Sunday, August 20, 2017

The Sacred and the Profane - Why Write About Wines You Cannot Try?


I am asked constantly about why I include tasting notes in articles I write about wines that most everyone will never be able to try, let alone afford. Valid question. For example at Champagne Bollinger in 2016 not only did I taste through an amazing lineup that included the highly regarded 1955 vintage, but also the 1928 and the 1914, and no, those are no longer on the market and you can't find them anywhere. Earlier this year I met with Rupert Symington and tasted through many of his Ports including the 1970 and 1980 Vintage Ports. In the last few weeks I sat down and tasted the 1975 Georges De Latour from BV and their 2013 Rarity - sold in magnum with only 1,500 bottles made (at $1,250 a magnum.)

I understand it is maddening for some people, but we are curious creatures. We possess a desire to know things; even things we have no intention of doing. It’s why we read about travel to places we probably will never visit, or watch TV specials about divers who uncover hidden treasures when we don't scuba dive, or look at our computer screens of images from far beyond space into distant galaxies where no human ever been.

We are creatures of habit, but more importantly we are creatures of curiosity. We want to feel like we are a part of something greater. I am part of a large wine community and I’m curious when my colleagues get to taste through Madeira from the late 1800s, or others are faced with a vertical of exclusive Napa Cabernets. I too drool over these experiences and I live vicariously through my friends who are wine writers, publishers, and sommeliers. Yes I am privy to some astonishing things, and many things I never get to try. Just because I will never drive a fancy high-performance vehicle doesn't mean I don't wonder what it might be like (I came close on the autobahn, but that was a rental car). It’s the same with wine.

So when it comes to the 2013 Kata Cabernet Sauvignon, the reality is most of you will never buy this at $165. Does that mean you’re not curious about it? Does it mean it should remain in the purview of the wealthy and exclusive? No, it should not. A little background: The fruit - 80% of which is Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% being Petite Sirah - comes from the Beckstoffer Bourn Vineyard in Saint Helena, which dates from 1872. Only 20 barrels of this were made.

It is as seductive, beguiling and moody as any wine I have come across. It offers typical Cabernet fruit (Napa typically provides rich dark berry fruit with secondary red fruit notes) but it is also wrapped in a cloak of noir-like elements - shadows and fog, light and dark, a sense of poetry, literally as Robert Louis Stevenson suggested, in the bottle. This is a wine to savor, one that transports you, carries you to another place, one that ignites the senses. Some wines do this. Most do not. The Kata Cab is truly a wonder. I hope that whatever opportunity comes your way - an amazing wine, a trip to faraway lands, coffee with an old friend - that you seize upon it. Our lives are often, at least partially, defined by these moments.

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