Wines a World Apart
The thing about wines is that they seem to encourage snobbery. No matter how much discussion is allowed about demystifying wines, the reality remains that a select few will enjoy some wines, while completely snubbing out any competition for the stuff in their glass, pish-toshing it with mere waves of the un-used hand, dispensing, in-between sips, the very notion of other seekers of such pleasure even existing.
And with good reason too. The last time I checked, the price of a Bordeaux Claret was up almost 300% since it was released almost 20 years ago. Cent for cent, wines have seen a bigger jump in prices in China than even solid gold! Be it investment or the upping of ones’ social quotient by the uncorking of an expensive wine, the truth is that there people with the wherewithal out there and now they also have the acquired knowledge of just what they wish to see sitting in a glass besides their next entrée. The mix then, much to the chagrin of us lesser mortals who can only dream about such precious bottles, is morbidly prohibitively lethal.
To draw up a list of expensive wines around the world would be just crass if it wasn’t accompanied by some explanation as to what made them so coveted in the first place. So, instead, here you have a few factors listed which can generally make wine dearer and some examples of such wines which could be slotted as defining the category. Should you decide to break the piggy bank one day, these could make for some fine investments.
Limitation of quantities: Nothing creates demand than a shortage of supply. While certain parts of the world may boast of an abundance of vineyards – some to the point of having to uproot them – most places that claim to attain a ‘luxury’ status will centre around the notion of limited supplies. Champagne, for example, it’s demand far outstrips the supply, making it a rare and hence highly-priced commodity. In other cases, the production is actually a small number. The numerous Garage wines of St. Emilion are made no more than a few thousand bottles at a time. Cult Californian Cabernets seldom cross the 10,000 cases mark. Le Pin, one of the most coveted wines in the world (from Bordeaux), is 500-700 cases strong, a few barrels-full of it. The Screaming Eagle has a coveted priority list for one to be considered to be a buyer, and even there, one has to consistently be buying their other wine (the Bond) before an offer is made from the company’s side to allocate some stock of this USD1000+ bottle of wine to you.
Historical importance: Certain brands gain importance for their historical significance. Madame Odette may have made great Champagne but the fact that her company, Pol-Roger, was the preferred bubbly of English Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, may have lent it some (righty deserved) fame, so much so, that years after his passing, the house released their special cuvee and named it after him. Czar Alexander II had a similar effect on the Louis Roederer brand which, at one time, was so dependent on His Grace for their survival, that they bottled a special Champagne in a crystal bottle with a flat base, just so for the Czar’s personal stash. The resulting product, ‘Cristal’, is the cynosure of the rap community, the largest consumers of all things bling and luxury today.
National heritage: In many cases, a wine becomes so popular that it becomes a point of pride for the nation. Such patriotic sentiments when relate to a wine, the price is the first thing to be affected. Take the Penfold’s Grange for example, a wine that is now on the formal list of National Australian Heritage products embodies the spirit of the early settlers and almost narrates the story of the rise of this far-fling English settlement through liquid medium. Other countries have similar wines – Champagne, for example, became famous as the region from where came the wine used at coronations of all French kings, starting with the first king Clovis, who also received his baptism in Reims when a Dove carrying holy water ampoule delivered it to Saint Remigius.
Difficulty of production: To understand just how difficult exactly can harvest become, one has to visit Mosel in Germany for starters, or the Douro valley in Portugal. So steep are the slopes that one needs to hone their rock-climbing and grappling skills before they can consider themselves adept at harvesting here. Add to this the problem that the weather is bone-chilling freezing cold at this time of the year and the problem is only, pun intended, heightened. Needless to say, the Rieslings from the Goldtropchen in Germany (or the ones from Wachau in Austria) as also the reds of Douro are no cakewalk. With the passage of time, it is becoming increasingly hard to find people to harvest and the few who are left, are ageing fast. This is not a fun job, it is a work sprinkled with hazards aplenty. Forget pleasant promenades and serenading siestas in these vineyards, where one slip n’ tumble could be the different between life and death. The wines that come from such labour and toil are, needless, expensive and rare produce.
Rarity of knowledge: Essencia is a wine that is made by literally collecting drops of nectar that ooze forth from dried and hardened berries, so precious and limited a product that even winemakers in the region often go for years without getting their hands on it to try. It is made in the Hungarian region of Tokaji and even a small bottle of no more than 185ml can set one back by a minimum of 500 pounds! This is wine perfume, if there ever was. And yet few people know about it, let alone drink it. Affordability is not the issue here, it is awareness.
Vagaries of weather: This is something that mostly concerns wines that meant for long-term ageing. In the years following 1990, Bordeaux had a series of vintages during which the crops were devastated either by rain or frost, or both, and it wasn’t until 1995 that the quality that marks Bordeaux shone through again. As a result, the value of wines from the previous few years remained low whereas ’95 commanded a higher-than-normal premium. 15 years on, the prices further reflected this widening gap as the ‘91s and ‘92s dropped in quality and their holding value near-diminished whereas ’95 kept going, and growing, strong(er). This is true for all wines of the same stature: Cult Cabernets from California, Australian Coonawarra Cabernet and Barossa Shiraz, Spanish Rioja reds, and perhaps the most delicate of the lot, Burgundy. Pinot Noir, the principle red grape of Burgundy, has an extremely thin skin thereby making it more susceptible to the onslaughts of nature, from fungal infections in humid conditions to early rot in bright sunshine, which makes a good vintage quite a rarity. This factor contributes in a big way to the value of a wine, and at auctions, this difference can amount to four-digit figures of a difference!
So, what does make a wine luxurious? The answer, I imagine, is not as mono-faceted as people would like to believe. Sure enough all good wines somewhere encourage a certain sense of snobbery, but nothing that is considered privileged and exclusive can escape this phenomenon. To me, what makes a wine evermore so coveted is the story behind it: where it began and how it reached me. It is the fantastical voyage of the bottle that I visually build up in my head that perhaps contributes more colour and drama to the ensemble package than even perhaps the product itself. So, if you remember a sip from ages ago, and can recall the exact sensation decades after you had it, consider that a tryst with luxury.
