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My Friend André Iché, An Appreciation
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Iraq Poll as of Monday Morning
345 For An Invasion
267 Against an Invasion
47 Undecided
One poll respondant suggested an invasion of my wine cellar in France as an alternative course of action. This would work if you like Gaillac Primeur.
Early Poll Results
It being Saturday evening, voting is light:
47 Wine Industry Members Favor American Intervention in Iraq
38 Wine Industry Members Oppose American Intervention in Iraq
12 are undecided
Remember to vote once and vote twice.
Poll: Does the Wine Industry Favor an Invasion of Iraq?
I often wonder if all those wine industrialists out there are right-wing, left-wine or just plain moderates.
Here's your chance. Send me an e-mail with your answer to the above question. I will tally all answers and report back here on Wednesday morning.
I don't want this discussed in the comments sections. If you want to discuss the methodology of this poll, that is acceptable. But this web space will not become a debating ground on American foreign policy. All attempts will be deleted.
I have set-up a special e-mail box for this poll. Vote once, vote twice at:
The Wine Industry Takes a Stand!
The final results will be sent to New York Senator Charles "Chuck" Schumer, who the late Senator Alfonse d'Amato once described as a 'putz.'
Two Pieces of Startling News!
1. We are sold out of André Iché's Les Hérétiques 2001!
2. Gil Hodges is not in the Hall of Fame and Gary Carter just got elected!
Another Retail Wine Schnook Brought to Justice!
Click Here to Read About Retailer Caught Taking Hugh Profits on California Cult Cabs!
Will I See You in Angers?
In between arguing with the support staff of my best distributor, I've been organizing this year's venture to the Loire Valley. Every year, since 1969, Louis/Dressner Selections has been taking a prestigious group of American wholesalers, retailers, restaurateurs and hangers-on to the Loire to taste a lot of Muscadet.
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One of the highlights this year will be the 50th anniversary special at the Domaine du Closel. Yes, we will be drinking a 1952, yes we will be drinking a 1971. The above picture is from the Closel Cam, which shows older vintages in the cellar.
Contact me by e-mail if you are joining the group.
Only Three Spaces Left for Friday's All-Day Poulsardathon!
First of all, Happy New Year to all of you!
I've been shocked by the overwhelming response to the All-Day Poulsardathon Event. Only three more spaces remain.
Be certain to e-mail me quickly.
Don't Miss the Post New Year's 2000 Poulsard Open House
Incredibly, we have imported a new vintage of Arbois Poulsard from Pierre Overnoy. Long-time readers will remember how the 1993 Vintage took the internet by store.
The 2000 is strangely clean, fruity and delicious. And you can taste the wine this Friday!
It will be an all-day Poulsardathon at the Louis/Dressner office, from 3:00 pm until the end of the evening. Don't miss this opportunity to taste the 2000 Poulsard!
Reservations are required. Please contact me by e-mail to reserve a place. Spouses and significant others are welcome.
The guy with the clown avatar on the erobertparker board is already on the waiting list!
Moderate Wine Consumption Linked to Lower Risk of Dementia, Study Finds
The Wine Spectator reports:
"Drinking one to two glasses of wine per day may help prevent the development of dementia, more so than any other form of alcohol, according to a team of researchers based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their findings hint that chemical compounds found in wine, but not in beer or spirits, may be responsible for this beneficial effect."
Clearly, the Danish researchers don't know the geeks, wine writers and wine business types that I know!
I'm feverishly working on my Top 100 list and want to apologize to the readership for my recent lack of participation and leadership in this forum.
I fear that my struggle to fight dementia might be leading to rampant depression, a usual by-product of anti-dementia activity.
Another Great Tasting at the Minetta Café
The Minetta Café, located in New York's historic Greenwich Village, often hosts The Brad Kane Tasting Group. I have been privileged to attend many of these tastings, but I thought last night's was the best of the lot.
Brad's theme was wines from 1928 and the pours (accompanied by the delicious cuisine from the Minetta's magic kitchen) included:
1928 Montrose
1928 VCC
1928 Clos Fourtet
1928 Capbern
1928 Cos
1928 DDC
1928 Pichon
1928 Rouget
1928 Ducru
1928 Beychevelle
1928 Gruaud-Larose Bethmann
1928 Gruaud-Larose Sarget
1928 Haut Bailly
1928 Brane Cantenac
1928 Palmer
1928 Las Cases
1928 Leoville Poyferre
1928 Rieussac
What an event!
All my thanks to Brad for all the hard work that went into planning and pulling this off!
Seattle Post Picks Best Wine Shop of the Year!
Of course, it was the Whole Foods Market run by the fabulous Melanie Mann.
Here's what the paper said:
The most innovative wine shop in the city is in the back corner of a chain grocery store. Unlike the produce department of the Whole Foods Market on Northeast 64th Street, where carrots and lettuce are displayed with military exactness, the aisles in the wine department are formed by boxes of wines stacked chest high, the top boxes cut open to make a casual display. On each display you can read the personal tasting notes of the person who selected it.
Unlike most grocery stores (and many wine shops) you will not find 5-liter boxes of cheap wine or even the current high scoring darlings of the wine press. Instead you will find the well-thought-out selections of wine buyer Melanie Mann and her staff of three. The wines are mostly from France and mostly from small, family-owned producers who grow the grapes and make the wines, frequently in minuscule amounts.
Often these producers have a powerful connection to their land. Mann's strict criteria for selecting a wine reflect not only her buying philosophy but also the basic wants of most consumers. "I want to be fascinated by a wine," says Mann. "I want it to have immediate appeal and I want it to be overwhelming for the price."
Editor's Note: It is unclear for me if the award was just for Seattle or for the entire nation.
Down with the Viticole-Industrial Complex!
My thanks to Jeff Connell, the buyer at Astor Wines in New York for coining this phrase.
It's a lovely sentiment for the coming new year, don't you think?
Kind of like the people united will never be defeated!
(Then again, when one thinks about it, the people united are almost always being being defeated by more powerful forces. But who cares, Down With the Viticole-Industrial Complex!)
Site Software Purged of Virus
We have been able to totally clean-up the attack that took place yesteday.
The offending party has had their IP address blocked. While I am not at liberty to point fingers, under advisement of our attorneys, the origin of the attack appears to have been a manufacturer of synthetic corks.
Go figure!
Site Attacked by Virus
We're still trying to figure out what happened, but this site was attacked by a virus late this afternoon. Every grape variety name and proper noun was changed to a zoological reference. The virus appeares to have been launched through the comments section of this site.
Unfortunately, we will have to be closing down the comments section until the technical support team can figure out what happened. I used to deal with Jim, but the blog software company's new technical support team is in India. I spoke with them today, they have a convenient 800 phone number, and they tell me they are on the verge of a solution.
National Wine & Liquor Wholesaler's Association Calls for Resignation of Trent Lott!
While I have disagreed with their positions on inter-state shipping and their defense of every crazy aspect of the three-tier system, I have to salute my colleaues at the National Wine & Liquor Wholesaler's Association (the NWLWA) for taking a clearcut stand against Trent Lott. The NWLWA went on record today as calling for Lott's immediate resignation.
In an unrelated development, they have named Cimicky 2000 Barossa Shiraz Daylight Chamber as both the Wine of the Year as well as the Brand Identity Marketing Gimmic of the Year.
I Sold Some Guy an Australian Shiraz!
I was hanging around Chambers Street Wines yesterday, kind of helping out during the Christmas rush.
A customer came in looking for an Australian Shiraz for $15.00. I accompanied the fellow over to the Australian Section of the store where I found a Cimicky 2000 Barossa Shiraz Daylight Chamber for $14.99. God only knows what's in that bottle!
I put the bottle in my hand, gave it to the customer, told him it was delicious, walked him to the cashier, watched him pay for the bottle (privately noting his AMEX number), and then opened the door for him as he happily left the store.
How can I look my children straight in their eyes?
Leading 10 Top List from Leading Boston Retailer
Received late tonight after I watched the overly-sentimental ending to Steve Spielberg's otherwise excellent Taken on the Sci-Fi network
I, Guy Gonflage having defeated the Master Retailer Exam declare myself eligible to rate the wines of Louis-Dressner-McKenna for 2002.
10. 1999 Bourgogne Rouge Paul Pernot
9. 2001 Sancerre Thomas-Labaille
8. 2000 Muscadet 'Eden' Pepiere
7. Ruby Porto Infantado
6. 2000 Vacqueyras Clos Caveau
5. 2000 Chinon 'Domaine' Baudry
4. 2001 Sauvignon/Cabernet Clos Roche Blanche
3. 2001 Beaujolais Blanc/Rouge Brun
2. 2001 Muscadet Pepiere
1. 2001 Bourgeuil 'Trinch' Breton
1* 1999 Hermitage Texier
I say that if a wine is going to be First* it must be a First*. By now everyone knows that Texier purchased the wine from Guigal saved the best for this bottling and then divided it into three lots and sold them to Chapoutier, Meffre and Kermit Lynch.
That's a lot of negocianting.
Congratulations Eric and also congratulations to Pierre and Catherine for sharing this great prize.
The 1865 Harvest in La Romanée
Excerpted and Translated From La Revue de Vin du France
Should one harvest when the must has only reached 9 degrees? Why should one avoid rot yet not be afraid of it? Still relevant today, these questions were already addressed in De la Vendange (On Harvesting), a treatise published in Dijon in 1869. The author, J.-M. Duvault-Blochet, was, without question, the most important Burgundian vineyard-owner of his generation. From 1822 to 1868, he vinified in Santenay in the cellars of Passe-Temps, the wines which today belong to the Domaines de la Romanée-Conti and de la Pousse d’Or. One hundred and thirty-two years later, his successor, Aubert de Villaine, who runs the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and has always considered it as his bible, has just republished it.
My harvest in La Romanée, 1865
From 1822 to 1868, J.-M. Duvault-Blochet, Burgundian vineyard-owner, put down his ideas on harvesting on paper. Some extracts:
I have always started to harvest when the musts attain 13%. If, in absolutely exceptional years, like 1822,1825,1834,1842,1858,1864,1865 and 1868, one can classify the quality of the wines according to the alcohol content of the musts – (which should, once and for all, prove the wisdom of never starting to harvest too early), I would not want to conclude therefore that one should take the risk of jeopardizing the product of the harvest in the hope of being exceptionally fortunate, when in fact one already knows that one can make a perfectly good wine.
Besides, I believe that it is in everyone’s interest that I recount what I have observed in the past and what I continue to observe on a day to day basis concerning wines whose musts have gone beyond 14.75%, 15% to 15.5% and all the way up to 16% without any rotten grapes.
At first, they seem to be incontestably superior – in terms of fullness, in terms of color, in terms of vinosity, smoothness and mellowness; but fermentation takes so long that, in spite of taking all possible precautions, some are so rich and so high in alcohol, that they become vinous and powerful to the point of detracting from their charm, finesse and bouquet. Then one has to wait too long for the wines to attain the supple silkiness so loved by true gourmets.
(…) Undoubtedly, above 13.75%, sometimes wine can be tainted with a little taste of rot even if none of the grapes were actually rotten. It is no less certain that at 13% to 13.5%, wines, while less robust, less red in color and lower in alcohol, are ready to drink sooner, are easier to drink and one can drink more of them. Isn’t it then preferable and reasonable to start harvesting as soon the must has reached 13% rather than wait and thus expose oneself to any possible negative outcomes? Isn’t that throwing away the bird in the hand, for the bird in the bush? Since September 21, 1859, this has been my official policy at my estate in Santenay where it is even posted in my office. (…)
If because of the influence of the seasons, heat and the time it takes to harvest a certain amount of vines in various climates the harvest is delayed and by chance, I have had the good fortune to harvest grapes which have reached an unexpected degree of ripeness, (a degree, by the way, unheard of before 1865) - and at the same time the misfortune of losing about thirty barrels of wine, either by marauders, grape thieves, birds or reduction in the size of the grapes caused by the sun and atmospheric influences - it would not be because I had desired it, but because of the factors I have just listed. Because as many times as it has happened, in spite of my stated principles, each time I have started to harvest as soon as the must reached 13%. I will continue to let this degree guide me in the future – as often as I can - depending on the particular climatic conditions of the seasons and the health and appearance of the grapes. But I will not cease to state and restate: avoid rot, without, however, developing a phobia about it, because in tiny quantities, I have noticed it softens the acidity of mediocre wines.
If in people a good constitution, (if one doesn’t abuse it), is the foundation of one’s creativity, one’s strength and one’s longevity, the same goes for wines and their basic constituents, for they are what gives a wine its charm, its liveliness and its longevity. They are also responsible for the effect that the wines have on their drinkers, not only on their health, but also on their faculties. The ex-King of Prussia’s doctor (who should know something about the matter since his Majestic Sovereign was such as distinguished consumer of the liquid) said so truthfully, “People have searched in vain for the philosopher’s stone to turn everything into gold when all along it was, at least in terms of human health and conversation, to be found in drinking small quantities of wine because it lights a little fire in the stomach to help with digestion; to drink too much would light a blazing furnace that would leave too much residue)”. (…)
It is extremely important to let grapes ripen fully before harvesting them in order to make healthier, more solid and nourishing wines; because if the grapes are picked unripe, the wine will contain so much tartaric acid that it will have a purgative effect on the drinker. In 1845, the lower quality wines were so bad and so green that a worker in the village of Nuits was telling me, speaking of the wines that he and the other workers who (if my memory does not deceive me) worked on the railroad in Nuits,
-- “I don’t know what they are putting into the wine that they serve here, but they really shouldn’t be drugging the wine of us workers who already have such a hard time, it’s killing us, because the more you drink the more your stomach aches, it’s so bad sometimes that it deals us three or four bad turns a day.
-- “Are you drinking the new 1845 wines?”
-- “Indeed, yes, Sir, I can’t afford to drink old wines, neither can my friends.”
-- “Well, I told him, stop drinking that wine and you won’t have any more stomach aches, it contains so much cream of tartar that it acts as a purgative.”
-- “But then what will we drink, Sir?”
-- “Water with a bit of eau-de-vie or else have a demi-tasse of coffee and you’ll feel fine.”
-- “I’ll try it, Sir”
And so the worker that I met on the road from Nuits to Vosne left me as I turned left towards Vosne. I never saw him again to be able to ask him if he had followed my advice. If I mention this little story, it’s because I believe that facts make more of an impression than theories: and I earnestly call upon all vineyard owners to not forget this meeting with my worker from Nuits, so that they will try to make healthy and nourishing wines from ripe grapes instead of acidic, thin wines which can even be purgative when the must is only at 9 or 9.5%.”