Recipe for a good quality cork (simplified version...)

by Walter Gilpin, Domaine de la Vivonne, 2000

- Plant a cork oak tree.

- Wait 30 years.

- Remove the bark and discard it. This is the first-growth bark.

- Wait 15 years.

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Posted by Mike Tommasi at 04:52 PM
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Duckhorn Vineyards

Notes from a tasting of Duckhorn wines presented by Margaret Duckhorn. They have obviously put a real whack of money into their operation and are sincere about quality. The use of various ‘duck’ names and logos is of an extent that even had me, an unrepentant punster, ‘quailing at some of the material she presented.

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Posted by Bill Spohn at 07:48 PM
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Cape Blends and Pinotage

Cape blends – Pinotage or not to Pinotage?

The wine industry in South Africa is absolutely free to make wine from whatever and wherever they want – that may be unique in the world, with all of the AOC, DOC and such regulation.

There is an ongoing discussion about something they call ‘Cape blends’, but rather typically, the South Africans can’t agree on just what a Cape blend is. Half of them insist that it must include Pinotage as a principal component and the other half say they will put in anything they please. These notes are from a seminar aimed at surveying this issue, tasting both sorts of wines.

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Posted by Bill Spohn at 03:35 AM
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Crasto, Matua, Valle D. Maria, Edge, Signorello

Notes from the Vancouver Wine Festival

Lunch with some of the winery principals – Ray Signorello, Christiano van Zeller of Quinta do Valle Dona Maria, Miguel Roquette of Quinta do Crasto, and Bill Spence, manager at Matua Valley in New Zealand. These lunches offer a wonderful opportunity to chat informally with knowledgeable wine people while tasting some of their wines with lunch.

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Posted by Bill Spohn at 03:21 AM
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01 Beaucastel, 99 Corton Grancey, 03 La Louviere......

The finale to (my) Vancouver Wine Festival Experience was an excellent lunch at Le Gavroche. I sat with Pascal Apercé, the export director for Lurton.

With albacore tuna tartare, smoked salmon on a mini-blini, and honey mussel in a saffron sauce:

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Posted by Bill Spohn at 03:17 AM
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Cape Wines in Vancouver

The Vancouver International Wine Festival is a wonderful opportunity to meet the principals of many wineries and discuss the wine, how they are made, how they mature, and new directions for the wineries. I gritted my teeth, took 2 days off from the office, giving my secretary instructions to advise clients trying to find me that I was on a study session, and headed out to study for all I was worth. There are more than 500 wineries in South Africa today, and I was keen to add some new and interesting finds to my list of old stand-bys.

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Posted by Bill Spohn at 04:32 PM
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2000 Rochioli Zinfandel Sodini Vineyard

Very pleasant briary nose, big sweet fruit on palate, backed more by acidity than tannin, long sweet finish. Great with rare rack of lamb.

Posted by Bill Spohn at 03:33 PM
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Wine writers and ethics

Can wine lovers really trust wine writers? Are wine critics and reviewers truly independent representatives of wine consumers or are they just wine insiders with their snouts in the trough (lake?) of wine provided by a generous wine industry that is always on the lookout for a free editorial plug?

This perennial question arose again recently and in response I dug out a relevant piece I wrote on the topic in 2002. Here it is.

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Posted by Martin Field at 11:18 PM
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A Night in Slovenia

On Tuesday evening the 8th of march, my friend Tomaz Srsen came to fetch me at Ljubljana airport, this was the beginning of a very tasty evening. Back in the ‘80s Tomaz used to be the bassist of Slovenia’s top rock group, today he is a wine and food critic but still looks like a bassist… he also write a guide of Slovenia’s top 110 restaurants; 110 in a country of 2 million people? It strikes me that this is the equivalent of citing the 3000 best restaurants in France. This evening we are going to one of the best, the Gostilna pri Danilu at Škofja Loka, a few kilometres outside Ljubljana.

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Posted by Mike Tommasi at 05:23 PM
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March Lunch Notes from Vancouver

Lunch this month was as interesting as ever.

1998 Devil’s Lair Margaret River Chardonnay – this one fooled many of us into thinking it was something else. Bit of citrus in the nose and some vanilla, medium body and quite crisp at the end. Not exactly what you expect in an Oz Chard.

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Posted by Bill Spohn at 06:42 PM
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1990 Bordeaux

Notes from a very enjoyable dinner-tasting of Bordeaux of the 1990 vintage. These wines have always seemed to me to be more fruit forward and ‘Californian’ in approach, if you will, than the more classic and arguably more austere 1988 and 1989 vintages that together make up this wonderful triptych of Bordeaux.

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Posted by Bill Spohn at 02:20 AM
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Springtime in California

I'm delighted and honored to have been invited by Mike, and I haven't been very good about participating yet :-( Too much work, too much grey weather here, too distracted.

However - this must change! Living in the Napa/Solano area means it is easy to visit wineries outside the context of a holiday. In fact, there are many wineries I've driven past for years because I take them for granted. Silly me.

As spring soon explodes, it will be time to catch up with those places I've missed and this blog is a catalyst to share those experiences.

Cheers!

Posted by Dana at 07:23 PM
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A Bordeaux Dinner with Friends

Notes from a recent dinner with friends:

With amuse-bouches:

1996 Pol Roger Blanc de Chardonnay – nice and yeasty, with a fresh lemony presentation. I tend to prefer Champagnes made with the usual red varietals as they tend to have more character, but this blanc de blanc was very good and drinking well now.

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Posted by Bill Spohn at 04:43 PM
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What's that all about?

Australian wine writers will persist in using language in wine reviews that is incomprehensible to most of their readers. How do I know? I read out bits of reviews to my introductory wine classes and ask them if they know what the reviewers mean. Most often they don't.

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Posted by Martin Field at 10:46 PM
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