Domaine Direct launched five new vintages of Leeuwin Estate’s wines at the event.

Three new vintages of Leeuwin Estate’s Art Series Margaret River wines were launched: the 2010 Art Series Riesling, the 2009 Art Series Shiraz and the 2006 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2008 Art Series Chardonnay and the 2010 Art Series Sauvignon Blanc were also shown.

Leeuwin’s best grapes are chosen for its Art Series range. “For the Art Series we select wines that show great length of flavour, with a supporting structure to give longevity,” said Paul Atwood, Leeuwin’s winemaker.

The following new vintages of Leeuwin’s Prelude Vineyards wines were also launched at the tasting: 2009 Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay and 2005 Prelude Vineyards Cabernet Merlot. “For the Prelude Vineyards range we are looking for fruit-forward wines with a rounded mouth feel,” said Atwood.

The wines showed brilliantly and received high praise from the trade and press alike.

Over 100 of our private customers, some of whom have supported Domaine Direct for over 25 years, came along to take a look back over the last 3 decades with us and taste some exceptional wines from the 1980′s, 1990′s and 2000′s. To mention just a few, we tasted; Meursault 1er cru Perrières 1989 Coche-Dury, Bonnes-Mares Vieilles Vignes 1988 Roumier, Chablis grand cru Les Preuses 1986 Dauvissat, Meursault 1er cru Charmes 1992 Roulot, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru Champaux 1999 Denis Mortet, Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon 1994, Volnay-Santenots-du-Mileeu 1er cru 1999 Comtes Lafon, Bourgogne blanc 2002 Coche-Dury, Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2002 and Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er cru Chaignots 2002 Alain Michelot 2002, to name but a few!

The wines were stunning and a real eye opener for those who had never had the opportunity to taste mature Burgundy from such top quality domaines.

As well as the more mature wines, we showed a number of wines from our current stock, including wines from Jean-Marc Boillot, Billaud-Simon, Etienne Sauzet, Henri Germain, Château Thivin, Thomas Morey, Frédéric Magnien, Géantet-Pansiot and Chantal Lescure, again to name just a few!

The evening was a great success and we would like to thank everyone that came along and apologies to those who we could not squeeze in!

Inevitably, for a frigid January day during intriguing economic climes, talk amongst many members of the wine trade at the tasting was often about cost. Australia, despite its historic association with good value wine, has not been immune to higher wine prices. Also inevitably, the prices of wines from Leeuwin Estate, as well as other estates that make up the top ‘Exceptional’ tier of Australia’s Langton’s Classification (the arguably more accurate Australian equivalent to Bordeaux’s 1855 classification), were apt to raise an eyebrow or two.

Exceptional quality Australian wine, if truth be told, is no longer ‘cheap’. The blame is most often put on the currently eye-watering strength of the Australian Dollar compared to the puny Pound. All too true – current exchange rates are affecting imports of wine into the UK like never before, due to Sterling’s loss of value. However, a more insidious factor that has certainly affected the upper echelons of Australian wine estates has been the cost of fuel, thus transport, and the equally strong value of the Euro.

Consider that most Bordeaux château spend roughly sixty percent of their yearly expenditure on oak barrels: the same is true for an equivalently ranked estate in Australia making similar wine styles. Yet for the estate in Australia, that same oak has to cross several oceans before being installed in an appropriately cool Australasian cellar. Steadily growing rises in the cost of fuel throughout the last year, therefore, have made a significant difference to small Australian estates in simply buying the raw materials they need to make exceptional wine. Moreover, not all oak barrels are ‘equal’: as in cooking ingredients, there is a gulf of difference between the ‘basic’ range of oak barrels and the hand-crafted variety, which all top wine makers seek out for their ability to merge their flavours seamlessly with maturing wine. The difference in cost between ‘good’ and ‘basic’ French oak barrels can be as much as €300. Consequently, the strength of the Euro has hurt the cost of one of the key winemaking components for all great estates in Australia. These costs, of course, are incurred before the wine has actually been made, or shipped back to thirsty customers around the globe.

One unusual consequence of the iniquities of exchange rates and apocalyptic economic outlook has been that finally, great Australian wine is now more equivalent to great Old World wine – both in price and in quality. The Leeuwin Estate range at the Australia Day Tasting demonstrated this change perfectly. Leeuwin have long been known for restrained wine styles and for a remarkable degree of age-worthiness, both attributes not always associated by wine lovers with Australian wine. Furthermore, both of these attributes are shared not only by the other great Australian estates listed in Langton’s ‘Exceptional’ tier, but are also seen as the defining hallmark of great European wines: “restrained fruit and ability to age”, the mantra of all Masters of Wine when blowing the dust off something old, rare and unpronounceable.

With prices, wine styles and cellar potential now sharing some similarity to European wines, the Leeuwin Estate wines opened at the Australia Day Tasting generated many comments. The 2008 Prelude Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon and 2009 Art Series Sauvignon Blanc were compared to Bordeaux Blanc by one classically trained European Sommelier, who equally felt that the 2009 Art Series Riesling shared many qualities with Alsace. Several trade customers were surprised at the balance and still youthfully vigorous 2004 Prelude Cabernet/Merlot, particularly the fine tannins that are going to ensure a healthy life for some years to come. Whilst the 2008 Art Series Shiraz is possibly the most open style of all Leeuwin Estate wines, many tasters commented on how restrained the wine style was in comparison to the burlesque of Barossa Shiraz.

The majority of opinion at a Leeuwin Estate tasting, however, concerns the qualities of Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon and Art Series Chardonnay, in particular. The just-released 2005 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon was a triumph, displaying pure Cabernet fruit with no hint at all of herbaceous-ness, beautifully fine-grained tannins and seamlessly integrated oak. Like its younger brother, the 2004 Prelude Cabernet/Merlot, the 2005 Art Series Cabernet will make a splendid bottle in ten or fifteen years’ time, whilst also having the grace, balance and youthful intensity to drink now.

Two vintages of Art Series Chardonnay were on show – the 2007 and the not-yet-released 2008. Comments from tasters on these two wines were arguably the most fascinating, in retrospect. Tasters found that the 2007 was certainly showing brilliantly, but could equally manage many more years in the cellar. General opinion on the 2008 was that it was far from ready, with quite ‘angular’ acidity that would need time to merge and settle, with all tasters finding the complete absence of malolactic fermentation in the Leeuwin Estate Chardonnays a welcome shock. Overall opinion was that the wines were showing brilliantly, albeit youthful, and atypical for many ‘classic’ Australian Chardonnays in their complete absence of overt butterscotch, raw oak, excess vanilla and suspect residual sugar. These are certainly not descriptions found in tasting any of the Leeuwin Estate Chardonnays!

As Burgundy specialists at Domaine Direct, where have we heard similar comments about young Chardonnays before? ‘Angular, youthful acidity’ – 2008 white Côte d’Or, perhaps? This was the abiding memory of a highly successful tasting at Australia Day: the frequency of how often Art Series Chardonnay was compared to Puligny-Montrachet, not only on the insidious issue of price, but also on the equally apparent quality which all tasters found. As the top tiers and regions of European wines are frequently compared and contrasted with one another, those same comparisons and contrasts should now really include the best of Australian wines to reach any accurate conclusion. Moreover, it is now quite clearly pointless to compare the wine styles of small estate, hand-crafted Australia wines with the majority of mass produced Australian wines, good value and good wines though those are.

Whilst fascinating to see a real demonstration of how Australian wine has developed and the ensuing quality now being produced, it is unlikely that these comparisons could have been drawn if not for the remarkable region where Leeuwin Estate are based: Western Australia’s Margaret River. The other equally apparent outcome of Domaine Direct’s stand at the Australia Day Tasting was how markedly different Margaret River is to all other Australian wine regions, seemingly being the wine region that consistently shows the most restrained Australian wine styles, yet with no loss of quality or complexity but a gain in both. Whatever comparisons are made, Leeuwin Estate and their fascinating range of wines are not European, but proudly Western Australian. The Australia Day Tasting revealed quite demonstrably that the best wines of Margaret River – which we sincerely believe include Leeuwin Estate – are fine equals to classic wines from around the world.

Alain Coudert (Fleurie); Claude Geoffray (Côte de Brouilly); Hubert Lapierre (Chenas); Eric Janin (Moulin-à-Vent); Dominique Piron (Morgon); Jean-Marc Despres (Fleurie); Jean Tête, Jean-Charles Pivot (Beaujolais-Villages).

The day began at 10am, when we opened the doors to the Trade and Press. We had some great feedback and were very pleased that journalists Matthew Jukes, Jancis Robinson and Tim Atkin all took time out to come and sample these fantastic wines.

In the evening, our private customers joined us to taste a selection of wines from the Domaine Direct portfolio alongside the Beaujolais wines. Again, we received fantastic feedback and hopefully convinced the most sceptical Gamay drinkers that this vintage is impossible to resist!

We would like to thank the Beaujolais growers and guests for making the day a great success! If you were unable to attend the tasting, but would like a copy of the new Beaujolais 2009 Offer, please contact us.

With this in mind, Adam Russell (our London Sales Executive) attended a Beaujolais 2009 Trade and Press tasting on July 1st in London. There were 55 wines to taste, covering the 12 Beaujolais appellations. One of Adam’s highlights of the event was Fleurie Vieilles Vignes Madone 2009, Domaine de la Madone. His tasting note for the wine was “This has structure and dimension. Real depth. Brilliant grainy finish. Very good. Very long term.” We are pleased to say we are the agents for this domaine and we will be shipping this wine in 2009 (we currently have in stock the 2008 vintage in bottles and magnums).

This tasting was a showcase for what Beaujolais can offer in 2009. As Inter Beaujolais states – There are the same intense fruit aromas on the nose as those to be found on the palate; including raspberry, balckberry, vine peach and even violet. 2009 has produced a perfectly balanced vintage with surprisingly complexity, backed up with great, flavourful length on the palate. Silky tannins that blend in perrfectly, an almost unheard of intensity of aromas and flavours and perfect acidity combine to make these cellaring wines, that will stand the test of time.

Denis and Tricia from Leeuwin Estate presented – Art Series Riesling 2008, Art Series Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Prelude Chardonnay 2007, Prelude Cabernet Merlot 2004, Art Series Shiraz 2007 and Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. All a delight, but the biggest seller of the night being Prelude Chardonnay 2007.

Beth from Spottswoode had on show – Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 and 2007. Both vintages have received rave reviews from Robert Parker, but the 2007 vintage has been awarded a staggering 99 points! The down side of achieving such accolades is that the wine has completely sold out in the US and there is none available for export. So we were lucky to get to try it on the night!

Alongside Leeuwin Estate and Spottswoode Estate, on show were a range of wines from Domaine Direct’s portfolio, ranging from our classic Burgundy range, to the Loire and New Zealand. The top sellers of the night were, in white, Macon Vergisson 2008 Christophe Cordier (white) and in red, Ma Maison Pinot Noir 2008 Leung Estate.

It was an absolute pleasure having the Denis, Trica and Beth in attendance and we are exceedingly grateful to them for giving their time so freely.

Also, new vintages are the iconic Art Series Chardonnay 2007, which was listed in Matthew Jukes’ Top 100 Best Australian Wines, and Prelude Cabernet Merlot 2004, recommended in James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion 2010.

“Leeuwin Estate, one of the benchmarks, if not the reference point winery in Margaret River.”

Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

On arrival (after getting our bearings!), we set about visiting a number of stands displaying wines from our own portfolio. Our first stop was Wines of South Africa, where the Simonsig range and Rudera Chenin Blanc 2008 and Robusto Chenin Blanc 2008 wines were on show, showing some of what the best of South Africa has to offer. We then moved through the Southern Hemisphere, stopping off at New Zealand’s Seifried winery, the home of Redwood Valley, chatting to the charming Chris Seifried. Then moving on to Western Australia to see  Lucy Wilson, sister of Rebecca Wilson the talented winemaker of Explorer Cabernet Sauvignon. We then ventured on to more traditional territory for us, the Beaujolais stand and met with the delightful Claude Geoffray from Chateau Thivin. We tried his fantastic range of Brouilly and Cote de Brouilly. Some fantastic wines, reminding us why we have these delicious wines on our portfolio!

After seeing a few more familiar faces, we ventured on and tasted wines from outside our usual arena- delicious German Riesling, iconic Australian wines like Tyrells and Knappstein and an array of Madeiran wines, discovering some very useful tips about holidaying in Madeira!

Finally, although I personally didn’t get a chance to visit the London City Bond barge, my colleagues Jane and Verity would like to thank LCB for their great hospitality, as they served lunch and champagne to all their visitors. Much needed refreshment from all the hard work!

If you are indulging in the traditional Spring Lamb, then we have a few suggestions which will compliment your Easter fare. A delicious white wine, Rully 1er cru Montpalais 2007 Jean-Baptiste Ponsot and two sumptuous reds,  Mercurey 1er cru Clos Barraults 2007 Jean Maréchal and Chateau Lestage Simon 2006. Any of these would be a brilliant addition to the table!

Happy Easter to all our customers!

“Dubbed ‘the Medoc of Australia’ in deference to both its similar winemaking prowess  and the maritime influences on the climate, this wonderful area offers the wine tourist a bounty of destinations to visit and taste at the cellar door. Several large and very well-appointed estates offer high-quality visitor and dining experiences. Vasse Felix, Leeuwin, Juniper, Voyager and Moss Wood are the veritable wine royalty in these parts and the visitor will not be disappointed”

As Leeuwin Estate’s UK agents, we are always pleased to hear that a trip to Leeuwin offers such an enjoyable experience! Not only are the wines excellent, but the food, atmosphere and location make a trip to Leeuwin Estate a must.

As Sarah Marsh states ” At the entry level, a decent Bourgogne Aligoté, Hautes-Côtes. Bourgogne Blanc or Rouge can offer a glimpse into the top domaines at an affordable price.”

So, have a look at our “What’s New” page and see some of our personal favourites that merit serious consideration!

Domaine Direct were representing Leeuwin Estate, and we were pole position at table 1! This event was a brilliant opportunity for us to launch new vintages of Art Series Chardonnay 2007, Art Series Sauvignon 2009 and Art Series Riesling 2008, but also showcase the rest of the range, Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Art Series Shiraz 2007, Prelude Chardonnay 2007, Prelude Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2008 and Prelude Cabernet Merlot 2003.

The Leeuwin Estate wines showed exceptionally  and our table attracted lots of visitors throughout the day, including some well known wine critics and other top winemakers (eg. Petaluma). Leeuwin Estate received lots of of very positive feedback. As always the iconic Art Series Chardonnay attracted a lot of attention, for example, Jane McQuity loved the 2007 vintage. Also other comments such as, “every bit as good as fine Puligny” and “I have known Leeuwin for years and the Art Series Chardonnay starts out like Puligny and evolves into a very good Meursault indeed”.

So the day was fun filled, set in beautiful surroundings and there was an encouragingly optimistic view of what Australia has to offer for the year ahead!

We will be launching new vintages of Leeuwin Estate’s Art Series white wines. The new vintage Margaret River whites to be launched are the 2007 Art Series Chardonnay, the 2008 Art Series Riesling, and the 2009 Art Series Sauvignon Blanc. Alongwith the new releases, we will have the range of red and white wines from Leeuwin Estate to taste. If you are already a fan of Leeuwin Estate, or even if you’ve never come across them, then come along to table 1 and have a a try!

The event is being held at the Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, Kings Road, London between 9.30am and 6.30pm. This is a great opportunity for the trade to try new and exciting wines from Australia and learn more about the wineries themselves. We look forward to seeing you at table 1 tomorrow!

On January 14th, Lord’s Cricket Ground was the host to 96 Burgundian producers and wine merchants at the Terroirs & Signatures De Bourgogne 2010 wine tasting.

It was a fantastic opportunity to taste a selection of more than 500 wines from Burgundy and to discover the stories of those who make Burgundy wines so unique.

On behalf of Domaine Direct, our London salesman Adam Russell attended the event. He caught up with two of our very own producers, Domaine Christophe Cordier and Domaine JF & PL Bersan.

Christophe Cordier, based in the Maconnais, showed a range of his 2008 wines, which were showing exceptionally. Cordier was a new addition to our portfolio in 2009 and we are very excited about the wines he produces.

Domaine Bersan exhibited a range of red and white wines, from the Chablis and Auxerrois regions, from both the 2007 and 2008 vintages. His wines show exceptional quality at affordable prices.

Other highlights of the day, Domaine Henri & Gilles Buisson, displaying excellent examples of St Romain 2008.

An interesting tasting, which truly displayed the diverse nature of Burgundy and the fantastic wines that are on offer.

Looking out over a snow covered pitch at Lords cricket ground the New Zealand Wine Annual Trade Tasting was a surprisingly well attended event given all the travel chaos of the past few weeks. With over 700 wines on offer it was a great place to see the variety produced in this cool climate corner of the world.

Although we are agents for Leung Estate’s Ma Maison Pinot Noir in the UK we weren’t exhibiting ourselves but we went along to see how our wine compares to the competition, and to see if there was anything we were missing out on.

Concentrating on the Pinot Noirs there were some great examples, most notably from the Martinborough region (home of our own Leung Estate), for example the single vineyard offerings from Larry McKenna’s Escarpment Vineyard and the Ata Rangi Estate Pinot Noir. However what struck us most of all was how much you had to pay to get a wine that had the kind of depth, concentration and elegance we have come to expect from our favourite red varietal. In fact, it went so far as to highlight the exceptional value for money that some of our Bourgogne rouge wines offer in comparison with their new world counterparts.

One of our favourite New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs comes from Chris Seifried who has appointed Domaine Direct as the new agents for Redwood Valley Estate from Nelson. Chris is over in the UK on his honeymoon but took time out to attend the tasting – much to his new bride’s annoyance no doubt! (If you would like more information on these wines then do let us know).

The organisers were keen to promote the wide range of white varietals produced in New Zealand, in particular the more aromatic examples. Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Viognier and Pinot Gris are all developing a following and whilst they aren’t close to matching the popularity of Sauvignon Blanc they can make an interesting alternative.

As ever at a tasting of this size we didn’t make it round every table but we felt we gained a good insight into the New Zealand style and there was much for us to take away from a very enjoyable day!

Verity

12/1/2010

For the past ten days Hilary has been braving the blizzards and freezing temperatures of Bourgogne on a mission to re-taste the 2007 and 2008 vintages and bring you an update. She made it back in one piece and is happy to report that the trip was a great success!

The 2008s are looking very promising already – she feels this is a vintage with lots of potential. Meanwhile, the 2007s are developing nicely and Hilary was delighted with their progress. The 2007s have almost all been shipped now, with the exception of Alain Michelot and Henri Germain who will be arriving in early springtime.

A particular highlight was her visit to Domaine Tollot-Beaut in the Côte de Beaune. Across the board these wines are very good with lovely juicy, lively characteristics. They don’t seem to be tannic and tough but are also not short-term wines either. There is more information about this domaine in the grower profile section of the site but if you would like more specific information or prices for the really excellent 2007 wines from Tollot-Beaut then please do call or email the office.

Verity

18/12/2009

If you still have Christmas presents to buy and don’t want to brave the cold outside world, then take a look at our What’s New page and find some great gift ideas. We’ve made it easy for you and put together a selection of cases which will appeal to all wine lovers. There is still time to have the wine delivered before Christmas, but to avoid disappointment place your order soon!

We would like to send a big thank you to everyone who battled through the torrential rain on Thursday night to attend our winter tasting! Luckily the filthy weather didn’t stop the night being a great success, and for those that braved the storms there was a fantastic selection of wines on offer to make it worthwhile!

For this year’s winter tasting we moved venues from Whitehall to the South Bank and took over the Bankside Gallery on Hopton Street. This is an excellent space and gave our guests the opportunity to take in the art on display whilst quaffing some excellent wines.

Deciding what to show is something we always deliberate over for many days in order to get a good balance and to show things that are at their best. This time we settled on some new arrivals from Leeuwin Estate, some new world and regional French offerings and, as always, some of our favourite Burgundy domaines.

In the whites particular favourites from the night included Montagny 1er cru 2008 from Jean-Marc Boillot, Christophe Cordier’s Pouilly-Fuissé Terroir de Vergisson 2008 and the Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes 2007 from Vincent Morey. For the reds the new world seemed to stand out with the Ma Maison Pinot Noir 2007 from the Leung Estate in Martinborough, New Zealand and Doug Nalle’s Pinot Noir 2006 from the Russian River Valley in California having the most orders at the end of the night.

Two things everyone agreed upon was that there was something for everyone and that it was a great opportunity to try something different. And with discounts offered for orders on the night, it was a great time to stock up for Christmas!

We hope to see you all again in the summer!

Verity

16/11/09

In spite of the intense heat of the vintage, this is a splendidly fresh, unevolved Nuits. Vinified from organically grown grapes in a south-facing, suntrap vineyard, this deep crimson, slate and cassis wine offers cool minerality, high energy, sappy flavours and a hugely rich finish. Drink from 2011.

Myself and a colleague primarily went along to Earls Court to show our support of Rudera and meet the new winemaker Jaasper. However, we also didn’t want to miss the opportunity of  broadening our knowledge of South African wines. As Burgundy specialists, we don’t often get the chance!

On arrival, I realised that with 130 stands to get round in 2 hours, we would have to work fast!  (I had somewhat naively thought that this tasting was going to be a relatively small affair, which considering it was  called a ‘Mega Tasting’ was somewhat foolish!). However, we made the most of the time we had and tried wines from Simonsig, Klein Constantia, Hamilton Russell, Meerlust Estate, Waterkloof and of course Rudera to name a few. There were some fantastic wines and I won’t be able to name them all (or spell them correctly!), but here are my personal highlights:

Rudera Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 – smooth, soft tannins, good structure, pencil shavings, blackberry fruit.

Simonsig Sparkling Rose – Pinotage base, lots of primary fruit, lively and fresh.

Klein Constantia Chardonnay 2008 and Vin de Constance 2005 (sweet) – the Chardonnay is Burgundian in style, creamy, lovely depth. The Vin de Constance is beautiful and rich, honeyed/marmalade flavours, but still remains clean and fresh on the finish.

Hamilton Russell Chardonnay 2008 and Pinot Noir 2008 – the Chardonnay had vanilla and toasty tones, smooth, with well integrated oak. The Pinot Noir was delicate, well balanced with lovely fruit.

We also enjoyed some delicious cup cakes while we were there, we weren’t sure the connection to South Africa, but they were appreciated all the same!

Overall the event seemed like a great success and it showed the quality and diversity that South African wines have to offer. Finally the main aim of our trip, meeting Jaasper Raats from Rudera, successor to Teddy Hall. He was a pleasure to talk to and we believe Rudera is in safe hands

On Wednesday night I battled through the pouring rain of central London to attend the launch party of the London Restaurant Festival, held at the elegant eatery Quaglino’s of Bury Street. And despite my soggy feet it was definitely worth the effort!

The party was hosted by Vanity Fair and sponsored by Champagne Mumm so it was a suitably opulent affair and the champagne ran very freely amongst the very glamorous party-goers. As something of a canapé connoisseur I can also state that the selection on offer were of the highest standard! Fresh oysters as you arrived, seared tuna ‘burgers’, quails egg vol-o-vents, and a scrumptious spoonful of crab salad were amongst my highlights! The speeches were followed by the cutting of the most impressive cake creation I’ve ever seen to mark the official opening of the festival, it really was a sight to behold.

The festival is the brainchild of renowned restaurant critic Fay Maschler and broadcaster Simon Davis and is sure to become an annual fixture on the London calendar, running this year from the 8^th – 13^th October. There are many different culinary events and experiences to be had, ranging from celebrity chef quizzes to gourmet odysseys to private dinner parties on the London Eye cooked by chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Richard Corrigan. At Domaine Direct we thoroughly agree that there is a lot to celebrate in the London restaurant scene and wish them every success.

See www.londonrestaurantfestival.com for more information.

Verity

9/10/2009

As agents for Leeuwin Estate, Domaine Direct were invited to attend the monthly Breakfast Club hosted by Wine Australia this morning, which brings together a wide range of people with an interest in the promotion of wines from Down Under. As a first-timer I didn’t really know what to expect, so I was quite relieved to be welcomed by some delightfully friendly people and to take away some positive and interesting ideas.

Over a scrummy bacon buttie and a cup of tea we started off with an introduction to some of the interactive educational resources they have on offer, which can be accessed online or via a DVD. They cover a vast array of topics ranging from some of the more technical aspects of winemaking, via interactive wine-tasting (a bizarre concept, and no substitute for the real thing but not without its uses) to specific information on the Australian wine regions. For anyone planning an Australian themed tasting or just with an interest in the subject there is a huge amount of information on offer. If anyone would be interested in learning more then either go to www.wineaustralia.com/uk or email verity@domainedirect.co.uk for more details.

This presentation was followed by an interesting debate about low-alcohol wines, a hot topic in the wine world at present and one that concerns Australia in particular given the common perception that they produce especially alcoholic wines. It would seem that at the moment there is a lack of clarity surrounding the whole issue, which has many complex aspects. For example, what exactly constitutes a low alcohol wine? 4 per cent? 8 per cent? Anything less than 10 per cent? What are the duty implications of this? How should they be marketed?

At present it seems to be the supermarkets taking the lead in this area which may unfortunately lead to a mentality where low alcohol = low quality, something which is not necessarily helpful. There are many class winemakers working hard at lowering alcohol levels without compromising on quality, for example by using different yeast strains that deliver intense flavours yet produce less alcohol.

I’m sure that things will become clearer with time, but it is ironic that the UK, with its reputation for binge-drinking, is one of the countries most concerned about the alcoholic content of wine!

Verity

2/10/2009

At Leeuwin Estate in Margaret River, Western Australia, a mild winter and spring were followed by warm weather in summer. David Winstanley, Leeuwin’s viticulturist said: “2009 was a very good year for both whites and reds. The quality of our Chardonnay grapes was outstanding”.

Winter 2008 was mild. Rain mostly fell late in the season, providing high soil moisture reserves through the spring and early summer. The early spring weather was generally fine and mild, and bud burst for all varieties was close to the average. The grape bunches tended to be smaller and looser than usual due to winds at flowering time.

“Summer was warm but with very few hot days, and veraison was generally even across all the varieties,” said Winstanley. “The white grapes ripened in quick succession through late February and early March, and showed great varietal flavours and natural balance. The mild and sunny weather in late March was great for the red vineyards, allowing the development of excellent ripe flavour profiles and ripe skin tannins. The black grapes were harvested in mid to late April. Altogether, 2009 was a very good vintage at Leeuwin Estate.”

“2007 was a stand alone riesling vintage for Western Australia. Take time to savour this shy Aussie white’s style and you will be rewarded after a minute or two with an explosion of tongue-tingling kerosene, lime and spiked fruit. As mouthwatering as this 2007 is now, give it a few years and even more lime zest spice will evolve. Drink now until 2013. “

Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Combettes 1996 Sauzet

Gold and green and brown hues. Very Subdued on first opening, but no doubt about quality. Some fruit and white flowers on nose. Slight bitterness on palate with very expansive high glycerol mouthfeel. After 10 minutes in decanter bitterness cleared leaving opulent fat tropical fruit palate but with great focus and lovely acidity. Complex and persistent. Powerful nose of vanilla and greengages. After 40 minutes, crème brulée and yellow plums on palate. Very long and persistent. Lovely fresh acidity. Great wine. 18.5/20 (29/8/09).

Meursault 1er cru Perrières 1996 Roulot

Pale yellow. Subdued nose. Unforthcoming on palate. Not much oak showing. Simple fruit but very long and lean. A baby. 24 hours after opening, from bottle one third full stored in fridge, it showed a well developed nose of tropical fruits also strongly on the palate and underpinned by exciting acidity. Now big and broad and full of complexity. Very long and elegant keep at least 5 years (or decant the day before!). 18/20 (23/8/09)

Meursault Les Tillets 2000 Roulot

Gold. Lovely fresh acidity. White peaches and nectarines on palate. Glacé quality. Delicious hint of brulée. Focused. A little compact, but long fresh limey finish. Marvelous wine. Perfect now. 16/20. If this were Montrachet performing to this relative standard it would be 40/20. (8/9/09)

Saying that, we at Domaine Direct like a challenge – some might say that specialising in a grape variety as temperamental as Pinot Noir, especially just in  Burgundy, is a challenge in itself! So we will attempt to supply you with informative and sometimes entertaining blogs. We are not on Twitter yet, but you never know, that could be next!