"Bordeaux remains hallowed ground and is the leading high-quality wine region in the world," he said. He described a great wine as one "that appeals to both our hedonistic senses and our intellect, shows an intensity of flavor without being heavy, reflects its place of origin and shows individuality," said Parker Saturday last at a fund raiser held in Hotel Omni Shoreham in Washington DC.
Parker was speaking at the 10th Annual Heart's Delight Bordeaux Tasting, a three-day bacchanal and auction sponsored since beginning by MacArthur Beverages owned by Addy and Ruth Bassin in the memory of their son Bruce who died in 1998 at age 40 of a heart attack. The 52-year old store is considered the best in Washington DC and probably the best on the East Coast according to many.
The event has raised more than $8 million for the American Heart Association and its fight against coronary disease, said Heidi Arnold, director of the auction, according to a report in Washington Post. Robert Parker had helped launch the event.
A couple of weeks ago Parker pleasantly surprised the Bordelais by declaring 2008 "a totally unexpected and excellent vintage," with many wines on par with the outstanding 2000s and even 2005s. August had been rainy, which would have doomed a harvest a few decades ago but a substantial improvement made in the viticulture practices since then seems to have helped the harvest. Producers were also concerned as many had predicted that the fine-wine market would crash due to the recessionary economy. After Parker released his ratings, prices on some high-scoring wines soared.
Robert Parker who is considered world’s most influential wine critic had returned to emcee the event he helped launch.
Top Bordeaux wines are sold en Primeur, (futures) the spring following the vintage and are released to the market two years before they are actually delivered. Several top chateaux, sensitive to criticism of exorbitant price increases in recent vintages, had slashed their prices for 2008. Many buyers in Britain and the US decided to hold off the purchase this year due to the meltdown in world economy.
There has been reportedly an increase in buying interest after Parker made the statement a couple of weeks ago. |