Chef hopes for sweet taste of success with a glass of Chateau Perthshire

AN UP-MARKET Scottish hotel is hoping to serve the country's first commercially produced wine from grapes to discerning customers later this year.

Hotelier Pete Gottgens is nurturing a vineyard on the banks of Loch Tay to produce a white dessert wine, or vinegar, depending on the quality of the crop.

Mr Gottgens, owner and chef of the Ardeonaig hotel in Perthshire, said: "It's not as though we think we're going to take on the French – we're not that bigheaded or naive. But sometimes you've got to go first, that's why we've stuck our neck out and gone for it.

"If the wine is fit for consumption it will be served by the glass with our food. If it's not good enough we can make it into vinegar."

Mr Gottgens planted 48 vines four years ago as a trial and has taken the plunge by planting 800 vines over two acres.

He hopes to produce his first crop – using two white varieties – by the end of the year. He said the trial had proved that the grapes could survive a Scottish winter, but the key to success will be a warm summer.

Mr Gottgens said: "If it's not hot enough we won't produce the wine."

The vineyard is managed by an expert winemaker from his native South Africa, who flies over several times a year to monitor progress.

Mr Gottgens, a former personal chef to Nelson Mandela, said the idea of Scotland as a wine producer might gain credence as experts predict that France may soon become too hot to grow grapes.

He has closely watched Canada's burgeoning viticulture industry, centred around Ontario's Niagara region, where freezing temperatures contribute to the cultivation of the sweet Ice Wine.

Adam Lechmere, editor of decanter.com, said any attempt at producing wine above or below the 50th latitude parallels would not succeed.

He said: "Scotland just does not have the hours of sunshine you need to produce anything that drinkable. The example of Canada and ice wine isn't fair because they get far more sunshine.

"Climate change is an old chestnut and it's just not going to happen for 50 or more years. It's the hours of sun and night-time temperatures, not just warmer climates, that are key.

"In Britain the temperature plummets at night-time. The grape just closes down and doesn't develop sugar needed to turn it into alcohol, so you will have to add masses of sugar to make it drinkable.

"It will take an awfully long time for wine from Scotland to be challenging other producers. I'm obviously sceptical but good luck to them."

Tom Cannavan, a wine critic and author, has doubts over the taste of a Scottish wine.

He said: "They might end up with a palatable white wine, which they will have to add sugar to, but it will not be at connoisseur level. I imagine the quirkiness of having a Scottish wine will spark a lot of interest."

But Mr Gottgens, who serves only South African wine at his hotel, remains realistic and believes he is Scotland's first commercial winemaker. He said: "I don't think for a minute it's going to be a showcase wine.

"The idea is to educate people about wine and to see whether it works in Scotland – watch this space."

Professor Richard Selley, of Imperial College London, who studies the effects of geology and climate change on viticulture, has said that Scotland could be a leading wine producer within the next 70 years.