Hand Picked Wines began life as Otterden Vintners in June 2004. Its original intention was simple: to promote and sell the wines made by our families in Bordeaux. These are great wines, that are usually passed over by the big merchants since they are made only in limited quantities. Chateau de Come and Chateau Clauzet are both from St-Estephe, in the Médoc, Bordeaux's famous Left Bank.
Maurice Velge, my father in law, bought the vineyards in 1997 but they were in a real mess and he knew from the start that drastic action was needed if the estate was to realise its full potential. Straight away, he hired Jose Bueno, Jose Bueno, one of the former head winemakers for 29 years at the Rothschild wineries, and within two years they had started to turn things around.
The 1999 vintage raised eyebrows across France, attracting plaudits from eminent French wine experts and even Robert Parker (a known sceptic when it comes to the left bank in general and St-Estephes in particular) gave it favourable reviews.
After a short time, we decided to concentrate on Chateau de Come, for which we had exclusive distribution, and which seemed to be a universal hit with all who tried it.
Rather than sell the wine into the UK trade (about which we knew very little), we decided to sell the wine directly to the public. It meant many hours in the car and a lot of trips to the postal depot, but it worked, and soon we had a small but loyal following.
As the business took off, we realised that it was crazy to have just one wine, so we went around the Bordeaux vineyards and dealers and found some amazing and very good value dry whites, unknown to most of the UK, such as Chateau de Cugat or Chateau Lamothe-Vincent (family owned, family run) as well as some reds with interesting stories behind them. These are fabulous wines.
The same goes for our Champagne, from a small, family-run grower, Jean Vesselle. These are wines of real character, overseen by one of only two women growers in the region. But don't take our word for it - the former Head Sommelier of the Ritz in London raved about the entire range, saying "this is real vineyard Champagne, the way it was actually meant to be.²
Finally (some might say Obelatedly'!) having assembled a small, but excellent portfolio of great wines, we have decided to move on to the next level and deal directly with restaurants and hotels. Since they are always on the look-out for wines that have real character, it's no surprise that they love what we have to offer them!
Happy tastings to all of you, Catherine Velge, Managing Director
