Thursday, 28 February 2013
George?s CD ? In My Element ? is here!
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gangofpour/uncZ/~3/TGUTq7oNltI/in-my-element
Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vagablond/ysSN/~3/bXuMCZxRkwM/
Jim Cowan Talks Dirt
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gangofpour/uncZ/~3/_qiPumWGg_A/jim-cowan-talks-dirt
Phelps Pastiche Ritchie Creek Rochioli Rosenblum St. Clement
Australian Wine: The Once and Future King?
You’ve never heard of Campbell Mattinson: He’s a young, urbane Australian wine wordsmith who forsakes the academically erudite and plaintive wine writing style of legends past for a muscular writing style that is jocularly loose yet incisive, showing every bit of the wunderkind talent of his global English-language contemporaries, Jamie Goode and Neal Martin.
Likewise, you probably haven’t heard of Mattison’s *new* wine book, Thin Skins: Why the French Hate Australian Wine first published in Australia in 2007 and now just released in America.
Seemingly stillborn upon its October publishing date in the states and updated with a scant epilogue where the author notes, “The headiness described in the early passages of this book is now long gone,” the book formerly offered in situ context on the boom and looming bust of the Australian wine landscape and is now something of an ipso facto think piece on the manifested reality.
With recency in absentia as one negative checkmark, Thin Skins as a body of work brooks no favors for itself either. Even when first published four years ago, it represented a compendium of articles and profile pieces, individually quite good, but collectively never quite transcending its constituent parts, especially one that supports the premise of the title. And, unlike its subject matter, time has not aged the book into cohesion.
Worse still, brought to the U.S. market by publisher Sterling Epicure, the book is likely supported with little more than the gas it takes a truck to drive a meager allotment of books to an Amazon.com warehouse and the dwindling number of Barnes & Nobles that still populate the landscape, a veritable line item in an editors’ fourth quarter publishing spreadsheet under the header, “wine.”
Thin Skins seems destined for a hastened half-life and quick retreat to the remainder bin at Half-Price Books…it’s an ignoble fate heaped upon by my damnation.
But, I’ve feinted purposefully, misdirecting by caveat because, despite everything I’ve mentioned having some inherent truth(including the author being very talented), Thin Skins is a wildly entertaining book that delivers on providing a teasing glimpse into a distinctly Aussie viewpoint on the factors that led to the Australian wine boom (Parker points, market forces, greed and drought) and in so doing the author makes three key points worth repeating:
1) The Aussie wine industry, save for its Gallo-like equivalents, is NOT happy about their country’s production being viewed globally as syrupy supermarket plonk
2) Our U.S. perception IS NOT reality regarding Australian wine; their wine industry has an abundance of refined, terroir-based wines from small vintners
3) The Aussie wine business will rise again on the international scene (in an entirely different form).
One key takeaway for me from the book is that Australia is remarkably similar to the U.S.
In the U.S., some reports indicate that 90% of the wine sold is “corporate” wine, the kind found at supermarkets across the country. However, what IS different is that 90% of our national conversation about wine focuses on the 10% of the wine production that ISN’T in the supermarket i.e. everything non-corporate – the boutique, artisan and interesting.
Yet, when it comes to Australian wine, we don’t continue our conversation about the small and beautiful. Instead of talking about the superlative, we view their entire country production through the lens of the insipid, the Yellowtail and other critters that cost $6.99 at Safeway.
American wine consumers would be rightfully indignant if the world viewed our wines not as we do, a rich tapestry, but as industrialized plonk from the San Joaquin Valley.
This is where Australian wine is at today—a ‘perception is reality’ mistake of colossal proportions.
While offering an abundance of stories from small producers along the way, Mattison suggests that while it may take time, with Australia having 162 years of winemaking history, the day will come, sooner rather than later, when Australian wine forsakes its near-term reputation and is viewed on the world stage as a wine producing country that can proudly stand next to its New World peers.
I wrote recently that I’ve noticed a slow change in tenor from American influencers regarding Aussie wine, they’re becoming more sympathetic, they’re starting to speak less dismissively and more optimistically and holistically about Australian wine, discussing the merits and great diversity in the land of Oz.
Recent Symphony IRI sales data bears this out as well. According to a Shanken NewsDaily report from this week, Australian wine in the $15 - $19.99 category rose 23% in September. In addition, growth is coming from varietals not named Shiraz (see also syrupy supermarket plonk). Instead, Semillon, Riesling and Pinot Noir are showing growth.
Still, it’s not the land of milk and honey here in the states for Aussie wine, as it once was. Overall sales are down by volume and dollars, but as Mattinson alludes the correction in the U.S. market isn’t going to be pretty, but it will be healthy and it’s quite possible that Australia will decrease in overall volume and dollar sales from persistent decline at the low-end for years to come as the high-end grows, but not at a rate to replace what was lost.
The net sum of that doesn’t balance a spreadsheet, but it does balance mindshare.
Pick-up Thin Skins if you want to get turned on to a great wine writer while also enjoying a greater understanding of Australian wine – where it has been and where it’s going—perhaps not as a future King, but definitely not in its current role as court jester.
Campbell Mattinson’s Wine Site: The Wine Front
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/australian_wine_the_once_and_future_king/
Public Service Announcement: Passwords Protect All of Us
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/hcWq5-W4iDU/
Tasting notes - Berlin Tasting
No. 1 - 2005 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild (Bordeaux)
Dark colour with intense smell of pencil, cigar, currant and spicy wood. It’s full-bodied, rich and concentrated but also with an upfront softness. 96/100.
No. 2 - 2004 Sassicaia (Tuscany)
Not so intense in the nose - a little cherry. The [...]
Source: http://www.wine4freaks.com/40/tasting-notes-berlin-tasting/
White Wine Champagne Sparkling White Wine Rose Alex. Vall. Vyds
Free Shipping from Wine Library: Start Building the Perfect Case
Update: Use code CYBERMONDAY for the same deal
- 2008 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills $19.99
- 2010 Zepaltas Risuena Pinot Noir $19.98
- 2009 Merry Edwards Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir $38.98
- 2009 Hayfork Cabernet Sauvignon Lewelling Ranch $59.98
- 2011 Pepiere Muscadet Clos Des Briords $14.98
- 2009 Pierre Usseglio Mon Aieul Chateauneuf Du Pape $79.98
- 2009 Melka Cj Cabernet Sauvignon $42.98
- 2010 Melville Pinot Noir Estate $27.98
- 2004 Bodegas Resalte De Restia Crianza Selected Harvest $16.98
- 2010 Borsao Tres Picos $11.98
- 2009 Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon $59.97
- 2011 Marcel Lapierre Morgon $23.98
Offer expires November 23rd, 2012 at 11:59 pm EST.
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Free Shipping from Wine Library: Start Building the Perfect Case
Update: Use code CYBERMONDAY for the same deal
- 2008 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills $19.99
- 2010 Zepaltas Risuena Pinot Noir $19.98
- 2009 Merry Edwards Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir $38.98
- 2009 Hayfork Cabernet Sauvignon Lewelling Ranch $59.98
- 2011 Pepiere Muscadet Clos Des Briords $14.98
- 2009 Pierre Usseglio Mon Aieul Chateauneuf Du Pape $79.98
- 2009 Melka Cj Cabernet Sauvignon $42.98
- 2010 Melville Pinot Noir Estate $27.98
- 2004 Bodegas Resalte De Restia Crianza Selected Harvest $16.98
- 2010 Borsao Tres Picos $11.98
- 2009 Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon $59.97
- 2011 Marcel Lapierre Morgon $23.98
Offer expires November 23rd, 2012 at 11:59 pm EST.
Wine & The Connected Consumer
Wine & The Connected Consumer originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/nrx_xWDCG2s/
Pinot Blanc Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Pinot Noir Syrah or Shiraz
Winners of the Louis Roederer Wine Writing Awards 2012
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/zPEZ9O7k8nE/
A Little Competition Never Hurts!
Old World vs. New World in More Ways than just the Wine
In the increasingly close quarters of our global village, Europe is responsible for bringing at least three different substantive and prodigious professional wine journals to market over the last several years. Each is written by a ‘Who’s Who’ of wine experts. Meanwhile, stateside, the U.S. has experienced an explosion of pithiness with amateur wine writers writing online.
This juxtaposition becomes relevant after reading a recent post titled, “Are wine blogs going tabloid” by professional wine critic and writer Steve Heimoff. In his brief post, with a decidedly American point of view, Heimoff summarizes his thoughts with the rhetorical query, “Why do certain bloggers revert to sensationalist stories that don’t, in the long run, matter?”
Good question. The easy conclusion suggests that controversy and hyperbolically bombastic articles lead to attention and traffic.
Certainly, two recent books that I’ve been reading bear out this discouraging notion: Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage and Celebrity, Inc.
Both books cover similar ground in examining how brands can subvert the 24-hour news cycle for business benefit and how the 24-hour news cycle has been subverted by celebrities using easy technology while leading our news culture into tabloidesque territory.
When considered with Heimoff’s point, it is an easy deduction to suggest that 1 + 1 does in fact equal 2 – the sensational does sell and, by proxy, online amateur wine writers are a reflection of our larger media culture.
However, in suggesting this, there is at least one bigger contextual point being missed as well as a caveat. First, it’s an exclusive view that doesn’t take in the totality of the global wine media village and second, while sensationalism may sell, the lascivious isn’t always what’s shared.
No, it seems our schadenfreude and more primal instincts are kept private, while our shock and awe comes to the fore, at least according to one study.
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania recently examined the most emailed articles on the New York Times web site in March of this year (link initiates a PDF download), looking for the triggers for what causes somebody to share an article, what makes one thing more viral than another?
Their conclusion? Positive content is more viral than negative content, but both, in general, are driven by “activation” – the notion that high arousal (emotive pleasure or outrage) drives shareable content. According to the research abstract:
Content that evokes either positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions characterized by activation (i.e. high arousal) is more viral. Content that evokes deactivating emotion (sadness) is less viral. These results hold (dominance) for how surprising, interesting, or practically useful content is, as well as external drivers of attention.
This brings us back to my earlier mention regarding the European wine journals that have come to market in recent years. Simply, they’re an antidote to the U.S. proclivity for the vapid.
The World of Fine Wine, the family of Fine Wine magazines based in Helsinki and Tong based in Belgium all represent an Old World counterpoint to what can be deemed as the extemporaneous and superfluous coming from the New World.
As Tong publisher Filip Verheyden notes in the Tong manifesto (link initiates a PDF download) :
We live in times of “instant” gratification. If we want to talk to someone, we pick up our mobile phone wherever we happen to be. If we want to know something, we click an internet button. We’re going at 200 km per hour.
What we seem to forget in this race against time is the trustworthiness of this quickly-acquired knowledge, and that is something we have to find out for ourselves. But who takes the time to do it?
…The articles that appear in Tong demand the reader’s attention. You can’t read them fast and put them away; you have to take the time to understand. I’d say it takes an evening to read and think about each article. These are not issues to put in the recycling bin. Even after five years or more, each will continue to convey the essence of its theme…
The World of Fine Wine and Fine Wine magazine are both similarly endowed with length and verve.
My takeaway based on the Wharton research and the stunning dichotomy between what we’re seeing in the U.S. vs. European wine content is two-fold:
1) The sometimes sensational aspect of online wine writers, especially domestically, should heed the research and focus their pot-stirring ways on matters that provoke an emotional response from readers, ideally with a positive consequence – like HR 1161 for example instead of tired, lame attempted zingers aimed at Robert Parker.
2) In addition to a legacy sensibility about the nature and style of wine, the Old World is also drawing a culturally defining line in the sand in how they view and report on wine – it’s with substance, permanence and integrity.
The conclusion is anything but. However, as the world becomes a smaller place and the U.S. and our wine media becomes a part of the world chorus, losing lead vocal, I would hate for our place in the gallery to be rendered completely voiceless based on a lack of substance which is the seeming trajectory that we’re on.
It’s just a thought…
If you’re interested in seeing an example of Tong’s long-form think pieces, you can see examples here, here and here.
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/old_world_vs._new_world_in_more_ways_than_just_the_wine/
White Wine Champagne Sparkling White Wine Rose Alex. Vall. Vyds
Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vagablond/ysSN/~3/bXuMCZxRkwM/
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Wine Blogging Wednesday #70: 2009 Bodega Bernabeleva Camino de Navaherreros Garnacha
Source: http://familylovewine.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/wine-blogging-wednesday-70/
San Francisco Prep High School churns out Winery Owners and Winemakers
St. Ignatius High School has produced a very impressive list of alums working in the world of wine. The Alumni Department at S.I. forwarded me this list of graduates affiliated with wineries in the Napa Valley, Sonoma and beyond. Continue reading
The post San Francisco Prep High School churns out Winery Owners and Winemakers appeared first on Napa Valley Wine Blog.
Blogging can?t die
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/1q83xbmmM_0/
Cap Rock Winery 2011 Sweet Tempranillo
Source: http://thegrapesaroundtexas.com/2013/01/03/cap-rock-winery-2011-sweet-tempranillo/
Monday, 25 February 2013
TMiW 1 ? Looking Back, Looking Forward
TMiW 1 – Looking Back, Looking Forward originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/G2HGzSDlbQM/
SEO Services
Source: http://winewithmark.info/archives/676
Stag\\\'s Leap Stags\\\' Leap Santa Barbara Shafer Shafer Firebreak
November 25 ? 2012 ? Florida Jim Cowan?s 2012 Tasting Notes Archive
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gangofpour/uncZ/~3/nUQeMMr7YtY/jim-cowan%e2%80%99s-2012-tasting-notes
Old World vs. New World in More Ways than just the Wine
In the increasingly close quarters of our global village, Europe is responsible for bringing at least three different substantive and prodigious professional wine journals to market over the last several years. Each is written by a ‘Who’s Who’ of wine experts. Meanwhile, stateside, the U.S. has experienced an explosion of pithiness with amateur wine writers writing online.
This juxtaposition becomes relevant after reading a recent post titled, “Are wine blogs going tabloid” by professional wine critic and writer Steve Heimoff. In his brief post, with a decidedly American point of view, Heimoff summarizes his thoughts with the rhetorical query, “Why do certain bloggers revert to sensationalist stories that don’t, in the long run, matter?”
Good question. The easy conclusion suggests that controversy and hyperbolically bombastic articles lead to attention and traffic.
Certainly, two recent books that I’ve been reading bear out this discouraging notion: Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage and Celebrity, Inc.
Both books cover similar ground in examining how brands can subvert the 24-hour news cycle for business benefit and how the 24-hour news cycle has been subverted by celebrities using easy technology while leading our news culture into tabloidesque territory.
When considered with Heimoff’s point, it is an easy deduction to suggest that 1 + 1 does in fact equal 2 – the sensational does sell and, by proxy, online amateur wine writers are a reflection of our larger media culture.
However, in suggesting this, there is at least one bigger contextual point being missed as well as a caveat. First, it’s an exclusive view that doesn’t take in the totality of the global wine media village and second, while sensationalism may sell, the lascivious isn’t always what’s shared.
No, it seems our schadenfreude and more primal instincts are kept private, while our shock and awe comes to the fore, at least according to one study.
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania recently examined the most emailed articles on the New York Times web site in March of this year (link initiates a PDF download), looking for the triggers for what causes somebody to share an article, what makes one thing more viral than another?
Their conclusion? Positive content is more viral than negative content, but both, in general, are driven by “activation” – the notion that high arousal (emotive pleasure or outrage) drives shareable content. According to the research abstract:
Content that evokes either positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions characterized by activation (i.e. high arousal) is more viral. Content that evokes deactivating emotion (sadness) is less viral. These results hold (dominance) for how surprising, interesting, or practically useful content is, as well as external drivers of attention.
This brings us back to my earlier mention regarding the European wine journals that have come to market in recent years. Simply, they’re an antidote to the U.S. proclivity for the vapid.
The World of Fine Wine, the family of Fine Wine magazines based in Helsinki and Tong based in Belgium all represent an Old World counterpoint to what can be deemed as the extemporaneous and superfluous coming from the New World.
As Tong publisher Filip Verheyden notes in the Tong manifesto (link initiates a PDF download) :
We live in times of “instant” gratification. If we want to talk to someone, we pick up our mobile phone wherever we happen to be. If we want to know something, we click an internet button. We’re going at 200 km per hour.
What we seem to forget in this race against time is the trustworthiness of this quickly-acquired knowledge, and that is something we have to find out for ourselves. But who takes the time to do it?
…The articles that appear in Tong demand the reader’s attention. You can’t read them fast and put them away; you have to take the time to understand. I’d say it takes an evening to read and think about each article. These are not issues to put in the recycling bin. Even after five years or more, each will continue to convey the essence of its theme…
The World of Fine Wine and Fine Wine magazine are both similarly endowed with length and verve.
My takeaway based on the Wharton research and the stunning dichotomy between what we’re seeing in the U.S. vs. European wine content is two-fold:
1) The sometimes sensational aspect of online wine writers, especially domestically, should heed the research and focus their pot-stirring ways on matters that provoke an emotional response from readers, ideally with a positive consequence – like HR 1161 for example instead of tired, lame attempted zingers aimed at Robert Parker.
2) In addition to a legacy sensibility about the nature and style of wine, the Old World is also drawing a culturally defining line in the sand in how they view and report on wine – it’s with substance, permanence and integrity.
The conclusion is anything but. However, as the world becomes a smaller place and the U.S. and our wine media becomes a part of the world chorus, losing lead vocal, I would hate for our place in the gallery to be rendered completely voiceless based on a lack of substance which is the seeming trajectory that we’re on.
It’s just a thought…
If you’re interested in seeing an example of Tong’s long-form think pieces, you can see examples here, here and here.
Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/old_world_vs._new_world_in_more_ways_than_just_the_wine/
How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now; an SF MOMA Exhibit
The Lifestyle of An A-List Wine Critic
The Lifestyle of An A-List Wine Critic originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/r0JKYBK5oFQ/
Long Shadows Vintners: 2009 Sequel and 2008 Chester-Kidder
Long Shadows Vintners: 2009 Sequel and 2008 Chester-Kidder was originally posted on Wine Peeps. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WinePeeps/~3/eGAE7ogYL0Y/
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Michael Mondavi really gets wine blogging
Michael Mondavi really gets wine blogging originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/b6jgbhuqev0/
White Wine Champagne Sparkling White Wine Rose Alex. Vall. Vyds
Who Needs a Sale When You Have Empire Wine?
One thing I want this site to be about is helping friends find better wine values. Part of that is finding outstanding retailers who sell wine on razor thin margins. As I'm writing this I'm imagining co-workers and cousins looking for specific retailers to order from, and specific wines to get started with. I think 6 or 12 of the wines below would make a great stash of wines for the holiday season.
With deals swirling around this weekend I thought it would be a good opportunity to peruse their selection and make a few recommendations:
- Cakebread Cellars Zinfandel 2010 $23.95
$23 for what's sure to be a delicious red from Cakebread? Sold. - Failla 'Sonoma Coast' Pinot Noir 2011 $31.95
Great producer. Love the ~$30 price point for high quality California Pinot Noir. - Snowden 'The Ranch' Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $37.95
Not the prettiest label in the world but this one over delivers for its price point. - O'Shaughnessy 'Howell Mtn.' Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $74.95
Bumps the price up a bit over the Cakebread/Caymus/Silver Oak ~$60 level, but it's worth the splurge. - Beaurenard 'Boisrenard' Chateauneuf du Pape 2010 $69.95
97WS, great vintage. Getting harder to find these 2010s. - Soter 'North Valley' Pinot Noir 2009 $24.95
Soter's a great producer and I'm looking to try more 2009 Oregon Pinots before they disappear. - Marcel Lapierre Morgon 2011 $23.95
People love this producer and I'm hearing good things this 2011 Cru Beaujolais. - Belle Glos 'Meiomi' Pinot Noir 2011 $15.93
Stunningly low price, even when shipping costs are included. - Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 $16.95
Tasty fruit forward Napa Cab at a great price. - Ridge Vineyards 'Estate' Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 $34.95
Hard to go wrong with Ridge and priced in the mid-$30s this is a nice value. - Bodegas Volver 'Tarima Hill' Monastrell 2009 $8.95
I always like including a bargain Spanish Monastrell to round out a case. Original referral on this one came from The Capital Grille. Big and bold. - Bodegas Borsao Tinto 2011 $5.95
Robert Parker called this "Possibly the single greatest dry red wine value in the world" and rated it 90 points. Plug this into the WWP QPR Calculator (what's that?) and you get 3.36: Very Good Value. I've enjoyed other Borsao wines before and I'd bet this one is good too. What do you have to lose at this price point?
I'd love it if you subscribed to The Wellesley Wine Press to receive email notifications of new posts. I'm working on some great stuff in the coming weeks.
Tablas Creek Talley Whitehall Lane Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc
Robert Mondavi 2012 Blessing of the Grapes
The introductions were made by Margrit Mondavi, a gracious lady, so caring and gregarious. Winemaker Genevieve Janssens spoke about the outlook for this year's harvest. After two previous difficult harvests, she is thankful that 2012 promises to be an outstanding vintage. Continue reading
The post Robert Mondavi 2012 Blessing of the Grapes appeared first on Napa Valley Wine Blog.
Source: http://www.winecountrygetaways.com/napablog/robert-mondavi-2012-blessing-of-the-grapes/
Long Shadows Vintners: 2009 Sequel and 2008 Chester-Kidder
Long Shadows Vintners: 2009 Sequel and 2008 Chester-Kidder was originally posted on Wine Peeps. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WinePeeps/~3/eGAE7ogYL0Y/
Wine Club Shipments
Q&A with Howard Goldberg
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/GuSC/~3/CqgZso_jAZU/
Champagne Sparkling White Wine Rose Alex. Vall. Vyds Andrew Murray
Hot Deal: Wine Aerator and Electric Bottle Opener for $18.95 (compare at $79)
This one isn't going to last long, but in exchange for clicking through a quick slideshow about the Ford Fusion you can get a $30 credit to LivingSocial. You can then use that credit to buy anything at LivingSocial including an offer they have for a wine aerator and
Step 1 - Follow these instructions:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1252327/
Step 2 - Redeem for anything on LivingSocial including this wine aerator/electric bottle opener combo for $39:
http://www.livingsocial.com/cities/2-boston/deals/578088-wine-aerator-and-electric-bottle-opener
The aerator itself sells for $39 on Amazon and assuming the bottle opener has some value this is like $79.99 worth of wine accessories for $9 + $9.95 shipping. I received one of these aerators as a sample not too long ago. It's solid. It's unique feature is that you can dial in how aggressively you want to aerate.
Note that if you don't use the entire amount of the voucher that it's lost so optimal is something right around $30.
I'll update this post if I hear the deal is dead. Good luck!
Phelps Pastiche Ritchie Creek Rochioli Rosenblum St. Clement
Wines of Chile: Maule Valley
Wines of Chile: Maule Valley was originally posted on Wine Peeps. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WinePeeps/~3/_0VnHYP37SQ/
Saturday, 23 February 2013
Eden Hill Vineyard 2010 Cynthiana-Tempranillo Reserve
Source: http://thegrapesaroundtexas.com/2012/08/15/eden-hill-vineyard-2010-cynthiana-tempranillo-reserve/
Charles Shaw Blind Tasting Revisited
This piece originally appeared on the now-retired RJ's Wine Blog. I wanted to republish it here so that folks wouldn't get a dead link as they tried to navigate to his site after reading his post on my site. RJ is still around thankfully but tonight we'll tip a 1.5L of CdP in memory of RJ's Wine Blog.
Non-related I've heard Charles Shaw is now over $3 in Massachusetts? I haven't been to Trader Joe's lately - can anyone confirm? I'll have to get over there soon and perhaps do a rematch blind tasting to commemorate the upcoming 4 year anniversary of this tasting.
At any rate, I hope you enjoy this blast from the past. Fresh content coming up soon I promise...
Can you tell the difference between $2 Charles Shaw and a $10-$15 Cab? If not, you may be wasting $10 every time you crack open a bottle of wine. Can *I* tell the difference? After RJ posted his thoughts on the Charles Shaw lineup, we got to talking about how it would be an interesting exercise to do a blind tasting that included Charles Shaw alongside a couple of $10-$15 Cabernets. Could we tell the difference when tasting blind? Or would the Two Buck Chuck trick us?How We Tasted
I had my wife pour 3 glasses and randomly order them. The wines were open about 20 minutes before I gave them a try. I smelled and tasted each of them, took notes along the way, and assigned a numerical rating on a 100-point scale.
Wine #1: On the nose: Young. Floral perfume. Dusty. A light colored in the glass. Slight veggies. In the mouth: A little bright. Not my favorite wine. Overall: Fruity, drinkable and so-so. Rating: 84
Wine#2: Nose: Rich. Caramel. Smells like a California Cab. Big, dark fruit. Mouth: By far my favorite. Full, soft, dense, ripe. Excellent. Non-harsh tannins. Luscious. Overall: This wine was by far my favorite of the three. Rating: 91
Wine #3: Nose: Bad, perhaps off. A little magic marker/plastic. Flat. Pretty bad. Awful. Mouth: Better on the palate than on the nose. A slight pucker on the finish. Overall: Downright awful on the nose, but I wouldn't pick it as being the Charles Shaw. It was bad in a different way than Charles Shaw is typically bad. The Shaw's fault tends to be that it's thin. This wine was *not* thin. The tannins are too noticable to be the Shaw. Rating: 78
OK, are you ready for the reveal?
- Wine #1: 2006 Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon (84)
- Wine #2: 2006 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon (91)
- Wine #3: 2006 Louis M. Martini Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon (78)
Commentary
I was really surprised how much the Columbia Crest from Washington tasted like a warmer climate/California wine. As I was tasting the wines, I was biased to think that the wine from Sonoma would show richer, warmer characteristics. Not so. The Charles Shaw showed quite admirably for a $2/$3 wine. As always, drinkable and enjoyable. I am a fan of the Charles Shaw and I think they deliver "good" value.
In terms of professional ratings of these wines, and relative value:
- Columbia Crest: 89 Wine Spectator/$11 equals a wwpQPR of 1.44 (Above avg)
- Louis Martini: 87 Wine Spectator/$15 equals a wwpQPR of 0.67 (Below avg)
- Charles Shaw (2003 vintage rated): 82 Wine Spectator/$2.99 equals a wwpQPR of 1.05 (Above avg) -or- at $2 a wwpQPR of 1.57 (Good)
To read RJ's take on these same 3 wines tasted on the other side of the country check out this post. The results might surprise you!