9.20.2011

Bordeaux-based négociants start delivering their 2009 Bordeaux. And also Hommage à Jacques Perrin 2009 from Chateau de Beaucastel.

On James Molesworth's blog, the Bordeaux and Rhone Valley wine specialist from the U.S. magazine Wine Spectator, we recently discovered a big news: "Château de Beaucastel's Hommage à Jacques Perrin Grande Cuvée Cracks the Place de Bordeaux: The Rhône wine becomes the first non-Bordeaux French wine to be offered by Bordeaux-based négociants."

This is a very important news in a market place that was generally closed to only wines from Bordeaux. In fact, if it is the first time for a French but non Bordeaux wine, this is not the case for some other great international wines in recent years : Chile's Viña Almaviva and Opus One from California, both joint ventures of Château Mouton-Rothschild or both super Tuscans Masseto and Solaia are already offered by the same pool of negociants.

In fact, if Hommage à Jacques Perrin can not, in any way, deny its noble and great origins from Chateauneuf du Pape, it is true that the famous Chateau de Beaucastel has much in common with Bordeaux greatest Chateaus. Its history dating back to 1697, the uniqueness of its terroir located at the northern limit of the appellation, the quality and fabulous ageing potential of its wines... all these remind us of the essential qualities of Bordeaux greatest wines. We should also note that Robert Parker has been covering Beaucastel for many years and gives the best scores as he does for Bordeaux most coveted wines.

As James Molesworth puts it, "The system typically favors the biggest names with the longest histories and tends to insulate the top châteaus from the rigors of working the marketplace themselves." It is in fact part of the answers given by the Perrin Family: "The main reason we decided to put some Hommage on the place is because we are always saying 'no' to people who are asking to buy Hommage, as demand for the wine is always much more than we have," said Marc Perrin. "The place de Bordeaux's job is to allocate wines, so it frees us from that. Instead of spending time on the phone saying 'no' to people, we can concentrate on the vineyards and wines."

With 6000 bottles produced - only in great vintages - Hommage à Jacques Perrin is a much coveted wine
. As a conclusion, James Molesworth mentions the words of Perrin on the secondary market: "Also, on Hommage there has historically been a secondary market as some people don't drink the wine, but sell it again. This is very unorganized and provenance becomes an issue, which can be damaging for the reputation of the wine and for customers. The place has a way of cleaning that up."