March 2009
Posted: Mar 31, 2009 1:32pm ET
I jumped into the deep end of Bordeaux 2008 today and tasted some of the biggest names on the Right Bank, including Cheval-Blanc , Ausone and Pétrus. I tasted about 50 wines in total and visited a handful of estates in Pomerol and St.
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Posted: Mar 30, 2009 9:19am ET
I am on an Air France flight from Basel to Lyon and then from Lyon to Bordeaux as I write this blog. I need to be in Bordeaux tonight for a dinner with wine merchant Pierre Lawton and a couple dozen of France’s premier wine region's elite producers.
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Posted: Mar 26, 2009 8:28am ET
I received an e-mail from a friend last night from Hong Kong. He is one of the greatest wine collectors on the planet, with a famous palate and great knowledge of the grape. And he is one of the most brilliant men I have met in my life.
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Posted: Mar 25, 2009 10:19am ET
It looks like key Vintage Port producers are going to declare 2007. I have already had a number of requests to taste barrel samples of their young Vintage Ports at the end of April. And I have calls into the top Port houses to send samples and for more information.
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Posted: Mar 23, 2009 8:52am ET
I have been drinking some 1995 Bordeaux lately, and they seem to be finally opening up! In the past few weeks, I have drunk 1995s from Mouton-Rothschild , Cheval-Blanc and Marquis de Terme. Granted, this is not a huge selection of 1995 clarets from which to be making large generalizations, but it does represent some of the best, as well as a slightly more common name.
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Posted: Mar 20, 2009 12:53pm ET
I was looking at our Unfiltered feature yesterday and I found the item about Sting and his wine amusing. I forgot that I had dinner with Sting last August at his house near Fuligni Valdarno, which is about a half an hour’s drive from my house.
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Posted: Mar 18, 2009 4:46pm ET
I had an interesting conversation last night with a friend from Los Angeles who comes from a family of longtime wine collectors. He said that he and his father were buying a lot of special bottles from collectors in Southern California, mostly Bordeaux and Burgundies from the 1980s and 1970s.
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Posted: Mar 16, 2009 11:42am ET
I went to a cool dinner last night in London with some friends at Stephen Browett's house. Browett is a buddy of mine and owner of Farr Vintners, the global fine-wine merchant. We got most of the members of our old wine tasting group, affectionately known as UFB (Unf***ing Believable).
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Posted: Mar 12, 2009 4:36pm ET
I came across an incredible value in my office in Tuscany today. Tasting a range of wines from $10 to $25 with Neil and Maria Empson of Empson & Co., I found some excellent wines. But what was the most impressive for the money was the Monte Antico 2006.
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Posted: Mar 9, 2009 11:47am ET
I received an e-mail over the weekend that should interest all of you. But please do not rush out right away and buy what I am going to tell you about. There will just be too much competition out there.
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Posted: Mar 6, 2009 10:23am ET
I have been tasting through a range of 2003 Brunello di Montalcino riservas today. In fact, I have to go back and taste 10 more. But I keep asking myself, “What is the point?” I really can’t understand why Brunello producers made reserve reds in 2003, a very good vintage considering the boiling weather during the grapegrowing season, but nothing exceptional.
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Posted: Mar 3, 2009 8:57am ET
I was thinking about Barolo 2005 today for some reason and I pulled out a video of a tasting of 2005, 2006, and 2007 single-vineyard Barolos in my office in Tuscany with Luca Currado of Vietti. The wines were wonderful, as always, with focused and refined fruit and wonderful harmony.
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