Welcome to Quaff Drops Quarterly
Welcome to the first edition of Quaff Drops Quarterly, The Wine Wise Company’s newsletter which I have now decided to publish quarterly hence the new name. In fact the change of name is not the only thing to alter within my company. As many of you will know I have long wanted to live in France and this year I spent 6 months living amongst the vines running vineyard tours for people on holiday in the Languedoc-Roussillon. It was a great success and so much so that I have decided to live there permanently.
Do not fear The Wine Wise Company will continue to bring you courses and events in the UK and I will regularly be here to deliver many of them. Sarah Long will be stepping into the position of Training Manager and as a superb tutor, highly qualified wine expert and mad keen enthusiast I know you will all enjoy her courses. Our operations in England will be focused around the town of Warwick and our wine school is now based at Underwoods Wine Warehouse. In France I will be opening a new wine school in the village of Caunes-Minervois in the Languedoc-Roussillon as well as running vineyard tours and I hope many of you will join me there in the future.
This first edition of Quaff Drops Quarterly brings you news of our annual Christmas Dinner which this year is being held at Underwoods Wine Warehouse in Warwick on December 5th. We bring you a Languedoc vintage report, news about up coming courses in Warwick and Caunes-Minervois, details of planned tours for 2010 including a special tour of Bordeaux and Sarah writes about wines she has tasted recently. We also introduce our new Languedoc-Roussillon wine sales service so that you can all taste the fabulous wines I have found in this very special place. I hope you enjoy reading this first quarterly edition of Quaff Drops.
3rd Annual Christmas Wine & Dine Event
This years dinner will be held in the atmospheric wine warehouse ran by the Underwoods brothers Nick and Tim. Those of you who have visited it will know that it is a wonderful place packed with wines and also the classic cars the brothers love to collect. Our dinner this year is being brought to you by Tailors Restaurant in Warwick. The menu they have created for us is excellent and starts with a salmon dish followed by succulent Lamb. There are a duo of 2 fabulous deserts and we will finish off with a great selection of cheeses. As usual each course will be accompanied by 3 different wines for you to taste and decide which you think matches each dish the best. The theme this year is Bordeaux v Burgundy v California. Each of these regions battles it out for you to decide which is the winner for each course. The price is £85 per person which includes the wines and a glass of Champagne on arrival. I can promise you a wonderful evening, with excellent food and sumptuous wines so I hope you will come and join me. Follow this link for details of the menu and how to book.
Languedoc-Roussillon Wine Sales
Due to the demand for wines from some of the vineyards we visit in the Languedoc-Roussillon we have been encouraged to sell a few of them and they are now available to buy on-line. They include many of my personal favourites including L’Inattendu 2007 from Clos du Gravillaswhich is a white Minervois made from Grenache blanc and gris with a little Maccabeo and aged in French oak for 12 months on its lees. My range of hand picked wines include red and white from the Minervois and Corbières regions and also my absolute favourite sweet wine Maury from the Roussillon. You can buy on line or call me to discuss your order which will be delivered directly to your door. Take a look at the range on offer on the new Wine Sales page on our web site.
Languedoc-Roussillon Vintage Report
This year I played my small part in bringing in the harvest in the Languedoc. That is to say I spent 2 days working at Clos du Gravillas as this picture proves! I also ran a wine growing & making course in September and 2 of my students worked for the day with John and Nicole harvesting and working in the winery. We all found the experience hard work but also very rewarding. What we noticed was that the fruit was in excellent condition, hardly any rot and we did not have to do much sorting. However the berries were small due to lack of rainfall and this was common throughout the vineyards that were not irrigating. The harvest was therefore much smaller than in previous years so we can expect a shortage of wine from some producers. However with the quality being so good the wine should also reflect this quality. The weather was hot and dry with similar high temperatures of 2003, however what makes this year different was that the temperatures dropped at night time and gave the vines less stressful conditions. This also means that the aromas of the wines should be better than in 2003 and 
also acidity should be slightly higher too.
Stephanie Lemotte, a highly regarded sommelier who runs Le Comptoir des Vins et Terroirs in Carcassonne tells me ‘the 2009 vintage has been a hard time for the winemakers. The harvest started on the 20th of August for some of them and ended on the mid October for others. We don’t know yet if the year was good or not. 2009 was extremely hot, and we didn’t see a cloud!!! NO RAIN at all!! These conditions encouraged less vine disease in comparison to 2008, winemakers have been more vigilant this year! The grapes were better quality, low yield and bigger concentration, and we may see a higher alcohol level. The first taste shows fantastic whites, with lots of fruits character. The red seems very fruity too but slightly tannic. I believe that each winemaker could make a fantastic vintage if they control their fermentation and maturation’.
We will have to wait until next year to begin to taste this vintage and I for one can’t wait!
Sarah’s Pick of the Bunch
Kangarilla Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, McLaren Vale, Australia
Many of you may already be familiar with some of the fantastic Shiraz from McLaren Vale in Australia, but the region is also more than capable of producing some delicious wines from other varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon. I recently tasted a marvellous example of this from the Kangarilla Road winery and thought it was more than worthy of a recommendation.
The McLaren Vale is a small, but perfectly formed, wine producing area in Southern Australia, just south of Adelaide and a
mere 10km from the ocean. The climate is ideal to vine growing as there is a wonderfully long and warm growing season with plenty of sea breezes which cool the area and help retain acidity levels in the grapes. There is also less need for irrigation due to the proximity of the sea which, in Australia, is a huge advantage.
The area is best suited to producing red wine due to the heat and the flavoursome, juicy grapes are so in demand by other regions that more than half the fruit grown in McLaren Vale is frequently purloined by other wine making regions!
Kangarilla Road winery was established in 1997 by Kevin and Helen O’Brien. The original vines were actually planted in the 1970s by a previous owner and since changing to Kangarilla Road, more vines have been planted, including one of the only plantings of Zinfandel in Australia. The winery name comes from the name of the main road which runs past the vineyard towards the village of Kangarilla.
The 2006 vintage was a good year for Cabernet Sauvignon as although the end of the summer was cooler than usual, there was a good period of warm weather in early March, which enabled the vines to ripen well before harvest. The grapes were then fermented in open tanks with gentle pumping over to enable good extraction of colour, tannins and flavour from the skins of the grapes. The wines was then aged for 18 months in a mixture of French and American oak
On the nose, this wine oozes rich and juicy blackcurrants, hints of eucalyptus and plenty of ripe black fruits, typical of Cabernet Sauvignon. The palate delivers all of this and more with a delicious ripeness that is so characteristic of a hotter climate Cabernet. There are also hints of dark chocolate, blackberry jam and a touch of rich earthiness. The tannins are extremely smooth but well-structured and would certainly allow for a couple more years of ageing.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find that despite having a hefty 14.5% alcohol, the wine was very well balanced and the high alcohol is not overpowering. This is a big wine but one which shows excellent balance and depth of flavour along with good concentration of fruit and very typical varietal characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Not surprisingly, this wine is best matched to rich casseroles and hearty meat dishes. I drank it with a Moroccan lamb tagine which was a great match as the rich, ripe fruit characteristics of the wine worked perfectly with the rich flavours of the dried apricots, dates and sultanas in the tagine. It is a great wine for winter and would certainly warm anyone up on a cold day!
Kangarilla Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 is available for £10.99 from Majestic Wine
Wine Courses - UK
The majority of our courses will now be running in Warwick but there are still a few avalable in Leicester. This is what we have lined up for you:
Christmas Food & Wine courses - We have 2 wonderful courses running on December 7th in Warwickand December 12th in Leicesterwhich will give you some useful tips on which wines to choose for the festive period. Book now as places are limited.
January 20th & 27thWine Growing, Making & Tasting- this course is running in Warwick over 2 consecutive weeks on a Wednesday night commencing January 20th. It is a fabulous course for anyone who loves wine regardless of their current knowledge. It would also make a superb Christmas present!
January 16th Sweet Wines– this course running in Leicester will introduce you to some of superb sweet wines available around the world and we will also taste them with food to demonstrate how versatile they are.
Commencing February 27th WSET Intermediate Course - The WSET courses are not just for the professional. If you are interested in wine and want to know how to taste, store, serve and enjoy wonderful wines from all over the world the Intermediate WSET course is ideal for you.
Wine Courses – France
Many of Quaff Drops Quarterly readers live in the Languedoc and I hope you will be tempted to come along to our new wine school opening soon in Caunes-Minervois about 20 minutes from Caracssonne. For those of you living in the UK you might like to plan a long weekend around a course. Take a look at what is available:
WSET Intermediate - Wine courses do not have to be held in a class room only and in France we are offering you the opportunity to study towards the WSET qualifications whilst spending a superb weekend in France. You will still take your exam in the UK but you will now have the opportunity to study for it amongst the vines. WSET Intermediate in France– a long weekend in the Languedoc
Wines of the Languedoc– our half day introduction to wine tasting and the Languedoc wines
Wines of the Languedoc course & Tour - a full day including 3 course lunch at a local restaurant and vineyard tour in the afternoon
Food & Wine Marching– a half day introduction to the art of food & wine pairing
Winter Wine Growing & Making Courses– A very hands-on course where you have the option of spending a day with a winemaker working amongst the vines and in the winery
Harvest time Wine Growing & Making Courses– A very hands-on course where you have the option of spending a day harvesting and working in a winery over a long weekend.
Vineyard Tours 2010
We are planning some fabulous tours for 2010 including a tour for those of you who like walking and are looking for a winter break. But if you would rather wait for the better weather then take a look at the Languedoc Vineyard Tour which is available in May, June and September. For the first time we are offering a tour outside of the Languedoc-Roussillon and Hamish Wakes-Miller, a noted wine expert is running an amazing tour for us of the Bordeaux châteaux in April.
Winter Walking, Truffles & Wine– do you enjoy walking, good food & wine, France and spectacular scenery? If you are looking for a long weekend in the cooler months then check out this tour running in February and March 2010. It is excellent value at £395 per person.
Bordeaux Châteaux - treat your self to a luxurious weekend and join us on this Bordeaux châteaux tour of a lifetime. You will stay in a beautiful château and visit some of the most famous producers in Bordeaux including Margaux and Haut Brion. Guiding you on this tour will be Hamish Wakes-Miller who is an expert in this region with over 20 years experience working in the business of wine. The 3 day tour starts on April 14th and costs £1100
Languedoc Vineyard Tour- The Wine Wise Company and Le Vieux Relais have joined forces to bring you a long weekend tour of the vineyards in the Languedoc. Wendy will be your guide and mentor exploring the vineyards, tasting and sampling wonderful wines and introducing you to some of the interesting characters and history in the region! At the end of each glorious day, a warm welcome awaits you at Le Vieux Relais, a beautifully restored 18th century coaching inn with courtyard garden and swimming pool. This is a fully inclusive tour and offers superb value from only £485 per person and is running in May, June and September.
Vin en Vacances Day Tours – if you are planning a short break you might like to consider Carcassonne in the Languedoc. There is some wonderful hotels, B&B's and gites to stay in many of which are listed on our web site. Whilst you are there I hope you will consider one of our day tours which will be available from February 2010. They are a great way to get out of the city and see some of the wonderful countryside and also taste the wines of the region. The day tours also include olive oil and honey tasting and a wonderful 
3 course lunch at one of the little country restaurants all for only 70 euros. Take a look at the choice of tours on our web site.
The 2009 tours were a great success and we would like to say a big thank you to all of you who joined us. We now haveour own listing on tripadvisor, so for those of you have been on one of our tours we would very much appreciate it if you can give us a review, just click on the trip advisor logo to follow the link.
We hope you have enjoyed this first quarterly edition of Quaff Drops and we look forward to bring you the next edition in January.