Blog Index

James Laube

Running into an Old Friend in Hawaii

Posted: 10:56 AM ET, 01/24/08

I arrived in Waimea Monday night for a week’s stay and immediately ran into a friend in the wine section of the local store—Kaena.

This was about the last place I expected to see a wine of this caliber this far away from its home town. Read more

James Molesworth

A Weekend at Blackberry Farm

Posted: 01:57 PM ET, 01/23/08

There have been some changes at Blackberry Farm since it first won the Grand Award in 2006, including a chef change and a shift in venue for the property’s flagship restaurant.

The 4,200-acre property run by Sam Beall (pronounced ‘bell’) has recently added several new cottages, but they’re tucked up into the wooded hillside, remaining unobtrusive when viewed from the rest of the property. Read more

James Suckling

Tasting 2005s in America

Posted: 01:29 PM ET, 01/22/08

I went to the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux tasting on Friday in Santa Monica, Calif. And I was excited to see how the 2005 Bordeaux would be showing a month after I tasted them in Bordeaux in December for a massive report in the magazine. Of course, I wasn’t going to be tasting anything even nearly close to 900 wines I tasted over a two-week period in blind tastings in the region. Read more

Harvey Steiman

Palazzo: Unfinished Business

Posted: 12:10 PM ET, 01/22/08

Of the four big-name chefs opening new restaurants at the Palazzo, the glitzy new addition to the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, only Mario Batali managed to get his restaurant open in time for the Jan. 17 opening.

Emeril Lagasse? Charlie Trotter? Wolfgang Puck? I peeked into their spaces when I was there last week. Read more

Bruce Sanderson

Burgundy 101

Posted: 04:00 AM ET, 01/21/08

Tasting at Louis Jadot is like a lesson in Burgundy. There is an extensive range of wines, from Chablis to the Maconnais, with many serious appellations of the Côte d’Or represented in both red and white.

Best of all, you are in the hands of Jadot’s distinguished winemaker, Jacques Lardière, who, with his knowledge of the wines and their terroirs, guides you through the wines like an erudite professor of Burgundy. Read more

Bruce Sanderson

A Study In Terroir at Leroy and Chambolle-Musigny

Posted: 10:21 AM ET, 01/19/08

Wednesday morning I drove to Vosne-Romanée for a visit with Lalou Bize-Leroy at Domaine Leroy.

Tasting chez Leroy is an interesting look at the characters of several villages, both in the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits, and from village to grand cru in the appellation hierarchy. Read more

James Laube

Curran Departs Sea Smoke for New Pinot Venture

Posted: 08:41 PM ET, 01/18/08

Kris Curran called late today with more news than typically comes this time of day on a Friday, just as I prepared to shut down my computer and head out of town for a couple of weeks.

Curran said she is leaving Sea Smoke, the Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir estate where she’s worked the past seven years and helped shape into one of the area’s defining wineries, to join a new venture headed by William Foley, owner of Foley winery, also in Santa Rita Hills. Read more

Harvey Steiman

Fifth Floor to Go Gascon

Posted: 03:26 PM ET, 01/18/08

Several interim chefs have come and gone at Fifth Floor, a Wine Spectator Grand Award winner, since Melissa Perello left in late 2006. The other shoe finally dropped this week, as chef-consultant Laurent Manrique, chef of the Aqua restaurants, named Jennie Lorenzo as the day-to-day chef de cuisine. Read more

James Suckling

Thanks, Gordon

Posted: 01:35 PM ET, 01/18/08

I had a fun dinner last night at Craft in Century City with Gordon Trachtenberg, who is the guy who won the competition last week in my blog for a dinner with me. I like Craft for its New York chic décor and precise, well-made food. It has a touch of East Coast sophistication that is cool in laid back Los Angeles. Read more

Richard Betts

In Defense of Flaws in Wine

Posted: 10:20 AM ET, 01/18/08

"Is it a flaw or is it the wine?"

This is a question that I often think about. This is mostly because I am frequently accused of being too charitable toward wines that display any of a wide range of things that some winemakers and drinkers deem unacceptable. Read more

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