Newsletter No. 18: Tuesday 19th July 2005
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Things have been busy at Bowes Wine of late; so busy,
in fact, that I have not even had time to go fishing.
Those who know me will tell you that it was
previously thought only loss of limb would keep me
from communing with the more watery parts of the
landscape, so this is big news.
In fact, it is work-related duties that have been
coming between me and opportunities to cast a fly,
and this is cause for celebration, as it is
symptomatic of busy-ness. 2004 clarets have been
selling like pocket warmers to the Inuit people of
the North American arctic regions. Bowes Wine
tastings in London (the Vintners' Hall) and Bath (the
rugby ground) have been well attended and have
offered the attendees a chance to taste the best
range of wines that Bowes Wine has ever put together
for such events, with satisfyingly vigorous ordering
experienced in their wake. We are hoping to make
these tastings biannual at the very least and we hope
more and more of you come along to see what we're
doing.
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In this issue….
» 2003 Burgundy
update
» Recent
tastings of Bowes Wine wines
» Storage
on the up
» New
account
» Upcoming
offers
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Romneya coulteri - the Californian Tree Poppy - in
flower in the garden.
The smell is pungent and of roses that have just
started to wilt, or roses fannés,as the
French would say. Wines can also be described as
fannés when they are just past their
best.
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2003 Burgundy
Update
A number of these wines have been shipped and we
considered that they had probably acclimatised
themselves sufficiently to living in (or, rather,
under) England's green and pleasant land to be shown
at our recent tastings.
The wines selected for this purpose were the Nuits
1er Cru Vaucrains from Georges Chicotot, the Chorey
Vieilles Vignes by the Château de Chorey and
the Santenay 1er Cru Maladières of Lucien
Muzard. Collectively they proved a very reassuring
and pleasant bunch.
When we tasted these wines for the first time in
Burgundy in early 2005, we were acutely aware of the
messages being put forward by the vintage's doubters:
that the high temperatures of the year may have been
ideal for the heat-accustomed vines of the
Rhône Valley, that even the red varieties of
Bordeaux were in possession of skins thick enough to
resist the extremes recorded by the thermometers of
that region. No, they said, it was Pinot Noir that
would suffer; Pinot that couldn't take the heat;
Burgundy where the worst aspects of the vintage would
be seen.
Thus we approached our Burgundy tastings with
additional care, determined to throw out anything
having the merest hint of imbalance, scorching, or
excessive manipulation. We
were rewarded with a list of wines with which we were
really happy. And knowing that this
is a vintage like no other, we have been looking
forward to retasting. (These are the sorts of wines
the careers of which will be followed with great
interest by any burgundy lover.)
So, what did we find? Well, for a start, we found a
similar development in all three wines: all three
have "fined up" since their bottling; all three are
much less lush and forward than they were and their
highly impressive structure is more evident. They
have become less exuberant - less OTT - and now taste
much more like what one thinks of as burgundy proper.
What they have retained is their concentration.
Shrinking violets these are not! There is no doubt in
my mind that the best wines of the vintage are very
fine wines indeed.
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The sort of summer we've been having: the north
Cornish coast doing its best to look like Portugal.
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Recent
tastings of Bowes Wine wines
Those of you with good memories will remember that
the first ever Bowes Wine offering wasn't themed and
contained a hotchpotch of wines from Champagne,
Germany, Chablis, regional France and Spain. The
Spanish entrant, a crianza from a producer by the
name of the Castillo de Monesma, was a Cabernet
Sauvignon-based beauty that we have tasted a couple
of times since and have been impressed by the slow
pace at which it's been maturing.
We originally gave this wine drinking dates of
2004-2008. It dawned on us the other day that we
hadn't tasted it for a while, so we broached a
bottle, hoping that we would find something that had
attained its plateau of maturity and wouldn't
disappoint drinking date adherents who were already
tucking into their cases with gusto.
Wow, this is really good wine. Here's the note:
"Rich, warm, earthy/nutty nose, rather like a
Mediterranean Graves. There are grilled notes, along
with aromas of white pepper and dry leaf litter. Dry
spice, dried meat and leather; black cherry and plum:
a savoury sort of nose. There are black cherries
again on the palate and some fine-grained almond
tannins. Acidity an ideal weight. This is structured
and serious; very long, with nice grip at the end. It
is also intense; not hot, focussed rather. Really
good wine
here."
Another Bowes Wine we've tried recently is the 1996
Cuvée Fleuron champagne of Pierre Gimonnet.
Drinking dates here were given as 2005-11 and I think
we've been spot on. A bottle consumed the other day
was just starting to lose its austerity, but had
thrown off none of the earthy mineral character that
we had noticed before. This has bags of character and
would really be perfect with food, although I know
how bad the Brits are at getting out the champagne at
meal times. Try to force down a few Japanese rice
crackers, at the very least…
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Storage
on the up
Alas, the time has come for storage charges to adjust
slightly northward. We are aware that we are among
the cheapest around, and this, combined with the
quality of storage offered by Octavian, makes Bowes
Wine an excellent option for those storing good wine.
However, it's still with heavy heart that I write to
let you know that, as of 1st October 2005, storage
charges will rise to £7.50 per case per annum,
inclusive of VAT and insurance at full replacement
cost.
There is one change to this standard service,
however, which might go some way to softening the
blow. There will be a two-tier pricing structure,
with 6-bottle cases being charged at a lower rate -
to be advised.
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New account
Bowes Wine has also managed to arrange what is
referred to as a Multi-owner Account within Octavian.
Ownership of wine held in this account is recognised
by Octavian, both on their system and in their
warehouse, with cases individually marked with the
customer's name. Clients making use of this account
will have to give Bowes Wine written authorisation to
manage their stocks, including instructing Octavian
to prepare wine for withdrawal and delivery. There is
significantly more administrative cost involved in
this kind of account, thus we have to charge £9
per 12 bottle case per annum inc. VAT and insurance
for wine held therein (£6 per 6 bottle case).
For more detailed information, please contact us, or
go to the Storage
page of the website.
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Upcoming
Offers
There can be little doubt that some of the world's
most exciting and interesting wines are presently
emanating from the Iberian Peninsula and Italy. In
terms of the former, this is something of a relief,
as much of the world had all but given up hope of
seeing anything more cutting edge than a new vintage
of rioja, vinho verde or port finding their way out
of this seemingly siesta-bound (at least vinously)
region.
We are happy to say that we have an offer relating to
Spain and Portugal ready to hit the streets, as it
were. This document will be with you in the next day
or two and for those looking for something to pad out
the portfolio with something a little more
outré than claret and burgundy, now is your
chance! All these wines gained supporters and
converts when shown at Bowes Wine tastings in Hong
Kong, London and Bath.
Between Iberia and Italy (one of our planned autumn
offers), we will be mailing out a bin end offer.
Holding stock is something of an anathema to a
company the type/size of Bowes Wine and we are aware
that we have stocks that we should have sold long
ago. Prices will be rocky bottom, so keep 'em peeled!
Other than firm intent to offer the brilliant (but
woefully small) 2003 port vintage, we have the wisp
of a concept for a mixed mailing containing some of
the rare and brilliant wines we have been picking up
of late. These are magical bottles we've been unable
to shoehorn into other offerings, so will be an
eclectic, fascinating lot.
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This photograph was included in our last newsletter,
along with the caption, "Léoville-Barton about
to weather the storm".
Did anyone notice the classic error?? No one
contacted me to rap my knuckles, in any event.
There is no Château
Léoville-Barton. This is Langoa, where both
wines are made…Doh!
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