Archive
Vino Volo: Great Wines On The Go
Did you have any good wine at the airport lately? I hope you have, because I did. No, I didn’t need to sneak anything past security or convince myself that no name Merlot for $15/glass is great wine and great value. Your gateway to the good wine experience at the airport is called Vino Volo, and I recommend that you will look them up next time you are in the airport and in the mood for a good glass of wine.
Great thing about Vino Volo (actually, there are multiple) is that they have good wine selection and good prices, and you can also buy a bottle if you like something. On top of that is my favorite feature – wine tasting flights, opportunity to experience and learn. At any given moment they offer 4-5 different wine tasting flights, with selection slanted towards local wines – as much as possible, of course. So if you are in California, you should expect to find more Californian wines, and if you are in Portland, Oregon – you will find more wines from Oregon and Washington.
I stopped by Vino Volo in Oakland airport in California, and selected tasting flight of 3 California Cabernets (there were 6 different tasting flights available). I think spending $19 to try 3 different California Cabernets ranging from $48 to $87 per bottle represents a very good value.
All three wines were good and solid – no, they were not amazing, but they were good. Bremer Family Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 was the best of tasting – it had all the classic cedar and blackberry aromas, and had good balanced tannins and acidity. Blackbird Vineyards Contrarian 2007, which is a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, was not ready to drink. It was way to aggressive on the palate and will probably open up in another 5 years. And Flora Springs Trilogy 2007 had all the great aromatics, but unfortunately was disappearing in the mouth leaving you with the impression that something is missing (needed more structure). I might be totally wrong on this wine, however, as it might be simply too young – well, the time will tell. And last note I want to make here – out of curiosity, I wanted to check how bad Vino Volo’s prices are. I checked prices on the wine-searcher, and happy to report that all the prices were within $5 range from the best price which can be found on the wine-searcher (and it doesn’t include shipping), plus Bremer Family is available only from the winery so it is also a great find.
I can only thank folks at Vino Volo for their great service to all the wine lovers – and next time you are in the airport, remember – you CAN find good wine there…
The Wines To Dream Of
What do you think I plan to talk about? No, we are not going to talk about “best in the world wines” – we did it before, and that discussion is closed for now. In general, does it make sense to dream about some particular wine? There is such an abundance in each and every wine store, what’s that dreaming is all about? Well, first, it is a special time of the year – Holidays, Friends, New Year resolutions, new hopes and new desires – so a little dreaming is appropriate, right? Second, reality is often made out of things which were dreams before. Wine is as good of a material for the dreams as any other object – once you have an opportunity to taste, to experience the wine which YOU will deem “amazing”, it will give you a happy memory you can always come back to. And that is the great quality of the great experiences – they serve as an object of desire, and once achieved, they become a staple for the happy state of mind.
How one can come up with the list of “dream” wines? There are multiple ways to go about it, but for now, let’s just use wine ratings as a reference. More specifically, let’s use wine ratings from the major wine publications – Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate. Both use 100 points rating systems, with 100 being an absolute top rating (many other wine publications use the same 100-points scale). And if we are dreaming, let’s aim high – let only look at 100 point wines.
I can safely assume that you know perfectly well by now my approach to the wine ratings – you are The One who has final say on the wine – good or bad. However, when I look at 100 points ratings from magazines which rate tens of thousands of wines per year, I believe the 100 points represent some higher level of truth. Such ratings are not assigned left and right. If you will search on the Wine Spectator web site, you will find only 73 wines rated at 100 points – so I think this is something we can rely on. To connect the dreams with the reality, at least a little bit, I used one of the recent e-mails form Benchmark Wine Group, which listed available 100 point wines:
Chapoutier Hermitage Le Pavillon 2003 ~ WA100
Chateau d`Yquem 2001 ~ WA100, WS100
Domaine Romanee-Conti La Tache 1990 ~ WA100
Guigal Cote Rotie La Landonne 1999 ~ WA100, WS98
Guigal Cote Rotie La Landonne 2003 ~ WA100, WS98
Guigal Cote Rotie La Mouline 1983 ~ WA100
Guigal Cote Rotie La Turque 2003 ~ WA100, WS98
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1978 ~ WA100, WS99
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1990 ~ WA100
La Clusiere St. Emilion 2000 ~ WA100
La Mission Haut Brion 1982 ~ WA100
La Mission Haut Brion 2000 ~ WA100
Lafleur 1982 ~ WA100, WS99
Le Macchiole Messorio 2004 ~ WS100
Margaux 1990 ~ WA100, WS98, IWC98
Mouton Rothschild 1982 ~ WA100
Mouton Rothschild 1986 ~ WA100, WS99
Rieussec 2001 ~ WS100
Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 ~ WA100
Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select 2002 ~ WA100
Taylor Port 1992 ~ WA100
Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano 2001 ~ WS100
If you are interested in prices, you should check them out on the Benchmark Wine Group web site. Just to give you a range, the cheapest wine in this list is Rieussec at $154 and the most expensive is Domaine Romanee-Conti at $4200.
Will this wines be really amazing? Who knows? Are they worth seeking and dreaming about? You bet. Don’t know about you, but my wish list is ready! Keep on dreaming…
Tasting Series At Cost Less Wines – Part 3, Grand Tasting
This is the third and last post in the series about tasting events at Cost Less Wines and Liquors. Usually, the word “grand” assumes something of a substantial size, right? With “only” four wines being presented at the tasting, can we really call it “grand”? Yep, judging by the quality of the wines, this event is nothing but the “grand tasting”.
There were four wines in the tasting. The first was Pommery Champagne Grand Cru 1996. It was beautiful, mature “vintage champagne”, which tasted nothing like the regular non-vintage stuff – tremendous level of complexity with nuts and fresh bread presented on the palate in a very concentrated fashion. I have to stress though that vintage champagnes are an acquired taste. My first reaction about 6 years ago was “oh, my, what happened here? People can’t drink that”. And now – yes, just bring it on…
The next wine was Chateau Hosanna 2003. I was warned by Zak (owner of Cost Less Wines) that I would taste something special – I didn’t even expect how special this wine was. This wine comes from the Pomerol region in Bordeaux, and the property is literally bordering legendary Chateau Petrus which makes some of the world’s best (and most expensive) wines. Pomerol wines are Merlot-based, and Chateau Hosanna is a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. This wine was simply amazing. Tremendous balance of fruit, freshness, acidity and tannins, all arranged in the multiple layers with the long finish. The finish was so powerful that it came through even the next wine! This was one of the best wines I tasted in 2010, and I would give it Drinkability rating of 9.
The next wine was also not too shabby – Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2000, poured from the magnum (actually it was decanted). This was good clean Cabernet Sauvignon, with all classic Cabernet traits – a hint of eucalyptus and black currant, nice and clean. The only problem was – it was no match to Chateau Hosanna, which came right through at the finish (the order of wines was switched later on).
Last but not least – Rozes Over 40 Years Old Port. Generally, I can drink port wines, but it would not be something I would crave – if other choices of dessert wines would be present, like late harvest wines or Sauternes, I would gladly go with those. Anyway, this was true until now… This Rozes over 40 years old Port was unbelievable. I can’t even describe the nose – I can only tell you that it is impossible to let go of a glass. You really don’t want to drink that wine – all you want to do is smell, and smell, and smell. Tremendous. I can’t do justice to that smell by trying to describe it. Once you finally convince yourself to give it a taste, it matches your expectations from the smell. Mature, layered, with honey, nuts and spices, but not overly sweet and not overly alcoholic, very, very balanced. And finish? I can only tell you that this wine stayed in my mouth for the next 15 minutes… Drinkability – 9+. No more words are needed. Find this wine – you will not regret it.
Last thing I want to mention – all the wines represent great QPR. Vintage Champagne at $50, Mondavi Reserve Cabernet at $125, tremendous Bordeaux at $100 and 40 years old Port at $90 – these are great values for the wines of such quality and they shouldn’t be missed. And for me – great wines, great experience – makes me happy!
Tasting Series At Cost Less Wines – Part 2, The Hills of Scotland, or Glenlivet Tasting
Continuing our tasting series courtesy of Cost Less Wines, we are now moving from Champagne region in France to Speyside in Scotland. As a group, Speyside scotches usually mild, with nice and round character, and not very peaty. Subject of this tasting was The Glenlivet, oldest (and legendary) legal distillery in the region (as usual, Wikipedia provides wealth of information about the distillery, and also you can take a look at the company’s web site, even though I find it no so easy to use).
Four scotches were represented at the tasting – 15, 18, 21 and 25 years old. Such a tasting is a great opportunity to explore, experience and learn. Effectively, at this tasting you had an opportunity to try a “vertical”. I understand that wine category “Vertical”, when you try wine from the same winery made in a succession of years, is not applicable to scotch. But it is amazing what every 3 years in the cask would do to the actual taste. In the event, there was nice and noticeable progression in the taste – starting from smooth and simple Glenlivet 15, gaining complexity with the 18, and being super-rich, complex and round with 21.
To my taste, Glenlivet 21 was probably the best. It had very complex but clean taste profile (yes, it was my favorite in the tasting and it has great QPR at $110). However Glenlivet 25 was beyond complex. It had a lot of stuff going, including oily substances on the palate – or may be I simply didn’t spend enough time with it.
Does Glenlivet 25 worth $300? I think the answer is rather yes than no. At the same time, one have to really understand the virtues of taste of the fine scotch, in order to fully enjoy it. But in any case, it makes a fine present, especially for “someone who has everything”. I will be glad to try it again if I will have the opportunity, but for now – there will be more tasting events at Cost Less Wines, don’t miss it!
Tasting Series At Cost Less Wines – Part 1, Grown Up Champagne (Growers Champagne, It Is)
Holidays are great (hmmm, that’s a deep and original thought, huh). On one side, life gets really hectic – too many things to do, and not enough time. On another side, it is a special time, and people do special things. Wine is important part of any celebration, so holiday times are rich with great wine experiences. Particularly, starting from last Thursday, there were different wine tastings at Cost Less Wines in Stamford, which will continue until the end of this week. And if you are looking for special experiences – you don’t want to miss any of them (I know, it is Monday already – but better to start late than never!).
Thursday was a special day for the Champagnes. Indisputable king of any celebration, and ten times so for the New Year – Champagne requires no introduction. There are many many other similar wines, which are called “sparkling wines” as a group – but this is not the subject of this blog post, as it was not the subject of the wine tasting. Talking about Champagne, a number of familiar names comes to mind – Moët & Chandon (makers of famous Dom Pérignon), Louis Roederer (makers of Cristal), Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot – but we will not be talking about them here.
As wine overall is getting more popular in US, year after year, more of the interesting wines are becoming available here. In regards to Champagne, there is a growing phenomenon called Growers Champagne. All the Champagne names mentioned above belong to so called Champagne Houses. Champagne Houses do not grow their own grapes – they source their grapes from the whole Champagne region, and then blend the grapes to achieve particular taste profile, specific for each individual House. When it comes to the Growers Champagne, all the grapes are by the winery, which then makes the Champagne wine – only 5% of the grapes can come from outside to be eligible for “Growers Champagnes” designation. Growers Champagnes had being around from the beginning of actual commercial Champagnes, but only in the last 5 years or so, such wines became known in the United States. Before we talk about tasting, just one last note – you can recognize Growers Champagne by initials RM, which stands for Récoltant-Manipulant, which can be found on the label. Traditional Champagnes are typically designated as NM, Négociant-Manipulant. If you want to read more on the subject – wikipedia, as usual, provides great wealth of information.
Let’s talk about the tasting. There were 4 Growers Champagnes represented in the tasting: Chateau Aubry, Chateau Chartogne – Taillet Saint-Anne, Champagne Pierre Gimonnet & Fils and Champagne 
Gastone Chiquet 2002. The first one, Chateau Aubry was a bit all over the place – yes, it was sparkling wine, but I didn’t get much pleasure out of it. The next 3 delivered different experience. Chateau Chartogne – Taillet had nice yeasty nose and aromas of brioche and fresh bread. Chateau Pierre Gimonnet had nice clean nose and good refreshing acidity – totally different ffrom the previous one, it was still warmly inviting and asking to take another sip.
The best in tasting, however, was Chateau Gaston Chiquet 2002, the only vintage champagne in this tasting. Light and effervescent, medium to full body wine, showing its pedigree with aromas and taste of apples and fresh bread – definitely very nice bubbly (should we also mention great QPR at $50/bottle?).
Great wines, great experience. It would be very interesting to compare the Growers Champagnes with the other sparkling wines – I’m sure you can see the the blind tasting working its way in here. But don’t wait for me – experiment, try something new – find the bottle of Growers Champagne and tell me if it will brighten your Holidays. And just to give you a hint – we are traveling from France to Scotland with the next post…
Experiencing Judgment of Paris, Courtesy of Stew Leonard’s Wines
And again I have to thank folks at Stew Leonard’s Wines for putting together an interesting wine tasting event. This time we had an opportunity to relive legendary Judgment of Paris of 1976, a wine tasting event which put American wines on international wine map.
In 1976, a blind wine tasting took place in Paris. In that event, wines from Napa valley in California were put against classic French wines – and Californian wines won over French hands down, all in the event judged by the French wine critics and such, which became a turning moment for the whole American wine industry.
I have to mention that I just realized something: while I know some of the Napa wines presented at this Paris event, I have no idea what French wines they were competing against. Nevertheless, let’s talk about the wines presented at the tasting.
Starting with the white wines, there was Chateau Montelena Chardonnay from Napa valley, positioned against Michel Lelu Pouilly Fuisse from Burgundy. Chateau Montelena was one of the actual winners in the Judgment of Paris event (great story of Chateau Montelena is presented in the movie Bottle Shock). I don’t know if this Poilly Fuisse wine participated in the 1976 competition, but Chateau Montelena Chardonnay just beat it completely. The Pouilly Fuisse didn’t have much of anything going ( it belonged to the “also wine” category), where Chateau Montelena showed nice fruit and just right amount of oak, vanilla and butter – delicious!
Talking about red wines, the Stag’s Leap Artemis was also one of the original participants in the 1976 Judgment event. In the Paris tasting, it was competing against the Bordeaux. During the tasting at Stew Leonard’s Wines, it was “competing” with another Napa red, called Hansom. Both reds are from the great 2007 vintage and need more time to fully develop. Hansom, which is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, was a bit “overdone” to my taste, and it had noticeable “burnt fruit” on the palate – this is my personal terminology, which means that fruit and alcohol are not in harmonious balance with tannins and acidity. Artemis, which is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with small addition of Merlot and Petit Verdot, was very elegant and round, and the only thing it is asking for … is more time. It probably needs another 5-7 years to achieve true greatness. I assume that you can guess form this description that Artemis was my absolute favorite in this tasting.
In addition to tasting these four wines, I was able to try one more “off the record” wine, courtesy of Larry, who was manning the tasting station. I call it “off the record” because the wine was not the part of the tasting, but it simply happened to be open, and Larry was kind enough to give us a taste. The wine was called Block 2 Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 from Horse Heaven Hills area in Washington. To describe it quickly I would say that it was similar to Hansom in style, only done right – fruit forward but well balanced with enough acidity and tannins to make it a very pleasant wine (at $19.99 it is also a good value).
To conclude, I can only again say thank you to the Stew Leonard’s Wines folks, for putting together one great wine tasting after another. And they have done it again, by the way – it is Dom Perignon weekend at Stew Leonard’s Wines – don’t miss it!
Beaujolais Nouveau 2010 – Live Blog
What’s up with the “live blog”? No, I don’t plan to show the live recording in the Gary V. style (for those unfamiliar with Gary V. – please go to the Wine Library TV site, I promise you will enjoy it). For all of my posts so far, I don’t write them at the same time as I taste the wine or visiting the restaurant. Yes, I might take some notes, but all of the writing is still done later on, mostly based on the memory (yes, I make an effort to memorize the experience).
However, today is a special day for many wine lovers across the globe. In the 1970s, the tradition started in France, in the appellation called Beaujolais, to celebrate the first wine produced from the harvest of the same year. What was the French national event in the 1970s, now became a worldwide celebration, which always takes place on the third Thursday in November, and today is the day.
Beaujolais red wines are made from the grape called Gamay, and the wines are produced in the style of the neighboring Burgundy (which are made from Pinot Noir), but typically are lighter and don’t age that well.
When it comes to the Beaujolais Nouveau, this wine is made in 6 weeks after the harvest, so it is really light and fruity wine which is not supposed to age (should be consumed by May of the following year). Also, similar to the Pinot Noir wines, Beaujolais wines should be served slightly chilled (about 55F).
Therefore, considering such a special day, I’m writing this blog as I actually try the wines, starting with the opening of the bottles – and this is why I called this blog “live”. I can also tell you that last year, even before I tried the wines from 2009, I read somewhere that they supposed to be very good wines, so I was already influenced as I was trying the wines (read my previous post if you are curious why is that). This year, I have no expectations whatsoever, except the knowledge that these are young wines and they will taste accordingly to the very young age.
I decided to try Beaujolais Nouveau from two very famous French producers – Georges Duboeuf and Joseph Drouhin. The first producer, Joseph Drouhin used regular cork, and Duboeuf used synthetic one, both corks specifically imprinted for 2010 Beaujolais Nouveau. From the moment the bottles opened, Joseph Drouhin exhibited tremendous aroma of a fresh grape coming strongly right from the bottle, and for Duboeuf the same aroma was also noticeable, but less prominent. From here on, let’s diverge and talk about two wines separately.
Georges Duboeuf. Beautiful very intense dark garnet color. Nose is very solid, doesn’t have any off flavors which are common with very young wines. Cherries and raspberries are noticeable on the nose. With the first sip comes first surprise – the wine has very noticeable tannins. I don’t remember ever tasting the tannins in the Beaujolais Nouveau wines – wonder if this is the style of Duboeuf, but in any case that was a surprise – rather a good one, however. In addition to the cherries I can pick up some plums on the palate, all complemented by good acidity. This wine can be perfectly enjoyed by itself, but will also work very nicely with the wide range of lighter dishes or mild cheese. Considering the price of about $10 per bottle, this wine has great QPR.
Joseph Drouhin. The color is nearly identical – nice deep garnet. Nose is similar to Duboeuf, again without any off flavors. In addition to cherries I would say that there is a hint of strawberries, and again to my surprise, I would probably add a hint of white pepper to that bouquet, which is not something I would typically associate with Gamay grape. On the palate, I would dare to say that this wine has more flavor. I practically don’t pickup any tannins, but instead, there is a great amount of nice supple fruit (again, cherries, plums, raspberries) and very refreshing acidity – oops, and now tannins are coming in approximately 30-40 seconds after the sip of wine. Wow! If the first wine was good, this one is even better – and again, amazing QPR at $11/bottle.
Well, what can I tell you? There is a general sentiment among wine industry professionals that quality of the wines is becoming better and better every year. Tasting these two wines today, I can not agree more. I clearly remember a number of years ago tasting Beaujolais Nouveau with the only one afterthought – “please, I don’t want to ever touch this wine again, and… is it okay to pour the rest of this bottle down the drain?”. My experience this year is totally different. These wines are excellent, and if you didn’t do it yet, you have to go and buy a few bottles… and enjoy! In terms of drinkability, I would rate Duboeuf at 8-, and Drouhin at 8. And, yes, I know it is late, but I need another glass…
Taste Of Wine – Engineering Approach
You might be baffled by the title of this post, but I promise to explain. I even expect that it will make sense in the end and will not be boring. No, this post will not be talking about kinds of machinery necessary to properly taste wine. Wine, in its seeming simplicity, has a mystic aura surrounding it. Perceived taste of wine is definitely one of the areas where mystery of wine unfolds – and this is what I want to discuss.
Quite frankly, blog post by W. Blake Gray “Why expensive wines taste better: Psychology 101” prompted me to think about subject of taste of wine, and the factors which affect the perceived taste. Being a computer engineer by education, I like to use an orderly approach when a phenomena needs to be analyzed. But wine has nothing to do with computer engineering you contend? True, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t use some interesting tools to put the thoughts in order. As a side note, I want to mention that I have experience successfully using engineer approach in totally non-engineering subjects – in college, together with my friend Alexander (Sasha) we converted whole semester course of philosophy into block-charts, one night before exam. It worked!
Please relax – there will be no block-charts or algorithms in this post. For putting the thoughts in order I would like to use tool from the Mind Mapping category, called FreeMind – you can find it on internet, and if not – send me a message and I will help. This tool allows you to put your thoughts in order, and then do the analysis. How? Let’s see. So here is the group of factors which affect the perceived taste of wine (good/bad, tasty/disguising and so on): Organoleptic (smell, color, taste and so on), Tools which can alter the taste, Expectations and Environment – note, that these are only my thoughts, though. Here is the same – but in the format of the mind map:
What are this “Expectations”, or what does “Environment” means, and do I include screwdriver into the “Tools” and why, you may ask? Let’s add one more level of details and then talk about it. So here is the expanded picture:
Now, there is a lot more we can talk about. Let’s start with expectations. There is a lot of factors which might influence our opinion about the wine by setting our expectations prior to opening the bottle. Do Ratings affect perceived taste of wine? You bet! “Robert Parker gave this wine 97 rating, I’m sure it should taste amazing”. “This wine is rated at 95 by Wine Spectator – I’m sure it will taste great!”. And then it does not – for you personally, it doesn’t. And there is nothing wrong with you – may be you are just in bad mood, or may be this magnificent Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley simply doesn’t work well with Chinese sweet and sour chicken, or may be this is just not the wine you like. Those critics who rated the wine 95 points have to be objective ( this is their job), but you, consumer, don’t have to – like/don’t like is the best rating (we will discuss this in the future).
Where the wine was made (“I love the wines from Napa”, “German wines are the best in the world”…), who made it (“ahh, it is Petrus”, “oh my, this wine is made by Screaming Eagle”) and the price (“I paid $100 for this bottle!”, “yeah, I only paid $10 for this bottle”) – all will (or at least, might) influence the perceived taste. Do other people opinions affect our expectations? Absolutely. What about books, articles and advertisements? Yep, most definitely. However, it is very important to note that the more you learn about wines, and by learning I mostly mean trying different styles of wines coming from different regions, the less “affecting” these factors become.
Will the temperature affect the taste of wine? Of course. Will proper (or improper) decanting affect taste of wine – yes, in many cases. Some of the factors, such as decanting, might affect the taste in the two different ways – one is simply aesthetics, with the expectations are set with the sheer “wow” factor of the proper decanting, and another one is a physical effect, by allowing the wine to “breathe” , open up to reach the optimum flavor profile (yes, there is more to the decanting, but this is not what this post is all about).
We can go and discuss the factors one by one for a long time – it will make this post very long – and probably equally boring. But as we have an advantage of playing with the mind map, let me simply give you more food for thought – here is fully expanded version of this mind map. Remember, it is just a momentary snapshot of your thought process, and it is as fluid as thoughts themselves:
Before we conclude, I would like to touch on of the important factors which is hiding there in the “Environment” group – blind wine tasting. Of course there are different levels of “blindness”. When you taste the wines as part of the Master Sommelier exams, you have no information about the wine, outside of what you can see, smell and taste. In many other cases, you know only a small piece of information – for instance, tasting the wines during the Windows of the World Wine School classes, we knew the region (Bordeaux, California…), but nothing beyond that. Why it is important to taste the wine blind? It eliminates most of the influencing factors which get in the way of you establishing very simple relationship with the glass of wine you have in your hand – I like it, or I don’t.
Well, I think it is enough for this post. I would love to hear from you – was it boring, was it interesting, am I totally off in my thought process. If you want more information on the mind mapping – I will be glad to send you links. If you want the mind map file for the Taste of Wine – drop me a note, I will be glad to send it to you. And most importantly, tell me your wine tasting stories – and keep learning about the wines!
80 Sips, Loud Music And New Grape (Treble Journey #277)
Last Friday we attended “Around The World in 80 Sips” wine tasting event in New York City, organized by Bottlenotes. The idea of the event is to present wines from all over the world, from such wine stalwarts like France, Italy and Australia to literally unknown wine producing countries such as Lebanon. There were more than 100 wines presented in the event, which was not free ($75 standard ticket price, we paid $50, courtesy of The Austrian Wines).
Overall, I found the event somewhat challenging to enjoy. No, nothing wrong with the wines – there were a number of very good wines to taste. My first issue was really (I mean, really) loud music. There was not possible to talk face to face, never mind listening to the explanations about wines. The second issue was the sheer crowd. I really like wine tastings, big and small – if I only have a chance, I attend them as much as possible – wine tastings are the best places to learn and experience. I’ve being to all kinds of events – trade only and consumers, with thousands of wines present and with the handful of wines. I never being to the event where you have to stand for 10 minutes, not even in the line, but with your arm with the glass fully extended through the crowd, in the hope that wine will make it into your glass – mind you, we are not talking about tasting Petrus or Screaming Eagle here.
Leaving all the inconveniences aside, there were a number of good wines from those I was able to reach. Particularly, there were a number of interesting wines from Austria. This is where I managed to pick up grape #277, Rotgipfler, with the wine called Stadlmann Rotgipfler Tagelstiner 2008. My particlar favorite here was Fritsch Pinot Noir 2004, which had finesse and elegance of the classic Pinot, with more pronounced earthiness, typical for Austrian wines. It is interesting to note that we went through 3 bottles to really get the beauty of this wine showing – first was so so for some reason, second one corked but the third one was shining.
My overall tasting favorites were a couple of wines from New Zealand. First, a Pinot Noir 2007 from Palliser Estate in Martinborough. There were a number of good Pinot Noir wines from New Zealand, both from Martinborough and Central Orago, from 2007 and 2008 vintages. This particular Palliser Estate Pinot Noir had the most elegance out of the group, with classic Pinot smoky nose and restrained fruitiness of the New World wine.
The other two of my favorites where two white wines from New Zealand, one of them being total surprise. 
First was Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from the same Palliser Estate. I have to honestly admit that I have a weakness towards New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs – I enjoy them very much. The Palliser Estate Sauvignon Blanc had more of everything – not that it was a fruit bomb, no, simply the fruit was a lot more pronounced, such as in-your-face-gooseberry. I would put Drinkability of this wine at 8+.
And the surprise came in the form of Riesling from New Zealand. Why the surprise? First, I never had before a Riesling from New Zealand. Second, based on the experience with neighboring Australian Rieslings, which I find too dry and not pleasant, my expectations were quite low. And the surprise was in the fact that this particular East Coast Riesling from Giesen was actually tasting like … German Riesling, only done more in the fruit forward style (not sweet at all, the Kabinett level), very nice and pleasant.
To conclude: am I grateful for the experience I had? Of course. Wine tastings are always fun. Will I attend another Bottlenotes event? As of right now – I don’t think so, but hey, you never know…
Daily Glass: Iron Horse, Opus One and First Taste of 2009 Bordeaux
And again great folks from Stew Leonard’s Wines in Norwalk, Connecticut, helped many of us to learn and experience, and even with the new twist.
The twist was the fact that Iron Horse tasting was set as “SIP and TWIT” event – you can tweet about wines you are tasting, and as long as everybody adding #stewswines at the end of the twits, all twits can be easily found in social media channels. Besides, you can sign up for winetwits.com and become part of the information-sharing (“twitting”) network about the wines.
While this is all fun, let’s talk a bit about wines. There were 4 different wines from Iron Horse in the tasting. Sparkling Wedding Cuvee, Sparkling Brut, Pinot Noir, and unoaked Chardonnay. All four were good wines, but they didn’t stand out.
The next wine from the same tasting definitely belongs to the “experiences” group. Opus One, the product of joint venture between Napa legend Robert Mondavi and Bordeaux superpower Baron Rothschild, this wine was created to achieve the maximum potential of Napa Valley signature grape, Cabernet Sauvignon. Opus One is quite expensive, rare and collectible, and 2007 was a great year for California’s Cabernet wines, with very high ratings across the board from all different wine publications – this two factors combined promise a great experience.
The wine had a magnificent smell of Cabernet Sauvignon, with licorice, eucalyptus and black currant on the nose, very smooth and powerful on the palate, with balanced tannins. Finish left to be desired more, somehow subsiding to the greenish, a bit underripe grape. It is a very good wine – however, in my book, the QPR is a king, as soon as we are done talking about tannins and finish. And at $149, it is absolutely not a bargain. There are so many equally well made Cabernet Sauvignon wines, at a fourth, fifth or even sixth part of the price, that it immediately changes the whole picture. It is a great experience, but not the one where you feel that you have to make the next step and actually own a bottle.
Last, but not least for this post is the first taste of 2009 Bordeaux. 
Just a regular Bordeaux, Chateau du Colombier, $11.99 at Bottle King – but from the 2009 vintage. 2009 vintage is compared to the greatest Bordeaux vintages of all times, such as 1949, 1982, 2000 and 2005. Of course, Bordeaux requires aging, from 10 to 30 years (or longer), in order to really shine. And getting aged Bordeaux is becoming impossible, as it skyrockets in price and becomes extremely scarce. But the good thing is that in a great year, even the simplest Bordeaux bottlings will deliver great value and will age very well, so you will be able to enjoy aged Bordeaux after all.
This particular wine had a very nice nose and palate of dark fruits, with good acidity and tannins. No, it was not an amazing wine – yet. This is the time to experiment. Get a few bottles of Bordeaux 2009, stash it in the far most corner of your cellar, and don’t touch it for 5-7 years. And after that – reach out, get that bottle opened – you might be on the way to discover greatness…
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