Truly a vintage beyond compare

Jul 22 2009 by Liam Murphy, Heswall News

Truly a vintage beyond compare

FOR many people, owning one of the most exclusive hotels in the area and developing another would be a full-time job, but Wirral-based entrepreneur Craig Baker has another passion – wine.

And Mr Baker’s collection of fine wines is impressive by any standards.

And not content with the wholesale offering for Italian vintages available in the UK, he had a “Remington moment” and set up his own company to import them for his hotels.

The 38-year-old owner of the Hillbark and Leverhulme Hotels has needed an impressive collection of wines.

But, as an enthusiast as well as a successful businessman, he has built up his stock which now amounts to some 40,000 bottles.

Not all are stored at Hillbark, or even in the UK, but the Hillbark list ranges from an £18 Chilean Merlot, then Hillbark’s house red, to a Chateau Margaux at £1,705 and a Chateau Mouton Rothschild vintage priced at £3,225 – although it is a six-litre bottle.

And it’s a collection in which the hotel has placed a greater emphasis on wines sourced “locally” – although in wine terms that means European, rather than from New World vineyards.

English wines do not really make the cut, according to Mr Baker, whose knowledge and passion for the subject are evident as soon as he starts discussing wines.

And although European wines often equal and better their New World counterparts, some vintages have to be sourced from the best vineyards wherever they are, like Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir from New Zealand or Australian Shiraz – although he said: “If there is a country in Europe that does it really well, then I will go for the European wine.”

But the part of the wine list he is most proud of is the Italian selection.

He travels to Italy each year to visit the vineyards and buy wine for his hotel chain. At Hillbark, the cellar has some 5,000 bottles and the collection has some extraordinary examples – such as a dry monopole 1941 Champagne, with a label saying “reserved for England”, which costs £400.

But you would have to be quick to drink it when opened, as Mr Baker explained: “This bottle of wine, after you pull the cork out, is undrinkable after 10 minutes, because it oxidises so quickly.

“But for a party of eight drinking it, it would be some of the most amazing Champagne in the world for the first four minutes after it’s opened. After six minutes it would be starting to go, and after 10, not worth drinking.”