M. Senegor

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[...]

In a recent tasting the bottle you see in the photo, when opened, raised a question as to whether the wine inside was "dumb"! The bottle is a 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape, Font de Michelle, a producer I usually like. '04 was a good year, age worthy. When I came across this label in a San Francisco wine shop at a surprisingly cheap price recently, I bought a whole case. I figured it might be a close-out sale for a vintage that should, by now have been off the shelves. I was then alarmed when, upon opening the first bottle,[...]

I have recently recognized a new emotion within me that must be common to most wine collectors. It has been there for a long time, but I have now experienced it repeatedly enough that I can recognize it. It happened when I opened the bottle you see in the picture, a 2005 Talley Pinot Noir from the Edna Valley. The emotion is a certain melancholy associated with consuming the last bottle of a group stored and opened over a period of time. The last bottle! It's like saying "good bye" to a friend knowing you'll never see it again. Unfortunately[...]