http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1905197
Monday, February 7, 2011
Welcome Sandford!
The Wine Key is proud to welcome Sandford Wragg on board as our West Coast correspondent. Sandford is a good friend, as well as an old colleague of mine. Currently shaking things up in Sacramento as the wine director at Tuli Bistro. Welcome Sandford!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Who doesn't love a bargain??
I like N.Rhone wines quite a bit. Has anyone noticed that they always seem to be available on close-out? I feel slightly guilty over paying the price of a jug of yellow tail for something really special... but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
Right now I'm pondering a glass of Tardieu-Laurent Saint-Joseph VV les roches 2004. This bottle set me back 13 bucks. It's 13 percent alc and it's one of these fancy big bottles with thick glass that weighs about 13 pounds. I feel like my luck is about to turn. but I'm not into numerology.
I don't have a lot of experience with T-L. This is a rhone Necociant that has been very well recieved by the Powers That Be. I tasted a bunch of their 2003s upon release, which were hard to judge because they were young and it was such a warm vintage. I know they tend to use 100% new oak for all the northern rhone wines, which in theory does not thrill me. And I know there is little transparency concerning the provenance of the raw materiel. also doesn't thrill me. But this wine is fairly interesting. Dark and brooding... typical smoke, leather and black pepper. It is missing the floral notes that often play off on the dark stuff and make wines like this great.... oh well. It's not as oaky as I anticipated, but the wood is there. A bit too much for me, but not really that unbalanced. I would buy more of this for 13$. But what is this wine supposed to cost? I've seen prices quoted everywhere from $24 to $52. That is quite a spread. Anyone have any insight here? I feel like this wine has more or less peaked... or will soon. If you bought a bunch for $13 I would keep some as an experiment. If you bought a bunch for $52, drink up!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Too hot to drink
Here in New England we love to talk about the weather. I suppose people everywhere fall back on the weather as a means of making mindless small talk. But here it goes beyond small talk. We really get into it. And we're always surprised by the weather too... good or bad. If it's really nice outside, we can't believe it
"can you believe how gorgeous it is out there??"
If the weather person predicts 10 inches of snow, and we get 10 inches of snow... we can't believe it.
"can you believe all this snow??"
Right now, it's about 90 degrees, and really humid. It's been like this for a few days. Even though it's mid August, and this is typical for mid August... I just can't believe it.
I hate this weather... mainly because I don't enjoy drinking wine when it's this hot and humid. Fortunately, it hasn't stopped me! and I've enjoyed 5 great bottles of Muscadet in the past week or so!
If you're not really into muscadet by now.... it's time for a wine lobotomy. At the most basic level these are bright, fresh, food friendly wines that are just plain fun to drink. In the hands of a very good producer, expect a finely etched, assertively dry wine with profound minerality and the potential for short/medium term bottle age. These are fairly subtle wines that always convey a sense of place more so than grape variety. I like that. I can think of at least 10 top-quality producers that are available in various US markets... I'm sure there's more than 10. And plenty more not available in the US... Not yet anyway. There's just no excuse folks!
Here's the tab I've run up so far this August:
05 Dom. Pepiere, Clos de Briords
06 Guy Bossard, Granite*
07 Guy Bossard, cuvee classique*
08 Dom. Pepiere
08 Michel Delhommeau, cuvee st Vincent
This last one is new for me. The other two guys are old favorites by now.... I don't know much about M.Delhommeau, but the wine is good. Not quite as intricate as the other 2 producers, but still very good. The website for Jon David Headrick says it's a cuvee from vines grown on gneiss and grabbo. (grabbo is rock formed from lava... right??) Again, great stuff, and it sells for 9-10 dollars retail. In fact, the combined retail price of all these bottles would be about $72... give or take a few bucks. Thats $72 for 5 kick-ass bottles of wine. There's just no excuse. Of course, I have to tack an extra $72 onto my electric bill this month because I drank all these bottles while sitting directly in front of the air conditioner. I just can't believe how hot it is!
*I sell these wines in MA. (see disclaimer)
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