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Posted on Dec 7, 2011 by Carson Demmond
On Wednesday, December 7th, chef de cave Richard Geoffroy made a global declaration of the 2003 vintage for the house of Dom Pérignon. As hokey and embellished as the event promised to be (Geoffroy was to appear live via hologram in major cities worldwide), the geek factor was high, and I was almost as eager for the thrill of the spectacle as I was for a taste of the wine. (Come on, we’ve all gone to movies just to ogle the special effects…)
It’s a bold move to declare the 2003 vintage. We all remember the canicule – the scorching heat of the season — and some might recall the troublesome frosts in April that made the chardonnay crop scarce. Geoffroy, it appears, was up for a challenge.
He . . . Continue reading →
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Posted on Dec 5, 2011 by Joshua Greene
The blond woman with the ringlet curls was behind the front desk at Relais San Maurizio when I came down in the morning to ask about a running trail. The hotel, perched at the top of a ridge with precipitous vineyard slopes on three sides, was accessible only by a switchback road from one direction, and a narrow lane from another. With the sporadic immediacy of the morning traffic, neither route seemed like a safe place to clear my head.
The gentleman behind her suggested the road was the place to run, and that it was not a problem. The woman conferred with him in hushed Italian and then asked if I would mind running in the vineyard. Is there a path? There is a road, she said. Just right here, pointing out beyond the old monastery . . . Continue reading →
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Posted on Nov 29, 2011 by Joshua Greene
We’ve now updated our Top 100 Wineries of 2011 with wine reviews from our December issue. Those latest reviews mainly focus on Champagne, California and Washington State cabernet, Barolo and Barbaresco, Rioja and German riesling.
If you missed our Top 100 event in San Francisco this past October, check out the gallery of photos by Jen Siska. It’s a who’s who of wine industry geeks and the people who love them—and proof that warm moonlit nights do occasionally bless SF in the fall.
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Posted on Nov 25, 2011 by Joshua Greene
The accolades have been pouring in for Penfolds Bin 620, a blend of Coonawarra cabernet sauvignon and shiraz referencing one of Max Schubert’s Special Bin wines last produced in 1966.
Peter Gago, Penfolds’ chief winemaker, launched the new vintage last week in Shanghai, territory the Bordelais have effectively ruled with their own collectible cabernets. As trade accelerates between Australia and China, the choice to launch Bin 620 on foreign soil was more than a diplomatic initiative. While pricing the wine at nearly two times the cost of Grange, Penfolds was, in effect, giving Chinese collectors first dibs on a wine they and few others can currently afford.
Most of the rest of the buyers for 620 will be collectors in Australia, as it is to be sold exclusively from the cellar door. And it is . . . Continue reading →
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Posted on Nov 16, 2011 by Joshua Greene
There are a number of serious wine collectors, trade buyers and journalists who have questioned why our Top 100 does not include any Bordeaux. One of them, W. Blake Gray, recently posted an entry at his Gray Report, commenting that we had “excluded” Bordeaux producers from the tasting.
Just to set the record straight, we have no intention of leaving out Bordeaux. On the other hand, we do not make exceptions in our tasting policies.
The Top 100 selections are based on quality and terroir expression, attributes we assess through blind panel tastings in our offices. Our main goal is to provide wine reviews for the trade and consumers. Our tastings work on other levels as well: as an educational opportunity for high-level trade, providing the opportunity for . . . Continue reading →
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Posted on Nov 9, 2011 by Peter Liem
Two of the Top 100 Wineries are in the Louis/Dressner portfolio: Bernard Baudry and Domaine de Bellivière. Peter Liem, a long-time friend of Joe Dressner, wrote this remembrance.
Joe Dressner, a partner in Louis/Dressner Selections, died on September 17 at his home in Manhattan, following an extended battle with brain cancer. He was 60 years old.
Dressner founded his wine import company with his wife, Denyse Louis, in 1988; later, they added a third partner, Kevin McKenna. They sought wines that were grown with respect for the environment and that were handled as minimally as possible in the cellar; by the time these wines eventually became fashionably categorized as “ . . . Continue reading →
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Posted on Oct 25, 2011 by Carson Demmond
I first met Movia’s Aleš Kristančič at our Top of the List event in New York this past May, where he joined us for a seminar on natural wines with Puro, an almost electric-tasting sparkling wine that he bottles with the lees intact. It’s a wonder that the wine doesn’t come with a Warning: Don’t Try This at Home sign attached. Most producers of sparkling wine opt to make bottle opening consumer-friendly; they disgorge prior to release. But Aleš wants us to experience the full power of his biodynamic fruit, and a premature removal of the yeast might rob the wine of a portion of its flavor. Not to mention that leaving it in the bottle increases Puro’s aging potential.
The Movia estate straddles the border between Italy and . . . Continue reading →
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Posted on Oct 22, 2011 by Tara Q. Thomas
I had only one worry when I walked into our private tasting space: The view out the floor-to-ceiling windows was so grand that no one would pay attention to the wines we’d poured. It was what photographers call the “magic hour,” the setting sun bathing the San Francisco hills in a dusky rose hue, the corner spot four floors up affording a 180° view.
Those wines were sweated over: My colleague Patrick Comiskey and I had to choose only six out of the more than 200 wines poured by our Top 100 Wineries to showcase for a tasting organized for members of Gilt City. We began with the supposition that everyone would head to the Dom, Roederer and the like on their own (thus assuaging . . . Continue reading →
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Posted on Oct 18, 2011 by Joshua Greene
When Mira Bieler and I look at a new venue for the Top 100, the first thing I consider is the oysters and Champagne. That’s where everyone will start the evening—and where I plan to start my evening as well. It’s the prow of the Top 100 ship.
Mira has helped us produce the Top 100 for eight years running, and has continued to find cool venues for the event. This past spring, she met me at City View at METREON, and neither of us held out much hope standing at the elevators in the downstairs lobby, smelling the popcorn of the AMC movie theaters (the nasty side of chardonnay). The elevator opened onto the fourth floor and we walked out into the raw, soon-to-be-renovated space then out onto the balcony. There was the . . . Continue reading →
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