If you follow the wine trade at all, you probably noticed that the 2005 Bordeaux vintage is headlining nearly every wine publication.  This vintage is being heralded as the best vintage since…ever. Accordingly, there is significant hype surrounding the launch of these much-vaunted wines. This means that we should all be in for a real treat if we are lucky to get to taste these wines either upon release or later on in their lives. It also means that their initial price offerings are staggering; wines that had previously sold in the double-digits are now offered at triple-digits.

These wines, made from the grapes harvested in 2005, still have to mature before they are bottled and released in 2008. However, they are now available as futures, which entails placing your order today for receipt of the wines later. This provides the chateaux with much needed cash flow while the "merchandise" sits in their cellars. Purchasing futures can be a good way to acquire Bordeaux wines, but similarly to investment in other futures (i.e. stocks, hogs, gold) it is not without risk.

First and foremost, make sure that you are dealing with a reputable wine merchant. You are giving someone your money upfront and won’t take delivery until several years later, so you want to be certain that the someone will still be around to deliver on their promise. I have always trusted Sherry-Lehmann in this regard. They have been in the futures game for over 50 years, so they have both longevity and experience. But, they are certainly not the only trustworthy merchant around.

Another important point to consider is the price paid. When buying futures, you are betting that the initial price will be less expensive than the price offered upon release. Yet, there is no guarantee that this will be true. A wine might rate an impressive score today (all of the wines were tasted as barrel samples by the trade several months ago), but the same critic may feel differently about the wine when they taste it a few years hence, which could cause the price to fall.

The advantage to buying futures is that you can ensure that you will have access to the wines you want before they are sold out. Presumably, with the high regard for these wines, they will be difficult to procure in 2008 if you didn’t purchase them as futures. Again, there is no guarantee that this will be true either.

Personally, as a Bordeaux lover, I can’t help, but get caught up in all of the hoopla. My first forray into futures was with the 2000 vintage, which was another successful year for Bordeaux, now overshadowed by 2005. I haven’t finalized my selection yet, but I know that I’ll need to make room in my cellar for the new lot. Fortunately, I have a few years in which to drink through all those bottles in the way.

Last week, we attended the Master Wine Class Dinner co-sponsored by world-renowned wine educator Kevin Zraly and Sherry-Lehmann. This particular event, held at Park Avenue Cafe, featured two well-respected chateau owners, M. Prats from Cos d’Estournel and M. Hubert from Chateau Angelus, both from Bordeaux. The reception began with a tasting of each chateau’s second label wine as well as Lucas Carton champagne (poured from magnum). The champagne was especially nice with the lobster roll hors d’ouerves.

Moving into dinner, we were given a sample of one wine from each chateau with each course, with the Angelus from Bordeaux’s right bank served on the right and the Cos from the left bank, poured on the left. The first pair was from the highly vaunted 2000 vintage. Both wines were wonderful, but I was partial to the Cos. The other pairs were drawn from older vintages as far back as 1986.

While both chateau consistently receive high scores, the ability to taste them side by side was especially useful as the Cos is typical of other left bank Bordeaux in that it is heavily Cabernet Sauvignon dominant, while the Angelus (as with most Pomerol and St. Emilion wines) was more Merlot focused. Accordingly, the tasting provided the opportunity to see how the different blends play out in the finished wine, allowing for stylistic differences among wineries.

As a notable highlihgt to the evening, we had the good fortune to meet Kevin Zraly and discuss our wine school venture with him. He was most gracious in his willingness to speak with us and share his own experiences. He has long been someone I have admired and I still have the 1985 edition of his Windows on the World Wine School book. If you don’t own his book, you can look for more recent editions (2005?). It is a terrific resource for wine lovers at all levels. Finally, we also worked up the courage to introduce ourselves to Michael Aron of Sherry-Lehmann letting him know that we have been including his wines in several of our previous newsletters. All in all, it was a fabulous event and added much to our own education.

This week we were priviledged to be featured on Dr. Harvey Passes public access show, "Harvey Passes Presents…", on Cablevision. Although I’ve appeared on television previously, this was my first studio taping; the other pieces had been filmed in my home. The Charlie Rose style set was both formal and inviting, providing a nice setting in which to conduct a casual conversation about wine and a brief tasting of four Long Island wines.

After the taping, we raced back to the city to attend the Rose Avengers & Producers (RAP) event, which featured ~30 rose wines from the U.S. (including Long Island), France, Spain and others. We were able to quickly taste through approximately 10 wines, with a particular emphasis on completing our May newsletter, "Everything’s Coming Up Roses." Three of those wines were ultimately written up for this purpose.

By now it was 5:30 PM and I had just enough time to get uptown to my Diploma of Wine & Spirits class. That evening’s class was facilitated by Larry Perrine of Channing Daughters Winery, whom I had briefly met earlier at the RAP event. The session was quite interesting as Larry discussed both the text book aspects of wine finishing and maturation processes, along with the reality of what actually happens in the winery. Accordingly, I learned a lot about that aspect of vinification and hope to successfully convey this information to my students in the same way.

Returning home after class, I changed my clothes and poured myself into bed, the end of the day finally at hand. Despite my exhaustion, filling the day with the world of wine had been both fun and educational.