If terroir—that French concept that where the grapes grow determines the character of the wine—is so important, why haven’t American consumers embraced it? Maybe wine appellations, which should define terroir, are just not all that important. That could be, but I doubt it.… Read more
Category Archives: WRO Articles
Case for Quarantine 2.0
Times like this remind us of the things that are really important in life. In the big picture, wine, though it plays a significant part in my life, is not among them. Compared to the death and disease around us and the prospect of a looming economic recession, and maybe a depression, writing about wine seems trivial. … Read more
Case for Quarantine 2.0
Times like this remind us of the things that are really important in life. In the big picture, wine, though it plays a significant part in my life, is not among them. Compared to the death and disease around us and the prospect of a looming economic recession, and maybe a depression, writing about wine seems trivial. … Read more
Dr. Apstein’s Case for Quarantine
I’ll leave the medical advice concerning the need to quarantine to your personal physician and public health experts. My advice is for a case of wine you’ll need for those two weeks. Of course, depending on how many other adults are with you in quarantine, you may need more than a case.… Read more
Brunello 2015: Less is More
The 2015 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino is being heralded as a 5-star vintage (the top rating) by the notoriously easy-grading Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, the trade group that represents producers in Montalcino. Retailers around the country have jumped onto the bandwagon with enthusiastic praise for the 2015 vintage. … Read more
Burgundy’s 2018 Vintage: The Importance of Harvest Date
During the annual press conference in November, 2018 at which various Burgundy luminaries discussed the recent vintage, Françoise Labet, President of the organization that represents Burgundy wine, proclaimed that the recently completed vintage was, “Close to 1947,” which was a legendary year. … Read more
Holiday Gifts for Wine Lovers
The obvious choice for gifts for your wine loving friends this holiday season is a bottle—or two—of wine. Sadly, too many are intimidated to give wine to a so-called wine expert. We’ve all heard the excuses: I don’t know anything about wine; I don’t want to embarrass myself by giving an ordinary wine; I don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a prestigious one. … Read more
Mixed Vintage News from Burgundy
BEAUNE, Burgundy, November 19, 2019: First the good news. The 2018 vintage produced large quantities of high-quality wines, both red and white. It’s unusual to see good yields of high-quality wines in Burgundy, but that’s what happened in 2018. Unlike the 2015 vintage, which I characterized as a “point and shot” vintage for the reds because the quality was so consistently 
high that you practically couldn’t miss picking a fine wine, there is considerable variability among the 2018s that I’ve tasted. … Read more
Tuscany’s Maremma: Italy’s Wild West, in More Ways Than One
Despite being home to Ornellaia, Sassicaia, Grattamacco, and Masseto, some of Italy’s most expensive and sought-after wines, the Maremma remains obscure to most wine lovers. Though none of the above-mentioned wines carry the word Maremma on their labels, geographically their home is in that region. … Read more
Age Matters
Winegrowers around the world speak lovingly of old vines. Though the definition is never official, nor even clear, many bottles still carry the moniker, Vieilles Vignes, Vecchie Viti or Viñas Viejas, depending on whether you’re talking about French, Italian or Spanish wines. … Read more
A Star on Long Island
Recently, I happened to mention to my friend, Howard Goldberg, the longtime The New York Times wine writer, that I was writing a column about Loire wines made from Chenin Blanc. Howard suggested that I visit Paumanok on Long Island’s North Fork because, he said, they made great Chenin Blanc. … Read more
An Amber Standout from Georgia
Mosmieri (Kakheti, Georgia) “Kakhuri” 2017 ($20, Corus Imports): Georgian wines seem to be the rage these days, and there are plenty of possible reasons for that. Consumers are intrigued that archeologists have figured out that wine has been made in that Caucasus-region country for 8,000 years, putting it among the oldest wine producing areas in the world. … Read more
Saumur: Home to Fabulous Dry Chenin Blanc
The Chenin Blanc grape can be transformed into fabulous wine. It makes sensationally riveting dry wines and lusciously sweet ones. In this column, I want to focus on the dry ones. They are exceptionally versatile, equally well suited to stand-alone as an aperitif or with a meal, especially with those foods that can pose a challenge for matching with wine, such as sushi, spicy Asian fare or roast pork. … Read more
Beaujolais: A Versatile Wine
One of the many things I love about Beaujolais is its variety and versatility. There’s Beaujolais Nouveau, a beverage that’s almost closer to alcoholic grape juice than to wine, and which many in the American wine press deride regularly. Released on the third Thursday of November, it can be a refreshing, all-purpose wine for the Thanksgiving table. … Read more
Update from Burgundy: Hot, But Not 2003…At Least Not Yet
Record-breaking temperatures hit France and elsewhere in Europe recently with Beaune, in the heart of Burgundy, recording temperatures of over 100 degrees. While those kinds of 
temperatures are common in California wine country, they are rare in Burgundy and immediately raise the question: How the vines and grapes faring?… Read more
A New Designation for an Established Star
Ruffino, Chianti Classico Gran Selezione (Tuscany, Italy) “Riserva Ducale Oro” 2014 ($41): Gran Selezione is a new category of Chianti Classico that is supposed to represent the pinnacle of a producer’s bottling. Whether it does is a matter of debate because some producers’ top wine
from Chianti Classico region is not a Gran Selezione.… Read more
Surprising Whites for the Rosé Season
It’s well known that the red wines from the south of France can provide great pleasure, especially for the price. The whites, in contrast, have received far less attention, in part, because they can be a touch heavy. That may be changing, at least judging from my experience earlier this year.
… Read more Terroir in Bordeaux
Part of my enthusiasm for wine, and I’m sure other’s as well, is that the character of the wine is, or at least should be, a reflection of where the grapes were grown. For me, this is a fabulous expression of Nature and an almost magical one at that. … Read more
Guigal: The Birth of a Star in Châteauneuf-du-Pape
It’s rare for a winery to go from nothing to the top in its category quickly. Bordeaux’s premier châteaux, such as Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Latour, and Château Haut-Brion, to name just three, were founded centuries ago. Similarly, in Burgundy, leading producers such as Maison Louis Jadot, Maison Louis Latour, and Maison Joseph Drouhin, date back to the 19th century. … Read more
Chianti Classico: The Tale of Two Vintages
Consumers are lucky and should be thrilled that there are two stunning vintages, the 2015 and 2016, of Chianti Classico on retailers’ shelves now. Although both vintages are outstanding, the character of the wines is very different. In a word, so to speak, the 2015s are riper and fleshy while the 2016s are racier.
… Read more Brunello di Montalcino 2014: Not as Bad as it Sounds
Despite the sour mood in Montalcino caused by the “difficult” 2014 vintage for Brunello (vintages are never poor, they’re just difficult), it is definitely a vintage that consumers should investigate closely because some producers made very good wine. To be sure, the talk is all gloom and doom regarding the 2014 vintage in Tuscany, including Montalcino. … Read more
Léoville-Poyferré: Another Super Second?
A vertical tasting of 15 vintages of Château Léoville Poyferré paired with food at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. earlier this month was proof that this venerable St. Julien property is on the rise. And while Cru Classé Bordeaux is never inexpensive, recent vintages of Léoville Poyferré are well-priced, especially compared to neighboring Château Léoville Las Cases.… Read more
It’s not a Gambal…It Works
The newly established Gambal-Work partnership in the Sta. Rita Hills of California has just released their first wines, a pair of exquisitely exciting Chardonnays–some of the best I’ve had from California. The enterprise draws on Alex Gambal’s 25 years of experience in Burgundy, where he is still making wines under the Alex Gambal label and that of Peter Work, a Dane who has considerable experience with vineyards in the Sta.… Read more
The Mother of All Wine Auctions
All hospitals have a Director. But only one–Les Hospices de Beaune–has a Director of Winemaking. (As a physician, I am especially interested in seeing that organizational chart.) The hospital needs a director of winemaking because it owns vineyards–over 150 acres of them, 85 percent of which are classified as Premier and Grand Cru, making it one of the largest vineyard owners in Burgundy. … Read more
The 2017 Burgundies
Everyone was smiling during my visit to Burgundy last month. The cellars were, after all, chock full of wine after two good-sized vintages. At Maison Louis Jadot, the barrel cellars were filled to the brim. For the first time ever, barrels were stacked three high in a cellar designed for just two tiers.
… Read more Chianti Classico: The Times They are A-Changing
With apologies to Bob Dylan, “The Times They are A-Changing” in Chianti Classico. Three decades ago, producers were embracing the use of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and other so-called “international varieties,” to bolster Sangiovese. But now, with dramatic improvements in the vineyards, growers have shown the heights that Sangiovese can achieve in Chianti Classico. … Read more
Meerlust’s Rubicon: A South African Icon
“He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” quipped Hannes Myburgh, the 8th generation of the family that owns Meerlust, in response to a potential conflict with Francis Ford Coppola over names. Coppola and his wife own the legendary Napa Valley Winery, Inglenook, whose flagship red wine is also labeled Rubicon. … Read more
The Conundrum of Assigning Points
Maison Louis Latour’s 2015 Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir (IGP Var, $14) epitomizes the difficulty of assessing wines by assigning a number to them. Do you judge them among their peers or on an absolute scale? And how does value–ratio of enjoyment to price–figure in the final number?… Read more
Marchesi Frescobaldi: ‘When you prune, you get to know the plants’
Lamberto Frescobaldi, tieless in a casual sports jacket, has a down-to-earth demeanor and a twinkle in his eye that belies his nobleman status. He is the 30th generation of that famed winemaking family, which in the past traded wine for paintings with Renaissance artists. … Read more
Alternatives to Rosé, Even in Provence
With apologies to Alfred Lord Tennyson, rosé to the left of us, rosé to the right of us, rosé in front of us, and there we were, drinking white wine in the heart of Provence. The sommelier at La Presque’îe, a spectacularly situated restaurant–with food to match–on the outskirts of Cassis overlooking the Mediterranean coast, told me that they sell a lot of rosé, but that, like us, many diners order white wine.… Read more
An Interesting Rarity from Burgundy
Geantet-Pansiot, Bourgogne Rouge, “Pinot Fin,” 2015 ($30 – 45):
Pinot Fin is a clone of Pinot Noir that produces smaller berries and thicker skin, according to the internationally acclaimed wine expert, Jancis Robinson. It’s rarely grown in Burgundy today, because it’s a finicky grape to grown, even more troublesome than Pinot Noir, susceptible to many diseases that result in lower yields–meaning, more expensive wine. … Read more
Will Chinese Wine be as Successful as Chinese Food?
At the end of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, which was held this year in Beijing, I sat amazed at how extraordinarily efficient and smoothly run this wine competition was: A dedicated sommelier for each panel of judges, perfectly timed pouring, not a drop spilled or a glass broken, a bevy of technical support assistants for the tablets judges used to record their scores, even robots transporting bottled water to be delivered to the judges’ tables. … Read more
Muscadet is Morphing
The cru system–as in Grand or Premier Cru Burgundy or the cru of Beaujolais–has reached Muscadet. The growers there are doing what producers throughout the world are doing: They are defining and identifying specific areas within the broader region that are capable of producing distinctive wines. … Read more
2015 White Burgundies: Marvelous for Current Drinking
Having tasted the 2015 Burgundies now that they have been bottled and are on retailers’ shelves, I can confirm my initial impression of the vintage –sensational for both reds and whites. Importantly, though, the character of the wines is very different depending on the color. … Read more
Awful Weather in Burgundy, But Some Awesome Wines from 2016
Usually it is perfect weather during the growing season that results in exceptional wines. Think 2005, 2009 or 2015 in Burgundy. Those “ideal weather” vintages produced excellent wines almost across the board. In 2016, the capriciousness of Nature was apparent: Hail ravaged some vineyards, destroying the entire crop, but leaving a neighboring vineyard untouched. … Read more
Brunello di Montalcino 2013: The Virtue of Acidity
If there was ever any doubt,–and, of course, there shouldn’t be–that Brunello di Montalcino is one of the world’s great wines, a sad event last month should dispel it. Thieves stole about 1,000 bottles of Brunello, including some prized single-vineyard Riserva, Poggio al Vento, worth about $125,000, from Col d’Orcia, one of the region’s top producers. … Read more
2015 Bordeaux: A Vintage to Buy
The wines from Bordeaux are definitely not the darlings of the breed of new-wave sommeliers whose wine lists are heavy with “natural” wines, orange wines, or selections from obscure areas–which all too often turn out to be obscure for good reason. … Read more
Wines from…Where? Striving for Excellence in Morocco
Readers might reasonably ask why I am writing about wines not available in the U.S. market from one the last places on earth you’d expect to find fine wine–Morocco, a Muslim country where alcohol is forbidden. Why? Because it is a fantastic story about problem solving, a learning curve, and perhaps a little bit of following your heart.… Read more
The Mother of All Wine Auctions
The Napa Valley Wine Auction (officially known as Auction Napa Valley), which started in 1981, bills itself as “the world’s most celebrated charity wine event.” To its credit, it raises a lot of money–roughly $10 million last year. Bidders at Auction Napa Valley and other charity wine auctions pay thousands of dollars to attend high-end dinners and mingle with winemakers, winery owners and other “personalities.” … Read more
Grignolino: A Rare but Exciting Choice for Thanksgiving
I never gave much thought to Grignolino, an obscure grape from Piedmont, until Marchesi Cattaneo Adorno Giustiniani poured one, a 1971, from his winery, Castello di Gabiano, at dinner last month. It was show-stopping. One of the qualities that determines greatness for a wine, at least for me, is its ability to develop over time. … Read more
Nizza: A New Italian DOCG Worth Remembering
The history of the official alphabet of stratification of Italian wines–VdT, IGT, DOC, or DOCG (Vino da Tavola, Indicazione Geografica Tipica, Denominazione di Origine Controllata, and Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita)–does not inspire confidence. When Sassicaia, now an iconic Italian wine, was first released, it barely registered on the official scale, being relegated to a lowly VdT designation. … Read more
The Most Beautiful Wine Region That You’ve Never Heard Of…And They Make Good Wine, Too
Our exceptional bus driver and guide, Matt Wentzell, assured us that he could make it up the steep twisty and bumpy dirt road. I remained unconvinced as the road became more twisted and bumpy. Halfway up, we stopped, carefully disembarked and stepped onto a plateau overlooking the narrow, mountain-lined valley. … Read more
No Rosé, Please…Just Chill the Red
The spray from the tsunami of rosé hitting our shores just soaked me. I know rosé is popular, but the latest evidence of its popularity floored me: An offering of the 2016 Le Rosé de Chevalier. Bordeaux’s Domaine de Chevalier making a rosé?… Read more
The ‘Cru’ of Soave: Another Attempt to Resurrect the Region
Soave, one of Italy’s great white wines, has an image problem, and, as a result, it gets no respect. Although I’m sure that must be frustrating for the producers, it’s a boon for consumers: The wines can be excellent but their prices fail to reflect their quality. … Read more
The New Beaujolais, but Definitely Not Beaujolais Nouveau
A recent tasting of Beaujolais reminded me of tasting wines from the Côte d’Or. Yes, you read that correctly–I am comparing Beaujolais and the Côte d’Or. To be sure, I’m not speaking about just anywhere in Beaujolais, only the crus, the 10 villages in the northern part of the region whose bedrock is either pink granite or a blue-black volcanic stone and whose wines are so distinctive that only the name of the village, without a mention of Beaujolais, appears on the label.… Read more
Canadian Pinot Noir: Who Knew?
When I told friends that I was going to Edmonton to taste and judge Canadian wines, the predictable response was, “Oh, icewine.” Having tasted Canadian wines during trips to Ontario and at a previous edition of the Northern Lands Festival Canadian Wine Competition in Edmonton, I knew that Canada made more than just icewine. … Read more
Lugana: The Perfect Summertime White
With their crispness and cutting acidity, the refreshing wines of Lugana, a small Denominazione Origine Controllata (DOC) on the southern edge of Lake Garda in northern Italy’s Lake District, are perfect for drinking in the summer–or year round for that matter. … Read more
2015 Burgundies: Superb for Both Colors…Don’t Miss Them
After having tasted literally hundreds of barrel samples from négociants and small growers while on my annual pilgrimage to Burgundy in November, followed by a series of important importers’ tastings New York City earlier this year, (again, mostly barrel samples), it’s clear to me that the 2015 Burgundies are stunning.… Read more
The Renaissance at Jessiaume: A Multi-National Collaboration
In parochial Burgundy, where even French citizens from outside the region are viewed with skepticism, an American–and a woman no less–is leading the Anglo-American-French team that is intent on resurrecting Domaine Jessiaume. With the quintessential Burgundian tiles adorning their building, Domaine Jessiaume, which dates from the mid-19th century, is one of Santenay’s iconic properties. … Read more
Bordeaux’s 2014s: An Excellent, Well-Priced Vintage
The press regarding the 2014 vintage in Bordeaux, written in the spring of 2015 after the “en premieur” tastings (a week long series of tastings of “representative” barrel samples in Bordeaux) was lukewarm. The vintage was damned with faint praise (e.g.,… Read more