Decanter April 2016

The joy of terroir Mission Estate, Awatere Valley The stark dryness of the Awatere Valley in New Zealand’s Marlborough region is evident in the patchwork of Mission Estate’s Cable Station Road vineyard. The coastal location of Awatere, compared to its larger, more inland neighbour the Wairau Valley, experiences a more extreme climate with cooler, drier and windier growing conditions. Lots of daytime sunshine but lower night-time temperatures create a perfect diurnal climate for the vines, locking in acidity and freshness in the fruit. The soils are typically alluvial gravel on windborne loess, often exhibiting a diverse composition of stone materials. Yields are low and the late-ripening crop of small berries produces intense and complex flavours. Mission Estate’s Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc typifies the pure, mineral and herbaceous qualities from this unique…

John Stimpfig ‘These new government guidelines overplay their hand’ THIS MONTH, I was planning to write about my recent trip to Chile. But then the UK Government’s Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, went and got my goat. While I was surprised and delighted that she supported my recently announced regime of two days’ abstinence from alcohol, I was less than enamoured with more or less everything else she had to say on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in January about the government’s proposed new guidelines on safe levels of wine consumption. Predictably so, I hear you say. But perhaps not for the reasons you might imagine. I believe that accurate information and sensible guidelines are not just helpful but essential for wine drinkers. My problem is that these…

Liber Pater producer convicted of fraud compiled by Richard Woodard FRANCE The producer of Bordeaux’s rare Liber Pater wine – which sells for more than the region’s first growths – plans to appeal after being convicted of defrauding the European Union of almost €600,000 in grants. Loïc Pasquet, whose Graves wine fetches upwards of €3,000 per bottle, was given a 12-month suspended sentence, and a fine of €30,000, of which €20,000 was suspended, by a Bordeaux tribunal. The hearing came two months after 500 of Pasquet’s vines were vandalised, leading him to describe the damage as an attack on one of Bordeaux’s ‘historical treasures’. There was no suggestion at the tribunal that the events were in any way linked. Pasquet was accused of falsifying receipts for promotional work and tastings…

US ‘drinking less but better in 2016’ USA Wine consumers in the US are set to drink less but better in 2016, with the first decline in wine consumption in the country for more than 20 years predicted by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The 15th Silicon Valley Bank State of the Wine Industry report from SVB’s wine division forecasts a 9%-13% rise in fine wine (above $20/bottle) sales this year – but predicts that sales of wine priced below $8 will fall. Sales of wine priced above $10 are expected to rise by 4%-8%, while imported bottled wine is set to resume its erosion of domestic fine wine’s market share, the report forecasts. ‘While demand for premium wine will increase this year, there are clouds on the horizon to be…

OBITUARY Around the wine world Giacomo Tachis 1933-2016 HAILED BY MANY as the father of Italian fine wine in the 20th century, Giacomo Tachis has died, aged 82. Tributes poured in from all over the wine world following the death of Tachis, the man behind Sassicaia, Tignanello and Solaia, and a driving force in the creation of the ‘Super Tuscan’ category of wines. He was named Decanter Man of the Year in 2011 for his compelling contribution to Italian wine – and particularly Tuscan wine – during the 20th century. Born in 1933 in Piedmont, Tachis ‘belongs to that small, select group who changed the course of Italian wine’, according to Richard Baudains, writing in Decanter . Tachis was especially associated with the creation and development of ‘Super Tuscan’ wines,…

In brief Late actor Robin Williams’ wine estate in Napa has been bought by Alfred and Melanie Tesseron of Château Pontet-Canet in Bordeaux. It is understood that the Tesserons paid $18.1m for Villa Sorriso, located in the Mayacamas mountains on the west side of the valley. It was offered for sale four years ago and re-advertised after Williams’ death. The word ‘wine’ has been banned in books as part of new restrictions on writers and publishers introduced by Iran’s head of book publishing, Mohammad Selgi. Consumption of alcohol is banned in Iran, although alcohol is regularly smuggled over the border, and centres are reportedly being set up to deal with alcohol abuse throughout the country. Record Rioja sales in 2015 were driven by strong demand for the crianza, reserva and…