CE VIN EST JUSTE DIVIN MERCI

"Ce vin est juste divin merci" - a nod in the direction of any catholics reading since today is yet another of the nutty Catholic Church special days named 'Divine Mercy Sunday'.

OK, my apologies there to readers of other religious persuasions and to the more reasonable and atheistic ones. The influence there came from a reader named Robert the catholic cleaner who, like his god goes by many names and manifestations. He likes a mention as it keeps him happy OK? It's best to have happy religious people rather than disgruntled ones, as ... well anyone who is living in schismatic countries.

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This post is about a wine that I just opened (early afternoon to allow it to breathe a bit before dinner this evening) and, on tasting it had to say to myself "Ce vin est juste divin merci".

The wine is Terra Sancta Mysterious Diggings 2022 Pinot Noir   

It's very smart and is being discounted at $26 a bottle by several on-line sellers. I bought 3 bottles from one of them and, after trying it today will seek out more.

As you know, and especially from what I said in my previous post I'm a bit skeptical of wine reviewers and wine retailers' reviews which are written to stimulate sales. With this wine however I was attracted to the "2 points off perfect with a huge 98/100 by Top 3 Global Wine Critic James Suckling" that Fine Wine Delivery Company advertised.

James Suckling says… “Gorgeous aromas of fresh flowers, ripe strawberries and tangerine blossoms. Medium-bodied with a lovely balance of fruit and acidity and a creamy texture that is open and cashmere-like in texture. Wonderful finish. A triumph. A joy to drink. Drink or hold.”

Our Tasting Panel 96/100 Review…

Enticing florals with sweet notes of strawberry, cherry, plum and subtle dried thyme. Medium-bodied with deceptive weight of flavour and a delicious vibrancy threading the layers of cherry, berry and plum. The texture has a cashmere like feel… the finish is subtly mouthwatering and seductive. Enjoy now or 3-5 years from vintage… with herb crusted chicken or thyme roasted lamb.

        Fine Wine Delivery Company

Other sellers are also complimentary on this wine without blowing their own trumpets. 

A wise man once said “find the best vineyard sites you can because you can’t out perform your vineyards.” So they found the Sancta vineyard on the now world famous Felton Road in Bannockburn and set up shop.

Terra Sancta. It means sacred earth, holy land and there’s definitely something pretty bloody special about this little corner of the wine world. It’s home to the first vines planted in Bannockburn. And the firsts don’t stop there, these guys can also claim to be the first producer of a wine based Botanical Aperitivo in NZ, the first to plant the Lagrien variety, the first super premium Rosé and the first Rosé producer to make Michael Cooper’s “Super Classic” list.

Once upon a time Otago was all about rabbits and gold. The gold’s gone and the Rabbits are stew – now it’s the grapes that are worth their weight in gold (and especially Pinot Noir!) in these neck of the woods. The Mysterious Diggings label is named after those mining days of old.

This the Terra Sancta Mysterious Diggings Pinot Noir from the 2022 vintage. Using Pinot Noir from their Bannockburn vineyards the guys at Terra Sancta describe this one as a “delicious, vibrant Pinot Noir” and reckon she’s all good to drink now up to 5 years from vintage.

The Good Wine Company

Here's the tasting note from the winery.

I like this because it's informative and not over-the-top effusive and describes the wine well.


$25.99 was a good price for this and I'll enjoy a half bottle tonight with the mince pie and mash I'm making for dinner.

SLIPPAGE

When I worked in the wine industry I was much more up to date with all things wine espeacially styles. vintage status, brands and competitor products.

Now being long out of the industry I'm a bit out of touch with the wines in the market and, when purchasing from wineshops, supermarkets or on-line, refer more than ever before to wine writer endorsements when confronted by an unknown wine. Generally I stick to my favourites but now and then purchase new wines. When seen on-shelf the only thing to differentiate from a host of similar wines tends to be the 'gold' stickers on a bottle. When these are not entirely bogus like a gold sticker saying something meaningless like "We are known for our quality" or "Our winery dog's name is Ruffles" the stickers can be wine show accolades or, increasingly, wine writer reviews.

The problem with wine show accolades is in the quality of the wine show in question. Sadly there are several of these that come nowhere near the reliability of the old Air NZ National Wine Shows of years gone by. They are a watered down variant with suppliers not really seeing them as being the 'make it or break' it opportunity and wines are just shovelled along as part of the yearly marketing programme.

The problem also with wine writer reviews is that may of them are commercial enterprises where money has to be paid for a review. To me this is not entirely trustworthy no matter how much the wine writer or reviewer says that all wines are carefully evaluated on a 100-point scale.

I still trust some of the old favourites like Bob Campbell and Michael Cooper but I never see 'gold' stickers on bottles with their accolades.

Recently I purchased a NZ rose I haven't had before - Black Cottage 2023 from Marlborough. I admit that my purchase decision was influenced by the band of five 'gold medals" at the top of the label (sticker on the bottle).

While I was unfamiliar with this particular wine I do know of Black Cottage and acknowledge that the winery has a good reputation.

The 'gold medals' turned out to be:

• Gold Medal from New Word Wine Awards (New World supermarket run competition).
• 5-stars and 93 points from Sam Kim (wine reviewer).
• 5-stars and 93 points from Raymond Chan Wine Reviews.
• 5-stars and 93 points from Candice Wine Chat.
• 'Premium' and 92 points from Cameron Douglas (wine reviewer).

"OK, what's wrong with that?" you might ask.

Well, nothing really - if the wine is legitimately a 92/93 wine out of a hundred. Personally I don't think it comes close. and is a good example of the commercialisation of the reviewing industry.

I found the wine to be slightly tart and a bit 'stewy'. If I evaluated it carefully like a reviewer I'd give it at best 89 and at worst 80 putting it in the bronze to silver category. This of course is moot as I wasn't comparing it to a whole lot of other roses although I did open a bottle of Tipping Point Rose 2023 which knocked the socks off it. I actually blended the Black Cottage and Tipping Point wines together (hence why the photo shows the Black Cottage bottle being empty) which had the effect of improving the Black Cottage but lessening the appeal of the Tipping Point.

Anyway, moving on.

I've known Sam Kim for a long time and am aware of Cameron Douglas. I did know Raymond Chan until he died some years ago and very much respected his wine tasting ability. It does surprise me though to see his name being used on the review of a wine that he obviously did not taste given that he died in 2019.

I looked up 'Raymond Chan Wine Reviews to discover that Candice Chow (yes the Candice from Candice's Wine Chat) writes the reviews for Raymond Chan Wine Reviews. The website she uses says:

Candice has always been a fan of Raymond Chan Wine Reviews; she learnt that Raymond passed away in February 2019, it was a massive loss to the industry, she thought to herself, ” I wish someone would pick up the website and keep writing the same way that Raymond did.”. In December 2019, while Candice visited Martinborough, she happened to bring this up in a conversation with friends of Raymond. “Why don’t you do it?” they said. Then with some encouragement and an introduction to Sue Davies, things came together. Raymond’s legacy lives on, along with over 10,000 wine reviews Raymond accumulated, available to you, free to access.

Well, sorry Candice, this doesn't cut it with me. The sticker you use clearly states "Raymond Chan Wine Reviews" alongside your own and I guess identical review with your sticker "Candice Wine Chat".

I'm neither impressed nor motivated to follow your lead when it comes to other bottles of wine.

I looked up the reviews that these wine reviewers posted on Black Cottage Rose 2023 and found the following:

Tasting Notes

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit writes "Pristine and bright, it's elegantly lifted on the nose with nectarine, raspberry, Gala apple and jasmine nuances, leading to a finely flowing palate that's ripe and fleshy. Light and delicate, yet persistent and delectable."

Cameron Douglas MS writes "Salmon, apricot and pink hues lead to a bouquet of peach and red apple, some whispers of red berry and cherry then a lick of saffron. Aromatic with light floral notes then mineral. On the palate crisp and new, vibrant and fruity. Flavours mirror the bouquet and are accentuated by acidity and youthful fruit power."

Candice Chow, Raymond Chan Wine Reviews writes "Bright, even, pale blush pink. The nose is gentle with some richness, enveloping red berries, watermelon, herbs and floral aromas. Medium-light bodied, red berries and watermelon aromas entwined with citrus zest, fresh herbs and floral elements. The wine is crisp with thirst-quenching acidity; floral and herb details add interest."

And, the winery writes "This wine has a beautiful salmon colour. The aroma is a lovely combination of rose petals, red liquorice, fennel, and sea breeze. The palate has a delicate balance of red berries, watermelon, spice, and Provence herb flavours. The taste is refreshing and juicy, with a subtle savoury undertone and a perfectly balanced light acidity to finish."

Amongst the licks of saffron, sea breezes, watermelon aromas and rose petals I see no mention of the tartness and slightly stewed character I found. Funny that.

COLD, COLD, COLD

 

Yes, you know that I like Little Feat.

A well known anoenophile in Wainiomartianland has for years been banging on about drinking red wines chilled.

Most sensible people ignored him and added it to his 'raving loony' portfolio but just recently a respected, albeit very ageing, wine critic has published an article that supports the aforementioned loony.

Bob identified a couple of wine styles that respond well to chilling - in this case gamay and pinot noir and picked three wines that are suited to it.

There are no surprises there since gamay and pinot noir can often be light and fruity. Gamay, with its low tannic levels is probably the  best example, and is mostly seen in the form of Beaujolais the French wine style of wine best served young and - chilled. Lighter pinot noirs also are often better tasted chilled, especially during the warmer months.

If a red wine is light in body, fresh and fruity then the chances are that it will be better chilled rather than drunk at room temperature.

That loony I mentioned earlier might by accident ascribe to this but it's more likely that the light, fresh and fruity gamays and pinot noirs he might drink chilled are just a small percentage of the cheap red plonk he stuffs in his refrigerator and freezer.

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In the interests of full disclosure I must admit that for about all of my wine-drinking life (over 50 years now) I have often chilled lighter red wines prior to drinking them and not just roses and sparkling reds. I also keep various opened bottles of wine in the fridge and have a glass before dinner or while cooking and, when it's a red wine I just sip away at that cold whether it's a rose, a light-style red as mentioned or a more solid pinot noir, merlot, shiraz or cabernet sauvignon. I agree with Bob that the cooler the big red wine is that astringency is more pronounced but hey! It hasn't done me any harm.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT ... THEY PULL ME BACK IN."

Her Indoors was in Auckland recently and shopped relentlessly in Smith and Caughey's one of the very few remaining department stores in the country.

Sadly, this too has suffered the decline that retail, especially top end retail has experienced over the last few decades.

Once known for its fabulous window displays, the store now struggles to attract interest.

Heyday

Today

Inside the store the departments have been downsized and the 'magic' has gone. The same happened long ago with James Smith's and DIC in Wellington and more recently with Wellington's Kirkcaldie & Stains and Christchurch's Ballantyne's.

Anyway, amongst her purchases she bought 6 bottles of Francis Coppola Zinfandel 2020.

We are familiar with the brand and the wine style.

We spent some time in the Napa Valley in the early 1990s and Niebaum Coppola was one of the magnificent wineries we visited.

The wines were great and we purchased some top cabernet sauvignon and a couple of wine glasses (the ones in the photograph with Francis Coppola Zinfandel above) which we miraculously got home unbroken. 

When Her Indoors was working out of Wellington in 2020 she bought a bottle, probably 2017 vintage of this and we shared it with Richard and Shelley and their Italian visitor at dinner in the Egmont Street apartment.

The 2020 zinfandel we tried last night is again rich, medium bodied with fruity and spicy fruit and nice toasty oak flavours. Yummy now and will keep well. The petite syrah in the mix is evident and gives a nice backbone to the more luscious Zinfandel fruit.

I've given up drinking big rich red wines like shiraz, cabernet Sauvignon and zinfandel because I find that after two glasses I don't sleep very well. I might have to reconsider that after tasting this wine last night.

DOING THINGS BY HALF MEASURES

Not this.

I've written and complained many times at the lack of availability of 375 ml (half) bottles of wines in New Zealand. This is very annoying and I believe that wine manufacturers in New Zealand are missing out on opportunities.

As long as supermarkets control wine retail though, this is unlikely to change.

In a December 2018 post I wrote:

Producers have decided that consumers (or not enough of them) are willing to pay the premium that production of smaller size bottles demands. It's not just the cost of the volume of wine or the tax that makes up the cost (half) as the cost of the bottles, labels, packaging and bottling labour costs are nowhere near half of that of the 750ml variant and in the case of small production runs can be more expensive. Bottling lines are configured for 750ml runs and anything outside of this is a costly hassle.
Furthermore, wine retailing is stacked in favour of big chains whether supermarket or not to a factor of 80:20 and these customers just want to move as much product as quickly as possible so can't be arsed about fiddly other sized packaging. Bugger what the consumer wants.

In a September 2019 post I wrote:

Years ago many brands carried 375 ml variants (and bigger formats) of their best wines but this fell away when bigger production volumes demanded greater efficiencies and reduced costs and price points. 375 mls fell out of favour with stockists who presupposed that the consumer didn't want to pay more than half price for a half bottle of wine. In a way they were right given that 750ml bottles are so often on special so the price difference between the two sizes has become greater but they have misread the possible demand through convenience of the smaller format.
The economies are easy to work out. While there is only half the cost of the wine and the excise in the bottle the cost of the bottle, the label and the carton of the 375ml might actually be higher than the cost of the 750ml bottle, the label and the carton due to smaller production runs.

In May 20190 I wrote:

I opened a 375ml bottle of Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2006 last night. I expected it to be good and wasn't disappointed. This is seriously good wine and has been consistently so for many vintages. If there is dumbing down of it (which is to be expected under the new ownership regime and the heavy discounting of the brand) it has not yet ruined it.
The reason I bought a case of this wine and the reason I opened it last night, apart from its pedigree and my appreciation of it, was the fact that it is in a 375 ml format (half bottle). Unfortunately these are becoming very rare. Most wine companies have discontinued the practice of bottling some of their production into either magnums (2 bottle size) or half bottles. This is not because of quality considerations (although half bottles do age quicker than full bottles but magnums age more gracefully than 750 ml bottles) but due to cost considerations. A half bottle cannot be just half the price of a full bottle. The bottle can cost the same as will the cork, capsule, labels and cartons. Sensible consumers realise this and will pay the extra. The new power that retailers have now is the problem. They feel that their customers won't pay more than half the normal price of a bottle (have they asked them?) and so won't stock the smaller bottles. They have done the same to the magnums in that they have decreed that as they are more expensive there will not be the same stock turnover therefore it is better to only present the consumer with the one package size - 750
ml.

OK - in summary:

• A half bottle of wine will not have the same production cost as a full bottle of wine, it will be more because the cost of the bottle, capsule and label will be the same and, due to economies of scale bottling costs will likely be higher.
• In New Zealand producers don't really care whether there is a consumer demand or not for smaller bottles because they can promote and sell the full bottles so easily.
• Supermarkets that control the majority of the retail market are just interested in moving through volume.
• Many consumers won't pay comparatively more for a half bottle (which would probably be 3/5th) to 2/3rd the cost of a full bottle - before discounting.

Outside of New Zealand however half bottles, while not being as abundantly available as in the past are generally still available from the most modest of producers right through to top Chateau French wines. We are being done a disservice here.

What to do?

If I was younger I would take advantage of a market gap here. It may not be huge but I believe that it could be lucrative and, sooner or later someone will take advantage of it.

Specialise in importing half bottles

The rise of on-line wine retailing (I buy from at least 5 different on-line sellers and there are many more) provides an excellent opportunity for specialty or niche products. The on-line business model isn't dependent on having to suck up to supermarkets and retail chains, to pay the usurious listing fees and to have to supply them at low cost and lower margin. The product can be sold direct to consumer who pays the delivery cost thus protecting full margin unless, for any reason the product needs to be discounted in order to quit it.

There is an opportunity for someone to set themselves up as a select provider of half bottles that can be imported from around the world (including the few from New Zealand producers). The specialty nature of this business can, for a time at least, guarantee exclusivity. Frankly, I wish that I'd considered this many years ago.

Specialise in the production of half bottles of New Zealand wine.

The 'Kim Crawford' model that has been copied by many producers now is to contract with wine companies for bulk supply of wine to be bottled under a bespoke label. The wine can be bought off a 'list' of availability or produced to spec following a recipe of instructions. The wine is purchased when finished and shipped to an agreed bottling company who bottle, seal, label and package into cartons to be shipped to the brand owner's warehouse. This model could be easily used for specialty production of 375 ml wines which, across a variety of styles and varietals would provide volume and then economies of scale to secure glass manufacturing cost advantages.

This requires a lot of set up capital, not in manufacturing but in warehousing and stock purchase but, once product starts to move, cash flow will carry it. Ask the Crawfords who became multi millionaires doing this before selling up to international companies.

You can see that  a combination of imported and locally produced wine can cover nearly all wine styles and price points.

I'm an old man and won't be doing this myself but I'd like to see someone pick up and run with this.

SAME OLD

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There are a couple of people reading this blog ....... hold on. I'd better rephrase that or you'll get the wrong idea .... a couple of readers of this popular blog have, on their own blogs (don't bother), written about their choice of wine plonk being  'cleanskins'. Oh, here you go, here's a link to a previous post I wrote about one of them: HERE

Cleanskins, as you know was a term coined back in the late 1990s to cover the wines that retailers were selling on winemakers behalf when winemakers couldn't sell their wines easily and did not want to invest in labels and packaging. Here a re a couple of posts I wrote on this a while ago:

CLEANSKINS

CLEANSKINS 2

Those two jokers I mentioned, being late adopters, take pride in their 'discovery' of a cheaper way to drink their favourite tipple - plonk, little realising that the ship has sailed and 'cleanskins' are now just part of the marketing mix and not fantastic bargains.

OK, "more fool them you might think" but you need to have an understanding of their naivety.

They are naive.

They celebrate the fact that they buy 'cleanskin' wines little realising the the 'cleanskin' that they buy is just another wine brand - with a bloody label on it. Sheesh!

Here's a close up of a LABEL!

What more can I say?

YOU JUST CAN'T HELP SOME PEOPLE

 

A regular reader ... sorry, a reader of this blog said in a comment a while ago that he feels like a connoisseur. I don't know what he planned to do with that connoisseur if he found one - the mind boggles.

Richard of Richard's Bass Bag drinks a lot of wine - a lot of wine - but it seems that quantity doesn't equate with quality.

Oops - wrong image

Here you go.

I've tried to point him in the right direction over the years but his default setting overrides my suggestions for good chardonnays.

Wine tasting protocols just don't register with him even if he goes through the motions:

I had a look at some of his recent posts to see if there's been any improvement but no, he seems to just drink the same old thing, his usual brand - Cleanskin:

The only other wine he mentioned was one he found behind a bookshelf. It must be years old and long past its best That reminds me of something .....

Oh wekk, at least he's contributing to the wine statistics.