M. Senegor

The magazine Wine Spectator, usually a champion of impossible-to-reach, hoity-toity wines, recently published a long list of what they considered "value wines" (under $30), from around the world(10/15/2011 edition). I suppose with the ongoing economic crisis, they have to cater to a certain segment of previously wealthy readers who are still interested in fine wine. As I have known well, and contrary to common opinion, the best values are in non-California wines. France, Italy and Spain, so called "Old World" winemaking regions, featured prominently in the list. One red label that appeared in their list was Rosso di Montalcino, an[...]

My colleague and fellow wine enthusiast Peter Tuxen once uttered a truism that applies to all luxury goods. He was talking about wine when he observed that while there is a huge difference between an $8  bottle versus $30, there is not as proportionate a difference between a $30 bottle and $150. I have seen this phenomenon with cars as well. When you pay those extra tens of thousands for a Mercedes, the additional features you get, say over a Chevy, are not really worth the difference. What you're paying for is the luxury label, the bragging rights of owning[...]

In current times we seem to have a never ending litany of complaints about wine prices. The outrageous rise in many prices reflects increased demand for the drink, which here in the U.S. is booming like never before. Trendy regions like Napa, varietals like pinot noir, and numerous luxury labels all command eye-popping amounts. Even not so well known wines have been caught up in the avalanche. Recently I was shocked to see Heitz Grignolino Rose, a summer staple from a well respected Napa winery, more famous for its Cabarnets, which we used to guzzle at $8 per bottle a[...]

Have you ever experienced the heartbreak of corked wine? I have. Countless times. There is nothing worse than the anticipation of opening a much respected label, maybe one that has been stored for years, and the letdown afterwards when it is corked. Many don't know what to do with this. If in a restaurant you can return the bottle and ask for another. If you recently purchased the bottle from a wine shop, you can do likewise. But in our wine world, by the time we discover that a long cellared wine is corked, we don't even remember how much[...]

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[...]