Dr Vino's wine blog

SPIT: presidential pardon
Of all the names circulating for a presidential pardon, few lists would include Fred Franzia for his federal offense (and, no, as much as reader Alberto would like, it wasn’t making Two Buck Chuck). But Franzia wants to own a gun. That’s one thing that he can’t do because in 1993 he pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to defraud, paid a $2.5 million fine. The AP reveals how he worked the system–unsuccessfully–to try to get a presidential pardon. He’s no turkey! (via Mark Fisher)

SIPPED: roll out the barrels
A hotel in Holland (of all places) allows you to fulfill one of your wine fantasies–sleeping inside an old oak barrel! Wait, that’s not one of your wine fantasies? Well, you can now do it anyway. Just don’t bring luggage because a 15,000 liter vat is not all that roomy for two humans! (Treehugger, via Mark Fisher)

SPIT: editors
Ruth Madoff may be in the news for the alleged Madoff Ponzi scheme. While the details of that are being sorted out, Karen MacNeil, a Napa-based wine and food writer, has come forward to say that she was more than an editor on Ruth Madoff’s kosher cookbook. “But in point of fact, I wrote the entire book,” MacNeil told the Times. (Thanks, Steve!)

SIPPED: pennies and Saran Wrap
Just in case you thought manipulation of wine was limited to the winery, Harold McGee gives people the discusses dunking knives and pennies in his wine–but ultimately gives people the green light to use plastic wrap to remove cork taint! Has anyone ever done this successfully? Hit the comments! [NY Times]

SPIT: discussion
Over on eBob, discussion about my recent Q&A with John Gilman was cut off after 130+ comments.

After learning that the wine vote carried Obama to victory, it’s no surprise that wine writers can barely contain the corks from popping until next week.

John and Dottie dig up this vignette from the the White House Historical Association: “In 1840, the Whigs presented their candidate, William Henry Harrison, as a simple frontier Indian fighter, living in a log cabin and drinking cider, in sharp contrast to an aristocratic, Champagne-sipping Van Buren.” But then they say they don’t know what Obama will have after the inauguration.

Cue Elin McCoy. She’s got the intel on this one. And it ain’t all pretty. To the tape: “Fortunately for Barack Obama, the first wines he’ll sip as president include some pretty nice California bottlings, though one of them poses a foreign-relations test. At the inaugural congressional lunch at the Capitol, right after the swearing-in ceremony, the wines will include 2007 Duckhorn Vineyards sauvignon blanc ($30; find this wine) and 2005 Goldeneye pinot noir ($55; find this wine). Two hundred dignitaries will toast the new President with 15 magnums of Korbel Natural sparkling wine ($15; don’t find this wine). It’s labeled “California Champagne,” so better not show it to the French.” Korbel? Puh-lease. And how did Duckhorn hit a double (they also make Goldeneye; see the inaugural lunch menu at their site)?

Mike Steinberger pops off a piece on Slate bristling with his usual brio. He has his own version of financial stimulus and suggests expanding the paltry White House wine cellar, introducing mature wines as opposed to current releases, and flattering foreign dignitaries by re-introducing wines from their own lands (presumably as an aperitif). I’ll raise a Montelena to that.

What will you pop next Tuesday? UPDATE: Or, if you were in charge of the inauguration lunch, what would you pour for the 200 honored guests?

Related: “The Sorry History of Wine in the White House,” p. 54, A Year of Wine
“Leaders and Liters of wine“

Cara, who runs the green room (or whatever that waiting room is called) for Fox Business, asked me a great wine question when I was on the station in December. Instead of asking me for a specific wine that she might or might not be able to actually find, she asked me for on how to get the most out of wine. Nice! Context! You know I love that.

So I asked her whether she meant actually consuming wine or finding wine. She said both. So here’s what I said:

1. Spend a little extra on good stemware! You don’t have to break the bank since, undoubtedly, the glasses themselves will break at some point. But they can elevate modest wines and do fine wines the appropriate justice. Ravescroft has some good crystal stems starting at $10. And our house staple, as I’ve written before, is the Tritan Forte, which is “impact resistant” thanks to titanium infused in the lead-free crystal.

2. Find a good independent wine shop! You can read all you want about great sounding wines on blogs or in the paper but unless you can actually try the wines, your fun is severely limited. Work with an articulate member of the staff to find wines that you like.

You can read more about these suggestions–and more!–in my new book A Year of Wine: Perfect Pairing, Great Buys, and What to Sip for Each Season. If Cara asked you for your top two general wine tips, what would you tell her?

Also, the first segment I did on Fox Business over the holidays has just unearthed from the great video vault somewhere (although the poor audio and video quality makes it look like I was in a witness relocation program). “Enjoy!”

Many people in the wine trade are taking a bath because of the economic crisis. But not importer Terry Theise: he’s taking a shower.

Digging through the piles on my desk I unearthed this card from the illustrious importer of boutique wines from Germany, Austria and Champagne. After winning a James Beard award last year, Theise decides to bare mostly all on his year-end card. His caption is: “Theise Wines: so fresh & clean! Swirl. Smell. Taste. Repeat.”

What’s your caption? Be sure to “keep it clean.” Just like Terry.

On a trip this past summer, my family and I got stranded in Chicago overnight because of airline delays. We called a friend who was able to take us in when the airline would not; she put us up even though the delay was entirely their fault (canceled flight). So we decided to make dinner for our friend and I was dispatched to the nearest shopping center where I knew I would get the food at Trader Joe’s. But what about the wine?

Somewhat surprisingly for a suburb with $96,552 median household income, there didn’t appear to be an independent wine shop for miles. But Trader Joe’s sells wine in Illinois stores. And there was another choice: Wine Styles, a franchise wine store wedged in between a karate space and a day spa. I went to both to see what I could find. Read more…

In a few weeks, I will deliver the keynote address at the annual meeting of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. About half the group’s members simply grow grapes; the other half also make wine from grapes that they grow. But either way, they’re interested in hearing about important trends that affect wine consumers and producers.

Much of my talk in Sacramento will focus on wine blogs as well as “social media,” such as Twitter, Facebook, Open Wine Consortium, or the group Wine 2.0. Here are two possible titles for my talk:

“Blogs and social media will transform the way wines are made, criticized, and purchased!” or

“”Blogs and social media make a whole lot of noise but are a huge waste of your time and resources!”

Hmm, maybe there’s a middle ground. Anyway, hit me with your thoughts on which way you would lean and feel free to provide evidence for your perspective! I might just use it to support my final argument in Sacramento.

What do Diana Krall and Sammy Hagar have in common? Not a lot from a musical perspective, that’s for sure. But both the performers have detailed wine requests built into their show contracts.

Krall, the jazz vocalist, presents a long list of acceptable producers of mostly red wine as detailed on thesmokinggun.com. Wines on “the Diana Krall wine list” are mostly robust reds such as Shafer, Paul Hobbs, Ridge, d’Arenberg, Castano, Pesquera, and Allegrini but also includes intriguing choices in Failla and Edmunds St. John. The skinflint show manager would, of course, get her some Ravenswood since that is also on her list. She also requires a can of Nestle’s Good Start baby formula, which may be a chaser of the Ravenswood–or for her then seven-month-old twins, touring with her. (Check out her other demands, including a private yoga room and a dressing room free of bleachy smell!)

The former Van Halen star, Hagar, is less specific in his rider.

Sammy Hagar is a wine connoisseur. Please select good bottles. We are requesting one bottle of red and one bottle of white. Red wine (between $30 and $100):
1st choice: bottle of French or Californian Pinot Noir
2nd choice: Italian Barolo
3rd choice: Merlo [sic] or Cabernet Sauvignon from California
White wines ($18 to $30)
1st choice: Californian or European Pinot Blanc
2nd choice: Californian or European Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonney [sic]

As stage drinks, he also requests 16 cold Mexican beers (Corona or Pacifico), 2 quarts of green Gatorade, and three cans of Dr. Pepper–in stage left cooler only!

For more performers such as Coldplay, Elton John, U2, Foo Fighters, and more, click through to Jamie Goode’s wineanorak, where I first read about these contracts being available on The Smoking Gun. Find out who specifically requested Mouton Cadet!

Which wines would you put in your performance rider?

Unlike our impossible food-wine pairings, pizza is one of those very possible wine pairings. But not in one country: Italy.

Jeremy Parzen pointed out this shocking claim in the comments of a recent post on his blog : “…no one pairs wine with pizza in Italy! I’m sorry, they just don’t…” He added later via email, “like Italians’ aversion to dairy and fish, or coffee and savory, the pizza/beer pairing is relatively sacred… they never pair pizza with wine… wine lists in Italian pizzerie are for tourists.” (Let’s hope they’re not pairing the lackluster Peroni with that pizza.)

Forbidden as it may be in Italy, prove the Italians wrong and tell us what is your preferred pairing for a pizza margherita? Are you in the white, light red (Barbera, Chianti), or the full-bodied (Nero d’Avola, Shiraz, Zinfandel) camp? I prefer reds with higher acidity to cut through the protein and fat of the cheese and stand up to acidity in the the tomato.

I suppose if we really wanted an impossible food-wine pairing, there’s always deep dish pizza…