please tell me this is a joke
- Thread starter scottreiner
- Start date
Well, I can't see the 'joke'... What's so strange?
Basically this is just a return to the sources. Rioja is a stepdaughter of Bordeaux - the first historic wineries created in the 1860s in the region by the Marqus de Riscal and the Marqus de Murrieta were built along Bordeaux lines and with Bordeaux 'matres de chai' as winemakers - as was Vega Sicilia itself in the same decade but 100 miles south on the Duero river. The influence of Bordeaux has been obvious ever since then. Many Rioja enologists have been trained at Bordeaux University.
What this news item is is basically incorrect - Benjamin de Rothschild is just a minority shareholder in Lafite, which plays no role in the joint venture. He's of course the owner of the rather lowly Chteau Clarke. But he's also the richest member of the Rothschild clan currently. The Alvarez family of Vega Sicilia is also very wealthy. Both facts show in this deal... They've both committed a total of 26 million euros to the project, they've been buying small plots of old vines in Rioja Alavesa, and they've announced that the final estate will have 110 hectares of them - the size of the largest Bordeaux 'chteaux' or of Vega Sicilia itself. They made their first experimental batch in a rented facility last year but will not sell any wine before 2017.
It's a respectable project, with some credibility because of the Vega Sicilia credentials and of their dedication to fine old vineyards, despite its mega-bucks, Bordelais type of hoopla.
(Then again - is it really mega-bucks? 26 million euros is exactly what LVMH paid for the small Numanthia-Termes winery and estate in Toro three years ago.)
BTW, if Warren Edwardes read elmundovino.com instead of sensationalist non-wine web sites, he would have known about this, without any Lafite fluff, a month ago...
Basically this is just a return to the sources. Rioja is a stepdaughter of Bordeaux - the first historic wineries created in the 1860s in the region by the Marqus de Riscal and the Marqus de Murrieta were built along Bordeaux lines and with Bordeaux 'matres de chai' as winemakers - as was Vega Sicilia itself in the same decade but 100 miles south on the Duero river. The influence of Bordeaux has been obvious ever since then. Many Rioja enologists have been trained at Bordeaux University.
What this news item is is basically incorrect - Benjamin de Rothschild is just a minority shareholder in Lafite, which plays no role in the joint venture. He's of course the owner of the rather lowly Chteau Clarke. But he's also the richest member of the Rothschild clan currently. The Alvarez family of Vega Sicilia is also very wealthy. Both facts show in this deal... They've both committed a total of 26 million euros to the project, they've been buying small plots of old vines in Rioja Alavesa, and they've announced that the final estate will have 110 hectares of them - the size of the largest Bordeaux 'chteaux' or of Vega Sicilia itself. They made their first experimental batch in a rented facility last year but will not sell any wine before 2017.
It's a respectable project, with some credibility because of the Vega Sicilia credentials and of their dedication to fine old vineyards, despite its mega-bucks, Bordelais type of hoopla.
(Then again - is it really mega-bucks? 26 million euros is exactly what LVMH paid for the small Numanthia-Termes winery and estate in Toro three years ago.)
BTW, if Warren Edwardes read elmundovino.com instead of sensationalist non-wine web sites, he would have known about this, without any Lafite fluff, a month ago...
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