News, Awards and Reviews

Year  End 2009

2009 - A Year of Challenges and Celebration

In 2009 Alliance Wine had much to celebrate - not to mention 25 years of providing our customers with classic wines and working with them as a strong, supportive wine partner.  2009 was also an incredibly challenging year for everyone in business and we greatly appreciate your support during these turbulent times.  We look forward to 2010 positively.  We will continue to cement our position as Scotland's biggest independent wine business and further develop our role as major player in the the London On Trade, National retail and UK independent markets.  For Alliance Wine 2010 will be about challenging the status quo and looking at new ways to keep the wine industry alive, and relevant.

At A Glance - 2009 looked like this...

JANUARY	The Opportunist is born!... During January's trip to Australia, Giles Cooke MW, tasted wines which were to become a key line within our One Chain Vineyards collection.  The wines were our white Colombard Sauvignon Riesling and McLaren Vale Shiraz more well known to you as 'The Opportunist' white and red. The quality of these wines would normally mean a selling price of over £8 per bottle but Giles 'The Opportunist' was there at the right time!
FEBRUARY	The Dream Team Fergal Tynan MW joins the team.  Alliance Wine now boasts 2 Masters of Wine and a strong and experienced Board of Directors to lead the business's growth and development - Chris Bouteiller, MD; Karen Cunningham, Operations; Giles Cooke MW, Marketing and Buying; Miriam Spiers, Sales Director and new appointment Fergal.
MARCH	Pereza launched at Wines from Spain In March at the Wines from Spain Trade Tasting we saw the latest wine in the Los Pecadillos range launched - Pereza 'Sloth' our Rose of the collection made from Old Vine Garnacha..
APRIL	Chilean Portfolio Boost Alliance Wine becomes the new UK agent for Chilean superstar winery, Amayna, marking the end of the our review of the Chilean section of our portfolio.     Surviving the Recession Giles Cooke MW commented on how positive moves would guide Alliance through the recession (featured in Harpers Q and A).	Click here for Giles Q and A (page 18)
MAY	An Energetic London Wine Trade Fair There was a real buzz and energy around our new stand and the relaxed, informal atmosphere easily facilitated tastings with customers and journalists, while also attracting new contacts.       Gold Rush at IWC and DWWA Alliance scooped medals across the board, with many Gold medals and some trophies too.
JUNE	Wine Innovation Awards In June the judging took place for the inaugural Wine Innovation Awards.  These awards are to recognise and reward the creative in wine.  Alliance Wine was proud to have awarded wines. 2008 Los Pecadillos Pereza 'Sloth' Old Vine Garnacha 2007 Los Pecadillos Invidia 'Envy' Verdejo Sauvignon
JULY	New Wave Spanish Wine Awards Off Licence News released the results of the awards which featured winners: Ermita Veracruz Verdejo 2008, Bodegas Veracruz, Rueda Flor de La Sierpe Garnacha Viñas Viejas 2007, Vinos & Viñedos Dominio Lasierpe, Navarra Luis Cañas Gran Reserva 2001, Bodegas Luis Cañas, Rioja Click here for full details.
SEPTEMBER	Portugal Trip In early September a team from Alliance Wine spent some time in the Douro, Portugal with Quinta de Ventozelo. We were introduced to some of the new range from this producer in the superb surroundings of their stunning vineyards and estate houses (quintas).  The backdrop of the spectacular Douro valleys and the Portuguese sunshine helped us enjoy the Quinta de Ventozelo table wines and ports in context and we decided to list their QV wines - a Branco (white) and Tinto (red).       Raising a Toast (and Money) for Charity The Scottish celebration of our 25th anniversary took place at Mansfield Traquair, Edinburgh, where we were joined by 200 of our key customers, suppliers and contacts for a tasting of 25 Inspired Wines and 25 Great Value Wines, a banquet, charity auction and celidh. The assembled crowd raised £7558.76 for Cancer Research UK, our nominated charity for 2009.
OCTOBER	25 Years Young The finale of our formal celebrations took place at the incredible Tate Modern on Wednesday 21 October 2009 attended by many of the UKs top journalists, on and off trade buyers, sommeliers and business owners. We were delighted to share our 25 Inspired Wines concept with the attendees - taking them through 25 wines produced by our suppliers and innovatively tasting them alongside the wines that inspired them!  This theme threw up some fascinating pairings enjoyed by the assembled guests. Anthony Rose and Jancis Robinson MW OBE summed up the evening in their online commentaries: 25 Years Auld Alliance Alliance's Instructive Quarter Century           Olim Bauda Join Alliance In October during a trip to Italy we tasted the wines of Olim Bauda and decided that they would make an excellent addition to our already strong Italian portfolio.
NOVEMBER	Bodegas Amaren In November we visited Luis Canas and were introduced to their new range from Bodegas Amaren.  Luis Canas have been providing us with their Amaren wine for some time however the intention is that this wine will become part of the Bodegas Amaren range. BODEGAS AMAREN ‘Mother’s Wine’ brand is strong and we will be introducing these wines into the Alliance portfolio.. The vineyard has 22 hectares of more than 60 years old and another 30 between 30 and 60 years old.
DECEMBER	Season's Greeting to you all!!! You'll have been advised of our Festive Delivery Schedule.  We want this time to be busy and profitable for you so if you have any questions please contact us. We wish you a happy and successful New Year, and looking forward to working with you in 2010. Click here for our greeting to you.

Please get in touch with any comments or suggestions on the type of information you would like to receive from Alliance Wine in 2010, or indeed any stories you wish to share on what is going on in your world. 

Keep in touch with Alliance Wine 

Talk to us...

Alliance Wine is embracing online communication including social networking.  In 2010, we'll continue on our campaign to communicate better and more frequently with our customers and contacts, and participate in online commentary about our beloved world of wine. 

We are setting up a key social networking insfrastructure including Facebook and Twitter (click on link to visit our page) and will be developing our other online tools such as www.alliancewine.co.uk and Gile's Blog.

As you will see we have not started 'tweeting' yet but when we do, we won't stop!  Join us!

Forthcoming Events and Tastings

A note of a few forthcoming key events is below and is available on our website.  If you want further details check out the various links below or please click here and advise which event you are interested in.

JANUARY

• Wines of New Zealand Annual Trade Tasting 2010
  Tuesday 12 January 2010
  For more information click here

FEBRUARY

• Wine Australia Annual Trade Tasting 2010
  Tuesday 3 February 2010
  For more information click here

MARCH

• Wines from Spain Trade Tasting 2010
  Thursday 11 March 2010
  
  

If you wish to request a winemaker tasting lunch or dinner speak to your local Sales Manager to see what can be arranged.

Jancis Writes About - Alliance's Instructive Quarter Century

Jancis Robinson's purple pages at www.jancisrobinson.com had a very interesting piece on Alliance 25th celebration in London.

Jancis wrote on 3rd November that:

'The Scotland- based wine importer Alliance Wines recently celebrated 25 years in business with a particularly fascinating tasting and dinner at Tate Modern.  They invited their principals to show one of their own best wines, alongside a wine that had inspired them. As marketing and buying director Giles Cooke MW put it in the introduction to an extremely handsome book that commemorates this unusual exercise, 'Not everyone got the format'.

One or two simply showed two of their own wines.  Others (rather cleverly, it seemed to me) chose famous but similar wines that actually put their own in a particularly flattering light. Uccelliera's choice of Sassicaia was particularly effective in this respect, and Bruwer Raats was kind enough to allow us to compare his own Stellenbosch 2001 Cabernet Franc with a Cheval Blanc from the same vintage.'

Read the full write up by clicking here.

Jancis story followed Octobers write up by Anthony Rose '25 Years Auld Alliance' which can be viewed by clicking here.

Jancis Top Picks of the Year

Jancis Robinson MW (www.jancisrobinson.co.uk) listed her 'Top Picks of the Year' for 2009.  See her recommendations below. 

DOMÄNE WACHAU, GRÜNER VELTLINER WACHAU COLLECTION 2008 Wachau 16.5 Drink 2009-10
Attractive herbal and citrus purity with a dash of white pepper. Fragrant, dry-tasting and absolute benchmark example of Austria's signature grape variety. Well done! 12%

DOMÄNE WACHAU, ACHLEITEN GRÜNER VELTLINER SMARAGD 2008 Wachau 17 Drink 2010-14
Very bright and fresh. Mouthfilling, crystalline.

AMAYNA, BARREL FERMENTED SAUVIGNON BLANC 2007 Leyda 17 Drink 2009-12
Quite rich and opulent. Lots there! Very ambitious, long and interesting. The oak is very subdued. Long and pretty impressive.

UCCELLIERA, RAPACE 2006 IGT TOSCANA 17 Drink 2009-15
Scented and seductive. Polished and lively. Very fine and well balanced.

EL ESCOCES VOLANTE, MANGA DEL BRUJO 2007 CALATAYUD 16.5 Drink 2010-13
Norrel Robertson MW's joint venture with San Gregorio, taking advantage of old Garnacha vines. Sweet and rich and flattering.

Stella Bella Clear Up at International Wine Awards

Click here to view the release from Stella Bella on their recent successes at the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition where Stella Bella Chardonnay 2007 picked up Best Chardonnay and Best New World Chardonnay.

Other Stella Bella wins included bronze medals for:

• Pink Muscat 2009
• Shiraz 2007
• Tempranillo 2007
• Sangiovese Cabernet 2007
• Skuttlebutt Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2008

What's rated and reviewed this month?

We like to bring you a note of some of the key reviews and ratings each month.  See some references to our wines, for November and December, below:

www.jancisrobinson.com

El Escocés Volante, La Multa Old Vine Garnacha 2007
100% Garnacha. A Norrel Robertson wine.

From Norrel Robertson MW. Really quite rich and round with both pepper and spice. Lots to get your teeth into and well balanced. Surely some oak chips or staves were used to infuse this with a light oakiness? If so, they were used well.

Garcés Silva, Amayna Sauvignon Blanc 2008
100% Sauvignon Blanc.

Tastes off dry. Sleek, very fruity indeed. Rich and lots of fun. (See my recent enthusiasm for a 2005 barrel fermented version of this, also from Alliance.) 14.5%

Majella, The Musician 2008 Coonawarra
70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Shiraz.

Blackcurrant pastilles but quite uncomfortably high acidity and extremely chewy with a hint of underripeness. But it is relatively typical of Coonawarra today! 14.5%
(see 'Majella - A flurry of positve native reviews' below for a recent native viewpoint)

Jancis's pages also included a recommendation of Great South African Wines in 'A South African Hobby Horse'.  Click here to read this review and note the recommendation of Raats Family Cabernet Franc 2007.

3 in the Top 100 Wines of the Year from Wine Spectator

3 wines from Alliance Wine were among the 'Top 100 Years Most Exciting Wines of 2009' from Wine Spectator.  Click here for the full 100 listings.

Two Hands Shiraz 'Bella's Garden' Barossa Valley 2007 was ranked 14th with 94 points.

Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino 2004 was ranked 16th in the with an impressive 97 points.

Thorn Clark Shiraz Barossa Valley 2006 was ranked 59th with 92 points.

Majella - A flurry of positive native reviews

Majella have had a run of successful reviews in Australia during the past few weeks including:

Top 100 'Australia's All-Star Line Up'

Majella 'The Musician' Cabernet Shiraz 2008

A totally seductive working of ripe cabernet with an underpinning of plummy, spicy shiraz that meld seamlessly, elements of regional bush and mint in the background and lovely fresh fruit singing in the glass.  A great example of why this blend works.  94 points.

Tony Love, Adelaide Advertiser

Majella 'The Musician' Cabernet Shiraz 2008

A cabernet (70%) shiraz (30%) belnd offering excellent value for money, ready to drink at any time over the next five years.  Good hue; it's a fruit-driven wine with an abundence of blackcurrant/ blackberry flavourssuppoted by ripe tannins that give excellent balance; oak barely enters the equation.

James Halliday, Weekend Australian

Majella Cabernet Sauvignon

Like Canberra, Coonawarra suffered severe crop losses in the frosts of late 2006.  As a result, says Majella's Brian Lynn, there'sonly a tiny quantity of 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon - one of the most appealing Cabernets you'll ever taste.  It has an extraordinary high toned fragrance and a buoyant, fleshy-but-firm, elegant palate to match.  I've been cellaring Majella cabernets for more than a decade now, young and old, they provide exciting drinking, never losing their varietal flavour and structure, just chaging subtly as they age. This is one of the best. 

Chris Shanahan, Canberra Sunday Times

Majella Riesling 2009

Coonawarra is not exactly synonymnous with Rieslig but there are several good ones.  This is goodvalue, soft and open-knit with floral aromas and a hint of pine needles, the palate softened by a touch of sweetness.  All round freshness and balance.

Huon Hooke, Sydney Morning Herald

Wine Enthusiast - enthusiastic about Ventozelo

Click on any link to view the online reviews by Roger Voss:

2005 Quinta de Ventozelo Touriga Nacional (Douro) 90 points

Youwant concentration? Then come to this wine. The tannins are immensely strong, dark, bone dry, supporting structured ripe fruit, black figs and plums, with an emphasis on fruit skins. Only slowly, as the wine opens up, does the fruit really explode in the mouth, along with spice and sweet acidity.    See Review

2005 Ventozelo QV Tinto (Douro) – Best Buy – 89 points

A solid, balanced wine, shooting black fruits through its dusty tannins. Berry fruits, a core of dryness, give this wine an edge of mineral, but also allow a restrained richness to show. An impressive, elegant wine that promises some good aging. See Review

2006 Grandjó Late Harvest Sémillon (Duriense) - 88 points

Made, very unusually for the Douro, from Sémillon, this botrytis affected wine gives ripe dried apricot and white fig flavors,boosted by the dry core of botrytis, and finishing with acidity. Definitely unexpected, but it succeeds well.

See Review

It's Summer Down Under! - with Shelmerdine

Huon Hooke's Top 50 Summer Wines - Sydney Morning Herald

Shelmerdine Chardonnay

This is just 12.5% and its a taughtly structured, refined, understated but intense wine - with room to grow, if you decide to cellar it.  Discreet stony and meloney aromas, even a touch of earthiness.  Terrific finesse.  Long and linear.

Email: sales@alliancewine.co.uk      Web: www.alliancewine.co.uk