I must admit I really do not like Australian reds. Too boozy, oaky, extracted. No complexity. I recently drank a 2002 Mitolo GAM Shiraz. 97pts Parker. Expensive wine, probably about 50 bucks. It was OK. But now I am drinking a 15 dollar Aussie red. The 2003 Elderton Tantalus. It is a Shiraz/Cab blend. I [More]

I am scratching my head to figure out how to describe the taste of an oxidized wine. Here’s what the Wine Speculator sez: Describes wine that has been exposed too long to air and taken on a brownish color, losing its freshness and perhaps beginning to smell and taste like Sherry or old apples. Oxidized [More]

Hey! I finally drank this wine! Out of magnum! It was a 1997. It’s made in a slightly oxidized style, which is not my taste. But it is one of the most historic and unique wines in the world. (That’s good.) It’s made in Lebanon and even during years of war, they never missed a [More]

Helped bottle the 2004 Cadence Ciel du Cheval today. Had a great time with about a dozen people. Ate Costco pizza for lunch and drank wine out of red Dixie cups. What more can you ask for? I also love that the winery is in an old auto repair building. The place is a garage [More]

Hey, I just found a site listing the Top 100 Wine Blogs and I am number 92! Hell yeah! #1-91, what’s that you feel? It’s me, comin’ to getcha! Lest you think these rankings are dubious, here is the skinny: Wine blog ratings are standardized composite logarithmic scores based on multiple relative link popularity rankings [More]

It is drinking BEAUTIFULLY after being open for a day. They corked it at the restaurant and put it in a plastic grocery bag and I walked it home. Took it out of the fridge and uncorked it. Waited a half hour for it to warm up a bit. Don’t drink great whites straight out [More]

I was eating at a Thai place in my area, a basic noodle and curry joint. I peep the wine list and they have some crazy shit! How crazy? How about two vintages of Mouton-Rothschild! A D’Yquem! How you like that with your Pad Thai? I settled on a gem with a very reasonable markup: [More]

I have to admit to neglecting dessert wines in this blog and in my cellar. Today I picked up a couple of half bottles of 1998 Baumard Quarts de Chaume. Next to Riesling, there is no white grape more incredible than Chenin Blanc. From bone-crushingly dry to intensly sweet and concentrated wines, Chenin Blanc from [More]