Comments on: Hitler, translation, corks, France, ID – sipped and spit

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:58:37 +0000

I know that the new closure has been covered in an earlier piece, but I want to add here that I am still against it. It just seems tacky. And one thing I don’t want for the price of a bottle of champagne is tackiness. And yes, I know the cost of a corked bottle, but I haven’t seen Champ houses to be particularly prone to TCA, for whatever reasons. And as for the corks flying amuck we all know that this is not an issue at all if you open the bottle properly.

As for the falling french exports from 07 to 08, the global economy is certainly a factor, I would imagine that champagne is a big part of the drop too.

Lastly, I sincerely doubt that many minors are buying wine online, and if they are I probably don’t care, maybe they’ll develop some taste for the beverage as wine drinkers in Europe traditionally have, though gradual exposure to drink rather than as we do here though binge drinking whatever you can get. Really I see the whole underage online sales thing as a lie told by those who oppose open shipping because they either have a vested interest in a tiered distribution system or because they are religiously motivated teetotalers themselves. That said, I guess the stronger the online assurances of age become the less valid that excuse is, so I guess in that regard it is a good thing.

By: Barry

Barry — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:40:51 +0000

The “Frankreich” labeled St. Emilion is a odd duck indeed. It recalls my father’s experiences of raiding German and Austrian wine cellars during the Second World War. The Germans got real kinky with wine products during the height of their Third Reich phase, and turned out some things would have horrified the French or Italians. For example, he found bottles of a blue-tinted champagne that came in a blue bottle. What was that?

By: Per, BKWine

Per, BKWine — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:57:51 +0000

Glad you discovered our vid on “maestro”.

Fun to try it, but the only real test is if consumers will accept it or not. Don’t really see why they wouldn’t. A lot of people have difficulties with champagne corks, and it looks almost as nice.

It does kill the market on eBay for the little metal caps under the muselet though.

BTW: the Revver link was very slow. You can also see the video (and with Carol Duval Leroy herself, but in French) on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/bkwine

By: mydailywine

mydailywine — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:30:37 +0000

Personally I don’t mind the crown cap on Champagne. They use it in the cellars before it gets shipped out and no more worries about TCA infected corked bottles. Works for me!
Cheers
Amy

By: Dylan

Dylan — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:09:17 +0000

As much as it takes away from the classic tradition of opening a bottle( and not to mention, the fantastic trick shots which you’ve featured on the blog before) this new champagne closure is pretty fascinating. Including a lever is clever design solution for the crown closure.

By: Franschoek Wine

Franschoek Wine — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:11:06 +0000

Thanx for the interesting post. Really enjoyed reading it. Keep up the good work

By: Esteban

Esteban — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:22:11 +0000

Does Godwin’s law apply to wine auctions?

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:34:17 +0000

Well, even if it was Hitler’s, probably not something you’d want in your home and its certainly not a cellar-worthy bottle. Plus…chicks don’t dig Hitler so its not really a date conversation. Good story though…

By: Dr. Vino

Dr. Vino — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:30:11 +0000

Wow, Kasey, nice work!

By: kim

kim — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:22:49 +0000

The Mionetto sparkling wines also have crown caps. I think they’re cute. And I’ve never seen one of those babies fly halfway across the room!

By: kasey carpenter

kasey carpenter — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:18:52 +0000

In re: the Hitler bottle…

Said architecture does actually exists in St. Emilion, see the link here:

http://www.saint-emilion-tourisme.com/bdd_images/tour-du-roy.jpg

So no real stalinist conspiracy there.

The label does bear an importer name, which can be viewed much better here:

http://auctions.alexautographs.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=39++++++1018+&refno=+++61001

From the same book you quoted, Wine and War (which is top five wine books in my opinion) we are informed that many french producers would label their wines for “export” so those in the know would avoid the garbage wine they supplied the Reich. I’d be inclined to say, if this bottle can be verified as authentic (we will see) that the anonymity would probably be a byproduct of that practice coupled with the alluded to practice of importers/negociants just buying anonymous or non-classifed juice and bottling for export/import/resale.

Also of note is the fact that bottle sold for well under the estimate range of $1500-$2000.

-kc

By: corkdork

corkdork — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:09:52 +0000

The new closure for Duval-Leroy is interesting, but I wonder how quickly this will be adopted by larger (read, more tradition-bound) houses. Additionally, is the lever secured to the neck? If it’s not, I could see a number of wine store accidents happening.

Does the use of the crown cap remind you of Chandon’s Etoile? Perhaps American sparkling vintners will be early adopters…