2010 Donkey and Goat Rosé vs. 1985 La Chapelle?

Just like clocks striking twelve, our cellar coughs up one bottle of 1985 wine every year on April 14.  My wife and I were lucky to be married in this vintage year.  The Bordeaux have aged gracefully despite the vintage’s early accessibility, northern Rhones are holding onto their fruit even now, 1985 Sassicaia made our evening [...]

Discovering 2008 Schiopetto Friulano

There would not be any reason to look beyond the (**** $29) 2008 Schiopetto Friulano that sat on Woodfire Grill’s wine list. I had finally made it to Kevin Gillespie’s (master of flavor intensity and popularized on the “Top Chef” TV show) Atlanta restaurant and all I could think about was getting my nose deep into a glass [...]

Wine Style Experiment Offers Palate Redemption

Raging self doubt and curiosity fuels an unremitting panoply of cross examinations intended to dig up the root cause of my shifting preference in wine style.  Have I fallen victim to trend and popular fashion?  Is my palate simply evolving?  Or, have I discovered regions and varietals I once dismissed without fair chance? Did I subconsciously succumb to a new breed [...]

2009 Beaujolais Tasting Highlights and Controversy

Seventeen tasters eagerly participated in our highly anticipated 2009 blind Beaujolais tasting. While the air in my home was continually pierced by clinking glassware, the halls of Boston University’s Elizabeth Bishop Wine Resource Center were most definitely hushed while several of its students, graduates, and instructors were firmly planted around our tasting table dissecting glass after [...]

Cazin and Williams Selyem Stretch Winemaking Boundaries

I had the chance to drink two utterly dissimilar styles of wine during Thanksgiving dinner; Cazin’s 2007 Cour-Cheverny Vendanges Manuelles ($15***) and Williams Selyem’s 2003 Forchini Vineyard Zinfandel ($40***).  Both came from my wine cellar to serve as testimony to a nagging personal dilemma rooted in an evolving and schizophrenic palate.  As full disclosure, my split wine personality [...]

2009 Burgaud Chateau De Thulon Beaujolais Villages: Top Vintage, Producer, and Value

It has been a charmed decade for Beaujolais producers and 2009 is highly anticipated as the best yet.  First there was 2003, possibly the best Beaujolais vintage in at least 40 years, producing deliciously round, richly fruited wines and then quickly followed two years later by the well hyped and overall excellent 2005 vintage where the Cru [...]

Chenin Heaven from Vouvray’s Bernard Fouquet and Domaine des Aubuisieres’ 2008 Les Girardieres

Bernard Fouquet is an accomplished and quality Vouvray producer, focused on Chenin Blanc across 25 hectares and and seven vineyards that make up Domaine des Aubuisieres’ fruit sources.  All of unique character and terroir, they split into two primary soil types including clay/limestone or clay/flint.  His portfolio includes soil specific blends and vineyard specific bottlings.  On [...]

Languedoc Tasting: Expressive Wines and Multiple Styles

Some things about the Languedoc just don’t seem very French at all.  Frontier lands, Spanish culinary influence, Gypsy lore, uncontrolled wine production, and more.  In a recent visit to the edge of the region’s northwest Mediterannean shoreline, Camargue, we reveled in almost unlimited sightings of wild white horse and pink flamingo from the comfort of [...]

Clos de la Roilette: Age Worthy Gamay from Fleurie

An Easter ham dinner set the legitimate stage for tasting one of several newly acquired bottles of Coudert’s 2008  Clos de la Roilette from Louis/Dressner Selections.  Tinged with intrigue and mystery, the vineyard was originally classified Moulin-a-Vent before Fleurie was declared into existence back in the ’20s, causing an angered owner to spite France’s wine market by [...]

Wine and Food at Troquet: Half of Uncanny New York Analog

On August 26, 2009 Frank Bruni inked his last New York Times Dining column answering a group of questions that follow around restaurant critics with pulpits as authoritative as his.   Finding great value is on everyone’s minds these days, and his “top value spot” answer to New York foodies neatly covered two of my favorite [...]

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