Old topic New topic: Is vintage important? Say 07 08 France!

Unfortunately, Mark, that's the case with a lot of stuff now - all the higher end Bordeaux, Italians (e.g. Sassicaia), Hermitages.

We seek out alternatives, and sometimes find them, but I simply cannot bring myself to buy and drink clarets that I would have paid $10 a bottle for in the old days, for $30-50 or more, any more than I can bring myself to pay $200 plus for wines I paid $50 for.

Same when I hear apologists for American wines telling me that a wine in question is affordable, totally ignoring the fact that it is also simple mundane crap, drinkable as it might be (if you were really, really thirsty perhaps).

That whooshing sound was me, heading out for Sicily, the Rhone, Cahors, the Dordogne......

Unfortunately, Mark, that's the case with a lot of stuff now - all the higher end Bordeaux, Italians (e.g. Sassicaia), Hermitages.

We seek out alternatives, and sometimes find them, but I simply cannot bring myself to buy and drink clarets that I would have paid $10 a bottle for in the old days, for $30-50 or more, any more than I can bring myself to pay $200 plus for wines I paid $50 for.

Same when I hear apologists for American wines telling me that a wine in question is affordable, totally ignoring the fact that it is also simple mundane crap, drinkable as it might be (if you were really, really thirsty perhaps).

That whooshing sound was me, heading out for Sicily, the Rhone, Cahors, the Dordogne......

I'm with you 100%, Bill. The bitter irony is that (red) Burgundy, long considered by me to be "luxury" wine, has been in recent years a relative bargain ($30 could still get me a very good wine that might in time become profound). That, alas, may no longer be true (the lingering aftereffects of L'Affaire Rudy and the hyping of '09 and '10), so for me it's off to the Loire, the Arbois and the further reaches of the N. Rhone and Beaujolais.

Mark Lipton

Forgetting breaking the law, Buffalo is not great. Garagiste is if I could again find someone in Buffalo to store my wine. Jamet is available in Quebec which is some distance away according to the SAC website. St Cosme is available for $69 as is Jasmin.

I bought a couple of 08 Smith Haut Lafite second wine bottles at $30 Canadian. I see huge differences in price of Bordeau in the US to Canada as with California Cab. Cakebread costs aprox $60 in the US is $100 in Ontario. Give me a break. Their top wine is I think $150.

I am not into Beaujalais.