Too Rich? Is Expensive Wine Worth The Price?
by Anne Martin

Château Pichon-Longueville in Pauillac.

Occasionally, my husband (the chef) and I will do private tasting dinners together – he cooks and I do the sommelier thing. Sometimes wealthy clients will ask that I "choose a few bottles from the cellar" to pair with the dinner rather than my purchasing them from the LCBO. It’s a request which I am only too happy to comply with as it allows me to open bottles that, due to the cellaring time required and expense, most of us do not have access to. And this is where the question that I am often asked can sometimes be answered; "Is expensive wine worth it?" Can one taste the nuances in an "icon" wine sufficiently to warrant the seemingly exorbitant prices?

Whether these really expensive wines are worth it can depend on many factors to do with both the wine and the taster: was the wine properly stored? Did that heralded vintage live up to its promise? Are the high scores deserved? Is it a style of wine that the taster likes? Are the planets lined up to ensure that the taster’s body chemistry on the day be compatible the wine’s? (Perhaps that’s taking it a bit too far, but wines do "close down" at certain points during the aging process and it is possible to hit a bad time in its evolution. Plus, we have all had off days when nothing tastes that great.) All that said, occasionally one is lucky enough to taste one or more of those wines that do live up to all the hype.

I was fortunate enough to try two such wines quite recently when we did Canadian themed dinner paired with some of one of my client’s finest cellared bottles. With a foie gras appetizer on the menu, I headed straight for the Château d’ Yquem 1979 (a tough choice!).

You never know with these old bottles, but the cork came out smoothly and the colour was a light golden hue. (Some sweet wines can over oxidize and, thus, age before their time.) The Yquem was all the things Sauternes of its calibre should be – perfectly balanced in its sweetness with enough secondary savoury elements helped by the botrytis to keep it from cloying the palate. It’s still ripe fruit mirrored the sweet/sour flavours of the local yellow plums in the sauce. And this vintage of Yquem is only considered "good" by many critics! It rates an 88 from Robert Parker; however, you cannot put a score or a star rating to a fine wine that has been aged in the proper conditions and is then served in the right company with the perfect dish. A less complex wine that gets a 95 is not going to compare with the complexity and finesse which is where scoring wines falls down in my humble opinion.

When I opened the red that was to be served with the main course of wild caribou rack, I knew I had hit the wine jackpot. There is a certain elusive yet sublime scent that wafts up from the neck of a particularly outstanding bottle of red. It’s like all the best smells in the world have melded into one glorious note – meaty, floral, herbal, ripe blackcurrant and cedar. These are the sort of wines that make your head turn and cause you to choose a career in wine. There is always that "certain" bottle in every sommelier or wine writer’s past. On the palate it was plush and beautifully balanced with rich berry fruit, earthy notes and a velvety texture. The Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1982 is a wine to be remembered and indeed every person at the table that evening commented upon what an amazing wine it was. (What is unusual about that is that it almost never happens at these society parties where the wine and food are secondary to the social occasion.) It does rate a 99 from Parker which makes me grudgingly give him his due. The vintage is considered to be the best since 1961 and it certainly lived up to its reputation. It was a wonderful pairing with the roast caribou rack because it was able to stand up to, and lift, the earthy quality of the meat.

Do expensive wines merit their high prices? In this case, I believe that both of these wines did. They were special wines that are not made to drink every day. The price of the Chateau d’Yquem 1979 ranges between $500-$750 for a half bottle and the Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1982, which is merely a second growth, is valued at anywhere from $$600-$850 a bottle. Obviously, in these tight times this is a great deal of money, but if you were going to spend it on a bottle of wine, these are the ones to search out. They do cause one sit back and contemplate robbing a bank or winning the lottery in order to get a hold of just one more bottle.

Anne Martin is a Toronto-based sommelier, writer and wine consultant. Learn more about Anne, including her cellar and tasting services at www.annemartinwine.com.