Guest Author - Jim Fortune
Earlier I introduced you to the 2005 Bordeaux. I spoke about finding a varietal, a region, a vintage and a good price (VRVP). The price I like best is under $10. Before I jump in and tell you about the 2005 Chateaux La Rame that I bought for $13.99 last week, I will discuss the second deciding factor, region, for a bit. You probably think that dirt is dirt, just about everywhere. But what makes dirt different is why a varietal from one place is so much different than the same varietal from some other place. The French have a term that is "terrior" which means the dirt, the climate and the temperature. It could also include the geology, altitude, positioning of the ground as in south facing or on a northern slope. It is the "terrior" of any region that separates one wine varietal from another or Bordeaux from a Burgundy. You could find two brands of Merlot and both are from the Russian River Valley in California and they will be like night and day apart in flavor and most likely in price. That is because one gets the ocean breeze on a southern facing hill side and the other is sitting in a valley where the light does not shine all day long, the climate hotter, and the geology totally different.
Although I like wines under $10, I have to remember, and you should too, the economics of wine. I have to take the number of cases a winery produced and the reputation of the winery in the marketplace to determine how much a bottle will cost. I have seen the number of cases produced in reviews before, but never really stopped to think of why this was important. Note a higher price for the bottle you are looking at might mean the winery did not produce as many cases of the vintage. That means the price per bottle will be more expensive. The costs to run a winery are fixed to a degree and this cost, or expense, to run the winery has be spread out over less bottles, then the price per bottle has to go up. Conversely if the winery produced a lot of cases and the expenses were fixed, then the price per bottle would be less. Often, the more popular a wine label is with the public, the higher the price of the wine. This has to do with the reputation of the winery. I suspect that is the reason why the Chateau Lafite Rothschild goes for $1,000.
Most of the lower priced 2005 Bordeaux can be served today or if you buy more than one bottle, you could cellar the vintage to enjoy over the next two or three years. If you do try one, most of the reviews of the wine I have seen, say to uncork the bottle and let the wine breath for an hour or so. I bought a total of three bottles of Bordeaux - $10.99, $13.99 and $15.49. The bottle for $10.99 was from the 2004 vintage. I will try to write about the other two in the near future, but first let me tell you about the 2005 Chateaux La Rame that I bought for $13.99.
The color was a nice red. The wine was clear, not chewy like some wines can be. If you held the glass up to the light, you could see through. Not clearly, although it was clear and bright. The taste was simple, clean and dry. I did not sense any presence of oak in this bottle. We did let the bottle breathe for about 40 minutes. The nose presented a fireplace smell like you would smell on a really cold day, in the middle of winter. I noted some acidity early in the tasting, but as time went on, the wine became smoother. Overall, it was a fair bottle of wine. I have had many wines under $10 that I thought were better, however.
Until then, let me know what is on your mind, and how you are doing, O.K.?
Oh by the way - have you signed up for our Wine Newsletter?
Jim Fortune - the Bella Wine Guy
