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I was just talking with a friend from Chicago about Alpana Singh.
At 26, she was named the youngest female master sommelier. Now, at 29, she's director of wine and spirits for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. Smart girl. And she champions the women-and-wine cause. I like that.
And there she is in today's Chicago Sun Times offering us a little taste of her wine savvy. I'm fond of this one in particular: Many good wines are meant to be drunk young. "Otherwise, while you're patiently waiting for 'Mr. Right,' you may inadvertently be letting 'Mr. Right Now' get away."
I'll throw in my own girly wisdom: Wine and shoes have a lot in common. You have the $300 Stuart Weitzmans stashed away in a cloth bag in an air-tight box in the back of your closet. And then there's the everyday, comfy-as-hell boots you throw on without a second thought, but can't imagine living without. Those dress-up wines you've got buried in your cellar, they're nice, but it's the week-night, lasagna-and-garlic-bread bottle that gets you through the week.
After our recent Wine Book Club foray into Bordeaux, I thought you might be in the mood to buy some wine from the region to stash away in your cellars and closets for drinking in three to five more years.
If you are looking for some good value in Bordeaux, then you should check out the list of 100 affordable wines that was selected in a blind tasting by a jury that included Chanterelle Master Sommelier Roger Dagorn, Binny's Fine Wine Buyer Barbara Hermann, and author Leslie Sbrocco. I had hoped to attend their tasting last month in Los Angeles, but was felled by such a bad cold that I couldn't taste or smell anything--not ideal for sampling Bordeaux.
Thankfully, the list is still up on the web so I wanted to let you all know that it's a well-rounded list of dry whites, reds, and roses, as well as sweet dessert wines. Though I didn't get a chance to taste my way through the whole list, the inclusion of wines from Chateau Lamothe de Haux, Chateau Andron Blanquet, and Chateau L'Embrun all inspired confidence. None of these names will be terribly familiar to you, because they are produced by smaller producers who are vastly overshadowed by the big Bordeaux names. But they were selected for the list because they were excellent representatives of Bordeaux for the price.
So if you want to try some Bordeaux, but are not prepared to pay premium prices, this list could help you to find more affordable options that will still deliver great taste and classic varietal flavors.
[08/23/2006, 03:01]
Report of the Argentina
Is this an overview report on the export situation of the Argentine vitiviniculture within the First Semester of 2006. This report tracks and reflects the performance of the main variables of Argentine vitiviniculture in foreign markets.
This works is elaborated per Caucacia Wine Thinking a company focused and devoted exclusively to provide information services to the wine industry, mainly in what respects to foreign markets.
At present, the leading wineries in Argentina, as well as the main industry-related organizations (Bodegas de Argentina AC, Wines of Argentina) make use this services.
Well it has been a few weeks since my last entry and although I could tell you all about the Rhône and Burgundy en primeur campaigns, the New Wave Spanish wines I've been trying, or the South African Reds to match the last entry of South African Whites that my father has been religiously clicking on to, only to discover nothing of what his daughter has been up to in the Big Smoke, I won't.
I am very tempted to tell you about having to pay an Australian, let's say friend, in wine for a lost - no, thoroughly thrashed - bet over the Ashes (this was his first return to England since that sorry episode). A fairly painful experience for both wallet and liver BUT let's move on to the future.
Wine Relief is upon us www.rednoseday.com/partners/wine-relief/ and there are several different bottles widely available to buy from which retailers are donating some of the profit to Comic Relief. How easy is it to open a bottle of wine and make a difference?
For my part I have been enthusiastically working my way through the offerings and on March 3rd, this Saturday in fact, I will be a guest panellist on the Virtual Wine online tasting of the 6 best on offer. The team at Virtual Wine have also studiously tasted and deliberated to come up with the finalists which will be tasted by a select (!) panel live from 7.30 pm.
The idea is that you at home can order the taster packs of 6 wines from Virtual Wine (10% still going to Comic Relief) or buy them from the various retailers, and taste the wines at the same time. You can then send belligerent, loving or simply drunken messages to us via email and your concerns will be addressed immediately. What a laugh...
So get some friends round, you must have some, put on some nibbles and sharpen your tongues. Take a look here www.virtualwine.co.uk to download instructions and tasting notes.
These people like wine and have a laugh with it, their contribution to the cork vs screwcap debate was to race bottles down river to see which was fastest, the loser then wrestled the winner to the ground in an unscripted, but thrilling, finale.
I am a fan of Spencer-Roloson winery, so I sought out Sam Spencer for our “20 Not So Penetrating Questions for a Wine Craftsman.”
Sam and his partner Wendy Roloson produce high-end, affordably priced, small lot Rhone and Spanish style wines, mostly reds and a couple of delightful whites.
Simply, these people get it.
They sell in Indiana, which always engenders a boutique producer to me, because most others eschew distribution in the state without understanding the opportunity. They sell Direct-to-Trade, a program that I helped initiate with Inertia Beverage Group; they are starting a blog and their positioning to market is, “Provocative Wines Evocative Dirt.” Oh, and this is on top of their wine line-up being fantastic from top to bottom.
But, Sam doesn’t stop there, in fact he has side projects, too. His most recent project is the current Cameron Hughes “Hughes-Wellman” Cabernet. As a wine club selection and a slight one-off from the CH model, the $50 Cabernet with just 199 cases produced should go extremely fast. Available now at this link.
Fortunately, Sam found a few spare moments to interview with us and our 20 questions … an economy of words and a spareness of detail makes this interview kind of like the subject—smart, to the point and without a lot of artifice. Though, as a child of the 80’s and a viewer of late night Cinemax as a young teen, I do have to chuckle at his favorite movie genre.
Which of the Seven Deadly Sins are you most guilty of?
Sam: Lust mostly, pride in the balance
What is your biggest pet peeve?
Sam: Poor diction and improperly spoken English. Although I speak Spanish terribly and mangle that language daily.
Sam: Failing to keep your area/station clean
What is on your nightstand?
Sam: James Salter: Last Night John Mcphee : the founding Fish Luca Turin: Perfume: the Guide
What is in your refrigerator or pantry that you would not openly admit?
Sam: Nothing
What do you drink when you are not drinking wine?
Sam: Tecate, Campari or Patron silver-rocks and lime
What type of music or radio station is played most often in your car?
Sam: KQED for news and KCRW via satellite for the best music in CA
In what era would you live if you transport yourself?
Sam: 100 years in the future
What is the best wine-related book you have read?
Sam: The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr and Assembling California by John Mcphee
The former is about the science of olfaction, scent and the perfume industry the latter is about the geology of CA put into lay terms with explanations
What is your favorite movie genre?
Sam: 1970’s Soft-Porn
Is your desk messy or organized?
Sam: Both
Are you always early or terminally late?
Sam: Late
Whom would you want to play you in the movie about your life?
Sam: Jack Nicholson
What super-power would you most like to have, and why?
Sam: Super strength and endurance—Get more done with time to spare for hanging out with my family and friends
Leelanau Cellars markets this unique spiced wine as Witches’ Brew around Halloween, but let me assure you that it is a great wine to have on hand throughout the winter. This wine has two labels, the Halloween one (Witches Brew) and the label for the rest of the year, simply named Leelanau Cellars Spiced Wine.
If you’re looking for something fun and unique to bring to a holiday party this year, this is your wine! This wine is best served heated! Simmer in a pot over low heat until it is warm (the temperature of a witches’ tongue, if you’re celebrating Halloween). This spiced wine should not be served with dinner, but rather as dessert, with some good, dark chocolate. I suppose it could also be good before dinner, while folks are still arriving to the party. It would make a great ice-breaker!
Witches Brew is obviously a sweet wine, with aromas of cinnamon and cloves. It has very different characteristics when heated vs. room temperature. Try both!
Rating: 9/10 — Truly unique! Price: $5.99 Where can I get it? Many places in Michigan carry this wine, especially around the holidays. I found it at Meijer. You could always visit the Leelanau Cellars north of Traverse City to stock up!
Feb 25th-Mar 18th 2005, Cupertino Outside of Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Rhône Valley lie lesser-known regions that provide exciting wines, which often can be obtained at prices that rival or even beat California wines.
Tue Mar 1st, 2005, San Luis Obispo Chef Charlie Paladin Wayne will teach you how to store, clean, prepare and use fresh and dried mushrooms.
[07/16/2006, 19:30]
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 ".
Wow, when I thought about this theme for WBW (which I signed up for about 18 months ago, btw) I had no idea how badly I was going to need this or how cathartic the topic would be for me.
I believe in balance in life. Truly. I think you must or you won’t survive. That doesn’t me you’ll never get ahead because you take too many breaks, but there must always be balance. I can work like a maniac for days at a time, but not without something to ground me, my kids, my wife, and of course wine!
So that’s where I derived this theme idea. Wine is part of my life. Even when I ran into health problems with my cholesterol some years back, the doctor said I’ll need medication and probably cut out wine…wrong on both points my drug-company influenced friend. See, wine is part of the Yang to my everyday Yin. I love it and its such a part of my life that I believe that when I have that glass, at the end of the day or sometimes at the end of an intense week, my mind and body just release and relax. I never get hammered on wine and no other spirit signals my body to transition to “relax” so its not the alcohol as some may argue. It is the act of drinking it and the memories and good times the wine brings to mind that just lets me drift away.
I think there are enough people out there who know what I’m talking about which is why I chose this theme. Comfort Wines - choose a wine, any wine, that you love to unwind to and tell us about not only the wine but what makes the experience special and relaxing for you!
For me, I’ve just finished a home improvement project (literally getting sign-off from the city in the next week), launched the OpenWine Consortium social network, got my car repaired after an accident, and my second daughter is due March 4th (with WBW#43 due March 5th!). So I’m pretty sure I’ll have a good experience that I can try to convey for that Wednesday.
Remember, I believe in enjoying the Wine Life so if wine is part of a relaxation routine for you lets hear how you unwind - whether is in front of the TV or on the roof of a villa in Spain in front of a grill. Lets paint some mental pictures of tranquility for everyone to read and enjoy. Maybe some of us will have a couple “oh man, I totally have to try that” moments!
Whether you're envisioning open-air fields of grapevines or the intimate mystique of a wine cellar, there's something thoroughly romantic about a vineyard wedding. via Today's 6
Beverage giant Diageo is enjoying the burst of free publicity that its Crown Royal whiskey got when the campaigning Hillary Clinton downed a shot of it in an Indiana bar.
Not one to miss an opportunity, Diageo is using the incident to promote one of its smaller brands, Jeremiah Weed Bourbon Liqueur by sending bottles of the sweet, 100-proof beverage ? reportedly a favorite of fighter pilots ? to the three major presidential campaigns.
While Crown Royal hails from Canada, Jeremiah Weed is at least made in the United States, in Connecticut. (So it's not really Bourbon ? ask any Kentuckian.) It's not likely to happen, but it's fun to speculate about what would happen if Hillary's beer-and-a-bump, just-folks strategy catches on. Nothing breaks the ice like a little Tequila followed by jello shots....
Many's the time someone has said or written to me, "You need some kind of rating system." Because ecstatic babblings and lots of exclamation points and CAPITALIZED words aren't precise enough. OK, I succumb. When I review or just write extensively about a wine, I will henceforth and forthwith tack on a rating at the end. The reasons for the delay are many. The main one is that no system I've ever come across suits me as a person. The way I taste, what I taste, what the wine tells...
I don't heart gimmicks (and neither does the Chef), which is why we let the Il Cuore 2000 Rosso Classico (about $11) sit in our cellar for the last year without a second thought.
You see, there's a big heart on the label and a quote to go with it: "A heart can only be held by a heart the fairest setting of the loveliest jewel." Yeck.
The bottle was a present from a friend about the time of our wedding and it came with a disclaimer: "It was a cheapie; I got it for the heart." In other words, appreciate it for the sentiment, not the quality. And we intended to.
In fact, I'm not sure we ever planned to open it, but I'm glad we did. The blend of carignane, zinfandel, grenache, sangiovese and charbono from Mendocino County has an Old World sensibility, plum and cherry fruit, and a well-integrated (13.6 percent) alcohol.
It's been a long-time ritual of mine. Like so many customary habits that become simple routines, whenever I buy a new wine, I open a bottle that same night. It doesn't much matter if the winemaker warns not to touch it for four weeks or for four months.
When I taste young Bordeaux from top estates such as 1, I often wonder which could be the next 1, 1 or 1. The later three vintages at Latour are some of the greatest red wines ever produced, and they certainly are reference points for the château itself.
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I had the opportunity to taste the 1994 Smith Woodhouse Colheita Tawny Port this week. What a nice way to usher in spring in the Midwest. The single harvest port is a lovely, translucent red amber color and a leisurely sniff yields hints of plums and cherries. A taste confirms those notes with a little bit of oak and walnuts. It's a rich, well-balance wine, perhaps a little on the sweet side.
A neighbor of mine just started working in a cheese store and we paired the port with a creamy, truffle brie. The richness in the cheese was perfect and cut the sweetness in the port. Tawny port is also a classic accompaniment to creme brulee.
The wine purveyor suggested serving it slightly chilled in the summer (a Portuguese tradition), but I haven't tried that yet.
The 1994 Smith Woodhouse Colheita Tawny Port is available throughout the United States and Canada. Suggested retail is $46. Aged port wine will keep for four-six weeks once opened.
For more information on Smith Woodhouse port wines, visit their Web site.
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The roots of Taittinger date back to 1734, when Champagne merchant Jacques Fourneaux established his company. The business prospered through the 19th century, ultimately Fourneaux-Forest merged with the Taittinger family, who retained control.
Join us as we accompany Cellarmaster Loïc Dupont through the famous Taittinger cellars, located in Reims on the site of Gallo-Roman chalk mines dug during the 4th century, and enlarged in the 13th century by the Saint Nicaise Abbey monks to provide storage for the Champagne wines which they traded in. Remains of the Abbey, which was destroyed during the French Revolution, are still visible today throughout the tunnels, in an excellent state of preservation.
This Bordeaux Cotes De Bourg wine is another 05 value. It has a black cherry hue with tight fruit of black cherry and some raspberry notes with minerals and steel.
In the mouth this wine is sweet with some tannic structure, bready notes but needs to open. With breathing it is a tad hot but nice flavors and body with good structure and a good food wine. Buy this wine and two more to lay down for another year and reap the rewards. All this for only $14 so raise a glass to a great vintage!
There are lots of things going on in my life these days. Very busy times. But for now, its a good busy…
My second daughter is due any week now (officially March 4th, but the last Dr visit said the baby was already 6 lbs and Kelly is petite so she won’t be in there too much longer…).
In my life I find I draw inspiration from many places. Usually my family and friends. A few weeks ago the wine community inspired me. I’m hatching an idea. I’ve spoken to a few of you about it and I’ll more than likely speak to a few more. But for now, I’ll use the pages of WLT to chronicle what I’m doing with my idea and its evolution.
Its amazing the what the meshing of a passion with a profession can accomplish. Its a powerful thing when that gets match with inspiration.
A magnificent Malbec! It picked up a trophy at the inaugural Wines of Argentina Awards held in Mendoza in 2007, having wowed the international panel of judges - included among them wine expert Jancis Robinson, who gave it an impressive 17 out of 20. This mulberry and spice-flavoured red wine was made by Herve Fabre, who was originally involved in the Bordeaux wine trade, before he and his wife fell in love with Argentina and moved there to establish a boutique winery. Herve's experience in producing top quality wines shines through in this tremendously rich, silky-smooth wine. Ripe blackberry and bramble aromas merge seamlessly with spicy oak and vanilla flavours. Full bodied, yet seriously smooth and warming. This 89 Parker point wine is sure to survive for many years to come. Definitely a wine to enjoy with fine food ... try it with rare roast beef or a juicy steak.
"Wonderfully succulent, rich berry fruit with hints of spice box." (Parker). A must-have wine from this superb estate, once provider of the second wine of Cos d'Estournel. "Blackberries ... herbs ... hints of spices." (Wine Spectator)
Tecnorati
Beverage giant 
