Blog Index

James Laube

Buyers and Sellers with an Eye on Napa Valley

Posted: 04:34 PM ET, 11/18/08

The Chateau Montelena deal may be dead and we may never know all the reasons why. I still believe that Montelena’s owner Jim Barrett wanted to sell the winery and was elated to have a buyer. Whether he changed his mind and wants to keep the property, or the economy changed the would-be buyer's mind and forced him to rethink his strategy, is unknown. Read more

2008 Harvest

Winding Down Harvest in Oregon

Posted: 04:26 PM ET, 11/18/08

Posted by Josh Bergström

Tomorrow we will be pressing out our final Pinot Noir fermentations, and the winemaking season will slow down—for now. Barrels that were filled with wine earlier on in the harvest period are now safely tucked away in the cellar. Read more

James Suckling

Why 2005 Bordeaux Didn't Win

Posted: 05:01 PM ET, 11/17/08

I have been interested in the comments in my blog and the general buzz in the marketplace about our choice for the Wine of the Year. It seems that some people are upset that the wine was not a 2005 Bordeaux, or the 2005 Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon Puente Alto Don Melchor. Read more

James Molesworth

Now That The Grapes Are In: A Look at 2008 in the Rhône

Posted: 02:32 PM ET, 11/17/08

The grapes are picked and the fermentation vats are full, so I used this moment of relative quiet for the vignerons to get an early read on them for the just completed 2008 harvest. Here's a look from both the Southern and Northern Rhône Valley. Read more

Harvey Steiman

New Wine, This Week, So What?

Posted: 12:48 PM ET, 11/17/08

Coming up this week is the one day of the year that specifically celebrates wine. It’s not a national holiday, but you wouldn’t know it if you happened to wander into a French bistro—in France or anywhere else in the world. Chalked up on the blackboard or spelled out in a banner festooning the entrance, a sign will proclaim “Le Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arivée!”

Yes, all over the world, cases of 2008 French red wine one step from grape juice will make the long journey from the vineyards of southern Burgundy to a casual wine bar near you. Read more

2008 Harvest

Making Mourvèdre—Day 4 Continued

Posted: 05:05 PM ET, 11/13/08

Posted by Brian Loring

November 2 (continued): Since we had to allow the Mourvèdre to hang on the vine so long in order to get the fruit ripe, we ended up with higher sugar levels and lower acid levels than we'd optimally like. Read more

James Suckling

Two Decades of Wine of the Year

Posted: 11:51 AM ET, 11/13/08

You must be excited to discover what the Wine of the Year is. I certainly am. I wish I could give you some clues. But I can’t. I have been sworn to secrecy.

But I revisited the first Wine of the Year the other night in Los Angeles with Bob Golbahar of Twenty Twenty Wine Merchants. Read more

2008 Harvest

Barrels Are Expensive—Why Do We Use Them?

Posted: 09:56 AM ET, 11/13/08

Posted by Barbara Kronenberg-Widmer

The alcoholic fermentations are done, both at Brancaia in Chianti Classico and in the Maremma, so our principal task and decision-making process during the next 12 to 20 months involves when, for how long and in what kind of oak we barrel all the different young wines. Read more

James Laube

The No. 1 that Got Away

Posted: 02:34 AM ET, 11/13/08

Ade desperately wanted the Wine Spectator Wine of the Year. So when the 1985 Lynch-Bages won honors in 1988, she searched high and low before locating two bottles in a wine shop in Santa Ana. Read more

James Molesworth

A Sit Down with Enrique Tirado and his New Chilean Syrah

Posted: 03:03 PM ET, 11/12/08

I sat down with Enrique Tirado here at my office earlier this week. Tirado is the head winemaker for Concha y Toro, and he oversees the winery’s flagship Don Melchor bottling, as well as a number of other projects, including TriVento in Argentina. Read more

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