Biodynamic in Gisborne

 On his travels through New Zealand the Wine Anarchist stopped in the Gisborne region, where he concentrated on two biodynamic producers.  Gisborne is located in the far east of the North Island and has the unique distinction of the first vineyards to see the sunlight each day, as it is close to the International Date Line.  The climate is Mediterranean, warm enough to ripen oranges, with moderate rainfall (around 1,000 mm per annum).  Soils are mainly fertile loams and grape vines share arable land with citrus orchards and cattle and sheep grazing areas.

The Wine Anarchist made a special appointment to see Millton Vineyards, a pioneer of organic and biodynamic viticulture, not only in New Zealand, but in the world and famous for their consistent high quality wines.  The WA was welcomed to the winery by sales & marketing director Simon Gardiner and they proceeded to taste some of the wines in the mellow morning sun on a lazy Monday in November.

Unfortunately James Millton was away on business at the time, but soon they were joined by Annie Millton, who was more than happy to show the WA around the vineyards and answer some of his more technical questions.

James and Annie started the winery in 1984 and now produce wine from 4 different vineyard sites in the area on a total of 30 hectares.  They were the first winery in New Zealand to attain organic status in 1989 and since 2009 they are also demeter registered biodynamic producers.  Their vineyard sites are Te Arai, which is immediately adjacent to the winery itself,

Riverpoint Vineyard, which gives more aromatic wines,

Opou Vineyard, featuring heavier clay soils, and , last but by no means least, the highly acclaimed hillside vineyard Naboth's Vineyard, used to make the highly acclaimed premium wines of Clos St. Anne, in honour of Annie Millton herself.

The vineyard team was flat out the morning the Wine Anarchist arrived.  After some unseasonally late rain had finally cleared to give ideal conditions for spraying and under vine cultivation, the latter getting quite urgent as can be seen on the above photo.  Obviously no herbicides are being used, instead a special machine, a Braun undervine cultivator from Germany, is employed to weed between the vines.  

As for sprays, the usual biodynamic preparations are used, most notably 500 and 501 (horn manure and powdered quartz), as well as a variety of compost teas, which get brewed in this area:

Compost teas include brews made from nettles, horsetail, seaweed, chamomile and yarrow.  Biodiversity in the vineyard is improved not only by allowing weeds between rows, but also by inter-planting flowering hedges, which help attract beneficial insects and protect from high winds.

Everything within the system is recycled and composted, the prunings, weed cuttings as well as the grape skins and stalks from the winery and the appropriate biodynamic compost preparations are added to aid decomposition.

And the result of all that meticulous care?  Wines of world class!  Here are some of the Wine Anarchists tasting notes:

Crazy By Nature Shotberry Chardonnay 2014: The Crazy by Nature range has been introduced as an entry level, good value wine aimed at the retail trade.  They are more fruit driven wines, that can happily be drunk by themselves.  The Shotberry Chardonnay is actually blended with some 14% of Marsanne and Viognier added (mostly Marsanne).  The fresh aromatic nose displays some lovely fresh apricot and baked apple fruit; the palate shows some creamy textured fruit with a juicy long finish and a nice spicy touch.  Really pleasant first thing on a Monday morning in the Gisborne sunshine.

Opou Vineyard Chardonnay 2013: Fermented and aged in French barrique, this is a far more serious wine with slightly smoky, creamy vanilla notes on the nose, and weighty rich fruit underpinned by well-integrated oak flavours finishing long.

Riverpoint Vineyard Viognier 2014: 1/2 of this wine was fermented in 300l French hogshead barrels using ambient yeasts resulting in a wine of well defined minerally, honeydew melon and peach aromas, followed by lovely fruit flavours supported by some really interesting savoury, almost Marmite-like characters and a pinch of spice on the very long finish.

Opou Riesling 2013: At 9.5% AbV and a residual sugar of 40g/l, this is very much in the Spatlese style of the Rheingau.  The nose shows some classic mineral and petrol notes combining with honey and citrus blossom; the palate is medium sweet, delicate and floral with decent balancing acidity.

Clos St. Anne Naboth's Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013: Light garnet in clolour; the bouquet is rich with smoky wild berries and autumn leaves; it is medium bodied with classic complex Pinot Noir characters of juicy wild berries and herbs balanced by a firm structure and a finishing long and satisfying.  Very much a Cote de Beaune style.  Very nice indeed.

Crazy By Nature Cosmo Red 2013: A blend of Malbec, Syrah and a splash of Viognier, this is a lively little number displaying vibrant cherry fruit and some eucalyptus notes, with the palate being well defined by tannins and acidity, but making lovely drinking with it's attractive sweet and juicy blackcurrant fruit.

The Wine Anarchist was pleased to learn that another winery in the region was using biodynamic methods, so he went to check out Wrights Vineyard and Winery only a few kilometres down the road from Milton.

The WA didn't have an appointment and he arrived at a busy time.  Wrights do run a cellar door café as well and they were just expecting a trainload of tourists to arrive.  However Geoffrey Wright did find some time to Talk to the WA, as did Geoffrey's young son Noah.  (Mind you the main topic of the discussion with young Noah was mostly about the finer technical points of paper airplane construction...).

The Wrights Vineyards were planted in 2000 on 3 different locations totalling about 17ha. 

 Geoffrey has descended from a long line of winemakers and his approach is staunchly non-conformist not always to the benefit of wine quality it has to be said.  The Wine Anarchist was staying with some local farmers and the consent was that, whilst local people would love to support natural farming methods, the wines were not so much liked.   So the WA was wondering if his styles were just so unusual and therefore not commercial enough, or were they really not as good as they could be.  It turned out to be a bit of both.  

The methods in the vineyard were very similar to what Milton were doing with the main spray being a seaweed ferment.  Here's a video of Geoffrey to show how he does that.

For under vine weed control he uses a $12,000 Italian machine as demonstrated in this video:

Here are some of the tasting notes of the Wine Anarchist on Wright's wines:

Mister Right Sparklin Moscato: A lightly sparkling, fresh wine with a delicate lemon blossom aroma, decent acidity, balancing a slight sweetness, with a lovely foamy texture and a  good finish.  Pleasant summer-time drinking.

Pinot Gris 2015: Baked apple notes on the nose are followed by a soft, quite full palate and unpleasant bitter almond notes on the finish

Chardonnay 2014: The nose again promised with apricot, roast hazelnut and almond notes, but the palate finishing unpleasant and bitter again...

Fumé Blanc (Orange Wine): This wine has been made by the traditional orange wine method, where grape skins even for white wines are left for extended periods on the must.  In this case the grapes in question were Sauvignon Blanc grapes, and the must was left in contact with the grape skins for 30 days, after which the wine was left a further 9 months in oak barrels.  The resulting wine has a deep golden orange colour; the nose displaying complex orange peel, Turkish delight, honeysuckle, vanilla and almond characters; the acidity is balanced, but tannins are marked, the finish is long with spicy oak characters.  A highly unusual and interesting style.  Definitely the Wine Anarchist's favourite of the bunch, although hardly something that could be described as commercial.

Pinot Noir 2015: Classic wild berry and earthy notes on the nose followed by nice wild strawberry fruit and a good savoury finish.  A good effort.

Reserve Syrah : Opaque colour with deep purple rim; the nose is full of brooding liquorice, coffee, dark chocolate, herb, prune, lilac and herby eucalyptus notes, the palate is rich, ripe and spicy with marked tannins and an earthy finish.  This will want to sit for a few years. 

In conclusion the Wine Anarchist believes that Wrights will have to do some work to convince him that he can produce consistent quality white wine.  The Orange wine is very good indeed and attempts to produce more unusual wines should be applauded.  This particular wine might benefit from the addition of some conventionally made Sauvignon to liven up the acidity, but well done nevertheless.  The reds produced at this vineyard seem to be doing better and the Reseve Syrah in particular is noteworthy.

Contact details:

Milton Vineyards

66 Manutuke

Gisborne 4053

www.millton.co.nz

Wrights Vineyard and Winery

1093 Wharerata Road

Gisborne 4072

www.wrightwines.co.nz

Permaculture and Biodynamics in Baden

The Wine Anarchist has been a bit quiet over the winter, while he was busy establishing a new project in Northern Ireland including planting an experimental vineyard and researching for his book on the permaculture vineyard.  Now he is back on the road for some field research for the book.

His first call was to the Winzerhof Linder in the small historical town of Endingen on the foothills of the Kaiserstuhl mountain in the Baden region of southwestern Germany.

The Kaiserstuhl is a small hill range of volcanic origin in the upper Rhine valley between the Black Forest to the east and the Vosgue mountains to the west and is one of the warmest spots in Germany.  When current owner Ronald Linder took over the small 4 hectare estate from his grandfather in 2011 the vineyards had just been replanted 2 years before and he was going to do things differently.  For a start his dad was given a 'Maschinenverbot', he was banned from using any machinery, else he would get carried away on the tractor mowing down the ground cover plants between the rows to tidy up the vineyard.

The use of non-natural sprays were restricted to copper sulphates and sulphur dioxide, both permitted in organic agriculture, and those only limited to particularly wet seasons.  Instead Ronald sprays with a variety of compost teas as well as biodynamic preparations.  One plot each of Spaetburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) are kept completely free of copper and sulphur in an attempt to strengthen the natural resistance of the grapevines to fungal diseases.  Instead a weekly spray of nettle (left for 10 days to ferment under water) and horsetail (soaked in water overnight and then boiled for an hour to release the silicates) is applied throughout the growing season.  To replace the copper sulphate he is experimenting with a compost tea made from the leaves of ash trees as they are said to contain levels of copper.  Ronald also swears by using biodynamic preparations such as horn silica, which he says has an almost immediate effect on the leaves, as they become more erect and almost crisp to touch.

 The property is located on a south facing slope between 200-250 metres above sea level on a number of terraces.  On the lower terraces a permaculture vegetable and herb garden is planted where many plants are left to grow quite wild and as perennials, such as Tuscan kale, which is now flowering for the third year in a row and happily seeds itself out, providing food for the family.

 The garden as well as the vineyard are neither dug nor ploughed, instead soil is created by successive layers of organic mulch.

 The mulch in the vineyard is mostly made from nettles which are left to grow freely amongst the vines along with grasses, plantain, horsetail, mallow, vetch, clover, valerian, hyssop, lavender, fennel and mint.  Especially the more aromatic herbs are encouraged and hyssop in particular is said to not only attract beneficial insects and deter pests, but also have an influence on the hormonal balance of grapevines by increasing yields and improving the quality of the grapes.

Ronald Linder also experiments with various other herbal preparations such as a plantain infusion as healing potion for injured vines, valerian is added to the nettle and horsetail spray to improve the pungent smell of the nettle tea.  He is trying to grow purple osier salix purpurea, a shrub of the willow family in a small wetland area, to produce a beneficial spray.

Another important element is a small herd of Heidschnucke sheep.  

The Heidschnucke breed is very hardy and easy to look after.  After the grape harvest the sheep are left to wander the vineyards to cut down the cover crops and fertilise the ground.  Whilst using the milk is too work intensive and the wool of this breed is not the most useful, the sheep are used for meat production and the fleeces are sold.  In permaculture any element is needed to perform multiple functions.

If the ground cover plants grow too tall during the growing season they are simply flattened with a roller, pruning cuttings are left to rot amongst the vines to give habitats for insects and fungi.  Until recently a spray of phosphoric acid as a nutrient during flowering was allowed in organic viticulture, but this can be replaced with the nettle application, which has natural phosphoric acid levels.

Also in the interest of using locally available resources, there is a hedge of black locust along the top of the vineyard.  The wood is particularly rot resistant, so the stems are used as end posts for the trellising system.

All in all the Wine Anarchist enjoyed his walk around the natural vineyard with obvious signs of nature and biodiversity which was in stark contrast to the conventional vineyards of the neighbours

And as for the wines?  Winzerhof Linder produces some 20 different wines from Mueller Thurgau, Rivaner, Weisser Burgunder (Pinot Blanc), Chardonnay, Grauer Burgunder (Pinot Gris), Sauvignon Blanc, Gewuerztraminer, Rulaender, Spaetburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Cabernet Sauvignon.  One thing that shone through with all the wines was a distinct minerality and a true expression to the volcanic terroir.  Here are some of the Wine Anarchists tasting notes:

• Weissburgunder 2014 - Light in colour; delicate aromas of peach stone and hawthorn blossom; fresh on the palate with a long, distinctly minerally finish
• Sauvignon Blanc 2014 - Pale colour with greenish tinge; aromas of nettle and kiwi with herbal notes; on the palate a tart acidity is countered by some residual sugar.  Nice aromas but a little jagged around the edges and lacking harmony
• Grauburgunder 2014 - 1/3 of this wine has been matured in second passage local oak barriques for a short period, whilst 10% has been produced using the so-called 'orange wine' method.  This method goes back to the roots of winemaking in Georgia, where both for red and white wines, the skins and stalks are left to macerate in the wine during fermentation.  To avoid oxidisation during this process, Linder used earthen Sauerkraut fermentation vessels for this batch, which have a heavy plate on the top to ensure the skins remain submerged in the liquid.  Finally the wine has been left to mature on it's lees for 4 months.  These methods have resulted in a hugely complex and full-bodied wine, displaying a deep golden colour, a rich and complex minerality and fruit with hints of redcurrant and rose petals and a long spicy finish.
• Grauburgunder Kabinett Tocken 2012 - Medium gold in colour; apples and spice on the nose follow through onto the palate with an extra spicy sensation and delicate layers of white fruit.
• Chardonnay Kabinett Trocken 2014 - Pale gold with green tinges: floral aromas of peach blossom and some apricot fruit; marked acidity, medium body, more apricot fruit with hints of green apple, finishing long if a little tart.  The WA felt it needed a little time for the acidity to settle down.
• Spaetburgunder Edition Landwein 2012 - Garnet in colour with an orangey rim; on the nose this displayed some fresh strawberry fruit combined with sweet damp earth and old leaves; the palate was medium in body with a firm backbone balanced by sweet ripe strawberry fruit and a touch of cranberry, finishing long and dry.  Classic Pinot Noir!
• Spaetburgunder Kabinett 2011 - Light garnet colour showing maturity on the rim; a bouquet of wild strawberry and raspberry fruit with a touch of oak; the palate is lighter than the 2012 with mature fruit flavours, slightly gamey and a touch of sweetness, which aren't balanced by tannins, although the acidity is marked.  The finish is medim in length with earthy notes.  With the low tannin and slight sweetness this would do nicely with blue cheese, but it was the WA's least favourite wine of the selection.
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 - The Cabernet Sauvignon is grown on the sunniest part of the vineyard being exposed virtually all day resulting in impressive 14% alcohol.  This was matured in barrique for 18 months displaying a classic deep purple colour; the nose is rich with plenty of vanilla oak and cassis aromas; the palate is full with marked tannins, balanced with rich liquorice and blackcurrant shining through finishing long.  This obviously still needs some time, but showing plenty of promis.
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 - The Wine Anarchist also had a bottle of the 2011, but was enjoying himself too much to take any notes.  A distinct mintyness and plenty cassis have stuck in his mind though and showing that with a bit of maturity, these wines clearly become better.

 

Still a young project, but one that the Wine Anarchist will be keeping a keen eye on.

Animals in Viticulture

Now, you may be wondering why the Wine Anarchist has a photo of some guy and his goats (and if you look carefully, chickens) in his blog.  Well he has been a bit quiet in recent months, which doesn't mean he hasn't been drinking any wine at all.  In fact the WA has launched a new big project, which he will be reporting on over the next few months on this blog (or rather his anonymous ghost writer will...).  He has decided to combine his two main passions and areas of knowledge, namely wine and permaculture, to write a book on the permaculture vineyard.

Now permaculture is not something that is easy to define in a sentence or two, but essentially it is a design system, usually but not exclusively for land-based projects.  It aims to imitate nature as much as possible, increasing biodiversity and thus building a more resilient system for food production, whilst at the same time reducing input and increasing yield by creating a closed-circuit system.

Now the WA has noticed that most people involved in permaculture like a tipple of wine, which almost exclusively comes from monocultures, even if it is certified organic or even biodynamic.  He feels there must be another way of doing things to be truly sustainable as has been shown by various systems used in history too, and is now actively researching methods that are in accordance with permaculture and can be used in modern viticulture.

This has led the Wine Anarchist on another trip to the east, where he met Bulgarian winery owner Philip Harmandiev (pictured above) of Damianitza winery in Sandanski in south-western Bulgaria.  This winery is currently undergoing a period of transition.  Philip used to be the editor for a financial magazine in Bulgaria, but always had a passion for wine.  Back in 1998 a banker friend of his asked him to look at this flagging winery with severe problems adjusting to the post-communist realities of Bulgaria.  He took over this run-down winery, concrete tanks and mediocre wines all included.  He then invested in the winery to bring it up to modern standards and bought vineyards in various locations all over southern Bulgaria.  A few years ago he moved the winery to a new location, which left him with the old winery in an industrial estate near the main Sofia to Thessaloniki highway without knowing what to do with it.

Some 3 years ago he had a Paul-on-the-road-to-Damascus revelation, realising that the way we conventionally grow our food and our grapes for wine production is not sustainable on the long run after he saw the move Food Inc.  The documentary talks about the way modern food is produced and how it harms both the environment and humans themselves.  As an alternative it features an animal farmer, Joel Salatin, who wrote the bestselling book 'You Can Farm'.  Philip was so inspired that he translated the book into Bulgarian and decided to turn the old winery into an animal farm along the principles described by Salatin and at the same time converting his vineyards to organic methods.

At this particular point in time the two systems only touch marginally, as his vineyards are scattered around the country whilst the animals are only on one location.  Moving the animals around would take to much effort to fully integrate them as part of the vineyard management.  However, Philip has experimented with having sheep graze between rows of vines to keep down vegetation, attract beneficial insects and fertilise the soil.  Grape stalks get fed to goats who love that stuff and in return it as compost much quicker than if you were to just leave them.  Grape skins after fermentation are fed to wormeries to turn to compost.

The animals in the meantime are kept on mixed pastures such as cows and pigs together, the pigs  eating the cow dung and at the same time destroying any intestinal pests lurking in there, thus lowering the risk of re-infecting other cows.

 
Chicken tractors follow cow grazing areas for the same reason and to re-fertilise the soil.

Egg-laying hens get larger mobile homes offering space for several hundred birds, whilst having all the space to do what they like best, foraging free range.

Pigs get to roam free and do what they like best: roll in mud

All enclosures are protected from predators by electric fences and dogs.

Slaughter of animals happens on site under as humane as possible conditions.  Philip's attention to detail goes beyond the welfare of his animals.  In an effort to reduce the environmental footprint of his operation he recycles as much as possible.  For example he uses scrap aluminum printer sheets as roofing for the animal shelters.  Not only do they not conduct heat like other metals and stay nice and cool, it also gives the animals inside something to read when they're feeling bored.

The whole operation is now a successful business as people come back and even pre-order meat, eggs and dairy products of far superior quality than the conventionally available AND production costs are actually lower.  In the future Philip wants to consolidate his vineyard holdings to fully integrate the two systems with sheep, chickens, ducks and geese grazing the vineyards and fertilising them.  A project to keep an eye on.

In the meantime, yes the Wine Anarchist did get to taste some wine too.  The main brands currently produced by Damianitza are No Man's Land, Uniqato and ReDark.  These are the thoughts of the WA on 3 of the wines he got to taste:

• UNIQATO Rubin 2009: Big hefty wine, deep ruby colour with slight orangey tint on the edge, showing some age; rich nose of milk chocolate or rum'n'raisin, blackberry and morello cherry; the palate is very warm and rich with some spicy notes and lots of ripe fruit. A bit overripe perhaps at 14.5%, big in your face lacking subtlety, finesse.   Rubin is a Bulgarian cross of Syrah and Nebbiolo. It certainly has the power of those two varieties.
  
  
  UNIQATO Melnik & Ruen 2010: Med. ruby in colour with a pale rim; the nose reveals savoury notes of bay leaf, eucalyptus and basil as well as ripe blueberry and lush plum fruit and a hint of vanilla; The palate is full with some distinct peppery spice, more blueberry fruit and some well balanced tannins.  The finish is long and juicy.  Very nice indeed.  Melnik is the native variety of south-western Bulgaria and Ruen is another Bulgarian cross between Melnik and Cabernet Sauvignon.
  
  
  ReDark 2009: This is the flagship wine of the winery, their super-premium, and is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Rouen and Rubin.  The colour is still a youthful ruby with purple fringes; the intense aromas display floral aromas of sweet violets and lilac as well as spicy leather and vanilla notes; the palate still has a big tannic backbone, plenty of peppery spice, but balanced by some ripe blackcurrant fruit.  The finish is long and spicy with hints of liquorice.  A classy wine, which will continue to develop for the next 5 years at least.

Jenever Museum, Schiedam

The Wine Anarchist has been spending the winter in northern Europe, hence the recent lack of posts.  However at the beginning of this year he spent a few days in his native land the Netherlands and took the opportunity to explore some non vinous drinks while there beginning with Jenever or Dutch gin.

The town of Schiedam (pronounced... no forget it, it's un-pronouncable for non-Dutch speakers) just west of Rotterdam is THE Jenever capital of the Netherlands, in fact its very existence is down to Holland's national drink.  It used to be nicknamed 'Black Nazareth', due to its narrow streets and alleyways like the Palestinian city (the WA has never been there, so can't vouch for that similarity) and for the fact that the streets were black from the brown coal soot emitted by the chimneys of numerous jenever distilleries. 

Jenever production began around 1700 and during its heyday in the late 1800s there were some 400 distillers in the town, directly or indirectly employing 90% of the population of around 12,000 at the time.  The grains, traditionally barley and rye, were grown around the town and the malt was ground in the dozens of windmills in the town.  Nowadays only 2 distillers remain, the commercial Herman Jansen distillers (of which more later) and a small-scale operation in the Jenever Museum itself, and only half a dozen of the windmills remain, which are said to be the tallest in the world (excluding modern energy generating ones presumably), because they had to keep their heads above the warehouses.

The Wine Anarchist and his wife were lucky as they entered the museum, as there was a distillation in progress in the working part of the museum.  All 5 volunteer workers were staring with glee as the clear liquid flowed from the still into the holding vessel. 

Also luckily the staff were in rather better condition than on this cartoon:

 The captions translate as: "Yes, we now something -hick- about it too..." "But the real -hick- experts are lying over there..."

All 5 staff are unpaid volunteers, whose simple love for their work soon became apparent as Ton, one of them, started to give us a detailed account on how they make their jenever.  The method in the making of their 'Old Schiedam' Single Malt Genever (Dutch spelling is with J and English spelling is with G, so I hence the inconsistent spelling) is strictly in the traditional way as they would have done it in the 17th century (except for the fact they don't use brown coal to heat the still anymore).  In 1902 jenever production was revolutionised and changed significantly, more of that later.  This is the last distillery to still use this method, all parts of the process being carried out on site.

First the raw materials, 2 parts barley to 1 part rye, is soaked in water, then spread on the floor to be allowed to start germinating.  As it does starches get converted to sugar at which point the germination is stopped by drying the grain.  The resulting malt is then ground in one of the local mills and a mash is produced by adding boiling water and extracting the sugars from the malt.  The sugary liquid is then fermented to about 5 % to effectively create a beer just like in malt whisky production.  The fermentation takes place in these mash tuns:

This is now distilled 3 times in copper pot stills.  Having seen many a still in Scotland, these are relatively small, about 2.50 metres tall. 

The results of each distillation are known as ruwnat (low wine), enkelnat (single distillate) and bestnat (malt wine) with a respective alcohol content of 12%, 24% and 48%.

Again the process so far is just like for malt whisky, however the stills used here seem less efficient than say for Scotch or Irish whiskeys as the alcohol content of those after their final distillation is usually much higher.  Very occasionally, as also on the day of the WA's visit they produce a special edition with a fourth distillation and longer aging.  Oh yes and talking about aging, the spirit is then aged for 3 years in 225l second hand American oak barrels, which previously contained Jack Daniel's or Jim Beam.

Now there is only one ingredient missing, the one that has given jenever and its British cousin gin its name in the first place: juniper berries.  This is done differently here than at other distilleries.  A small separate batch is distilled in the laboratory with juniper berries to effectively make a juniper extract.  A small amount is then blended into the matured spirit to give it just a subtle hint of juniper.  To re-distil the final product with the juniper berries would result in the loss of the light golden colour which the oak barrels have imparted onto the jenever during the aging process.

Having had an introduction to the traditional way of making jenever, the Wine Anarchist and his wife went to explore the rest of the museum.  Here the modern process of producing jenever is explained too.  In 1902 the introduction of the column still revolutionised jenever production.  In a continuous distillation process higher alcohol levels could be achieved more efficiently and the result was a cleaner tasting product.  Jenever made predominantly from this method became known as jonge jenever, young genever as opposed to oude jenever, old genever, which was made by the old method.  Therefore the common descriptors old and young on jenever labels do not refer to the aging, but to the method.

Usually the first stage for all jenever is still the pot still and and malted barley and rye are still required without the addition of any sugar.  However other grains, most notably maize, are now added too, whilst part of the distillate is re-distilled with herbs, part with juniper berries and part will go into the column stills.  All parts then get blended back together for the final product which may or may not be aged.

The museum also gives a lot of glimpses of the role of jenever in the daily life of the Dutch, from posters from the temperance movement or a glimpse of a 1970's Dutch living room...

to various typical Dutch bar settings from different periods such as the Bruine Kroeg, the brown pub, which was a kind of extension of the Dutch living room:

or the 1970's style Kraker's Café, the hangout for the anarchist scene:

Visitors were invited to add their own graffiti...

Other exhibits included a huge collection of miniature spirit bottles from around the world and many other paraphernalia connected to jenever.  At the end of the tour the Wine Anarchist and his wife finally sat down in the tasting bar for a well deserved borreltje, as the Dutch like to call it, or a wee dram to the Scots.

First up he tasted the Standard 3 year old Old Schiedam Original Single Malt Genever 40%AbV.  The colour is pale gold.  The nose reveals slightly honeyed aromas, a bit lie gingerbread,delicate juniper berry notes without being over-powering, some malty character, molasses and more than a passing semblance with a young malt whisky such as Glen Grant.  The palate is smooth and warm with some spicy, slightly liquoricy notes and a long finish.  A very fine product indeed.

As the Wine Anarchist is always interested in anything organic, he was delighted to spot a jenever made from 100% organic grains: the Notaris Jonge Graanjenever, 35%AbV, from the aforementioned Hermann Jansen distillery.   There is little information on their website or the bottle on the exact method of production or indeed the ingredients beyond that it is made from a blend of grain spirit and malt spirit from organically grown grains and herbs.  However, apparently it is possible to visit the place (something to remember for next time) and someone who has, has written an interesting and informative blog post on it.   Anyway as to the tasting notes: this is a clear spirit, which has not been aged.  It displays a delicate nose of juniper, nutmeg and cloves combined with some floral / herbal notes, colt's foot perhaps.  The palate starts with a gentle sweetness and clean herbal flavours but finishes dry and long.  Very nice character for a white spirit.

Finally the WA tasted the Old Schiedam 10 Year Old Moutwijnjenever from the museum.  The colour was pale gold.  On the nose delicate juniper aromas combined with citrussy notes, lemon and orange peel and hints of cinnamon and vanilla and a pinch of mint.  The palate was warm and delicately sweet with a nice spicy note and more citrussy fruit, finishing long and smooth.  Very good indeed.

To visit the museum yourself it is located on

Lange Haven 74-76

Schiedam

www.jenevermuseum.nl

open Tues-Fri 12-5

weekends 11-6

Not all tablets and films are in English as well as Dutch, but English speaking staff are at hand and very helpful.

So cheers from the Wine Anarchist and his new best friend Proosje, the mascot of Schiedam

Appeal for Support for a Young Brewer

There isn't enough good beer in this world, so the Wine Anarchist is always happy to support new, young and enthusiastic people to join the trade to make REAL beer.  This post is just a small appeal to help a young chap achieve just that.  The Wine Anarchist hasn't actually physically met Dan Frye, but has been in virtual contact with him and his wife Brianna for some time.  Both are very much into organic and biodynamic farming practices and Dan does not only ferment the barley, but anything from kimchi and Sauerkraut to wines from wild ingredients.  He recently completed an apprenticeship at a brewery in France and is now looking to study to become a brewmaster in Berlin.  This costs money though, so the Wine Anarchist agreed to make a bit of publicity for him in order to help him achieve his goal.  the world of beer will the richer for it.  He does promise various perks for any donators, such as courses on home brewing (personally the Wine Anarchist would like a life-time supply of hand-crafted organic beer...).  Have a look at his website and watch the video below.  Oh, and if you would like to know a little more about Dan and his wife and get some recipes on, for example how to make kimchi, check out Brianna's blog.

Girl Power - Claudia Papayanni

Ok, she's not exactly a girl, but a fully grown lady, and a very elegant and attractive one at that, but as Claudia Papayanni frequently refers to herself as the little girl Claudia in a Greek wine scene dominated by men, she'll forgive the Wine Anarchist for talking about 'Girl Power'. 

In early August the WA was on a brief sojourn to Greece visiting a friend in the Chalkidiki region of north-eastern Greece.  The region is mostly known for the beaches of the 3 finger-like peninsulas and the reclusive monks of Mount Athos.  The Wine Anarchist asked his friend and Master of Wine, Konstantinos Lazarakis MW, if he knew of any wineries worth visiting whilst in the area, which how the WA came to arrange a visit to this very new winery, Domaine Claudia Papayanni, situated in the town of Arnea on the inland part of the Chalkidiki region, away from the beaches and up in the hills.

Claudia is proud of the fact that she is the only self-made female wine producer in Greece, having started up the vineyards and winery from scratch without the direct help of her family, not coming from a wine-making family.  The few other women in Greece in charge of wineries either inherited their places from a father or got involved through a husband.  Claudia on the other hand was bored with life in the hotel business, her husband being an ambassador, she clearly didn't have to work at all and instead could have concentrated on a cosy domestic life with her 2 young children.  But instead she decided to return back to what she calls her roots, the land around Arnea, where her father had hailed from.

In 2003 she set out with an ambitious project, to plant 20 hectares of vines on what was previously agricultural land planted with grains such as wheat and corn and build a 3,300 m2 high tech winery.  "So you mean, there weren't any vineyards at all before you started?  What on earth possessed you to start such a risky business on untried territory?" the Wine Anarchist asked incredulously.  "Well," she answered, "there has been historical evidence of wine produced in the village before and we had the soil tested extensively to make sure it was suitable for growing quality grapes.  Also," she added: "I had a vision and bags of enthusiasm!"  Well, who can argue with that?

Not knowing anything about making wine, she surrounded herself by people who did and asked advice left right and centre.  What followed was years of literally blood, sweat and especially tears.  But her vision and her... you could probably call it stubbornness carried her through.  Her vision was to make the best possible wine from the territory available, make it organically and present it to the world, so that people actually want to buy it.  And the last point is her particular strong side, from presenting herself to the public to opening the winery to the public and making it an attractive place to visit and the modern and sleek labeling of the wines themselves.

The cellars for example are made to look like an old cave, but bear in mind this place is only 10 years old!  So what looks like an old mould covered wall on arched pillows, is actually concrete with spray over foam.  Claudia is frank about it, "it's only for show", but it does give the place a certain ambience.

Currently there are some 110 barriques, 80% of them French from 10 different coopers, to test which brings the best results, and 20% American oak of a medium toast.

But it's not all just on the surface.  Her attention to detail shows throughout, from the state of the art bottling line to fermentation vessels specially designed to ferment the indigenous Greek grape variety of Xinomavro.  The conic shape of this tank allows for the separation of the grape pips from the rest of the mash to avoid green tannins to taint the finished wine.

Currently 130,000 bottles per year are produced, but the winery has a capacity for up to 1 million bottles a year.  The actual first vintage was in 2007.

The vineyards are on 2 different plots: one just outside the winery in Arnea at an altitude of 650m asl and one at a lower altitude (250m asl) in Malthousa.  The soils are rich and contain a fair portion of clay.  Below are the vineyards in Arnea:

Finally it was time to taste some wines.  There are 10 different labels produced, 4 white, 4 red and 2 rosé in 4 different ranges.  There is the entry level 'Ex-Arnon' range, the 'CP' range, 2 wines named after her children Alexandra and Nikolas and at the top the 'Domaine' range. 

Here are the Wine Anarchists notes:

Ex-Arnon White 2012:  Made from Assyrtiko and Sauvignon Blanc (80/20), this is a fresh, lively and aromatic offering with aromas of fresh hay and some delicate yellow fruit; the palate is nicely balanced with well integrated acidity and nice fruit.  This would do nicely on a hot summer's afternoon on it's own or with some shellfish.

CP Viognier Assyrtiko 2012: The nose on this classy wine was distinctly minerally interlaced with some delicate peach fruit; on the palate a racy acidity was in evidence as well as a big mouth-feel.  The intense minerality was carrying through to a long finish.  Great wine!

Alexandra Malagousia 2012: The Malagousia grape variety was on the brink of extinction before Domaine Carras revived it.  Now Claudia Papayanni has taken up the banner and is producing something rather special with it.  On the nose there are some delicate apricot and mango notes; the palate is quite full with good balancing acidity and a juicy long finish with some slightly spicy notes.  It would have been a great loss to the world had this variety not been revived and it will be a source of great pride for young Alexandra to have this wine named after her.  The Wine Anarchist is seeing a classic being born here.

Domaine White 2011: 50% Chardonnay, 25% Assyrtiko, 25% Malagousia, the Chardonnay part being fermented and aged for 4 months in barrique.  This was possibly the WA's least favourite wine with the Chardonnay and soft, creamy and butterscotch characters from the oak dominating both nose and palate, however it managed to retain a certain elegance and finished long.

Domaine Rosé 2011: A blend of Grenache and Syrah (80/20), this wine displayed a medium salmon colour and some signs of CO2 and a nose of creamy wild strawberries; on the palate a medium body was supported by oodles of fresh fruit and a lively acidity.  The finish was long, dry and warm with hints of rose petals. 

Ex-Arnon Rosé 2012: A blend of Xinomavro and Grenache (80/20), this made in a medium dry style.  The colour is a glorious rose-petal pink; the nose displays strawberry and cherry fruit; on the palate the slight sweetness is perfectly balanced by some refined acidity.  The WA was pleasantly surprised as he at first declined to taste a sweet rosé.  Another great summer wine for on the terrace with a bowl of summer fruit.

Ex-Arnon Red 2009: A blend of Xinomavro and Syrah (80/20), this is quite a light and easy-drinking red with pleasant redcurrant and raspberry fruit.  Not hugely complex, but very pleasant indeed.

CP Red 2008: A blend of Xinomavro, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah (50/30/20), this is quite a full-bodied wine with aromas of blackberries, water paint and chocolate; the palate had a good structure and backbone with juicy herbal notes and some blackcurrant fruit.  It may just start to dry out a little and should probably be drunk fairly soon, but still a good wine

Nikolas Merlot 2009: This wine has matured 8 months in barrique.  The nose was rich with lots of fresh plum fruit; whilst the palate is soft and rounded with a touch of spice and plenty of easy fruit, finishing long.  Very pleasant indeed.

Domaine Red 2008: A blend of Syrah, Merlot and Xinomavro (40/40/20), this is a serious red.  The nose displays a complex balsamic bouquet of eucalyptus, black pepper, redcurrants and blackberries; the palate is backed by a tight tannic structure balanced by rich and full spicy fruit flavours, finishing long with some more herbal notes.  This wine still has some future development ahead.






So in conclusion, the Wine Anarchist was very impressed by the quality of the wines from so young a winery and as the vines get older, future offerings should get even better.  So thank you Claudia for taking us on a tour and all the tears and struggles were well worth it.