Wine Talk from Creators Syndicate

The Wine Collector, Part II for 02/14/2012

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

It isn't enough for me to merely understand how I got to this place where my home is stuffed with bottles of wine in every available empty space. In recent years, I've had to come to grips with the reality that I can no longer afford to buy the wines I once loved, the wines that by and large set me on the path to collecting fine wine as a hobby.

The status-conscious Asian wine market and ...

Updated: Tue Feb 14, 2012

The Wine Collector for 02/07/2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

I don't suppose I started out to become a wine "collector." Long ago I had a fascination with Bordeaux. It wasn't simply the taste of good Bordeaux, though I certainly found that aspect the most appealing, and it certainly wasn't the price.

What drew me in and kept me coming back for more these 40-plus years, besides the notion that I was dinking some of the finest wine on the ...

Updated: Tue Feb 07, 2012

The Wine of Woo for 01/31/2012

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

My inbox is overflowing these days with wine suggestions for Valentine's Day — everything from Argentinian Malbec to moscato from Piedmont to sparkling shiraz from Australia. If it's red or sweet or has bubbles, it must have been crafted expressly for this one day of the year when romance is in the air. No?

Actually, I have fairly simple tastes for Valentine's Day. Simple as in str ...

Updated: Tue Jan 31, 2012

Affordable Gold for 01/24/2012

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

One of the more enjoyable aspects of a major wine competition, for me at least, is the discovery of affordable wines that were impressive in the challenging environment of a professional wine judging.

Whether I am a judge, as I often am, or an official, as I was at the third annual Winemaker Challenge, where I am the director, I am keen to know which of the wines priced at $20 or less st ...

Updated: Tue Jan 24, 2012

Good Wine or Good Luck? for 01/17/2012

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

It is received wisdom inside the wine industry that wine competitions are a roll of the dice. That would imply there is a good deal of luck involved, or that the winners of the major prizes were merely in the right place at the right time. The evidence, however, suggests the conventional wisdom is a crock, for if it were true, the California wineries Gloria Ferrer and V. Sattui would have to be ...

Updated: Tue Jan 17, 2012

On Tap for 2012 for 01/10/2012

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

One of the remarkable stories in California wine over the past five years has been the steady rise of the Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves, the sparkling wine house on the Sonoma side of Carneros that is owned by Spain's giant Freixenet wine company.

What is most remarkable is the striking difference between the Gloria Ferrer bubblies of today compared with its earliest efforts, which were ...

Updated: Tue Jan 10, 2012

Castello Banfi's Tour de Force for 01/03/2012

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Wine of the year is one thing; winery of the year is another.

To choose the former, I simply go with my gut. The "wow" factor is of utmost importance, and the winner should certainly exhibit profound characteristics that can be easily identified, even by a novice.

The latter is recognition for a body of work. While some of it certainly should contain an element of profun ...

Updated: Tue Jan 03, 2012

The Fabulous Five for 12/27/2011

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Choosing a wine of the year is not something I take lightly. Over the past 12 months, I have tasted thousands of new wine releases. Most of them do not meet the threshold of character and quality to be considered for such a unique place in my heart. That's just the way it is. A wine of the year, anyone's wine of the year, should be a wine that so engaged the taster that its flavors and structur ...

Updated: Tue Dec 27, 2011

The Champagne Houses of Piper and Charles for 12/20/2011

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

REIMS, France — Regis Camus was already something of a legend when he arrived at the state-of-the-art Heidsieck compound in 1994, where he joined another legend, the late Daniel Thibault, to form something of a dream team in the world of Champenois winemakers.

The two men had a mission: to restore the great name and reputation of the historic Champagne houses of Piper-Heidsieck and ...

Updated: Tue Dec 20, 2011

Stocking Stuffers for 12/13/2011

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The request came via email: Would I suggest a few gift wines for Christmas in the $10 to $20 range? Despite the degree of difficulty, I have accepted the challenge. Not that there aren't any number of swell wines in this price range, but it was only a month ago that I offered up my 20-20 Thanksgiving (20 wines for $20 or less) column, which included many, if not most, of the top wines in this c ...

Updated: Tue Dec 13, 2011

Port, the Winter Wine for 12/06/2011

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

To every wine there is a season. Perhaps that is a bit of an overstatement, but for fortified port wines, time and place are everything.

On a cold, wintry night, few beverages warm body and soul as well as a glass of port by the fire. And at 18 to 20 percent alcohol, which is typical for port, the log on the fire is optional. There is plenty of heat in this sweet libation.

Now tha ...

Updated: Tue Dec 06, 2011

Wine's Age Old Argument for 11/29/2011

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

This Christmas season, I intend to give the gift that keeps on giving. That would be wine with cellar potential. That would be wine that improves with age, as urban legend would have it. And that would be despite the recent controversy, sparked by one famous wine critic who argued that aged wines aren't necessarily all they're cracked up to be.

To be sure, many wines made today are as go ...

Updated: Tue Nov 29, 2011

Two Great After-Dinner Wines for 11/22/2011

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The beauty of the holiday season, in my humble opinion, is the sheer scope of the Epicurean possibilities. The season of festivity stretches on for several weeks and gives me an excuse to indulge in myriad adult beverages of great import, and we end it all with firm resolve to undo the damage to the waistline in the coming year.

It is at this time of year that I permit myself the sinful ...

Updated: Tue Nov 22, 2011

My 20-20 Thanksgiving for 11/15/2011

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

They say hindsight is 20-20. Let's hope so. After 20 years of penning this column, I've filed at least 20 columns for various publications with recommendations for the Thanksgiving feast.

As you might imagine, the challenge every year is to produce a new approach to a traditional holiday in which the variables are actually constants. Most traditional Thanksgiving dinners will feature tur ...

Updated: Tue Nov 15, 2011

Ten Wines That Move Me for 11/08/2011

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

A wine blogger once asked me what I look for in a wine that I'm evaluating as a potential recommendation. Good question.

I taste thousands of wine samples every year and select only a fraction of those for review, largely because I only review wines I can unequivocally recommend. The wines I choose have spoken to me in some way. Generally, that means they stood out from the crowd, either ...

Updated: Tue Nov 08, 2011

The Magnificent Seven for 11/01/2011

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

It is often said there is no other sparkling wine quite like Champagne. I have even said it myself. The chalky soils of the region seem to imbue Champagne, the real thing, with structure and complexity that is difficult, if not impossible, to reproduce elsewhere.

It isn't as though no one has tried, for wherever wine is made there always seems to be someone who will take a stab at a bub ...

Updated: Tue Nov 01, 2011

The Eclectic Blend Trend for 10/25/2011

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Ordinarily, a discussion of outstanding white wines from California's Central Coast would likely begin, and possibly end, with Chardonnay. After all, from Santa Barbara to Monterey there are thousands of acres of Chardonnay vineyards, making Chardonnay the vast region's most reliable money crop.

To be sure, Central Coast Chardonnay is a worthy wine. Yet I've recently indulged myself in ...

Updated: Tue Oct 25, 2011

Bubbly for the Holidays for 10/18/2011

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

As I rummaged through the wine cellar to pull together a charitable silent auction item appropriately dubbed "Holiday Bubbles" in the auction program, it suddenly occurred to me that with each bottle I chose I had a specific type of social event in mind.

For the casual aperitif prior to an evening on the town, I reached instinctively for an inexpensive but delicious Italian pro ...

Updated: Tue Oct 18, 2011

Sommeliers Reveal Inexpensive Gems for 10/11/2011

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

You wouldn't ordinarily think value when seeking a wine recommendation from a professional sommelier. After all, they dwell in the rarefied air of Napa Valley cult wines, trendy Garagiste Bordeaux and the occasional 100-point bottle that would surely make you gasp at the price.

Of course, that's the stereotype. The reality is somewhat different. The wave of hip, young sommeliers now mana ...

Updated: Tue Oct 11, 2011

Merlot's Sweet Spot for 10/04/2011

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Foraging through the wine cellar, as I often do before dinner, I've discovered recently that over the years I've tucked away a fair amount of merlot. You heard that right, merlot — the wine that was so famously bashed in the Academy Award-nominated movie "Sideways."

You may wonder what I was thinking, given that interest in merlot waned and sales tanked after it became co ...

Updated: Tue Oct 04, 2011