Samuel Guibert was in Ireland last week for wine tastings in Tipperary and Cork. He’s the head winemaker of  legend of the Languedoc, or the “Grand Cru of the Midi”, Mas de Daumas Gassac. Started by his father and mother in 1971, he has since joined the business with two of his brothers, Roman and Gaël. When he’s not making wine or flying around the globe talking about making wine he’s a busy father of two sons and a daughter.

Just before he headed south of the Pale, I caught up with him for a chat about making his “Grand Cru of the Midi”.

Samuel opens up confidently in saying there are no bad questions, he’s open to anything. Not something you normally hear from winemakers who are usually closely guarded by their local importers and PR people.

Mas de Daumas Gassac has been called the Lafite of the Languedoc, tell me how it started?

Well, it started with luck! My parents purchased an old farm or “Mas” in 1971. They had fallen in love with the area and found an old farm, almost in ruins.

My father, Aimé, was in the leather business and my mother taught in Montpelier. Neither had any real interest in the wine business.

If you wanted to make money, particularly in the Languedoc, wine was not the way to do it. Back then, getting wine into a glass bottle was an achievement.

So, they had all this land and didn’t know what to do with it. They thought about planting asparagus, sage, maizse or something else until a good friend, Henri Enjalbert, paid them a visit. Enjalbert was the Dean of the School of Geography in the University of Bordeaux so he knew a thing or two about soils.  After walking around the property it reminded him of Cote d’Or in Burgundy.

Glacial deposits, very rich in minerals led him to believe that my parents could make a Grand Cru wine here, but he also added it could take them 200 years. But from a terroir perspective, he said there was something exceptional in this valley.

So, they decided to plant some Cabernet Sauvignon and seven years later, with the help of Emile Peynaud, made their first vintage.

Peynaud’s name is synonymous with some of the most revered chateaux in Bordeaux. Why the Languedoc?

While he consulted with some of the top Bordeaux houses, he said he wanted to be present at the birth of a Grand Cru.

And it didn’t take 100 years either, Daumas Gassac very quickly became known as the “Lafite Rothchild of the Languedoc-Roussillon” (French magazine Gault-Milau) and “the only Grand Cru of the Midi” (Hugh Johnson).

“We managed to make something truly unique, not just in Languedoc, but in the whole of France. It became more than just a wine but a powerful idea. It changed people’s mindsets. Languedoc was no longer about cheap, bulk wine.

While all the comparisons, Grand Cru of the south, the Lafite of the Languedoc are always a fantastic tribute and acknowledgement, I prefer “Grand Cru of the Midi” because it’s our own name. And all this stature also comes from being the first to break out but it’s still a nice recognition.

What it means, though, is that people have full belief in making amazing wine in the Languedoc, we’re no longer stuck with a name for bulk wine.

Now, what makes Languedoc exciting is not the negotiants, but the small producers making one or two thousand  cases. They’ve converted their garage into a cellar and they’re also focusing on non-chemical, organic farming. It’s quite a revolution.

So, is Daumas Gassac a good representation of wine from Languedoc?

Actually, Gassac is probably atypical of a Languedoc style because we have very much a Bordeaux influence with the Cabernet Sauvignon. But at the same time we’re definitely not making a Bordeaux wine. Putting us in with other wines from Languedoc would be like putting a New Zealand Pinot Noir in with Australian Shiraz.

When Emile Peynaud worked with us he imparted his philosophy which we have adopted. For us, wine should be about finesse, complexity and balance.

The Mas Daumas gassac Red wine is a blend of about 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15 other grape varieties. In terms of the land, the Gassac estate (45 hectares total) is made of over 63 individual vineyard plots in the middle (like little clearings) of 4,000 hectares of Mediterranean forest (“Garrigue”).

Each vineyard/clearing is planted with a different cépage (vine) and since we harvest everything by hand, they are all picked over a three to four week period.

All the non Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are picked in the first week and blended together in the tank, before fermentation. The Cabernet Sauvignon is harvested and fermented separately.

It is only after the fermentation that we will blend the Cabernet wine with the non Cabernet wine and will let it macerate for another few weeks.

We then we use old oak rather than new. It helps with oxygenation, without imparting strong oak flavours.

So, your father started this with a little help from his friends what about you, the next generation?

Well, the challenge was to go from one generation to the next unnoticed and I think we’ve done that successfully. I’ve been at the helm of the winemaking for the last 12 years, though my father is still involved.

Our role is the same but we constantly face new challenges and keep innovating with new methods, new techniques but only as long as it respects our philosophy, nature.

So, you mentioned nature. In making a wine, how much is nature and how much is the winemaker?

Well, that depends on who you ask. Many people would say they make the blend, so they are making the wine. But we’re vignerons, we don’t make wine, nature makes wine. We have 15 different grape varieties in the red and we use all of them every year because it represents the vintage. Perhaps we have less “personal impact” on the wine. We’re not going for a “style”, but that’s okay too, that’s our philosophy. Both ways are right.

Speaking of style, the whole “Parkerization” debate still rages on, what’s your take on it?

A lot of this came to a point with the film, Mondovino, where people realised that behind the romance of wine, there is quite a big business.

Parker did a tremendous amount in opening wine to American society who would have never touched wine if he wasn’t there.

But being too powerful or influential meant that winemakers saw that if they got their wine mentioned, they could sell 20% more wine at 20% higher price. And so, you’ve got people looking for this formula or recipe to make Parker like their wine. But not everyone is at this.

Our wine was crafted on a clear philosophy, starting with Emile Peynaud’s motto of finesse, complexity and balance. I mean in 2009 you had Chateau Pavie at 14.5% who many would consider not real Bordeaux.

Remember Bordeaux 1961, the average was 11.5%, not 14 or 14.5% and people are still raving about the 1961 vintage.

For us 12.5% a magic number because at that alcohol level, you’ve got good fruit, good acidity (a key component for a long ageing wine 20-30 years) and dryness – a red should be dry.Up at 14-15% you get something closer to a spirit.

Speaking of magic numbers 12.5% is also an auspicious one  for the Irish. It’s our corporate tax rate. Apart from that you have strong links to Ireland, tell me about them.

My mother is an ethnologist and one of the world leading experts on the Celts and Irish history and traditions and speaks Gaelic. She studied in Trinity College, Dublin.

My parents bought a house in Bantry in county Cork so we came every year since I was a child and we still come back from holidays, so I know the place very well.

Where can you buy your wines in Ireland?

The Mas de Daumas Gassac are available from Red nose wine inTipperary and Curious wines in Cork. And some exciting news, both Red Nose and Curious are offering the 2010 vintage ‘en primeur’ (where you buy the wine before it arrives). By buying this way you stand to save around €10 per bottle.

The classic range are available from both Red nose, Curious wines and Simply Wines and Cases.

Introjuicing Francois Matton, owner and oenologist of Château Minuty talks about the area and how great rosé is made.

Most rosés here are made in the traditional “saignée method”, and are dry, lightly coloured with a hint of pearl, salmon pink or copper.

To me, they are, quite simply, unequalled in the world of rosé. While they are quintessential summer wines, they work throughout the year, particularly with Asian food.

The wines of Château Minuty are imported into Ireland by Ciaran Mannion of Rosé Wines Ireland.

I’ll post an interview with Ciaran here in the coming weeks covering the challenges of selling what is perceived to be a summer wine in this damp heap of rock at the edge of Europe.

Predictably, they’ll use the nation’s drink problems and health-related issues as the excuse. Remember the excise and VAT increase two years ago.

Remember the tailbacks to Newry and the reduced tax take?

What it actually means in real terms is an even greater pinch on independent wine importers, retailers and restaurateurs who are having a torrid time as it is.

What are the parties proposing?

Fine Gael

• Increases in standard rate of VAT to 22% in 2012 and 23% in 2013
• €1 increase in excise duty on a bottle of wine by 2014
• Ban on below cost selling

Labour

What does the independent trade think about these proposed changes?

I asked the following question to a number of independents involved in the wine trade in Ireland.

What could these proposals mean for your business and for your customers?

Here’s what they had to say, it’s worth a read if you value local businesses regardless of whether you enjoy wine

1. Paul Foley, The Corkscrew Wine Merchants

A ban on below selling will only serve to make the supermarkets more money as we still won’t be able to compete on price, which we don’t do anyway.

2. Emma Tyrrell, Tyrrell & Company (importers and distributors)

At a €1 increase at 22% VAT (we have taken the €1 excise to be inclusive of vat as this is usually the case), a bottle at 9.99 will move to about 11.85

Currently for us to be able to find a wine that a retailer can sell for €9.99, we have to find it at source at €1.85 – to be able to still sell a wine at €9.99 after proposed changes, we would need to find the wine for 1.00, not a palatable thought in terms of quality.

Depending on what happens north of the border we could well see more people driving to Newry for their wine, and so the VAT revenue will be lost. Excise has to be paid end of month following it would seriously impinge on our cash flow (as an aside, do you know that November’s excise has to be paid earlier: a week before the end of December instead of the end, and this is due to civil servants’ holidays – this to suit them, not us!).

The VAT/excise increase is disguised as a means of combating the alcohol problem in this country, it’s seen as an easy target because it’s very hard to argue against it without the alcohol police accusing you of promoting all that is wrong in this country. And while it’s true that we have too many alcohol related problems clogging A & E especially on a Friday and Saturday night, I would hazard a guess that it’s not due to a glass or 2 or even 3 of red consumed with a meal in a restaurant or at home – but to say so means you’re seen as some sort of a snob “I’m a wine drinker therefore better than a lager or alcopop drinker”.

In general if VAT goes up across the board we have to accept it – sharing the pain and all, that but the excise is another thing completely. There are powerful lobbies out there who claim that the only way to stop alcoholism in this country is to up the excise, these lobbies e.g. The National Substance Misuse Strategy, have very much got the present government’s ear, and probably have the same hold on the incoming one and the civil servants in the relevant departments who will not change after the election. It’s very much the “topic du jour” and it is hard to speak out without seeming like you want to encourage alcoholism and underage drinking. No doctor will put their head above the parapet and claim that alcohol is good for you, but if we’re allowed to feed out kids complete crap with no one looking over our shoulder why can’t an adult enjoy a glass of wine in the evening without having the alcohol police charging them a fortune to do so.

As a small family run business we cannot compete with the likes of Tesco, Aldi or any other supermarket. An increase in excise, while crippling us and hurting an already ailing restaurant and hotel industry in this country, will in no way prevent the large chains from engaging in below cost selling. Increasing the excise rate is not going to raise the price of alcohol across the board, it will just squeeze the smaller guys out of the business. We already have one of the highest rates of excise in Europe and yet we also have a high rate of underage drinking and alcohol abuse – so obviously the price thing is not working – it’s so embedded in our culture that it will take at least generation to change our attitude to alcohol, and this can only be done through education – which let’s face requires more effort than just hiking the excise to placate a loud lobby group.

3. Gary Gubbins, Red Nose Wine

I think it will be the final nail on the coffin as retail is already on its knees and while people are trying to keep things local, there is such pressure at home and the media are not making it any easier. Unfortunately, the ban on below cost selling will more than likely not go through as the lobby groups will put huge jobs pressure on the government.

A bottle of wine that currently sells for €10 will increase to about €12 based on the €1 excise duty increase (and based on 21% VAT).

4. Michael Kane, Curious Wines

The incredulous proposal to increase excise duty once again on wine is short-sighted and fundamentally stupid.

It’s a policy decision that’s severely flawed economically, showing naivety and blinkered thinking on the part of the proposers. The yo-yo decision-making of the last government, first increasing the duty rates at the end of 2009 then reducing them again a year later, shows that there’s a significant knock-on effect in tinkering with excise levels. The ‘Newry Effect’, of the same products being available at different prices across the border, means any gain from higher excise charges will be quickly lost in revenue displaced to the Northern Ireland economy. If this was only a zero-sum game in terms of direct revenue to the Irish Exchequer it might not be so dangerous but the real impact will be on small businesses, relying on a level playing field on the island on which to compete, struggling to cope with punitive tax differences between the states.

As a company attempting to lead the way in internet retailing in Ireland, I am deeply concerned about any policy that disadvantages our ability to grow our business and contribute long-term to job creation and the growth of the national economy. Whereas larger international companies can trade across borders, it’s the indigenous Irish businesses, the lifeblood of the economy and the last bastion of choice and competition, that will suffer and die from this idiotic, short-termist policy-making.

5. Ally Alpine (Wines on the Green/Celtic Whiskey Shop)

This is a disastrous decision for the market. Basically, it will make Ireland less competitive at a time we’re all striving to be as competitive as possible. It will drive consumers to the North, put tourists off as we’ll look extremely expensive (house wine going from €19.95 to €23.95). When Brian Lenihan reduced duty in 2009 the tax take went up and cross border shopping went down.

Consumers don’t have the funds to buy better wines at present. Therefore, consumers who are currently paying €8 for a bottle of wine will be getting a €6-6.50 (generally crap) bottle for the same price once this increase goes through.

It seems a very ill-judged & naive idea. Would like to know the thought process for it.

6. Evelyn Jones,National Off-Licence Association (NOFFLA)

The problem with trying to ban below cost selling is coming up with an mechanism that will actually work. If it is based on invoice price the large multinational supermarkets can merely invoice the Irish division at a low price to ensure that they are not breaking the law by selling below cost. Alcohol is used as a driver of footfall to increase the multiples market share of grocery. They are competing against each other using alcohol.

The reduction in off-licence trading hours to 10 pm has impacted most on the independent off-licence.

• We need to open later to sustain and remain in business.
• e require a return to the original hours of trading in order that we can look after our local customer (and visiting tourist) who should have the right to purchase alcohol off-sales within pub opening hours.
• Not everyone works 9 to 5. Many people finish work at 10pm and we are closed.
• If we are prepared to put in more hours in order to ensure the survival of our business why can’t we?
• What is the logic in differentiating between on and off-trade?
• Why can we not operate pub hours?

The Liquor Bill of June 2008 has an important Section that the then Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, did not sign in. Section 16 bans the use of alcohol as a promotional tool in advertising. It only requires the signature of the new Minister for Justice to enact this measure. The newspapers are awash with volume deals of alcohol as the large retailers compete for their grocery market share at our expense.

7. Peter Boland, Cases Wine Warehouse, Galway

When they upped the duty on wine in 2009 it had a profound effect on my business in that I lost bulk purchases to the North (Enniskillen in my case). While it wasn’t worthwhile getting the weekend bottles North of the border, it was perceived to be well worth travelling up for bulk purchases like weddings, communion & confirmation parties etc. I also lost considerable restaurant and retail business to the supermarkets in Enniskillen.

When they brought it back down in December 2009, it had an immediate and profound effect, bringing Galway customers back to us immediately.

Fine Gael’s plans? In terms of the changes, duty is the big one. A €1 increase in excise duty on a bottle of wine by 2014 – massive impact. €10.00 bottle moves up to about €11.85 or so. Migration across the border starts again.

Ban on below cost selling? This is unlikely to be reintroduced as Tesco and Dunnes appear to have an effective veto on Government policy in this area.

Labour is proposing a 1% increase in the standard rate of VAT that will raise €310 million in a full year (no biggie). Labour’s proposals include modest increases in excise on wine and cigarettes – depends on your definition of modest!

8. Gabriel Cooney, On The Grapevine

A €1 increase in duty has a massive impact, because the way we (and I think everyone) build up our costings is that the cost of the wine from the producer and other “fixed costs” – shipping, warehouse costs and the duty go in at the bottom of the costing. Margins and VAT are then multiplied up from there, so that an increase in the duty is magnified by an even higher increase in RRP.

This crazy idea would have people driving to the North in their hordes. We saw it 2 years ago, when they put up duty by €0.50 and cross-border traffic soared, resulting in a reduction in the tax take on duty and a reversal to the previous duty level the following year.

It would be catastrophic, not only for my business, but also for the whole hospitality industry and whatever hopes we have of increasing tourism could be forgotten about. At a time when we are desperately trying to offer vale, cut costs and reduce prices as much as we can, this would be the straw that broke the camel’s back for many people in the wine trade.

So, if it goes ahead, it will:

• reduce the tax take for the government
• cost a huge number of jobs in retail and hospitality trade
• destroy tourism
• increase smuggling
• cause traffic jams for the lovely people of Newry

As you can see, I am not exactly in favour. The only hope is that they will be distracted by the next 100 billion we need for Anglo Irish or whatever other crisis awaits us!

The diagram above, yoinked from The Economist blog, shows how the increase in production in China and their demand for oil to power it is also fuelling a demand for Top Bordeaux.

See it in action: Mouton & Lafite 2008

A good example of this surge in demand (and madness to be honest) is with Mouton Rothschild, who use a different artist for their label every year (having featured Picasso, Dali, Bacon, and Warhol in the past).

The announcement of a popular Chinese artist, Xu Lei, as their 2008 pick saw prices surge from £1,800 to £6,000. That’s a pretty nice return.

Similarly, news that bottles from the Lafite Rothschild ’08 vintage will be engraved with lucky number 8, an auspicious number for many Chinese people, has seen prices of their 2008 reach £10,000 a case.

For us, there’s always Chile!

Want to join the conversation on cork versus screwcap?

Head over to the previous post where there’s already a lively discussion going on, please join in

Back in September I met up with Tim Adams in Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare. He’s a top bloke and winemaker in the Clare Valley South Australia. His sentiments on screwcaps echoed that of many Australian winemakers. In the last year, I’ve met quite a few Aussie winemakers. Without generalising what they share some common traits, the first of which is an open mind. Screw cap is the best closure, they feel, for now, but they’re perfectly willing to adopt whatever comes next.

The second shared trait is confidence. This was quite clear to me, again back in September, when I met up with three other winemakers, amongst them, Ben Glaetzer. Some of his Mitolo range, including the “Amarone-method” Serpico Cab costs around €50, yet it’s under screwcap.

Contrast this with Chile where on a recent trip I learned that they are reluctant to embrace screwcap because of the perception of cheap in some of their markets.

This, to me, is about a lack of confidence. Particularly when at a Chilean tasting last year, a significant number of bottles had been taken off the tables because of cork-related faults.

What do you think of screwcaps? Do you even care? Pop a comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’ve seen plenty of QR codes on business cards and on adverts and content in the Dublin Metro, a free commuter newspaper. This is just one aspect of “mobile marketing” where the cost of entry is virtually zero. Get online, create your QR codes and use them to drive visitors to you brand.

How, you ask? The QR code on the above shelf-talker was created on Google’s shortening service, goo.gl. Simply take the short URL that you’ve generated at add “.qr” to the end of it. In addition, scan rates should be measurable, via goo.gl’s analytics, which is nice.

How are QR codes “consumed”?

QR codes are scannable using an application and the camera on your smartphone. With whatever app you use, just point your smartphone at the QR code and it should do the rest, loading up the website on your phone’s browser, saving you typing those pesky web addresses on keys which are too small for your fingers.

Quite a pleasant surprise last week when three wines arrived at my office all bearing near identical labels. “Secret wine” they read. It was then I remembered signing up for some bloggers’ thing with little or no expectation that anything would arrive. So, in addition to the surprise, plenty of mystery and intrigue.

The concept is this: a French PR company with a very sexy name, Clair de Lune, seduces 80+ bloggeurs from around the world and challenges them to a blind tasting. Their mission, should they choose to accept it, to identify the appellation. Those who signed up, received three almost identical bottles, the only difference being the numbers 079, 390 and 714, and of course what’s in the bottle.

All that was required was to taste the wines and vote on the site, secret-wine.com.

I started with the numbers, very arbitrary, so I thought there was a cipher or code behind them. 0-7-9, 0-G-I, think we’re heading for Gigondas, clever me! 3-9-0, C-I-0, Corbieres? Mmmm, maybe. 7-1-4 G-A-D. Hmmmm, no idea. Perhaps tasting them without looking any deeper is what was called for. So I did just that and here’s what I came up with.

• #Wine 079 dark fruits, slight floral on the nose, medium bodied, very silky texture, white pepper finish. I voted Cote-Rotie
• #Wine 390 Bramble fruit, “garrigue”, licorice could be anywhere in Rhone/Languedoc, but Crozes-Hermitage is my vote. I’m sure I’m way out there.
• #Wine 714 Lightest of all three. I originally thought Pinot, then Cab Franc, then went for Cotes du Rhone

Regardless of outcome, great fun, supremely well organised and very intriguing.

As to my expectations. Like our fate in the Eurovision, Irland, nil points.