May 2013

.h4 { /*@editable*/ color: #9e1f63; display: block; /*@editable*/ font-family: Arial; /*@editable*/ font-size: 16px; /*@editable*/ font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0%; margin-right: 0; margin-bottom: 0%; margin-left: 0; /*@editable*/ text-align: left; } To all Best Winers, Marsannay, you've been so good to me. Every time I get the “I can’t afford real Burgundy” blues you come along and reassure me that, yes, I can...

To all Best Winers, Castello di Ama was one of the first estates I had the pleasure of visiting in Chianti Classico. I remember pulling up to the winery and being warmly greeted by proprietress Lorenza Sebasti Pallanti, surrounded by the pitter patter of children’s footsteps.  Lots of smiling, running, just an all-around good vibe.  Dinner that night was simple...

To all Best Winers, Combine the former owner of Napa’s greatest Cult Cabernet, Screaming Eagle, with one of the world’s greatest winemaking consultants (also previously at Screaming Eagle), then toss in one of South Africa’s greatest wineries, and what do you get? Fabulous Rosé, of course. That’s right, instead of lush, impossible-to-get $1200 a bottle South African Cabernet (which could...

To all Best Winers, Merlot, when vinified correctly, is one of the world’s greatest red wine grapes. Bordeaux’s most expensive wine, the fabled Chateau Petrus Pomerol, is 100% Merlot. It sells for $4000 a bottle. One of Italy’s greatest red wines, Tenuta dell’Ornellaia’s Masseto, is also 100% Merlot. Impossible to acquire at its $500 release price. We could go on...

To all Best Winers, The 2012 En Primeur Bordeaux campaign is slowly winding down with the recent release of some of Bordeaux’s biggest names. From the “Right Bank” this week we saw the opening of La Conseillante (WS 92-95), Beausejour Duffau (WA 93-95+), a really smart buy with Larcis Ducasse (WA 93-95), Cheval Blanc (WS 94-97) and the King of...

.h4 { /*@editable*/ color: #9e1f63; display: block; /*@editable*/ font-family: Arial; /*@editable*/ font-size: 16px; /*@editable*/ font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0%; margin-right: 0; margin-bottom: 0%; margin-left: 0; /*@editable*/ text-align: left; } To all Best Winers, More fun from the balmy, smokin’ hot slopes of Mount Etna! Sicily, literally, is on fire right now with this current eruption of wines from the terraced vineyards...

.h4 { /*@editable*/ color: #9e1f63; display: block; /*@editable*/ font-family: Arial; /*@editable*/ font-size: 16px; /*@editable*/ font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0%; margin-right: 0; margin-bottom: 0%; margin-left: 0; /*@editable*/ text-align: left; } To all Best Winers, Today? A trio of what could be the greatest German wine deals we’ve ever seen. Willi Schaefer’s wines from the precipitously steep vineyards around the town of Graach...

To all Best Winers, Does Chardonnay have to be from California or France in order for it to be great? Obviously, one would think the answer is no, based on the fact that the world is a very big place and Chardonnay can grow just about anywhere. But you’d be shocked how hard it is to convince somebody that someplace...

To all Best Winers, The ‘hard sell’ won’t really be necessary with today’s offering, as the 2008 Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva wines are some of the most highly-anticipated new releases we can remember receiving. The Produttori del Barbaresco is one of the finest co-operative wineries in the world. Which begs the question of what exactly is a co-operative winery. Boiled...

To all Best Winers, The 2012 Bordeaux Futures campaign is in full swing with some of the top-notch wines being released.  Prices have come down considerably and there are some interesting deals to be had. First, since 2012 is a“Right Bank” vintage, let’s start with Pomerol, which was considered the top appellation.  From the Garcin stable, we have Clos l’Eglise...