What's up with James Laube? Part 2
Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 2:52 pm
I posted a question regarding James Laube’s use of the term “earthy” in the last Wine Spectator issue to express flaws in wine. We decided it made sense since he was talking about California wine. He baffled me again in the current issue, but I’m sure I am just again misinterpreting what he is saying.
He said, “I don’t think there’s anything rational, or sane, about paying $750 to $1,000 a bottle for any wine. That’s one reason I stopped buying Bordeaux a few years ago…Yes, I know there are plenty of excellent wines from Bordeaux that sell for a fraction of the first-growths’ prices, and yes, I still like to drink Bordeaux. I just have to egg by friends on to open theirs.”
So, first, where was he buying Bordeaux en primeur for $750 and $1,000 a bottle years ago? And why, when everybody else could buy it much cheaper?
Secondly, what could possibly be a reason besides price that could stop a man from buying a certain available kind of wine that he liked? Was it simply that he knew he could get it free?
If I knew that a “friend” was too cheap to buy a bottle of wine for himself, and instead came to my house to drink my wine in order to save a buck, he wouldn’t be invited back.
But, again, what am I missing? Maybe he bought with him an equivalently priced Cal Cab.
He said, “I don’t think there’s anything rational, or sane, about paying $750 to $1,000 a bottle for any wine. That’s one reason I stopped buying Bordeaux a few years ago…Yes, I know there are plenty of excellent wines from Bordeaux that sell for a fraction of the first-growths’ prices, and yes, I still like to drink Bordeaux. I just have to egg by friends on to open theirs.”
So, first, where was he buying Bordeaux en primeur for $750 and $1,000 a bottle years ago? And why, when everybody else could buy it much cheaper?
Secondly, what could possibly be a reason besides price that could stop a man from buying a certain available kind of wine that he liked? Was it simply that he knew he could get it free?
If I knew that a “friend” was too cheap to buy a bottle of wine for himself, and instead came to my house to drink my wine in order to save a buck, he wouldn’t be invited back.
But, again, what am I missing? Maybe he bought with him an equivalently priced Cal Cab.