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This particular bottle was a replacement for its older and sadly corked brother from the 2002 vintage. Unfortunately the good customer service cannot make up for the contents of the Rosemount Show Reserve Shiraz 2004.
Smelling of coconut oak, plum and spices, this Shiraz has an approachable tannin structure, however somewhere along the line it’s soul was ripped out and replaced with a brittle oaken heart. In short, it tastes like an acceptable but generic red wine.
I wish I could find some more positive things to say about this wine since the 2002 vintage was the first red I really got excited about. Slash the price to $10 and you would have a bargain bbq red I suppose.
Score: 86/100 Price: $20 Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 14.5% Would I buy this wine? No
Just after Christmas Gemma and I inexplicably found ourselves at the Boutique Wine Center inquiring after any new releases. Although there was nothing released in the previous two months, we were lucky enough to taste some unreleased 2007 reds from Meerea Park (all of which look superb), including the Meerea Park Shiraz Viognier 2007 which is available as of today.
Showing perfumed aromas of cherry and clove, there is an intense and fruity front palate followed by some spices that lead to a tangy and savoury finish. The fine/approachable tannins and pure fruit make this an excellent drink-now proposition, or you can wait a few years for some further complexity to develop.
This is the best Shiraz Viognier Meerea Park have produced to date, though my score is the same as the 2005 vintage since I am marking a little harder these days…
Score: 91/100 Price: $20 Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 14% Would I buy this wine? Yes, you should be able to find it for around $17-18
Since I don’t want to SPAM my friends over e-mail I thought I’d relay this joke on my blog and let people opt-in to reading it… I thought it was funny!
Home Depot Scam
Be Careful - A ‘heads up’ for those men who may be regular Home Depot customers. Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don’t be naïve enough to think it couldn’t happen to you or your friends.
Here’s how the scam works:
Two very hot 20-21 year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing your stuff into the trunk. They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windex, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look. When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say ‘No’ and instead they ask you for a ride to Lowes. You agree and they get in the backseat. On the way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet.
I had my wallet stolen March 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, 24th & 29th. Also April 1st, 4th, twice on the 8th, 16th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, three times last Saturday and very likely again this upcoming weekend.
My parents' 25th anniversary is next week, and I thought it would be nice to give them a bottle of a 1983 vintage to mark the occasion. I've managed to find some online in my price range (less than $100), but I don't know what's aged well and what hasn't. There seems to be a lot of ports out there, but my parents aren't really into dessert wines. They aren't wine snobs by any means (my mom likes Yellow Tail, bleccchh), but I want to get them something that doesn't taste like vinegar.
When I saw beef heart at the market, I got the idea for an odd dish. Most folks would just grimace and move on to the socially acceptable cuts of meat, but I grabbed un corazón de res and a few pounds of short ribs for dinner. Naturally the two go together in the chest, so why not cook them together?
Out of respect for the more squeamish readers I've omitted the pictures of the heart during the trimming phase, but it's a highly educational experience if you've never done it. It's a good four times the size of the human heart but works mostly the same way. And unlike the formaldehyde pickled samples you may have encountered in biology class or med school, this smells like steak. Tastes like it as well--once you trim off all the fat and the various arteries, you're left with something like filet mignon: a perfectly lean, fine grained meat that grills beautifully. I tried a few pieces in this fashion before chopping up the rest for the braised dish.
I started by roasting the short ribs in a hot oven for an hour to render out the fat and get some nice browning. Do this on a deep lipped aluminum sheet pan and it's a lot easier than doing it in a skillet (hat tip to Cook's Illustrated). I heated the roasting pan in the oven and then added a few tablespoons of the rendered beef fat and a standard mirepoix. Then I added the chunks of heart, the drained ribs, a couple of cans of tomato sauce, a can of chicken broth, and half a bottle of Bordeaux (more on that in a bit). I covered it and roasted it in a low oven for a good four or five hours until everything was nice and tender.
The whole thing was rich, velvety, savory, and sinfully beefy. This is a great method of preparing short ribs. The heart is actually milder and more tender than the short ribs, so it's sort of lost in the stew, but the cardiac muscle does provide an interesting textural contrast.
For the braising liquid I used half a bottle of the 2005 Mouton Cadet from Bordeaux. $13, 13% abv. 65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. The label comes with a quote: "Le vin, il naît, puis il vit, mais point ne meurt, en l'homme il survit." Baron Philippe (1902-1988). This translates as "Wine is born, it lives, but it never dies; in man it survives." There's a dusty nose with elements of black cherry and hints of vanilla and lipstick (I promise I was using a clean glass) with a smooth mouthfeel and restrained berry flavors. 2005 was a banner year for Bordeaux and this is a very economical way to enjoy it.
I was going to open the other bottle to try something different, but I decided to save it for later. That's a 2004 Sella & Mosca Cannonau di Sardegna from the Italian island of Sardinia. $15, 12.5% abv. I've written about the Cannonau grape previously and was excited to see a bottle from a different producer. A few days afterward I opened it up to go with grilled pork chops and an apple-garlic-sherry vinegar topping. The wine has an intensely spicy, grape skin aroma to it and a full black cherry flavor. The spice continues on the tongue, black pepper and allspice. Medium tannins, clean finish, a little unusual but certainly strong enough to hold up against the grilled pork.
by Martin Field I was reflecting one night, over an aged cognac, on chaos theory. Popularised by the notion that the gentle motion of a butterfly?s wings in, say, Noosa, may very well cause a typhoon in, say, the Philippines. Extraordinary, I thought, and hard to believe, but then again all things are possible. How does one separate theory from fact? I wondered. By scientific experimentation, I answered myself readily. So, just a moment ago, I popped the cork of a bottle of champagne. I do not take responsibility for the consequences of this action but, wherever you are in the world, I say to you: ?Do you notice a slight freshening of the breeze? Did the dogs just start to bark? ?Be very afraid!?
They said it couldn?t be done. Yet it is being done. California is emerging from the excesses of the previous decades (who isn?t) and presenting a leaner, meaner attitude in their wines. By lean and mean I mean acidity and a glorious lack of residual sugar. Perhaps Pilates is good for all types of fat.
Just today I had two crisp, mineraly and very dry white wines from California and they were as good examples of the genre as you?ll find anywhere.
Facing down a half dozen pristine oysters the 2006 Brander Sauvignon Blanc Natural from Santa Ynez was master of its domaine. It was clean and fresh as you could want, yet the Brander was not that simple cat pee punch produced in New Zealand as on top of that zest was a lovely touch of honeydew melon and ripe pears. Brander Natural is a rare example of a new world sauvignon blanc that can actually challenge Sancerre or Pouilly Fume for both guts and glory.
More difficult to find, but well worth the search is the 2007 Pey- Marin, The Shell Mound, Riesling from chilly Marin County. Here?s a high strung dry riesling that is not a bad copy of Alsace, but an interesting wine in its own right. Like the Brander, on top of all the structure and bite is a deliciously ripe fruitiness that belongs only to California. At only 11.8% alcohol it hits some of those high notes you thought only German riesling could hit.
There used to be a line that could not be crossed in California without wines being branded as thin. Thankfully those days seem to be gone as producers like Pey Marin and Brander produce lean, mean fighting machines such as these.
If you were to sit down to your last dinner and were offered one last bottle of wine from anywhere in the world - what would that wine be and why?
Additionally - if two sommeliers, namely Robert Parker and Hugh Johnson, approached your table to offer you advice - who's suggestions would you take most to heart?
I'd go with Johnson and signal Parker away from my table :)
My brother-in-law Nick was born a hunter. Growing up in Greece during WWII, where famine was the norm at the time, he learned how to survive at a very early age. When his family immigrated to the New World, settling in Southern California, I could only imagine what he must have felt like, as a child. He took to California and the American Dream like a duck to water.
All this as an introduction in the way of a comparison. Nick, being a hunter, is one of a handful of hunters who have made it into the Grand Slam Club. You can read about it here. The guy loves to hunt, fish, golf, win. I mean, we were sitting outside having lunch and I caught him stalking prairie dogs, it?s just in his blood.
Oh, and he likes wine. Italian wine, California wine, French wine. Good wine.
On a visit earlier this month at his and my sisters rambling Tuscan ranch house, on the 16th green of a PGQ gold course in Indian Wells, we got to opening a few bottles of wine. And talking about what makes a wine great. It got me to thinking about the way we collect our wines. Are they trophies to put on a rack and lay claim to bragging rights? Or is there a deeper meaning to the wines we have opened, enjoyed and appreciated over the years?
Is there an Italian Grand Slam for wines? And if so, what would they be?
In my mind I?d be putting Barolo and Barbaresco up on the wall. Brunello? Most likely, but these days, Brunello is bothering me. If you put it into the context of 50 or so years, then OK. But right now, I?d say Brunello is on probation with a lot of us.
The fourth wine? Amarone? A Maremma red, maybe from Bolgheri? Something from the Valtellina? A Taurasi? What do you think?
About ten years ago my brother-in-law and sister and I were having breakfast at a hotel. A few tables away Angelo Gaja and his field rep were seated. I mentioned to my brother-in-law that the gentleman about his age was a famous Italian winemaker. I went over to the table and said hello. After all I had first sold Gaja?s wines in 1981.
When I came back to the table, Nick seemed surprised that I knew and had done business with such a famous wine personality. I explained to him that once you enter into the field, most doors will open one day or another, no big deal.
But Gaja has not only entered the Grand Slam Club. In his winemaking ventures he also has produced the grand Slam wines if you see those four wines as Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello and Bolgheri. So to him, hats off. I only wish I could taste through some of these wines once in a while. They seem to have moved to an arena where other wines that I used to enjoy, wines like Pomerols and Pauillacs, have also migrated to. The investor classes.
No doubt Barolo, Barbaresco and Brunello are in my club. But the fourth wine? I?d like to think Amarone might rate high and Taurasi as well. Not yet with Sicily, nor Sardegna, sorry islanders. Not yet.
I do have fond memories of Chambave Rouge. But that is a wine for the ages now and the storytellers. I guess Neal Rosenthal and I are some of the few lucky chaps to still have a bottle or two around of the legendary 1961 from Ezio Voyat.
I?m sure my brother-in-law, if he was playing this game, would put Sassicaia on that wall of fame. And prior to the 1990?s I would agree. But that just gives the wine two decades to have proven itself. Is that enough? Is the wine still capable of evoking legendary emotions?
After last years trip to the Valtellina, I was hopeful. And while I won't rule it out, there?s still not enough time for those wines, in modern times, to have redeemed their once lofty status.
My mind seeks to focus my gaze through the crosshairs; focus. Is it even another red wine we seek?
I hate sweet reds. Let me say that again so there's no mistaking it...I hate sweet reds.
However, this year, at the Desmond, I found something special - a sweet red I could drink. I thought it was actually drinkable. I thought it was really quite great.
The wine was Thousand Islands Winery Saint Lawrence Red. Saint Lawrence Red is a blend of carefully selected French Hybrid grapes. Great for burgers or chili, great for turkey for those who don't like dry reds, this was an excellent wine. Dark fruit. Solid alcohol. Very, very nice.
The Thousand Islands Winery is located in Jefferson County, New York. It is the most northern winery in New York State. The winery is located on a farm that was built in 1836. The farm was later owned and operated by Captain Massey and his wife Ida in the 1930's. Captain Massey was a famous Riverboat Captain. He owned a huge Great Lake Vessel that he eventually sold to the Department of Defence for the war effort during World War II.
Steve and Erika Conaway purchased the Farm in December 2002. Upon Steve's retirement from the military, they decided to create a winery in Alexandria Bay, NY.
Congrats to winery owner Steve Conaway and all the folks at Thousand Islands Winery.
A recent stopover in LA had me dining with the one and only Dr. Conti. I can safely say that reports of his demise are greatly exaggerated, and that there are still a few jewels left in the cellar. Quite a few. We were joined by the Burghound, always on the scent of the best [...]
by Martin Field Glenmorangie The Original Single Malt Scotch ? up to $70 **** Ten years old, according to the label, and matured in ?Bourbon oak casks?. And you can detect the oaky vanilla as you first inhale this distinctive Scotch. There is also a faint aroma of smokiness and a hint of lemon. The palate is light and velvet in texture and you?d swear there was honey in there somewhere, along with top notes of lime and lemon. Drink with just a splash of water and leave the ice and mixers for the tourists. Classy stuff indeed. Appleton Estate Reserve Jamaica Rum ? up to $55 **** ?Aged 8 years.? Lifted aromatics of Demerara sugar and island spices. Sweet and mellow in the mouth it flows down the throat like molten golden syrup. Definitely a sippin? rum, drink it from a goldfish bowl as you would a Cognac or malt scotch. I wouldn?t spoil it with mixers; maybe ice or a few drops of water to enhance the esters. Tulloch Hunter River White 2008 ? up to $22 ** A blend of chardonnay, semillon and verdelho from the Hunter. Tropical fruity nose leads to a well-weighted palate, replete with zesty and refreshing elements of passionfruit and pineapple. Plantagenet Great Southern Riesling 2008 ? up to $22 *** This wine?s bouquet of sweetness and limes reminded me of a wedge of Key Lime Pie I once savoured. Its palate is light, dry and delicate showing some of that lime tartness along with Granny Smith apples. The finish shows a zingy acidity. Pfeiffer The Carson Gewürztraminer 2008 - $16.50 **$ King Valley, Victoria. Lime blossoms and roses dominate the bouquet. The palate is smooth and softish with some grapey sweetness. Try with entrée dishes. Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2008 ? up to $28 *** Margaret River. Western Australia. The nose shows white flowers, an edge of lime juice and a hint of toasted oak. On the palate we find kiwi fruit, blackcurrant leaf, hay and lime zest. The finish is distinctly crisp and dry. Fine aperitif style.
Ever get one of those annoying scam emails asking you to accept stolen credit card numbers and send your product overseas? Who are these scam artists? Who are their victims? Can they be stopped? Dover Canyon Winery has just published a five-part series of articles called Inside a Wine Scam. The series has resulted in FBI subpoenas for the operators accepting money transfers at a remote location in Oklahoma. In a surprising twist, the 'front man' for the scam may herself be a victim of 'work from home' fraud.
Quick site update: I'm trying yet another advertising system, though at least this time I get to hand-pick the items, customize everything, and it's all handled seamlessly through Amazon.com. Click on the link at the left to check out my Amazon Store. Everything on that store is something I've either read, used, or consumed. When Amazon begins selling wine, I plan to include links for those bottles that I review. Obviously I want you to support your local wine shops and bookstores first, but half of the e-mails I get are people from all over the country asking me where to get a certain wine, book, or cooking utensil that I've mentioned, and if I can make a little scratch from the links, then life is good.
Monday night I attended a BYOB wine and cheese function at the Hunt Phelan Inn hosted by Slow Food Memphis. I was invited by my friends in the Squirrel Family. I didn't know until the last minute that it was Papa Squirrel's birthday, and the man actually gave me a gift: an autographed copy of Imbibe!, a history of the golden years of cocktails. I'll have more details in a future post, and look forward to making a huge punch that will serve two dozen people.
I felt the gathering of folks who were committed to preserving dying culinary traditions would be interested in trying a wine made from dandelion blossoms harvested by Amish children. I picked up the bottle during my trip to the Ohio Amish country this summer, but my desire to try it had been simmering since I read Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine at the age of 12. It's a beautifully written book that captures the pure experience of summer in its pages. And the wine also accomplishes that feat: while it's sweeter than I like, and certainly not as subtle as a fine grape-based wine, the aroma of dandelions will take you back to your childhood. When you're a kid, you're not allowed to touch pretty flowers like roses or tulips, but nobody stops you if you pick all the dandelions out of the yard. Maybe it has to do with the innocence of youth in distinguishing a weed from a prizeworthy iris, or maybe kids are just lower to the ground and better able to appreciate such things.
These were three of my favorites from the tasting, a Hawaiian pineapple wine (drier than you'd think and with a glorious nose), a big jammy Zinfandel, and a Super-Tuscan that had aged well and was a refined example of its type.
Additionally, cheeses from Mississippi State University were provided. I had the Cheddar, the Edam, and the Vallagret. All were savory and delicious, and the cheeses are available for order online or at the shop in Starkville, MS.
Future Slow Food events are planned locally--check the schedule for more details. If you're interested in eating local products, supporting local farmers, and saving heritage cuisine, look for a Slow Food group in your area.
A box of rose pink turkish delight had me thinking about posting a few things pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month. All our desserts this month have had a pink tinge.
TURKISH DELIGHT ICE CREAM WITH RASPBERRIES
Vanilla Ice Cream and a few drops of rose pink food colouring
Turkish Delight chopped into small squares
Raspberries and raspberry jam
Sweet shortcrust pastry, cut into desired shape and cook in oven. Cool.
To Make
Soften vanilla icecream a little, blend in food colouring and add half chopped turkish delight. Work quickly so ice cream doesn't melt completely. Place into moulds lined with plastic wrap or muslin. Return to freezer to harden.
Heat raspberries and jam in a small saucepan. Push through a sieve to remove seeds. Cool.
To Serve
Remove ice cream from freezer and upend onto plate. Decorate with raspberry sauce, remaining turkish delight and pastry shapes.
Variations - You could use any flavoured icecream in place of the coloured vanilla. I did it this way as I wanted the rose pink colour but with a vanilla taste.
Amounts will depend on how many you are serving.
TURKISH DELIGHT TRUFFLES(makes 10 truffles)
100 grams dark chocolate, chopped into bite size pieces 130 ml pure cream 75 grams turkish delight, chopped into small squares cocoa powder and icing sugar for rolling truffles in.
Place cream into a small saucepan and heat.
Pour cream over chocolate and stir until it melts.
Cool and then stir in turkish delight.
Place in fridge and allow mixture to thicken.
Using a teaspoon scoop out small balls of mixture and drop into cocoa/icing sugar mix.
Using hands roll into a smooth ball and place in serving cases.
If not serving immediately, store in fridge. Roll in cocoa/icing sugar mix again before serving.
Adapted from Saha by Greg and Lucy Malouf
FLORENTINES WITH TURKISH DELIGHT
David Lebovitz is responsible for several major purchases I've made recently. He mentioned Thermomix and I now have one, he mentioned the Ottolenghi cookbook and I now have one. It is a beautiful book and this is the first recipe I've made from it. Because I'm reduced to typing with one hand this week I'll refer you to David's blog for the original recipe.
The addition of the turkish delight is an idea I found in another Greg and Lucy Malouf book. I added the turkish delight to the Florentines in the last minute of baking.
[07/16/2006, 18:30]
The good wines of the small big companies. The Malbec 2004 Marguery Family
"FAMILY MARGUERY" elaborates his wines in the locality of Cross of Stone, Mendoza, into Republic Argentina .
"Exclusively we are compromised by the production of wines of high quality "enologica" by means of the use of the last technological advances and in limited items. Our grapes come from ancient vineyards strictly selected of the localities of Uco's Valley (Mendoza - Argentina) seeking to express the peculiar characteristics of every "terroirs", says Marguery.
This wineries of Argentina was founded in the 2000 year. " We look for wines of good concentration, complex and expressive, for it and consistent with our vision, we work in this respect from the vineyard. Everything there speaks about the care and the dedication that we have with our plants wineries. There helps us very much the height that they have on the level of the sea (1.100mts.), the desert conditions of the climate, the poverty of the soil, the thermal extent, that is to say all conditions that favor the ideal development of the Malbec ".
Port wines can seem like a challenging subject. There are all sorts of bottlings: vintage date, late-bottled vintage date, Colheitas, single Quintas, and still others know as ruby reserve, crusted, or white — and let?s not forget the various tawny Ports of 10, 20, 30 and 40 years of age. Why are there so many different bottlings, and where does one begin to explore all of these fortified wines? Thankfully, we had the opportunity to talk with Louisa Fry from the Port and Douro Wines Institute, an inter-professional council of growers and producers from this famous Portugese region.
Join us as we hear about the origins of Port, what it takes to get a vintage declared, and whether it’s called Port or Porto. We?ll also discuss the amazingly steep terraces of Portugal’s Douro region, and the varieties of grapes that are able to be blended into the final product. Of course, it wouldn’t be complete without hearing about the optimum time to drink Port.
For more info on the Wines of Portugal: www.ivdp.pt
I wish I could tell you I'm free of cancer. I wish I wasn't starting more chemo tomorrow. I wish I wasn't afraid of the side effects. I wish I didn't have to see the fear in my children's eyes. I wish I didn't have to hear my son say 'I feel so helpless'. I wish Bryan didn't have to cook dinner 'cos I know he doesn't enjoy cooking. I wish I had an appetite. I wish I didn't have to cancel lunch in Sydney with Fatemeh. I wish I'd been able to swim in the ocean with my sister last week when she visited. I wish I didn't know words like Folfox and Avastin. I wish I didn't know my CEA. I wish I didn't have blood tests every week. I wish I didn't have to press the button in the elevator marked Oncology. I wish I could beat the cancer. I wish I didn't think about my children's future which may not include me. I wish Bryan and I will grow very old together. I wish the will to live was enough to overcome my genetics. I wish I will have the energy to continue blogging. I wish you will understand when I am too sick to reply to your comments and emails. I wish you will understand when I visit your blog and don't leave a comment. I wish one day I could tell you I'm free of cancer.
Thanks to Maryam for helping me find a way to tell you my wishes.
Tuscany is probably the Italian wine region that is best known among American drinkers. Hundreds of raffia-covered fiascos (you know what I'm talking about--the bottles that you use for candle holders when the wine is all gone) have entered hundreds of homes all over the country. (picture by dottorpeni)
But there's more to Tuscan wine than just Chianti. For the last two months of 2008 I'll be focusing on the wines from this region. Why two months? There's just too much good wine to spend only one month exploring.
Tuscany is a region that is known for more than wine, of course. Home to the great poet Dante, its also the region where Pisa's "leaning tower" is located. Pisa is not the only town in the region with stunning architecture, as any visitor to Florence, San Gimignano, or Siena knows. Rolling hills, groves of olive trees, fields of sunflowers and vines, and old houses dot the landscape as well, making Tuscany a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds. (photo by vigour)
And the grapes of Tuscany are just as diverse as the countryside where they're planted. There's Sangiovese, of course, but there's also rarer indigenous varieties like Toroldega, Vernaccia, and Canaiolo. And Tuscan vineyards have their fare share of international grapes in them like Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo, and Cabernet Sauvignon, too. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are often blended with Sangiovese in the powerful red wines known as Super Tuscans that earn high scores from the wine magazines and command high prices in the wine shops. (photo by rayced)
Great wine demands great food, and as anyone who has been to Tuscany knows--these people can cook. Whether you're looking for a simple pasta dish with sauce made from butter and sage, a hearty soup thickened with bread and beans, grilled beef cooked to perfection as they do in Florence, or the small cookies made for dunking in your coffee or wine called cantucci, you can find a dish to suit you from among the region's traditional recipes. These dishes are perfect for winter temperatures and feeding large crowds at the holidays. Many of them are also either quick to prepare, or cook at low temperatures in the pot or oven so they are ideal for entertaining.
With so much to love about Tuscan food and wine, it seemed like the right moment to slow down and enjoy the end of the this year's wine journey through Italy. Those of you who have been following the series know that there are still regions I've not yet reached. So we'll pick up where we left off in January 2009 and continue to drink the wines from the remaining regions of Italy all through next year. (photo by davidanthonyporter)
I'll be back periodically over the next several weeks with tasting notes and food pairings for Tuscan wines. Yes, Chianti will be among them. So, too, will be Tuscan whites and a wine made with indigenous varieties. And the Tuscan wine theme will spill over into Serious Grape on Fridays as well, where I'll talk about Super Tuscans and compare the different levels of Chianti from the regular bottles to Chianti Classico and reserve wines. As always, I hope you will join in and share your Tuscan wine recommendations and experiences.
London's Black Time have carved a hefty reputation for themselves over the past few years through scattered tours across Europe and the US, numerous limited-edition 7-inch records, two dense yet danceable long-player albums, and a manifesto that, among other things, espouses "fuck and rage" and the "heavy vampire sound." Double Negative is the latest full-length in the Black Time canon. Fans of the band's previous output will not be disappointed, especially if they want to hear the fractured, art-damaged scree of their singles forged with the trebly garage punk of their two albums. The trio of Lemmy Caution, Janie Too Bad, and Mr. Stix outdo themselves here and turn in the most fully realized Black Time release to date. If you've been aching for Messthetics and Back From The Grave compilations, then look no further. Double Negative is the absinthe you've been wanting to drink. Known for their propensity for all things black, Black Time carries their theme of bleak darkness to the nth degree. With tracks like "Skeleton Factory," "Blot Out The Sun," "Little Death," and "I'm Gonna Haunt You When I'm Gone" (featuring lead vox by Janie), you know you're
Tecnorati
This particular bottle was a replacement for its older and sadly corked brother from the 2002 vintage. Unfortunately the good customer service cannot make up for the contents of the Rosemount Show Reserve Shiraz 2004.
Just after Christmas Gemma and I inexplicably found ourselves at the Boutique Wine Center inquiring after any new releases. Although there was nothing released in the previous two months, we were lucky enough to taste some unreleased 2007 reds from Meerea Park (all of which look superb), including the Meerea Park Shiraz Viognier 2007 which is available as of today.
My brother-in-law Nick was born a hunter. Growing up in Greece during WWII, where famine was the norm at the time, he learned how to survive at a very early age. When his family immigrated to the New World, settling in Southern California, I could only imagine what he must have felt like, as a child. He took to California and the American Dream like a duck to water.
On a visit earlier this month at his and my sisters rambling Tuscan ranch house, on the 16th green of a PGQ gold course in Indian Wells, we got to opening a few bottles of wine. And talking about what makes a wine great. It got me to thinking about the way we collect our wines. Are they trophies to put on a rack and lay claim to bragging rights? Or is there a deeper meaning to the wines we have opened, enjoyed and appreciated over the years?
In my mind I?d be putting Barolo and Barbaresco up on the wall. Brunello? Most likely, but these days, Brunello is bothering me. If you put it into the context of 50 or so years, then OK. But right now, I?d say Brunello is on probation with a lot of us.
About ten years ago my brother-in-law and sister and I were having breakfast at a hotel. A few tables away Angelo Gaja and his field rep were seated. I mentioned to my brother-in-law that the gentleman about his age was a famous Italian winemaker. I went over to the table and said hello. After all I had first sold Gaja?s wines in 1981.
No doubt Barolo, Barbaresco and Brunello are in my club. But the fourth wine? I?d like to think 
