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In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: Wine, women, song.. and audio

Post Subject: SpreadeagledPosted by de charlus on: 8/16/2013

Paul, yes, good vineyards frequently hold back substantial reserves even of their top wines, which then magically "appear" on the market when prices hit their apogee following the en primeur kerfuffle, or a certain critic saying a certain thing.
I know what you mean about the contact issue; the only reason I've historically been able to secure more or less what I wanted was that my father, his father, and his father before him have been buying the same things, from the same estates, from a time well before there ever were wine critics to muddy the waters. Then, I parleyed my position in the wine trade into getting allocations of the few things that I coveted but couldn't access previously - easy enough when the estate produces more modest wines that I may, or may not, list - and so now get pretty much what I want. That isn't to suggest that people don't try to claw back parts of my allocation on a yearly basis - only six bottles here and six there, but it's the thin end of the wedge - and that I don't have to fight to maintain my position, especially now that I'm no longer an influential member of the wine trade. How other people lacking the dynastic and leverage things go about securing good wine I have no idea, but I cannot imagine that it's easy. As for the "spreads", sometimes a few cases of Forts de Latour or Carruades de Lafite on the back of a couple of cases of 1st growths can be a good thing - in really good vintages - but in lesser ones the "spread" thing amounts to little more than theft. I've seen what goes into these second wines in bad vintages and it's far from illuminating.
Clark, thanks for posting that article; looks interesting, although I haven't had time to read it yet since I'm busy this week.

Regards

de Charlus

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