|
|
 |
| |
| Hopes of bypassing supermarket
titans |
Monotonous shop shelves and bland wine journalism
has meant we must look elsewhere for variety
You still can’t beat a visit to a vineyard |
WHAT have supermarkets done for us? They have enabled more of
us to enjoy a wider range of wines at reasonable prices. But they
have failed to reflect the full diversity of wines from around the
world.
Too many of their wines only differ significantly in the label stuck
onto them. We cannot tell from blind tasting whether they come from
Cape Town or California, Adelaide or Argentina.
Do we have alternatives? Perhaps. Many people with increasing spending
power join wine clubs. Renate Simpson, a wine page reader, emailed
to say she found the Wine Society, founded in 1874, “a superb
organisation run on co-operative lines” (www.thewinesociety.com,
01438 740222). We’ve also had good reports of how enthusiastic
Laithwaites’ staff are (Laithwaites: www.laithwaites.co.uk,
0870 4448 282). But too many other retailers seem to offer much
the same as the supermarkets.
Independent retailers are disappearing as quickly as the supermarkets
and big wine chains open their convenience stores.
Twenty per cent disappeared between 2000 and 2004. In the last year
alone, 2,000 have gone to the wall.
This leaves various forms of ‘Vin Direct’ (an interesting
marriage of French and English), which you can access on the internet,
by mail order, at trade events, a day trip to Calais, or –
best of all – a visit to a vineyard.
The drawback is that you usually take a chance on a mixed bag of
wines from a single supplier.
This brings us back to the supermarkets. We could reasonably expect
that the larger the retailer, the wider and more exciting the choice
offered.
If we take the largest, Tesco, we find the opposite is the case.
With the exception of their cheaper burgundies, supplied by Louis
Josse, which they’ve never plugged, Tesco offer a very restricted
range of wines. Their own ‘Finest’ brand is perhaps the
poorest value. Yet Tesco are planning to open 1,200 convenience
stores in the near future.
But to leave it here would be unfair, both to Tesco and to you.
The creation of a ‘global’ wine market has been influenced,
to a larger extent than is usually recognised, by wine writers.
However, a distinction needs to be made between those who have pioneered
wine writing, such as German food and drinks writer André
Dominé and highly regarded UK wine writer Hugh Johnson, and
writers for the weekend supplements and lifestyle magazines who
have subsequently jumped on the bandwagon.
Take, for example, the following descriptions from a weekend supplement
earlier in the month, which we’ve chosen because they are typical.
The first recommends a 2005 Marks & Spencer Chilean Casablanca
Pinot Noir (£3.99, until November 29) as “scrumptious,
young, ripe damson and plum-charged 13.5 per cent alcohol-laden...a
must-buy for every St Michael customer”. The second, the Co-op’s
2004 Australian Boundary Road Riesling (£5.99), is described
as “packed with all sorts of elegant, mature, mouth-watering,
zesty, floral fruit”. A third bottle, a £12.99 Sancerre
from Waitrose, “delivers oodles of classy, steely, floral,
white currant and lime blossom-scented pizzazz”.
With the possible exception of ‘steely’ what we can’t
deduce from the words used is in what ways these wines – broadly
or more subtly – differ from one another. These descriptions
do not provide us with the information we need before we part with
£3.99 or £5.99, let alone £12.99.
They are not a description of any wine (or any liquid for that matter)
ever produced. We should expect an opinion from an expert to indicate
what we are likely to experience.
What we get here is simply a series of adjectives plucked from an
advertising copybook.
The real issue is not the supermarkets themselves, it’s the
confluence of their economic power with advertising in thrall to
careless wine writing. To change this the crucial requirement is
knowledge and an end to sloppy, adjectival writing which tells us
nothing.
• We tasted the Chilean Pinot Noir from M&S. The label
speaks of “moreish red wine...with juicy flavours...finishing
on a slightly spicy note”. We found a wine whose balance and
structure fell apart within 15 minutes of opening. It quickly turned
sour and left only a taste of bitter oak. |
|
Hopes of bypassing supermarket titans
WHAT have supermarkets done for us? They have enabled more of us to
enjoy...
FULL STORY
Cheap tickets give us taste of the past
SOMETHING didn’t feel quite right as I hurried along a busy Seven
Sisters Road on the way to the England...
FULL STORY
|
