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The Christian church year comes to mind: it begins in Advent, with the time of preparation, and ends in autumn, after Thanksgiving. Divided, depending on the denomination, into Christmas circle, Easter circle and Trinity time. The liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church also has a biennial and triennial rhythm to proclaim the message of salvation.

Château Pichon-Longueville Baron is once again one of the top wines in the classic style

No, I don't want to strain the analogy too much, but the Easter cycle, which ends with Pentecost, is the time of crucial rituals for any Bordeaux lover. Lent is given up, but then - around Holy Week - the pilgrimage to the promised land of Bordeaux begins.

Traders, journalists, ennobled and self-proclaimed experts move - for one week - from château to château, from reception to reception, from tasting to tasting. Five hundred, eight hundred, even a thousand barrel samples are proudly - but also weary and tired - reported.

The Bordeaux friend at home is waiting for the first "smoke signals" from the land of longings. The central question is taken far less from Christianity than from the world of fairy tales: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is ....?" No, not the fairest, the best (wine) in all the land. Years ago, one had to wait, hope, tremble, until all the notes were processed and published. Now, in the age of the internet, everything happens in a flash. Every day, the augurs report what they have seen, sniffed and tasted in the glasses.

Arrivage 2004: The Bordeaux crates are piled up for the last time in the living room

Then, with Easter long gone, the first dots start to appear: Some keep it to the hundreds scale, others to the twenties, the more modest merely to the fives. The notes on this are monotonous, mostly banal and often culminate in short formulas like "wow", or somewhat more differentiated: "flowery, fruity, crisp, fresh and delicious". The only somewhat more measurable clue is the tannins and alcohol content, such as "fresh tannin, noticeable alcohol, harmony not yet found".

May - June: Wine magazines have a common theme: Bordeaux 2006

Curious, obsessed with finding the truth in the new Bordeaux vintage, I at least clung to the statistics: one of the many wine critics for a major wine magazine assessed and described 359 barrel samples, the word "delicious" appears 15 times, the term "spicy" 19 times and "angular" as many as 22 times, tannins are mentioned 124 times, of which one time there is too much, the other time a bit little and "wood" appears 67 times.

Do I know more now - can I get closer to the "truth"? The serious Bordeaux friend gets into stress now at the latest. The young wine - still hidden for almost two years in the deep cellars of the Bordeaux châteaux - is already pushing its way onto the market, the "old" one - bottled, bought and paid for two years ago - is gradually arriving. And all this in the period before and after Easter. The bottles and crates pile up: usually in a corner of the cellar, with me - for the purpose of division and entry into the Bordeaux statistics and storage - to the horror of my loved ones in the living room.

And new "assessments" arrive daily. Seriously, as I tend to do with Bordeaux, I enter points and judgments neatly into an Excel file. This is degenerating into work. So far, there are seven critics with their points and comments, after all 3,500 entries, the longest about 1,000 keystrokes.

Barrel makers at Château Margaux: the wines are now resting in these barrels

Bordeaux fever is on the rise: Waiting for the master Robert Parker: around him and his judgment the price spiral turns. He is taking more and more time, making us wait for him. But before Whitsun, the time has come: the master has scored.

Only now does it really start: the prizes. In the past, it was the big players who set the tone and determined the price level. Now the big players come out with their price ideas at the very end. Quasi, when the market has been explored. In the meantime, they are moving in an environment where it is no longer the love of wine but luxury that determines the market.

On the test bench: barrel samples from Clos Badon to Valandraud

So now the small ones come first, they use the time advantage for the first sales. Then it's the mediums that are pushing onto the market and triggering the first heated discussions about the price-performance ratio. And finally, the expensive and very expensive wines wait for Pentecost (hoping for the Holy Spirit?), in order to then, just in these days - in the middle of June - start the purchase "en primeur".

Now it's the Bordeaux lover's turn again. What should he subscribe to - buy, so to speak as a forward transaction - or wait? Even if he buys now, the wines will not arrive in his cellar for another two years (see Catholic liturgical rhythm): Arrivage. Only then can he review what he has already paid for - based on his reasoning and faith. A lot of money, for fewer and fewer bottles.

A year ago, I got off, off this liturgical merry-go-round (see column "Farewell to Bordeaux"). I no longer participate, or only marginally. The 12 and 6 cases from the 2004 vintage are stacking up for the last time. Then it becomes more modest. I have good reasons for this: my age - what about 10 years from now, when the wines are really ripe? - and the development in the Bordelais of wines with big names towards luxury.

Barrel tasting: after beating the battle for the best Bordeaux 2006

But the Bordeaux excitement, around Easter until well after Pentecost, has remained. Sweaty hands, slightly trembling lips, flickering eyes: they are a sure sign that I am still addicted to the lady "Bordo", because what you once loved dearly cannot be erased from your soul. Even if one pretends to let reason rule, or even if love turns into hate (a destructive form of love).

Cordially

Yours

Peter (Züllig)

PS. For all those who miss a list of the best Bordeaux 1996 and want recommendations: here are the best wines according to the average rating of 9 wine critics.

For luxury drinkers and speculators
Cheval blanc, Margeaux, Léoville-Las-Case

For lovers of tradition and name
Calon-Ségur, Malescot Saint-Exupéry, Léoville-Barton, Pichon-Longueville Baron

For regulars in the mid-range
Clos de Lunelle (Côtes-de-Castillon), Cantenac-Brown, Léoville-Poyferré

For hunters and gatherers
Monfollet (Blaye), Moulin Haut-Laroque (Fronsac), Clos du Jaugueryron (Haut-Médoc)

(as always, without guarantee)

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