Feature: 2011 Tasting of the Year
Updated: 2012-02-29 21:37:08
: Home Wine Features 2011 Wine in Context Awards part 3 2011 Wine in Context Awards 2011 Wine in Context Awards Part 1 : The Roederers Part 2 : Visit of the Year Part 3 : Tasting of the Year Part 4 : Wines That Mattered Your Turn Richard , Rich Kris Alex , Ralph , Frank Bob Mark Jan David William Looking back to my Visit of the Year post for a moment , you could argue that the five vintages of Raymond-Lafon I mentioned in my runners-up list were always going to taste delicious at the château mere yards from the vines where the fruit was grown , especially when seated opposite was the man who made the wine . Likewise , nbsp vertical tastings of Brane-Cantenac or Phélan-Ségur the wines lined up at the château , or tours and tastings of other estates such as Talbot or Lafon-Rochet are always
The purpose of any tasting such as this is, to my mind, pleasure. It is a chance to open a lot of bottles and even if the tasting is devoid of any truly great wines, the process of exploration and examination in itself should at least provide some relief. These tastings do - for me at least - also tend to engender a little personal reflection, a look back to where I was ten, fifteen or twenty years ago, what I was doing and - sometimes - what I was drinking. In some ways I haven't changed much - I see that in 2001 I wrote up tastings of 1981 Bordeaux, featuring Latour and Lafite, as well as a 1986 Bordeaux tasting which was capped by a very fine bottle of Lafaurie-Peyraguey.
Home Wine of the Week Warre's Vintage Port 1977 Warre's Vintage Port 1977 Vintage Port might make only an infrequent appearance on the pages of Winedoctor , nevertheless never a year passes without one or two bottles being broached . And it's that time of year again I can't let the darkest days of winter pass without a glass of Port to see me through . And so , after a sorry afternoon of collecting together fractured shards of clay tile , torn from the roof of my garage during a recent storm , and broken asunder on the ground below I thought my house had escaped any damage during the storms of early January , but was mistaken although I have to confess a week had passed before I realised my stupid mistake it was time to wade into this increasingly elderly bottle , the 1977 from Warre's
: Home Wine Features 2011 Wine in Context Awards part 4 2011 Wine in Context Awards 2011 Wine in Context Awards Part 1 : The Roederers Part 2 : Visit of the Year Part 3 : Tasting of the Year Part 4 : Wines That Mattered Your Turn Richard , Rich Kris Alex , Ralph , Frank Bob Mark Jan David William Last year I finished off my review of 2010 with a look down the wines I had tasted at home , picking out month-by-month those that had really impressed . Although there were some great bottles , from the likes of Clos Rougeard Krug François Cotat Climens Champalou López de Heredia and so on , ultimately I wasn't really satisfied with what I wrote . The reason was that the list was beginning to look a little like the Best Wines of the Year lists you find regurgitated on every other website and web
: Home Vintages and Regions 10, 15 20 Years On Ten Years On : 2001 part 2 Ten Years On : The 2001 Vintage Ten Years On : 2001 Notes from a 2001 tasting at 10 : years Part : 1 France Italy Part : 2 Germany Spain Other relevant : tastings 2001 Bordeaux 2001 Northern Rhone 2001 Southern Rhône Continuing on from my account of the wines from France and Italy in part one we now come to Germany and Italy . Both were blessed in 2001 this was an excellent vintage for the Mosel and other German wine regions as it was in Spain , specifically in Rioja . I am aware there is a lot more to Spain than Rioja , of course , but other than occasional forays into the wines of Navarra and Murcia and the odd glass of Vega Sicilia and Tio Pepe En Rama here or there , it is not a wine country I have any great
: , Home Vintages and Regions Bordeaux Bordeaux 2007 St Emilion Pomerol Bordeaux 2007 : St Emilion Pomerol Bordeaux 2007 Vintage Review En primeur Pessac-Léognan The Médoc Communes St Emilion Pomerol Sauternes Barsac At Two Years Introduction Pessac-Léognan The Médoc Communes St Emilion Pomerol Sauternes Barsac At Four Years Pessac-Léognan St Estèphe Pauillac St Julien Margaux St Emilion Pomerol Sauternes Barsac Moving on from the left bank communes we now come to the two principal right bank appellations of St Emilion and Pomerol . In a number of vintages classic examples being 2008 2001 and 1998 in my opinion , although there are other vintages where this is true the right bank communes can outshine those on the left . In other years , of which the leading example is surely 1996 the left
The story of 2007 in Bordeaux is one of sorry disappointment enhanced by overly exuberant pricing. At least, that is the case for the red wines. When it comes to the sweet white wines of Bordeaux, however, this is a very exciting vintage (this can also be said of the dry white wines by the way, although these were not put under the microscope during this tasting). In the case of Sauternes and Barsac, this has been apparent from the outset.
I started this tasting of the 2007 Bordeaux with low expectations, and by the time I had tasted the first eight wines from Pessac-Léognan, all fresh, crisp and rather light, my outlook had certainly not changed. I wasn't expecting much relief as I moved onto the wines of the Médoc communes.
Home Producer Profiles Bordeaux Profiles Château Bastor-Lamontagne Château Bastor-Lamontagne There are few Barsac and Sauternes estates lying outside the two tiers three if you include Yquem's exalted position at the summit of the 1855 classification which receive much attention , if indeed any . Indeed , there are quite a number of the second growth châteaux that are rarely sighted . One of the few unclassified estates that does crop up rather frequently , however , is Château Bastor-Lamontagne an estate with which I have been familiar ever since my first taste of the fresh , blood-orange tones of the 1986 vintage . Since then I have on occasion noticed this fresh , flavoursome , citrus fruit trait in a number of other vintages , not least the 2003 and 2004. Often a lighter and less
The 2007 vintage in Bordeaux was one that favoured the white wines over the red. Of course, there are few white wines produced in the region, at the classed growth level at least, and it is only to Graves and of course its sweeter counterparts Sauternes and Barsac that we can turn to find these wines. Unfortunately the annual Institute of Masters of Wine Bordeaux tasting has always focused on the red wines, not the white, and so the very successful dry white wines of Pessac-Léognan - wines that you could argue were the most successful dry wines of the vintage - were not on show today. Happily, there is a sweetener though.
Home Producer Profiles Bordeaux Profiles Château Phélan-Ségur Château Phélan-Ségur St Estèphe is a curious commune although devoid of first growth estates it is certainly blessed by two exemplary deuxième crus Montrose and Cos d'Estournel and a long-term favourite for many , the troisième cru Calon-Ségur the communes Palmer equivalent , perhaps . Beyond that the classed growth estates are rather thin on the ground there is just Lafon-Rochet which has never quite acquired the fame of its Tesseron-owned sibling Pontet-Canet and the still under-performing Cos Labory Happily , though , beyond these lower rungs of the 1855 classification there are a number of estates those that we would once have blithely referred to as cru bourgeois before that classification imploded which offer not only
Moving south from St Estèphe and Pauillac we come to St Julien, where quality was not significantly different to these aforementioned communes. The story of 2007 continues here with no surprises. This is not quite true of the commune of Margaux though, although sadly I have to report that the quality here does not swing back towards something more desirable than that which we have found so far. Instead the opposite is true, as in this commune we find one of the most disappointing Bordeaux experiences available on the market today.
Home Wine of the Week Royal Tokaji Wine Co . Tokaji Aszú 5 Putt . Birsalmás 1995 Royal Tokaji Wine Company Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos Birsalmás 1995 I had considered opening something from Domaine Huet this weekend , following the surprise news last Friday although as I was so busy all day and all evening , and all night that I only picked it up Saturday morning that Noël Pinguet is to part company with the domaine and its main backer Anthony Hwang . Although I know many long-standing fans of Vouvray and the domaine in question have met and tasted with the late Gaston Huet , Noël's father-in-law , for me it is Noël Pinguet who has always been the face of this remarkable Vouvray domaine . His departure will leave behind a great void that will be difficult to . fill But let me stop myself right
, : Home Vintages and Regions Bordeaux Experimental Margaux , 2012 : Part 2 Experimental Margaux , 2012 : Part 2 Experimental Margaux Introduction , Experiment 1 Experiments 2-4, 2011 This update relates to experimental wines from Château Margaux , tasted in February 2012. For more on this estate , including all my relevant tasting notes , see my Château Margaux . profile In February 2012 I attended a tasting hosted by Paul Pontallier and Aurélien Valance , the technical director and commercial manager respectively of Château Margaux and Richard Bampfield who was there to represent co-host Yvon Mau The purpose of the event was to give the assembled audience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to taste some of the wines made during a remarkable ten years of wine research at Château Margaux In
Home Wine Features Loire Stars 2012 Loire Stars 2012 As those who have been following my recent blog posts will know , the 2012 Salon des Vins de Loire has not been one that has gone completely smoothly . Poor communication with the organisers of the off-events , questionable decisions about timing and bad weather have all contributed towards reduced visitor numbers . A shoddily run bus service , with buses which failed to materialise on two of the three occasions I opted to use the service , only added to my frustration . And a close call making my travel connections on the way down to the Salon added a personal frisson of excitement having gone through my travel bookings from previous Salons I've realised this was because the train I caught was 40 minutes earlier than in previous years
There are few more distinctive styles in Champagne than Bollinger. The wines are made in an oxidative style, by which I mean that throughout the process they are not a rigorously protected from oxygen as they might be in the cellars of some other Champagne houses; this lower level of protection is in part influenced by Bollinger's tendency to ferment in oak - perhaps 25% of the final blend of Bollinger's Special Cuvée will have been fermented in oak, and La Grand Année is fermented entirely in oak - as well as the use of cork to seal the bottles for the secondary fermentation, rather than crown cap. Neither oak nor cork are impermable to oxygen of course.
: Home Wine Guides Tuscany Wine Guide Other Wines of Tuscany Other Wines of Tuscany Tuscany Wine Guide Introduction Chianti Chianti Classico A Day Out in Chianti Country Other Wines Brunello di Montalcino Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Down on the Coast Other Wines of Tuscany Having spent paragraph after paragraph and page after page exploring the Tuscan wine universe , covering everything from Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino through to Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and the wines of the Tuscan Coast most of which feature Sangiovese in one form or another , we might be forgiven for thinking that apart from a few Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot vines planted around Bolgheri there is absolutely nothing to Tuscany beyond Sangiovese . On the one hand this is not entirely untrue there is no
Hushed silence is not that uncommon when Bordeaux acolytes gather together around a few bottles of a first growth. Indeed, I sometimes feel I could hear a pin drop when tasting the very latest vintage at some estates, such is the reverence with which the wines are held. So imagine the level of anticipation that might surround a tasting of wines from one of these estates never even seen before and which will, in some cases perhaps, never be seen again.
TXwine Twitter Tuesday Features the Big Red Wines of Texas, March 6, 2012! Denise Fraser (@DeniseFraser), Jeff Cope (@TXwineLover) and I (@VintageTexas) hope you can join us for the next TXwine Twitter Tuesday at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 6th. We’ve selected three top-selling and award-winning wines, The Big Reds of Texas, and invite you to [...]
. Tuesday February 28th Log in Register Contact About Search and find good red . wine Visit Winesworld.net the wine . database Home Wine Food Travel Recipes Reviews Book Reviews Prod . we don’t like Restaurants Wine Reviews Ebooks Archives Contributors Hrayr Berberoglu Morten Pedersen Hotel Professionals We are looking for advertisers . Advertise with us and get a good . deal mail winesworld.com Professor Hrayr Berberoglu Professor B offers seminars Greater Toronto Area to companies and interested parties at their residence on any category of wine , chocolates , chocolates and wine , olive oils , vinegars and dressings , at a reasonable cost . Please , contact him at hberbero ryerson.ca List of Professor B`s . books Professor Berberoglu accepts wines , liquors , liqueurs , and beers for
Texas Oysters and Texas Wine: A Marriage Made on the Gulf Coast to the Hill Country and the High Plains As you may have read in the Houston Chronicle or seen on Channel 2 news recently, the Texas oyster industry is still recovering from the devastation from 2008 from Hurricane Ike. Ike wiped out 50 [...]
A Truly Texas Pairing: Wine and Jerky Just when you think that you’ve seen every kind, shape and form of wine event, a new one pops up. Messina Hof Hill Country and Big Tex Jerky have teamed up to offer a flight of unique and scrumptious wine and jerky pairings. Sat, Feb 24 & Sun, [...]
Researchers Find Way to Beat Pierce’s Disease: Big News for California and Texas Wine Lovers A team of researchers has found a way to ensure that your evening glass of wine will continue to be available, despite the potential attack of Xylella fastidiosa (Xf), a bacterium that causes Pierce’s Disease (PD) and poses a significant [...]
#HLSR 2012 Rodeo Uncorked and Best Bites Competition Winners A sold-out crowd of more than 4,000 wine and food enthusiasts filled Reliant Center at the 2012 Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup and Best Bites Competition on Sunday. The event included the tasting of the 2012 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition champion wines, as well as a food [...]
Over the holidays, I surprised Elyse with a week-long trip to the UK, where we spent 3 days in/around London City and 3 days in Edinburgh. If you’ve been to any part of the UK, it’s probably no surprise to you that wine grapes don’t fare well in the North Atlantic: mild summers + frequent [...]
Impressions from the 2012 Houston Rodeo Uncorked Best Bites Competition WARNING: This is not a short form blog today. So, you’d better sit down and pour of glass of Texas wine before you start reading. If you don’t have time now, just wait until later for some quiet time. Lead photo from http://houston.culturemap.com. – — – [...]
Monday February 20th Log in Register Contact About Search and find good red . wine Visit Winesworld.net the wine . database Home Wine Food Travel Recipes Reviews Book Reviews Prod . we don’t like Restaurants Wine Reviews Ebooks Archives Contributors Hrayr Berberoglu Morten Pedersen Hotel Professionals We are looking for advertisers . Advertise with us and get a good . deal mail winesworld.com Professor Hrayr Berberoglu Professor B offers seminars Greater Toronto Area to companies and interested parties at their residence on any category of wine , chocolates , chocolates and wine , olive oils , vinegars and dressings , at a reasonable cost . Please , contact him at hberbero ryerson.ca List of Professor B`s . books Professor Berberoglu accepts wines , liquors , liqueurs , and beers for
And What a Year It Was! Tales from 20th Gulf Coast Grape Growers Day Gulf Coast grape growers and an increasing assemblage of the grape-growing-curious assembled at the historical Cat Spring Ag Society Hall last week to hear a series of lectures that included extension viticulturalists, area grower-winemakers and people that write grape contracts and [...]
. Wednesday February 15th Log in Register Contact About Search and find good red . wine Visit Winesworld.net the wine . database Home Wine Food Travel Recipes Reviews Book Reviews Prod . we don’t like Restaurants Wine Reviews Ebooks Archives Contributors Hrayr Berberoglu Morten Pedersen Hotel Professionals We are looking for advertisers . Advertise with us and get a good . deal mail winesworld.com Professor Hrayr Berberoglu Professor B offers seminars Greater Toronto Area to companies and interested parties at their residence on any category of wine , chocolates , chocolates and wine , olive oils , vinegars and dressings , at a reasonable cost . Please , contact him at hberbero ryerson.ca List of Professor B`s . books Professor Berberoglu accepts wines , liquors , liqueurs , and beers for
. Tuesday February 14th Log in Register Contact About Search and find good red . wine Visit Winesworld.net the wine . database Home Wine Food Travel Recipes Reviews Book Reviews Prod . we don’t like Restaurants Wine Reviews Ebooks Archives Contributors Hrayr Berberoglu Morten Pedersen Hotel Professionals We are looking for advertisers . Advertise with us and get a good . deal mail winesworld.com Professor Hrayr Berberoglu Professor B offers seminars Greater Toronto Area to companies and interested parties at their residence on any category of wine , chocolates , chocolates and wine , olive oils , vinegars and dressings , at a reasonable cost . Please , contact him at hberbero ryerson.ca List of Professor B`s . books Professor Berberoglu accepts wines , liquors , liqueurs , and beers for
. Friday February 10th Log in Register Contact About Search and find good red . wine Visit Winesworld.net the wine . database Home Wine Food Travel Recipes Reviews Book Reviews Prod . we don’t like Restaurants Wine Reviews Ebooks Archives Contributors Hrayr Berberoglu Morten Pedersen Hotel Professionals We are looking for advertisers . Advertise with us and get a good . deal mail winesworld.com Professor Hrayr Berberoglu Professor B offers seminars Greater Toronto Area to companies and interested parties at their residence on any category of wine , chocolates , chocolates and wine , olive oils , vinegars and dressings , at a reasonable cost . Please , contact him at hberbero ryerson.ca List of Professor B`s . books Professor Berberoglu accepts wines , liquors , liqueurs , and beers for
Heard It Through The Grapevine: The Wineslinger Chronicles to debut Saturday, Feb. 18th at TWGGA Conference “With wine now made in all fifty states, the gift of the gods is on the way to becoming a national drink. But each state has unique growing situations, and it’s not yet certain where truly great American wine [...]
: . Another Wine Blog Because Another Wine , Food , Beer and Travel Blog would have been way too ing long Skip to content Home Best of AWB Reviews Food Cooking Recipes Contact Us Contact AWB Contact Amy Contact Joe Media PR Inquiries Links About About This Site About Amy About Joe RSS Feed Twitter StumbleUpon FaceBook Wine gives me great joy . Then I have to pee . HoustonWino AWB Home » Reality : The Myth . On Super Bowls and Santorini February 5, 2012 Reality : The Myth . On Super Bowls and Santorini By Amy Corron Power Leave a comment Tweet Share W hile I am serving snacks during half-time of the Super Bowl , I am forced to watch a 53-year old Madonna lip-syncing her greatest hits . Not forced as in anyone is making me do it but more in the way to reconnect with my 20s when she was .