Wine

Sometimes it is difficult to draw take-home conclusions from theme-tastings involving less than 10 bottles of wine. I experienced such an anticlimax last month with a Chilean Carmenere tasting. They all tasted like California Cabarnet or Merlot. I found no distinguishing features that would allow easy identification in a blind tasting. Imagine my pleasant surprise last night when another South American star yielded a much more conclusive experience. Our goal was to experience Malbec, the Argentinian version. This is a grape that many in my wine circle taste on occasion, but not with a frequency that would allow easy familiarity.[...]

Bad wine experiences are, thankfully rare. But when they happen, they can be quite educational. Here's one I had never experienced before. At the tasting room at J winery near Healdsburg in the Russian River area of Sonoma, we experienced the opening of a sparkling wine. It did not pop as you would expect from champagne; nor did any visible gas escape. The wine, when poured had a few bubbles which quickly died out. It tasted flat, like fruit juice, without any of the zing usually associated with the sparklies. The attendant then opened another bottle. "Pop", as expected, lots[...]

The the current "great recession", as it has come to be called, has turned the wine world topsy turvy. Wine Spectator summarizes its main effect by noting that wine consumption has not decreased; rather consumers have turned to cheaper wines, "value" wines as the euphemism goes. High end wineries are responding to the problem in various ways. Some are discounting their products at the risk of damaging their image, others are staying put, and yet others are going out of bussiness, in droves.Clever bussinessmen are capitalizing on the plight of such wineries. A fellow named Cameron Hughes, a negociant by[...]

Those who read my blog are already familiar with the fact that a vast majority of wines bought are consumed within a few hours of purchase. Various writers estimate this to be around 95% plus. Those who buy and lay down a bottle of wine, i.e. most of us in my wine world, are rare. It is also an accepted fact that an even vaster majority of Domestic wines, especially those produced in California are for immediate consumption. Even if you get some expensive, ageworthy wine like Heitz or Opus, you always have the option of opening it immediately and[...]

I am sure you have all heard about cult wines. These are celebrated labels that repeatedly appear in wine related articles which we are told are in high demand and very expensive. They are mostly California Cabarnets, with labels such as Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Araujo, Colgin Cellars etc. Penfolds Grange from Australia is also in a cult status. What exactly makes a "cult" wine? If you look at a formal definition it sounds familiar enough. Here's one from Wikipedia: "cult wines are those for which dedicated groups of committed enthusiasts will pay large sums of money." They later go[...]

Why does obscenity offend us? Without going into some sociology term paper, I can summarize my answer in two words: because acts, images or words perceived as obscene are either indecent, or more commonly, unnatural. I recently came across the bottle of wine you see in the pictures and had to buy it. It was a German Pinot Noir, and sold around $10. As you can see from the front and back label, it attempted a "sexy" image" in a clumsy way only Germans can dream up. That did not bother me much. However the wine, by its very existence,[...]