Do not feel bad for Cabernet Franc. Humbly earning the majority of its notoriety in a supporting Bordeaux role, it lays tucked underneath Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominant blends in the land of regal growths. Moving west in search of greater opportunity, Cabernet Franc is planted and bottled all by its lonesome self from Long […]
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Damien Lorieux Tuffeaux Bourgueil: Really $15?
The hunt for great wine is an incessant indulgence. Through one series after another of holy grail-like expeditions, once hidden wines are excavated and brought to new light in never ending streams of prized byproducts via diligent wine reconnaissance. As the years unfurl, the hunt shifts away from low hanging Bordeaux, Rhone Valley, Piedmont, and […]
California Wine Lists: Value Desert
Blanket statements can be dangerous and instigative, so let’s begin by saying something nice about California Cabernet; several offer amazing, sexy, and voluptuous drinking. Some are even global ambassadors offering classic varietal profiles and age worthiness such as Ridge Montebello, Dominus, and Dalla Valle, as examples. Still, I drink very, very little of it besides […]
Wine Blogs Missing Visual and Human Elements
It is hard disputing the “wine blog burnout” that Tom Wark pointed to last month when he wrote “the movement to use the blog publishing format by wine lovers [is] waning. I see fewer new wine blogs launched. The retreat will be slow, but the retreat will be with us.” Why are wine bloggers losing interest, why […]
Three-Step Classic Wine List Gameplan
Drawing up the perfect attack on a classic restaurant wine list creates the same adrenaline level NFL coaches experience prepping for Sunday games. At least it seems that way; it’s both exciting and nerve wracking knowing one or two calls can define a dinner’s outcome. Planning is required. Have we worked with the restaurant’s wine […]
Loire Chenin Blanc Tasting Makes Case To “Just Drink”
We kicked off our Boston blind tasting group’s 2011 season comparing a dozen chenin blancs mostly from the Loire Valley. A fascination with blind tasting connects all the way back with my earliest attempts to learn about wine twenty five years ago. There is no easier way for for me to identify the unique characteristics […]
Monbousquet 2000: Right (Bank) Hook to Selling Bordeaux
When you turn Bordeaux seller like me, a once covetous disposition for hoarding claret evaporates like morning dew in an afternoon sun. Selling first growths for ten times original investments at $1,000+ per bottle can be disorienting. A plethora of exciting alternatives to rock your palate and backfill the cellar are sympathetic enough to this profitable culling and can […]
Top Three Wines of August: Northern and Southern Italy
This month’s top three wines are neither ordinary nor expensive. They are celebrations of authentic wine making and candidates for greater honor than simply top wines of the month. The wines made by Sicily’s emergent superstar Arianna Occhipinti are recipients of mounting natural winemaking acclaim, sought out by in-the-know fans of deliciously authentic wines. The Schiopetto is […]
Controversy Corked: 2005 Joly Coulee de Serrant Savennieres
It’s a controversy I won’t take sides with and instead hope to convince you of its senselessness. Never mind the plethora of world class, fairly priced, old world wines anchoring my enthusiasm for the Loire Valley. Instead, let’s focus on magicians like Foucalt, Huet, and Joly that are flooding my deepening vortex of Loire fanaticism […]
Bordeaux First Growths Fund Alternative Wines
In early 2006 the Bordeaux price-value line was breached and began its transgression towards complete collapse, erasing all justification for drinking the first growths and other similarly coveted wines that sat in my cellar for decades. Just look at the blue line to the right, representing relative fine wine price escalation compared to the major […]