Firstly of note is that the pricing on all of the 2009’s has either stayed within the range of the 2^nd and 3^rd tranche prices, or gone up 20-50% after the recent in- bottle scores were released.  Second of note is that there are now 19 wines receiving a score of 100 by Mr. Parker, which is an all time record for any vintage of any region for his palate!  Incredibly, there are more than 40 wines with a rating of 95 or higher, which certainly places the 2009 vintage among the all time greats, at least by the scores.  Since Mr. Parker frequently updates his scores as he consumes wines, no doubt the ratings will change, although it may be 2-3 years before he re-evaluates any of his current scores.

The following fine and rare wines from Bordeaux received 100 points in the bottle:  Chateaux Beausejour Duffau, Smith Haut Lafite, Clinet, Leoville Poyferre, Le Pin, Ducru Beaucaillou, L’Evangile, Pontet Canet, Montrose, La Mondotte, Pavie, Pape Clement Blanc, Haut Brion, La Mission Haut Brion, Cos d’Estournel, Petrus, Bellevue Mondotte, Latour, Clos Fourtet.

The following fine and rare wines all received 98 or more points from Mr. Parker:  Chateaux Angelus, Cheval Blanc, Clos l’Eglise, Haut Brion Blanc, Hosanna, Lafite, L’Eglise Clinet, Leoville Las Cases, Margaux, Trotanoy.

In summary, 2009 Bordeaux has recently received an incredible array of high scores from in the bottle tastings, surpassing every other prior Bordeaux vintage.

Many of these wines will start appearing in fine and rare wine auctions as early as May or June 2012, but more likely, will appear in earnest in the global fall auction calendar in September through November, and start hammering in salesrooms from Hong Kong to San Francisco to Chicago to New York to London. Will there be record prices to go along with the record scores? Please check back in December 2012 for a follow-up article reviewing fall auction prices.

Cheers!

WG

WineGavel Live Auction April 28: Chance to Pre-Bid!

Live Auction
Saturday, April 28, 2012 | San Francisco
San Francisco Wine Center

Our first Live Auction under new ownership represents our strategic niche in the wine auction business–exceptional Lots and fun, experiential Live Auctions! The auction is open for advance bids online with the Live auction on Saturday, April 28th. If you can’t join us in-person we’ll see you Live online or otherwise be sure to place your Pre-Bids now!

If you’re in town this weekend, don’t hesitate to RSVP for your exclusive invitation at customerservice@winegavel.com and join us in-person for our Pre-Auction Tasting and Live Auction with our friends at the San Francisco Wine Center, a gathering place for anyone passionate about wine. Complementary, wine-friendly fare will be served throughout the auction.  Chef Caroline Fey and her team at The City Kitchen in San Francisco have collaborated with WineGavel to create a menu that pairs perfectly with the fine wines you and WG will bring along.

If you are unable to join us in-person for the auction or live online, we have several ways to place advance bids.  Absentee bids are accepted through our online catalog.  Bids also can be faxed directly to 415.742.8035 or emailed to bids@winegavel.com.

We know how exciting our auctions can be, but selections and space are limited. Please request your invite right away! Your guests are welcome and all are encouraged to bring their own wines to share. See you on Saturday!

Click here for the LIVE catalog. It is OPEN for BIDS !!

One aspect of terroir that is key to a wine’s flavor profile is the soil. Staying for the moment with the Cabernet Sauvignon example, the soil of Graves (named for its gravelly soil), gives Cabernet Sauvignon an earthy characteristic. Cabernet Sauvignon from Rutherford in the Napa Valley (also somewhat gravelly) gives Cabernet Sauvignon earthy characteristics, but they are not the same earthy qualities. The best vineyards of Graves also have some quartz in the soil, while the best vineyards in Rutherford have some sandy clay loam, and therein lies the difference.

While this may seem a little esoteric, terroir matters when you buy wine. As the quality of the terroir determines in part the quality of the wine, it will also partly determine the wine price.  When you visit a fine wine merchant, buy wine online or at a wine auction, you will see that some Cabernet Sauvignons sell for $10 per bottle, and some sells for $1000 per bottle. Other factors aside, the better the terroir, the better the wine, thus the higher the price.

With a little tasting experience, you can determine which wines from which regions suit your palate and thus which wines to buy. Don’t worry about tasting every nuance – that’s not the point.  The idea is to develop a clear concept of what you like so that when you do buy wine, you will take home something that will make you happy.

Cheers!

CEM

We’re always listening to our clients and their suggestions to make WineGavel auctions better. Also we’re always honing our auction formats to enable our customers to acquire fine and rare wines in the most preferable way. To that goal, we are splitting our auctions into 3 different formats and we’re excited to get started. When you visit our website, you will now find three choices:

1. You will see our weekly online auction, (which we call “Weekly Online”) that runs from Thursday to Thursday, packed with high-value, high quality fine and rare wine which would benefit any wine collector or connoisseur. Our wine specialists continue to search nonstop to fill this auction with wine from some of the most interesting cellars in the US.
2. You will find an ongoing “buy it now,” section (we call “WineGavel Fine and Rare”) which will allow you to pick up any of your favorite wines immediately, without bidding. This section has great values on thousands of high quality fine & rare wines and is open 24/7-365 for your convenience. Our goal is to continue to build this section of WineGavel to over 10,000 wines so you will have a variety of wine choices rivaling the very best wine sites in the business.
3. We are going to hold Live Auctions starting again this May, and then continue conducting live auctions a consistent basis. Be sure to check our website for live auction dates where we will feature some of the world’s finest wine from unique cellars.

Thank you for your business and your bids! We look forward to continue serving your wine collecting and wine drinking preferences!

In 2004, the movie Sideways was the first wine-centered “dram-edy.” It was a funny exploration of two friends in the pitfalls of love and their own preference of wine. The two main characters were represented by their own taste for the soft and complex notes in Merlot and Pinot Noir respectively. Once the movie caught commercial success, there was a significant rise in the sale of pinot noir in the United States, while Merlot sales faltering slightly. Some believe this was because of an opinionated and descriptive exclamation the main character (partial to pinot noir) made about the tasting notes often associated with Merlot.

Along with being at center stage, it played an intricate part in seduction.  A 1991 Pahlmeyer Chandonnay was used in the movie Disclosure where a young, attractive manager Demi Moore tried to seduced the older associate played by Michael Douglas.  In thee epic mobster movie The Godfather, wine played the part of family dinners, directed by a world-renouned wine maker, Francis Ford Coppola. Even the characters of Disney’s The Parent Trap, staring a young Lindsay Lohan lived at the Staglin Family Vineyards and in the 1979 The Muppet Movie, a sparkling Muscatel is uncorked with a beer opener by Steve Martin when Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog share a romantic dinner date.

It seems fine wine and the movies go better than popcorn and soda.  Maybe to help ticket sales with adults, Hollywood will start installing wine bars at movie theatres so we can try a taste of what Mr. Bond was drinking in Goldfinger.  Just as long as our sip of Chianti is accompanied by any sort of meat….

MDG

Much to my surprise, however, an exploratory tasting of the “Angel’s Share” that had been left in the bottle of the 1982 Leoville Las Cases has caused me to rethink my initial note.  When later tasted on March 1^st, 6 days after the bottle was initially opened, the 1982 Leoville Las Cases exuded intensity of flavor, sound structure, lively acidity and, most importantly, it expressed long lingering length with a persistent finish.

I am much more optimistic about the 1982 Leoville Las Cases, and after my most recent tasting I look forward opening another bottle even more…albeit not for another 8 to 10 years, which will allow for it to work through its current period of introversion and emerge with intensity of flavor and persistent length.

Leoville Las Cases 1982

Salud!
CM

Whether you buy wine online, in a retailer, wine auction or restaurant does not matter, as cork taint usually develops in the cellar, before a wine is bottled.

Wineries are trying alternative closures such as plastic corks, glass vino seals, zorks, or skipping the corks entirely and using screw caps instead.  Each has its advantages and disadvantages along with vocal advocates and opponents. The producers’ main concerns with these alternatives are the rate of oxygen transfer, whether the alternative will affect the taste, and the cost. For example, vino seals are beautiful and effective, but are extremely expensive. Yet wineries have a substantial incentive to find the best closures for their wines, as tainted bottles cost them money and prestige.

For fine wine sellers and wine buyers, the main issues are not knowing how to open alternative closures and aesthetics. Vino seals and zorks are both fun and easy to open, but if one is trying to open this type of closure for the first time around others, it could be an awkward moment. To too many consumers, plastic corks and screw caps evoke an image that says, “I buy cheap wine”.

As I alluded to earlier, the debate has gone on for a while, and will continue until something better than natural cork becomes the industry standard.  In the meantime, don’t be surprised if the next time you open a bottle of fine wine, you find yourself pulling out a piece of plastic, a piece glass or doing the twist with your wrist, rather than your corkscrew.  Cheers!

CEM

Today, thirty years later, many Grand Cru Classe wines of the Medoc from the 1982 vintage are just now starting to enter maturity and make for wonderful sensorial journeys; while all the wines that follow are from the Medoc and the iconic 1982 vintage, no two journeys are alike and we are also reminded there indeed there are no great wines, but only great bottles.

 Gruaud Larose 1982

Gruaud Larose 1982

The Gruaud Larose 1982—displaying a medium plus garnet core that fades to pale garnet rim with brick highlights—exudes complex aromas of black currant leaf, cigarbox, cedar, smoke, green tea and hints of pepper; aromas, although showing some signs of development, are still quite youthful considering this wine is almost 30 years old.  On the palate, a sensational blend of elegance and power expresses flavors of pronounced intensity—blackcurrant, earth, cigar box, mineral—as well as ripe, finely grained tannins, vibrant acidity, and long lingering length with hints of bitter chocolate on the finish.  The Gruaud Larose 1982 is simultaneously powerful and elegant with firm structure, expressive purity of fruit and vibrancy that will allow this wine to continue to develop over the next two to three decades. (Tasted in New York, NY on 02/04/12.)

Mouton Rothschild 1982

Mouton Rothschild 1982

The best word for the Mouton Rothschild 1982:  Legendary.  Pronounced aromas and flavors emanate notes of blackcurrant, black plum, earth, mushroom, cedar and spice—all of which seem remarkably youthful despite its age.  Full bodied with intense purity of fruit, rich concentration and still vibrant acidity, the 1982 Mouton is remarkable and a brilliant example of First Growth quality in an iconic vintage.  (Tasted at Palais Coburg in Vienna, Austria on 11/05/11.)

Leoville Las Cases 1982

Leoville Las Cases 1982

Unfortunately this bottle of Leoville Las Cases 1982 did not live up to the hype and left something to be desired.  To the eye it showed a medium garnet core meeting a pale brick rim with brick highlights.  On the nose aromas were slightly restrained and of moderate intensity, expressing blackcurrant, earth, smoke and hints of anise.  On the palate it appeared quite moderate all around: in acidity, alcohol, body, amounts of ripe tannin and flavors—of blackcurrant, smoke and earth that finished medium in length with hints of pomegranate on the finish.  It is hard not to wonder if this wine has entered into a temporary shut-down period—and if so when will it emerge into the expressive jewel so many have described it to be?  I’m looking forward to re-tasting it… (Tasted in Bernardsville, NJ on 02/24/12).

The Future of the 1982 Vintage

Many of the Medoc’s Grand Cru Classe wines of the 1982 vintage are just beginning to enter their prime in terms of maturity and drinkability, however rich concentration of fruit and vibrant acidity will enable these treasured wines to continue to evolve and develop, unveiling additional layers and complexities.  The interesting question at hand is how the iconic Medoc’s Grand Cru Classe wines of the 1982 vintage will continue to age…and how they will be showing in 2022, 2032 and 2042, because while these wines are drinking beautifully now they forecast expressive long lives ahead.  As more bottles of 1982 Bordeaux continue to be consumed, especially during 2012—the 30th anniversary of the vintage—the jewels of 1982 will come to be even finer and rarer as scarcity and demand in wine auctions continue to interact.

Salud!

-CM

With so much wine on the market now, the competition for wineries to reach consumers is fierce. Today labels have to serve as a primary means to sell wine, and wineries invest tremendous resources to create enticing labels. Above all, the label must convey a reason for a consumer to buy that bottle. It needs to offer the wine buyer an assurance of quality, and some idea of the product and producer. For example, the names (i.e. labels) that command the highest prices in restaurants, fine wine merchants or wine auctions are not only those with First Growth and Grand Cru pedigrees, but those that have built up a long standing record for exceptional quality and value, such as Shafer. Other labels, such as the Chateau Mouton Lafite have beautiful artwork to complement the beautiful wine contained therein.

But like not judging books by their covers, wine should not be judged by labels either. There are many fine wines and many cheap wines that have relatively plain labels with simple, and sometimes all too similar, fonts.  It is very common for low end producers to mimic the style of fine wine producers in order for an inexpensive wine to look expensive.

Trying a variety of wines and developing a sense of likes and dislikes will do far more to enhance one’s wine enjoyment than buying by the label. Experiment and learn to trust your palate!

CEM

Fine wine can be appreciated with every course.  The matching process has long been viewed as a tradition, but the new “art” of pairing food dishes with wine is now incorporated to enhance our dining experiences.  The main concept behind pairings is that certain elements (such as texture and flavor) in both food and wine react differently. Finding the right combination is made so our dining experience can be more enjoyable.  The most commonly recommended pairing of fine wine has always been associated with cheeses, meats, fish, and Italian pasta dishes (whether they are in a thick red sauce or garlic and oil).  But as we expand our knowledge of wine, let’s remember that pizza is an Italian delicacy. Restaurants offer an array of fine wine lists for their guests who want to buy wine to accompany their meal, so I feel that such pairings should not be limited to just dining out.  Wine auctions around the country along with the ability to buy wine online from online wine stores is there to help people grow their collection so they can chose to uncork when not eating out.  It is only fitting that it become perfectly acceptable to pop open a bottle of that fine wine purchased at a wine auction or from a discount wine retailer to go along with takeout or delivery dinner options.

Recommendations? While pizza goes great with the typical California Cabernets, Merlots or dry Chiantis, go for a French Côtes du Rhône.  Côtes du Rhône is a wine that, along with great value, can also be food friendly.  It is a grounded wine that is blended from many different grape varieties both red and white.  Because of this blend, Rhône’s are earthy and enjoyable without ever taking over the situation.  For a fun, effervesce twist; try Gragnano (like the Sorrento Peninsula outside of Naples) or even Cá de Noci Sottobosco.

The next time someone makes the suggestion of ordering or going out for pizza, just remember to pair a great wine along with it.

Buon appetito!

MDG