There have been some behind-the-scenes changes going on here at 1WD HQ. The more observant among you will notice that I finally ditched the comment engines altogether and have declared that war officially over, it having ended in my inglorious defeat. We’ll be sticking to some enhanced WordPress comments from here on out.
1WD also has a new home, courtesy of WPPronto.com, with whom so far things have been going swimmingly. I’ve tweaked some other technical hosting items here and there; just enough to get me in trouble.
Anyway, today’s update is supposed to be about how this month, for the Wine.Answers.com gig, I decided to go with a double-shot of two themes. So let’s stop messin’ around and get to it, already. Those themes are —
1) The love-it-or-loathe-it “three things…” trivia (primarily because I am a nerd), and
2) Wine book reviews (primarily because I am getting sick of looking at the ever-increasing piles of yet-to-be-reviewed sample books on my office floor).
And so, linked for your reading edu-tainment:
Three Things that You Didn’t Know about Wine Tasting – Seriously, you need to respect the epithelium, people. I mean it. Get on it, your schnoz has power!
Three Things that You Didn’t Know about Burgundy – Yes, I mean besides the incredibly-priced rarities. Anyway, you’ll be able to impress your wine-snob friends with a few of these tidbits, I’ll wager.
Wine Book Review: “Wine and Climate Change” by L.J. Johnson-Bell – “Wine and Climate Change” is a bit of a schizophrenic read (in terms of tone), but it will likely have wine geeks fascinated anyway by its well-researched and well-argued opinions (not to mention the “what-if” scenarios) about how global warming is and will f*ck-up the wine world as we currently know it.
Wine Book Review: “Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and other Alcoholic Beverages” by Patrick McGovern – Call me a homer for a wine history tome written by a fellow PA guy, but nobody covers wine’s distant past like McGovern, and “Uncorking the Past” is at turns witty, insightful, and almost brilliant.
Cheers!
The Best Wine Maps in the wine biz!
Comments
Château du Petit Thouars
Our wines are sold in the PLCB system and at fine wine stores. Do give us a try if you ever come across them at your local PA store!! We’d love to hear your thoughts!
1WineDude
I’ve enjoyed your Cab Franc before, actually.
Château du Petit Thouars
Great to hear! If we get to Philly soon for tastings it would be great to meet!
1WineDude
CdPT – absolutely, just reach out if you’re in the area. Cheers.
Donn Rutkoff
This is regards older post about brett. I am waiting for 2 things: A winery to boldly claim it has great brett in its’ wine. (A long wait, I bet.) Or, to be able to chemically pick or grow the good and suppress or kill the bad aromatic molecules. When we get there, let me know. Until then, I will steer away from brett. In my view, Brett makes all infected wines converge on a similar taste. Brett wine from Napa tastes very much like brett wine from Languedoc. Brett in St. Joseph is remarkably similar to brett in Paso Robles. Am I right? I welcome any news.
1WineDude
Well-stated, Donn. I agree with most of what you’re saying there. If it’s controllable, then it’s not a flaw. Until then, excessive amounts of it (which of course is a subjective measure at the moment) – an amount that dominates the wine’s aromas, for example – could, I think, be considered a flaw.
gabe
One thing that makes Brett so hard to control is that it will continue to evolve in the bottle. That is what makes it so much worse than other wine flaws, like oxidation or VA.
1WineDude
Gabe! How’s life?
I agree, it’s one of the reasons that I always have to stop and think about trying, say, late `80s Napa Cab when someone offers it. Without naming names, there are some producers there where the bottles had bloomed Brett like mad, and personally if I’d purchased and held on to those bottles I’d have been crying when I opened them, the Brett was so overwhelming. Obviously, these are isolated cases, but the point is I cannot tell by looking at the bottle so it feels like a crap shoot! :)
gabe
Howdy Joe!
Life is good. I’ve finally gotten the call-up as the head winemaker at a new winery. I’m excited to send you some of our wines when they get into bottle.
Bummer to hear about the 80’s Napa wines – I’ve been having serious nostalgia for 80’s Napa Valley Merlot. Hopefully I can find some without getting Brett-bombed.
1WineDude
Congrats, Gabe – looking forward to trying them!
Bob Henry
Gabe,
One of the greatest California Merlots I ever tasted was 1989 Sullivan.
Considered an “off” vintage in Napa, this wine was stunning.
Tasted only once circa early-to-mid-1990s. Once discovered, I could never find a second bottle.
Highly, highly recommended.
Bob
1WineDude
Bob – I’ve found a couple of “off” Napa vintages to be drinking beautifully. I suppose, in terms of typicity, they are “off,” but in terms of ass-kicking-ness, they are ON!