Overly simplistic article by Asimov in the NY Times regarding Bordeaux

WINE TALK
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Bordeaux wines are not easy to find @ all in rural America.

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Are any fine wines though?

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Glen… There is this invention called the Internet. Al Gore said he created it. [wink.gif]

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Yes. Local grocery chains will have very good selections of local and regional wines; some would qualify as fine to all but the true anti-flavor elite. 2nd - 5th classification Bordeaux wines are quite rare to be actually seen in such a setting and rarer still on restaurant lists. Bordeaux Superieur - no way I see those bottles virtually anywhere until I get to a Central Valley retailer and even there they are simply not prominent.

From my annual wine expenditure (not an inconsiderable sum) I am afraid very little ends up in Bordeaux.

25

Interesting that the selection is that good. I suppose it’s being near a wine region (sort of). Of course, I still remember finding premier cru Burg on one of the San Juan Island tiny grocery stores…

It’s odd, but I don’t quite get why Bordeaux has fallen from favor. I wonder if it’s just that there are multiple other regions that are equally good places to start so that Bordeaux doesn’t get the advantage of being the place ‘serious’ wine people start out.

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I have to take photos of Rinaldi’s in Linden, CA for you. Indoor selection photos and then outdoor, rural setting photos. You’d dig that.

Origin of enthusiasm is very important to long-term buying patterns but I grew up on French & Italian wines in NYC but now only keep enough to be a change of pace for our regular wine consumption.

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Oh, Rinaldi… mmmm… tell you what. Send a few bottles up and go ahead and keep the pics. :slight_smile:

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Just came back from a dinner in Bordeaux with some friends and Dewey Markham who wrote a book on the 1855 classification. We drank two very inexpensive wines, both from the 2000 vintage. One was a Blaye (not Cotes de Blaye) which was rich and savory if just a tad alcoholic and the other - if I remember correctly the name, Fleur Milon - was a Pauillac which has since been ‘incorporated’ into a classified growth (Clerc Milon?). I preferred the Pauillac although it had a bit of noticeable acidity and its body was medium and ok. Now these probably fetched very low prices, and have aged well. They are fine Bordeaux. No namers.

When I was at Leoville Barton today, Lilian Barton begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting posited that the New World wines have thrashed demand for lesser known Bordeaux, in part because of ‘the media’ she said, which at one time sang praises of Argentine Malbec and Chilean Cab. But that highlighted the difference between the lesser known Bordeaux and the classed growths.

So there is of course something to looking for inexpensive Bordeaux that performs well. But when I tasted many of the 09 classed growths again this week, I find that they are just brilliant. Such a pity so many are absurdly expensive, but one cannot deny that they are damn good.

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La Fleur Milon got bought up by Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 2004. Not sure where the wines go now. It’s not listed as a brand their website at all.

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If you dig in the 18-30 dollar stable, there is about a dozen Bordeaux wines which offer tremendous value to me because I’m patient enough to age them for a decade. 00 Bellefont Bellcier has been drinking magically recently. However, they tend to appreciate in value rather rapidly so one must be diligent in his or her pursuits.

The New World seems far more adept at offering better fruit quality in the 5-15 dollar range, which is usually all you can ask for at that price point. I think there is a place for everything.

Part of me agrees with Panos’ general assertion: as Bordeaux is rather market oriented, the market is usually wise with its money (save for fetishized products).

However, I realize there is a dichotomy in Bordeaux between the classifieds and the satellites. Every great vintage or so, a new star comes out of the satellites and offers the saavy shopper a fantastic buy. The wise buyer is on the lookout for these. Unfortunately, I have yet to have one that handily beats the field (Haut-Condissas be damned! [wow.gif] )

Best,

31

With wine, and my experience I have found no rhyme or reason and no correspondence between price, quality or my enjoyment.

32

Patrick - I think that’s right. I also think part of the problem is the marketing of Bordeaux. It’s been rather too successful.

Bordeaux is often considered as a single unit. In a wine store, people talk about “Bordeaux”. The classed growths make up a small percentage of it but they get the buzz and the news articles for selling $1000 bottles of wine and because the producers have so successfully sold the idea of the region as the brand, the new wine customer figures that Bordeaux = expensive and simply passes.

It’s the opposite problem of Barossa in Australia, with similar results ironically. Both regions are painted with a broad brush and increasingly unfashionable to wine drinkers in the States.

To some degree the same has happened in the US where people think US=California=Napa, but Americans are brand hounds and are more willing to buy wines by brand name or by varietal content. The top Bordeaux names are of course brand names, but so are Bugatti and Jaguar and the average car buyer knows of them but also knows plenty of other brand names, which they actually buy.

Bordeaux would be better off if they simply allowed people to sell the wine by varietal blend with a brand name, without worrying about AOC status. The first growths will sell, but they’re also considered wines for grandpa and older collectors and investors. When those people start dying off, those wines will also stop selling. And the slack won’t be taken up by Russian mobsters either, because the new generation of Russian mobsters will want what their peers in the legitimate business world want, which isn’t likely to be what their grandparents and parents wanted.