Tag Archives: wine_experts

Weekend wine list — experts’ picks: ‘terrific’ Riesling to ‘seductive’ Syrah

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Comparing the picks: A survey of recent selections from popular wine experts. Whenever there’s an option, I highlight the more-affordable wines, focusing on possible choices for weekend purchases. Check their websites for full descriptions and other picks:

2004 750 Langwerth Von Simmern Riesling Kabinett Rheingau, Germany:
Natalie MacLean — you’ll find it to be a “terrific, well-balanced riesling with refreshing aromas of lime and citrus,” goes well with chicken, pork, ham. $22.95

Pacific Rim Chenin Blanc:
Jerry Shriver — “hits you with a seductive flowery bouquet, which leads to faintly sweet and lush pear flavors and brown-spice notes” — recommended with spicy Asian seafood dishes. $12

Cockburn’s Ten Year Old Tawny Port:
Jay McInerney — “lighter and mellower than the Vintage Ports from this house and slightly drier in style than other tawnies.” $26.99

Etim Blanco 2005 Montsant:
Jancis Robinson — she calls this 100% Garnacha Blanca “a revelation and a bargain … a full bodied, flavour-packed yet refreshing dry white.” £6.99

Stefano Moccagatta 2004 Tannat:
Edward Deitch — “one of the best red wines I’ve tasted this year … elegant and refined, full of dark berry fruit — blackberry, blueberry and boysenberry.” $26

Colli Orientali del Friuli, Pinot Grigio ‘Ramato’, Visintini (2006):
decanter.com — “marvellous wine from Grave del Friuli breaks the Pinot Grigio mould,” with its pale copper colour and “lovely purity of fruit.” £8.95

2003 Goose Ridge Vineyards Columbia Valley Syrah:
Lynne Char Bennett — a “rewarding” wine whose aspects include “dark woody notes, peppery bacon, extracted blackberry,” among an ample list of Washington state Syrah and Rhone-style blends featured here. $20

Tip: Print out this list and bring it to you local wine shop — even if a specific favorite isn’t available, ask the salesperson to recommend something similar. Or try browsing the latest wine reports from this custom collection of hundreds of news websites — filtered for bargains, continuously updated, and quick and easy to scan:

  • Reds (from Beaujolais to Zinfandel)
  • Whites (from Chablis to Sauvignon Blanc).

To hit closer to home, try WNR’s Advanced Wine Search tool and see what wine finds local columnists and wine experts may be writing about in your area. Once there, just type in your city and state (within quotation marks, as in, “Napa, California”), to get results ranked by relevance.

Or dig into some perennial standbys at SFGate.com’s Top 100 Wines of 2006, the Top 100 of 2006 list (PDF download) from Wine Spectator and the list of 50 Wines You Can Always Trust from Food & Wine.

Attracted to a bottle that’s advertised in the local paper or sitting on the local wine store shelf?

Do a little background research with Wine Enthusiast’s free, searchable Wine Buying Guide—either with a specific name or by types and price. For a little extra info, try Robert Parker’s handy Vintage Chart. Or see what the online wine community says about it with the search tools at cork’d, snooth or Wine Log.

Once you’ve selected the wine, you naturally want to decide what to eat with it. For some savvy guidance, try Natalie MacLean’s Wine & Food Matcher, which boasts a database of 360,000 wine-food pairings.

The Web is about community. So take a moment to comment about your experience with a particular wine — to help steer others to or away from it. And of course, have a great weekend!

Weekend wine list — experts’ picks: From smooth Malbec to juicy Shiraz

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Comparing the picks: A survey of recent selections from popular wine experts. Whenever there’s an option, I highlight the more-affordable wines, focusing on possible choices for weekend purchases. Check their websites for full descriptions and other picks:

2006 Alamos Malbec Argentina:
Natalie MacLean — “full-bodied, smooth and supple” — her best value red. $14.95

2006 Hayman & Hill Reserve Selection Riesling, Columbia Valley:
Jerry Shriver — “full of pure, fresh-tasting fruit … an ideal partner for Asian-style seafood dishes.” About $15

Broadbent, Vinho Verde (Portugal) Broadbent Selections NV:
Michael Franz — “the ticket for a bracing, supremely refreshing glass of wine for a warm Indian Summer evening.” He calls it a “striking wine at a strikingly attractive price.” $8

The Little Penguin  Shiraz South Eastern Australia 2006:
Wine Spectator — “smooth and juicy, with pretty blueberry and plum flavors” — with a nice finish, but drink it now. $8

Les Fiefs de Lagrange 2001 St-Julien:
Jancis Robinson — “sappy, lively, very respectable Médoc which has quite enough fruit to counterbalance the ambitious tannin level,” but drink it from spring of next year until 2016. $24.99

Tip: Print out this list and bring it to you local wine shop — even if a specific favorite isn’t available, ask the salesperson to recommend something similar. Or try browsing the latest wine reports from this custom collection of hundreds of news websites — filtered for bargains, continuously updated, and quick and easy to scan:

  • Reds (from Beaujolais to Zinfandel)
  • Whites (from Chablis to Sauvignon Blanc).

To hit closer to home, try WNR’s Advanced Wine Search tool and see what wine finds local columnists and wine experts may be writing about in your area. Once there, just type in your city and state (within quotation marks, as in, “Napa, California”), to get results ranked by relevance.

Or dig into some perennial standbys at SFGate.com’s Top 100 Wines of 2006, the Top 100 of 2006 list (PDF download) from Wine Spectator and the list of 50 Wines You Can Always Trust from Food & Wine.

Attracted to a bottle that’s advertised in the local paper or sitting on the local wine store shelf?

Do a little background research with Wine Enthusiast’s free, searchable Wine Buying Guide—either with a specific name or by types and price. For a little extra info, try Robert Parker’s handy Vintage Chart. Or see what the online wine community says about it with the search tools at cork’d, snooth or Wine Log.

Once you’ve selected the wine, you naturally want to decide what to eat with it. For some savvy guidance, try Natalie MacLean’s Wine & Food Matcher, which boasts a database of 360,000 wine-food pairings.

The Web is about community. So take a moment to comment about your experience with a particular wine — to help steer others to or away from it. And of course, have a great weekend!

Weekend wine list — experts’ picks: From Vinho Verde to dry Riesling

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Comparing the picks: A survey of recent selections from popular wine experts. Whenever there’s an option, I highlight the more-affordable wines, focusing on possible choices for weekend purchases. Check their websites for full descriptions and other picks:

2006 Aveleda Follies Vinho Verde 2006 Portugal:
Natalie MacLean — marked by "enticing aromas of grapefruit and citrus" — made from the Alvarinho grape, considered the best for Vinho Verde. Her best value white. $15.95

2006 Forest Glen Pinot Noir, Calif.:
Jerry Shriver — nice "ripe black berry and cherry flavors" but too much oak and one-dimensional. Yet you come "away satisfied and that’s what counts in the end, right?" $11

2004 “Portal Roble” from Bodegas Vinos Pinol (in the Terra Alta region of northeastern Spain):
Edward Deitch — "unusually complex and interesting for the price and reminded me that Spain still offers some of the best wine values." $20

2007 Penfold’s Thomas Hyland Riesling South Australia:
Jay McInerney — "a terrific price-to-quality ratio" for this very dry Riesling "with lime and green apple fruit." $20

Churchill’s Tawny Porto 10 Years Old:
Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg — "aged tawny ports trumpet their maturity on their labels as badges of honor," but here’s one for "those of us looking for the biggest bang for our bucks." $29

Tip: Print out this list and bring it to you local wine shop — even if a specific favorite isn’t available, ask the salesperson to recommend something similar. Or try browsing the latest wine reports from this custom collection of hundreds of news websites — filtered for bargains, continuously updated, and quick and easy to scan:

  • Reds (from Beaujolais to Zinfandel)
  • Whites (from Chablis to Sauvignon Blanc).

To hit closer to home, try WNR’s Advanced Wine Search tool and see what wine finds local columnists and wine experts may be writing about in your area. Once there, just type in your city and state (within quotation marks, as in, "Napa, California"), to get results ranked by relevance.

Or dig into some perennial standbys at SFGate.com’s Top 100 Wines of 2006, the Top 100 of 2006 list (PDF download) from Wine Spectator and the list of 50 Wines You Can Always Trust from Food & Wine.

Attracted to a bottle that’s advertised in the local paper or sitting on the local wine store shelf?

Do a little background research with Wine Enthusiast’s free, searchable Wine Buying Guide — either with a specific name or by types and price. For a little extra info, try Robert Parker’s handy Vintage Chart. Or see what the online wine community says about it with the search tools at cork’d, snooth or Wine Log.

Once you’ve selected the wine, you naturally want to decide what to eat with it. For some savvy guidance, try Natalie MacLean’s Wine & Food Matcher, which boasts a database of 360,000 wine-food pairings.

The Web is about community. So take a moment to comment about your experience with a particular wine — to help steer others to or away from it. And of course, have a great weekend!

Weekend wine list — experts’ picks: From Orvieto to Central Coast Syrah

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Comparing the picks: A survey of recent selections from top wine experts. Whenever there’s an option, I highlight the more-affordable wines, focusing on possible choices for weekend purchases. Check their websites for full descriptions and other picks:

2006 Viña Maipo Carménère Reserve Rapel Valley, Chile:
Natalie MacLean — displays a “rich red with leather, black fruit, mint and earth notes.” She calls this a “fantastic value” in a full-bodied wine.” Her best value red. $13.95

2004 Paul Jaboulet Aine “Les Jalets” Crozes-Hermitage, Rhone Valley, France:
Jerry Shriver — “easy-going sipper from one of the Rhone Valley’s best-known and reliable producers.” About $18

Domaine de Saint Siffrein (Claude Chastan) 2003:
Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher — a Châteauneuf-du-Pape that is “nicely restrained, with surprising structure (and) clean, crisp tastes.” $29

Orovela Saperavi 2004 Kakheti, Georgia (Black Sea, not the southern American state):
Jancis Robinson — “the best Georgian wine I have ever tasted … worth a whirl by any truly curious wine drinker.” Apparently available only in the UK, at a low of £14.99

2006 Ruffino Orvieto Classico:
Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg — “dry yet fruity wine with the flavor of green apples and an almondy finish … an exceptional bargain.” $8

2005 Qupé Central Coast Syrah:
Lynne Char Bennett — “sweet fruit, licorice, pepper and bright acidity in this nicely balanced Syrah.” She calls it money well spent. $17

Tip: Print out this list and bring it to you local wine shop — even if a specific favorite isn’t available, ask the salesperson to recommend something similar. Or try browsing the latest wine reports from this custom collection of hundreds of news websites — filtered for bargains, continuously updated, and quick and easy to scan:

  • Reds (from Beaujolais to Zinfandel)
  • Whites (from Chablis to Sauvignon Blanc).

To hit closer to home, try WNR’s Advanced Wine Search tool and see what wine finds local columnists and wine experts may be writing about in your area. Once there, just type in your city and state (within quotation marks, as in, “Napa, California”), to get results ranked by relevance.

Or dig into some perennial standbys at SFGate.com’s Top 100 Wines of 2006, the Top 100 of 2006 list (PDF download) from Wine Spectator and the list of 50 Wines You Can Always Trust from Food & Wine.

Attracted to a bottle that’s advertised in the local paper or sitting on the local wine store shelf?

Do a little background research with Wine Enthusiast’s free, searchable Wine Buying Guide—either with a specific name or by types and price. For a little extra info, try Robert Parker’s handy Vintage Chart. Or see what the online wine community says about it with the search tools at cork’d, snooth or Wine Log.

Once you’ve selected the wine, you naturally want to decide what to eat with it. For some savvy guidance, try Natalie MacLean’s Wine & Food Matcher, which boasts a database of 360,000 wine-food pairings.

The Web is about community. So take a moment to comment about your experience with a particular wine — to help steer others to or away from it. And of course, have a great weekend!

The Web’s latest wine buzz

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Tune in to what top wine bloggers and experts are decanting into cyberspace with this handpicked weekly review that highlights their latest and greatest. You can also dig into specific things these folks and other wine experts are writing about with WNR’s All-In-One Wine Search tool (motto: "avoid info-overload—just gimme the wine").

 

Italy takes a spotlight in the wine blogosphere, where, to begin with, Wine Spectator’s Joe Cook informs us that the “jury is still out” on the quality of the wines, just as the harvest is getting started. The basic problem is that although the growing season has seen mostly excellent weather, “cool, wet condition” have set in, Cook reports. But, ah! – the Italian optimism knows no clouds: Not only are vintners cheery (as long as the weather clears quickly) but it might even be an “extraordinary vintage if you took care of your vineyard and cut back on grape yields," said Riccardo Cotarella, one of Italy’s leading enologists quoted by Cook.

Meanwhile, at Wine Enthusiast, Monica Larner gushes that the Montalcino-based Castello Banfi wine estate and castle inaugurated a much-anticipated boutique hotel, “bringing it closer to its goal of creating the ultimate Tuscan wine destination.” It’s not just the wine, it’s the view, too: “Because of the castle’s high elevation, most rooms benefit from long views over iconic Tuscan landscapes of rolling hills and cypress trees.” The photo alone is worth a visit to this page.

But other bloggers are always ready to remind us that the culture of wine does not end at the Italian border. Remember California’s Napa Valley?

Jeff Lefevere at Good Grape recounts a day of wine tasting in Napa, where at one site he “could feel my wallet separate from my back pocket.” The stop at Mondavi was “akin to a Catholic going to the Vatican” (“I mean, you kind of have to go, don’t you?”), but pleasant enough. But the tasting at the V. Sattui Winery turned into a love affair.

Napa’s Patz & Hall wineryIt’s not just the wine: Napa’s Patz & Hall winery tasting room rocks.

At Wine Review Online, Robert Whitley confides that tasting wine on some days just seems “a bit too much like work.” (Poor guy!) But then other days are “pure, unabashed joy.” Figured out the reason? “It’s the wine, silly!” The object of Whitley’s affection is Napa’s Patz & Hall winery, whose wines are “among the best…of their type made in California.” Even the tasting room rocks.For some reason, glasses (the kind you drink out of) also made a mark in the wine sector of cyberspace.

Saint Vini at The Zinquisition opines on the perennial fuss over the wine prices being charged by restaurants, with the added twist of the markup if you buy it by the glass (btg). Vini does the math and parses the rationale. But don’t get him started on corkage fees!

Donald A. Dibbern, Jr., at the Wine Lovers Page, sets his sights on glasses, too. You know you’ve found a wine lover when he says that “the event we all have been waiting for has at last occurred” – and that would be glass maker Riedel’s introduction of its twelfth different Pinot Noir wineglass shape. All kidding aside, an astute review of why wineglasses have different shapes, and why you should care.

And thus ends this week’s virtual tour of the wine blogosphere. I’m going to go look at that castle in Tuscany again.