In what promises to be the best back to back vintages from the Montalcino region in twenty years, you’ll have a wide range of choices from the 2006 (and 2007) Brunellos to add to your cellar. Both the vintages have their share of top candidates, with many destined for the cellar. In fact, some of these wines may age for the next fifteen to twenty years! …………..and oh what delights they should be! The revered 1997 Brunellos are drinking beautifully today with the best still having some years ahead. The Wine Inquirer will be travelling to the region later this summer in order to taste the wines and meet with select vintners.
Meanwhile, depending upon your budget and needs (ok, my wife calls them wants), there are several outstanding wines from top vintners from which to choose. Even better, these wines are only a fraction of the price of first growth Bordeaux or Grand Cru Burgundy.
For any serious collector of Bordeaux, the so called “Super Seconds” should be on your list. These are wines that while officially classified as second growths according to the French classification, can equal first growth quality, especially in great vintage years such as 2000, 2003, 2005 and the more recent 2009. Cos d’Estournel from the St. Estephe region is one of these wines. While the ’00, ’03 and ’05 all retail for ~$200, the former two have seen moderate appreciation since release while the latter has been stable. The ’09, thus far, is commanding the highest prices yet, around $300, and reports are that it is truly a monster of a wine capable of aging for the next several decades.
The 2000 ( that vintage coined as the Bordeaux of the century), comprised of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, displays lovely notes of blackberry, currant, licorice and crushed flowers on a velvety smooth bed of fine tannins. The wine is now ready for drinking and should be enjoyed easily for the next decade. The 2003 is blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc and is one of those unique blends of power and elegance. With an inky dark purple hue, the wine exhibits deep blackberry and currant, pain grille, licorice, incense and cut flowers. Tannins are like velvet and the finish is long and impressively smooth. This is a wine that has at least more two decades of life written all over it. 2005, believe it or not, brought still another “Bordeaux vintage of the new century,” this time a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. This is a wine, once again, that blends power with elegance, gorgeous aromas of cassis, blackberry, spices and toasted oak along with some leather and I swear I smell a vague hint of orange peel!! The tannins in this vintage are deep and powerful yet do not overwhelm, their structure velvety smooth. This wine, if stored properly, should no problem aging well for the next few decades.
With over twenty years of wine know how under their belt, Sparky and Sarah Marquis continue to push the quality boundries of their outstanding line of wines. With creative names such as The Boxer, Two Left Feet, The Scooter, Blue Eyed Boy, Gigglepot, The Violinest and Enchanted Path, this line of South Australian wines offers up top quality at every price level.
In just a little over five years, Sparky and Sarah have launched their “baby,” Mollydooker brand (Aussie for lefthanded) to the acclaim of experts and consumers alike. Situated in the southern Australia region of McLaren Vale, the vineyard occupies 116 acres of prime land, half of which is dedicated to Shiraz with the remainder Cabernet Sauvigon, Merlot and Semillon and Chardonnay. Supported by a trademark vineyard watering program, the vines are nurtured and coaxed into producing grapes with an ideal fruit weight that translates into rich and velvety wines.
Red Burgundies have a frightening reputation when it comes to pricing, some of the top running into the many hundreds if not thousands of dollars. The combination of a limited production and outstanding quality and reputation place many of these wines outside the budget of the mortal man.
While the white Burgundies such as Montrachet and Corton-Charlemagne, can be very expensive, as well, there are some great opportunities out there for hard core collectors who just can’t bring themselves to pay several hundred dollars.
One of these wines is the Louis Jadot Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatieres, 2005. Louis Jadot owns vineyards throughout the Cote d’Or, Maconnais and Beaujolais. Made from 100% Chardonnay grapes, the Puligny-Montrachet shares with Chassagne, some of the greatest white wine producing vineyards in the world. The vineyard soils are clay and chalk, well drained and warm easily year round. After harvest and vinification, the wine is barrel aged for 12-15 months in barrels produced by the Jadot cooper. In a well controlled environment, this wine can be stored for a good 10 years.
Northern Rhone reds are produced in far smaller volumes than their southern brethren and at the “icon” level, can be much more expensive. Witness the pricing of the La-La wines that I wrote of recently. One way to enjoy the depth and muscularity of a collectible Northern Rhone red without the steep price tag is to search out a Crozes-Hermitage from one of the stellar producers.
Crozes-Hermitage is the appellation that surrounds the Hermitage hills, largely planted by Michel Chapoutier. While a collectible Chapoutier Syrah based Hermitage can go for $300+, a Crozes Hermitage will cost a small fraction of the price. You can read more about the region here.
Visiting the Chapoutier winery in July, we had the very rare opportunity to taste two of his extraordinary wines, one Le Pavillon and the other the White De L’Oree. First Le Pavillon.
Le Pavillon is 100% Syrah, grown on vines that average 85 years of age. The vineyard is located on Hermitage Hill and is approximately 4 hectares in surface area (just under 10 acres). Vineyard soil composition is of fine deposits on granitic ground. Yields are low due to the age of the vines and grapes are harvested just beyond peak maturity. Fermentation takes place in open wooden vats after 100% destemming followed by 3-4 weeks of maceration. Maturation is in oak casks, 50% old and the rest new and there is no filtering.
If you’re looking to store away the Cote Rotie cream of the crop, look no further than the deep, intense and rich La-La’s from the renown E Guigal: La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque.
Cote Rotie is the northern most appellation in Northern Rhone, the vineyards carved into the steep valley walls of the Rhone River. Nourished by ideal soils with names such as Cote Brune and Cote Blonde, one cannot utter the La-La names without the name E.Guigal.
“American wine drinkers are balking at the high prices for….. Bordeaux prices, despite the……..classic quality. More than a month after the first….futures went on sale, retailers across the country report that consumers are buying them, but not in large amounts. The……futures were offered at the highest levels in history with the retail price…..averaging $545 a bottle. The increases are staggering with the…..Cheval Blanc futures….selling for 110 percent higher…….the Chateau Palmer 89 percent higher and the Chateau Haut Brion at $571,” versus the average auction price of $423 for the for stellar 1982 that is ready to drink tonight. “You have to buy 1961 wines to find Bordeaux more expensive than this.” Re-read this paragraph carefully because it’s a quote from a Wine Spectator article published in July of 2006 right on the heels of the ’05 “Bordeaux vintage of the century.” You can also find similar articles that describe the fervor over the turn of the century 2000 vintage. Does this ring familiar, right here…..right now about the ’09 vintage? The looming question is can we learn anything about the pricing evolution of top vintage classified Bordeaux that can help you (and me) make some purchasing decisions about the ‘09’s?
Let start with the year 2000 wines. While I don’t have a long list of futures pricing on first growths, I do recall ordering a little of the Lafite and Margaux in 2001, plunking down about $300 per bottle. I remember feeling aghast that I would spend so much on a single bottle of wine that I would not see for a couple of years. The wines were bottle released in ‘03 at ~$400, the Lafite selling today for $2000 and the Margaux a bargain at ~$1100. Remember, this was the post internet bubble burst. The Haut Brion which was bottle released at $424 today goes for around $600. Let’s take a gander at the 2nd growth Cos d’Estournel which was bottle released at $95. Today is goes for a moderate $150. On the other hand the Leoville Las Cases, released at $170, has skyrocketed today to a cool $360!
While many of the entry level 2009 Bordeaux wine futures prices have been released over the last few weeks, wine collectors are holding their “collective” breath for the cream of the crop, those elite that live in the 1rst growth tier. From what I read and hear, it appears as if futures prices of these wines will be released sometime over the next several weeks. That’s the good news.
The disappointing news to me as a Bordeaux wine lover, is that rumors have it that the 1rst growth prices may approach and in some cases exceed the last surge in 2005. In light of the fact that the US just dodged the worst economic onslaught in 80 years and Europe is now struggling (witness the plunge of the Euro), it would seem to me that discretionary monies for high end wines would be limited. Somehow, I can’t imagine that we are going to return to the good old days of funding our leisure lives through home equity and credit cards. So from where is the fuel coming to support higher futures prices?
Well, one is the Asian continent, fueled by China. Hong Kong wine auctions have been very well attended and highly successful in selling most the auctioned lots at asked for or higher prices. As well, Bordeaux merchants believe that the US will step up for another Bordeaux vintage of the decade, the half century or century. Recall that we heard the same praises uttered for the stellar 2000 and 2005 vintages with 2003 just a smidge behind, but that was another era. With all this said, where should Bordeaux lovers look to start or add to their high end collectibles.
Domaine Zind Humbrecht produces some of the best Rieslings, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris that Alsace has to offer. Best of all, these are wines that can when purchased young can still be enjoyed or laid down, the best for 20+ years. First a little background about the region and grapes.
Alsace, located in the far northeast region of France, is cut off from the rest of country by the imposing Vosges Mountains to the west while separated to the east from its neighboring Germany by the mighty Rhine. As you might imagine, the region sports a blend of German and French wines with Riesling and Gewurztraminer representing Germany and Pinot Gris, France as the primary grapes. Unique to the French Pinot Gris versus alternative regions, is the spicy character of the grape and wine. The climate of the region offers abundant sunshine and little rainfall and the soils a complex blend of siliceous earth, limestone and hydrous alluvial plains.
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