M. Senegor

I live within the Lodi appellation of California but rarely visit its wineries or drink its wines. Still, it is impossible to avoid news and trends in the appellation. I ran into Markus Niggli, winemaker for Borra vineyards, at a Christmas party, and  asked him if he had observed any change in client tastes over a decade at his job. Markus,  tall and handsome, still youthfully exuberant, was friendly and frank."Well," he said, "they are beginning to get used to acid."Markus has been making some very interesting, innovative wines, in particular a white blend of Kerner, Riesling and Bacchus varietals [...]

I thought I might end what's been the best year for my wine blog with a champagne edition as we prepare to celebrate the eve of the new year, the greatest occasion for the drink. Hopefully my readers will enjoy the little known tidbits below, as I did discovering them. Many thanks to my cousin Bienvenida Amir for her tip on the wonderful book by Tilar Mazzeo entitled The Widow Cliquot, a biography of the grande dame of champagne. It was also a good history of the bubbly.Everything about champagne, the light, delicate, crisp and bubbly wine screams sexy.It was[...]

The wine world can be categorized and subcategorized in numerous ways, by geography, appellation, varietals and more. One overall, fundamental distinction is that between the Old World versus New.The Old World is where wine has been made since time immemorial, most notably, but not restricted to, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. These are areas where winemaking tradition has been passed on for countless generations. The New World is comprised of all that was discovered after the great explorations of the Renaissance, including us in the U.S.A., South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and more. These are regions that do[...]

Last night I visited an old friend, the bottle you see above, Francois Berthau's Chambolle-Musigny. It was served to me by a new friend who invited us to her house for dinner.The wine, a 2007 vintage, still had the same qualities I remember as the 1980's and 1990's vintages I tasted ages ago, elegant, silky, as fruit-forward as Burgundy can get, well balanced.  It also had a clean nose, those earthy, barnyard, fertilizer noses of old having nowadays been cleansed. It tasted good alone and with salmon. The experience made me sorry that I no longer buy or drink Burgundy.Burgundy[...]

Do you have a store you love to hate? I do.Recently a friend texted me and asked if I buy wine at Costco. I don't.Well, there was this one time, I must shamefully admit, that I did buy a couple of bottles of Dom Perignon champagne there, because it was cheap. I have been known to deride this label as one for pimps and whores, and mindless jocks.But then it wasn't for me. It was a gift.My brother who lives near Kirkland, WA, a suburb of Seattle, loves everything Costco. Not only is his pantry full of Costco products but[...]

I like my white wine chilly. It is crispier, fruitier that way, less thick, less buttery. At home this is no problem. At restaurants it has unpredictable consequences. This past weekend we experienced a brand new one.When I pop the request for chill, most waiters or sommeliers place the wine bottle in some kind of cooling device, a tableside bucket of ice water, a tabletop cylindrical cooler or some variant thereof. Some however,  take the bottle elsewhere, to a central "chilling station". When this happens, watch out!Some high end restaurants keep all bottles in central serving stations, chilled or unchilled.[...]