M. Senegor

I recently attended a special exhibit in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art entitled "The Stein Art Collection". It was a massive assemblage of the artwork amassed by the author Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo, both of whom spent their major adult years living in Paris, and bought avidly. They particularly became known for a taste in the avante-garde, prolifically purchasing the likes of Cezanne, Renoir and Picasso, all still poorly established in the 1904-1913 period when their purchases were at their peak.They became best known however for their keen eye on a new painter whose work was[...]

When I visited the Rhone region for the first and only time in 2008 I discovered something that I did not know existed: cheap Chateauneuf du Pape. This commune, a short distance from the historic town of Avignon features American style wine tastings in many of its wineries, and also has tasting rooms in the central village where multiple labels can be sampled. Plenty of affordable labels I had previously never heard of appeared during the visit. Probably the best value find from the visit however was Chateau du Vaudieu.This wine was recommended to me by a friendly sommellier who[...]

One of the nice advantages of associating with fellow wine enthusiasts is the opportunity it affords to engage in tastings  like the one we had in George Heron's house recently. A number of us dipped into our collections and sampled the current state of the 1995 Bordeaux vintage with the bottles you see in the photo. 1995 was the first great vintage in my own personal collection, there being none other since 1989 & 1990. While I have tried to stay disciplined and not open much of my '95's, over the years they have nonetheless withered away into around 8[...]

Is the current Chardonnay craze, now ongoing for two decades plus, about to come to an end? Is Chardonnay on the decline, destined into the same junk heap as French Colombard or Valpolicella, favorites from another era? The backlash against this immensely popular grape began with wine snobs who created the "ABC" movement (Anything But Chardonnay). Then came a response from domestic winemakers: unaked Chardonnay, an attempt to return to the basic French Burgundian essence of the wine, and undo the excesses of oak and buttery texture New World winemakers inflicted on this wine. This weekend I discovered another response from[...]

Last night I brought the bottle in the photo to our regular Friday night wine tasting. It was a 1989 Chateau d"Armailhac, a reliable Bordeaux producer, from a good year.The way our tastings go, we each bring a bottle or two concealed in bags, we open them all and set them at a table. We then make our rounds tasting them in the order of whites first, light reds next and heavy reds last. Bordeaux invariably come at the end of the tasting. We comment on each wine and play a game of guessing what the wine is. Excited by[...]

Ever since the "Judgement of Paris" of 1976 there has been a tension between the U.S. (specifically California) and France in whose wines are better. While the question remains in the eyes of the beholder, with different wine lovers lining up on one side of the Ocean or other, comparative tastings a la 1976 have become a classic experience. When someone suggested that we pit California Cabarnet (sauvignon - that is) against the much revered Bordeaux, for the equally grand year of 1990 for both, we had an intriguing match up. And so we assembled at George Heron's house on[...]