Blogs
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Harvey Steiman At Large
Are we bogging down in prerequisites for wine?
Posted: December 18, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
Much of the wine world has become preoccupied with staking out their own definitions of what wine must be before they will even consider it. They are missing out.
Some insist that a wine contain no more than this much alcohol. There better be no hint of oak character in the flavor profile. And if the wine lacks a jolt of acidity, it's right out. Paradoxically, some of the same folks who espouse these prerequisites (including many of those touting "natural wines") dismiss rich fruit character as simple and salivate over savory notes, even if those come by way of funky organisms such as brettanomyces and volatile acidity.
Dec. 15, 2012 Issue
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Features
Posted: December 15, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
Dec. 15, 2012 Issue
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Features
Posted: December 15, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
Dec. 15, 2012 Issue
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Features
Nathan Myhrvold applies an engineer’s accuracy and a techie’s innovation to cooking
Posted: December 15, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
Dec. 15, 2012 Issue
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Features
Posted: December 15, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
Dec. 15, 2012 Issue
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Features
Posted: December 15, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
Dec. 15, 2012 Issue
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Tasting Reports
Posted: December 15, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
Dec. 15, 2012 Issue
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Tasting Reports
Through heat in 2009 and cooler weather in 2010 and 2011, the wines retain their appeal
Posted: December 15, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
Dec. 15, 2012 Issue
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Features
Pinot Noir has found an American home in Oregon
Posted: December 15, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
Blogs
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Harvey Steiman At Large
Documentary details how Australia's wines emerged from derision to triumph
Posted: December 11, 2012 By Harvey Steiman
It takes a certain understanding of the peculiarly Australian sense of humor to appreciate why a documentary tracing the story of Australian wine in past few decades would be titled Chateau Chunder: A Wine Revolution. The reference to a Monty Python sketch from 1972 ridicules Aussie wines with a vulgarity that would involve tossing one's cookies.
Self-deprecating, often sharp, the dry Aussie sense of humor is one reason I enjoy knowing the country's winemakers. They are, for the most part, not full of themselves. Their effort goes into the product and spreading the word about it. Most Aussie wineries, for example, are anonymous-looking sheds, not architectural palaces. It's the wines that matter.
