In this episode Peter looks at the effects of a change in the UK licensing laws, reports on NZ reds month on Wine Blog Wednesday, and announces he is working on a book.

2005 was an interesting year during which we said goodbye to same famous names and it certainly ended with a bang here.

THE LAW IS AN ASS

A complete reorganisation of England's alcohol licensing laws has had widespread impact, but not in the way the populist newspapers forecast.

If you've visited Britain anytime in the past hundred years you've probably been confused about when you could buy a drink. Pubs closing when packed with topers and supermarket wine shelves closed off at certain times of the day were the obvious signs of laws originally passed to prevent drunkenness amongst first world war munitions workers. The laws have been tinkered with and relaxed in the past 20 years, but in November 2005 completely new legislation came into force. Although the legislation had been passed in 2003 it was only in the last few months before it came into force that the full impact became widely known, and panic set in.

The government's idea was - as far as I can understand - to give local government the responsibility of licensing the sale of alcohol which had previously been done by magistrates. Opening hours of pubs and clubs would be decided locally and 24 opening was possible. But the new system made easier for residents to object by applying political pressure to councillors as well as formally objecting. The newspapers foresaw binge drinking on a massive scale with pubs that never closed.

What no-one saw was the impact on the wine business, especially small internet and mail order companies. The old laws differentiated between wholesalers and those who sold alcohol for immediate public consumption. A wholesaler was someone selling a minimum of 9 litres of wine - i.e. a case of one dozen bottles. Restrictions on wholesalers were minimum, and in the past decade many people have opened a wine business importing wine, storing it in a commercial warehouse and selling it via the internet. They couldn't compete against the supermarkets and major wine shop chains, and didn't want to. What they did do was to use their expertise to find and represent small scale fine wine producers. People such as Brett Morris, who set up a company, called Boutique Wines of New Zealand Ltd, to import the wines he had enjoyed during regular visits to New Zealand.

But the new legislation makes no distinction between retailer and wholesaler, one man internet merchant or national wine mega-store chain. Wine sellers need a personal licence, for which they have to pay for training and pass an exam, they need to supply architect plans of their premises, have them licensed, paying according to the value of the premises. Internet merchants who rented space in a commercial warehouse, to which and from which wine was shipped, had to pay a fee based on the value of the entire warehouse even though they may rent just a shelf or two. And supply plans for premises they don't own. The cost of fees for all this licensing is considerably higher than the previous system.

As a result, many small businesses decided it wasn't possible to continue under the new system. Brett Morris tells me he is no longer selling to the public. He said"We are still selling to the trade for the rest of our financial year and will then review things."

HOLYWELL RUNS DRY

Even the church has been hit. St Albans Diocesan Resources Centre in Holywell Street has had to stop supplying communion wine to local churches. They have just realised they need a new licence. The local Herts Advertiser newspaper reports a spokesman saying "It would cost us £600 for the first application and an annual fee of £100 and we would need two staff on duty whenever we are open."

GOODBYE TO UNWINS

Unwins - which I reported on in Episode 16 - collapsed the week before Christmas. Bankers of the 160 year old wine shop company called in administrators who immediately decided the company was not viable. They closed all of Unwin's 350 stores and made all but 20 of their 2000 employees redundant.

150 of the shops have now been bought by rival Threshers. Oddbins and others are bidding for the remaining stores, and it seems that many Unwins staff - who must have had a most miserable Christmas, especially the one who lived in company accommodation above the shops - will get jobs with Threshers.

GOODBYE TO OFF THE VINE

St Albans independent wine shop Off The Vine - on which I reported in Episode 17 - didn't last a year. I understand the owners felt they had overstretched themselves and are concentrating on their other shops. The premises have been taken over by a new independent which I intend to report on later this year.

GOODBYE TO WINE INTERNATIONAL

Glossy monthly consumer wine magazine Wine International ceased publishing. It is due to reappear in a new form sometime in 2006 combined with a trade magazine and re-titled Wine & Spirit. The International Wine Challenge that it sponsors is said to be unaffected.

BLOGGING NZ REDS

Wine Blog Wednesday is a regular occurrence when wine and food blogs (diary-like web sites) around the world taste and report on a particular wine.

January it was the turn of New Zealand red wines, hosted by 'Corkdork'. He said,

"I think the true spirit of WBW is to learn something new and before I picked the topic I really didn't know much at all about what New Zealand had to offer in the way of red wines, but was very fond of the ubiquitous Sauvignon Blancs that seem to thrive in NZ's southerly clime.

"A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to find a great tasting co-hosted by Stuart Devine, viticulturist and USA Sales Manager at Villa Maria winery. He brought lots of Hawke's Bay wines and gave us lots of great information about Hawke's Bay and New Zealand in general.

"I must admit that I've yet to be blown away by any of the wines I've tried. I'm still going to keep trying, but after tasting even the upper range of the Hawke's Bay meritage blends, Esk Valley's The Terraces at $100 US, I'm not convinced that they are a good value. If I spend $100 on a bottle of wine, the flavors should come bursting in waves, with layers upon layers of flavors. After reading the comments from my fellow bloggers, I think New Zealand has some growing to do."

Tami Hardeman, an Atlanta based fashion and food stylist who blogs as 'runningwithtweezers' agreed. She says,

"To be honest, when I buy red wine, I think of every wine-making country except New Zealand. I bought - after much searching - a bottle of Brancott Pinot Noir. The Sauvignon Blanc is good...the Pinot can't be far behind, right?

"I poured myself a glass of it...and immediately went to look up the tasting notes online. Blackberry? Tannins? Oak and spice? MEDIUM LONG FINISH!? Wha wha wha!?! I went into the kitchen and looked at the bottle again. Yep. Same wine. Crap.

"All I tasted was cherry. Not even big yummy cherry. I tasted semi big half hearted cherry. No spice. No zing. No depth. Hardly any color. It looked like cherry Kool-Aid....but with alcohol...sort of."

But not all bloggers were disappointed. Serge, who posts as 'sergetheconcierge' tried Matariki Quintology 2001 and says,

"This 5 grapes Bordeaux style blend combines Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Syrah. It offers a nice fruit forward with medium tannins and light oak. Even though it drinks very nicely right now it will gain from a couple more years in the cellar."

David Ogilvie posting as 'purplelipswinelog' chose Rowland, Central Otago Pinot Noir, Wild Thyme Vineyard, 2003 and reports:

"Pinot Noir is tough for me because I think that you have to spend a fair amount of money to get anything interesting so because of my budget I usually get disappointed with the varietal although this wine was awesome for $25 and reminded me why I love Pinot Noir when I can find a nice one.
Color: Dark ruby purple with clean sharp edges.
Nose: Classic New World Pinot Noir up front, with some earthy old world lingering after it opens up a bit. Strong cherry and pipe tobacco and lots of ripe fruit and slight crushed pepper aroma with sweet oak. After about a half hour some darker aromas of damp earth and mushrooms came into the mix with a little kick of ground anise.
Palate: Smooth tannin, not too extracted, with some spice on the way down. Very balanced and mouthfilling with the sweet oak and coffee liqueur adding viscosity to the mix.
Overall: I really, really, really, enjoyed this wine over the course of our meal and afterwards the wine changed, providing new flavors to think about. It is a talking wine that kept conversation at the table and not wandering to the TV, office, or other anti-social behavior. This kind of wine makes tasting with others a lot of fun. I give it an A."

The Wine Blog Wednesday on New Zealand reds is summed up at http://corkdork.typepad.com/corkdork/2006/01/wbw_17_red_kiwi_1.html , with links to the blogs mentioned above and all the others that took part.

BANG GOES 2005

On December 11 the largest explosion in Europe since the end of the Second World War happened just five miles from my house in Snorbens. Sixty million gallons of petrol and aviation fuel stored in twenty tanks exploded, demolishing nearby houses, setting cars on fire in nearby streets and shaking buildings up to 50 miles away. The blast, which the British Geological Survey measured at 2.4 on the Richter scale, took out windows in office blocks over a wide area. The sound of the explosion was heard more than 100 miles away in Holland and France. A huge black smoke cloud blotted out light and covered a vast area. Luckily the explosion happened at 06.03 on Sunday 11 December and by a miracle no-one was killed, although 43 people were injured.

But the first I knew about it was on Monday morning when I read the story over breakfast in the Bangkok Post. I spent most of November and December working abroad, returning from Thailand two days before Christmas.

I see with surprise that the last Episode was almost a year ago. It has been a wonderful year for me. I was commissioned to write a book about wine labels, which will be published soon. I visited wineries in New York state's Long Island, southern France, England, South Africa and Portugal. While in South Africa I judged the 2005 Pinotage Top 10 competition and was on WINE magazines tasting panel of Sauvignon Blancs, which was published in their November issue.

So with the time taken researching and writing my book and travelling, I'm afraid that this column suffered.

I can't wait to see what 2006 will have to offer.

If you have been, thanks for reading.

© Peter May
22 January 2005

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