Learn How To Easily Find Wines Of $50 Quality For $10 Or Less. Impress Friends With Your Expanded Wine Knowledge. Eliminate Your Dependence On Wine Salespeople. And Take The Hassle Out Of Buying Wine.
Earn $6.17 / Sale! %75 Commission! The Ultimate Resource For Anyone Who Wants To Learn How To Make Outstanding Wines & Spirits From Their Very Own Home!
Main Ridge The Acre Pinot Noir 2005 ???? ???? Main Ridge???Pinot Noir????1?2??? Main Ridge The Acre Pinot Noir 2005 ???? ??Shiraz????Pinot Noir? Main Ridge?Pinot Noir?Half Acre?The Acre????K? ?Mornington Peninsula??Main Ridge????2006???
Premium Wine List: Ata Rangi Crimson Pinot Noir 2006 Wine List: Ata Rangi Crimson Pinot Noir 2006 May 22nd, 2008 (Martinborough, NZ)Proceeds of the sale of this wine going towards the preservation of NZ?s famous rata and pohutukawa ?native Christmas? trees - A step of sensational altrusim from this iconic North Island producer.But back to the wine - The Crimson is pitched as a generous, light, drink now style of Pinot, without losing the absolute quality of this producer. A beautifully soft & fragrant Pinot. click here to l
Premium Wine List: Neudorf Nelson Pinot Noir 2004 Wine List: Neudorf Nelson Pinot Noir 2004 May 22nd, 2008 (Nelson, NZ)?..This stands as one of our great value pinots. Youthful but intense with layers of plums and cherries rounded out by warm spicy notes.? Don Higgins, NZ Home and Gardens click here to learn more Additional info: Posted in Red Wines - Pinot Noir | No Comments »
Premium Wine List: Stoniers KBS Pinot Noir 2003 Wine List: Stoniers KBS Pinot Noir 2003 May 22nd, 2008 (Mornington Peninsula, Vic)?it?s wild, punchy and assertive, with a deep, layered core of flavour. An ambitious style, with some sappiness and green edges, but a positive indication that Stonier is pushing the edge with pinot noir. Drink 2005-2008.? Jeremy Oliver, OnWine click here to learn more Additional info: Posted in Red Wines - Pinot Noir | No Comments »
Pinot Noir for Horacio Noir for Horacio Posted May 21st, 2008 by Judi After Michael and I got gas and were on our way we passed by a sign for Pinot Noir Grapes. Before I had left Atlanta, Horacio our Argentine, Tango instructor and wine connoisseur was waxing on about Oregon Pinot Noir so we pulled into the little Wy?East winery and had a wine tasting. Well I say we, but really Michael watched me taste the wine since he isn?t 21 quite yet. I bought Horacio a bottle of the good stuff, the one that was made f
2006 DuMOL Pinot Noir Russian River Valley The nose is a little muted at this point because of the wines youth. It does give off hints of honeysuckle, red berry and mineral. The berry and flower scents hang on through the palate and pick up just a touch of tannins on the finish that lingers. Another great effort from this producer.
Gutzler Dinner @ Anthology SD We had a great time at Anthology in Little Italy last night, where wine, food & music combined for a culturally diverse evening! GUTZLER WINE DINNER TASTING MENU We started with the night with a Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs German Sparkling Wine from Rheinhessen. Dungeness Crab Salad Grapefruit, Haas Avocado, Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette 2006 Gutzler Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) Blanc de Noir. A white Pinot Noir that accentuated the sweetness of the crab and really pla
Memorial Weekend at Honeywood Winery - Wine in Salem Oregon Memorial Weekend at Honeywood Winery Spend Memorial Day with Oregon's Oldest Winery located in Salem, Oregon. 11am-5pm (Saturday May 24, Sunday May 25, Monday May 26)FREE Wine TastingTry the Award Winning Wines Flight of (2004 Pinot Noir, 2006 Pinot Noir, 2006 Gewurztraminer, 2006 Riesling and Pear Wine)Be the first to experience our new Blackberry MeadHoneywood Winery 1350 Hines St. SE Salem, OR 97302 503-362-4111 http://www.HoneywoodWinery.com
Premium Wine List: Pipers Brook Reserve Pinot Noir 2003 Wine List: Pipers Brook Reserve Pinot Noir 2003 May 21st, 2008 - Pipers Brook, Tasmania -Lively, generous, even a bit raucous in flavor, with spurts of raspberry, blackberry.. flavors that linger on the fine-textured finish. A stylish wine that never gets heavy.? 91/100 Wine Spectator click here to learn more Additional info: Posted in Red Wines - Pinot Noir | No Comments »
Fire up the grill - Wines for Wieners if you want to be literal, its wine for wursts. But I thought wine for wieners had a much better ring. Anyhoo, I digress from my mission which is to direct you in your wine and wiener (or wurst) pairing. Hot dogs and sausages are a little tough to pair because there are so many condiments and side dishes involved. Your best bet is a round and robust (yet dry) rose. It will have enough body and subtle tannins to cut through the fat in the meat, but ample fruit and moderate acidity to bal
2006 Loring Wine Company Pinot Noir Garys? Vineyard Nice dark garnet color. The nose does not give much away at this point. Flavors of strawberry and red cherry. The wine is a little tight with some tannins lingering on the finish. This wine needs more time in the bottle to reach it?s full potential. There are other Pinot Nior?s in this price range ($46.00) that are better.
Premium Wine List: Villa Maria Reserve Pinot Noir 2005 Wine List: Villa Maria Reserve Pinot Noir 2005 May 21st, 2008 (Marlborough, NZ)An iconic Marlborough Pinot Noir that claims the mantle as one of NZ?s most awarded wines. A stylish and swish new world pinot with deep flavours and impressive richness, carrying on the plush Villa Maria house style. click here to learn more Additional info: Posted in Red Wines - Pinot Noir | No Comments »
Now Arriving: 2006 Gambal Burgundy! few of you know my obsession with Alex Gambal and his amazing collection of French Burgundy. Last year, we attempted to use his Bourgogne Rouge in our wine club: BIG MISTAKE as the response was overwhelming but the wines were not to be found (the guy only makes about 200 cases of each style to begin with). So here we are in 2008 with the release of the 2006 vintage and, dare I say, I am as impressed if not more with the finished products. The negociant house of Alex Gambal was first started
Spring is here and we are busy again! Things have started to get busy here again at the winery. Last weekend's May Blossoms wine trail event was a hit. Everyone that stopped in got a potted cinnamon basil plant with their tasting. We've been bottling our 2006 whites and thoroughly sampling our 2006 reds which are still in the barrel. It would sound pretentious to boast that the 2006 vintage is a step up from last year's, but in our opinion that's the case. Speaking of our first vintage, they continue to collect awards from respec
Szende Pince ( borcsokor ) Pince Szende Villányi Cuvée 2006 alc12.5% ár: 2000Ft körül Ez most nem a 2003-ashoz hasonló bordói, hanem KF-PORT-CS. Nekem jobban tetszett a 2003-as, reméljük id?vel 2006-ból is kihozzák azt a házasítást. Meglep? volt, hogy a "nagy testvér" a pincénél 6600Ft, pedig 2000Ft körül megkapható sok helyen. Szende Portugieser 2007 Tüzes, kissé egyenes bor. Nem kóstoltuk jó helyen a sorban, s?t nem is nagyon kóstoltunk portugiesert a túrán. Dolium Pinot Noir 2003 alc12.5% Alkoholos befolyá
Aresti 2006 Curico Valley Pinot Noir I brought this Chilean pinot noir from Aresti to Tina Ravitz' South American tasting. There has been continuous production in that region since 1951. As pinot noir goes, this is on the thin side -- but unlike many South American pinots I've tried (from Chile and Argentina primarily) this one is not "hot"; the alcohol is under control. The balance of oak/fruit/acid is impressive and the group seemed pleasantly surprised by this austere pinot's young red fruit. 88 points
Australia's young guns, a tasting was a collective deep intake of breath in the UK wine trade today, as everyone prepared for the London International Wine Fair, which is the big event in the calendar each year, and begins tomorrow (Tuesday). It will be a crazy busy three days, with lots of people in town from around the globe - from a journalist's perspective an embarassment of riches, making it hard to know just who to spend the limited time available with. Today there was a pre-fair lunch with Australia's 'young guns'
The facts and figures behind a big name Champagne - Louis Roederer Cellar master Jean-Baptiste B Lecaillon of Champagne Louis Roederer presented the a range of Champagnes from this Grande Marque Champagne House. He talked to us of the effect of the warming up of the climate and the positive effect it has had so far on the cold, northerly Champagne climate. CHAMPAGNE - a few interesting facts there are only three cepages authorised; Pinot Meunier and the nobler Pinot Noir and Chardonnay most of the vineyards of Champagne are planted with red grape varieties
I spent three years in Humboldt County, that (way) Northern California county best know for its world class dope. (I have a good story about Humboldt dope that comes toward the end of this post). I was there in the mid 1980s studying History at Humboldt State University. It was where I lived when I discovered my passion for wine. Yet the entire time I never once tasted a wine from Humboldt County. Now, it seems, there are enough local wineries for it to declare itself an "Emerging Wine Region". Dude! That is so awesome!
The only winery I was even aware of when I was studying at Humboldt State was Fieldbrook Winery. It's still there and producing some beautiful wines. But I hope I'm forgiven for not thinking much about Humboldt County-made wine as I began my initial serious study of wine in between hacky sack and History. I was more interested in discovering just what all this talk about BV Special Reserve, Beringer Private Reserve, Ridge Monte Bello, Chalone Pinot Noir and Matanzas Creek Merlot was all about.
Humboldt is a fairly remote region of California, even compared with places like Anderson Valley, Potter Valley and other far flung, but now fairly well known, growing regions. The County is large and offers a very diverse set of climates where grapes might grow. Closer to the coast, where I spent all my time, it's much cooler, while inland it can become very warm...too warm. But more than anything that makes me believe that Humbolt could indeed be an up and coming region for wine is the the price of land. It's far less expensive than anything Mendocino and southward. FAR less expensive.
As with every region, it seems one would have to carefully choose where they want to grow grapes, but as as the growing number of wineries in the County demonstrate, the diversity allows for a variety of grapes to be cultivated.
The first story linked above seems to hint at the idea that the region is quite suited for organic grape growing and hence organic wines, a winemaking trend I believe is going to explode:
"The natural environment lends itself to the emergence of organic wine making, as well, Lorenzo said ? which several vintners have already implemented in their wine-making process.
?They?re really committed to the fully organic wines and process in addition to growing organic grapes,? she said of such wineries as Coates Vineyards and Old Growth Cellars."
Unless you've got some severely crappy soil, I can't see why nearly any region isn't suited for cultivating grapes organically. That is to say, the above statement doesn't make a lot sense. However, it's the CULTURAL environment in Humboldt County that truly lends itself to organic grape growing and winemaking. I have never lived in a place where so many of the inhabitants were committed, at such an early point, to "green living", conservation, off-the-grid lifestyles and tie die apparel. I'll admit that the constant exposure to what I affectionately came to call Hippydom often gave me the Heebie Jeebies, a condition that is alternatively known as tydyphobia: a fear of waking up with tie die patterns tattooed on one's chest.
Be my fears as they may, it appears that in short order Humboldt wineries will have their own website, promotional materials and a set of wine tastings to kick off their attempt at being discovered. But...what if this area's winemakers all made a commitment to doing things the organic way?
Is there another region anywhere in the world that is know as the "Organic Wine Region"? I don't think so. Would it be of tremendous benefit to cultivate this image? I know so! It is exceedingly difficult for any wine region to create or develop for itself anything like a well defined image, be it for a particular variety of wine, style of wine or anything else. The Organic Image is wide open and Humboldt wineries should grab it. It will take a concerted effort for Humboldt County to replace its image as the source of California's best dope with an image for making great organic wine. But I think the effort is worth it.
I left Humboldt County the day after I graduated. They only reason I stayed for the Graduation Ceremony was because my mother wanted to come up for the ceremony, presumably to confirm that the occasional checks in the envelope that helped sustain me were in fact spent on an education. I'm not an anti-environmentalist or anything, but one has to be of a very specific mindset to live amongst the crunchy set. I wasn't of that mindset. San Francisco was much more my speed, a continuation of my study of History awaited at SF State University and there was also much more opportunity to find new wines to try in The City. So I left....very, very quickly, partly out of fear that I would wake up and find myself wearing Tie Die?which, by the way, I can proudly say I never wore on my body in the three years I lived there.
But I'm ready to revisit Humboldt, or more specifically, its wines. I've decided to make a special effort to find a number of them and see what they have beneath the cork. If I can somehow turn my current somewhat negative feelings toward Humboldt County into something positive due to their wines, then I'll be able to check off one of the items on my "things to fix" list.
Oh, and about Humboldt County dope. The first time "The Guy" made his regular rounds of the dorms with baggies of pot to sell (he'd return regularly on a weekly basis), I knew nothing about Humboldt grown pot. I asked, "how good is it?" The Guy took a big old bud the size of my palm out of his baggy, looked at me with his sunken eyes and then threw the bud at the ceiling of the my dorm room....It stuck. It stuck for a good ten seconds. The stuff became known as HSB--Humboldt Sticky Bud.
This is from A year in my kitchen by Skye Gingell. There are a few minor modifications to the the quantities and if you have access to outdoor cooking facilities, I'd strongly recommend using them. I found the final part of the pork cooking very messy, though I suspect I used a little too much oil and did not dry the pork well enough. . .
Ingredients:
2kg of pork belly, skin on and bones in
Spices - 2 cinnamon quills, 10 cloves, 3 star anise, 6 peppercorns, 1 chilli, 6 cloves of garlic (peeled), medium sized nob of ginger (peeled)
Roots of three fresh coriander
Half cup of soy sauce
Third of a cup of Maple syrup
How? This could well be called thrice cooked pork belly. First place the pork belly in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then remove the pork and dispose of the water. Return the pork to the now cleaned pot and cover with water again. Now add the spices and the coriander and simmer for 2 hours. Remove the pork and set aside, remove the chilli and the ginger and dispose. To the liquid add the soy and Maple syrup and return to the boil and reduce (30-60 minutes, depending on the size of pot and amount of water added), creating a richly flavoured sauce. Slice the pork, and heat a generous splash of oil in a pan till very hot. Add the pork and fry each side for several minutes till golden and crisp.
Serve. I served mine with steamed broccolini and rice. Top with a generous ladle of now reduced sauce.
Warning. The final stage of cooking (the frying of the pork) is best done outside. There will be smoke and hot oil splattering everywhere.* Of course using less oil and drying the pork would reduce these problems.
Wine? I opted for a pinot noir, with good acid and soft structure. It was quite suitable, though I suspect many other red wines (merlot, sangiovese etc) would have been very good as well.
Martinborough, New Zealand. 13.5%. Screwcap. Approx $A65.
The back label of the bottle states: The superb 2006 vintage has delivered a dream wine. Meanwhile, Bob Campbell MW writes*: This is probably the best Ata Rangi pinot that I have tasted. He finishes his note with the words Kiwi Musigny.
This really is a beautiful wine. Prettier and more refined than the previous vintage, though the descriptors and traits may be similar. Flowing, shapely and full of life, it is seamless, complex and utterly compelling. Succulent and pert, this is classically formed and enduring.
Excellent. 95. Now - 2016.
* Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine April/May 2008.
Brilliance is a word that can mean many things: luminosity, intelligence, perfectly executed and, when it comes to flavor, lively and electric. All of those things come together in these two seductive, brilliant wines that are great values to boot coming in at under $25.
2005 Clos de la Roilette, Fleurie, Imported by Louis/Dressner Every time I’ve served this wine each person at their first sip is taken back for a second as they ponder what has crossed their palate. Each knows that they have experienced something special. This is an extraordinary wine is that is is just so alive that it makes you take more pleasure in living. Concentrated elegance and finesse.
2005 Bourgogne, Pinot Noir Vieilles Vignes, Domaine Joseph Voillot. Imported by Vintage ‘59 Imports – Anybody who thinks there are no great values coming out of Burgundy be prepared to be proven wrong. This racy, bright pinot noir also comes packed with loads of flavor and complexity on its rather electric acid frame. Here’s a pinot that can both sing and dance. A short stint in your cellar of two or three years will give you quite a bottle of pinot.
A pair of 5’s may seem a long shot to those that think a lot of chips are required to get great wine, but sometimes a pair is all you need. These days it’s hard to imagine such a winning hand at this price range from anywhere other than France.
My second organic wine pick for this week involves Pinot Noir--which still seems to be everyone's favorite red variety. There's a lot to like about it, so it's not surprising. They're flavorful, rich without being heavy, and pair well with a wide variety of foods.
So when the folks at Cooper Mountain asked if I'd like to try their latest vintage of Pinot Noir I said yes. Cooper Mountain Vineyards are in the Willamette Valley, perched on the slopes of an extinct volcano in Oregon. Robert and Corrine Gross started the vineyards in 1978 and began bottling their own wine in 1987. Robert Gross always explored alternative methods of treating his medical patients--he's a psychiatrist, a homeopath, and an acupuncturist--and his fondness for the road less traveled in his career can also be seen in his wine work. Within a few years, Gross became interested in sustainable, alternative farming and began to convert the vineyards to organic methods. They were certified organic in 1995 (the second vineyard in Oregon to achieve this status), and four years later received their biodynamic Demeter certification.
The wine I sampled, the 2006 Cooper Mountain Vineyards Cooper Hill Pinot Noir, was a light bodied, cheerful wine with excellent QPR. ($15-$17 through online merchants) Made with organic, biodynamic grapes, the wine tasted very pure to me, with lots of cherry and raspberry aromas and flavors that were intense and lively. The wine had Pinot's distinctive silky character, and after you swallowed down all those fruity flavors there was a nice fresh taste in your mouth that reminded me of the smell of a wet garden. Like most Oregon Pinot Noirs that I've tasted, this wine is not opulent and rich but cool and restrained--like Grace Kelley. It's a young wine, with refreshing acidity at its core and I found that the cherry had turned to black cherry and the raspberry to blackberry after I recorked it and left it on the counter for 24 hours. This suggested to me that this is a wine that will continue to develop with age. But it's delightful right now, so you shouldn't wait to try this one. And the price is amazing for a wine that is organic, small production, and so darn tasty.
We had the Cooper Mountain Pinot Noir with some BBQ shrimp and cheese grits made with shrimp tossed in some homemade red sauce with bourbon and spices and some creamy grits laced with extra sharp cheddar cheese. The acidity really cut through the red BBQ sauce, and the purity of the fruit flavors didn't clash with the spices. This summer, if you've got plans to BBQ, get yourself some of this wine.
Cooper Mountain makes a wide range of organic, biodynamic wines including Pinot Gris, Malbec, and several different Pinot Noirs. If you want confirmation from another blogger that Cooper Mountain is a winery to watch, check out Jeff Lefevere's review over at Good Grape. This is a winery that may not be on your radar screen, but it should be. Their wines are further proof of the numerous affordable, delicious choices that are out there if you would like to make organic and biodynamic wine choices.
You can feel safer in your bed tonight knowing that the United States government is protecting you from another danger. That new evil is, of course, Brunello di Montalcino that might have a bit of cabernet or merlot adulterating the sangiovese grosso. These are the same consumer protectors that brought you the 75% rule for American varietal wines, which requires that the stated variety make up at least three quarters of the named wine. So while it’s fine for an American producer of pinot noir to blend in 25% syrah or anything else the missteps of a few producers in Brunello will bring down the wrath of the TTB on all producers.
It’s great to know that our government is always on the watch.
California Pinot Noir lovers take note. Wine lovers with a free weekend, listen up. It's Spring, and the wine events are coming fast and furious. It seems like every week there's a new wine tasting to go to. But some are more worth paying attention to than others.
Anderson Valley is known for two things in California, and not coincidentally, it has more or less two major wine tasting events per year. The first, the International Alsace Varietals festival took place a few months ago, and I was sadly prevented from attending.
The second is the annual Pinot Noir Festival, which it looks like I'll also be unable to attend, much to my disappointment. But if you're a fan of Pinot Noir and you don't have plans this coming weekend, I seriously recommend it. It's definitely worth the three hour drive.
Not only is this a gorgeous time of year in the Anderson Valley, but the Pinot Noirs on offer include a few of the better ones in the state. This isn't a huge tasting, and consequently you'll find very few huge wineries there. Instead you'll find a bunch of small, dedicated growers and producers pouring their (mostly) small production wines.
The event includes a technical conference and BBQ on Friday May 16th. One of the guys speaking at the technical conference is John Winthrop Haeger, author of North American Pinot Noir, which is one of the definitive works on the grape. Saturday features the grand tasting and winemaker dinners, and those who choose to stay through Sunday can wander around to the many open houses hosted by the valley's wineries.
Participating wineries include: Baxter Winery, Black Kite Cellars, Breggo Cellars, Brogan Cellars, Cakebread Cellars, Copain Wines, Drew, Elke Vineyards, Foursight Wines, Goldeneye Winery, Greenwood Ridge Vineyards, Gryphon Wines, Handley Cellars, Harmonique, Husch Vineyards, Jim Ball Vineyards, La Crema, Lazy Creek Vineyards, Londer Vineyards, MacPhail Family Wines, Madrigal Vineyards, Navarro Vineyards, Phillips Hill Estates, Philo Ridge Vineyards, Raye's Hill Vineyards & Winery, Roederer Estate, Roessler Cellars, Saintsbury, Scharffenberger Cellars, Standish Wine Company, Toulouse Vineyards, Williams Selyem and Zina Hyde Cunningham Winery.
11th Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival Grand Tasting Saturday, May 17th, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Goldeneye Winery 9200 Highway 128 Philo, CA 95466 707-895-3202
The $85 tickets to the Grand Tasting can (and should) be purchased in advance online. The Friday technical conference will cost you an additional $100 (yes there is wine to taste at this event), and winemaker dinners vary in price.
If you are driving up for the event, I recommend giving yourself a bit of extra time to get there. Perhaps drive up in the morning and have some breakfast before the tasting.
There was a time, when as a teen, I listened to music for hours each day. Then came children whose sleep took precedence. Music became something peripheral and half volume. The quieter it became, the less I listened.
For years I begrudgingly consumed commercial radio (on my way to and from work). It made music even less enjoyable. Predictable and bland. A filler and a distraction rather than anything substantive or enjoyable.
I've grown more particular with age, harder to please and less tolerant of formula and packaging. Despite this, I find that again I'm listening to and enjoying music, mesmerised by the beauty, frailty and power of some songs.
I imagine it's the same with wine. I have friends who once had a passion, but for whatever reason (health, children, money, spouse) they have lost interest. If they do drink it's the routine and mundane that passes their lips. A sure way to extinguish any remaining spark. Soon all wine becomes the same, an agreeable liquid that no longer excites. . .
Oregon’s Beaux Frères is not only making some of America’s finest pinot noirs, but is also that most rare of things: a winery with courage. Vintage after vintage winemaker Michael Etzel shows the courage of his convictions and produces dramatically distinctive wines with a personality all their own. Some dismiss the success of Beaux Frères as mostly due to the fame of Etzel’s brother-in-law and partner, famed wine critic and publisher of The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker, but considering the stunning quality of these wines I can’t help but believe they would still be sought out by collectors everywhere with or without Parker’s impact.
While a bevy of authors have pilloried Robert Parker for dragging the wine industry down the road of standardized, jammy wines, his own winery is the polar opposite. The Beaux Frères Pinot Noirs are tight, structured wines with a decided spritz from natural CO2 when young. That’s right they’re a little fizzy. These are truly natural wines and the little spritz is a result of the natural, cool slow malolatic fermentation practiced by Etzel. None of their wines are manipulated to make them ready to drink young and even the precocious 2006 vintage produced wines that need a minimum of several years of bottle age to unfurl their now tightly wound personality. These are wines that do not try to mimic Burgundy, but that set their own unique style, both as Oregonian and an expression of Etzel’s winemaking art.
The current release of 2006 Beaux Frères Pinot Noir, The Beaux Frères Vineyard, Ribbon Ridge is nothing short of exciting. In his notes Etzel describes this wine as, “a beauty and can be drunk young.” However, he must mean in relation to his wines from previous vintages as compared to other 2006 Oregon pinots this wine far from being ready to drink. The nose is already exotic with layers of black truffle, porcini and dense, black wild forest fruits, but it is not yet resolved and you can just sense the greatness that is to come as the components intertwine and integrate. The wine hits your tongue with a thousand tiny little bites from the firm acidity and the slight spritz of the CO2, but then quickly expands dramatically into the voluptuous textures you would expect from this forward vintage. What strikes you as you taste and smell this wine is the endless swirling of exotic characteristics that make the wine change from second-to-second as you savor each sip. If you must drink this wine now, please give it at least an hour in a decanter before serving. However, at $80 a bottle you may want to give it the respect it deserves and wait at least five years before releasing the treasure inside.
Beaux Frères produces wines of great integrity and character because they are made by a winemaker with the same attributes. Mike Etzel makes what he believes. These are wines that must be on anyone’s list of the best American pinot noirs.
Fewer sales reps are more paranoid these days than cork salespeople. They barrage you with emails damning all other types of closures. At trade shows they meet winemakers with frigid stares that have changed over from cork to something else.
The battle is fully engaged on what is the best closure for a wine bottle and as always, in the heat of battle there is often more confusion than fact. Much as a war correspondent sees through the smoke of conflict, writer George Taber has cut through all the brouhaha to offer us a clear look at the cork conflict in his book, To Cork or Not to Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science and The Battle for the Wine Bottle. Taber is also the author of Judgment of Paris, which is bound for the big Hollywood screen. The journalistic temperament that Taber brings to his book, a rarity in wine writing, should be no surprise as he is a twenty-one year veteran of Time Magazine.
The combat is about the dreaded TCA (2,4,6 trichloroanisole) that destroys anywhere (depending on whose giving the stats) from 3% to 15% or so of every bottle of wine sealed with a cork in the world. These are the so called “corked” bottles as wines spoiled by TCA have a distinct musty character that can range from the wine seeming just not quite right, to bottles that almost make you gag. What makes TCA the nightmare of winemakers it that most affected bottles are consumed by unsuspecting consumers that are unaware the the wines are actually spoiled, instead thinking that whatever the winery is just doesn’t make very good wine. This dramatic rate of failure combined with disastrous PR has turned many wineries away from natural cork to closures like screwcaps, crown caps and glass stoppers.
To Cork or Not to Cork is a must read for wine professionals and aficionados alike. Don’t expect to have the best closure revealed in the last chapter as Taber presents the whole story without judgment as you would expect from someone with his journalistic credentials.
As Taber points out, all closures currently in use have potential issues so the jury is still out and the closure of the future probably is not invented yet. My major issue with many cork fundamentalists is the constant reference to the tradition of cork and the romance of the ritual and sound of pulling a cork. Screw tradition, the argument should always be about wine quality not superficial issues like romance. What’s romantic about a corked bottle of $50 wine?
Perhaps in the end the solution will be different closures for different wines. After all, cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir age very differently and what is good for one may not be good for the other. Put a cork in it? The answer seems to be sometimes yes and sometimes no. Whatever happens in the future, the century old monopoly of the cork is over. Technorati Tags: TCA, wine, corked wine
Argentine wines are not as well-known in North America as those of Chile, but the areas just below the Andes Mountains, such as Mendoza and San Juan, produce excellent, red wines, including Syrah, Pinot Noir, and Malbec, a red wine grape that is at its best when grown in Argentine soil. Learn more about the wines of Argentina in this video from Geobeats.
Tecnorati
I spent three years in Humboldt County, that (way) Northern California county best know for its world class dope. (I have a good story about Humboldt dope that comes toward the end of this post). I was there in the mid 1980s studying History at Humboldt State University. It was where I lived when I discovered my passion for wine. Yet the entire time I never once tasted a wine from Humboldt County. Now, it seems, there are enough local wineries
Valley and other far flung, but now fairly well known, growing regions. The County is large and offers a very diverse set of climates where grapes might grow. Closer to the coast, where I spent all my time, it's much cooler, while inland it can become very warm...too warm. But more than anything that makes me believe that Humbolt could indeed be an up and coming region for wine is the the price of land. It's far less expensive than anything Mendocino and southward. FAR less expensive.
Fewer sales reps are more paranoid these days than cork salespeople. They barrage you with emails damning all other types of closures. At trade shows they meet winemakers with frigid stares that have changed over from cork to something else.