M. Senegor

We recently had lunch in a popular spot at Sonoma Square called "The Girl and The Fig". It is a homey looking place set within three rooms of a converted house. One has a magnificently ornate bar with dining tables; the other two must have been the living and dining rooms. All are tightly packed with tables, making for a cozy, noisy environment. The art on the walls resembled the style you see in the attached picture of the restaurant's emblem. The menu was French bistro fare translated to California cuisine, with fresh, carefully selected ingredients and some offbeat offerings[...]

For most Bordeaux drinkers sampling old ones, really old, is a rare and sporadic experience. Some who are old enough to have aged them in their own cellars can do this with ease. The few wealthy enough not to mind 3 or 4, even 5 digit prices in restaurants for such wines can imbibe in this setting. For the rest of us it has to be a shared experience. Our annual Bordeaux highlight is a party thrown by our friend Jim Stephen in his house at Pleasanton. Jim buys a lot of old Bordeaux on mix & match auctions from[...]

Those of you who follow my wine postings, by now know well that I have a love and hate relationship with New World Chardonnay. On the one hand I am sick and tired of it, and have been so for over a decade, on the other I secretly drink some occasionally to re-test my tolerance for buttery, sweet, tropical flavored, and most of all vanilla and oak finished wines. More often than not I am disappointed. It was thus no surprise that I came up with a novel suggestion for our monthly themed tasting group at George Heron's house (George[...]

It appears that there is a sequel to my recent blog of 2/23/11 entitled "Wine Evolution on Fast Forward", and more lessons to be learned. Recall that I was struck by the speed with which domestic pinot noir evolved from tough to grow to cheap and banal, as evidenced by two respectable names, J Vineyards and Siduri selling in Fresno for around $10.99, both no good. My friend Mike Hernandez who found these wines in an upscale grocery store called "The Market" investigated further after reading my blog. Speaking with the owner of the store he discovered that these labels[...]

What I am about the recount is true; I am not making it up.Last night I had a peculiar nightmare. I dreamt that I was in a formal restaurant, maybe in the midst of a medical convention, for, in addition to my wife I was sitting with a bunch of strangers, mostly men, and this only happens in conventions. The restaurant was ornate and upscale, and sold Eastern European fare. The wine list was full of German, Austrian, Hungarian wines, and I was a bit lost in it. I chose a wine that seemed reasonably priced, but I was unsure[...]

Evolution, in a biological scale, takes millenia. When it comes to the wine business however it seems to be one human generation. the wines you see in the pictures above provide a great example of this process. The wine in the bottom photo appeared in a blind Friday night tasting recently. My friend Padmesh who brought it meant for it to be a novelty, or maybe a joke. It is a 1982 Louis Martini Pinot Noir from the Napa Valley. Those who tasted it immediately upon opening found an old musty nose, very little fruit left, but still a drinkable[...]