From the Blogs: The Great Cabernet Rip-Off

WINE TALK
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You see me rollin’…don’t be hatin’.

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No mention of the “wild” part, but three people definitely knew who I was…don’t know if that is good or bad.

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Here’s what he says:

Every semester at the Wine School, I put together a blind tasting for sommeliers and other wine professionals. Less than 5 percent can tell the difference between the two grapes.

He’s saying his students can’t tell the difference. I suppose he could be lying but…I know I’ve had plenty of Merlots that I thought were Cabs in a blind tasting through admittedly no one will ever mistake me for a ‘super-taster.’ Are there taste differences between Cab and Merlot? Sure, but nowhere near the differences between Cab and say Syrah. I’m surprised at the 5% but he may look for versions that taste like their brother.

Now if he had claimed the students mix up Cabs and Pinots 95% of the time, well those are two are brother and sister and I’d agree with you!

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well tell them to stop lurking and start POSTING

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I have a hard time telling the difference between Pride Cabs and Merlots.

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Quite true for the youngs ones for sure.

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Couple of thoughts:

-I think it’s expected that even trained palates can’t always tell Cab from Merlot, especially if we’re talking about so-called “higher end” Napa wines where varietal character is frequently obscured by ripeness and oak.

-Napa Cabernet is its own brand, and a good one, for better or worse (better if you’re a grower/winery, worse if you’re a value hunter)

-I fully agree with his comments on pricing, but in the end if a winery sets a price and people buy the wine and the winery succeeds, I’m not sure there is a problem. That doesn’t mean I’m not, along with a lot of you, anticipating a lot of problems for a lot of high priced newcomers.

-I’d rather have the 05 Prieur Corton Bressandes than some random $45 bottle of Napa Cab, but there aren’t a lot of consumers for whom Napa Cabs and Burgs are competing for the same dollars.

-Turn that equation around, I’d much rather have a $45 Pavelot or Bize Savigny or a village wine from a producer like d’Angerville, Fourrier, Arnoux, Lafarge, etc, than ANY $200 bottle from CA.

-Both the above are kind of silly since it’s not an apples to apples comparison so it’s just a question of personal tastes. The better comparison is who would rather have a $45 Cab from Sonoma, Chile, Bordeaux, Tuscany, etc, vs a $200 Napa Cab…

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I have a hard time differentiating from red oak and white oak!.. [pillow-fight.gif]

What is happening and will continue to happen in the wine industry is long overdue and like the banking industry and others that went through a similar (yet uniquely different situation) the blindly arrogant will get their due.

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Matt Kramer offered a pretty telling account of the Napa Wine Auction in this month’s issue of the WS. Apparently, some of the cult owners were propping up bids due to lack luster response from those outside the valley. It’s not my place to judge another’s motivations (it is a charity event after all), but I think there is truth in Mr. Kramer’s suggestion that the bids came in to protect the Napa image/brand. I suppose that would be a good move if you intend to continue a positioning strategy of luxury. Thing is though, IMO, they need a new playbook. Luxury and ‘irrational exuberance’ are likely to be out of fashion for some time.

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Here were are again facing a crashing market that many have said ‘but this time, it’s different!’.