MICHAEL GREEN’S WINE NOTES #245

1869 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild sold for £147,000 and Robertson Wine on the River.

I have been writing about wine for the past 35 years, and I never cease to be amazed by the ridiculous prices paid for some wines and by the ridiculous language used by some experts in writing about them (I describe myself as a wine enthusiast, not a wine expert).

At a recent auction in Hong Kong a bottle of 1869 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild was sold to a Chinese investor for a record £147,000, the equivalent of R1,650,000. One bottle of Bordeaux wine made 141 years ago. About R350,000 a glass. If you ever get to drink it.

Chateau Lafite is the most famous red wine vineyard in the world. It dates back to the 17th century, and in 1868 it was bought by Baron James de Rothschild for five million gold francs. The Chateau Lafite Rothschild of 1869 was regarded as one of the great vintages of the 19th century. Nevertheless various “experts” have doubted whether the quality of the wine now is much better than vinegar.

Apparently it was all right in 1969, when it was only a hundred years old. Michael Broadbent, an English expert, sampled it then and wrote that the wine was “mushroomy and a trifle sour on the nose at first, but like an old man with stiff joints, after a little exercise – fresh air and coaxing – it recovered, softened and cleared, the bouquet blossoming, on the palate very rich, soft, languorous and velvety, just a touch of decay at the edges”.

The Chinese, with their new-found affluence, seem to be mad about wine. At the same Hong Kong auction, a case of 2009 Chateau Lafite was sold for £43,000 (R480,000), R40,000 a bottle. This for a new vintage, one that is presumably in top condition.

Very high prices have occasionally been paid in South Africa, but these have usually been in charity auctions such as those conducted at the end of the annual Nederburg auction. And this is more rational. The money goes to charity and the buyer (usually a business man) gets some good publicity.

I have in the past kept a few good red wines for up to a dozen years in the hope that they would mature and improve. Even that is hardly justified these days. Most high quality South African reds are now made for early consumption, with an optimum maturation period of three to five years.

Whether the investment extravagances of the Chinese will pay off seems doubtful. Surely the time will come when hard-eyed realism will take over from romantic notions, and wine buyers will decline to pay a fortune for a bottle of old vinegar with a famous label.

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The Robertson wine area is a very go-ahead place, combining the production of good wines with a keen eye for entertainment in the larger sense and the goodwill that accompanies it. The Robertson valley recently held its annual open-air spring festival, called Robertson Wine on the River, and this apparently attracted 5,500 visitors. They sampled 300 wines from 40 Robertson wineries, browsed among country food stalls, shopped at the Robertson farmers’ market, took river cruises, and bought many arts and crafts items on offer.

Robertson is a very pleasant place, and its wines, once regarded rather patronisingly by the “experts”, are now of consistently high quality, and they are usually very good value. – Michel Green