Dr Vino’s wine blog

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SPIT: Wine tasting menus!
John and Dottie, WSJ wine columnists known for their sunny outlook, go negative on NYC wine pairing menus. Le Bernardin takes it the hardest. To the tape: “”Very little went right. The sommelier didn’t hear a word we said…Each white wine was served in the same kind of glass…not one of the seven wines we were served was poured from a full bottle…Most important to us, the pairings themselves were uninspired….We felt very much like we had been treated as hayseed tourists who ordered the tasting and wine-pairing menus only because we didn’t know how to pronounce the names of any of the dishes or wines.” Price: $280–for the wine only. And a parting shot on the phenom: “when we order the tasting menu, the restaurant puts us on its schedule, which is generally too rushed.” [WSJ]

SIPPED: Amazon swirls and sniffs
Move over Manuka honey: Amazon may soon sell wine along with its growing non-perishable grocery line according to the Financial Times today. This would be a welcome entrant into the brier patch of online wine retail. The more retailers, the merrier the wine consumer! The story has a mention of fellow wine blogger Tom Wark. [FT.com]

SIPPED: foreign owners in Bordeaux
Properties producing mid-range wines on the periphery of Bordeaux have been squeezed in recent years. But they may find relief from foreign buyers as evidenced by Haiyan Cheng, 28-year-old daughter of “vastly wealthy Chinese businessman,” Zuochang Cheng. She bought a property–a first for a Chinese buyer in the region–for $3 million and plans to renovate it and expand the vineyards. [NYT]

SPIT: Merlot (again), this time for headaches?
Merlot can’t get no lovin’. Malolactic fermentation may improve the taste of red wines but it also fills them with tyramines and histamines, which cause allergic reactions in many people. “Merlots seem to be particularly high,” UC Berkeley Professor of Chemistry Richard Mathies said although his research is inconclusive. [Red orbit]

SIPPED: Amen to that!
Taking Communion may soon help Chilean farmers get a fair price for grapes. The clergy and parishioners at Manchester Cathedral evaluate the wine today for potential introduction as possibly the world’s first “Fairtrade” Communion wine. Seventy percent of the churches in the Diocese serve Fairtrade tea and coffee. [BBC]

SIPPED: Drink for causes, part II
“For each bottle of wine you purchase as futures from his Lookout Ridge Winery, [Sonoma vintner Gordon Holmes (and former Wall Street publisher)] donates a wheelchair in your name to one of the world’s 100 million needy people desperate for mobility.” Andy Erikson of Screaming Eagle fame is one of the winemakers. (find this wine) [Bloomberg]

Mike Steinberger, who is one of the greatest wine writers on the planet, has a piece on Slate about his quest for 1947 Cheval Blanc (find this wine), which he calls “The Greatest Wine on the Planet.” Consider it essential reading: savor the story since the wine itself is much more elusive.

And if you didn’t catch it, last year Mike went on a quest for a $700 bottle of 1996 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne.

Image: Michael Steinberger

How would you like to intern at a winery during harvest? OK, one of the top chateaux in Margaux? OK, now add that you are a high school student and think how cool that would be!?!?

Following our discussion of kids at wineries, I was delighted to learn that Chateau Palmer has an open view on the subject–at least for teenagers. Bernard de Laage explained to me in New York recently that Danish high school students have been coming to the chateau to help with harvest since 1997. Danish students have to do a work-study and some clever teacher there dreamed up the idea of bringing them down by bus for a month. Um, how come no teacher at my high school ever had this brilliant idea?

Bernard told me that the students are great workers for at least two reasons. First, “they have no bad habits.” He was speaking to their harvesting abilities, of course. Because they have done no previous vineyard work, they “do exactly what we say,” Bernard told me. Second, he said that “we can rely on them–they’re here every day.” Local workers for hire, by contrast, are available some days, but not others as they scramble to help across many vineyards.

It seems like a jolly time judging by the tiny photos on the Chateau Palmer blog. I wonder what they drank at meal time? My guess is not rum and coke.

What do you call a Bordeaux merlot blended with some syrah? Alexandre Sirech calls it a cuvée hermitagée. The French authorities also call it a vin de table.

Sirech says that in the 17th and 18th centuries, some of the top wines of Bordeaux had some syrah from Hermitage in the Rhone added to them. With the rise of the appellation system in the early 20th century, this practice became forbidden if the wine was to be labeled with any of the Bordeaux appellations since 100 percent of the wine must come from the appellation.

He’s launching a new wine called “Les Deux Terroirs” that revives this tradition. (Chateau Palmer in Margaux has also experimented with the idea.) Since it is outside the appellation system it is thus labeled as a vin de table, theoretically the lowest rung on the French system. That means the wine cannot state on the label the place where it comes from (other than France) or the vintage.

Sirech, 40, has been in the wine and spirits business for almost 20 years. He’s had two long stints at Pernod Ricard interrupted by starting his own online wine retailer, ChateauNet, which he sold in 1999. Most recently he ran Havana Club rum for Pernod Ricard out of Havana.

I asked him via email how he saw a need for the wine through the marketplace or the terroir(s). Here’s his reply:

Quite frankly I had been thinking for a long time that the AOC decrees were too limiting. The AOC system has plenty of advantages but one big inconvenience: it prevents innovation. We need the AOCs but I think we also need a modern/free/hedonistic wine like “Les Deux Terroirs”.

Also, I had been selling a lot of Jacob’s Creek for Pernod Ricard in the UK and I had seen the merit of blending Syrah with Merlot or Cabernet, something that was unthinkable in France at that time (early nineties). When I had the idea back in Cuba, I did not know about the cuvées hermitagées. It is only when I started working on a formulation with the Rolland team in Catusseau that I found out about the whole story and I must say it confirmed my intention. I remember thinking that if they were doing this in the 17th, 18th and 19th century at a time when getting Syrah from Hermitage was surely a logistic nightmare, it had to be good for the blend!

Sirech is the buyer and blender of the wine and is advised by Jean-Philippe Fort of Michel Rolland’s winemaking team.

I haven’t tried the 80-20 merlot-syrah blend yet but it will be available in New York, Florida, and Illinois soon (search for this wine). Sirech wrote me that he bypasses the Bordeaux negociant system and maintains Southern Wine & Spirits as both importer and distributor to deliver greater value to the consumer. The wine will retail for $20 and is sold in wood case six packs.

More on French innovation:
“Is Chamarré still trop francais?”
“Yellow jersey, Beaujolais in tin - new products from Boisset“

With the 2006 vintage getting a cool reception from consumers who binged on the 2005s as well as the press, thoughts here in Bordeaux are already turning to the 2007s.

The only trouble is that a string of vintages ending in seven have all been bad or mediocre: 1967, 1977, 1987, 1997. So if we were to bring the Da Vinci Code to Bordeaux, what would the numbers tell us?

One chateau owner I spoke with about it said that the string of unlucky sevens has to break this time around. Since much relies on the weather, it will be a roll of the dice.

Weather. It’s probably not something you talk a lot about except for when you are trying to have polite conversation with your aunt at the family reunion. But for wine grape growers it’s a point of discussion.

And this year has been wet in France. The total rainfall hasn’t been astronomical but it’s just rained almost every day for the past six weeks and there’s a lingering humidity. Take Vinexpo: it’s been mostly sunny but it has rained at some point during every day that I’ve been here.

one evening, a fierce storm came out of nowhere and included golf-ball-sized hail. I grabbed one from outside the tent where I was finishing a wonderful dinner and snapped a bad pic. I circled the big hailstone above. Also of note in photo: Chateau Saint Pierre 2002. Mmmm.

And it’s been damp all over France. I was talking with Nicolas Joly from Savennieres in the Loire and he said that he had never seen the vine flower this early.

What does all this mean? Well, perhaps not more than some wet raincoats. But at some point, a string of sunny days would be good to dry things out. But in hoping for heat, you have to be careful what you wish for.

House of Mondavi’s crumbling foundation
“But by early 2004, Robert Mondavi Corp.’s reputation for high-quality wines had eroded, and the House of Mondavi was rent by conflict. His hand-picked successor, son Michael, had been removed as chairman, and the Mondavi family was on the brink of losing control of the company. Indeed, behind Michael’s ouster was a closely guarded secret: Robert faced a personal financial crisis that threatened to embarrass him and destroy his legacy.” [WSJ, with video!]

Are wine ratings pointless?
“A wine gets rated one time — a nanosecond in its life cycle,” says Sebastiani winemaker Mark Lyon. “From then on, its fate is determined. Aren’t wines always evolving? Shouldn’t they be rated every year?” From a story by W. Blake Gray in today’s SF Chron

Slow drinkers
“Boxed wine really does keep for six weeks, but would we keep one in our refrigerator for that long? There are so many interesting, affordable wines on the shelves that we’d rather taste several wines than one in a big box.” - John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter. But what about the low low price per glass if you can find a good one?!? [WSJ]

Do futures have no future?
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to play this game? I hope 2006 will not be a success. I hope it will really show the Bordelais the shortcomings of the system.” -Jancis Robinson in a podcast on Bordeaux futures, aka “en primeur”

Did you know that the world had turned into a planet of the…grapes? Nor did I until I checked out the Vinexpo 2007 logo.

Yes, I’ll be in Bordeaux (somewhere between a green grape and a dark one) the third week in June covering the massive wine trade show. Given that I have previously written that France is a wine lover’s paradise yet an internet purgatory, I can only hope that the press tent will have wifi since I know there will be plenty of wine.

I’ve bought my plane ticket (ouch!) and am bracing for the full, sobering effect of the dollar’s decline. Ack.

The hottest place in the wine world in mid-June may also have high temperatures. The last time I attended, during the heatwave of 2003, almost 50,000 people packed into a series of exhibit areas that had little or no air conditioning. (Now they could do it in the name of reducing their carbon footprint.) Mmm, hints of barnyard aromas in the wine? Try: hot convention center.

This time, I’ll be able to taste some 2006 barrel samples from Bordeaux and will be on the lookout for some of the yummy 2005s. All with the goal of keeping you informed, dear reader. But with more than 2,300 exhibitors from 43 countries, there will be a lot of swirling, sniffing–and spitting! More anon!

Related:
Vinexpo.com
“Tasting sized notes from Vinexpo 2003” [Dr. V]

Sabretts and Vega Sicilia
Wines from renowned collector Steve Verlin’s estate are being sold this weekend in Chicago at Hart Davis Hart. He sounds like he was quite a character based on this preview tasting in New York: “In keeping with Verlin’s quirky preferences, the Sabretts [hot dogs] were served at Monday’s dinner with the 1968 vintage of Spain’s most honored wine, Vega Sicilia Unico. There was also popcorn popped in truffle oil partnered with a classic champagne, Krug 1985, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts were washed down with Chateau d’Yquem 1976.” [NY Sun]

Bordeaux sighs in relief
After getting damned and slammed by Jancis Robinson, Bordeaux catches a break from Robert Parker for the 2006 vintage. He hails it as “superior to 2004.” The Medoc lives to see another day, St. Emilion can raise their head in public but Pomerol is the belle of the ball since the wines from there are “excellent across the board.” Dry white Bordeaux bounces back from irrelevancy as the Parkermeister joins J Ro in praising the wines this vintage. But RP only hands out three potential top scores, to Mouton Rothschild, La Mission Haut Brion, and Bellevue Mondotte of St. Emilion. Needless to say, none of those were on the Jancis short list.

Caution: fragile. May be fake
Have you ever objected when the sommelier at a fancy restaurant uncorks your wine and tests a sample himself? Then don’t buy wines from the 18th century, which now post-Rodenstock, are getting downright molested. Quote: “A combination of nuclear isotope analysis and gamma radiation and proton beam tests conducted by experts from the universities of Bordeaux and Manchester will be used to confirm the age of each glass bottle in the Antique Wine Company collection. The wine itself � extracted by hypodermic needle through the cork - will be subjected to molecular and chemical analysis.” [Decanter]

Cameron Hughes, in the house
Yesterday’s post about American negociant Cameron Hughes sparked a comment frenzy–including several by Cameron himself. He elaborates on the differences between his wines and private labels at grocery stores, his sales techniques, and even offers readers of this site 50 % off shipping using a discount code. See the comments.

After slamming the 2006 vintage last week saying it was “a great vintage for mushrooms and truffles, but less great for wine,” Jancis Robinson is back this week to sort through the rubble.

At the best properties there had been crucial work at the sorting tables, throwing away any split and rotten grapes as well as those which were most obviously underripe.

Wow. Triage tables. Sorting the wounded. Here were the survivors, per Jancis (full story):

Whites: Climens, Haut-Brion Blanc, Laville Haut-Brion, Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux, Yquem

Left bank reds: Cos d’Estournel, Grand Puy Lacoste, Haut-Brion, Lafite, Latour, Léoville Barton, Léoville Las Cases, Margaux, Palmer

Right bank reds: Angélus, Arrosée, Conseillante, Evangile, Le Pin, Tertre Roteboeuf, Vieux Château Certan, Eglise Clinet, Lafleur, La Fleur Pétrus, Providence

POSSIBLE GOOD BUYS:

Bernardotte, Bahans Haut-Brion, Clos du Clocher, Grand Puy Lacoste, Haut Bages Libéral, Phélan Segur, La Tour Carnet

Back in London, the wine retailer Berry Bros & Rudd threatens to take a pass on large chunks of the 2006 vintage. “Having tasted the vintage I am convinced that 06 is not as good as 05 or possibly even 04,” Simon Staples told the Telegraph. “We will have no qualms about walking away from even the most illustrious châteaux if they do not offer good value.”

Related: “St. Emilion Grand Cru Classe, suspended!” [Dr. V]
“Bordeaux 2002: undervalued” [Dr. V]