The Borrowed Penguin Wine Review

Venturing Into The Wine Cellar

One of the fun things about my job is I’m often approached with the opportunity to take on different challenges and do different things. A few weeks ago I was handed a rather odd opportunity that to be honest I didn’t really think was legit. Someone who knew someone had given my name to another someone who was looking to have a project done. This final someone essentially wanted a person to come dig through his/her cellar and essentially figure out what’s there. So today my girlfriend (who is completely amazing) and I spent several hours sorting through boxes and crates and more crates and cataloging wine.

Perhaps I will someday talk about what I went through and saw, but for now I figure privacy should prevail (plus, I still have to look at all the entries and build an actual list for the client). But the overwhelming majority of the wine was Bordeaux, so as I sat around tonight I really felt it only appropriate to dig out a Bordeaux of my own. No I don’t have any 82 or 96 Pauillac just lying around, so I was a bit more boring. We had to settle for a simple bottle of 2001 Chateau Larose Trintaudon, which should run in the neighborhood of $20. Just a plain old Cru Bourgeois for us–nothing too extravagant.

Robert Parker gave the wine 85-86 points, but no tasting note. Personally I feel the wine represents a well-made Bordeaux that is earthy yet still enjoyable for most somewhat educated wine drinkers. It has nice fruit, reasonable acidity, shows oak integration, and offers some moderate tannin on the finish. I think it’s ripe fruit and a well-made wine. I could enjoy this quite often and the price certainly makes it attainable for most people.

While I could enjoy this on a regular basis, I won’t be running out to stock up on it. Why? Even though I enjoy this wine a great deal, there’s nothing about it that makes me think it is going to improve a great deal over the next several years. That doesn’t mean I think it’s going to go bad anytime soon, I just don’t view it as something that will develop a great deal more. And while I think it’s very nice wine at a good price I’m also confident that there are enough talented winemakers out there that once this wine goes away (i.e. the vintage sells out) I will be able to find something comparable.

Whenever you see people filling huge cellars will large quantities of wine that are either readily available or meant to be consumed young are kind of missing the point. A cellar is not your personal storehouse for California Chardonnay–it’s where you age wines that will hopefully develop and improve over time. Why would you put 3 cases of Yellow Tail in your cellar? If you are having a party you can always just run out and get more (just to clarify, the client I worked for today is not one of these people; for example: 86 Mouton Rothschild ain’t Yellow Tail).

Look, I work in the retail business. I want people to come in and buy lots and lots of wine, and course consume it with lots and lots and lots and lots and even more lots of responsibility. But I don’t want people to be foolish. There is a huge ego factor around having a wine cellar these days, and it doesn’t just have to do with people who point-chase and see who can have the most 95+ point wines. People think wine cellars look cool, and they try to fill them.

The reality is wines worth cellaring tend to cost money. There are the occasional $10-$15 bottles that reward a few years on their side, and you certainly can find some sub-$30 French, Spanish, and Italian wines that will benefit from true cellaring. But more often than not the only way to justify having a separate room that houses 400+ bottles is if you fill that room with the kind of $40+ bottles (and many of them are way north of $40) that are really built to age. Don’t toss three cases of the $12 California Merlot you love right now into your cellar because in four years you’ll be lucky if they’re as good as they today.

Today was a great reminder for me what cellaring is all about. It’s about identifying the wines you really enjoy and are capable of not only handling bottle aging but will actually benefit from it. It’s also about recognizing risk: some of the bottles in this collection have past their prime and will no longer show their best attributes, while others have simply failed to hold up to the aging process. Fortunately my client was aware of this are basically told me up front he was ready to handle the bad news when it came. Anyone who plans on building a true cellar should be aware of these risks and be prepared to accept the consequences. Just remember, that person you read about with the 5,000 bottle cellar could drink a bottle a day for the next decade and still have over 100 cases left. Do you really think those people hit every bottle at its prime?

Cellaring is fun, and believe me as a retailer when I say I’m very happy to have that as part of my business. But for the casual wine drinker I think it is very important to remember you should look at each bottle you purchase as something you will actually enjoy. It’s been said on plenty of occasions: the most important component of any great wine collection is a corkscrew.

WineFest 2007

This past Thursday was the March of Dimes WineFest 2007 and Union Station here in Kansas City. The basic set-up is local restaurants set up booths and offer samples of food while the local wine distributors bring a handful of wines each. The end result is over twenty restaurants and close to one hundred different wines that people are free to try throughout the evening. I was the wine chair for this year’s event, which meant I was responsible for soliciting the wine distributors and organizing their portion of the event, and I also helped Restaurant Chair Jimmy Frantze with a few small parts of the restaurant organization.

Now that all is said and done, I’m quite happy with the way things went. There could have been a few more people there, but I feel that way about pretty much every charity event. Overall we had a nice setup, a good ground, solid support from the food and beverage community, and I think people enjoyed themselves quite a bit.

I’m the first person to offer caution at these events, warning attendees that they should go with the intent of supporting charity—not the goal of getting to try all kinds of amazing and expensive wines. Having said that, I was very impressed with the quality of wines across the board. Everyone that attended had a solid range of wines and I didn’t see (or try) anything that disappointed me. On the main floor were wines from Trimbach, Rosenblum, Willamette Valley Vineyards, Yalumba, and plenty of other wineries. One of the guys slipped a bottle of Ojai in and had that off to the side to pour for people who appeared seriously interested in wine, and one of the restaurants even brought along a bottle of Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc.

For the hundred or so people back in the Premier Wine Room (i.e. the really expensive tickets and sponsorship packages) there was a deluge of great wine. Italian wines were present pretty much across the board, with Brunellos and Barolos popping up on a couple of tables along with some Super Tuscans. Beringer Private Reserve Cab, Cosentino’s “The Poet” and Belle Glos Pinot Noir were also floating around, as well as some stuff from Nickel and Nickel. For those of you that haven’t discovered the high-end Spanish wines yet there was a selection from Val Llach (pronounced “V-EYE ack”) that shows how much further your money can go in Spain than in France, but with all due respect I think the Orenellaia that was open was the top dog of the evening.

All that is well and good, but what really impressed me was the quality of the food. Normally at these events there are at least one or two restaurants that don’t really put 100% effort into the whole deal, but that was not the case here. Seared scallops from The American Restaurant, wonderful salmon on homemade potato chips from J.J.’s, a great penne pasta and pork shank from Frondizi’s, tiramisu from Il Truolo, cold potato soup with steak tartar from 1924 Main, homemade jambalaya from The Mango Room, traditional broiled lamb chops from Capital Grille and spicy seared lamb chops from The Phillips Chophouse, an outstanding Kobe beef served over noodles in hot beef broth from bluestem (they actually prefer the “B” lower-case), and many others. As grateful as I am to all the restaurants for stepping up the way they did I know it is really just a reflection of the respect they all have for Jimmy Frantze and what he has done for the KC restaurant community.

I do in wish I could offer more details on the wines I tasted, but the reality is I spent most of the night running and never really had the chance to taste many of the wines at all. Sort of the way things work when you’re “in charge.” But no complaints, and I did win an item at the silent auction: a bottle of 2002 Quilceda Creek Merlot. Whenever I get around to opening that I’ll make sure to write up a detailed review.

What To Do With Sparkling Wine?

Last night I attended a “Patron’s Dinner” type event for a large charity function I have been helping to plan for some time now. I originally was not going to attend, but at the last minute I received an invitation for my girlfriend and I to go. The dinner was hosted in part by one of the key figures from Moet & Chandon, one of the largest and most famous of all Champagne houses, so the entire five-course meal was paired with sparkling wines.

Obviously this is not something most people would normally do. In American Champagne is pretty much viewed as an aperitif or a cocktail, but rarely is it recognized as a wine with good acid, rich fruit flavors, and a fuller-than-most-people-realize finish that makes it wonderful for pairing with many dishes. The meal was quite varied, with oysters on the half shell, salmon, beef, and duck, along with a spiced poundcake for dessert.

Two of the wines poured were from Domaine Chandon (Moet & Chandon’s California property) and the three others were from Moet & Chandon’s famed house in Epernay. Of the wines tasted my two favorites were the Etoile Rose from Domaine Chandon and the Rose Imperial from Moet & Chandon. Does it sound weird that both of my favorites were roses? The extra body and creaminess you get in a rose is very attractive to me, especially when you’re dealing with a rather gentle and elegant style of sparking wine (which Moet is known for). Additionally, since there was food on the plate I liked having the bit of extra weight to help balance out the sauces and meaty textures.

As for the food choices I was a bit surprised at the prominence of fruits in some of the dishes, and with the emphasis of heavy starches like potatoes and morel mushrooms. But what I was quickly reminded of upon sipping the wines after taking a bit was that a wine with as much acidity as sparkling wine needs either a bit of brightness, in this case the fruit, or something with texture to keep it from being a total shock on the palate. In this case the balance was achieved quite well. For what is worth the most successful pairing of the evening was the fruit poundcake for dessert along with the Nectar Imperial, Moet & Chandon’s semi-sweet Champagne. The pairing was outstanding, but unfortunately I am not really a poundcake fan so I surrendered after only a few small bites.

I hope some people in attendance will now be a bit more willing to venture out and incorporate sparkling wine into their meals more frequently. Whether or not that will happen, I admit I’m not sure. However the speaker from Moet & Hennessey did make one point that I think can never be over-emphasized: in this country we tend to only have Champagne for special occasions, which is a shame. Champagne deserves to be enjoyed all the time.

The Economics of Vintage

During the past week I (along with the owner of my store) have been filling out pre-order forms for the 2005 Burgundy vintage. As many of you are probably aware this vintage has received very favorable press for both red and white wines (slightly stronger for reds) and has generated quite a buzz in the wine community. These pre-orders represent the only opportunity we have to purchase many of these wines and there certainly is a sense of pressure. These wines aren’t cheap but demand for them may justify ordering multiple dozens of cases.

I’ve tasted through several of these wines and found them to be wonderful, although I haven’t had enough to make any bold pronouncement regarding their quality, and even if I had I certainly don’t have the pallet or experience to make such a declaration. However, the wines are wonderful and we have decided to make some fairly aggressive purchases.

What that means is I’ve spent a very large amount of time reviewing the pricing of these wines and sorting through pages of offers. Burgundy is expensive to begin with, and with the hype of a great vintage the prices move higher (and yes, the continued decline of the US dollar hurts as well, just like with any imported good). As a rule the prices for these wines are higher than the prices of the 2004’s, but the increases are quite varied. So having decided to make these purchases I now need to begin preparing for the inevitable question that comes with every “great” vintage: is it worth it?

(note: while the winemakers and importers may raise their margins to capitalize on the great press behind these wines, I don’t think retailers will; my owner and I are in agreement to operate on pretty much the exact same margin on wine at all times and given the retail options available to consumers these days I think people we forced to be consistent in their pricing or get killed by competitors)

My hunch is people who appreciate good wine will find the 05 Burgundies to be wonderful and worth the increased prices in many cases. At a minimum I think everyone will find them to be lovely. But that doesn’t really answer the question of whether or not they are overpriced.

The reality in the modern market is any “great” vintage out of France is overpriced, by definition. This is not the result of greedy Frenchman of devious merchants holding consumers hostage, but rather a result of America’s undeniable infatuation with having “the best.” The most obvious examples of this are in Bordeaux, but apparently it is now creeping into Burgundy.

Press for these vintages starts to heat up before the wines are even made available on the market, which means in many cases too many Americans have decided whether or not they will buy the wines before they are even bottled. Instead of enjoying wonderful wines too much of the American public is obsessed with having only the “greatest” wines, and the moment one or two wine writers decides a vintage is not destined for the history books the overall demand for the American market drops substantially (much greater than the actual quality of the wine) and once a vintage is declared to be “great” the demand skyrockets disproportionately as well.

What you must understand is the recent (i.e. last twenty years) growth in the American wine market has had a major effect on French wine prices, especially premium French wine prices. Upon release a case of Mouton-Rothschild from the legendary 1982 vintage could be had for around $75; today a single bottle of the same wine starts at around $1000, and the release price for the 03 first-growths is $300-$500. The American market has not merely driven up the prices on these wines–it has completely redefined the market.

The problem is Americans only buy these wines in the supposed “on” vintages. As a result the prices from vintage to vintage are almost unimaginably varied. For instance, if you came to me tomorrow and wanted a case of 2000 Chateau Lafite Rothschild (which was the first Bordeaux Vintage of Century in this millennia) my normal retail on that would be about $15,149. If you wanted 2003, which was the next Vintage of Century it would run you about $11,379. But if you were willing to suffer through the 01 or 02 vintage, that would be about $4,165. So you see the kind of vintage variation we’re dealing with here.

Obviously these prices are driven by supply and demand, which gets the real point. Since no one in America wants the supposed off-vintages the winemakers and the importers and the distributors all end up sitting on large quantities of wine and have a tough time selling it. As a result when the American public does decide to buy (which is pretty much only when the wine writers tell them to) everyone has to make up their losses from the past however many years it was since the last “great vintage.”

So are the 2000 and 2003 vintages or Lafite-Rothschild better than the 01 or 02? Almost certainly. Three to four times better? Certainly not. The same is true throughout the French wine market. So what do I advise you to do? First and foremost, remember the number one rule, which is wine’s great producers produce great wines. Give me an “off-vintage” first growth ahead of an 03 from some middle of the road Entre-Deux-Mers” producer any day. Next, don’t ever let a vintage hold you hostage. Yes the wines from the best vintages are tremendous and you should look to enjoy them if you can, and if the price is right. But don’t ever let anyone try to hold you hostage to a vintage. No particular wine vintage is worth completely shattering the bank for and dumping every resource into. Despite the accolades and superlatives being thrown around just remember what more than one experienced wine person has said: there is always another vintage.

The Pinot Noir Craze Re-Ignites!

As most of you are probably aware, Pinot Noir is the hottest wine in America. In fact, you may have even heard of a movie where the main character continuously raves on and on about Pinot Noir (or just “Pinot”). If you want to be on the cutting edge of wine in America today, you need to be up-to-date on Pinot.

Ever since Sideways came out there has been a massive surge in the interest of Pinot, although contrary to popular belief it is still far behind Chardonnay and (gasp!) Merlot in total sales. A number of reasons have contributed to this, not the least of which is Pinot’s prohibitively high cost. With the rise of popularity in Pinot I deal more and more frequently with people asking for a great $12-$15 a bottle Pinot (or less), and while the boom in Australia, Spain, and South Africa has led to the large number of great values in many types of wine, Pinot is a notable exception. In Sideways Miles quite accurately observes that the grape will only grow in a handful of places around the world, and as a result there just isn’t that much of it, although I should note that certain opportunistic wine companies are now sourcing Pinot from regions that really shouldn’t be growing it.

So Pinot is expensive, but it certainly can be worth it. However, if you really want to experience all the magical elements of Pinot that have led to its popularity, which is deserved, then you really need to try French Pinot Noir, or Burgundy. Once upon a time at a wine conference discussing the difficulty of growing and vinifying Pinot Noir a famous wine writer said: “I’m sick and tired of everybody talking about how hard it is to make Pinot Noir. You know what’s hard to make? Burgundy. And it’s especially hard to make if you’re not in Burgundy.”

(I believe it was Clive Coates who said this, but I’m not positive)

Anyway, Burgundy is the true home of Pinot Noir. It is the only red grape grown in the region, and it is to many the greatest wine region in the world. The problem is it is also by far and away the most confusing and challenging wine region in the world. All red Burgundy, or Bourgogne Rouge, is Pinot Noir. But it is not that simple. Is it Gevrey-Chambertin, Eschezaux, Pommard, Morey St. Denis, Vosne-Romanee, or Chambolle-Musigny? Burgundy boasts more appellations than any other wine region in the world, and the dizzing array of names that flies at people when it comes to Burgundy often confuses or scares them. So the next time you come across a red wine from Burgundy take a deep breath and remember that first and foremost it’s a Pinot Noir.

Back to my main point, the next time you come across a bottle of red Burgundy you may also have some serious sticker shock. The 05 Burgundies are nearing their release, and since the wine boom in America really exploded this is the first time we have seen a “classic” vintage from Burgundy. As a result the prices on many of these wines have risen—in some cases modestly and in others quite dramatically. So the question is now quite simple: is it worth it?

I’m not going to pretend that I am in a position to pass judgment on that question, but I will offer up my opinions on the whole “great vintage” theory. Because of continuous trophy chasing by the American market (and I am speaking in exceptionally broad terms here) I think that before long great vintages will pretty much never be worth it when it comes to French wine. If you’re goal is to show off to everyone that you got a particular vintage of such-and-such then it will still be worth it, but the wine in the bottle will rarely justify the price.

Here in the US it has gotten to the point that we only buy French wine in the “great vintage” and pretty much ignore it otherwise (remember, I’m speaking in very broad terms here). Obviously some years offer winemakers better opportunities than others, but the increasingly dramatic price variances between “on vintages” and “off vintages” is much greater than the variance in the quality of wine, especially from the best producers. The reality is the American public is so caught up in having “only the best” that we pay an inflated price for the better years and ignore the more reasonable and approachable prices of the lesser years. Vintages that don’t generate drooling reviews from the critics are undersold at low prices and as a result the producers must recoup those losses in the vintages where acclaim is high. The general consumer market is all too happy to play this game.

So having said all that the reality is the wine media is pretty much doing backflips over the 2005 red Burgundies, and some well-placed people who I respect a great deal are acknowledging this is probably the best vintage for red Burgundies in at least 15 years. So will the wines be worth it? Well, I believe we will see some truly spectacular red wines, many of which will age very well and in 10-15 years (or maybe more) show all of the complexity and intrigue of great Pinot Noir. I also think we will see several producers—and importers, suppliers, etc—look to capitalize on the media revues and as a result we will see some price increases that aren’t really justified.

The end result? Get ready for more hype about Pinot, just this time it will be French Pinot. The fact is these are amazing wines and really should be more popular. The problem is a number of factors will result in the prices of these wines reaching unnecessary highs at the exact time more and more people are hearing about them.