Romance of the grape(2)
Asian presence
Today, Skalli offers a number of dominant brands from four major vineyards in Rhône Valley, Languedoc, Provence and Corsica. It also owns and operates the St. Supery Vineyard in Napa Valley. Skalli started exporting 65% of its wine to 25 countries in 1999, its strongest market for the Fortant brand being the US. With the current recession, the company is focusing on its operations in Asia, particularly China and India, while supplying developing small markets like the Philippines.
Earlier this month, Mr. Godard and Skalli Brand Ambassador for Asia Patrick Lachapele attended a wine tasting hosted by Happy Living Philippines Corp., exclusive importer and distributor of Skalli in the country, at 22 Prime of Discovery Suites Hotel in Ortigas Center. Six stations of food especially prepared by chef David Pardo de Ayala had its corresponding bottles of wine for guests to familiarize themselves with.
Easing into the buffet, one had the option to try the Fortant de France Merlot Rosé 2007, which was paired with chicken and pistachio terrine, asparagus and parma ham grissini with parmesan cheese, and Verbena’s bouillabaisse with shrimps, scallops and octopus. The Skalli executives will tell you however that this kind of wine can go with practically anything on the menu, from being an apertif to a dessert wine.
"People prefer red because red is good for [one’s] health, that’s the image you have with the polyphenals and the French paradox. But people will also drink more with food and wine pairing... You have French food, if you have one dish, one or two different flavors, okay, you can pair with the red or white. Asian food, you have one dish, you have 10 different flavors, [so] you take the Rosé which can match all these other flavors. You can pair Rosé with almost anything. So I think Rosé wine will have a lot to do in Asia," said Mr. Godard.
A popular wine that night was the multi-awarded Fortant de France Cabernet Sauvignon, but it was the F de Skalli Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 that became the runaway favorite, a boutique wine named in tribute to the late Francis Skalli, produced in limited quantities (the original 1996 vintage numbering only 72,000 bottles, the current vintage falling at 30,000), and aged anywhere a year and a half (at least) in French oak barrels.
Mr. Lachapele prefers that the wine be imbibed only after two hours of oxidation, letting the wine breathe, so that it’s qualities are better appreciated. He waxes poetic over the French wine-growing method, wherein the vine is stressed, the soil "very poor" and practically starved of fertilizer, so that the roots go deep in search of water and nutrients, commenting that "a grape that has been fighting to live makes for better wine."
Apparently, this wine is doing very well in Asia. Again, part of it is marketing.
"Since it is our jewel, our very best wine, we want to see it in the right place, top hotels, top restaurants, trendy places, very, very high-end wine shops, that is where we want to go, that is very important to us. And I’m sure that people know that in the South of France, we can make great, great wines," said Mr. Godard.
"We’ll see how people respond to the prices [of our more high-end wines]. The response here is quite good, because the wine is affordable and easy to drink, and that is what the people want... If you go to the restaurants, a lot of people still go there, and what you see is no lack of confidence, the restaurant and hotels they have smaller [wine lists], but people still order good wine," he added.
Marketing draws one in, the story presents an inspirational peg, and the wine itself tells the truth — however you spin it, every mouthful will tell you exactly what went into its making. And the F tells you, unabashedly, that in the end it’s about a group of people, a family, whose love of wine continues.
