M. Senegor

Headlines in the bussiness sections of various newspapers are abuzz with the latest outrage: fake French Pinot Noir sold to American winemakers! 12 Frenchmen were convicted by a court in Carcassonne, France, for the scheme. Cooked up by what sounds like a negociant, Claude Courset, of the Ducasse Wine Trading Company, who was fined $ 61,000 & given a suspended jail sentence, the scheme was carried out by a company called Sieur D'Arques who sold the syrah & merlot combination to Gallo and Constellation.The news first broke around Gallo, which used the wine in its '06 Red Bicyclette Pinot Noir[...]

A recent blind tasting of 1996 Chateau Calon Segur gave us insight into how this vintage is coming along. This well respected St. Estephe wine is classified as a third growth in the 1855 scheme. It is easily recognizable by the large heart shape on its label which features a red background. Ideal wine for Valentine's Day.Those who follow the rather heterogeous reputations of Bordeaux vintages can recognize a common phenomenon: the year that follows a much ballyhooed vintage invariably gets short shifted, regardless of its quality. It's as though a pool of exuberant enthusiasm (not to mention lots of[...]

I just returned from a medical meeting at the Bellagio in Vegas. As usual the vibrant and luxurious restaurant scene of this city provided a few eye-poppers. I ate at L'Atelier de Joel Rebuchon at the MGM Grand, and Picasso at the Bellagio. The former is the cheaper and more casual version of its sister restaurant, also at the MGM which is more formal an expensive. L'Atelier was expensive enough. Rebuchon's encyclopedic wine list included a 1982 Ch. Petrus at the whopping price of $ 12,000 (I am quoting the price to the nearest zero). This, for a regular size[...]

The 2/7/10 San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine carries an ad by Chateau Montelena that their 7 year quest to create yet another appellation within Napa surrounding their property has finally borne fruit. As of 1/7/10, Napa gets its 15th appellation: Calistoga. The region includes the hillside north of the Montelena property down to the Bale crossroad between Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail.Can any of you name the other 14 Napa appellations? I certainly cannot recite them all. Thanks to a Google search here they are: Atlas Peak, Carneros, Chiles Valley, Diamond Mountain, Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, Oak Knoll, Oakville,[...]

I spent two weeks in Spain last October and sampled over 20 different wine labels. Previously my understanding of Spain could be summed up in only one word: Rioja. After my sojourn I returned home confused, as one is apt to do upon encountering a vastly more complex wine world than previously imagined. My only general impression from those two weeks was that they seemed to be easing up on their love affair with American Oak, previously prominent in their wines. I needed to know more. Thus emerged my 2010 New Year's Resolution: to discover Spain in wine.My first endeavor[...]

It happened again! Twice in one year, when previously it had never happened.New Year's Day, we found ourselves in a terrific Italian restaurant called Ducca in San Francisco. I ordered a bottle of '04 Rosso di Montalcino by Mastro Janni. It was listed at $47. The waiter brought it, hurriedly opened and poured a bit. I said, "O.K." and that was it. I don't quite remember examining the label except that it said Mastro Janni. He then left and I took a closer look at the bottle. Damn! I now noticed the word Brunello on the label, not Rosso. I[...]