November 2006
Posted: Nov 30, 2006 3:51am ET
I spent some time yesterday with two legends of Barolo – Bruno Giacosa and Aldo Conterno. I visited both of their wineries and tasted some of their 2004 Baroli. I have to say that I was surprised by how good their 2004s are! There has been very little talk about 2004 in general, but the wines I tasted in their cellars were dark-colored, extremely aromatic and rich in fruit and tannins.
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Posted: Nov 28, 2006 5:30am ET
Following the awesome cult wine tasting last Saturday, the group of tasters met up a few hours later at Cibreo for a fantastic dinner. I supplied most of the wines, which were all 1997s in magnum. The Fonterutoli Siepi was there as I mentioned yesterday, but I also brought Castello dei Rampolla Sammarco , Tenimenti Luigi d’Alessandro Syrah Podere il Bosco, Giacomo Conterno Barolo Monfortino Riserva and Tenuta di Trinoro Palazzi.
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Posted: Nov 27, 2006 11:11am ET
It was an amazing tasting to say the least. I was invited to a tasting last weekend of California cult wines versus Tuscan cult wines at Cibreo restaurant in Florence, Italy. The American wines came from the cellar of Swiss collector Silvio Denz, who also owns Bordeaux’s Château Faugères in St.
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Posted: Nov 23, 2006 6:42pm ET
I just finished my Thanksgiving dinner with 25 producers of Brunello di Montalcino. We had dinner at the restaurant near my house and we drank all of their 1997 Brunellos. There was not a bad wine in the group.
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Posted: Nov 22, 2006 10:28am ET
I'm back in Tuscany. It started as a cold and wet day, but the sun has finally broken through the clouds. The forest below my house is brilliant shades of yellow, orange and brown. The air is fresh and clean.
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Posted: Nov 21, 2006 8:18am ET
I got off an American Airlines flight from New York to London last night just in time for a late supper with my friend Thomas in the West End. We met at a cool high-end grand brasserie called the Wolseley.
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Posted: Nov 19, 2006 10:50pm ET
Fake wines came up yet again in conversation during a Lafleur tasting, this time on Saturday in New York City. It was sort of a shame considering it was one of the most impressive dinner tastings I had encountered in my career.
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Posted: Nov 17, 2006 3:58pm ET
I just got off the telephone with Giacomo Neri of Casanova di Neri and it sounded like he personally won this year’s World Cup. In a sense, he did. He said that his phone has been ringing off the hook congratulating him for his 2001 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova being chosen as Wine Spectator ’s Wine of the Year.
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Posted: Nov 16, 2006 4:21pm ET
I just dropped a Zantac. Heartburn. Burping. Sour stomach. It must be Beaujolais Nouveau. Luckily, I was only tasting. If I had to drink a glass or two of the stuff …. It’s always been a little like that.
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Posted: Nov 15, 2006 3:53pm ET
I'll admit that my lunch with the owners of Chanel was under false pretense. As much as I like their wines, I love their clothes even more. "The Fox" looks good enough to eat, or maybe I should say drink, decked out in her Chanel for a night out.
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Posted: Nov 14, 2006 5:49pm ET
Are two dinners in one night over doing it? Yes! I’ll be honest. And – ouch -- I have a slight hangover. But it was worth it. I wanted to see a good friend from Mexico City and he was only in Manhattan for one night.
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Posted: Nov 13, 2006 12:35pm ET
I had dinner with my father, stepmother and sister at her house in Ridgefield, Conn. My dad was visiting from San Diego, and he was really excited to try a couple of wines that he bought at the local wine shop, which apparently had “shelf talkers” with my scores attached to them.
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Posted: Nov 10, 2006 1:14pm ET
From your comments on yesterday’s blog, I am carrying on the genre in the spirit of all good and bad writers in Los Angeles. So this is how my day began. I decided to forgo Starbucks this morning in LA and head down to a coffee shop on Beverly Boulevard called Swingers.
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Posted: Nov 9, 2006 10:22am ET
I woke up this morning to offers of more than 500 cases of first growth Bordeaux, and that was only in three e-mails. I am in Southern California visiting my parents, so I haven’t even had my morning wake up java from Starbucks yet! And I feel a bit down.
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Posted: Nov 8, 2006 10:42am ET
I just heard word from Jean-Michel Cazes, the patriarch of the family who owns Bordeaux’s Lynch-Bages among others, that he has decided to pass the reins of his wine operation to his 32-year-old son, Jean-Charles.
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Posted: Nov 7, 2006 12:06pm ET
One topic of conversation during a Lafleur tasting last Sunday in Beverly Hills was fake bottles. Many of the two dozen or so wine collectors at the tasting were upset over what they perceived as an increase in the trafficking of fake, high-end bottles.
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Posted: Nov 6, 2006 10:07am ET
Are there some wines that you have always wanted to taste in your life but never have? One for me is the legendary 1947 Château Lafleur , the small-production Pomerol made from Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
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Posted: Nov 3, 2006 1:19pm ET
I think it is scandalous for wine importers not to use refrigerated containers when they are shipping. It only costs a few dollars a case more, and it is the best way to maintain the quality of the wine.
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Posted: Nov 2, 2006 4:08pm ET
I wasn’t sure how my bottle of 2004 Petrolo Galatrona was going to survive my American Airlines flights from London to Las Vegas via Chicago yesterday. But I had to bring a bottle to my dinner last night at Lotus of Siam with some wine friends, and I couldn’t take the wine in my handbag.
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Posted: Nov 1, 2006 3:29pm ET
I went to an Haut-Brion and La Mission-Haut-Brion dinner last night in London, which wine merchants Farr Vintners organized, and it reminded me of a debate that occurred very early in my career concerning the two wine estates.
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