellation’s 1000 acres (405ha) are planted to the five red Bordeaux grapes, 550 (223ha) of them Cabernet – Spring Mountain is far from homogenous in the way that Stags Leap District, say, is now almost entirely Cabernet. Stony Hill’s 160 acres are a patchwork of varieties; the majority are the early Chardonnay plantings, with Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Syrah, Semillon, a bit of Pinot Noir and some Zinfandel. Growers like John Gantner and Nancy Walker at School House are working with Zin and Pinot Noir and Syrah, while Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc aren’t uncommon.

But times are changing, and the more fashionable mountain fruit becomes, the more vineyards will be turned over to the profitable varieties. Newton is undergoing  a major replant which will see its Cabernet plantings rising from two thirds to about 85% of its acreage. A couple of years ago, Jackson Family Wines snapped up 25 acres of Spring Mountain land for their Lokoya range of very expensive Napa mountain Cabernets. Stony Hill owner Peter McCrea isn’t about to change anything, “But,” he says, “If I came into the business now, I’d plant Cabernet and Chardonnay. No question.” Gantner laments this. “Of course more Cabernet will be planted. The only people who can afford to buy here are multimillionaires who hire hi-tech consultants. They know they’re not going to make any money but that doesn’t worry them. What they want are 100-point scores to show off to their friends.”

Stony Hill is a good example of a producer that is in the district but not of it (the current vintage is the first to carry the AVA on the label – previous bottles have been labelled simply Napa Valley). Indeed, McCrea articulates a view of Spring Mountain that is not uncommom: the AVA really has no coherence at all.

“An AVA should have commonality in terms of climate, soil variety, topography,” he says. “And Spring Mountain has none of that. It’s known as a Cabernet appellation but Cabernet wasn’t grown here for 60 years.” Gantner agrees. “The one common feature is that we’re all located on this mountain.” He talks about the temperature variations between altitudes, and especially the varied soils. “I dug 14 soil pits and they were all different. In one there was heavy black loam, and 200 yards away there would be another with round volcanic rocks and sandy loam.”

If there is a common thread, it’s the distinct style of mountain fruit. For Andrew Schweiger at the lovely vineyards his parents planted in the 1980s, it’s “complexity and small berry size, and fine acid that develops during the day.” The fruit produces tannins that have to be carefully managed, he says. “You could give Spring Mountain fruit to a monkey and he would produce a big Cab.” For Hal Barnett of his eponymous winery, another pioneer, it’s “fruit that’s not as forward or lush as on the valley floor. It’s got more restraint.”

I drove up to Cain, a mountain fastness whose wind-blown grasslands and sloping vineyards embody the character of the appellation. The climate here is typical of high-level California vineland. The inversion layer (by which warmer air is pushed upwards from the valley floor) means there is less difference between night and day temperatures than down below, but the thin soils and exposure to wind ensure small berries with thick skins. “Bud break is a week later than in the valley,” vineyard manager Ashley Anderson says, “the growing season is shorter so we get intenser flavours. We don’t need to extract much.” Only one of Cain’s three wines - the Cain 5 -  is sourced entirely from Spring Mountain. A Bordeaux blend, it’s a marvel of precision and exoticism, with the hallmarks of mountain fruit  and with layers of violet perfume, minerality and fine earthy rot.

It’s a difficult wine to classify, but perhaps unclassifiability is Spring Mountain’s unifying factor. I have several emails from Cain’s winemaker Chris Howell, describing the region, and what he calls its “mountain iconoclasts”. “Is it about elevation, exposure and soil or is it about winemaking?” he asks in one. “Perhaps some of the character in the wine comes from the characters who live and work up here.”

At a Glance

Established 1993

Area under vine: 1000 acres (405ha)

Number of wineries: 30

Location: northern and eastern slopes of the Mayacamas range

Elevation:  400 feet (122 m) to 2,600 feet (792 m)

Grapes planted: over half is Cabernet Sauvignon (557 acres/225ha), the rest Merlot (182 acres/77ha), Cabernet Franc (44 acres/18ha), Petit Syrah (28/11); Chardonnay (51/21), Sauvignon Blanc (26/10);  Small parcels (less than 10ha) of Riesling, Petit Verdot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Malbec, Viognier

Soils: Typically shallow volcanic and sedimentary rock: primarily volcanic in the north and sandstone and shale to the south. Well-drained, acidic, poor in nutrients, on steep slopes with very varied orientation.

Total production: between 60,000 and 120,000 cases depending on yield. Average winery production 85,000 cases 

Ones to Watch

Spring Mountain Vineyard

Napa aristocracy, runner-up in the 1976 Paris Tasting, producer of restrained and ageworthy red and white Bordeaux blends. SMV’s La Perla vineyard, planted in 1873, is the oldest Cabernet planting on Spring Mountain. Now under the auspices of formidable Tasmanian winemaker Susan Doyle, who is casting a gimlet eye over the whole operation. Of the 2013 Chardonnay (the 1973 came 4^th in Paris) she says, “There’s not enough acidity. We can lend ourselves to a more European style.”

Stony Hill

The McCrea family planted in the 1940s and the winery has changed little since then: the barrels are dark with age, the 1000-gallon vats look like the sort of thing Al Capone might have stored bootleg in. Current winemaker Mike Chelini, who took over in 1977, is “the oldest tenured winemaker in Napa,” owner Peter McCrea (who is of the same vintage) says. There is nothing old-fashioned about the wines, which are structured, restrained and fresh: utterly modern, in fact. The Chardonnay 2014 from barrel was among the best I have tasted in 15 years visiting Napa.

Smith-Madrone

Bearded mountain men Stuart and Charles Smith work a remote 200-acre ranch which was first planted in the 1880s, crafting sought-after Bordeaux blends, Cabernet, Chardonnay and Riesling on rocky slopes. Like the McCreas (above), the Smiths have changed little since they planted in the 1970s, their Cabernets expecially showing a fine classic structure. “Those tannins will calm,” Stuart says of the fine, robust Estate 2006.

Lokoya

In looking for prime Napa hillside land for their high-end Lokoya series, in late 2013 Jackson Family Wines bought the Yverdon vineyard, which sits at 2000-plus feet off the Spring Mountain Road. Lokoya is regarded as amongst the very finest hillside collections, its winemaker Chris Carpenter teasing out the subtle differences between the AVAs of Diamond Mountain, Mount Veeder, Howell Mountain and Spring Mountain. The blue fruit, fresh cedary brightness and stony minerality of the latter are the hallmarks of the appellation.

School House Vineyard

Founded 75 years ago, seventeen acres of Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah, vinified  peripatetically in a series of wineries including Stony Hill, Schweiger, Montelena and now Pride Mountain. School House is dry-farmed, its owners John M Gantner and Nancy Walker self-proclaimed dinosaurs. Gantner has an amused disdain for what he calls “the hi-tech people” – multimillionaires who buy up land and chase 100-point scores. “My instructions to winemakers are, ‘Let the wine make itself’. If in doubt, I go for simplicity,” he says.

Philip Togni

A founding father of modern Napa Cabernet, the British-born Togni was instrumental in the creation of Chappellet (his 1969 Cabernet is legendary) with long and influential stints at Cuvaison and Chalone among others, he bought 25 acres on Spring Mountain in 1975 and planted to Bordeaux varietals. His wines are celebrated the world over for their subtlety and finesse; the 1990 Cabernet was ranked above that vintage of Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion and Mouton at a Brussels tasting.

Spring Mountain District Recommendations

Lüscher-Ballard Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley, 2008

£50

n/a UK

Made by John Kongsgaard, this has a lovely rotted ozone whiff on the nose, followed by ripe blueberry and blackcurrant, pencil shavings, cigar tube, fine dry tannins and fresh acidity

2015-2020

alc 14.1

Pride Mountain Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley, 2005

£164 Fine and Rare, Hedonism, Turville Valley Wines

Dense nose of dark fruit, palate of sweet blackberry juice, a hint of tobacco and coffee, intense weighty tannins and a lovely juicy finish. Powerful but controlled

2020-2035

alc 14.5

Schweiger, Dedication, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley, 2010

£55

n/a UK

Bordeaux blend: fresh raspberry leaf and mocha nose, ripe damson and black cherry, sweet cedar, savoury notes finishing with fine sweet juice. Powerful, restrained

2020-2035

alc 14.8

Cain Vineyard and Winery, Cain 5, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley 2010

£75.00 Justerini & Brooks

Creamy, savoury opulent nose with coffee notes, young tenacious tannins, ripe, almost rotted plum, then notes of graphite, sour cherry and orange zest; racy acidity. Exotic and perfumed.

2018-2030

alc 13.9

Spring Mountain Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Bottled, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley 2009

£62.50 Whirly Wines

Intense savoury nose, medium weight, fresh blackcurrant with hints of mint, earthy tones, fine tannins, delicate dry length

2015-2025

alc 14.3

Stony Hill, Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2007

n/a UK

Sweet and fresh with very pure lime and citrus aromas. Honeysuckle and peach on the palate with flinty minerality, dancing acidity and top notes of exotic spice. Precise and utterly delicious    

2015-2025

alc 13

Barnett Vineyards, Merlot, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley 2012

£35

n/a UK

Opulent plum and cherry, ripe without being jammy, fresh acidity lifting the fruit, dry, chalky tannins releasing juice. Sweet with serious weight at the core

2018-2028

alc 14.5

Smith-Madrone, Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley 2010

£44 Roberson

Vibrant blue fruit on the nose, fresh and savoury palate with ripe perfumed damson, fine structured tannins and refreshing acidity.

2018-2025

alc 14.1

Lokoya Cabernet SauvignonSpring Mountain DistrictNapa Valley2011

£232

Hedonism

Almost raisined nose leading to fresh and bright open palate, graphite, stony minerality, open and juicy, fresh, with wonderful cedary brightness. Powerful and persistent length

2018-2035

alc 14.5

Smith-Madrone, Riesling, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley 2013

£22.99

Roberson

Orange-blossom nose with hints of gasoline, white flowers on palate developing peach and sweet pear, bone-dry minerality will soften. Curious, charming

2015-2025

alc12.6

Pushing for Crus in Rioja

“Do you know the taste of Labastida?” asks Telmo Rodriguez. The same question from a Burgundian or a Bordelais about one of their villages would be far easier to answer. Coming from Rodriguez, as he stands amongst the tiny, ancient plots of his Las Beatas vineyards in Rioja Alavesa, it’s rhetorical. His point is that for a region so varied in terroir, in topography, in soils, elevation and orientation (in their few hectares, the vineyards of Las Beatas face half a dozen points of the compass), it’s astonishing how unsophisticated is the popular perception of Rioja. As he puts it, with a note of regret, “We’re happy to be generic.”

From the garden at Remelluri

Rodriguez, who makes wine in nine regions of Spain, from his family estate of Remelluri in Labastida and the ancient vineyards he has revived in the region, to Ribera del Duero, Toro, Galicia and as far south as Malaga, is one of a disparate group of producers becoming increasingly vocal about the limitations of the Rioja DOC. They have different ways of expressing themselves but their point is simple: the official classification of Rioja into the three levels of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva is an instrument too blunt to do justice to the complexity of what is popularly known as “the region of 1000 wines”.

The man who set the whole thing off is Juan Carlos de Lacalle of Artadi, whose Viña el Pisón has the distinction of being one of Spain’s most expensive wines. Indeed, at a little under €500, the 2007 is one of the world’s priciest bottles. Early in 2015 the Rioja press reported he would be leaving the DO. From the 2014 vintage all Artadi wines will be labelled Vino de Mesa, and will not carry the Rioja name or official back label stamp.

“We need different tools to express the thousands of different styles of Rioja,” de Lacalle says. As an illustration of what he’s talking about he takes me to his vineyards on the San Ginés river (a tributary of the Ebro) outside the town of Laguardia. On the eastern bank, west facing, is La Poza, and opposite is Valdegines, looking east. The difference is the orientation and the depth of soil. The winemaker suggests La Poza – warmer, with deeper soils – “is more Mediterranean.” The wines are markedly different, the one with red fruit, the other with riper tannins and a rounder profile. “This is the kind of terroir we want to focus on,” de Lacalle says. “Why should we put it all in the same tank and label it Gran Reserva?”

"Do you know the taste of Labastida?"Telmo Rodriguez

The singularity of Rioja’s classification goes back to the 19^th century. Historically, Rioja’s bodegas have been master blenders, sourcing grapes from all over the region, developing a distinctive house style. The classification is geared to wine age: DO regulations state that Crianza wines must spend a year in oak and a year in bottle, Reserva for a year in oak and two years in bottle, Gran Reserva two years in oak and three years in bottle. Village names are not allowed on bottles. No notice is taken of place – for most consumers it is irrelevant that Marques de Murrieta’s Castillo Ygay comes from one of the most famous single vineyards in Rioja Alta. “The system implies that everything starts when the wine is in barrel or bottle. There’s no emphasis on the vineyard,” Murrieta’s owner Vicente Cebrian says.

The land is pushed further into the background by the fact that only a handful of bodegas own their vineyards. Almost all (Murrieta is a rare exception) source their wines from multiple growers, all over Rioja, working very small plots: the average size of vineyard in Rioja Alavesa is one third of a hectare. The concentration on blending, Rodriguez says, means that “we forget the Grands Crus”. Terroir is lost in favour of process.

Las Beatas is a vineyard paradise, with medieval abandoned terraces, and the remains of an 800-year-old stone press hewn into a house-sized rock. For Rodriguez (who studies the old ways, a process he likens to pulling on a rope to bring the past into focus) it is essential to re-discover respect for the land. For most people, he says, Rioja is reduced to a simple duality, traditional and modern, where “Traditional means American oak and modern means French oak. But it’s far more complicated than that.”

"The man who set the whole thing off..." Delacalle of Artadi

The idea of Rioja as homogenous is quickly exploded by a visit to the eastern tip of Rioja Baja, the biggest but least-celebrated of the three sub-regions of this sprawling appellation.

Baja’s main town of Alfaro has the greatest vineyard acreage of any town of Rioja. All the great producers source tonnes of grapes from here. But despite the efforts of the bullish and charismatic Alvaro Palacios (Decanter’s Man of the Year 2015), whose family winery, Palacios Remondo, is in Alfaro, Baja struggles for recognition. There are many reasons for this, the main one being the craze for Tempranillo in the 1980s, which is fine up north but can get overripe if it’s too warm. Palacios is busily regrafting back to Garnacha.

While to the north the valleys are narrow and steep, Baja is more open, flatland leading to humpbacked hills. The soil is stony – in some places it resembles Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It is Mediterranean-influenced, the warmth (and the pudding stones) ideal for Garnacha. Palacios’ dream is to gain recognition for the region. “I don’t want to dedicate my life to the vineyard and in 50 years not know where the wine comes from. The worst thing that has happened in Rioja is that when you taste Viña Real 1954, you don’t know any of the vineyards. It wasn’t the winemaker, it was the vineyard, it was those old vines from a special area.” Palacios was instrumental in getting village designations recognised in Priorat, and he would like to do the same here. “We have to have a pyramid of quality, with country wine at the bottom, then regional, then the villages, then specific plots within the villages.”

Las Beatas: note Roman stone press in fore, ancient terraces at back

The “reformers” are voluble, passionate, dynamic – and inchoate. They agree a quality level should be added to the DO, but they haven’t put together any sort of proposal. Rodriguez believes his terroir among the best in the world but says he doesn’t want to get bogged down in bureaucracy; Palacios reckons change will come, “but not until my grandchildren’s time”. Cebrian is adamant they should “reform the DO but not break it.” Even a bodega as conservative as Marques de Caceres agrees some sort of reform would be welcome. Cristina Forner, its president, sees no reason to leave the DO, though she agrees a way should be found of moving “towards models focussed on quality with future potential.” Caceres has already launched its own “estate” range, Excellens, five wines sourced from high-altitude vineyards with all the emphasis on vine age, reduced yields and limited production.

Others agree that the DO needs to be improved, but are ambivalent about how it should be achieved. At Bodegas Roda, founded in 1987 and one of the most renowned of the Rioja modernists, export manager  Victor Charcán says, “Yes, the classification should include vineyards. Some sites are better than others.” But he adds, Roda is a blending house, so village designations would be irrelevant to them. “Any reform must be handled with great care,” he cautions.

For its part, Rioja’s regulatory body the Consejo Regulador, while often derided for being reactionary, says it is open to suggestions. The problem, general manager José-Luis Lapuente told me, is politics. “They’re talking to the media but they have made no formal application to us. Certain political issues have blocked the debate.” But reforms are being tabled, and “certainly the name of a village on the label could add value.”

Artadi - Valdegines vineyard

Bear in mind we are talking about adding value to one of the world’s most recognised, and loved, wine brands. Rioja sells 400 million bottles a year; eight out of ten bottles opened in Spain are from Rioja. The top bodegas have markets in 120 countries; the UK market alone is worth £220m. With sales like this, it’s not surprising the majority of producers don’t see any need for change.

But it’s happening anyway. Those who know Rioja have long understood the stylistic difference between modern, terroir-driven wines and those that are more traditional and oak-dominant. “What’s really exciting for Rioja lovers is that you now have the choice between traditional and modern,” says Pierre Mansour of the Wine Society.

And people like “geekery”, as Jean-Remi Barris of the independent importer Indigo Wines calls it. “Rioja is not seen on a par with the best appellations because there is not enough geekery for people to sink their teeth into.” The more information you can give a wine lover, the more they will want. “It’s a bit like Champagne. For a long time it was very hard to talk about terroir, but it’s all changing with grower Champagnes.”

Bureaucratic change will neither help nor hinder this thirst for knowledge of terroir. Artadi, Palacios, Rodriguez and other pioneers will carry on as they are, and their village lands will gradually come to the notice of those keen to delve deeper into Rioja. More and more bodegas will follow suit as they see the value such cuvées bring – and more and more of Rioja’s 17,000 growers, like Pedro Balda, who labels himself “viticultor” and produces 1200 bottles, will release fascinating artisanal wines.

“My family have been "cosecheros" (growers) in San Vicente for six generations,” Balda told me in an email. “We know there are lots of terroirs that produce a huge range of wines and qualities. So, in the same village, there are many different things you can find.”

For Recommendations to go with this article go to to Decanter.com

This article first appeared in Decanter magazine September 2015

The Hosemaster of Wine – misfiring muckspreader or lord of misrule?

They used to say of Evelyn Waugh that he wrote like an angel but had a foul personality, and of his son Auberon, that his pen was scurrilous but he was an awfully nice man. It makes me think of Ron Washam. I’ve met him a couple of times and he seems a thoroughly decent chap – and about as aggressive as a basket of sleeping kittens.

Vituperative? Ron Washam, aka the Hosemaster of Wine

Not so his alter ego, the Hosemaster of Wine (an inspired moniker), who sprays all and sundry with his vituperative wit. No one is exempt. He’s laid into Jancis Robinson more than once. Her Wine Grapes magnum opus was subject to one of his notorious “blind reviews” (he was piqued, he said, that his review copy went astray). A sample sentence (difficult to choose just one) – “the book is massive. It’s seven pounds. Seven pounds of DNA. Sounds like a party at Silvio Berlusconi’s house” – encapsulates the Hosemaster’s ribald tone.

His cheery insolence teeters nerve-wrackingly on the edge of malevolent spleen – and you have to have a robust sense of humour to withstand the barbs when they come at you. Jancis seems to have one (she’s written about him), but I don’t know about Georg Riedel, who caused Tim Atkin, who hosts the HM on his site, to issue the following apology:  “On my website, I failed to explain clearly enough that the article was a piece of satirical writing and, as a result, I caused offence to Georg Riedel” and so on and so forth. Atkin would be well advised to post trigger warnings in future.

The Riedel satire is a magnificent piece of sustained mockery, in which an imaginary Georg ponders the infinite gullibity of the wine drinking public and how much he can make out of it. “It’s a comic effect, really,” Ron has him say. “How far can we take this mania for worrying about which glass to drink our wine from? Like a great comedian, I understood that there was no limit. I simply had to deliver them with a straight face.” You have to know the Riedel family to really appreciate the delicious comedy of imagining a top-hatted Georg on stage pulling goldfish out of some kid’s ear.

Robinson and Riedel are big fish (not to mix metaphors), and are quite able to look after themselves. But some of Ron’s targets are pretty soft. His latest diatribe against wine junkets fails on the simple level that it’s not particularly sharp. Mocking wine hacks on freebies makes taking pot shots at barn doors look challenging. Of course, I work for Wine Searcher (which gets a drubbing) but that’s not the point.

Not all of it splattering the right people...

The Hosemaster might occasionally resemble a misfiring muckspreader – a great wave of slurry and not all of it splattering the right people - but that’s neither here nor there. As Oscar Wilde said, the only relevant criterion for a novel is whether it is well or badly written – morality doesn’t come into it. Satire is no different – it should both shock and amuse, and if it doesn’t do these things, then it’s redundant.

I never read the HM nowadays because he's just too rich a mixture. I find one column so concentrated that it takes me weeks to digest, so a trawl through the archives has been a treat. Here he is on wine accessories, “And why isn’t there a colonoscope you can attach to a helmet, like a miner, that helps you read a new Matt Kramer book?”. And on wine clichés: “Now, in every stunningly stupid profile of a sommelier I read, which is every profile of a sommelier I read, they are said to “curate” a wine list.”

Now isn’t that just right? I used to write sommelier profiles, and believe me, they are difficult to make interesting. Great satire should shock and amuse, but it must also contain the tiniest grain of truth. The wine world would be a poorer place without the Hosemaster and his ribaldry. We need  people to throw snowballs at the toffs in top hats.

Read the Hosemaster's column on timatkin.com

Sonoma's Verité takes on the cultiest of Napa cults

This article was first published without tasting notes on lepanmedia.com

There was a compelling new angle to the launch of Jackson Family Wines’ Verité 2012 at the Dorchester in London’s Mayfair this week: a comparative tasting against three of Napa’s mosh cultish of cult wines.

Verité fruit is sourced from its Alexander Valley vineyards

The tasting featured the three imminent new releases plus a non-blind look at the 2005 Verité La Joie alongside the same vintage of Harlan, Scarecrow and Screaming Eagle.

It’s been fascinating to watch the trajectory of the Sonoma wine over the last few years, how it has steadily grown in confidence, and how its creator Pierre Seillan has gradually positioned it as the thinking wine lover’s California cult.

Pitting the wine against the greats is nothing new: last year JFW showed it alongside Lafite 2001, Mouton 2004, Grange 2007, Ornellaia 2004 and other icons. It performed very well.

The fact that CEO Barbara Banke and her team have chosen wines of such rarety and – in the case of Screaming Eagle, which retails in London for over £2,500 - fabulous expense, is perfect evidence of the ground they wish to occupy. Nick Bevan, the company’s senior vice-president, spelled it out. “We’re aiming for that territory,” he said. “We’re not aiming at Grange, or Opus – we’re far smaller and we’re beyond them now. We want to be a global cult wine.”

The finest of the three

The story of Verité has been told many times: how Jess Jackson asked Seillan if it would be possible to make a California Merlot as good as Petrus, and how Seillan replied “Pourquoi pas?” and produced the first Verité in 1998, a wine still spoken of in hushed tones by the Sonoma team. Verité is lauded in the US, where Robert Parker has handed down eight perfect 100-point scores over the years. In the UK they have been accepted, said Greg Sherwood of London’s Handford Wines. “People are no longer questioning the quality of the Verité wines but finally delving into the terroir and vintage conditions that created these wines”.

There are now three Verité wines, based on the three great Bordeaux grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. According to Jackson’s – and Seillan’s – vision, each wine aims to evoke a different Bordeaux commune. The Merlot-based La Muse is inspired by Pomerol; Cabernet Franc-centric Le Désir is a St.-Emilion follower, while the Cabernet Sauvignon-based La Joie takes Pauillac as its benchmark.

But comparisons with Bordeaux are little used now; these are Sonoma wines. Monique Seillan, who speaks for her husband and comes every year to London with Banke to show the new vintage, is passionate when she describes the variety of the terroirs they source from: Alexander Valley, Bennett Valley, Chalk Hill and Knights Valley. “Everything we plant is mountain land,” she says. “There are 32 different types of soil, which is more than most of Bordeaux combined.”

High-altitude Sonoma, with its dozens of orientations and complex soils, can produce wines of great sophistication. And in 2012, they were blessed with a winning vintage, it appears. Banke herself adores the vintage. “It’s like coming back to California after [the cool and difficult] 2011. “It was wonderful on every level. There was heat, but not too much, the acidity and the tannic structure are perfect. Sonoma 2012 is like Bordeaux 2005.” However, she insists on keeping the prices stable. “I want people to drink these wines,” she says.

Sense of humour? Scarecrow

The three wines are closely related by terroir and by winemaker, yet distinct. Panel moderator Patrick Schmitt MW noted the tannins were a distinguishing feature. “[They] got finer as we moved through the flight, from the big tannins in La Muse, which is Merlot dominant, to the high but tight-grained character of the Cabernet-led La Joie, and finally, the extremely fine chalky nature of the tannins in Le Désir, which is predominantly Cabernet Franc.”

The second flight, featuring La Joie 2005 and the three Napa wines, was designed to show how Sonoma could be the equal of its celebrated neighbour. “It just doesn’t have Napa’s reputation,” Bevan said. “But you’re going to see exciting things coming out of Sonoma.”

As well they might. Schmitt (the only non-partisan member of a panel consisting of Banke, her daughter Julia Jackson, Bevan, JFW's in-house master sommelier Dimitri Mesnard and marketing director Gayle Bartscherer) and the majority of the audience (by a show of hands) agreed that in terms of power and finesse, brightness of fruit, evolution and balance, La Joie 2005 is not only equal but in some ways superior to the Napa wines. Some mentioned that it was in the Napa wines they had noted the alcohol for the first time. One person suggested the Screaming Eagle was “one-dimensional compared to the Joie”. Finally – and this was a fact not lost on an audience mainly made up of wine retailers from around Europe – it should be noted that for every bottle of Screaming Eagle 2005 you can buy 10 bottles of La Joie.

The three Verité wines will be available in the US, Europe and Asia at around $450 a bottle by the end of November.

Verité La Muse, Sonoma County 2012

Merlot (85%), Cabernet Franc (11%) and Malbec

14.5%

Sweet early-summer blackberry nose with iodine, minerality, spice, leather, violet perfume, dark chocolate. Seductive and coltishly young, on palate depth of briar, freshly-roasted coffee beans with cocoa powder. Sour cherry, violet, black fruit juice, very fresh ripe powdery tannins. The lovely gauche elegance of youth

Verité La Joie, Sonoma County 2012

Cabernet Sauvignon (76%), Merlot (12%), Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot

14.5%

High tobacco notes on nose, then fresh young blackcurrant with leaf. Toasty sweet roast coffee and cocoa. Lovely tight-grained texture to the sweet and juicy tannins. Round and voluptuous, mouthfilling acidity with ripe small damson giving waterfalls of juice, exuberant, unrestrained, with a length that goes on forever.

Verité Le Désir, Sonoma County 2012

Cabernet Franc (64%) Merlot (24%), Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot

14.5%

Dusty sweet nose with hay, lovely quality of freshness and presence – this is the most precise of the wines, mouthcoating fine chalky tannin and fresh ripe plum and sweet black cherry fruit, very dark earthy chocolate, perfumed, notes of truffley forest floor, exotic spice. Both opulent and elegant, and utterly delicious. The finest of the three

Verité La Joie, Sonoma County 2005

Cabernet Sauvignon (67%), Merlot (12%), Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec

14.7%

Bright ruby hue. Wonderful nose brimming with character, dark fruit, cassis hidden, sweet oak, cedar, snapped nettle stem. Palate dancing with fruit and sweet tannin, acidity releasing juice, flavours of coffee with some zest of orange, dry tannins lifted by juice, superb structure and mouthwatering length, beautifully balanced.

Harlan Estate, Napa Valley 2005

Bordeaux blend

14.5%

Dark red with purple rim. Lovely cedary deep old nose, restrained though very elegant with hints of rot and truffle. High earthy violet perfume, coffee, black fruit, beautifully silky tannins, mouthwatering juice, brooding and full-bodied but superb finesse. Very evolved, almost reaching peak.

Scarecrow, Rutherford 2005

100% Cabernet Sauvignon

15.4%

Exotic but 1D?: Screaming Eagle

Very sweet stink of iodine and river mud, crushed violets, eucalyptus of an almost Barossan pungency, very big, the alcohol noticeably hot but well integrated considering its port-like heft. Opulent blackberry and blueberry, very concentrated, tannins fine and suave but unrelieved by juice. Grand, tending to the monolithic, short on humour or charm

Screaming Eagle, Napa Valley 2005

Cabernet Sauvignon (98%) and Cabernet Franc

Rich dark fruit, black cherry and blackberry, and medicinal flavours, smoky coffee, exotic perfume, tar and cigar tube; tannins dry but releasing generous juice; lovely grainy texture, fine persistent finish

See also
A Vist to Screaming Eagle
Rite of Passage: Verite and the world's first growths