Nick Passmore, writing on Forbes.com, gives a great summary of the vagaries of white wine production in Burgundy – including details on why a lot of white Burgundies are nothing special and why a few are stunningly expensive (and stunningly good).

Passmore also suggests that one-time top dog Chablis has fallen sufficiently out of fashion that it now represents a good value appellation. Read more about the white wines from the birthplace of chardonnay here.

Colloquially referred to as the "Big Dry", the drought affecting much of Australia is showing no signs of letting up.

 

A recent story in the Sydney Morning Herald predicts a sharply reduced 2008 vintage in Australia, with total yield up to a third lower than recent averages. With the antipodean summer now well underway, the general gloom seems warranted.

 

In what surely must be an exercise in feel-good presentation of unpleasant facts, the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology declares it’s a "Mixed March quarter rainfall outlook". Things look promising on a map with bold 50%, 60% and even 70% figures in various bands... until you realize that the figures represent the percentage chance of an area exceeding its normal rainfall figure. The real takeaway from the map: nowhere in Australia is likely to hit even normal precipitation rates this summer and among the areas least likely to do so are the quality wine producing states of South Australia and Victoria. Maybe time to stock up on Aussie wines before the prices rise...

If you ignore the pretentious tone and the "we mere mortals" asides that come across as a disingenuous effort to engender fellow-feeling with you, the humble reader, you'll enjoy this book review by Oxford University lecturer and philosopher Christopher Shields on the subjectivity of wine tasting.

The book he’s reviewing is “Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine” by University of London Philosophy Professor Barry C. Smith. Buy it here or just read the review....

And if you're feeling all Sherlock Holmsey, you might want to pair that London story with this New York story.

It’s the only magazine that calls itself a newspaper, and London’s Economist is like one in that most articles are short and offer a brief overview in a bold, authoritative tone. One of this week’s “leader” comments (an opinion piece by magazine staff) skewers the concept of terroir and summarizes the potential of transgenic grapes.

And, aside from the reference to “those with jaded palettes” (fast-living painters bored with available wines?), the linked article on grape genetics has a decent summary of new developments in the field and what they might mean for wines of the future.

It’s pompous and snobbish, complete with disdain for the nouveaux riches and photography-as-art, and he just can’t bring himself to say straight out that Robert Parker’s high approval is a good indication of a wine’s quality, but Bruce Palling’s short piece on a rare and sought-after Bordeaux legend, Chateau Lafleur, is worth reading.

Cut through the fluff and there's an interesting snapshot of life at the top of the Bordeaux food chain.

Everybody loves to trip up an expert, and that makes perfect sense: who wants to defer to a fake?

Here's an interesting recounting by Jonah Lehrer of a couple of rigged tastings designed to fool wine professionals which, within their own terms, succeeded.

I'll be the first to admit I've been influenced by "groupthink" and swayed by suggestion. I've also sometimes failed to see what all the fuss was about over a particular wine or been the only one to rave, but in my experience there's a lot more agreement than the Boston newspaper challenge found.

What should you do about wine critics? Find one whose palate is generally similar to yours; find one whose suggestions always (or nearly always) work for you. The modifiers and descriptors - especially the more arcane ones - are not that important (and in any case will likely change if food is introduced), but they're nevertheless essential.

Meanwhile, here's what this would-be debunker has to say.

PS: Gotta love the considered rebuttals.

Yes, the 100-point system has its value and I use it myself. In practice, it's actually a 10-point system: 85 is minimum and 95 is maximum. Wines scoring below that don't really matter (though they might be fine to quaff) and there are very few wines scoring above - and the producers don't hold free tastings often. There are many stories of small wineries seeing their prices double upon receiving a good score from RP, but the 100-point system is now being blamed for soaring prices at the top end.

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With the market for fine wines booming and the number of auctions worldwide rising, there is more and more "wine fraud". Savvy and unscrupulous people can dress up an excellent wine worth a few hundred dollars into a rare collector's item worth many thousands, fooling even the experts. Here's a remarkable expose of one such rogue by Patrick Radden Keefe in the New Yorker. The case against him is still unresolved but the evidence is pretty damning.

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