Michael's Wine Diary

A tour through Italy's vineyards

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:28:37 +0100

Silver Lining in Champagne

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:49:30 +0100

2009 is the year when the Champenois got real. Twelve months ago, the négociants were saying that Champagne was recession-proof - always a nonsensical claim to anyone old enough to have witnessed the crash in Champagne prices in 1990/91. And earlier this year, the big houses tried to maintain the very high price of their wines by pressurising the growers into reducing the size of the 2009 harvest by half, which effectively meant asking them to throw away 50% of their grapes and so make a loss on those that they kept.

This would have given an appalling manipulative image to the Champagne community as a whole. Fortunately, the growers stood firm and won a compromise in which they reduced their yields in these hard times by 25% to levels seen in the 1950s, the golden age of the finest champagnes since World War II. And the best news of all is that 2009 is likely to be a great vintage in Champagne – not a drop of rain fell on the best vineyards during the harvest- and its rich, ripe, concentrated flavours are likely to recall great hot years like 1959, 1955 and 1952.

At work' with the growers in Paris.

This gives a terrific opportunity to small growers ,who hand-craft their own wines, to consolidate their position as the true guardians of quality in Champagne for the consumer. And at at prices that people can afford in the £20 - £27 price range. Quite often the best of growers' champagnes at this point taste much better than those of an expensively marketed but middling Grande Maison costing a lot more. Some of the very best wines in a naturally dry style come from rising stars among the growers. Like Veuve Fourny in Vertus, shipped by Thorman Hunt (+44 20 735 6511). Or René Geoffroy and Jean-Louis Vergnon which are now available retail from the classic and august London wine merchants, Berry Bros & Rudd (www.bbr.com) these two at the above gentle prices one doesn't normally associate with St James's and the SW1 postcode.

The Finest Wines of Champagne

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:59:04 +0200

Michael's book is now out of press!

"THE FINEST WINES OF CHAMPAGNE"
A Guide to the Best Cuvées, Houses and Growers

Champagne!

Champagne has been the drink of celebration for so long that many consumers and wine-trade professionals don't really regard it in the same light as they would a great Bordeaux or Burgundy. Eyes wide shut, for the image of Champagne is changing subtly as it comes to be recognized as a fine wine in its own right. Drawing on long experience of a classic but rapidly changing region, I have taken what I hope is a radically different approach in this terroir- based guide to the world's best sparkling wines. Ninety in-depth profiles of the best small growers as well as the greatest houses are organized geographically. The text is augmented by extraordinary photos, "making the reader feel more connected to the growers and the region." (Louisa Hargrave)

The choice of producers is simply composed of those I think are most worth writing about. Recent trends in viticulture and winemaking, especially the fashion for extra brut, bone-dry cuvées, are discussed. Also explored are gastronomy of the area, a dozen of the best restaurants, bistros and brasseries. Pairing Champagne with food, a survey of vintages of the last 20 years, and a personal list of 'The Finest 100' complete this guide to the most glamorous, yet most enigmatic of French wines.

Michael Edwards

THE FINEST WINES OF CHAMPAGNE
A Guide to the Best Cuvées, Houses and Growers

by MICHAEL EDWARDS

Foreword by Hugh Johnson

Photography by Jon Wyand

Fine Wine Editions

320 pp, published September 2009
Aurum Press, London (£20) – University of California Press, Berkeley ($34)