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Posted by: Alder on October 26, 2010 10:32 PM Filed under: Wine News Comments (0) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.25.2010
The Best Wines of the Year?: Taste Testing the Wine &amp Spirits Top 100
Posted by: Alder on October 2, 2010 11:08 PM Filed under: Wine Activities Comments (1) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.01.2010
Vinography Images: Pumping Over
About a month ago, my friend and fellow wine writer Blake Gray wrote a piece on his blog about a visit with Charles Smith of K Vintners in Washington. Smith is a larger than life winemaker with a reputation that is even larger (and more controversial). Several anonymous commenters on Blake's piece took swipes at Smith, and Blake announced today that Smith is suing those commenters and requesting that Google (who hosts Blake's blog) disclose the IP addresses of those anonymous commenters so they can be brought to court. I don't know about you, but this is damn interesting stuff.... continue reading
I can still remember my first wine tasting trip to the Napa Valley. I'm young, so it wasn't that long ago -- probably 1997 or so. Having been born and grown up in Sonoma County, most of my first winery visits as a legal drinker were there. But given my growing love of wine, my girlfriend at the time arranged a trip up to Napa with some friends and I gamely went along for the ride. The first place we stopped was, and remains, one of the cooler wineries in Napa. These days I continue to send those who ask... continue reading
Punchdown There's an awful lot of this going on around the Northern Hemisphere. Harvest is in full swing, especially for those grapes that tend to be left to hang a bit longer like Syrah, and Cabernet. This is the view down into a vat of Merlot. It's a view that winemakers probably get a little tired of, but for those of us who don't see it too regularly, it's quite delicious. -- Alder Yarrow INSTRUCTIONS: Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 14, 2010 10:40 PM Filed under: Boutique Wines
, White Wine
, Wine Reviews Comments (3) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.12.2010
Don't Worship Your Wine. Just Drink It.
Stairway to Heaven? There aren't many things that truly inspire lust among wine lovers but a view like this would certainly be one of them. Call it a stairway to heaven, leading down, instead of up. You're looking at the library cellar of Casa Lapostolle's Clos Apalta in Chile, whose wine is widely regarded as the single best in the country. The winery itself is as beautiful as the cellar might suggest, but we'll leave that scene for another day. -- Alder Yarrow INSTRUCTIONS: Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save... continue reading
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10.26.2010
Too Much (Bad?) Muscadet or Evil Taxes?
Posted by: Alder on October 16, 2010 3:01 PM Filed under: Wine Activities Comments (4) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.15.2010
Vinography Images: Punchdown
I'm sure most of us would love to be in the position of the Japanese government, who recently discovered that they had too much expensive wine on their hands. Apparently entertaining with wine is serious business if you're a Japanese diplomat. At least, that is, if you're in France or New York. Apparently the Japanese mission in France kept 7896 bottles on hand at the Ambassador's residence "just in case." Official embassy records show them serving only 289 bottles to guests last year, according to Japan Today. Having too many bottles of wine is really only a problem if you... continue reading
OK, all you marketing and PR folks,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], listen up. This article is for you. Specifically for those of you that haven't quite figured out how to deal with us wine bloggers yet when it comes to wine samples. And there are clearly a lot of you. I wouldn't ordinarily have thought to write such an article, but it appears that a) a set of reasonable guidelines doesn't seem to be readily available out there b) there is such incredible variability in my own experience working with you folks in the wine business around this specific domain, that everyone might benefit... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 21, 2010 10:36 PM Filed under: White Wine
, Wine Reviews Comments (3) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.18.2010
There's Good Wine Problems. And Bad Ones.
The difference between a good public wine tasting and a bad one can be quite dramatic. The bad ones are in crappy locations, are poorly organized, offer no food, and only mediocre wines. The good ones are, well, just the opposite -- nicely organized, well catered, and offer great wines. And the best ones? Well, they throw in a jazz quartet, and all you can eat oyster bar, a dessert bar, and wines that sometimes retail for hundreds of dollars, if you can find them, at all. And that's just what you get at the annual Wine and Spirits Top... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on September 27, 2010 10:14 PM Filed under: Wine Activities Comments (3) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 09.24.2010
Vinography Images: Vines and Sky
I read with some dismay this morning, a news article in Decanter Magazine about sixty growers in the Loire Valley's Muscadet appellation going bankrupt in the past few months, and the imminent danger of perhaps hundreds more following suit. It's never nice to hear about folks in the wine industry suffering calamities such as this, but I have to wonder if there isn't a certain amount of inevitability about it. Like every major economic incident these days, this one has its roots in globalization, and the complexities it adds to market operations. Some folks might say that the Muscadet region... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 6, 2010 10:50 PM Filed under: Ramblings and Rants
, Wine News Comments (2) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.05.2010
2001 Thierry Allemand "Cuvee Reynard" Cornas, Rhone Valley, France
I beat the drum a lot about public wine tastings. They are the best way for wine lovers to educate their palates. Period. There's just no substitute for tasting a lot of wines in a single "sitting" to learn what the differences are, and more importantly, what you like. One of the other nice things about public tastings, put on as they are by big organizations, or in this case,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], publications, is that they often allow you to taste wines that you might not get a chance to taste otherwise for some reason -- whether that is because of their... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 25, 2010 10:23 PM Filed under: Boutique Wines
, Wine Activities
, Wine Reviews Comments (2) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.22.2010
Vinography Images: Pruning Leaves
Posted by: Alder on September 24, 2010 9:33 PM Filed under: Vinography Images Comments (1) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink
Pruning Leaves Harvest involves a flurry of activity in the vineyard in preparation for the crews that move through in darkness to begin removing fruit. This image shows workers in Chile's Maule Valley removing leaves from the vines just before harvest, to get one last little bit of sun on the grapes, as well as to make it easier for the crews (or the machines) to do their early morning work. -- Alder Yarrow INSTRUCTIONS: Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 5, 2010 9:01 PM Filed under: Boutique Wines
, Older Vintages
, Red Wine
, Wine Reviews Comments (0) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.02.2010
Wines of Argentina Tasting: October 19, 21, Los Angeles and New York
Now is a wonderful, if slightly manic time to be wandering around wine country. Harvest is, for some, complete, and wines are bubbling and burbling their way through fermentations. For others, any day now they will be making mad dashes into the vineyards to get the fruit in before the first major rains. Either way, it's the time of year that wine country really becomes wine country. As the afternoon sun angles low, life gets pretty idyllic around Sonoma, and the timing is good to relax with friends and a nice glass of wine. Which is why, I suppose, around... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 10, 2010 10:48 PM Filed under: Ramblings and Rants Comments (37) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.08.2010
Vinography Images: Stairway to Heaven?
Posted by: Alder on October 7, 2010 9:43 PM Filed under: Wine Activities Comments (0) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.06.2010
Canada: Declare War or Emigrate. It's a Tough Choice
One of the most important and valuable trends for the wine consumer, apart from the fantastic deals to be had on very nice wine these days, continues to be the proliferation of public wine tasting events put on by specific countries or regions of the world. The marketing associations for these regions, which tend to be government run or at least government funded in some respect, have finally realized that one of the best things they can do is get a whole lot of consumers together to taste a whole lot of their wines. Such tastings, as I tend to... continue reading
ome parts of this wine world are utterly ridiculous sometimes. Mostly, it's the luxury parts. Something odd happens when you cross the threshold into the domain of those for whom no wine is too expensive or rare to own,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and for whom the full contents of the cellar tends only to be known to accountants. Call it a reality distortion field, a special brand of collector obsessive compulsive disorder, or just plain madness, but people can have pretty odd relationships with their wine cellars when they get above 10,000 bottles. Witness the recent article in Decanter magazine about British rock... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on September 29, 2010 9:58 PM Filed under: Wine News Comments (27) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 09.28.2010
2007 Hess Collection "Allomi Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Napa
Posted by: Alder on October 8, 2010 9:07 AM Filed under: Vinography Images Comments (3) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.07.2010
Pinot on the River Tasting 2010: October 23-24, Healdsburg
As much as I love wines from all over the world, and as open and welcoming as I am of the newest upstart winemakers and their wares, when you come right down to it, there are winemakers (and their wines) out there in the world that just have more soul. And there are places, too that have more soul. And soul, when it comes to wine and winemaking, is a very good thing in my book. If I had to make a list of places that have soul, the Northern Rhone appellation of Cornas would be high on the list,... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 18, 2010 9:01 PM Filed under: Ramblings and Rants
, Wine News Comments (2) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.16.2010
San Francisco Fall Vintners Market: November 20-21, San Francisco
Posted by: Alder on October 1, 2010 11:39 PM Filed under: Vinography Images Comments (1) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 09.29.2010
Winemaker Sues Anonymous Commenters on Wine Blog
My love of deeply complex white wines has been growing for some time. I'm not sure exactly when I learned that there was more to white wine than Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, but ever since then, I have been seeking out white wines, and especially white blends, that lean towards the profound. I'd be hard pressed to pick a clear favorite among the bevy of beauties that fit the aforementioned description, but certainly one of the top contenders would be the white wines of the the southern Rhone Valley, and in particular this wine from Chateau de Beaucastel, Known for... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 12, 2010 10:13 PM Filed under: Ramblings and Rants Comments (19) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.10.2010
How to Send Wine Samples to a Blogger
Sometimes you hear an idea and wonder to yourself, exactly why it's taken someone so long to come up with it. And the really good ones make you think,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], "now why didn't I come up with that?" That's exactly what I thought to myself when I first heard about the San Francisco Vintners Market last year. It's a farmer's market, but for wine. Simple as that. Walk around, taste a bunch of wines, and buy the ones that you like. So incredibly straightforward it took years for someone to come up with the idea. The first version was held in... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on September 28, 2010 10:33 PM Filed under: Wine Reviews
, Wines under $20 Comments (4) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 09.27.2010
Wine and Spirits Top 100 Tasting: October 13, San Francisco
Most people aren't aware that I grew up, at least partially, in Sonoma County. My parents split up pretty early on, and I moved with my mother to Colorado. But starting at the age of five, I would come out to visit my dad during the summer in the little town of Bodega, and spend my time chasing around the sheep ranch where he still lives. As a kid I knew Sonoma County was wine country. Mostly because whenever my dad's parents would come visit during the summer, we'd all pack into Grandpa's car, and trundle off to Rodney Strong... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 15, 2010 9:16 PM Filed under: Vinography Images Comments (0) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.14.2010
2007 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateuneuf-du-Pape Blanc, Rhone Valley, France
Pumping Over Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, harvest is underway. Already there are tanks and barrels bubbling away with the 2010 vintage. In Chile's Malleco valley, where this tank of Pinot Noir was being pumped over, however, the vines have just begun to bear fruit, and it will be some time before their tanks, of the 2011 vintage look like this again. -- Alder Yarrow INSTRUCTIONS: Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also... continue reading
Thanks to humorist Dave Barry's exposé of the looming threat to our national security, I've long been a proponent of preemptively invading Canada. And then came Michael Moore's film SiCKO, which convinced me that after we invade, we might want to dissect the Canadian health care system and find out what makes it tick. And now? Well, I think plans for the invasion should be called off, and all of us wine lovers should just consider picking up and walking across the border. Why? Because when the Canadian Government decides to spend money in a stimulus package they don't give... continue reading
Posted by: Alder on October 22, 2010 11:41 PM Filed under: Vinography Images Comments (0) - TrackBacks (0) - Permalink 10.21.2010
2007 Freestone Vineyards "Ovation" Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast
Vines and Sky One of the things that makes wine so magical is the alchemy that it embodies. The vine's ability to fuse the products of earth and sky into something that somehow can express the sunlight and the soil is fantastic and amazing. When I look at vineyard landscapes I always see the sky as a foil for the vineyard, the matrix in which the green gem of the vineyard is embedded. The vineyard in the photo is a plot of Pinot Noir from Vina Tabali La Serena in Chile's Limari wine region. -- Alder Yarrow INSTRUCTIONS: Download... continue reading