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Big News! Okay, I was trying to keep this one under wraps but it seems a few people have already found out and, well what better place to announce it than here right?
As of August 7th I will be back at the Wine Warehouse full time drinking for my living. I am very excited and can't wait to get back in the game.
Also My friend Andi got a new job at the O'Henry Hotel and I wish her mucho success in all of her endeavors. I will miss her.
…except their QVC is called Christie?s. Maybe we don?t all shop QVC, but we?ve all been taken by a deal that seemed to good to be true. But instead of a crappy $30 cubic zirconium ring that turns your finger green, this is a story about a rich guy who paid $156,000 too much for a [...]
The last in a trio from Barossa producers Scorpiiion is their 2006 GSM, which is comprised of 45% Grenache, 42% Shiraz and 13% Mataro, all of which is sourced from the Barossa Valley.
Vibrant ripe plum and blackberry aromas are entwined with lurking chocolate and vanilla. On the palate I found intense flavours of fleshy dark fruits, a velvety mouthfeel and a little drying tannin on the finish. Its full bodied, fruit forward and very gluggable.
After having the chance to taste three different wines produced by Scorpiiion, I can definitely see the fruit driven but balanced style they are aiming for across the range. The GSM represents the best bang for your buck and is a great option if you just want to buy, open and drink. Prices appear to range from $15-23, depending on your selection of retailer and the number of bottles, Squashedgrape being the cheapest at this time.
Score: 89/100 Price: $21 Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 14.5% Other Opinions:Wine Without Wank Would I buy this wine? Although I personally lean toward more savoury styles, $17 per bottle is a great price.
Marking the first anniversary of the 24 hour drinking licence laws, a 'rescue remedy' called Dink has been released.
It is supposed to mitigate the ill-effects of binge-drinking with ingredients that mop up free radicals produced by the liver when it is processing alcohol. It is also cheap and readily available.
It is being marketed to "people who like to get merry". Presumably because they feel it is unwise to market it to people who like to get smashed out of their skulls every Friday night and throw up partially digested burgers on street corners. I think we know who it is actually aimed at.
I must admit that my first thought was "great idea", sounds so useful. But while I'm no Catholic I do think the pain of hang-overs is justly deserved and should reflect any excess. The sparkle generated by a few drinks with friends too easily degenerates into boorishness and incapacity beyond a certain point. There are very few elegant drunks.
And aren't we supposed to be cutting down binge drinking, as a society? We need a cultural shift that comes collectively - social evolution if you like, of the kind we've seen with smoking, drink driving and wearing seat belts.
Most Friday-nighters, though by no means all, are young people with their whole lives ahead of them and of course there is a natural protective urge to want them to stay healthy. The price that many of them pay for their excesses can be heart-breaking. Blaming them as being responsible for their own actions is ridiculous if the message they absorb is that getting really drunk and doing stupid things is clever and/or funny.
And now we are giving them the tools to avoid hangovers. I like drinking and sometimes I drink more than I should, but I also know that my body hates it when I do. It's a natural defense mechanism to show us our limits and should not be overlooked as a preventative.
If we no longer have any medical consequences we will push our bodies over the limit as a matter of course. But often the real trauma of binge drinking is the wider physical and emotional damage caused by violence, bravado, promiscuity or recklessness . Can we develop a pill for that too?
This is a pretty purple Argentinian wine with cranberry bouquet and black cherry notes.
Palate is solid strawberries with slight white pepper and solid structure. I am not a big fan of Malbec but this one was decent. I believe the price point is the usual $10 range. Raise a glass.
This is a big spring/summer for me - I'm done with school after 7 years of post-high school education, I'm turning 25, and I'll soon be truly independent for the first time. I'm planning on writing myself a little letter with some thought/goals, etc. and getting a bottle of wine that I can keep for 10 years, so that when I turn 35, I can enjoy the wine and look back at something I wrote at 25, reminisce, laugh at how naive I was, enjoy some (hopefully great!) wine, etc. :)
The best thing to do is probably talk to someone at a local store, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on picking out and storing the wine, too. I generally drink wine shortly after I buy it and store it horizontally in my closet until I open it. Should I do anything different or specific to help make sure the wine keeps well?
I've practically never had a red wine I didn't like. Any thoughts on specific wines to look for? I can spend about $100 on this, though less money is certainly fine. I've never bought a bottle of wine that cost more than about $30, and most of the wines I drink are in the $10 range, so I'm out of my league experience-wise. A recent favorite was a 2003 Reserve du Chateau Mouton Bordeaux Superieur, if that helps define my taste at all.
Some might say Christophe Baron had rocks in his head to plant Syrah in 1997 in Washington’s Walla Walla Valley. But actually, it is the vineyards of Cayuse that are loaded with rocks. As with most of his colleagues, Christophe feels the answer to great wines is to work hard work in the vineyard. But, the weather is a tough variable here in Southeastern Washington. To keep the vines from freezing during the harsh winter, Christophe must bury the vines with rocks and dirt. And, since grafting is a problem because of the cold winters (grafts would have difficulty surviving), all of his vines are all on their own rootstalks.
Join us as we listen to this fascinating vigneron, and his take on working among the stones to make great wines from the Walla Walla Valley.
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.
I recently made a few Beaujolais suggestions here. It appears from the ‘complaint’ below, that rather than recover their position and take a forward-looking view, they would rather wither and die… Jean-Paul Brun’s Beautiful 2007 Beaujolais l’Ancienne Denied the AOC Beaujolais! Can you imagine the stupidity! “Jean-Paul Brun just learned that 5,222 cases of Beaujolais [...]
While British Columbia is fast-becoming known for its emerging wine regions ? the Okanagan Valley, Vancouver Island and Vancouver Lower Mainland ? only oenophile insiders know that many BC wineries have a secret weapon: they operate fabulous restaurants and bistros...
I helped out at a trade event in London devoted to Sauternes and Barsac the other week. Entitled ?Sweeties with Savouries? it set out to show how both Sauternes and Barsac can be drunk not only with the usual foie gras and desserts but also with all the courses of a complete meal. With courses ranging from roquefort crème brulee with figs (see picture) through roast Moroccan quail with sweet potato mash to blue cheese cheesecake, the food was absolutely wonderful. Attendees were then asked to vote for which wine made the best match with which course. There was quite a lot of agreement about which of the 16 wines went with which of the 5 courses but there were also many individual opinions. As with wine tasting there is no definitive answer in the area of food and wine matching.
Tasting through the 16 wines was an education in itself. Considering they were all the recently bottled 2005 vintage, there was a range of aromas from honey, peach, minerals and smoke to flavours on the palate of marmalade, peach, citrus and honey. There were also subtle but significant differences in the weight and texture on the palate. The differences can be understood when looking at the percentages of grapes with everything from 90% semillon and 10% sauvignon of the premier cru classe Chateau Clos Haut-Peyraguey through to the 70% semillon, 25% sauvignon and 5% muscadelle of Chateau d’Armajan des Ormes. The aging process whilst broadly similar in length of between 18 and 24 months, varies according to the percentage of new barrels used.
The key to good Sauternes and Barsac, apart from the terrroir, is the botrytis that is required to shrivel up the grapes and concentrate the sugar in the grapes. From talking to several of the producers the 2007 vintage was going to be a worry as the summer was cool. However the autumn was as hoped with cool misty mornings followed by sunny afternoons, the perfect environment for the ?mushroom? spores of botrytis cinerea to develop.
There is a much history associated with the ownership of the chateau in Sauternes with many of them having been in the same family for generations. Check out the web site of Chateau Dudon if you want some history of a typical family owned Sauternes producing chateau.
Yes…and no. So beware over-fancification of your martini basic and don’t get too cute. Concerning the Olive in this issue of the Seattle Weekly Can’t blame a girl for trying.
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The title of this post, rather, should have read ?outstanding Tempranillo in the Americas.?Turns out Familia Zuccardi of Argentina have been cultivating this emblematic Spanish variety in Mendoza for quite a while. Even then, we shouldn?t overlook the grape?s trajectory farther back?being one of the Spanish crown?s original Río de la Plata colonies, scores of 17th and 18th century settlers in the Andean Cuyo region wanted to replicate their wines from back home.In other words, unlike some of the other oddball varieties being cultivated under Familia Zuccardi?s ?new varieties program,? Tempranillo cultivation in the general Mendoza area has a profound socio-historical basis tied to criollo settlement.The question shouldn?t elude us, however?have Argentine Tempranillo wines been anything to write home about?
It wasn?t until the early nineties that Familia Zuccardi managed to become the first Argentine producer to export wines made from this variety.Although demand for fruit-forward Malbec cuvées and Cabernet have always outpaced that of Tempranillo wines?, Zuccardi did something quite praiseworthy?not allow foreign demand to solely dictate their wine styles and choice of projects.Case in point, I?ve happily recommended reviews of their Torrontés and other red wines, however, their Tempranillo went on to hold its own against similarly priced Rioja wines at UK-based blind tastings.
It is no surprise though, that I have always looked toward Zuccardi for innovation in Argentina?the kind that doesn?t involve foreign tasting panels, glossy-rag journalists and marketing gurus.Zuccardi has proven itself unorthodox and highly idiosyncratic concerning many aspects of its operations.Their ?new varieties program? consists of expanding their already exciting selection of rare varieties through vine nurseries; some of the exciting prospects include finding sophisticated Andean expressions of Barbera, Marsanne, Aglianico, Tannat and Mourvèdre, among other favorites of mine.In addition to this, they are obsessed with the importance of utilizing yeasts indigenous to their vineyards, rather than the standard strains.Other exciting offerings I would love to get my hands on would be their Malbec-based fortified wine and Torrontés-based dessert wine.
Don?t get me wrong. While I consider myself a bit more obsessed about rarer varieties than most, I have reverence and much appreciation for the way in which Tempranillo shows its pedigree in good examples of Valdepeñas, Rioja, Ribera del Duero and several other styles.Given this, it takes quite a bit for me to take the plunge and gush about a New World interpretation that does the variety any justice.Why do I appreciate Zuccardi?Because they haven?t simply produced an above-par Argentine Tempranillo, but because they have produced Tempranillo wines in Mendoza with an unmistakable personality of their own.While I recognized the variety?s general characteristics when tasting Zuccardi?s, I simply could not accuse Zuccardi of copying the style of any particular Spanish region?s Tempranillo expression, although I honestly tried.
Even if the variety came along with Spanish settlers centuries ago, it wasn?t until recently that Tempranillo in Mendoza achieved its very own stylistic idiosyncrasy.I especially recommend trying the Zuccardi Q Tempranillo to those who enjoy the prestige Spanish regions? Tempranillo-based wines, particularly if making comparisons to similarly priced $15-$20 range Rioja.
Visual/Aromatic Profile:Deep ruby and garnet in the glass.I would decant this one to let the gorgeous nose unfold for a nice couple of hours at least.It features very pronounced dark cherry, blackberry, currant and sweet orange peel.The oak is not an overbearing presence, with aromas of toast, vanilla, chocolate and soft leather.
Texture and Finish:Knockout balance and complexity. The wine was matured in medium toasted American oak barrels (new), and never clarified in any way. The style is dry, with medium acidity and high tannin structure holding up the full body.Flavors are nicely concentrated, with dark cherry, blackberry, toast, chocolate and smoky leather.Some of these more robust elements power on through to the lengthy finish, with dark chocolate, toast and soft leather.
Hello blog, it's been a while. I'm not trying to neglect you I promise. It's the lack of high speed internet at work that's keeping me from you. I plan on paying more attention to you this week, I swear! The posts may be shorter but better short than nothing right??
Does insurance cover that??
Ulriksdals Wardshus is a famous restaurant that has made it into the Guinnes Book of World Records for their wine collection. Get this, they have a collection consisting of the 6 first growths of Bordeaux from every vintage in the 18th CENTURY!!!!!!!! That alone makes them beyond impressive, but here?s the dirt. They got robbed. Yes that?s right, robbed! I bet you can?t guess what they stole?.
Ulriksdals Wärdshus, a restaurant and old event hall world famous for its French red wine was robbed on Saturday night. Its entire collection, valued at more than 3.5 million kronor, has vanished.The collection consisted of more than 600 bottles from every vintage of the 18th century from the six Grand Cru castles of the French Bordeaux region. The collection has been registered by Guinness Book of Records for years as a unique wine collection. Ström said the alarm system was disabled allowing the thieves to have hours to burgle the place. She said the heavy-duty glass security door had been opened with a crow bar. ?It must have taken hours,? she said, adding that they took the security tape before leaving.She said the thieves then went down into the cellar where the collection was stored at 16 degrees Celsius in semi-dark conditions. ?They must have had boxes there to carry up all of that wine,? Ström said. ?They took every bottle. It must have taken a long time to pack.?She said police did not find any fingerprints or DNA, but did find a footprint. She said police told her the only way to solve this case would be to have people call in with tips.?I can?t believe all of the wine is gone,? she said. ?Guests used to love coming down and looking at it.?
Sounds like an inside job to me. But what do I know. The crazy part is that a collection like that is so rare that if it shows up on the market people would know where it came from. Maybe somebody will have a party. Either way, it?s a damn shame.
Pouilly Fuisse should not really be mixed up with Pouilly Fume although it happens. While both are white wines Pouilly Fuisse is rightfully Chardonnay and Burgundian. The other Pouilly is from the Loire Valley and is made from Sauvignon Blanc ( to be covered someday!). While Pouilly-Fuisse is an appelation on to itself it would be a shame not to give the individual terroirs recognition also. There are 4 villages in the appelation: Vergisson, Solutre-Pouilly, Fuisse and Chaintre and arguably 5 terroirs as Solutre and Pouilly are distinctive.
From a distance the twin rocks of Vergisson and Solutre are a clear giveaway that you have arrived. The certain soil zones around these rocks are limestone and give the wines that mineral taste which is lacking or more subdued in the other communes outside of Vergisson, Solutre and Pouilly.
The 5 terroirs within Pouilly-Fuisse are :
Vergisson - mineral driven, punchy with acidic backbone. Solutre - mineral driven but softer with pronounced acidity. Pouilly - Good harmony of mineral and fruit - most balanced. Fuisse - More fruity, does not have the minerality of previous 3. Chaintre - Fruit dominant.
The next time you try a Pouilly-Fuisse take a closer look at the label and see where it comes from - there should be a difference. Personally my favorite is Pouilly proper. It seems to have the right balance of fruit, minerality and lively acidity. The other all have their unique characteristics but not in the harmonious balance I get in a benchmark Pouilly.
Not a comprehensive list by any measure but the wines I liked were made by:
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.
Stock up on Sauvignon Blanc. This favorite spring and summer quaffing wine make a perfect "slap-in-the-face" aperitif and a classic match for oysters on the half-shell.
As I’ve blogged here many times, I think wineries who are not involved in social media are missing something important. Not only is it less expensive than more traditional outreach, the results are often better from a brand and customer loyalty point of view. What social media gives you is that personal connection with the customer online, like you get in the tasting room.
So I’m going to talk about how wineries can take advantage of blogs, podcasts, wiki’s and social networks on my next trip to California later this month. Although there will be some slides involved, this will not be “death-by-Powerpoint” but an interactive talk in the vein of BarCamp. It’s open to anyone who whats to learn more about social media or who wants to share their learnings. I will prepare about 40 minutes of material and see what develops as we talk about this topic.
If you are interested in attending, just head over to my company wiki and add your name and winery or company. If you no hable wiki then just send me an email at acanmedia (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll add you to the list.
The seminar will be held from 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29th at the Sonoma Wine Library in Healdsburg, CA. Here’s a map to the location. Special thanks to Patrick from Iridesse who arranged to get the room reserved and Josh from Pinotblogger for his advice.
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.
I rarely pass up a dry rosé, so I was pleased to find the 2006 le Rosé de Mouton Cadet from Baron Philippe de Rothschild at a grocery store in Twinsburg, Ohio for around $12. You have to dig a bit to get the info, but it's 65% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc. "...entirely vinified and blended at the Saint-Laurent-Médoc Winery" in Bordeaux.
Good dry rosé, very light aroma of black cherries, slightly crisp acidity on the palate with a smooth cherry cream finish. Enjoyed with a tuna salad sandwich and some fruit for a light dinner.
I'm excited to see that good rosé wine is becoming more easily available around the country and is more prevalent year-round. While I normally associate it with summer, there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy it at any time of the year. And there are some higher-end rosés coming out, breaking the $30 mark.
Orogeny Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2004 $22 Rabbi Tuchman says: We were invited to a friends house for lobster on Father’s day. Yeah, it’s a tough gig. Since we tend to drink more red wine, it was my mission to pick up some Chardonnay while I was out shopping for the meal. I tend to struggle [...]
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
The last in a trio from Barossa producers 
Here's a sure sign that Spring has actually arrived, and that Summer is on the way: The local farmers markets are beginning to stir. 
Attendees were then asked to vote for which wine made the best match with which course. There was quite a lot of agreement about which of the 16 wines went with which of the 5 courses but there were also many individual opinions. As with wine tasting there is no definitive answer in the area of food and wine matching.
The aging process whilst broadly similar in length of between 18 and 24 months, varies according to the percentage of new barrels used.
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, 