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. (Note: most of the questions were multiple choice but I didn’t note all of the choices.)

• Which year did the Commanderie de Bontemps come into existence? (A: 1950)
• How many fourth growths are there in the 1855 classification? (A: 10)
• How many comunnale AOCs are there in the medoc? (A: 6)
• What is found at the tip of the Medoc peninsula? (A: Pointe de Grave)
• What does the acronym INAO stand for? (A: Institut national d’Origine et Qualité)
• Classified as a second growth in 1855, Chateau Lascombes, located in Margaux takes its name from… (A: the knight Antoine de Lascombes)
• In 2010, wine consumption in the US stood at… (A: 330 mln cases)
• Alcoholic and malolactic fermentations are two essential parts of winemaking. In which order do they take place? (A: alcoholic then malolactic)
• On the 25 may 1787, Chateau Margaux received a visit from a famous person, who was it? (A: Thomas Jefferson)

See the Consulate’s Flickr photostream.

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

Elin McCoy reports from Hong Kong that a fund there will lend up to $641,000 (USD) for investing in wine–providing the investments are in the bank’s select list of 50 top names. She also reports that a new fund at Pacific Asset Management seeks to invest over $150 million in wine (it’s raising $30 million initially). There’s talk there of other funds diversifying into wine; some European wine investment funds have opened offices.

More money, chasing wines and returns while dodging counterfeits, smacks of tulip mania and the greater fool theory. When will some financial wizard develop a way to short wine?

One aspect of the wine market that defies tulip mania is the fact that even as more money appears to be rolling in, top Bordeaux prices are falling: the Liv-Ex Fine Wine 50 Index that tracks the last ten vintages of physical (not en primeur) Bordeaux first growths is down 18% in the past quarter. Interest in red Burgundy is up, as is interest in non-first growth Bordeaux. Breadth of wines is probably healthier than all the money funneling into a small group of wines and a broader index of wines is up 13% over the past year, but with declines in the past quarter. And a recent Hong Kong sale saw only 84% of lots sold. So maybe there is some sanity.

Hopefully, if it crashes, whoever is left holding the proverbial bag will have a corkscrew. And real, not counterfeit, wines.

The store manager says that the locals told her they were making jam. However, a court found otherwise, levying a $6,700 “suspended” fine for selling sugar to wine producers without recording their names as law requires.

Wine producers in certain zones of Northern Europe are allowed to add sugar to the grape juice (aka must) before or during fermentation, a process called chaptalization. The goal is not to have residual sugar in the wine, which would make it sweet. Rather, it is to boost the level of alcohol. Producers must declare the amount used and pay a tax of $17.50 per 220 lb of sugar added. The general impression has been that global warming has diminished the need for chaptalization as rising temperatures boost the natural sugar in grapes. During fermentation, yeasts chomp sugars to ferment into alcohol (and CO2). But one of the years in question was 2007, a cooler and rainer year than usual for the region.

Even though the authorities collect the taxes for chaptalization and other forms of enrichment, they are reluctant to divulge the figues to offer a window onto how widespread the practice is. Dismayed by the lack of official statistics, Benjamin Lewin estimates that 17 to 33% of French wine is chaptalized, depending on the heat of each vintage.

SIPPED: moxie
Chateau Pontent-Canet released their price for 2010 (about $140 a bottle at US stores) and it was up 39% over 2009 and 113% over 2005. Jancis Robinson tweeted: “Dio mio – crazeee. Those horses can’t be that expensive to feed?”

SWITCHED: How to get a $3,000 bottle of Petrus for just $3? Why, swap the price tags! #duh [decanter.com]

SIPPED: judging wine by its label
Grub Street has a lengthy breakdown on how mileage picking wine based on label designs will get you. My take: not much.

SPIT: glug glug
Minimum prices for box wine the land of plenty? A 300% tax increase in box wine Down Under might cut down on women glowing and men plundering (or, at least, chundering). #menatwork [smh.com.au]

RIP: machines
Wegmans pulls the plug on wine kiosks in Pennsylvania citing problems and consumer complaints. Is the sun already setting on this PLCB experiment? [Forbes]

Liv-Ex also remarks on his downgrades of the 2008s:

Following the en primeur tastings two years ago, the general feeling amongst the trade and the critics was that the 2008 vintage was solid, if unspectacular. Against this backdrop then, it’s no surprise that the release of Parker’s generous ’08 scores met with a sizeable dose of cynicism. A couple of years on and it seems that Parker’s enthusaism for the vintage has dwindled significantly.

Related: “Traditional Rioja, the anti-en primeurs wine”
“Which reds would you cellar beyond Bordeaux?”

Domaine Baudry, La Croix Boisée, 2008. Cabernet franc grown on limestone from a top grower in Chinon. And around $30 a bottle? I would sign up for a case faster than I would a 375ml of 2010 Lafite–and I’d probably save money if I did.

Clos de la Roilette, cuvée tardive, 2009: Granted, this wine is mighty hard to find now, but it is worth seeking out. A Fleurie from the edge of Moulin-a-Vent, this is more pinot-like than gamay, structure and elegance over fruit and ebullience. I have a case and plan to age at least half of it for a decade.

Napanook 2007 cabernet sauvignon: This wine’s list price is about $50 but I’ve seen it online as low as $35. Even though it is the “second” wine from the Dominus estate, it has the seductiveness of good cabernet. And the fact that it comes from the Napanook estate under the hand of Christian Moueix gives it a track record of success.

Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco, 2006: This excellent nebbiolo can age (the 1978 is drinking well today, apparently). It sells for under $30.

Isole e Olena, Cepparello 2006, about $60: I had the chance to try this wine at a tasting last year and thought it was terrific. I don’t have a lot of experience with aging sangiovese, but if I were going to, this is where I’d start.

And, of course, for the prices Bordeaux futures are fetching, you could get plenty of Bordeaux with a decade or two of cellar age on them. There’s slightly more risk with the provenance, but the rewards come a lot sooner than pre-release Bordeaux since the pleasures of older wines can be had immediately. Or, as we recently discussed, there’s always Lopez de Heredia.

I was discussing this topic on email with a site reader who is a Spanish wine buff. He offers his suggestions from Spain after the jump. What are your suggestions for age-worthy alternatives ?

Search for these wines at retail

Under $30
Marqués De Riscal Reserva (This one could be found for around $15)
Marqués De Murrieta Ygay Reserva
Viña Lanciano Reserva
La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva (The 2001 is their current vintage for just under $30 and sufficient barrel and bottle aging to be declared a Gran Reserva)
Marqués De Cáceres Gran Reserva

Under $50
Contino Reserva
Viña Real Gran Reserva
Imperial Reserva
Muga Prado Enea Gran Reserva
Finca Valpiedra Reserva
Conde De Valdemar Gran Reserva
Marqués De Murrieta Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva
Torres Mas La Plana Cabernet Sauvignon
Jean León Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon
La Rioja Alta 904 Gran Reserva

Under $75
Marqués De Riscal Gran Reserva
Remírez De Ganuza
Roda I
López De Heredia Tondonia Gran Reserva Blanco
López De Heredia Tondonia Gran Reserva
López De Heredia Bosconia Gran Reserva
Imperial Gran Reserva

Over $100
Mauro Vendimia Seleccionada (~100)
La Rioja Alta 890 Gran Reserva (~100)
Contino Viña Del Olivo (~120)
Mauro Terreus (~135)
Vega Sicilia Único Gran Reserva (~300)

Bonus round
Astrales (~45)
Aalto PS (~125)

All of the ones I am listing above have at least a decade or more track record and are still improving in bottle. Some of them have outperformed consistently classified and first growth Bordeaux from top vintages in blind tastings. The tastings have been just after the wines have been released and also a decade plus after release. The bonus round has some “newer” wines, Astrales (first released in 2001) and Aalto PS (first released in 1999), that have shown very well in blind tastings and have good potential to age gracefully and outperform Bordeaux wines at a fraction of their cost.

The list above could expanded by a couple pages if we do not consider “aging” a requirement for this exercise.

SIPPED: three cask monte
Jancis Robinson provides a primer in the various ways that samples at the en primeurs tastings can be manipulated to show their best.

SIPPED: discrimination
Wendell Lee, general counsel at the Wine Institute, provides a further look into insidious nature of the apparent simplicity of HR 1161, a bill that would drastically affect wine shipping by reverting to regulations that pre-date Prohibition and supersede the Commerce Clause. [ShipComliant]

SIPPED: branding
The Food Network releases their own branded wine. Only question: do you drink it with food, or with TV (if at all)? [Eater]

SIPPED: peace
Serbs and Croats beat their swords in to pruning shears at a winery project in Bosnia. “Working in a vineyard is like therapy, it helps a lot (to forget about the war).” [Reuters]

Jacques Meganote, a researcher at INRA in Bordeaux, has collected samples from the tendrils the vines in the region have shot out already this year. Using a complex blend of mass spectronomy, DNA analysis, carbon dating, and weather history, he is able to forecast the quality of the vintage that has yet to be harvested–in fact, the vintage that has yet to grow a grape. The program is called “Bordeaux shoots and scores.”

“We are certain to 99% level that our forecast is accurate,” Meganote said. “We have been collecting it privately for five years now and this is the first time we have released the data.”

After two vintages widely praised, the Bordeaux wine trade will doubtless like his forecast for Bordeaux 2011.

“The concentration in the berries will be superb. This looks like a vintage that possesses both power and elegance. It will be a vintage of the century. Truly, a 99 point vintage.”

The next step in the program will be to pre-score individual wines.

Click for full press release.

Predictably, Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate and Tom Matthews of Wine Spectator poured cold water on the idea, as republished on Jancis’ site. Given that this is a classic prisoner’s dilemma, if Jancis admirably remains silent while other critics publish, it only hurts her since she loses influence. The embargo would only work if all critics agree to remain silent, which is not tenable in the real world, where there’s an incentive for each critic to publish first, getting his or her views circulating, and driving the discussion. Suckling often did that when he was at Wine Spectator getting in to tastings before the crowds of the en primeurs tastings and publishing his report more or less immediately (Parker’s report usually comes out after en primeurs, at the end of April).

Although it’s unworkable, would an embargo from critics serve to bring en primeur prices down? Perhaps, especially in less anticipated vintages such as 2008, which was also being pre-sold during an economic meltdown. Although still an important part of the Bordeaux sales machine, critics’ scores may not as important as brands themselves as this Liv-Ex analysis shows.

CHUGGED: Pinot?
If you missed the Japanese remake of Sideways, check the trailer above. Glad the dump bucket scene was included! For more details, check out the Wine Economist’s post who says that they changed several key plot details, notably making it a paean to Cabernet, not Pinot.

CONQUERED: world wine bars
The Bordeaux wine trade unveils a plan to boost sales of lower priced wines from the region. A part of that is opening wine bars selling only Bordeaux in London, NYC and Hong Kong. I can hear the dust falling in the NYC one already! [theaustralian.com.au]

SIPPED: bargain bubbly?
Champagne under $20? A blogger explores who makes the Kirkland Champagne at Costco ($19.99). [Goodcheapvino.com]

SIPPED: honey laundering
Off topic, but check out this fascinating story about fraud in the world of honey. [Globe & Mail]

Chateau Lafite-Rothschild added the Chinese character for “8″ on their 2008 bottles. Mouton-Rothschild added a painting by a Chinese artist to their 2008s. What could the Bordelais do next?

Behold: Cuvée 88888888, the Grand Vin from the Premier Cru Classé, Chateau Laftourongaux!

Thanks Beijing Boyce and Jean-Luc for the suggestions!

Now, Mouton has announced that art by the Chinese artist Xu Lie will adorn their 2008 labels. The signature Mouton ram is sandwiched between two halves of a moon adorned with grapes.

According to decanter.com, prices of the wine were £1,800 a case last fall before the rumor of a Chinese label. Now, they say, prices are £6,000 per case (about $10,000; a search wine-searcher free version yielded only results for Mouton-Cadet).

Who’s pulling the wool over whose eyes?

Enthusiasts of French wine often either love Burgundy or Bordeaux. For Daniel Johnnes, who imports many Burgundies as well as organizing the annual celebration of fine and rare Burgundy known as La Paulée, it’s pretty clear where his allegiance lies. The only catch: he’s just started importing Bordeaux.

I stopped by his tasting on Tuesday at Terroir Tribeca where the handful of new wines he’s importing were on display. Of note, the charismatic vigneron Pascal Collotte makes a solid red (merlot-cabernet franc) and a rosé from his 30 acres in the Entre-Deux-Mers region; The Bernaults, of the 30-acre Chateau Beauséjour in Montaigne-Saint-Emilion, make a merlot-cabernet franc blend from 45 year-old vines.

Here’s how Johnnes (right) describes his new venture, sourcing Bordeaux from outside the traditional négociant system.

“My goal was to break away from the pack that is bashing Bordeaux. The cool thing now is to love natural wine from the Loire. I’ve seen some sommelier friends do high fives over the fact that neither one has been to Bordeaux. But not all natural wines from the Loire are good, just as not all Bordeaux wines are bad.

These Bordelais are small growers, with a similar respect for the land as in Burgundy. They act as minimally as possible: the wines are unfiltered, low yields, with minimal handling and sulfur.

That’s hard, especially at these prices–you’re not going to get this level from California at this price ($12-$30).

I’m not going over to the dark side, I’m just saying “open your eyes and keep an open mind.”

Of course, tasting is a matter of opinion and others have expressed their views (captured, in part, in our tweet roundup). Writing in the Financial Times, Jancis Robinson compared the ripeness and high alcohols she experienced to California, remarking “I have never written the word “Napa” so often in my tasting notes.” Parker, by contrast, praised the best Medocs for being “powerful and concentrated” and hailed them “historic.” He dismissed reports of high alcohol as being mostly “absurd.”

Tim Atkin, a British writer, put together a very skimmable report (here as pdf) calling the vintage “great but not uniform.” John Gilman had a similar view, adding that 2009 was a “fantastic” vintage for Sauternes. In his subscription newsletter, Gilman observed two stylistic camps among the top reds, one epitomized by Lafite that is suave and seductive from the get-go, and another, more structured style requiring bottle aging, embodied by Latour and Petrus.

There is a great deal of consensus about the first growths Lafite-Rothschild, Margaux, Latour and Haut-Brion. Mouton-Rothschild was a notch below for most tasters; Tim Atkin compared it to a Chilean carmenere and gave it 94 points.

However, some flash points have emerged, most notably Cos d’Estournel. Parker gave it a score of 98-100 with an asterisk calling it “extraordinary…one of the greatest young wines I have ever tasted” while Neal Martin who also writes for the Wine Advocate, lamented the alcohol level, compared it to a wine from the Douro, and scored it 89-91. Tim Atkin noted the 14.5% alcohol on the label, called it over-the-top, compared it to an Australian shiraz and gave it 95 points. John Gilman wrote that the was “one of the worst young wines I have ever had to taste, as it displays an utter contempt for both the history of its region and the intelligence of its clients…I cannot imagine having to drink it. This is a train wreck of monumental proportions. 67-68 points.”

The prices on futures will roll out in the next few weeks/months. Hit the comments with your thoughts on Lafite!