BurgundyStreet

 Becky Wasserman, an exporter/brand-builder/terroir-hero, in the Burgundy region celebrates her company Le Serbet’s 30th anniversary doing business this week.  We at BurgundyStreet are HUGE Wasserman fans, and have had the honor to meet her once.  Her reputation precedes her like none i’ve ever met in this industry.  We believe her  recipe for success is written on her website, plain for everyone to read: 

The company has a team of seven, four who sell, three who administer. We lunch together in the office, we all are enthusiastic eaters, we often taste wines which may enter into our portfolio. We follow a simple rule: ‘If we won’t drink it, we won’t sell it’.  Wine is more than a commodity to us. We have gone through many highs and lows and none of us would be working here if we didn’t believe that wine eases and embellishes peoples’ lives.

It will be named Petit Leon de Leoville, and its first vintage will be the 2007.  The chateau currently produces two wines: Leoville Las Cases, and Clos de Marquis.  This will be third wine produced by director Jean-Hubert Delon, for the sole purpose to better the quality of their “top wines”.

Yorick D’Alton of the Delon family, said it was the wish of Leoville Las Cases director Jean-Hubert Delon ‘to make a real second wine.’

Igor Artemiev, the director of the Russian anti-monopoly body said that in some cases wines costing as little as €6 in France were being sold for upwards of €150 in Moscow.  That’s 25 times the original price in most cases.

The full report which is due to be released before the summer, will delve into the particulars of the “cartel-like” market that the wines are being sold on, and anti-trust proceedings MIGHT follow.  Might.  Interesting.

The 13th edition of “The World’s Best Sommelier Competition” will be held in South America this year, and will host the largest group of candidates ever.  An impressive female contingent will participate in the trials, combined with a noteworthy turnout from the Asia-Pacific region.

The week-long event concludes with a spectacular gala dinner during which the World’s Best Sommelier title will be awarded for a three year period to the new champion by the previous winner, Andreas Larsson. The Moet & Chandon trophy, a silver Mathusalem engraved with all the winners’ names, will bear witness to the victory, linking the elite list of masters forever.

I don’t know whether to laugh at this, or cry.  Champagne, is sacred.  It’s delicate, and elegant….. and that’s why the following hurts so much to write:  

A few days after her embarassing acceptance speech for her role in Precious, Mariah Carey took to her Twitter account to release the news of her new project, Angel Champagne.  This could very well be the champagne she was drinking the night she accepted the award for her performance, when she blamed her being drunk, on champagne…. oh please let it be!

The former pop-diva turned trainwreck would be just another in a long list for celeb-retards that try to milk just another penny off of their fans.    We are busy locating a bottle to taste.

(I’m going to hell for this story)

In his negociant business, “Maison Roche de Bellene” Nicolas Potel has been applauded by the top UK wine merchants for producing top quality burgundy.  Again.  Potel and Cottin Freres Nicolas, owners of Maison Nicolas Potel, parted company last year.  However, the majority of the growers have followed Nicolas over to this new project.  

“Life hasn’t been particularly easy for Nicolas Potel,” said Johnny Goedhuis. “His business relationship with Labouré-Roi came to an end in 2008 and I was concerned that the quality of his wines might suffer.

Would he be able to maintain the critical relationships with his growers?” he asked.  “Having tasted his recent wines, my fears were completely groundless. A number of his wines are outstanding and the overall quality is better than ever.”

Forty to fifty hectares of prime vineyard land are being threatened to be lost to current plans to include a high speed train from Bordeaux to Spain.  

The vineyards (all in Graves)  that are directly affected are: Grand Bos in Castres-Gironde, Château Méjean in Ayguemorte-les-Graves, and Château Haut Selve in Saint-Selve.  

“The line would cut a gash through the vineyard which already has to contend with strong pressure from urbanisation” stated the director of the growers’ union Jean-Louis Vivière

Despite plans by the local authorities to conduct a further enquiry into the project, winegrowers are holding out little hope of a reversal.

The Law School of Reims, has started a new academic program concentrating on wine law.  The program is open to students in law, economics but also oenologists, researchers, and professionals having an interest for the wine industry.

The school is in the heart of Champagne, and the program will be available in French and English.  For more information, click here

I was on the Liv-ex site yesterday, like i am most days, and found this graph here that i wanted to share with all of you.  If you don’t know Liv-ex, you should.  They’re incredible.  They are the best resource for any wine collector around.

What this graph shows me is the BIG FIVE.  It shows how the First Growths have performed over this last incredibly tumultuous year.  But it’s not just a graph of the power of assets, but also the power of branding.  Lafite is the brand.  There is no other more powerful brand out there.  Tiffany’s, Rolex, etc…  they don’t come close.  I can get a cheap ass Rolex on Madison Ave, if i need to, and don’t even bother me with getting inexpensive jewelry now in NYC.  The economy has battered luxury brands, except a few.  A very small percentage.  A very, very, very small percentage.  Which is why i have been staring at this for a bit.  The best decision i made was to invest in Lafite.  If you’ve invested in it too, then this graph will make you feel better… as a matter of fact, if you know ANYONE who has invested in wine, then show them this graph.  What this graph says is this:  Wine Investment is bouncing back…. and Lafite leads the way.

“It’s a fake” is what the Australians should’ve said when they ruled that the Loire firm Lacheteu was labeling a French sauvignon blanc as “Kiwi Cuvee”.  This must be a humiliating blow to the vineyards of the surrounding areas to have a neighbor admit in these difficult economic times that the Kiwis have beaten them at their own game.

Lacheteu is selling the “Kiwi Cuvee” in the UK at the moment, but once they tried to enter the Aussie market, they found out the vineyards down under weren’t going to put up with it at all.

France has been slapped hard by the New World recently and no other varietal has been decimated more than France’s sauvignon blanc.

In its statement to the tribunal, the New Zealand Winegrowers Association said: “Sauvignon blanc is the archetypal New Zealand wine variety and screw cap bottles such as (Lacheteau) uses, while being the preferred choice for New Zealand wines, are anathema to traditional French winemakers.”

Checkmate.