Hey Everyone,
The other day I made my way down to London for a tasting hosted by wine merchants, Bibendum, showcasing the most interesting wines from their list. The last time I was at a Bibendum Tasting (the Just Add Bibendum Tasting) the multiple rooms of a massive venue were packed with row after row of tables occupied by producers showing up to ten bottles each. There were thousands of wines and thousands of people all cramming to get to the table to try their £10 shiraz or somesuch.
The same sort of thing goes for massive events such as the SITT Tastings, which I attended in Manchester and the Liberty Tasting in Edinburgh, where a tight venue in the form of an old library was used to showcase around 1,500 wines. At these tastings, I tend to find that about 30% of the wines shown are pretty poor with a larger level of decent/ passable wines and a small percentage of awesome wines. This tasting, however was different; gloriously different.
40 producers, a strictly limited invite list and two smallish rooms in the Gallery Soho provided the story line for the evening. Top sommeliers from Michelin starred restaurants don't want to bother sifting through the endless lakes of crappy wine to find themselves with a handful of good bottles. They don't need a cheap wine with a value reflected in it's quality. They need proper wine that they can put down on a table that can carry the reputation of the establishment. In essence, they rely on the wine to no let the side down. This tasting was for 'Artisan wine' meaning that everything there was carefully chosen and, indeed, carefully made. It was an exercise in a wine merchant doing what is most important in the trade. That is avoiding the temptation to carpet bomb their customers with overwhelming choice and lazily say 'Look how much choice we offer, we're obviously the best.'
A good wine merchant is more precise, and while variety is important, I have seen time and time again as a customer wanders into a wine shop and becomes paralysed by selection. What is even the most experienced drinker supposed to do when you have the option of 7 Alsatian Rieslings all between £10 and £15? It should be the responsibility of the merchant to find the wine in that price range, made with the most care and quality and put that to their customers. This tasting showed me just how accurate a merchant's selection can be. Rather than carpet bombing, this was a drone strike. 1/20th of the wine as the usual tasting, but still a wine to fit each price range, from a £15 bottle of delicious Sicilian Rose, to a £100 bottle of Daguenau Pouilly-Fumé, and what's more; every bottle chosen was good.
Now some of these wines weren't necessarily to my taste, but I could easily see the merits of each of them in their own style. For example, I'm not really a fan of Australian shiraz, as popular of a wine as it is, but the ones on display were true to style and, for a shiraz drinker they were clearly worth every penny. At the average trade tasting I could go through 10 Shirazes before I settle on 1 solid example. Not the case here. A wine merchant doesn't need a shop filled with thousands of wines with thirty of each style and multiples in each price range. What they need is precision. One good £15 bottle of chardonnay that can be replaced regularly with an exciting rotation of stock is infinitely preferable to mountains of stagnant variation.
The merchant's job is to facilitate the relationship between the producer and the consumer and to help the latter by doing half of the deciding. A respectable wine company should be a guarantee that every bottle on the shelf is a good example of what the label says. It comes down to the consumer to buy with confidence and enjoy a good glass of wine, not go through trial and error to finally get there.
Much love,
G
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