Dr Vino's wine blog

From site reader Shari: file under “defies all odds.”

“I had one of those crazy wine experiences last week. Ancient bottle (1991) of Los Vascos can from Chile. Probably bought it in 93 when it was about $5. It got dragged from apt to apt through working cellars and non. Then dragged it up to Vermont where it happily sat in a downstairs closets probably fairly constantly at 55-65. Then hauled it out at Christmas, stuck it in a little snow to chill ever so slightly from the hot kitchen. Brought it in, never opened it, let it sit in the hot kitchen til last week. Opened it knowing that I had no right to expect anything but vinegar. it was delicious. What I didn’t drink, I baked into wine biscuits. Good story for the recession and in advance of Open That Bottle Night!”

Well, clearly I didn’t get this comment up before OTBN, which was this past Saturday. John Brecher and Dottie Gaiter of the WSJ created this tremendous, blog-style-before-there-were blogs interactive event, now in its tenth edition, to encourage people to open a special bottle that they had kept putting off opening. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for me to participate this past Saturday (had a cold); what did you uncork?

“I was a lawyer for 25 years; I’m different than everyone else in this room because I am not interested in the truth.”

So Ross Schwartz told the assembled group at the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers in Napa last week. Schwartz, formerly an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, wrote the screenplay for the movie Bottle Shock, which stars Alan Rickman and recently appeared on DVD. It loosely depicts the events of the Paris tasting of 1976 when a Chateau Montelena Chardonnay and a Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon surprised the wine world by beating their French peers in a blind tasting. Schwartz elaborated on his goals for the screenplay, “When people walk out of the movie, I just want people to know who won the tasting and to want to buy a good bottle of wine.”

He said that he initially rebuffed the idea Read more…

SPIT: the French Paradox!
“The consumption of alcohol, and especially wine, is discouraged,” state new government guidelines. Where? France! Sacre bleu! The National Cancer Institute has a new brochure out that also discourages consumption of red meat, charcuterie and salt. [The Times of London]

SPIT: wine on the web
The French Parliament recently debated a bill that included “a ban on free wine tasting, more specific health warnings on bottles, and the legality of mentioning wine on the internet.” [Decanter]

SPIT: Wine on the web a l’americaine!
Korbel has gone before a judge to have Comcast reveal the identities of internet users who posted comments that “damaged” the company on the forums of Craigslist. In a move that could have implications for the freedom of speech on the internet, the proceedings will be closely watched. [Sonoma Press Democrat]

SIPPED: Fewer greenhouse gas emissions
Bordeaux announces a new goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020. Steps include introducing lighter weight bottles and having more container shipping directly from the Port of Bordeaux.

SPIT: the Belle Epoque in Bordeaux
The downturn hits Bordeaux. [Decanter]

SIPPED: Wine for the price of beer
WSJ reporter David Kesmodel has a piece on trading down and bargains; included are some value vino picks from various commentators, including Dr. Vino! [story; wine picks]

SNACKED: Bankable Parmigiano reggiano
An Italian bank has about 500,000 wheels of Parmigiano reggiano cheese, worth about $3,000 each, as loan collateral. If only our toxic assets had that kind of collateral! Maybe an American bank will stockpile wine. [Marketplace]

Voting is now under way for the 2009 American Wine Blog awards! This blog has been nominated in two categories, best wine blog and best wine blog writing. Head on over to the Fermentation, check out all the blogs since it can be a good way to discover new ones, and then cast your vote!

And while you’re there, be sure to Vote Vino! Yes we can!

The past year has been a great year and I thank you for your participation in making this blog lots of fun. Looking forward another year of wine talk that goes down easy!

What can we call port-style, fortified wine made here in America? Thanks to your over thirty suggestions, we now have finalists!

Unfortunately, names with the letters “port” (or “porto”) are not legally allowed. I was thinking of suggesting “Corto” since it is a contraction of California Porto (and, in a double entendre, also the venue where producers could be sued as in “see you in corto.”). But, alas, intellectual property law takes a dim view on items that have a similar look, sound or meaning (see, for example, Microsoft vs. Lindows even if Microsoft did have to pay in the end). Thanks to winemaker Jeff Stai for pointing out the legal difficulties for making his fortified wine, Pig Stai.

So without further ado, here are the finalists for your voting! And remember, they are playing for a bottle of USB donated by Peltier Station in Lodi, California. They were suggested, in order, by SB7, Benito (Trop is port backwards), Lillac (Treading with bare feet is often used in making the best ports), and Mark Ashley. Voting remains open through Friday!

[poll id=”4″]

On a related note, nobody suggested “Turley.” But in a California wine shop I visited last week, the owner kept a 1997 Turley zin right next to the 1970 Fonseca.

While gesticulating fervently, Nicolas Joly addressed a packed room yesterday at the Return to Terroir event in New York City today. Although the tasting was going on in the next room, separated only by a thin curtain, the standing-room, rapt audience listened to Joly, a sort of evangelist for Biodynamics who makes wine at the Coulée de Serrant in the Loire (search for Coulée wines).

What follows are some excerpts from his talk. It’s not a verbatim transcript insofar as every word he said is included (I got lost about the relative benefits of having manure from horses, cows, AND pigs, for example). But while he was talking, I was typing his words as he said them. So without further ado, take it away Monsieur Joly:

What is an appellation controllée? Ideally, it is a type of soil and a match of vines. If you have been putting these vines in the right spot, you have an originality.

How much of the concept of the appellation controllée is left? Unfortunately, very little. The so-called modern farming with weed killers destroys the microorganisms of the soil. Read more…

Time for a review roundup! Simon & Schuster, the publisher of my book, A Year of Wine: Perfect Pairings, Great Buys and What to Sip for Each Season, submitted it to the Amazon Vine program. In this program, Amazon sends review copies to some of their customer reviewers who may review it on the product page on Amazon. So far there are twenty-two customer reviews on the site; feel free to click through, check them out and add yours if you like.

As the author, it is slightly nerve-racking to see reviews coming in right at the point of sale. Fortunately the reception has been excellent. But this point-of-sale review is the future (er, present?) of online retail. As more wine sales shift online in coming years, particularly through the prospect of Amazon entering wine retail, wineries will have to adjust to this form of popular criticism, which could certainly serve as a sharp break with the dominant sales model of the past couple decades, selling wines based on the scores of critics.

There’s also a new video embedded on the Amazon page. In the still shot, my head looks like that member of the Jedi Council with the enormously long head. But if you roll it, things get proportional.

The book is now also available on the Amazon e-reader, Kindle!

To balance my appearance on Fox Business in December, I went on The Lionel Show on Air America last month. The segments are available here and here.

Wine & Spirits magazine wrote in February that “”this is a guide you’ll want to keep near the top of your reference pile.”

>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette flagged it on their Santa short list, calling it a “user-friendly book…[where] pairings can venture from the ordinary.”

Joe Roberts, aka One Wine Dude, provides a soaring endorsement of the Year of Dr. Vino. Even his baby daughter had her own tasting notes on the book (or chewing notes). Thanks, Joe!

Wine in the ‘Peg recommends A Year of Wine as their first wine book ever recommended! They dig the seasonal enjoyment of wine and say, “His writing style keeps your attention and he brings a fresh perspective to the topic of wine. I’m about a third of the way into it and am just loving it. It’s a fabulous read and is highly recommended.”

The Balanced Grad even stumbled on this wine book saying “has a great writing voice and talks about wine in a relaxed and totally unimposing way. He looks at wine from a seasonal approach, hammering down the point that wine should complement the mood and temperature of each season. I’m really into seasonal eating (hello, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle!) so I can’t help but gravitate towards this idea…”

And don’t forget my other book, good old Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink, which got a very positive review in the Journal of Wine Economics.

Send in your comments on either book and we will link ’em up! See previous review roundups.

What do you get when you cross Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, the most recent Indiana Jones with a tale of fraud in fine wine? The apparent answer is: the movie version of The Billionaire’s Vinegar: The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine.

According to Variety, the superb wine book now has writer/director David Koepp on board the movie version. With those action movies under his belt, the odds of a chase scene in the movie now stand at 2:1. The main question is whether they will be running with bottles of 1787 Lafitte in hand.

When I previously posted about the book, I wondered if they would amplify the tiny role that women occupy in the book. And even before that, we were speculating about casting decisions. Add your new thoughts if you have any!

As with the Capote movies and two movie versions of the Paris Tasting, there were at one point last year two productions happening around this juicy tale of bling and fraud. This version seems to be inching closer to becoming reality.