Tim Atkin talks about what is "Fine Wine" at the Fine Wine Conference 2010 in Aranda de Duero.

1. WHAT IS FINE WINE? Ribera del Duero 28th April 2010

2. Remembering where we live: wine’s human dimension “For men and women are not only themselves; they are also the region in which they were born, the city apartment or the farm in which they learnt to walk , the games they played as children, the old wives’ tales they overheard, the food they ate, the schools they attended, the sports they followed, the poets they read, and God they believed in. It is all these things that have made them what they are, and these are the things that you can’t come to know by hearsay, you can only know them if you have lived them.” Somerset Maugham “The Razor’s Edge” 1944 2

4. Wine widely consumed worldwide (non-Muslim countries)

5. Knowledge of most consumers growing, but low. Laurent Blanc

6. Palatable wine now made (almost) everywhere

7. Global over-production. EU reforms trying to address this

8. Over-supply of wine at all levels. Australia. California. The Languedoc

9. Competition > low prices. Low return on investment. Shareholder pressure. Bankruptcy among small and highly leveraged medium sized wineries.

10. Increasingly globalised market (China, India)

11. Paradox: fewer routes to market. Retailer and distributor consolidation

12. Anti-alcohol lobby growing in importance. Neo-prohibition

13. Fine wine irrelevant to most consumers3

15. Klein Constantia historic, but essentially a post-war phenomenon

16. 1951 first (experimental) vintage of Grange

17. 1966 Robert Mondavi establishes first new winery since Prohibition in Napa

18. 1972 First Chardonnay planted in South Australia. Fortified wines

19. 1976 Judgment of Paris

20. 1985 First vintage of Cloudy Bay

21. 1980s rise and rise of flying winemakers. Star names in their own right

22. An attitude of mind as much as a way of making wine: consumer- and retailer-led.

23. Marketing and labelling. Varietalism

24. Soil is dirt > appellations and distinguished vineyard sites4

30. Wines with a track record, sometimes dating back hundreds of years

31. Vins de terroir, although the term is recent. No mention in books before 1990. Goût de pierre. Derivation probably from territorium, not terra

32. High priced wines. Ratified in the salesrooms of London and New York

33. Longevity

34. Scarcity

35. A handful of grape varieties, mostly French

36. Note changes BP and AP, especially in Bordeaux. 1855 classification

37. Protected appellations. Regulations. Anti-fraud measures

38. Taste dictated by merchants, not journalists9

43. So what’s changed? 14

45. Liv-Ex Fine 100 Fine Wine Index (www.liv-ex.com). Tracks “the most sought after wines for which there is a strong secondary market”. A little Burgundy, Champagne, Tuscany and the Rhône, but essentially a who’s who of Bordeaux

46. Investment opportunities. 2009 Fine Wine index rose by 17.4%.

47. Counterfeit wines.

48. The power of the press. Or rather points out of 100. Absence of context

49. Reviews have made it possible to become a cult overnight. For how long?

50. Increasingly globalised market. Demand for top wines. The Lafite phenomenon. Paul Pontallier’s son. Watch the First Growths.

51. Slight enlargement of the world of fine wine. United States, Piedmont, Tuscany, Ribera, Priorat, Rioja, Douro Valley, Rhône, Australia, Austria15

57. Third “vintage of the century” in the last decade. 2000 and 2005

58. Massive worldwide demand for the top wines. Blank cheques, investment funds. Opportunity for skulduggery.

59. Little demand for the bulk of Bordeaux. Growing polarisation

60. Parker points driving up prices of many wines. “The most important document in the history of modern wine.” (Simon Staples, Berry Brothers Rudd)

61. Merchants complicit in talking up the vintage. Cash flow in a recession?

62. Enter the Far East? 16 flags at Ducru-Beaucaillou

63. Drawn-out campaign. Vinexpo Asia

64. Unsold 2007 and 2008s. Package deal?

65. Châteaux owners seeking their share of profits. Too greedy?20

72. Now in its 27th year

73. Five co-chairmen, 20 panel leaders. More than 300 expert judges

74. Everything judged at least twice. Trophy winners as many as six times

75. Over 10,000 wines entered from 42 countries.

76. In 2010, there were 327 gold medals and 1,441 silver medals

77. Silver and golds from Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, England, Japan, Romania, Canada, Turkey , the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Mexico and Macedonia

78. Winning varieties included Agiorgitiko, Alfrocheiro, Amigne, Bogazkere, Cesanese, Chiavennasca, Greco diTufo, HondarrabiZuri, Lagrein, Mencia, Moscophilero, Narince, Pecorino, Roditis, Saperavi, Scheurebe, Trepat and Vranec

79. Good wine can come from anywhere!26

81. $100 a bottle Cabernets have to justify their existence more than ever

82. Our interpretation of fine wine regions and grape varieties has barely evolved in the last 100 years, despite the huge improvements in quality worldwide

83. Fine wine reliant on a small handful of grapes: Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Grenache, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Riesling

84. Italy, Greece, Portugal, Turkey all have a rich array of under-used indigenous grapes

85. An end to Bordeaux-itis. Under-utilised world class grapes include: TourigaNacional, Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo, Assyrtiko, NerelloMascalese

86. Greater diversity of opinion. Journalism based on research

87. Dare to be different! 27

89. THANK YOU www.timatkin.comwww.thewinegang.com