More Cowbell?

I (you, we) hate the prices of wine. Wine is an imperfect market as I learned very quickly working for an auction house. Although stocks can dip or crescendo on the whims of one investor (Buffet buys a railroad - all of a sudden we think we're playing Monopoly), given the number of stocks that's not the norm. Wine's different. Public opinion and quality are very irregular.

I was recentlt preparing a list of wines to be tasted for a business group and I had a few ideas going into the project. Nothing earth-shattering: I like themes like "A Walk Thorugh Napa Valley", "An Introduction to the Wines of France", or something like that. In particular, the latter is very inclusive and is a good theme. The novice interrogates, "Oh, so Sauvignon Blanc is from the Loire. Tell me more...". The more advanced taster asks, "Do you prefer Chateauneuf-du-Pape from 1998 or 1999 and why?" In short there's a broad range of exciting possibilities about which we can talk, and I feel out the audience.

Here's the thing, I've been given a budget that's "too high" for what I feel I can accomplish in a tasting, unless of course I'm reviewing, for example, the evolution of 1998 Grand Crus from Burgundy. I'm putting together my list, and I'm ignoring the budget, because my wines are going to be less. Why? Because once you're getting into the $60-$80 range (minimum) per bottle, another $40 doesn't really buy you better wine, unless you're talking vintage wine (i.e. '74 Heitz Martha's Vineyard) - and then the event becomes more than a gathering and instead a few hours for analysis and contemplation.

I have to be honest, I think wine can/should be less expensive than most people think it is. If two couple commit $30 - $40 once a week, you can taste 104 wines a year (all other dinners excluded) and cook a really nice brunch each weekend + have an appropriate amount of wine for a Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon for the young and adventuresome!

So as is typical of my history, I'm currently planning on a "down"-sell, but that's all right. I much prefer wines that are appropriate to the goals of the event (or consumer in question). In the end, more cowbell doesn't always do it...

Glory Days

I ended last night in conversation with a friend about modern business classics such as Den of Thieves, Liar's Parker, The Smartest Guys in the Room and A Random Walk. We were discussing the efficiency and inefficiency of financial markets. It got me thinking again about wine prices and my most recent "random walk" down the aisles of a wine store.

As I perused the selections available, a few bottles of Calera Pinot Noir, the single-vineyard stuff, caught my eye. $55 a bottle. If you have been into wine for a while, you'll remember the following. If you're new to wine, the story is as meaningful as ever.

Calera is an outstanding producer of California Pinot Noir. For a while in the mid-1990's, Calera was fairly cultish, tough to find, expensive vis-a-vis its peers at the time, but certainly of high quality. I dug out my notes on a seven-year old Calera from a wine dinner on February 3rd, 2001:

1994 Calera Pinot Noir, Selleck
Very good concentration of raspberries and cassis. Structured by nice, ripe tannins. Nice wine...etc, etc.

A fine showing by a seven-year old California Pinot Noir being that most are made in a more fashionable, drink-me-know fashion.

It was right around this time give or take a year or maybe a few months, that Josh Jensen of Calera came out with his now (in)famous newsletter of new releases wherein he explained that the he was rasing the price of Calera's single vineyard offering from $55 to $80 per bottle in order to keep his prices even with other top Pinot Noirs from California. Everyone in the wine business walked around with the same type of buzz that many of us had Tuesday morning as we saw months of growth in our 401(k)'s vanish (okay, perhaps I'm being a bit melodramatic, but you get the point). Not long thereafter, although quality has never waned, Calera dropped off the radar quite a bit.

So, during my recent "random walk" it was fitting that I saw Calera Selleck vineyard waiting for me on the shelf. After a period of time where Calera Pinot Noir was overpriced, the Calera stable has experienced a "market correction" and has returned to $55 dollars a bottle, right back where it was about seven years ago. I had visions of Jim Cramer in my head ("Buy!Buy!Buy!") and picked up a bottle to enjoy with a steak that evening. Admittedly, I enjoyed every last sip.

[Bruce Springsteen's Glory Days plays in the background. Fade.]

Liquid Gold

I'd like to continue with my previous post and tie everything together. The fact of the matter is that my first bottle of Sauternes was a bottle by the massive French firm Barton & Guestier. It was a wine that most aficianados would frown upon. At that moment in my life, it was the most profound sensatory experience in my life.

The only experience that rivals my first Sauternes was my taste of a most celebrated one - 1975 Chateau d'Yquem. Chateau d'Yquem, in any year, is recognized as being quite a bit better than any of its rivals - for reasons not worth getting into here. It is so recognized that it is officially recognized as such by the French INAO, the governmental agency that classifies wines. Sauternes is classified as follows:

Superior First Growth (Premier Cru Supérieur)
Château d'Yquem, Sauternes


First Growths (Premiers Crus)
Château La Tour Blanche, Bommes (Sauternes)
Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Bommes (Sauternes)
Clos Haut-Peyraguey, Bommes (Sauternes) (Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey)
Château de Rayne-Vigneau, Bommes (Sauternes)
Château Suduiraut, Preignac (Sauternes)
Château Coutet, Barsac
Château Climens, Barsac
Château Guiraud, Sauternes
Château Rieussec, Fargues (Sauternes)
Château Rabaud-Promis, Bommes (Sauternes)
Château Sigalas-Rabaud, Bommes (Sauternes)

Second Growths (Deuxièmes Crus)
Château Myrat, Barsac (Château de Myrat)
Château Doisy Daene, Barsac
Château Doisy-Dubroca, Barsac
Château Doisy-Vedrines, Barsac
Château D'Arche, Sauternes
Château Filhot, Sauternes
Château Broustet Barsac
Château Nairac, Barsac
Château Caillou, Barsac
Château Suau, Barsac
Château de Malle, Preignac (Sauternes)
Château Romer, Fargues (Sauternes) (Château Romer du Hayot)
Château Lamothe, Sauternes

No one really doubts that Chateau d'Yquem is a one of a kind, even the legal authorities in France. The best wine I ever had was almost without doubt the 1975 Chateau d'Yquem (a particularly good year in Sauternes); it is scored 100pts out of 100 by Robert Parker the world's leading wine authority, in other words a perfect wine.

'75 Yquem goes for about $1200 a bottle give or take nowadays, but is it worth it? My opinion is "yes", making it the first time in my life that I agree with Robert Parker I believe. Nonetheless, my experience with '75 Yquem is equalled by my Barton & Guestier of unknown vintage drunk with a friend at 6AM in a fraternity house in Chicago. 100 pointers can be disappointing if they're not shared at the right moment, with the right company.

Never believe the hype of 100 point wines (or 95 or 90 pointers for that matter). A bottle of wine is an experience. I guarantee that over the course of my life I have a higher percentage of "90 point nights" with the most simple of wines, and I know for a fact that I have had too many disappointing nights with wines that were critically acclaimed.

In summary, every wine "is worth it" if you enjoy drinking it, the company with whom you share it and that moment in time where you felt more relaxed than you do every day at work or what have you. A good wine, like a book, or an opera, or a movie or a Steelers game is incomparable at that moment in time. If you don't enjoy it, no matter what the scores say, it's not worth it...

Are Gold Prices Rising?

No. This is not another investment blog (it seems that we have enough of them). I'd like to talk about Liquid Gold, or what we wine lover's call Sauternes. The real topic is the most difficult question I get asked as a wine consultant - "Is it worth it?"

When I was in college, I began to become interested in wine. I learned the fundamental principles of the snob - the only good wine is red wine, etc., etc. - most all of them were wrong. Being the inquisitive type, I researched more extensively on the subject of wine. Eventually, I cam across the concept of Botrytis Cinarea [BAW-TRITUS].

What? BAW-TRITUS...ahem...SIN-ER-REE-AH. Here's the big problem. From a biological standpoint - actually from the standpoint of a pure obsever - it's more disgusting than it sounds. So what is it? And what does this have to do with gold?

Wikipedia tells us that Botrytis Cinarea is:

Botrytis cinerea is a fungus that affects many plant species, although its most economically important hosts are wine grapes[citation needed]. In viticulture, it is commonly known as botrytis bunch rot; in horticulture, it is usually called grey mould or gray mold. The fungus gives rise to two different kinds of infections on grapes. The first, grey rot, is the result of consistently wet or humid conditions, and typically results in the loss of the affected bunches. The second, noble rot, occurs when drier conditions follow wetter, and can result in distinctive sweet dessert wines, such as Sauternes. The species name Botrytis cinerea is derived from the Latin for "grapes like ashes"; although poetic, the "grapes" disappointingly refers to the bunching of the fungal spores on their conidiophores, and "ashes" just refers to the greyish colour of the spores en masse. The fungus is usually referred to by its anamorph (asexual form) name, because the sexual phase is rarely observed. The teleomorph (sexual form) is an ascomycete, Botryotinia fuckeliana (see taxonomy box).

Let's rewind a bit. While "Is it worth it?" might be the most difficult question I get, the most frequent one is "How did you get in the wine industry?" Here's my answer...

I was in college in Chicago. I read about Botrytis. The descriptors made it sound amazing, in fact, at least one writer dubbed it Liquid Gold. I had to try it. So I took my bartending money and bought the cheapest Sauternes I could find - the only Sauternes I could find. It was about 25 bucks for the half bottle - not much in retrospect for a good bottle of Sauternes. I bought it before I went to bartend (looking back, it was likely an '83, a great vintage) and came home to my fraternity house, grabbed a bear and decided to go to sleep. I woke up a couple of hours later: I had to taste Botrytis, I had to taste Sauternes. Liquid Gold.

I said to myself "To hell with it", and there I was, in a Fraternity House in Chicago, uncorking a bottle of wine that would determine the future of my life. A "Brother" came downstairs as I sipped Liquid Gold with glee - at six AM.

...how does all of this tie in to the question "Is it worth it?"...if you are wondering, visit us tomorrow...