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W. Blake Gray
Aug 24, 2010
"People who do saignee rot in hell. They talk about the great rose they're making. It's fresh, it's lively. That's what you just stole from your red wine. Wines that are made from saignee have a lot of power up front, but they're hollow. Wine critics don't get this because they don't swallow. They don't notice."
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W. Blake Gray
Jul 27, 2010
Here's what wine drinkers believe about wood: European oak is subtle and toasty; American oak is strong and laced with vanilla. But in the inverted world of Scotch aging, if you want to taste the essence of a single malt, look for a version that was aged in used Bourbon barrels made from American oak. And if you want a product that's tarted up to mask the real flavor, buy a Scotch that was aged in a used wine barrel made from European oak.
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W. Blake Gray
Jun 29, 2010
Texans like a challenge. That's the only way to explain why people plant wine grapes there. And not just a few people: Texas is America's 5th largest wine producing state, with more than 150 wineries, and 7th largest wine grape producer. But why are so many cattle ranchers and music producers and finance analysts so high on Texas Tempranillo? As if the short growing season and Biblical weather (hail, thunder, frost, possibly some brimstone) isn't enough, the state has perhaps the world's most serious Pierce's Disease problem and plays host to insects and molds other regions don't even know about. Most growers who have been here a decade have had to replant at least once; it's a tough way to make money.
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W. Blake Gray
Jun 1, 2010
While Scott Harvey's cooking is heavy, his winemaking touch is light; refreshingly so for Amador County. The region has some of the oldest Zinfandel vines in California, and Scott's ex-wife Terri owns the oldest certifiable vineyard, planted before 1869. But Amador has never achieved the popularity of coastal areas like Sonoma County or Paso Robles. Harvey started to make a difference in the 1980s as winemaker at Santino Winery. For a time, one of his Zinfandels was the house wine at Chez Panisse.
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W. Blake Gray
May 4, 2010
The 2008 Burgundies are like the athletic sister of the prom queen.
All over France, wineries are hailing 2009 as a great vintage, and the drums are pounding for '09 Burgundy as well. And no wonder, with months of warm, dry weather across the country last year. Bordeaux vintners are calling 2009 the vintage of the decade, possibly one of the all-time classics, and that has an impact even in Pinot/Chardonnay land.
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W. Blake Gray
Apr 6, 2010
Few things other than funerals can get me to wear a necktie. But I did in 2007 at the Vintners Hall of Fame's first induction ceremony. I was one of more than a dozen reporters in uncharacteristically nice suits who watched lengthy speeches about the inductees. It was dull but seemed important. We've got four VHF ceremonies behind us now, and this March, the Culinary Institute of America finally hit upon a format that was both fun and dignified. There are more living Hall members each year, and many showed up to honor their peers. Celebrity chefs made great food, and the wines included some expensive gems.
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W. Blake Gray
Mar 9, 2010
Though grapes have been grown in the area for more than 10,000 years, the Israeli wine industry is very young. There are no indigenous grapes because Muslims ripped out all the grapevines during one of their periods of conquest. We don't know what varieties Jesus drank. Modern Israeli wine was nasty for more than 100 years -- sweet wines made from large crops grown in hot regions. Jews must drink wine as part of their many religious ceremonies, and the locals grew accustomed to wine not being very good. If you've ever had the displeasure to taste Manischewitz, you can imagine.
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W. Blake Gray
Feb 9, 2010
Ross Cobb's first exposure to winemaking came in the least likely place in the entire world: Saudi Arabia. David Cobb, Ross' father, is a marine biologist who spent 1977 to 1980 in Saudi Arabia working on a desalination plant. It's illegal to buy or even possess alcohol in Saudia Arabia, so he bought Austrian grape juice and made wine at home. The official punishment can be months of imprisonment and a public whipping -- and that's literal. Compared to that, making Pinot Noir on the chilly Sonoma Coast is not risky at all.
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W. Blake Gray
Jan 12, 2010
For the past year, we've been reading about how producers of luxury wines will have to knock down their prices because the economy is suffering. Admit it -- you feel gleeful at the prospect. I know I do. But I had a conversation with Christian Moueix late last year that made me despair over exactly which expensive wines will wind up in the bargain bin. I also learned about Moueix's new winemaking toy, and his favorite New York sushi joint.
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W. Blake Gray
Dec 15, 2009
Forget your personal tastes for a moment. I've got a wine market mystery for you. Americans as a whole like New World style wines. We're not alone -- the whole world is getting Newer all the time. Most of the time we wine geeks bitch about it, but businesses wouldn't keep making products a certain way if they didn't sell. Here's the mystery: Why doesn't this apply to sparkling wine?
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W. Blake Gray
Nov 17, 2009
Aging jester Randall Grahm has hung around the wine world long enough to be recognized for his lifetime achievements. The irony is that Grahm, 56, now finds himself wondering exactly what he has achieved. This week, the Vintners Hall of Fame announced Grahm has been elected to the Hall and will be inducted in March, 2010. But I wonder what Grahm will say in his acceptance speech. If it's like his recent book, "Been Doon So Long," he will be funny, boastful and contradictory. And his speech will likely be tinged with the regret that has become more and more noticeable, for Grahm is a man who has spent almost his whole career saying one thing and doing another.
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W. Blake Gray
Oct 20, 2009
For wine lovers, Ravenswood has become something of a Yogi Berra line: "Nobody drinks that anymore. It's too popular." But there are still gems at Ravenswood: Joel Peterson's lineup of single-vineyard Zinfandels. To me, these are some of the best expressions of terroir in Zinfandel -- hard as that is to believe from a label you're used to seeing at liquor stores where the clerk hides behind bulletproof glass.
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W. Blake Gray
Sep 22, 2009
I've always hated this story: "Rich guy buys winery, spares no expense to create 95-point collector's item." New ideas, new energy and new capital -- these are good things. It's the last part that turns me off. Not that my vote counts: Wine Spectator writes this story all the time. But I prefer writing about wines made for people who like wine, not possessions. Here's where Black Kite Cellars is different.
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W. Blake Gray
Aug 25, 2009
Greg La Follette has one of the most rigorous academic backgrounds of American winemakers, which is how he knows that it's important to keep his winemaking feral.
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Winemaker Dan Karlsen Unfiltered
