Also, empirical proof that cabernet sauvignon under screwcap can age well – but will the Bordelaise embrace change
The highlight of a trip to London a few months back was an invitation to dinner from Jancis Robinson MW and Nicolas Lander, moreover the meridian for a wine and food writer; to be breaking bread with the world’s doyen of wine and the most influential food writer and restaurant critic of our time, all very humbling.
The 2005 vintage is being hailed as among best of the past century but there is always plenty of spin involved.
Wine merchants throughout the world are ubiquitously fixated with en premeur sales of 2005 Bordeaux, blamelessly riding the wave of a frenzied market chasing a dream vintage. The Bordelaise propensity to embellish necessitates some recalibration after the vintage has sold out, the adage being “the finest Bordeaux vintage appears to be the one that Chateau owners and merchants are currently selling or have the most of in their cellars.”
Taste testing the best 2003 Bordeaux at Vinexpo had its pain and its pleasures… Curtis Marsh confesses all.
I recently spent three grueling days tasting at the world’s largest and most significant wine show, Vinexpo, with leading vintners from all over the globe massed at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Vinexpo has been held bi- annually in Bordeaux since 1981, with overseas exhibitions in the Asia-Pacific region organized in alternate years.
Choosing the best out of Bordeaux from 2003.
Continuing with my 2003 Bordeaux inquisition the following days tasting held by the Union de Grands Crus de Bordeaux here at Vinexpo was a more comprehensive representation of the Bordeaux communes with an impressive turnout from the northern Medoc appellation St- Julien.
The best cabernet sauvignons from Australia and France are arguably of equal quality, but one has ended up on supermarket shelves, the other in the best of wine cellars.
The wine regions of Coonawarra in South Australia and Bordeaux, France have a great deal in common, sharing similar climate and geology (terroir), varietal composition, and even comparable quality during Coonawarra’s epoch. Yet, today, they are poles apart, with Bordeaux surging ahead in prosperity, superiority and finesse in its wines.
The sensational results of a tasting in Paris more than 30 years ago forever changed the way American wines were considered, writes Curtis Marsh.
America’s most prodigious Bordeaux-style blend – the legendary Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello from the Santa Cruz Mountains – turns 45 years old this year.
Reaching this milestone is only part of the motive for writing this article, notwithstanding that I hail from the same vintage, further inspiration comes from my affinity with Ridge, the 1971 Ridge Monte Bello cabernet was the first American wine I had ever tried, and remains to this day, one of the most profound and indelible wine experiences.
