Dr Vino's wine blog

Here’s an interesting chart from the folks at Liv-Ex: Chateau Montrose 2009 is valued at $1,400 more a case than Montrose 2010. The 09 surged when Parker gave it 100 points. (The price did not move on the Suckling 100-point score). But the ’10 stayed flat with 99 points. Clearly, a score of 99 ain’t what it used to be!

I haven’t tasted the two vintages of Montrose in question, but in some other comparisons of 09 vs 2010, I preferred the 2010s. So if this pricing continues to be played out across other wines in the two vintages, it seems the point-chasers will be paying an outsized and unnecessary premium.

Vintage 2013 has been a wet one with flooding across many European wine regions. Today, however, a particularly severe storm dumped hail and lots of rain on parts of Burgundy.

Caroline Parent Gros, who makes wine in the region, tweeted “So far, what we see in the vineyards of Pommard, Beaune & Savigny is, at least, 75% loss. # Burgundy #Storm”

Nicolas Rossignol, a vigneron in Volnay, has been posting some heart-wrenching photos to his Facebook page, including the one above.

France 3 also reported on the storms. Very sad news. We wish all the vignerons well. More photos after the jump. Read more…

So much is underwater these days, from homes that are below their cost basis to homes stricken by Hurricane Sandy. Given this backdrop, it seems almost trivial to talk about lost wine. But that is our beat and there’s a big case that has bubbled up to page one of the NYT today.

The case involves missing wine and high-profile individuals slinging lawsuits. Sound familiar? Well, this is not a counterfeiting case. In fact, it is the story of WineCare, a wine storage facility that has an estimated 27,000 cases in its facility. The cellars were flooded during Hurricane Sandy and collectors have been denied access to either their wines or even surveillance video to show how much damage has been done. According to the story, Keith McNally who was forced to buy $2 million of wine for his restaurants after his wine stored at WineCare became inaccessible. One collector, the hedge fund manager Donald Drapkin, estimates the value of his wine at the facility was $5.2 million. WineCare has now filed for a bankruptcy reorganization that includes moving the remaining wines to a location in New Jersey.

The WineCare web site, still operation, states, “WineCare Storage LLC is committed to excellence in every way, in our work ethic, in the services we provide, and in our relationships with our clients, vendors, employees, related industries and communities.”

Just out of curiosity, do those who advise wine as an alternative investment ever mention the perils of collecting?

“More than a Flooded Cellar. A Vintage Mystery.” [NYT]

With the northeast suffering through the second vicious heat wave of the month, the question a the forefront of the heat-addled brains of us wine geeks is: how can I chill that wine bottle the fastest?

Fast: Contrary to popular thinking, sticking it in the freezer is not the fastest way to chill wine. There’s simply too much air in the freezer; air doesn’t wick heat away as fast as water.

Faster: Add a gel sleeve to the wine bottle in the freezer. Getting something cold touching the bottle transfers the cold to the wine faster.

Fastest: Get a bucket and fill it about half full of ice. Then add the coldest water you can get from the tap, filling the bucket to about 3/4 full. Now you have something approximating the ice floes of the Arctic–in fact, add salt to the water to decrease the liquid range of the water to below 32 degrees. Submerge the bottle in the bucket. Stir or swirl for fastest results.

Related: “Drew Barrymore: the ladiez like ice in their wine”

Jolie-Laide, a micro-wine label by Scott Schultz, has attracted out-sized attention for what’s in the bottles: Trousseau Gris, Pinot Gris, and Syrah, all from single-vineyards in California. But with the current vintage, the outside of the bottles have also been turning heads since the labels depict nude line drawings.

Schultz says he varies the labels of the Jolie-Laide (translated as “pretty-ugly”) wines every year. Last year, a calligrapher designed the labels. This year, it is tattoo artist Kapten Hanna who sketched the art for the 280-case production.

John Trinidad posted the above picture to Instagram with the comment, “This wine label is HAWT! And the wine is gorgeous, too.”

Schultz, a former sommelier who currently works at Wind Gap wines, said “We were hoping because it’s just black and grey sketch art, it would remove the sexuality and evoke more a simplistic, old-school approach to the wines.”

Apparently the TTB thought the labels were HAWT too–but not too HAWT to handle. The Pinot Gris (left above) and the syrah (not pictured) passed in the first go-round but the Trousseau Gris needed a second review before getting the green light on July 15. Interestingly, small wines can apply to the TTB for a “certificate of exemption from label approval” and sell their wines only in-state, bypassing the need for federal approval. But with the TTB’s stamp of approval, these wines can now be sold in markets such as New York City, where Shultz says the wines have some fans already.

What do you think — if you were an administrator, would you give these labels a thumbs up? Or, as a consumer, does it pique your interest in the wine?

Celebrity wines have proliferated in recent years. In fact, so has celebrity everything from books to cookware. We are in the era of the brand extension!

So it was no surprise to see headlines this spring that the revamped Chateau Miraval rosé, from the provencal estate of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, had “sold out to the trade in five hours.” The subtext was that the Brangelina rosé was going to be hot and you would be lucky to get some.

Yet in the past couple of weeks, I’ve seen the wine on store shelves, wine.com just pushed it today in an email, and one store even had it on closeout. What gives? Dry rosé is such a hot category, Brangelina’s star power is en fuego, the Perrin family of Beaucastel is involved in the production, and the $25 wine has distinctive packaging so it really seems logical that wine would have told out quickly. But it hasn’t “Gone in 60 Seconds.” Watch for their names to appear in bigger font for the 2013 vintage.

The NYT has a column this week entitled “How Driverless Cars Could Reshape Cities” and a related blog post. They raise some interesting possibilities about the technology. Sure, it seems hopelessly futuristic, but Google is making a huge push in the technology and venture capital is following suit. (Take a look inside Google’s driverless car.)

Two consequences of driverless cars detailed in the pieces are municipal parking revenues and insurance rates. In Washington DC, 5,300 parking tickets are handed out every day raking in $80 million a year for the city. Driverless cars could Read more…

Thirty years ago, the Japanese company Suntory bought Chateau Lagrange, a third growth.

I checked in with Bruno Eynard, general manager and wine maker, in advance of the chateau hosting the Fete de la Fleur last month. He had observations about global warming, China and the US, as well as observations on the patience and capital required in rebuilding the biggest classified growth.

Check out my piece over on wine-searcher.com. Above, comparative photos of the vat room in 1983 and 20013. Read more…