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Hewitson can do no wrong when it comes to reds, or so it seems, but I’m not convinced by the last couple of vintages of his Riesling. You need a subscription to The Wine Front to see this part of the post
Christina Rowan of Washington DC thought quickly and calmly when a gunman crashed a backyard barbecue and held a gun to a 14-year-old girl's head. Moments later, the gunman left with a glass of wine and a smile. Read the whole story.
SPIT and SIPPED: Bordeaux 2008 After better-than-expected but still largely tepid reviews, Bordeaux 2008 took a shot in the arm form Robert Parker who raved about it. All the action is summed up nicely, with charts of price action, on FT.com’s Alphaville blog. Quotage from Simon Staples, aka BigSiTheWineGuy and a buyer at Berry Bros and Rudd in London: “He [Parker] went crazy about 2003 (all on his own) He missed 2005 (everyone else loved it) He?s now potty about 08(a few very nice wines)Plot?Lost?”
SIPPED: wine growing Wine in London, yes. But vines? Apparently so. But a terroir de double decker diesel may be avoided: Decanter reports that a horticultural college about 10 miles north of St. Paul’s has planted 1,500 vines.
SPIT: red wine stains A South African winery blog posts with the results of their tests on various red wine stain removers. The winner: hydrogen peroxide! It’s a cost-effective result considering hydrogen peroxide costs something like 99 cents a gallon at Duane Reade. [ht: Tasting Room]
SIPPED: plastique Wolf Blass, an Australian producer, announced two new wines in plastic (PET) bottles that resemble a traditional glass bottle.
SIPPED: fighting garden thievery The BBC reports that Hugh Johnson, renowned wine writer and avid gardener, had “a late 17th Century astronomical sphere and urns [stolen] from his historic garden.” He has posted a 1,000 reward for information leading to the return of the items.
For those who have been around the wine blog-o-sphere for a few years, the Caveman's blog was a gem. Bill Z. offered world class wine knowledge with a down-to-earth attitude. Like many blogs (this one included) the Caveman posted less regularly, and then poof! it became frozen in time (kind of like Han Solo in Empire).
Well, my pal Bill, the Caveman, is back and writing for the Montreal Gazette. It's good to see his voice is being appreciated by those lucky folks in Quebec.
"It was my first evening back working the floor as a sommelier. I was invigorated after an exceptional week touring and tasting wine in France's Languedoc-Roussillon.
My second table that night was a couple from France, so I started going on and on about the place, even recommending to them one of my favourite wines from the region. They looked at me and said, "Yes, it's beautiful there, but we would never drink their wines."
Every time Spring rolls around, I find myself thinking wistfully of Argentina. I spent a wonderful three weeks there a few years ago just after the harvest eating, drinking, and generally appreciating everything about the country. Now, especially as our family budget gets tighter, I reminisce about amazing dinners for $25 and great bottles of wine for $15.
So I dug through my notes a little just for nostalgia's sake and found a really nice wine that I discovered while I was there, but didn't end up writing about for some reason. I had asked the sommelier at Cabaa Las Lilas to recommend a Malbec that I likely couldn't find easily in the United States, and ended up with this gem from Adagio.
Sure enough, when I got home, I searched far and wide to find it, and couldn't, at least not on the Internet. Which may be why it took me so long to review this wine. I hope you'll forgive me for waxing enthusiastic about it in the absence of my ability to provide you with an easy way to get a bottle.
A joint project between four entreprenurial friends, Adagio is located in Mendoza's Lujan de Cuyo appellation or "department" as it is locally known. Of the 17 different departments in the province of Mendoza, Lujan de Cuyo has the distinction of being the only DOC designated growing area (and one of only three in the entire country). Located in a region known as the Northern Oasis, an odd name considering the region is technically a desert, this appellation sits in the foothills of the Andes where it receives very little rainfall and extremely large differences between day and night temperatures, two key characteristics that make for excellent growing conditions. Most vineyards lie in a relatively wide band between 1500 and 4000 feet in altitude.
There seem to be two primary stylistic directions for higher-end Malbecs made in Mendoza: those which lean towards the earth, and those which lean towards the fruit. The former have a leatheriness to them, and more tannic structure, while the latter are rounder and more polished, with more characteristics of California Cabernet, including sweet oak tannins. Adagio's wines are in the former camp.
This wine sits at the top of Adagio's portfolio of wines, and represents their best efforts every year. The grapes for the wine are hand picked into small boxes, which are then sorted carefully when they reach the winery. With the boxes containing lower quality grapes relegated to other wines, the clusters are then destemmed and the grapes sorted individually to remove anything but the most perfect fruit.
About half of the grapes are crushed, and the rest are poured into the fermentation tank whole, where they all soak together for several days at low temperature before fermentation is allowed to begin. After fermentation, the wine ages in new French oak for about 14 months before bottling, and then for another 12 months in bottle before release.
Tasting Notes: This wine is a dark garnet in the glass with a slight cloudy opacity that hints at the lack of filtering or fining. The nose has subtle, restrained aromas of dark wet earth, dust, and a graphite-like minerality. As it sits for an hour or so, the nose begins to show more cassis aromas, which, along with earthy black cherry flavors make up the fruit flavors on the palate. The more air the wine gets, the more the cassis begins to show. In the mouth, the wine is smooth and round with very well integrated tannins. A hint of leather enters the finish, which is long and with singleminded intensity similar to the wine's flavors. This focus is both to the benefit and detriment of the wine, which has a very distinct personality, but is missing a certain depth of complexity that would take it from being an excellent wine and push it into the realm of stellar. Having said as much, this is one of the best Malbecs I have tried. Based on the wine's performance over the course of a day or so, I'd suggest this wine will improve with 5 or so years in the bottle.
Food Pairing: I'll save you the trouble of ever asking an Argentine what to eat with your bottle of Malbec. There is only one answer, with many variations. I chose a rib-eye, grilled to perfection, accompanied by fried potatoes.
Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5
How Much?: $30
This wine is sadly not available for purchase on the Internet.
Rivalries and conflicts simmer throughout the world. At least one was resolved peacefully last week in a historic vertical tasting of the wines of the two Pichons.
Around 1850, faced with the inheritance laws of the Napoleonic code, Baron Pichon split his Pauillac estate among his five children: his three daughters got the larger share of the property but his two sons inherited the chateau itself and two-fifths of the vineyard. This action not only set up a rivalry between the two properties but also doomed legions of wine consumers to confusion between the two adjacent estates now colloquially known as Pichon-Baron or Pichon-Lalande.
In the 1987, AXA Millsimes, the wine holding unit of the multinational insurance group based in Paris, bought Pichon Baron, which had fallen into disrepair. Jean-Michel Cazes of Chateau Lynch Bages ran the operations, which included upgrading the winemaking as well as overseeing a renovation the cellars and the chateau. But according to one account, tensions escalated between the two estates as Cazes laid claim to the Pichon name calling the property simply Chateau Pichon-Langueville with no reference to “Baron,” much to the dismay of Mme May-Eliane de Lencquesaing of Pichon-Lalande! In late 2006, Mme de Lencquesaing, in her eighties, confronted the same inheritance laws that had divided the original property. Rather than seeing it torn asunder, she sold a majority stake to the Rouzaud family of Champagne (Roederer).
The managing directors of both properties convened on New York for a tasting at the Wine Media Guild on April 27. Christian Seely, wearing his trademark bow tie, represented Baron while Gildas d’Ollone, formerly a professional opera singer who has overseen the last twenty vintages of Pichon Lalande, represented the Comtesse. Members and their guests packed the private dining room to (over)capacity.
First up was a walk around tasting of both the wines from 2000-2006. Unfortunately the room was quite a tight space, which made taking detailed notes problematic. Here are some rapid fire observations from this portion: Pichon-Lalande has a higher proportion of merlot in the final blend; coincidentally, it slightly rounder than its cabernet dominant neighbor, which may be why some who use anachronistically ascribe gender to wine attributes consider it the more “feminine” of the duo. I found the 00 and 04 Lalandes the unfortunately disappointing from this portion; the 2002 was particularly lovely, especially given the vintage; and the 03, 05, 06 were richer, with 06 carrying the style most successfully. On the Pichon-Baron side, things are really cranking under Christian Seely who took over in 2000, which produced an excellent wine. Of the 01, 02, 04 vintages, I preferred the 01 and 04. The 2005 was fantastic and the 06 excellent.
At lunch, we heard from our speakers who both talked about changes in vineyard practices with d’Ollone specifically pointing to deleafing, yield management, and grape ripeness, which, he said, explains why they haven’t used “concentration systems in the past five to seven years.” In the discussion about historical yields, both the speakers praised moderately high yields with d’Ollone pointing to the coincidence of high yields high quality in the 82 and 89 vintages while Seely talked of a balance, above “garagiste” levels and below the high levels of some years gone by.
Seely flashed his wit on at least a couple of occasions. Mark Golodetz, the member who coordinated the lunch, brought up the recent posts on this site pertaining to the policy and practice at The Wine Advocate and recommended it to everyone as a good springboard for a discussion about ethics and wine writing. Seely then deadpanned, “I’ve always found wine writers distressingly incorruptible!”
The 2008 vintage also came up in the discussion: d’Ollone said that they had priced the Lalande 08 futures already and had sold directly in China for the first time since eight is a lucky number there. Guild member Peter Sichel opined that the 2008 vintage “is an enormous opportunity” given the quality and the pullback in demand. After a brief discussion about the vintage of the decade, Christian Seely again deadpanned “I want to be clear: 2009 really is the vintage of the century.”
Putting away the crystal ball, we were able to look backward instead in our crystal glasses. With lunch we had both the wines from 1990, which, unfortunately didn’t show well. But the 1989s were superb in both cases–truly exceptional wines that still have many years in front of them. We also had a 1975 Pichon-Lalande from a double magnum, courtesy of one of a member’s guest. The wine was still intact, with high acidity, but it was a good thing that we drank it that day. But the wine of the lunch was the 1985 Pichon-Lalande, which had a beautiful patina of age, with a beautiful subtle intensity, and a long and satisfying finish. When Cabernet is on, man, it can be on fire.
D’Ollon declared the lunch a “historic event.” Now that there’s peace in Pauillac, hopefully more Pichon-Pichon tastings will occur around the world. Sign up for one if you can.
To the casual visitor or inexperienced wine lover, Napa may just be a name on a bottle, or a vision of vineyards stretched between Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail. But like many wine regions, Napa is only a word on a map and an official designation for a group of winegrowing regions that, at times, seem to have little in common. The extreme variations of climate, soils, and topography among the various sections of Napa County make the subdivision of the region into separate AVA's (American Viticultural Areas) an inevitability. The variety of terroirs represented by these 14 (going on 15) sub-regions is quite remarkable, and they reward a deeper exploration by any wine lover looking to better understand why their favorite Napa wine tastes the way it does.
The Howell Mountain AVA is about as different as you can get from the flatlands of the Napa Valley. Situated to the Northeast of the valley, Howell Mountain reaches up thousands of feet above the valley floor. A drive up Deer Park Road out of downtown St. Helena will take you into an entirely different world. Towering pines, ocean driven fog banks, and cooler temperatures mark a growing region that increasingly produces some of Napa's most interesting wines.
In the uppermost reaches of Howell Mountain, Terry and Juli Pringle purchased 42 acres of vineyards from Bob Lamborn in 1998 to found a winery that they aptly named Outpost, staking a claim on some of Napa's most extreme viticulture. Perched on a ridge in the forest, and cascading down towards the valley below, the old vines that make up Outpost's estate vineyards are exposed to weather unheard of on the valley floor. Whipping winds, pelting rain, hail, snow, dense fogs, you name it. These climactic challenges roll off the pacific, straight over the Mayacamas mountains and into the vineyards atop Howell Mountain. At the same time, in between these extremes of weather, Outpost benefits from the same climate that makes Howell mountain such a great place to grow grapes, namely that abundant sunlight and cooler temperatures through the summer and fall mean that grapes can mature slowly while maintaining vital acidity.
Outpost harvested its inaugural vintage in 1998, and the wines were made by Ehran Jordan, but Jordan quickly handed the operation over to Thomas Rivers Brown, who has been making the wine for the past decade. During that time, the Pringles sold the winery to Frank and Kathy Dotzler, its current owners.
In many ways the story of Outpost is the story of its winemaker Thomas Brown, under whose vision and guiding hand the wines have become some of the benchmarks for what is possible on Howell Mountain, and in the case of the winery's Grenache, what is truly possible to do with that particular variety.
Thomas Rivers Brown fell in love with wine like many do. Right out of college he worked as a wine buyer in a restaurant, and after discovering he had an interest in wine, he traveled around Europe as a twenty-something where he really caught the bug. But unlike many of us, he decided to do something about it, and with the impetuousness of the young, he found his way to a friend's house in the Oakland ghetto in 1996, where he had a standing offer to sleep in a very small walk-in closet. From there it was a reasonable hitchhike to the Napa Valley, and he eventually pestered his way into an entry level job at the All Seasons wine store in Calistoga. Thomas' first experiences in the vineyard came working the 1997 harvest at Kent Rassmussen's vineyard.
In addition to finding ways to get his hands dirty, so to speak, Thomas spent his time out of the fields tasting as much wine as he could, as often as he could, with people who knew a lot more than him about it. One of those people ended up being Ehren Jordan (then -- and still currently -- the winemaker at Turley Wine Cellars) who happened to mention in late 1997 that he was thinking about looking for an assistant for the following year.
Thomas thinks his resume was the first of nearly 200 that Jordan received for the position, and he ended up with the job, partially because he was a bit of a blank slate, he suspects. "It was after the harvest, so Ehren had a bit of time, and he didn't mind teaching someone, as long as they didn't come with any preconceived notions about the right way to do things."
And as the saying goes, that was the first day, of the rest of his life. After more than four years of working with Jordan, Thomas went out on his own as a consulting winemaker, at a high point in demand for such services, and quickly picked up a number of high profile customers, including Outpost.
Brown continues to work with the owners and the Outpost team to push the quality envelope. I have had the pleasure of tasting the estate's wines pretty consistently for about 5 years, and while the wines have always been excellent, they continue to reach new heights. This may be due in part to the fact that the estate is now farmed 100% organically. Brown continues to dial the wines in towards his ultimate vision, while adhering to the practices he believes make for the best wines, including bottling the wines without any fining or filtration of any kind.
In particular, I have come to regard Outpost's Grenache as the single finest example of the variety in the state of California, and that was even before I tasted the 2007 vintage, which is quite unlike any California Grenache I have ever tasted. In a good way. The winery has also recently developed a new vineyard plot that has been named "True Vineyard" from which they are making an outstanding Cabernet that will be commercially released for the first time this year.
Note that some of these wines have yet to be released. In those cases, I have provided links to purchase past vintages.
TASTING NOTES:
2007 Outpost Grenache, Howell Mountain, Napa Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has an unbelievable nose of cola, cedar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and incense. The longer you smell it the more you find swirling in the glass. In the mouth it is positively otherworldly, both epitomizing the bright fruit you expect from Grenache but transcending it into some other realm of spices and exotic woods. Beautifully balanced and lithe on the tongue, I taste raspberry, vanilla, cola, sandalwood, sarsaparilla, and lots of other things that I can't put my finger on, despite these flavors lingering in an incredibly long finish. To be released in the Fall of 2009. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $40. Where to buy?
2006 Outpost Zinfandel, Howell Mountain, Napa Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a rich nose of chocolate, cherries, and plum aromas. In the mouth it has some stuffing, coming across as muscular and full. Lightly suede-like tannins swirl with flavors of chocolate, black cherry, and cola as hints of black pepper emerge on the finish. Good acidity balances the fruit and means the wine will age quite well. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $45. Where to buy?
2006 Outpost Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, Napa Dark, inky garnet in the glass, this wine smells of tobacco and sweet oak. In the mouth it tastes of caramel, bright cherry, and hints of vanilla. The wine has a wonderful quality of clarity to it, even as its depths get dark and earthy. There's a lot of nice complexity here, and a long finish. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $65. Where to buy?
2006 Outpost "True Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, Napa Inky garnet in the glass, this wine has an explosive nose of black cherry, tobacco, and wet dark black earth. On the palate this wine is like a fluid sinkhole, pulling me down in to its depths of liquified earth, cassis, and black cherry flavors. Smooth tannins emerge in the darkness, buoyed by good acids, and the whole package is still deep, dark, and resonant as the wine finishes. My handwritten notes feature prominently the word: Rockin'. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $85. Where to buy?
2006 Outpost "The Other" Petit Sirah, Howell Mountain, Napa Inky, opaque garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of grapey, cassis aromas. In the mouth it is quite tannic but those tannings have a soft velvety edge. Hints of anise, black cherry, cassis drive the flavor profile, which unfortunately turns slightly towards bitter on the finish. No doubt this wine needs a bit more time in the bottle. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $55. Where to buy?
Did I mention there was also a Griotte to open? – well, it’s so long since I opened the Fourrier! Now I should also correct myself; Esmonin was one of the rare bottlers to say ‘Griottes’ rather than Griotte! An interesting trio these 99 Esmonins; the Mazy was smooth but full of concentration, power and [...]
Today on Serious Grape, my regular column on Serious Eats, I cast a spotlight on Gewrztraminer, the spicy white wine that's hard to spell but easy to love. (photo by viZZZual.com)
Often overshadowed by Riesling, Gewrztraminers offer wine drinkers food-friendly, aromatic wines that are perfect for seafood, grilled food, and spicy dishes. In short, they're great summer wines.
Head on over to Serious Grape to learn more about the grape and to get three recommendations for Gewrztraminers made in the US, in Chile, and in France's Alsace region. And of course,all the wines featured are under $20.
It sounds so idyllic. You love ros wine. You love France. So you leave your life in London behind, start flogging ros to skeptical French drinkers in busy market squares, and hope to learn enough to buy a bar that will specialize in the pink stuff.
As Jamie Ivey, his wife Tanya, and friend Peter discovered, however, things are never quite as idyllic as we imagine they might be.
Welcome to the June edition of the Wine Book Club, hosted this month by Kori from the Wine Peeps blog. Our book selection for this month was Jamie Ivey's La Vie en Ros, a book that tells the tale of Ivey's continuing obsession with ros wines.
I enjoyed this book--it was perfect escape reading, and it convinced me that I do not ever want to open a wine bar in France. Getting to experience the highs and lows of the process--from Ivey's halting attempts to communicate with the locals (all of whom know a great deal about wine) to the moment they plunk down money on a piece of property--was like watching friends dive off a very high cliff into formidably deep waters. I appreciated the bravery of what they did, but I have no intention of doing it myself.
La Vie en Rosis full of the sights and sounds of the southern French countryside. From local festivals celebrating garlic to visits with local vignerons, Ivey is adept at bringing a scene to life in all its variety and with a fair bit of humor. My favorite parts were about the reaction that the French had to they Iveys' plans to sell nothing but ros wine. Some were stunned, many thought the wine would be too expensive to appeal to people used to buying bulk wine from the local co-op, and others were incredulous. In spite of the odds, and in the face of lukewarm success, the Iveys remained committed to their mission to celebrate ros.
The book was less about the wine than it was about French attitudes towards wine and food, and about the difficulties that anyone faces when they try to fit into a new culture. So if you're looking for a book that tells you a lot about ros wine you may be disappointed. If, on the other hand, you want an up-close account of immersion in French food and wine culture, you will probably enjoy this book immensely.
One thing to note: Ivey is British, and this means that his sense of humor is decidedly British as well. His tone may strike some readers as offbeat and ironic. But if you like Peter Mayle's stories of life in Provence, then Ivey's writing style will be right up your alley.
This is the kind of book to pack into your bag when you're taking a weekend trip, or just want some pleasant, escapist reading with a wine-related theme. Thanks again to Kori for hosting us and I'll see you back here at the end of July with my reactions to another wine-related book.
Retief Goosen has started his own brand of wine, called Fine Wines by the Goose. The farm, interestingly enough called Ganzekraal is located in the Upper Langkloof, not far from Goosen's house in George. Winemaker Morne Jonker is very positive about the brand, with the flagship wine 'The Expression' being a 50% Shiraz - 50% Cabernet blend retailing for about R270 a bottle, with only 1 000 cases of the wine currently on the market.
Jonker describes the Expression as ?an elegant wine, well-balanced wine?.
?Our acids are high ? we don't over-tannin our wines with wood tannins ? and we use 20% new barrels, 80% second, third and fourth fills which gives it that nice classical feel. The wine, in fact, tastes older than what it is.?
Having been produced in the Langkloof ? a cool climate wine region where the average temperature is 17 degrees ? the ripening process is prolonged, resulting in smaller, more concentrated berries.
The Expression is distributed by NMK and Global Brands, and stocked by Caroline Fine Wines at the Cape Town Waterfront.
Brendan Barratt, a good friend of mine and the Assistant Editor of Compleat Golfer magazine(www.compleatgolfer.co.za) caught up with 'The Goose' at the recent SAA Open in Pearl Valley and asked him about his new range of wines.
How did you get into winemaking? Were you always interested in wine?
Well you know, I sort of really got into wine let's say 15 years ago, drinking wine with my wife ? she always liked the Chardonays, so I started drinking it and then I became more interested while travelling around the world. You just about eat in a restaurant every night when you play around the world so I just became interested in ordering different wines off the menu and started really getting interested in all the different flavours. About two years ago I said to a good friend of mine, Werner (Roux ? of Lagoon Bay Golf Estate), Let's get into the wine. And he said, 'Well, I know this guy who makes very good wines, just across the mountain here in George'. So we went to go see Morne (Jonker), and Morne was very interested in getting involved, and that's how we started the brand. So far it's been going fairly well and we have only really been running it now since May last year, and we know the wine is good.
How involved are you in terms of hand-on winemaking?
Well I am not there actually picking the grapes! That's for sure, but I am drinking it! But I have been on the farm a few times and we have invested a lot into the farm to upgrade and plant some more grapes. I was quite involved in the selection of the actual bottle itself and the labelling, they were pretty much my idea.
You're following in the footsteps of some fine winemaking golfers, Ernie, Arnie...
Well yeah, just about every second golfer now has a wine farm, isn't it? We are obviously big drinkers! But it's more of an interest than really a business thing and if it does happen to make it, it's great ? and so far it is doing well. And we know we've got a good brand.
Do have have any particular wine preferences?
I love this combination that Morne has made, the Cabernet-Shiraz and the Sauvignon Blanc we are bottling in February, so my wife is more of the white wine drinker. I like both, purely depending on what I am eating and how I feel.
In terms of marketing the brand, can we expect to see 'Goose Wines' on your shirt sleeve any time soon?
Well, I have Grey Goose, which is unfortunately a French-American vodka, but that's something I will definitely start looking at, doing some sort of branding somewhere on my golf bag. At the moment we have been doing quite a bit of marketing and we were at the wine show in London a few months ago, so we are slowly building up our customers. We are doing well, we are exporting a little bit to England, Ireland, Singapore and China. We are looking forward to the East, once we get China then it is going to be our biggest market for exporting.
To contact Morne - call : 082 653 6800 ; e-mail : morne@thegoosewines.com or for more information log onto www.thegoosewines.com
(Thanks must go to Brendan for providing The Cru with this exclusive interview with "The Goose" - let's hope we see him win another 'Major' soon!)
Today is Wine Blogging Wednesday, the online tasting event founded by Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours. Hosted this month by Katie of Gonzo Gastronomy, we were asked to drink some wine, play some music and record how the taste of the wine changed with each song
I tried. I really did.
But my brain is apparently not wired this way.
No matter how much I tried to let the songs lead the taste, instead the tastes led the songs. I kept being inspired to listen to a new song with each sip.
The wine that led me on this merry chase through my iTunes library was the 2008 Scholium Project Naucratis from the Slough Vineyards in Clarksburg ($20 in the Spring 2009 allocation; previous vintages available online for $23-$28). It was a perfect choice for Katie's theme--or so I thought. A bit cereberal, a bit off beat, a wine that would reward reflection. Well, yes--but it was also one damn intense Verdelho, with insanely excellent QPR. Which is where I got distracted. There were aromas of banana salt water taffy, sea salt, lime zest, grapefruit, and granny smith apples. The flavors exploded in my mouth in a wash of citrus, tropical fruits, mineral, stone, and more sea salt. In addition the wine was very dry and quite acidic with a long, lingering aftertaste that hints at a great future.
I was inspired. I hit my library, selecting songs that went with the wine. They had to be take-no-prisoner, independent, out-of-the-box, dreamy, pensive and intense all at once. Here were my favorites:
"No Where to Run To" by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas "Breathe" by Andy LeMaster and Maria Taylor "Promises" by Badly Drawn Boy "The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)," by the Decemberists "The Trapeze Swinger," by Iron & Wine "Drunkard's Prayer," by Over the Rhine "At My Most Beautiful," by REM "Crazy," by Alanis Morissette
If you want to hear these songs, head over to blip.fm and check them out. I'm there most days playing them, and I've put them all at the bottom of my playlist for you!
But in the end, it was the wine that made me hear the music in a new way--I just couldn't get the music to lead my tastebuds when there was this much moxie in the wine. I hope Katie will forgive my feeble efforts. It was a great theme, and I look forward to reading everybody's posts.
I’ve tasted a few of the Thorn-Clarke wines lately and I’ve been mighty impressed. This Morello Nebbiolo is an excellent example of why - and at $15, it’s been pretty smartly handled in the winery too. You need a subscription to The Wine Front to see this part of the post
It seems the car accident has been cleaned up and traffic is back to moving at a normal pace after last week’s New Vine Logistics closure. The mouth agape panic coupled with “they sucked anyway …” schadenfreude has now given way to a collective, “Hmm ... what happens next?”
News reports indicate that Inertia Beverage Group has stepped in with bridge debt financing to get New Vine Logistics (NVL) operational while they do the equivalent of estate management for the deceased.
The Wines & Vines article practically reads like magnanimous customer charity on the part of Inertia, but there’s more to it, methinks.
As much as I would like to think this is about the wineries immediately impacted in the abrupt closing, I really think it’s still about Amazon.com and the NVL software.
In addition, in the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I worked for Inertia from September of ’06 to February of ’08 – it was an inestimable 18-month rollercoaster ride that included about 150,000 air miles, and the attendant challenges you sign-up for when working for an early stage company supported by what I affectionately refer to as OPM – “Other People’s Money.”
I’m proud of my accomplishments in that brief time. We put the Direct-to-Trade program operationally in place, paid for Hinman & Carmichael San Francisco Giants season tickets 5X over by double-checking compliance issues, and booked the first business through the system while signing up almost 50 wineries, all while working with finite resources (read: a powerpoint slide deck).
Never did go to AT&T Park, either.
Context aside, I need to further note that while I am still friends with a couple of the folks at Inertia, I have NOT talked to anybody about the New Vine Logistics situation. My opinions hereafter are precognitive and based on circumstantial logic.
Logically, I would say Inertia wants to work with Amazon.com in a big way. Logically, I would say Inertia cares more about the NVL/Amazon.com relationship and the NVL software than they do anything else related to NVL, including the customers and the facilities.
Amazon.com getting into the wine business has the opportunity to radically change the playing field in online wine commerce.
Now, mind you, this whole “Amazon.com gets into the wine business” thing didn’t turn up overnight. Nor did Amazon.com happen to choose New Vine Logistics without doing some industry due diligence. Ahem, read into that what you will, it’s not anything you couldn’t hear at Boon Fly Café over breakfast. But, Amazon did some due diligence and having NVL assets now gives Inertia a chip to play and a relationship to build upon.
Amazon.com working directly with wineries is a threat to a company like Inertia, without their involvement, a completely different ball game than a wine.com (a retail play) or americanwinery.com who sells essentially on consignment.
NVL has a back-end platform. Inertia has a front-end platform. Amazon.com can bring customer scale, using their own front-end, in conjunction with the NVL back-end platform.
If Amazon.com gets in the game in a big way would anybody buy direct from a winery web site, Inertia’s bread and butter? Uh, no, just like we don’t buy books straight from the publishers. Fundamentally, that would be a threat to the Inertia business which is predicated on winery sales volume through their software.
The Inertia acquisition of NVL debt and assets squelches those risks.
For further food for thought, note that, according to TechCrunch, Inertia CEO Ted Jansen is noted as an “angel investor” in Snooth, effectively also hedging his bets in the other prevailing business model for online wine commerce, which is essentially a search-to-tasting note-to-retail commerce mechanism.
So, Inertia and/or Ted Jansen has the Inertia business of a winery selling directly to a consumer, the software assets for NVL and a relationship with Amazon.com selling wine to a consumer, a stake in Snooth, and for good measure the Direct-to-Trade platform which can also benefit from NVL infrastructure.
That’s what you call an Octopus playing baseball with four gloves.
Last week I wrote that the value in New Vine Logistics, from Amazon’s perspective, wasn’t the customers, it wasn’t the facilities, it was the software.
That still holds true today given a lot more disinfecting sunlight.
So, was I wrong last week when I speculated that Amazon.com might be bleeding out NVL? Who knows, I don’t think anybody truly knows what Amazon.com is thinking, but it appears that they are proceeding into the wine business and the process of going through the bloody mess to learn the truth in the court of public examination won’t be necessary.
With apologies to the wineries who have unnecessarily been injured in this fracas, I have to note – unfortunate though it may be, In my opinion, I was fundamentally right—it’s the software that has the inherent value, and not the immediate revenue or customers. Nor is it the wine shipping facilities, which will likely be spun out to another purchaser.
Make no mistake, this Inertia/NVL/Amazon.com thing isn’t about the here and now – it’s not about a winery shipping a club shipment this week – it’s about the future of direct-to-consumer wine business.
Amazon gets what it ultimately wants which seems to be a monogamous date to the dance without a long-term commitment and Inertia gets what it wants which seems to be a hedge against whichever direction the online wine market shifts.
My guess is that while there may be some sore customers in the short-term, in the long-term this winnowing and re-trenching will prove to be a good move for Inertia and the industry.
*Disclaimer –I do want to note that I realize this post is entirely speculative. I’ll buy a round of drinks if I end up being wrong, money I don’t think I’ll have to spend, but this is my opinion without any first hand knowledge. This NVL/Amazon.com thing will turn out to be significant and the core aspect of this shakeout. Take it for exactly the $0.02 cents its worth.
* Note* The Amazon.com wine glass photo is courtesy of winecast.net
*Update* - Tom Wark from Wark Communications, PR counsel for Inertia Beverage Group notes in the comments that Ted Jansen is not an investor in Snooth. I took attribution for that “fact” from a Tech Crunch article dated January 16, 2009. In the same article, it is mentioned that Ted is an Advisory Board Member for Snooth, as well. The TechCrunch article is linked from the Snooth web site under the Media section, without apparent correction to the record.
There isn?t a day that goes by when I don?t think of Abruzzo from my first visit there in the early 1980?s, when they adopted me as one of their native sons, to the years of friendship and collegiality among the many winemakers there.
The Gran Sasso, the Great Spirit Mountain that looks over the area, is as much a product of the trembling earth of the millions of the year, as the people now trying to rebuild their lives.
The land oozes soul; the grapes burst their energy forth for lively wines. When one hears about all the tankers of Montepulciano that move north at night to vivify weaker wines in the north, this is an unsung hero of a region.
My friends at Illuminati, not trampled by the crashing bricks or rumbling dirt, but none the less affected by their neighbor?s cries of pain. Over the years their wines have changed, like their labels, but always for the better. Today they are a success story for Abruzzo. Some of their neighboring wineries near Aquila are searching for their way through back to the future.
Some day they will open bottles of sparkling wine to celebrate a gathering, a success, a landmark.
For now, we remember those whom we have given up to the Greater Power.
How bittersweet it is to be so blessed to live in Italy and then have to die and say goodbye to all of that beauty.
Rocket Science 2004 Proprietary Red $45 Wine Label says: “Son, your 21 years old. It’s time you learned the art of wine tasting.” “I already know how you taste wine,” replied the sure young man. “This wine has an inky, purple hue with a sensational purity, flavors of a blackberry liqueur with a creme de cassis intensity and [...]
Recently, at a dinner with friends, one man's date turned to me and complained, "He's so boring. All he ever talks about is wine. All day long he talks about wine." I probably looked hurt, because I was just as engrossed in our discussion of Syrah as he was. Lorraine leaned toward me and whispered, "She's right, you know. We're all hopeless wine geeks. Look at us from an outsider's point of view."
BUYING AND STORING OLIVE OIL
Choose containers that keep out light: dark glass, ceramic, even metal. With pricey oils, taste before you buy, and look for seal-of-approval initials such as DOP (Italy), DO (Spain) or COOC (California). Keep your oil tightly sealed; store it in a cool, dark place; and use it within two years (some say 18 months) of harvest, or one year after opening. Oh, and that plastic Jug O’ Oil from the C word? Don’t go there. There’s inexpensive, and then there’s swill.
WHAT’S YA FLAVA?
Fruity, peppery, buttery, appley, grassy, herbal, nutty? You’d think you were talking about wine. There’s actually similar flavor chemistry going on in olive oil and wine. Early-harvest olive oils taste greener and more pungent, like an herbaceous sauv blanc. The longer the hang time, the riper the fruit, the smoother the mouthfeel, the mellower the flavors. Late-harvest oils come across more like a full-tilt chard. Both can be great; it’s just a matter of what you like and how you plan to use it. (Uh, you are gonna use it, right? You want to decorate your kitchen counter, buy a bonsai.)
GOT AN EXTRA VIRGIN?
The terms “virgin” and “extra virgin” really are more than just sexy sounding hype: they measure the percentage of harsh-tasting oleic acid in the oil (lower is better), which can translate to quality. “Extra virgin” oils must have less than 1 percent acidity (many clock in below .5 percent) and require as much care in growing and production as boutique wines. Oils with up to 2 percent acidity earn the “virgin” tag. Forget the sluts, er, oils over 3 percent. And also forgo “light” olive oil: the only thing it’s low on is flavor.
IN THE KITCHEN, AT THE TABLE, ALL AROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH
There’s a reason for the large variety of oils: different oils suit different purposes. Think basic wine pairing: match light with light and heavy with heavy. Use subtle oils on mild salad greens or as bread dips, or drizzle a bit on fish, chicken or simple desserts like fruit salad, pound cake or biscotti. Big oils can stand up to red meat - try the Tuscan trick of finishing off a thick grilled steak with a slosh of spicy, robust oil. Better yet, brush the oil on with a rosemary branch while the steak sizzles.
Sometimes the best cooking is no cooking at all. There’s nothing simpler or more satisfying than setting out three or four bottles of oil at the dinner table, along with your chosen vino, some good bread and a cheese or three, before, during and/or after your meal. (If everyone wears black you can feel really superior and Eurotrashy.)
TIPS FOR TASTINGS
Tasting olive oil is a lot like tasting wine: you can stick to one country (Spain, Greece), one region (Tuscany, Sonoma), or one varietal (manzanilla, arbequina) and compare six or eight side by side. Or you can taste a random assortment, and maybe throw in a flavored oil that has citrus or herbs blended in. Add some cubes of chewy bread, little bowls or paper/plastic tasting cups and some easy-drinking wine. Kick back. Speak to each other in Spanish. Wait for Penelope Cruz to show up.
FOR MORE INFO
Check out The Flavors of Olive Oil by Deborah Krasner (Simon & Schuster, 2002) and the Web sites of the International Olive Oil Council (http://www.internationaloliveoil.org) and the California Olive Oil Council (http://www.cooc.com). Or just Google “olive oil” and click around the 50 million or so sites that come up.
OLIVE OIL TASTING NOTES
XX. Antara 100% Arbequina Olives Tarragona - Spain $16/750ml The Ellen DeGeneres of olive oils - easygoing, smooth and slightly nutty. Close to XXX.
XX. Nunez de Prado Extra Virgin Family Estates Crop; Baena - Spain $24/500ml Chris Rock hosting the Oscars - dark, intense and zingers start to finish (but you know what you’re gettin’).
XX. Caroliva Extra Virgin Estate Grown and Bottled; Andalusia - Spain $20/500ml Think a big, buttery chard on steroids. Rich gold color, soft, round and juicy. Close to XXX.
XX. Columela Picual and Hojiblanca Olives Andalucia - Spain $19/500ml Gael Garcia Bernal’s eyes - big, deep and dark. Touch o’ pepper on the finish. Close to XXX.
XX. Gasull Arbequina Olives Catalonia - Spain $22/500ml Cool deep-green bottle with a long slim neck. Purrs like Scarlett Johansson in a Ferrari: soft and elegant with a long, smooth finish.
X. Jordan Hand-Picked, Extra Virgin, From Italian Varietals Alexander Valley - Sonoma $25/375ml Kind of a bait-and-switch: starts out sweet and fruity, then morphs into a porcupine by the time it smacks your tonsils. Close to XX.
X. L’Estornell Extra Virgin, Organic Arbequina Olives Catalonia - Spain $15/375ml Like Erica Christensen in most of her movies: all sweetness and light in the opening scene, but she grabs you by the throat in the last act. Close to XX.
X. Molino de Leoncio Gomez Extra Virgin, Unfiltered, Picudo and Hojiblanca Olives Cordoba - Spain $11/500ml Gotta hunt for the flavors at first, then they do the Big Bang in the back of your mouth. Close to XX.
XXX. Pons Extra Virgin, Arbequina Olives Catalonia - Spain $16/473ml Yo-Yo Ma playing a cello concerto - rich, deep and resonant. Pale gold, medium body, with layers of fresh apple, almond and spice flavors, and a nice little kick on the finish.
XX. Poplar Hill 2005 Extra Virgin Spring Mountain - Napa Valley $20/375ml Light, airy, silky, delicate and balanced; buttery, hazelnutty and smoooooth. An obvious late-picked oil (check the harvest date!) that deserves nothing more than a chunk of good bread and a pinch of salt. Close to XXX.
XX. Skipstone Ranch Melina’s Harvest, November 2004, Extra Virgin Alexander Valley - Sonoma County $25/375ml Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby - brawny, punchy, ends with a surprising knockout.
XX. Soler Romero 100% Picual Olives Andalusia - Spain $18/500ml Why does this taste like nectarines, white pepper and grass? Starts fruity and sweet, then turns tangy on the finish. Slather some on sliced oranges with red onion slivers, lemon juice and salt.
X. Unio 100% Arbequina Olives Siurana - Spain $16/750ml The NZ sauv blanc of olive oils - spicy and green start to finish. Makes a great pesto with basil, anchovies and good parmigiano reggiano. Close to XX.
X. Zoe Extra Virgin Castilla-La Mancha - Spain $9/1-Litre Tin A tad rustic and rough, but a good value. Great for stir-frying veggies. Close to XX.
Anyone who hasn't yet discovered Paso Robles wines is missing some of the most interesting and dynamic wines that California has to offer. And anyone who hasn't discovered Paso Robles, would do well to mosey on down there for their 27th Annual Wine Festival in a couple of weeks. Once a sleepy undiscovered little wine town, Paso has become the epicenter of a wine explosion in the last decade with wineries popping up like Spring crocuses every year. The limestone terroir of western Paso Robles in particular is producing some absolutely stunning Syrahs and other Rhone Varietals that every wine lover in California should know about.
The Wine Festival takes place over a (usually sunny) weekend in May. Starting off with events and dinners held at wineries around the area on Friday, the event culminates in a Grand Tasting in the town park on Saturday, which is certainly the highlight of the weekend and should be the goal for anyone looking to learn more about the area's wine.
At only a three hour drive from San Francisco, it makes for a very nice weekend trip should you feel inclined.
Paso Robles Wine Festival Grand Tasting Saturday May 16th, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM Paso Robles Downtown City Park Paso Robles, CA 93447
Remember to wear something you don't mind spilling red wine on; drink lots of water; make sure you have a full stomach; and spit out the wine if you want to actually learn something and avoid a nasty headache the next day. And for this event, I also recommend sunscreen and a sun hat.
2006 Muga Roija Blanco $12.99 Wine label said: Nothing much… it’s barrel fermented and imported by Jorge Ordonez. Whoopdeedoo. Vineyard66 says: As I am still researching Spanish wines, I’ve noticed that my good friend Bill from California has been spouting off about Muga Roija. Of course, he was speaking about the red wines the area is famous for. I [...]
But this one I wrote for the Seattle Weekly go re-run for the dreaded V-Day and picked up by Digg. There are over 300 comments. Judging by the woman-hating comments by spurned males on already on the SW site, I’m afraid to look. So You Want to Hit on the Bartender
I have long been an admirer of Susana Balbo and her partner in crime, Pedro Marchevsky. If you are not entirely familiarized with what they do, stated simply?they are Argentina?s artisan wine power couple. For one, Susana Balbo is one of Argentina?s most celebrated enologists, as well as the current President of Wines of Argentina. Her husband and partner, Pedro Marchevsky, holds a distinguished faculty position at Mendoza?s Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.
The most important thing to consider, however, is that they are together blazing a path for Argentine wines that in my view at least, all New World wine producers should closely follow. Through their joint Dominio del Plata winery, as well as their own labels (BenMarco, Crios and Nosotros), Susana and Pedro craft highly expressive, idiosyncratic wines that represent intelligent values at several price points. The ethos underlying their production centers on extracting a faithful imprint of the Argentine terroirs they work with (various Mendoza and Salta microclimates), and in the process, stating a very distinctive point of view in the process. If we regard this point of view alongside Sartre?s assertion that no action lacks deliberate political connotations, then in Susana and Pedro?s wines, we can discern what a amounts to a categorical refusal to pursue one-note, Mendozan imitations of classic old world styles. Nevertheless, I feel that we should step back for a moment to consider what this winemaking philosophy actually implies in Argentina, as well as what it can imply across various New World contexts.
The horizon has changed dramatically throughout the whole of Argentina?s wine panorama during the last few decades. In my grandparents? time, which does not span so many decades ago from now, well before the age of origin-branded marketing and the great race to export en masse, the consumer?s range of choices in the country?s internal market closely mirrored Australia and California?s. People used to pick up bottles of imaginatively labeled ?Chablis,? ?Bourgogne? and ?Bordeaux,? among several other, imitative yet unflattering possibilities. If during these times, one was naive enough to ponder whether the quality of an Argentine wine would ever be prized or sought-after by anyone outside of the country, the reaction would have been marked with a great deal of sarcasm and condescension. Furthermore, to have proposed that the Mendozan producer should stray away from the classic paradigm (generally Bordeaux), would have only elicited further ridicule.
When reconsidering the contemporary scene, however, I realize that it has been the dedicated labor of visionaries such as Susana and Pedro who have shown other producers the way in terms of crafting wines that convey true expression of their origin and individuality. Ironically and much to the chagrin of the global style homogenization evangelists (see Mondovino), Pedro and Susana?s wines have garnered considerable acclaim, all without having had to sacrifice authenticity and go the way of taking the advice of Michel Rolland and other ?Flying Winemakers.? (Once again, I cite Mondovino as a seminal source for a more complete background on the phenomenon).
Quite sadly, there is an large market presence of Argentine, as well as other New World wines that conform to the global, homogenized style predicated by such ?consultants? all over the world?s major export markets. Despite it being quite easy for a wine producer to be seduced by their rationale, I have no reservation, as an Argentine, in regarding their advice and agenda on par with that of the IMF and World Bank?s neoliberal guidelines that, along with some already shaky Argentine leadership, lead to economic ruin in the past few decades. Why do I equate these types of recommendations under the same analogy? Very simply put, the wine style homogenization gurus as well as the failed neoliberal trade models (FF to min. 18) are both centered on the faulty notion of a one-way street relationship between the supplier and the demands of its clientele. In the context of Argentina?s political economy policies, the IMF and World Bank used the leverage of illegitimately acquired debt (military dictatorship) to enslave the nation, at all costs, to serving the specific demands of its trade partners. In turn, when we consider this type of mentality in the context of the wine trade, in turn, should people like Rolland have their way, Argentina?s producers would theoretically be well-off, though incapable of producing and exporting actual Argentine wine anymore. The ironic, Twilight-Zone-esque quality of this scenario would ultimately amount to a strange relation of servitude where the production goals of a nation with an actual wine heritage would largely be dictated by those from nations with, generally, no wine heritages to speak of, where wine is simply a luxury good no different than a designer handbag. How ironic?a world in which a boring, upper middle-class Japanese or American management type with a cooler-wine cellar would be able lecture me on what the wines from my country are supposed to taste like. It is when considering these grim scenarios and quasi-realities when I am most grateful for Susana and Pedro?s example.
In light of the above considerations, Susana and Pedro?s achievements are unbelievable when considering the pressures of the points-based, often fashion-inspired, consumer manipulation machine that New World producers have had to contend with in the most rewarding export markets they seek entry into. This unfortunate reality rewards certain producers for very particular styles (mostly ?easy drinking,? globalized ones), regardless of origin, resulting in the hyping and artificially inflated and increasingly unaffordable prices for those wines. It is precisely when one considers the ramifications of the complete picture, the whole cycle, when one starkly realizes that Susana and Pedro?s wines truly represent an exception to the rule. Their great international success verges on the allegorical because it can serve as a viable example, yet transcends mere irony and luck; it represents a new possibility that completely changes the way in which this game can be played. Think about it: A New World winemaker sustainably farms fruit, handcrafts expressive, elegant wines that score incredibly well with the wine press, as well as with consumers? pocketbooks. Once uncorked at home, the wine itself transports the consumer to Lujn de Cuyo and entirely informs their impressions of that land, not a ?consulting winemaker.?
Upon tasting these wines, one comes away with a sense that this manner of production can truly lift Argentina beyond the threshold of being considered a classic region into something that would well approach more of a critical consensus?and amazingly, at no cost to the country?s image or integrity. The chapters of our national narrative that precede these times, from the 1970?s onwards, in particular, have truly injured our self-image as Argentines, a precarious amor propio. I feel that winemakers such as Susana and Pedro are a credit to our amor propio, conveying the real potential of Argentine wines that we want those outside of our borders to perceive. Furthermore, wines such as these showcase much more than the potential that Argentine wine can achieve. They forebode, in no uncertain terms, a new paradigm that any New World producer can emulate?a new, better way from which producers can achieve both financial success as well as renown, honoring the terroir prominently instead of relegating it to a secondary postcard-like image on the label.
The bottom line that the wine lover should ultimately come away with? Susana and Pedro?s wines are real winemakers? wines. The following selection that I enthusiastically recommend represents unmissable values at three distinct price points, from recent vintages.
Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky Playlist:
*2006 Crios de Susana Balbo Syrah-Bonarda?This is a gorgeous 50-50 blend of Syrah and Bonarda. This is the most affordable of my selections (at about $11). Loved the intense aroma of black raspberries. Here?s my review on Snooth, to save you some reading.
*2006 BenMarco Cabernet Sauvignon?An indisputable bargain, even steal in the $15-$20 range, depending on the retailer. A blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and soft, supple Malbec stepping in as the other 15%. My favorite of the trio here, this is one of the best Mendoza Cabernet-lead blends out there. Pedro?s Cabernet is a must-try bargain and full of sophisticated balance and expression. Insanely intricate, layers of depth, blackberry, spice, cedar and concentration where the oak accompanies the band instead of playing at a higher volume.
*2005 BenMarco Expresivo?If you are tired of Bordeaux-themed New World red blends that all seem to be made in a uniform style, I heartily recommend this wine. In a nutshell, the Expresivo represents a master class in blending by Professor Marchevsky. Again, I have also rated this one on Snooth. This one retails in the $35-$45 range, depending on where you can get the best deal available.
The 2004 vintage of this wine received a bronze medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards last year (2006). I’ve only been able to find the 2005 vintage in Belgrade wine shops. It has an intensive and complex aroma with hints of flowers. Dominant tastes are those of melon and slightly of apricots. However, I wasn’t impressed, perhaps I expected more due to all the hype. Or perhaps there’s a significant difference in the two vintages. We should note that this winery has a good reputation. The Simcic Sivi Pinot 1990 was awarded the Cordon d’Excellence; their Chardonnay has won two gold medals at the Ljubljana Wine Fair and the 1994 vintage was declared Champion by the Knights of the Burgerland-Pannonian Order.
Last Rays Vineyard The only thing that would improve this view of a Paso Robles vineyard at sunset would be the ability to enjoy it with a glass of wine in hand. Which, I suppose is the appeal of having a house in wine country. OK, maybe if you had a glass of wine in hand, AND you were sitting in a pool while enjoying this view.... Sigh. -- Alder Yarrow
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There are those who cling to the 'romance' and 'tradition' of popping the cork prior to imbibing. Then there are those who think such 'romance' and 'tradition' are ridiculous if these totems potentially mean stinking, spoiled wine. Both camps have valid points. I'm a sentimental, shmoopy sucker for the romance involved in popping the cork. But then, If I've dropped 40 or 50 clams, and my just-popped bottle of wine smells like a box-full of soggy, old Boys Life magazines, I set up camp amongst the pro screw-cap crowd.
Must the wine lover chose between faulty corks and sterile Stelvins when it comes to bottle closure? Would that there were a closure, which could preserve in an aesthetically appealing manner. Thank the cosmos for Vino-Lock. This glass stopper is much prettier than a Stelvin and, of course, more reliable than cork oak bark cylinders.
Just a few weeks ago I took home the first glass-stopped wine to appear in the wine shop. I loved it. And the wine wasn't too bad either.
Cusumano IGT Sicily Merlot 2006 ($12) - A simple, exuberant Merlot made more appealing by its aesthetically cool glass stopper. This inky-purple wine offers scents of cherry jelly and baked strawberry. Its flavors a simply tangy fruit. Cusumano Merlot is nothing if not pleasant and eager to accompany pizza.
In the realm of the online world where the level of sympathy ranges from disconnectedly concerned to, “Glad it’s not me,” I find myself feeling genuinely sad after reading that wine writer Alice Feiring is on the cusp of discontinuing her blog, Veritas in Vino.
Usually a blog’s death is slow and painful as it slides into a catatonic state of neglect before dying of loneliness, with a commensurate amount of final mourners.
Rare is the occasion when the plug is pulled, Kevorkian liberation regardless of circumstance.
Yet, Alice intimates just that – imminent blog death by her own hand.
In a blog post on the 10th of June, Alice recounts an exchange she had with another professional writer who bemoans the devaluation of the writing craft. Alice, herself a lover of the long form, where research and cultivation of the art of telling a story is respected and valued with a monetary return for the author, is beginning to chafe at the chutzpah of Editors offering little more than exposure and nothing that comes close to affording a baguette and a glass of vin de pays, le Americain style.
As she notes on her site (excerpted):
Think of it before you jump all over us. The popularity of the blog has reduced writing to a 500-word postage stamp norm, and usually given away for free. For free. While a digest of words can be a fun exercise in craft, the indulgence the 2000- to 5000 word article was nirvana. Yes, the fee was great, but the process was the thrill and one that we exercised our chops for. And often took a pledge of borderline poverty before, because it was worth it. But now borderline is the real thing. Words and writers are no longer valued. Is it because of the blog? Oh no. For sure. But now the expectation is words are free.
I get a few requests a week for categories and topics readers would like to see here. I ask them, that’s great, but would you be willing to pay, $30 a year for it? Invariably the answer is, oh no. Not willing to go there yet.
And so bloggers who have jobs that pay the bills other than writing, please take no offense. No offense is meant. But this is a lament, from those of us who have bet our lives on the written word, whether the subject is art, music, politics, literature or wine, our lives are changing. And this particular blog is close to retirement.
But yes, I will clean up business, I’ll spill you about Austria, and there are a few words about Muscadet and a few more points to hammer before shutting the store. And then? Who knows.
It’s not hard to understand Feiring’s perspective. A writer who has spent her professional life cultivating a body of work and a point of view is suddenly and swiftly asked to give the milk away for free from Editors who sit on high using the rubric of “traffic” and “exposure.” This, coupled with thoughtful wine writing assignments, which are becoming as scarce as “value” wine articles are becoming plentiful, makes it hard to justify why a writer would continue to do their craft without separating from the morass of hobbyists.
Surely, a coroner who dispenses free counsel nights and weekends would excise that task if his practice suffered as a result, particularly under the weight of CSI TV show enthusiasts.
These are easy dots to connect, a writer largely does give it away for free in the digital media, particularly when blogging, so the translation is, “if you do it there, why not do it here.”
However, Feiring isn’t just another no name writer seeking a check for lifeless words that are fed into the daily maw of information consumption.
No, she is a singular voice that represents a singular point of view in American wine.
And, as she well knows, every cause needs a champion. She might be just the champion to herald in a paying complement to the larger pay-to-play wine outlets, Advocate, Spectator and Robinson.
The answers are available, too. Her web site could use a refresh with something akin to a navigational structure, and she could, indeed, charge for her content, adding the things that readers want to see – categories, topics and the longer pieces that fit into the paid work and the blogging that is akin to giving the milk away for free.
Simply, I’m not ready to bid adieu to this writer online, relegated to searching for the random byline in Saveur or The New York Times magazine.
No, this is a writer I’d be willing to pay for.
So, I humbly ask of Alice to reconsider and implore her to make an investment in her online writing. Redesign the web site, double down your efforts and tackle the challenges that face wine writers and, yes, charge for it.
I’ll be your first subscriber.
In doing so, not only might she save the world from Parkerization, but she might save wine writers, too.
*Update*
Comments are not currently working for the site. I’m working on the fix.
If you?re interested in designing your own custom wine cellar there are a number of options available to you. The best news is that there are wine cellar designs for everyone from the avid do-it-yourselfer to the complete woodworking novice.
There are modular wine racks that are available in different grains and finishes, with the least expensive generally being a wood such as pine. Most modular wine rack dealers will offer other materials such as red cedar or finished wood as well. Of course you can always save some money and finish the wood yourself if you desire a particular type of finish or color for your wine cellar racks.
There are many wine racking companies that offer crown molding and skirting pieces so that you can easily combine different styles of wine cellar racking materials and types. This approach can yield some very unique custom wine cellar designs.
There are built in glass racks that are made to fit snugly within a rack system. A good place for one of these individual units would be above the table top piece mentioned above. This would add to the ambience as well as functionality of your custom modular wine racking system.
If you want something a little different than the traditional wood wine cellar racks, there are attractive metal trellis rack pieces that are very economical, yet stylish. These tend to look classier than the wood modular wine racking pieces, especially for placement in bar areas that will be viewed by visitors.
If you would like to add a table area to your wine cellar while increasing the storage capacity of your cellar at the same time, a wine bin table may be the best addition to your modular racking system. There are taller, wine tasting tables that hold just over 100 bottles or about 180 bottles of wine, and there are shorter wine rack tables that hold more than 200 wine bottles in case bins.
There are many online dealers and manufacturers of wine cellar racking pieces that also offer custom computer design services to help you achieve the exact wine cellar layout that you have in mine. With many of these professional services you can then have the plans sent to you and decide if you will build them yourself or have someone else build them for you.
With all of the wine cellar design options available to you, there are many ways to accomplish the perfect wine cellar design for you and your situation. There are many wine enthusiasts online communities and the like where you can find others interested in the same things that you are and maybe gain some other ideas about wine cellars and the design aspect of creating your own wine cellar.
A 64-page softcover pocket guide that you can keep handy. Offers everything you've ever wanted to know about wine from A-to-Z. Learn about wine-production regions along with their maps major grape varietals storing pairing serving and selecting the perfect wine glass. Softcover 64-pages. Size: 8-'H x 3-'W
The Wine Bottle Glass Funnel is perfect for those instances when have a little wine left over in your decanter or even in your glass. The thinness of this glass funnel allows you to insert the funnel right into any bottle. Then easily and cleanly you can pour the wine back into the bottle for a later date.
The elegance of the Wine Enthusiast lead-free crystal 'U' Decanter enhances your wine experience with an inner dome to increase the oxygenation of fine wines. The finger-hold punt ensures controlled pouring every time. Gift Boxed. Recommend to hand wash. Size: 10-3/4'H 46 oz.
As Seen on Ellens 12 Days of Giveaways & Good Morning America The pocket-size electronic talking Wine Master offers a sleek and slim design easy control panel and over 10 000 wine and spirits reviews ratings and suggested retail prices at your fingertips. The newest version of the Wine Master is the most essential wine tool you can own. Bring along with you to wine shops and restaurants and never make another wine buying mistake again. Requires 2-AAA batteries (not included). Over 10 000 wine and spirits reviews ratings (100 pt. scale) and suggested retail prices from Wine Enthusiast Magazine Food and wine pairing guide Digital display screen with back-light and compressed text functions Talking navigation with on/off Type Varietal Winery or Vintage search option Handsome non-zipper black case Wine Master is a mighty wizard that gives you mastery over the most serious wine shop clerks and sommeliers. Brushed aluminum with chrome accents. The Wine Enthusiast 2008 Wine Buying Guide is also available. Size: 4-3/4'H x 3'W NOTE: The information included in the Wine Master is based on the reviews and ratings conducted by The Wine Enthusiast Magazine. For the 2008 edition we added 10 425 reviews. Therefore if you look at a review of a 2002 Caymus in 2007 and in 2008 the review will be the same. Since we cannot review all the wines produced in a year some wines may not appear with a newer year review which does not mean that the wine is discontinued but just that particular vintage (year) was not reviewed.
Always know 'whose glass is whose' with these wine cellar-themed charms! Set of 6 cast metal charms are finished in antique silver and dangle from 3 strands of glass-faceted beads. Magnetic closures make sure the these mini-medallions stay secure around the base of each guests' wine glass. Set of 6 charms includes a wine bottle corkscrew grapes wine glass chiller bucket and cheese wedge.
You needn't interrupt your enjoyment of the wine now to fuss with pumps and dispensers. Deliberately low tech our Wine For Later Set eschews pumps spray cans nitrogen gas canisters and complicated dispenser systems for the graceful time-honored process of decanting. When you uncork a bottle simply pour off the wine you wish to save for later using an elegant glass funnel. Top off either the 1/2 bottle or the 1/4-bottle decanter and seal it with our airtight glass stopper. Since no air comes in contact with your wine it remains unoxidized and unspoiled. Adorn the decanter with our ornate silverplated grape-cluster cork pin for easy identification. Only from The Wine Enthusiast. Gift-boxed 6-piece set includes: 2 Wine For Later glass decanters 1/2 bottle size and 1/4 bottle size. 2 airtight glass stoppers. A beautiful glass funnel. A silverplated cork pin.
Choose the right wine every time! From the editors of Wine Enthusiast Magazine comes the most current comprehensive and informative wine buying guide on the market. Based on tastings by a distinguished in-house panel this wine buying guide features qualitative ratings reviews and prices for more than 50 000 wines. Plus tips on when each wine is best enjoyed. Also includes expert advice on tasting and storing vintage wine charts and Top 10 lists. 990 pages. Softcover.
Pair your wine with top chef recipes! A memorable meal starts with the wine! Find over 80 delectable recipes organized by wine style. This first cookbook by the editors of Wine Enthusiast Magazine guides you in selecting the right recipe for your wine. Includes recipes from top chefs such as Bobby Flay and Rick Bayless along with expert wine pairing tips. Whether you're serving a light aromatic white or a big powerful red you'll choose the right dish here! 256 pages with full color photography. Hardcover. Take A Look Inside At Sample Recipes.
The Riedel Syrah Decanter is a great wine decanter to use everyday. It's perfect for Syrah or any other red wine. Crafted in Germany of lead-free crystal the Syrah decanter holds 49-ounces and stands 9-5/8' tall. Add to your wine decanter collection or give as a gift any season. Size: 9-5/8'H 49-3/8 oz.
Make wine your next party theme! Consider this your personal party planner! Step-by-step instructions and essentials make hosting a wine tasting easy. Includes 100 wine tasting sheets 6 cloth blind wine tasting bottle bags with embroidered letters A through F 6 wine tasting masts Wine Enthusiast Magazine vintage chart corkscrew and a 15% Off Coupon for Wine Enthusiast glassware. Sip save enjoy!
The Wine Clip uses principles of magnetics to improve the taste of wine as it is being poured out of the bottle. The effect is instantaneous and has been found by many wine professionals to result in a genuine improvement in flavor and mouth-feel especially when used on red wines. Using magnets to treat fluids water fuel wine etc. - is not a new idea and the technology has been applied successfully in many industries. What causes the effect has been the subject of some debate but it is generally thought that passing a conductive fluid through a properly designed magnetic field has an effect on the polar molecules in the fluid. In wine it is believed that the large polymerized tannins in wine that normally result in a high degree of astringency are broken up or otherwise affected resulting in a less astringent softer flavor. The Wine Clip may also accelerate aeration by drawing higher concentrations of oxygen to the wine as it is being poured. In contrast with most gases oxygen is highly magnetically susceptible and is attracted to a magnetic field. This would explain testimony from wine experts that The Wine Clip instantly produces the benefits of time consuming aeration. Lifetime warranty.
Learn how to host a tasting party! Host a great wine tasting party with this complete new essential wine tasting kit. Created by the editors of the prestigious Wine Enthusiast Magazine you'll find all the how-to's and essentials of hosting over 30 wine tastings. Kit includes: Wine Enthusiast Magazine Pocket Guide to Wine plus 2006 Vintage Chart 2 tasting checklist notepads 6 bottle bags 6 bottle stoppers 24 bottle tags a blank wine journal 2 wine label removers and a coupon for two free issues of Wine Enthusiast Magazine . Size: 6'H x 9'W x 3-'D
Luigi Bormioli Esperienze Wine Decanter is a complete innovation in the field of wine appreciation. Designed by Federico DeMajo the lead-free crystal wine decanter is a combination of technical skills and creative artistry. Made in Italy the interior base of the decanter is designed with ripples; tiered concentric circles that facilitate rapid wine oxygenation as the wine is poured into the decanter and flows down over them for an excellent wine tasting experiences. Dishwasher safe. Size: 9-1/4'H 88 oz.
Love your wine? Show your metal! Serve it with the help of this animated bottle holder handcrafted from recycled steel copper and wood. German artist Guenter Scholtz skillfully bends welds brushes and carves these materials to bring this whimsical wine taster to life a discriminating gent leaning on a wine rack fitted with a wine barrel. Holds most standard size wine bottles. Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. No two Scholtz pieces are exactly alike. 12'H x 6'W x 5'D
A One-of-a-Kind GiftFor the wine lover that has everything a fun gift theyre sure to cherish. Weve matted and framed our Wine Enthusiast Magazine cover with your choice of tiles (Man Woman Wine Enthusiast or Chateau of the Year). Theres a careful 7 1/4' x 7' cut-out in the cover so you can slide in a photograph of your favorite wine enthusiast. Every wine lover on your list should have one. You can purchase it as a special package with a one year subscription to Wine Enthusiast Magazine and SAVE $16.95 off the regular subscription price. Size: 14'H x 11'W Framed Print
An elegant arc turns serving into ceremony. Geometrically designed Parabola wine decanter offers a unique shape to a classic wine accessory. This stunning mouth-blown wine decanter is visually exhilarating and optimally functional. Made of 24% lead crystal the Parabola decanter offers a unique handle and spout holding a full standard-sized bottle of wine and provides flawless aeration. Size: 10-1/2'H 56 oz. NOTE: Please use the recommended Decanter cleaning balls when cleaning the Parabola decanter.
Make the hippest wine bar in town yours! Three wines any time no waiting! This professional wine preserve and wine serve system keeps 3 opened wine bottles fresh for weeks and primed for pouringright at home! Spigots serve as both stoppers and dispensers of argon gas. Argon prevents wine from oxidizing and spoiling over time. Non-electric and compact. Black with stainless steel trim. Accommodates most standard-size wine bottles. Non-electric and compact. Black with stainless steel trim. The argon gas cartridges are hidden in a compartment underneath your wine bottles. The system includes two argon cartridges which will power 12 to 15 wine bottles each. Size: 11-1/2'H x 10-1/2'W x 5'D
Attract more wine loversglass by glass! Increase your bar or restaurant sales by offering a wider selection of premium wines 'on tap'. This professional preserve-and-serve system keeps 5 opened wine bottles fresh for weeks and primed for pouring. Spigots serve as bottle stoppers. With each pour argon gas is dispensed into each bottle to blanket the wine's surface from oxygen and prevent it oxidizing and spoiling over time. Wine Saver PRO's commercial grade quality is ideal for restaurants hotels bars and wineries or for any wine lover that enjoys serving wine. Wine Saver HOME also makes the ultimate addition to any home wine cellar. Accommodates most standard-size wine bottles. Non-electric and compact. Black with stainless steel trim. The argon gas cartridges are hidden in a compartment underneath your wine bottles. Available here and sold seperately argon cartridges will power 12 to 15 wine bottles each.
Inspired by furniture pieces originally found in Bordeaux and used by the regions expert wine makers for tasting sessions of their Grand Cru wines. Special guests wine merchants or the wine makers themselves would taste some of the finest vintages at the very foot of elegant furniture pieces such as this. EuroCaves contemporary version has been designed to accommodate the needs of todays wine connoisseur. The Elite Wine Buffet is ideal for entertaining and can be placed in any room. The ample display shelves are ideal for storing glasses displaying decanters keeping reference books and storing spirits. The storage drawers can hold other accessories such as corkscrews label savers tasting albums and much more. The Elite Wine Buffet can hold a maximum of up to 20 bottles. Sold seperately the wine cellar space can accommodate a EuroCave Performance 83. Size: 56-5/16'H x 54-5/16'W x 29-9/16'D. Light assembly required.
Tecnorati
Around 1850, faced with the inheritance laws of the Napoleonic code, Baron Pichon split his Pauillac estate among his five children: his three daughters got the larger share of the property but his two sons inherited the chateau itself and two-fifths of the vineyard. This action not only set up a rivalry between the two properties but also doomed legions of wine consumers to confusion between the two adjacent estates now colloquially known as Pichon-Baron or Pichon-Lalande. 
The managing directors of both properties convened on New York for a tasting at the 
Seely flashed his wit on at least a couple of occasions. Mark Golodetz, the member who coordinated the lunch, brought up the recent posts on this site pertaining to the policy and practice at The Wine Advocate and recommended it to everyone as a good springboard for a discussion about ethics and wine writing. Seely then deadpanned, “I’ve always found wine writers distressingly incorruptible!”
There isn?t a day that goes by when I don?t think of Abruzzo from my first visit there in the early 1980?s, when they adopted me as one of their native sons, to the years of friendship and collegiality among the many winemakers there.
The land oozes soul; the grapes burst their energy forth for lively wines. When one hears about all the tankers of Montepulciano that move north at night to vivify weaker wines in the north, this is an unsung hero of a region.
My friends at Illuminati, not trampled by the crashing bricks or rumbling dirt, but none the less affected by their neighbor?s cries of pain. Over the years their wines have changed, like their labels, but always for the better. Today they are a success story for Abruzzo. Some of their neighboring wineries near Aquila are searching for their way through back to the future.
Some day they will open bottles of sparkling wine to celebrate a gathering, a success, a landmark.
The 2004 vintage of this wine received a bronze medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards last year (2006). I’ve only been able to find the 2005 vintage in Belgrade wine shops. It has an intensive and complex aroma with hints of flowers. Dominant tastes are those of melon and slightly of apricots. However, I wasn’t impressed, perhaps I expected more due to all the hype. Or perhaps there’s a significant difference in the two vintages.
Must the wine lover chose between faulty corks and sterile 