After the 1855 Classification of Bordeaux and the signing of the Anglo-French commercial treaty in 1860, the demand for expensive, age-worthy Bordeaux wines shot through the roof.
However, the buying and selling of fine wine didn’t take hold in auction houses until roughly a century later. At the time, the U.S. faced an oil crisis and double-digit inflation, so the high-end wine trade was targeting big corporate bank accounts, and the well-to-do finance folks were some of the only people with enough money to indulge in these coveted bottles of Bordeaux.
As the U.S. economy returned to relative normalcy in the early 1980s, wine critic Robert Parker developed his famous 100-point wine reviewing system and began giving sky-high scores to many Bordeaux wines, further fueling public demand.
Ever since, the luxury wine market has ebbed and flowed. Bordeaux auction sales hit an all-time high in 2011, and now fine wine encompasses different age-worthy varieties from all over the world, from Napa Cab and Barolo to the wines of the Rhône Valley.
On this episode of “Wine 101,” Keith discusses the Bordeaux boom of the 1980s, then breaks down how we define “fine wine” in the modern era. Tune in for more.
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“Wine 101” was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big old shout-out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. Big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for creating the most awesome logo for this podcast. Also, Darby Cicci for the theme song. And I want to thank the entire VinePair staff for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.
*Image retrieved from BlueSkyImages – stock.adobe.com
The article Wine 101: Fine Wine Part III: Robert and The Inflation appeared first on VinePair.
