Just came across this article, written by Mr. Parker, on the FoodandWine.com website. He writes twelve wine predictions to take place between now and 2015. The list is an entertaining read, and I noticed a couple of intriguing items to touch upon.
His second prediction is this:
"2 The wine Web will go mainstream
Internet message boards, Web sites tailored for wine geeks and state-of-the-art winery sites all instantaneously disseminate information about new wines and new producers. Today the realm of cyberspace junkies and hardcore Internet users, these sites will become mainstream in 10 years. A much more democratic, open range of experts, consultants, specialists, advisors and chatty wine nerds will assume the role of today's wine publications."
It appears that Mr. Parker is giving a tacit nod to wine bloggers as a legitimate voice of wine criticism. He, who infamously called them (us) "blobbers", is basically saying that the role of wine critic, held today by wine publications like Wine Spectator, The Wine Enthusiast, and The Wine Advocate, will be taken over by a wide range of new voices. Obviously that includes wine bloggers.
This isn't surprising to me or my fellow bloggers, indeed we're already seeing guys like Joe Roberts and Alder Yarrow become more and more known as respected voices in the wine community. The aforementioned wine guys are moving beyond the digital domain by having their work exposed to a wider audience. That audience is not the wine-blog-reading type, rather, the people who may google a wine's name and then quickly scan the relevant (to them) article. Enough of the self-congratulations though, because wine bloggers do have a long way to go in order to garner the levels of respect accorded the print publications and critics.
Another prediction, the sixth:
"6 Spain will be the star
Look for Spain to continue to soar. Today it is emerging as a leader in wine quality and creativity, combining the finest characteristics of tradition with a modern and progressive winemaking philosophy. Spain, just coming out of a long period of cooperative winemaking that valued quantity over quality, has begun to recognize that it possesses many old-vine vineyards with almost unlimited potential. Spanish wineries recognize that they are trapped neither by history nor by the need to maintain the status quo that currently frustrates and inhibits so many French producers. By 2015, those areas that have traditionally produced Spain's finest wines (Ribera del Duero and Rioja) will have assumed second place behind such up-and-coming regions as Toro, Jumilla and Priorat."
On one hand, having just returned from Spain on a blogger trip, I agree that it is indeed ascendant because there is a lot of seriously good quality wine just waiting to make it here. I saw evidence of this in Navarra, where winery after winery was producing inexpensive, high quality, expressive wine that would appeal to a large part of our wine drinking population here.
However, Mr. Parker fails in that he notes a region already held in high esteem (Rioja) and a region that still is known for producing high priced red wine (Ribera del Duero) versus a more balanced selection. Instead, Parker needs to elevate Toro, Navarra, and La Mancha into the tiers of wine that we should be seeking out from Spain. First off, with Rioja, Parker completely avoids the fact that the stylistic framework of those wines is evolving away from his signature style. That style being a highly extracted, intensely fruity, heavily oaked wine. Momentum is shifting towards fresher, low-oak wines that have a lot more acid than your typical Rioja. A lot of his high scoring Ribera del Duero wines are the same way, as are the Priorat and Jumilla wines he gives those big 90+ points to. Big, overly extracted, heavily oaked wines that are borderline undrinkable.
Lastly, the 11th prediction:
"11 Value will be valued
Despite my doom-and-gloom prediction about the prohibitive cost of the world's greatest wines, there will be more high-quality, low-priced wines than ever before. This trend will be led primarily by European countries, although Australia will still play a huge role. Australia has perfected industrial farming: No other country appears capable of producing an $8 wine as well as it does. However, too many of those wines are simple, fruity and somewhat soulless. Australia will need to improve its game and create accessible wines with more character and interest to compete in the world market 10 years from now."
Once again, Parker sidesteps the fact that he helped create this fruity, soulless wine currently lapping our shores from Australia. He also completely misses the fact that this style of wine does and will continue to hold immense appeal to many casual wine drinkers. The kind of drinker who probably doesn't read any wine blogs, who buys Yellowtail because they've had it and it's easy to drink, and who thinks a 90 point score means the wine is good.
Another question I ask is whether Australia wants to be known as the world's best producer of $8 wine or not? I doubt it, because at the $20 and $40 level there are some wonderful Australian wines to be had. For $8, there are solid, unimpressive, good quality wines available, but if a consumer has only bought those wines before, what's the chance they'll risk it and take that $20 bottle off the shelf? I would argue that they would turn to France or Italy, even California, to buy that "expensive" bottle. Therefore, in the value-wine segment, I have a feeling we'll see Australia's role diminish from "huge" to more along the lines of California. It will take a concerted effort from the Aussies to make this happen though. Hmmm, maybe they should send me on a blogger trip down there?
What do you think? Care to make any predictions for the next five years?
Beau Carufel
Showing posts with label Robert Parker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Parker. Show all posts
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Domaine de Cantemerle Bordeaux Superieur, Buy It.
At long last, I come to the end of the Planet Bordeaux series of wines. I've chronicled the wines in the following posts:
2008 Chateau Pey La Tour
2006 Chateau Lestrille
2006 Costes Du Chateau Feret-Lambert
2009 Chateau La Freynelle Bordeaux Rosé
This, the final post, covers perhaps the best of the bunch, a 2005 Domaine de Cantemerle Bordeaux Superieur. 2005 was considered a superb year, much like 2003, 2009, 2010..Get the picture? Usually when I hear that the vintage has been declared "vintage of the century" by the critics, I roll my eyes. After all, isn't there supposedly only one, not five or more in the span of 15 years? I know and am comfortable with the fact that I'll most likely never taste or own any of the First Growths from these years, so these proclamations have no real effect on me. What does matter to my palate is that Bordeaux taste like Bordeaux, not some trumped up, high alcohol, bastardized attempt at making wines that taste like they're grown off of Highway 29. Let Bordeaux wines be expressive of Bordeaux, call me a minimalist!
Anyways, ranting aside, I was happy to "discover" this bottle of Bordeaux in my stash, seemingly forgotten during the inevitable movement of bottles between the wine fridge and my mouth. I then decided to open it up and see if this 2005 lived up to the momentous declarations of Suckling and Parker.
Well, it sure comes close. This is not a 98 point Pomerol, and nor should it be. Rather, it's classified a Bordeaux Superier, which often means exceptional quality at unexceptional prices. If I had to make a guess at the price, I'd say around $20 or so. At the end of this blog I'll find out the real price then we can compare.
Let's take a look at what I have in my glass then. The Cantemerle is dark in my glass, darker than a lot of Bordeaux I've had before. I'm reminded of a Cabernet from Napa Valley because the color veers towards purple instead of dark garnet. The wine is a blend of the five varietals allowed in Bordeaux. Merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, malbec and petit verdot all in one bottle.
Right away I can smell the Bordeaux here, it comes across as a dusty, herbaceous note with a bit of funk. Glorious! Beautiful notes of tobacco, spice, cocoa, and cassis too. One of those wines that you want to keep smelling because each whiff is a discovery. The aromas are subtle, nothing screams up out of the glass to beat at your nostrils with a rubber hose. In essence, the Cantemerle has class.
After suitable ooohing and aaahing, I'm ready to take some sips. The aromas match up well with the flavors I'm getting. Great drying tannins, some acidity on the finish and a very nice depth to the mid palate. I think the wine is hitting its stride right now and with a few hours in a decanter, will reward you with wonderful complexity and pleasing mouthfeel. In addition to the earth and herbs, there's a great vein of bittersweet chocolate and dried berry thing going on. This is why I love wine, the way flavors jump out and capture ones imagination!
What a great way to cap off the Planet Bordeaux series of wines, each one was wonderful and exceeded my expectations. They were all well made, very nicely priced, and a good foundation for someone looking to explore the Bordeaux region. After poking around a bit, I found the importer here in the United States, it's Lion Wines, so check them out and if you want this 2005, send them an email. I gave the 2005 Domaine de Cantemerle a B+ and a STRONG BUY recommendation. If you happen to see it online or at your favorite local wine shop, buy a couple of bottles. Oh and as far as the price goes, I found it on wine-searcher for about $19. So my prediction of $20 a bottle was almost dead on. I hope you're able to find this wine, it should be part of your collection.
This wine was sent as a sample for Planet Bordeaux via Balzac Communications.
Beau Carufel
2008 Chateau Pey La Tour
2006 Chateau Lestrille
2006 Costes Du Chateau Feret-Lambert
2009 Chateau La Freynelle Bordeaux Rosé
This, the final post, covers perhaps the best of the bunch, a 2005 Domaine de Cantemerle Bordeaux Superieur. 2005 was considered a superb year, much like 2003, 2009, 2010..Get the picture? Usually when I hear that the vintage has been declared "vintage of the century" by the critics, I roll my eyes. After all, isn't there supposedly only one, not five or more in the span of 15 years? I know and am comfortable with the fact that I'll most likely never taste or own any of the First Growths from these years, so these proclamations have no real effect on me. What does matter to my palate is that Bordeaux taste like Bordeaux, not some trumped up, high alcohol, bastardized attempt at making wines that taste like they're grown off of Highway 29. Let Bordeaux wines be expressive of Bordeaux, call me a minimalist!
Anyways, ranting aside, I was happy to "discover" this bottle of Bordeaux in my stash, seemingly forgotten during the inevitable movement of bottles between the wine fridge and my mouth. I then decided to open it up and see if this 2005 lived up to the momentous declarations of Suckling and Parker.
Well, it sure comes close. This is not a 98 point Pomerol, and nor should it be. Rather, it's classified a Bordeaux Superier, which often means exceptional quality at unexceptional prices. If I had to make a guess at the price, I'd say around $20 or so. At the end of this blog I'll find out the real price then we can compare.
Let's take a look at what I have in my glass then. The Cantemerle is dark in my glass, darker than a lot of Bordeaux I've had before. I'm reminded of a Cabernet from Napa Valley because the color veers towards purple instead of dark garnet. The wine is a blend of the five varietals allowed in Bordeaux. Merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, malbec and petit verdot all in one bottle.
Right away I can smell the Bordeaux here, it comes across as a dusty, herbaceous note with a bit of funk. Glorious! Beautiful notes of tobacco, spice, cocoa, and cassis too. One of those wines that you want to keep smelling because each whiff is a discovery. The aromas are subtle, nothing screams up out of the glass to beat at your nostrils with a rubber hose. In essence, the Cantemerle has class.
After suitable ooohing and aaahing, I'm ready to take some sips. The aromas match up well with the flavors I'm getting. Great drying tannins, some acidity on the finish and a very nice depth to the mid palate. I think the wine is hitting its stride right now and with a few hours in a decanter, will reward you with wonderful complexity and pleasing mouthfeel. In addition to the earth and herbs, there's a great vein of bittersweet chocolate and dried berry thing going on. This is why I love wine, the way flavors jump out and capture ones imagination!
What a great way to cap off the Planet Bordeaux series of wines, each one was wonderful and exceeded my expectations. They were all well made, very nicely priced, and a good foundation for someone looking to explore the Bordeaux region. After poking around a bit, I found the importer here in the United States, it's Lion Wines, so check them out and if you want this 2005, send them an email. I gave the 2005 Domaine de Cantemerle a B+ and a STRONG BUY recommendation. If you happen to see it online or at your favorite local wine shop, buy a couple of bottles. Oh and as far as the price goes, I found it on wine-searcher for about $19. So my prediction of $20 a bottle was almost dead on. I hope you're able to find this wine, it should be part of your collection.
This wine was sent as a sample for Planet Bordeaux via Balzac Communications.
Beau Carufel
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
6100 Year Old Wine, What Would Parker Score It?
Upon checking my email this morning, I found a press release from the fine people at the UCLA Newsroom regarding the recent discovery of the oldest wine-making equipment ever found. In an article just published by the Journal of Archaeological Science, a team of UCLA researchers analyzed the discovery of some artifacts found in a cave in Armenia. A grape-press, fermentation vats and storage jars were all unearthed within said cave, with grape must, seeds, and grape vines found in the surrounding soil layers.
From the article: "This is, so far, the oldest relatively complete wine production facility, with its press, fermentation vats and storage jars in situ," said Hans Barnard, the article's lead author and a UCLA Cotsen Institute archaeologist.
I'm fascinated by history and of course wine, so this is of particular interest. Apparently the small village in Armenia by which the cave is located happens to be known for it's wine-making, locally at least. This wasn't day to day wine though, but rather wine used for ceremonial purposes. Evidence for this comes from the surrounding area which was full of tombs and grave sites.
Previously, the oldest evidence for wine-making had come from the discovery by German archaeologists in the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king Scorpion I. Dating back some around 3150 B.C., that evidence consisted of grape seeds, skins, dried pulp and imported ceramic jars covered on the inside with a yellow residue chemically consistent with wine.
It's also important to remember that wine-making back then wasn't nearly the same, but the basic procedure has remained roughly the same for the past six thousand years or so. Often other things like resin (where we get retsina wines), honey, flowers and spices were added to the wines of the day, to make them more palatable.
In the case of the Areni-1 discovery, the equipment was rudimentary but somewhat close to what's used today. Take for example the 3 foot by 3-and-a-half foot basin, complete with a thick rim that would have contained the juices and a drain system which let the juice fall into a vat below it. Sounds an awful lot like a press, one that you climb into and stomp the grapes using your feet. Those are still used today in some parts of the world, including California. You can bet this stuff is the real "natural wine" that a lot of people are hollering about these days.
Analyzing the chemical composition of the grape remains at the site led the researchers to discover that the grapes were of vitis vinifera genus, the same genus responsible for almost all the wine-grapes today. Granted there are exceptions like the Norton grape here in the United States, all the good wine we drink comes from vitis vinifera. A DNA sequence will tell us exactly what species that grape is and I for one would love to try a wine from it. You'd be tasting a little bit of history!
Finally, Hans Barnard said: "The fact that a fully developed wine production facility seems to have been preserved at this site strongly suggests that there are older, less well-developed instances of this technology, although these have so far not been found."
I for one hope that we find more ancient evidence in the coming years, discoveries like the one mentioned here only further our fascinating relationship with wine (and with fermented beverages) that seems to have been going on since nearly the dawn of recorded history.
Beau Carufel
From the article: "This is, so far, the oldest relatively complete wine production facility, with its press, fermentation vats and storage jars in situ," said Hans Barnard, the article's lead author and a UCLA Cotsen Institute archaeologist.
I'm fascinated by history and of course wine, so this is of particular interest. Apparently the small village in Armenia by which the cave is located happens to be known for it's wine-making, locally at least. This wasn't day to day wine though, but rather wine used for ceremonial purposes. Evidence for this comes from the surrounding area which was full of tombs and grave sites.
It's also important to remember that wine-making back then wasn't nearly the same, but the basic procedure has remained roughly the same for the past six thousand years or so. Often other things like resin (where we get retsina wines), honey, flowers and spices were added to the wines of the day, to make them more palatable.
In the case of the Areni-1 discovery, the equipment was rudimentary but somewhat close to what's used today. Take for example the 3 foot by 3-and-a-half foot basin, complete with a thick rim that would have contained the juices and a drain system which let the juice fall into a vat below it. Sounds an awful lot like a press, one that you climb into and stomp the grapes using your feet. Those are still used today in some parts of the world, including California. You can bet this stuff is the real "natural wine" that a lot of people are hollering about these days.
Analyzing the chemical composition of the grape remains at the site led the researchers to discover that the grapes were of vitis vinifera genus, the same genus responsible for almost all the wine-grapes today. Granted there are exceptions like the Norton grape here in the United States, all the good wine we drink comes from vitis vinifera. A DNA sequence will tell us exactly what species that grape is and I for one would love to try a wine from it. You'd be tasting a little bit of history!
Finally, Hans Barnard said: "The fact that a fully developed wine production facility seems to have been preserved at this site strongly suggests that there are older, less well-developed instances of this technology, although these have so far not been found."
I for one hope that we find more ancient evidence in the coming years, discoveries like the one mentioned here only further our fascinating relationship with wine (and with fermented beverages) that seems to have been going on since nearly the dawn of recorded history.
Beau Carufel
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