Nick's Blending Trip

The last couple of months have seen me running around making the new vintage blends – good to work off those extra kilograms after Christmas! As we get glimpses of sunny spells and a touch of warmth of the forthcoming spring, the wines in vat are entering their final stage of finishing and blending. They then head towards either maturation (vat, tank or barrel) or are prepared for bottling. The last couple of months have seen me running around making the new vintage blends – good to work off those extra kilograms after Christmas! As we get glimpses of sunny spells and a touch of warmth of the forthcoming spring, the wines in vat are entering their final stage of finishing and blending. They then head towards either maturation (vat, tank or barrel) or are prepared for bottling.

I have just completed the work of blending the French Connection Sélection, Reserve and Grande Reserve wines with our French partners.

French Connection Sélection wines –  the white and rosé wine is an easier challenge than the red! The season produced wines that are fresh and vibrant in fruit, with easy balanced acidity – job done!

·         White – the wines are blended from Gers, Languedoc, and an area near Gaillac. Bright and fresh, the Colombard grapes give this a tropical grapefruit zing.

·         Rosé – the wines are blended from the Rhône, Languedoc and Gers. These wines show bright, cherry fruit, with a touch of sweeter strawberry.

·         Red – lots of ‘light’ wines from rain-affected grapes made this a challenge but we tried lots of different blends to get a fantastic result.  The successful blend was from the Vaucluse region and Languedoc.

French Connection Reserve Chardonnay – better  quality than the 2010 vintage, with richer fruit.  The blend was created using wines from the south-west, Languedoc and Gard. Peach and melon fruit, citrus freshness with good texture – a bright, fresh style.

French Connection Reserve Merlot –  the early grapes have vinified wines with freshness; the grapes picked later needed more selection due to the challenging wet weather. As always the Merlot was a challenge– our final blend was made up of wines from the south-west, Gaillac, Vaucluse, Gard and Languedoc regions – well travelled already! The result this year is a fresh Merlot with delicious, plump fruit on the palate.

French Connection Grande Reserve Sauvignon Blanc – this is a good vintage for Sauvignon Blanc with good quantity, which is lucky because the Brits love it! Same game plan with this vintage blend – fresh nettles and gooseberry with a  touch of tropical ripeness. We created it using wines from the south-west, Gers, Gaillac, north Gard and the Languedoc.

French Connection Grande Reserve Shiraz –  this was a cracker last year so the challenge is to continue with a blend as good or better! The 2011 vintage has produced wines that have more red and black fruits, with the peppery spice harder to find – but we got there... the blend this year is created from Languedoc, Drôme & Vaucluse with a splash from Gaillac (not normally in the blend but added for spice and freshness).

Now that the blends have been done – on the slab in the lab – the real challenge is to get the wines blended, finished and then bottled for you all to enjoy!

Nick Butler

French Connection Winemaker

Nick's Vintage 2011

Producing wine is like any type of agriculture, it depends on so many things coming together at the right time to produce the best results: great grapes, suitable soils, climate, weather and expert viticulture. Harvest across Europe has thrown up many challenges this year – from hail, rain and wet conditions to heat spikes and dehydration – but France has certainly had the best vintage across Europe both in terms of volume and quality, for which we are very thankful!

Producing wine is like any type of agriculture, it depends on so many things coming together at the right time to produce the best results: great grapes, suitable soils, climate, weather and expert viticulture. Harvest across Europe has thrown up many challenges this year – from hail, rain and wet conditions to heat spikes and dehydration – but France has certainly had the best vintage across Europe both in terms of volume and quality, for which we are very thankful!

I go over to France many times in September and October to visit our partner producers and to see how the harvest is progressing and to look at early tanks of whites and rosés that have finished fermentation. It’s an exciting time but can also be nerve-wracking too – luckily I needn’t have worried….

Here are my first thoughts on vintage 2011:

French Connection Sélection wines – the quality looks really good for the white and rosé; they are bright, fresh and fruity.

French Connection Reserve Chardonnay – the quality here is very good too with freshly balanced acidity from the Languedoc and bright, fresh and easy-drinking juice from higher yielding regions of Gascogne and Charentes.

French Connection Reserve Merlot – Merlot is an early-ripening red grape variety that was affected by the challenging weather but our producers picked later resulting in grapes with better, richer qualities. Good stuff.

French Connection Grande Reserve Sauvignon Blanc – there is good, fresh quality here with a vibrant nettle component from the Gascogne region. The Languedoc portion is very fresh with good flavour and palate weight. I am looking forward to making up the first blends in December.

French Connection Grande Reserve Shiraz – this looks good both in terms of even quality and reasonable crop. The wines are already showing good blackberry fruit and pepper characters.

French Connection Champagne – in Champagne picking began on 19 August, the earliest harvest since 2003, which was in itself was the earliest since the 19th century. Results so far show good quality and quantity. Delicious!

Now the work starts in the wineries and I look forward to seeing how the wines progress over the coming months and, of course, bringing you the fantastic results next year.

Nick

Producing wine is like any type of agriculture, it depends on so many things coming together at the right time to produce the best results: great grapes, suitable soils, climate, weather and expert viticulture. Harvest across Europe has thrown up many challenges this year – from hail, rain and wet conditions to heat spikes and dehydration – but France has certainly had the best vintage across Europe both in terms of volume and quality, for which we are very thankful!

French Connection goes to Ireland

For all our Irish fans, pop down to the French Connection clothing stores in Dublin, Dundrum, Cork, Blanchardstown and Mahon Point tonight, 17 November, from 5-8pm for a glass of French Connection wine. Head to your local store for an exclusive party to celebrate the new Christmas collection, a night of fantastic shopping and, of course, a glass of delicious French Connection Wine.

French Connection Wines will be providing drinks at the in-store bars at the evening shopping experience in its namesake’s top Irish stores. Stop by for a refreshing glass of French Connection Grande Reserve Sauvignon Blanc or Shiraz, while you do a spot of shopping. There will also be an exclusive competition to win a case of French Connection Brut Champagne – the details will be found in your goody bag. Register for the preview evening here: www.frenchconnection.com/u

Don’t get confused by the name! French Connection Wines is owned by the wine importer, Bottle Green Ltd.

If you missed the last French Connection at French Connection events, you have another chance this evening, Thursday 6 October from 5-8pm. Pop down to your local French Connection clothing store for an exclusive preview of the new fashion collection, a night of fantastic shopping and a glass of delicious French Connection Wine.

French Connection Wines at French Connection preview evening

If you missed the last French Connection at French Connection events, you have another chance this evening, Thursday 6 October from 5-8pm. Pop down to your local French Connection clothing store for an exclusive preview of the new fashion collection, a night of fantastic shopping and a glass of delicious French Connection Wine.

French Connection Wines will be providing drinks at the in-store bars at the evening shopping experience in its namesake’s top stores. Head down to Birmingham Bullring, Bristol Cabot Circus, Leeds Vicar Lane, Liverpool Lord Street, London King’s Road, London Regent Street, Manchester Exchange Street, Newcastle Grainger Street and Oxford Queen Street for a refreshing glass of French Connection Grande Reserve Sauvignon Blanc or Shiraz, while you do a spot of shopping.

An exclusive competition to win French Connection Brut Champagne will be running too – the details will be found in your goody bag.

Register for the preview evening here: www.frenchconnection.com/grazia

Don’t get confused by the name! French Connection Wines is owned by the wine importer, Bottle Green Ltd.

If you missed the last French Connection at French Connection events, you have another chance this evening, Thursday 6 October from 5-8pm. Pop down to your local French Connection clothing store for an exclusive preview of the new fashion collection, a night of fantastic shopping and a glass of delicious French Connection Wine.

French Connection and French Connection

We know you love French Connection Wines but do you love French Connection clothes too? If so, you’ve got an evening made in heaven coming up on Thursday 8 September. French Connection Wines is joining forces with the fashion brand, French Connection, for Vogue Fashion’s Night Out at French Connection from 5pm to 8pm this Thursday.


French Connection Wines will be providing drinks at the in-store bars at the evening shopping experience in its namesake’s top stores. Head down to Birmingham Bullring, Bristol Cabot Circus, Leeds Vicar Lane, Liverpool Lord Street, London King’s Road, London Regent Street, Manchester Exchange Street, Newcastle Grainger Street and Oxford Queen Street for a refreshing glass of French Connection Grande Reserve Sauvignon Blanc or Shiraz, while you do a spot of shopping.

An exclusive competition to win French Connection Champagne will be running too – the details will be found in your goody bag. And there will, of course, be the opportunity to view the new clothing collections and have a night of fabulous fashion and exclusive treats and discounts.

Register for Vogue Fashion’s Night Out at French Connection here: www.frenchconnection.com/vogue

Don’t get confused by the name! French Connection Wines is owned by the wine importer, Bottle Green Ltd.

We know you love French Connection Wines but do you love French Connection clothes too? If so, you’ve got an evening made in heaven coming up on Thursday 8 September. French Connection Wines is joining forces with the fashion brand, French Connection, for Vogue Fashion’s Night Out at French Connection from 5pm to 8pm this Thursday.

The awards keep coming

French Connection Classics Saumur Champigny 2009 has now won three highly acclaimed trophies in the International Wine Challenge 2011. The delicious wine from the Loire Valley won the International Cabernet Franc Trophy, the Loire Red Trophy and the Saumur Champigny Trophy. 

Not half bad to say that only 100 wines out of more than 12,000 entries have been awarded an IWC Trophy this year! 

Find out more about this wine in Nick Butler’s video blog.

French Connection Classics Saumur Champigny 2009 has now won three highly acclaimed trophies in the International Wine Challenge 2011. The delicious wine from the Loire Valley won the International Cabernet Franc Trophy, the Loire Red Trophy and the Saumur Champigny Trophy.

And the medal goes to….French Connection

We are running out of frames to put all of our certificates in following a fantastic round of results in the recent international wine competitions announced at the London International Wine Fair. French Connection wines won medals across the range in the recent competitions, which is a great testament to the hard work of our winemakers.

Every wine entered into the International Wine Challenge and the International Wine and Spirit Competition, from the French Connection range, won an award. French Connection scooped nine medals in the esteemed International Wine Challenge including a gold medal for French Connection Classics Saumur Champigny and a silver for French Connection Classics Croix Milhas Rivesaltes Ambré. The three French Connection Champagnes (Premier Cru, Brut and Rosé) were all medal winners too.

It was not only the Classics range that scored well in the competitions as French Connection Grande Reserve Shiraz 2009 was selected as an ANIVIN International Best Value Vin de France 2011.

Félicitations/congratulations to all of the team!

We are running out of frames to put all of our certificates in following a fantastic round of results in the recent international wine competitions announced at the London International Wine Fair. French Connection wines won medals across the range in the recent competitions, which is a great testament to the hard work of our winemakers.