Archive for October, 2009
The Prisoner 2008
October 30th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
At Westport Whiskey & Wine, a sneak preview of Orin Swift’s The Prisoner, 2008 vintage, due to be released in a few weeks. It’s a cool thing that this sneak came our way, a real treat.
The Prisoner is an oddball mix of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Charbono and Grenache. It’s brilliantly branded and [...]
Tags: Retail, tasting notes, tastings, wine
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Irritable Men In Restaurants
October 29th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
The New York Times has a piece called One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 1), which will presumably be followed by “One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 2),” which confuses me somewhat. Are there 100 things restaurant staffers should not do, in which case one might imagine that the [...]
Tags: Restaurants, wine
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Alternate Preventive for Swine Flu
October 29th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
If you’re the sort to take medical advice from a British soccer coach, this:
It is my grandmother’s prescription. It’s hot milk with red wine. Fantastic. I’m not worried [about swine flu]. My players will shake hands and swap shirts with their opponents as normal, absolutely.
Think of the medical benefits for those of us who keep [...]
Tags: health, wine
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Encore at Westport Whiskey & Wine
October 29th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
For those of you who missed Caitlin Pianetta of Pianetta Vineyards last night, she’s making an encore appearance tonight at WW&W’s Open Bottle Thursday. This is a Halloween-themed event so be prepared for a certain silliness, but probably not too much. (I’m dreaming of proprietor Chris Zaborowski in a witch costume, but that’s just me.)
Along [...]
Tags: Napa, tastings, wine, winemakers
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The Volstead Act
October 28th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
Poor Kenneth, An Almanack reminds me that today is the anniversary of the passage of the Volstead Act, which turned the new 18th Amendment to the Constitution into a set of laws that came to be known as Prohibition. What’s lost to the fog of memory is the societal condition that made Prohibition into [...]
Tags: History, prohibition, wine
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Fall Cleaning at The Wine Market
October 28th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
The Wine Market is cleaning out its store room. Taste the dusty bottles they’re trying to dump from 4:30 – 6:30, then buy at a deep discount.
Cases, they promise, at firesale prices.
Technorati Tags: Retail, tastings, wine
Tags: Retail, tastings, wine
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Quote I Like That Doesn’t Really Have Anything To Do With Wine
October 27th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
“Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.”
Ernest Hemingway
IPDATE: I believe the wine Mr. Hemingway is drinking is Marqués de Riscal (label here), an old-school Rioja that is pretty much our house Spaniard. For some reason, I find that kind of exciting, like discovering that [...]
Tags: History, Rioja, wine
Posted in Not Particularly Anything | Comments (1)
Citizens of the World, Bah!
October 27th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
The first real market indicator of a vintage’s prices is the Hospice de Beaune auction in November. The charity auction in Burgundy indicates the strength of both the vintage and the economy. Wine makers and negociants seem confident that 2009 is a stellar vintage, but have questions about the state of the economy. Last [...]
Tags: auctions, Burgundy, Kentucky Wine, Regulation, wine
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Pianetta Vineyards at Ruth’s Chris
October 26th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
Wednesday, October 28, Caitlin Pianetta will host a wine dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Caitlin is a representative of Pianetta Vineyards in Moneterey County, California.
The Pianetta Family traces its California roots back four generations, to the early days of California winemaking when Italian immigrants dominated the American wine industry, both as producers and consumers. [...]
Tags: Restaurants, tastings, wine, winemakers
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This Is Going To Kill the French
October 26th, 2009 by Tom Johnson
Geologists in Oregon claim soil has no effect on the flavor of wine:
Wine critics often use the French phrase, “gout de terroir” (goo deh TAIR-wahr), which means “taste of the soil.”
But scientists who met in Portland this week for the annual Geological Society of America conference say much of that taste may be imagined. The [...]
Tags: Data, Terroir, wine
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