21 Year Old Gran Reserva ONLY £22.99

Very rarely do wines like this come along. Yes Gran Reserva Rioja is not exactly a rarity but one with twenty one years of bottle age can either be rather top heavy on price, or found tucked at the back of wine rack from a vintage that at best is ten years too old.

So when we found a pristine parcel of 2001 Gran Reserva that had been carefully stored at the winery in Rioja we crossed our fingers that the wine had held up.

As soon as we saw that classic tawny colour and the intense aroma’s of dried fruit, liquorice, cocoa and coffee jump out of the glass. When we sipped on the silky tannins – full bodied and delicate, we felt a little crestfallen. A wine of this age and quality was going to be £50 a bottle and destined for the instagram.

So when Alex who represents Finca Manzanos in the UK told us, that the aim of the winery was to showcase the potential of their wines with this particular vintage and therefore they would sell the 2001 as if it was their current vintage – We took the bait hook line a sinker.

If you are looking for a show stopping wine. Perhaps you’ve had or have a 21st anniversary this year. Then I urge you to grab a six pack. As soon as word gets around about this parcel it will sell out and like all the great wines, it can never be repeated.

Today I bought a tree snake

After many weeks of Sam talking excitedly about Juliette’s vineyard and wine project, and then linking this to wine Non Fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrency and the Blockchain, I still had no real understanding of what most of these things were. Finally, after much discussion, I now believe that I may have developed a basic understanding of these things and how they may work.

For me, the simplest way of viewing an NFT is to think of it as a trading card or collectible sticker, much like the ones children collect/trade in the playground. The rarer the card/sticker, the more valuable it becomes in trading terms. The obvious differences between these cards and with the wine NFTs are that they are digital, and only 600 will exist (representing one of Juliette’s actual vines). Proof of ownership of the one original NFTs is provided by the Block chain – think of this as an excel spreadsheet which authenticates and irrefutably records the transfer and ownership of the registered NFT.

So, back to the trading cards. You may be questioning why anyone would seek ownership of a digital picture of a vine – I know I did! Again, for me it really helped to think of it in terms of a game, such as Monopoly, in which the paper money could represent the cryptocurrency used to purchase trading cards as you land on them – or in our case, Sam offering you the opportunity to buy an NFT vine as they are released/created (minted). Just as cards are traded, the NFT can then be exchanged for wine (in May once it is released), or kept and added to, much like players buy cards to complete their sets, the more ‘sets’ you own, the more valuable they may become. Once all are sold, creating scarcity, the perceived value may increase and so the game goes on. Think of the wine produced as rent from the houses linked to your trading card/NFT. The more you own, the more wine you have access to. Just like in the game, if you get bored you can choose to cash in (for wine) and leave – or alternatively you can choose to play another round (pass go) and become part of the next vintage/wine story, adding more NFTs to your collection, along the way.

Now for the clever part. Let’s imagine that Juliette’s vineyard is only a small part of the game (Monopoly board); that year on year the board continues to grow, as other similar and exciting wine projects (think Gutters and Stars and Flint perhaps) are incorporated. Now your potential access is not limited to Juliette’s future wine; you have potential access theirs too, by purchasing other NFTs to add to your collection, in just the same way. As you go around the board for a third, fourth round etc, you can now swap/sell your NFTs for a mixed case of new and exciting wines.

The final question that you may ask yourself, is why Sam is doing this now? To put it simply, making wine is not cheap. It requires many hours of love and labour; alongside expertise, equipment, bottle, label and clasp (not forgetting the advance duty payment of £2.33 +VAT per bottle). Having covered these costs themselves for the first two vintages (and sold out), Sam and Juliette now feel that given the quality of the East Anglian harvest, the wine produced this year will be the best they have made yet. Through the purchasing of NFTs you are not only becoming part of the ‘game’, and injecting a small amount of cash; but are becoming part of a community project – a wine making story. The NFTs being released as photos, or digital art, or wine labels, are a historical record of the journey of a vineyard and a wine making process – a process which to date has taken 17 years. Being part of this project enables you to walk in the vineyard, taste wine from the tank and become part of the celebration at the Vendange party. You may even fancy making a record of the wines that you drink through an NFT.

So, after all this explanation, I had to try it for myself – and it was easy. I have my sights set on an NFT of myself, my daughter and my father picking grapes at the very first harvest, to start my collection. Unfortunately, these are yet to be minted.

If you would like to keep up to date with new releases as they are minted, head over to momint.so

and follow ExperienceWine. 

And that is how I ended up with a Tree Snake….

Written by: Lisa

Beaujolais six packs

It is that time of year again when we all turn our thoughts to the excitement that is Beaujolais nouveau. This is in fact a lie. Actual BoJo-NoVo can be some of the worst wine to be released on the unsuspecting public.

However, avid followers of the vine will know that Gamay can produce some spectacular wines.

Please note: 2022 will not be available until Thursday 17th November.

Nothing new about Beaujolais.

The Château de la Terrière has stood in Cercié since the 16^th century and is one of the oldest estates in the region. Located in the heart of the historic Beaujolais, facing Mont Brouilly, the property and its vines spread southwards over a volcanic hill, giving the wines a unique character, as most of other vineyards in this appellation are planted on sandy soils. The Butiner, Vin Nature is a modern Beaujolais and uses no additions of sulphur, they plant clover in between the vines to fix nitrogen in the soil and to limit the weeding, to harvesting by hand in small trays to keep a high quality of the grapes – some might even say a traditional approach to farming!

Last year’s wine sold out quickly, with latecomers scrambling for whatever few bottles could be spared, so please pre-order early to avoid disappointment. And we are pleased to reveal that with the cost of so many things rising steeply at the moment, Beaujolais Nouveau isn’t be one of them.

Prices is for six bottles via pre-order. Single bottles maybe available in store whilst stocks last

We have minted our first three NFT’s

Buying via our website

If you prefer to secure an allocation of this vintage via our website in £ Pound-Stirling rather than via an NFT Marketplace, you can do so here.

We are now minting our first tokens!

Our first tokens were minted on Momint, this platform is no longer online.

Let me introduce you to our team.

Dan Kirby, is helping us in the vineyard and cellar.

If you haven’t already heard, Dan passed the the first stage of the Master of Wine exam and now has two years to complete stage two. Apart from his expert knowledge, Dan also brings a very useful social media following to the project and network of MW’s and wine professionals who can help and guide us over the next couple of years.

Karl Gesner, NFT back office.

Karl is the person who understands how this all works, Finance Director for Canham Consulting, WSET Student and NFT Mentor. Karl is also a Venn Member at Flint Vineyard so comes in handy for borrowing the tiny amounts of professional yeast and other vineyard bits we would otherwise have to buy in industrial quantities.

Chris Wilson, Gutter & Stars Urban Winery

Chris, is an actual wine maker, an actual wine journalist including Decanter and Harpers and is generally on call when we don’t actually know what to do.

Juliette, Wine Grower & Cellar, puts in all the graft during winter getting the vines into tip top condition, and then keeps them in that condition, before harvesting, cleaning and keeping on top of all the necessary bits.

HarperWells, Norwich. Wine Merchant, basically exchanging the product of all of the above into cash.

BinTwo, Padstow, Twice ranked as the Best UK Independent Wine Shop. Owner Mike also has his own micro-winery project and has agreed to accept your NFT’s in exchange for his wine ‘Howl & Grappa’

Are you ready to buy your NFT now?

Currently we have three wines in tank. These unfinished wines are now being offered for sale.

We have three options, and to bring it back to wine, think of it as en-primeur or crowdfunding.

Option 1. is $10 this will give you one of the 600 ‘vine’ NFT’s which you can exchange for a bottle of our wine on release. In all likelihood this will be the white blend which we are anticipating releasing at £10 per bottle – subject to availability you could exchange it for part payment on a bottle of the red (anticipated at £25)

Option 2. is $60, Each NFT is represented by a physical vine. When the wines are released you can choose to exchange your token for wine, an example may be to exchange for six bottles of the white blend, or you may choose to only exchange for a single bottle of white (£10) and on later release and subject to availability of the PetNat & Red Rondo/Pinot Noir (anticipated price £25) exchange for a bottle of each.

As you can see, a market is created, should the Red be over subscribed, then only the owners of the Pinot Noir vines are guaranteed a bottle, owners of these token may choose to exchange these for physical wine or trade them on an NFT exchange like Momint

Option 3.

If you want to commit to the $300 case – this will guarantee you a case of our wine; at present this could be 4 each of the Pinot Noir / Rondo. The Seyval Blanc. and PetNat.

However, it is very much hoped that we can offer you the opportunity to include and exchange wines from the likes if BinTwo and Gutter & Stars.

As a guarantee, should we not manage to produce or acquire enough wine then we will put together a case of wine from the shop to the value of $300.

You will be allocated one of the 22 Pinot Noir vine NFT’s. These can be traded or exchanged for wine from both us or other participating micro wineries. There are additional fringe benefits of owning the Pinot Noir vines, which we will expand on and announce as further collaborations and partnerships develop.

Summer is in full swing, and this calls for sunshine white wines with silky texture, and spicy reds with remarkable freshness. We’re looking to South Africa, where coastal influence, mountain ranges, ancient soils and a wealth of old vines provide boundless potential.

Various producers, including Gabriëlskloof and Spice Route, are championing old bush vines, which have shown extraordinary resilience in recent drought years. Their low yields, though financially challenging, result in intense and complex wines with a unique sense of place. Meanwhile Thorne & Daughters and Momento are finding balancing and complexity by sourcing and blending fruit from regions across the country – from the arid slopes of the Paardeberg to the cool climate of coastal Walker Bay.

So come with us on a road trip across the Western Cape, to explore and celebrate the diversity of South African wine!

I’m such a fan of South African wine, I’d like everyone to appreciate it as much as me.

And producers and growers there really do need every bit of financial encouragement to keep vines, many of them venerable, in the ground. (Jancis Robinson, July 2022)