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Connecting Intellectual and Palate Learning: Tasting Two Sakes and California Cabernet

An insatiable hunger for discovery and wine education is rewarded every time I taste wines in peer groups.  Without the chance to examine lots of wines every day over an extended period, even frequent tastings of one wine per sitting lays down hurdles to thorough assessment most easily cleared via contextual, side-by-side tastings.   The most recent example of this unveiled itself during a unique evening of food and wine at the  Crystal Quail , a favorite BYOB restaurant masquerading as a simple 1700’s New Hampshire farm house serving up prixe fixe menus of natural food to intimately sized groups of foodie and wino revelers every Wednesday through Sunday night, literally in the middle of nowhere.  On this visit I invited Richard Auffrey to join me, just returning from San Francisco at the top of his Sake class and freshly promoted by the Sake Educational Council as the newest of only 300 Certified Sake Professionals worldwide.  Richard hand picked the Sake and I towed along some old California Cabernet. Besides their entertaining,... [Read more of this review]

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Boston Troquet’s Cellar Dregs Are Wine Lover’s Treasures

Chris Campbell Long ago, Troquet cemented its reputation with New England wine enthusiasts as the quintessential fine dining spot in Boston to order and drink memorable wine.   Actually, it all started with Chris Campbell’s earlier Commonwealth Avenue project UVA , a laid back spot offering unassuming atmosphere, serious food, easy prices, and a wine program that brought together the finest, and often most allocated, wines in the world at prices just north of wholesale.  Every wino, sommelier, and foodie beat regular paths to Chris’ Brookline Land of Oz. In case you needed another nudge to get out and visit the newer version of Boston’s ultimate wino restaurant, then simply note that on July 6 Campbell started rolling out end-bins and single bottles from deep in his classically rich cellar for sale at unheard of inventory clearing price points.  He will keep this up until the wines are all gone, and if you consider that our group of four serious food and wine writers and photographers consumed eight bottles from... [Read more of this review]

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Week of WineZag: The Round World of Social Media and Wine Blogging

Wine blogging at WineZag and staying connected in its parallel social networks involves a time and energy commitment yielding grimaces of sympathetic pain and confusion from just about anyone I unveil the details of my dedication to. Except, of course, fellow bloggers and social media mavericks that live in the very round world of social media and wine blogging, where the intensity and authenticity of an author’s content and participation is known to come back full circle in deliciously fulfilling and rewarding ways.  To get a glimpse of this, I thought it might be fun (and somewhat redeeming) to share a typical week of events to confirm my total man hour allocation to WineZag produces rich personal dividends and reassertion of its founding mantra of “wine as a lubricant for human connection holding no bias.” I am heading to the Northwest for a few days of respite with my wife and dear friends with an agenda that plants us in Woodinville, WA on a Sunday.  I have been to Woodinville, but never on a Sunday, and I was... [Read more of this review]

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Wine Industry, Consumers, and Social Media: A Brand Loyalty Conundrum

I am annoyed and conflicted sorting through the efficacy of social media deployment for wineries intending to build brand loyalty.   My visceral understanding of the raw marketing power unleashed by well deployed social media programs and a personal conviction that wine consumers ought to embrace brand/winery/vineyard/house styles and reject brand loyalty fuels my sloppy moral and intellectual combustion.   Each growing season, nature impacts wines made from the same varietal, vineyard, and grower creating great, good, average, or bad wines that wreak havoc on the fulfillment of a predictable consumer wine experience.  These kinds of wild cards are absent in the year to year delivery of consistent consumer experiences by brands like Burger King, Coke, Oreo, and their brethren mass marketers.  Is it advisable succumbing to brand loyalty for purchasing products where the consumer experience is inconsistent year to year? I am a “style groupie”.  As just one example, I like Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines, but I don’t buy... [Read more of this review]

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Sake Mastery, Prosecco Fun, and Independence Day

Saké and Prosecco occupy my brain’s vinous lobe on this independence day, shoving aside thoughts of domestic barbecue reds, rosés, and celebratory sparklers as swiftly and completely as South Africa’s American-less pitches vacated our nation’s collective mindset.   Last year at this time, I added a caveat to Alder Yarrow’s thoughts of wine independence with a serious look at the escalation of Bordeaux prices and how inaccessible claret has become to so many that once reveled in the freedoms of drinking and collecting those magical wines.  With further thoughts on  wine independence and non-oppressive economics, I have been thinking about Prosecco and Saké on this July 4th weekend. My Prosecco fixation is driven by two great chefs that regularly  inspire my cooking at our summer retreat in the New Hampshire lake region; Jerry Traunfeld and Mario Batali.   Traunfield provided the inspiration for the meal that employed Prosecco in a strong supporting role.  Worth mentioning is another regular in our lakeside... [Read more of this review]

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Malvasia Sparkles in Emilia

My ultimate 2009 new wine discovery was a 2006 Malvasia delle Lipari, made by Hauner, on a volcanic island off of Sicily.  I became interested in the the grape, which is actually a group of grape varieties, mostly white but also red, that can be used to produce unimaginably delicious late harvest desert wine, dry white and red wines, and even some sparkling wine in Emilia.  The grape is predominantly grown around Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and a wide smattering of European and New World wine geographies.  Interestingly, it was also once referred to as Malmsey, nomenclature now solely uttered around and about the island of Madeira’s sweet white family of Malavasia wines. I was really really keen on this second opportunity to taste the sparkling Venturini Baldini Malvasia Dell’Emilia, a wine that had already captured my palate and intrigue.  My first swing at this wine was months back at a gathering of the Boston Wine Writers hosted by a really good guy with a serious cache of “wine smarts”,  Jonathon... [Read more of this review]

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