Home brewing still passes test

Mar 14 2008 by Helen Savage, The Journal

THERE’S a little red book on my shelves. Published over a quarter of a century ago, First Steps in Winemaking by CJJ Berry is packed with sound advice.

Its recipes for wine made from tinned peaches, coffee, parsley and pansies (though not necessarily all at the same time) inspired me and two million others to take up the “fascinating hobby of winemaking”. And very occasionally I succeeded in producing something that was almost worth drinking.

There were others who, with infinitely more skill and patience, did far, far better. The book includes a photograph of some of the Tyneside winemakers who carried off every prize in the world of country wine at that time.

The year after Mr Berry penned his best-seller, Alan Gough, a young New Zealander, decided to open a home brew shop, Elderberry, in Station Road, Whitley Bay, “just for a laugh”.

There were eight other home brew shops in the area, but the tide was turning. The craze for home-made beer and wine was, as Alan says, on the slide. Instead of going under almost as soon as he’d opened, he held his nerve and as each of the other shops closed their doors for the last time, he picked up more and more custom. “It went well, right from the start. It just boomed.”

Still in Station Road (but a different shop), Alan now sells very few of the additives essential to turn rhubarb into an elegant demi sec. A few people come in clutching botanical samples to ask what they are and whether they can be made into wine, but days are long done when the whole shop was devoted to ‘country wine’. Now there are just three shelves.

“Many people who walk in the door now have lived in France or Spain. They’re used to table wine at £1 a bottle. We can help. We can do the same thing here. It’s possible to make it in a European style and to dress it up like a supermarket bottle. Others ask if we can make a wine to taste like it’s Australian. Yes, we can.”

Alan sells kits of concentrated grape juice and much bigger drums of ‘fresh’ juice (which, according to Alan turns into wine with a better, fruitier bouquet).

The grapes were picked in Chile, Argentina, California, France and Italy but processed in Canada. “Believe it or not, it costs less that way,” Alan says.

A starter kit costs £18 and will make just six bottles, but if you’re prepared to lug a larger quality of juice home, then it’s possible to make wine for just a few pence over that £1 a bottle target. Some people are so keen that they buy enough juice to make around 150 bottles a time. As Alan points out, what supermarket enjoys that kind of wine sale?

Alan’s passion began when he went to work in Saudi Arabia many years ago. He thought he’d tasted his last pint for several months but within half an hour of landing found a full, frothing glass of beer in his hand. “How did they do that? It opened a whole new field for me. I was fascinated.”

He still is, and although he doesn’t enter as many competitions as he did, says: “I’ve always got new things on.”

At the back of the shop Alan has his own little winery where he sometimes also makes wines for a few loyal customers who have difficulty handling the heavy fermenting jars. He invited me to inspect several vats of bubbling juice there.

Alan’s loyal legion of customers are sure that the wine they make with his help is a darned sight better than some of the cheap wines they’ve been used to in Spain and France. And Alan himself has no doubt at all about the quality of his wine. “We understand the principles of wine making better than a lot of little European wineries. We’re very careful – we do all the tests and get our sums right.”

He would have loved to have caught me out by slipping one of his wines to me ‘blind’. As that wasn’t possible, I decided to turn the tables on a couple of unsuspecting friends. They thought I was offering them tastes of wine I’d just bought at a supermarket. “Wow! That’s good,” exclaimed Steve, as he sniffed a Syrah (Shiraz) made from Californian grapes. “It’s really fruity.”

I tried half a dozen of Alan’s best, from Chilean, Italian, Californian and French grapes, and I too was impressed. They were all sound, fruity and – if you have the time and patience and space to make them for yourself – astonishing value.

I wonder if I’ve still got all those demi-johns somewhere in the loft?

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Wine of the Week

Sainsbury's Vin de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne, £3.29

To all intents and purposes a modest little white wine, but its fresh, flowery lemon and satsuma smell and crispy, fruity taste are quite delicious.

A real bargain that's great with chicken or mildly spicy dishes.

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Bordeaux discovered

MAIL order specialists Bordeaux Undiscovered have found another good red Bordeaux that’s so modestly priced it’s hard to see where they make a profit.

Château Puyanche 2004 is a Merlot-dominated blend from rolling limestone hills of the Côtes de Castillon, the eastern-most and prettiest part of the Bordeaux region. Wines from the Côtes de Castillon have been good for many years, but they have suddenly become all the rage. This is a deepish ruby red with a typically ripe, soft, brambly smell with a touch of spice. It has plenty of fruit and an attractively firm tannic structure. It’s a really good chunky little claret and a snip at £5.99 (www.bordeaux-undiscovered.co.uk)

The best Bordeaux-like blends also show that good red wine from New Zealand isn’t all Pinot Noir. I was very impressed with two new releases from Villa Maria, surely one of the world’s most consistent and consistently good-value wine-makers. Villa Maria Reserve, Gimlett Gravels, Merlot 2005 is complex, elegant, deep, spicy, lingering and brambly with a hint of chocolate and a lovely silky texture. It costs £15.99 at Waitrose.

There is also a beefier, more chewy 2005 Hawkes Bay Cabernet/Merlot for the same price (www.nzhouseofwine.co.uk).