Dr Vino's wine blog

On our recent vacation to the Virgin Islands, Mrs. Vino and I dined at a surprisingly swanky restaurant in St. Thomas that opened directly onto the beach and the black night sea. Presented with the wine list, I was shocked to discover only four red wines available by the glass and a gaping void for the full bottles between the $40 Torres at the low end and the towering Silver Oak for $200 at the high end (and only one Pinot Noir—-I guess Sideways didn’t make it to the island).

The intrepid Mrs. Vino dared a $14 (!!) glass of Estancia Cabernet, which she found short, sharp and worse yet, warm, all of which led to an involuntary wincing after each sip. The atmospheric openings to the beach meant that the wine was served at room temperature or about 80 degrees. This led me to develop a theory of tropical travel for wine geeks: drink different.

I explored a local gourmet shop that had a surprisingly large range of wines available at about 30% above prices in the continental US. While the shop was air conditioned, some of the labels were stained indicating that either that bottle or one near it had leaked possibly because of heat somewhere along the way. In tropical heat, a case of wine doesn’t need too long to cook if it is sitting in a warehouse without climate control. Why even bother taking your chances when there are plenty of local options?

Although the Virgin Islands doesn’t have a brewery, that doesn’t stop buckets of beer from appearing on the beach. Jamaican Red Stripe was less than a dollar a bottle and served chilled. Mmm, refreshing.

But even more local is of course rum. Impervious to the destructiveness of heat, the island rum, Cruzan, is about $3.50 a bottle and forms the base of many drinks from Piña Colada to the local frozen Bushwacker (coconut milk, Kahlua, Baileys, rum and probably more). While mixed drinks and food don’t usually make good pairings they do go great with conch fritters by the ocean!

Although I would have loved to have had a good bottle of red wine at the restaurant, until restaurants and shops in the tropics make a better effort at wine selection, storage and serving, I’m drinking local. When visiting hot spots, I’ll leave even the thought of red wine at home. It’s easier on the wallet and leads to greater satisfaction—-two things essential to a good vacation.

When sea grapes are the local grape, choose rum or beer

tags: wine | food and drink | travel

On the subject of sports, 26 year old French woman Amélie Mauresmo clearly has poise on the court winning her first Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open yesterday.

And clearly she has good taste off the court:

“I have a special bottle of wine I kept for my first Grand Slam title,” Mauresmo said of her Château d’Yquem 1937. “It’s at home waiting for me very quietly in the dark at the right temperature.” [NYT]

And at $3800 a bottle (find this wine) for this nectar-like dessert wine, she must be thinking how sweet it is! (Thanks, Skip!)

Hopefully she upgrades the stemware

tags: wine | Mauresmo

With the Super Bowl looming on February 5, some wine geeks may be wondering what to drink during the event — while others may be wondering how they can win some wine.

Betting and sports have a long (March Madness) but limited (Nevada) tradition in the US but it is only thanks to Las Vegas we have an indication of what the odds are of one team winning over another. The most common indicator is the “spread” or number of point margin of victory of one team over another. In this year’s Super Bowl XL (those are Roman numerals, not a jersey size), the Pittsburgh Steelers are the favorite by 3.5 points over the Seattle Seahawks.

Thus a fan of the Seahawks could take 3.5 points, see their team lose 20-17 but still win on the bet. You win while the team loses. This suboptimal outcome means that your bet is not aligned with your enthusiasm for the team.

I put this puzzle to my friend who writes about sports on Gothamist and he advised me of the “moneyline,” which awards different values to bets while not offering any point spread. Thus if your team wins, you win the wager. The moneyline for the Superbowl is Seattle +160 and Pittsburgh -180. That means to place a $100 on the Seahawks in Las Vegas would win back your original wager plus $160. A $180 bet on Pittsburgh would yield the original wager plus $100.

Thus wine geeks who are fans of the Seahawks could bet a $10 wine with a friend and Pittsburgh supporter who would put up a $16 bottle of wine. Say, a Tres Picos for a Muga Reserva? It’s not exactly paralleling the moneyline but it roughly corresponds–and what a better way to celebrate friendship than if you had to drink the bottle together?

Assuming, of course, that you both are over 21 and live in Nevada.

tags: wine | SuperBowl

Domaine Lafond, Roc-Epine, AOC Lirac, 2003. $12 Find this wine
Located where the southern Rhone drifts into Provence, Lirac proves to be good ground for this wine that resembles a Chateauneuf-du-Pape but at a fraction of the price. (yes, it is over $10 but hey, it’s only about 5 US Postal stamps more.) This wine has a terrific complexity for the price with balanced notes of dark fruit and tannin and a long pleasant finish. An excellent mushroom-swiss chard pasta was a great food match. Jean Pierre and Pascal Lafond of Lirac, you rock! Importer: Wines of France: Mountainside NJ.

tags: wine | wine tasting | Domaine Lafond

Would you be against chopping down a redwood forest to make room for a strip mall? Of course you would. But how about a vineyard?

Such is the dilemma some residents in Northern California are facing. Demand for Pinot Noir, apparently, is pushing vineyard owners further up the coast to Sonoma County’s cooler–and more heavily forested–climates reports the AP.

However, California’s environmental regulations (through CEQA) have been tough enough to halt or delay vineyard expansion before. But environmental activists say the current regulations are not tough enough.

It’s the latest chapter in an interesting California conflict. For background, see James Conaway’s Napa. What are some stories of environmentalists and wineries from your part of the world?

tags: wine | California | environmentalism

Kristy, who has been reading her Dr Vino for years now (hard to believe its been that long!) is now a graduate student at the UC Davis Department of Enology and Viticulture. The student group there with the light-hearted name of DEVO is planning a trip to Spain and Portugal to meet with producers and learn about wine making in a different part of the world.

We can encourage and support this sort of valuable hands-on, comparative education by buying tickets to their raffle and possibly line our own cellars with some rare bottles. Tickets are $1 each and the drawing will occur on March 15. Full details are here but Kristy did provide me with the list of wines being raffled:

Grand Prize: Mixed Case (12 Bottles) of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Spain, and
Ultra Premium California Wines:
1970 Chateau LaTour Bicheau; Grand Cru De Graves
1974 Ridge Zinfandel; Geyserville- Trentadue Ranch
1978 Mirassou Petite Sirah (unfiltered); Harvest Selection, Monterey County
1991 Eberle Cabernet Sauvignon; Paso Robles, Reserve
1970 Chateau Croix de Bertinat; Grand Cru Saint-Emilion
1989 Dickerson Vineyard Ruby Cabernet; Napa Valley, Limited Reserve
1970 Clos De Vougeot; Grand Vin de Bourgogne
1957 Chateau Cheval Blanc; 1er Grand Cru Classe Saint-Emilion
(pre-1960 Sherry) Agustin Blazquez, Vinos Criados Natural
2000 Sanford Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County
1998 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvigno, Napa Valley
1998 Marques de Grinon; Emeritus, Dominia de Valdeposa

First Prize: Mixed Half Case (6 bottles) Bordeaux, Burgundy, Spain, and
Ultra Premium California Wines:
Chateau Montrose; L. Charmolue, Saint-Estephe
1964 Richeboug; Joseph Drouhin, Grand Vins
(pre-1960 Sherry) H. Misa, Jerez
2001 Saintsbury Pinot Noir; Rancho Carneros
2000 Ostatu, Rioja Alavesa, Reserva

Second Prize: (two bottles)
1971 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon
1971 Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon

Third Prizes: (Single Bottles) Multiple prizes awarded including:
(pre-1960 sherry) San Pantaleon, Gran Vino Tonico
(pre-1960 sherry) Valdespino, Cosecheros De Vinos Jerez
(pre-1960 Sherry) Jose Pemartin, Jerez de La Frontera
(pre-1960 Sherry) Bodegas Sancho, Vinos Finos, Jerez
(pre-1960 Sherry) Jandilla, Amontillado Macharnudo

tags: wine | wine raffle | UC Davis Viticulture and Enology

Attention! One week from today is the international transnational multinational event known as Wine Blogging Wednesday! Bloggers of food, wine and otherwise from around the world post an entry around a common theme. As the host this month, I have chosen the theme of wine shops that feel the love. So visit a fun wine shop near you, write up the shop in a paragraph or two or three and drop me a line about your post next Wednesday. I’ll do a roundup after the event to provide a handy link back to all posts.

Bonus: while this month’s theme may appeal to wine fans who have never written a wine tasting note (or those who find them a bunch of mumbo jumbo) some die-hard WBW participants may feel incomplete without posting a TN. In that case, sample a good value wine based on the recommendation of the staff and write it up! Cheers,

Tyler

PS this is the frist WBW where we can actually write about PEOPLE!

PPS if you need a further backgrounder on WBW, click here

PPSS why does spell check on Blogger not recognize the words blog, blogger, or blogging?!?!

tags: wine | wine blogging wednesday | WBW |

I’m back from a break in an undisclosed location. I have read Mark’s posts and your comments from the past week and am thrilled that he accepted my invitation to waste his time post informed commentary about wine. I hope he’ll continue periodic postings here especially on wine and travel and wine in Chicago.

Dr. Vino in a hotspot with no wi-fi

tags: wine blog