The Hazard of Knowing Something
I feel lucky to be surrounded by really great neighbors and almost all of us have something in common: we enjoy a good round of drinks and conviviality on a frequent basis. Regardless of beverage of choice, my neighbors are quite sophisticated, nice, well-rounded, smart people – the kind of people you’d like to know.
My neighbor directly across the street (let’s call him G) and the genius neighbor next to him are both tequila aficionados and really know a lot about it – great fun for me because I am learning about that really cool intoxicant. Still they both like wine but confess that they don’t know a lot about it, which must be the only reason G drinks Yellow Tail regularly or sticks with tequila. Yet others in the ‘hood hail from the Bay area and thus are Napa savvy people.
G is also a genius guy (he ran for Congress in last November’s election – I'm certain that a bigger war chest would have affected his move to DC) This past holiday G and his awesome family went to Mexico for several weeks and stayed with his wife’s family. G’s father-in-law is a very high-ranking military official there and was given a Christmas present from a colleague, which was a case of wine.
Christmas dinner in the household was greatly anticipated by the family because G looked at the wine label and announced to everyone in complete, politician-like confidence and sincerity that this wine was going to “blow them away; amongst the very best wines in the world; will be a life-altering wine experience.” Wow, that’s brave! But it’s kind of like what happens when you hear all of the hype about a new movie for weeks and then when you finally see it, it’s a letdown. In this true story, the worst is yet to come.
On this fine Christmas day, family gathered around a feast and wine was poured with overt excitement about the very thing that would transform everyone’s opinion about what great wine should be. As you may expect, everyone conveyed similar sentiments, “So? What is this? This is impressive? You call this incredible?” Needless to say, my dear friend had egg on his face at the moment.
Still he brought a bottle home for me to check out and he really wanted to know what went wrong and with a sad little smile, I knew immediately. The label bares the name Château Lafitte 2001, Mengin, Premières Côtes de Bordeaux. Mengin is the mystery here but later research revealed that Charles Megin was a 19th century artist in France and is now famous for his canvas rendition of Sappho (who on this earth doesn’t love that?).
The real problem is that G thought this was the famed and coveted Château Lafite-Rothschild (spelled with one ‘t’) from the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux. Even though 2001 was a hit-and-miss vintage Lafite-Rothschild still scored a very respectable 96 with Wine Spectator but really should not be enjoyed until at least 2011 or 2012. It just takes bottle time to get all of the greatness a 1st Growth Bordeaux can ultimately give to you.
I pulled a real bottle of Lafite-Rothschild out of storage for G to see the difference. I am really shocked that Lafite lets this wine plagiarism go on without at least some sort of legal action. I know that imitation may be considered the greatest form of flattery but when you’re Lafite-Rothschild, who needs any more flattery? To allow a lesser wine clearly usurp your own brand is just wrong. Never mind that about 8,000 acres in Côtes de Bordeaux produces 25 million bottles of wine from this appellation each year! It is unconscionable to produce such a label and fortunately it is not even available in America as far as I can determine. To me this is one notch away from outright wine counterfeiting because it rips off unsuspecting people.
G knew just enough to recognize the name Lafite and egg or no egg, he was duped by our often un-navigateable system of understanding wine. Sure enough, the name rings a familiar bell and after all, it is from Bordeaux so unless you’re into wine on a level deeper than Yellow Tail, how would you know? Here’s the issue: if you really want to learn about wine, then learn about wine. This is one of those situations we see on MythBusters when they tell you, “don’t try this at home” or doctors that implore you to not diagnose yourself unless you’ve actually gone to med school. Then you know enough to go see a doctor. Obviously the consequences are not as dire as the last two examples but who among us can afford to lose street cred with the in-laws?
David Boyer
My neighbor directly across the street (let’s call him G) and the genius neighbor next to him are both tequila aficionados and really know a lot about it – great fun for me because I am learning about that really cool intoxicant. Still they both like wine but confess that they don’t know a lot about it, which must be the only reason G drinks Yellow Tail regularly or sticks with tequila. Yet others in the ‘hood hail from the Bay area and thus are Napa savvy people.
G is also a genius guy (he ran for Congress in last November’s election – I'm certain that a bigger war chest would have affected his move to DC) This past holiday G and his awesome family went to Mexico for several weeks and stayed with his wife’s family. G’s father-in-law is a very high-ranking military official there and was given a Christmas present from a colleague, which was a case of wine.
Christmas dinner in the household was greatly anticipated by the family because G looked at the wine label and announced to everyone in complete, politician-like confidence and sincerity that this wine was going to “blow them away; amongst the very best wines in the world; will be a life-altering wine experience.” Wow, that’s brave! But it’s kind of like what happens when you hear all of the hype about a new movie for weeks and then when you finally see it, it’s a letdown. In this true story, the worst is yet to come.
On this fine Christmas day, family gathered around a feast and wine was poured with overt excitement about the very thing that would transform everyone’s opinion about what great wine should be. As you may expect, everyone conveyed similar sentiments, “So? What is this? This is impressive? You call this incredible?” Needless to say, my dear friend had egg on his face at the moment.
Still he brought a bottle home for me to check out and he really wanted to know what went wrong and with a sad little smile, I knew immediately. The label bares the name Château Lafitte 2001, Mengin, Premières Côtes de Bordeaux. Mengin is the mystery here but later research revealed that Charles Megin was a 19th century artist in France and is now famous for his canvas rendition of Sappho (who on this earth doesn’t love that?).
The real problem is that G thought this was the famed and coveted Château Lafite-Rothschild (spelled with one ‘t’) from the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux. Even though 2001 was a hit-and-miss vintage Lafite-Rothschild still scored a very respectable 96 with Wine Spectator but really should not be enjoyed until at least 2011 or 2012. It just takes bottle time to get all of the greatness a 1st Growth Bordeaux can ultimately give to you.
I pulled a real bottle of Lafite-Rothschild out of storage for G to see the difference. I am really shocked that Lafite lets this wine plagiarism go on without at least some sort of legal action. I know that imitation may be considered the greatest form of flattery but when you’re Lafite-Rothschild, who needs any more flattery? To allow a lesser wine clearly usurp your own brand is just wrong. Never mind that about 8,000 acres in Côtes de Bordeaux produces 25 million bottles of wine from this appellation each year! It is unconscionable to produce such a label and fortunately it is not even available in America as far as I can determine. To me this is one notch away from outright wine counterfeiting because it rips off unsuspecting people.
G knew just enough to recognize the name Lafite and egg or no egg, he was duped by our often un-navigateable system of understanding wine. Sure enough, the name rings a familiar bell and after all, it is from Bordeaux so unless you’re into wine on a level deeper than Yellow Tail, how would you know? Here’s the issue: if you really want to learn about wine, then learn about wine. This is one of those situations we see on MythBusters when they tell you, “don’t try this at home” or doctors that implore you to not diagnose yourself unless you’ve actually gone to med school. Then you know enough to go see a doctor. Obviously the consequences are not as dire as the last two examples but who among us can afford to lose street cred with the in-laws?
David Boyer
This story is absolutely true. Until I get a $100k raise in salary, I will have to stick to $10 wine (i.e. Yellow Tail, mainly the Shiraz/Malbec mix), occasionally leech off of David's fantastic wine collection, and $200 / bottle Tequila with my buddy Steve!
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G - you don't need a salary increase of $100K to drink well but at least you're getting your daily dose of resveratrol, even with Yellow Tail. Besides your tequila (and Steven's) is the equivalent of drinking a 1st Growth Bordeaux for aficionados of blue agave, so overall life is pretty good!
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Well..., it is a sad story, but some of us actually have friends who are generous and know their wine well, I got THE REAL - 1988 Lafite-Rothschild.
Thanks again D - your friend I.
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I. - Yes it's a sad story but someone has to tell it. Indeed, you do have the real thing, which not a lot of people can say but to really get the most enjoyment out of it, you must actually drink it - we'll talk okay?
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