The wine world was shocked when a sudden frost hit France this spring, and so far, it looks like one of the country’s greatest casualties is the Loire Valley. The average producer in this iconic wine region has already lost up to 30 percent of the crop, and in the most frostbitten areas, the crop…
Ex-chateau Bordeaux is in the midst of a historical identity crisis. For centuries now, Bordeaux has been lauded as one of the finest wine regions in the world, but fraud and a market bubble have forced its winemakers to make a drastic move: forgoing en primeur sales in favor of ex-chateau. More estates than ever…
It all started with a rainstorm. My buddy, a local sommelier, had just finished up work for the night at a restaurant and was in the process of closing everything down. Neither of us felt like braving the rainy weather yet, and we’d both worked up a thirst, so we pulled out a bottle of…
The first time I tried a glass of Petite Sirah at a restaurant, I had no idea what was in store for my senses. Hearing the name “Petite Sirah” roll off the sommelier’s tongue conjured up images of tiny, delicate grapes, like a miniature version of the Rhone Syrah I knew so well. After one…
There’s something about the heat of the summer that makes me want to go on a wine shopping spree. By the time July or August rolls around, it’s usually been months since I invested heavily in wine for my collection. I’ll spend all spring preparing for the arrival of my back-ordered allocations, but once those…
There’s a common saying among barbecue experts, “If you’re looking, you’re not cooking.” The idea is that the more you peek under the barbecue lid, the longer it takes for your food to cook. Yet this cliche applies to your wine collection too; the more you fidget with your bottles, the less opportunity they have…
My first-ever online wine order was a disaster. One summer evening, while I was looking through my 28-bottle wine cooler, I saw that I was nearly out of drinkable red wines. On a whim, I decided to order a mixed case from a small online retailer, which included ready-to-drink bottles of Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, and…
Wine critic Richard Jennings never understood the hype around California cult Cabernet. He admits that these wines are usually ultra-concentrated and flavorful, but, he says, “I also believe the great majority of wines in this category are hardly deserving of the stratospheric prices and disproportionate attention they have received over the years.” However, that was…
When wine lover Dave McIntyre was invited to try a bottle of Screaming Eagle Cabernet with a close friend, he couldn’t believe his ears. The 2011 Screaming Eagle Cab costs more than $3,000 and was still in its infancy, yet McIntyre’s friend insisted on drinking it for a special dinner anyway. Curious whether the Screaming…
When you think of French wine, you probably picture bubbly Champagne, savory Rhone, or rare Bordeaux and Burgundy blends. However, writer Sophia Schweitzer points out that France has so much more going on for it, all hidden in the countrysides of lesser-known regions. In the past, collectors only considered French AOC wines to be worth…
A group of wine collectors were talking about the best wine deal they missed out on, and why they wished they would have made a better choice. One of the collectors recalled a now-legendary release of Aldo Conterno Barolo in 2012, shortly after Conterno’s death. Some of the top wine retailers in the world offered…
Portland-based collector Dave Smith used to be the proud owner of an almost mythical Melchizedek Champagne bottle, which held a whopping 30 liters of wine. Only 20 of these large-format bottles are made every year, so you can imagine Smith’s shock and disappointment when, one day, his Melchizedek exploded. No one knows for sure why…
