Friday, 26 August 2011

100 point perfection in Austro-American collaboration

This is the second RP100 sticky that I've bought and this time it is straw wine made from dried Semillon. This is a collaborative project between the Austrian dessert wine guru Alois Kracher and Manfred and Elaine Krankl of the Californian cult winery Sine Qua Non. The results of this joint venture are market as "Mr K" after the initial of their surnames, but due to the untimely passing of Kracher (losing the battle with pancreatic cancer) at the end of 2007, the 2006 vintage was the last.

It is really amazing but this is also the second cheapest RP100 wine I've bought, the cheapest one being the Cuvee Madame from Chateau Tirecule la Graviere (which I had already blogged about). This Californian wine was around the same price as the Monbazillac, but then the latter was 500mls, whilst this one is 375mls. Of course, the French wine was bought with high wine taxes, whilst this one is not taxed.

When you think about it, any RP100 wine is the pinnacle of perfection. So why is a red or dry white wine with that score much more expensive than a similar dessert wine? Could fashion and speculation be the culprit? Well, that's my bet!

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