May’s “Top Three Wines” headline does not contain a typo. The reference to Ontario, Canada is purposeful. As a matter of fact, southern Ontario’s wine region (41°-44°) finds itself in a close latitudinal relationship with the Loire Valley (46°-47°), home turf for May’s other top wines. A couple of this month’s finishers are certain discoveries, […]
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 […]
Top Three Wines of April: Alsace, Rhone, and Loire
With a clean sweep of “Top Wines of April”, I am reminded that if I could only drink wines from one country for the rest of my life, it would be France. These April winners prove that despite a weakened dollar and skyrocketing prices for in-demand Bordeaux, Burgundy, and top Rhones, it’s still entirely possible […]
Oxidative Wine Styles: Zind Humbrecht and Rene & Agnes Mosse
I am trying to develop palate education around oxidative wine styles. There is plenty of available information about it, but distinguishing between one wine subjected to an oxidative wine making process and another wine that primarily oxidizes through bottle age, without any specific knowledge about the wine maker’s approach, is not always straight forward for […]
Revisiting Cambridge’s T.W. Food
Walden Street floats in unremarkable limbo somewhere between Harvard’s and Fresh Pond’s respective square and roundabout. I managed to discover the street in the autumn of 2007 checking out Tim Wiechmann’s newly opened T.W. Food, and immediately returned for a second confirming fix of Wiechmann’s brilliant and individually styled french country cuisine. Because it was […]
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 […]
Chenin Heaven from Vouvray’s Bernard Fouquet and Domaine des Aubuisieres’ 2008 Les Girardieres
Bernard Fouquet is an accomplished and quality Vouvray producer, focused on Chenin Blanc across 25 hectares and and seven vineyards that make up Domaine des Aubuisieres’ fruit sources. All of unique character and terroir, they split into two primary soil types including clay/limestone or clay/flint. His portfolio includes soil specific blends and vineyard specific bottlings. On […]
Affordability and Value in Las Vegas’ Trophy Wine Jungle
I find it exhilarating digging through overpriced, top-heavy wine lists filled with $100-a-glass labels in search of affordability or value. I first remember getting that sensation 35 years ago, opening the Racing Form back in Brooklyn at Aqueduct Race Track looking for the day’s long shot. Garage sale hunters seem to chase a similar rush. […]
Sadie Family Vineyards: Tops South Africa Wine Charts
I visited South Africa a couple of weeks ago ready to embrace whatever the local wine scene served up. Curious and relatively uniformed, I tasted both good and marginal wines. Out of conversations with local producers and trade, I noted definite instances of commitment to farming and wine making styles geared to produce honest, quality […]
Wine and Food at Troquet: Half of Uncanny New York Analog
On August 26, 2009 Frank Bruni inked his last New York Times Dining column answering a group of questions that follow around restaurant critics with pulpits as authoritative as his. Finding great value is on everyone’s minds these days, and his “top value spot” answer to New York foodies neatly covered two of my favorite […]