Mark Reynier is angry. After decades of shouting into the wind, his landmark Terroir Project – which scientifically proves the existence of terroir in whisky – has landed, and largely been derided or ignored by his peers.   “We have known this all along,” the founder and CEO of Waterford Distillery says. “There is a defence [in the industry] that terroir can’t exist in whisky because too many terrible things are done to the barley that negate it.”  Reynier is in the process of penning a “stinker” of a rebuttal to the latest dismissal of the academic study when we speak on a gloriously sunny, spring Islay morning. “It depends on whether you want terroir to exist or not,” he continues. “Of course it bloody doesn’t if you’re buying shiploads of [barley] in from the Ukraine. Who are you kidding? Open your eyes.  “But to deny it outright. To attack the message, attack the messenger, and destroy my reputation and everything. That’s why I have to do the Terroir Project, because I needed to be able to say: ‘You’re wrong, leave me alone.” When he joined the drinks industry in 1980, single malts represented 0.1% of sales and the national drink had become an industrial dog’s dinner, according to Reynier.    “I think everything went wrong, in my book, in the early ‘70s with the oil crisis, shutting down distilleries, recycling wood to cut costs and then adding [colour] at the last minute and chill filtering the whole thing to buggery,” he says.   He talks of an “age of innocence” before the ‘70s “when wood mattered, and barley actually tasted of something”. This halcyon period, coupled with his 20 years in the wine world, have influenced every decision he has made since. After 11 years polarising and challenging perceptions of age, peat-level, raw ingredient, and wood style at Bruichladdich, Reynier wanted to push the envelope even further with his next venture, Irish single malt distillery, Waterford.   “There is an enthusiasm in Ireland with the glass half-full as opposed to the Scottish half-empty,” Reynier says. “There is baggage in Scotland, even in Bruichladdich, with colleagues saying ‘ach no, you can’t be seen doing that. We’ll be laughed at.’” Absolute traceability is the goal at Waterford and this begins with the barley – looking back to that pre-1970s golden era, with varieties such as Hunter and Goldthorpe, trying to find flavours that have been bred out. Part of the Terroir Project has shown the two parent varieties from which all modern varieties are now propagated are too close together. “It’s like having a brother and sister as the source genetic material,” Reynier says. “For 50 years it has all come from the same bloody parents. And it wasn’t chosen on its flavour.” If confronting the Scotch and Irish whisk(e)y industry’s traditional wisdom wasn’t enough of a challenge, Reynier took up the mantle for rum in 2020 with the construction of the $20 million Renegade Distillery in Grenada. “I think rum’s problem is that nobody knows what real rum should be,” Reynier says. “Sixty countries make rum and it’s made from all sorts. There’s no uniformity, anything goes. So, everything does.  “For me, Renegade is a really simple question that we are seeking to answer and, no surprise, it is about terroir,” Reynier says. “It is about growing cane on different terroirs to produce different flavour compounds.”   In terms of other spirit categories Reynier has already got a remarkable gin to his name with Bruichladdich-produced Botanist. Most recently, he has toyed with the idea of agave, but fear of lawlessness and excruciatingly long harvests are battles he does not wish to tackle, yet.   “If a harvest of grapes fails one year or if a harvest of barley fails one year, then well fine, you’ve got the next year but with agave you haven’t. I think if I ever did anything it would be a Mezcal based on agave genetic modification to make it fruit more than once every 15 years and growing more of it. But that’s a bloody long-term project.” One suspects it won’t be long before that seemingly insurmountable challenge lures the tour de force that is Mark Reynier.  Browse all available Waterford whiskies and Renegade rums or read more Editorial 

With two single malts about to launch and a study at long last proving terroir in whisky exists, Waterford CEO Mark Reynier should be cock-a-hoop. Holly Motion finds out why that isn’t the case  

Waterford's Mark Reynier on his mission to produce single malt whiskies with a sense of place in Scotland with Bruichladdich and now in Ireland with Waterford

Waterford CEO Mark Reynier on terroir in whisky

Mark Reynier uncensored

We can't ignore what is going on in Europe and the rest of the world right now. After four weeks in lockdown, how are you and your team coping? Can you still work in the vineyards? 
The rhythm of life in the countryside has always been slower compared to the cities, so we are quite used to living a bit far from the modern rush, even if we are worried and we read and follow the news. Mother Nature keeps rolling and we follow the cycle of vineyards with precautions and care of our people: we just finished the pruning and today we had a snow storm that nicely covered our vineyards before Spring arrives. 
Do you have any advice for those of us just starting quarantine? Well, after 15 days of quarantine we have seen that the most important thing is to feed our souls with good food and good wine! We Italians are spending time slow cooking old “grandma” recipes and baking cakes and of course drinking fantastic wines. What are the latest updates at the Aurora winery? All the refurbishments of the historical building are in standby because of the lockdown but the winery is active. We are currently blending our 2018 Testamatta and Colore, released in September 2020.  Italian fine wine has been going through the most amazing renaissance, certainly helped by some fantastic vintages. In your opinion, what have been the key reasons behind the rise in quality? Italy is a beautiful country that has one the highest number of indigenous
varieties in the world which gives us an amazing rainbow of different beautiful wine expressions. If you blend this with the “passion” for what Italians are very well known for, the result will be an amazing and fascinating wine scene that’s seducing more and more wine lovers. On top of this we have been blessed with three top vintages in the last four, 2015 and 2016 are probably within the best I have ever made, the purity of the grapes results in a perfect balance between elegance and structure. And then the magical 2018, I still remember the beauty of the vineyards and my decision to let the vines grows without any human interaction.  The result today is wine with incredible perfumes and freshness, rich of finesse and fruit that definitely position this vintage amongst the greatest I've made. Fermenting the wines in barrel is a key element to Testamatta and Colore. What does this method bring to the wine? The first reason why I came across this vinification method is because of my vineyards: I’m
totally in love with old vines and today I have the biggest collection of rare and beautiful vineyards in Tuscany. Working with such old vineyards means you have to think out of the box, each single vine is followed individually and the harvest proceed plant to plant, parcel to parcel filling one barrel after the other. The result is amazing, from one vineyard of Sangiovese we can obtain multiple expression of Sangiovese, one for each barrel and each one with different nuances and shades. So when at the end of the aging we start blending
these barrels, the magic happens, you can imagine the complexity and the layers of the wines! 
What vintages are you enjoying to drink right now?  2016 vintage has been austere and full of richness since the vinification, now after almost 4 years from the harvest it is my favourite wine glass to enjoy what Sangiovese, Canaiolo and
Colorino can do in Tuscany. Every time I open a bottle I’m impressed! What other wines are you enjoying in your confinement?  During our steady lockdown we can’t move and shop, so I’m forced to dig into my private cellar and open some very old bottles of Colore and Testamatta. I also found a couple of old cases of 20 year old Champagne which found its way to our table but also enjoy our
Bollamatta “crazy-bubble” Sangiovese sparkling, very fun and full of joy!
 What is your favorite song that you are listening to at the moment? Music is always on in the kitchen and it goes from the Abba to Queen, passing through jazz and blues. Explore all Bibi Graetz listings or read more Editorial 

We caught up with Tuscan wine maverick Bibi Graetz who provided some much-needed escapism in the form of his new video which captures the halcyon days of the 2019 harvest on the island of Giglio

Bibi Graetz on the Italian wine renaissance, his fascination with old vines and his flagship Testamatta and Colore wines.

Interview with Tuscan wine maverick Bibi Graetz

Bibi Graetz Interview

Waterford founder Mark Reynier speaks to Gavin Lucas about his obsession with terroir, traceability and transparency – and how his radical approach is driving unprecedented scientific research into the flavours derived from barley grown on different soil types

Waterford founder, Mark Reynier, discusses his obsession with terroir, traceability and transparency – and how his approach is driving pioneering research 

FONDATA: The Waterford Revolution

The Waterford Revolution

Halcon Vineyards

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