M. Senegor

Those who read my blogs probably know that I am constantly seeking bargains in restaurant wine lists, which can otherwise be outrageously expensive, especially in San Francisco. You also may know that, in my opinion, the best way to do this is to select not by specific wine label, but rather by appellation. For instance if you are seeking a Domestic Pinot Noir, pretty much anything that says "Carneros", or "Russian River" (there are several others) is good. All you then do is look for a price you are willing to pay. In general the lesser known the appellation the[...]

I have recently developed a new habit when wine tasting which has been around for centuries, is commonly practised by professionals, but rarely by us amateurs: spitting. Believe it or not spitting wine after slushing it in your mouth is not as easy as it seems.To begin with there is a social stigma associated with the act. It's only slightly more acceptable to spit in a public place, than it is to loudly fart. How often do you see anyone spitting a piece of food for whatever reason? Before I trained myself to spit wine, I regularly spit out pieces[...]

We tend to think of the wine world as mostly boutique wineries, and then a few large conglomerates. The latter, we think, are purveyors of mostly cheap, low quality wine for the masses. Well, think again. For those who haven't noticed, the last decade has heralded an unprecedented consolidation in the wine industry that has led to numerous large groups owning many labels. If you go through full lists, you are likely to exclaim, "Really? No way!", many times, as you identify your favorite labels within the vast line-ups of such conglomerates. Now with changing bussiness trends, so are the[...]

Certain practices in wine pricing defy logic. We all know numerous examples from restaurant pricing to auctions in ancient wines, to stratospheric prices of celebrity labels. Some however are so incredible as to classify in the "crazy" category. If you recall my blog about the $ 12, 000 bottle of Ch. Petrus in a Vegas restaurant, that turned out to be $2000 more expensive in another across the Strip, now that was crazy with a capital "C". Presently I find another that in my book classifies within this range.As you can see from the picture to the right, it is[...]

A recent addition to my living room, the picture you see on the left, brings a new chapter to my wine collecting saga. It is a 920 bottle indoor storage unit, a monster. But a pretty one.I started collecting in 1996 and soon found the need for a storage unit. Stockton being located in a delta with a high water table, there are almost no houses with basements here (with the exception of the Miracle Mile neighborhood north of Downtown). Thus all wine storage occurs above ground, either in dedicated cellar rooms or, as in my case in storage units[...]

The wine snob that I am, I particularly take pride in my disregard of well known wine pundits, names such as Robert Parker, and my own opinion of the subject acquired by my own tastings. It is thus with much humility that I will announce an episode of recent gullibility which deflated my baloon of hauteur, at least temporarily. It happened after I discovered Gary Veynerchuck.For those of you who have not heard of him, Veynerchuck has become, arguably the second most popular wine pundit after Parker. His is a wine shop owner in New Jersey who has become an[...]