When pressed, we have to admit that our single favorite type of wine is Bordeaux.  It distinguishes itself from California Cabernet by what the French call “breed”.  Generally that refers to a sense of terroir developed over a very long time*, viticulture style, a lower level of alcohol, a more modest level of fruit and the addition of just enough blending vinifera (Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot) to bring out the very essence of Cabernet.

Bordeaux prices have been trending higher as the great vintages of 2009 and 2010 have taken up where 2005 left off affecting even those traditional sources of bargains such as Haut-Médoc, Médoc, Côtes de Blaye, Côtes de Bourg, Côtes de Castillon and the like.  Read More

For years we felt that wines labeled Syrah were bound to be rather one-dimensional at best and characterless at worst… a euphemism for big, high-alcohol rather clumsy wines.  We especially associated those traits with the many Shiraz offerings from Australia.  No Syrah would pass our lips unless it was from the French Rhône region. Read More

We’re personally hoping that one of the emerging white wine trends will be that of Muscadet, particularly from the apellation, Muscadet Sèvres et Maines.  Crisp and fresh with a wonderful minerality, Muscadet is a perfect accompaniment for seafood and like Chablis (which surprisingly it begins to resemble with age), a classic with shellfish.  We found this article in Snooth on-line from last Fall.  Good information and suggestions for the anything but Chardonnay seekers.

A really nice Holiday Wine Guide from the folks at Food and Wine.

As screwcap enclosures for wine are becoming commonplace after some initial consumer reluctance, an interesting article from Snooth online suggests that there might be some unintended consequences.

I don’t normally tout commercial web sites, especially on my site, but these are really worth exploring.  I tentatively tried these sites a few months ago and now enthusiastically share them with anyone who is into wine.

What a brilliant way to buy wine. You get daily offerings in your email with detailed descriptions and prices that are more than competitive.  With today’s tabbed browsers, you can then quickly do a search for ratings and general price levels.  Once you decide to purchase, you use your stored information to buy a certain amount and amazingly, get free shipping on as little as four bottles (sometimes fewer bottles depending on the price). Read More

Summertime and the living is easy… and it’s hot. Time to remind everyone that room temperature for red wines refers to the cool, damp rooms of the aristocracy of the 16^th and 17^th century. i.e. European castles and chateaux.  That translates to a range of 55° to 65° or 30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator.

That doesn’t only mean at home or on the patio but even more importantly in a restaurant.  When you are spending 3 times retail price for a bottle of wine when dining out (and that’s another issue), the least you should get is wine at the proper temperature.  If when you are presented the wine for approval, it tastes warm, ask for an ice bucket and cool the wine down.  An additional benefit is the look of consternation on the face of the server.  Check out this article from Epicurious’ Ted Loos for additional comments on the subject.

Last summer we observed that Rosés were enjoying a resurgence of popularity.  Happily, we can report that interest is continuing.   Click on the image (or this link) to see a nice roundup from one of the hallmark Rosé regions, Provence, courtesy of Snooth online.

You will be prompted to signup for their newsletter.  It’s optional but we encourage you to do it.  Snooth provides a wealth of wine information.

We stumbled on this amazing New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc just as we were beginning to think the genre was becoming crowded and rather ordinary.

Mount Nelson Vineyard was created by the brothers Antinori (Marchese Lodovico and Piero) who had been making fine Sauvignon Blanc in Tuscany.  They purchased part of a vineyard in Marlborough (Meadowbank) in 2003, produced their first vintage in 2004 and the rest has been an amazing series of better and better production. Read More

As long as I can remember, the common wisdom has stressed the serving of champagne and sparkling wines in the classic Prestige Cuvee or flute shapes.  The reasoning went something like this.  Champagne, being a fragile beverage, needs to be enclosed in narrow glasses with small openings in order to hold and enhance the fleeting bouquet while focusing the bead (bubbles).  Sounded right and experience seemed to bear it out so who were we to question this?
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