Dr Vino's wine blog

In a recent column on Slate.com, Mike Steinberger threw most Chilean carmenere under the oak bus. Many of the wines in his tasting, “lacked personality and depth, and some were jammy, hideously oaky confections that were indistinguishable from other, similarly afflicted New World wines.” I’d also add that some of the ones that I’ve had carry an unwanted sweetness, probably from the oak and alcohol.

Behold a savory and delicious carmenere: the Clos Ouvert Loconmilla 2008. In his article, Mike encouraged Chilean producers to pick up a bottle of it in his article, and, even though I’m not a producer, I did so, buying a bottle at Grapes the Wine Company in White Plains, NY (about $26). The wine is made by a pair of Frenchman, using organically cultivated old vines and with a gentle hand in the cellar, notably using old oak barrels over new. In the glass, the impressive aromas enticingly intertwine some dark fruit notes with a whiff of dried herbs and a lot of intrigue. Although the wine lists 14.5% alcohol on the label, it carries the alcohol well thanks to good balance and acidity that enlivens the palate. On day two of being open, this wine had just as much intrigue as on day one, always the mark of an excellent young wine. Read more…

Happy Friday! A little light programming for your today. Yesterday, I spotted a meme on Twitter using the hashtag #indecisivemusicals that included such suggestions as “Rent … no maybe we should buy.” With the Andrew Lloyd Webber wine auction coming up this weekend, I wondered on Twitter if we needed some #winemusicals? I proposed “The Full Monte Bello” and “Gentlemen Prefer Brunes et Blondes.” Here are some of other chuckle (or groan?) worthy suggestions:

“Oaklahoma!” @ablegrape (by Rolland & Hammerstein?)
“My Fair Lieu-dit” @ablegrape
“Sunday in the Park with Nuits Saint Georges” @felixsalmon
“Guys and Dolcettos” @howardggoldberg
“St Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” @davidwlamb
“The Musar Man” @Tri_pops

Search for more and add your own in the comments or on Twitter. And let us know if you hear of the opening of any of these shows, presumably well off-Broadway.

Obviously, a lot of issues are on the metaphorical table as President Obama entertains China’s president Hu Jintao. But what’s in the glass? They can’t serve Lafite, after all, since the White House only pours domestic wins and this menu is set to be “quintessentially American.”

Given previous bombs served up by the White House usher, I chuckled when I saw the headline at the nytimes.com: “White House looks to avoid gaffes during Chinese visit.” But that’s just what they’ve done with a conservative menu and wine pairings. Read more…

W$Jay was slumming it with zinfandel recently. He had a passing remark about the origin of Sutter Home white zin. Thanks to the Regional Oral history Office at Cal’s Bancroft Library, we have access to the first-hand account of Bob Trinchero, then winemaker at Sutter Home.

Trinchero said that there was something of a zinfandel arms race in the early 70s. In 1972, to concentrate the red zinfandel, he bled off 550 gallons of (white) juice at the crush that he then didn’t know what to do with. He thought about adding it to his “gallon-jug chablis.” But Darrel Corti, Read more…

SIPPED: silence
Michael Madrigale, who runs the innovative wine program at Bar Boulud, has put together some “silent movies” that show his nightly by-the-glass pours from large format bottles. This one is for the rare Yvon Metras Felurie ’09 from magnum; other videos include an ’06 Barbaresco from Jero anda ’70 Jordan Cab from mag.

SPIT: recycling bin
WANTED: empty bottles of 1982 Lafite in “best condition possible.” Price: 2,900 yuan. [Montreal Gazette]

SIPPED: profiting from pain?
The yen’s strength compared to the euro is not lost on a bigwig enofile at Japan’s Ministry of Finance. [great pic – WSJ]

SPIT: social networking
As a sidebar to our recent discussion about who makes money in wine writing, Gary Vaynerchuk has decided to pull the plug on Cork’d, the social networking site he purchased in 2007.

SIPPED: wine from the pre-score era
In an Armenian cave, archeologists have discovered the world’s oldest winemaking paraphernalia–including animal horns as drinking vessels–dating back 6,100 years. But how did the consumers know if it was any good since it didn’t have a score out of 100? [NYT]

“I do it on the web for free.”

A fellow blogger and I once joked about putting that on a T-shirt. Blogging is not a path to riches. Especially for wine. While a tech blogger might earn a decent living from Google’s Adsense or the Amazon affiliate program, such a path is not really open to wine bloggers. For one, Google considers wine ads to be for an “non-family safe” content. So in order to allow wine ads on a site, a publisher using Adsense has to allow adult content which could be opening Pandora’s box in more ways than one. Similarly, the small percentage that Amazon offers affiliates may go a long way on if the blog reviews plasma TVs and digital cameras. But wine books and corkscrews? Not so much.

However, there are some ways to make money in wine writing. Read more…

CHUGGED: Pinot?
If you missed the Japanese remake of Sideways, check the trailer above. Glad the dump bucket scene was included! For more details, check out the Wine Economist’s post who says that they changed several key plot details, notably making it a paean to Cabernet, not Pinot.

CONQUERED: world wine bars
The Bordeaux wine trade unveils a plan to boost sales of lower priced wines from the region. A part of that is opening wine bars selling only Bordeaux in London, NYC and Hong Kong. I can hear the dust falling in the NYC one already! [theaustralian.com.au]

SIPPED: bargain bubbly?
Champagne under $20? A blogger explores who makes the Kirkland Champagne at Costco ($19.99). [Goodcheapvino.com]

SIPPED: honey laundering
Off topic, but check out this fascinating story about fraud in the world of honey. [Globe & Mail]

…is just a moldy cork….This 2007 Burgundy was still good despite the shocking mold underneath the capsule.