I am delighted to bring to your attention a new producer who is up and coming in the wine world.
As a matter of fact, he is so up and coming even CT has never heard of it before! I feel like I am on to something here, perhaps he will become the new Rousseau of Cote(sic) du Roussillon, showcasing the unbelievable Terroir of this never-heard-before region!
I am talking about the one and only…
Lator Raymond, with their flagship “Kasaro” bottling, from the ethereal 2014 vintage.
This was a discovery from my latest trip to China. It has hand-selected by the Sommelier of the Hilton hotel in Chongqing. No expense was spared on making this bottling, likely exclusive to this hotel. The minibar price of $14 sets a level of expectation, and I am glad to report the wine definitely meets that mark.
To reward the painstaking selection by the Somm, it was presented in the most suitable tumbler glass they could find. The plastic “WTF” style corkscrew opens the plastic cork with ease, revealing the word “chateau”; obviously a sign of quality wine.
The wine pours artificial ruby/violet. The nose unfurls from the glass with sugary juice essence, kool-aid, alcohol, balsamic VA and stale plum. Palate is pure grape juice with absolutely no distinct flavors. Finishes delightfully short.
If you are looking for a wine that I am happy to score at 50 points, look no further!
This finely handcrafted label deserves another picture. Obviously it is “Mis en bouteille en au chateau”, extra prepositions emphasize the quality production.
Even 9 years after the vintage this is so youthful I expect this to age as gracefully as DRC.
Anyway, pretty fun to try a fake wine. I am sure this liquid has never seen a) France nor b) a grape. It’s just diluted slightly alcoholic liquid with artificial flavorings and sweeteners.
I also noticed the silver sticker on the side, normally reserved for a competition award. But no, as far as I can tell, the silver badge simply confirms that this is, indeed, the real Chateau de Ch’ay-pas-quoi from Rousillon.
However, my internet sleuthing reveals that this was the silver medal winner of the 2014 Concours de la chimie aleatoire
That reminds me of the time when I was doing engineering for living, and we designed a product and had it manufactured in China. They machined bolt heads to the product but didn’t actually use bolts, and glued the whole thing together. It looked the part (hey, good wines have a silver sticker so we need one too!), it just didn’t do what others would expect them to do.
It also looks like “wine” when it’s depicted in network TV shows.
I guess actual wine is not permitted on the set per various workplace laws and rules, and I surmise that the people charged with putting something that is supposed to look like wine in its place usually do a lousy job of it, so you usually see something like you are depicting there.
[That could well be changing in recent years, plus I haven’t watched a network TV series in a long time, but it’s at least how it usually was over the last 25 years and probably longer]
Not at all. The “wine” comes not from the county of Roussillon but from the town of Roussillon in the Vaucluse, famous for its ochre deposits and mining, some ore of which is apparently used in the elevage.
