RESOLUTIONS
It's New Year's Eve, time for resolutions. I am not one for such boring resolutions as "excercise more", or "lose weight". Years ago, many of my so called "original" resolutions exasperated my wife. These included such gems as "to throw as many parties as possible in the coming year", or "kick my Elvis show into high gear" (for those who don't know I am an amateur Elvis impersonator). As it turned out, she did all the hard work, as the hostess of the parties thrown, or as my sound/make-up person in my shows. "Never again", was the common refrain at[...]
THE SPECIAL PROBLEM OF BIRTHDAY WINES
Among wine connoisseurs the issue of what to drink to celebrate one's birthday is a special problem. I suppose some just open an expensive or celebrated bottle of this or that which suits their fancy. Among my wine drinking friends the most coveted bottle on such occasions is one that belongs to their birth year. As you might imagine, with advancing age finding available bottles of what is becoming as much "vintage" as yourself gets to be progressively problematic. My good friend the late John Morozumi, born in 1924, from time to time was able to procure his birth year wines[...]
“MISS SAIGON” AND AFFINITY TO WINE STYLES
Some years ago I subscribed to numerous seasons of Broadway plays in Sacramento. I did this to alleviate what I perceived to be a gap in my cultural experience. After about five years and some 50 or so plays I had my fill of it. What I discovered was that by and large most so called "classic" Broadway musicals are bland, formulaic, predictable, and soppy with melodramatic emotion. Most "modern" ones seem to rely on flashy special effects for their impact. Creativity and artistic virtue was hard to find but much appreciated on rare occasions when they came along. "Master Class" and "Chicago"[...]
IS SANCERRE THE SALMON OF WINES?
A recent Wall Street Journal article about what it takes to be a somellier contained a number of interesting surprises. The one that especially caught my eye was mentioned as a side issue. Interviewing a New York City sommellier by the name of Michael Madrigale who works at what I surmise to be a hoity-toity Upper West Side restaurant called Bar Boulud, the author noted the following anecdote: when her companion asked for a glass of Sancerre while dining there, Mr. Madrigale responded, "Sancerre is the salmon of wines" and directed her to some obscure Greek wine. I have[...]
SIZE MATTERS AND BIG SEEMS WORSE; Thoughts about large format wine bottles
A few years ago I ran into a Jeroboam of Chateau D'Yquem at Wine House a San Francisco wine shop. It was around $3000. I wondered who on earth would need a bottle like this, since it could supply a party of hundreds. At 3-4.5 liters (depending where it comes from) a Jeroboam is the equivalent of 4-6 bottles of wine. The Yquem is a Sauternes, a dessert wine from Bordeaux, the most famous and coveted label of the region. Sauternes is usually purchased as half bottles (325cc), because one only drinks a small amount of it at the end of a[...]
FRIDAT NIGHT COINCIDENCES
Our Friday night wine tastings which consist of a "bring your own concealed bottle and let's guess what it is" game, are casual and devoid of any particular theme. Thus when coincidental themes emerge, and they do more often than you think, those tastings are forever recalled as special. A recent one in my house featured just this very phenomenon. Mel Stagnaro brought along a 1988 Chateau Mouton Baron Phillipe, the second label of the famed First Growth, and it appeared as the third tasting in the line-up. We all guessed it as an old Bordeaux, not too bad, but a bit[...]