Caveat emptor, Salil. Over the three decades I've been drinking fine French white burgundy, one of the most important joys was to seek out the daunting complexities of slow and purposeful bottle development. And to have confidence in the product's longevity! Seeing this hope is no longer a particularly sound proposition, I don't intend to drink, let alone, cellar, mildly interesting but undeveloped and overpriced potential time bombs. I'm glad producers such as Coche-Dury can still, seemingly, deliver the goods for the longer haul. As others have stated before me, their price is now stratospheric and beyond the reach of most mortals.
So, I'm in the process of off-loading all of my more recent purchases - most are still in good condition but the "threat", and I repeat, "threat", of the pox, is everpresent and doesn't sit well with me at all. I now know the absolute power of paranoia. The really funny thing is, I have virtually no fear/anxiety of buying white burgundy from good producers (Leflaive, for example) from not-so-wonderful years such as 1992/1993/1994 - the last several I've bought at auction have all been bloomin' terrific
and at a mere fraction of the cost of more recent releases. I just can't understand why more positive steps have not been forthcoming by the French "authorities" (let alone so many producers) to eridicate this scurge? And why so long in the coming?
