Blog Index

James Laube

Tasting Maynard James Keenan's New Releases

Posted: 04:18 PM ET, 04/08/08

I’m often at a loss trying to explain celebrity winemakers, since their wines rarely excite and more often are likely to disappoint.

I remember thinking that, upon reviewing one of Mick Fleetwood’s wines, that that particular rock star-turned-vintner had better not misplace his sticks. Read more

James Laube

Rewards of Tradition with Hanzell Chardonnay

Posted: 01:03 PM ET, 04/07/08

When Michael Terrien left Acacia to become winemaker at Hanzell Vineyards, he was forced to rethink winemaking. He went from a winery in Carneros that emphasized early drinking Chardonnays that were ready on release to one with a tradition of slow developing Chardonnays that aged exceptionally well. Read more

Harvey Steiman

Counting on the Details

Posted: 11:52 AM ET, 04/07/08

While out selling his own wines, Josh Bergström has found himself in some of America's best restaurants, either getting the wines on their lists or wining and dining customers. That's how he got behind the scenes at Le Bernardin in New York, and used some of what he saw there in designing the new Trisaetum winery in Oregon, including a room full of white boards. Read more

James Laube

An Amazing Grace Change of Heart

Posted: 01:53 PM ET, 04/04/08

A common winemaker adage is that their wines are like their children. There are no favorites. Each is unique. Each has its own personality and it’s impossible to choose one over the other.

Here’s my corollary counterpoint: Winemakers are far more complex than their wines. Read more

Bruce Sanderson

Taste Is Personal

Posted: 09:49 AM ET, 04/04/08

I attended a Burgundy dinner the other night, at a private club, where about 60 wine lovers enjoyed two white and three red Burgundies ranging from village to grand cru. All the wines were delicious and showing well. Read more

James Suckling

Thoughts on Brunello's Witch Hunt

Posted: 05:43 AM ET, 04/04/08

Everyone was talking about the growing Brunello di Montalcino scandal yesterday during the first day of Vinitaly, the annual wine fair in Verona, Italy. Italian newspapers and broadcast media were full of reports on Italy’s financial police, Guardia di Finanza, investigation into wine producers planting grape types other than Sangiovese in their vineyards. Read more

Harvey Steiman

Corks vs. Screw Caps: Let Us Reason Together

Posted: 02:23 PM ET, 04/03/08

In a tasting last weekend, Plumpjack Winery poured pairs of samples from its grand experiment in screw caps. Starting in 1997, the winery bottled half of its reserve Cabernet Sauvignon under the best corks they could buy, and the other half under Stelvin screw caps, in a joint study with the University of California at Davis. Read more

James Laube

Wrapping Up Our Chardonnay Tasting

Posted: 03:09 PM ET, 04/02/08

Whew. We’re finally finished tasting California Chardonnay for this year’s report. It’s been a long, occasionally grueling exercise, tasting some 425 new releases since last year, with most of the wines from 2006 along with a few stragglers from 2005. Read more

James Laube

Farewell to a Friend: Barney Rhodes Dies at 88

Posted: 05:12 PM ET, 04/01/08

Barney Rhodes, a great wine connoisseur and owner of Bella Oaks Vineyard in Napa Valley, died today at age 88 after a brief illness. His wife, Belle, died last year.

Barney and Belle moved to Napa in the early 1960s and planted their first vineyard in Oakville, which later became known as Martha’s Vineyard, a Cabernet that became one of the most famous wines in America. Read more

James Molesworth

At the Other End of Patagonia: The Río Negro Province

Posted: 02:30 PM ET, 04/01/08

The Río Negro province in Patagonia is the home of the eastern extension of the river valley that is suddenly emerging as a quality wine producing area. Here the Río Neuquén joins the Río Limay to form the Río Negro, which then runs through a 15-mile-wide glacial bed whose soils are heavier than those on the western end of Neuquén, where I visited yesterday. Read more

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