Originally Posted by
slawecki
"Argentine winemaker Susana Balbo compares her Brioso blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec - - which retails for about $45 in the U.S. -- with a $200-$250 bottle of French Bordeaux."
so what do i get with one of those $150 bottles of argentine wine? a wine equivalent to a $1000 bottle of french?
I think that in this case, both you and Susana Balbo are wrong.
Wine cannot be translated into a straight forward mathemetical equation. Yes, I think its true that Argentina (and various new world wine producers for that matter) produce top quality Bordeaux-style blends that offer amazing value for money... but I dont think the point is to compare a Mendoza Blend to a Bordeaux. Both wines offer different packages, leaving the economics aside for a moment... whatever happened to the expression of Terroir...?
The fact that there are Argentine wines priced between USD150-250 that will give French and other old-world wines costing USD1000+ some serious competition (and to some palates be better wines) has less to do with a simple 4x factor and more with different conceptions of wine, winemaking style, natural conditions, etc.