Dr Vino's wine blog

The business school students sniffed, swirled and spit the three glasses of Sauternes in front of them. They had come from places like Columbia, Northwestern, Stanford, and Harvard to sit under the tableaux and tapestries at the French Consulate on Fifth Avenue, try wines and answer questions, competing to win the big prize: making it to the finals in Bordeaux.

The challenge in this flight of sweet wines (that also included one from Barsac), was to identify first, which two wines came from the same vintage. Most teams got this one right. But then came the harder question: which vintage did those two wines come from?

Only one team guessed 2002, the correct answer, the group from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. And that was enough to give them first place and send them (and Wharton, whose group finished second) to Bordeaux later this year to compete against other teams of business school students from France, Japan and beyond at Chateau Lafite. Although the competitors must fly themselves there, once on the ground their expenses are covered. While the prizes are mostly vinous, competitors are given a plane ticket to return to Bordeaux in the future.

The competition, now in its fourth year of international competition, was known as “20 sur vin” but has now been renamed the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup (LBBC). It’s organized by a Bordeaux goodwill society, the Commanderie du Bontemps de Médoc et des Graves, Sauternes et Barsac.

High prices and corporate ownership have alienated young American drinkers from Bordeaux, also known as “bored-oh” in some circles since mere mention of it elicits a yawn. So it is a really smart idea of the Commanderie to target these younger consumers, who will likely be high earners and possibly tomorrow’s American buyers of Bordeaux. I’m surprised that they organization hasn’t collaborated with the Jurade in St. Emilion to have a more pan-Bordeaux approach; in fact, I’m surprised that other premium regions in the wine world haven’t thought up similar competitions to target this choice demographic.

At the French consulate Wednesday evening, the eight teams had to answer a round of questions, that ranged from easy to very difficult. I’m sure the B school students (as well as Columbia Law and Yale Law) were craving iPhone access since a quick search could have revealed many of the answers in an instant. But several of the teams had one or more members who had either worked in the wine trade or had some tasting experience.

Sadly, there was no jumbo scoreboard so the competitive juices of each team had to be stoked by their own thirst for victory, not an instantaneous knowledge of their relative standings. It also made it less of a horse race, less interesting to the handful of non-participants that were in the room. (Perhaps they don’t have game shows in France?) I tweeted a few of the questions real-time and was surprised to find I was the only one who was doing so in the room–perhaps next year, the Commanderie will discover Twitter. True to the “bontemps” moniker, all the participants broke bread and sipped Bordeaux together afterward.

It’s open to more participation so if you have a wine club at your college or university, ask the Commandarie how to be involved.

I didn’t catch all the questions but I reproduce some here–as well as some official photos–to give you a taste. Read more…

A parody from the BBC show “Mitchell and Webb.” Merger!

Would you drink wine if it weren’t for the alcohol?

Researchers at UCLA are threatening to put this difficult question to wine enthusiasts as they move a “sobriety pill” to clinical trials. Of course, we already have a device for sobering up: the credit card statement. But the researchers are working with extracts of the oriental raisin tree that have been used to treat hangovers in China for five centuries. The pill, based on dihydromyricetin (DHM), a component of the extract, has been found successful in reducing the effects of alcohol and hangovers in lab rats. That’s right, rats fed the substance after binging on alcohol no longer craved greasy breakfast nor did they spend the morning avoiding bright lights and loud noises! Read more at NewScientist.com.

The researchers say they are developing the pill to combat alcoholism, which seems debatable. But it does lay bare the motives for wine enthusiasts: would you continue to pay for and provide tasting notes for fermented grape juice if it gives you the same buzz as Welch’s?

Or would you actually drink more knowing that you could taste through every wine in a given region, pop a sobriety pill, drive home and go for a five-mile run in the morning?

It’s time for the Big Game. Or, actually, the last three Big Games of the NFL season. And no drink says “football” like wine! Actually, although Sunday’s NY-SF game could be framed as something of a sommelier showdown between two of the highest wine-consuming cities, I’m fine to cede the discussion of the day to football’s natural advertising companion, beer.

The question on my mind: how did light beer come to be the choice of NFL viewers? Fully one out of every two beers sold in America today is a light (or “lite,” if you prefer) beer. It didn’t always used to be this way as light beers were a relative niche marketed for women or people interested in watching calories. Somehow, gazing over the five-layer dip at the displays of modern machismo onscreen (or sporting a beer guzzling helmet, as above), NFL viewers don’t strike me as the most likely demographic to be counting calories.

The easy answer is Read more…

When the fraud squad raided Verget from Verget.

Jean-Marie Guffens, a winemaker in Macon who founded Maison Verget, endured a decade-long investigation by French authorities, including Customs and Fraud office. It started in 2001 after the grapes were harvested but before the winery staff had even filed the harvest paperwork. And it continued ebbing and flowing, with allegations that Guffens was blending wine from the south into his Burgundies. In the 27-minute video, Guffens declares that “we live in a banana republic” with “mafia-style” raids including a surprise winery inspection with 25 officers, and accusations of complicity against the staff. His wife and members of the staff were even held in custody for two days. Eventually, in 2010, the charges were dropped. Guffens sued to have his name exonerated and– SPOLIER ALERT!–a judge in Beaune ruled in his favor in November.

This action and the heavy-handed tactics over Olivier Cousin’s whimsical labeling, set against the backdrop of declining domestic wine consumption, illustrate the difficult days for many French vignerons. I’ll add it to my file for updating Wine Politics.

Calvin Trillin has a hilarious post on ACI, a measure with false precision akin to the wine score. Here’s a snippet: “Among people who think of themselves as wine connoisseurs there’s a 61 percent ACI.” What is ACI? Click through to find out… [Slate.com]

Giuseppe Quintarelli, “master of the Veneto,” has died at 84. [NYTimes.com]

Registration is now open for the next session of my six-week wine class at NYU. [scps.NYU.edu]

And next Monday, I’ll be participating in a panel at The New School with Frank Prial, Julia Flynn Siler, Charles Sciccolone and Andy Smith. We’ll be discussing the life and legacy of Robert Mondavi.

Who wields the most influence on wine in China? As the year of the dragon kicks off soon, I put this question to various China insiders.

Ian Ford, partner at Summergate, a leading wine importer to China: Yao Ming. He is a mega-star and having him talking about his new wine from California is not just good for California wine, it’s good for all of wine in China. [Summergate does not import the new Yao wines - Ed.]

Jeannie Cho Lee, Master of Wine, author of Asian Palate & Mastering Wine: Han Changfu the current Minister of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China; controls all national agricultural regulations including wine and can move entire market with one policy change.

Jamie Ritchie, CEO & President, Americas and Asia, Sotheby’s Wine. The Government: who controls both supply and price. By keeping zero tax on wine in Hong Kong, you have this thriving market, that we all know and love (even despite this short term scaling back in demand/prices). In Mainland China, the same is true, as the import/hygiene restrictions limit a more free and open market. A favorable regulatory environment is the most important key to any market.

Debra Meiburg a Master of Wine based in Hong Kong: That’s a tough question. The mainland market is quite fragmented. Voices in Beijing are unknown in Shanghai and vice versa. Don St. Pierre or the Summergate teams are obvious choices as the leading fine wine importers in China. The domestic industry is stepping up their game and in that regard Professor Li Demei is highly influential (Chinese Agricultural University) as well as Professor Ma Huiquin. The auction houses capture the international headlines, but are connecting with a small number of people with deep pockets.

Sun Xitai, a 62-year-old businessman in China has been sentenced to life in prison. His crime? Bringing about $7 million worth of wine, mostly Bordeaux, from Hong Kong to mainland China and failing to pay sufficient duty.

You can get the whole story in an interesting post on Bordeaux Undiscovered. The post cites China’s Legal Daily saying that 70 percent of imported red wine is smuggled, which seems a staggering amount. Travelers from Hong Kong to China are allowed to bring one liter of wine or spirits legally.

While I don’t know the details of this case and how much was imported when, but it does seem odd that the period involved is 2004-2009. After all, Hong Kong scrapped wine duty in only in 2008; before that it was higher than the mainland, where the duties total about 50 percent of the imported price. So this harsh punishment may be more to set an example to curtail such activities.

He had this final comment about the duties: “It would be difficult to stay in business if I went through official channels.”