There have been many wines I have tasted over the last few
months, so in one sense there is a lot I could be writing about.
However, few were very special or memorable. I
don’t see the point of just “cataloging” wines- there are more than enough
wine
writers who do that.
Hence my delay until I find the right Raison d'être.
Unless
I am interested in READING what I WRITE, why bother?
Still I have several months of writing back log which I will
release starting with my much delayed May issue. Once I am done with June
&
July I hope to relaunch a new WEINGARTEN in the Fall
One addition I have started TWITTER@tafund for occasional
quickies on the stock market, astrology and wine.
I wish everyone a good Summer holiday- I am on mine.
1. WINE
NEWS
& TRENDS 2. WINE
&
FINANCE 3. WINE
101 4. WNE
CALENDAR 5. WINE
TASTINGS & EVENTS 6. OLDER
WINE
NOTES 7. WINE
QUIZ 8. THIS
AND
THAT 9. LETTER 1. Stacked Wines The Rise of Destination
Wineries? Cannabis
wine catching on in California HW: I always wondered why some people would pay so much for
certain CA wines which while good, were neither great or better than wines
half
their price- NOW I KNOW!!! 2.Top 10 vineyard investments 3. Top 5 Wine Myths That Won't
Die 4. September 21, 22 WINE RIOT 5. World Malbec Day at the Guggenheim was a perfect lovely
wine event with delicious wines, first class tango dancing and a fine
tango
orchestra. Wow! As part of future Malbec promotions, they are doing
a
tango/wine world tour, if it comes to a city near you- I would highly
recommend
it One wine especially struck my fancy: Tamari Reserva only
$14.99 FYI In Huarpe, the indigenous language of the people in
Mendoza
TAMARI means “To Be Passionate” YES! April 16 A wonderful Chianti seminar emphasizing food and
wine combinations. Key take away: It was pointed out that to American tastes Italian
wine tastes bitter. The reason is they are NOT meant to be drunk alone but
rather in combination with food which changes everything.. April 17 Spanish Wine cellar Somewhat disappointing due to woeful
state of the Spanish economy that there were few food presentations.
However there were tasty morsels from La Rioja Restaurants in Astoria- I
plan
to make a visit! Favorite wines there: Bodegas De Frutos Marin Malparte 2008 Tempranillo and
Javier Sanz Viticltor SL Coleccion V1863 2010. The latter with 150 year
old
vines- Anyone who says age does not matter is NOT a wine drinker! If I were a distributor: La Vieja Licoreria Range of liquors and
Vintes Torre Oria Reserva 2007 a very drinkable house wine for
1.10
ex cellar. April 18 Instituto Cervantes OLE Portfolio Tasting Tasted Several new varieties e.g. Monastrell 2010 Vinos
Sin-Ley $17 and Finca Morenillo 2009 $98 Both “
Different” Gran Reserva 1985 Bodegas Vina Magana (Merlot/Cab
Blend) lovely and the show best at $233. At the end I learned of a wine that was aged by submerging it in
seawater. Unfortunately too late- not only was it already gone but I also
had
palate fatigue. I look forward to tasting it next year. We know the Romans
used
to cut their wines with seawater, so maybe they were onto to something.
Furthermore, oenophiles that have tasted wines salvaged from shipwrecks
say it
improves the taste: Stay tuned for more. 6. Finally this finishes my backlog of reporting on older wine
tastings! MARCH 29 HERMES TASTE OF GREECE Beyond the big four traditional grapes: Assyrtiko, Moschofilero,
Agiorgitiko, and Xinomavro, we also tasted Kotsifali, Mandilari, Roditis
and
Vilana. However outside of another Greek wine tasting, these minor grapes
are unlikely to be retasted by me anytime soon. FOOD NOTE: Kellari Taverna provided
delicious Greek
tidbits It is one of our favorite NYC Greek restaurants and always
recommended
by us when in a “Greek” mood. At the Tempranillo Al Mundo 7th
Edition we dropped our computer twice, which put me out of commission for
wine
writing last year for several months. Here over 400 entries from Spain and
12
other countries were blindly judged rigorously for Visual, Nose and
above all Taste
e.g. genuineness, intensity, persistence and quality. Bodegas Ramon Bilbao Mirto de
Ramon
Bilbao DOC Rioja 2006 was awarded a Great Gold Tempranillo
(T)
(96-100) Kevin Zraly rated it 100. I respectfully disagreed. While
it was
excellent (great nose), to me, to be rated 100 a wine must transport me –
this
one kept me in NY (but smiling and happy); It also screamed “feed me” as the
majority of
European wines demand a food accompaniment for their greatest enjoyment. I enjoyed equally gold T winners:
Vina
Turzaballa 2001 Bodegas Rajmon Bilboa DOC Rioja and
Fortia
Prima Bodegas Portia 2009 DO Ribera Del Duero. I was pleasantly surprised to find
one
American entry VIVA YO Bodegas Paso Robles –from Central Coast
California
2006 was almost the equal of the above three wines, amazing! AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 SIPS 2011 Best: Duckhorn Vineyards (USA) Howell Mountain
Napa Valley Red Wine 2005 $75 Here was the first time I tasted Indian Wine. The Good Earth
Winery had 3 offerings: “Aarohi” Sauvignon Blanc 2010 $14.99 which matches well with
coconut curries, their “Brio” Reserve Shiraz 2009 $21 matches spicy
Vindaloo and chicken Tikka. However I found their Cab Sauvignon
unappealing. Bottom line: Being a traditionalist, I plan to stick with Indian
Beer and Lassi to accompany my India meals. WHAT’S NEW: I personally prefer the 500ml size containers to ½ bottles.
Therefore I was inclined to like the CaliNaturale tetra-pak 500.
Given
they also use organic grapes along with their good environmental
footprint. I
wish them success. This makes good sense for everyday wines and
picnics.
However, the quality of the wines that they package will be key IMHO to
any
widespread market acceptance. ROBERTS
WINEWARE- super taster wine glasses-
Here a textured rim stimulates the salivary flow. How much was
suggestion
and the tasting procedure (“slow down, taste”) and how much science I am
unsure. They claim the Cali- Cab boys proclaim “Soon, any wine glass that
does
not have this technology will be like black and white TV compared to this
High-Def experience” Note: I love to watch old TCM black and white pictures e.g. Film
Noir classics. While I suspect it is a gimmick, still, anything that
enhances the pleasure of wine drinking I am for! 7. Wine Quiz | Learn Wine | Wine
Spectator 8 10 Top international wine
destinations Astrology and wine - zodiac
signs and
grape varieties Champagne and food pairings Q: Who would be your ideal dinner party guests and what wines
would you serve them? A: I’d invite six Jewish men who marked the history of humanity:
Abraham (everything is God), Moses (everything is law), Jesus ( everything
is
love), Karl Marx (everything is money), Sigmund Freud (everything is sex)
and
Albert Einstein (everything is relative). On pour would be Bollinger
1964,
Chapoutier Ermitage de l’Oree Blanc 2011 and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Grands-Echezeaux 1999. Michel Chapoutier owns and runs Maison M. Chapoutier in
Tain-l’Hermitage in the Rhône. 9. BIODYANMIC WINE DEMYSTIFIED Nicolas Joly
A
pleasure to read this emotionally laden (in a good way) plea for
natural wine making. While there is unfortunately (to my taste) too
little astrological/astronomical comment a bit tidbits are worth
repeating:
An
oak tree should be felled when Mars was in the descendant.
“To
accelerate this return to real wines it would be enough to require by
law the publication on every label of the technological practices
involved in producing wine. For example, this might read: “wine
concentrated by osmosis and perfumed with artificial yeast X which
gives a nose of violent.”
A
clear correlation between years when sun-spot activity was a maximum
and great wines.
Importance
of dates for harvesting and planting- identical vines cut and planed
in the same soil at an interval of several days.
9. READER: I am puzzled by that 350-year-old vine at the foot of
the castle (in Montalcino?). Their page has this: "in a large
Renaissance castle known as Castel Katzenzungen (Süd Tyrol) Caroline
managed
the family property for several years, and amongst her charges at the
property
was an enormous, six hundred year-old grape vine that is the oldest and
largest
existing grapevine in all of Europe." Someone is abridging history and
moving it around! HW: Well you know like some women, perhaps on some days the vines
did not wish to reveal their true age! J Please feel free to forward our WEINGARTEN newsletter to your wine
loving friends. They are most welcome to subscribe by emailing wine@afund.com
and then Vote for My Blog on LocalWineEvents.com! Cheers Henry Weingarten WEINGARTEN http://www.afund.com/wine wine@afund.com
Twitter@tafund Voted in the top 10 blogs (#8 out of 958) on Local Wine Events