Being one of the most elastic markets in the world of fine wine, Bordeaux can be a bit of a rollercoaster from year to year. But as opposed to waiting in line for the thrill ride, the U.S. consumer has recently had the luxury of getting on the ride whenever they want. The question now is whether Bordeaux has an experience that’s exciting enough for folks to line up for, if they can capture the attention of new thrill seekers, or if the ride itself is outdated and needs to be replaced.
Read MoreHow a bottle (or case, or pallet) of wine is stored directly impacts how it will age, evolve, and—most importantly—taste once the bottle is opened. It’s why we’ve built out our own storage facilities in San Francisco, Redwood City, and San Carlos and have recently partnered with RareStorage, an industry-leading wine storage company here in California, to increase our storage offerings. We know it’s always worth it to protect the integrity of great wine, whether it’s a crisp rosé for this weekend’s dinner party or a pristine Vosne-Romanée to be uncorked in a century. Read on to discover how to ensure your wines are mesmerizing rather than vinegar when it’s time to (finally) pop the cork.
Read MoreThis has been a fascinating year for Bordeaux, one that could stand to reshape the market for a long time to come. At the heart of it was the 2022 En Primeur campaign, which not only offered a truly unique (and often “surprising”) expression of some of the region’s finest wines, but also served as a major inflection point for demand and supply.
Read MoreAll in all, 2021 is potentially an exceptional vintage; its only downside is limited availability due to low yields and the giant void left in the market from many wineries deciding not to produce any red wines in 2020. It's still fairly early days in the 2021 release cycle, but the wines that have already hit the market are showing this is potentially a vintage for the ages.
Read MoreWeatherEye Vineyard, on the ridgeline of Red Mountain in Washington, is without doubt one of the most exciting vineyards anywhere in the United States: a site so radical, its implementation has been 15 years in the making! The incredibly rocky, volcanic soils, constant wind, elevation, and lengthy growing season give the wines immense concentration and structure. Even though the vines are relatively young, the intensity of the wines here is already formidable.
Read MoreI have long believed that the Santa Cruz Mountains are a truly special place to grow grapes. This rugged coastal range forced up by the collision of two tectonic plates has an incredible bounty of complex soils. It’s a geological kaleidoscope of ancient uplifted seabed, volcanic deposits, and metamorphic rock bent and twisted by the immense pressures below. All of this is churned up by the San Andreas fault and weathered down by several millennia of coastal storms.
Read MoreAfter traveling around the world and talking to one producer after another, you can tell the difference between a vintage that needs to be explained, and one that speaks for itself. The 2021s in both Sonoma and Napa seem to be the latter.
Read MoreThis June, I got to experience the incredible diversity and quality of Australian wine firsthand. Spending two weeks in Australia, I managed to visit with 80 producers across Victoria and South Australia, tasting hundreds of wines and meeting the incredible people who craft them. Many of these producers have all the drive, attention to detail, and raw talent that you’d find anywhere in Burgundy, Napa, or Piedmont. So why does Australian wine make up less than 1% of the wines that we sell here at K&L?
Read MoreTerah Bajjalieh of Terah Wine Co. is a queer woman of color who owns and operates one of the coolest natural wine companies in California right now. She has had a long and distinguished career, working 13 consecutive harvests around the world to hone her craft. She first started making wine in a friend’s garage, before starting Terah Wine Co. She only works with organic and biodynamic vineyards and focuses on a minimal intervention winemaking style.
Read MoreEarlier this week, the K&L Champagne team kicked off our annual staff summit with a dinner hosted by Billecart-Salmon. It has become a welcome tradition to start off our yearly survey of all the grande marque producers with a sushi dinner at my place featuring the wines of this great house. Christian Esser, who just returned from a visit to Billecart, and Eric Lecours presented the wines and treated Scott Beckerley, Michael Benoit, Philip Roufail, Will Langhi, Cinnamon and me to a great spread from Kanpai sushi in Palo Alto.
Read MoreK&L Auctions is one of the most user-friendly and dynamic places to sell, reshape, and add to your collection. We offer market-low fees, up-to-the-minute online inventory, motivated customers from around the world, and a team of passionate experts to assist you in achieving maximum success. While we have our teams at the ready to talk you through current trends ([email protected]), we also wanted to share a snapshot of where the auction market stands this summer.
Read MoreThis Wednesday I was invited to dinner at Selby’s by Louise Bryden, head of research and development and part of the winemaking team at Champagne Ruinart. She is touring the West Coast for the release of the Ruinart Blanc Singulier Brut Nature, the first new cuvée to be released by Ruinart since the non-vintage blanc de blancs over 20 years ago. It was a fantastic evening, and we were even served by the Ruinart Challenge winner—Lindsey Young from Selby’s—who had taken the prize that very morning in San Francisco!
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