Hopwine
Taste
by
Hopwine is a French wine-industry company that runs a digital international wine and spirits trade fair aimed mainly at professionals (importers, distributors, sommeliers, journalists, etc.).
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It organises a virtual wine and spirits fair where producers from around the world can present their products to professionals without physically travelling.
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Producers send small certified samples of wine and spirits (typically 2 cl or 4 cl bottles, designed for tasting) that are shipped to buyers worldwide.
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Buyers can receive and taste real samples at their own location, then interact virtually with producers to discuss business.
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It positions itself as the first digital salon of this kind, combining online meetings with real tastings and global sourcing.
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Hopwine organises events, professional matchmaking, and supports commercial contacts within the wine and spirits sector.
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Its concept was developed during the pandemic to give producers and buyers a more efficient way to connect internationally.
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The platform is aimed at professionals in the wine and spirits trade (importers, distributors, buyers, journalists) rather than general consumers.
And I'm here to sample its wears. All I have to do is go on to the website, express which wines I'd like to try, hope that I fit the profile of the producers, and then if I do, I'll be sent a selection to taste.
These arrive at my house a couple of weeks later, in small boxes and small bottles that ooze French design flair, and I'm quite interested in what I'm receiving. There are no tasting notes, or information about the producers, and this might be a problem if I'm away from my trusty computer. I'm also not sure about the small bottles, and feel they inhibit a possible return visit to a wine. Still, nothing ventured, and certainly nothing gained.
For your information, these are the producers I've selected:
Martin Clerc lies in the Northern Rhône Valley and is located in the Côte Rôtie and Condrieu appellations. There are 9 hectares in production and the Estate was created by Louis Clerc, but since 2018 Martin has taken over. I mull over the website, but this doesn't take too long as the website is rather sparse.
Thankfully, producer number two gives more information, and, for me, this is where excitement starts when pondering a vineyard, and so it's a big thank you to Domaine Dyckerhoff.
They have 8 hectares of land and are located on the banks of Arnon, near the Cher River, and the vines are planted on a chalky marl that produces 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 10% Pinot Gris, 10% Pinot Noir, and I'm excited by what this producer from the Loire might deliver.
Their domaine is a family run estate, and Christian, who has been farming in the Loire Valley, discovered viticulture in Alsace. where he became passionate about winemaking. In the early 2000s, they started building up their domaine.
The final winery is Domaine de Cardon, a producer that has its origins in 12th century iSpain under the name of Cardona before the family settled near Lyon where they bought, among other things, the Domaine de Roche Cardon on the outskirts of Lyon in the 19th century before transferring from the Château de Sandrans to the property of Dracy Le Fort in Burgundy.
So these are the producers I'll be trying. and I'm quite interested to see if this method of tasting is allowing the wine makers to be at their best, of is this simply a novel way of letting the market taste wine. Let's start with the wines of Martin Clerc.
Martin Clerc - Condrieu 2023
This white wine has a nose that is clean, but give it a chance and you're getting slivers of icing sugar and pungent yellow apple.
When I taste there is this succulent flavour that is potentially rich, but with something in reserve. There's a taste to it that's slight nettle and slight tropical, and I'm finding this wine very enjoyable.
The Côte Bellay is another white that has a fragrant nose with wafts of crushed apple underfoot, but there's an addition of steely stone and ripe pear backdrop.
This has got a big mouthfeel of ripe fruit, zesty peel and a minerality that doesn't offend. These white's have been a real find and I'm wondering if the reds can also come to the party.
Côte Rôtie - Coteaux de Bassenon, 2023
On the nose there a tickle of light cherry, slivers of liquorice, and a youthful hint of graphite, and so far nothing kidnaps the wine from your enjoyment. There's also something that's holding it back from fully blooming on the nose.
In the mouth it's a tight wine that's difficult to fathom at first, before zingy tannins, black cherries and berries, and a return to pencil graphite. It's good, but I want more than this tiny bottle is giving me.
Collet Côte-Rôtie
I nose the glass and am rewarded with blackcurrant, deeper cherry, and an enticing candy scent.
I can't wait to taste, and I'm not let down as a slight salinity mixes with more blackcurrant. Then it's hello to coffee, chocolate, hints of forest floor, and a lot of rounded fruit. This is a very big wine in such a small bottle.
It's the turn of Domaine Dyckerhoff, and I'm looking forward to tasting these wines, partly because the winery is only just a couple of hours away, should I want to revisit one of the wines. I start with a Sauvignon Blanc.
Reuilly Blanc 2024 is the entry level for the wines, and so I pour myself a glass, lift and sniff. This has got those ripe Sauvignon flavours that jump out of the glass and grab your nose in a stranglehold, and there's not as much subtlety as I was expecting from a French Sauvignon. It's pungent grapefruit and citrus before taking a rest, settling down and flowing into a not unpleasant whiff of floor polish that takes me back to school days.
It's almost New Zealand in its approach and this continues with lemon sherbet, citrus, more grapefruit, and an earthiness I would have liked more of. This wine is so youthful I keep expecting it to be measured for a school uniform.
I've tried the white, and so I'd better approach the Reuilly Rosé 2024. This is quite pale, almost anaemic, and it’s not the conventional colour chart one would see for the average Rosé. I hope the nose can restore more confidence.
Perfume rears its head first, and then cherry blossom and hints of red fruit and redcurrants are all in this particular mix, and I'm feeling that it might have raised its profile.
The taste is light and juicy, predominated by red candy and bubblegum. It's not letting itself relax, and the feeling is that this is a tight wine that might need a couple of months more.
So far, the wines of Dycherhoff have been a little pedestrian and by-the-numbers, and I'm hoping that their red can come to the aid of this particular party.
The Reuilly Rouge 2024 is a pale and juvenile colour that is more Rosé than Red, and seems reluctant to dress in adult clothes. On the nose, it hints of red fruit, light blackberries, and not much else. It's hard to work, and then all I get in return is a slight flavour of foliage.
Taste it and it's a little reserved at first, but opens slightly and makes me think it needs a couple more years. It's a not too intense, ready-to-drink wine that is not giving too much in return. It's acceptable, but it's not delivering in a way that wants to impress.
After the interesting selections from Martin Clerc these are something of a let-down, because while you can taste potential, you can also taste a reserve and coyness that don't let these wines really stand out.
This extended box from Domaine de Cardon offers six samples for me to taste and I don't know if they are very confident in what they offer, or showing me how extensive is their excellence. Six tastings and I'll know.
The Bourgogne Aligoté 2023 - Vielles Vignes is an average mix of cream, apple and pears, but the strength is that backbone of bark that seems sturdy and holds it all together well.
In the mouth the apple continues, but the more I draw air over the wine, the less it wants to give up its secrets, and I'm left frustrated at how little has taken so much effort.
The Bourgogne – Côte Chalonnaise – Chardonnay – Les 4 Parcelles -2024
This has upped the game because I almost gave up on these wines before I'd started.
The slightest of sniffs gives you pungent green apples, woody notes, earth, barrels, pastry and butter that places this firmly in the Chardonnay camp.
For a small glass, this certainly gives you a full mouthfeel, and those green fruits have grown in prominence until they head to the subs bench to be replaced by sapling, lemon zest and lip-smacking sherbet. Now I'm enjoying this, but all too soon it's gone and there's no more left in my glass for a second taste.
I'm back up to Côte Challonnaise, but this isn't a Chardonnay this time. This Cuvee Folch - 2023 Pinot is a lovely relaxed glass of wine. I'm getting red cherry, cola, and boysenberries, and that's just on the nose.
In the mouth this abundance of fruit is pleasant with red cherries and plums leading the troops into battle, before hints of liquorice demonstrate what a fine balancing act some Pinot's can be.
Looking at this wine is a little confusing because while it's a Burgundy from 2022, it goes by the name of Cuvée Margaux. Am I going to get the best of both world in the glass this time.
This nice wine has fumes of dark red fruit keeping in order and not shouting for attention. There's ethanol in the mix and this would be distracting if it is any further forward in the mix.
I taste and this is a wow, because it's such a big, but confusing mouthfeel. Initially I'm getting red plum, but this leads towards something darker like black cherries with coffee, chocolate and a helping of spice. It's very good, but could be a little more.
I always enjoy the wines from Mercurey, and this 2023 Roche Cardon is no exception, and as a final tasting from Domaine de Cardon it's a fine curtain call that has made me eager to seek out further tastings from this producer.
The odour is all the B's; Blackberries, Blackcurrant and Blueberries, and they are Balanced in a way that shows the efforts of the wine maker to deliver, not just the bucket list flavours of wines from this area, but also to try and excel in their production.
In the mouth this wine is a dance between lovely red, black cherries, and plums, before the darker flavours capture the day, and the richness stays intact, and like all good meals, there's a fine cup of coffee at the end.
So, there we have it, and I've got to say that out of the three producers I tried, only one was a little disappointing. On this occasion Martin Clerc was very good, but Domaine de Cardon carried the day with consistency and high ambitions that came through in the glasses I tried.
I must also offer congratulations to the Hopwine organisation, because not only have they taken the desperate approach to tastings that flourished during COVID, they have shown a potential for this kind of approach by introducing new producers to a wider market and intriguing this particular taster.
I still feel that the bottles are too small to allow a retrospective tasting, and it would be great to receive a little history and information about the winery, the vineyards, the winemakers, and the point of difference that should make me want to know more, because sometimes that could be the hook that lands more fish.