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What the Wine Intelligence US COVID-19 Impact Report Says About How We're Drinking Wine Now
Wine consumption during COVIDwineindustryadvisor.com. WineIndustryAdvisor.com very recently reported on the release of a report titledWine Intelligence US COVID-19 Impact Report by Wine Intelligence, who are a group of people who issue reports (mostly about wine industry-related trends). Now, I’m reporting the report of that report to you, because apparently we’re in the Postmodern meta-meta-meta referencing stage of this particular bit of news!
Remembering a Bordeaux Legend: A Chance Meeting with the Late, Great André Lurton
I will probably be forever grateful that, when I was in Bordeaux (as amedia guest of Planet Bordeaux), and oenologist Vincent Cruège asked my group if we wanted to meet André Lurton, I insisted that we answer YES. Now passed on, at the time Lurton was 90 years young. This was a man who, apart from being a near-legend in Bordeaux winemaking, has been Mayor of Grézillac, a soldier in World War II, a Military Cross recipient, member of the Legion of Honour, a Knight of the Agricultural Order of Merit, and a collector of tanks (not steel tanks, though there are plenty of those on the property, but the kind of tanks that actually fire explosive shell rounds).
A Super Performer Among "Super Tuscans": the Wines of Italy's Argentiera Bolgheri
Despite not being able to travel quite as freely as normal yet as we come out of the pandemic lockdown, I was still able (thanks to shipped samples and the technological magic of Zoom) to enjoy the highly-regarded and highly-priced selections from Italy’s Bolgheri’s Argentiera. While named after the silver mines that once dotted their home turf in Maremma, this Tuscan producer is pretty much all gold-standard, with 95+ point scores from the conventional critics being kind of the norm for their reds.
History and Longevity: the Wines of Sella & Mosca In Sardinia
Founded in 1899 by two Piedmont businessmen, Erminio Sella and Edgardo Mosca, Sella & Mosca is one of those producers whose wines feel inextricably tied to the place in which they are made. At the time, Sella and Mosca, after the Phylloxera epidemic, ambitiously wanted to reclaim vineyards in Sardinia’s I Piani area. Now, the I Piani estate is the second largest contiguous vineyard in Italy, and still employs the cellars built in 1903.
Frapin Extra Grande Champagne Cognac Impresses - But Is It Worth the Price?
While scorching weather is upon a good deal of the USA right now, the advent of this latest batch of high temperatures actually has me reminiscing about a time a few years ago, when most of the U.S. had just crawled out from under some of the most bitter winter cold to hit the country in over a decade. Not so much cold that gets into your bones so much as cold that gets into your soul, the kind of cold that embitters otherwise cheerful people towards life itself.
What's Old Is New at Spain's Fabled Lopez de Heredia
Ideally, this article would begin with a preamble about visiting the historic property at Rioja’s R. Lopez de Heredia, telling you about how I ran my hands through the cobwebs and dust covering the old bottles in their “Cemetery” cellar museum, strolling in the half-light through the corridors of barrels in the late-1800s El Calado Cellar, finally taking in the sunset at the Viña Tondonia vineyards on the river Ebro.
A Spaniard Takes on Napa Valley in the Wines of Galerie
There seems to be a bit more going on underneath the surface of Laura Díaz Muñoz than you might at first suspect from her somewhat reserved demeanor. And if winemaking has any potential of being a window into the personality of a winemaker, her Galerie wines have enough intriguing tension under the surface to suggest Muñoz has more complexity than she at first reveals.
Revisiting a Willamette Valley Original: Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir Retrospective
Generally speaking, when you’re attending a Pinot Noir masterclass-style tasting hosted by one of a wine region’s most historically significant properties, it’s not considered good form to giggle like an eight year-old girl.
A Dry Creek Original: the Wines of Ridge Lytton Springs
Some tasks are just… unenviable. Take, for example, trying to say something new about iconic California producer Ridge that’s not already been said. Go ahead, give it a shot; it’s not easy, folks. Some people are adept at taking the same few chords or themes and churning out something that sounds totally new; The Kinks, The Who, John Grisham (okay, maybe not Grisham). I am not one of those people. The Ridge story has been told several times in print, and from a wine perspective equates to something like “these are excellent, potentially long-lived reds, go buy some; the end… why are you still here?”
Humble Surroundings Belie Exceptional Wines at Champagne Mailly
The ugly truth is that I – quite lazily – did not really want to write about Champagne cooperative Mailly (which takes its moniker, and the fruit from its Grand Cru vineyards, from the town of the same name). In fact, I felt so lazy about it, that I employed the writer’s laziest device (the dash) in the very first sentence (shame on me!).
The "Other" Perrier: Joseph Perrier Champagne Carves Out Its Own Identity
Jean-Claude Fourmon – president of the fourth-generation family-owned Joseph Perrier in Châlons-en-Champagne – doesn’t seem at all deterred by the fact that, in the U.S., his brand is probably best known as “that other Perrier” that not quite as many people have tasted.
Raw Authenticity: the Wines of Champagne's Jacques Lassaigne
If you’re in the bubbly business in the Aube (the southern region in France’s Champagne-Ardenne), then you have to make peace with the fact that, compared with the popular Épernay and Ay to the north, you’re basically the odd-person-out of Champagne.
More Quality, Less Pomposity: the Wines of Calistoga's Amici
That Amici’s Associate Winemaker Bobby Donnell was speaking truth to me – and not just laying out the typical wine country cliché – was evidenced by the total lack of anything resembling Napa Valley pomposity in Amici’s vinous Calistoga hamlet.
Unfairly Wine Maligned? Revisiting 1995 Château de Sales in West Chester
I tasted something recently (courtesy of a business lunch in West Chester with local Philadelphia-based wine educator Bob Trimble) that I found intriguing enough to mention, though I am sometimes a bit timid about reviewing older wines whose storage provenance I can’t verify. In this case, however, I was comfortable enough to take it on faith that the wine in question was kept in tip-top shape since the mid-1990s.
Wild Wines from a Wild Guy: Exploring Walla Walla's Cayuse
Christophe Baron, the short, edgy, high-energy force behind Walla Walla’s controversial Cayuse, is sniffing dirt. And – in a very thick French accent that betrays his Charly-sur-Marne heritage and belies his nearly twenty-year stint in the Pacific Northwest – he’s imploring me to do the same.
Seeking Out Truly Food-Friendly Red Wines at Bordeaux's Chateau Féret-Lambert
When most people hear the name of a French Chateau, they conjure up in their mind’s eye a scenario that probably looks a lot like what Féret-Lambert is like in real life: green hills punctuated by vineyards bulging with ripe, juicy Merlot grapes; a large, picturesque house dating from the 1700s, located a stone’s throw from Saint-Emilion in the French countryside.
An Old School Take on Modern Rioja Wines with Miguel Merino
“In Spain, when you’re fifteen, sixteen years old, you have to decide what you want to study: Science or Humanities,” joked Rioja’s Miguel Merino. “I chose Humanities… so I can’t let the wine go wrong, otherwise I won’t know what to do to make money!”
Tanner Dafoe Cabernet Puts Santa Ynez Valley Wine in the Spotlight
Question: What do you get when you cross a law-school trained producer of films and commercials with a former professional mountain snowboarder?. In the case of Tanner Dafoe (named after Jeff Tanner and Rob DaFoe, the producer and snowboarder, respectively), you get some fairly complete and substantial Cabernet Sauvignon priced like the California cult red that it is, only (blessedly) with more acid.
Winemaker Christine Barbe Brings French Sensibility to Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc
At this point, I think that we’ve established that Bordeaux native Christine Barbe is at least a little bit crazy. Very talented, but a little crazy. Crazy enough to justify the namesake of her personal brand, Toquade, anyway.
Historic, Older Vines Yield Modern Wines in Rioja's Izadi
To get a feel for how important the culture of the vine is in the tiny and picturesque hilltop town of Villabuena in Rioja Alavesa, consider this: Villabuena has roughly 317 inhabitants, and just over ten percent of them (about 40) are wineries; so the town hosts 1 winery for every 8 or so people.
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a.k.a. Joe Roberts. Dad, wine-writer-guy, wine critic, wine competition judge, author, bassist, free-thinker, & occasional hiney-shaker. Opening up highly-pressurized cans of whoop-a** on the wine industry since 2007. Joe is a Certified Specialist of Wine, and the author of Wine Taster’s Guide: Drink and Learn with 30 Wine Tastings.
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