NY Grapes

California Pinot Noirs come of age

eric — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:42:50 +0000

Another great article by Eric Asimov, this time on the transformation of (some of) pinot noir winemaking in California. Below is his summary list of Cali pinots that are produced in a lighter, perhaps even more ‘Burgundian’ style, than some of their other pinot peers:

ANTHILL FARMS Sonoma/Mendocino; lovely, fresh and floral.
ARCADIAN South Central Coast; lively, pure and age-worthy.
AU BON CLIMAT Santa Barbara; well-balanced and complex.
CALERA WINE COMPANY Mount Harlan; intense single-vineyard wines.
COPAIN Mendocino; delicate and nuanced.
FAILLA Sonoma Coast; elegant and focused.
INMAN FAMILY WINES Russian River Valley; bright and pretty.
JOSEPH SWAN VINEYARDS Russian River Valley; restrained and delicate.
LANE TANNER Santa Barbara; light-bodied and fragrant.
LITTORAI Mendocino/Sonoma Coast; structured and energetic.
LONGORIA Santa Barbara; earthy and intense.
THE OJAI VINEYARD Santa Barbara; light and savory.
PEAY VINEYARDS Sonoma Coast; spicy and polished.
PORTER CREEK VINEYARDS Russian River Valley; fresh and elegant.
RHYS VINEYARDS Santa Cruz Mountains; graceful and complex.
RIVERS-MARIE Sonoma Coast; intense, lively and balanced.
TALLEY VINEYARDS Arroyo Grande; earthy yet fresh.

And finally, the quote of the article:

“The palate in Europe, like the wines, has had a thousand years to develop,” said Ted Lemon of Littorai, whose wines beautifully combine structure and intensity with restraint. “We’re only starting.”

iPhone Wine App Reviews

eric — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:26:37 +0000

Here’s a fairly comprehensive review of the current (good) wine applications for the iPhone:

http://www.macworld.com/article/139106/2009/03/wineapps.html

Reviews include:

Drync Wine 2.0
Velvet Vine Wine Companion 1.1.1
Wine Enthusiast Guide 1.2
Wine Pad 2.3.0.0
Wine Snob 2.2.1.

Hello Vino was not mentioned in this particular round-up but it is worth a look as well.

NY Grapes: Thunder from Down Under > Wine Dinner Redux

eric — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:38:14 +0000

21 descended on our home last night for a meal and some wine…OK, a lot of wine and an excellent meal. Here are the wines from the night:

Whites

2004 Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, Margaret River
2008 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand
2006 Streicker Ironstone Block Old Vine Chardonnay, Margaret River
2007 Kaesler Old Vines Semillon, Barossa Valley

Reds

2005 Pipers Brook Vineyard Pinot Noir, Tasmania
2002 Magpie Estate “The Gomersal” Grenache, Barossa Valley
1997 Clarendon Hills Old Vines Grenache, Blewitt Springs Vineyard, Barossa Valley
1998 Clarendon Hills Shiraz, Piggott Range Vineyard, Barossa Valley
2003 Torbreck “RunRig”, Barossa Valley
2004 Torbreck “The Struie”, Barossa Valley
2001 Elderton Command Single Vineyard Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2006 Amon-Ra Unfiltered Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2001 Ross Estate Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2004 “3 Rings” Reserve Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2002 Kilikanoon Shiraz, Barossa Valley
2003 Tintara Shiraz, McLaren Vale
2006 Expatriate Revolution Shiraz, McLaren Vale
2001 Majella “The Malleea”, Coonawarra
2005 Two Hands “Lily’s Garden” Shiraz, McLaren Vale
2006 Hewitson “Old Garden” Mourvedre, Barossa
2004 Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Mitolo “Serpico” Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale
2007 Joseph Sparkling Red, Adelaide
Chambers Rosewood Vineyards Rutherglen Special Muscat

And dinner consisted of:

Starters – 5 cheeses, dates, sausage, crackers, baguette, grapes
Appetizer - Mushroom soup (topped with a hint of parsley) with a bread topped with sauteed crimini mushrooms (saute in oil/butter), shallots, scallions, crumbled pecorino romano cheese
Main – lamb skewers (lamb marinated in garlic, olive oil, pepper, rosemary, salt) with peppers, onions, tomatoes; garlic rosemary cous-cous with diced craisins and apricots; tzatziki
Dessert – brownies with coffee/chili powder, Stew Leonard’s ice cream, and fresh mint

The Ancient Greeks Appreciated Moderated Wine Consumption

eric — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:33:07 +0000

I now need to dust off my ancient Greek texts, in particular, The Odyssey, where wine is a constant presence in the work. This, and other facts about ancient Greek life and its relationship to wine, is explored in the following article by Alexander Nazaryan.

2 clever articles on wine snobbery

eric — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:30:22 +0000

One from the Freakonomics blog on being able (or unable) to distinguish a fine bottle of wine from an unfine bottle when tasted without knowing which came from what at Harvard in the Society of Fellows, and the other generally humorous and sarcastically written way to fool wine snobs into thinking that you walk among them as an equal.

Wine tasting data point of the day

eric — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:56:39 +0000

From Portfolio, 3 identical wines poured from the same bottle to groups of judges – how did the judges judge?

Constellation opens world’s largest winery solar energy system

eric — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:47:13 +0000

Why we love the sun – it makes the grapes grow and will power half the energy needs of Constellation’s facility in Gonzales, CA.

Argentinian Malbec gets a second glance

eric — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:48:13 +0000

I’m really excited by the Malbec wines make from Argentina. So too is the WSJ, and there is a fairly in-depth account of the producers and explosive growth of this delicious import from this past weekend’s Journal:

Malbec Beckons – Heed the Call

Don’t swirl old Burgundies / pinots

eric — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:25:28 +0000

If they’re more than 25 years old, given that the pinot noir grape is so fragile, aggressive swirling can cause the old wine to collapse and taste like a whopping nothing, a terrible way to end a no doubt expensive bottle of juice.

Urban wineries sprout new vines

eric — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:23:12 +0000

Be sure to catch Friday’s article from the NYTimes on the growth of urban wineries. With land prices for vineyards in Napa and other places into the stratosphere, some passionate wine enthusiasts are taking matters into their own hands and opening urban wineries. Bridge Urban Winery is a new one that I hadn’t heard of in Williamsburg and will be sure to make a visit to given my own predilection for wine-making.