Our Daily Wine

The Most Insincere Form of Flattery

2011-09-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

There is no less sincere form of flattery than James Suckling's critical review. He's the Will Rogers of wine. He is making a mockery of this whole thing, and he knows it. You want to get a lot of recognition? Give a lot of high scores that can be used on shelf-talkers at retail. He is a total fraud.

Desert Island Wines

2011-07-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for Martha's Vineyard tomorrow night on the redeye. My wife and I decided to bring some wine in my FAA-authorized case. I would actually prefer to go on a wine holiday, a holiday from wine, but it's not practical to do so. The selection is weak, the prices are terrible and there's no (or low) corkage at most restaurants. So I've got six spots. Five, if you give one to a liter bottle of Kettle One for Mrs. What are the five Desert Island wines, keeping in mind that it is an island...in July? And Mrs. doesn't like CA Chardonnays. So out goes Marcassin, Aubert (that could make it through, but I only have the new 09s), J. Rochioli, etc. As of this writing, and you know how packing goes, I've got a Fevre Chablis (Les Clos 04), Leflaive Puligny Montrachet (Pucelles 05), Boillot Chassagne Montrachet (I forget which), and a Volnay. No American wines for my All-American holiday? But how would I like a Les Pavots on a 70+-degree night in July...with a lobster roll? Developing.

Why Not Judge Books By Their Covers?

2011-06-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/06/sloshed_maybe_we_should_be_jud.html

Sloshed: Maybe We Should Be Judging Wines by Their Labels

6/8/11 at 2:15 PM
42Comments

Without labels of jumping kangaroos, how would we know which wines to avoid?Photo: iStockphoto

Like plenty of normal people, I buy wine mostly based on the label. Sure, price is important — and those little cards with the scores help, too — but, frankly, if I do not like the label, I will not buy the wine, simple as that. You know that wine with the three moose wearing sunglasses? It’s called 3 Blind Moose? Yeah: I hate that label. I will never buy that wine. This is actually reasonable, I think. Unless you have an extensive knowledge of regions and grapes, the wine you choose is simply not going to matter all that much. What’s the worst that can happen? Unless it literally tastes like those sweat socks that wine people insist on using as a flavor comparison, you still end up with a bottle of wine you can drink. And last time I checked, a bottle of wine will get you nicely buzzed with your friends over the course of an evening no matter what you choose. So why not choose based on the label?

And so, a proposal: If labels are so important to our wine-buying choices — and I am saying they are — then we should understand labels just as we understand the other non-label parts of the wine (e.g., the grapes and the regions and stuff).
But while you can go on the Internet and find very detailed wheel-based charts for wine aromas and tastes, there is woefully little label categorization.

Not to worry: I have gone into the field and done some research. I wanted to know whether I could identify the types of labels I liked and which turned me off. I think I have identified seven major wine-label groupings along with several subclasses. I also tasted a bunch of wines according to their labels and have made wildly ill-advised extrapolations about what the label means for your drinking experience. And so, here is the wine label kingdom.

The only authoritative chart on wine labels that you're likely to see today.Illustration: Jen Cotton

The French
The grand-cestor of all wine labels; the French is very word-heavy and relies on classic fonts most of the time. Owing to French wine laws, this label must contain specific data on where this wine was made, where the grapes were grown, and who made it. This standardization means that most French wine labels look the same and are all equally intimidating.
What to Expect: The words Appellation Bordeaux Contrlôlée Mis En Bouteille a La Propriété should tell you everything you need to know. It's the fancy stuff, and it will taste sort of like dirt, but in a good way.

French Subclass: Diluted French
Take the French label and remove a lot of the words. Voilà! These give the feeling of a French label — tradition, upper class — but without all the confusing detail. You usually get the grape name, the region, and they usually try to shoehorn the word “chateau” in there somewhere. Also, there is often a pen and ink drawing of a house that we are meant to believe is the aforementioned chateau.
What to Expect: The winemaker often isn't actually French, but is instead an American making wine in the French style. That means it will taste sort of like dirt andfruit. You know how people say, “I don’t know, tastes like red wine to me”? This is what they are talking about.

Animals Doing Things
A close cousin of Diluted French, these labels often contain exactly the same information as the D.F., but instead of featuring a chateau, they are named for an animal, which is often doing something. That “something” is usually leaping.
What to Expect: The Animal label began as a solidly American genre, but those Australians sure have taken to it, though with way more marsupials. They're often from big producers, but these wines tend to stick their landings. (Yes, that is a gymnastics reference.)

The Graphic Design Student
This class description is not meant as derogatory; rather, they are simply very design-y. I find a lot of these labels to be focused on their attitude, a sort of “we don’t have to adhere to your chateau and scripted-font tradition.”
What to Expect: Wine from a small-ish non-European producer (or a small-ish subsidiary of a large producer), the wines themselves can vary a lot, depending on the subclass of the label design.

Graphic Design Subclass: Letterpress
Have you seen those greeting cards where there is some nice serif font that says something like “Thank You” and then there is an equally nice image of a dandelion on it? And also a lot of white space, and it sort of looks like a wedding invitation? That’s what these wine bottles look like.
What to Expect: Smooth wines usually, not super-tannic (i.e, cotton-mouthy), not super-fruity or earthy. Defined more by what they are not. Which is not a bad thing, I don't think.

Graphic Design Subclass: Poster Art
These labels want you to recognize that they are not like those other labels. Instead, they look like a poster from some other era of graphic design — usually a cowboy or hippie poster for some reason.
What to Expect: Interestingly, while the design itself tends to hit you over the head ("Get it?! It looks like a wanted poster from the old west!"), you can expect wines with a bit more reserve and class. I should say: The labels are well designed usually. Perhaps the wines follow suit.

Graphic Design Subclass: Pottery Barn Catalogue
Totally innocuous with respect to design, these labels looks like those leather-bound books you see in catalogues. That is their whole purpose: looking good next to a bowl of Granny Smith apples on a butcher block counter.
What to Expect: American wine that tastes like the vanilla-scented candle they always put in those catalogue rooms.

Graphic Design Subclass: Indie Designer
These can also vary wildly in style, but again: You will know it when you see it, especially if you are someone who reads Print magazine. Some of my favorite tricks in this genre: huge black text on white; a black and white photograph of people in the Dust Bowl or the Gulag; custom R. Crumb–style illustrations.
What to Expect: Syrah. Or a blend with Syrah in it.

Nostalgic Small-Town Vacation
“Do you like vacations? What about sand dollars and/or the beach? Yeah, we like those things too.” That’s me doing an imitation of the Nostalgic Vacation label. These wine labels are sort of ingenious in that they skip over the wine entirely — “Who cares what grape it is! There’s a flip-flop on the label!” — and go straight to the lifestyle you imagine yourself having while you drink it. Shells, sand dollars, anything beach related, really — but there’s a subgenre here: labels with nostalgic Coca-Cola style drawings of red trucks, front porches, or anything a person might associate with small-town America.
What to Expect: I have had enough hangovers to know with full certainty that these are cheap wines that taste like hangovers. Often very sweet, they aim for smoothness über alles, but this gives them basically no structure.

Clever
Clever labels attempt to make you smile as you walk by. The hope is that you might appreciate a little joke, a little fun, after looking at all those chateau drawings. I identified a couple of mini-classes of the clever label.

Gimmicky: “I sure do love my local professional sports team. So much so that I cannot pass up this wine with Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Josh Beckett.”
What to Expect: Young, young wine that's bought in bulk by somebody like Charles Shaw and then sold for cheap. These are often one-liners. And while that one line might be Steven Wright quality, most are Rodney Dangerfield level.

Ironic: “Ha! I’m looking for a cheap red wine and look: That one is called Cheap Red Wine. Perfect.”
What to Expect: See above. In fact, all of the wines in these categories might be from one huge batch. Wouldn't that be ironic?

Fun: “Honey, look — you know how I love moose, right? Well, look at these crazy moose! They are wearing sunglasses!”
What to Expect: Ah, forget it. All this wine is the same. Have you had Yellow Tail or Carlo Rossi? That's what this stuff is like. Thin fruit, sometimes jammy, but never more than one note.

Word Play: “Pinot Evil? Ah … cute. Look at those monkeys!”
What to Expect: Would it blow your mind if I told you that these wines were incredible? Well … they aren't. They're the same crap as all the stuff above.

Painting
Whereas most labels will have some sort of image that supports the words on the label, the Painting labels just throw a painting of whatever on there. And it’s very specifically a painting — lots of colors and obvious brushstrokes. You will not confuse this with a pen drawing of a chateau or a leaping animal. No, it’s like they licensed some of the lesser impressionists and are just going through them.
What to Expect: For some reason, you see a lot of these types of labels on Italian wine. But note that Italian wines generally have to follow similar rules that the French do, label-wise — a lot of words telling you things you don't understand — so anytime they're throwing a painting on there, I'm always a little suspicious. In other words, if you buy one of these, you'd better know what you're doing.

Euro-Trash A-hole
A rare sighting, the A-Hole label is usually more than a label. Often, the whole bottle is some unique shape. Look! I’m a wine bottle in the shape of a shampoo bottle! Deal with it! Whatever.
What to Expect: I wouldn't know, for I do not condone this sort of behavior. And neither should you.

Obviously, I have not tasted every single wine in the world that has a label. I have simply tasted most of them, and I actually do find a relationship between label and wine. If I like the graphic design, I tend to like the wine. I chalk this up to two things:

1. We are a suggestive people. If I like how you look, I will tend to like you, or at least, I am inclined to like you. (But if I don't like how you look, watch out.)

2. I make the assumption that the crew who makes the wine also chooses the label, at least at some level, right? So, when a label appeals to me, I think: "Well, I like their font choices. I probably like their wine choices, too."

But maybe you disagree? Have you ever loved a label and hated the wine? Or vice versa? This is what the comments are for, people.

Matthew Latkiewicz works for the Internet; he writes and podcasts about drinking and other subjects at You Will Not Believe. His work has appeared in McSweeney's, Wired, Time.com, Boing Boing, and Gastronomica. Tragically, his wifelike girlfriend is allergic to wine.

I Knew I Hated That Guy

2011-05-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Bernie Madoff's wine and liquor collection was sold off at auction by Morrell & Co. last week. "All we know about the provenance is that it was seized by the FBI and U.S. Marshals' Service from two locations. More than that, we do not know." Not the best provenance, but Morrell seems to be peddling the collection more as conversation pieces than as quality consumables, and has even included some wines that normally “wouldn’t pass muster and make it into our auction." The 58 lots were valued at a low estimate of $15,000, with the proceeds going to the United States Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Fund to help pay damages to the victims of Madoff’s multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme. That'll help.

I know a guy who was pretty nearly destroyed by Madoff. Life savings wiped out. So I may already be a little biased in this matter, but what I really, really hate about the guy is that with all that money he stole, he had crap wine and stored it indifferently. I mean, if you're going to rip off all your closest friends, some Jewish charities, some hedge funds, whatever, that's your business. But have some decency. Get a little wine refrigerator for the house in Palm Beach, for god's sake.

Epic

2011-05-15T15:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to say. Mark Beavan's 50th birthday party at Il Grano restaurant. I got the last seat.

A few of these were not good bottles, or were simply over the hill, but the line up is as stellar as any I've been party to.

We actually passed on the last five, but washed it all down with a magnum of 1985 Cristal.

1961 Bollinger RD Jeroboam
1961 Moet Imperial RD mag
1961 Taitinger CDC
1959 Dom Perignon
1911 Moet
MV Krug Private Cuvee
1959 Bouchard Montrachet
1966 Bouchard Montrachet
1973 DRC Montrachet
1983 Ramonet Montrachet
1985 Ramonet Montrachet
1928 Chevillot Les Gaudichots
1943 DRC La Tache
1955 Leroy Chambertin -
1962 Vogue Bonnes Mares
1971 DRC RC Magnum
1971 DRC La Tache Magnum
1978 DRC La Tache
1985 DRC La Tache
1991 DRC La Tache
1995 DRC La Tache
1999 DRC La Tache
1947 Pol Roger (Charles & Diana wedding uvee)
1971 Salon
1961 Monfortino
1961 Vega Sicilia
1961 Palmer
1961 Mouton
1961 Latour
1961 La Mission Haut Brion
1961 Haut Brion
1961 L'Evangile
1961 Latour a Pomerol
1947 La Tour Blanche Passed on: 1978 Chave Hermitage 1978 Guigal La Landonne 1945 Gruaud Larose Magnum 1947 Calon Segur Magnum 1990 Margaux (which means we ONLY had 3-of-5 First Growths)

Mommy's Little Helper

2011-04-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

Reuters and the venerable New York Times reports:

It's come down to this in the battle to win over beleaguered, stressed-out moms: Rival vintners are fighting over the use of the word "mommy" on their wine labels.
In a lawsuit filed last week in federal court...the California based winery Clos LaChance Wines has asked the court to declare that it's MommyJuice does not violate the trademark of Mommy's Time Out, a wine marketed by a New Jersey distributor.
To win, a brand owner must show that it is likely that a rival's mark will creat confusion in the minds of consumers.
The Label for Mommy's Time Out features a chair turned toward a corner, as in a time-out, with a wine bottle and glass on a table. The MommyJuice shows a woman juggling a computer, kitchenware, a teddy bear and a house.
One on (sic) point the rivals seem to agree: "We all know being a mommy is a difficult job," says Mommy's Time Out on its website. MommyJuice, for its part, argues that "moms everywhere deserve a break" and urges them to "tuck your kids into bed, sit down and have a glass...because you deserve it!"

All of this shit retails for around $7.

Murder in the Vines

2011-04-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

From Vanity Fair re: poisoning of DRC vines

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/05/vineyard-poisoning-201105?currentPage=all

Fakes Busted in UK

2011-04-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

There has been much made of the ongoing problem with counterfeit wines in the auction market. Bill Koch graced the cover of Wine Spectator magazine last year as a lone crusader out to bring this largely unregulated business to heel with a spate of lawsuits against the various auction houses and the consignors believed to be responsible for bringing some of these dubious bottles to market. Many bad bottles have been discovered, books have been written on the subject, but no one has ever found the smoking gun.

Until now. A UK raid has uncovered fake bottles of Jacob's Creek wine, a popular Australian wine that typically sells for around US$7 a bottle. Seven. Dollars. Okay...what does it cost to manufacture a bottle of cheap wine? You've got to be buying grapes somewhere, you need a wine making facility, a bottling line, warehousing, distribution. It's a whole business mimicking an existing business model.

Happily, the food safety regulator said the wine "is not harmful, but is of very low quality and substandard taste." It's interesting that even for a $7 bottle, you can be substandard--but what if it was the other way around? It's not hard to imagine that the same criminal masterminds that came up with this complex scheme could accidentally do better than the wine they're counterfeiting.

The Best Cellar urges all wine counterfeiters to aim higher.

For the Hobbyist

2011-04-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I can't help surf the web, and I'm rarely disappointed by what I find. Here's the Wine Making Superstore, a site with everything you need to start your own home winery, including every manner of chemical and additive you can imagine. Not enough tanins? Add some! Hungarian oak chips (medium toast!) in one pound bags, were $16.95, now only $14.99! I supplied the exclamation points, but they supplied this bit of encouragement:

"With today's advances in Wine Kits and wine making equipment technology you can become a master winemaker in just a few short weeks."

http://www.winemakingsuperstore.com/additives.html

Suckling.com

2011-04-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

James Suckling has left the Wine Spectator launched a new website to great fanfare. Along with ex-Hollywood-hyphenate James Orr, he's out globe-trotting and making videos of his travels to wine stores, chateaux, and anywhere that will have him. It is quite terrible to watch.

Particularly cringe-worthy are his segments at top wine retailers, where the store is charged with presenting five wines under $30 that rate 90 points or better in Suckling's estimation. It also mostly shows just how dull watching someone else sniff, swirl and slurp wine is. Maybe if one time he retched and said "this is fucking awful swill you cocksucker!" But alas, no. In the several episodes I've seen, only one wine rated lower than 90, and I think this shows just how little time tasters spend with any given wine before they put a score on it that is then forever etched in stone.

I was especially excited to see what valuable information I'd get, what secret gems he'd discover and reveal to those of us who paid the $14.95 monthly fee. The 2007 Revello Nebbiolo he recommended linked to a Wine-Searcher page. Lucky you, Denmark! You're the only ones who can buy this diamond. If you happen to be on Dronningens Tvaergade in Kobenhavn, ask Soren in the Italiensk vine section, and tell him I sent you!

Enjoy Yourself, It's Later than You Think

2011-04-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

Bad news. A friend of ours passed away this weekend. He was a nice guy, well liked, successful, generous, loved wine. We had a mutual friend who "owed" us a dinner at his house. We were looking forward to it in that way that you don't really have a date or a plan, but we all agreed we'd get around to it before too long. Emails were exchanged, messages were left and returned, somebody was supposed to follow up with somebody else when they got back from the trip to wherever they were going.

It's a real shame that it takes a tragedy like this to get you to thinking about how fragile life is and how the simple pleasure of sharing a prized bottle of wine with some friends adds a lot of color to your life. The next time someone tells me, "we should get together soon," I'm going to make sure we do it, soon.

Here's some good advice someone dropped on me a while back: "Life is full of uncertainty...eat dessert first."

Stupid Human Tricks

2011-04-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

"Like to drink red wine? Like to look good?" Who doesn't, really? A new website is asking because they've got just the thing to help you achieve both these goals at once.

The reason they ask is that it seems that "every time you have your teeth professionally whitened, they tell you as you're leaving, 'If you drink red wine, use a straw.'" And, incredibly, it seems that until now there wasn't a straw to use specifically for wine. Well, friends, you can rest easy. Wine straws are finally here! Finally! As in man's crowning achievement. As in the thing we've all been waiting for. As in the end of days.

"No more wine-moustaches, no more purple teeth, and your lip gloss stays on your mouth." I hadn't realized what a serious problem this was.

"Voila! The incredibly simple, yet genius way to drink red wine...without all that bothersome bouquet."

Drink Red. Smile White.

http://www.winestraws.com/info.php

No Good Can Come of This

2011-04-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

According to the Los Angeles Times: Donald Trump has bought a Virginia vineyard at a foreclosure auction and wants to produce wines.
Media outlets report that representatives for Trump bought the winery and...are in talks with former owners...about running the operation.
Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyards in Charlottesville was put up for sale by a creditor bank. Preliminary estimates indicate the property sold for less than $7.5 million before fees. It was estimated to be worth more than $70 million before the recession.
Trump also successfully bid on the winery's trademarks and labels--thus insuring that ruthless speculators and counterfeiters not infringe on the valuable Kluge name.

Road Trip

2011-04-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

James May's Road Trip is a show on BBC America that follows this fellow who must be known to someone, else why would he be on television? In the episode I watched, he went with Oz Clarke to Bordeaux, and to Pichon Lalande where he was given the cook's tour of the Chateau and cave. Mme. Comtesse was showing them around the cellar, all the wonderful bottles from different vintages but May was unimpressed.

Sotto voce: "There is no suggestion whatever that we're going to drink any of it. We're looking at old wine. Looking...look at this old wine."

A few moments later the Comtesse and Clarke try to impress him with a bottle of 1937 that they assure him would sell for $1500.
"Would that be any good?"
"It might be fantastic...you don't know."
"The point is, funnily enough," Clarke offers, "whether this bottle is good or not won't effect its value very much to sell it. People buy the bottle just for the label."
"The idea that you ring up your mates and say, 'Do you want to come around an look at my bottle of old wine,' that's preposterous!"
"...and here's a bottle of Chilean merlot while you look at it."
"If I did that Id' get my face punched."

Birthday Greetings

2011-04-06T16:12:00.000-07:00

I got a funny birthday card from fellow oenophile Terry Taketa. It pictures a handsome couple trom the 40s or 50s, sitting across a table from one another. He's in a tuxedo, she's in a pretty blue evening gown. The balloon over his head says:

"Ah, yes. I belive this particular kind of wine is known as the red kind. You can tell by the redness."

Inside it reads:

"Another year older, another year closer to making up crap."

Happy Birthday!

True that.

A million wine critics are out of work...

2011-04-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Every few years there's an attempt to bring wine to television. People think that if there's such an interest in food shows, there should be an audience for a show that celebrates wine. So far, they're all wrong. They all start with a bang and end with a whimper. I think the problem is that wine all looks pretty much the same on TV. It's either red or it's white. All the nuance, the stuff that makes people interested in it in the first place, gets flattened out.

The next show to fail miserably in this futile endeavor is called Vine Talk, premiering this week on PBS with the charming Stanley Tucci serving as host.

The website shows a group of people whose faces you recognize, but whose names you can't quite place laughing it up. (That's John Lithgow, but who's the other guy?) Laughing and laughing. And you will too when chef Daniel Boulud picks the cheapest wine in a blind tasting!

See the hilarious hi-jinks for yourself @ www.vinetalk.com

Boring but Important

2011-04-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

From the New York Times. This is some fucked up shit, my fellow Americans. This bill is meant to keep wine prices artificially high for consumers by insuring a distribution system that was set up by criminals at the end of prohibition. If you want to get behind one issue this year, this is it.

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Wholesale Robbery in Liquor Sales

By DAVID WHITE

Published: April 3, 2011

REPRINTS

Shannon Freshwater

IMAGINE if Texas lawmakers, in a bid to protect mom-and-pop bookstores, barred Amazon.com from shipping into the state. Or if Massachusetts legislators, worried about Boston’s shoe boutiques, prohibited residents from ordering from Zappos.com.

Such moves would infuriate consumers. They might also breach the Constitution’s commerce clause, which limits states from erecting trade barriers against one another. But wine consumers, producers and retailers face such restrictions daily.

Last month, Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, introduced a bill in the House that would allow states to cement such protectionist laws. It should appall wine snobs, beer swillers and even teetotalers. In this case, the law would protect not small stores and liquor producers, but the wholesale liquor lobby.

Like virtually all of America’s liquor laws, this proposal traces its origins to the temperance movement. When Prohibition was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933, states were given the authority to regulate the “transportation or importation” of “intoxicating liquors” within their borders.

States were allowed to decide whether they wanted to remain dry. As alcohol again started flowing freely, states either assumed control over its sale and distribution, or created a wholesale tier to sit between producers and retailers.

Before Prohibition, many bars were owned by brewers or distillers. Temperance advocates blamed these bars for some of the ills associated with drunkenness, and believed that keeping the producers away from the business of selling directly would help society.

Lawmakers hoped this wholesale tier would weaken producers. And indeed, the wholesaling industry grew quickly, as most alcoholic beverages had to pass through it before ending up at liquor stores, bars and restaurants. It was, essentially, a state-mandated middleman.

Today, wholesaling is big business. Together, the nation’s two largest wholesalers —Southern Wine & Spirits and Republic National Distributing Company — have revenues of about $13 billion.

A chunk of that cash is funneled to lawmakers. The National Beer Wholesalers Association maintains the nation’s third-largest political action committee, and since 2000, it has donated $15.4 million to candidates for federal office — about $5 million more than the A.F.L.-C.I.O donated in that time.

In the past decade, it spent $5.6 million on lobbying Congress; the Wine and Spirit Wholesalers of America spent $9.3 million.

The expenditures make sense. The wholesaling industry’s survival depends on maintaining today’s highly regulated system. It is estimated that because of wholesalers, consumers pay 18 percent to 25 percent more at retail than they otherwise would.

And in recent years, the industry’s dominance has been threatened.

Last year, the United States passed France as the world’s largest wine-consuming nation (in bottles, not yet per capita). America’s love affair with wine deepened in the early 1990s, when many people developed a preference for high-end wines and started ordering directly from producers.

Wholesalers didn’t like being cut from these transactions, so they pushed state lawmakers to prohibit “direct shipping.” Many did. By 1999, just 19 states allowed consumers to order wine from out-of-state producers.

But in 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in Granholm v. Heald that the 21st Amendment “did not give states the authority to pass nonuniform laws in order to discriminate against out-of-state goods.” Thus, lawmakers could prohibit out-of-state wineries from shipping into a state only if they were willing to block their own wineries from shipping out.

In the six years since, several states have liberalized their wine laws. But many restrictions remain.

Alabama oenophiles can order wine only from an out-of-state producer if they have received written approval from the state’s Beverage Control Board. Wineries can ship into Indiana and Delaware only to consumers who have visited the winery and made a purchase in person. In 37 states, residents are prohibited from ordering wine from online retailers or auction houses or even joining wine-of-the-month clubs.

The bill under consideration in Congress will make things even worse.

This proposal would allow discrimination against out-of-state producers and retailers if lawmakers can prove that such laws advance “a legitimate local purpose that cannot be adequately served by reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives.”

That means that if a state’s discriminatory liquor laws produce tax revenues, for instance, they can’t be challenged in court.

But instead of burdening consumers by foisting more restrictions on alcohol sales, lawmakers should free the market and expand consumer choice by scrapping this bill and letting wholesalers know that it won’t be considered again, as the commerce clause reigns supreme.

Nationwide, there are more than 6,000 wineries, and about 7,000 American wine retailers have Web sites. Wine clubs affiliated with newspapers (including this one), gourmet stores and even rock bands are taking off. Yet most Americans have access to only a small fraction of what’s available.

The wholesaling industry is right to be nervous. After all, consumers have shown that they will order directly from producers and specialty retail shops if given the chance. But that’s no reason to save an antiquated system that gives Americans fewer choices and makes them pay more.

Save the Corks!

2011-03-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

I was at the American Airlines lounge in Boston where I saw a sign announcing that AA was joining with Amorim, the world’s largest producer of natural cork wine closures (3 billion annually), known to us simpletons simply as corks. Their stated goal is to recycle corks and "to educate and inform our audiences about the crucial role cork forests play in curbing climate change." This should be rich.

By recycling your corks (there are collection locations), "your corks will be used to replace petroleum-based material in SOLE’s (their partner, a footware company) products and packaging...part of an initiative to reduce energy usage and conserve precious resources. Cork is ideal for recycling. It is biodegradable, renewable, energy efficient, sustainable, and 100% natural" (after they bleach it and so on),

Every year there are 13 billion corks sold into the world market. Since the program started in 2007, they have collected 8.6 million corks, slightly over none at all.

So, to review: drink up friends, save your corks, turn them into shitty footware, and feel good about saving the world. You deserve it.

http://recork.org/

Fashion, Turn to the Left

2011-03-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

Blair Sabol from Scottsdale, Arizona wants to know: "What are the hot wines?"

Blair has written about fashion since Rudi Gernreich was straight, and thinks that styles change seasonally (or should) like hemline lengths.

But could she be right? Is there a fashion that changes from year to year like "it" bags? Didn't Aussies come and go like a bad fad, like Maxi-Skirts? Are the current crop of high scoring Spanish wines the future regrettable equivalent of shopping at Fiorucci?

Gauging from the auction market, the hot wines are DRC and Lafite Rothschild, not exactly new news. Part of that is that the only "hot" AND "new" wines are coming from the "new" world. Expensive California cult wines seem to crop up one a year. Kapcsandy, Dana, Scarecrow, Maybach, Futo Family, Levy & McClelland. But is California Cabernet Sauvignon really "hot"? They all have big shoulder pads.

Amir, the overpriced men's clothier at the Beverly Hills Hotel has a tag line in his display window, that features a picture of him with the Shah of Iran, "Fashion is seasonal. Style is forever."

Reading Between the Lines

2011-03-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

Telltale signs you’re being bamboozled by wine sales pitches:

When they lead with a blurb about the quality of the vintage…that means the wine in question can’t stand on its own merit. Conversely, “one of the vintage’s finest efforts” means that it was a terrible year and these guys managed to squeak out something palatable.

When they praise the blend of grapes “this classic Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot”….it’s a classic misdirection.

When they tell you that this was made by the same guy who makes the other wine that’s so famous….that means that the guy had to do something with the grapes they deemed unworthy of their premier cuvee and it was stored in the same chai. It's not the same thing.

When they use terms like “gives a glimpse of” or "redolent of"…that means it’s not as good as the thing they’re comparing it too.

When they use phrases like “a good, solid bottle”…they are damning with faint praise—it’s the best they’ve got...under the circumstances.

Whatever Happened To?

2011-03-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

There is no end to the blogosphere. It is endless. Or is it? I've been surfing around lately and have found any number of well-intentioned blogs that have run their course. Or have very little left to say.

Two of the very best and funniest are, or more correctly were The Cork Jester (www.corkjester.com) and the HoseMaster of Wine (http://hosemasterofwine.blogspot.com/), both of which have gone sadly silent. I miss you guys.

But what of the sites that go out of their way to draw you in, only to let you down? I got an email from Clark-Claudon's weblog saying: you may view the latest post at http://weblog.clarkclaudon.com/, only to find that the latest post was over two weeks ago, and the previous ones were spaced out about two months apart. Here's a particularly inane posting: "I love the smell in the winery right now; baby wine all fruity and lively as it goes to barrel. I pull out the bung allowing all the wonderful aromas to leap out and then I stick in the “thief” to steal a taste."

Crackerjack!

Crazy Like a Fox CEO

2011-03-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's Los Angeles Times featured a story about Chase Carey, President of News Corp. and heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch, in which a colleague said:

"His favorite beverage is Budweiser . I've said, 'It's embarrassing. Have a red wine, we're in a good restaurant, people will think we're civilized.'"

Waiter, There's a Diamond in my Wine Glass

2011-03-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

For those of you with too much money and not enough sense, there is a new wine glass just for you! Hand-blown in Austria, this borosilicate glass is fused with a 0.15 carat, G-color diamond, fused at 1200 degrees Celsius. The heat-resistant glass maintains the wine’s temperature, so it won’t react to the heat of your palms, which no doubt will be sweating as you handle this $3750 goblet. At least if you buy a pair, the lady in your life can turn them into earrings if you drop one. Great gift idea! And it just gets better: No sales tax (except in Florida, where you are fucked.)!!

http://www.opulentitems.com/exotic-gifts.html

Wine's Greatest Hits

2011-03-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

A Side: Wine Songs
"Wine Women & Song" by Nat King Cole
"Drinking Wine Spo-de-o-dee" by Stick McGee
"Hey Brother, Pour the Wine" by Dean Martin
"Gimme That Wine" by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
"Red, Red Wine" by UB40 (written by and originally performed by Neil Diamond)

B Side: Champagne Songs
"The Night They Invented Champagne" by Louis Jordan (from "Gigi")
"Bubbles in the Wine" by Freddy Martin & His Orchestra
"Tiny Bubbles" by Don Ho
"Champagne" by Franck Pourcel
"Delicious" by Jim Backus

"Days of Wine and Roses" is not one of them. It is a song about an alcoholic (from the Jack Lemmon movie of the same name), and is too damn slow.

Betting Against

2011-03-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

I once went on a tour of Screaming Eagle. It is notable only because they don't offer any kind of tour to the public, not for a fee, almost not at all. At the time, when times were particularly good, they boasted a waiting list of 6000 people clamoring to get a few measly bottles of their wine for (at the time) $500 per bottle, plus tax and shipping. (That number is now $750+)

I bring it up because the recession that seems to have come and gone has left some people with a sense that maybe these wines, in particular, are not the best use of their money. One friend who had been courting Shafer Hillside Select got a letter saying that he was suddenly eligible to buy a few bottles. Only now he didn't have the money to do so. Essentially, the people on the waiting list were going through the same recession as the people on the mailing list.

This raises an interesting question: If people are getting more circumspect about their purchases of highly allocated wines, will one (or more) eventually go under? It could be the case that a guy who bought a vineyard/winery as a vanity project is having problems in his core business, the one that was heavily leveraged enough that he could afford to pursue his vinous fantasy. Or that the $200 bottle business is now saturated and the business model doesn't hold up in a leaner economy.

So who will be the first to sell out, merge into, or fold up? Will it be a newcomer? Last in, first out? Or could it be an icon, sitting on a library full of overpriced wines they always thought could be sold for high prices?

Discuss

The Cocktail Party

2011-03-12T17:30:00.000-08:00

My wife and I were planning a little get together, a cocktail party for some of her business associates. This brought up one of the oldest riddles in wine: What to serve to the masses. The problem is that, well, my collection has gotten a little too good and a little too expensive to just open up a vein and let it all flow out. As the average price in my small-but-mighty cellar has inched up over $100/bottle, I find it harder than ever to part with any of it. It's not just that "they are not worthy," but also that I've bought in too small quantities. I only keep a couple of cases of good Premier Cru white Burgundy wine on hand. My few chardonnays are from Aubert and Marcassin and J. Rochioli. I investigate my cabernet purchases under a jeweler's loupe.

So I found myself in this situation that I call the "meritocracy of friendship," and I'm not happy about it. I advise other people against it. The way it works is that you pick bottles of wine that you think are just good enough to impress people who don't know any better. It's not that I don't want to share my passion with other people, just not THESE people. We have to laugh when some rich guy won't throw away his 12-year old Sauvignon Blanc...from Trader Joe's with the $7.99 sticker still on it. "Put it over there in my wife's section. She won't know the difference." This might mean, "I don't know the difference," or "At heart I'm a cheap bastard," or "I'm not really that fond of my wife."

My answer was to meet them half-way: I went out and bought a Pouilly Fuisse from Jadot, an AC Chablis from Fevre, a delightful "grower" champagne. I went a little bigger on the reds, offering up some single bottles from the chai that I've been looking for a reason to open--not get rid of, mind you, but the end result was the same. It was more than good enough, and that's good enough for me.

What's it Worth to You?

2011-03-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

The value of a bottle of wine is something that can be endlessly debated, and may never be adequately solved. If you've ever had Screaming Eagle, there is always the lingering question: Sure it's good, but is it $1200 good?

That qualitative judgment aside--I have clients who fly in their own planes but would never spend $700 for a bottle of wine--the factual question of what's a bottle worth is hard to determine, and a big part of that is where and when you it's offered, and whether you're the buyer or the seller.

Let's say, in arguendo, that we agree a bottle of Joseph Phelps Insignia 2006 is worth $125.

But is it?

Most auction houses would put an estimate of $100-150 per bottle. In a "hot" room, that bottle could hit the top of the estimate, $150, which would then be subject to 20% buyer's commission, tax and shipping. The price to the buyer would be close to $200.

But I've been in a cold room where even good wines went begging at the reserve price, 10-20% below the low estimate. In this scenario, the bottle hammers at $80. If you're the seller, it might be subject to 10% commission, leaving you with $72.

After the auction you head out to celebrate (or commiserate) at a restaurant for a steak dinner, and the same title is listed at $250.

So what is the price? $72 or $125 or $200 or $250? It's the same bottle, after all.

(I just looked it up and the '06 is being offered at retail between $120 to $200, plus tax and shipping, though you might be able to get it for as little as $105 on Winebid auction.)

Be Prepared

2011-03-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

I was once briefly trapped in a tight little wine cellar with Jim Brooks. I said, "Do you know the difference between comedy and tragedy?" Jim is someone who does know the difference, but I thought I'd spell it out for him. "A tragedy would be getting stuck in here without a corkscrew or a wine glass." Just in case, watch this video and earn your Boy Scout merit badge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuGfjtBffiE

The Truth about Chilean Wines

2011-03-04T11:49:00.000-08:00

The current issue of Wine Spectator magazine features reviews of 108 Chilean wines. James Molesworth says that the current vintage shows tremendous value and greater diversity, noting that exports to the US are up.
But if you look closer, here's what he has to say about the wines themselves. These are adjectives he used to describe some of the TOP wines from the current crop--these are the ones they like!:

...tangy iron and tobacco notes
...raspberry ganache
...plum sauce and fig paste character
...Linzer torte
...a pure beam of fruit
...fig and apple fruit bouncing along
...notes of sweet pea, mache and lime
...spice cake and smoked apple wood
...Cavaillon melon and honeysuckle notes
...macerated currant
...a core of white asperagus. Stays nervy.

Note: Plum in its many forms is always correct when describing any of Chile's diverse wines.

The Cork Soakers

2011-03-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

The quality of this YouTube video is so poor it's a shame, but it doesn't matter. A SNL classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emxgL86J1lc&playnext=1&list=PL1DF7B14A214C62D5

Steppin' to the Dark Side

2011-03-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

It should come as no surprise to aficionados that wine contains alcohol. It is no small part of its attractiveness as a beverage and social lubricant. In vino veritas, friends. In the early days of this country, wine lovers like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson promoted wine as a more temperate choice that whiskey or grog. You rarely see wine drinkers getting into violent exchanges or throwing up in the alley. I'm told that a very snobby woman entered the AA program and declared: My name is Sandra and I'm addicted to fine wine and champagne, but you don't hear about it often.

I just encountered a fellow, a client, who has a serious alcohol problem. I've never seen him drunk, but a family member told me that it's bad. In and out of rehab. Drinking tequila early in the morning. They were concerned that there would be empty bottles in the wine cellar, but when I went in, I found it was virtually untouched. A visual check revealed that only a couple of bottles had been removed in the time since I was last there. The guy wasn't drinking wine to get drunk. It takes too long. It's too expensive (at least with his wine). It calls for food.

Truth in Advertising....

2011-02-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

In today's in-box was an email whose subject header promised: "The finest Cabernet Sauvignon I have ever tasted..."

In advertising parlance, there is something called "pure puffery." Snapple, for example, claims to be "Made from the best stuff on earth." How are you going to argue with that?

And yet, it seems this quote was lifted directly from Robert M. Parker Jr.'s Wine Advocate newsletter.

What I find so galling about this offer is the three little dots. Beware the ellipses. Those three little dots can hide a myriad of sins. In this case the full sentence reads:

"The finest Cabernet Sauvignon I have ever tasted from Far Nient may be the 2007 Estate."

It goes on to offer the tasting notes, that read like every other tasting notes--full of fruity analogies and olfactory sensations and timed finishes--and offers up a so called "sale" price of $99, quite a bit higher than I can buy it for around the corner.

Did I ever tell you about the fish I caught that one time...?

The In-Laws

2011-02-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

I work with a guy named Kevin. Kevin is a former sommelier and a certified "wine guy." His wife's mother and step-father were coming to visit over the holidays with another friend of theirs. They are simple Minnesotans with no interest in, knowledge of, or experience with fine wines. The in-laws (and the other guy) weren't just coming to town--they were coming to stay with him and his wife in their one-bedroom apartment. It's big enough for the two of them, but just the thought of this invasion was making him nervous. There was no talking them out of it. Did I mention they were driving? In a pickup truck?

Okay, so the well-meaning Mid-western hicks show up and they're in the apartment waiting for him when he comes home. How are you? Can I get you anything? The mother-in-law says, "Do you have any wine?" Kevin keeps only a modest collection of a few dozen hand-picked, much-better-than-average bottles at home in a wine refrigerator. The question is hanging in the air like a piñata. He can't open one of these bottles for these people...it wouldn't be right. He says, "Yes, I just left it in the car."

And with that he is off, running down stairs three-at-a-time, sprinting to the car, racing out the driveway to the nearby Ralph's supermarket, screeching into a parking spot. He gets to the wine selection and finds some $5.99 swill, Blackstone chardonnay and merlot, the cheapest crap they've got, and races home. His MIL thought it was "lovely," but all Kevin could think about was, "What if somebody saw me in there buying this plonk? What would I say?"

USB Wine Dispenser

2011-02-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

USB Wine, telechargez vos vins en direct des domaines !
Uploaded by zs2creative

Joke of the Day

2011-02-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

A man asked a waiter to take a bottle of Merlot to an unusually attractive woman sitting alone at a table in a cozy little restaurant.

So the waiter took the Merlot to the woman and said, 'This is from the gentleman who is seated over there.'.... and indicated the sender with a nod of his head.
She stared at the wine coolly for a few seconds, not looking at the man, then decided to send a reply to him by a note.
The waiter, who was lingering nearby for a response, took the note from her and conveyed it to the gentleman.

The note read: 'For me to accept this bottle, you need to have a Mercedes in your garage, a million dollars in the bank and '7' inches in your pants'.

After reading the note, the man decided to compose one of his own in return. He folded the note, handed it to the waiter and instructed him to deliver it to the lady.

It read:
'Just to let you know things aren't always what they appear to be, I have a Ferrari Maranello, BMW Z8, Mercedes CL600, and a Porsche Turbo in my several garages; I have beautiful homes in Aspen and Miami , and a 10,000 acre ranch in Louisiana . There is over twenty million dollars in my bank account and portfolio. But, not even for a woman as beautiful as you, would I cut off three inches. Just send the bottle back'

A Woman's Best Friend

2010-09-20T23:15:00.000-07:00

The following Email is from Rowland Perkins:

A real man is a woman's best friend. He will never stand her up and never let her down.

He will reassure her when she feels insecure and comfort her after a bad day.

He will inspire her to do things she never though she could do; to live without fear and forget regret.

He will enable her to express her deepest emotions and give in to her intimate desires.

He will make sure she always feels as though she's the most beautiful woman in the room and enable her to be the most confident, sexy and invincible.

No wait...sorry...I'm thinking of wine.

It's wine that does all that. Never mind.

Typo of the Year

2010-09-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

I have a client, let's call him Robert. Robert is getting a divorce and has to sell his wine as community property. He retained me to handle the sale. On Friday I got an email from his secretary asking:

"Do you know when Robert's wife goes on auction?"

Drinking the Kool-Aid

2010-09-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

A smaller than usual group of Winos got together last night at The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills to try out some recent vintage cult-ish Cabs. Here's the line-up, then the analysis:

2004 Hundred Acre

2004 Lewelling “Wight”

2004 Schrader To-Kalon

2004 Levy & McClellan

2005 Futo

2005 Araujo

2005 Switchback Ridge

Araujo always wins, and last night was no exception. L&M is a joke at that price, but they sold it to RMP and he sold it to us, and we bought it hook, line and stinker. Most of the others hated the Schrader even more, and about the best that could be said of them is that they are "cocktail" cabs, meaning that they don't really work with food. I thought the Hundred Acre could've eaten my steak. Lewelling was a surprise runner-up, and at around $60, a steal.

For more on Araujo: http://www.araujoestate.com

How to Speak Argentinian

2010-09-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

I was reading the venerable Wine Spectator magazine on the plane from Point A to Point B the other day. If you want to sound like you know what you're talking about on the subject of Malbec--and who doesn't?--here are the top descriptors used for Malbec in their tasting notes:

Unabashed licorice
Mouthwatering streak of briar
Macerated black currant fruit
Shaved vanilla
Medium-weight raspberry compote
Fruitcake hints
Red licorice

Of course, no Malbec is complete without Fig and Plum in all their possible variations:
Fig: Crushed fig, Slightly jammy fig, Fig sauce, Fig paste
Plum: Crushed plum, Full-bodied plum, Broad, easygoing plum, Plum sauce, mulled plum, Weighty core of plum

Unfortunately, none of their top rated Malbecs are in stores yet. Will keep you posted. Posted, get it?!

The Party Crashers

2010-09-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

Remember the White House party crashers, the Salahis? It turns out the family is in the wine business, in Virginia, just under an hour drive from our nation’s capitol. According to their website—and it must be true if I read it on the web—Oasis winery is rated Top 10 in the WORLD.

Wow. Did not know that. They have an American Tribute Shiraz “rated 97 points” that sells for a paltry $150 per bottle, and a couple of sparkling wines (from the "Famed 1988 Vintage" in Virginia) at between $68 and $300 per. Who needs Krug?

I went looking to find out who gave them such lofty ratings. Mssrs. Parker and Tanzer never heard of them. Wine Spectator gives some of their wines ratings as low as 60, though, to be fair, some have scored as high as 85 (shorthand for sucks, but not entirely). Must've been someone else.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: except for the winery’s website, the wines are not available anywhere on WineSearcher.com. No. Where. Strange for one of the Top 10 Wineries in the world, n’est-ce pas?

In the meantime, it seems they are a teensy weensy bit bankrupt, and there will be a grand re-opening of the winery SOON. If you are interested in being a partner in America’s only winery rated Top 10 in the WORLD and owning a piece of the magic in wine country, email: Investor@oasiswine.com

International Monetary Policy at Work for You!

2010-05-24T23:23:00.000-07:00

Our friends at Woodland Hills Wine Co., upon whose expertise I rely for timely information on international monetary policy, assure me that because of the dramatic surge in the dollar vs. the euro over the last six months, we are reaping the benefits of wines we ordered out of Europe months ago that we are just now paying for. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Kyle Smith could be the next Secretary of the IMF.

Exhibit A: Domaine de la Solitude Chateauneuf du Pape 2007 @ $31.95

Parker says it is “seriously endowed…huge…rich…massive…a sleeper of the vintage, it is one of the region's best bargains if measuring dollars per points,” of which it got 93. FWIW: I, too, am seriously endowed.

www.whwc.com

Email Special $31.95 (enter code SOLCDP07 to receive special discount)

The Eternal Question, part 1

2010-05-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

The most frequently asked question in my corner of the wine world, the corner that deals with the business-end of the glass, is: "What should I drink with dinner tonight?"

I have a friend who made a fortune developing business software, which he invested in an enormous wine collection of nearly 8000 bottles. He applied his programming skills to help determine which bottle of wine he should open on any given night. Into this equation he entered several weighted factors, including: Are you dining alone or with guests? What’s for dinner? Do you feel like trying something new? What night of the week is it? Do you prefer an older or a younger wine? Red or white? And so on. When he was done he hit “Enter” and you could practically see the tape reels spinning, the lights on the computer bank lighting up, various electronic sounds pinging as the program spit out a list of wines that met the criteria, sometimes an entire page full of suggestions from which to choose the “just right” bottle. Still, it came down to this: What do you feel like?

More to follow

The Greatest Book Ever Written

2010-05-19T15:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe that is a slight overstatement.
How about this: "Probably the funniest book ever written on the subject of wine cellars and wine collecting?"
If you have read any of the others, there can be little doubt. I recommend it. I should. I wrote it.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1566252423/qid=1097724348/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1981171-2634225?v=glance&s=books

Bordeaux is Dead. Long Live Bordeaux.

2010-05-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

Eric Asimov in today's NY Times takes down the 2009 Bordeaux vintage in today's column. Among his more salient points, he says it is "a fact that fine Bordeaux has become increasingly irrelevant to many American wine lovers who are not collectors or wine investors."

Asimov points out that in 2009, of the 280.9 million cases of still wine – domestic and foreign — distributed in the United States, only 1.29 million cases came from Bordeaux, a mere 0.46 percent.

Less than 1%! And, of that small amount, a full 45 percent of the wine was generic Bordeaux and Bordeaux Superieur, according to figures from the Bordeaux Council, a trade group.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/theres-more-to-the-world-of-fine-wine-than-bordeaux/#more-27661

Someone Gets the Joke

2010-05-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

I had dinner with Christian Moeuix one night. He said that he doesn't think it's possible to grow great Merlot in Napa Valley. He ought to know, right? He didn't say anything about Italy. I think this is one of the best Merlot wines in the world and this is the best price in the world.

From the excellent movie Sideways.

Jack: 'If they want to drink Merlot, we're drinking Merlot.'
Miles: 'No. If anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any f***ing Merlot!'

And the movie ended with Miles drinking '61 Cheval Blanc out of a paper cup. It usually has around 50% Merlot in the final blend.

2006 Petrolo Galatrona

Suggested Retail: $125/btl

Grapes Sale Price: $79/btl (SAVE 37%!)

WA 96

"The estate’s 2004 Galatrona (100% Merlot) is a stunner. Dark ruby in hue, it is wonderfully alive, bursting from the glass with an irresistible array of tobacco, smoke, dark cherries, tobacco, menthol, spice and roasted coffee bean nuances that are delicately interwoven in its silky-textured frame. This gorgeous effort is hard to resist today, yet its superb length and finessed tannins indicate it is built to age gracefully. While not inexpensive, Petrolo’s Galatrona offers terrific relative value in today’s marketplace. It is not to be missed. Readers who want to experience the sheer pleasure Galatrona can provide should check out the 2000, which is drinking beautifully now, Anticipated maturity: 2009-2019." Antonio Galloni

www.grapesthewineco.com

Groucho Marx Was Wrong!

2010-05-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Groucho famously said that "Any club that would have me for a member, I wouldn't want to join." Well, think again. Club Montrachet is an exception to that rule. Worth a look.

According to the press release: Born in the heart of Puligny at the famed hotel Le Montrachet, Club Montrachet was founded on the idea that you need not live in Burgundy in order to celebrate its many pleasures. Now, you can bring the Burgundian experience directly into your home through our personally curated wine selections, access to special events, exclusive auctions, our own sommelier, customized wine excursions, and more.

With your Club Montrachet membership, you will receive members-only pricing on our wine selections, many of which are exclusive to our members. And we never charge for shipping.

Our inaugural wine selections feature three exciting and renowned young producers: Olivier Leflaive, Francois Carillon and Francis Lechauve. Our selections, ranging from villages to grand cru, will be updated regularly.

www.clubmontrachet.fr

Get Me Out of Here, I'm a Celebrity

2010-05-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I was interviewed by Charity Winters for Celebrity Wine Review, a website dedicated to making wine more accessible, promoting philanthropy, and making me into a celebrity. The occasion for the interview is the upcoming 8th Annual Wine Aficionado Dinner, benefiting Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. To watch the interview, click on the link below:

http://www.celebritywinereview.tv/bogart/
You can also befriend them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

http://bogartfoundation.org/

Make Wine, Not War

2010-05-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

It has often been argued, by me at least, that wine is the most civilized thing in the world.
I don't know if you can argue that places that have wine are more peaceful, but for sure the Muslim world has less wine and is less peaceful. To fully understand this geo-political situation, you must visit the delightful website of one Jenifer "Chotzi" Rosen, The Cork Jester.

http://www.corkjester.com/

The Sweet Smell of Success

2010-05-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

Colgin Cellars has introduced a perfume called Essence of IX. According to the email, it is "a stirring, sensuous tribute to the refinement of Colgin winemaking. The perfume echoes the lavender, wild sage and roses found on...the vineyard's unique terroir, the cellar's earthy embrace, and select notes found within the wines themselves."
Call it what you will, it translates to $32,000 for a 750ml bottle, or the equivalent of 100 bottles of 2006 Cariad.

To order: http://www.siperfumes.com/products/essenceofix

Shameless Plug

2010-04-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

My sister and brother-in-law are making a sangiovese in Santa Ynez. Doug Margerum is consulting. I gave a bottle to a friend who reported back: Opened the btl at a big family dinner last night, Italian restaurant. Everyone loved it. Dad a big fan. Asked how much for 6 pack. Friends and fam discount? Awesome wine.

The tasting notes go a little something like this: A classic expression of old world Sangiovese. Delicate flavors of dried herbs, dried cherries & cassis.100% Three Creek Vineyard Estate Sangiovese 2006 was an exceptional year in Happy Canyon (for quality if not quantity) as the grapes matured evenly...

It's available at Wally's in LA for $31.99
http://www.wallywine.com/p-39652-2006-kellner-buoni-anni-sangiovese-750ml.aspx

The Tyranny of Numbers

2010-04-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

If you go to a store and there are two wines at a similar price point in front of you that you've never seen before, never heard of, and one has a shelf-talker that says 91 Points and the other says 89 Points, you've really got to be a schmuck to go for the second one. What a bold stance to say, "I know these scores are all just politics, so I'm going with the lesser of the two."

I got an email today that offered "90 Points and Under $8." The wine is a Spanish white, 2007 Vila Viniteca El Perro Verde Rueda. Whatever. It was $18 and is now marked down to $7.99. According to Josh Raynolds (who writes for Steve Tanzer's International Wine Cellar), it offers "subtle orchard fruits on the nose, with a suave tangerine note emerging with aeration. Nervier lime and orange zest on the palate...an impressive blend of power and verve." I don't know what any of that means, but "90 Points and Under $8" is a helluva sales pitch.

I listed a Le Pin that rated 93 Points at $31.43 per point. This is less than $0.09 per point. Seriously, how bad could it be?
The Wine House: http://www.winehouse.com/product.php?sku=8437000094203&d=ALL

Pay Up or Shut Up

2010-04-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

True wine weenies everywhere are aflutter today after the eRobertParker.com website announced that its much trafficked Bulletin Board will henceforth be available exclusively to subscribers of the site, at $100 per year. "We are a small company with limited resources...We are sorry to say goodbye...We will miss you, but...We look forward to better serving our loyal subscribers...We wish each and every one of you all the best in wine and life."
To subscribe: http://www.erobertparker.com/

P.S. A week later (I'm editing the archives as I go, altering history, Stalin-style baby) Eric LeVine of CellarTracker.com added perhaps the most damning testimony to the shift, "Yes, this is a eulogy. RIP eRP BB." For more from the Loyal opposition:

www.cellartracker.com/forum

www.wineberserkers.com

The Hosemaster

2010-04-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

This is a terrific blog by a guy named Ron Washam who claims to "know more about wine than David Sedaris, and...funnier than James Laube."

HoseMaster of Wine: http://hosemasterofwine.blogspot.com/

Today he lists several upcoming wine events:

The First Annual Wines That All Taste The Same Expo, May 15th

Here is an idea whose time has come. Gathered under one roof are representatives of major wine regions whose wines all taste the same. It's a chance for critics and enthusiasts alike to taste hundreds of examples of wines and write only one tasting note. In the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Pavilion, sixty producers will serve the same wine from sixty different bottles. Can you spot the differences? Yes, that's a kiwi on that label, and, absolutely correct, that's a kea on the other! Most people think a kea is a Korean car! You're good at this! Don't forget to wander over to the Austrian Gruner Veltliner Tent where you'll be able to taste Gruners from more than forty producers, all with incomprehensible labels. This is a rare treat to taste dozens of wines that all deserve 83 point scores and a single tasting note--"Dippity Doo!" When you're finished with the whites, stroll over to the Lodi Holiday's Zin Hotel (oh, those Lodi punsters!) for dozens of fresh baked brownies in a glass. Don't forget to spit! Somehow, I don't think that will be a problem. Also featured, the Wines of Maremma ("We're oh so Maremmarable!") and Australia's Most Expensive Shirazes ("From Dead Arms to Dead Palates").

Doing Good by Living Well (tm)

2010-04-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

I did a radio show called "Wino Wednesday" on Indy 103.1 last week, promoting the Bogart Pediatric Cancer Wine Aficionado dinner coming up in May. Stacie Hunt and I poured a 2006 Peter Michael Chardonnay and a 2004 Colgin Herb Lamb Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon to get the attention of hosts Liz Warner and Jose Galvan. The Colgin was too young, a pity at that price, but the Peter Michael was spot on. Is it ironic--or just funny?--that perhaps the best adjective you can attach to a California Chardonnay is that it is "Burgundian"? We will be pairing it with an 2006 Olivier Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Referts at the Wine Aficionado dinner.

Sir Peter's wines are sold by allocation, but one store that carries a lot of them (starting at only $79.99) is 20-20 in Los Angeles.

20-20: http://www.2020wines.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=peter+michael&x=0&y=0
Peter Michael Winery: http://www.petermichaelwinery.com/
Bogart Wine Aficionado Dinner: http://bogartfoundation.org/PDFs/WineRSVP2010.pdf

The Gold Standard

2010-04-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

For all . noise made by the so-called "cult" Cabernet Sauvignons of Napa Valley, the Gold Standard continues to be Joseph Phelps Insignia. Put plainly: it was and is the best of the lot, year in and year out, for over 30 years. I got an email from Vinfolio touting it for $159.99 but, on closer inspection, it is available for $10 less, $149.99, the lowest price in the US of A, at The Wine House right here in the City of Angels. You can get three of these for the price of a single bottle of Harlan...and it's BETTER.

Mr. Parker's 97-100 point rave review: "The 2007 Insignia (a 13,500-case blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot) offers a seamless introduction to this flagship cuvee. Its inky/purple color is followed by aromas of creme de cassis, incense, crushed rocks, lead pencil shavings, cedar, and spice box. It possesses a massive, opulent mouthfeel, serious tannins, and no hard edges. This stunning effort should hit its peak in 5-8 years, and last 40 years. I would not be surprised to see it become the greatest Insignia to date and close in on a perfect score

http://www.winehouse.com/product.php?sku=45222

X-Pensive Winos: Beaucastel & Tablas Creek Smackdown

2010-04-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

We had a helluva dinner with Jason Haas, managing director of Tablas Creek Vineyards, a week ago. TCV is a joint venture with the Perrin family of Chateau Beaucastel, one of the tip-top Chateauneuf-du-Pape producers. We ran through 21 wines at Bistro LQ from both places. Here are links to two sets of notes on the evening, from Haas and our own Bennett Traub:

Haas: http://bit.ly/9Z2Min
Traub: http://www.wineberserkers.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20946

TCV makes half-bottles, and their white Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc 2007 is a perfect choice for summer.
http://www.whwc.com/p/

The NEW Vintage of the Century: Wines You Never Heard of

2010-04-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

The third "Vintage of the Century" is upon us. If we can believe the hype coming out of Bordeaux, the 2009 vintage is going to be one of the all-time greats. Greater than 2005. Greater than 2000. Really, really great. The first prices are starting to come out, but only for wines that you never heard of. The big boys will start to roll out over the next several weeks. Until then, here are a few links to some of the early and inexpensive wines from the NEW vintage of the century. More to follow.

Woodland Hills Wine Co.
http://email.whwc.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=7cmdn,cnjh,gjv,m4ru,1lvb,97jq,kmja&MLM_MID=590381&MLM_MLID=21451&MLM_SITEID=12346187&MLM_UNIQUEID=68e76eaf16

J.J. Buckley
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/609410/03e2b7d500/281707081/e14d34cd27/

Hi Times
http://click.hitimewine-email.com/cp/onlinePreview.php?t=NDc1MnwzMTg3M3xKZWZmQENBUlRFRFVWSU4uQ09NfDQyNzMyNXwxMDI1OTUzNTJ8NjMwMzYw

Everyone's a critic

2010-04-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

The use of scores, whether measured in stars or on a 100 (or 20) point scale is nothing new. There is a very human instinct to categorize things, put them into boxes that are easily understood. There seems to be a consensus among American critics that the 100-point system is best. Parker, Wine Spectator, Steve Tanzer and the Burghound are all on board. But now everybody's getting into the act. Wine Enthusiast, the Will Rogers of wine publications that never met a wine they didn't like is starting to show up on shelves. CellarTracker, the popular online inventory management tool, now has a cumulative score that takes an average from their users who post notes on the site. But the best, by far, is when Dave Sokolin, the proprietor of Sokolin wine in Bridgehampton, NY (home of the Bridgehampton Killer Bees, National High School basketball champs), offers his own two cents, in the form of a number score. Talk about impartial. Talk about integrity. Talk about how to sell the Push List. If nobody else offers a number, or if he doesn't like the number, he prints his own. Talk about moxie!

A steal at $1500/bottle + tax + shipping

2010-04-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

If we can believe the critics, the 2009 Bordeaux vintage looks like one for the ages. Le Pin, the extremely rare and expensive Pomerol, has not yet released their price, but the Antique Wine Company in England is offering cases of several back vintages:

2006 is a mere $1527.92 per bottle. 93RP!
2005, the great vintage, is available for only $2829.58 per bottle. 94WS!
2004 represents a good value at a mere $1468.75. 95RP!
2001, which Parker blessed with 98 points, can be had for $2753.75
2000 is strictly for the BSD (Big Swinging Dick) crowd, at $4435.83 apiece
Prices do not include tax, import fees, shipping or insurance.
For more information, or to order, go to: http://www.antique-wine.com/a-img/0mailers/pin/pin.jpg

Boutique Wineries Exposed

2010-04-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hilarious! Must read!!
http://hosemasterofwine.blogspot.com/2010/04/visit-to-bowie-teak-winery-on-pritchard.html