Whine of the Month : September 2003

Man, oh man, do we have it good or what? I'll tell ya, all it takes is a little perspective sometimes to make you realize how fortunate you are. Yes, of course I'm referring to wine. What else could I possibly be talking about? My life? Please...

So anyway, here's what happened. Last Friday night, we had a big time First Growth Bordeaux tasting at the store. (for those of you who don't know what "first growth" means, shame on you...but here's a brief explanation) In 1855, the French created a classification, or ranking, of wines from Bordeaux, mostly based on price, which they believed was a reasonable indication of quality. At the time it probably was, but today there are endless arguments for and against re-classification, as some properties have slipped while others have gained in quality. We will leave this discussion to the serious wine fops and other people with too much time on their hands. The point is, the wines were categorized into five quality levels, each of which the French, in their inexplicable manner, called a "cru", or growth. A wine that was included in the 1855 classification is entitled to state this fact on the label with the words "Grand Cru Classe". However, which group it belongs in is rarely listed, and is for you to know. You can find a complete listing of all the classified growth wines in any good wine book and spend half of your life attempting to memorize it. Good luck. (now there's an argument against re-classification).

So in 1855, the wines that had the greatest reputations, and demanded the highest prices were Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Latour, and Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. (a hundred years later, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild was added, but thats a whole other column) These are the wines that we presented at the tasting, along with Chateau D'Yquem, the world's foremost dessert wine, and a few non-classified Chateau bottled wines.

Now let me remind you, that when I started getting into wine, these wines were actually affordable, and I must say, I drank my fair share of them. They were so much better than the kind of "everyday" wines that were available back then, that it was stupid not to spend what was literally a few dollars more and get the good stuff. Needless to say, times have changed, and so has the cheap wine/good wine quality to value ratio. The quality of "ordinary" wines has gone way up, as great winemaking and grape growing techniques have become available worldwide, while at the same time, competition has kept the prices down. On the other hand, prices for the "top" wines have gotten completely out of hand, while the quality has remained more or less constant. After all, how much better could they be?

Don't get me wrong, I was really, really excited about getting to taste these wines. Although I drank a 61 Margaux last year, it was a bit over the hill, and I hadn't tried any of the other "big guns" for a very long time. My memories are of nearly indescribable flavors and aromas with a kind of singular depth and richness, which was both opulent and elegant.(sorry...I should have issued a geek-speak alert)

So anyway, here's what happened. (this time for sure) First we drank the lesser or "Petit Chateau" wines, which were all very good. My favorite was 2000 Chateau Tour Caillet, and it retails for 13 bucks. The others were all around $20. Finally, it was time for the main event, and with appropriate reverence we started pouring carefully measured, one-ounce tastes of the featured wines, beginning with 1978 Ch. Margaux ($333). Then we moved on to 1986 Ch. Haut-Brion ($249), 1994 Ch. Lafite-Rothschild ($295), and 1986 Ch. Latour ($299). I'm not going to describe each of these wines in detail, but rather give you my overall impression of the entire tasting.

Shockingly enough, while they were certainly all fine wines, they most decidedly did not stand head and shoulders (as I think they should, especially at those prices) above the wines that we have come to think of as ordinary. The gap, it seems, has narrowed. Of course, people oohed and aahed in their Pavlovian way, but I thought, "The Emperor has no clothes", and the fact is, my favorite wine of the night was still the Tour Caillet. Tasted blind, I know I would have picked it over the others. Is this a great time to be a wine lover, or what? Carpe Diem.

ps. The D'Yquem was transcendent and worth every damn penny.