ROTHSCHILDS IN THE NEW WORLD
Rothschild family coat of armsConsolidation and globalization races along in the wine world, with companies such as Gallo, Diageo and Constellation gobbling up winemakers like Pac-Man. The French are not to be outdone, the famous and famously rich Rothschild Family leaders in this process.Case in point is this wine that appeared in our Friday night blind tasting recently. We all guessed it as a high quality Napa Cabernet. It had hints of eucalyptus and mint on the nose, a slightly sweet, bold fruit profile and oak in the finish. It was smooth, complex and elegant. I thought maybe Chateau[...]
NOUVEAU, A NEW NEW COPIES THE OLD NEW
Tomorrow, Friday, November 18th, Wine Wizard’s, our regular Friday night haunt, will be packed with a festive crowd. It happens every November, for today, the third Thursday of the month, is when this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau is released and the party begins.For those unfamiliar with the phenomenon, Beaujolais is a region in central France, immediately south of Burgundy, that produces light red wines made of the Gamay grape. It has ten different appellations, so called Cru Beaujolais, each with their own names. They are considered serious wines, despite being eclipsed by Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from Burgundy, the region’s more[...]
ON THE BOTTLE VS IN THE BOTTLE; A CRITICAL MATCH
A prior blog in which I explored a defect in wine (see “Fatuous Fermentation; Causes and Remedies” 9/23/2016) reminded me of a simple rule I formulated years ago and wrote about. Now that I have a wider readership, it is time to revisit it. To me there are two basic categories of wine defects. The first is chemical. These include premature oxidation, cork taint, secondary fermentation, contamination with Brett or other organisms, too much sulfur, to name a few. These problems mostly originate at the vineyard or winery and represent technical problems in winemaking.The second category, the one I’d like[...]
DIVORCE! FROM TEMPIER BANDOL AND VIEUX TELEGRAPHE
A wine collection is like a garden. If left untended it will grow weeds. This aphorism that I personally coined years ago remains true as my own collection goes past its twenty year mark. I always expected the weeds to appear in lost corners of my storage units, lesser known wines from forgotten vintages, orphaned within the overall collection. The kind of wine that raises eyebrows with my fellow tasters who might ask, “Why on earth did you keep this one so long?”I’ve had a few of those. But I never expected weeds among some of my most prized labels, wines[...]
FRENCH WINE CHAUVINISM
I recently hosted a Parisian friend in San Francisco. He is a wine enthusiast and we share a common interest in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhone wines. Figuring that he hasn’t had much exposure to others, I arranged a non-French wine line-up for him. Over a weekend of tasting and dining, these included two California cabernets (‘06 Quintessa & ‘03 Jordan), a Russian River Pinot Noir (‘14 Arista), a Northern Italian Pinot Grigio (‘14 Scarpetta) and a Spanish Verdejo (‘14 Nisia).“This wine is very good,” he said as he tasted the Quintessa, with lamb at Boulevard restaurant. “This wine is better than[...]
OAKLESS? A CHANGE IN SILVER OAK
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” I said at the bar, after putting down my fourth sip of Silver Oak. “But these wines seem to have much less oak than they used to ten or fifteen years ago.”“You’re absolutely right,” replied the attendant in the Alexander Valley tasting room. She was quite knowledgeable, unusually so for pourers at wineries.I was tasting a flight of four Silver Oaks, a pair of 2009s and another of 2012s, each from the Napa and Alexander Valleys. They were all still young puppies, tight, packed with upfront fruit but smooth and elegant. The Alexander Valley ones,[...]