Michael Edwards
Wine Man & Prize-winning Author
Born in Hertford in 1944, Michael went to the well-known local school, Haileybury College, where he was taught history by Tony Melville, a distinguished Cambridge medievalist, who instilled in him the art of essay writing. After studies in Etruscan antiquities at the University of Perugia, Michael read for the Bar at Gray’s Inn. Though useful to be a trained lawyer, he never wanted to practise – having found a new passion in Italy to last a lifetime- wine. In 1968, Michael joined Laytons, the London wine shippers, as a trainee. Then while living in Burgundy and Provence in the ‘seventies, he travelled widely on behalf of wine giants like Michel Laroche, Gerard Chave and Leonard Humbrecht, who are now household names in England and the United States.
Since 1990 Michael has been a full-time wine writer and journalist. As the author of the best-selling Champagne Companion (Quarto:Apple Press 1994) he is widely acknowledged as an authority on this most famous of sparkling wines. As a working journalist, Michael writes regularly on Champagne,Burgundy and Italy for a wide range of titles including The World of Fine Wine, Wine KingdomJapan, The Drinks Business , Cotswold Style and www.italiauk.net.The author of five books including Mitchell Beazley’s Pocket Champagne & Sparkling Wine, The Red Wine Companion, Chablis, and jointly with the Hon. Gerard Noel Vermouth. His latest work is the well received book The Finest Wines of Champagne published in autumn 2009 by Quarto & the University of California Press. Michael is a laureat of Le Prix Lanson. He hasa also been honoured by the growers of Champagne with their Diplome d’Honneur (1994) and by the Archiconfrerie St Vincent of Epernay asAmbassadeur d’Angleterre (2006).
THE ROAD TO RECOVERY
Quality and Value reassessed in Champagne.
How quickly things change. In 2008, despite the near- collapse of the international banking system, Champagne at first looked recession-proof as business held up with consumers clinging to the consolation of the world’s most glamorous wine to lift their mood. It could not last. In mid-2009 the resilient US economy may show the first teeny signs of recovery, but Europe, and much of Asia, is now stuck in deep recession with Champagne shipments likely fall by at least 30 per cent this year. Although there are obvious perils if the world’s economies don’t look brighter next year, the downturn this time could be a blessing in disguise – cooling a bull market that had previously shown signs of serious price inflation as Champagne growers pushed their vines to the very limits of production in an attempt to meet a world demand they couldn’t satisfy in the long term. They now have a breathing space, with stocks likely to last longer than at first feared; yields of wine will drop to more reasonable levels for optimal quality and prices should stabilise. As always in straitened times, there are real opportunities for the astute buyer to pick up some bargains in Champagne, a region blessed with a run of four good crops and one great harvest (2008) in the last five years. This should ensure the quality of non-vintage Champagne for the foreseeable future. And for the connoisseurs of well-aged ‘Vintage’, 2000 is a delicious, foward year for current drinking; 2002 is likely to prove one of the finest vintages since the Second World War in a magical mix of unctuous richness and astonishing finesse; and the record sized 2004 has an energy and precision, making it a Chardonnay year par excellence.
