Mentioned in This Post: Sea Smoke Shafer Vineyards Coming out of a year with shoddy weather conditions and tired vines, 2007 Sea Smoke Ten is an unlikely success story. Now that this wine has had about 10 years to age, it has transformed from a slightly awkward duckling into an elegant swan worthy of a…
MENTIONED IN THIS POST: -Tenuta Marchesi Antinori -Sine Qua Non -Domaine de la Romanee Conti The first time I opened a stunning bottle of 30-year-old Antinori Solaia the cork crumbled inside. Fortunately, I was able to salvage the wine, but it was a terrifying few moments. No one told me that older wines often…
The other day, one of my friends mentioned that she’d just had a great bottle of Picpoul Blanc from Paso Robles in California. My friend is not a wine connoisseur, so I found this announcement surprising. This is a woman who normally only buys the same cheap bottle of Chardonnay, yet here she is, drinking…
This summer, I was enjoying a casual dinner at my favorite wine bar with a good friend. He adores fine wine, which is why I was surprised to hear him say, “I don’t like Pinot Noir.” Our sommelier was shocked too. How could an experienced collector who regularly buys Screaming Eagle Cabernet and Angelus Bordeaux…
A few months ago, I had a hankering for blackened salmon, so I found the perfect recipe and ended up with a beautiful dinner that just needed a good wine to go with it. The only problem was that my white wine collection wasn’t up to the task. As I looked through my wine fridge,…
When I talk about unicorn wines with my fellow Burgundy and Jura enthusiasts, a name I often hear on their lips is that of a tiny biodynamic estate in the heart of Jura called Pierre Overnoy. What makes wines from this estate so irresistible to collectors is that it is one of the best in…
White wines aren’t the easiest to pair with food; their light, delicate flavors can get overwhelmed by even a simple beef stew. However, in my experience, nothing beats a great pairing of white wine and food. When you get the balance of flavors right, your food appears more complex–you’ll taste every pinch of paprika and…
FEATURED WINES: -Bollinger RD -Krug Collection -Dom Perignon P2 -Veuve Clicquot Rosé -Salon -Pierre Peters We do a lot of things with Champagne. We celebrate holidays and weddings with it, we kick off an elaborate meal with glass of racy Blanc de Blancs, and we shoot it out of Champagne guns off yachts in St.…
I’ve known collectors who love the idea of professional storage, but they’re too afraid to do it because they fear that if anything goes wrong during shipping, they’ll lose every bottle they own. I get it–even though a professional warehouse may be the safest place for your wine, getting a large number of bottles there…
Last summer, I went to a restaurant renowned for its expansive white wine list. I decided to try a flight of German Riesling, and the wines were exactly as I expected–full of life and minerality. When I told the sommelier this, he asked, “Have you ever had Weingut Gesellmann from Austria?” I told him I…
When you have vintage Krug, Screaming Eagle Cabernet, and Angelus Grand Cru on the menu, you need to give these special wines plenty of space to impress your guests (and yourself). If you serve the Screaming Eagle first, the wine’s robust, juicy flavors will overpower your palate, eclipsing the lighter flavors found in the Krug.…
My wine-loving uncle always told me that big Champagne bubbles were a bad sign. He’d say, “You might as well drink a bottle of cheap club soda.” However, researchers are now finding that when it comes to buying the best Champagne, bigger bubbles could be an important factor to consider. Physicist Gerard Liger-Belair recently discovered…
