October 2017

Wine Snobbery a Reflection of Ourselves

Oct 30 2017

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Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White snubs English wine, but it's a prejudice we all share,Oliver Styles suggests. Funny how people make the news when something needs to be promoted. British celebrity chef Marco Pierre White made headlines recently by claiming that only a "numpty" would be buying English wine. This occurred – almost inevitably – at the same time as he was opening a new restaurant. Thus it is with a sense of unease that I choose to give White any more publicity than he deserves but his words – and the storm it generated over the grimy waters of an English teacup – do, I think, deserve some further, more global, examination. Here is what he was quoted as saying: "English wine is nonsense. They are overpriced and not very good. The French make the best wine. The English just play at it. We keep hearing this about English sparkling wine. I am...

Why You Should Dump Your Stock Portfolio and Buy Wine Instead

Oct 19 2017

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The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index shows that wine has been the most lucrative collectable of the wealthy in the past year. Looking to plan for your retirement? Forget picking out a good mutual fund; find a good liquor store instead! According to the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, which tracks the value of the collectibles of the rich (and possibly famous), in the past year, wine has outpaced all other luxury assets when it comes to increase in value. In the past 12 months, collectable fine wines have seen their value grow 25 percent—an amazing investment even by boring investment standards—outperforming other top categories like art, jewelry, cars, watches, antique furniture and, for the dorkiest of wealthy people, coins and stamps. In fact, of all the categories published by CNBC, art had the second highest luxury asset price growth over the same period at a mere 7 percent increase, making wine...

Penfolds releases $3,000 Grange blend

Oct 19 2017

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Penfolds has created a blend of three of its famous Grange shiraz vintages, and each bottle will cost $3,000. Blessing or sacrilege? Angel or monster? Wine supplier Treasury Wine Estates has blended three vintages of its iconic Penfolds Grange shiraz to create a rare and pricey conglomerate: Penfolds g3. It is the first time Penfolds has created a blended Grange, using wine from the 2008, 2012 and 2014 vintages. Only 1,200 bottles of Penfolds g3 will be available worldwide, a scarcity that is reflected in the $3,000 price tag for each 750ml bottle. Some lucky wine enthusiasts were treated to the only pouring of g3 at the Liang Yi private museum in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong on Wednesday night. Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago says the g3 is a natural result of the venerated art of blending. "It wasn't about selecting the biggest or the best Grange vintages," Mr Gago said. "It was about making something different,...

COUTTS LAUNCH PASSION INDEX 2017

Oct 17 2017

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Fine wine makes a good investment because there is always a finite supply. Some estates produce only 2,000 cases year, which might sound a lot but that’s for the entire world; a few produce only 200. This means demand will always outstrip supply for most vintages, an effect that will only increase over time. https://www.coutts.com/insight-articles/news/2017/the-passion-behind-investments.html...

Floyd Mayweather flaunts flashy ‘fine wine’ collection in his Beverly Hills mansion as unbeaten boxing legend continues to enjoy retirement

Oct 10 2017

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By Glen Williams For Mailonline PUBLISHED: 00:23, 10 October 2017 | UPDATED: 09:11, 10 October 2017 Floyd Mayweather retired from boxing yet again after beating Conor McGregor Following the lucrative bout, 'Money' bought a £19m Beverly Hills mansion It has a stunning wine cellar, which Mayweather flaunted on Instagram Floyd Mayweather stepped out of the ring for the final time as a 50-0 boxer after a 10th-round stoppage of Conor McGregor.Floyd Mayweather flaunts flashy 'fine wine' collection in his Beverly Hills mansion as unbeaten boxing legend continues to enjoy retirement He then ploughed his lucrative earnings into a stunning £19million mansion in Beverly Hills to kick back, relax, and reflect on a truly remarkable career in the sport. And the latest sneak peak into his Californian crib has revealed an enviable wine collection. 'Money' flaunted on Instagram 15 rows of wine stacked perhaps 15 bottles deep, captioning the image: 'Like fine wine.' Mayweather wasted no time splashing his $100million (£77.6m)...

Parker Please Don’t Go

Oct 09 2017

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Plenty of people love to hate Robert Parker, but Oliver Styles warns that we'll be lost without him. Posted Monday, 02-Oct-2017 It will no doubt come as some surprise to the likes of Jancis Robinson, Allen Meadows, James Suckling, Michel Bettane, Steven Spurrier, et al. to learn that, according to French broadsheet Le Monde, wine criticism has diversified since Robert Parker's "retirement". One might wonder what those luminaries were doing in the interim? Taking a form of Tennis Court Oath in the carpark of Château Margaux? Examining their fingernails while Parker was hitting home runs and slurping the last of his milkshake? Of course not. For decades scores of palates have been rating wines and publishing their thoughts. To suggest that, with Parker taking a back seat, wine critics have starting popping up like botrytis in a tropical rain event is disingenuous to say the least. Now, anyone who reads the Le Monde article in...

Penfolds release new 2013 Grange vintage

Oct 05 2017

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It does not seem right that the latest Penfolds Grange from the 2013 vintage should be one of the best. The even number years have produced the great Granges with striking regularity from 1990 — 1994, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012, for example. Yet while ’13 might be unlucky for some, it has certainly not been unlucky for Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago, who rates the new Grange, which is released globally today, as one of the best in his stewardship. “The 2012 was very well received by the wine media and trade but, in tastings to date, most are putting the 2013 just a whisker ahead,” he said. The 2013 Grange is the 63rd consecutive vintage of Australia’s most famous wine, which through a combination of consistency, clever marketing and tireless globetrotting by Mr Gago to take it to the world, has now become a global wine, with strong markets...

SOTHEBY’S HK SALE STORMS TO HK$72M

Oct 04 2017

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2nd October, 2017 by Rupert Millar A fine wine and spirits sale held by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong at the weekend soared to a HK$72 million total with big prices for Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Ichiro Hanyu’s ‘Card Series’ whiskies. Taking place from 29-30 September, the sale featured almost 1,500 lots including wines from the cellar of the Fux restaurant, a 58-bottle set of the famous ‘Card Series’ of Japanese whiskies from Ichiro Hanyu (the first time a full set has appeared at auction) and a 15-vintage vertical of Screaming Eagle. The wines from the Austrian restaurant’s cellar, over 500 of them, made HK$29.4m (US$3.7m) in total with the highest selling lot being three bottles of 2005 Romanée-Conti from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti which realised HK$612,500 (HK$78,424). The Card Series collection was the best-selling single lot of the entire sale, going for HK$3.5m (US$454,862) while the 45-bottle lot of Screaming Eagle spanning 1997...