Dr Vino's wine blog

Jancis Robinson wrote over the weekend about the enormous effort it took to update the Oxford Companion to Wine. This third edition tips the scales at a whopping 840 pages, 6.57 pounds and 900,000 words. Many of the entries and material is new as she described in the Financial Times Weekend:

“France’s crise viticole is another quasi political entry and, with a certain neatness for students of the Oxford University curriculum, each of politics, philosophy and economics have for the first time their own wide-ranging entries on their implications for wine.”

Why is this excerpt so important? Because I authored the 1,000 word entry on the “politics of wine”! That’s right, I was honored to contribute 1/900th of the volume!

I haven’t seen the tome yet but there’s lots new and lots fresh in this edition. I’m already carving out a space on my desk–and structurally reinforcing it!

The book’s official release date is Oct 1 but it is available now through Amazon.

tags: wine | wine books | Oxford Companion to Wine

It’s Friday and many people across the world will be heading out with co-workers for a drink this evening. Do you go out with your co-workers?

After listening to this NPR story, you might give it a shot. As they write on the Marketplace site, “A new study shows that workers who are open to staying after work for a drink with colleagues make more money — a lot more.” [NPR]

Hey, maybe there’s a similar effect with people who take my NYU evening classes? I’ll have to examine it. Then I could market it as better for your career than an MBA!

Blending innovation and tradition: can you taste the difference?
Sept 21 – Oct 19, 6:30 – 8:30
[disregard the course description on the NYU page–this is what we will be doing]

Organic foods and wines are all the rage. But can you taste a difference? In this introductory course, we will look at five exciting wine regions and examine the history and culture and some leading producers. We will discuss the pros and cons of “natural” winemaking versus conventional in the Pacific NW, Napa/Sonoma, Argentina, the Loire and Bordeaux. Then we will put our discussion to the test with a blind tasting of at least five wines, including conventional, organic and even biodynamic. Can you taste the difference?

tags: wine | wine classes NYC | happy hour

This morning I woke up in Walla Walla. Love that name.

Go to the front of the class by answering this question: which TWO states does the Walla Walla AVA straddle?

(An AVA is a federally designated area for wine grape growing.)

tags: wine | Walla Walla | wine trivia

Grower champagnes pose a problem: they lack the flash. What they don’t lack is cash. So, why spend the same on an unheard of producer when you could buy one of the grandes marques? In a word: taste. In two words: wine geekdom.

I tasted through a half-dozen grower champagnes recently and really liked the ones from Larmandier-Bernier. The Blanc de Blanc Brut 1er Cru NV (find this wine, about $38) is very lively with a straw color, a fine bead, pleasant acidity reminscent of green apples, and lovely balance.

The Terre de Vertus bottling is slightly more and has the rare distinction among champagnes to be bottled without a dosage, the topping up that is done to most champagnes before the cork is placed in and they are moved out the cellar door. It has excellent purity and is crisp, dry and food friendly. It’s slightly more expensive so I’d opt for the other bottling.

Thanks to Sam at Becks and Posh for suggesting this theme for WBW!

tags: wine | WBW

Il Corzanello, Corzano e Paterno, IGT Toscana, Bianco, 2005. $14 (find this wine)

Last fall I recommended an Italian white as a great late-summer/early fall wine. This year I stumbled on another: Il Corzanello.

Mrs. Vino and I were fortunate enough to stay at the renovated guest house of this producer a few years ago during a friend’s wedding. About a half-an-hour outside of Florence in hills of Tuscany lie the farmhouses of the “agritourismo.” Down the dirt road lined with olive trees and around the corner on the opposing hillside is the winery. Their cheeses, which are not available in the US, are amazing. And the honey too. I had several cups of Illy espresso in the rustic kitchen to get over my jet lag. Almost every day since then, I have managed to find Illy somewhere–it blows Starbucks away.

But getting back to the Il Corzanello. The blend of mostly trebbiano and chardonnay sees no oak and no malolactic fermentation so it has great purity of fruit. The wine has wonderful concentration, with notes of minerality and crisp acidity, with a rich midpalate and a long finish. Although only 800 cases are produced, some is exported to the US. Try it with pecorino—in one of their guest rooms if you can!

Importer: Fleet Street Wine Merchants.

tags: wine | Tuscan wine

What’s more important for consumers: the wine’s alcohol level or the SPF number in sunscreen for grapes?

Well, it’s not quite that bad. But the AP reports that one Napa winemaker is applying a “suncreen” to his grapes. Aaron Pott at Quintessa, who uses the organic plus plus method of vineyard management known as biodynamics, applies a “tea” to the grapes to prevent them from withering in the sun. The dilute tea includes algae to absorb UV rays and aloe vera for soothing. He says it will have washed off by the time the grapes are harvested.

Pott may put on the sunscreen, but does he give the grapes back rubs too?

AP story

tags: wine | sunblock

Caves Augé

Credited with being the second oldest wine shop in Paris, Caves Augé is on Boulevard Hausmann. It’s not sandwiched between the big department stores on this famous street, but instead it is down the boulevard, around the traffic circle and on the less touristy, more neighborhoody, end of the grand boulevard.

The store is known for stocking many “natural” wines, particularly from the Loire, as well as older vintages from Bordeaux and beyond. Many of the producers represented are not exported to the US, which makes it a rewarding exploration for the visiting American wine geek. Tons of boutique bottlings of armagnac, cognac, sherry, vodka and other spirits cluster in one corner. Even though wine treasures abound in the small shop, not everything is beyond the reach of the budgets of mere mortals as there are many interesting wines available under $20.

But the wines may be beyond the physical reach of customers. The small shop is packed with excellent French wines. And I mean packed. The display tables are laden with their bounty and on the walls, wines are shoved into bins. I dared remove a wine from Provence to inspect the label and Marc, the store manager, barked at me in French from across the store “I’d prefer if you looked with your eyes and not with your hands.” Ah, a customer service flashback to 1850.

One reason to go to Caves Augé is when you don’t actually have to be in the cramped store (being scolded). During the spring and the fall, the store recruits many producers to come and pour their wines for customers. According to those who have been, it is a great event, casually sipping on the grand boulevard on a weekend afternoon, with some of the most interesting independent wine makers in France. Be sure to check with the store to see if your visit coincides with one of these days.

Caves Augé
116, Boulevard Hausmann, Paris 75008
Tel: 01.45.22.16.97
Open 9 AM – 7:30 PM. Closed Sunday and Monday mornings.
Manager: Marc Sibard

tags: wine | Paris wine shops | France travel

No that’s not Andy, the quiz winner, dumping his new liquid assets. That’s a hint for question #8 (granted, it’s Diddy in the photo).

Congratulations to Andy in St. Paul, MN who won the half-a-case of wine in the Labor Day quiz! He’s promised to share his tasting notes with us.

And congrats to Susan in Chicago who won the second prize, Perfect Pairings, by Evan Goldstein.

Thank you to the several hundred people who showed off their wine smarts. And thanks to those blogs and sites who linked to the quiz!

You can still take the quiz–or cut straight to the answers–but the prizes are now gone.

Stay tuned for the next one!

tags: wine | wine quiz