Boxing Day 2011

WHINE # 31

December 2011

Welcome to the Whine:  Brian Mazerall, Aaron Savage and Matthew Savage, all of Fredericton, New Brunswick.  Also welcome to Elizabeth Ridley of Toronto.  Hope you enjoy my personal biases.

Bargains in French wine:  Don’t hold your breath:  Variability in wine prices is based on three factors:  supply, demand and exchange rates.  In terms of supply France remains the world’s largest producer of wine at somewhere between 7 and 8 billion bottles, so there is definitely no shortage.

Those of us in Canada have benefitted from the rise of the Canadian dollar.  At present it costs a little more than $ 1.30 to buy a Euro, down from $ 1.65 only a couple of years ago.

Demand for French wine is falling worldwide, including at home.  Young French people drink much less wine than their grandparents, preferring an occasional wine as opposed to a bottle with each meal.  Also, the younger French are experimenting with other alcoholic beverages.  Nonetheless, when they do drink wine, they drink only French wine.  There is little or no international market for non-domestic wine in France, which I think ultimately, hurts the domestic industry.  The French know little of international wines and it is almost impossible to buy a non-French wine in France.  If there were more wines available there would be more experimentation and ultimately more consumption.

Traditional export markets are also in decline.  The Brits, who for centuries have loved their Clarets (a silly English name for Bordeaux) have discovered bargain wines from Australia and South America.  In North America French wine consumption has dropped for the same reason.  Good French wine is too expensive and Bad French wine is just that.

All of the above should lead us to expect falling prices for French wine.  But I have left out one factor, the Chinese.  The burgeoning middle class in China have discovered wine and more importantly they have discovered wine snobbery.  The newly rich look for ways to demonstrate status, and status comes from having expensive Bordeaux on the table. The more expensive the more popular.  Recently one Chinese buyer paid $ 140,000 for two cases of the 2009 Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

Classes are given in wine drinking, where the Chinese learn such basics as “don’t drink the entire glass in one gulp.”  China now imports as much wine as Britain, and in fact, imports more French wine.  

  

So where does that leave us?  First, the best French wines may get even more expensive.  Although the prices for Vin Ordinaire may not increase, but compared to a $ 10 - $ 15 Argentinian Malbec or an entry level Carmenere from Chile, the kind of French wine dumped on those of us in places like Nova Scotia will still not be any bargain.

Ron's Believe It or Not.  This Nova Scotia wine is currently selling for $ 89.95 and is sold out of many stores.  Perhaps in a future Whine I'll tell you how it was.

Wines I drank in 2011.  This past year my consumption of wine has not declined.  However, my choices have more often gone to South American wines and less often to Old World wines.   Chile led my consumption list at 23%, followed closely with Argentina at 19%.  As the Canadian Buck rose against the American Dollar I increased my consumption of Californian wines to 17%.  French wine dropped to 4^th place at 15%.  Ten per cent of my wines came from Spain and only 7% were from Italy.  The remaining 5 % was evenly divided among wines from Australia, Austria, Canada, Portugal, South Africa and Washington State.  How many bottles does that add up to?  My secret!

My price range in wine usually falls between $ 15 and $ 45.  So what was good this past year in that range?  Here are the 10 best wines I drank this past year:

10      Spain:            07  Cava Parxet Brut Reserva – see Offerings section below

9     Chile:            05 Montes Alpha (Cabernet Sauvignon)  -- a bargain at $ 25.

8     Argentina:     03 Alpha Crux (Tempranillo, Malbec, Merlot)

7     France:          09 Chablis Premier Cru “Beauroy” (Chardonnay)

 6    California:     05 Belle Gros Clark & Telephone (Pinot Noir)

 5    Italy:              99 Sartori Amarone

 4    Chile:             05 Traverso Memorable (Cab Sauv, Carmernere, Merlot)

 3    Argentina:     06 Gran Dante (Malbec)

 2    California:     06 Camus (Zinfandel)

 1    California:     06 Amicus Reserve (Cabernet).  This wine was # 4 on my 2010 list but another year in the cellar definitely made it even better.

Opimian Offering # 206.

6418    2008 Parxet Brut Reserva.  BUY!  BUY!  BUY!  This is a great sparkling wine at a bargain price.  If you don’t like this Cava, send me the cork and I’ll eat it.

6421    2009 Mo salina Monastrell.  This is an inexpensive everyday wine with substance.  The French call this Mourvedre.

6427  2009 Faustina Seleccion de Familia.  Not quite ready yet this wine is a good earthy

    Tempranillo.

6464      2011 Pouilly Fuisse.   French Chardonnays are in a class by themselves, but

           keep this for a year or two.