Archive for the ‘Rating Wine’ Category
IMPRESSIVE WINES FOUND AT THE FAMILY WINEMAKERS ANNUAL TASTING BOCAGE 2004 Monterey Unoaked Chardonnay.Amazing Fruit profile Bucklin 2001 Sonoma Valley Old Hill R%anch Zinfandel.Pure old vine decadence with structure. Sierra Vista 2004 UnOaked ChardonnayMore proof the "unoaked" trend is producing spectacular results Skewis 2003 Anderson Valley "Floodgate Vineyard" Pinot NoirClassic, rich AV Pinot that has long been the best rendition from this vineyardAubin Cellars‘ 2003 "Verve" Russian River Valley Pinot NoirTremendous Pinot Noir. The find of the Show. Only 125…
So I’m browsing through Dean & Deluca today after a meeting in Napa. I’m picking up aged Gruyere, some St. Agur Blue, some duck liver pate. I wander over to the wine side of the store, a really remarkable collection of CA wine. And there’s my favorite section: Pinot. I looked at 25 pinot noirs. Just one came in under 14% alcohol (13.9%). The majority were in the 14.8% area. A few in the 15%+ region and one that was…
What will it take to get California winemakers to concentrate on producing balanced wines with lover alcohol, higher acidity and just a tad less extraction? In other words, wines of substance that have at least the chance to reflect their place of origin and give drinkers an opportunity to have more than two glasses with a meal without getting drunk. This was the substance of a conversation I had with a client the other day after they called to inform…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before. A wine critic and consultant has issued a press release to announce that others in the wine media are now coming around to his way of thinking regarding the 1996 Burgundy vintage; in particular, that it wasn’t nearly as good as it was originally declared to be and its wines are dying. The release was issued today via PRweb by Thierry Paul Leroux, a wine consultant and proprietor of elitewine.com. The focus…
Can a wine be considered "GREAT" and should it attain a score of 98 or above if it isn’t likely to improve with age? Put another way, given that it is not meant to age, what score would a perfect dry rose garner? Robert Parker, among other reviewers and wine lovers, reserves a portion of his assessment points for a wine’s ability to age. If the wine is, in their assessment, likely to improve and develop complexity with age, it…
