Shortage????

[Randy Caparoso]

As many of us in the service industry have expected, it's the wines of traditionally greatest demand (Dom, Cristal, La Grande Dame, etc.) that are in short supply, if not long depleted. Only finite quantities of such top-of-the-line cuvees, after all, are available at any given time. I suspect that the same will be true for California counterparts (Roederer Estate's L'Ermitage, Domaine Carneros's La Reve, Iron Horse's Late Disgorged Brut, etc.).

However, few of us have taken warnings of shortage of "main line" bottlings -- nonvintage French Bruts, average quality California sparklers, etc. -- seriously. Indeed, up until this year there has been a serious excess of such wines in the international market. I don't think that even two consecutive Millenniums in a row will be enough to put a dent into this longstanding oversupply.