As a year of proximity to my wine cellar ended on Christmas morning sitting on the tarmac waiting to escape to Puerto Rico’s northern shoreline, I could not stop thinking about the wine that rocked my palate the night before with the very Italian meal produced by my very Sicilian wife. I recommend wines from […]
Cazin and Williams Selyem Stretch Winemaking Boundaries
I had the chance to drink two utterly dissimilar styles of wine during Thanksgiving dinner; Cazin’s 2007 Cour-Cheverny Vendanges Manuelles ($15***) and Williams Selyem’s 2003 Forchini Vineyard Zinfandel ($40***). Both came from my wine cellar to serve as testimony to a nagging personal dilemma rooted in an evolving and schizophrenic palate. As full disclosure, my split wine personality […]
2009 Clos de la Roilette Cuvee Tardive: Holiday Gift From Top Vintage
My brain flushed with a recognizably joyous sensation opening a newly arrived case of 2009 Clos de la Roilette Cuvee Tardive. I made a mental note about how the flow of wines from a reportedly great new vintage like 2009 in Beaujolais, where nature’s growing season appears to have supported more consistently reliable fruit and […]
2005 Clos Rougeard Les Poyeux and Menton Boston
In both cases, drinking 2005 Clos Rougeard (click for review) and luxuriating over dinner at Barbara Lynch’s Menton (click for review) in Boston’s Fort Point extension last week were opportunities for critical return visits. I first tasted the entry level 2005 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny a couple of months back and made my one and only previous visit to […]
Loomis Vineyards Achieves Early Statement of Style
I like discovering young wineries working their own infant vineyards as wine makers unveil unique styling and a reliance on their own maturing vines that are not yet naturally producing lower yields with more intense and concentrated fruit. While it can take years to release the untold treasures embodied in newly planted land, it is […]
Connecting Intellectual and Palate Learning: Tasting Two Sakes and California Cabernet
An insatiable hunger for discovery and wine education is rewarded every time I taste wines in peer groups. Without the chance to examine lots of wines every day over an extended period, even frequent tastings of one wine per sitting lays down hurdles to thorough assessment most easily cleared via contextual, side-by-side tastings. The most […]
Tasting 1982 Bordeaux: Vieux Chateau Certan and Les Ormes de Pez
Having missed the 1982 Bordeaux futures market bonanza by two regrettable years, any evening I can taste two or more clarets from this historic vintage, side by side along with good people and tasty food, transforms into a trademark “good living” moment. A few weeks ago, my friend Jacques suggested we head over to his house […]
A Taste of Loire, Burgundy, and Bordeaux: Replaying Four Remarkable Wines
Louis needed to miss our 2000 Bordeaux tasting. Instead, he was happily conflicted by a commitment to host dinner at his home for a group of thirty like-minded, active community members dedicated to the preservation and improvement of a local school system’s already profound results. Louis was intending to pair each of the evening’s […]
Blind Tasting Series Report Part 1: Viognier
After a several year hiatus, a successful season of reincarnation has passed for the blind tasting series and wine enthusiast group that I am pleased to regale monthly at my home. Each tasting requires hours of preparation including wine acquisition, printed line ups, tasting agendas, room set, food and bread supply, wine prep, glassware provisioning, […]
Zalto: Wine Glasses for the Cosmic Connoisseur
Somewhere in between making wine and storing wine, service plays THE crucial supporting role in a wine’s performance. Mistakes in temperature, aeration, and glassware can foul things up as easily as contaminated or cooked cork can. Conversely, it is not secret that great glassware can pump up a tasting experience like sluggers on steroids. That […]