In raving about the vintage as he did, Robert Parker created a futures market, and made international wines more accessible and desirable worldwide. (Also making them terribly more expensive)
Eric poses this question (and I invite you to answer both here and in his entry on NY Times, actually):
Thoughts? Here is a chance for the Bordeaux fiends on this community to state their case, and pummel the Burgundy drinkers for a short while…
Interesting to think about. Since that is also the vintage the made Parker, there is some “chicken and egg” to the question. It certainly was a seminal vintage and at the right confluence of events that changed the wine world. Parker changing the wine writing style, the 100 point system bringing understandable wine criticism to the store shelf, styles also were starting to change in winemaking, lots of stuff going on at the same time.
Probably not as applicable to Burgundy since Burg lovers can’t even seem to agree on what the good vintages are much less the great ones.
I thought Eric’s premise is correct and it was a good article. The '82 vintage and the hype around it, in large part thanks to RP, really brought wine into the modern era and brought it out of the dark cellars of the elite and exposed it to the light of the masses. However, that was the first step. I also believe that the dot com era and the economic boom of the '90’s also played a significant role for where the wine world is today. New found wealth meant more buying power not only by consumers, but also investment in vineyards and creating new vineyards. At the same time, a flood of articles came out about all the health benefits associated with wine consumption and the Mediterranean diet, which is wine-centric and that,too, played a role in the growing popularity of wine.
I think the ‘game change’ which has had the most profound effect (and way beyond just Bdx) is that a great wine can be a wine purchased off the shelf and drank with immediate and great pleasure, not just a “mature” wine. As Brad stated, there were a lot of other factors on which '82 rode the wave of a wine boom, but I think that shift in a relationship to wine has been the single biggest driver of change within the wine world itself.
I think it was more the emergence of wine writers and critics, and the rapidly growing market for wine here in the US (not sure about elsewhere), that inevitably led people to explore not only the French classics but also lesser known wines that were favorably reviewed and now much more reasonably priced than the great Bordeauxs. I remember Bordeaux prices took a noticeable jump on retail shelves around 1985 or so, and the days of bargains and easy availability were numbered! Still, those days were super, compared to today!!
Nice post Brad…I agree with all of these points, the most important being that average people could still afford these wines. Unfortunately, the wine world today is far different than it was in the mid '80s. As I read Mr Asimov’s article, I found the last paragraph to be extremely telling…and rather sad…“Nowadays, so many of these wines are bought as trophies or investments. It will be the rare buyer who, like Mr. Taylor, can afford to pull the corks and drink them. The ’82 vintage leaves a beautiful legacy, but that fact is bittersweet.” I actually find this to be rather sad and unfortunately it covers both Bordeaux and Burgundy “heads.”
I think 1982 was a huge turning point in a lot of ways.
Taste pre 1982 and post 1982 Bordeaux. They taste different. Now, that gets to be on steroids in recent vintages but there is a marked difference and 1982 is the dividing line.
It made Robert Parker. That in and of itself makes it huge.
As a result of 1982, people started thinking of wine as an investment vehicles. After 1982 you started seeing more people buy wine futures for speculation. The prices of 1982s were extremely cheap, on futures.
Interest in Bordeaux skyrocketed after 1982. Wineries became much richer and a lot of wineries finally got money to invest in facilities. Wines overall got better - the list of top wines in 1982 was much smaller than in a more recent vintage. But, what came naturally in 1982 (rich wines) became more forced over time with winemaking styles - if big is good, bigger is better. While rich, the 1982s are still older styled wines in many ways, including alcohol levels of around 12% or so. Bordeaux 1982 horizontal: blast from the past in Washington D.C. (tasted December 2005) – Connections to Wine But after 1982, I think wineries have since wanted to “create” “another 1982” and too many have been forcing wines to higher and higher alcohol levels.
As late as the 1990 vintage, Bordeaux futures could be had at pretty good prices. That changed a lot by 1995 and 1996, but then really went flying starting with the 2000 vintage. In the 2000 vintage, the highly rates wines were extremely expensive. By the 2005 vintage, most classified Bordeaux was extremely expensive.
My problem with 1982 is that it was A great vintage for Bordeaux.
Unfortunately, due to Parker and the press that followed it, over the next 15+ years, '82 has become THE vintage that everyone has sought to recreate by making huge, extracted wines. It took about 15-20 years for this to happen, but by 2003, everyone had figured it out, and, in my mind, ruined much of Bordeaux.
Look at Cos. It was a great wine for years that is just spoof today.
WRT the point about being able to get almost any wine, there are two parts to that and the explosion of critics and access to their views post 1982 only covers one part ie identifying and highlighting previously unknown wine or region X to a much wider buying public. The other part that is just as critical and not mentioned is wine-searcher. It has and continues to revolutionise wine buying on a global level. Previously, we were limited to local stores and/or calling a few bigger merchants when searching for a wine. Now, 30 seconds after a wine gets a strong review, thousands of consumers are on the phone to store X that happens to have wine X listed on wine-searcher for the best price.
You beat me to it, Howard and I agree with your point with how '82 launched the era of wine as an investment, but I don’t think it really took off until the mid-'90’s vintages and then exploded with the 2000 vintage. In many ways I find the period between say 1994-2002 the most significant period for the wine industry. Aside from Bordeaux, you had the beginnings of the “Cult Wine” phenomenon in California, the hype of the '94 vintage there, the rise of Spain in the public awareness with the '94-'96 vintages, the hype around '97 Italian wines and at that time Southern Hemisphere wines really started to take off, with Cloudy Bay really introducing the world to NZ wines, Parker going ga-ga over the Grateful Palate portfolio saw an explosion in the popularity of Shiraz and South American wines really made inroads here for providing quality wine at a great price.
The 1990s were also the time of the Guy Accad/Pierre Rovani misadventures in Burgundy. Thankfully, there was a rebellion there; I wish there was more of one in California and Bordeaux.
I’ll disagree somewhat with the premise of the quoted material. While there is no question that the 1982 Bordeaux vintage was a “game changer” in terms of the U.S. (and then global) market for Bordeaux wines, I think it’s a tremendous leap to go from that aspect to the claim that it significantly opened the wine market for global wines outside of Bordeaux/Burgundy.
It certainly brought more attention by U.S. consumers to the Bordeaux wines, but that’s very different than the Jura or Priorat or Gruner, etc. Indeed, while the uber wine geeks may buy/collect/drink those more obscure wines, they still remain a tiny percentage of U.S. wine consumption.
Besides the fact that Parker “made” his reputation on the 82 Bordeaux vintage, there was a more subtle effect. Until then, there was a more ruling consensus on which wines/vintages were good and which ones weren’t. Parker broke through that consensus, and helped establish the idea that you need to (and in fact can) taste wines for yourself and come to your own conclusions. More and more people became interested in wine AND developed the idea that they need not take as gospel truth what some critic or wine retailer tells them.
And to the comments above, yes, Bordeaux futures stayed more or less reasonably priced up through 1990, with some significant bump up in the 95/96 campaigns. But the 2000 campaign is what set the current silly trajectory for the top wines. However, even on release, you could buy something like the 1989 Haut Brion for around $100 or less–pricy, but not out of reach for most serious wine folks.
There is a myth that Robert Parker called 1982 and that everyone else got it wrong. That is far from true. 1982 had a buzz even before harvest. I heard about it shaping up as a great vintage from a retailer in about September 1982. The British wine writers also highly praised 1982. I can remember reading an article from Decanter that praised the same wines Parker did - although it did come out after the first WA article and, in typical British fashion, was more muted.
The real anti-1982 was limited to a few American wine writers, most prominent of which were Terry Robards (who wrote for the NY Times and Wine Spectator) and Robert (I think that is his first name) Finnigan, who had a competing wine newsletter to the Wine Advocate. Prior to the 1982 vintage calls, they really were competitive with different followings. After the call, one rose to fame and the other, well did not.
So, in the US, among the then new industry of wine newsletters, Robert Parker was contrary other prominent writers - and in big bold print with scores. But, worldwide, the French and British agreed.
Personally, I was excited to read Parker and wanted all the 1982 Bordeaux futures I could buy. But, since I was newly married when this was happening, I made the mistake of showing my wife both the positive and negative press. While I still bought a good bit (esp. for me at the time as a young then government lawyer), I learned my lesson of what to show my wife.
And, the prices of the 1982s on futures were not just good in relationship to what happened later. 1982 future prices came out at a time when the dollar had just really gone up in value. The French thought they were raising prices, but in the US, prices were lower than for the 1978s and 1979s sitting on the shelf. Robards told people in a famous article to ignore the 1982 futures and buy 1979s, but few listened.
Another first with the 1982 Bordeaux futures campaign was the first use of scores to sell wines. A number of stores ran ads in newspapers with the winery, the futures price and the Parker score. The high scores made the wines easier to sell, and the publicity from the ads made Parker famous. In fact, I think his easy to read scores were a large part of why he became so well known. It was hard to put Decanter reviews in a newspaper ad, but “Cos D’Estournal $130/case 96” is easy for anyone to understand.
In fact, I should have listed the use of scores to sell wine as another big game changer of the 1982 vintage. And also, the start of Parker Power on wine prices.
I have nothing substantive to say about this since these are wines from before I was born, but I’m really enjoying reading people’s impressions since it talks about a time in wine that seems to be long gone. It’s like a totally different world. Thanks to everyone who’s contributed. It’s fascinating reading.
Great experience Todd. I have always loved the 82’s from Bordeaux. I bought most of these wines you tasted on release and have drunk ( or sold) most … I still have approximately a case left, including the Mouton, Cheval and Margaux. La Mission Haut Brion was always one of my favorites…only to be beaten by the 61. Glad it showed well, as mine are all gone. We had the Lafleur within the past year…it showed extremely well. Thanks for posting.
Thinking back to the time the 1982’s were offered on release by the then-Alberta Liquor Control Board, I
didn’t have Robert Parker’s report on the vintage and the various wines. My sources in Bordeaux
had confirmed to me that the the top wines were indeed excellent, although I should also be aware that
the vintage was somewhat atypical. The prices offered were extremely attractive, although they were higher
than those from recent vintages. As with any wine there’s no guarantee regarding age worthiness, so I have
no regrets that I didn’t invest heavily in the 1982’s.
I did buy some of these wines, although my cellar was bulging at the seams with Bordeaux from the decade
of the 1970’s. In hindsight I probably should have bought more. That’s all speculation since there wasn’t space
to hold any more than I finally did buy. I still have wines remaining from 1970, 1975, 1978 and 1979.
Most of these remaining wines have passed their peak but remain attractive for drinking. No question that I
cellared an excess of some of the wines and a more appropriate balance of the cellar was likely. I was getting into
building a cellar of some size in 1972-73 and just filling it up seemed more important than waiting for a balanced
cellar.
Waiting long stretches for some wines to come around - the 1975 Bordeaux for instance - is one of the hazards.
I’m rambling a bit here, so should close off before I take this thread in a direction unintended.
To sum up, I’m pleased that so many are able to enjoy a vintage like 1982, but I find that there’s generally another
vintage of note around the corner. Too bad that tofay’s prices don’y allow the average wine consumer to participate in
the best of Bordeaux.
Interesting article, but completely wrong I fear. If one assumes the performance of the Bordelais and the critics drives the market- then it works. But that is not how it was.
The wine market we know today was born of the early to mid 1990s as the United States entered a period of unprecedented prosperity and wine became a generally acceptable form of displaying one’s success, and thus- presumably- standing in the world. Parker happened to be in the right place at the right time- and with a good approach that resonated with a larger audience for which he deserves a great deal of credit- but neither he nor Bordeaux are fully responsible for what happened.
In the mid 1990s, 1982 Bordeaux was still for sale on the shelf in many stores- even Lafite (though Mouton- the annointed king at the time was largely gone). One could find first growths and other top bottles at liquor stores and fine wine shops alike.
As the market took off, seasoned collectors wisely held off as a lot of newcomers snatched up these 1982-1990 bottles- many of which had sat in deplorable storage conditions for some years. Despite Parker’s warnings- and he was the great champion of provenance providing insight that had seldom before been so widely reported- anything of great name or reputed vintage flew off the shelves.
If you want to know where things really changed- it was with 1995. 1994 was the last vintage where one could find first growths- or even other favorites like Lynch Bages or Montrose- for sale in a large number of liquor stores. With 1995 that ended- and dramatically so. About that same time there were also fundamental changes in winemaking practices at many top chateaux- notably Lafite and Latour- and Screaming Eagle and Shafer Hillside were leading the way for the cult movement in California.
The following years saw higher prices, a greater focus on score and quality versus quantity in terms of production (which had both good and bad implications depending on the winemaker), and also a dramatic decrease in both the customer base for top wines and the number of retailers selling them.
I could write many, many pages going into greater detail and carrying things forward to where they stand today- but I think the above gives a good idea how it really was. Consumers drive the market- pure and simple. There is no winery in the world which is not ultimately accountable to the consumer.
The shift to come is going to be the decline of the consumer who spends millions of dollars a year. Laugh if you want- that consumer has driven the market of the past 10 years more than you want to know. The Rudy situation will contribute to that in some measure. The rest will come from the economic reality that is coming for the mega-wealthy on a worldwide scale, or at least for the ones who do not really love wine beyond its status value. I am not predicting doom and gloom- just that in times of choice, those who rarely have to make choices will cast aside that which they did not truly love to begin with.