image: Amazon.com
Welcome to the June 2018 incarnation of the ongoing series in which I review samples that aren’t in liquid form. I am so, so, sooooooooooooooooooooo far behind in penning thoughts on various tastings and wine travels, but I’m also so, so, sooooooooooooooooooooo far behind in reviewing the never-ending flood of wine book samples coming my way that I felt compelled to knock off at least a small handful for this product roundup.
First up, we have the small-but-powerful 101 Wines to Try Before You Die (Cassell, 244 pages, about $12) by former Wine Magazine editor Margaret Rand. Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of list-style books, but Rand’s clever ploy here – in which she devotes two pages each to the wines on her list, including a bottle/label shot – is not to introduce you to individual wines per se, but to get people thinking more about things like Savennières, Hunter Valley Semillon, or Bierzo.
image: Amazon.com
Rand gets bonus points for employing a writing style that’s equal parts matter-of-fact, personal, and humorous (included with each selection’s vitals, such as trophy vintages and whether or not to chill or decant the wine, is a “What Not to Say” section; my personal favorite is probably “Is it German?” under Hugel’s Riesling Schoelhammer entry). 101 Wines to Try Before You Die is an honest and fun, if not essential, walk through some of compelling bottles.
Next, there’s (Mascot, 144 pages, about $25) by Michael Biddick. Biddick is a sommelier with an IT background, and his upcoming book is essentially full of vignettes about some of the world’s most important wine regions, accompanied by a sort of info-graphic that displays the area’s major grapes, soils, climate, and recent vintages.
Now, at this point, you’re probably asking yourself “why the f–k did he pick 43 regions?!?” and the answer has to do with Biddick’s IT geekdom, and is the kind of thing that’s just begging for controversy…
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I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
- 2013 Ellena Giuseppe Langhe Nascetta (Piedmont): Not that you need yet another reason to go, but if you’ve not yet been to Piedmont, this vibrant sipper will have you booking flights. $19 B+
- 2017 Tasca d’Almerita Tenuta Regaleali Le Rose (Sicilia): And it also happens to be Le Floral, Le Juicy, Le yummy, and Le Affordable. $12 B
- 2014 Tenuta di Ghizzano Veneroso (Terre di Pisa): Sultry, smooth, smokey, and packing a little mischievous bite within its tart, red fruit core. $25 B+
- 2017 The Original Dark Horse Pinot Grigio (California): Significantly leaning towards the tropical spectrum; also significantly leaning towards the Fun spectrum. $6 (can) B-
- 2017 The Original Dark Horse Rose (California): How much refreshment and floral tones can one expect for about six clams? More than you might think, in this case. $6 (can) B-
- 2015 Markham Vineyards Merlot (Napa Valley): Leather, grit, vanilla, ripe plums, and the kind of demeanor that will certainly make friends. $28 B+
- 2014 Miner Family Winery Garys’ Vineyards Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands): Trying very hard to convince you that it’s lithe; almost to a fault. $60 A-
- 2015 Edna Valley Vineyard Heritage Chardonnay (Edna Valley): Yeah, it’s impressively flamboyant. But it’s also impressively, well, impressive. $40 A-
- 2014 Brack Mountain Cyprus Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley): RRV, but all trimmed, toned, and looking might fit these days. $32 A-
- 2014 Cadaretta ‘Springboard’ Red (Columbia Valley): In dark and smokey backroom dealings, this *is* the dark and smokey backroom. $50 B+
“When minds are dripping color, And there’s liquid on the brain
They laugh to one another, And politely go insane”
– Primus, The Dream
Last month, I had the pleasure of (once again) checking out the funky, entertaining, and technically dazzling band Primus, as they rolled through Philly on their Ambushing the Storm tour. Primus are currently playing with fellow prog-influenced band Mastodon in support of The Desaturating Seven, an at turns raucous, pretty, trippy, and virtuosic concept album based on Ul de Rico’s also trippy, gorgeous, and all-too-allegorically-topical-and-relevant-today (hey, one of the goblins is Orange… just sayin’…) children’s book The Rainbow Goblins. The album is played in its entirety during the show, with vibrant and also trippily-fantastic visual accompaniment that, I can tell you from personal experience, goes down even better with a wine-altered state of consciousness.
As was the case last year, I got to tag along with the VIP Package ticket-holders as a guest of Chaney Claypool, wife of Primus front-man Les Claypool and (along with Les), proprietor of Sonoma-based Claypool Cellars, who have been mentioned on these virtual pages for over eight years (holy crap!) at this point. The current tour VIP package offers a Q&A session with the band, and a tasting of some of the more recent Claypool Cellars releases; given my penchant for awesome prog-y type tunes, and my pinch-me wine-thing day job, and my music-thing side-gig, you can probably guess that I was pretty pumped to spend an early-summer-ish evening watching my various worlds collide…
Read the rest of this stuff »
I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format.
They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read them), and are presented links to help you find them, so that you can try them out for yourself. Cheers!
- 2017 Bota Box Dry Rosé (California): One hell of a pithy, fruity, well-rounded bargain, except without any of the actual Hell part. $22.99 B+
- 2013 Bonny Doon Vineyard 30th Anniversary Le Cigare Volant (Central Coast): Lovely, lovely, lovely; a fitting, reserved, and perky tribute to a venerable legacy. $45 A-
- 2015 Bonny Doon Vineyard Le Cigare Blanc (Arroyo Seco): Curvy and pretty, floral and perfumed, living up to the Beeswax vineyard namesake, and coming off as a veritable bargain. $28 A-
- 2015 Clos du Val Winemaker’s Signature Series Three Graces Red Blend (Napa Valley): The Napa deal, the whole Valley deal, and nothing but the deal, and basically the real deal. $180 A
- 2015 V. Sattui Winery Morisoli Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Boldly going where, well, where many Napa reds have gone before, but doing it with both gusto and a sense fo prestige. $100 A-
- 2012 Donnafugata Mille e una Notte (Sicily): Check it out, somebody is doing their sexxaaaahhhhh dance!!! $75 A-
- 2015 Rocca Sveva Castelcerino (Soave Superiore Classico): Substantive, textural, interesting, anda little nutty; so, basically, a really good Postmodern novella. $17 B+
- 2015 Selbach Riesling Kabinett (Mosel): Subtle and understated, but to be overlooked only at your lime-blossom-missing peril. $25 B+
- 2016 M. Chapoutier Domaine de Bila-Haut Lesquerde ‘L’Esquerda’ (Cotes du Roussillon Villages): Could use a bit more verve, but otherwise you’ve got an incredibly tasty, sweet maple sausage breakfast in a glass here. $28 B+
- 2013 The Infinite Monkey Theorem “The Bubble Universe” Sparkling Wine (Grand Valley, CO): Like a bubble, rich in texture, beautiful to behold, and yet light as a feather throughout. $55 A-
