Click this everytime you purchase from wine.com for the school!
The post appeared first on Wine School of Philadelphia.
source https://www.vinology.com/646382-2/
Friday, 9 October 2020
Wine Reviews for October 2020
Frank Family Vineyards 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley Vite Colte 2016 ” Luna E I Falo” Barbera D’asti Superiore A muscular Northern Italian red with significant oak influence. Aggressive tannins […]
The post Wine Reviews for October 2020 appeared first on Wine School of Philadelphia.
source https://www.vinology.com/wine-reviews-for-october-2020/
Thursday, 8 October 2020
Top Picks for Wine Books
Wine is all about knowledge. If you are drawn toward the world of wine, then there are two things you will need: a good book and a corkscrew. The more […]
The post Top Picks for Wine Books appeared first on Wine School of Philadelphia.
source https://www.vinology.com/top-wine-books/
To the Victors, the Spoils (Dude’s Take on Aged Champers & Mouton!)
It’s undeniable that 2020 has been, by and large, a dumpster fire, sh*t-show of a year. BUT… it hasn’t all been fetid, noxious piles of flaming refuse.
At 1WD HQ, there have been some aspects of 2020 fortuitous enough to justify breaking out the good stuff. And, I do mean the good stuff.
For starters, I managed to write and publish a book (technically, two books) in 2020 (with stellar reviews, so thanks, all!); a first for me, and one of those life events that, I suppose, justifies at least some celebratory libations. And my special-lady-friend Shannon managed an impressive feat of her own this year (even by her normally impressively high standards): she obtained the CPCU certification.
For the vast majority of you reading this who, like me, aren’t intimately familiar with the CPCU, it’s the property insurance industry’s equivalent to the Level 4 Diploma in Wines and Spirits, but in this case would be like passing that notoriously difficult series of exams without the benefit of classes, or having a study group. Oh, and also doing it in less than half of the recommended time!
So, we felt overdue for a properly obnoxious celebration, and celebrate properly in obnoxious fashion we did – by opening up two stellar examples of why French wines are still (somewhat annoyingly, because France) the benchmarks for the world’s finest in wine quality…
Few non-vintage Champers bottle-age as well as a good Bruno P., my friends. I gave this little number – crafted from first pressing Chardonnay, sourced exclusively from Grands Grus vineyards in the Côte des Blancs, and blended with reserve wines that span 25 vintages going back to the mid 1980s – some extra cellar luuuuuuuv. This bottle, provided as a media sample some time ago, was disgorged in 2010. So… to its four years of sur lie aging, and additional ten months bottle aging before release, you can add another 9+ trips around the sun before we popped it open.
The low dosage, Extra Brut style shines like a beacon of hope in the darkness here. Lovely, lively, and pithy, sniffing and sipping this gem is a bit like enjoying a gourmet version of an unsweetened yellow apple pie, with fresh, toasted almonds dotted gently across it for good measure. While energetic almost to a fault, the age gave it a sense of bakery-fresh creaminess that was sexy and mouth-filling. Yet another example of why this producer might actually be wasting its time printing the disgorgement date on the back label… When was it bottled? Who gives a f*ck? Open that suckah up and fill up my glass!
NOT a sample, beeeeaaaatches! I bought this puppy with my own hard-earned dollars just after release, when the buzz about Bordeaux’s epic 2005 vintage started putting some downward pressure on the underappreciated 2004s. Mouton is most famous for two things: successfully elevating itself to First Growth status, and having impressive artists create works for their labels each vintage. For 2004, they turned to HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, who agreed to allow them to use one of his watercolor creations. As Mouton describes it:
2004 occupies a special place in our memories since it marks the Centenary of the Entente Cordiale, concluded by Britain and France on 8 April 1904. King Edward VII is known to have played a prominent part in the agreement, which would herald a genuine alliance during the First World War and forever transform two rival powers into sisters by choice. The commemoration of such an important milestone in Franco-British relations was the occasion for many celebrations in 2004, culminating in official visits by both Heads of State. That is the spirit in which Baroness Philippine de Rothschild approached HRH The Prince of Wales, a talented artist and a direct descendant of Edward VII. The Prince agreed that the label for Mouton Rothschild 2004 could be illustrated with one of his watercolours, inspired by a French landscape, in celebration of the Entente Cordiale. He has added in his own hand: «To celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Entente Cordiale – Charles, 2004». Standing out against an azure sky, rooted in the depths of the soil, the pines depicted by the artist are in the image of the vine, fruit of the ever bountiful union of the sun and the earth.
As for the vintage itself:
2004 will remain in the memory as the driest year since 1962, with only 560 mm of rainfall. The drought conditions began during the winter and continued throughout the spring and summer, though some rainfall in August gave the vines the water they needed and favoured veraison. Glorious weather in September enabled the Merlots to reach full maturity and picking began on 29 September. The grapes were rich in polyphenols and showed excellent sugar concentration. The rest of the harvest was delayed in order to encourage all the aromatic potential of a highly promising vintage. Picking in the best parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon resumed in exceptionally sunny conditions and higher than average temperatures and harvesting was completed on 15 October.
Cabernet Sauvignon 69%, Merlot 15%, Cabernet Franc 13%, Petit Verdot 3%
Blah, blah, blah… so… how did it deliver on the goods 16 years later?
In a word, splendidly. Despite having a medium/ lighter body (it’s under 13% abv), its panoply of black currant fruits are spicy, dark, juicy, and quite deep. Its overt spiciness gives way to more subtle aspects – dried herbs, graphite, cloves, earth – and not-so-subtle aspects (like supple leather, and lots of it!). There’s gorgeous length on the red plum and leather finish, which lasts minutes. I couldn’t help but feel that so many of its elegant, wonderful nuances are likely always there, but just aren’t as apparent in the more bombastic, warmer vintages that froth the wine critics up into a circle-jerk frenzy. Several things about this wine speak more softly than that, and it’s all the better for it.
Cheers!
Upscale your palate! My new books are now available from Rockridge Press! Copyright © 2020. Originally at To the Victors, the Spoils (Dude’s Take on Aged Champers & Mouton!) from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!
source http://www.1winedude.com/to-the-victors-the-spoils-dudes-take-on-aged-champers-mouton/
Tuesday, 6 October 2020
Portuguese Wine Recommendations
From our Wines of Portugal Wine Class (Online). Join us for more online wine classes! Port Recommendations Quinta do Crasto Late Bottled Vintage Port 2014 $$ For medium-term aging (10 […]
The post Portuguese Wine Recommendations appeared first on Wine School of Philadelphia.
source https://www.vinology.com/port-reccs/
Monday, 5 October 2020
Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For October 5, 2020
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!
- 2018 Priest Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Rich, dark, chocolatey, and, ok, ok, a little oaky… you are forgiven, my son! $49 A-
- 2017 The Larsen Projekt Syrah (Petaluma Gap): Bodaciously, well, bodacious, in big, bold, beautiful ways. $35 A-
- 2018 Dry Creek Vineyard Fume Blanc (Sonoma County): Lemons, smoke, lemongrass, and a penchant for punching well above its weight class. $14 B+
- 2012 Cantara Cellars Dessert Wine (Lodi): This buck is still kicking, with raisin, rum, blackberry syrup, and depth. $NA B+
- 2016 Martellotto Riserva ‘Il Capoccia’ (Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara): A lesson for you – One can be burly, while also being supple and generous, too. $65 A-
- 2017 Neely Spring Ridge Vineyard Bee Block Chardonnay (Santa Cruz Mountains): “B” is for big, bombastic bombshell, baby! $48 A-
- 2017 Bacchant Wines Luli Chardonnay (Santa Lucia Highlands): Bright, perky and downright delicious; Meyer lemons, anyone? $22 B+
- 2017 Troon Vineyard Tannat (Applegate Valley): Get ready for a panoply of Ys – as in, tang-y, gripp-y, dust-y, meat-y, & spic-y. $45 A-
- 2017 Trestle Thirty-One Riesling (Finger Lakes): Limes for daaaaaaayyyyyysssssss…. $29 A-
- 2017 Veramonte Primus Carménère (Colchagua Valley): Peppered beef jerky, with black plum preserves. $19 B+
Upscale your palate! My new books are now available from Rockridge Press! Copyright © 2020. Originally at Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For October 5, 2020 from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!
source http://www.1winedude.com/wine-reviews-weekly-mini-round-up-for-october-5-2020/
Thursday, 1 October 2020
Wine in the Time of Coronavirus, Part 11 (“Just Babysitters” – Bacigalupi Recent Releases)
Out of the dozen or so virtual, online, live sample tastings in which I’ve participated the last several months (necessitated due to the COVID-19 pandemic), I might have been looking forward to this one with Bacigalupi Vineyards the most.
The thing is, I am kind of a fan boy for their matriarch, the indefatigable Helen Bacigalupi, who is a bit of a legend in the pantheon of Sonoma winegrowers, having established the family business in 1956, and having supplied some of the Chardonnay fruit for wine that bested the best of France in the `70s-era “Judgment of Paris” tasting, creating the U.S. wine world’s equivalent of the Miracle on Ice, and effectively putting California on the world wine market map. It should also be noted that most Americans enjoy a good French comeuppance, which probably doesn’t hurt the Bacigalupi’s legacy and domestic brand goodwill.
Refreshingly, several of the major players in this now 3rd-generation family-run business are women: co-founder Helen (who was still doing the grape contracts until she hit 88 years young); Pam Bacigalupi (who grew up at Korbel) handling grape sales; marketing and sales led by sisters Nicole Bacigalupi Dericco and Katey Bacigalupi Row (who emphasized that they “grew up with the humming of the tractors at 4am”); and winemaking under Ashley Herzberg.
Speaking of Herzberg, she has a good sense of what makes the Bacigalupi brand special: following Helen’s credo “always listen to what Mother Nature is telling you.”
“I’m just a babysitter [of the grapes],” Herzberg mentioned, describing their small family-run company size as an asset. “We don’t have to make things in a certain way; we can pivot [with the vintage].” Here’s how the pivoting fared in 2018…
This tribute to Helen and the Paris tasting is arguably the finest wine that Bacigalupi has crafted since they started bottling their own label in 2011. The Chardonnay grapes are all Wente clone plantings from the Goddard Ranch vineyard block that supplied the fruit for the winning Judgment of Paris white (the 1973 Napa Valley Chardonnay from Château Montelena) that shocked the wine world in `76. The vineyard benefits from pools of fog that develop from the tributaries around the property, and is a mix of won-rooted, older vines and younger replacements, all pressed and fermented together in this gem. “You get a lot of variability in the acidity and the minerality” noted Herzberg.
Apparently, you also get one of the most gorgeous Chardonnays in Sonoma, too. Charismatic, lifted, and floral, the nose on this thing is simply stunning; lemon peel, flint, white peaches, jasmine, crème brûlée. In the mouth, it’s energetic, broad, and incredibly long, with a bit of everything: citrus, star fruits, apples, apricots. It’s almost unbelievably good, and feels authentic down to the core. Alas, only 99 cases were produced.
Here we have premium stuff that’s also affable and easy to sip. Toasty, full of yellow apple action, moving to apricots, lemons, and white flowers, this one is fruity, generous but also quite fresh. You’ll get some nice brioche on the finish, but you need to wait for it, because it’s damned long. It’s one of those wines that make you think “WTF?!?” when someone tells you that they hate Chardonnay.
For all of the elegance of their Chardonnays, it’s interesting that Bacigalupi Pinots tend to be a bit more on the muscular and meaty side. This is a nice introduction to their style: smoky, with dark dried herbs, black tea, grilled orange peel, black raspberries, and a sense of deep, plummy purity. It’s poised, fresh, and delicious.
This vineyard, planted to 100% Pommard clone, is closer to the Russian River and benefits from its cooling effects, tending to produce Pinot that is earthier and more “grounded.” This vintage is brambly, with wild berry flavors, forest floor and dark herb aromas, and hints of toast, smoked meat, and black cherries. It brings substance and grip, but manages to stay vibrant and characterful, somehow managing to be muscular and curvy at the same time.
All Wente clone Pinot here, and despite being single vineyard, this red lacks for nothing and feels seamlessly complete. Cherries, plums, dried blueberries, tea, spice, cured meat, violets… there’s a lot going on in this one to process. The palate never lets up on its juiciness, but brings just enough backbone and textural complexity to give the impression of wrapping up a pretty bow on the entire package.
Cheers!
Upscale your palate! My new books are now available from Rockridge Press! Copyright © 2020. Originally at Wine in the Time of Coronavirus, Part 11 (“Just Babysitters” – Bacigalupi Recent Releases) from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!
source http://www.1winedude.com/wine-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-part-11-just-babysitters-bacigalupi-recent-releases/
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