And the identities of the wines poured for the notoriously difficult Master of Wine exam have just been released. Sam catches us up on all the week's most interesting wine news. Above, hailstones scooped off the ground at Maison Piron in Beaujolais.
2023 Bordeaux en primeur
On Monday 17 June Nick Martin of Wine Owners published his thoughts on the 2023 Bordeaux en primeur campaign – which concluded on the 13th. Martin has been reporting, via our Members’ forum, on the campaign since 25 April and highlighting the best values. He discussed that the campaign started out with excitement and optimism when Château Lafite-Rothschild released the 2023 at a 31% price cut over 2022. Many others followed with similarly heavy cuts. But the sky-high prices of 2022 were just too high, so making cuts based on those prices still meant that back vintages, including the incredible 2019s, can be purchased for more or less the same price as 2023 releases… What has resulted is quite a bit of unofficial further discounting. Martin concludes that this year did not see the cuts necessary to keep en primeur relevant and if it would like to survive, more change is necessary.
Master of Wine Exam released
I’ve told you on this newscast that I missed the first week of the month because of this exam but I didn’t tell you what the exam entailed. So, the quick background – the title of ‘Master of Wine’ is the world’s most globally respected wine credential. Getting through this programme requires passing three stages and takes a minimum of three years. In the second stage you’re required to take a famously difficult four-day-long exam where you taste 36 wines blind and write 13 essays on viticulture, oenology, bottling and logistics, marketing and contemporary issues. The exam is held once per year during the first week of June.
This past Monday 16 June the questions asked and wines poured in that exam were released to the public. This was the first time that students were able to see what the wines were. And I have to tell you that reading through the list did not feel great!
If you look on our site you’ll see that there were some fairly straightforward questions – especially if you’re not taking the exam blind – such as identifying the variety, quality and origins of pairs of Riesling, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc and then there were some absolutely brutal questions such as being asked to identify and explain the winemaking for Vidal Icewine, Austrian Beerenauslese, Vin Santo, Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, and Demi-Sec Vouvray … If you’re curious about what this whole thing entails that content is free on our site!
Hail in Bordeaux and Beaujolais, fires in Sonoma
On Tuesday 18 June Bordeaux was hit by a major hailstorm that affected more than 1,900 ha (4,695 acres) in the Médoc – which constitutes around 35% of the region’s total planted acreage (5,500 ha). According to French publication Vitisphere the most affected areas in the Médoc lie by the mouth of the Gironde estuary, where up to 80% of the crop has been lost. The storm then progressed south-east and on 19 June hit Bordeaux’s right bank, damaging vines in the communes surrounding Libourne including St-Émilion, Fronsac, Lalande-de-Pomerol and Lussac. Some winemakers are estimating as much as 90% crop loss; Laurent Rousseau, owner of Vignobles Rousseau, reported that he has lost his entire harvest.
Later that same day, northern Beaujolais was hit by golf-ball-sized hailstones in Chiroubles, Fleurie, Moulin-à-Vent, Juliénas and St-Amour. Natasha Hughes MW passed on the news to our senior editor Tamlyn Currin that Edouard Parinet, who owns Château du Moulin-à-Vent, thinks he’s lost around 15% of his crop while Benjamin Passot, of Domaine Benjamin Passot, estimates an average of 50% loss from his various properties.
Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, fires have sprouted up throughout California. Point Fire, which erupted just north-west of Healdsburg in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley on Sunday 16 June, enveloped 1,000 acres (405 ha) in seven hours, forcing the evacuation of 300 people. The latest reports say the fire is 70% contained and evacuation orders have been lifted. Only one winery saw minor damage to vineyards and, as grapes still have quite a while before they undergo veraison, there is no risk of smoke damage. Still, it’s not the best way to kick off summer.
2,000-year-old wine discovered in Spain
This week The Journal of Archaeological Science reported that the oldest wine ever discovered in liquid form was recovered from a Roman mausoleum in southern Spain.
The mausoleum was discovered in 2019, while a family was renovating their home in Carmona, a city just west of Seville. The family called the authorities, who brought in a team of archaeologists to examine the site. They uncovered six urns in the mausoleum’s funeral chamber, one of which was filled with murky reddish-brown liquid. When the liquid was analysed, it was found that the polyphenols and mineral salt profile of the liquid closely resembled the profile of white wines in the nearby area of Jerez. The Guardian interviewed José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola, an organic chemist at the University of Córdoba, whose team was responsible for the analyses. At the end of the interview he admits he hasn’t tasted it, explaining, ‘It’s not in the least bit toxic – we’ve done the microbiological analysis … The liquid is a bit murky because of the bone remains. But I guess you could filter it and try it. I’d rather someone else tried it first, though.’
What do you think? Would you try it?
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