The Wine Cellar Blog» Robert Parker

Chateau Lafite-Rothschild is a Mountain of Gold

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:56:52 +0000

I don’t know if they still do, but at one time the Chinese called America Gum Shan, the mountain of gold, a symbol of opportunity and the chance to get rich. Today, the Chinese have found another symbol of opportunity whose very name beckons the ambitious. In French Lafite means small hill, in Chinese it is very similar to the word lai-fat or “come get rich.”

It is this association with wealth and opportunity that has made Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and it’s second wine Carruades de Lafite the currency of choice for negotiating Chinese business deals. Which bottle you get depends on who you are and what is “requested”. In China, anything with Lafite in the name sells be it Bordeaux or Burgundy. As such, both wines are becoming literal mountains of gold for owners of bordeaux futures.

Chateau Lafite and its second wine, Carruades de Lafite, continue to defy the fine wine market, with prices of both continuing to rise week on week. Lafite 2008 is currently trading at around $6,000 per case, rising in price by around $140 per week, even though it is not due to be bottled until next year. Margaux 2008, in contrast, is trading at just over $3200.

Carruades 2008 is still at around $1600, but it is predicted to keep climbing closer to the other first growths once in bottle. Gary Boom, managing director of the Bordeaux Index, told decanter.com, ‘Today a case of Carruades 2004 would set you back $2900, which is considerably more than the $2600 you would pay for a case of Mouton 2004.

The September Liv-ex report also looks at the phenomenon of the “seemingly unstoppable Brand Lafite”, reporting that Carraudes has bucked the trend of price drops during the financial crisis, and that on average, recent vintages are now 22% more expensive than they were at the peak of the market in June last year.

“Asia has made up its mind on this brand,” said Boom, “and completely ignores either vintage effect, or Parker scores.”

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

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Bordeaux’s Big Little Wines

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:42:52 +0000

Reviews of the just-bottled 2005 Bordeaux are coming in. This much vaunted vintage has everybody in the wine trade drooling. But to their chagrin, the less prestigious, lower-priced wines are getting all the praise. Influencial wine critic Robert Parker called wine from the famous chateaux “museum pieces” because their prices are so astonishingly high. And in what many consider a political statement, he gave out only two perfect scores (100 points), none of them to Medoc 1st growths. Just two points, (i.e. the difference between 98 and 100) can double the price of the wine, these developments may cost the wine trade hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales. Similarly at Decanter Magazine’s tasting of 2005 Medoc wines, 25 were awarded 5-star status, only two were 1st growths. The star of the show was 5th growth Chateau Pedesclaux. Is this the shape of things to come?

Click here for more information about Bordeaux wine appellations and classed growth system.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

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Hanni’s Theory

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:21:44 +0000

Ever have a 90+ rated wine that you thought was truly disgusting? If so, you probably think the discrepancy is due to your untrained palate. Well according to Tim Hanni, it may be your lack of taste buds, not simply your lack of taste. Tim Hanni is one of the first two Americans to pass England’s prestigious Master of Wine exam. He recently put his theory to the test at the first-ever Lodi International Wine Awards. The results didn’t always follow Hanni’s hypothesis, but he certainly created an interesting, new way to judge competitions. The irony of Hanni’s theory is that the big, bold, high-alcohol reds and oaked whites made popular by one highly-influential, American critic are the preferences of “tolerant tasters” or those with the least amount of taste buds. Maybe, Hanni’s hypothesis is more social commentary than theory.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

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Red, Hot and Flabby

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:23:25 +0000

Wine is hotter than ever, in more ways than one. Sales are at an all time high, but at the same time alcohol levels are rising. Hot is winespeak for wine that is too high in alcohol and leaves a burning sensation in the back of the throat when swallowed. Back In the 1970s, red wines under 12 percent alcohol by volume were common. Today, Zinfandels higher than 16 percent are not unusual. Consumers seem to accept, even expect high-alcohol wines (many also believe this is due to the influence of wine critic Robert Parker). Is this a problem? Besides the effects of consuming more alcohol and calories in one serving, another consequence of high alcohol wine is often low acidity and a lack of structure, or in winespeak a flabby wine.

Click here for more information on the high-alcohol wine trend and its effect on wine balance.

This is a post from: The Wine Cellar Blog

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