by Mike Supple
You may not want to do it, but you want to know everything about it. Let us be your boarding pass to Bordeaux this year.
The time has come once again to make the journey across land and sea to taste the best (and worst?) of what Bordeaux has to offer. Shaun Bishop and I will be in Bordeaux from March 28 – April 6 to attend the annual Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux where we will get to taste through as many of the young 2006 wines as possible while at the same time attempting to answer all the many questions surrounding the vintage.
How was the 2006 season, and does the vintage really have the quality and power it is portended to have?
Will the prices of the 2006 match the 2005 or continue to rise?
Assuming no drop in price, will the high prices of the ’06 vintage do nothing more than drive the sales of the remaining ’05 inventory?
Are we better off buying whatever ‘05s we can get before the next price jump, or will the ’06 futures provide the better value for the dollar?
Are the 2004s shaping up as they should, and how has the extra year of age on the 2005s affected the wines?
Can I get my allocation of Lafite, Latour and Margaux?!? (And can I get my neighbor’s allocation too?)
As we travel, taste, spit, meet, wine, dine and blog, we will attempt to answer all of these questions as well as any more you may have. At the end of each day in Bordeaux, we will be updating this blog with the particular tidbits we pick up as well as updating and uploading tasting notes, places visited, and any various anecdotes inspired by 12+ hours of tasting young Bordeaux. That being said, please SUBMIT ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE. We will be happy to take on all inquiries Bordeaux and wine related. We will post your questions online along with whatever responses we are able to supply; after all, the goal of all of this is to get the information back into the hands of our customers so you can make the best informed decisions about your wine purchases. I am also happy to entertain specific tasting requests and be sure that I keep my eyes (and mouth) open for particular wines that may be of more interest than others. I said it once, but I’ll say it again: submit any questions you have! Feel free to contact me directly, day or night in any time zone: mike.supple@winecommune.com.
Adding something new to the mix this year, we are going to be filming many of our various exploits in an effort to bring the UGC Stateside, and to uncover a little more of the mystery of who is behind many of these famous wines, what really goes on in the vineyards of Bordeaux, and how the process of the futures campaign all begins.
The third time is always the charm: let us know what it is you are dying to find out about the 2006 vintage! mike.supple@winecommune.com
We are looking forward to bringing you the best of what UGC 2006 has to offer. Check back often! As for me, I need to get back to my glass of the overlooked and terribly underappreciated 1998 Virginie de Valandraud. Can you smell the chocolate and candied cherries?