Wine Words & Video Tape

Wine, Words and Videotape

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Bordeaux 2005: Duhart v Talbot and d’Angludet

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

Keen watchers and traders on the fine wine market will be familiar with the rise in price of Chateau Duhart-Milon Rothschild over the past year. Part of the Lafite stable, Duhart-Milon has been an extremely fine Pauillac for the past twenty years or so and up until recently it was reasonably inexpensive. The 2005 could be had for £300 [$500] a case when it was released in 2006 – now you won’t get much change from £1500 [$2400] for the very same wine. Much of this increase has been in the past twelve months since arrival of the 2009 vintage.

Australian terroir: character and personality

Written by JW. Posted in Australia

Noses to the grindstone at London’s Saatchi Gallery

January is certainly antipodean month on the London tasting calendar. Just ahead of Australia Day, Wine Australia put on their annual trade tasting, christened A+ Australian Wine at the Saatchi Gallery in London’s Chelsea [above]. Much has been made of how Oz wine has lost its way in recent years, at least in marketing terms and certainly in the battle of the brands, but as the big conglomerates have lost ground, or at least looked uncertain, the real excitement in Australia is the bevy of superb wines being made both by established names and relative newcomers at the smaller and medium sized end of the business.  

2009 Burgundy

Written by JW. Posted in Burgundy

It’s been impossible to avoid 2009 Burgundy what with all the glossy en primeur offers dropping through the letter box and a series of daily tastings put on by merchants at venues across London. In a nutshell, the reds 2009s are hailed as excellent, reminiscent of 1999, though maybe not quite up to the majesty of 2005. The whites, described as better than expected, are not seen as long-lived but are forward and enjoyable.

New Zealand Wine: Annual Trade Tasting 2011

Written by JW. Posted in New Zealand

Last week’s New Zealand Wine’s annual trade tasting in London [despite the rugby ball it was held at Lord’s Cricket Ground] provided confirmation of the rude health of the Kiwi wine industry. The figures are fascinating. 80% of New Zealand’s wine is exported, its wines have the highest average retail price on the UK shelves and in terms of Sauvignon Blanc it has a whopping 45% of the market.  That’s simply incredible when you consider that twenty five years ago New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, or for that matter the entire wine industry, was hardly on the map. Despite the ubiquity of the grape in the Loire, Bordeaux and universally as a vin de pays varietal, France by comparison has a dismal 5.1% of the Sauvignon market.

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