Dr Vino's wine blog

Weather. It’s probably not something you talk a lot about except for when you are trying to have polite conversation with your aunt at the family reunion. But for wine grape growers it’s a point of discussion.

And this year has been wet in France. The total rainfall hasn’t been astronomical but it’s just rained almost every day for the past six weeks and there’s a lingering humidity. Take Vinexpo: it’s been mostly sunny but it has rained at some point during every day that I’ve been here.

one evening, a fierce storm came out of nowhere and included golf-ball-sized hail. I grabbed one from outside the tent where I was finishing a wonderful dinner and snapped a bad pic. I circled the big hailstone above. Also of note in photo: Chateau Saint Pierre 2002. Mmmm.

And it’s been damp all over France. I was talking with Nicolas Joly from Savennieres in the Loire and he said that he had never seen the vine flower this early.

What does all this mean? Well, perhaps not more than some wet raincoats. But at some point, a string of sunny days would be good to dry things out. But in hoping for heat, you have to be careful what you wish for.

House of Mondavi’s crumbling foundation
“But by early 2004, Robert Mondavi Corp.’s reputation for high-quality wines had eroded, and the House of Mondavi was rent by conflict. His hand-picked successor, son Michael, had been removed as chairman, and the Mondavi family was on the brink of losing control of the company. Indeed, behind Michael’s ouster was a closely guarded secret: Robert faced a personal financial crisis that threatened to embarrass him and destroy his legacy.” [WSJ, with video!]

Are wine ratings pointless?
“A wine gets rated one time — a nanosecond in its life cycle,” says Sebastiani winemaker Mark Lyon. “From then on, its fate is determined. Aren’t wines always evolving? Shouldn’t they be rated every year?” From a story by W. Blake Gray in today’s SF Chron

Slow drinkers
“Boxed wine really does keep for six weeks, but would we keep one in our refrigerator for that long? There are so many interesting, affordable wines on the shelves that we’d rather taste several wines than one in a big box.” – John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter. But what about the low low price per glass if you can find a good one?!? [WSJ]

Do futures have no future?
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to play this game? I hope 2006 will not be a success. I hope it will really show the Bordelais the shortcomings of the system.” –Jancis Robinson in a podcast on Bordeaux futures, aka “en primeur”

Did you know that the world had turned into a planet of the…grapes? Nor did I until I checked out the Vinexpo 2007 logo.

Yes, I’ll be in Bordeaux (somewhere between a green grape and a dark one) the third week in June covering the massive wine trade show. Given that I have previously written that France is a wine lover’s paradise yet an internet purgatory, I can only hope that the press tent will have wifi since I know there will be plenty of wine.

I’ve bought my plane ticket (ouch!) and am bracing for the full, sobering effect of the dollar’s decline. Ack.

The hottest place in the wine world in mid-June may also have high temperatures. The last time I attended, during the heatwave of 2003, almost 50,000 people packed into a series of exhibit areas that had little or no air conditioning. (Now they could do it in the name of reducing their carbon footprint.) Mmm, hints of barnyard aromas in the wine? Try: hot convention center.

This time, I’ll be able to taste some 2006 barrel samples from Bordeaux and will be on the lookout for some of the yummy 2005s. All with the goal of keeping you informed, dear reader. But with more than 2,300 exhibitors from 43 countries, there will be a lot of swirling, sniffing–and spitting! More anon!

Related:
Vinexpo.com
“Tasting sized notes from Vinexpo 2003” [Dr. V]

Sabretts and Vega Sicilia
Wines from renowned collector Steve Verlin’s estate are being sold this weekend in Chicago at Hart Davis Hart. He sounds like he was quite a character based on this preview tasting in New York: “In keeping with Verlin’s quirky preferences, the Sabretts [hot dogs] were served at Monday’s dinner with the 1968 vintage of Spain’s most honored wine, Vega Sicilia Unico. There was also popcorn popped in truffle oil partnered with a classic champagne, Krug 1985, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts were washed down with Chateau d’Yquem 1976.” [NY Sun]

Bordeaux sighs in relief
After getting damned and slammed by Jancis Robinson, Bordeaux catches a break from Robert Parker for the 2006 vintage. He hails it as “superior to 2004.” The Medoc lives to see another day, St. Emilion can raise their head in public but Pomerol is the belle of the ball since the wines from there are “excellent across the board.” Dry white Bordeaux bounces back from irrelevancy as the Parkermeister joins J Ro in praising the wines this vintage. But RP only hands out three potential top scores, to Mouton Rothschild, La Mission Haut Brion, and Bellevue Mondotte of St. Emilion. Needless to say, none of those were on the Jancis short list.

Caution: fragile. May be fake
Have you ever objected when the sommelier at a fancy restaurant uncorks your wine and tests a sample himself? Then don’t buy wines from the 18th century, which now post-Rodenstock, are getting downright molested. Quote: “A combination of nuclear isotope analysis and gamma radiation and proton beam tests conducted by experts from the universities of Bordeaux and Manchester will be used to confirm the age of each glass bottle in the Antique Wine Company collection. The wine itself � extracted by hypodermic needle through the cork – will be subjected to molecular and chemical analysis.” [Decanter]

Cameron Hughes, in the house
Yesterday’s post about American negociant Cameron Hughes sparked a comment frenzy–including several by Cameron himself. He elaborates on the differences between his wines and private labels at grocery stores, his sales techniques, and even offers readers of this site 50 % off shipping using a discount code. See the comments.

After slamming the 2006 vintage last week saying it was “a great vintage for mushrooms and truffles, but less great for wine,” Jancis Robinson is back this week to sort through the rubble.

At the best properties there had been crucial work at the sorting tables, throwing away any split and rotten grapes as well as those which were most obviously underripe.

Wow. Triage tables. Sorting the wounded. Here were the survivors, per Jancis (full story):

Whites: Climens, Haut-Brion Blanc, Laville Haut-Brion, Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux, Yquem

Left bank reds: Cos d’Estournel, Grand Puy Lacoste, Haut-Brion, Lafite, Latour, Léoville Barton, Léoville Las Cases, Margaux, Palmer

Right bank reds: Angélus, Arrosée, Conseillante, Evangile, Le Pin, Tertre Roteboeuf, Vieux Château Certan, Eglise Clinet, Lafleur, La Fleur Pétrus, Providence

POSSIBLE GOOD BUYS:

Bernardotte, Bahans Haut-Brion, Clos du Clocher, Grand Puy Lacoste, Haut Bages Libéral, Phélan Segur, La Tour Carnet

Back in London, the wine retailer Berry Bros & Rudd threatens to take a pass on large chunks of the 2006 vintage. “Having tasted the vintage I am convinced that 06 is not as good as 05 or possibly even 04,” Simon Staples told the Telegraph. “We will have no qualms about walking away from even the most illustrious châteaux if they do not offer good value.”

Related: “St. Emilion Grand Cru Classe, suspended!” [Dr. V]
“Bordeaux 2002: undervalued” [Dr. V]

Jancis Robinson weighs in on the not-yet-priced, most recent vintage from Bordeaux. First, she damns it with faint praise. Then she throws it out the window. Roll the tape:

I would say that, with a handful of exceptions, this is a vintage to be bought by wine lovers only if they have an empty cellar that they are dying to fill…Most years there is a common theme to the primeurs sales pitch. This year it has been that many vintages have in the past been erroneously overshadowed by the one that preceded it: 2004 by 2003, 1996 by 1995, 1990 by 1989, 1986 by 1985, for example. We are meant to believe that by association 2006 is in danger of being overlooked because we are dazzled by the greatness of 2005. Do not fall for this.

Then she goes on about the weather:

By the end of August the mood of vine growers had changed from July’s euphoria to gloom. Would the grapes be healthy and ripe enough to produce even a halfway decent vintage?…But then rain, sometimes heavy, fell virtually every day from September 11 to 18, and on both 21 and 24 – different intensities in different districts but generally picking had to stop and growers had to cross their fingers that rot and mildew would be kept at bay – not least because the nights were often warm and damp too, making 2006 a great vintage for mushrooms and truffles, but less great for wine. Meticulous preparatory work in the vineyard started to pay off for those who had ensured their grapes were well aired and not too tightly packed.

Next week she promises to be back with her picks–hmm, sounds like it will be a short list!

“Bordeaux 2006 – how the weather screwed it all up” [JancisRobinson.com]

(image)

This just in from Bordeaux: a political institution is found to be full of politics!

In a surprising turn of events, a local court has suspended the St. Emilion grand cru classification, dating from 1954. Four producers who were bounced from the list of 61 producers at last year’s update have brought suit and the court has ruled in their favor. The supposedly independent committee chosen to reclassify the list every ten years was found not to be impartial. Nor did they do much legwork, visiting only seven of the 95 properties they were reviewing.

An interesting aspect is that the four spurned producers who brought the suit are not considered the top in the region anyway. In fact, Nicolas Thienpont, whose Château Pavie-Macquin was promoted to first growth, told WineEnthusiast.com that the four disqualified properties “produce rubbish.” Many of the Parker favorites from the region, such as Valandraud and Quinault, were not included in the reclassification last year. But when I asked Jean-Luc Thunevin of Valandraud about it last fall, he was disappointed but in the end shrugged it off. His wine sells at $250 a bottle after all. The wines of some of the four DQ’d producers sell for much less, if they could even find an importer interested in marketing their wines.

And what the heck, the garagistes don’t get mad, they get even. Thunevin, Raynaud of Quinault, and others decided to make their own group anyway, the Cercle Rive Droite. More to follow on this development. And hopefully we will learn more about the inner workings of the Grand Cru system as the court continues these proceedings.

Additional coverage: Telegraph.co.uk, Decanter

The eyes of the wine world turn to Bordeaux this week as hundreds of critics and buyers descend on the region for “en primeur” week. The dark, inky, fiercely tannic wines of the 2006 vintage are rolled out to the thronging crowds, who get to smile at each other with purple teeth. Then they decide how much they like the current wines, for delivery in 2009. Opinions will roll out from critics and some of the prices at the top chateaux will not be set until as late as June.

Since I won’t be there this week, I dug through my notebook for a producer profile from my stop in St. Emilion in January.

I dropped by Chateau Corbin and met with Anabelle Cruse-Bardinet. The Grand Cru Classe property had been run by three generations of women in her family. But in 1999, Anabelle, now 39, and her husband Sebastien decided to purchase the property from her grandmother.

The big, stone chateau was in need of some TLC. They added a new roof and rehabbed two barrel rooms, one with an office overlooking the wines quietly aging. Now they live there full-time with their three kids under ten. It is a vital chateau, unlike many of the properties in the Medoc, the left bank, which are more museum-like.

However run down the main house was, the vineyard was in much better shape. She brought in Michel Rolland from neighboring Pomerol to have a look at the vineyard planted to merlot and cabernet franc and advise on grape maturity. But she makes the wine. Trained in enology at the University of Bordeaux, she makes the wine though and wants the wine to “reflect the vineyard first and the human hand second.”

She sells the wine at what she calls an “ultra-realistic” price in the system known as the place de Bordeaux. She sells it to about 30 brokers in Bordeaux who then sell it domestically and to importers from places like the US. In the past couple of years, she is selling all of her wine faster–it took one day a few years ago but the 2005 was sold out in one hour. The wines eventually make their way to the US market at the reasonable price of $25 -30 retail (find these wines).

These merlot-based wines are ones that would make Miles eat his words. Of the wines that I tasted at the chateau, the 2003 is an excellent price to quality ratio (find this wine). The dark purple wine has great St. Emilion character, with good balance between dark fruits, faint oak spice, and acidity from this vineyard that shows well in hot vintages. Not too extracted, not too high in perceptible alcohol, the wine has great character. The 2005 is even better, more concentrated and still wrapped in tannins at this stage and will require some bottle aging (find this wine). The 2002 is wonderfully drinkable–paired with grilled meats it would be a great match (find this wine). The 04 is very solid and I saw it for a reasonable $20 online, which makes it serious wine for a very reasonable price (find this wine).

We’ll check back with Anabelle soon to see how things went for her showing her 2006 wine at en primeur.

chateau-corbin.com