MENTIONED IN THIS POST: Blandy’s Malmsey Madeira Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé Bouchard Pere et Fils Domaine de la Romanee Conti Chateau Angelus Years ago, I brought my favorite bottle of Blandy’s Madeira to my family’s annual Christmas dinner party. I asked my sister to get our mom’s Port glasses out of the bar cabinet, but…
MENTIONED IN THIS POST: 2009 DRC Richebourg 2009 Leroy Vosne-Romanee 2011 Yquem 2009 Lafite-Rothschild 2006 Moet & Chandon Dom Perignon 2009 Harlan 2012 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 Shafer Hillside Select 2010 Sine Qua Non Stockholm Syndrome 2010 Henschke Hill of Grace Starting a high-end wine collection can not only be hugely enjoyable for a wine lover, as it introduces you to some of the…
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 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. Barts (not…
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…
