Thursday, October 29, 2009

Blind tasting, one more time...!

The site “Passion du Vin” has frequent visits thanks to the subject “In the heart of the Grand Jury Europeen”. Opinions, all the opinions, even those more committed, are useful to understand the interests and limits of blind tastings.
Like in a Spanish inn, one finds what he is looking for. Today, this wine seems to be the best… where will it be tomorrow?

Often, in my opinion, and Michel Rolland’s, a good wine today is not necessarily a bad wine tomorrow. Even though! Why does it matter if I drank it when it should?
Often, consumers need this specific information: When will this bottle give me the most pleasure, before which date should it be drank?

In fact, the limitation period should be indicated on the bottle, same as other consumer goods. How long must one wait for a wine to reach full potential, and justify (if it can) its price?

All of this seems laughable, but one cannot forget that comments made of specific wine will affect its value in the future.
The exclusivity of the 1855 classification is actually that it dates from 1855, still viable today for some and obsolete for others.
It’s known that Lynch Bages is above the classification, thanks to its high quality, and for sure, La Violette will regain its place in Pomerol. Even though it has no classification, it still has the same “aura” as classified growths.

Do Reignac, Haut Condissas and other Haut Carles type, have no right to be amongst the top, if they provide the means to do so? Why not? I don’t see the reason not!

When I travel to China, I think again about wanting to participate in the creation of one of these great Chinese wines, able to compete in blind tastings against some top California wines, which have already greatly competed against our top Bordeaux.

When will the Judgment of Paris be replaced by the Judgment of Hong-Kong? Just as a reminder, the Judgment of Paris (1976) gave the Grand Jury Européen the idea to organize the same event 30 years later.

2 American wines reached the 1st place and Valandraud 3rd in front of all Bordeaux 1855 Classified Growths (or not) and California wines.
The chosen vintage (1995) was one of the best for Chateau Valandraud
Valandraud 95, still very good, received good note on the RVF (Bettane version), Robert Parker and many more. Still, Valandraud will never be a 1st growth 1855 and will never claim to be.
So what?
This didn’t prevent Valandraud to be in the top 100 best wines in the world and inspired more than one owner around the world.

Vive blind tastings (at least for that!)

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