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As the weather gradually warms up, I?m pleased to be encountering more intelligent value Argentine wines from provinces outside of Mendoza.Produced by Viña Cornejo Costas, an estate with established history in the Argentine northwest, here?s another Torrontés beauty from the mineral-rich CafayateValley.This is a great recommendation that can stand up to spicy and Asian dishes, given that Argentina?s native Torrontés variety is intense in acidity and flavor, even if light on body.
This wine reminds me again that Torrontés made in the CafayateValley could well be considered the benchmark for Argentine Torrontés.For being in the $10-$12 range, this Torrontés boasts a great deal more complexity and balance than some French and Italian varieties costing more have sadly failed to exhibit.Although I am a lifetime fan of European wines, I?d like to drink more intelligent value wines made by producers who don?t take me for granted due to some sense of entitlement. I sometimes worry about that and I?m not sure whether it?s that exactly or perhaps the fact that wine prices for Burgundy and Bordeaux are incredibly inflated, but I?m finding it more difficult than ever to put down $15 for a bottle of white wine from prestige regions that won?t underwhelm.
Reflecting more upon possible Argentine wine import trends, I am really looking forward to seeing more wines from Argentina?s provinces outside of Mendoza given that producers are avoiding bulk production like the plague and still very much feel that they have everything to prove.For one, crafting wines in Salta isn?t exactly for the faint of heart?stony, sandy soils on steep Andean inclines and almost 360 days of sunlight.Wines produced in Salta don?t even account for a tenth of Argentine wines, and this especially underscores the fact that bulk producers have stayed away for some time.
I?ve recently noticed lots of new and exciting things which I?ll report on later in terms of Argentine wine imports.Interestingly enough, these wines don?t exactly fit the typical ?Wines of Argentina Awards? formula for success (Bordeaux-style blends with Malbec playing a role to some degree).I am seeing more general Patagonia appellation Pinot Noir, Tempranillo from San Juan and now, more Torrontés producers from Salta stepping up to deliver.I have a feeling that things are looking up for smaller Argentine producers who may want to share their work with export markets such as the U.S., since an open-minded changing of the guard, taste-wise is afoot.For now, here?s my take on the don Rodolfo Torrontés:
In the glass, it is a clear, pale lemon color.The nose is perfumey and stays true to the nature of the aromatic Torrontés variety?clean, pronounced floral aromas (elderflower dominating), stone fruit (apricot and peach), and lemon.The style is dry, with high acidity, light body and an impressive balance of flavors for the price point.The elderflower blossom aspect that dominates from the nose on through to one?s afterbreath really captivated me, as it?s one of my favorite scents/flavors in general.The acidity from the lemon zest is very refreshing and nicely accompanies the stone fruit flavors.
The importer of the don Rodolfo wines is Cabernet Corporation, out of California. Check with them for distribution information if it doesn't seem to be available in your area.
Have an amazing evening and above all - drink some great wine and champagne!
2008 promises to be an exciting year for The Cru so stay tuned!
To begin with I will be releasing a new look Cru in the next two weeks - it's going to a lot easy to navigate around and hopefully it will make finding your favourite South African wine that much easier and more enjoyable!
Until then have a great evening and enjoy the chosen Pouza!
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, people will be uncorking bottles of wine the world over. After all, when you think romance, wine is never far behind. In her book, The Simple & Savvy Wine Guide, author Leslie Sbrocco suggests “a deep red wine such as a sparkling Shiraz” as the perfect drink to celebrate the occasion. She also set about to dispel a few popular wine myths:
Myth: A screw cap means the wine is cheap. Fact: Some of the world’s most forward-thinking wineries are using screw caps these days. They’re easy to open and reclose, and they preserve the wine longer.
Myth: Older wine is better. Fact: Most wine sold today isn’t meant to be aged. If it’s from a reputable source, it’s safe to assume that it’s ready to drink.
The danger of a post such as this will be the fact that some of you, and perhaps the people concerned, will believe that I am simply whining. But let me assure you, though I am slightly disappointed, I am far more astonished at what seems to me to be a level of rudeness and arrogance that is thankfully rare in the wine world.
Monday afternoon, April 28th, the Oakville Winegrowers Association put on a tasting of wines grown and made in Napa's Oakville AVA (American Viticultural Area) for the trade and the media. Such tastings are quite rare for many reasons, but perhaps among them is the fact that many of the wineries in Oakville are quite simply the top wineries in Napa. These folks don't have any problem selling their wines out every year for hundreds of dollars per bottle. Needless to say, they don't have a lot of extra wine laying around for tasting. Many do not have public tasting rooms at all for this very reason.
However, most of these wineries, like the vast majority of their peers in Napa understand that their relationship with the trade (retailers, restaurateurs, distributors, the press) is important both for their own livelihood as well as the livelihood of the wine region as a whole. Which means that every once in a while they get together and throw a big tasting to allow members of the trade and media access to their hard-to-find wines in a comparative and easily accessible setting.
The Oakville tasting this week represented a fabulous opportunity to taste some legendary wines from some of Napa's best producers. Among them was Screaming Eagle, the cult wine of cult wines. This small producer is widely known for making some of the highest rated, most expensive, and hardest to get wine in America.
Frankly when I saw that Screaming Eagle would be pouring at the tasting, my first reaction was surprise, since I had never heard of them pouring their wines at such a large trade event. My second reaction was a warm feeling of approval. I was proud that they were going to support their appellation and their fellow winegrowers, and I was personally looking forward to tasting the wine for the first time.
But I never got to. And neither did hundreds of other members of the trade and media.
After about 20 minutes of pouring at the tasting, having only brought a few bottles, Screaming Eagle was out of wine. So when I arrived to the tasting about 30 minutes late, I found this:
An empty table, surrounded by stunned members of the wine community -- winemakers, wine buyers, sommeliers, marketing consultants, and other winery owners, all of whom were nonplussed at the blank table. Actually, not all of them were nonplussed. Some of them were pissed.
Now you might be thinking, well, they ARE the ultimate cult winery. They don't make a lot of wine, and their wine is so expensive, they can't really afford to just stand around and pour their wine all day long at this tasting.
To which I say: tell that to the following wineries, all of whom poured their wines for nearly three hours to everyone who wanted it at the tasting:
Harlan Estate. Production: 2100 cases. Release price: ~$700 Bond. Production: not sure, but low. Release price: ~$400 Futo Wines. Production: 200 cases. Release price: $250+ Dalla Valle. Production 2000 cases. Release price: $250+
The first people I ran into when I got to the tasting were a couple of winemakers I know who make wine elsewhere in the valley. They were leaving the tasting and told me that they had gotten to the tasting right when it started, and they still hadn't gotten a chance to taste the Screaming Eagle. They were shaking their heads in amazement.
So what is the point of all this?
The point is that there are wineries who understand that they're part of a community, and behave as such. And then there are those who don't.
I can't tell you how many tastings for both the trade and the public I have been to where Bill Harlan and Bob Levy are pouring the Harlan and Bond wines for all comers. There is no economic reason for such wineries to appear at these events. Most of the people who taste their wines in these settings will never be able to get their hands on a bottle anyway. Yet they are there, because they are supporting their industry, their appellation, and the trade itself.
For Screaming Eagle to agree to participate in this tasting and then to show up with only enough wine to last 20 minutes is just downright rude to the point of being offensive. It says very clearly that they pretty much don't give a damn about anyone.
That's fine, of course. It's their prerogative. But I find it quite ironic that for two hours after they abandoned their table, the two folks who came to pour Screaming Eagle were still wandering around, tasting everyone else's wines, almost none of which ran out until nearly three hours into the event.
Shame. I'm sure I'll taste Screaming Eagle someday, but I wonder if it will ever be able to overcome this bad taste I have in my mouth?
For $11 you should be trying any and all 05 Bordeaux you find; many of them will be bargains.
This one is a pretty plum purple with a wowing bouquet of sweet fruit that if I was blind folded I would say it was a rose with sweet fruity strawberry and cherry aromas.
Palate has some structure with forthright tannins and skimpy fruit that is a bit hollow with charcoals notes. This is just light bodied, easy to drink but is weird since it is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet yet tastes like a Beaujolais Cru. It is an easy drinking wine but very weird for Bordeaux. Let this one pass.
Reports in the news today suggest that the enjoyment of certain wine varietals can be enhanced while listening to different styles of music. See, for example, Why wine tastes better with music, and, Music can enhance wine taste. Examples include matches such as cabernet sauvignon with Jimi Hendrix; chardonnay with Blondie; merlot with Otis Redding and music by classical composers such as Orff and Tchaikovsky. There is of course an enormous cultural bias inherent in this kind of research. If you are a wine drinker whose tastes run to the blues, rock 'n roll and bluegrass a glass of good red is hardly going to taste better while listening to Carmina Burana. Similarly,if you have been acculturated to prefer western classical music or opera, a glass of chablis might taste a tad sharpish while Jimi's Voodoo Chile is blasting way at volume 11 on the stereo. One can only imagine what wines you would match with the music of Celine Dion, Ravi Shankar, Karlheinz Stockhausen or 'J-Lo'.
Set your sights on wine, and you?ll set your eyes on some of the most incredible scenery in BC?s three main wine regions. Here are ten of the best scene-stealing sights and activities that insiders guarantee will tempt your palate...
Eric Asimov has a great piece in today’s Times about all the sensory inputs of wine–and he’s not talking about blackberries, leather, and tar but rather what makes us buy and ultimately enjoy a given wine.
The piece summarizes recent research into wine purchasing decisions, particularly two studies that have made consumers appear to be easily influenced by price. Obviously many other factors go into what makes you buy a wine including what you’ve read about it, the place of origin, the grape, the producer, the importer, and perhaps the bottle design and label (if you’re new to this site, have your say in our worst wine label contest while submissions are still open!).
I’m a huge fan of context for wine enjoyment and thanks to Eric for quoting me in the story with this perspective. Sometimes context can even elevate a humble bottle of wine to make it an all-time favorite. I remember Frank Prial, previously wine critic for the Times, saying that the best bottle of wine he ever had was some crappy wine he drank enthusiastically right after returning from a tour in the Korean War. It wasn’t the wine so much as it was the fact that he was home.
It’s amazing how often learned wine folk cite humble bottles as their faves when the experience was really so much about the mood and the moment. How has context influenced a great wine experience of yours?
Maybe there should be 100 point moments rather than 100 point wines. There’s no price tag on that, after all.
Going against the better advice of my high school English and sex education teachers, this story starts with the climax. For anyone involved in wine, the three months from the end of August until the end of November are both the most exciting and the most frightening of the year. These three months dictate the final say in whether you happily learn that your wines will be served at the White House or whether you become the largest vinegar producer in your neighborhood. These are months of 60- to 80-hour work weeks (and many times more) that on one hand require complete control of the environment around you and on the other hand require you to give in completely to the whims of nature. These are months where all thoughts of family and friends dim in an ever growing purple haze as your sleep deprived mind attempts to reconcile the hundreds or thousands of details that'll make or break the next year of your life. This is Crush.
More specifically this is my accounting of Crush for David Coffaro Vineyards and Winery. This vineyard/winery is owned and operated by (take a big guess here) David Coffaro and I'm his assistant winemaker (i.e. only employee). This is the inside scoop of what we have to do in order to put a prime bottle of vino on your table. David Coffaro Vineyard and Winery consists of 20 acres of grapes that Dave planted in 1979 and a winery building that he's been operating since 1994. We make wines that are big and red; zinfandel, petite sirah, carignane, an "Estate Cuvee" (a blend of the previous grapes plus cabernet sauvignon) and a "Neighbors Cuvee" (our only non-estate wine whose blend changes from year to year). Like a sandblaster to Tammy Faye Baker's face, I hope to strip away the layers of overglamorized marketing rhetoric and highlight the best advice I ever got about becoming a winemaker -- "Don't do it!"
The excitement of crush takes place on two separate but intertwined stages that seem to spin and twist in independent motion. The first of these stages is the vineyard. The 20 acres of vines we grow is minuscule by industry standards (There are certainly vineyards that are smaller but we are definitely of the side of pretty-darn-tiny). The first job we have in the vineyard is to wait for the grapes to turn from a rather pretty translucent pink color into an intense dark purple/black color. This process is called veraison. Once the color changes we're in the picking ballpark and ready to play the game. The second step is doing a large amount of grape sampling from each block of vines. It's amazing how grapes will vary from one small block to another, even if they're only 10-100 feet away. For about a month before the actual harvest, my job is to pick a representative sampling of all the grapes we grow and monitor them for sugar content. In general we're looking for a level of 24 to 25 percent sugar, which we measure as 24 to 25 degrees Brix.
The Brix reading is only the second stage however. Knowing the sugar level lets you know the technical ripeness of the grapes but not their actual flavors. Somewhere in the early to mid-twenties (sugar level), grapes go through an incredible change of flavors that ultimately add to the complexity of flavors in the finished wine. This change can only be determined by tasting the grapes themselves. So during the final week before harvest Dave and I walk through every block and randomly snack on grapes to make sure they have the flavors we want. If the sugars are perfect but the flavors aren't there then we simply wait until they develop before picking. Once they do, Whamo!, it's time to wake up really damn early and pick some grapes!
Harvesting grapes is a demanding and sticky job. The grapes are about 25 percent sugar and as the workers dump their picking tubs into the half-tons bins, grape juice splashes everywhere. It's well worth the effort, however, because I get to drive a really cool tractor. Once the half-ton bins are full they are driven to the winery and weighed. From there they're taken, by forklift, into the winery and the grapes are put through a machine called a crusher/destemmer. Now, agricultural machine manufacturers are not very creative when it comes to naming their equipment. When I say we dump the grapes into a crusher/destemmer you can be well assured that the machine will probably crush (lightly) the grapes and destem then, doing very little if anything else. We then pump the destemmed/crushed grapes (a.k.a. "must") into a one-ton bin (again, no big guess on how much it holds). The must is then inoculated with yeast and the transformation into wine begins. [As a side note I should mention that this is specifically the process for making red wine. White wine is processed in a similar but distinctly different manner. I'll get into the whites later.]
The addition of yeast is technically a winemaking choice and not a requirement. Native yeasts, which accumulated on the grape skins in the vineyard, will naturally transform the grapes into wine. But most winemakers don't trust these native yeast strains for the same reason you don't let your crazy cousin Leroy baby-sit your kids -- you just don't know what might happen and, even though the results might be fine, it's just not worth taking the chance. Yeast contribute four things to the winemaking process: heat, alcohol carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfites. The heat and alcohol produced make it possible to adequately extract the flavors and characteristics from the grape skins (almost all of the character and all of the color of red wine comes from the skins being broken down). Alcohol acts as a solvent that extracts organic compounds in the grape skins and the heat aids in and speeds up the chemical reaction involved in fermentation.
The CO2 has a separate and interesting effect on the fermenting grape skins. As the CO2 is released by the yeast cells it catches in the grape skins and causes them to float to the surface of the fermentation bins. This forms a solid layer of covering the top of the bins like ice on a lake. This layer is called the "cap" and can get so thick in larger tanks that a full-grown person can walk across it without falling through. The cap, however, presents a small problem. Since most of red wine's character comes from the skins, having them separate from the juice during fermentation can be bad. This small problem is solved by either "punching down" or "pumping over" your bins or tanks. Punching down involves taking a stick-like device (a 2x4, garden hoe, etc.) and breaking up the cap while at the same time mixing it with the juice. Pumping over involves hooking up a pump to the bottom of the tank and pumping the juice over the top of the cap. These actions insure that the grape skins have enough opportunity to breakdown into the wine.
We monitor the fermenting bins at Coffaro constantly and record the residual sugar levels and temperatures at least once a day. When our measurements show that there's one percent sugar or less left in the wine we prepare the press. We use what's called a bladder Press (For $200, what item is inside this press?). The bladder press is a long cylinder made up of a perforated screen. We pump the fermented juice and skins into the press and rotate it while inflating the internal bladder. This is such an efficient form of pressing that when we remove the grape skins -- the squeeze-dried skins is now called pomace -- they are dry, warm and flaky. They serve no real further purpose and are dumped back into the vineyard as fertilizer.
The pressed wine is pumped from the press into a selection of barrels that we've pre-chosen dependent on the wine varietal and individual character it exhibits. At Coffaro we use six to 10 different cooperages, with barrels ranging from American, French and Hungarian oak. However, this doesn't mean we make "oaky" wine. Barrels serve two general purposes; the first is storage and aging; the second is imparting flavor. Barrels only contribute oak flavors to wine for the first two-to-three years of their life, then, after that, are considered "neutral." As storage containers they can be used for decades with the proper care. So, although all of our wines are barrel aged, we only use 20-25 percent new oak to contribute delicate oak flavors. (This percentage varies from winery to winery. Some use as much as 100 percent new oak, some don't use any depending on the varietals grown and the style of wine preferred by the winemaker.
Once the wine is in the barrel we inoculate it with a malo-lactic starter. All red wines and most whites go through a process called malo-lactic fermentation (ML). ML is a bacterial process that changes the malic acid that's naturally found in wine (it's the same acid that makes green apples taste tart) and changes it into lactic acid (the same acid found in milk). This process makes reds more chemically stable, and for white wines it adds flavor (i.e. that "buttery" flavor in most chardonnays). Now that this is done both the wine and the winemakers get a chance to take a short break and recuperate before it's time to start the whole process over again.
Next time we'll learn why they call cellar workers "rats."
Check out Brendan's "Harvest Diary -- A week in the life of Crush at David Coffaro Winery" at http://www.coffaro.com.
One of my accounts handed me this wine review, written up by a former employee. "She wasn't all there..." they noted, and went on to say she'd find reviews online and cut and paste without actually reading them. This little gem was up for quite a while until horrified customers noted that they wouldn't buy the wine because the description was so off-putting. I, however, find it to be brilliant and would love to partake in the Ecstatic Singing Mantra whenever it transpires. So I searched for wine reviews of Jest Red online, and apparently, most of this review appeared on A Little Vino Would Be Keeno. Which is clearly now my favorite site. Ever.
"Blended from seven noble grape varietals, the nose is deeply perfumed with wild dewberries, Himalayan breeding musk, and horehound candy, while the flavors, so titillating they may only be disclosed in the Ecstatic Singing Mantra. Pair with beef, pork, pasta with red sauce, cheese or chocolate, or go wild and have it with pizza, burgers or even burritos!"
I'm not quite sure which is the best part of that - is it the Himalayan breeding musk or the pairings? It's sublime on so many levels.
On the tasting bench today is the Scorpiiion Shiraz 2005 which unlike their Cabernet is made from 100% Barossa fruit.
Dark inky red in colour with sweet dark fruit and chocolate aromas. Easy drinking and full flavoured with juicy shiraz fruit really coming to the fore, it’s full bodied with a little spice and fine tannin on the finish. Although there was some alcoholic heat present, it would make a crowd pleasing bbq wine.
Overall a well made Shiraz in a typically Barossan style. If big, ballsy, fruit driven reds are your poison, you should get some mileage from the Scorpiiion.
Score: 87/100 Price: $21 Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 14.8% Other Opinions: Can’t find any online Would I buy this wine? Probably not, although I would be happy enough if a glass was placed in my hand
I did a search on Google Scholar for wine. A lot of articles were returned in the search result. At first glance, I could not figure out why these results had been returned. At closer inspection, the author of the first few articles had the last name of Wine.
RH Wine has written many articles in the field of biology. JJ Wine has authored many papers on Cystic fibrosis. RN Wine writes on topics in the field of toxicology. These are just three of the authors with results dominating my search for wine on Google Scholar.
I changed my search in Google Scholar from wine to red wine. The first scholarly article returned in my search for red wine was ?Inhibition of oxidation of human low-density lipoprotein by phenolic substances in red wine?. This article was published in 1993 in the British edition of Lancet.
An article entitled ?The red wine phenolics trans-resveratrol and quercetin block human platelet aggregation and eicosanoid synthesis: implications for protection against coronary heart disease? was published in Clinica Chimica Acta in 1995. There were five authors cited on this paper.
The American journal of clinical nutrition published ?Consumption of red wine with meals reduces the susceptibility of human plasma and low-density lipoprotein to lipid peroxidation? in 1995. This paper has been cited over two hundred times. The author credited with writing it is B Fuhrman.
There were over sixteen thousand results returned when I did my Google Scholar search for red wine. The article entitled ?Antiplatelet activity of synthetic and natural resveratrol in red wine? is another article that has been cited many times. The International journal of tissue reactions published this article in 1995 and now it has been cited 116 times.
The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry published an article in 1980 entitled ?Wine aroma composition: identification of additional volatile constituents of red wine?. The article has been cited five times. The author, P Schreier, has also written an article entitled ?Flavor composition of wines: a review?.
Sainsburys Taste the Difference Sancerre 2004 £8.54 has a round, fruity, open nose with a touch of minerality and a clean freshness. The good, underlying fruit with its tantalising honeycomb edges was somewhat hidden by the very high acidity on the palate. So I thought perhaps what it needed was some cheese to round it out...
First up Organic Wensleydale. This crumbly white is more texture than flavour but did fill out the wine and brought forward the fruit -peachy aromatics. The lightness of the almost cottage cheese texture really complemented the delicacy of the wine. There was a hint of a salty tang too.
Then Woolsery, http://www.woolserycheese.co.uk , this is a medium hard goat's cheese from Dorset and is so tasty. It was the best in combination with the wine too. The slightly salty creaminess perfectly cut the acidity of the wine down to size. The cheese had a decent level of acidity to it as well. It was grassy and had a goaty note but was not overly pungent. Great stuff.
Next up Vintage Gouda, the label didn't give a year or age though - perhaps this is cheese parlance that someone can enlightenment me about? This had a wonderful flavour, nutty, earthy, hay aromas, very fruity in fact. It is a dense and creamy cheese which cancelled out the acidity in the wine altogether and made it seem almost flabby! Not quite right together.
Finally Doux de Montagne, very like a Spanish Manchego with its subtle flavour and rubbery texture. It tasted slightly soured too but in a good way. The wine overwhelmed this cheese though and it had very little impact when tasted together.
It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. And right now I'm in between. About two years ago we decided to build a wine cellar in our house. I spent a lot of time with my wife choosing the various designs for the cellar, the ...
The always erudite Eric Felten bemoans the Mimosa, “the official semi-alcoholic drink of brunch” as “an ordeal.” True enough because of OJ from a carton and cheap, off-dry bubbly. Then he spells out his recipe for success with the drink: freshly squeezed orange juice and good dry champagne.
In my limited cocktail making, I have come to learn that the fresher and better the ingredients, the better the cocktail. But I’ve also learned that there really aren’t that many great wine cocktails. While I agree in principal with Eric’s suggestion for the Mimosa makeover (though his suggestion of Veuve Clicquot is hardly the driest champagne around in these days of brut zero), I can’t bring myself to put OJ in my Bollinger (his second, and much better, champagne suggestion). If I have a fresh OJ and a glass of fine champange I’d rather enjoy them separately and never the twain shall meet. For me, it’s a nice dry cava or prosecco that is the best way to go with the fresh OJ in a Mimosa.
What do you say? Is the Mimosa where you’d put your Bollinger?
Should you use great champagne in a Mimosa?
Image: istockphoto
[07/18/2006, 16:19]
Michel Rolland, the most influential enologist of the world : " 75 % of the Chilean wines is green "
The most important and polemic flying winemaker of the world does not agree with the commentary of the Chilean critics who say that the wines are falling down in a style "On I mature". In sole right, it conversed with "Revista del Campo" of his acid vision of the enology and of the specializing journalism.
So, I know this is really only exciting to me because you don't know me, but I had to shout it off somewhere. I got into university! In September I start a degree in Oenology and Viticulture, at Plumpton college. I can't wait!
Also, UK wine fans, LoveThatWine is a great site for looking up wines, prices, styles, reviews etc. Enjoy :)
Tasted by Mrbuzz. Nice dark garnet color. Wonderful nose of leather, cedar, dried currants/cherry, dusty earth spice, wet mulling spice. I can already tell this is going to be outstanding.......and, it is! Still young and alive in the mouth....similar flavors as the nose, slight sour dry finish. Still powerful in structure, great aged leather and spices....well rounded...drinks of Napa Valley, in the day. 1991 is my favorite Ca Cab Vintage of all time...this wine might just be my favorite Mondavi of all time....Cheers to Robert Mondavi...rip. (95 pts.) - Tasted 5/16/2008. [FIND IT!]
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.
Tecnorati
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, people will be uncorking bottles of wine the world over. After all, when you think romance, wine is never far behind. In her book, 
Eric Asimov has a 
On the tasting bench today is the Scorpiiion Shiraz 2005 which unlike their 
The always erudite Eric Felten 
