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The company has come a long way since 2010 when our Correspondent had interviewed Adon Kumar, the Indian-origin head honcho, when it had 3.5 million wines on offer. It was a market leader even then and has been the most widely used Search engine for 15 years. It had a glitch-actually a limitation in the software. The names had to be spelled correctly-to the last alphabet or it would show ‘Results not found’, even though Adon had denied it at that time. The software is a lot better tweaked now and is user-friendly. Additionally, several interesting articles have made this an indispensable tool for the wine lovers and professionals all over the world.
Most Expensive wines
One common question asked me is which country produces the best wines in the world. Those of you who watched the Miss Universe Show in Florida last week would know how tough that question is to answer. But my universal answer is that I find Italian wines the best value for money wines in the Top Wines of the world. French Burgundy and Bordeaux are on top because of their proven longer lasting age. Even some of the German Mosel wines have achieved that iconic status.
Following are the ten most expensive wines in the Top 50 List of Most expensive Wines. It’s not even Bordeaux but Burgundy and only a couple of Mosel wines. The list is based on the average price of a standard bottle (750ml), counting all available vintages. There is quite a variation between the min and max Prices but is quite indicative of which areas and wines are ruling the roost. For the complete list of 50 click http://www.wine-searcher.com. It shows that the cheapest in the range (50) is yet another Burgundy which varies between $1203 and $ 5322.
| Position |
|
Wine
Name |
Avg.
Price (USD) |
Max.
Price (USD) |
1 |
|
Henri
Jayer Richebourg Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France |
$15,058 |
$22,260 |
2 |
|
Domaine
de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-Conti Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France |
$12,827 |
$49,709 |
3 |
|
Henri
Jayer Cros Parantoux, Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru, France |
$7,777 |
$13,984 |
4 |
|
Egon
Muller-Scharzhof Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese, Mosel,
Germany |
$7,128 |
$10,058 |
5 |
|
Domaine
Leflaive Montrachet Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune, France |
$5,754 |
$9,775 |
6 |
|
Domaine
Leroy Musigny Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France |
$5,440 |
$15,921 |
7 |
|
Joh.
Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese, Mosel, Germany |
$5,094 |
$7,166 |
8 |
|
Domaine
Georges & Christophe Roumier Musigny Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France |
$4,935 |
$13,835 |
9 |
|
Domaine
de la Romanee-Conti Montrachet Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune, France |
$4,535 |
$57,928 |
10 |
|
Henri
Jayer Echezeaux Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France |
$3,743 |
$15,000 |
Most Expensive Italian Wines
Relatively speaking, Italian wines
seem to be ridiculously low priced, with the most expensive wine in the
range of $723-1999, much lower than Top 50 wines. The web-searcher site covers
10 countries; for the complete list of 50 Most Expensive Italian wines, visit
1 |
|
Giuseppe
Quintarelli Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva DOCG, Veneto |
$723 |
$1,999 |
2 |
|
Masseto
Toscana IGT, Tuscany |
$682 |
$7,932 |
3 |
|
Giacomo
Conterno Monfortino, Barolo Riserva DOCG |
$664 |
$34,776 |
4 |
|
Falletto
di Bruno Giacosa 'Falletto' Riserva, Barolo DOCG |
$575 |
$1,219 |
5 |
|
Biondi
Santi Tenuta il Greppo Riserva, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG |
$561 |
$45,177 |
6 |
|
Case
Basse di Gianfranco Soldera Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG, Tuscany |
$472 |
$1,621 |
7 |
|
Miani
'Calvari' Refosco Colli Orientali del Friuli, Friuli-Venezia Giulia |
$452 |
$620 |
8 |
|
Romano
Dal Forno Vigneto di Monte Lodoletta, Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG |
$432 |
$600 |
9 |
|
Giuseppe
Quintarelli 'Alzero' Cabernet Veneto IGT, Italy |
$428 |
$1,069 |
10 |
|
Roagna
I Paglieri Crichet Paje, Barbaresco DOCG |
$425 |
$665 |
|
|
|
|
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Perfect Ten
There is an exclusive section that lists all the wines that have scored perfect 100 points on the Robert Parker scale. If you thought that Bordeaux or Burgundy topped his list of ‘Perfect Ten’ there is a surprise waiting for you. Rhone seems to enamour his palate a lot more.
Guigal seems to have scored the highest number of Perfect 100- with wines from Cote Rotie and Hemitage scoring a perfect 100 for 6 of its labels and 25 wines of different vintages going back to 1976. Guigal La Mouline Cote Rotie (Syrah/Viognier) has the highest number (11) of perfect vintages with 100 points-varying from 1976 ($2846+) to 2010 ($489+). Chapoutier Ermitage is the undisputed king of Hermitage with 6 labels and 23 wines scoring 100. The Chapoutier l’Ermite Blanc Hermitage is the top white wine of the chart with 9 vintages award - the perfect score.
Sin Qua Non (California (11) and Chateau Petrus Pomerol (9) are other contenders for the Top Spot for perfect scores and are way ahead of the Top First Growths of Bordeaux scoring less than 6 each. Harlan Estate, the cult Californian has scored 5 although if the Bond Estate wines which are also produced by Harlan, are added that takes the number to 9.
Other important Lists
You can find the Best Value for Money wines for under $10, $20, $40 and even $80. Wine Spectator Top 100 list may be useful to many people too. Of course, like all its other prices, these also vary widely and the list gives the min and max price. One has to be careful also that the taxes are usually not included and there is no guarantee that the product may actually be available-more particularly in the case of auction wines. But the lists are extremely helpful to a wide audience.
Wine Sales in India
Although, it may be quasi-legal to sell wines online, one has seen Madhuloka in Bangalore listing their wines regularly. In their case, the orders are routed through one of their retail stores which handle the logistics keeping in view the laws of the land.
With an ever expanding repertoire, Wine Searcher has truly become an indispensable tool and has become like Google for the wine price information. No wonder, when one needs to find the ball-park price of a wine, one simply wine-searches.
Subhash Arora
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