Cadman's wine blog

We are delighted to offer you an increasingly rare opportunity to secure a bottle or two of the
exceptional Hermitage la Chapelle 1990 from Paul Jaboulet Aine. One of the most
prized and sought-after northern Rhones, it has been awarded that elusive score of
100 points by Robert Parker.

“The finest La Chapelle made since the 1961 and 1959, it is even richer, deeper, and
more highly extracted than the perfect 1978…The huge nose of pepper, underbrush,
and black fruits displays amazing intensity. In the mouth the wine has awesome
concentration, extraordinary balance and power, and a fabulously long, huge finish
that lasts for more than a minute…” eRobertParker.com

Cheers!

P.S. This wine boasts excellent provenance, having been professionally stored by The
Wine Society until we purchased it earlier this year.

In 2010, the U.S.A. became the world’s top wine consuming country by volume, drinking more wine than the French for the first time in history. And according to the latest figures, 2011 saw this thirst increasing further still.

Americans drank 3.96 billion bottles of wine in 2010, compared to 3.85 billion bottles of wine consumed by the French, according to wine industry consulting firm Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates. And in 2011, U.S. table wine consumption increased by 4.7%, a rate not seen since 2000 (figures from the Wine Market Council).

Table wine consumption in the U.S. has grown every year since its uninterrupted climb began in 1994. In 1996 it surpassed the 1982 level reaching 176 million cases. The 200 million case mark was surpassed in 2000 (205 million cases) and increased to 291 million cases in 2011.

This upward trend has allowed the U.S. wine industry to weather the recent economic storm, and recent gains have been driven by the adoption of wine in early adulthood, the availability of quality wine at all price levels, and the acceptance of moderate wine consumption as part of a healthy lifestyle.

However, American wine drinkers consume less wine on a per capita basis than the French. The average French person drinks 12.2 gallons a year, while his American counterpart is only drinking 3.03 gallons annually (increasing from 1.89 gallons per adult in 1991).

Penfolds has just unveiled a new wine, with a price tag of around £100,000.

According to the West Australian, the rare and significant  2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon is presented in a limited-release, hand-blown glass ampoule which is suspended within a wooden Jarrah cabinet. Just 12 ampoules have been made (holding the equivalent of one 750ml bottle), with one being kept in the Penfolds museum, while another has already been assigned to a customer in Singapore, leaving 10 ampoules remaining.

Block 42 Kalimna is made from 130-year-old vines from a 4 hectare block at the edge of the Penfolds Kalimna property in the Moppa area of the Barossa Valley. It is made in tiny quantities and is highly sought after: the 1996 sells for around £2,500 a case.

“Our understanding is this is one of the most expensive Australian wines,” Ms Ireland (Penfolds‘ spokesperson) told AAP. When asked if someone would drink the wine, Ms Ireland said: “We hope so. There might be someone out there who buys two: one to keep and one to drink.”

If a buyer decides to drink their wine, Penfolds will send their chief winemaker, Peter Gago, anywhere in the world to open that particular ampoule and help make the event a memorable one.

According to Decanter Magazine, such a sum, the equivalent of £100,000, would buy ten or more cases of Chateau Lafite 2009.

Penfolds managing director Gary Burnand said the $168,000 price tag was arrived at based on the quality and rarity of the wine, the prominence of the artists who crafted the ampoule and its case, and the fact that the owner could have their own “master class” with a senior Penfolds winemaker should they choose to have the ampoule opened in a special ceremony.

According to the Wine Spectator, Bordeaux third-growth Château Calon-Ségur has now been sold to Suravenir, the life-insurance subsidiary of French banking group Credit Mutuel Arkea, for an estimated $212.5 million.

Calon-Ségur was sold by Hélène de Baritault du Carpia and her nieces Agnes Florisoone and Sophie de Mascarel de la Corbière. The deal includes 235 acres in Saint-Estèphe and Calon-Ségur’s second label Marquis de Calon and a cru bourgeois property, Capbern-Gasqueton.

The future of Calon-Ségur had been up for debate since the death of the formidable Madame Capbern-Gasqueton in September 2011.

As for Calon-Ségur’s future, Credit Mutuel Arkea spokesperson Florence Eckenschwiller told Wine Spectator that it had been looking to diversify its investment portfolio with a vineyard acquisition for some time. “We consider Calon-Ségur a long-term investment that will gain in value and we are here to be a stable, long-term investor. There is no plan to resell the property in 10 years or anything like that.”

Brittany-based Credit Mutuel Arkea’s executives were happy to let Monsieur Moueix (of Château Petrus) to buy a small stake in exchange for helping to organise the deal and will look to him for advice in running the estate.

Wine merchants in Gascony in southwest France are taking Californian wines off the shelves in retaliation to the foie gras ban.

According to the UK’s Decanter Magazine, wine merchants in the Gascony region of southwest France are removing Californian wine from their shelves in response to foie gras being banned in California, when force-feeding animals was banned in the State on July 1st.

But Californian wine sales are unlikely to plummet given the amount of Californian wine being on offer in Gascony, let alone France, where finding a bottle of Burgundy in a Bordeaux merchant is something of a rarity. Indeed, the move is more of a symbolic cultural protest, aimed at a State which accounts for just a few percent of the foie gras market

French foie gras distributors in the US, along with American producers of the delicacy, are taking the Californian government to court.

Madame Gasqueton – the iron fist of Calon-Segur

According to Wine Spectator, the Saint-Estèphe third growth, Château Calon-Ségur, has been rumoured to have sold for $212.5 million dollars.

Since the formidable Madam Gasqueton passed away in 2011, the fate of Calon, which had been under her iron grip since 1985, has been under question.

Despite Calon-Ségur’s current co-owners and a prominent Bordeaux château owner rumored to be involved in the purchase, neither denying or verifying the rumour, several sources have claimed that the transaction is underway.

Madame Capbern-Gasqueton was one of Bordeaux’s most well-respected and well known vignerons and is a great loss to the industry.

Madame married into Calon-Segur in 1947, yet since the death of her husband in 1985 Madame G had been forcibly at the helm – the ‘Margaret Thatcher’ of the wine world who’s unwavering confidence in the terroir of Saint-Estephe and Calon-Segur made the Chateau one of Bordeaux’s most loved classed growths.

I was fortunate to have met Madame Capbern-Gasqueton just once on a field visit to Bordeaux. Fortunate, because very few were allowed into the hallowed environment in which such rigorous winemaking and attention to detail made Calon such a Bordeaux powerhouse under Madame’s iron grip. I was immediately struck by the size of the great lady’s shoes, an image which has stuck with me like Thatcher’s handbag.

But the iron lady of wine, was strangely endearing. You knew where you were with Mdme and you were in a very special place. Her place. The Calon name is wrapped up in a big heart, a heart Madame Capbern-Gasqueton proudly wore on her sleeve.

Elsewhere in Bordeaux, Baron Eric de Rothschild has purchased 15 acres from Pomerol’s Château La Croix-de-Gay. The acquisition will go towards expanding Château L’Evangile (to 55 acres) owned by Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite), which is quite significant when you consider the average estate size in Pomerol is just 10 acres.