Gastronomy and Wine Portal

This conversation between two winemakers, who are renowned in Ukraine and abroad, was contemplated a long time ago, when I watched, how passionate these people were when they told each other about their life’s business: winemaking. And the idea was implemented after Dr. Ricardo Nunez, Head of Vinos de La Luz, had visited the Odessa winery Kolonist.

We arrived to these lands on the unique ancient holiday: the Day of Trifon Zarezan – which is brightly celebrated on the fourteenth day of February in the Danube Bessarabia.

I was lucky to see with my own eyes, for the first time in my life, the preparations for this holiday, the sincere atmosphere and hospitality of the local residents, who eagerly shared their tradition with the guests.

The owners of Kolonist – Alla and Ivan Plachkov – not only organized a friendly reception of their guests but, a warm, family-like, and sincere meeting. Having learned numerous interesting historical facts that Ivan Vasilyevich generously shared, having heard interesting stories about this region from Alla, I firmly decided to continue our acquaintance and present a part of our conversations in the format of an interview, on the pages of our media partner, Drinks+ magazine.

Comments by Dr. Ricardo Nunez:

When Natalia Burlachenko had told me about the idea to record an interview with the owners of Kolonist for Drinks+, I recalled our first meeting with Ivan Vasilyevich Plachkov. I met him at the 2nd Wine & Spirits Ukraine exhibition in 2019, where Kolonist had its own stand, just like Vinos de La Luz. There, we met with Ivan for the first time.

We agreed to meet again in Izmail. During that visit, I was able to get to know Alla and Ivan better, could get understanding of their vineyards and the production of both wines and other products from grapes.

Due to this trip, the idea of an interview had been contemplated and thereupon, the interview was conducted by Natalia, a columnist for Drinks+ magazine and Brand Ambassador of Vinos de La Luz. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see Alla and Ivan again, so I asked Natalia to allow me to accompany her on her journalistic mission.

Finally, I must admit that I had a “personal problem” with Ivan: our passion for what we are doing made us constantly talk about wine. And each of us wanted to tell more and faster than the other. And so, due to the interview, I solved this problem: I could finally silently and carefully listen to Ivan. Earlier, I began to respect him for his wine and passion. Now, I also respect him for his deep knowledge of history, politics, philosophy, religion and … even for the grape seed oil that the Plachkov produce.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Natalia Burlachenko for the opportunity to do this. I am going to read this material in Drinks+ magazine, sipping red wine from two glasses alternately: one will be filled with La Luz and another one with Kolonist. Triple pleasure!

Natalia Burlachenko: Let’s start with what is probably already known to many of our readers, but kindly remind me: what brought you into winemaking, when you decided to create your own wine?

Ivan Plachkov: In the late 90s – early 2000s, the Danube Bessarabia was one of the most depressed regions of Ukraine: the economy did not work, the social sphere was not funded, and the people living here did not see any prospects for their future. The idea of ​​implementing the Kolonist project was, first of all, aimed at showing the potential of our region as a wine-producing region (wine was produced here yet at the times of the Ancient Greece), opening up the capabilities of people, the region and the country in general. Moreover, the Bulgarians (and I am an ethnic Bulgarian) have the love of the vine engraved in their genetic memory.

Natalia Burlachenko: Please define the stages of development of Kolonist in chronological order: from the beginning of operations after the enterprise’s foundation, to the present day.

Ivan Plachkov: In 2020, we were celebrating 15 years of Kolonist’s operations.  If we conditionally divide the history of Kolonist into 5 stages, then the first one was comprehension of the idea, creation of the team, planting of the first three hectares of vineyards and production of the first 2500 bottles. The second stage: completion of the construction of a winery in compliance with the modern European technologies, planting another 10 hectares of vineyards and purchase of the up-to-date European equipment for production of the volume up to 100 thousand bottles. The third stage: beginning of collaboration with the renowned French oenologist and consultant Olivier Doga and his wife Kathy Sokazo, and entering the European market with wines of “High Gamma” category.

The fourth stage: beginning of the production of sparkling wines using the classic method of champagnization, as well as release of grape seed oil and balsamic vinegar. We have just begun to implement the fifth stage: it consists in planting another 50 hectares of vineyards to fully provide our production line with our own grapes. Today, we buy up to 30-40 per cent of the grapes from our partners: the adjacent wineries.

Natalia Burlachenko: Kolonist is a company that strives to gain from grapes everything that this amazing berry can give. Tell us about the principles of production, about working with grapes.

Ivan Plachkov: We are confident that a good wine begins yet in the vineyards. We plant only Ukrainian seedlings. The terroir and the location of our plots on the slopes of the largest freshwater lake in Ukraine Yalpug allow us to minimize the treatment of vines with reagents against diseases. The grapes are hand-harvested, and it takes no more than an hour from harvesting to entering the production facilities. Subsequent processing and fermentation of grapes are carried out, using the most up-to-date Italian, German, and French equipment. Wine bottling is done via sterile cold bottling line. Wines are aged in French barriques made of the 150-year-old French and American oak, using both traditional toasting method, and modern ceramic and hydroceramic toasting methods.

But the main component of our success is personnel possessing the highest level of organization, responsibility and professionalism.

Natalia Burlachenko: You say that now the time has come for the wines of the “New Old World”. What exactly do you mean by this concept?

Ivan Plachkov: Until recently, wine experts have divided the world’s wine regions into three main parts: the Old World (Europe), the New World (USA, Chile, Argentina, Australia, etc.) and the New “New World” (China and Vietnam). However, nowadays, the regions, where wines have been produced since the times of the Ancient Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, are attracting much attention. Unfortunately, during the period of Ottoman domination, the culture of winemaking was lost. And during the Soviet era, the wines, which were the products of the then industry, were produced. And it is only now, when the potential of the incredible terroirs of the countries of the Black Sea region is being discovered. This region is called the New “Old World”.

Natalia Burlachenko: For what reason, Ukraine, which had such deep traditions, virtually disappeared from the world’s wine-producing map at a certain point in time? What grape variety can bring Ukraine to the forefront of the world’s winemaking?

Ivan Plachkov: As I said, the continuous Ottoman domination, during which all local autochthonous varieties, except for one – Telti Kuruk – were lost, and the Soviet-era period, when a huge amount of “industrial” wines were produced, are the main reasons behind the loss of the culture of viticulture and winemaking.

As concerns the potential Ukrainian grape varieties, first of all, I would distinguish “Odessa Black” and “Sukholimansky White”, which were bred by the Ukrainian vine selection breeders in the 60s. On the basis of these varieties, Kolonist creates the brand of “Ukrainian wine”. Wines from these varieties have already been highly appreciated by the world’s leading wine experts. And we believe that these varieties will help Ukraine enter the family of the world’s wine-making countries.

Natalia Burlachenko: 2021 will be a historic year for the entire generation: Ukrainians will finally be able to own land and vineyards. How, do you think, will this fact affect the wine industry’s development?

Ivan Plachkov: This will certainly give a huge impetus to the development of viticulture and winemaking. First of all, due to the planting, on a long-term basis, of the vineyards with very high-quality planting material. [It will also imply] transition to the processing of vineyards, using the most up-to-date equipment and the most advanced technologies.

Natalia Burlachenko: Do you believe in the so-called Denominations of Origin? If so, do you think that Ukraine should have its own appellations? Which ones would you distinguish at the national level and how many appellations can Ukraine have? What, in your opinion, variety or varieties is, or are capable of becoming the base one(s) for appellations?

Ivan Plachkov: Yes, I do believe! As of today, seven main regions have already been identified in Ukraine for wine production. And the creation of controlled names of origin should be initiated by the producers themselves, as soon as they realize that it will bring them economic benefits. And in no case should this be done in the form of orders. However, there is no doubt that within a fairly short period of time, Ukraine will develop and implement a classification of wines following the example of the European PGIs (“Protected Geographical Indication”) and PDOs (“Protected Designation of Origin”). As for a number of levels in the classification, well, I presume that only three would be enough or a start – “Wine of Ukraine”/PGI/PDO). Nevertheless, the question regarding permitted varieties remains open: additional research needs to be conducted.

Natalia Burlachenko: The small French town of Beaujolais once invented the festival of young wine, which is now celebrated around the world every year on the third Wednesday of November under the slogan “Beaujolais Nouveau estarrive”. Argentina has declared April 27-th as Malbec Day and is hosting government-sponsored events through its distributors and embassies in various countries. Don’t you think that Ukraine deserves to have its own flagship grapes? Which day and variety would you choose to call it the “Day of …”?

Ivan Plachkov: We are confident that the flagship grape variety in the Ukrainian winemaking is Odessa Black, and it deserves celebrating the “Odessa Black Day” in our country. We are grateful to you, Ricardo, for sharing with us the idea of establishing a holiday dedicated to the Ukrainian variety. We decided to establish this holiday on May 5-th, which would be the “Odessa Black Variety Day”, and from May 1-st to May 10-th, we would organize celebrations in honor of that variety.

Ricardo Nunez: You asked me the question, which I would like to answer right now: “Why did Vinos de La Luz decide to conduct this interview with the head of Kolonist?” The answer is pretty simple: because we respect you personally and see in you and the team of Kolonist the avant-garde part of winemakers, we see the future of Ukrainian wine in you!

Text: Natalia Burlachenko, Brand Ambassador of Vinos de La Luz, sommelier.

The conversation between two winemakers, famous in Ukraine and abroad, took place after Dr. Ricardo Nunez, Head of Vinos de La Luz, had visited the Odessa winery Kolonist.

Editor-in-chief of Drinks+ managed to interview Director General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) Pau Roca.

Mr. Pau Roca, first of all, we would like to note, that this is a great honor for us to have the opportunity to ask you questions and tell our readers (not only Ukrainian but also foreign) about your vision of the wine world today, your personal thoughts and forecasts.

In your interviews you pay much attention to topics regarding the sustainability and that the strategies developed to adapt to the “environmental, economic and social impacts of climate change” will dictate the future wellbeing of the sector. What, in your opinion, is the best course for the future of winemaking, given such an unstable situation in the global economy. Mark please 5-10 directions.

If we recall the creation of the OIV in 1924, it was a response to a crisis. Today, we are facing a different crisis in which the OIV is in a central position to respond and provide solutions, to develop the economy of vineyards and farmers as well as promoting the wine trade. The current situation is an interesting turning point to start with since every crisis is part of an evolution, and we have to look at how other systems evolve. Climate change will be in no doubt an even biggest challenge. From now on the absolute value must be maintaining this planet with life. In biological terms, this can be done by paying attention to the functioning of mature ecosystems, where energy waste is minimised in spite of their complexity. This fundamental idea questions the way in which economy will recreate its models. In order to forecast future models, we need to look at other ones and how major ecosystems, being so complex and diverse, are energy efficient. In this process, digitalisation has shown its vital importance.

And it is only by working collectively that efforts can have optimal results in the future. Sharing knowledge, investing in research and innovation are fundamental in this evolutionary process. In this process, digital changes are here to stay, we just mustn’t forget to maintain the right balance between technology and human contact.

In this regard, the OIV Member States are unanimous on the importance of digital development and adaptation, particularly in the current context. Therefore, an ambitious digitalisation project is under way, inserted in the OIV´s strategies to overcome the current challenges. Among the objectives of the project, now in progress, are for example, the creation of a global observatory on digital transformation in the vitivinicultural sector and the development of a new system for the collection and development of data on the sector.

The OIV’s digitalisation plan aims to benefit all the players of the vitivinicultural sector. It is fundamental to share ideas and objectives in order to keep pace with the digitalisation process that is currently affecting not only our field, but all sectors of the economy, including the international public sector.

Wine-producers need innovation to respond to climate change, so your strategies are being developed or tightened. And, if possible in numbers, how the OIV’s policies have influenced the environmental aspects of winemaking.

The OIV is particularly attentive to the concerns raised by the United Nations agencies. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are one of the current considerations handled within the OIV Strategic Plan 2020-2024 that integrates 13 of the 17 SDGs into its work. Although the world vineyard represents 7.4 million hectares out of 1.5 billion hectares of arable land -that is only 0.5%- the farmers income per surface unit compared to other arable crops follows a very interesting evolution due to the value chain and price formation in a very fragmented economic structure. This benefits millions of grape-growers. Origin, territorial identification and strict quality rules provide for empowerment of farmers in the value chain.

This model can be applicable to many crops. Thereby developing farming population in areas where vineyards are one of the most adaptable crops even in drought conditions and preventing desertification.

I would like to stress that Sustainable development is a priority for the Organisation’s Member States, which, through the new Resolution OIV-VITI 641-2020, have approved the OIV Guide for the implementation of principles of sustainable vitiviniculture. This guide complements and updates all OIV recommendations in the area of sustainability.

What do you recommend to winemakers, winemaking regions due to climate change? The introduction of new varieties that can adapt to these changes?

The impacts linked to climate change imply for viticulture actions on “adaptation” and “anticipation” in order to put in place adapted cultivation practices which take into account the disturbances in the production. It is important to remember that adaptation measures must respond to both impacts on different spatial scales (local, regional and global) and also to impacts on the time scale (short, medium and long term).

In this sense, the adaptation must be done from a set of measures and not necessarily to focus in a single measure. For example:

• Practices focused on better management of soils and the canopy of the vine can make it possible to control more and better the development of the “vegetative cycle” (phenology) of the vine.
• The use of clonal selection techniques can help control differences in grape maturity. Some clones of the same variety can present a difference of 8 to 10-12 days of difference in the ripening of the grapes, which means a significant gain for the winegrower in order to better control his production.
• Regarding the use of new varieties, to be precise, this question concerns the use of new varieties and/or already existing varieties which have an “adaptation objective” of AOCs and/or more generally of winegrowing regions to the new challenges of climate change. The selection of varieties and their inclusion is part of a framework that aims to adapt, whether to climate change, to the reduction of inputs (varieties less susceptible to diseases) and/or to the reintroduction of forgotten/old varieties.

When we talk about varietal adaptation, it is a very simple concept: to choose grape varieties which we know that in some areas have better results than others; which adapt more in warm areas than in more northerly areas. If you take Syrah as an example, you will find it in the south or Grenache which you find in  areas with hot and dry climates. On the other hand, Merlot or Gamay are more suited to northern climates or Pinots.

As of 1 January 2021 the International Organisation of Vine and Wine was made up of 48 Member states. Ukraine was previously a member of the organization, but at the moment it is going through some internal procedures for joining again. Is there an exception to an accelerated OIV entry process? Please tell us what exactly does joining the OIV gives countries?

The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) is an intergovernmental organisation established under the Agreement of 3 April 2001. The 2001 Treaty effectively updates an earlier Agreement for the creation in Paris of an International Wine Office on 29 November 1924 (“the 1924 OIV Agreement”). The OIV is an intergovernmental organisation of a scientific and technical nature of recognised competence for its works concerning vines, wine and wine-based beverages, table grapes, dried grapes and other vinebased products. Article 2 of the Agreement establishes the objects and functions of the OIV. The objects are:

• to inform its members of measures whereby the concerns of producers, consumers and other players in the vine and wine products sector may be taken into consideration;
• to assist other international organisations, both intergovernmental and non-governmental, especially those which carry out standardisation activities; and
• to contribute to international harmonisation of existing practices and standards and, as necessary, to the preparation of new international standards in order to improve the conditions for producing and marketing vine and wine products, and to help ensure that the interests of consumers are taken into account.

In full accordance with the terms of reference established by Article 2.2 of the Agreement, the OIV fosters an environment that is conducive to scientific and technical innovation, the dissemination of its results and the development of the international vitivinicultural sector.

Through its recommendations, it promotes international standards and guidelines, the harmonisation and sharing of information and sound science-based knowledge, in order to improve productivity, product safety and quality and the conditions for producing marketing and trading vitivinicultural products.

In order to join the OIV as a “Member”, Ukraine as a former member of the Office and a signatory state of the Agreement of 3 April 2001 creating the “Organisation” must only address an instrument of acceptance, approval or ratification with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic, with a copy to the Director General of the OIV, and will be considered “Member” from the 30th day following this deposit.

Our winemakers currently do not have a government support, but we are ready as a media to be a link for communication. Does the organization have such a practice? Tell us please what training programs, grants have been developed by the organization for winemakers, including small winemakers (microwinemakers), the number of which, by the way, is rapidly growing in Ukraine.

Within the framework of developing its Strategic Plan, the OIV grants yearly research scholarships in priority programme fields on a yearly basis. Grants offered within the framework of this programme are short term (six months to fifteen months maximum) and are provided for specific post graduate training programmes.

Additionally, the OIV aims to launch this year (the date will depend on the evolution of the sanitary conditions) a new International Course in Ampelography, what will be an opportunity to acquire in-depth knowledge in grapevine varieties for future challenges in the vitivinicultural sector.

There is also the International Diploma of the OIV in Management of the Vine and Wine Sector: “OIV Master of Science in Wine Management”. This program is run in conjunction with the Montpellier SupAgro.

The program is organised through partnerships fostered through the OIV and runs eighteen months with thirty modules which focus on specific themes as well as a host region which is studied and visited. Each module is organised by an University or Professional Center.

The OIV undertakes research on all aspects of sustainability – environmental, economic, social and cultural. What is the latest research that the organization has conducted considering the impact of Covid-19 on the wine industry?

At the OIV there are 48 Member States, and the wine consumption patterns differ from country to country depending on factors like the length of lockdown measures, the consumption habits of the population, the elasticity of substitution between wine and other beverages, the relevance of the HoReCa channel, or the development level of the e-commerce channel. Overall, we can see that Covid19 pandemic has generated a recession that is indeed having direct and indirect effects on the sector. Not all such impacts will be permanent, but some will last, and the sector certainly needs to anticipate this.

In terms of specific product categories, the OIV has not carried out any specific study or analysis. However, what seems like a recurrent phenomenon in many countries is a drop in demand in premium wines, especially for sparkling wines. To give you an example, Champagne shipments in 2020 went down by 18% with respect to 2019 (the equivalent of 60 million fewer bottles, or one billion euros in financial losses).

One of the axis of our work today consists in assessment of to what extent the socio-economic impacts of this crisis on our sector by trying to highlight the “clean effect” of the crisis. We try to distinguish, subject by subject, whether the depressive effects observed are mainly, conversely or only marginally linked to the COVID19 crisis, whether these effects are lasting over time or are cyclical, and on what geographical scale they are observed in priority. You can find interesting insights on different strategies that were put in place since the very beginning of the crisis by some of our members from the Southern Hemishpere in this webinar.

Finally, we can suggest you to consult the website of FIVS, one of our observers. This organisation collects and publishes relevant publications on COVID19 consequences on the wine and spirits sector.

At the international level, we are seeing two trends; a shift in sales channels and a drop in demand, which in turn will lead to surplus. How do you assess this situation? How do you think the wine business will develop further? Which countries will suffer unnecessary losses and who will benefit from this situation?

In the short term, especially in the ongoing period of the pandemic, it is likely that there will be a light fall in investments, due to possible postponements and current financial constraints; however, in the medium term, the wine sector might however see a recovery to pre-pandemic growth rates. Like the 2008 crisis, this crisis seems to serve as a temporary shock to the sector and we do not expect it to affect demand in a permanent way. As far as we know, wine producers are not diverting to other types of investments.

However, this is only a preliminary foresight and it not possible to make conclusions with certainty without sufficient data. We expect to provide more definite deductions by mid-April, during our press conference and encourage the readers to tune in then for more insights.

Which wine countries, wine destinations, in your opinion, are underestimated on the world market?

The OIV does not have statistical data in this regard, but based on the webinar made by our organization and the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) in September 2020 on “Innovation in wine tourism in the context of covid-19”, it is clear that wine tourism on the one hand has been greatly affected, but on the other it can recover faster than other segments because it is an offer that is highly adapted to a demand that we can think of will be the demands of post-covid tourism. And we must see here an opportunity. With the need to innovate and recreate wine tourism in the current context, the importance of local markets, new alliances, and outdoor experiences were highlighted. Let’s look at the example of Bordeaux. Wine tourism in this region was highly oriented towards the foreign market. With this crisis, tourism agents have quickly looked for ways to attract national visitors. Not only have local markets been seen to be important. Once again, digitalisation has allowed an opening to new customers. With the appearance and increase of digital tastings, or interactive visits, for example, it has been possible for customers from all over the world to participate in online activities, regardless of where they are based.

Instead of considering there are underestimated wine destinations, we must base wine tourism on three key points: diversity, rural areas and very strong cultural ties. A better understanding of customers to offer a personalised experience and achieving the right balance between technology and human contact are key factors. It is true that digital modifications are here to stay. Along with these changes, the improvement of local tourism is essential for recovery and with this there is more room to meet the demands of sustainable tourism.

What trends, tendencies do you see in the development of the world winemaking. Name 10 or more, please.

Regarding those tendencies, we could highlight:

• The commitment with sustainability,
• The improvement of digitalisation,
• E-commerce
• The growing importance of rural areas,
• Labelling transparency,
• The growing impact of new markets , notably the Asian market
• The improvement and emergence of new vitivinicultural regions
• The new formats in packaging
• Relevant health concern of consumers on alcoholic drinks
• The increasing social concern of the production and the industry in alcoholic sales.

Photo:  International Organisation of Vine and Wine

Editor-in-chief of Drinks+ managed to interview Director General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) Pau Roca.

The famous Bocuse d’Or competition is now in Ukraine. The Drinks + observer spoke with the person who brought the world’s main gastronomic show to our country. Evgeniy Korolev, chef of the author’s cuisine restaurants Winovnik and 4-Tower in Dnipro, founder and owner of the Bocuse d’Or Ukraine brand, told us, how the competition would be held. Additionally, he broached many other interesting aspects.

Drinks+: Evgeniy, you have over a decade of experience in Michelin-starred European restaurants, won the Gourmet Cup in Germany in 2019 and ranked among the top three young chefs, according to JRE Germany; in 2019, you were among the top 3 young chefs in Central Europe according to the international culinary school ALMA Italy; you received the Young Chef Award 2019 and are the Chief Ambassador of San Pellegrino. In 2020, for the first time in the history of the Ukrainian gastronomy, you created Ukraine’s national and youth teams and brought them to the International Exhibition of Culinary Art World aka Culinary Olympic Games (Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung – IKA). And now Bocuse d’Or Ukraine, where you are the founder and brand owner. Which of these steps was the most difficult and why?

Evgeniy Korolev:  Frankly speaking, all awards and recognitions are never given for nothing. Any entry into the rating or competition is a result of hard working on a daily basis. Over the past five years, I have managed to take part in eight international culinary competitions, and I can say that reaching the Culinary Olympic Games (IKA) in 2020 was the most difficult task!

Due to a very short period of time allocated for training, my team and I, having arrived at the Olympics, were faced with huge problems in our preparation. At some point, we realized that for technical reasons, we would not even be able to participate or meet the timing. To this day, I don’t know how we managed, but we performed well in our nominations.

As for Bocuse d’Or Ukraine, this is a very interesting and complex project that requires tremendous preparation. The team and I started organizing the competition back in 2020, and at the present moment, everything is going smoothly according to the elaborated plan.

D+: You have worked with such masters as Alain Ducasse and Wojciech Amaro. Tell us about these gastronomy gurus: how are they working, what is the atmosphere in their kitchens, and what is their philosophy? What have you learned from these pros?

Evgeniy Korolev: It is a common practice in all top restaurants that the chef does not always have an opportunity to be in the kitchen due to his or her high workload. Experienced sous-chefs supervise all processes in the kitchen. I had an opportunity to work with Alan Ducasse only a few times; he is very charismatic, kind, and always ready to help and give an advice. Often, he would just stand and tell why and for what reasons it was important to do it this way and not otherwise. We had been working with Wojciech  Amaro quite often; I should say that he is strict and demanding. He spoke little, made us think, read and form our own opinion about a product or process. As a result of working at Benoit restaurant, I gained an understanding of the chef’s philosophy and respect to the product and the profession. At Atelier Amaro, I learned how to apply various modern techniques, to deal with product combinations and serving dishes.

D+: What attracts you in the chef’s profession: an opportunity to experiment, you enjoy your food or enjoy teaching others?

Evgeniy Korolev: Of course, I am a lover of good food. I give preference to the restaurants with original cuisine. Experiments in the kitchen are a key to success! Working with a product, combining and practicing techniques … without this, we will stop developing.

I adhere to my own style at Winovnik, and my principles are: working with high-quality seasonal products, using various techniques and combinations and, of course, non-standard serving. In the future, I would like to open a restaurant with the same concept and author’s style, but to prepare a menu in a seven-nine-course set format, without adhering to a la’carte menu.

D+: In January 2020, you signed an agreement for establishment of the Bocuse d’Or Competition in Ukraine. Can you please tell us, how it all started, how this idea occurred to you?

Evgeniy Korolev:  It all started with my participation in international competitions, after which representatives of Bocuse d’Or from other countries invited me to apply for participation. Unfortunately, according to international rules, I could only do this from the country of which I am a citizen, that is, from Ukraine, where, let me remind you, Bocuse d’Or did not exist at that time. Later, the German organization introduced me to the representatives of the Bocuse d’Or headquarters in Lyon. For about three months, we were discussing the possibility of my participating in, or holding, the competition in Ukraine. One fine day, the headquarters’ director called me and offered to head the establishment of the competition in our country, however, on the condition that I would return to Ukraine and would never again be able to take part in the competition as a chef. One of the priority tasks was to organize a presentation of the project, including analysis of the country’s gastronomic market, the best restaurants and chefs, prospects, potential and development vector of the Ukrainian gastronomy in the world. The second stage included the project’s defense before the Bocuse d’Or committee in Lyon. Later, the project data were verified and corruption screening was held, as well as a  number of meetings in Ukraine, and negotiations at different levels; as a result, Ukraine was warmly received into the Bocuse d’Or family.

D+: Did any significant difficulties or problems arise at the stage of conclusion of the contract?

Evgeniy Korolev: The most difficult thing was waiting for the next answer from the headquarters and a series of new questions. I did not know, what they were paying attention to, when checking the information, and what they were guided by. Frankly speaking, Bocuse d’Or corporation and GLEX organizers were initially well disposed to Ukraine’s joining their family, so the French side did not create any problems or difficulties and always showed solidarity and loyalty. But at the same time, I would emphasize extremely difficult terms of the franchise and the rules of participation for chefs, which are not so easy to adapt to the realities of our country.

D+: Can you disclose a few names of the Ukrainian chefs who applied for participation in the competition, because the applications are already being accepted, aren’t they?

Evgeniy Korolev: We did not expect that the number of applications seeking participation in the first year’s competition will be so huge. According to the regulations of our organization, we have no right to disclose any information about the contestants before adoption of the official decision regarding preliminarily qualified participants, which is to be published on the Bocuse d’Or Ukraine website on June 1. I can say that the names of the majority of candidates are well known to the Ukrainian gastronomic community.

D+: In what format will Bocuse d’Or take place in Ukraine? It will be something like Sirha sites?

Evgeniy Korolev: My team and I are organizing the largest exhibition for representatives of the hotel and restaurant business. We plan to make several zones, one of which will host the final stage of the national selection Bocuse d’Or. Other zones will host an exhibition of official partners, HoReCa representatives, master classes, lectures and seminars, speaker zones, an entertainment zone, a photo zone, a zone of craft producers and much more.

D+:  As a chef who has gained an extensive experience, do you notice any qualitative changes in the Ukrainian wine market? How do you feel about including Ukrainian brands into the restaurants’ wine lists?

Evgeniy Korolev: Certainly, I do! If we compare the level of Ukrainian winemaking, which existed five to ten years ago, we may see that by the present stage, some domestic producers have considerably grown. Naturally, it is difficult for us to compete with the wines of the Old World, given their history of winemaking, terroir, weather and climatic conditions, but in the near future, more and more decent Ukrainian wines will have been produced. I can only recommend to be very active in replenishing the restaurants’ wine lists with Ukrainian wines in order to support the local producers and expand the choices available for guests.

D+:  Can you please tell the stakeholders, how the competition will be held and what awaits the winners.

Evgeniy Korolev: It is not for nothing that Bocuse d’Or is considered to be the most difficult competition, and the candidate’s preparation time is the key. In other words, as you prepare, so you will perform. Bocuse d’Or is not about improvisation and luck. All trainings, preparation, experience and concentration must be demonstrated during the competition.

The team of participants includes a chef (over 23 years old) and an assistant (under 23 years old). The Competition’s tasks include the preparation of two courses of 14 servings each, where the fish dish is served in portions on plates, the meat dish is served on a special presentation plate, and later served on the plates. The competition will take 5 hours and 35 minutes. Participation in the competition is free, the organizer bears the costs of travel and accommodation for the participants, and also provides all necessary equipment, inventory and products. All participants will receive prizes from partners and the organizer. The bronze medal winner: UAH 25 thousand, the silver medal winner: UAH 50 thousand, and the winner of Bocuse d’Or Ukraine will receive a prize of UAH 100 thousand and will take part in the European Bocuse d’Or final in 2022, where, together with the team, he or she will represent Ukraine at the international arena.

D+: What do you and your team expect from the first Bocuse d’Or in Ukraine? What parameters will measure the success achieved and at what point can you say: well, here it comes, the victory?

Evgeniy Korolev: Organizing an event of this scale requires a huge investment of time, resources and funds, therefore it is very important for us to hold this competition at the highest European level, since we invite an international jury and the headquarters’ [representatives]. I would very much like to hold a Bocuse d’Or Europe Final in Ukraine in the coming years, so we approach each organizational moment very seriously and discreetly.

It is important for us to create the most comfortable conditions for candidates, so that the guys can concentrate only on the processes of cooking. In the near future, we will begin to conduct master classes for candidates in order to prepare them as much as possible for the competition. One of the most important indicators of success will be the chefs’ involvement in the competition and their willingness to participate in the next national shortlisting. Well, the best indicator of success will be the Ukrainian team’s victory at the Bocuse d’Or Europe Final in Lyon!

The Drinks+ observer spoke with the person who brought the world’s main and popular gastronomic show Bocuse d’Or to our country.

Text: Anna Gorkun, СЕО and Owner of 46 Parallel Wine Group

What is WSET, who needs a diploma from the British school, how education is regarded by employers and whether it affects salaries?

Within a framework of the author’s project “Wine Hub with Anna Gorkun”, a conversation about these and other related issues was held with Ekaterina Yushchenko, Director and Certified Educator of the Ukrainian Wine & Spirit School, a certified provider of the programme of the British School WSET (London), a member of the Association of Sommeliers of Ukraine and tasting commissions of the Ukrainian and international wine competitions. Anna Gorkun learned from Ekaterina Yushchenko how WSET courses were launched in Ukraine, how many levels they have, and why they not only enhance the graduate’s qualification up to the level of an international expert, but also directly affect such graduate’s salary. In addition, Anna also got to know why, being a financier, Ekaterina had forever thrown her lot with winemaking and how she was successfully combining sports and wine.

The story of how the WSET program was launched in Ukraine is not a new one, but nevertheless my question is – how did it emerge in your life?

Initially, I did not plan to engage myself with wine. At the time, I was graduating from the Kharkiv National University named after Karazin, the Faculty of Finance and Credit, as well as from the Institute of Foreign Languages, and my interest in wine was superficial like it was for many other persons. A few years later, I was lucky to meet the guys who were au fait with the winemaking, and they introduced me to this. Thereupon, we decided to start importing, which implied a further deep dive into the wine. I presume that if you work with a product, you should deal with the issue seriously. Thereupon, we chose the WSET format for training and, to our great surprise, found that Ukraine was not on the list of the countries where this program had a representative office. I wanted to share this valuable knowledge in my native country. Thus, in 2015, we had been certified to become WSET providers in Ukraine.

How is WSET working?

Students are trained and certified according to the same standards applicable in all countries. The educational materials and tasting facilities are identical to the British ones, and the entire educational process is clearly regulated. They teach how to teach, in a very structured and consistent manner. The stuff but not the fluff. Thus, WSET enables everyone who comes into contact with the wine as a commercial product to gain the unified knowledge system that allows them to speak the same language with anyone – either a distributor from Hong Kong or a supplier from Africa.

What are the WSET levels available and whom would you recommend each of such levels to?

WSET has four levels in total. I would recommend the first one to everyone – just for themselves. The second level gives more fundamental knowledge. The students and I are tasting a lot. The course is good because there is no analytics yet, but we are already digging deeply: terroir, varieties, as well as special features of soils, and we are discussing potential. It is adequate for both professionals and amateurs. At the second level, it is good to go through the main descriptors for tastings, so that at the third level, you no longer think about theory, but focus on analytics and forecasts. Therefore, the third level is great for producers, because there is a deep dive into the technological process: trimming, cutting, soil, sampling, and acidity. It is noteworthy that this course is attended by both lawyers and doctors, as well as by numerous representatives of the spheres related to winemaking. However, I would not draw any distinct boundaries: this course is suitable for sommeliers, and it is also suitable for importers, as well as  housewives. The fourth level implies absolute analytics, trends, forecasts, marketing, legal aspects, and tendencies. You are no longer a consumer, you are a market player, which means that you are already generating demand yourself.

Nowadays, there are many schools, sommelier courses and the like, but only your school has a truly international context. I remember when we studied at WSET, many guys who went on to work on cruise ships shared their opinion that this particular certificate was very important for them, since it was highly regarded by the employers. Is it true that the WSET diploma helps one to prove their qualifications and be eligible for a salary increase?

Indeed, there are many wine schools and they are all great and they all differ from each other. In our case, you get knowledge about everything – yes, with different depths, but you have no gaps. The volume of knowledge, even if you came as an already accomplished professional, expands significantly. But if we are talking about the WSET diploma itself as a tool for monetizing the knowledge gained, it should be pointed out that it is definitely highly regarded in the market. This is confirmation that you have gained the knowledge of unique program, which is presented in 80 countries and is taught according to standards in 17 languages. This is an evidence that you are an international specialist.

Personal observation: When you open the WSET Level 3 tutorial, a great number of specific terms is scary. Is it really necessary to present this material in such a detail and what pills does one need to take in order to digest this material?

In fact, everything is much simpler. If a person has an analytical mindset, he or she will be able, without much of a hassle, to digest the material offered by the British [school]. The important thing is that they do not give too much, so that it does not distract attention from the most important things. But it should be understood that out of the four levels of WSET training, only the first three are represented in Ukraine. We provide registration, teaching and organization of exams, but review of the exam papers and awarding of diplomas – all these stages are the responsibility of the London WSET.

Broaching such issue as you and wine… you and sports. How did you manage to combine the two passions – for wine and sports? Accidentally, having analysed your achievements in sports, it becomes clear that it is not just a hobby, rather it is a titanic work!

It is simple. Trivial health problems have brought me into sports – I am a mother of three children, and I have not been able to avoid the problems with my back. However, I replaced the endless health clinic-hopping with gym exercises and began to strengthen the muscle corset. With lapse of time, I realized that I wanted to do it with full dedication – in fact, it is my life principle. Thereupon, I developed a passion for the aesthetic vector and was nominated for participating in the fitness bikini contest, where I was ranked first. But in this case, the victory was not the main achievement, and the key aspect was that I set the bar so high for myself that I could no longer afford to relax. Now, sport is a part of my life. However, at the present stage, the aesthetic vector has been replaced by the functional one: I mean various competitions (Sportan, Race Nation, and DikoGonka). This is a real drive, adrenaline. Believe me, all this absolutely peacefully coexists with a passion for wine and everything related to it.

What is WSET, who needs a diploma from the British school, how education is regarded by employers and whether it affects salaries?

D+ managed to talk with Ricardo F. Nunez, the owner of the Vinos de La Luz group of companies, which unites wineries in Spain, Italy, Argentina.

D+: Mr. Nunez, this is not the first interview that you have kindly given to our publications. But you see the wine world in all its diversity and you can evaluate it from different points of view. So every time, behind the scenes, there was still a long series of questions. Today, if I may, we will ask some of them.

Ricardo F. Nunez: I hope to have answers for all!

D+: You have always said that wine was the passion of your life. But how did it all begin? Was your family involved in winemaking? Today you are a man of the world, you travel a lot, live for a long time in different countries, and what traditions of wine consumption exist in your historical homeland?

R.F.N.: Please look at this photo.  It  is  from  1926,  that  is,  it is almost 100 years old, and I hope your dear readers do not see it as just a piece of antique. There are my grandparents, my father, my uncle, and  my  two   aunts. In that year, my grandparents had 16 years of having arrived to Argentina as Spanish immigrants, more specifically, as Galician immigrants, because they were from the heart of Spanish Galicia. When they had barely known each other, they both worked as day laborers, and traveled around Spain, following the harvests of grains, fruits, vegetables and grapes for wine. They were economically poor, but they also lived in a country that, before the First World War, offered them a little future.

They knew how to work on the land and there was a place where there was plenty of land and it was already a legend among the Spaniards, Italians, and many nations of Europe: it was Argentina. They went there with nothing in their pockets in the third class of a ship that took them 33 days to arrive to the point of their destination. A few days after arrival, they were already working in La Pampa, a place 800 kilometers from the port of Buenos Aires. They worked for five years as peasants, dealing with the cereal and peanut crops. I remember this about the peanut harvest, because my grandmother told me that it was the hardest to do, since they had to collect the peanuts kneeling in dozens of hectares. But I never heard them complaining about it.

One day, my grandfather learned  that  the  government of the Province of Mendoza offered to immigrants a land in the mountains for free, but on the condition that they would grow grape plants on the land. My grandparents didn’t hesitate for a second, and there they went. That’s wonderful. They were assigned more than 200 hectares at 1,100 meters above sea level at the base of the Andes Mountains, where everything was wild and could be reached by horse-drawn carts.

Twenty years ago I took over the family winery, and here we are: I am a retired banker and active wine producer.

However, there was a reason why grandparents chose that; in Spain, they had been vine growers in the region of Castilla y León, more precisely, in Peñafiel, which today is the heart of Ribera del Duero. So, that’s where it all started. My destination was not the vineyards, but the University. I had to be a «doctor» with a degree. I did what my parents wanted, maybe I did a little more than they wanted, and we kept the vineyards and the first winery until the moment I decided to develop the wine business again, that is, I returned to my first love. You see, it’s a short story, which is only a hundred years old.

D+: How did you study winemaking? Did you know right away that you would be a winemaker or got another profession?

R.F.N.: There is a big difference between being a winemaker and being a wine producer. I am lucky to have one of the best teams of winemakers that can be created, and although I live touring vineyards and wineries, getting into all the details; though, it is almost like an obsession, because I am annoying everyone with my shadow behind them, breathing so close that they can feel my healthy lungs, I   am not literally a winemaker, I am a wine producer. I am sure about everything I have learned from this activity, I know more or less a lot about many things, but they have a privilege: they are winemakers with their feet muddy with vines, and with a great knowledge of the technology in cement and steel tanks, and they know that you have to caress the barrels with your voice every day. They have that talent with which they are born, and they deliver it to Vinos de La Luz in all the countries where we are present. Right now, I’m thinking that they are more obsessive than me.

 La Luz Del Duero Winery

D+: We know that you were engaged in financial activities were they unrelated to wine? What was it?

R.F.N.: First, I went  to the University  and  graduated as a lawyer, but I had a problem: I couldn’t charge a fee for my work because it didn’t cost me anything to do it for people; that means that I didn’t see this work as aimed at building wealth, rather solving legal conflicts. And one day, almost reluctantly, I was developing financing systems for people with scarce resources, those who did not qualify for a traditional loan, and when I could rest easy, in 1989, the world economy changed, the Berlin wall opened the doors to huge markets, and I started in Central Europe what I thought was going to be my “last stage”. Incidentally, it did not appear to be the last one. Twenty years ago I took over the family winery, and here we are: I am a retired banker and active wine producer.

Schloss Vollrads, Germany 

D+: The chronicle says that one day you learned that there was one winery for sale in Argentina, and you bought it. Was it Finca La Luz? What exactly attracted you in it?

R.F.N.: I heard that story, but it is not exactly what happened. 22 years ago, the winery in Argentina, which had 70 hectares left of the initial 200, had no management; a few of us who were of my generation were scattered around the world. Yet a decision had to be made. Perhaps, the easiest thing would have been to continue drinking the best wines, but, to be honest, I would have lived in great fear of ever meeting my grandparents and my parents to whom I had to explain that I had let the family winery go to the “other hands”. It helped me a lot to have a global vision of the world, especially from the center of the geography of the Earth, that is to say, the Central Europe, and it took me only a month to make the decision to re-take the winery. But just as that global vision led me to that, it also led me  to project a world development program which is not over yet. One day, in 2012, I was standing on the land with nothing planted on it (it was at the foot of Mount Helon, in Ningxia Province, China) and I was negotiating to plant the Argentinian Malbec vineyards and build a winery, very close to the one created by Chandon.

There I realized that I had not slept in 36 hours, and I had been flying for 24 hours out of those 36 hours; that I was not Chandon, and the team that had arrived with me was looking at me as if they were asking me: “Who of us will be relocated here?” Then, I said to myself: «We should have come 20 years ago», and decided to limit the development program to its origin, that is, wineries in the old wine world, in the middle age wine world and in the new world, under a single quality denominator, which we had called Vinos de La Luz. By the way, the name of Finca La Luz is still owned by a parcel in Mendoza, which is limited by La Luz Street, but it is a coincidence, because Vinos de La Luz – Wines of the Light – has always been the best way to name a set of wineries that applied transparent protocols.

D+: Doctor Nunez, the wines from your wineries are in great demand in the world, and numerous wines that come from your wineries are intended entirely for export. This experience, as well as your business and legal practices enable you to see the processes in 3D. Lately, we have been witnessing changes in the sales methods; this is particularly relevant to futures. Can you comment on the pros and cons of futures?

R.F.N.: This topic is very interesting, because it looks like it begins to change the sales methods of the most famous French wineries. When a large winery abandons the sales system called “en primeur”, it is because it realizes that a large part of the profit produced by the efforts of many years is taken away by the financiers advancing money at a price of the wine that is going to be delivered within a few years. It has been a tool to ensure the sale of the entire harvest and have fresh money in the bank, without major headaches. I never adopted that system because we build everything with our own capital and we are not wrong. Sooner or later, the one who does not have enough capital, depends on a bank or a distributor, who advances funds.

For example, nowadays, in Argentina we have four geographies where we produce grapes and two where we make wines. Those are unique places due to their «terroir», which can be hardly defined using words, but we all know what it means. Without capital, we would never have risked having wines at 1400 meters, such as the Gualtallary estate, or Altamira, or Pampa El Cepillo, or Vista Flores, which are denominations of origin limited in their extension, very strict in terms of their standards of production, but they have given us wines that do not fall below 93 points and some of them have reached 97 points. These «parcel wines» can only be made in own vineyards and by cutting the plant so that it gives us less, even tears are falling on our faces after each cut. Vinos de La Luz – Wines of the Light – has always been the best way to name a group of wineries that applied transparent protocols.

Photo: Andrey Cherlat

D+: How do you select such talented oenologists, at what moment do you understand – yes, this is my man?

R.F.N.: It is a group that has been formed over the years, which does not talk about “the wineries” but about “our wineries”, and that is made up of winemakers who were already famous such as Roberto Cipresso in Italy, who has just made a 98-point Brunello, or others who are wellknown today and have received awards, such as Noelia Mena (Spain) or Pablo Navarrete (Argentina). Another part of the group includes land engineers, sommeliers, marketing specialists, sales specialists and communication specialists. We are a small army under the flag of Vinos de La Luz. Each country has its style, but the wines have a similar quality.

Perhaps it is better to explain this with an example: in 2018, we sent several wines from our wineries in three countries to compete at the Berliner Wine Trophy in Germany, which is held pursuant to the standards of the OIV. They all won a gold medal, none won a double gold medal, but none won a silver medal, either. That is to say, that the gold medal awarded to six wines from three different countries marked the quality line that Vinos de La Luz should toe. We would have liked to win a double gold medal, but perhaps we would have opted for the style of one wine and not another. In this way that year we confirmed the quality because the six gold medal wines were chosen among 9000 wines from around the world. The other example is Iluminado Single Vineyard that we have made in Argentina, Spain and Italy.

In different international competitions, they received 97, 95 and 95 points. That is uniform quality in high quality. It is clear that there is a reason and it is the application of the same production protocols in different regions and grapes. It’s that part of talent that I talked about earlier, and it makes the people in our team dedicate part of their time to teaching at school of winemakers and universities.

They are talents that must be respected, because they are also a little bit crazy. For example, in Mendoza, we had 16 hectares without plantations and we preferred to dedicate our efforts to developing another geography. Then, Pablo Navarrete said: “Here, we are going to plant “garlic”; for two harvests he has achieved a record output per hectare with a garlic that we call “Garlic La Luz”. So, in this group, it seems that there is more than one crazy person, but so far they are successful crazy people.

 Vinos de La Luz Winery, Uco Valley, Argentina

D+: In Argentina, Spain and Italy, the wines of the umbrella brand Iluminado are created with the same DNA Vinos de La Luz. Of course, we are talking about a single, highest level of quality. But, perhaps, you are trying to achieve a certain general style: if so, can you tell us with what technological methods?

R.F.N.: Vinos de La Luz is the umbrella, and the wines that want to be under that umbrella have to meet a series of very demanding quality requirements. Believe me, on many occasions, – it has been incomprehensible to me that the team did not accept a wine that seemed very good to me, and they believed – sometimes there was no unanimity among them – that we should not incorporate it as a bottled wine from La Luz, and it should be sold in bulk to another producer. However, when they explained the reasons to me, it was logical to understand. Then, the 97 Decanter London points appeared for Iluminado Single Vineyard Paraje Altamira Malbec 2015; there upon, things began to settle on their own, because when you approach 100 points, that is, a perfect wine, you cannot afford going for less. For this very reason, I defend the group’s criteria as if they were mine, even though they weren’t born from me, but from their talent. They are of a special breed, born for the quality wine.

With Pablo Navarette and Noelia Mena in vineyards of Mendoza

D+: Your wines collect a whole constellation of awards. How you make a decision, in which competition to participate?

R.F.N.: Everyone knows this phrase: «The best wine is the one you like the most», but this is true only for your own taste. However, when wines are a product of a certain style, of a particular philosophy pursued by a winery and they are novelties that want to surprise, one wants to know, what third parties – those in the know – say. That is why quality testing has to go through independent professionals and specialized consumers, whether they are winemakers, sommeliers, wine journalists, or producers. You can bring them together in a focus group but you will never have the opinion of a large international group – from different countries – and highly specialized. That guarantee is granted by serious international competitions and offered by independent international specialists. Vinos de La Luz has 90% of its wines awarded or scored in competitions with blind tastings and under international standards. We have many gold medals, many wines above 93 points, and up to 97 points, but we have not yet reached 100. We have a wine classified as one of the best 50 wines in the world in 2019, but we have not yet reached the wine that would be considered perfect (100 points) Vino de La Luz.

In Georgia

D+: Your company has been present on the Ukrainian market for many years. You opened a representative office, and then a chain of Wine Gallery boutiques. How are things going?

R.F.N.: A year ago, we partnered at Wine Gallery with Georgia’s Shilda Winery and a major local partner; it should be pointed out that the three of us knew each other and were related for many years. We decided to establish ourselves with our own importing and distributing company, which already has a business model in place despite the pandemic. Wine Gallery has already opened three of its own stores in Kyiv – well located and well designed – where it sells our Italian, Spanish, Argentinean and Georgian wines from Shilda, but also has a wide range of good brands that we are importing or buying from other importers. We have a very good sales team, but also Vinos de La Luz has its own Brand Ambassador in Ukraine, who is working to support the brand development in the region. I should say that she is a good ambassador indeed: very active and intelligent; in addition, she – Nataliia Burlachenko – is writing for Drinks+.

D+: While we’re on the subject of the wine trade, let me quote Robert Joseph talking about the changes associated with the pandemic: “The only thing I’m still confident about is the growth of digital communication as well as distribution. I sincerely believe that in the near future the huge wine walls in supermarkets will be a thing of the past». What is your forecast?

R.F.N.: I believe that the pandemic is just one more round of a fight that has been taking place silently at first, and then continued, with many explosions, for several years. The appearance of large sales platforms has, perhaps, been the moment of greatest friction between traditional distribution and the one supported by artificial intelligence technology. However, nowadays, producers are almost 90% linked with the online marketing. We have divided our sales into direct sales, sales to distributors (which imply sales via national places where wineries are installed), general online stores, specialized online stores, our own online stores, sales to importers (implying meetings during which one can see the other participants’ faces through various online meeting systems). We have had 6 or 7 international «exhibitions and fairs», from country to country, via Zoom in 2020; it should be emphasized that these events were organized due to the technology companies that create the so-called «augmented reality» platform, and put our brand ambassadors and commercials standing with their products and serving registered buyers for one or two days.

Vinos de La Luz is the umbrella, and the wines that want to be under that umbrella have to meet a series of very demanding quality requirements.

With Roberto Cipresso in Peñafiel, on La Luz del Duero winery

The importer, who already knows, whether a winery behind that wine is serious or not – because today everything is known – will ask you for a sample, and the latter can be in the hands of your potential customer within 48 hours. There is another aspect that is going to change and it is the resistance of countries to accepting a free exchange of wines and spirits. The world is going to be transformed into a great free shop existing in numerous clouds, where the locals will be the countries, and which we may enter and leave without traveling. Tariff barriers will be lifted due to the pressure of online systems and physical distribution will be made from warehouses installed by self-managed vehicles. How much time is left? It depends on the vaccine, and how long the world will consider this stage to have been completed, but the foundations are laid.

D+: Do you think single varieties wines or a trend behind blends will develop? What varieties do you think are the most promising today?

R.F.N.: I believe that the world of wine is opening its doors to the recovery of indigenous varieties, which will take their place alongside the grapes that everyone knows and are planted at the same time in several countries. I also believe that when countries have a successful indigenous variety, they will have credentials so that the other varieties that they cultivate and are cultivated in other countries, may be called by them, using the name of their specific country. What about the varieties which are similar to Malbec and are coming from France, Argentina, Spain, and Chile? Is it because of the genetics? I have doubts that the genetic origin dominates over the terroir. The truth is that the bottles should distinguish the French Malbec from the Argentinean Malbec, the Spanish Malbec, etc. As to the varieties, which are unique for several countries, they will be defeated by the local terroir. And each terroir is different. We are irreversibly going to value wines identifiable by their origin. Thus, let us put that on the label because this is how we educate the consumer. In our case, the seal and logo of Vinos de La Luz serve as our quality credentials.

D+: Traditional question: what plans does the head of Vinos de La Luz have?

R.F.N.: Right now we are involved in ten programs. Wine, liquids and technologies. Terroirs developments. I will definitely tell you next year, if your readers agree.

Photos provided by Vinos de La Luz

D+ managed to talk with Ricardo F. Nunez, the owner of the Vinos de La Luz group of companies, which unites wineries in Spain, Italy, Argentina.

Danу Rolland, one of the most talented and respected oenologists in the world, shared her working principles in the wine business, her memories, experience and own winemaker rules. About personal and professional – in an exclusive interview for D+.

D+: Mrs. Dany Rolland, before becoming a successful student of the Faculty of Oenology at the University of Bordeaux and graduating from it, you received a medical education. That was your parents’ decision? Who were they? Why did you change your profession and decide to connect your life with wine?

Dany Rolland: No, medicine was a personal choice until my parents preferred pharmacy. A real vacation for me. I studied for 2 years and in 1968, due to the student’s revolution of May, we didn’t pass the exams. In the same time, some friends were studying pharmacy but also oenology because their parents had officine in the countryside. I ask what does mean Oenology? At this time, I didn’t really drink wine, but the chemistry in between the grape and, at the end the wine was a very interesting subject and a way for me to try to understand this adventure, unique for a fruit, to start as a fruit and finish as a cultural drink, which cross the time, and give so much pleasure and inspiration.

Dany Rolland in lab in the 1980s

D+: Who is the one who had impacted you the most in your development in the wine industry? (about one of the mentors, I think I guess )

D.R.: My family was not in the wine business, and I met during my studies my future husband Michel whose parents were owners of vines for 7 generations. At that time, our mentor was one of our professors: Emile Peynaud.

D+: Having studied your biography, it seemed that some twists in your life happened just lightning fast. Remember, please, which of these events has become the most significant for you and how they changed your life?

D.R.: As oenologists, we started in buying a laboratory, one of the most renowned of Gironde. We started with bad or not great vintages from 1973 to 1981. 1982 was the start of a great story for Bordeaux, with also the fact to meet Robert Parker since 1983. And also during the 80th, the first proposals of consulting outside for Michel: California in 1987, and Argentina in 1988.

D+: Let us recall Catherine Péré-Vergé – a legendary figure in Pomerol. Please tell us about your friendship – if I am not mistaken, largely thanks to meeting you, Catherine started to make wine in Pomerol. What has Catherine changed/brought to your professional life?

D.R.: Catherine Péré-Vergé was for us, Michel and I and our daughters, a wonderful friend. We were very close when she decided to invest in Pomerol starting with Ch. Montviel. We have also a personnel partnership: at this time she was a co-owner of Cristallerie d’Arques, and on the market, there was no glass for tasting and drinking that was really acceptable. We decided to create one: I tasted a lot of wines in different glasses and organized a “cahier des charges” to design one with all the qualities we were expecting. And her company made the glass called Oenologue”. It was 25 years ago. After we were also very close when we decided to invest in Argentina and she was the first to say Ok, Go.

Dany and Michel in Château Fontenil, 1986 

D+: In 1997 you moved to Château Fontenil – were you interested first in Château, and then in the vineyard? As far as we know, the vines of the Château are 45 years old – did you keep everything or did you change some?

D.R.: At this time, we were living above the lab in Libourne. That was easier when daughters were going to elementary school. But we needed space and we were looking for a house in the countryside. We found Fontenil, with 10 hectares of vines around. Why not? We were knowing very well this appellation of Fronsac, loving the soils and landscapes, less expensive than Saint Emilion, but with a lot of similarities. Now  there are 71 producers in Fronsac covering 840 hectares and in Canon Fronsac – 33 producers covering 280 hectares. We bought in 1986, everything was wrong, house, cellars… a lot of works! The house was in a derelict state; everything had to be replaced, but the view over the valley was superb and… seven hectares of vines were also for sale – historically attached to Château Le Faure Haut-Normand.

The overall picture, together with the well, resembled the quaint corner of a little village. This place had a soul, but needed a body to accompany the soul. That would be the veritable challenge and the work of many years’ labor as well as immense effort and at times sacrifices. But vines were in good condition, old and interesting to make good wines. Regarding the vines, overall, they are on average older than 40 years. Some of them do not have a precise date noted on the grape variety declaration: they were planted prior to the 1950’s.

In 1997 after construction and renovation work over a three years period, we finally moved into the house for Michel’s 50th Birthday (December).

D+: We know that most of your vines are Merlot, is it true that to work with this grape variety is very simple?

D.R.: I don’t understand what you mean by “simple”, because like Pinot Noir, these two grape varieties need soils, climate and much more care than Cabernet Sauvignon which can grow anywhere in the world.

D+: What is your favorite variety in principle – if you look globally, without reference to France?

D.R.: My favorite variety is merlot because I “married” Pomerol when I married Michel, but I love also Cabernet Franc in Bordeaux and Syrah from East France, and so many good wines with so many varieties, as Malbec in Argentina.

D+: What can you say about a permission to cultivate Petit Verdot in Pomerol as a way to adapt to climate changes?

D.R.: In Medoc Petit Verdot is used in very small percentage, to complete blend cabernet sauvignon and merlot, but I don’t think it has a real interest in Pomerol for the blend and specially concerning the climate.

D+: Which vintages of Château Fontenil are the most iconic for you?

D.R.: 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018.

D+: You are involved in all wine making processes at Château Fontenil. Tell us please about Château Fontenil wines. Does Mr. Michel Rolland take part in the wine production processes, help you? Or is it exclusively your project? Why Château Fontenil wines have just such a system of vinification: with a whole bunch, fermentation and aging. Apparently, the decision came as a result of many years’ experience?

D.R.: I am more at the Château than Michel who travels more, but all the decisions are taken together, and now with our daughters who love to work with us for blending, communication, or others subjects: Fontenil is a family home.  The real technological evolution at Château Fontenil began in 1999-2000. Construction of a new barrel cellar, which also contained 3 oak vats of 60 hectolitres – a folly for the appellation – but Fontenil was worth it fully! Installations in the vinification cellar: stainless steel vats of 57 and 80 hectolitres in capacity, all equipped with reversible thermo-regulation. Using adapted crates (baskets) for grapes – double sorting tables, before and after destemming. Modernising and decorating of a tasting room and guest rooms for our clients and journalists.

From 1999 to 2010, practically only good vintages, a quality revolution! In each one of the parcels the selections are carried out with more and more precision. Each batch of grapes – hand-picked into small crates at optimum ripeness – is sorted before and after destemming, and then vinified separately (as whole berries or crushed or even whole bunches) in the wooden vats, with manual punching down, or in the stainless steel vats, with the gentlest possible pumping over. After 6 to 8 days of cold stabilisation, follows a period of long maceration (up to 40 days), which resembles an infusion more than an excessive extraction. All fermentation takes place with indigenous yeasts and without any additives; BIO without shouting about it from the roof tops. Here, material has to be mastered; the tastings and the analytical controls are both numerous and continuous. Half the new wine is run off into new oak barrels, while the must is still warm, which allows the malolactic fermentation to get under way smoothly. In the traditional way, without neglecting the advantages of high technology equipment, a delicate pressing is realized. This is perfected thanks to a JLB vertical press, which ennobles and enhances the marc juice, only too often excluded from the blend.

In 2008, the decision is taken to vinify exclusively in new oak barrels for the “Défi” and part of “Fontenil”.

D+: Could you tell us about the wine Le Defi de Fontenil – what was the story with the plastic sheets, that were protecting the vineyard from the rain, and that is why the vintage lost the right to belong to Fronsac appellation?

D.R.: The predominance of heavy and fresh soils (calcareous clay or Fronsac Molasses), combined with the fickleness of the meteorological conditions, both demand a certain knowledge and experience, as well as a daily dose of pragmatism, to temper the grape so that it can express the very best of itself. In 1999, therefore, a certain initiative seemed to us to be judicious. The laying of plastic sheets on the ground between rows, in order to avoid the penetration of water, detrimental at the end of the “veraison” (changing of the colour of the grapes), to give the grapes the opportunity to mature more fully and harmoniously, particularly on the late ripening soils of Fronsac. The experiment was planned to stretch over three years, covering a surface of approximately 1.6 hectares of Merlot on two steep parcels. This in order to be able to reuse the same tarpaulins cut to size to fit the length of the rows. This experiment represented a certain investment. Thus, in 1999, the results proved extremely convincing. The tarpaulins had been put in place on 8th August and until 25th September – harvest time. Around 120 mm of rain had fallen. The grapes were in perfect sanitary condition and considerably sweeter with a better extractability of the anthocyanins and furthermore a more advanced maturity of the pips. The results were impressive and were confirmed by the quality of the wines produced from the protected vines. Nobody, in a position of authority, took the trouble to come and taste the wine and the produce of this experiment, was directly incorporated into the wine of Fontenil. In 2000, the experiment was repeated. Two days later after the tarpaulins installation, a letter was received from the INAO (Institut National des Appellations d’Origines). INAO ordering us to remove the tarpaulins immediately, under the threat that the wine from the concerned parcels would be declassified as “table wine”. No official explanation, but for the technical commission this procedure could susceptibly alter the terroir and furthermore, was unaesthetic. No study had been undertaken by their own services… and certainly no consultation or discussion before this arbitrary decision.

As we have always thought that it is better to carry out an experiment to its conclusion in order for it to be techni – cally exploitable (on the principle of scientific methodo – logy and correlation), we kept the tarpaulins in place. As a result, in 2000, we produced 8,000 bottles of table wine; in fact a very particular kind of special cuvee. The Fontenil Challenge was born, called “Le Défi de Fontenil”. We continued and renewed the experiment with the tarpaulins in 2001 then again in 2004, for the last time. Today, the “Défi de Fontenil” remains the “cuvee de tête” (the special cuvee of Fontenil) – without tarpaulins, and therefore, without any … artifice!), still a “table wine”, or since 2009, a “Vin de France”, in order to justify its name: a true “challenge”! No vintage mentioned – merely a batch number for each one.

Château Fontenil

D+: They say that in Château Fontenil you have a secret garden. What is his mystery?

D.R.:  Who are “they”? I have a simple house called Château, like many in Bordeaux, but I love details and I am passionate and perfectionist with all about house, garden, vineyard. When I invite friends, I love lovely tables, flowers and table art, I try to make good food and serve great wines from all around the world… no secret weapon but pleasure and work.

D+: Oh, how we understand you! It seems that Pomerol, which gives the world the most status wines, is essentially very simple. Let’s say Christian Moueix states, that his Petrus is not a Chateau, as many incorrectly believe, but “just an old farmhouse.” And the owners of the famous Le Pin, Fiona Morrison and Jacques Thienpont, (with whom, as far as we know, you are friends) say that they are not the stars of the wine world at all, but only farmers. Can such an illustrious couple like you and Mr. Michel Rolland forget about fame, even among the virgin nature, and lead the life of ordinary farmers?

D.R.: Absolutely true, on Right Bank and specially in Pomerol that is younger in history regarding Fronsac or Saint-Emilion, houses are simple and people are not “Châtelains” but gentlemen farmers. But, above all we are oenologists travelling a lot with the life of people open to the world, not leaving all the year at home as owners are doing. Our life in Fronsac, it is very simple and peaceful.

D+: You have bought a number of outstanding wineries, some of them with partners. How did you select vineyards? Have you ever heard the advice: to look at them hen the rain falls, in the most difficult season, perhaps in winter?

D.R.: We just «fell in love» with some places, people or terroir during all of our travels. We started with Argentina, and now it’s our unique best project with Fontenil. We have made personnel wines in South-Africa and Spain with joint ventures, but now we focus, mainly, on Argentinian projects for outside.

D+: What is very important for you in this process – do you want to help people close to you, you are attracted to new terroirs, opportunities? Creating great wines in different parts of the world, in an unfamiliar climate – it should be extremely difficult. Please tell us about the most interesting projects of recent times.

D.R.: Regarding the consulting it’s always a challenge and more in difficult countries where climate, soils, knowledge …are not at the top like India, China…but when people want to learn and make good wines, it’s always a pleasure: good doesn’t mean great; for a great wine, we need to have all the qualities of terroirs, work and good professionals in each production sector.

D+: Do you work only with dry wines or there are sweet ones too? In what type of wines are you more interested as a winemaker?

D.R.: White and red wines, very few sweet or sparkling wines.

D+: You and Mr. Michel Rolland are known as the perfect “wine couple.” Common interests in oenology simplify life together or complicate?

D.R.: We have been working together for 47 years… Difficult to say it is or was complicate. Each of us has his own personality but we are very complementary.

D+: Do each of you have your own favorite technology, “specialization”. Let’s say, if you meet the challenge – one of you makes the decision on fermentation, and another sets the aging algorithms? Are there any disputes? Whose word is the law?

D.R.: Michel is more THE consultant and I am more at home, looking at laboratory and properties, but we are looking in the same direction regarding technologies, no challenge.

Val de Flores in Argentina

D+: Do you work with so-called natural wines, wild yeast? What do you think about this direction, as well as organics and biodynamics?

D.R.: Of course we worked with clients who are in organic or biodynamic culture and winemaking. It will be the new challenge to protect the Earth. But the final decision in this way must be taken by clients not by us. Personally, right now, we are in organic farming for our Val de Flores in Argentina. And with wild yeasts everywhere, except if a climatic or special problem require to add others.

D+: The company under the new name Rolland et Associés now will be managed by a team of oenologists, like-minded people of Mr. Michel Rolland. You and Mr. Michel Rolland now retain only a membership on the board of directors. What is the reason for this decision? Please comment on the situation.

D.R.: It’s the logical and normal evolution for a company as ours. Our oenologists have been employees, and after 20 years working together, it’s normal to give them shares for the future, and evident that they have more responsibilities, but nothing changes regarding work, and we are always present in the company business.

Dany Rolland with daughters Marie and Stephanie

D+: You are a shareholder of Rolland Collection Limited, a company that sells wines produced by all Rolland wineries. How is this business developing now, in which countries are there representatives/operators? How are your wines priced and by whom? Is there a single principle for all wineries?

D.R.: Rolland Collection is a family business and it’s our oldest daughter: Stéphanie, who is in charge of management. But all fares are discussed and fixed regarding the cost of the production and the situation of the market for all wineries. For Fontenil which is present on Bordeaux place market, Rolland Collection operates in same way than the others wine merchants.

D+: How do you feel about the en primeur system, its pros and cons for the winemaker?

D.R.: The en primeur system exists since a long time, it’s not perfect but it’s a good system for the owner and normaly for people who buy the wine. At this level, no problem for the winemaker: his work about the vintage is almost done.

D+: Could you recall the moment when you tasted the wines of Argentina for the first time? What was your first impression? As far as we know, the invitation from the winemaker Arnaldo Etchart was quite spontaneous for you. What prompted you to agree?

D.R.: It was in 1988, and Arnaldo Etchart called us to help him to make better or different wines that he made, because he wanted to sell on American market. We spontaneously accepted to visit and know/discover Argentina; and we fell in love with the country, the people, the landscapes, the possibilities to make good wines was the second challenge after California.

D+: What wines do you make today?

D.R.: We try to understand all the terroirs in all altitudes and latitudes and to adapt, our knowledge with a good viticulture. It seems we make good wines that really attract the interest of drinkers, and looking like their origins.

D+: You are pleased to take up less iconic wineries for consulting – in the USA, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Spain, Italy and Morocco. Have you ever thought about Eastern Europe? Have you ever discussed with Mr. Michel Rolland what country is interesting in this part of the world? What can attract you?

D.R.: As consultants and with the curiosity needed for that, we are interested with all new projects, challenge but time is not extended and we have to make some choices but we found very good places and possibilities in Bulgaria and especially around Black Sea, some in Russia (visited by a collaborator but in standby due to the virus) we work in Turkey, Armenia, Croatia, Greece…)

D+: Each country has its own peculiarity – culture, mentality, attitude to winemaking. In which country and with which terroir was the most difficult/easiest to work with and why?

D.R.: Impossible to answer, we are very open minded and have very good clients in each part of the world, and very good friends too. Of course the challenge is not the same in California than in Bulgaria, making wines at 1000 $ or less than 10. Anybody in the wine business knows that.

D+: Where would you like come back?

D.R.: In our life, we have never been in Australia or New Zealand, but it’s not a pain, a small regret, life is too short, we need another one.

D+: What can you advise to your colleagues’ winemakers from France and other countries, on how to minimize losses from a pandemic and keep sales? What steps have you taken?

D.R.: If you speak about the Covid pandemic as it’s not possible to travel, we try to organize tastings/blends by video conferences. Moreover, we speak very frequently with the people of wineries or vineyards to be always in touch and to have the best reactivity.

D+: Please name the most advanced technologies, equipment -perhaps even not yet tested by you, which you would be interested to apply in production?

D.R.: Until now, a lot of evolution in high technologies was made and almost a lot of observations and questioning regarding the plant, variety, density… the future will be in the vegetal and vineyard, to have the best quality of grapes, and also in the protection of the plant and soils to find the best combination of production: quality/quantity/safety.

D+: What trends could you highlight in the wine world for today? How, in your opinion, should be the ideal modern wine – red, white? With what manufacturing techniques could we achieve for today ideal performance of wine? And what kind of aging containers do you prefer – cement, steel, oak?

D.R.: The challenge is to preserve the best taste of a grape in a particular place, to respect the identity of the wine, trying to be very gentle with it, using the right way of winemaking and giving the best content for aging: but it depends on which type of wine you want to make: simply for refreshing, easy to drink for everyone or a wine who can age and pass through the time. We try to find the best way for that in viticulture and to use the good material for each of this kind of production: freshness with steel, more complexity with cement with longer maceration, the same in oak for aging, looking at the time and the age of the barrels.

D+: Do you have any students-winemakers? If so, how long does the study last and what is the methodology, how does the study go?

D.R.: No, we can have some in the wineries during harvest to help and study but it’s not on our entire responsibility.

D+: We understand that you are the highest class consultant and your advice is paid accordingly. Nevertheless, we dare to ask a question and we will be extremely grateful if you answer: the winemaking of Ukraine is only developing now, in difficult conditions and practically (due to the loss of Crimea) without autochthonous varieties that could impress the world. What would you advise Ukrainian winemakers – in what style would it be worth making wines to stand out on the world stage and occupy your own niche?

D.R.: I don’t know perfectly this situation, but the only advice would be to try to understand their terroirs and to plant with a good viticulture, the varieties the more adapted to the climate and soil, not exclusively indigenous ones. Each variety has the taste of its terroir. And after, they have to choice the best technology to produce wines, in quality not in quantity.

D +: Thank you very much for answering all our countless questions  and for your time!

Drinks+ Blitz:

With so many projects and, apparently, relocations – how is your standard working day goes?

Before pandemic time, it was a mix between laboratory, office, family, Fontenil and travelling for representations or Argentina: second home. Now, it is more static, and with my age, I lift the foot, looking more on the properties than the laboratory and consulting. Michel continues to do that very well, always travelling (except now) but looking to his business with Bordeaux, Spain or Italian’s clients.

How do you relax, what brings you joy?

I like to read, to look for antics, to spend time with my grandchildren, to play golf (but I don’t take enough time) to relax in our vineyards, to cook, to receive friends, to make a good and lovely table…

Your favorite restaurant\dish\wine.

I love a lot of different “cuisine”: exotic or traditional, Indian or Thai food or “fusion” in Peru or Argentina, Chinese also. I love as fish and shellfish as much meat. For wine, it’s impossible to make a list: young or old wines but good, all varieties.

Your favorite holiday, how does it go?

I love travelling, discovering old and historical places, or a nice beach. But, above all spending holidays with my children in Arcachon, where I use to go since my small childhood.

What’s the most important thing in your life?

My family and making wines.

What country have you never been to but would like to visit?

A lot!  Bali (Indonesia), Vietnam, Jordan, and many others.

What are the immediate plans for Dany and Michel Rolland?

Giving our children (daughters Stephanie and Marie and their five children) a good succession, to interest them in all the wine business, to inculcate them all the experience, enthusiasm, curiosity, and respect, it’s not a very original challenge, but we hope to be safe to do that, and keep going on until the last trip…

Dany Rolland, one of the most talented and respected oenologists in the world told about personal and professional in an exclusive interview for D+.

Those who are interested in Austrian wine are probably aware that there has been a change of leadership at the Austrian Wine Marketing Board not so long ago: last year in December, Wilhelm Klinger announced that he would step back from his duties as a Managing Director. His successor, Chris Yorke, has been elected after following a thorough multi-stage selection process involving more than 90 applicants, led AWMB in the early 2020.

Chris Yorke, Managing Director of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, spoke about his new position, plans and the impact of the epidemic on the wine business in the interview with Drinks’o’clock.

DoC: Mr. Yorke, studying your biography from official sources, it can be noted that your career was previously connected with the wine sector. Then you radically changed businesses: American Express NZ, Sony Card Europe, Roche Pharma (Welwyn Garden City), ICI Agrochemicals. Why did you change the spectrum of professions? What important professional qualities have you gained in so many different positions? How are they helping you now?

Ch.Y.: You are right I did work with a number of international companies, but this was before I entered the wine world.  The common thread with this international business experience was that the target audience was always premium and international.  Understanding the premium consumer and how her/his tastes change over time and in different countries is one of the key skills needed to do my job well.

DoC: Why did you decide to participate in candidates’ selection for the position of the Managing Director of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board? What attracts you to the wine sector?

Ch.Y.: I had been Global Marketing Director for New Zealand Wine based in New Zealand for 15 years, so I had been aware of Austrian Wine for a long time.  I had spoken to many international influencers who I asked who did the best generic marketing and often I got the answer: Austrian Wine! When I then heard that the position was becoming vacant I initially was unsure whether they would accept an international candidate.  They said they would choose the best candidate.  Along with 90 other candidates I went through the process and was lucky enough to be appointed.

DoC: You were elected as the Managing Director of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board after a thorough multi-stage selection process, in which more than 90 candidates participated. Tell us more about the selection stages, what was the assignment, who were your competitors?

Ch.Y.: It was a competitive process with a number of interviews and then a presentation to the Board.  The interviews I was able to undertake by skype as I was in New Zealand.  The final interview and presentation to the Board was carried out in Vienna, so I flew 30 hours each way to take part.  It was a confidential process so I don’t really know the identity of the other applicants. However, one applicant who I have subsequently managed to recruit into my management team is Christian Zechmeister, who is now responsible for Austria, Germany and our regions.  Christian has great experience so I think to overall quality of applicants was high.

DoC: Were there any words of encouragement from the ex-Managing Director? How was the transfer of the administration control going – how long did it take? Did you communicate a lot? What is the especially important information you have got from Willi Klinger?

Ch.Y.: Willi Klinger and I had a three-month handover period which went very well.  We travelled together to USA and Canada and also in many parts of Austria.  Willi was very generous with his time and took great care to introduce me to many stakeholders and to explain the background of how we work with them.  Like most wine countries, Austria’s is quite complex in terms of structures and regions so Willi particularly helped me untangle that.  I wish Willi well in his new role as CEO of Wein and Co in Austria.

Our wines have the types of elegant styles that consumers are looking for: good quality and value, sustainably produced and matching very well with food and our people are very friendly.

DoC: Your predecessor had a great authority – but, probably, the world does not expect from you the same strategy, everyone, as it seems to us, expects something new. What do you think about this? Will your position in the development of wine marketing be absolutely identical to the position of the ex-Managing Director? If you are planning changes, what specific new steps would you like to take and when should they be expected?

Ch.Y.: Every person brings their own approach to a role, building on their own strengths.  Willi did this and did it very well. My first task has been to build the team and we made a number of changes including as discussed increasing the size of our management team to give a clear focus:

• A closer focus on our key markets Austria and Germany and collaborative work with our wine regions
• A real focus on driving export growth in key premium wine markets
• All supported by a communications team across on-line and off-line channels

We are rolling out those changes this year and planning for next year.

DoC: You have held the position of the Managing Director for several months. What measures for the development of Austrian wine have you worked out? What did you work on during this period?

Ch.Y.: We have built the team and launched the strategy to the industry. We are now working on a number of activities to support what I call our “Glass in Hand” strategy.  What I mean by that is that we want to provide our wineries with more opportunities to show their wines to the world, as we are convinced that when trade and consumers try our wines and meet our people we can win. Why? Because our wines have the types of elegant styles that consumers are looking for: good quality and value, sustainably produced and matching very well with food and our people are very friendly.

DoC: What strategic markets are currently important to the Austrian Wine Marketing Board? How these issues going to be addressed?

Ch.Y.: Obviously the home market where we have 80% of our sales is important but as we have such a high market share the strategy is to defend and support the premium segments. Our only way to grow will be in international markets. Germany and Switzerland are logical due to language, but then we have USA, Benelux, Monopoly markets in UK, Central and Eastern Europe and parts of Asia.  We target markets and market segments that are premium and understand the price/quality that we offer.

DoC: What global international exhibitions do you plan to take part in? Perhaps you will enter new markets, new local exhibitions?

Ch.Y.: We are big fans of Prowein Düsseldorf and Shanghai and Vinexpo Hong Kong and now Paris.  We are also evaluating their other shows.  Obviously the current situation is very difficult for exhibition companies and there will probably be a shake out of cities and locations.  We also take part in smaller more targeted events, ie for organic or biodynamic wines and always look for new events that match our target consumers and trade.

Our only way to grow will be in international markets. Germany and Switzerland are logical due to language, but then we have USA, Benelux, Monopoly markets in UK, Central and Eastern Europe and parts of Asia.

DoC: Has coronavirus made major changes to your plans? How did your company adapt to processes under the global quarantine? How do you feel about online resources for placing image ads of Austrian wines?

Ch.Y.: Yes, corona virus is the number one topic as with all other companies and wine countries!  We have quickly refocused our activities and are launching an on-line campaign in Austria targeting sales of wine in supermarkets, online and from wineries.  We are looking to expand this to other countries.

Secondly we are focusing on plans for after Corona and are actively planning a number of events when our wineries can travel again, particularly supporting the restaurants around the world but also our wineries’ cellar doors, as well as wine tourism

DoC: How do you feel about such a safe, and therefore urgent method, like presenting Austrian wines online and after put this presentation on digital channels? Let’s say our Communication media group has such resources and an extensive experience of disseminating such information among buyers and distributors from different countries.

Ch.Y.: We are always open for urgent ideas. And since on this stage, such a concept is less dangerous – this is certainly an option for consideration.

DoC: What interesting wine events from Austrian Wine Marketing Board await wine lovers as well as wine professionals in the near future?

Ch.Y.: Very many! We plan to do Austrian tastings in Moscow, St Petersburg and Toronto and other events in Chicago, Basel, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stuttgart. as well as a number of other activities in the second half of the year.  A lot is on hold at the moment but once things clear up there will be a number of exciting activities we can let you know about!

Chris Yorke, Managing Director of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, spoke about his new position, plans and the impact of the epidemic on the wine business in the interview with Drinks’o’clock.

Daniel and Florence Cathiard, the owners of Château Smith Haut Lafitte, have invested enormous resources in the renovation of the 18th century Château  and winery buildings they acquired in 1990. And besides finances, Daniel and Florence brought their own worldview to the cause, consisting in the desire «to do everything so that every vintage of red and white wines reflects the potential of a magnificent terroir».

Florence Cathiard in an exclusive interview for D+ shared her wine business philosophy.

D+: Mrs. Florence Cathiard, this is a long-standing story and probably you were often asked about this, but we are also interested: why does a family of athletes, high-level sport professionals suddenly decide to radically change their business activities – from a logical activity for themselves – sporting goods stores Go Sport, go on to wine business. Was there any doubt? And what prompted you to buy a Château in Bordeaux?

Florence Cathiard: After 10 years of competition skiing (between the age of 12 and 21 for me), we worked very hard to develop our supermarkets over 20 years as well as Go Sport business. Daniel and I began to cross each other in airports and forgetting everything about family life in order to become even more successful in our respective careers.

When Daniel decided to sell his shares, I was unhappy and terrified at the very beginning but soon I understood that it could be a good opportunity for our couple to start over again with a new adventure… a small niche rather than a big company . At that time, the only drink we used to have and loved very much was Bordeaux red wines.

So we looked for some estates to purchase in Bordeaux and fell in love at first sight with the one single piece, great terroir of SHL, surrounded by 65 Ha of forest and meadows. Even if it was pretty derelict at the time.

D+: Could you recall the moment when you crossed the conditional threshold of Château  Smith Lafitte – already as a mistress and left alone with your domains? What were you thinking about at that moment? What particular problem bothered you the most and what should you do first?

F.C.: The very important thing for us at that moment was the terroir and on the other hand we need to have a certain estimate what we have to do! At the first time what we thought, that we wanted to be organic! But it was a total disaster with organic processes! We didn’t have our own organic company, it took us 5 years to get a result and it was very expensive.

D+: Did you have any wine-making ambitions at that moment – let’s say, that you will make a better wine than in such Château? Who, then, was your opponent who you wanted to overtake? Or at that time you did not pay attention to other leaders?

F.C.: As my always optimistic husband Daniel said, we were learning the job! (in the hard way). It took us until 1995 to really succeed in making a great vintage in both red and white. We understood that we need more recognitions in our wines. They should be more elegant, less oaky and have a long-long finish. We chose to hire Fabien Teitgen who just graduated from the best university for wine making and agricultural engineering.

We took him not only because of his diploma but because he also shared our same inner conviction about organic farming. Michel Rolland also became part of the project, and is still today our consultant and friend, as well as Stephane Derenoncourt who joined us more recently.

What we also did, we organize our own cooperage in the Château and it was a great idea! With our own oaks we decided to change a lot in our wines.

D+: Château Smith Haut Lafitte – one of the 4th (and there are about 6000 in total !!!) in Bordeaux with its own barrels’ production. Why did you decide to make your own barrels? What you did not like about the quality of suppliers? How did this affect the quality of your wines?

F.C.: We decided to make our own barrels because we think it is very important to master the supply of the oak and the subtleties of the toasting for the wood never to overwhelm the fruit nor the specificities of the terroir.

We feel no need to violate the rules of the region because a great growth of Bordeaux must precede the trends: we were and still are pioneers in oenotourism, in organic farming and now in biodynamic and phytotherapy…

We like to thrive on the constraints of having to compose our symphony in the crystal glass with a very limited name of varietals, of not being allowed to irrigate etc… Because a 650 years old Château as ours must remain Classic, avoid the mistakes of the past, and not follow the fashion which will not last…

D+: What difficulties did you encounter at the beginning of the wine-journey in principle? Have you studied the winemaking theory, viticulture, or everything were comprehended in practice? Whether there were any mistakes in your decision-making? Could you please remember it, if possible?

F.C.: In 1991 our expectations were greater than our fear. But 4 months after we bought the estate, we suffered from frost and lost 80% of the crop alike the four leading appellations of Bordeaux! It was an agricultural and financial disaster. Then in 1992 endured continuous rain and in 1993 we were half breaking but still pretty naïve and certainly a little arrogant, we decided to convert in organic farming and it was a complete failure. Yields went drastically down, our home made organic compost was totally inefficient and the vines suffered a lot…

D+: Robert Parker once spoke of Smith Haut Lafitte like this: “Under the impeccable leadership of the Cathiard Family, the Château has become one of Bordeaux’s brightest stars since the mid-1990s.” Could you please name three or five basic steps that led the Château to success?

F.C.: Leading a Château to success requires:

•  a great terroir;
• an excellent team;
• stop using chemicals and pesticide;
•  living on your estate or very near…
•  making no difference between your job and your way of life as well as a passion fully shared with your partner;
• a lot of luck and optimism to deal with Dame Nature and the weather.

D+: What changes/trends in the wine business can you personally notice over the past 10-15 years? Could you divide them into positive and negative?

F.C.: Positive in the last 15 years is that what we call ‘La Place de Bordeaux’, I mean the 50 wine merchants, negociants, they have given to SHL a worldwide exposure making our bottles famous in more than 30 countries. But on the other hand we have to back up the Négociants since some huge companies sell our wines to big markets, like the United States or Asia and don’t pay as much attention to the small markets, the ones we call niche, to divide our risks. Negative – what we can see now it is like postapocalyptic world because of Covid-19. Only our team is working on the vineyard, and we hope that in July it will end and people will come again to our Château. We rather prefer small individual sales, because we believe the people we meet directly, later becomes world ambassadors for our wines. The good thing about our new vintage, 2019, even it will not be easy to sell it like previous vintages, it might take more time, but it will only get better with a bit of ageing. We shall release the wine on the Place de Bordeaux at the end of June, and the odds are that prices shall be more interesting than last year, with a quality that is no less better. Smith Haut Lafitte 2019 will definitely be a good buying opportunity for fine wine lovers.

D+: Bordeaux is famous for its red wines and a few dare to risk breaking this tradition. But we can say that you are still sporting producing white wine. And do it brilliantly. Our editorial team visited you last year and we tasted one of the most outstanding vintages – 2011. In your opinion, what other years among your whites can be recommended to serious collectors?

F.C.: With our whites as well as with our reds we would like to show the best of Bordeaux. In the world they are the finest, not the first. For our white wines we have 10.5 ha. The soil is very special; it gives slow ripening which we think is excellent for our wines. We have 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Semillon, 5% Sauvignon Gris. We have a special wine, special blend, special soil and every year we are among of three best white wine of the whole Bordeaux appellations. We are very proud of our whites, they are much smaller than red, but for us it is a niche and we have two kind of vintages. One type is full of energy and very straight like an arrow, direct, pure, with a lot of acidity, freshness. These are 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017 vintages. 2013 was selected among the 10 best wines of the world by Wine Spectator. For me, I prefer wine with more body, roundness in the mouth, the kind of wine that can confuse people. It is – 2005, 2009, 2015, 2019. In this wine people don’t recognize 90% Sauvignon Blanc and it is surprising. This kind of wine goes very well with fish. The first type of wine goes better with seafood. You decide. Better is to have both and choose.

D+: The vines in your vineyards, according to the information, are up to 40 years old. But there are also 60-year-old – Sauvignon Blanc varieties. Was there any temptation to make a cépage wines only from old vines or would it be a violation of the rules?

F.C.: We are doing now 90% Sauvignon and it will not change radically. We did the pure Sauvignon till 1998 and then we decided to add 5% Semillon, 5% Sauvignon Gris. We did this because Great Bordeaux wines are bland, not pure varietal. We wanted to stay faithful to the traditions for Great Bordeaux wines.

D+: How do you feel, that today more and more winemakers are violating the rules of the region in order to make wine according to their own rules? What, in your opinion, is more important – the originality of the style or features of the region, area? What change in the winemaking law in France, in your opinion, would be worth making? Or current legislation is almost ideal for producers?

F.C.: We love our wines, and it should be like this. Château  Smith Lafitte is 650 years old and we are very proud of it. We learn from our failures and therefore we get better, yet we want to pursue a typical terroir wine. Making a fancy wine outside the lines is probably a good bet for a small château/vineyard, but definitely not a good strategy for one of the top Classified Growth of Bordeaux like SHL.

D+: Your Château  has been following the principles of organic winemaking for several years. Tell us about the work done and your personal attitude to organics. Why does a Château  with a name Smith Haut Lafitte to have the organic status? Is it not about a business at all?

F.C.: My father wanted to call me “Nature”, but lucky enough my mother objected. I did all my skiing training by running in the southern Alpes mountains in my young days and Daniel, whom I met at a very young age, was even more passionate about the mountain and its nature, thanks to the snow which was very abundant in our childhood. There we found ourselves on the front line when climate change started to show its negative impact. As for our two daughters, they grew up in an isolated farm north of Grenoble. Mathilde, the founder of Caudalie, was very into animals and managed to tame two hens at a young age while Alice was always concerned about plants & vegetal, she now set up a huge organic vegetable garden at Les Sources de Caudalie.

To be more organic in your life style it is now very important – the planet is damaged to a point where it can no longer heal on its own, it’s time to take care of it as much as we can. Even if we have the impression of living in a protected environment in the heart of our vineyards, the least thing is to preserve what surrounds us.

We also took part in COP21 2015 (Climate changes conference). I was a president of the CSO (Conseil Supérieur de l’Oenotourisme) and as such, I met with all the major wine institutions in France as well as the related ministries such as agriculture, tourism, health… I spread the words about ecology. We were then invited to Cop 21 2015 where we sent our daughter Alice to stand for the new generation.

On the other side, we are fully committed to “phytotherapy” (herbal medicine) by cultivating and drying our own plants such as comfrey, wormwood, yarrow, wicker, valerian and tansy but also pick up horsetail, nettle and fern growing naturally in our forests, and later make a decoction out of it in a large teapot to then spread in our vineyard. Examples below:

• Cow Horn filled with humus mixture to dynamize soils life.
• Horsetail: Against fungal diseases, mildew, with action from silica and calcium.
• Osier: To fight against fungal diseases
• Oak bark: Improves grape resistance, fights against grey rot
• Ferns: natural insect repellent
• Nettles: A fertilizer that enhances interchange and chlorophyll storage

We also so far planted some 8.5km of multi-diversities hedgerows and we continue to plant. We set up a dozen hives as well to enhance the diversity around us. Even it can be very restrictive sometimes since the hedgerows sometimes make the vines frost-sensitive (by shadowing them) and the bees are sometimes attacked by Asian hornets, even if we need to dedicate large surface to cultivate our plants and build up barns to dry them, we believe that the other wine estates should also try to commit more in this fight according to their means and encourage them to do so.

We strongly believe that a healthy & beautiful environment is the best thing we can do for the people following the SHL adventure along with us. So far it really helps with certainty, living in harmony with nature, far from all kinds of city pollution and aggressiveness.

D+: Could you please tell a few words about “Les Cinq” (except for Haut Smith Lafitte, this includes: Canon La Gaffeliere, Gazin, Branaire-Ducru and Pontet-Canet) – an alliance created to promote in the world markets. Tell us how did the idea of unification come about? What is your relationship with the owners of these Châteaux?

F.C.:Our Club “Les Cinq” was founded by my husband Daniel and Stephane Von Neipperg during an Air France strike in 1993… Pontet Canet decided to leave the club a few years ago and now we are just 4 châteaux (But with Daniel and I that makes 5 friends) and we do not tour together as we used to do because we have grown differently in many aspects but we still communicate a lot and share some good meals and wines of course.

D+: When we wrote a report about a visit to your Château, we quoted your high opinion about the vintage of 2019, but at the same time you spoke out in the press with regret about the negative events of the past year: problems of the economic plan related to Brexit, Trump tax increase, uprisings in Hong Kong, triggering a downturn in Asian markets and price turbulence in China. And now here is the corona virus. How do you deal with current problems? Do you consider the uncertainty with en premier this year?

F.C.: Yes! We know that en primeur will be delayed. Now we send some samples to importers and to the great collectors of our wine we are very active in social media, we do it but we know that we will be cheaper even if the 2019 is a great vintage. We will not sell as much as we could, because some countries will be closed. But we think that people will never forget about drinking an excellent wine!

D+: What is the current situation with sales?

F.C.: Until now 20% to the US, including Canada, 20% for China, including Hong Kong, 20% for France, 20% for Europe. We are well sold in eastern countries also people from Switzerland love our wines and also Germany is a good market as well as Indonesia & Singapore. But this year with Covid-19 it will be disrupted and we don’t have a clue yet how the sales are going to scatter. We hope that a vaccine will be released soon in order to come back to a normal life/normal activity. I hope wine will be the one of the main thing that people will buy.

D+: How to minimize pandemic losses and keep sales? Is it worth to take it easy, maybe. As some say, it is better to wait out without investing in promotion? Wine does not go bad from aging, but only adds to the price?

F.C.: We try to minimize the very sad impact of Pandemia by taking time to answer to all our SHL friends around the world, proposing virtual master classes, setting up a drive in our boutique… and preparing a beautiful 2020 vintage every day! I think we should invest more in the Internet in a near future, as well as welcome our clients in our “small island of civilization”.

D+: Perhaps, with the glory of Château Smith about Lafitte in the world, only the glory Caudalie cosmetics – created from oenoproducts – can argue. How did you organize the business, whose idea was it, did the success come straight? Do you taste new products? What do you like most from the latest developments?

F.C.: Caudalie cosmetics is totally another complete story by itself even if we gave the initial “coup de pouce” all the glory and merit belongs to Mathilde and her husband Bertrand! Alice and Jerome are now owners & managers of les Sources de Caudalie. They just sold les Etangs de Corots since it was no longer part of their strategy of opening superb resorts in the 5 best French wine regions: Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Loire Valley (a beautiful resort, similar to Les Sources de Caudalie is bound to open in July or August), Champagne and Alsace.Our children have the complete disposal of their own businesses and we interfere in their decisions only if they ask us for advises.

D+: Your château is special not only in its history, the quality of its wines, you make your own barrels and have a cooperage on premise and other production advantages. This is a territory with a special philosophical atmosphere. This is an art objects park and, in fact, the château itself is an art object. Tell us what all these installations mean to you, who selects them for you? Do you have the final say in this selection and how do they all relate to your personal philosophy?

F.C.: It is our personal collection. But at the beginning we just bought a piece of art with my husband (the giant bronze hare by Barry Flanagan) and if we have some money left after we pay everybody and buy the best technical tools, we buy a great sculpture each year. As people began asking about this, and we made a few booklets and designed a new visit “Art & wine”. Now we are planning to go on with new sculptures .

D+: As far as we know, this year the 8th World Wine Tasting Championship is planned at Château Smith Haut Lafitte, in which the Ukrainian team will participate for the second time. How will it be with this contest now, is it postponed? Why did you invite the organizers or they contacted you? Why such an event is interesting for the already famous Château like Smith Haut Lafitte?

F.C.: This year in November we shall be very pleased to welcome the 8th World Wine Tasting championship and specially the Ukrainian team! The organizers contacted us and of course we could not say no to such a prestigious event.

D+: You wrote a book called Art de Vigne (‘The Art of the Vine’) – what is it about? This is for winegrowers, about the history of the region, about wines – to whom is it addressed?

F.C.: The book I wrote and that my husband illustrated with his photos wasn’t just only another nice coffee-table-book (I hope!) since 30 000 copies were printed, selling half of it and offering the other half. It was mainly read by great wine lovers, especially of SHL.

Blitz:

If you and your husband hadn’t bought Château Smith Haut Lafitte at one time, then you… (please continue the sentence)

Then we should have been very stupid, wealthier than now but to which use … and bound to escape to some remote and very boring fiscal paradise maybe…

Please tell us about your daily routine and diet.

In these times of Covid-19, I spent every morning with my husband and our 2 dogs in the vineyard, speaking (with social distancing) to our valiant team (nobody missing!) then we taste (and spit) some blind samples of the last vintage 2018 and 2019, while having a simple and fresh lunch (meat with red wine, fish when we drink white…). In the afternoon we have “window conference” with Fabien to organize the life of the Château and take many decision, then answering my email and house party with family and friends…

How do you relax?

Walking through our Land Art forest.

Which wine from your vintages is most dear to you and why?

2009.2010.2015.2016 and the two last babies 2018 & 2019. (2013, 2017 and 2019 for the White!) see technical sheet enclosed.

What book/movie/event turned your life upside down?

My encounter with Michel Serres, a great philosophical author who became my friend and unfortunately disappeared last year and my tasting of Haut Brion 1989.

Which country have you not been to yet, but would dream to visit?

Georgia because it is the cradle of wines and Napa Valley because we like the place are bound to go back there soon.

What is Florence Cathiard goals for today?

To make one of the very top wine of Bordeaux, White and Red, for each vintage, and to have a happy family in good health (better to reverse the two propositions…)

What is the life philosophy of Florence Cathiard?

Take your chance, believe in your star, follow your way. ‘À te regarder, ils s’habitueront’ (René Char)

Florence Cathiard in an exclusive interview for D+ shared her wine business philosophy.

I think for any winemaker in the world it would be an honor to work at Château d’Yquem. But of all the applicants, she was chosen – Sandrine Garbay, who was only 27 years old at the time! One of the youngest and most respected professionals on the planet answered D+ questions. Including this story, that looks like a fairy tale.

D+: Madam Garbay, Château d’Yquem is classified as Premier Cru Supérieur, the highest category in the classification of Bordeaux wines. To drink such a wine is, perhaps, like having a picture of Edgar Degas in your own living room… You can hardly meet them on the shelves of a supermarket (Château d’Yquem as well as Degas) J. How does it feel to work with wine of such a high level, in the interiors with such a design, in the Château with such a history?

Sandrine Garbay: It is funny you should compare the experience at d’Yquem to a painting by Degas, since I grew up with a copy of The Star hanging above my bed as a child and teenager. It is a great parallel. And in the same way that you never get tired of looking at a piece of art that moves you, I never get tired of coming to work in the enchanting setting of d’Yquem, nor tasting its precious elixir! Even after 25 years in the business! I am proud and, above all, honoured to work at d’Yquem.

D+: How did it happen that you ascended this pedestal in a very young – as for a winemaker – age? How old were you? Why was it you exactly who was chosen and how did your professional path begin at this, without exaggeration, amazing place, which personifies all the best that there is in the Sauternes region? It looks like a fairy tale.

S.G.: Not long after graduating in Oenology in 1989, aged 22, I was recruited by one of my professors specialising in MLF, Ms Aline Lonvaud, to undertake research in bacteriology. Thus, after spending five years working in a laboratory, I obtained a PhD in oenology in 1994. But eventually, as much as I enjoyed my job, I dreamt of returning to production and fulfilling my true vocation as an oenologist. That is why, not long after, I started looking for work in the southern Gironde, since my husband had just set up his own business not far from Sauternes. It was at this moment, when Alexandre de Lur Saluces offered me the opportunity to join his team at d’Yquem, that my life really turned into a fairy tale. When I heard the news, I was overwhelmed with joy, not to mention anxiety! I began working at d’Yquem on the 1st of September 1994.

My role consists in fermenting and ageing the wines at the estate, from the moment they arrive at the cellar to bottling. I also supervise packaging and shipping departments, and I am in charge of a team of ten people.

D+: Could you please tell us about your education – how much does the theory of winemaking help you in practice, as Sauternes is a very special, complex wine? Which of the winemaking masters became a teacher for you?

S.G.: I am continuously drawing on my initial training, my experience at Yquem, as well as technical and scientific advancements led by researchers at the ISVV, who I have a lot of faith in!

I learnt the specific characteristics of Sauternes, and particularly d’Yquem wines, thanks to my predecessor Guy Latrille, who I collaborated with for three years, as well as Francis Mayeur, the estate’s current technical director (who has been working at d’Yquem for 37 years!) and the now-retired consulting oenologist, Serge Chauvet, who first introduced me to Alexandre de Lur Saluces and to whom I owe a great deal (he was my «fairy godfather», so to speak). It is clear the incredible phenomenon that is noble rot requires special attention that cannot be learnt out of a textbook. The reaction that takes place between the grape (the host) and the fungus Botrytis cinerea (the guest) under the watchful eye of the Sauternes microclimate could almost be described as magic. This extraordinary process climaxes in the creation of d’Yquem, a treasure trove of voluptuousness and refinement.

D+: How does Sandrine Garbay’s regular work day go? Which is the most stressful period/season for you, why and how does this stress manifest itself?

S.G.:: My role consists in fermenting and ageing the wines at the estate, from the moment they arrive at the cellar to bottling. I also supervise packaging and shipping departments, and I am in charge of a team of ten people.

A typical day begins by allocating tasks to each of my colleagues. I then get down to tasting the wines on which we will work. This may involve tasting the wines in each barrel before they are racked  and  blended,  or  taking  part in group tastings led by a committee of six to seven people to determine the final blend, or regularly tasting  the wine throughout ageing. I then carry on completing administrative tasks (relating to wine, traceability, record- keeping, customs formalities, etc.). I generally devote some time each day to promoting the d’Yquem experience and sharing our dedication, either with the estate’s visitors, or with journalists, sommeliers or students from all over the world. The harvest is the most intense and stressful time of year, but it is also the most thrilling! It is my favourite season, since it reveals the intrinsic nature of my job. A new vintage is taking shape – this is an incredibly exciting time for us!

 D+: Château d’Yquem has a very long history. What has been fundamentally changing in the process of winemaking during all these long years, and what has remained unchanged? For example, we know that in 2011 the estate changed the process of vinification – was this your idea? Do you have, in spite of the legislative regulations and the traditions of the Château, a carte blanche to apply your own techniques, to experiment – if so, what other know-how have you applied?

S.G.: When considering altering the very essence of a wine like d’Yquem, it is important to do so with caution. Any change or development in the winemaking process must be carefully thought-through, evaluated and adapted to the identity of the end product. What has not changed throughout the history of d’Yquem, is the emphasis we place on producing and selecting high-quality grapes. Can you imagine just how complex and specific harvesting the botrytised grapes in passes is? We have a wealth of expertise at the estate, enriched with several centuries of experience.

In recent years, we have improved alcoholic fermentation thanks to advances in research, whilst remaining true to our roots by using the grapes’ indigenous yeast. We also fine-tuned ageing to help preserve the floral and fruity aromas of the wine, which resulted in the very gradual shortening of the barrel ageing period, from 40 to 20 months between 2000 and 2011, as  well  as  reduced  oxygenation  in the wine thanks to racking without air contact and bottling in an inert gas environment. We are constantly monitoring the latest technologies. If we come across something that could be of interest to d’Yquem without compromising our unyielding respect for the terroir and the product, we will consider conducting a trial, possibly full-scale, and evaluating the results.

We also fine-tuned ageing to help preserve the floral and fruity aromas of the wine, which resulted in the very gradual shortening of the barrel ageing period, from 40 to 20 months between 2000 and 2011, as well as reduced oxygenation in the wine thanks to racking without air contact and bottling in an inert gas environment.

D+: Sugar level is much higher in Château d’Yquem today than it was before. Why did you come to such a decision and what are its advantages?

S.G.: It is not a choice on our behalf – it is in fact the result, albeit a positive one, of climate change. Throughout the history of Yquem, the sugar levels in the greatest vintages were very similar to those produced since the 2000s. D’Yquem 1929, d’Yquem 1937, d’Yquem 1945 and 1949, and even d’Yquem 1959, which were grown under similar weather conditions to today, all had over 130 g/L of residual sugar. The intermediate vintages of those decades were clearly less concentrated: between 80 and 110 g/L.

But since the mid 1990s, the climate has been much more conducive to the spread of noble rot and, in particular, the evaporation of water to concentrate sugar levels afterwards. This resulted in the sugar levels in the wines exceeding 130 g/L, contributing greater power, aromatic complexity, and an impressively long aftertaste. The clear advantage of this is that, since 2001, we have managed to produce a «1937» every year! I am exaggerating a little, but there is a grain of truth in this…

D+: Could you tell us please about the features of working in the Château d’Yquem with a barrel – during the processes of vinification and aging. When we were on   a tour in your Château last year – by the way, we saw you from afar, but you were busy and we didn`t dare to come and make an acquaintance J – they told us that about 400 barrels are used per year.

S.G.: Barrels play an integral role in the winemaking process. From the very beginning, the juice from the grapes is fermented in new barrels (100%), which will accompany the wine throughout the ageing process. An aromatic reaction occurs between the lactones from the oak and those produced by Botrytis cinerea, which is responsible for the marmalade and candied orange notes typical of Sauternes wines. We are thus very fond of barrel ageing, but this does not prevent us from trialling other types of container. Come and ask us again in 10 years time!

D+: Which Château d’Yquem vintage would you call the top? Have you ever had bad vintages in your memory? What do you do in such cases? What is the main difficulty in the work of the head winemaker of Château d’Yquem?

S.G.: Many d’Yquem vintages are top-level wines: 21-29-37-45-49-67-75-83-88-97 and the legendary 2001. But in recent years, I would like to highlight the 2009-2015 and the 2017, which are, quite simply, fabulous! Of course, we should not forget that Mother Nature can spoil everything, as was the case in 2012. During this extraordinary year, I discovered how the rain, which fell almost incessantly in October, could lead to the development of grey rot and destroy the entire crop in just two weeks. We could not do anything to stop it… The one hundred barrels or so of wine produced (versus 400 for a typical vintage) turned out very bland and lacking body on the palate. The wines were not bad in themselves, but they were far from meeting the high standards demanded by d’Yquem. Pierre Lurton, with the full support of Bernard Arnault, chose not to produce d’Yquem that year.

For my part, this brought bad memories. The feeling of powerlessness was difficult to overcome, as always, but resilience and hope came with the following vintages. We are lucky in that respect!

D+: Last year Drinks+ visited Château d’Yquem. Welcoming his guests Bernard Arnault, General Manager of the LVMH, said that Château d’Yquem is following the path of organic winemaking and is going to move to biodynamics after completing a series of certification procedures in this status. What additional steps should Château d’Yquem make for this?

S.G.: We started our transition to organic viticulture two years ago. All in all, there were not many major changes     to undertake. We have never used chemical weedkillers, practising traditional ploughing instead. We do not use chemical fertilizers either, we have always enriched our soils with local farm manure only. We adopted organic methods to fend off powdery mildew and mating disruption against grape worms.

However, we were still using chemical biocontrol molecules to fight against mildew and black rot, which are not permitted in organic viticulture. We therefore decided to completely abandon these molecules and the estate has been officially undergoing a conversion to organic viticulture since August 2019. It will take us three years to obtain organic certification. This will have no impact on our cellar activities, since we already respect organic specifications.

When Alexandre de Lur Saluces offered me the opportunity to join his team at d’Yquem, that my life really turned into a fairy tale.

D+: They say wine starts in the vineyard. How much of this is fair for Sauternes?

S.G.: All wines start their journey in the vineyards, and in Sauternes we encounter the same challenges faced by dry red wine estates. We communicate with our colleagues from other estates, particularly regarding new technologies and developments that will help reduce the use of copper and sulphur to protect our vines. This is the major challenge of the Bordeaux wine region, and it should be remembered that our climate is not the same as that in the Languedoc or Burgundy. We tend to have a significant amount of rainfall during the growth cycle, which is already imposing the threat of vine diseases this year. When the Bordeaux region says that converting to organic viticulture is not easy, it is not for complacency or a lack of conviction on the part of winegrowers, it is because fighting against mildew and black rot using only copper is incredibly difficult.

D+: One of the features of Château d’Yquem is that grapes are harvested in 13 stages, with different Botrytis levels, which adds complexity and ideal acidity balance to the wine – what is your role and actions during this period?

S.G.: In fact, the harvest at d’Yquem takes place, on average, in five successive passes. That is already a lot! The organisation of these passes and the harvesting strategy is decided by the estate’s technical director, Francis Mayeur. He and I, alongside the vineyard manager, of course, communicate on a continuous basis. This stage is crucial in determining the quality of the wine. Nothing should be left to chance, and even with the three of us supervising this task, it is quite a challenge.

D+: Do you have assistants? Could you tell us about your team – who these people are, their education, age, work experience, interests etc. In general, what is your team like that are creating a legendary wine – the Sauternes of Château d’Yquem?

S.G.: I work with ten people all year round. I have a quality control assistant, whom I have been working with for the past 21 years, as well as a packaging assistant who has been at d’Yquem since 1993, and an assistant in charge of shipments since 2012. Only the latter was trained in winemaking – the other two come from very different backgrounds, more suited to their roles. They all completed their training at d’Yquem.

D+: Perhaps this might look like a provocation to violate corporate ethics, and yet, let me ask you: if not Château d’Yquem, then which of the famous wines would you single out for its impeccable quality?

S.G.: There are many great wines are remarkable! In this respect, I truly admire the work of Bordeaux-based consultant oenologist, Eric Boissenot, on behalf of all his clients, whatever their status. He is an incredibly talented man who maintains absolute discretion at all times. Similarly, Vincent Millet’s work at Calon Ségur is the perfect example of rigour and precision. The wines have gained considerable elegance and intensity, I am a big fan!

D+: Which of the Château d’Yquem vintages was the oldest that you have personally tried? Can the oldest Sauternes be called the best?

S.G.: The oldest d’Yquem that I have tasted was a d’Yquem 1801. While my emotions were running high,  it  was  not the best wine I have ever  tasted. I have fonder memories   of d’Yquem 1811, which featured aromas of cooked fruit, mingled with roasted nuances and notes of liquorice and spices. Generally speaking, d’Yquem wines require twenty years of ageing to fully express their rich range of aromas. However, younger wines can also be immensely enjoyable, while some very old ones remain delicious for an incredibly long time (over 100 years!). There is no hard and fast rule and each vintage may present its very own tasting curve. That is why it is a good idea to buy several bottles from the same vintage to taste it at every stage of its development – that way you will never end up disappointed!

D+: The problem of climate change leads to the fact that winemakers start experimenting with varieties which are not familiar to a particular region, crossing certain vines in the hope that they can develop something resistant to one of the main modern challenges of nature. Is Château d’Yquem thinking about climate change?

S.G.: Climate change presents a real challenge for the future of our vineyards. Testing new grape varieties is an avenue that we are exploring on a few rows, in order to   plan the future while remaining as faithful as possible to the identity of d’Yquem. But it is not the only one. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, a cool climatic phase in Bordeaux led us to favour early-ripening rootstocks and clones, alongside vineyard management and practices designed to compensate for lower temperatures. In recent years, this trend has completely reversed, so that we opted for easy- to-implement tools to delay ripening (shifting towards late- ripening rootstocks and clones, modifying vine training and the height of the leaf canopy, studying shading, as well as controlled irrigation in very early-ripening plots). These are just a few of the many avenues to explore and implement   at the regional level. The Nouvelle Aquitaine region has invested significantly into achieving this objective.

D+: What does the chief winemaker of Château d’Yquem dream about?

S.G.: My dreams remain humble: to continue to fully participate in the epic saga that is d’Yquem, to watch it adapt to the passing of time, to see the next generation take over this magnificent estate and to see it shine around the world, as it rightly deserves!

Photos by Château d’Yquem

Sandrine Garbay, one of the youngest and most respected professionals on the planet answered D+ questions.

To write to Jancis Robinson (who, I am sure, should not be presented to our audience) with a proposal for an interview, I was surprised when the answer came unexpectedly prompt. The content was in the spirit of the famous Jancis – concise and strict: “Send me questions. Not too many, please! I am so busy at the moment.” Of course, we could not resist the temptation and took the opportunity given to us by Mrs Janсis Robinson, the fate and the quarantine: and just in case we prepared questions with a marginJ, hoping that we would get at least a half of answers.

Jancis Robinson, a person with the special merits in the wine world, a wine critic, journalist, writer, consultant of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland answered ALL D+ questions! We are incredibly grateful.

Drinks+: Mrs Jancis Robinson, first of all, we would like to note, this is a great honor for us to have the opportunity to ask you about your wine world vision, your personal thoughts and rules. You are a unique person in the wine world! In addition to many honorable titles and awards, you are known as the main wine encyclopedist of our time. Your energy is also enough for light wine genres. You are loved, known, read, quoted all over the world. You have achieved a lot in life… Including the unofficial status of the harshest wine critic in the world.

Do you agree with this opinion? What is the ultimate goal of your work – first of all, education of a wine consumer or education of a producer? Or something third?

Jancis Robinson: I’m sorry if I’m known as such a harsh wine critic. No-one could love wine more than me. And I love writing stories about it. But perhaps what gives rise to this supposed ‘unofficial status’ is that in my wine reviews/tasting notes I always write down my impressions as I am tasting, a sort of stream of consciousness (I never go back to rewrite my tasting notes to polish them) and I write 100% for my readers, wine consumers, and not for quotation as sales aids. This is probably why my tasting notes are so rarely quoted by producers!

I’m no great fan of tasting notes that are a long list of flavours because I think tasting is so subjective that it’s unlikely another taster with find those same flavours. Also, consumers may feel inadequate if they don’t sense the same flavours. I concentrate a bit more on the vital statistics of the wine: body, tannin, acidity, sweetness, how mature – and then perhaps an impressionistic overview and assessment of its personality.

D+: Your 20-point wine scoring scale has shorter scores number, but more emotional in terms of description: “Deadly dull”, “Distinguished”, “Superior” “Truly exceptional” etc. What, in your opinion, is the advantage in comparison with the 100-point wine scoring used by many?

J.R.: I think everyone should be free to use whichever scale they feel most comfortable with.  The 20-point scale is the traditional European one and I have never felt the need to switch. But I am sad if too much emphasis is put on scores. I see scores as a necessary evil – something that was needed when the fine wine market was on fire and readers needed a rapid shorthand assessment of quality so that that could buy wine in a hurry. But that is no longer the case and of course I always thing words are far more important and no wine can be summed up in a number.

On JancisRobinson.com we publish a separate tasting note for every different bottle of a wine that we taste and we find that there can be considerable variation between bottles so no-one should take a single tasting note and score as the gospel!

D+: You are the only wine author who was distinguished as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on whose wine cellars you are also advise. Tell us, please, how this process works. Do you travel, taste, then offer a list? How often do the wine list change? Which countries prevail? Has it ever occurred to you to get a feedback with a request to replace one or another wines or all your offers were always accepted unconditionally?

J.R.: There’s something about climbing into a taxi and asking the driver to take me to Buckingham Palace that still gives me an absurd amount of pleasure, even in this, my 16th year as a member of the Royal Household Wine Committee. I am not remotely blasé about the subsequent fight through the crowds of tourists to present my driving licence as photo ID, first to the policemen at the North Centre Gate (pictured), the one on the right of the Palace, and then, after a 50-metre crunch over the pink gravel, again to the liveried staff at the Privy Purse Door.

We need to select enough wine, about 5,000 bottles, for the Royal Household to offer its guests at more than 300 events held each year in Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Our budget is supplied by the Queen’s Civil List funding. Outsiders might assume that we spend our time picking out the plums from the world’s vineyards for Her Majesty’s cellar but the reality is very much more prosaic. By far the majority of the wines we buy are either nonvintage champagne (supplied at an average price considerably lower than any supermarket special offer I have come across) or relatively modest wines for big receptions, the likes of inexpensive New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and the most basic red Bordeaux.

But whenever I publish tasting notes on the wines submitted to the RHWC on my website, some readers almost invariably come back expressing disappointment that the wines aren’t grander. I realize on reflection, however, that the complainers are rarely British taxpayers.

We committee members meet a few times each year to taste, usually under Buckingham Palace though once, memorably, in the rather more cramped cellars of Windsor Castle. Wines for state occasions like this come not from the Royal Household but from the quite separate government cellars under Lancaster House, which have their own, separate wine committee.

We do get to taste some reasonably smart stuff for Her Majesty and her guests. We buy young red Bordeaux when it’s released and age it because – at least so far – that has saved money. And there is always a cache of red and white burgundy, as well as some vintage champagne for really important guests. But whenever I publish tasting notes on the wines submitted to the RHWC on my website, some readers almost invariably come back expressing disappointment that the wines aren’t grander. I realise on reflection, however, that the complainers are rarely British taxpayers .

While I always enjoy blind tasting (and it is most important that we taste blind because so many of the wines submitted come from companies run by members of the committee), the wines themselves are just a small part of what I enjoy about our ‘work’ on the RHWC.

At our tastings, conducted in complete silence until we each submit our list of favourites, the Clerk of the Royal Cellars’ (Simon Berry’s) chief role is to co-ordinate the scores and make concrete buying decisions based on them. Within budgetary constraints we are given a relatively free hand in our choices.

D+: Have you ever thought about creating your own wine? And even if this is not a goal for you, and you are not considering such an opportunity, still we would like to know which wine region/country you would choose and why? Hypothetically?

J.R.: I am a pretty average gardener and am a complete control freak so I have neither the ability nor the character to be a farmer. It would also mean sacrificing my objectivity.  I feel so lucky to be able to taste the fruits of the labours of so many winemakers around the world.

I never intended to produce anything other than words and it took all the persuasive powers of designer Richard Brendon to come up with my beautiful glassware!

D+: Please tell us briefly about the ideal tasting glass.

J.R.: The Wine Glass from the collection has been specifically designed to offer the best tasting experience for every wine, whatever its colour, appellation, style or strength, including Champagne, port, sherry and beyond. I have spent 42 years trying to make wine as approachable and as pleasurable as possible and sincerely believe that just one glass for all wines makes perfect practical sense.

D+: In your opinion, what relatively new wine-making countries could be included to your personal TOP over the next 5-10 years and with which varieties? Which wine regions do you think are undervalued in the wine world?

J.R.: Both my JancisRobinson.com colleague Julia Harding MW and I are huge fans of Portugal and Greece – for the same reasons. Both produce highly distinctive wines from a rich array of indigenous grape varieties that we are still discovering. We admire the fact that neither country succumbed to international grape varieties in any major way. As wine producers, they are not new, but they deserve to be more widely understood and admired.

I’m also a big fan of new wave South African wines – the young guns from Swartland, for instance. And I am rather thrilled by the fact that the wine world is more in flux than I have ever known it with so many new trends: lower alcohol, less oak, indigenous grape varieties, natural wine, skin contact whites.

On JancisRobinson.com we publish a separate tasting note for every different bottle of a wine that we taste and we find that there can be considerable variation between bottles so no-one should take a single tasting note and score as the gospel!

D+: We know that you have looked fairly closely at organic and biodynamic wines. In your experience, is the profile taste of organic wines different from conventional wines? What do you think is the prospect of natural wines? Which wineries/countries regions, in your opinion, stand out in this wine types?

J.R.: I think BD wines often have a wildness and immediacy about them but I wouldn’t claim to be able to taste a difference between organic and non-organic wine.

Natural wine has no strict definition but tends to be defined by what it isn’t. All but the most hideously industrial wines are ‘natural’ products to a certain degree but, just like fruit itself, anything fruit-based such as juice, wine and dried fruits is prone to being spoilt by excess oxygen and/or harmful bacteria. For centuries, sulphur or sulphur-based compounds have been used to stabilise and preserve freshness in all these products but, as technical knowledge increased in the twentieth century, so did the array of additives used in winemaking. In the 1970s many a wine smelt more of the chemistry lab than the fruit basket.

This century and in the later years of last century, however, there has been a global, industry-wide move to reduce agrochemicals in the vineyard and additives in the winery – this last encouraged not least by the discovery that asthmatics are particularly and sometimes dangerously sensitive to compounds associated with sulphur, which is why any wine containing more than 10 mg/l of sulphur dioxide has to be labelled ‘contains sulphites’.

Those making natural wine try to minimise their use of sulphur dioxide (a small amount is routinely produced when grape juice is fermented into wine anyway), and also tend to see forms of stabilisation such as filtration as equally evil. But sulphur dioxide is effectively a preservative, and low- or no-sulphur wines easily brown or lose their fruit if exposed to warmth, and the lack of stabilisation can result in cloudy wines.

Although the most famous practitioners of the current era of natural winemaking were senior vignerons in Beaujolais in the 1960s, and then the Loire Valley, today’s ‘naturalistas’ tend to be relatively young.

One day in Madrid I met a young sommelier who had been introduced to natural wines in the Loire and had enjoyed them there, but was now horrified by the dogmatism evident at natural wine bars in Spain, where, she felt, the quality of the wines served was so much lower.

As a result of this sort of phenomenon, the reputation of natural wines is so bad in some quarters that even some of those producing them – the respected Philippe Pacalet of Burgundy and Envinate of Spain for instance – deliberately avoid the term. One of British Columbia’s most successful wine producers, Okanagan Crush Pad, grows exclusively organic grapes and is careful to preserve every nuance of what nature provides in their Free Form wines but, as the company’s Christine Coletta explained recently in London, they deliberately avoid the term ‘natural’ and use ‘minimal intervention’ instead.

But this doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue. I asked the queen of natural wine, New York wine writer Alice Feiring of The Feiring Line, what she felt about the nomenclature of these increasingly prevalent wines. She admitted, ‘it’s a term in flux for sure. However, there’s no other term for it, and when pushed those people [who repudiate the term] will admit that they [their wines] are indeed natural. So at some point it’s going to be just wine, like it used to be before technology shaped it all. It’s a very tricky question and a trickier answer. For one, I don’t mind it one bit.’

Climate change has sneaked up on us in my lifetime and dramatically expanded the extent of the world wine map towards the poles. Who would have thought grapes could be ripened in Scandinavia, Poland, southern Chile?

Wearing my wine consumer hat, I feel quite strongly that wines that most obviously belong to what Feiring calls ‘the natural wine “club”’, those that are very different from the conventional norm, should be clearly signalled on wine lists and shelves. I have ordered less successful natural wines from even quite celebrated wine lists and had to leave everything but the first sip. I approve of those restaurant wine lists that recognise the popularity of natural wines with a segment of their customers by offering some, but corral them clearly in a separate section, perhaps headed Natural, New Wave or Off Piste Wines.

The winemakers I admire are those who have established a reputation for their conventional wines but who, unblinkered by prejudice against natural wines, try out some of the strategies adopted by the naturalistas. Despite the current polarisation, I suspect that eventually everyone will meet somewhere in the middle.

D+: You probably have a wine cellar. How many bottles does your collection have? What is the oldest/most expensive wine you have? What wines do you mainly collect?

J.R.: About 2,000 bottles all in our temperature controlled cellar in our new flat – carved out of a too-large laundry room.  Not sure about the most expensive. Coche Corton Charlemagne, a bottle of DRC kindly given to celebrate my OBE, the odd bottle of Petrus. As my mentor Edmund Penning-Rowsell, my predecessor at the Financial Times, said, ‘you must never think about the price when you are pulling a cork.’

I mainly buy German wine and French classics with a track record of ageing.

D+: October 2019 saw the launch of the eighth and latest edition of The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson MW. First published in 1971, the original tome was hailed as an instant classic and essential reference work for wine professionals and wine lovers; and been translated into 14 languages. Between the first release and the brand new 8th edition, what are the most unexpected changes for you on the winemaking world scene?

J.R.: Climate change has sneaked up on us in my lifetime and dramatically expanded the extent of the world wine map towards the poles. Who would have thought grapes could be ripened in Scandinavia, Poland, southern Chile?

D+: You have been collaborating with Hugh Johnson for many years. How you share the writing roles – by wine types? Or by origin – do you have favorite? How do you cooperate? How often you argue? About what issues?

J.R.: Since the fifth edition that came out in 2001 I do the updating and Hugh reads through what I write, and writes the Foreword. But Hugh sits in on all the early planning meetings to decide what to drop and what to add. We each have our favourite wine regions!

D+: If we compare the critical assessment of wine by one person (a wine critic\writer) and team\commission (wine competition judges, tasting juries), which of them is more objective? And in principle, what do you think about the role of international wine contests, contests within the framework of exhibitions, etc. Which do you consider exemplary?

J.R.: I’m sure all tasters in whatever context are objective but I’m no big fan of panels of tasters because the results tend to be smoothed out. There will always be someone who doesn’t like the most unusual or distinctive wine. Whereas with a single taster the consumer can get to know their preferences.

D+: In that regard, how do you assess rating/evaluation resources such as Vivino, etc.?

J.R.: It seems very popular but I’ve never used it. My Vivino is JancisRobinson.com where all 200,000 of my tasting notes are! I was a bit cross when they tried to scrape our tasting notes database.

D+: What do you think about the future of the investment as a component of the wine industry? For example, such index as Liv-ex?

J.R.: I’m afraid I am a very naïve wine lover. I believe wine is for drinking, not for investing in. Sorry!  But I do find data such as Liv-ex’s useful background for my writing.

D+: How do you think the pandemic will affect a global winemaking?

J.R.: I think – hope – your article will come out when we are already in the post-pandemic era!

Blitz:

If you are away from the wine topic, then you take an interest in…

– Food, family, friends and books.

You are an exceptional workaholic! What is you working day usual schedule: what time you usually wake up? What are your priority tasks? In what time does the day end?

– I do work very hard during the day, from about 7 to 7 sometimes, the first few hours always devoted to JancisRobinson.com. We are mad enough to publish two articles every day and I always read and edit them. But I never work in the evening – unless tasting wine in the early evening.

How much wine do you taste on average per day?

– One year I reckoned I tasted about 10,000 wines but that was an unusually high total.

Favorite book, film about wine?

– I enjoyed Thirsty Dragon by Susan Mustacich about the Chinese love affair with wine.

If possible, recall the most interesting paradox/funny story that you have observed in the wine world?

– There is so little correlation between price and quality in the wine world.

Jancis Robinson, a person with the special merits in the wine world, a wine critic, journalist, writer, consultant of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland answered all D+ questions!