DRINKS Loving and hating the French By Mark Criden After spending a week and a half in France this past summer, I have to tell you that, more than ever, I love the French. And I absolutely hate them. With all due apologies to Italy, Spain, the U.S., and every gastronomic mecca in between, no one makes food and wine like the French. And no one believes their own hype like the French. Take the latest futures campaign out of Bordeaux. Please. Each spring, winemakers in Bordeaux sell their infant wines as “futures” after uber-critic Robert Parker passes judgment on the vintage. Thumbs down, and the Bordelais have to wait until bottling to peddle their wares. Thumbs up, and winemakers sniffily sell consumers the right to buy wine two years before bottling. The producers get early cash, and the consumer gets the comfort that he’ll one day—probably—get some bottles. There is madness here. Would you make an interest free loan to Chanel for the right to buy perfume two years hence? Or to Hermes, in exchange for their promise to send you a scarf in twenty-four months? Mais non! But the Bordeaux producers—peddling luxury as surely as the garment-makers—have a neat con working. Buy now, they assert in velveteen tones, or else in two years, the wine will cost much more, if you can find it at all. Well, most vintages do not disappear or sharply appreciate prior to bottling. You can look it up. But the 2009s, the current flavor, are hot, hot, hot. Many critics have proclaimed this the vintage of a lifetime. It’s been four years since the 2005s, the last “vintage of a lifetime,” were offered, an eternity in the luxury goods business. New fortunes have been minted in these years, fortunes that need burnishing as only luxury goods can. The 2009s have Bordeaux lovers, and others who have more money than sense, drooling. But they’re not the only ones. After four middling, fallow years, the Bordeaux producers, in the wake of universal acclaim, are drooling as well. For the normal wine lover, the result has been sticker shock. Favorite châteaux have become centers of piracy, offering their wares at cutthroat prices. Wines that should be $30 have become $75, while $100 bottles trade for five times that. And the saddest part of this story is that many of these wines will never get drunk. They’re being bought for speculation, for trading. Opening these bottles will ruin their value. The world has gone mad. Personally, I’m boycotting the 2009 futures campaign and redeploying my funds elsewhere. Want great French wine? Pick up as much 2007 Rhone wine as you can. From the humble (try mighty $13 Côtes du Rhône from Domaine d’Andezon or Andre Brunel or my old favorite Château de Ségriès Lirac Reserve for $15) to a wealth of Chateauneuf du Pape for $30 to $50 (try the Telegramme or the Les Cailloux in this range), the Rhone aisles at your wine store are bursting with great bottles. Sure, $50 ain’t cheap, but wines like this are the vinous equivalent of Bordeaux selling at nosebleed prices of $200 a bottle and up. Cheap, friends, is always relative. Or here’s a last tip if you gotta—just gotta—own some 2009s. Buy Beaujolais. South of Burgundy, made from the humble gamay grape, Beaujo had a vintage of a lifetime in 2009, and the wines are succulent and delectable. Look for Beaujolais à l’Ancienne from Domaine des Terres Dorées, Fleurie from Clos de la Roilette or Morgon from Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, Guy Breton, Jean-Paul Thévenet, or Georges Descombes. It’s hard to spend more than $25 on these bottles—usually much less—and they will give you enormous pleasure without all the hype. Especially for the money. Mark Criden is Spree’s wine critic. SUBSCRIBE NOW Back to the Table of Contents Back to Top