Authentification of the Grands Crus

THE solution…

Mabye not, would be the correct answer.

In many (even serious) newspapers, such as Les Echos, you could read in France the past week an article about a way to identify the bottles of Grands Crus without opening them.

Sure, this is a great step forward in the fight against fake Bordeaux… however, this revolution enable to attest the authenticity of the bottle. My fellow readers, the BOTTLE… which means that if you happen to buy a nice Yquem 1947, drink it and refill it properly, it will appear as a brand old Yquem 1947.

This is eventually a wonderful invention to enable poor wine admirer to offer them unreachable bottles. Then the internet provides you with Ebay: a perfect cycle is closed.

Now, I only need to find a way to remove the cork without harming it…

 

The main question surrounding this “invention” is about the need of it. Or the meaning. Quite obvious is that this reveals the shift in the value of those bottles of Grand Cru. Once they used to be drank : no use of identification. Now they are one the one hand, a way to earn money and on the other hand, a way to prise oneself : can anybody says any longer that he drinks Mouton-Rothschild because it is its favourite wine, without thinking at the same time that the bottle is worth 800€ ? Can there still be honest enjoyment when it is no longer a bottle you can open with friends to celebrate the end of the week ? 

The destiny of most of those bottle can be split in two category : collection or luxury. Either they will spend their life in cellar(s), sold to a higher and higher price, either they will end up in some extravagant and showing off restaurant, put in display (a well as the bill) and drank like a glass of coke.

And this is the story of what we consider the better wines in the world : never to be tasted.