Thursday, March 31, 2011
Save the Corks!
I was at the American Airlines lounge in Boston where I saw a sign announcing that AA was joining with Amorim, the world’s largest producer of natural cork wine closures (3 billion annually), known to us simpletons simply as corks. Their stated goal is to recycle corks and "to educate and inform our audiences about the crucial role cork forests play in curbing climate change." This should be rich.
By recycling your corks (there are collection locations), "your corks will be used to replace petroleum-based material in SOLE’s (their partner, a footware company) products and packaging...part of an initiative to reduce energy usage and conserve precious resources. Cork is ideal for recycling. It is biodegradable, renewable, energy efficient, sustainable, and 100% natural" (after they bleach it and so on),
Every year there are 13 billion corks sold into the world market. Since the program started in 2007, they have collected 8.6 million corks, slightly over none at all.
So, to review: drink up friends, save your corks, turn them into shitty footware, and feel good about saving the world. You deserve it.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Fashion, Turn to the Left
Blair Sabol from Scottsdale, Arizona wants to know: "What are the hot wines?"
Blair has written about fashion since Rudi Gernreich was straight, and thinks that styles change seasonally (or should) like hemline lengths.
But could she be right? Is there a fashion that changes from year to year like "it" bags? Didn't Aussies come and go like a bad fad, like Maxi-Skirts? Are the current crop of high scoring Spanish wines the future regrettable equivalent of shopping at Fiorucci?
Gauging from the auction market, the hot wines are DRC and Lafite Rothschild, not exactly new news. Part of that is that the only "hot" AND "new" wines are coming from the "new" world. Expensive California cult wines seem to crop up one a year. Kapcsandy, Dana, Scarecrow, Maybach, Futo Family, Levy & McClelland. But is California Cabernet Sauvignon really "hot"? They all have big shoulder pads.
Amir, the overpriced men's clothier at the Beverly Hills Hotel has a tag line in his display window, that features a picture of him with the Shah of Iran, "Fashion is seasonal. Style is forever."
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Reading Between the Lines
Telltale signs you’re being bamboozled by wine sales pitches:
When they lead with a blurb about the quality of the vintage…that means the wine in question can’t stand on its own merit. Conversely, “one of the vintage’s finest efforts” means that it was a terrible year and these guys managed to squeak out something palatable.
When they praise the blend of grapes “this classic Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot”….it’s a classic misdirection.
When they tell you that this was made by the same guy who makes the other wine that’s so famous….that means that the guy had to do something with the grapes they deemed unworthy of their premier cuvee and it was stored in the same chai. It's not the same thing.
When they use terms like “gives a glimpse of” or "redolent of"…that means it’s not as good as the thing they’re comparing it too.
When they use phrases like “a good, solid bottle”…they are damning with faint praise—it’s the best they’ve got...under the circumstances.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Whatever Happened To?
There is no end to the blogosphere. It is endless. Or is it? I've been surfing around lately and have found any number of well-intentioned blogs that have run their course. Or have very little left to say.
Two of the very best and funniest are, or more correctly were The Cork Jester (www.corkjester.com) and the HoseMaster of Wine (http://hosemasterofwine.blogspot.com/), both of which have gone sadly silent. I miss you guys.
But what of the sites that go out of their way to draw you in, only to let you down? I got an email from Clark-Claudon's weblog saying: you may view the latest post at http://weblog.clarkclaudon.com/, only to find that the latest post was over two weeks ago, and the previous ones were spaced out about two months apart. Here's a particularly inane posting: "I love the smell in the winery right now; baby wine all fruity and lively as it goes to barrel. I pull out the bung allowing all the wonderful aromas to leap out and then I stick in the “thief” to steal a taste."
Crackerjack!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Crazy Like a Fox CEO
Yesterday's Los Angeles Times featured a story about Chase Carey, President of News Corp. and heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch, in which a colleague said:
"His favorite beverage is Budweiser . I've said, 'It's embarrassing. Have a red wine, we're in a good restaurant, people will think we're civilized.'"
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Waiter, There's a Diamond in my Wine Glass
For those of you with too much money and not enough sense, there is a new wine glass just for you! Hand-blown in Austria, this borosilicate glass is fused with a 0.15 carat, G-color diamond, fused at 1200 degrees Celsius. The heat-resistant glass maintains the wine’s temperature, so it won’t react to the heat of your palms, which no doubt will be sweating as you handle this $3750 goblet. At least if you buy a pair, the lady in your life can turn them into earrings if you drop one. Great gift idea! And it just gets better: No sales tax (except in Florida, where you are fucked.)!!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Wine's Greatest Hits
A Side: Wine Songs
"Wine Women & Song" by Nat King Cole
"Drinking Wine Spo-de-o-dee" by Stick McGee
"Hey Brother, Pour the Wine" by Dean Martin
"Gimme That Wine" by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
"Red, Red Wine" by UB40 (written by and originally performed by Neil Diamond)
B Side: Champagne Songs
"The Night They Invented Champagne" by Louis Jordan (from "Gigi")
"Bubbles in the Wine" by Freddy Martin & His Orchestra
"Tiny Bubbles" by Don Ho
"Champagne" by Franck Pourcel
"Delicious" by Jim Backus
"Days of Wine and Roses" is not one of them. It is a song about an alcoholic (from the Jack Lemmon movie of the same name), and is too damn slow.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Betting Against
I once went on a tour of Screaming Eagle. It is notable only because they don't offer any kind of tour to the public, not for a fee, almost not at all. At the time, when times were particularly good, they boasted a waiting list of 6000 people clamoring to get a few measly bottles of their wine for (at the time) $500 per bottle, plus tax and shipping. (That number is now $750+)
I bring it up because the recession that seems to have come and gone has left some people with a sense that maybe these wines, in particular, are not the best use of their money. One friend who had been courting Shafer Hillside Select got a letter saying that he was suddenly eligible to buy a few bottles. Only now he didn't have the money to do so. Essentially, the people on the waiting list were going through the same recession as the people on the mailing list.
This raises an interesting question: If people are getting more circumspect about their purchases of highly allocated wines, will one (or more) eventually go under? It could be the case that a guy who bought a vineyard/winery as a vanity project is having problems in his core business, the one that was heavily leveraged enough that he could afford to pursue his vinous fantasy. Or that the $200 bottle business is now saturated and the business model doesn't hold up in a leaner economy.
So who will be the first to sell out, merge into, or fold up? Will it be a newcomer? Last in, first out? Or could it be an icon, sitting on a library full of overpriced wines they always thought could be sold for high prices?
Discuss
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Cocktail Party
My wife and I were planning a little get together, a cocktail party for some of her business associates. This brought up one of the oldest riddles in wine: What to serve to the masses. The problem is that, well, my collection has gotten a little too good and a little too expensive to just open up a vein and let it all flow out. As the average price in my small-but-mighty cellar has inched up over $100/bottle, I find it harder than ever to part with any of it. It's not just that "they are not worthy," but also that I've bought in too small quantities. I only keep a couple of cases of good Premier Cru white Burgundy wine on hand. My few chardonnays are from Aubert and Marcassin and J. Rochioli. I investigate my cabernet purchases under a jeweler's loupe.
So I found myself in this situation that I call the "meritocracy of friendship," and I'm not happy about it. I advise other people against it. The way it works is that you pick bottles of wine that you think are just good enough to impress people who don't know any better. It's not that I don't want to share my passion with other people, just not THESE people. We have to laugh when some rich guy won't throw away his 12-year old Sauvignon Blanc...from Trader Joe's with the $7.99 sticker still on it. "Put it over there in my wife's section. She won't know the difference." This might mean, "I don't know the difference," or "At heart I'm a cheap bastard," or "I'm not really that fond of my wife."
My answer was to meet them half-way: I went out and bought a Pouilly Fuisse from Jadot, an AC Chablis from Fevre, a delightful "grower" champagne. I went a little bigger on the reds, offering up some single bottles from the chai that I've been looking for a reason to open--not get rid of, mind you, but the end result was the same. It was more than good enough, and that's good enough for me.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
What's it Worth to You?
The value of a bottle of wine is something that can be endlessly debated, and may never be adequately solved. If you've ever had Screaming Eagle, there is always the lingering question: Sure it's good, but is it $1200 good?
That qualitative judgment aside--I have clients who fly in their own planes but would never spend $700 for a bottle of wine--the factual question of what's a bottle worth is hard to determine, and a big part of that is where and when you it's offered, and whether you're the buyer or the seller.
Let's say, in arguendo, that we agree a bottle of Joseph Phelps Insignia 2006 is worth $125.
But is it?
Most auction houses would put an estimate of $100-150 per bottle. In a "hot" room, that bottle could hit the top of the estimate, $150, which would then be subject to 20% buyer's commission, tax and shipping. The price to the buyer would be close to $200.
But I've been in a cold room where even good wines went begging at the reserve price, 10-20% below the low estimate. In this scenario, the bottle hammers at $80. If you're the seller, it might be subject to 10% commission, leaving you with $72.
After the auction you head out to celebrate (or commiserate) at a restaurant for a steak dinner, and the same title is listed at $250.
So what is the price? $72 or $125 or $200 or $250? It's the same bottle, after all.
(I just looked it up and the '06 is being offered at retail between $120 to $200, plus tax and shipping, though you might be able to get it for as little as $105 on Winebid auction.)
Monday, March 07, 2011
Be Prepared
I was once briefly trapped in a tight little wine cellar with Jim Brooks. I said, "Do you know the difference between comedy and tragedy?" Jim is someone who does know the difference, but I thought I'd spell it out for him. "A tragedy would be getting stuck in here without a corkscrew or a wine glass." Just in case, watch this video and earn your Boy Scout merit badge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuGfjtBffiE
Friday, March 04, 2011
The Truth about Chilean Wines
The current issue of Wine Spectator magazine features reviews of 108 Chilean wines. James Molesworth says that the current vintage shows tremendous value and greater diversity, noting that exports to the US are up.
But if you look closer, here's what he has to say about the wines themselves. These are adjectives he used to describe some of the TOP wines from the current crop--these are the ones they like!:
...tangy iron and tobacco notes
...raspberry ganache
...plum sauce and fig paste character
...Linzer torte
...a pure beam of fruit
...fig and apple fruit bouncing along
...notes of sweet pea, mache and lime
...spice cake and smoked apple wood
...Cavaillon melon and honeysuckle notes
...macerated currant
...a core of white asperagus. Stays nervy.
Note: Plum in its many forms is always correct when describing any of Chile's diverse wines.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
The Cork Soakers
The quality of this YouTube video is so poor it's a shame, but it doesn't matter. A SNL classic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emxgL86J1lc&playnext=1&list=PL1DF7B14A214C62D5
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Steppin' to the Dark Side
It should come as no surprise to aficionados that wine contains alcohol. It is no small part of its attractiveness as a beverage and social lubricant. In vino veritas, friends. In the early days of this country, wine lovers like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson promoted wine as a more temperate choice that whiskey or grog. You rarely see wine drinkers getting into violent exchanges or throwing up in the alley. I'm told that a very snobby woman entered the AA program and declared: My name is Sandra and I'm addicted to fine wine and champagne, but you don't hear about it often.
I just encountered a fellow, a client, who has a serious alcohol problem. I've never seen him drunk, but a family member told me that it's bad. In and out of rehab. Drinking tequila early in the morning. They were concerned that there would be empty bottles in the wine cellar, but when I went in, I found it was virtually untouched. A visual check revealed that only a couple of bottles had been removed in the time since I was last there. The guy wasn't drinking wine to get drunk. It takes too long. It's too expensive (at least with his wine). It calls for food.
