Archive for the ‘Wine’ Category
2009 Domaine Tempier, Bandol Rose
by Maria Glade on September 1st, 2010
Each Spring with the coming of warm days and drier sunshine, I anticipate the arrival of the new vintage of dry French rose, in particular the rose from Domaine Tempier in Bandol. Tempier has its fair share of fame, touted the “best rose in the world” by importer Kermit Lynch and “rose of the year” by Wine Spectator for the most recent vintage, but it is not the awards or the accolades, it is the sheer quality and elegance of the wine that excites this wine drinker.
The wine is from a small, family run winery in the south...
Joseph Carr 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
by Maria Glade on August 25th, 2010
California still has some producers that choose to produce wines that rely on character and flavor, and Joseph Carr is one of them. His Cabernet Sauvignon has all the boldness of American fruit with a European sensibility and balance.
Carr sources fruit from of the top growers around Napa, but he is relying mainly on Oakville for the 2007 vintage. He makes the selections very thoughtfully and carefully. All the fruit is handpicked, carefully fermented, and barrel-aged for 18-22 months in 1- and 2-year French and American oak. His process is simple and true to the grape’s potential—natural, which means...
Hawaiian Wines
by TJ Davis on August 24th, 2010
Hawaii: land of volcanoes, luaus, leis, tropical fruits, exotic flowers, hula dancers, and... wine? Yes, wine. By global standards, wine production in Hawaii is still in its infancy. Two of the major vineyards on the islands - Maui's Tedeschi Vineyard and Volcano Winery on the Big Island - have only been around since the mid 1970s and mid 1980s, respectively.
When one thinks of viticulture, the warm Hawaiian tropics are not among the growing regions that come to mind. However, there are a few varieties of grapes which have grown quite well on the islands. The Isabella grape is the...
2008 Monier Perréol Saint-Joseph
by Maria Glade on August 18th, 2010
This syrah is the result of the combined effort of two great wine makers: Jean Pierre Monier and Phillippe Perréol, both of whom are dedicated to wines that are natural, biodynamically produced with little manipulation but with a clear sense of place. This sense of place, that the French call terrior, is that essential character of the wine that can only come from the earth on which the grapes are nurtured, harvested, and fermented. In this case, it is very steep slopes of granitic earth in 5 hectares of southeast facing vineyards—in the wine world this is small and...
Think Pink
by TJ Davis on August 11th, 2010
Rosé used to be a French word meaning "pink"; then it became North American slang for "cheap, bad wine". For decades, Rosé has had a less than savory reputation among wine lovers. This is primarily because some North American wineries, in their infinite wisdom, decided to mass-produce and super-sweeten a pinkish wine - sometimes just a blend of reds and whites - and label it Rosé. About the only Rosé that was unaffected by the reputation disaster was Champagne. Champagne Rosé has always been highly regarded around the world. In fact, excellent Rosé's have been made in the Old...
