Wine and spirits

Getting to grips with Veronese wine

30 November 2017 by Rebecca in Classic Wine Library, Wine and spirits

By Michael Garner, author of Amarone and the fine wines of Verona

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be looking at different styles of wine produced under the various Soave and Valpolicella denominations. But first, a little background in terms of geography, growing conditions and grape varieties to set the scene. The two areas overlap and are each divided into three distinct subareas. From the west Valpolicella Classico takes in five different communes between Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella and Negrar where, at the valley’s eastern edge, the simple Valpolicella DOC area begins. It surrounds the smaller area of Valpantena (which has its own DOC) and extends as far as Montecchia di Crosara, near the town of Soave. The valleys of Mezzane, Illasi and Tramigna are therefore ‘common ground’ as the Soave territory begins at Mezzane, extending eastwards as far as the ridge which separates the Val d’Alpone from the Val di Chiampo and the neighbouring province of Vicenza. It contains the Classico zone north of the twin towns of Soave itself and Monteforte d’Alpone and also includes the rarely seen DOC of Soave Colli Scaligeri – broadly speaking the hillier areas beyond Classico. The overall territory for Soave and Valpolicella lies just north of Verona, indeed some of the suburbs extend into the lower-lying Valpolicella vineyards.

The vineyards occupy the lower slopes of the ridges and valleys which fan out downwards from the high karst table of Lessinia to meet the northern bank of the river Adige as it runs through the city heading east. Most of the valleys are aligned from north to south, which creates near perfect growing conditions at altitudes between around 100 to 600 metres above sea level. Soils are mainly limestone- and clay-based though pockets of volcanic-based tufa are also found in Valpolicella. In Soave, the eastern boundary of the denomination is formed of a high ridge connecting several volcanic peaks (Calvarina, Crocetta and Duello): dark, basalt-based soils dominate as far as Soave Classico on the opposite slopes of the Val d’Alpone where both main soil types (limestone- and basalt-based) intermingle.

The training system is mainly the classic local pergola (around 80% of the vineyards in both areas). Once maligned as a source of over-production, pergola is currently undergoing a revival, largely owing to the effects of climate change. The overhanging leaf canopy serves to protect the ripening fruit from scorching in summer temperatures which have climbed ever higher over the last couple of decades. This has been accompanied by a more sensible approach towards containing yields; nonetheless some of the more influential personalities (such as Dal Forno in Valpolicella and Anselmi in Soave) continue to insist that Guyot produces better quality fruit.

Grape varieties are almost entirely local (and rarely seen elsewhere). In Valpolicella, Corvina is the most widely-planted and most-prized variety. Its aromas are subtle yet expansive – a mix of cherry and hedgerow fruits (blackberry, damson and sloe) with a telltale twist of black pepper; the palate is medium-bodied with brisk acid and light but fine tannins. Corvina-based wines show excellent ageing potential and remarkably fine balance – locals regard the variety as their Pinot Noir. Corvinone plays a lesser role and needs careful management to contain yields, and the right growing conditions (working best at higher altitudes) to arrive at good quality fruit. A more robust and tannic wine than Corvina, it has interesting tobacco- and herb-like aromas. Rondinella is more of a faithful retainer, reliably productive but rarely distinguished. The recent tendency to produce deeper-coloured and more structured wines, has seen the rise of rare local varieties like Oseleta, a grape with a notably low liquid to solid ratio (it’s all skin and pips) which nonetheless can add colour and plentiful tannins. Sadly though, its arrival has hastened the decline of Molinara which, though pale-coloured, produces wines with surprising fragrance and delightful, salty and minerally flavours.

In Soave Garganega dominates, covering almost 90 per cent of the vineyard area. Like Corvina the variety gives wines with a broad aromatic profile: floral-toned orchard fruits (apple, apricot and pear particularly) with notes of mandarin zest and preserved lemon. The palate has good, often zesty, acidity and is ripely textured with intriguing saline and mineral flavours. The other mainstay of Soave is Trebbiano di Soave (aka Verdicchio) and its presence at up to 30 per cent of the total can make a real difference. Some of the best examples include a relatively high proportion. e.g. Pieropan’s Calvarino where the variety’s steely acidity and zingy, green freshness really lifts the blend.

Coming up next week: I examine the ‘simpler’ styles of Soave and Valpolicella and recommend some of the finest examples.

Canada – the evolution of a wine industry

3 October 2017 by Rebecca in Classic Wine Library, Wine and spirits

By Rod Phillips, author of The wines of Canada

When I migrated from New Zealand to Canada in the 1960s at the age of 19, both my country of departure and the one I arrived in had embryonic modern wine industries. Much New Zealand wine at that time was fortified, and much of what was not should have been. The same was true of Ontario, where I settled down. Both regions were heavily dependent on hybrid varieties: Müller-Thurgau and Baco Noir in New Zealand, Baco Noir, Maréchal Foch, and Vidal in Ontario – as well as Concord, a native grape that turned out to be brilliant for grape juice and jelly.

At 19, I had already been interested in wine for several years – thanks to a sympathetic wine merchant who agreed that having to wait until I was 21 to taste it was ridiculous. I tasted as widely as I could, and by the time I was 17 I had become the wine steward (now I would be called the sommelier, I suppose) in one of Auckland’s few licensed restaurants, Tiffany’s. I read the likes of André Simon on wine generally and Julian Jeffs on Sherry – and I’m very happy to join him as a Classic Wine Library author, 50 years later!

I also built a small private cellar of about 20 bottles, mainly Australian Shirazes and Cabernets (Australia was ahead in planting Vitis vinifera) and a few friends and I drank them all in the weeks before I left for Canada. We drank my two best bottles, Château La Tour Carnet 1953, with chicken and fries at another Auckland restaurant, Lutèce.

In Canada I began to drink more European wines because the range of imports was much greater than it had been in New Zealand. I did discover a few drinkable Canadian wines made from Baco Noir and Maréchal Foch, but the Canadian offerings in the 1960s were very dreary. Later, during the 1980s, I lived in the Niagara Peninsula – then and still Canada’s largest viticultural region. This was a period of rapid change because in the 1970s hybrid varieties had begun to give way to Vitis vinifera and licences were finally being issued to new wineries – none had been issued between 1927 and 1975.

If a week is a long time in politics, a decade can be a short time in the wine business, and in the 1990s Canadian wine really began to perk up. By 2000 some of British Columbia’s and Ontario’s best-known wineries had been founded, and in the few years since then they have been joined by hundreds more. It’s not just that the number of producers in Canada has burgeoned – more than three-quarters of the wineries have opened since 2000 – but that the quality has risen exponentially.

Canada now produces a wide range of fine wines. Many styles are made throughout the country, but there are some noteworthy concentrations: robust reds from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, cool-climate whites and reds in Ontario, edgy whites in Quebec, and sparkling wines in Nova Scotia. Icewine, the early standard-bearer of Canadian wine, has been pushed aside by quality table wines, but its export sales are more than robust. Canadian wines run the gamut from conventional, through organic, to biodynamic and low-intervention.

Still, Canada’s wine production is well under one per cent of the world’s, and that’s in a good year in Canada. A handful of the 700-or-so wineries export their table wines to Europe, Asia, and Europe, and they tend to be small-production and high-quality wines that are to be found on the lists of high-end restaurants, not on supermarket shelves. Production is so small that that’s not likely to change soon.

I’m fortunate to have lived through a significant phase of the evolution of Canada’s wine industry, from the awful stuff being made in the 1960s to the fine wines produced by many Canadian wineries today. In The Wines of Canada I’ve provided a historical overview that captures some of this story. But the bulk of the book deals with Canadian wine today, in general terms and within the important regions: British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic Provinces.

At the same time, this is a critical book. The Canadian wine industry has its blemishes: there’s no national wine law, labelling can be confusing, and there’s a persistent failure to deal properly with blends of foreign and Canadian wines. So The Wines of Canada is not just another celebration of a wine region. It highlights the achievements, discusses the challenges, and points to areas in need of improvement.

The achievements are many and solid, and one of the reasons I wrote The Wines of Canada is to help get the word out that Canadian wines have arrived. Of course there’s a wide range of quality, as there is everywhere, but a little research will lead you to astonishing whites made from Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, and other varieties, and fine wines from varieties such as Pinot Noir, Gamay, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, and Merlot. Nor should hybrids be discounted: look for a few stellar wines from Baco Noir and some terrific sparkling wines made from hybrid varieties. And there are more and more exciting rosés.

If you have trouble finding much Canadian wine where you live, come to Canada and visit the wine regions. Almost all the wineries are so recent that they were built with wine tourism in mind. You’ll find well-marked wine routes that lead you to tasting rooms, wine shops, and winery tours.

Reading is an excellent start. Tasting is the next step

The wines of Canada was published on 21 September 2017, priced £30, available from your favourite book shop. Or click here to buy your copy today.

The Classic Wine Library – trainspotters and terroirists

10 May 2017 by Rebecca in Classic Wine Library, Wine and spirits

When Infinite Ideas took on its first wine book back in 2012 I’ll admit to wondering if we were making a big mistake. At that time the publishing list consisted mainly of business and self-help books, so taking on Richard Mayson’s Port and the Douro seemed like a slightly out there publishing decision. However Richard was so eloquent and passionate about his subject that publish it we did. Five years on we find that our rapidly growing wine list is the heart and soul of the business, and our first wine author makes up one-third of our editorial board.

So what is it that makes The Classic Wine Library so loved among wine scholars? As a relative oenological ignoramus I must confess that some of the fine details of wine appreciation do pass me by. Tasting terminology and a compulsion to nail the precise components of a wine’s bouquet puzzle me – do you really appreciate something more by taking it apart? Still, I do also find this level of obsession with something so existentially unimportant oddly comforting, in the same way as I enjoy listening to (mostly) men arguing about football on the radio phone in on a Saturday night. If we live in a world where people care whether that really was a penalty or not or spend time pondering whether a wine has jammy, citrusy or buttery notes then perhaps it’s not such a bad place after all.

All of our writers are great storytellers but this, for want of a better word, ‘trainspotting’ aspect of wine writing had made me wonder if it was strictly a men only field (sorry boys, that obsession with collecting and cataloguing is so characteristically you). So I was both surprised and delighted when we took on our first female author, Rosemary George. As well as being the first woman to write about wine for Infinite Ideas Rosemary was also one of the first women to become an MW, back in 1979. The lively and evocative writing style of her book The wines of Faugères almost had me reaching for the sunglasses and hopping on the next train to the south of France. I began to see how taking a bit of time to truly taste a wine could aid your appreciation of it, and came to realise the importance of geography, climate and local flora in helping to create a drink that is more than just fermented grape juice. When you open a bottle of wine you are in a sense pouring the place where it was created into your glass.

I think the ability of the authors of this series to evoke a sense of place so clearly is one of the keys to the success of the books. You really feel transported to the region in question, from Jerez to Champagne, Vienna to Oporto. And that makes you want to find out more about the extraordinary variety of wines produced across the world. The books encourage exploration both of the region in question itself and en bouteille. Rosemary George herself asked for a copy of Richard Mayson’s book before she went on holiday to the Douro, to ensure she gained the most from her trip, and I suspect she is not the first to have packed one of our books as a vinous travel guide. And if you are unable to visit a particular region, settling down with one of our books and a corresponding bottle of wine is the next best thing.

Titles being added to the library this year include The wines of Canada, Côte-d’Or, Rosé, The wines of northern Spain, Amarone and the fine wines of Verona and The wines of Greece. You can find out more here and order published books at 20% discount here.