A few things rattling around in my brain lately. Figured I would get them out before they did any more damage.
I’ve been on a bad run of Champagne lately, with three corked bottles and three more unimpressive performances over the last month. The issues have been with older, newer, humble and more exalted wines. Harrumph! I think it’s time to take a break from the bubbly. Laura will not be happy. I will try to soothe her displeasure with Riesling.
The magic of internet backlash has begun to hit the In Pursuit of Balance folks. Apparently Rajat Parr cannot advocate for the styles of wine he prefers, as it is an affront to those who prefer more oomph in their Pinot Noir (nobody seems worried about the Chardonnay wines). When did wine become politics? For whatever it’s worth, I had a Pinot Noir with 14.8% alcohol and some liberal (see what I did there) oak treatment the other night, and liked it. It was not a substitute for Burgundy, but I was not looking for Burgundy. There are a myriad of stylistic choices when it comes to Pinot Noir. There is also a vast array of different sites where the grape is planted. That will result in an uncountable number of variations for the finished wines. Which one is correct?
It’s going to be very hot and humid here in Connecticut this week, so I have decided that it will be “Rosé Week.” The Discovery Channel and their “Shark Week” can kiss my a**.
Fall mailer season has begun to ramp up. Things will likely get crazy in about 2 weeks. All the wineries are looking for cash flow, so they all cram their releases into the same early window. A few have even does their fall releases already. Then there’s Littorai, who released some of their fall wines during their spring offering. Futures have also become more popular, though not as extreme as in Bordeaux where 2 year before release is the norm. A few wineries (e.g. Rhys, Loring) have offered futures. The reason I like the Rhys futures is that they offer alternate bottle sizes. It’s been a great way to get some half bottles and even 500 ml bottles of really good wines. If more wineries would go that route, I would happily purchase alternate size bottles.
I have jumped on the bandwagon of several new wineries in the last couple of years. For the most part the results have been quite good, and in some cases excellent. There have been a couple of duds to my taste, and I have quietly dropped off those lists. There have been wildly enthusiastic comments around the wine web regarding each and every one of them, but it just goes to prove the different perceptions we all have regarding quality and style. I have written more than my fair share of positive comments regarding Idlewild and Enfield Wine Co., and I really like everything they make. One of the things I find worth highlighting, especially for Idlewild, is the pricing. With bottles from the low $20s up to just over $40, Sam Bilbro has created something rare in California, a reasonably priced portfolio from an emerging winery. John Lockwood’s wines (Enfield) are also very reasonable, though he does not have the low end pricing like Sam does, and he also dabbles in Cabernet, so the top end is higher. It’s nice to be able to order single-vineyard wines in the low to mid-$30s when so much of that market has pushed into the upper $40s and on up into the $90s from other wineries. There’s no sacrifice in quality either, as Sam and John are both producing top-flight wines. They remind me a bit of that Edmunds character. I hope they stick around as long.
I don't truly begrudge other people's right to drink that stuff. You have tempted me to put Idlewild on my shopping list, though ...