Revisiting old posts you made on FTLOP
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2024 6:40 pm
Tonight I was doing a FTLOP Forum search for Best Non-Declared Vintages, and for some reason, my search returned a post I created about 10 years ago with the title "Maderized Champagne versus Madeira...and the hype of 2011 vintage Port." Not remembering that I originally created this topic, I reread all the posts. It was an interesting read for several reasons: Primarily, I could see from the posts I made 10 years ago that my thinking about wine was at a different, more quizzical level. Reading my posts in this topic, I can almost step back in time and temporarily inhabit my perspective from a decade ago. Secondly, most of the questions I asked in my original topic, have now been answered with the hindsight of the past 10 years. Has anyone else on this forum had a similar experience? What have you learned either about yourself or your perspective on wine from reading you posts from a decade earlier?
For anyone wondering, I posed the following questions in that original post from 10 years ago:
1) Why isn't Madeira more popular in the U.S.?
2) Will the quality and scores of the 2011 Vintage Ports be enough to raise the popularity of Port wine in the US
Question #1 became irrelevant sometime around 2017 when vintage Madeira prices started shooting up at a rate that was almost on par with good Burgundy. Although, I never figured out why Madeira wasn't more popular in the U.S. prior to it steep rise in 2017, nor what led to Madeira's rapid ascent in popularity circa 2017.
Wine consumers have answered Question #2 over the past decade...Port, at least Vintage Port, does not seem anymore popular today as compared to 10 years ago. Colheita Tawnys have risen in popularity perhaps on their own or in part due to the rising interest in Madeira but Vintage Ports and other ruby variants like LBVs seem no more popular than they were in 2013 when I originally created the topic.
On a final note, my original post also broached the topic of oxidized/maderized Champagne. Eric Ifune took the time to point out that some Champagne is made in a deliberately oxidative style and recommended that I seek out a Champagne producer named Jacques Selosse. I'm sure I looked up the Selosse Champagnes and saw they retailed for about $220 and probably rolled my eyes at that price back in 2013. Fast forward to 2024 and I have been fortunate enough to have tried 9 bottles of Selosse since that time and consider myself even more fortunate to have a few bottles in my cellar.
For anyone wondering, I posed the following questions in that original post from 10 years ago:
1) Why isn't Madeira more popular in the U.S.?
2) Will the quality and scores of the 2011 Vintage Ports be enough to raise the popularity of Port wine in the US
Question #1 became irrelevant sometime around 2017 when vintage Madeira prices started shooting up at a rate that was almost on par with good Burgundy. Although, I never figured out why Madeira wasn't more popular in the U.S. prior to it steep rise in 2017, nor what led to Madeira's rapid ascent in popularity circa 2017.
Wine consumers have answered Question #2 over the past decade...Port, at least Vintage Port, does not seem anymore popular today as compared to 10 years ago. Colheita Tawnys have risen in popularity perhaps on their own or in part due to the rising interest in Madeira but Vintage Ports and other ruby variants like LBVs seem no more popular than they were in 2013 when I originally created the topic.
On a final note, my original post also broached the topic of oxidized/maderized Champagne. Eric Ifune took the time to point out that some Champagne is made in a deliberately oxidative style and recommended that I seek out a Champagne producer named Jacques Selosse. I'm sure I looked up the Selosse Champagnes and saw they retailed for about $220 and probably rolled my eyes at that price back in 2013. Fast forward to 2024 and I have been fortunate enough to have tried 9 bottles of Selosse since that time and consider myself even more fortunate to have a few bottles in my cellar.