Guest Spot: Jane Anson, Decanter

Our second guest at Bella Wines blog is the charming, elegant and very interesting journalist Jane Anson. Jane is based in Bordeaux, where she writes regularly for Decanter magazine as well as contributing to the South China Morning Post and jancisrobinson.com. amongst others. Jane had a large contribution to probably the heaviest wine book ever....The Wine Opus, published October 2010 (Dorling Kindersley) and she is frequently charging about the Chateaux and listening out for the latest hot news from the key players. Jane's website New Bordeaux is well worth exploring. Her Twitter feed (@newbordeaux)is often from the library at Chateau Haut Brion or the cellars of Chateau Margaux, whilst Jane is researching her latest book.......an up to date and undoubtedly fascinating book on Bordeaux First Growths...due for publication October 2012.

So Jane, tell me why you ended up working with wine?

I came to wine through writing, rather than the other way round. I have been a journalist since I graduated - after one year teaching English for the JET programme in Tokyo (and even there I edited the JET Tokyo newspaper!). I then moved to Hong Kong and began working on newspapers and magazines until the Handover in 1997. Back in England, I did a masters in Publishing and continued working as a journalist, working as managing editor of websites as the Internet opened up. All the while, my interest in wine was growing... mainly Italian, rather than French, at first! That 'moment with wine' that all wine writers seem to have came for me in South Africa, when I visited in 1996, and interviewed one of the first black managers post-apartheid, who was then working at Spier in Stellenbosch. I realised that wine could be a subject that encompassed history, geography, politics and personality, as well of course as taste and pleasure. That was when I started to study it more seriously, first with WSET, and later other courses in Bordeaux. I moved to Bordeaux in 2003, and have been writing full time about wine ever since, so coming up to nine years now.

Was your family involved in winemaking, wine, food or restaurants?

No. My mother has always been an excellent cook, and prepared a wide variety of different types of food - even in the 70s we were eating Mexican, Chinese, Japanese etc - and we would be given some wine (and water) with our meals from a young age. But never any professional involvement.

Did you have a specific inspirational person or mentor?

When I arrived in Bordeaux, Jean Michel Cazes was one of the first winemakers to be truly open and welcoming, and armed me with various books about Bordeaux that were invaluable (such as Pijassou's Medoc). Equally Jean-Claude Berrouet, who took the time to taste with me when I first arrived, and was so generous with his time and knowledge. But I have found so many people in this industry to be inspirational, from Jancis Robinson and Jeannie Cho Lee, who both work incredibly hard and have enormous depth of knowledge and yet manage to maintain successful families and be thoroughly nice people, to legendary winemakers such as Charles Chevallier, Peter Gago and Jean-Claude Berrouet. You taste some of their wines and are just in awe.


You live in and have written extensively about Bordeaux, which relies on a classification system mainly from 1855 and operates a multi layered (often criticised) archaic distribution system. In 2011 who do you think embraces modern technology, social media and communication the best in Bordeaux?

Increasingly, Bdx chateaux are getting to grips with the possibilities of new technology (although far too many still never answer emails). Some of the best I would say are Chateau Palmer, Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Coutet (particularly on twitter) and a smaller property called Chateau de la Vielle Chapelle.

Who is the best female/male winemaker currently working?

Difficult to say, particularly if you leave to one side the recognised, world-famous talents I mentioned above (Chevallier, Berrouet, Gago). Personally I am always excited by the Domaine Brana wines from Irouleguy, and think Etienne Brana makes wonderful things happen with the cabernet franc grape. Same grape, but up in the Loire, I love Gerald Vallee at Domaine de la Cotellaraie. For Loire whites, which I also love, I am closely following the work of Eric Morgat at Domaine Eric Morgat (formerly Ch de Breuil). And here in Bordeaux, turning out brilliant wine each year in a quiet manner, I would have to say Jean-Philippe Janoueix over in Saint Emilion. And lastly, there is some brilliant white winemaking going on in Pessac Leognan - an area which still doesn't get the recognition it deserves for throughly grown-up, classy white wines.


In your opinion which wine journalist (global) is the most interesting to read and which wine journalist has the most power?

I always love reading both Jancis Robinson and Andrew Jefford. Clearly Parker still wields enormous influence. And I hope I can add that the best wine news is clearly on decanter.com!!


Which vinous area is the NEXT BIG THING?

Plenty of Spanish regions are still 'up and coming', producing wonderful wines, and we too often forget about Eastern Europe, particularly Croatia's Istrian region and Slovenia, along the border with Austria. But France is my speciality, and I would say Beaujolais is ripe for another look, especially the 2009/2010 vintages (and I hear 2011 was another success, although haven't tasted any yet). Plenty of wine writers already know about the excellent quality coming out of the Villages, but too many consumers will still suppress a smirk when you say you like Beaujolais wine. Producers such as Potel-Aviron, Villa Ponciago and Jean-Marc Burgaud are all worth looking out for.

Thank you Jane Anson.
If anyone would like to pre order Jane's forthcoming book on Bordeaux First Growths, or if you would like to stock this book as a retailer/re seller, please contact me and I will pass on information.

Wine Cave CoOperatives

I made my first wine at a Cave CoOperative in Saint Emilion over 20 years ago. The Cave CoOps were built up in the 1920s and 1930s when it was a difficult economic time....has much changed!?
The idea is to share wine making equipment and tanks and for the many thousands of smaller growers to be able to have somewhere to make their wines.
Many of the CoOps in the south of France are merging or closing down. They are trying to be more efficient and reducing their production costs and driving a harder economy of scale. This makes sense for reducing costs, but does not necessarily improve quality.
Jane Anson wrote about the changing face of Bordeaux Cave CoOps in Decanter magazine here.
Cave CoOps offer some great value and interesting wines. Soemtimes they are the mainstay of the village and the real heart of the community. It is a frequent sight to see someone walk in to the local CoOp in the Languedoc with an empty 2 litre plastic bottle of Evian and fill it up with Rose from the 'petrol pump' like tap on the wall. The price paid per litre.......75 cents!!!
Like all business in this recession and financial crisis CoOps have to shake up, wake up and become more efficient.
If more and more of them close down in the south of France one of the lasting tragedies will be the amazing architectural buildings, which will be left behind and abandoned.

Where I live!!

I live deep in the countryside of the Minervois in the south of France.
Today has been a beautiful day. Unfortunately I have spent most of it at my computer screen connecting with clients in the UK, USA and Hong Kong. But I managed to get out of the office at 5pm to take these photos of the hills and countryside around the house.
Our house is nestled in the country with the Montagne Noire behind and the villages of Saint Chinian and Saint Jean de Minervois in the distance.







The garrigue ....wild rosemary, thyme, garlic, fennel, gorse and wild oak is in fantastic condition.
The vines are just turning in to their magnificent Autumn colours. We will be treated to yellow, gold, red and crimson vineyards before the leaves drop off for the winter hibernation.

In one direction we are very close to the Pyrenee mountain range. It will soon be ski season!

Narbonne Market 'Les Halles'

French markets are great fun. Every town has a market at least once a week. There are markets for flowers, clothes, food and wine. It seems to be part of the French way of life that is fantastic.
Here are a few random photos of my favourite market in Narbonne. It is a permanent market inside 'Les Halles' on the banks of the Canal Robine.
A wonderful place to grab a strong coffee and fresh croissant first thing in the morning.

Fires in the Minervois

I recently returned home to the Minervois after a very busy week in the United Kingdom. The drive through the centre of France takes about 11 hours, so by the time I get home I am usually quite shattered.


I went for an early evening walk through the vineyards before planning an early night.
The countryside around our house is magnificent.






At about 9pm I took the bin out and thought that the sky seemed rather bright!!!

The reality was that I could also see flames above the tree tops.....too close to my house. The countryside was on fire and our house was directly in the wind path.











On closer inspection the fire was raging on the hilltops. There must have been at least 50 fire engines and many fire fighters trying to control the blaze.

At one stage we started to pack our bags and plan an evacuation!





Fortunately the wind calmed down and the fire was contained, but the loss of wildlife, the devastation and the general destruction was immense.
Apparently ...according to local gossip....the fire was started by local hunters who had a grudge against another local hunt. I find this totally reprehensible. If a hunter has any respect for nature and the beauty of the land he would never ravage the countryside like this.
There were over 300 hectares of wild garrigue, vines and forest land that were wiped out. Fortunately nobody was hurt.






Sometimes it is difficult to understand humanity.

Food and Wine Matching in South of France

We recently had a delightful group of 8 clients on a Bella Wine Tour.
This trip was a day trip to explore the wine and food culture in the south of France.
The clients were local characters who have homes in the area, so they know a bit about the history and life here. So I wanted to show them some 'off the beaten track' producers and wine and food experiences.

First of all I had to get some excellent fresh goats cheese from the herd of goats at Combebelle, high up in the garrigue hills near St Chinian.






I also got some ripe Roquefort (blue cheese) some Scottish wild smoked salmon, some strawberries, some Comté cheese (hard cheese) and various milk and dark chocolates.

We started by tasting a superb range of wines made by the charismatic couple John and Nicole Bojanowski at Clos du Gravillas.
The wines develop and extend your sensory perceptions as soon as you try different food types. It was great fun.


We then popped in to see Pascale Frissant at Chateau Coupe Roses in the charming village of La Caunette (the village is built in to the hillside).
Pascale and his wife Francoise run this immaculate property in the hills of the Minervois. They have 40 hectares under vine, 10 hectares are located within the La Liviniere Appelation. The wines are good fruity styles, with excellent depth and minerality, which seems to come from the varying vineyard sites. The main problem for Pascale is the abundance of wild boar crashing through his vineyards and scoffing all his grapes.








The beautiful labels of Chateau Coupe Roses.











After all this hard work tasting and chatting we adjourned for a delicious lunch in the stunningly beautiful village of Minerve at Restaurant Chantovent.
It was a great day of food and wine matching.

Is this innocent?

Why would a big wine tanker lorry from Bordeaux(with '33' number plates indicating the Gironde department) be filling up with wine from a large Cave CoOperative in the Minervois, Languedoc? Click on the picture to see it clearer.
This picture was taken on Wednesday this week.

It would be disappointing to think that wines were blended from the Languedoc with wines from Bordeaux. Bordeaux had a big harvest this year and would not need to bolster their wines.
It is illegal to label a wine as coming from one region, when the juice has been sourced from another. Unfortunately this kind of thing has been going on for many years. I just hope that this situation is innocent!

The weird thing is that the front of the lorry had Bordeaux number plates, whilst the back of the lorry had '11' plates for the local Aude region.
Maybe they were covering both eventualities?