Wine ReviewsNot as famous as Robert Parker’s wine reviews, but a lot more useful if you live near Philly. We make sure the pricing is highly advantageous, as well. To read all our wine reviews, you can check them out here. |
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The post Wrap Up: November Wine Reviews appeared first on Wine School of Philadelphia.
With tomorrow being the single most important day of the U.S. calendar year (yes, I’m talking about Thanksgiving… also, please take down your prematurely, poorly-timed Christmas decorations you noob), I thought it decent timing to train your attention on some potential holiday shopping recommendations, as culled from my cache of mostly-inedible product samples. By the way, if you came here looking for Turkey Day wine pairing ideas, you absolutely do not know me very well, as my advice for that particular chestnut of a problem hasn’t changed one iota over the last several years.
Eravino’s sure-thing (image: Amazon)
Anyway…. in this round-up case, I write “mostly-inedible” because one of them actually involves (eventually) wine that you can drink. Anyway, it’ll all make sense in a couple of minutes.
First up is the quick-hit, almost-surefire-slam-dunk gift option for wine lovers: Eravino’s simple and stylish wine decanter (about $30). There’s not much to say about this full-bottle sized beauty, apart from the fact that it’s mouth-blown crystal glass; and that simplicity is what makes this almost certainly a sure bet as a gift. The classic look and fair price combo in this case is just pretty difficult to beat…
Next, we have an interesting option for those with larger bank accounts who are looking to indulge their favorite person’s passion for higher-end Chardonnay and Pinot Noir: Elden Selections, an online wine shop dedicated solely to small-ish production Burgundy. I received several sample bottles from Elden, and can confirm that they have a knack for picking out some damned good selections from the Burg, which come with the added perk of mostly being made by producers that your friends don’t know about yet. They have a gifts section that’s worth checking out if you need a shortcut, just be forewarned that there aren’t really any bargains when Burgundy is involved, so the good stuff isn’t going to come too cheap.
Kelvin’s K2 (image: Amazon)
Finally, there’s an item that you’ll only find in the for-someone-who-already-has-everything category: the Kelvin K2 Smart Wine Thermometer (about $23). The premise here is an interesting one – a USB-rechargeable, Bluetooth-enabled wine thermometer that fits around a single bottle, and interacts with a mobile app to give you information on the temperature of your wine, and notify you when it’s ready to drink (and/or has reached whatever temp you like to serve your vino). If you’re not the details type, then you can select a wine style from a couple of hundred presets and it will alert you when your wine is at the proper temperature according to its database. In summary, it works, but the applications are just as limited as you’d imagine for anyone not serving by-the-glass pours at a high-end bar. Still, I can’t say it wouldn’t be a fun one to play around with for a special Christmas dinner drinking selection.
Cheers – and Happy Turkey Day!
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I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
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Long-time 1WD reader and tirelessly inquisitive wine guy Bob Henry recently asked for my thoughts on an article published by wine data maven David Morrison, titled The perilous state of the US wine industry?. Go read it; it’s important.
My first thought about said article is that I love said article; it’s well-written, interesting, and cites actual numbers to back up the conclusions therein. My second thought is basically “Oh, holy sh*tballs!“
The crux of the article’s matter is that the U.S. wine market is potentially in for some very hard times, primarily due to unsustainable trends. Among Morrison’s conclusions, after adjusting wine sales data for inflation:
“If the US population is continuing to grow, then sales of all goods can be expected to grow with it — and the population has been growing at c. 0.65% per year for the past 5 years. The wine industry is currently not keeping pace with the population.”
“…there have been times when the increase in total wine value did not keep pace with inflation.”
“…a healthy industry needs an increase in the actual number of consumers through time; and the current wine industry in the USA does not seem to have this.”
If these dire conclusions about the wine business sound familiar, it’s probably because some of us [raises hand] have been sounding similar warnings for literally almost an entire decade…
Let’s recap some of 1WD’s largest rants in the U.S. wine market area:
Morrison’s analysis seems to strongly support the notion that the fine wine business in general has failed to attract enough enthusiastic, younger consumers to support its continued growth.
None of that is handsome news, but it’s all even uglier when combined with the warnings issued recently (and cited in Morrison’s blog post) from Sonoma State University’s indefatigable Professor Damien Wilson. Wilson has noted that the U.S. wine market’s focus on premiumization (driving higher revenues via higher prices) looks an awful lot like what France did (raise prices) in the last several years in response to a declining wine consumer base, which resulted in marginalizing younger potential consumers even more (to the point where 80+ percent of wine consumed in France is by people aged 55+).
Little has been done by the wine biz in the last ten years to change the fact that (as reported by Wine Business and emphasized by Bob Henry in the comments section of Morrison’s post): “SIXTEEN PERCENT OF CORE WINE DRINKERS consume wine once a week or more frequently, which ACCOUNTS FOR AROUND 96 PERCENT OF CONSUMPTION. Thirty-five million adults drink virtually all of the wine sold in America.”
It seems that, in focusing on selling higher and higher priced wine to a dwindling set of older consumers, the U.S. wine business has painted themselves into a corner; they now have to grow the market with a younger consumer base which they have largely ignored, increasingly via social tools that they have largely misused, at a time when competition for a smaller set of consumer dollars has never been more intense. Holy sh*tballs, indeed.
Cheers!
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This is a fun project I worked on with Emilio Mignucci from DiBrunos and producer Jordan Sloane. This project also got me a profile on IMDb, so I am hella famous now.
The post Thanksgiving Wine and Cheese Pairings appeared first on Wine School of Philadelphia.
I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
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A quick note today to let you know that my latest piece for the Napa Valley Wine Academy has been published, this time focusing on Furmint (you can check out other NVWA articles here).
The once-kingly-then-humble-and-now-up-and-coming Hungarian Furmint grape variety has had a wild ride the past few years. While it seems like only yesterday that I found myself the temporary face of dry Furmint’s presence in the wily U.S. market, that little video adventure took place about five years ago, when most Stateside wine nerds had little-to-no contact with the zesty, complex wines that grape was capable of offering.
It’s been nice to see that Furmint gained a bit of traction, and that it continues to do fairly well, at least in terms of being on the taste-maker radar, gaining media coverage, and garnering wine competition awards. All of which are a long time in coming, and probably long overdue.
Anyway, if you want a quick primer on the history of one of my fave varieties (along with recommended producers to check out if you get thirsty), well, you know where to go.
Cheers!
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I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
Shop Wine Products at Amazon.com
Back in May (I know, I know…), I was a media guest for the 2019 Austrian Wine Summit, during which I was lucky enough to participate in a tour “along the Danube,” visiting and tasting through Austria’s classic wine producing regions.
It was pretty much as awesome as that sentence makes it sound.
Even so, I’ve (obviously over-)hesitated to jump into the coverage of that jaunt, mostly because such media group travels rarely lend themselves to overt story-lines. You visit; you taste; you all scramble to take pictures and find coffee; you eat; you drink; you move on to the next visit.
You also learn; in some cases, quite a lot, even if the stories being told lack the obvious dramatic flair of conflict. And so I think for our humble little coverage of Austria here, the stories will be the regions and wines themselves; many of which you almost certainly won’t have tried, because many lack appropriate representation in the USA (sorry!).
Our first stop: tasting at one of Austria’s oldest wine estates, Freigut Thallern, in Thermenregion. Bordering Vienna and the Wienerwald woodlands, where a mere two thousand or so hectares of vineyards are divided into a whopping forty-two different community villages, Thermenregion’s average plots are understandably small – and the average yields even smaller (in fact, the lowest in all of Austria). You’ll find a thermal fault and plenty of thermal springs here, but interestingly no volcanic soils. Another interesting tidbit: Thermenregion’s white wines (which dominate in the region’s north), tend to see a bit of skin contact during vinification, an historical remnant used to help preserve the wines for travel. Speaking of the wines…
Good ol’ Rotgipfler gets its moniker from the reddish bronze color of the vines shoot tips. This incarnation comes from silt and loam clay soils right on the border of the woodlands, and sees aging in 80% large oak casks and 20% amphorae (hipsters, rejoice!). It’s lovely all the way – apricots, mineral, tons of vibrancy, freshness, spice, and peaches to compliment an elegant, restrained presentation.
Rotgipfler can also show off a richer, silkier side, as it does here; though the freshness is still making an appearance. This one is grown on steeper slopes and limestone soils, and presents more melon fruits. The quality is high, and so is the abv (at 14%); you will feel the burn, but you won’t mind the burn.
If your palate requires a wake-up call, here’s a grape (and a wine) that will provide a long, crisp, clear, and loud one. Lemon peel, grapefruit, white flowers, and a mix of concentration, vibrancy, brightness, and structure. Rise and shine, beeeaaatches! Also, please don’t be put off by the grapes other not-so-lovely-sounding name, Spätrot; it means “late red” and refers to the reddish hue on the sun-exposed portion of the grapes when they reach ripeness.
This one doesn’t quite provide the lengthy finish, but it does provide food-friendliness, and it is almost impossible not to like. Citrus peel kicks things off, followed by minerals and then pineapples, and plenty of them. It’s the kind of all-day sipper that we need more of in our lives.
Oranges, pineapples, flowers, wet slate… sounds like a damned good start for a European white, doesn’t it? There is great interplay here between structure, acidity, and fruitiness that goes beyond just a balancing act, and moves this wine into a more characterful territory. Absolutely lovely.
Harmonious and lithe, with soft edges to soothe your worried mouth, here’s a great example of Zierfandler from clay soils. Pineapple, pear, and pungency dominate, with spice, graphite, blossom, honey, and dried fruit notes adding complexity to the proceedings, all of which hit their stride on a lengthy finish.
Moving to the region’s south, we find earthy, herbal, earnest, and delicate Pinot. generally, as is the case here, these are vibrant, textural, cerebral reds. Despite a lighter body, this one doesn’t lack for either tannins or length (or brightness, thanks to some whole cluster action).
Often, the term “fine-boned” is used to describe a wine when the word “thin” would be more accurate. With this Reserve Pinot, “fine boned” is actually appropriate; there is a transparent purity here that eschews fleshiness for acidic structure and lithe energy. Black cherries, black tea, and dark herbs are the focus, and likely thanks to the spontaneous fermentation used in its development, it finishes with buoyant character.
That “Best of” name is just screaming for a take-down, but instead lives up to the title as one of the better examples of this wily red grape that I tasted in Thermenregion. Earthy, peppery, and spicy, with sour black cherry flavors and fine tannins, this wine is a minor wonder and a delightful, well, delight.
Cheers!
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As long as there’s been wine, there’s been wine writers. In Roman times, Pliny the Elder was very adept at identifying the best wines in the empire. A good review from the old guy could change a wine region’s destiny. Two thousand years later, not much has changed.
Wine writers, critics, and specialized publications rate, review, and recommend thousands of wines every year. The wine industry, as we know it, wouldn’t be the same without these information channels. Instead of Pliny the Elder, we have Robert Parker. Wine reviewers set trends and guide customers’ preferences. Wine reviews are an essential part of the industry.
Specialized publications are often the link between winemakers and consumers. High points and accolades can change the future of a wine producer, but as a wine connoisseur, one must be careful not to get influenced by a single good review. The following are the most influential critics, publications and wine reviewers around. Getting to know them will broaden your wine knowledge. They may even inspire you to write your own reviews.
In time, you may want to go pro, and for that you will need a solid wine education. In the trade, wines are judged by concrete standards.
But wine is also personal; its enjoyment depends on your tastes and experience. Your favorite wine might not earn high scores, and that’s OK. One hundred pointers might not be your cup of tea, either. At the end of the day, your review and assessment of wine is the most important one. Keep on tasting and be a critic yourself.
The following are the top wine review publications. We list ourselves at the bottom, if only because we are the top wine site in Philly. Enjoy!
In 1979, publisher and editor Marvin R. Shanken launched one of the most prominent and well-known wine publications. Wine Spectator annually reviews over 15,000 wines from around the world. In each of their fifteen issues. they review 400 and 1000 wines, focusing region by region. The magazine also has a powerful mobile app that allows registered users to find reviews for thousands of wines, including points awarded.
Wine Spectator’s Grand Tastings, on the road wine fairs with no rival, tour the world offering unique opportunities to taste the best wines, and the people behind them.
Their is no more controversial –or popular– wine critic in the world than Robert Parker. First issued in 1978, his Wine Advocate publication reviews over 12,000 wines every year. Robert Parker’s point system has been adopted across the wine trade. It grades wines as extraordinary, outstanding, above average, average and below average. Based ont he UC Davis Scale, rating range from 50 (below average) to 100 (extraordinary).
Robert Parker has been controversial more than once, and his preference for over-extracted, overly oaked wines has shifted winemakers’ practices to fall into his grace. The Parkerization of wine seems to have lost importance in the new century –Millenenials don’t even know his name– but he will forever be part of wine review history.
Jancis Robinson is a wine writer, reviewer, and author. Her work includes some of the most important wine books ever written, including the World Atlas of Wine and Wine Grapes, a compendium of over 1300 grapes and their characteristics. Her website, often called the Purple Pages for the web site’s theme, is a source of on-point wine reviews, now adding up to 180,000 tasting notes.
Jancis Robinson’s team comprises a handful of Masters of Wine that cover the most significant wine regions on earth. Jancis’ solid reputation and extensive resume gives her wine notes weight, positioning her and her team as perhaps the most respected wine review resources on the web.
The Wine Enthusiast Magazine, headquartered in New York and published since 1988, has over 800,000 readers worldwide and has a friendly approach to wine. Wine accessories, education and wine storage units amongst others, are common subjects in print and online. Lifestyle and food are also well covered comprehensively, making this publication an all-rounder.
Published fourteen times a year, with the use of their wine rating system, the magazine reviews a whopping 24,000 wines a year, and reviews are free to browse. Wine Enthusiast is famous for their annual Top 100 lists, and winemakers are surely happy to fall in any of them.
The monthly magazine Decanter was founded in London in 1975. Its in-depth, insightful approach makes it one of the best wine resources published today. Wine regions and producers are covered thoroughly making the magazine a valuable source of information for amateurs and seasoned professionals alike.
Decanter’s wine reviews are incredibly detailed and focused, but most of them require users to sign into their paid Premium program to access. The Decanters Best lists are free of charge and offer spectacular reviews on wines for different topics like Best South American wines under $20.
While the school’s reviews don’t have the breadth of either the Wine Spectator or Advocate, they are essential to buying wine in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. The school only reviews wines that are available in PA Wine & Spirits Wine Stores. You can check out our wine reviews here.
The post Wine Reviews: The Essential Guide appeared first on Wine School of Philadelphia.
I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
Shop Wine Products at Amazon.com
