Blogs
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James Laube's Wine Flights
Don't bite your tongue when your nose tells you a bottle is off
Posted: January 23, 2013 By James Laube
I've had cork on the brain of late. Despite that we found the lowest failure rate yet among natural corks for newly released wines in 2012, many potentially great wines end up spoiled in one way or another. With that in mind, it's worth pointing out that there are matters of etiquette when it comes to wines tainted by bad corks.
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James Laube's Wine Flights
Our informal tracking of twist-offs indicates that more wines than ever are being bottled under screw caps
Posted: January 11, 2013 By James Laube
Not surprisingly, New World wineries have more openly embraced twist-off closures than Old World producers, who still rely heavily on cork for sealing their bottles.
Much of what defines New World winegrowing relies on advances in technology, and while wine closures are less about technology, they reflect a mindset among vintners that recognizes the shortcomings of corks as well as the viability of their alternatives.
According to our statistics based on wines reviewed in 2012 by Wine Spectator editors, 91 percent of New Zealand's wines were bottled under twist-off, followed by Australia (67 percent), Oregon (23 percent), Argentina (14 percent), Washington (12 percent) and California (8 percent).
Blogs
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James Laube's Wine Flights
Our informal tracking of wines flawed by TCA reveals lowest rate since 2005
Posted: January 4, 2013 By James Laube
The number of California wines flawed by apparent cork taint (2,4,6-trichloroanisole, otherwise known as TCA) fell in 2012 to its lowest level since we've been informally tracking this controversial issue starting in 2005.
Roughly 3.7 percent of the 3,269 cork-sealed wines from California that we tasted in the Wine Spectator office in 2012 were thought to be tainted by a bad cork.
Dec. 31, 2012 - Jan. 15, 2013 Issue
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Features
Shafer Vineyards Relentless Napa Valley 2008 96 points, $60, 3,300 cases made
Posted: December 31, 2012 By James Laube
Dec. 31, 2012 - Jan. 15, 2013 Issue
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Columns
Posted: December 31, 2012 By James Laube
Dec. 31, 2012 - Jan. 15, 2013 Issue
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Books
New books include personal memoirs and a must-have reference
Posted: December 31, 2012 By Bruce Sanderson, Kim Marcus, Ben O'Donnell, James Laube
Blogs
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James Laube's Wine Flights
These 10 California wines were among my most exciting this year
Posted: December 27, 2012 By James Laube
Before the bottles start popping as we welcome 2013, I've got one more list to check off. (Check out my previous blog post for my list of California Winemakers Who Made a Difference. Here are 10 wines from the Golden State that excited me for one reason or another in 2012. A couple made the Wine Spectator Top 100 list. Some of the linked reviews are from my colleagues, or older notes for reference. Pay less attention to the ratings. One could easily sort out the top-rated wines by numbers, but these go beyond ratings, so I've listed them alphabetically.
Blogs
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James Laube's Wine Flights
Ten Golden State winemakers who stepped up their game in 2012
Posted: December 20, 2012 By James Laube
I tasted thousands of wines in 2012, and you already know which wines we selected for the Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2012. Today I want to recognize some of the California winemakers who stepped up their game in 2012, either with their own wines or in their consulting projects. You will see some familiar names as well as some you probably don't yet know, but all are making outstanding if not classic-rated wines.
Read on for more on Jeff Ames, Russell Bevan, Eric Jensen, Annie Favia and Andy Erickson, Kenneth Juhasz, Helen Keplinger, Joey Wagner and more.
Dec. 15, 2012 Issue
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Columns
Posted: December 15, 2012 By James Laube
Blogs
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James Laube's Wine Flights
Matt Courtney appeared to be Helen Turley's successor
Posted: December 5, 2012 By James Laube
Matt Courtney, who many thought would become Marcassin's winemaker, is leaving the high-profile winery after eight years and in January will become winemaker for Arista, a Sonoma-based, family-owned winery that specializes in Pinot Noir.
Joining Arista would seem like a good fit for Courtney, 41, since he's been working with both Sonoma Pinot and Chardonnay during his stint with Marcassin. Arista makes a handful of wines, including old-vine Zinfandel, which also appeals to Courtney. He worked with Zinfandel at Martinelli when Helen Turley was Martinelli's winemaker-consultant and also made Zin at Biale Winery in Napa Valley.
