Cult or Cultured

An article by John Higgins for Derbyshire Times Elite magazine

Anything and everything seems to achieve cult status. Some trends last (Levi Jeans), some are flash-in-the-pan fads (Flat Eric) and some, if you excuse the pun, go round and around, in and out of fashion being "discovered" by the next generation (Yo-Yo). Wine is civilised, sophisticated and cultured how can a wine achieve cult status?

Achieving cult status is often a wine makers license to print money. Some estates (Chateau Margaux, Dom Perignon) have spent hundreds of years honing and refining their wines making them arguably the best in the world. This system is wonderful if generations after generation are prepared to accept posthumous glory for their insight, skill and craft. What if, as a wine maker, you are not prepared to wait that long?

One option is to create a stunning and pure wine, let the world see how good it is with magazine reviews and competition awards then restrict supply to drive demand spiralling out of control. The most famous protagonist has to be Cloudy Bay of New Zealand. Their Sauvignon Blanc is probably the most famous Sauvignon in the world and is certainly the most requested wine by name. I receive more emails per week regarding Cloudy Bay than all others combined! The wine is fantastic, rich and very lush gooseberry fruit flavours but you cannot get it for love let alone money. Its release in November each year sees a frenzy of activity amongst wine merchants lucky enough to secure an allocation… reminiscent of the old August 1st car registrations. A wonderful piece of marketing by Cloudy Bay.

Another route to cult status is by association. Join forces with a well-known international super winery and you suddenly gain their prestige and clout. Chateau Baron Philippe de Rothschild, for example, are sweeping across the world by collaborating with local wineries. Opus One is their collaboration with Robert Mondavi in California and Almaviva is created from their partnership with Concha-Y-Toro in Chile. Both have rapidly attained cult status in a very short space of time. Closer to home they have joined forces with Les Vignerons du Sieur d’Arques of the Languedoc to craft Baron’arques. A truly stunning wine on the cusp of cult status with its first vintage. Baron’arques is a way to achieve the Baron Philippe aspiration without having to sell you car.

The most cynical approach is with wineries creating wines to score highly in competitions and receive the fabled "Parker Points". Robert Parker, an American wine journalist, is singularly the most powerful man in the world of wine. When a wine gets 100 Parker Points it is liable to sell out overnight. With such marketing clout it makes commercial sense to get the best Parker Points possible. Some estates, such as Niepoort Port, do not actively seek Parker Points but when their 1997 Vintage Port was declared with 98 points they sold a years supply within a week with demand at 10 times the availability. If your wines are not to the particular palate of Parker why not make a wine just for him? Strange but true. Wineries have been known to make a wine with just one goal in mind, to please Parker and get a huge rating with the hope of selling big volumes at inflated prices. This is not a common practice and tends to feature more with the new world wineries.

Are cult wines worth the attention and acclaim? Generally I would say yes. You buy into the lifestyle associated with the wine. Friends and colleagues will savour every mouthful as you reminisce about a mythical wine. Quality is usually assured, as the makers dare not upset the apple cart. The down side with cult wines can be the price but usually availability is the key issue. I wonder how many people know of Cloudy Bay but have been unable to grab hold of a case. Form an orderly queue with your emails now!