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El Celler de Can Roca is one of my most memorable dining experiences, up there with Troisgros. At 279? for 2 people with 19 courses and 9 wines by the glass, one could also call it a bargain (the top menu is 100? per person). To read more about this experience, please visit Vinix, the wine social network site run by my friend Filippo Ronco. My complete article is there with some pictures taken on the cell phone.
I?ve just spent a few hours researching some wines Susan and I are tasting next week. Well, attempting to research would more appropriately describe this exercise in frustration. I?m still astonished how many winery websites are hard to find, poorly laid out, and then give little or no information. Sometimes I dig through page after page after page and finally discover a two-line tasting note ? how exciting.
To all you wineries, if you think this amount of information will have wines flying off the shelves, think again. First of all, by the time most consumers are looking up a wine on the Internet they?ve already tasted it, so they?re after more detail than ?black cherries and leather.? And could you include just a few words on your different vintages? Your 2001 tasting notes are getting a little dated. Besides, I?m sure your 2006 will taste different ? different weather, different harvest conditions, different wine.
How about a little technical information? French Oak or American Oak for example. A few lines covering pH, harvest dates, Brix at harvest, and residual sugar would be nice. Wine geeks will love you and talk up your wines ? free promotion.
I?d also think you would have your labels available for download ? after all, your design person?s already done the graphics in digital format, so just get a copy. Buyers could then print the label and take it to their favorite store as a reminder of what they?re looking for. Wine reviewers would be able add a label to their review or blog ? more free promotion. People could share copies with their friends and family: look at this great wine I just found. Even more free promotion.
People viewing your site aren?t usually there to read all about the owners and how wonderful they are ? at least not at first. Surprise ? top of most people?s hit list are the wines themselves. What grape varieties? What quantities in your Bordeaux style blend? Can we have a little story on the style of wines you are trying to produce? Who is the winemaker and what?s their philosophy, experience, and technique. What does your winery look like ? a picture or two might be nice especially for the folks buying your wine who live across the country.
Oh, and some way of getting a hold of you would be nice ? an email address or phone number would be cool. How can you except to answer questions ? like ?where do I buy your wines?? Or maybe you just like seeing your wines sitting in the warehouse.
None of this actually takes that much effort. Really, it doesn?t. All you need to do is spend a little time and money on your website to make it stand out among the rest. If you want to see what I mean, here are links to a couple of websites that get it right.
Arrow Leaf Cellars in BC?s Okanagan has a site that?s easy to negotiate and includes a contact list, newsletter, pictures of the vineyard, and a great tech sheet. There?s even info on screw caps with a link to the New Zealand Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative ? just in case you haven?t been converted yet.
Down under, Peter Lehmann Wines has another fantastic site ? history, descriptions of the area, info about the winemakers and the wines. After spending time on the site, you want to buy rush out to the store and buy a bottle or two.
And to the winery in Australia who will not put info on their web site because it is too ?techie,? it?s time to get with the Digital Age. You say you?d rather have people come to the cellar door to get info than surf the Net. Yeah, right. I?ll just hop on a plane from Canada right away. Lots of luck selling wines in our local market and no reviews from this quarter. SUSAN'S NOTE:
I confess, I have a severe love/hate relationship with the web. I admire Frank?s ability to search through layers and layers until he comes up with some nugget of information, but I certainly don?t share it. No results after a couple of Google searches and I?m on to something else. And sites that give me no contact information put me into orbit ? Frank usually doesn?t even bother telling me about them any more because then he has to listen to my usually loud, always colourful verbal tirades.
However, one interesting thing did come out of his visit to the ?We don?t believe in an Internet presence? Aussie site. Our debate on whether the owner was simply stupid or was being blatantly arrogant was lively, thoroughly entertaining, and will certainly keep them at the top of our ?Do Not Visit or Buy From? list for a long, long time. FYI: arrogant won hands down.
Note: Photos show the Arrow Leaf Cellars' vineyards and porch area. Wine bottles show Arrow Leaf's Zweigelt and Peter Lehmann's Semillon. Enjoy.
As part of my desire to enjoy better white wines, here's the 2005 Joseph Drouhin Chablis from the Chablis region of France near Burgundy. Around $20.
A nose that is slightly reminiscent of buttered popcorn, but not overly so. Overall a very bright, sunny wine, with flavors of crisp pears and green apples, with a touch of citrus on the finish.
I served this with another preparation of whole rainbow trout roasted in aluminum foil, this time with red bell peppers and pineapple. The touch of sweetness and caramelized sugars was quite nice. In the past I've used chayote squash and other ingredients, but the pineapple is a great pairing.
Do readers really care about active yeasts and secondary fermentation? Or do they long to understand wine's seductions, and its otherworldly sense of place? Do they care about a region's production, or would they rather hear how a glass of juice resembles a curvy redhead, and why it makes them feel the way it does? You know, drunk.
This is among Natalie MacLean's first points in Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass. A descendent of Celtic alcohol-lovers and livers, MacLean, a sommelier, writes first and foremost from a sensual place, dispelling many commonly held myths about wine writers: she doesn't spit a whole lot, and she loves the buzz just as much as she loves obsessing over the grape. The book is entertaining, informative and ideally suited for someone who has a working knowledge of wine.
From her first visits to Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Domaine Leflaive to her honest appraisal of biodynamics in Burgundy - she's on the fence - MacLean's observations are cerebral and spot-on, and her language both beguiling and accessible: "Some wines will always taste like a lost argument or a long embrace." The book lacks an index, but is part-travelogue, part-memoir. You learn as she learns.
From Burgundy, MacLean leads us to the cellars of Champagne, winning points with readers who might not be familiar with the grande dames who have kept that region running. We meet Gerard Liger-Belair, a professor of bubby at the University of Liger-Belair before taking off for the land of Zinfandel, and MacLean's internship with Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards.
It's hard to decide if it's MacLean's colorful prose, pop wine sensibility or portraitures of winerati that make her book so readable. The latter is definitely the case when it comes to Grahm, who, through MacLean's eyes, comes across very much like one of the wild-eyed Ralph Steadman drawings that grace his bottles. In other words, spot-on.
The book quiets down a bit when MacLean gets practical. She pulls a nine to five at two wine stores - The Jug Shop in San Francisco and Discovery Wines in New York City - and even does sommelier duty at Le Baccara in Quebec (yes, she drips). She shows you how to throw a tasting party.
She takes on Georg Riedel and Robert Parker and devotes too much of the book's denouement, sacrificing her flow, in my opinion, to wine auction number-crunching, but makes up for it by ending on a lavish dinner with Jay McInerney, the 1980s cocaine-novelist-turned wine writer, who tells her: "Wine makes me more thoughtful. I always want to taste the next thing so it slows me down; I pace myself. Wine saved me from rehab."
And MacLean saved us from another predictable wine book.
Natalie MacLean, Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass, Bloomsbury 2007, $10.17 (Paperback).
Jessica Yadegaran is a wine writer for the Bay Area News Group and wine educator. Read her blog at www.ibabuzz.com/corkheads or visit her Web site at theswirlgirl.com.
*What an unusual mix in terms of the international producers you represent?why Argentina, New Zealand and Japan?
- Not really if you consider that Argentina and Japan (Ginjo sake), and to some extent New Zealand, share the same common elements?there are great wines and sake being produced by highly talented winemakers and tojis (master brewers), and they are not getting recognized yet. The quality is already in the bottle?so why should these sell less or get less respect than wine from more obvious regions? We always say that we are really a ?national education company? since we usually explain more than we sell. Our job is to get people to taste these wines and premium sake, and the stuff inside the bottles takes care of the rest. At the heart of this idea is also the notion that in the end, it?s the people you work with who make the difference between mediocre and ?wow!?. We have been lucky, fortunate, and smart (maybe a little of each) to meet and represent some of the top talent in these regions:
Susana Balbo?Crios de Susana Balbo, Susana Balbo signature wines, Nosotros (with Pedro below)
Pedro Marchevsky ? BenMarco
Pepe Galante & Mariano di Paola ? mapema
Luis Reginato ? Luca, Tikal, La Posta
Roberto de la Mota - Mendel
Jose & Pepe Reginato ? Reginato sparkling wines
Guy Davis ? Davis Family Vineyards (Russian River, CA) and Gusto (NZ SB)
13 Master Brewers from all over Japan?each as talented as anyone we have met.
*As someone who deals so closely with Argentine producers, what types of obstacles, limitations and concerns have any of them expressed to you in terms of being able to export and promote their products abroad?
- Well, I want to stay out of trouble here since I travel to Argentina a lot, but let me just say that the Argentine government has historically been more of a hindrance than a help for wine exports. As an example, and hard to believe, they actually tax EXPORTS! Perhaps the bigger obstacle for Argentine wineries is that the economic and political situation is relatively unstable, and when you are in an industry that measures commitment and success over a decade or longer due to capital investment requirements, it is hard to deal with a system that usually looks out only 2-3 years at a time.
*In your eyes, what sets apart these Argentine producers you represent? What do their wines bring to the table of American wine consumers that large-yield, often conglomerate-backed wines simply cannot?
- I alluded to this a bit above when talking about who we represent and why. I think there are three main things that set our producers apart:
1) Our wineries are owned by and have Argentine winemakers who have lived in this unique climate and region for their entire lives. For us, that means that the wines that they make TASTE like Argentine wines, not like some random wine from somewhere in the world. And as talented as some of the flying/foreign winemakers are who are working in Mendoza, I have yet to taste a wine from them that thrills me the way our producers? wines do at the dinner table. And I taste everything from down there.
2) As good as they already are, they are still always trying to learn how to improve their wines, and in today?s wine world, that?s the only way you stay on top. It shows.
3) Obsessive attention to detail seems like an abused phrase, but in winemaking it is crucial and not as common as you would think. Our winemakers are also our close friends and in Argentina that is taken pretty seriously. They make sure that every step is done with the utmost care because they would never want to look their friends in the eye and say, ?uhh..I?m sorry but this wine is just ok because we weren?t really paying close attention when we made it.? Large wineries may be able to solve #1 above, but #2 and #3 are far harder to come by, and that?s probably as true in the US as it is in Argentina.
*Looking ahead?are there any regions Vine Connections is looking to expand its portfolio toward, and why?
- We made a strategic decision a few years ago that we would remain specialists in Argentine wine and Japanese sake. Some importers have gone in the opposite direction and are happy to sell one of everything from anywhere, but we?re just not built that way as people. We started as leaders in both of these categories and we feel the only way to stay out in front is to specialize. That?s why we spend almost a month per year in Mendoza and visit Japan for at least 2 weeks every year. It?s our own ?attention to detail? mantra, and we try to stick to it so that we can look our customers in they eye and say every time, ?This is really great Argentine wine and Ginjo sake?. Every time.
- Fortunately, we won?t be bored since there still plenty of regions and microclimates still left to discover in Argentina.
*Given the nature of the market here in the United States, what advice would you give to consumers who would like be aware of, as well as actually see, a dramatic increase in availability of premium Argentine wines such as those crafted by your producers?
- American consumers have helped their own cause a lot already by being very open to trying wines like Malbec, Bonarda, and Torrontes. I think they will help themselves even further by continuing to experiment with wines at many different prices, not just the ?great values? under $15. Nick and I firmly believe that well-made Argentine wines offer incredible value and over-deliver at all price points. A $12 wine is worth more like $16, and a $30 wine is worth more like $40 when compared to other wine regions of the world. And, of course, you can support quality-focused companies like Vine Connections by paying attention to the importer name or logo (like our compass) that appear on every bottle. As with other wine regions, a good wine importer can be your best friend when you haven?t tried a particular wine yet and would like some assurance that you are going to enjoy it?especially when spending more than $15 or so.
Running with our retro theme, I?d like to share some highlights from our nine-plus years of publishing. Some names have been omitted due to legal issues; some kept due to stupidity issues. Strap yourself in, baby. Here we go...
Best Endorsement: Coming in a close second to Ron Loutherback?s endorsement (see The Insider, page 40 in this issue) is an endorsement by Wine Spectator. We learned in 1999 that they (mainly their publisher) call us ?The Dark Side.? Not quite sure why. You?d think they?d figure out that the more young adults we turn on to wine now, the more subscribers they?ll have in about 10 years. But then again, it?s Wine Spectator.
Best Brokest Moment: In 2000, Random House published our first edition of the Wine X-Rated Guide to Wine. They were flying me to LA for the Festival of Books at UCLA to have me speak on a panel with other wine/food authors. Sounded great. ?Cept I had absolutely no money. I mean NO money. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada. And I had no one to sponge off. Luckily I had gas in my car, so all I really needed was $6 to pay for airport parking (when I returned). So here was my plan: I had some foreign currency (from press trips abroad). I figured I?d fly down to LA, do the festival, then get dropped back at LAX early so I could go to the International terminal to cash in the currency. These best-laid plans were going great until I found the foreign-currency exchange booth. Closed. After running through the terminal in near panic, I found another that was open. I cashed in my currency and made it back home with a whopping $11.52 in my pocket.
Best Catch-22: After a year of dogged persistence, former Wine X ad sales director Dan Eliason and I finally snagged a meeting with a brand manager for a big Italian wine company. For an hour we did the ol? dog and pony show, covering all the details on why the brand (which retailed for $11) would appeal to our readers. Their response? ?We don?t think your readers will spend $11 on a bottle of wine.? I could tell (from so many other meetings with middle-aged brand managers who think young adults don?t have any money) that arguing with them was futile. So I said we?d forward the results of our recent reader survey, which included the average price our readers were paying per bottle. Upon receiving this information, which indicated our readers were spending about $16.50 retail for a bottle, we received an email back saying that if our readers are spending that much on wine, they?d never buy an $11 bottle. D?Oh!
Best Cover: To this day, despite all the great celebs we?ve had grace our cover, I think the best cover we?ve ever published is the first. Not because it shocked so many old farts in the industry (which it did). And not because the design of the cover alone cost me more than the design of the following 63 pages (which it did). I think it?s the best cover we?ve done because it did exactly what it was supposed to do: it alienated the ?old guard? (as intended); it attracted young adults to a magazine about wine (as intended); it paved the way for a new era of wine magazine appealing to the other 35 million U.S. wine consumers who weren?t reading Wine Spectator or Robert Parker. If you have a copy of our first issue, Vol. 2.1, hold on to it. Trust me. It?s worth more than the paper it?s printed on. Wanna see the intricate detail that our then-cover designer Glen Martinez achieved on that first cover? Look at the button on the jeans. (No, Wine X wasn?t making jeans at that time.) Or examine the tattoo. One by one Glen painstakingly placed each hair that seemingly comes through the tattoo ink. Yes, the tattoo was Photoshopped in. But the belly ring was real.
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 [...]
Feb-May 2005, Los Angeles CULINARY CHEF II - Cuisine's of the World Mon – 2/28/05–5/9/05 6:30pm-10:30pm After Culinary Chef I, many students broaden their horizons by applying the techniques they’ve learned to make exotic cuisines from around the world.
Thank you for your submissions in the worst wine label contest! Here we have it: the finalists!
I recruited two judges to help whittle down the field to five labels and they are now available for your voting after the jump. But first, the judges: Steve De Long, known to many for his fine aesthetic work on the various products at De Long Wine Company; and Guillaume Jourdan, a partner at Vitabella, a PR and marketing firm in Paris who has consulted wineries on improving their labels. Since he’s foreign, I guess he’ll be our Simon Cowell. To the voting!
Cleavage Creek, Josh sent this one in, saying, “I know Marilyn Merlot. Marilyn Merlot is a friend of mine. You, madam, are no Marilyn Merlot!” Tyler: “Is that a flag pin?” Steve: “Some things are so bad that they?re good but cleavage creek can?t make that transcendent spin. It?s embarrassingly bad. However it may be good for pranks like sending bottles through the mail to friends. A little like sending mail in envelopes marked “The Pornography You Ordered.” Guillaume: “On the positive side, you immediately understand that this wine comes from America.”
Zeller Schwarze Katz Mark sent this one in saying, “Zeller Schwarze Katz is a bad Mosel wine. (Zeller = from Zell, the town of Zell an der Mosel) It’s right up there with Liebfraumilch.” (Click photo to enlarge) Tyler: “It made me laugh, it made me cry–but mostly cry.” Steve: “Ding ding ding ? we have a winner. Truly terrible. Is that Riesling Rose or a pink bottle?! And what about the white bottle? And the spelling, the spelling!” Guillaume: “If I have to buy it, it would be for a friend collecting every kind of ?cat shaped things? or for putting flowers in it if I suddenly broke my last ?vase? before my guests arrive.”
The Prisoner, Orin Swift Nancy sent this one in saying “It?s ugly, depressing, pretentious, and vulgar.” It sparked a heated discussion. Steve: “In Europe, we?ve had a lot of coverage of the Austrian dungeon nightmare story recently so the prisoner theme resonates. Regardless of the talent of the artist, pain and suffering isn?t exactly a great way to start a party.” Guillaume: “Does this mean that it is your last wine before going to jail or the last before you die? Painful is the adjective coming to my mind when looking at this label. Is it painful to drink this wine?” Tyler: [Shudder]
Honorable mention: Horse’s Ass, Herding Cats, Messina Hof “Tex Zin,” President Jacques Chirac Champagne (his favorite beverage is Corona!)
The wines of France’s Bordeaux region have long been a benchmark for quality due to a combination of tradition, terroir and mystique. William Echikson’s “Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution” attempts to lift the veil and show the inside of the Bordeaux wine trade which makes for some fascinating reading.
Mr. Echikson is the Brussels bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires and a wine columnist for the Wall Street Journal Europe but his narrative here stays closer to the business side of things in his account of the 2001 growing season. Along the way, we are introduced to the movers and shakers of the Bordeaux wine scene, including critic Robert Parker, consulting winemaker Michel Rolland and garagiste Michel Gracia, but the central story is of the Lur-Saluces family of Chateau d’Yquem.
The wines of Chateau d’Yquem are well known to wine lovers as the standard-bearer of Sauternes, the late harvest desert wine made in Bordeaux. The fungus on the grapes, known as “noble rot”, concentrates the juice making the resulting wine lusciously concentrated and sweet but still has plenty of acidity to make you come back for more. My own experience with d’Yquem is nothing short of phenomenal; this is one of those wines you want to just keep your nose in the glass for hours at a time.
As it turns out the Lur-Saluces family is as complex as their wines and much of Noble Rot is devoted to telling their somewhat tragic story. While interesting, I found this part of the book a bit gossipy and liked the vignettes of other characters in Bordeaux better. But at just under 300 pages, Noble Rot makes for a quick weekend read and one I hope more wine lovers will check out.
Richard, The Passionate Foodie, commented on how winemakers need to adapt to change or face the consequences in his review. Good insight into the tradition-laden culture of Bordeaux.
The Dude checked in with his thoughts on Noble Rot and gave it a thumbs up for, “…a) You love you some Bordeaux wine, b) You prefer your history shaken, & with a twist of gossip, c) You are in the wine industry.” Well played, Dude.
Farley came out from Behind The Vines to post her review and highlight the educational aspects of Noble Rot. I, too, learned a lot about what makes Bordeaux tick and why they are able to command such prices in the international marketplace.
Kori from The Wine Peeps gave a rundown of several juicy quotes from the book in her review but concluded that, “…If you are interested in learning more about Bordeaux, the people, places, and history, this could be a book for you, and you can head over to Amazon or your book retailer of choice to pick up a copy. However, if you are looking for a wine guide or basic wine information, I would suggest that you look elsewhere.”
Colin from the Grapefan’s Wine Adventures blog in the UK posted a mixed review of Noble Rot commenting, “…I’m still not sure what to make of it.” He thought the book might be best suited to Americans but ended up giving the work an 84 on the 100 point scale.
I know other bloggers started the book and hope they finish and post their reviews. As they do, I will update this post. Please send me your link if I missed your review or if you post a bit later than my tardy effort.
Thanks again to Dr. Debs for letting me host Wine Book Club on it’s sophomore edition. I’m hoping to see a better turnout on the 3rd outing to be announced next week.
[08/29/2006, 03:09]
Buenos Aires, wine and tango (1).
Almost a hundred of Argentine warehouses will expose your products in the biggest Fair of Wine of Latin America.
This event - Wines and Warehouses 2006 - removes to end for the sixth year in a row. It will be realized in the Fairground Land of La Rural, in Buenos Aires, between the 14th to September 16.
This meeting of the industry of the wine incites the interest not only of the consuming public, but specially of merchants and distributors, places and foreigners who have opportunity to analyze in an alone place the variety of Argentine wines, produced both by big companies and by the warehouses called "boutique".
In the last years the Argentina realized a deep review of your position on the international market of wines and, thanks to the joint effort of the local butlers, the positioning of the mark is fortifying country in the different markets. Provided that your wines expire with all the requirements of quality and being relied on, likewise, by two varietales celebrated, the malbec and the torrontés, the Argentina marks a difference and manages to differ from other countries producers.
Wines and Warehouses 2006 foresees the accomplishment of business Rounds, where the local producers will be able to make concrete economic agreements with buyers of the whole world.
Exhibitors' list:
Alta Vista - Bodegas La Riojana Coop.- Aristides - Lariviere Iturbe - Atilio Avena - Lavaque - Babco - Los Haroldos - Balbo Luigi Bosca - Barale Biurrun - Luis Segundo Correa - Bgas. Kaufman - Lurton - Bodega Altus - Morsella - Bodega NQN - Navarro Correas - Bodegas Borbore - Nesman - Bodegas La Guarda - Norton - Bodegas Lopez - Pcia. de San Juan - Bodegas Mayol - Porvenir de los Andes - Cavas de Santos - PR Argentina - Chacras del Sol - Putruele Hnos. - Chandon - R. J Viñedos - Clos de los Siete - Revista Club del Vino - Club del Vino - Dante Robino - Roca - Crotta - Ruca Malen - Del Fin del Mundo - Saenz Briones - Domingo Hnos - Sua - Don Cristobal - Telteca Winery - EAS - Tempus Alba - EAV - Terrazas de los Andes - El Rosal - Tittareli - Eral Bravo - Toso - Familia Nofal - Trapiche - Fantelli - Trivento - Fecovita - Valentin Bianchi - Finca el Retiro - Viña El Cerno - Finca Flichman - Viñas del Baron - Finca Las Moras - Viñas del Golf - Fincas Andinas - Vinecol - Flia. Schroeder - Wine 5 - Flia. Zuccardi - Xumek - Freixenet - Honda - Guime - YPF - Humberto Canale
I just received an email from RadCru announcing a live chat (text, audio, video) with the winemaker and owner of Tobacco Road Road Cellars. The chat takes place today, March 26th, from 2:00 - 3:00pm EST. If you're interested in getting in on the chat, go to www.tobaccoroadshow.tv. It looks ...
Back to red wines, at last, many of you must think, now that we are fully into autumn, with winter on its way. I have provided here a range of reds, from several regions, wine types and various prices.
Mongrain Glass makes beautiful and fancy wine glasses. James Mongrain is the artist behind this beauty. The thing that impresses me most about James Mongrain is that he has worked with Dale Chihuly since the late 1990?s. Dale Chihuly is a world class glass artist.
I looked through the Mongrain Glass website at the pictures of fancy wine glasses. The white glass goblets were magnificent, as were the chartreuse and yellow. I looked further at the Solid Series and there were more fancy wine glasses in blue, pink and the prettiest black glass I?ve ever seen.
James Mongrain and Mongrain Glass have so many fancy wine glasses for sale. It is important to keep in mind that each of the pieces is handmade and one-of-a-kind. If you want to order any of the Mongrain Glass fancy wine glasses, you need to e-mail or call with your order.
Mongrain Glass has a series of fancy wine glasses called the Creature Series. These are so beautiful. The stems of the fancy wine glasses are creatures like swans and sea horses. There is one design in particular, that has a frosted look to it. There are even dainty flowers around the base of these fancy wine glasses.
The Modern Venetians line of Mongrain Glass fancy wine glasses are very sophisticated in appearance. The glass detail work brings lace to mind because of its intricacy. I would have a very hard time trying to choose which line of Morain Glass fancy wine glasses I wanted. I actually like them all.
In addition to fancy wine glasses, Morain Glass makes commissioned pieces of art. Some of the pieces pictured in the gallery on their website were very large. There are no prices listed on this website, but these look like they cost many thousands of dollars.
Fancy wine glasses really do seem to be a small part of what Morain Glass does in their studio. I found a picture of a piece of art entitle Vortex. Vortex is described as a 7-foot stainless-steel slice of sensuality. The foundation of this piece of art is set in steel and a collection of glass forms illuminate neon light from within. The union of glass and steel in this piece of art is somewhat of a contrast, both in form and idea. Glass and steel are two distinct elements that have been joined so intimately it?s as if they are one.
It's official. Millennials are a major force in wine. Why we needed a study to tell us this, I'm not sure. We millennials are hip, sophisticated and reliably swayed by marketing. Sigh. At least we have the good sense to like wine.
Quotable: "Connoisseur, n. A specialist who knows everything about something and nothing about anything else." - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Caberiffic: Delectus 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Stanton Vineyard Oakville ($50). Tobacco, mushroom, black cherry, plum. Decant, my friends, decant.
Splurge worthy: Philip Togni Vineyard 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (online prices vary widely, between $80 and $150). Blackberry, dusty chocolate, plum, great acid on the back end.
One of the advantages of living in a major wine producing country or area is the easy access to the vineyards, to the producers and the ability to keep 'in touch' with developments, check out the latest releases and watch the vintage conditions. Such writers over at Catavino (Spain) and Lenndevours (Long Island, America) have a distinct advantage over the likes of me in the UK.
Granted, the UK does have a wine industry (and I have a vineyard within walking distance of my home, that I have yet to visit!) but it doesn't really rank that highly in global terms. Blogging may be about finding a niche and English wine is certainly that, but generally I don't enjoy the wines that much.
Similar, I expect, to writing on another under-dog of the wine world, Sherry. As there is so much more to the world's most famous fortified wine than Bristol Cream, a delight to discover a blog specialising in the subject. If you have any interest in Sherry than a visit to Vinos de Jerez etc... is suggested.
Penned by Justin Roberts he describes Vinos De Jerez etc... as being
about as fashionable as sherry is at the moment"
about time this changed!
Recent posts have concentrated on comparing two wines of a similar style - two Pedro Ximénez and Tio Pepe vs La Ina for example. Lucky for us that Justin is based in Jerez de la Frontera, a better location for covering Sherry you couldn't hope to find!
Some wines from indigenous varieties, recommended by Angela Lloyd
When wine statistics are trotted out, Italy always arrives somewhere at the top of the global list: third in area under vine (849 000 hectares? in 2004), second in wine produced (5 300 000 000 litres) and per capita consumption (46.50 litres). Another figure that would also leave many other countries in its wake is the number of indigenous grape varieties in this land of the long boot.
Of course, the ubiquitous international quintet of cabernet, merlot, shiraz, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc? are also found in Italian vineyards, but the country's real strength lies in its lesser known varieties, many producing wines of great individuality and distinction.
Such varietal? diversity is as much due to Italy's geography as its history. Wine grapes are grown from 47º North, near the Swiss and Austrian borders and close to the Alps, all the way to 37º South, on the sun scorched island of Sicily, in climates both continental and Mediterranean. Historically, the Greeks, the mysterious Etruscans and of course the Romans themselves have all helped to develop the varietal mix.
The good news is that the Italians have now realised the worth of these grapes, from both quality and marketing points of view and much more is being done to promote the wines made from them.
Fortunately for South Africans, there are several good examples available here. Before recounting a few I tasted recently courtesy of importers Stefano Gabba and his son, Lorenzo, who run Melgab International, a word on the Italian system of naming the origin of its wines.
The DOC? ? Denominazione di Origine Controllata? ? system is modelled on the French Appellation? Contrôlée. This set of regulations covers such aspects as viticulture?, winemaking and labelling. As with the French AOC?, place names rather than grape names often appear on the label, the variety or varieties being implicit in such place name.
Less confusing is the Italian culture of enjoying wine with food, thus their focus is on creating food friendly rather than show winning wines.
The following quartet is a small representation of worthwhile examples of the lesser known Italian varieties available here.
Cantina? Lunae Bosoni Colli di Luni Vermentino 2006 12%R95.19 The Colli di Luni is a DOC on the Ligurian coast just to the east of Genoa. Both white and red grapes? are grown there; the whites based on vermentino with up to 10% other white grapes. This example has presence without showiness in its firm?, fresh structure?, good flavour intensity?, without being overtly fruity?, and dry? finish?. As its coastal situation suggests, vermentino and seafood are natural partners.
La Giustiniana Gavi di Gavi DOCG? Lugarara 2006R99.75 The 'G' in DOCG stands for Garantita, its purpose to identify the finest Italian wines ? 'guarantee' as opposed to merely 'control'. If it has gained credibility in the few number of DOCG's awarded, some have been seriously questioned, but overall it does confer an image of quality where awarded. The town and DOCG of Gavi are on hilly slopes in south east Piedmont, just to the north of the Ligurian coast. Cortese, the only grape permitted, was originally used as a base wine for Asti Spumante?. As a solo act, under the Gavi di Gavi nomenclature, it rose to fame in the 1960s, in the process becoming Italy's most expensive dry white wine. Burton Anderson's Wine Atlas of I
Tecnorati
Cleavage Creek, 
The Prisoner, Orin Swift
The wines of France’s Bordeaux region have long been a benchmark for quality due to a combination of tradition, terroir and mystique. William Echikson’s “
