The Wine World Gone Crazy: I guess wine ratings do mean everything

If you frequently visit the forums of the major wine publications, you’ve been noticing a fervor of activity as of late regarding the 2005 vintage of Bordeaux wines. As most of you are probably aware, Bordeaux is one of the premier wine regions in the world. Each year more than 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine (both white and red) are produced while people (enthusiasts and speculators) across the world wait anxiously for their release. Bordeaux wines are so popular that you can buy them up to two years before their release (called buying “futures”). These “futures” are intended to allow wine enthusiasts to secure bottles of their favorite, highly sought after wines year in and year out at a set “release price”. The reward of buying futures is that in a good vintage, such as 2005, the wines tend to go up in cost by the time the reach the market. This is especially true when a vintage is over-hyped (again as 2005), as is even more so when the US Dollar is very weak against the Euro. Read more

Wine in the pool

A Japanese Spa is turning water into wine. Well, not exactly “turning”, more like “emptying water, refilling with wine”, but you get the point. At Hakone Yunessun spa, guests are invited to spend time in a swimming pool filled with Beaujolais Nouveau.

For $30, the spa is giving its customers a taste of French culture by allowing them to imserse themselves in the French red wine. Many people have flocked to the spa to enjoy a once the once in a lifetime opportunity. I can’t say that I’ve ever considered bathing in wine, but it might be fun to do just once! Maybe just a bathtub full of a nice, 25 year old first growth Bordeaux…think of it as a giant decanter!

On a side note, the number one importer of Beaujolais Nouveau , Japan, is increasingly becoming a major importer is all types of premier wines.