Why you should stock up now for the holidays
hether your cellar is a purpose-built underground room with racks, alcoves and barrels, or simply amounts to the cupboard under the stairs, now is the time to think about laying in stocks. Every year we see the advertising slogans telling us to ‘Buy now whilst stocks last’, often just a marketing ploy for cashflow reasons while the warehouses are packed to the rafters. This year, however, things may be different. Supply chain problems are very real, with containers in short supply worldwide as they are in the wrong place at the wrong time due to effects of the pandemic, staff shortages and strikes at docks, and not forgetting a lack of 100,000
HGV drivers in the UK.
While it is unlikely that there will be no wine on the shelves this Christmas, certain items may well be in short supply, so avoiding disappointment by stocking up on your favourites makes a lot of sense for Christmas 2021. With our fingers firmly crossed, this year we should be able to celebrate properly with family and friends, instead of a Zoom apéritif or huddling in the garden round a fire pit, feeling colder than the glass of Champagne in your hand.
Certainly, the advice of Steve
Finlan, CEO of The Wine Society, is not to wait, due principally to the logistical challenges presented this year. In anticipation of both this and the exceptionally busy time of year, The Wine Society currently has very good stock levels, hoping not to disappoint too many of its members this year. They are also promoting an excellent range of Christmas gifts, be they for your family and friends or purely for self-indulgence.
One of the best of these is the six bottle Ultimate Christmas Day Case priced at £155, perfect for a family gathering. Start with the superb vintage Champagne Alfred Gratien Brut 2009, sipped while the bird is quietly roasting in the kitchen, or enjoyed with a plate of smoked salmon. Wonderful flavours of peach, almond and gala apples, with toasty brioche notes on the nose. Follow-up with the white burgundies, both from the great 2019 vintage.
Domaine Cordier is from the lesser known and great value appellation of Saint Véran in southern Burgundy.
From low yielding vineyards, the wine is deep flavoured with well-balanced freshness with ripe fruit flavours. Pair with fish or fowl. Slightly higher up the scale is an organic wine from Jean-Marc Brocard, Chablis Premier Cru Butteaux 2019, partly matured in large oak barrels by one of the leading producers of the region. Firm, mineral palate with citrus notes and good length on the finish. Tremendous with fresh tuna, roast salmon or the bird itself.
Moving on to the two reds in the case, The Society’s Exhibition Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2017, is rich and refined, with mellow, ripe, dark fruit, together with notes of fig and spice. First-class Rhone red for your roast goose, duck or beef. Château Charmail Haut Médoc 2012 is a lovely, mature claret from a property close to Saint Estèphe. Mellow, tobacco and cigarbox aromas and complex fruit flavours.
Unmissable with a hunk of Stilton and a few crackers at the end of an indulgent lunch is the last bottle in the case – Warre’s Quinta da Cavadinha Vintage Port 2001. Beautifully mature 20-year-old vintage port poured from the decanter is the ultimate treat for the taste buds on a special day. Complex and balanced with sheer classic elegance.
Bolney Wine Estate has been recognised for its sustainability in an awards scheme.
The vineyard received the World’s Finest Glass of Bubbly Sustainability Award 2021 last Monday (October 25).
Shane Holland, executive chairman of Slow Food UK, which provided the award, presented MD and head winemaker of Bolney Wine Estate Sam Linter with the award in a ceremony that was live-streamed.
On winning the award, Sam, who leads the family business, said that Bolney’s ‘ethos has for many years been centred around ‘Guided by Nature’’ and that it is ‘embedded in the heritage of the brand’: “We always strive to develop how we can be even more sustainable and build on this ethos.
“The principle of sustainable management is crucial to our continued existence and growth as a company, so we look at everything from mulching grapevine prunings back into the soil to our local sourcing policy for the restaurant.
“We’re really proud to have achieved what we have to date, so it’s wonderful to have been recognised with this award, but there is so much more we can do and will continue to evolve in this area.”
The first vines at Bolney were planted in 1972.
The team said it believed that the more it understood and took inspiration from the nature in and around the vineyard, the more it could appreciate its needs and protect its diversity and beauty for future generations.
Solar panels have been installed across the estate to create a more sustainable way of working and are said to generate 50 per cent of the electricity used across the site and, generate up to 25KW of power – enough to run its disgorging and labelling lines.
The estate said on long sunny summer days, the panels generated more electricity than they used, so any leftover electricity went to the National Grid for use.
In March, in partnership with Brighton Energy Cooperative (BEC), Bolney installed the first of its new network of community owned, solar-linked electric vehicle charge points at the estate, allowing visitors to charge vehicles while at the estate. It is thought it is the first community solar-linked electric vehicle charge point in the South East.
Glass of Bubbly is an online resource for news and information on Champagne and sparkling wines, industry awards and trade tastings.
By Richard Esling BSc DipWSET. Richard is an experienced wine consultant, agent, writer and educator. An erstwhile wine importer, he runs a wine agency and consultancy company called WineWyse, is founder and principal of the Sussex Wine Academy, chairman of Arundel Wine Society and is an International Wine Judge. @richardwje winewyse.com