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Chateau Camplazens in the Languedoc |
Why small is beautiful: it’s independents’ day!
As more of us lose faith in the ability of the major supermarkets to satisfy our thirst for quality, small producers are leading the way.
WE wine drinkers are reasonable people; all we want is a bottle of fermented grape juice, reminiscent of the greatest wines in the world, for under a fiver. We believe such wines exist, it is just a matter of finding them.
For years the big supermarkets offered to satisfy our wine desires. They promised to bring the world of wine to our stores. Lately we have lost faith in the ability of big business to deliver our dream.
But a new generation of independent wine merchants has appeared on the scene. They have gone back to basics and spend a disproportionate amount of their time abroad, seeking great wine. Among them are Stuart and Brian from the City Beverage Company in Old Street.
Last week, at a wine bar in the UK’s most desirable estate, the Barbican, they introduced one of their “finds”: Peter and Sue Close, newish proprietors of an old vineyard, Chateau Camplazens, situated in the Languedoc, an ancient wine-making region, in deepest France.
Peter and Sue are an English couple who emigrated to the US and, following a 20-year slog in the mainstream, decided to drop out. Moving to the Languedoc, they invested 2.3 million euros in a French vineyard, situated in the La Clappe area, a small mountainous sub-region of the sprawling Coteaux du Languedoc.
Their intention was to produce quality, individualistic wines that can attract the kind of retail prices normally associated with the Languedoc’s more successful northern neighbour, the Rhone Valley.
In the seven years since they began making their wine, they have made a mounting impact on the international scene, winning awards, including gold medals.
One writer has referred to Chateau Camplazens wines as having more gold hanging around them than Paris Hilton.
They make 11 different wines from a variety of grapes grown on their 80-acre farm. Four of these are exclusive to the US. Americans put a lot of faith in labels and Peter and Sue have worked hard to operate within the stringent rules of the French regulatory bodies.
Consequently all their wines carry France’s top classification for the style of wine.
Of the seven bottles on sale in the UK, the star wines are:
n Chateau Camplazens, Syrah, vin de pays d’Oc (red) 2006, £6.95, a New World-style, single varietal wine that is offered unoaked in the traditional Rhone manner. Produced using the carbon maceration fermentation method (which creates a softer, brighter, more aromatic wine), plums, herbs and spice are its main attributes.
Intended for early drinking, it has won praise from Tim Atkins, the Observer’s wine columnist, and a leading light at the International Wine Challenge at which this wine was awarded a gold medal.
n Chateau Camplazens, Viognier, 2003 £7.50. Again, a wine that looks to the Rhone Valley for inspiration: old vines, ruthlessly pruned in order to concentrate the flavour and the alcohol. Aged in French oak, this is an orphan from the Rhone, stranded in the Languedoc. Smelling of exotic fruits with an acidic fruity taste, this is the estate’s only white wine.
n Chateau Camplazens La Garrigue, 2000 £7.50. Peter and Susan Close have revived the original top soil in the area where the grapes for this wine grow. A blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre, this is a blast from the past. With lots of rough flavours, fruits, herbs, flowers and oak, it harps back to an older, perhaps less refined style of wine-making.
An exciting well-balanced country wine, made in a style that is beginning to come back into vogue.
None of these wines is under £5 but they are individualistic, innovative wines that offer an alternative to those on sale in the supermarkets.
They and a growing number of other wines are restoring excitement to wine-buying.
It is possible to believe again that on a shelf, in a wine merchant’s somewhere, is a bottle of the greatest wine in the world for under a tenner.
Yes, even dreams, it seems, are subject to inflation.
n All seven Chateau
Camplazens wines are available from the City Beverage Company, 303 Old Street, EC1.
Tel: 020 7729 2111 |
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