Bordeaux has enjoyed a long, prosperous history as France’s great wine region, but after 2011, wine collectors around the world were cautious of investing in the region’s bottles. The reason? In the early 2000s, Chinese wine enthusiasts became obsessed with all things Bordeaux, going from investing in an average of 12,000 hectoliters of wine…
When wine critic James Suckling gives you the title of “world’s greatest wine collector,” you know you are doing something right. Collector Henry Tang earned such a title when Suckling visited his personal cellar in 2013. Tang’s cellar was meticulously organized by each Burgundian producer in his extensive collection, which made it simple for Tang…
Champagne has been hailed as the king of wine for centuries, but over the past 10 years, it is slowly being replaced in popularity by sparkling wine from other regions. Sparkling wine sales in other countries have increased by 40 percent, selling about 2.3 billion bottles globally every year, compared to Champagne’s 3 million…
As one of the top two winegrowing regions in Italy, Piedmont stands out for its one-of-a-kind varietals, Nebbiolo and Dolcetto. What many collectors might not realize is that this region is cultivating a new era of classic wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, in addition to its traditional, regional-based offerings. To find the latest trends…
In 1988, billionaire Bill Koch bought the wine of a lifetime: four pristine 1784 Lafite bottles owned by Thomas Jefferson himself. Koch paid wine collector Hardy Rodenstock nearly $500,000 for the privilege of owning a piece of wine history. In 2005, Koch submitted his bottles to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, but soon discovered…
With wine fraud, it’s difficult to know how widespread the problem is until major collectors like Bill Koch become its victims. The wine industry brings in about $300 billion per year in revenue, but experts believe that hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits are made exclusively on fake or mislabeled wine. A recent study…
The age of the truly free New York sommelier might be over. The New York State Liquor Authority recently announced that it will change the state’s beverage laws, making it impossible for restaurants to craft wine lists based around wines from private collections. In other words, New York restaurants will only be able to…
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines as a tax on luxury. On the contrary, it is a tax on the health of our citizens.” At the time this quote was written, Jefferson was in an intense fight against British taxation in the United…
Some wine experts lament the alleged death of quality online wine journalism. Yet critics like Jancis Robinson embrace this modern change, saying that social media is transforming the way we think about wine for the better. In a recent interview, Robinson said, “There was a time when someone like me could hand down opinions from…
Some collectors can store their wine in a cool, dark home cellar, but most collectors are better off investing in a professional cellar service to avoid bottle spoilage. Most wine experts agree that storing a wine between 52 and 55 degrees is the only safe temperature range, depending on the varietal. Yet what many experts…
When today’s sommeliers taste wines, they can often immediately pick out the unique flavors and bouquets associated with bottles from Champagne and Bordeaux. That’s partly because, in the late 1800s, French land became cheap and plentiful, allowing winemakers to purchase entire regions of their own, and to grow the grapes to the same high standards.…
Today, California Grenache is among the most sought-after varietals in the region, but this was not always the case. California winegrowers turned away from this traditional Rhone crop in the mid-1900s, believing that Grenache would never attract premium collectors who wanted the rarest wines. As Napa Valley developed its premium reputation, commercialized Grenache lost favor;…