Archive for May, 2008
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
I used whatever time I had this (late) evening to peruse some wine blogs and other wine related write ups but sadly came away with nothing of special interest to write about. I considered writing about the wonderful wine tasting I led last night for a group of about thirty 20 & 30 somethings, but the truth is the event was a fund raiser and the guests were more interested in mingling & DRINKING the wine, than hearing some dude talk about wine. There were several guests who did engage me in wine conversation, but in the end the “informal talk” I was going to give became very informal small talk with select guests.
That said, I feel compelled to write about something, so how about a quick plug for wine and its corresponding health benefits. (more…)
Tags: type 2 diabetes, wine health, Wine Spectator
Posted in wine health | Comments Off on More red wine health benefits
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
I attended a very informal wine tasting early yesterday evening at Xai Xai, the South African wine bar located in the Hell’s Kitchen district of NYC. I’ve been to Xai Xai before & believe that as far as wine bars go this place is doing many things RIGHT. I also like that this bar is exclusively a South African wine bar with South African wine, food, music & decor. I firmly believe that there are enough generic or Italian/French wine bars in the city. Having recently heard of an Eastern European bar I am certain that focusing on specific regions is the way for the new entry’s into the food/beverage business to go.
The event last night was intended to promote the release of one of the first (according to them) 2008’s to be released. Pretty amazing when you think that here in the Northern hemisphere the vines barely possess any semblance of fruit yet. But alas the Southern Hemisphere harvest is generally February/March time with white varietals destined for crisp wines harvested first. (more…)
Tags: Chenin Blanc, lyric wine, nederberg, Pinotage, South Africa, Wine bar, xai xai
Posted in Wine Bars, wine tasting | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 12th, 2008
The California wine industry that welcomed a wine-novice Wine Tasting Guy with open arms is under attack. Alice Feiring, a warm woman whom I met & spoke with at length shortly after transitioning into the wine industry, is under attack. Wine drinkers everywhere are seemingly under attack. (more…)
Tags: Alice Feiring, California Wine
Posted in Wine critiquing, Wine Industry, Wine STUFF | 2 Comments »
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
I attended the La Rioja Wine Tasting at the Astor Center yesterday. I had some nice wines, 1 standout wine (which I will get to) some nondescript wines and one or two corked wines. But what is more important to me is HOW this tasting was conducted. Held at the very professional “study” in the Astor Center this FORMAL tasting was led by a Rioja winemaker who was familiar with all the wineries whose wines he was discussing (but maybe not intimately familiar with all the wines as it turned out).
(more…)
Tags: , Astor Center, La Rioja, wine tasting
Posted in wine tasting | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Woke up at the hotel bright and early..OK, maybe not THAT early, and went to the hotel courtyard for a “continental breakfast” of cereal, fresh pastries & coffee. I tried to get down a “bug juice” of sorts that was simply awful. Another cup of coffee (and I normally don’t drink coffee) and I was on my way.
I stayed in a northern part of Napa known as Calistoga and made my way North West to Sonoma county. I ended up in Healdsburg in the Russian River and started at a winery called Sausal winery. (more…)
Tags: , Healdsburg, Sonoma county, wine tasting
Posted in wine tasting, wine travel | 2 Comments »
Monday, May 5th, 2008
I just read a recent post by Eric Asimov of the New York Times on his blog The Pour. The post, titled “Does Your Wine Need Viagra” deals primarily with the issue of alternative sources used by wine producers for imparting the OAK flavors to wines (chips, powders & staves instead of barrels). But the article itself, as well as the myriad of comments that follows seems to be praising the old world producers, how they let the wine make itself, without the use of modern technology. While the New World producers (specifically California) are using all sorts of alternative technologies and products to make wines that lose that something special. (more…)
Tags: Asimov, the pour, wine tasting
Posted in Oenology & Viticulture, Wine Industry | 1 Comment »
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
My day began in LA with an early flight from LAX to SFO. I rented a car at SFO and made my way to wine country. My day started with one of the places I neglected to take notes. Might have had something to do with the 6AM flight or the 3 hours of sleep I got the night before. But either way, it was an amazing visit to the Havens winery where my good friend Connie runs the tasting room. Connie & I worked together at Napa Wine Company where she was easily one of my favorite people. Havens had some really nice wine. We started the visit with a white as I tried what I was told the only Albarino from Napa (or maybe it was the first?). Albarino is a Spanish varietal, generally made in a fresh/crisp manner. This one fit that bill and is certain to be a good food wine. I then had a Rose’ made from Cab Franc before moving on to the reds. We had some Merlot & Cab from both a regular series and a reserve one. While (to my palate) it is not always the case I remember enjoying the reserves more than the regular wines (but the power of suggestion is strong & if I was told the opposite I may have had the opposite impression). The wines that stood out though were their Syrahs. I enjoyed the 2003 Havens Syrah but mentioned to Connie that I thought the nose was a little closed. She proceeded to open a 2000 Syrah that they recently re-released and it was great. All of us in the tasting room found both pepper & some real interesting smoked meat aromas. I struggled to find the bacon the others were talking about but that did not detract from the enjoyment of the wine.
While I had intended to make more than 1 stop before my 1PM appointment time flies when you are having fun…and it was too late to squeeze in another visit. (more…)
Tags: Napa, wine tasting
Posted in wine tasting, wine travel | Comments Off on Day in Napa
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
A very important project has come up and it appears I will have to get to this post over the weekend, but I thought I would show you a quick picture of the Napa vines and their “bud out” – or beginning of formation of the grape bunches.
Details of the first day of the trip to follow….WTG.
Tags: , Napa, vines
Posted in Oenology & Viticulture, wine tasting | Comments Off on Wine Country: Day 1 – NAPA VALLEY
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
Got back from the West Coast this morning and I hope to write up about day 1 of my wine country trip tomorrow. But now, my long overdue summary of the wines I was able to try at the Polaner tasting. As I previously mentioned, the annual event has an amazing array of top notch wines from all over the world, but in my opinion, there are simply too many wines. Maybe given my “neophyte” status, I try to taste as many wines as possible and miss the point. Maybe I should lower my expectations and simply focus on one variety or one region. This could help to make events of this size more manageable. I don’t know. Either way, while it was overwhelming, I tasted some very fine wines and met some very personable and charming winemakers (or winery proprietors).
Of the 75 tables and several hundred wines I managed to taste 117 wines. (more…)
Tags: Polaner, tasting, wine
Posted in Wine Industry, wine tasting | 2 Comments »
