Articles

5/8/15 - (Ewald Tscheppe of Weingut Werlitsch, biodynamic farmer and member of Schmeke das Leben in Austria's Steiermark region) There are strange stirrings in the south of Austria, encouraging whispers and exciting wines from a small group of ecologically conscientious, hands-off winemakers who are redefining the region. Styria, or Steiermark in Austrian parlance, is a beautiful locale of rolling hills an hour south of...

5/06/15 -   (Nicolas Carmarans in his vineyard. Photo by Fifi.) Between Bordeaux in the north and the Pyrenees Mountains to the south lies the Sud-Ouest. This is one of France’s lesser-known winemaking regions, overshadowed by the prominence of Bordeaux, and isolated by its rural setting (this is the least densely populated region of France with only ten residents per square mile!). Historically it...

4/27/15 - Tasting through new releases from California, we consistently find Pax Mahle's Wind Gap label on the wines we think are the most vibrant and intriguing expressions of the Sunshine State’s cooler corners. At this year's In Pursuit of Balance tasting - a yearly event focused on exposing the potential for freshness and restraint in California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - the 2013 Pinot...

4/23/15 - (The dizzying pitch of the Schoenfels vineyard drops straight down to the Saar river.) 2013 in the Mosel was tricky, a vintage made difficult primarily from rain during the harvest, but if there is one takeaway from the story of the vintage, it's that results varied widely from grower to grower -- and it's possible that Florian Lauer made the best 2013ers...

4/20/15 - Once, the vineyards of Champagne were simply divided into the wines of the mountain and the wines of the river.  During the winters of the Little Ice Age (16c-19c), these wines, particularly those of the river, would often experience stuck fermentations. Spring’s warmth would restart those fermentations, creating slightly sparkling wines, a natural product of terroir.  While the monks of the Abbey...

4/15/15 - (Lilian pouring a tasting in his cellar. Photo by Sophie Barrett.) Organic farming and natural winemaking are not the first things to come to mind when thinking of Chablis. Industrial farming is commonplace, with chemical pesticides and mechanical harvesting in the vines and lab yeasts and other winemaking tricks in the cellar. There are, however, a few producers working against the norm,...

4/13/15 - (There are at least 12 buildings like this one – the Emilia-Romagna pavilion. Some kind of wheeled vehicle might be a good idea…) We’re kind of learning to love VinItaly. Yes, it’s crowded, sometimes with inebriated sightseers who make it extra-hard to navigate. Yes, the food sucks, but that’s hardly why you go. True, the bathrooms are a topic to avoid –...

  4/10/15- (A commemorative Hank Williams, Jr. bottle at the Jim Beam museum.) We continue our Bourbon odyssey with a special selection from Trey Zoeller’s fantastic Jefferson’s label. Jefferson’s is unlike other Bourbon, because instead of distilling they focus on purchasing the best barrels possible from other producers to create superb, ultra-small production lots. Trey created the Jefferson’s label in 1997 before the world’s...

4/10/15 - In the opinion of this map-loving wine geek, Alessandro Masnaghetti, the author of the map pictured above, would already be Sir Alessandro, as he has performed extraordinary services for his country – if only Italy had knighthoods. Masnaghetti’s ever-expanding library of vineyard maps began with fantastic maps of Barolo and Barbaresco. Above you can see some of the map for Castiglione Falletto,...

4/9/15 - A few weeks ago we had a wonderful dinner at Franny’s, the excuse being a chance to taste a number of vintages of De Forville Barbaresco. Prior to dinner, the oldest De Forville I’d tasted was about 14 years old (the excellent 1995), so I really didn’t know what to expect. All of the wines we had at dinner are included in...

 4/08/15 -   (The label reads: “Barolo, the jewel of Italian production, is the most aristocratic and the most refined wine for a roast, as is universally known. Handle delicately, and take care to uncork the bottle some hours before serving it at a temperature of 18 degrees [64 farenheit].”) We can’t offer much sound information about Fiorina without blatantly plagiarizing Wasserman’s Italy’s Noble...

4/7/15 - (The hill of Monfalletto with the famous Cedar of Lebanon; the Cordero winery is to the left of the hill. Thanks to Gregory Dal Piaz for the photo.) Cordero di Montezemolo is one of our great favorites for their wines made up until 1990, after which they went to a modern-style wine. Hearsay has it that things are moving back at Cordero,...

4/6/15 - (Emanuele di Mirafiore, illegitimate son of King Vittorio Emanuele, inherited Fontanafredda in 1878. The property remained in family hands until 1927.) The historical importance of Fontanafredda for Barolo cannot be overstated; it’s one of the oldest and largest properties in the region, and one of the first to estate-bottle and market under its own label. This is beautifully related in Kerin O’Keefe’s...

4/2/15 - Dirty & Rowdy's Hardy Wallace is one of the hardest working (not to mention nicest) winemakers in the business. His expressive lineup of Mourvèdre wines (eight of them) alone requires consistent travel from the winery in Santa Rosa, California to far-flung parcels around California's Santa Barbara, Monterey, Contra Costa, Mendocino, El Dorado, and Amador Counties. Dirty & Rowdy’s reds are hard to come by...

4/01/15 - Grape growing in Barolo and Barbaresco has changed quite a lot in the 12 years since I first visited, the most visible and obvious factor being the greatly diminished use of herbicide – there’s still plenty used, but at least the whole place doesn’t look like the moon with vines growing on it. Some of the better known producers who have farmed...