2010 WISH LIST TOP FIVE
(or click on the images above)
Sunday 28 March 2010
Thursday 25 March 2010
En Primeur - five questions to ask before you buy
What is En Primeur?
En Primeur is the art of buying wine when it is still in cask before it is bottled. There is usually a two year wait before it is finally delivered, which happens shortly after the wine is bottled and shipped. After vintage, wine merchants and writers visit the Estates, Domaines or Chateau to assess the quality for their customers. This is when the campaign begins.
In the United States, buying wine En Primeur is known as Wine Futures, which is slightly more demystifying; it clearly links the buying of unbottled wine in cask to the concept of buying futures on the stockmarket. It's the same level of reward. And risk.
For those who don’t know much about Bordeaux, En Primeur can be on the trickier end of wine buying. For those who do, it can be a way to buy wine at a relatively low price which returns decades of enjoyment.
However, unlike other forms of investment, it’s a speculation you can eventually enjoy drinking. And if you do it right, you’ll always have quality wine on hand at a fraction of the future shelf price.
Right now, wine merchants are coming back with their report on the 2009 vintage in Bordeaux. Each year there will is a lot of hype between the facts; so, what do you look for when buying wine two years before it is bottled, often without having the chance to taste it?
Despite the very top Chateau bought on allocation (which means, only people who have a track record of buying Chateau such as Mouton-Rothschild etc are considered), there are still plenty of excellent buys to be found in Bordeaux. The question is how to pick wines right for you.
Five Questions to Ask
- Are you buying from a reputable, solvent wine merchant who has a track history of delivering En Primeur?
- Does this wine have the ability to age for at least 10 years (especially, Bordeaux)?
- Is the base price reasonable enough to allow future growth in price?
- Is this a good property but undervalued with respect to quality?
- Is this one of the good to great vintages?
I remember one man at the Burgundy En Primeur in January wincing over an unbottled red, "At this stage," he said, "It's like children when they are young, you never really know how they will really turn out. And I've made some mistakes!" But he was still there again at the yearly tastings.
Apart from asking these 5 questions, I suggest starting with a Chateau you know and like, develop a relationship with your wine merchant over a period time and, most importantly, listen to your instincts!
Sunday 21 March 2010
2010 Wish List #1: Essencia
If extreme desire is a pathology, Essencia ticks all the boxes for my diagnosis: spoken about in hushed tones, it is extremely rare (nearly disappearing altogether under Communism), a half bottle starts at least £300, and has more myths about it than even Champagne. Some bottles, nearly 400 years old, have been found in ancient cellars of lost Polish aristocrats and said to be still as fresh as if they had invented screwcap. Catherine the Great was one of its first investors and protected the vineyards with her own personal guards. Only produced in Hungary in random vintages, the last ones being 2000, 1999, 1993 and 1972. The 1972 vintage is only just drinking now. Older bottles look like gold treasure found at the bottom of the ocean. Some people don't even consider Essencia a wine at all because it is so sweet it is almost impossible to ferment. "So different from other wines," said one critic, "it's like seeing a new primary colour." It is off the sweet richter scale compared to the other wines of Tokaji surpassing even the 6 Puttynos Aszu. Below, you can almost feel how Wine & Spirits Magazine are struggling to capture their exhiliration. Too wonderful for words.
1999 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Essencia Review
"How can a wine score 100 points? When it leaves an entire panel of tasters speechless, struggling to find words to describe a wine that seems to defy possibility. Is it enough to say that it smells like a bergamot orange grove in full bloom? That it really, truly feels like satin, so slippery smooth that even professionals can't keep it from going down their throats? The flavors recall spice, smoke, flowers and tropical fruit, but like satin, the weave of this wine is so tight it's impossible to make out exact threads. It's so sweet and acidic it almost hurts-in a good way. I can't think of anything it lacks, or anything that might make it better. That's pretty much the definition of perfect-and thus, the score. And at 2.9 percent alcohol, 600 grams per liter of sugar, and 18 grams per liter of sugar (it's solely free-run juice captured from the aszú grapes), it will outlive us all. Stupendous."
100 Points
Wine & Spirits
Sunday 14 March 2010
2010 Wish List #2: Cheval des Andes, Argentina
When the great St-Emilon Chateau, Cheval Blanc makes a wine in Argentina, is it the vinous equivalent to buying a "Gucci handbag" in Shanghai?
Nothing fake (nor cheap) about Cheval des Andes.
Cheval des Andes is created from a strong partnership between Pierre Lurton (Cheval Blanc and Chateau d’Yquem) and Roberto de la Mota (Terrazas De Los Andes, Mendoza) combining Bordeaux expertise and the cool, elevated vineyards of Mendoza in Argentina.
Cheval Blanc partnering with a winery in Mendoza marks a turning point in the debate about New World vs Old World and the whole concept of terroir in wine winemaking. Cheval Blanc is not the only big-name from Bordeaux to lend its expertise in Argentina – there’s also the Rothschilds and flying visits from Michel Rolland – but Cheval Blanc, with its high price and exclusivity, is the one that really opens up the debate about terroir.
I can't help but wonder how much influence can Cheval Blanc have on the style of wine made in Argentina if it is not on its hallowed Saint-Emillion soil?
In one way, it can be argued this is more authentic Bordeaux than actual Bordeaux: you are tasting a style of Bordeaux that could still exist if it wasn't for Phylloxera devastating Europe's vineyards in the 1860s. Before 1860s, Malbec was part of the toolbox of grapes as much as any other of the noble varieties. But Malbec never recovered in Bordeaux after Phylloxera. In Mendoza, Malbec is again blended with Cabernet Sauvignon creating almost a glimpse of what may have been in Bordeaux.
Cheval des Andes has been an instant hit with serious wine buyers since it's first release in 2001. Is it a little bit of classic Bordeaux supercharged with Argentine horsepower? Cheval des Andes is firmly on my wish list for 2010.
Link: Visiting Mendoza from wineanorak.com
Wednesday 10 March 2010
Vote for Champagne!
best wishes
Tuesday 9 March 2010
2010 Wish List #3: Screaming Eagle
"How can I get onto your waiting list?
Production cannot nearly accommodate the demand evidenced by the existing waiting list, many of whom have been waiting patiently for many years. With a waiting list of this length it is unlikely that you will be able to purchase wine directly from the winery, and therefore we have stopped adding names to a waiting list. We thank you for your interest in the very small amount of wine that comes from this extremely special property." From www.screamingeagle.com
You might say I just want Screaming Eagle because it's on a waiting list. Correction: a waiting list for the waiting list for the waiting list. OK, yes, I admit it: this does make me want it more.
You got me.
The Eagle is an elusive thing. Like a dream. You look up in the sky and maybe you see it but it's so bright up there. You look into the sun. Those black dots are not birds, you are about to pass out. What is that? The world screaming for more.
It may be elusive to find, but once you do find it - you'll know it's there. It's presence is immediately felt. It's a big, blockbuster wine with the volume turned full blast. Or so I am told. It's on my wish list to taste in 2010.
"The Screaming Eagle seemed to be saying: you paid through the nose, now all I can do in return is offer olfactory and gustatory pleasure…which it did"(Neal Martin, "I love the smel of Screagle in the Morning" - erobertparker.com Mar 09)
Link: www.screamingeagle.com
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