Though you might not know it from looking outside the window in San Francisco, spring is here! This week, our produce box brought the season's first cherries, apricots and peaches. It's good to be alive. It's also a great time to sharpen your wine-tasting skills.
Continue reading "Spring has Sprung - A Chance to Smell and Taste" »
Who says you have to be a wine geek to drink old or odd wine (or both)? We just spent a weekend with friends on Lake Tahoe, and I brought out a few older white wines that people just fawned over. These were "little wines" - a 2001 Hochheimer Hölle Kabinett Riesling from Domdechant Werner and a white Entre-deux-Mers from Chateau Bonnet, also '01 - not immensely age worthy, but not over their prime by any means.
Continue reading "Yummy At Any Age" »
Why don't people drink more sherry? I just wrote a little intro article for Suite 101, and it got me to pondering this one. It used to be (not too long ago) that riesling drinkers were a bit of a secret society. No one really talked about it out loud, but there was a cohort of winemakers and sommeliers who would break open amazing bottles behind closed doors. I believe this is happening with sherry (or will, if you & I will it!). We are witnessing the leading edge of a sherry explosion in the next couple of years. Or at the very least, my quixotic quest to make it so...
Here are some clues that I might be on to something.
Continue reading "Why No Sherry? A Revolution in the Making" »
I've been listening obsessively to Wilco's new album, Sky Blue Sky, since it arrived in the mail yesterday. I got it as a (pre-order) birthday gift from Amberly, along with a t-shirt, which I plan to wear until it stinks, a tote, and a DVD, which I watched last night while the rest of the world slept. Of course, I'd already heard the album in its entirety, since the band released an online stream for fans months ago. Call this the barrel sample. The first night it came out, Amberly & I staged an old-fashioned listening party at our house, turning the lights low and listening - computer plugged into our speakers - laying on the floor.
Continue reading "Sky Blue Sky - Wine for Your Ears" »
I have a few old wine books - old enough to be oddities rather than useful day to day. Among those is a 1983 edition of Hugh Johnson's Modern Encyclopedia of Wine. I was flipping through it for some background on an article I'm writing, and found this in the introduction to the California section:
Heartiness suits Americans - at least the Americans of today. It suits many wine drinkers everywhere. But it is an important sign of the maturity of the California wine maker that today he is talking in terms of toning it down. A year or two ago the terms of highest praise were 'impressive fruit,' 'heaps of varietal character,' 'distinct notes of French oak.' Today, 'delicacy,' balance,' 'harmony,' and 'elegance' are becoming fashionable terms of approval... With what may be an over-reaction, some of the big California wineries have even started marketing extremely low-alcohol 'soft' wines.
Interesting indeed.
It reminds of this bottle I got as a gag gift recently, which probably dates to that period, judging from the label design. It is not vintage dated, naturally.
Continue reading "Old Books, Wine Trends" »
So I have stopped and started this post about five times and I have just decided that I must get it down on "paper." I love wine and maybe a little too much. It is an OCD force in my life (for good and bad). As I continually search for wines, spirits, and beers that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, I am more often than not disappointed. It is not that the wines I try are bad, but they simply do not excite me or leave me wanting more.
Two years ago I attended a tasting that featured a group of Greek wines that I thought were very interesting and defied what I had previously experienced in Greek wines (albeit, I had tried only about two wines). This brief encounter led me to want more. In November 2006 I sat down with one of the sales reps who calls on me and she pulled out six wines, four from Domaine Skouras of Nemea and two from Domaine Sigalas of Santorini. Immediately I was blown away and got very excited, started feeling those hairs creep up and getting that warm fuzzy feeling... Then she told me the price! I nearly keeled over.
Continue reading "It's All Greek: A New Love in My Life!" »
