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[12/25/2008, 17:38]
Italian Family Sundays ~ The Golden Age | | From the Archives ~ Jan. 21, 2007
 Yesterday I was driving to the older part of town to visit a friend who was in the hospital. He has been a mentor to me, and as I was nearing the facility, I saw the old street where my dad and his family had lived more than 90 years ago. The picture above was taken there, 1313 Hall Street, Dallas, Texas, where my dad was born. The house is gone. All that remains of his original family is his sister, my aunt Mary. She's the little baby in my grandmother's arms.
My friend in the hospital was asleep, but he didn?t look well. He is dying. I know the look, the sound, the smell. If it were a wine, I would describe it thus: pale and a bit cloudy. The bouquet has faded with a light scent of dried rose petals and ripe, aged Asiago. In the flavors there is a little tinge of acid, the tannins are all gone, the fruit is fleeting, and the finish is swift.
Hopefully, my friend's will be as well. For his sake.
It had been raining, and the streets were damp and saturated. It reminded me of Ireland, of a hopeless and miserable Dublin after a night of drinking too much Guinness and too little sleep. Cold, dank, unredeemable.
I was near my friend's wine store and hadn?t eaten all day (it was 2 p.m.), so I stopped in to get a sandwich, and ended up working the floor.
The store was crowded, and Sinatra was crooning over the speakers. A young man came up to me and asked me about the Italian Club. I gave him the requisite information and encouraged him to stop in at one of the Wednesday wine tastings they are starting to do. Then he reached out his hand to shake mine. My hand was bleeding from a boxcutter that had slipped when I was arranging some wine case stacks. I didn't even know I had cut myself. All in a day's work, even if it is a Saturday. Or a Sunday. Grab some tape, cover the cut and back to arranging bottles and straightening shelf-talkers.
 In the past, we didn?t need an Italian Club. We had the Family. On Sundays like today, my family would spend the day together, eating, drinking, carousing at the beach or in a vineyard somewhere, in Sicily, Dallas, Los Angeles.
My dad and his dad would hang out together. My son is in Vegas, working. My dad and his dad are gone. It?s Sunday again, and I?m sitting in my room writing about something that doesn?t exist anymore.
My dad and his dad were in business together, for a while. I don?t think my father liked that too much. Probably my grandfather wasn?t too clued in on his son?s aspirations. I think my dad probably wanted to be some kind of artist, maybe an actor. He certainly ended up in the right place for it, Los Angeles in the 1930?s. The golden age of American cinema. But my dad cobbled, and my grandfather acquired real estate, and the ship sailed on. E la nave? va.
 Once, when my grandfather had made a pile of money, he loaded his young family up and sailed back to Palermo for a while. He was now an American, and while he was going back to Italy for a while, he could never stay there indefinitely. He had crossed over into the American dream. He was making it big. In the picture he wasn?t more than 24 years old, but the opportunities that he had reached for paid off early. My son is now 30 years old. I wonder if the opportunities for his generation will ever afford him a chance for a good life. It doesn?t seem as bright now. Warmer, yes. Brighter, no.
 When my mom and dad were married in 1936, they took their Ford roadster up the California coast. They were building the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. My parents were 21 years old, hopeful for happiness in their future and their children?s future. For their honeymoon, they tooled up Coast Highway 1 into a world we can only dream about now.
The Great Depression was receding, and war was a few years off. It was a moment to enjoy all that the possibility of life had to offer.
On those Sundays leading up to those years, they would spend sun-drenched days at the beach with their Wise Guy uncles and their Hollywood girlfriends. They were ?A? listing through life, the Golden Age of the American Dream.
 Cigarettes didn?t cause cancer, yet. Diseases were being conquered. The atom was being harnessed. Seat belts weren?t necessary. Front doors needn?t be locked.  Out in the San Fernando Valley and Escondido and Cucamonga, the family would picnic in the vineyards. Note the happy faces and the glasses of wine.
 My dad with some of the many women in his family. His Aunt Mary, his sister (my aunt) Mary, Josie and Cuccia, Tootsie and Anna, and Rosemary and on. So pristine in the simplicity of their happiness. Wine, women and song. And food, what great food. Local, fresh, not microwaved, not from a can. California, the Golden State in a golden age.
 My mom and dad, with riding boots. Chances are, Dad made them. How much my son looks like him. I now am the age my father was when I wondered what it would be like to be his age. I think I might be happier at this age than he was, but his youth sure looked good from this vantage point. And my mom, the classic Italian beauty. She?s almost 93 and still pretty fired-up about life and living. Thank God she?s in good shape. My friend in the hospital, what I wouldn?t give for him to have been that fortunate, too.
 My Aunt Josephine, on the right in the picture, next to her brother Felice and his East Texas bride, Reba. And my dad and mom. A night out on the town. Was it in Dallas? Or Hollywood? They look out at me from this picture as if to say, ?Bring us your best bottle of Italian wine, and come sit down with us and enjoy your family.? If only I could, Uncle Phil. My mom and my Aunt Jo are both in their 90?s now, both in pretty good health. Still driving. But not in the rain.
My dad?s sister, Aunt Mary, called me today. She was checking in with me. Her husband passed away a few years ago. Her son-in-law died a little over a year ago. Last summer one of her grandsons had an accident in the ocean, and he too is gone. So she called to see if I was still here, still around.
Yes, Aunt Mary. Many of them are gone but we are still here, those of us on the edges of the photographs. Still ticking and kicking. Still dreaming and still looking for a way to make all this work out. I miss our Family Sundays. And so I sit here and put down these thoughts for the internets to hold, for another place and time and people. It was a great time, and the memories feed the heart and the soul, on Sundays, when the family is spread out far.
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[03/17/2008, 05:54]
Wines reviewed in the past week ... | |  If you're not a subscriber to The Wine Front you don't get to see the reviews that are added to the site on most days. In the past seven days the following wines have been reviewed in the Subscriber Only section of this website.
All Saints Estate Chardonnay Viognier 2006
All Saints Estate Family Cellar Marsanne 2006
All Saints Estate Sangiovese Cabernet 2006
All Saints Estate Shiraz 2006
All Saints Estate Durif 2006
All Saints Estate Family Cellar Durif 2006
Aradon Rioja 2006
Casa Santos Lima Quinta Das Setencostas 2005
d'Arenberg Galvo Garage Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Petit Verdot 2006
Dog Point Vineyard Marlborough Chardonnay 2006
Dog Point Vineyard Marlborough pinot Noir 2006
Dog Point Vineyard Marlborough Section 94 2006
Grapes of Ross Barossa Valley Black Rose Shiraz 2006
Grapes of Ross Barossa Valley Old Bush Vine Grenache 2006
Henry Pelle Menetou Salon 2006
Les Nuages Organic Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Lethbridge Geelong Shiraz 2005
Longview Adelaide Hills Devils Elbow Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Maison Champy Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2005
Mount Horrocks Clare Valley Shiraz 2005
Piana del Sole Salento Negroamaro 2004
Postcode 2320 Reserve Shiraz 2004
Postcode 2587 Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Punt Road Yarra Valley Shiraz 2005
Punt Road Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Rymill Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Scorpiiion Barossa Valley Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2006
Scorpiiion Barossa Valley Shiraz 2006
Scorpiiion Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Torbreck Barossa The Struie Shiraz 2006
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1995
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1996
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1997
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1999
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1998
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2001
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2002
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2003
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2004
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2005
Tramin Alto Adige Pinot Grigio 2006
Villa terlina Gradale Barbera d’Asti 2004 ($35)
Voyager Estate Margaret River Cabernet Merlot 2004 For subscription details to The Wine Front click here.
| | | |
[04/23/2007, 06:44]
Not ink, not alcoholic, no wood | | | Whilst in Bordeaux I took the time to speak to Thierry Manoncourt at Chateau Figeac to ask him about his life and how things have changed during his stewardship of the estate since the 1940s - he will be ninety in September this year. The interview will be podcast in the near future (in [...] | | | |
[11/27/2008, 11:06]
Zilzie Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 | | | The proverbial soft, sweet-hearted, inexpensive Aussie red. You need a subscription to The Wine Front to see this part of the post | | | |
[02/16/2008, 18:17]
Rocket Science 2004 | | | 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 [...] | | | |
[03/28/2008, 04:58]
Strong showing from Mr Riggs | |  By Campbell Mattinson
Publisher, The Wine Front
Mr Riggs is a brand that made a splash when it first appeared a few years ago but – as much sub-consciously as anything – I always thought it would hit and run pretty fast, and disappear after a few vintages. I say this even though the wines have generally been very good. And well packaged. And reasonably priced. Maybe it’s just me, but the brand name itself just seemed to have gimmick written all over it. Or it did. Now it doesn't. It’s good to see that the brand is still alive and going strong. In terms of quality, the following wines are the strongest bunch I have seen under this label. The following reviews are available to financial subscribers only. Subscribers, click here for the reviews.
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[11/18/2008, 17:03]
Winespeak: The opposite of sweet is dry | | 
It’s pretty easy to call a wine sweet: it has a perceptible level of residual sugar in it (five grams of residual sugar is often considered the threshold of perception). Sweet wines generally start at about 45 grams of residual sugar (RS). Some wines, such as Tokay, have require a minimum level 60 grams of RS and rate wines by sweetness with six puttonyos being instant diabetes.
What’s the opposite of sweet? Dry. All the discernible sugar has been converted to alcohol during the fermentation process. Tricky since you might think the opposite of dry is wet and, well, all wine is wet. Dry doesn’t have to do with high tannins, which might make you go “chomp, chomp” and think “OMG, my mouth is drying out! I need water!” It’s just close to zero grams of residual sugar. And there’s a middle ground of “off-dry,” or slightly sweet. Silly term, I agree (what is it, moist?). Slightly sweeter than that can be called medium dry. If you want to get all wonky geeky, off-dry might be five to fifteen grams of RS and medium dry, from fifteen to forty. Some countries and/or regions are so wonky geeky that they have specific terms and laws for these levels. Oddly enough, a wine with a lower amount of residual sugar can sometimes taste sweeter than one with a slightly higher amount; it’s often a question of balance with acidity and one category that can be hard to discern in this regard is Champagne, which also as carbon dioxide zooming at your palate as well. I bring this up because it came up in the comments of this recent posting about “light” as a wine style. And it comes up regularly in my NYU class. If you want to see sweet and dry in action, try tasting these two Leitz wines or a Northern Rhone syrah against a ripe, sweet version of the same grape from somewhere in the New World (but not all are ripe and sweet). | | | |
[10/27/2008, 01:10]
domaine robert arnoux 2006 nuits st.georges | | | Hmm, that’s a very similar label! What I find more interesting is, that given the development of prices in the last two vintages, this 06 villages costs the same as the 04 ‘Lachaux’ Clos St.Denis of yesterday. There can be only one winner at the same price-point and despite the high quality of this wine, [...] | | | |
[01/04/2009, 20:35]
Exodus and Anamnesis | |  While visiting my friend Mario I noticed a National Geographic from 1916, the same as his birth year. Italy in 1916, the year my Aunt Mary and Aunt Josephine were born. They are all still alive and well. Here was a magazine with many great images of the Italy that both of their parents had left. Fascinating stuff, looking back at Italy some 93 years, to see how it has changed. The photographs on this post are from that issue.
Oddly, I think many of us want to find those back roads (and wines) of Italy in 1916. A return to a day when things seemed so much simpler and easier. But then one needs to factor in that time. 1916, World War I, with 37 million casualties (16 million deaths, 21 million wounded), an incoming influenza pandemic that killed 40-100 million people world wide, many younger than 45 years old. So, it wasn?t all rustic charm and simpler times, for those who lived through it.
 Not to dwell in the past, especially one which, one might argue, has little significance for the new generation, folks from 14-30. There were barely paved roads, or toilets. Nano I-pods? Bluetooth? How about a toothbrush? No, it was like it happened a million years ago, to the inheritors of the future.
The oldest Italian wine in my possession is a 1936 Est!Est!!Est!!! Amabile. It will never be opened. It sits there, twenty years after the National Geographic issue, in the time of Mussolini, at the edge of another World War.
 Wines in those times. Now we see them nostalgically, their wild yeasts and oxidation-rich profiles, and we?re not talking micro-oxidation either. A shame, because we talk about the heritage of great wine from Italy, but is there really much to ponder on before 1945, when the world experienced a change on such a level that in the Olden Times it would have been called Biblical? We sexy it up and call it ?quantum change? as if the atomic age affected winemaking. Which it did, if not directly.
 The linear acceleration of agricultural progress hasn?t been without its casualties though. The story teller, the master and the apprentice, the craft of the wine business, all this has morphed into some 15 minute superconducting version, where, in their place, now, young sommeliers walk on water in restaurants across the planet. I was there too, man. We have all been there before.
 Maybe I should get out my Andre Simon, C.E.Hawker and T.A.Layton and read them now. These were writers telling the story of wine from a time long forgotten by followers of Galloni, Meadows and Vaynerchuck. It worked for Merlin, to travel through time from the future to the past; maybe with wine it would be equally magical. From what I read it sure seems folks want to find something that has gone missing.
 When it comes to Italy, one can actually do this quite easily. Calabria or Liguria would be a great place to start looking for those core experiences in the Italian landscape.
Or, if you want something simpler, something a little less ?nano?, you could read the old books, find the random National Geographic from a million years ago, or you could sit back, pour a glass of ancient Marsala and crank up the Rossini and let your imagination take you away.
 I?ve found the Italian of our imagination and our dreams can be a better substitute Italy than the reality on the ground now or 93 years ago.
But if you want to go for the experience of Italy, and you have had your share of visiting museums and restaurants and churches and Autogrills, next time, choose the slow train from Rome to Catanzaro and take a trip back to an Italy that linear time has not accelerated with the rapidity of modernity. You can find vestiges of Pythagoras, Federico II, and Mascagni. You might even find a piece of your Italian soul which you have been looking for.
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[03/11/2008, 04:08]
Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz shows its class | |  By Campbell Mattinson
Publisher, The Wine Front
Torbreck’s top shiraz – the Run Rig Shiraz, priced at well over $200 per bottle – is probably Australia ’s most hedonistic wine. It leaps out of the bottle like a rattlesnake, all fanfare and bite. It is, always, dangerously drinkable. It is thick with flavour and accented by sweetness, its spicy, gravelly, smoky complexity ramping its class through the roof. There’s always been a question mark though: this tastes so bloody good the day it is released – what happens if you stick it in the cellar? Is it Australia ’s best early-drinking wine, or will it develop and evolve if given time? A tasting in the Barossa Valley recently of every vintage yet made of Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz (including the just-released 2005) threw a crust of clear answers. The full article is available to subscribers only. Click here for the full article. | | | |
[11/24/2008, 00:48]
Naomh Phroinsias | | | What does that mean?I will send a bottle of wine to the first person to send me the answer to this question, provided that person lives in the United States of America. A better bottle goes to the person who not only gives me the answer to the first question, but also reveals which celebrity has that name.The only conditions I make are that you:1) have a wine blog2) post your review of the wine... | | | |
[04/14/2008, 07:06]
Wine, Romantic Encounters, and WSET | |  I think Frank is having an affair. He mutters her name constantly ? sometimes lovingly, sometimes not so much so. Her picture appears in books on the coffee table, on the dashboard in the truck, even pinned on the bathroom mirror with some unintelligible scribbles and notations below it. I know he sometimes even takes her to bed.
Like all relationships, there is a definite up and down cycle to his infatuation with this woman. As his WSET exam gets closer he finds her more frustrating. At other times, he finds her charming, witty, and distinctly sexy. But he relies on her totally and without reservation. ?I just can?t be without her,? he?ll sometimes confess.
I suspect that if Frank ever actually met her face to face and in person, he  would give her the traditional European greeting ? three kisses on alternating cheeks ? right, left, right. He might even hug her.
Tonight Frank writes the vinticulture portion of his WSET Diploma exam. Perhaps when he?s done and the marks are tallied, he will close the Oxford Companion to Wine and Jancis Robinson will be forgotten for a short while. Perhaps. At least until it?s time for the next exam. | | | |
[01/31/2006, 05:21]
Purple Moon Shiraz 2004 | | | I picked up a nice bottle of good cheap wine: Purple Moon Shiraz from Trader Joe’s. This wine, made in Manteca California, was a pretty typical Shiraz with an atypical price tag. For only $3.99, this turned out to be one of many fantastic selections I made at Trader Joe’s. 
I enjoyed this Shiraz with some Trader Joe’s Mild Fresh Salsa… boy! What a match! It was dark plum in color and lots of fruit, the “dry Shiraz” fans that sampled this wine with me loved it. I enjoyed it at a perfect 54 degrees F, so that may have enhanced my enjoyment of this cheap wine.
Now, when I usually write a post I research it on the internet. Aside from some web-spam, this cheap wine didn’t show up at all. Well, I feel this wine deserves some more publicity, so here it is! Would buy again, without doubt. Stay tuned for my full tribute to Trader Joe’s (and Charles Shaw AKA Two-Buck Chuck)! Has anyone else tried this? Has anyone been able to get it from places other than Trader Joe’s?
Rating: 8/10
Price: $3.99
Place of purchase: Trader Joe’s | | | |
[09/08/2008, 15:21]
Moving to the UK | | I wanted to leave this post because over the coming days, I'll be completing a move to the UK. Heaven knows by when we'll have broadband and some of the other essential amenities set up, so please bear with me. I look forward to posting again, hopefully in the near future. Turning the spotlight, however, to my more recent current of thoughts... Just how much do I have to look forward to in London, in terms of my wine habit? It would likely be an outrageously long post, though here are some of my thoughts, in brief:
1. I'm very eager to peruse the Oddbins and other shops we may have nearby in central and SW London, hopefully turning up new artisan wines to discover and write about in this venue. Should anyone have any suggestions about some favorite, hidden gem London wine shops, please do not play "keep away" and do e-mail me at enotheque@gmail.com.
2. Another wonderful factor I couldn't count on before was having convenient and relatively inexpensive access (thank you low cost carriers) to any wine region of Europe, should I need to travel for any reason, from personal enjoyment to meeting with client producers.
3. The impressive business hub that is London...Every major trade mission or regional/national wine interest in the world has offices and trade events in London. No more worrying about which event I am able to make or not, be it Chicago, San Francisco, Boston or New York. At most, I will usually be a couple of trains away from an exposition or seminar that I would have otherwise not attended in the U.S. I've been looking over LocalWineEvents.com's London section, but if any locals or otherwise knowledgeable readers have any other suggestions for finding wine-related classes, events, seminars (you name it) in the general London area, I would be very appreciative if you posted a comment or e-mail me.
4. Do I have to mention the cheaper subscription rate for Decanter?
Again, lists really don't do any justice to the dozens and dozens of ideas that propel themselves electrically from my dendrites when it comes to how much fun a wine geek can have in London. For now though, I leave you with a warm, albeit brief goodbye, and a reassurance that I'll soon return for more on artisan wines and the people behind them. | | | |
[11/03/2008, 18:38]
Point of Purchase: Chicken Thighs | | | Because timz is hard and thighs iz cheap? And now is not the time to be a breast man. Ode to Chicken Thighs in this week?s release of TableMatters.com | | | |
[10/14/2008, 08:44]
Wine Collectors Eye Cellars for Liquidity | | Sad sign of the times: collectors are resorting to selling their precious wine in order to raise capital. Lisa Baertlein (reuters.com) writes: 
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wine cellars have been taking a hit from the global credit crisis and it isn't because the owners of rare bottles are drinking more -- it's because they have been selling to raise cash.
The selling started with mortgage brokers and has moved to Wall Street as owners turn their collections of coveted vintages into liquid assets.
"People need money. Even richer people need money sometimes," Vinfolio.com founder and Chief Executive Stephen Bachmann told Reuters on Monday.
In the last few weeks, private collectors submitted offers to sell $10 million worth of wine to Vinfolio, a San Francisco-based company that buys and sells wine online. Normally the company has about $6 million offered to it.
» Full Story Tags: melgab, wine, collection, recession, funds, south-africa, South Africa | | WorldWine Tags: melgab, wine, collection, recession, funds, south-africa, South Africa, | | | |
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As a big fan of New Zealand's 