May 2009
Posted: May 27, 2009 1:33pm ET
I blind-tasted 40 or so 2006 Barbarescos in my Tuscany office over the past two days, and I must admit that I was a little underwhelmed. I know that 2006 was a challenging vintage for vine growers in Piedmont due to variable weather and, therefore, it was even more difficult for those with the later-ripening Nebbiolo, the grape that makes Barbaresco and Barolo, in their vineyards.
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Posted: May 20, 2009 11:59pm ET
I like drinking wine out of nice stemware. I have a large collection of Riedel glasses at home. And I taste out of Riedels for my day job. Georg Riedel always called them "tools" or "instruments," and I think he is right, although perhaps his nomenclature is less elegant than some.
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Posted: May 19, 2009 9:01am ET
If you didn’t go to the Grand Tour in Las Vegas , you missed a great time. There were so many great wines to taste from all over the world. Of course, I tasted the first-growths and top Italian wines, but I also dug the excellent South Americans, particularly Argentine Malbecs.
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Posted: May 15, 2009 2:28pm ET
I was just about to write a blog on another subject when an e-mail from a woman in France was forwarded to me this morning from the Spec ’s New York office: "Dear Sir or Madam, I’m contacting you because I would like to get in touch with your journalist, Mr.
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Posted: May 11, 2009 4:25pm ET
I was reading the Wall Street Journal today as I was putting in some time on the exercise bike while in New York City before work. I was on the East Coast for the magazine's Grand Tour in Atlantic City, which was last Saturday night.
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Posted: May 8, 2009 9:39am ET
I drank a glass of 1994 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port last night in London, back from my trip to Portugal to taste the newly declared 2007 Vintage Ports , while smoking a La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Regional Edition cigar.
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Posted: May 6, 2009 3:37pm ET
Great Vintage Port was made in 2007. I love the combination of power and finesse in these young blackstrap fortified wines. What strikes me after tasting more than 50 barrel samples, in two separate blind tastings at the Factory House in Oporto, Portugal, is how polished the tannins are in these baby Vintage Ports.
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Posted: May 4, 2009 1:54pm ET
I spent the weekend in the Douro Valley, the delimited grapegrowing region for Port as well as table wines. And it made me think how some people forget that Port, particularly Vintage Port, is a vineyard-driven—or terroir -specific—product, just like table wines.
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Posted: May 1, 2009 6:45am ET
I tasted 25 barrel samples of 2007 Vintage Port yesterday in a blind tasting at the Factory House in the center of old Oporto, Portugal. And I was very impressed. This is clearly a great vintage. The young fortified Ports showed wonderfully well.
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