Things aren’t going well with the French wine industry in general, and with Bordeaux in particular. All available information, from both stateside and in France, points toward the situation going from merde to worse. For the top wines, outrageously high prices are dipping down to merely pricey.
This has left the folks in Bordeaux sobbing, and it isn’t the first time they have put the whine in winemaking. Much of it is their own fault for being greedy, especially in this time of economic downturn. But some of it is just bad luck.
The recent crisis in Bordeaux accelerated when Diageo—a big player in the wine and spirits industry—announced that it was getting out of the Bordeaux business and dumped a huge amount of fine Bordeaux into the wine pipeline. This dramatically altered the law of supply and demand, which for years had been rigged by the wineries, the importers, distributors, and even the major retailers who, up and down the line, held back wine while shamelessly hyping vintage after vintage. Making good wine scarce drove up the prices to unbearably and unconscionably high levels. So, it was inevitable that the gaseous bubble would burst.
Hyping prices and rigging markets was not always thus. When I was living in New York City around 1960, I was working for the “21” Club and “21” Brands, an importer. I had tasted a lot more great wines than most people my age. Come Saturday night, I would mosey over to Cork & Bottle, a small retail wine shop on the East Side, and pick up my “Saturday night” wine. It was usually a bottle of a great first growth Bordeaux, Chateau Haut Brion. For this superb wine, I plunked down about $4.50. Today, the 2005 is quoted all over the place, but always well over $1,000. That’s a rise of 230 times what I used to pay for it back then. Crazy!
Speaking of hype, 2000 and 2005 were both dubbed “vintages of the century.” Prices went stratospheric. Then came the 2006 vintage, a good year, with astronomically high prices—around $600 a bottle. Gasp! In assessing the 2006 vintage, the Wall Street Journal team of Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, who pull no punches and actually pay for all their wines, wrote, “These wines, as a group, are the worst values in first growth Bordeaux that we’ve ever seen. Ever.” Many buyers shunned this nonsense, especially given the very weak economy.
Let’s add on to this growing heap of trouble some other salient factors. First of all, the fall of the dollar against the Euro—France always wanted the Euro to be very strong, and now it is. Another issue for winemakers that no one could ever foretell—the so-called Sarkozy law, which aggressively has cut down on drunk driving, ergo, drinking. Add to that the Loi Evin, which regulates wine and spirits advertising in France itself.
Oh, did I mention wine consumption in France? The French still drink a lot of wine, but at fifty-five liters per capita, they are now consuming about half the amount of wine they drank thirty years ago (120 liters per capita). About fifty percent (!) of young people don’t drink wine at all. Very nice wineries are simply going broke. This trend will not be reversed. Oversupply and draconian government regulations pile woe on woe.
And last, but not least, is the prevailing attitude of many in the French wine industry. They still don’t think much of Americans or their taste. For years, it went something like this, “Our wine is much better than your wine because it is French wine. Our wine has a glorious history; you are boorish upstarts. If you don’t love our wine then you don’t know anything about wine.” In 1976, at the famous tasting in Paris comparing California wines with French wines, California wines were judged tops with French tasters doing the scoring. The French wine critics simply would not accept it. “Fraud! Fix! We were duped!”
Today, most California wines are better than ever. So are wines from Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Canada, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. Maybe the French don’t know it, but wine drinkers in the United States and England know it, as sales of non-French wines have boomed. Perhaps China, Russia, and Japan will pick up the Bordeaux slack in sales to England and the States.
What to do? As Lord Nathan Rothschild said in 1815: “The time to buy is when there is blood running in the streets.” He was saying that about stocks, but it works for wine as well.
I asked K & L’s Bordeaux expert, Clyde Beffa, to pick ten top values from Bordeaux. K & L is the leading wine merchant for these wines and takes this business very seriously. These value gems are all under $30!
2005 Bad Boy Bordeaux ($19.99)—According to Robert Parker: “A superb sleeper of the vintage, this Bordeaux blend from Jean-Luc Thunevin delivers everything it should.”
2004 Chateau Mille Roses, Haut-Médoc ($11.99)—Parker notes: “Another well-made offering from the southern Medoc.”
2004 Chateau Verdignan Rouge, Haut-Médoc ($12.99)—This 2004 is balanced with silky tannins that are complimented by great acidity and red berry fruit.
1999 Chateau Verdignan Rouge, Haut-Médoc ($10.99)—Ralph Sand notes: “It may not be as exotic as Cos or as powerful as Montrose or even as classy as Calon, but it is far less expensive.”
2005 Clos l’Eglise, Côtes de Castillon ($19.99)—One of the Castillon stars and an incredible value.
2005 Chateau Coufran, Haut-Médoc ($16.99)—If you’re looking for great, ripe black currant fruits, this is where to come.
2003 Chateau Coufran, Haut-Médoc (1.5L; $29.99)—As notes Robert Parker: “This primarily merlot-based wine represents an excellent effort.”
1996 Chateau Lanessan, Haut-Médoc ($24.99)—According to Jancis Robinson: “Very beautiful glowing dark ruby. Intriguing, fully developed nose with strong mineral notes.”
2006 Chateau Cantemerle, Haut-Médoc ($29.99)—Robert Parker notes: “As I indicated last year, quality has improved dramatically at this estate, and the 2006 is a quintessentially elegant Bordeaux.”
2005 Bailly de Camensac, Médoc ($19.99)—Extremely sweet and full-bodied. This wine is delicious.
Ed Schwartz has been involved in many aspects of fine wine for 30 years and has worked with top wineries in California, Italy and France. His writings on wine, food and travel have appeared in the SF Chronicle, LA Times and Image magazine.
