FINE Wine & Champagne India - Winter 2018

In 2017, we witnessed the inauguration of a Twitter-obsessed
reality TV star as US President (whose grandfather came from
the Pfalz wine region in Germany); the ongoing tragicomedy of
North Korea; shocking events in Manchester and Las Vegas; a
never-ending war in Syria; and the devastating consequences
of Hurricane Harvey and the Mexican earthquake. Compared
to these events, fermented grape juice becomes even more
insignificant.
Nonetheless, let’s try and look to 2018 with optimism and
savour the chance to enjoy some great wines with friends and
family. Vintages that end in “8” can be auspicious.
Ten years on, the 2008 Bordeaux vintage is not seen as great
but those who know what they’re doing made some good and
well-priced wines. The modest Château d’Angludet excelled in
2008 because the Sichel team, fearing the inability to ripen the
grapes so late in the season, thinned the crop twice, so that in
the end they brought in only 30 hl/ha but it was of outstanding
quality.
Rhône 2008 was tricky, with 300mm of rain – the amount
that would normally fall in six months – poured on the hill
of Hermitage in just 24 hours on 3rd-4th September. No
Hermitage La Chapelle was made this year, so if you see one
please run a mile and report it to Wine Searcher. The Chinese
milk scandal of 2008, in which milk and infant formulas were
adulterated with melamine, which can cause kidney failure, is
a reminder that wine fakes and forgeries are not just a financial
hazard but also potentially a health hazard.
Burgundy 2008 was mixed. In the Loire, yields were reduced
by spring frosts in the west and by hail in the east. Champagne
was good, if not quite as good as 2002. Barolo and Tuscany
produced wines that were built to last. It was not a widely
declared Port year, with many producers offering Single
Quinta rather than Vintage Port, but Noval released a Vintage.
California was more than ok and Australia's fine wine regions
– Coonawarra, Margaret River, and Swan Valley in particular
– did well. There’s plenty of choice for a tenth anniversary.
France won the football – that’s soccer to US readers – World
Cup in 1998, which might be an excuse for the Bordelais to
open some bottles of the magnificent Right Bank ’98s. At a
Cheval Blanc vertical tasting and seminar held by the Institute
of Masters of Wine in 2006, the 1998 was by general consensus
the wine of the day, superior to 1989, 1990, and perhaps even
1982.
It was also a fine year in Alsace, the southern Rhône, and
Champagne. Red and white Burgundy were as good as each
other. The reds were tough and charmless when young but age
has smoothed the abrasiveness.
46 FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA