Wine Journal
Over the past 16 years, the US and the EU have been locked in a long running dispute over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing. In October 2019, under the Trump administration, the US escalated the dispute into a trade war by imposing a 25% import tariff on French wine, Italian cheese, Irish whisky, and a long list of other EU products. The EU retaliated by imposing tariffs on US export of fish, cheese, cotton, tractors, spirits... Needless to say, it was an unpleasant time for importers/exporters and consumers of the products involved. Us included.
After 16 months of tariffs war, avid wine buyers started to notice a gradual reduction in supply and increase in price of imported fine wine. Some customers have started asking the question: "what's wine got to do with airplanes? will the price continue rising?"
On February 25, WSJ reported, Biden
Our selections for February 2021 are:
Paul Jaboulet Aîné Domaine de Thalabert 2018, Crozes-Hermitage, rated 93-95 by Joe Czerwinski of the Wine Advocate. Paul Jaboulet Aîné Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert is from the northern Rhone Valley. This is a terroir known for producing good syrah, the only red grape permitted under the Crozes-Hermitage appellation's official rules. The origin of Syrah has been confirmed to be indigenous to the Rhone Valley. Crozes-Hermitage counts Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage as its neighbors. While not as coveted as Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage,
Unlike their cousins at Mouton Rothschild who release a new wine label every year featuring a new artist's design, Lafite Rothschild almost never tinkered with its label's classic design, until the special occasion of 2018. In celebration of the family's 150th Anniversary of ownership (1868-2018), Saskia de Rothschild, the chairwoman of Domaines Barons de Rothschild, who took over the executive management role in 2017 from her father, imagined a symbol playing on Lafite’s historic and centenary label, which has two women in the foreground looking into the distance. A hot air balloon was chosen to disrupt the label, sketched by Black Adder, a creative duo of illustrators. Initials CL (150 in Roman numerals) are sketched on the balloon and inscribed in red on the shoulder of the bottle.
Saskia de Rothschild explains, “In 1868, hot
Rarely does one find a movie goer who did not love the gifted actor and comedian Robin Williams. He was truly one of American cinema’s greatest talents. However, few would have heard of the grand plans Robin Williams had for his vineyard, Villa Soriso, (“the Valley of Smiles”), in Napa’s prestigious Mount Veeder Appellation. He planned to release a premium wine named Pym-Rae, the combination of the middle name of two of his children (his son Zachery Pym, and his daughter Zelda Rae). Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc have been planted at Villa Soriso since the 1990s. Before the actor was ready to release his own wine, his estate sold its harvest to noteworthy wineries such as Rombauer, Vineyard 29, and Robert Craig.
After Robin Williams’ tragic passing, his wine estate was sold to the Tesseron family from Bordeaux, the owner of Château
Not sure what to gift the wine lover in your life this Valentine's Day? Consider Château Calon Ségur.
A hundred years before the modern-day era of 1855 Bordeaux Classification, there lived a famous winemaker in Bordeaux. He was the Marquis Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur (1696 - 1755), who was given the nickname “The Prince of Vines” by Louis XV following a glowing introduction to the royal court. During his time, the Marquis de Ségur was considered the consummate winemaker with the magic touch in the whole of Europe. In an unprecedented way unfollowed by anybody since his days, he simultaneously owned these famous estates: Château Lafite (later known as Lafite Rothschild after Baron James de Rothschild bought it in 1868), Château Latour
Fresh off the press, the Best Wine of the World competition, sponsored by the Tasting Book, named Château Mouton Rothschild 2018 the World's Best Wine of 2021.
This month's selection:
La Dame de Montrose 2015, Saint-Estèphe, rated 88-90 (Neal Martin). La Dame de Montrose is the second wine of Château Montrose, a heavy weight from Saint-Estèphe, just north of Pauillac.
Château La Dauphine 2015, Fronsac, rated 91-93 (Neal Martin). For modern day wine drinkers, Fronsac is not a household name as Pauillac, Margaux, Saint-Julien, or Saint-Emilion that define Bordeaux. But, once upon a time, Fronsac's vineyards were among the best in the Bordeaux area. In the 18th century, Fronsac’s wines enjoyed the best reputation in the Libourne area (i.e., the Right Bank of
Among the top Bordeaux chateaux, Mouton Rothschild has a unique tradition. Every year, it releases a newly commissioned artwork as its label for the vintage. Part of this traces to the love of art by the owners of this prestigious property, part of it is attributed to the idea of starting afresh each year with a blank slate (see bottle image without the artwork and the newly released label for the 2018 vintage).
The owners of Château Mouton Rothschild, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, Camille Sereys de Rothschild and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild, gave the commission to the renowned Chinese artist Xu Bing. He pioneered his own style of calligraphy be presenting symbols and images in the traditional Chinese characters, also called "square word" by Chinese.
The label artwork of the 2018 vintage of Château Mouton
"A wine that genuinely belongs among the elite Saint-Émilions", thus wrote Neal Martin when he awarded Château Figeac 2016 the top score - 100 points.
Over the past decade, 4 vintages are on the short list of Bordeaux collectors' must-buys: 2009, 2010, 2015 & 2016. For the discerning buyers, Château Figeac is a name few would have missed. These are the ratings given to the 4 top vintages of Figeac by wine critics:
- Château Figeac 2009 (94, Robert Parker Jr/Neal Martin)
- Château Figeac 2010 (97, Neal Martin/Lisa Perrotti-Brown)
- Château Figeac 2015 (97+, Neal Martin/Lisa Perrotti-Brown)
- Château
If you were to talk to any wine collector who has been buying wine for decades, from time to time you would hear stories about a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild being acquired for under $80. That level of pricing, unfortunately, is unlikely to happen again in our life time, especially after a former Fed chairperson was just nominated to be the next Treasury Secretary by President-Elect Biden. The stock market is at an all-time high. Inflation - while conveniently absent from CPI numbers - is everywhere if you happen to buy food, medicine, education, or fine wine.
Don't let that general rise in price of everything we consume lead you to conclude that you can't find top wine for bargain price. We bring you two sub-$25 wines in this month's selection: Château