Archive
Wednesday Meritage #162
Meritage Time!
Here is your [extremely irregular] update on the interesting wine (and food) happenings that recently grabbed my attention. Let’s start with some local updates first.
New stories of Passion and Pinot
Last week I published a new interview in the Stories of Passion and Pinot series – this time with David Adelsheim, one of the early pioneers of the Oregon Pinot revolution. This is one of the very best interviews in the series and will be well worth a few minutes of your time – if you will crave a glass of Pinot after reading it, I’m not responsible for it. There are 15 interviews plus multiple updates in the series, and more interviews and updates are up and coming in the series – my conversations with Erik Kramer of WillaKenzie and Bill Sanchez of Potter’s Vineyard will be published soon.
Yelp 100 Top Restaurants
Yes, I’m mostly writing about wine in this blog, but I love food and I’m actually a “yelper”, both as a user of and as a contributor to the popular Yelp website. I rely on Yelp’s recommendations when I travel, and I go out of my way to write a review after visiting a restaurant (I rarely review other businesses or attractions). Yelp recently released a list of the 100 most popular restaurants around the US – it is a fun reading to see what the others like, so you might want to spend a few minutes browsing through. Who knows, maybe you will see your favorite eatery among the top 5…
This Day In Wine History
I love data. It doesn’t have to be anything useful. Just data, information, facts – especially if it concerns subjects that are near and dear to my heart – like wine. As a data collector, do you want to know what happened in the history of wine on a specific day of the month – let’s say, February 1st? Now you can, with the help of the website called This Day in Wine History. For example, I just learned what happened on February 1st. According to the website, “February 1, 1141: On this day, the foundation of Barone Ricasoli, Italy, was laid. The Tuscan winery is the oldest one still in business in Italy”. Or here is another February 1st event: “February 1, 1801: On this day, John June Lewis, Sr was born. He is known as the first African-American winemaker in the United States”. The information on the website is not limited to the singular date events – you can find in-depth articles about the history of the wine decanters or all you wanted to know about widow Clicquot, one of the key figures in the history of Champagne. Check it out, I have a suspicion that you might find it useful and entertaining.
OTBN – Open That Bottle Night
It is never too early to talk about one of my favorite wine holidays – Open That Bottle Night, or OTBN for short. This year, OTBN, which is celebrated on the last Saturday in February, will fall on February 25th. I wrote about OTBN numerous times so if you are not familiar with the concept please click on the link. For the rest of us, the game is on, and it is not too early to start thinking about those special bottle(s) that are waiting and begging to be opened. Yep, start looking in that cellar… If you are anything like me, that special bottle decision will not come with ease…
That’s all I have for you for today. The glass is empty, but the refill is on the way. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage #157
Meritage time!
Ohh, it’s been two months since the last Meritage issue – well, let’s get to it.
We have 12 months in the year, right? I’m not trying to keep track, but it seems that April is disappropriately loaded in the world of wine. I will let you be the judge – here is what we are celebrating in April 2021:
April is the 2nd annual Walla Walla Valley Wine Month – I was lucky to already celebrate Walla Walla wines in style with brand new wine from Cayuse – Double Lucky #8, but if you need any tips regarding Walla Walla valley wines you can find them here.
April is Sonoma County Wine Month. For celebration tips, use this link.
April is California Wines – Down To Earth Month. Sustainability is a big thing in California winemaking – you can learn more about it here.
April is Michigan Wine Month. I never tasted a wine from Michigan, so I would happily join this celebration – if I would know how (Michigan wines are not sold in Connecticut).
April is British Columbia Wine Month – another region that is very difficult to celebrate here in Connecticut. If the world of wine has mysteries, a complete absence of Canadian wines in the USA (okay – for sure in Connecticut) is one of them.
I think this sums up wine months celebrations, but let’s not forget the grapes! According to the Traveling Corkscrew wine blog, the following grapes are celebrated in April (are you ready?):
April 14 (today) – Tannat Day
April 17 – Malbec World Day
April 27 – World Marselan Day
To ensure you never miss a grape holiday in 2021, here is the link for you for the Traveling Corkscrew post summarizing all of the grape holidays of 2021.
Wine is the product of the Earth – above and beyond all of the wine months celebration, April is the Earth Month, and April 22nd is celebrated as Earth Day since 1970. Here is you can find the history of the Earth Day celebration. If you need any tips for how to celebrate Earth Month 2021, you might find useful this link.
Do you now see that April 2021 is really a special month?
Before we are done for today, I have one more wine story to share with you. Porch.com, an “everything about home” portal, compiled the list of recommendations from wine folks regarding cellaring and enjoying wines at home (a few words from yours truly are included) – you can find this informative post here.
That’s all I have for you today. The glass is empty, but the refill is on the way. Cheers!
Wednesday Meritage #151
Meritage time!
Why don’t we start with the Top 100 wines list – James Suckling Top 100 Wines of 2020. Having created my own top dozen wine lists, I have a lot of appreciation for all the hard work deciding on the best 100 wines from tens of thousands of potential candidates. But I have to say that this 2020 Top 100 list is full of surprises. I will let you do your own analysis, but here are my observations. The top wine of the year is a Pinot Noir from Patagonia in Argentina. The first time you find Californian wine on the list is in position #31. France – #56! Lots and lots of German, Italian and Australian wines in the top third of the list. Really unique and different. I plan to do a bit more analysis once Wine Spectator releases its own Top 100 list on December 14th.
If you are an obsessed wine lover living in the USA, I’m sure you are perfectly familiar with Last Bottle Wines, a great online source of amazing wines sold at value prices. What I recently learned, courtesy of the search engine, that Last Bottle also has an excellent wine education section, called Last Bottle Sediments. You can learn about Burgundy, Riesling, or many other popular wines – all in a concise, well-written manner. There is never enough good wine information, so check this out.
I’m sure you heard already about China imposing tariffs on Australian wines, some in excess of 212% – this is definitely terrible news for the Australian wine industry, and for the worldwide wine market. In case you are trying to understand what is going on there, here is a very good article from the Wine-Searcher, offering an in-depth exploration of the conundrum.
Okay, now – who likes corked wines? Yep, I don’t know too many (any?) wine lovers who do. You know how it goes – you fetch the bottle from the cellar for dinner with special friends. You pull the cork, you pour a little taste, and the first whiff of air from the glass makes you cringe – you smell wet basement. Your well-thought entertainment ideas and joy of sharing a special bottle are all trashed – the wine can go only directly into the drain. Or not? According to the research conducted by French scientists, a plastic wrap of specific qualities can actually remove the cork taint from the wine. Before you sigh with relief, read the article – the experiments were conducted on the wine barrels, using very specific cling wrap – but who knows, maybe your kitchen staple can have a brand new use now…
Last but not least – the grape holiday is coming! This coming Friday, December 4th, we will be celebrating one of the tastiest grapes in the world – Cabernet Franc. Cabernet Franc is one of the main grapes in Bordeaux and California, but Cabernet Franc really has no country borders in its appeal, as there is hardly a wine-producing region, never mind the country, which doesn’t produce a delicious Cabernet Franc wine – Argentina, Australia, Chile, California, Washington, Oregon, New York, Canada, France, Italy, Israel, South Africa – we can go on and on. A few years ago, Lori Budd, who makes delicious renditions of Cabernet Franc in California under the Dracaena Wines labels, founded the Cabernet Franc Day to celebrate the noble grape. Don’t stay aside, join the festivities – get the bottle of your favorite Cabernet Franc, and share your happy moments with everybody.
To finish, a couple of interesting stories from the Wine Spectator. First, here you can read about a special around the world voyage of two barrels of Sherry on board the Spanish ship, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation. This journey should take 12 months and 44,000 miles. Upon return, the Sherry, produced by Gonzales Byass, will be bottled and commercially sold in some quantities, and it is expected to improve due to maritime influences. And here you can read about a special Port release by Taylor Fladgate, to commemorate the release of the 3rd movie in the Kingsman franchise. Special edition Kingsman Port spent about 90 years in the oak barrels, appropriately priced at $3,800, and packaged in a crystal decanter. I’m definitely looking forward to watching the movie when it comes out in February 2021, but as for the Port – Christmas is around the corner, so can I hope for a present from a kind soul?
That’s all I have for you today. The glass is empty, but the refill is on the way. Cheers!
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