The Director’s Cut: French Wines
Filed Under Wine Tastings
The Director’s Cut: French Wines
Keith pulls out the Burgundies
The 1er Basics
1. Simonnet Febvre 2005 Chablis
2. Simonnet Febvre 2005 Premier Cru Chablis, Vaillons
Styles & Age in 1er Burgundies
1. Robert Ampeau 1976 1er Cru Volnay-Santenots
2. Camille Giroud 2002 1er Cru Maranges, Le Croix Moines
The Grand Cru
1. Latour 2002 Chambertin Grand Cru
What to drink while you wait
1. Chateau e La Tuilerie 2003 Vin de Pays
2. Chateau Hau Nadeau 2005 Bordeaux Superier
Tracking the Cellar
1. Paul Autard 2003 “La Cote Ronde” Chateneuf-Du-Pape
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Sommelier Smackdown
Filed Under Wine Tastings
Frank Cipparone of the Wine School
How to Vote for your Favorite Pairing.
Give your favorite pairing in the flight a “2″ and the other a “1″.
First Flight
Proscuitto and Melon Skewers
1. __________________________ Score:
2. __________________________ Score:
Second Flight
Assorted Olives
1. __________________________ Score:
2. __________________________ Score:
Third Flight
Truffled Polenta with Wild Mushroom.
1. __________________________ Score:
2. __________________________ Score:
Fourth Flight
Testun a Barolo
1. __________________________ Score:
2. __________________________ Score:
Total #1_________
Total #2_________
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Director’s Cut: French Wines
Filed Under Wine Tastings
KGABOYA
The 1er Basics
1. Simonnet Febvre 2005 Chablis
2. Simonnet Febvre 2005 Premier Cru Chablis, Vaillons
Styles & Age in 1er Burgundies
1. Robert Ampeau 1976 1er Cru Volnay-Santenots
2. Camille Giroud 2002 1er Cru Maranges, Le Croix Moines
The Grand Cru
1. Latour 2002 Chambertin Grand Cru
——
What to drink while you wait
1. Chateau e La Tuilerie 2003 Vin de Pays
2. Chateau Hau Nadeau 2005 Bordeaux Superier
Tracking the Cellar
1. Paul Autard 2003 “Cuvee La Cote Ronde” Chateneuf-Du-Pape
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The Top Ten Wines for Fall, PLCB Style
Filed Under Wine Reviews
These are the top wines for the next month or so. Grab them when you can! You can use our Wine Finder to locate all these wines.
Bodega Norton 2005 Malbec Reserva (Chile)
PLCB: $12/Outside of Pennsylvania: $13-$20
This wine is everywhere right now, and its worth picking up a few bottles at the current ($12) PLCB price. The structure is aggressively tannic and muscular with a core of bitter chocolate and raspberry. Sweet oak flavors come through in the finish as vanilla and toast.
Graham Beck 2001 “The Ridge” Syrah (South Africa)
PLCB: $15/ Outside of PA: $24
Oddly enough, the best “Chairman Selections” in the PLCB system are not really part of that program. They just arrive without any fanfare. This is one of them. This Syrah drinks like a crozes hermitage. A jet of acidity lifts the intense roasted game flavors with accents of cranberry and blackberry. The finish is dense with briar and smoke, but this medium-bodied beauty never feels unbalanced or overly aggressive.
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2007, the First Great Pennsylvania Vintage
Filed Under The Wine World
Eric really should have told me to take the right infront of the Amish lass picking flowers. She was there everytime I sped past. Eric Miller’s voice, recorded and replayed several times over the feeble speaker on my cellphone, is calmly giving directions to turn right at Mansion street.
After a few more circles through the Brandywine Valley, I manage to accidentally turn up that correct street–Natmensing Road–and drive between an home that looked to be propped up by tall grass and a barn that should have been. I turn up the hill, and am suddenly –potholes be damned– driving into a hilltop vineyard at 40 miles an hour.
Hitting the brakes as the rows of empty vines flicker by, I tuck the car against the deer fence on the top of the hill. Getting out in a juggle of camera, notebook and cellphone, I make a few stumbling steps until I can get my self in order. Calm and professional, I start walking into the nearest row of vines. Within a few steps, I loose my footing again. This time, its not just my inherent clumsiness, it is pure amazement.
Eric, the winemaker & co-owner of Chaddsford Winery, had called me a few days before. There was a possiblity of a ladybug infestation and he had asked me to tag along as he inspected the vines. He was planning to finally harvest his Cabernet Sauvignon in a few days, but such a infestation would mean problems. The bugs –if accidentally harvested with the grapes– would give the wine a nasty swampy smell.
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A Year in Wine
Filed Under Food & Wine
“If I got anything out of this relationship, it is cheek meat.”
We will be having rainbow snapper for dinner. Kay had bought them at a fish monger on Saturday on a whim. They were pin-striped in a shimmer of chilly gold and pale and their eyes sparkling wildly, as if caught half-way through a high-speed chase. Having spent the weekend in a paper bag shoved into the back of our refrigerator, they were still remarkably fresh.
I knew exactly what I wanted to do with such pretty fish. I wanted to see them in a golden pool of saffron-scented broth with their narrow tails jutting above the side of the bowl. That would be the proper end to the day.
It had been a tough day at work for both of us, and we both needed a quick reminder at how lucky we are. I can rarely complain about work, since doing so raises many more eyebrows than hands to heart. I run a wine school, after all. How hard can that be? I have to agree, if begrudgingly, that I ought not complain too much, lest I have to find a real job in the future. Read more
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Top Eight Wines for October
Filed Under Wine Reviews
Here are the top eight wines available in the PLCB stores in the good state of Pennslvania. Even if you don’t live here, these are worth seeking out. Don’t forget to check out our new wine glasses while you are here.
Primo Estate 2006 La Biondina, Adelaide $12
Grotto fresh! A simple and fun wine without any pretense. Think of your glass as one giant melon-baller and the wine is a big ripe… you get the idea.
To add to the “its so trashy its cool” vibe of this wine, it is made from Colombard (you’d typically find the grape in a $5 gallon jug, not in a fine wine.) The aromatics of cilantro and nectarine vault this wine and its quick zig-zag of minerality really turns this into great pleasure. Read more
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A Wine Spectator Darling in the Works
Filed Under Wine Reviews
Alexander Valley Vineyards 2004 “Top of the Crop” Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley
A bottling from AVV’s new Reserve line, this Cabernet is a good step forward for this family-owned winery. The aromatics begin with a whiff of buttered popcorn flowing into fresh tobacco and basil along with a solid dose of blackberry. On the palate, the wine hits off with eucalyptus and graphite under a core of just-ripe cherries and hazelnuts. Tart cherries and cinnamon roll out in the end.
The Cabernet is definitely a middle-weight with high acidity and raw tannins that will soften after 3-6 years of aging. $35 retail. Wine Spectator will probably give this a 90-plus rating.
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The September Newsletter
Filed Under The Wine World
Check out the wine buys after the jump… Read more
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A Sideways Blast into the Past
Filed Under The Wine World
Just going through some old files on the wine school’s web server when I found an old promo for a yet-to-be-released movie called Sideways. The school had been given about 20 seats to the Philadelphia premiere, but the theater was almost empty!
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