Tasting note: 2008 Duplessis Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons

Chablis is an district within Burgundy that facinates me. There is so much great white wines from the area, but the prices are in a totally different range than many of the other white wine areas within Burgundy. One of the key drivers for the lower prices is probably the perception Americans have of the brand Chablis. Many Americans think of large jugs of wine with questionable quality when they think of Chablis. That is something we should be gratefull for. That said, there is also a trend in the US towards Chablis getting a better brand status. So if you're not dinking Chablis it's time to start.

Chablis is a white wine district with Chardonnay being the only grape used in the wines. Is is the northernmost district within Burgundy. The vineyards of Chablis are classified into four tiers of quality. Starting from the top, they are: Chablis Grand Cru, Chablis Premier Cru, Chablis and Petit Chablis. If you go for a wine from the Chablis tier, pick a well-knowned producer. In the Premier- and Grand Cru tiers there are many great wines, and it's easier to pick a decent wine.To me, the Premier Cru's is where I find the best qpr.

Duplessis is a little known producer in Chablis. That is not due to the quality of the wines produced by this estate. The little knowledge of Duplessis' wines is more a result of bad or  lack of marketing. It's hard to find the producer in the US. Historically 75% of the production is outsourced and it's mainly exported to the UK.

Tasting note for the 2008 Duplessis Chablis 1er Cru Vaillon:
On the nose i get hints of the ocean and minerals. The ocean feel continues on the palate as well. I really get a saltwater / ocean feel on with a dash of lemon. Seashells and crushed rocks. Nice acidity and a medium body. 88 points

This is a good and typical Chablis. It has the typical charachteristics that you often find in wines from the region with both the minerality and the sea feel. Wines like this facinates me. There is just so much character.

Personally I probably like wines that have more staightforward fruit flavours, but it is probably more fun to drink a wine like this one.

I did a pop and pour of this wine. For the first glass I was more around 85-86 points. But it opened up after some time, and on the last glass I felt the wine was close to 89-90 ponits. It is drinking good right now if you let it get some air, but it could probably last for 2-4 years more.

Tasting Note: 2010 Lammershoek Syrah LAM

I'll post another wine that I tasted some time ago. You'll see that the tasting notes I publish from wines that were  tasted some time ago will have a high average score. This is because it's more fun to show you guys wines that are good.

Tasting note for the 2010 Lammershoek Syrah LAM:
Nice nose with dark berries and strawberries. Balanced, with tastes of dark berries and pepper. Finishes with cherries. Medium long finish, nice acidity and good balance. Lacks some depth. 90 points

When it comes to New World wines I tend to like the ones that are more like the Old World wines. The 2010 Lammershoek Syrah LAM is not a fruit bomb and has 13.5% alcohol. It is balanced and elegant. It's got more the characteristics of a Syrah from Northern Rhone than the wines you usually find from South Africa or Australia. In addition to that, it is cheap. This is a great wine for everyday drinking.

Check it out on:
Wine-Searcher
Wineanorak

Investing in wine - for dummies

I am not a wine expert, but I know a thing or two about investing. I'll try to give my 2 cents worth of advice when it comes to investing in fine wine as a financial investment, not an investment in future drinking.

The basics of investing in wine is like all other investments, it all comes down to supply and demand.  

Supply side:
The great thing about wine is that the supply side is easy to understand and it is always decreasing. It is decreasing because when you look at a wine the relevant thing to look at is a specific wine from a specific vintage. The supply of this wine will always be decreasing since there will always be bottles of the wine consumed.

Demand side:
The demand for wine is close to impossible to understand. I will start by listing what I think are the major drivers for fine wine demand:

• Scores: What scores the major wine critics gives the specific wine in the specific vintage. The major critics are Robert Parker, Allan Meadows, Jancis Robins and Stephen Tanzer
• The Economy: Wine is a luxury goods, and as for all goods, the demand is alway more volatile for luxury goods. It's worth mentioning that fine wine is a global market. Ecnomical growth in Asia and South America can balance out economical down turns in Europe and the US
• Speculation: 
• Stiglitz has a simple, but to my understanding, very accurate definition of when you have a bubble. "the basic intuition is straightforward: if the reason that the price is high today is only because investors believe that the selling price will be high tomorrow-when
  "fundamental" factors do not seem to justify such a price-then a bubble exists."
• It is not a good time to invest in fine wine when you hear your friends, who are not experts in fine wine and the drivers behind the prices of fine wine, say that investing in wine is a good idea

Why I do not invest in wine for financial purposes:

• I do not have enough knowledge about wine
• I do not have enough knowledge about the economical future of Asia and South America to understand whether the growth here will outway the down turn in European and American economies
• I do believe that there might be tendencies indicating a bubble
• I do not have the perfect storage facility for my wines.  If you don't the wine will be worth nothing
• Fakes: One factor that I haven't mentioned is the excistence of fake wines. The Rudy Kurniwan case is a great example of this.

A great wine at a great price: 2009 Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

I've wanted to try a wine from Ridge Estate for a long time. I stopped by my local wine store today and saw they had the 2009 Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and had to buy it to see if  it's worth buying some more. This wine is not there premium Cab Sauv wine, that is the Monte Bello. This wine was made from 77% cabernet sauvignon with 23% merlot.

Tasting note:
Nice, dark red colour.
Fruit driven nose with cherry, blackcurrants, caramel and some candy. I also pick up some oak, but it's far for dominant. Great nose.
On the palate I get ripe cherries and I do believe it is a caramel flavour. Hard to describe. The oak is balanced. Firm tannins on the back end. Good length.
This is not an overoaked fruit bomb. It is full bodied, but the wine is precise and cuts the crap. It has a nice sour taste that keeps this wine from being to ripe. 93 points

Wow, this is a great wine. It is perfectly sane to drink this now if you enjoy primary fruit flavours, but to me it seems to have the balance and the tannins to last a decade or more.

I am definetly going to buy some bottles of the 2009 Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.

Top 10 wines in my cellar ranked by the cellartracker community score

This is absolutely not a post meant for bragging about my wine cellar. As you will see from the list, it is not even close to being anything to brag about. I just thought it would be interesting to show what kind of wines I have now, and how this will develop once I get more experienced and find out more about my preferences.

Here is my top 10 list as of now:

There are a few things that hit me when I look at this list:
1) There are so many young wines that will take ages before they hit their optimal drinking window. I need to buy more older wine.
2) I need to buy more Burgundy and Bordeaux. The reason why I haven't bought much wine from these areas is because of the prices. But I realize now that it's more about quality than quantity.
3) Some of these wines are total bombs. The Janasse CdP XXL is 17% alcohol or something like that. I bought this wine at the beginning of my wine interest era. Now that I've had some wines, I'm pretty sure that this wine is never going to be a great wine for my palate.

I am looking forward to updating this list in a year and see how it has developed. Hopefully there are some new wines on the list.

Would be great if some of you would post your top 10 in the comment section below.

2004 Tahbilk Shiraz

I'll be posting tasting notes on some of the wines I've tasted earlier. This is a wine I bought some bottles of. It was on sale and I've heard good things about it. It also helped that it was 2004. Always fun to be able to by wine with some age on it already.

Tasting note for the 2004 Tahbilk Shiraz :
Medium red coulour. Red, soure berries on the nose. Good balance on the palate with pepper and blackcurrant. Good weight and OK length. 89 points

The 2004 Tahbilk Shiraz is not an over-the-top shiraz, as many of the wines from Australia are. This has a medium body and not too high alcohol percentage. This wine is probably at it's peak right now, but I'm going to drink my last bottles over a year or two to see what happens.

It's hard to find this vintage of the wine in stores, but if you find a Tahbilk Shiraz from an other vintage it would be a fun wine to check out.



Check it out on:
Wine-Searcher
Crackawines

2011 Weingut Robert Weil Riesling Spätlese

We had sushi on friday. I've read many recommendations for the combo of sushi and riesling spatlese so I thought this was a good day to try it. Haven't had much spatlese before so I was excited to try it out. Started easy with a basic spatlese from Weil.

Tasting note for the 2011 Weingut Robert Weil Riesling Spätlese:
The nose is dominated by honey, but also has a dash of lime. The honey dominates on the palate as well. I also get some oranges and some lime. Ok acidity on the back end. Decent length and ok balance. 87 points

The wine doesn't blow me away. It is not very complex, quite one dimentional actually, but it matches the sushi very well. Given the nice price of this wine, I do think it has a pretty good qpr.

Weingut Robert Weil is a producer located in the Rhengau region in Germany. His top cuvees are very sought after. The wine I had is a standard spatlese whith a very nice price.



Check it out on Wine-Searcher