Last year, at the height of Bordeaux auction hysteria, WineBid.com made a market for nineteen bottles of my classic wines laying in the cellar untouched for too many years. It connected buyers, seemingly Hong Kong brokers, with wines I originally paid $50-$75 at exaggerated price points representing handsome profits. Two summers ago, I chronicled that WineBid sale […]
Blind Tasting 2010 French Wine Values
Six bottles of 2010 southern French red wines told the story. With the low yield, long hang time, high quality vintage examples selling for $17 and under at retail, the story wanted to be good. All of the wines were without flaw, dark purple, full of fruit, round, rich, and without any hard edges to make them […]
Summer Value Wines Under $15
Beyond rare exceptions, the wine cellar goes on hold for the summer. Neither collectible nor coveted wines find their places on our Wolfeboro, NH table. Anyone that shares their summer house with steady streams of visitors can probably relate to this fine wine hiatus. Large scale seasonal entertaining inevitably ends with caseloads of empty wine […]
California Wine Lists: Value Desert
Blanket statements can be dangerous and instigative, so let’s begin by saying something nice about California Cabernet; several offer amazing, sexy, and voluptuous drinking. Some are even global ambassadors offering classic varietal profiles and age worthiness such as Ridge Montebello, Dominus, and Dalla Valle, as examples. Still, I drink very, very little of it besides […]
Strategy & Debate for 2009 Bordeaux
Let’s not debate the greatness of the 2009 Bordeaux vintage as the top wines make their way to US markets. For now, squelch all lamentations over price inflation for first and second growths on the heels of their runaway futures market. Turn a blind eye to Parker’s very recent The Empire Strikes Back article where he wrote “this is unquestionably […]
De Forville Nebbiolo 2009 – Another Rosenthal Wine Value
Neal Rosenthal Wine Merchants was table #2 and (*** $20) 2009 De Forville Langhe Nebbiolo was wine #3. Rosenthal was one of nine importers and distributors showcasing 45 wines in total at the 8th annual Ball Square Fine Wines Grand Tasting. Without too much surprise, Rosenthal’s portfolio offered exciting moments at another chock-a-block event where sellers […]
Ignoring California Wines: Is Anybody Listening?
Last week Steve Heimoff published a post called “California Needs To Be Careful It Doesn’t Price Itself Out Of The Market.” I become confused when I read things like this because the fact of the matter is California violated my personal quality to price ratio (QPR) tolerance more than a decade ago. For me, California […]
What’s Going on With the Price of Wine
I finally caught up with a replay of Rob McMillan’s Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) webinar presentation of their own 2011-2012 State of the Wine Industry report. Rob is founder of SVB’s Wine division. His presentation was not really a state of the wine industry report since the bank and its research are only concerned with the U.S., west […]
2008 Clos Erasmus Laurel Delivers Egoless Second Label Quality
Second labels, or second wines, hold a secure place in my world of wine. They can be excellent, delivering chateaux or house styles sans incremental touches of their primary labels’ magic or inflated price tags. Estate bottling, declassified barrels, blended younger vines, and vineyards in close proximity to primary estate boundaries are just some strategies […]
Venerable Value Trove or Flash in the Pan?
US consumers just might develop whiplash keeping up with declarations of new regional sources for quality wine values. Rewind the last ten years and value arrows have stopped on Spain, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Languedoc, Beaujolais, Chile, Loire, and more. And, there appears to be no let-up. Trying to make sense of the shifting landscape, each new pronouncement of dominance in the global value segment falls neatly into one of these […]