Drink
Mixed results
by Keith Stewart
The dust is flying around an enormous battle in Scotland over the malt whisky known as Cardhu. This 175-year-old Speyside distillery has had a long and proud history, including its revival by the remarkable Elizabeth Cunningham in 1872. Since then, its charming, sweet-fringed character has given Johnnie Walker its friendly style and recently made it one of the most popular of malts, a popularity that now threatens to destroy it and the reputation of Scotland’s finest.
What has happened is that single malt whiskies – those, such as Cardhu, that are the exclusive products of a single distillery – have been enjoying a surge of interest from drinkers around the world who value their unique characters. In fact, so much so that there is no longer enough Cardhu to satisfy demand, and the owners, Diageo, have taken to selling a blend of various malts under the Cardhu label.
Needless to say, this has more than a few of Scotland’s leading distillers and enthusiastic scotch drinkers up in arms over the challenge to the integrity of single malt and not just at Cardhu. For, as whisky author Michael Jackson says, these are not just brands, “they are actual distilleries: premises at which malt is actually turned into whisky”.
What is going on is a challenge to regional character, to the idea that a place and an individual culture can provide the rest of the world with a unique product. This is the philosophy behind the European idea of geographic indication (GI); that given a specific set of geographic and human factors, products crafted from the land in that place have a unique identity, one that is inseparable from the place itself.
Those with half a marketing brain will soon note that this also gives the product a measurable advantage, where demand is always likely to exceed supply if the product has enough character and recognisable quality. This is a recipe for higher profits, which is great if there is to be any future for regional producers around the world.
This world is now clearly divided between those who see the logic in rewarding regional integrity and character, and those who have a vested interest in mass production, led by Europe on one side, and the US on the other, representing geographic identity and corporate brands, respectively.
Not that corporates and geographic integrity are mutually exclusive concepts. Perhaps the greatest regional product is champagne, now in the control of a number of large “luxury” corporates, such as LVMH Moët Hennessy, which understand the value of GI for products such as Moët & Chandon, Hennessy XO Cognac and Cloudy Bay, all of which it owns.
Sadly, most of New Zealand is on the brand wagon, spawn of industrial chemists who think food is made in factories and that the country is where tourists go to spend money.
TRY THIS: CLOUDY BAY 2003 SAUVIGNON BLANC
This is the standard by which Marlborough sauvignon blanc is judged, and this one suggests that 2003 is a very smart year for the style. It’s aromatic and tingling with brisk flavours, as you would expect, but with an extra juicy quality and a wash of delicious fruit that permeates through the whole wine. Joyous stuff, clean as a whistle, with lingering purity that begs a plate of shellfishy things.
PRICE: $24. AVAILABLE: momentarily.
