Last year, at the height of Bordeaux auction hysteria, WineBid.com made a market for nineteen bottles of my classic wines laying in the cellar untouched for too many years. It connected buyers, seemingly Hong Kong brokers, with wines I originally paid $50-$75 at exaggerated price points representing handsome profits. Two summers ago, I chronicled that WineBid sale […]
Wine Blogging Wednesday #76 Wrap Up: Barossa Boomerang
The wines and writers came out from Down Under for Wine Blogging Wednesday 76, celebrating the Barossa Boomerang; a recovery of Australian wine sales in North America. Ardent Australian juice fans, real time Barossa wine travelers, Aussie wine drinkers on multi-year hiatuses, curiosity seekers, and value chasers all weighed in. Great insights into the region were […]
Rolf Binder’s 1996 Veritas Cabernet Sauvignon
How does Barossa cabernet sauvignon age? Here’s some insight based on only one example; $29.99 Rolf Binder’s 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon from his Veritas Winery. While the question deserves more exhaustive tasting with full sets of wines, this was a telling experiment using just one cabernet from a top Barossa winery. WINE BLOGGING WEDNESDAY 76: BAROSSA BOOMERANG […]
Wine Knowledge and Australia
I just received an interesting email from the Wine Australia representative I met at the Wine Bloggers Conference last month. Antonia Muir is memorable because, among other things, she gave me a very cool grey promotional t-shirt with only one line across the chest proclaiming “Everyone Has A Story.” While I am happy to fly […]
Questioning the Sensibility of Bordeaux’s New Found Irrelevance
Eric Asimov helped me feel old, out of the loop, and crusty today simply because I prefer Bordeaux. Please do not crucify me en masse, and allow me to cling to a hard earned 51-year-old point of view that many of the world’s finest wines are products of Bordeaux as you join me on a visit […]
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, […]
Wine Makers and Mortgage Makers Reverse Greedy Paths
I recoiled and pushed away the crystal stemware wondering if some savory syrup was masquerading as wine, and that maybe its destiny was to spread like jam on slices of peanut butter slathered Wonder Bread. This sensory collision with high alcohol and unrestrained ripeness was triggered a few years back cracking open a 2005 Mollydooker The Boxer screw top, a wine Robert Parker awarded 95 points to […]
Venerable Value Trove or Flash in the Pan?
US consumers just might develop whiplash keeping up with declarations of new regional sources for quality wine values. Rewind the last ten years and value arrows have stopped on Spain, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Languedoc, Beaujolais, Chile, Loire, and more. And, there appears to be no let-up. Trying to make sense of the shifting landscape, each new pronouncement of dominance in the global value segment falls neatly into one of these […]