Been There Tasted That

Bordeaux Meets Its Food Match

2012-01-24T07:14:00.001-08:00

Bistro Food & Wine in Pennsylvania

2012-01-11T08:38:00.001-08:00

Year in Review - 2011

2011-12-27T05:40:00.001-08:00

The Rothschilds' New Champagne

2011-12-25T12:11:00.001-08:00

Queen Mary 2: To Get to the Other Side

2011-12-25T12:04:00.000-08:00

The Many Faces of Beaujolais

2011-12-23T02:33:00.000-08:00

7 Elected to Wine Hall of Fame

2011-12-20T04:23:00.000-08:00

Destination Bilbao in Wine Enthusiast

2011-11-23T13:38:00.000-08:00

Anyone heading for Rioja or Basque country should spent a couple of days either going or coming back in Bilbao. For more, see front-of-book piece in Dec. 15 issue of Wine Enthusiast.

Winemakers International Hall of Fame Founded

2011-11-11T02:15:00.000-08:00

November 10, 2011 -- The Winemakers International Hall of Fame (WIHOF) announced today that it has created a stellar advisory board of winemakers and estate directors from around the world to nominate and choose its first class of inductees – the “Class of 2012: Wine Legends of the Late 20th Century.”

According to WIHOF executive director Roger Morris, the formal announcement and induction ceremonies will be held at a gala winemakers dinner on Feb. 25, 2012, as part of the MidAtlantic Food + Wine Feast at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, DE.

“There has never been an independent, international winemakers hall of fame,” Morris says, “so the challenge was to put together an advisory board of respected winemakers and estate directors from around the world who represent the various branches of winemaking along with a well-known, well-respected trade executive.”

The board members are:

· Robin Kelley O’Connor,VP, Head of Wine, Americas Christie’s
· Emmanuel Cruse, Château d’Issan, France
· Steve Smith, Craggy Range, New Zealand
· Eileen Crane, Domaine Carneros, United States
· Manuel Louzada, Numanthia, Spain
· Aurelio Montes, Montes, Chile
· Michael Richmond, Bouchaine, California
· Jean-Luc Colombo, Vins Jean-Luc Colombo, France
· Adrian Bridge, The Fladgate Partnership, Portugal
· Alois Lageder, Alois Lageder, Italy

Additionally, Ajit Mathew George, co-chairman of the partner organization MidAtlantic Food + Wine Feast, will serve as an ex-officio and non-voting member of the advisory board.

“We wanted the first class to be a memorable one – the men and women who led the way during the late 20th century when the greatest strides in vineyard management, wine production, wine quality improvement and fine wine consumption in history took place,” Morris says.

Qualifications for nomination and election include: (1) must have consistently produced superior wines, possibly even contributing important winemaking advances, (2) must have by their actions and example enhanced the reputations of their regions, and (3) must have had a notable and positive presence in the international winemaking arena.

“The Winemakers International Hall of Fame is a very new organization, so we are still putting together our Internet presence,” Morris says. “Additionally, we are beginning a search for highly-respected commercial sponsors in addition to our partner, the MidAtlantic Food + Wine Feast, who would like to further our objective to recognize the world’s greatest winemakers on a well-planned, continuing basis.”

Back Story: Second Acts

2011-10-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

I was getting ready to taste some Lagreins from Alto Adige a couple of days ago with my friend Anthony Vietri, winemaker/owner of Va La Vineyards in Pennsylvania, when he whipped out an almost-yellow newspaper clipping and started talking about how this writer was going on about Zinfandels from Amador County in California. He handed it over to me to take a look.

It was dated Nov. 4, 1979, and was from the Wilmington NewsJournal. It was headlined "California Zinfandels with zing." The byline was by Roger Morris. "My grandmother had saved a recipe from that page," Tony said, "and it fell out of a book she had. She said, 'That's Roger!'"

Despite what Fitzgerald wrote about there being no second acts in American life, I'm having one.

Back in 1978, I started writing a weekly wine column for The Washington Star because I had worked before for the editor, she liked my writing, and she needed a wine columnist. As wine was my passion de jour, I volunteered to write it. An editor for the NewsJournal saw one of the columns in the Star's Sunday magazine and said he could just re-run the Star column three weeks a month if I would write something local one week a month. Although at the time there were no area wineries, I did not let that deter a perfectly good opportunity.

Unfortunately, the Star was an evening newspaper six days a week, and evening newspapers were even then an endangered species as network news was eating their dinners. When the Star folded in the early '80s, I was without an outlet in the days when there were no blogs. But I was able to transfer allegiance to a weird new national newspaper called USA Today and became their first wine columnist. Alas, we had a friendly parting of the ways a year later because their Wednesday sections were often cut to 4 pages, and my column was on the other four pages.

Although I had a healthy day job throughout all this, I soon realized I wanted to get back into wine writing. But it was not until 1998 - more than 25 years later - that I again began writing a weekly column for the NewsJournal. Then came an opportunity to also write for Colman Andrews at Saveur magazine. Year by year since then, I've added print and online magazines for which I write chiefly about wine, food and travel.

Today, my byline appears in more than 15 publications, including international print outlets such Wine Enthusiast, Robb Report, Beverage Media, Drinks Business, Town & Country, Sommelier Journal, Intermezzo and - yes - USA Today magazines. Then there are online publications such as iSante, Sommelier Journal and The Daily Meal (again with Colman) and a handful of regional magazines, although I no longer write for the NewsJournal.

It's been a good Second Act. I hope there is no necessity for a third one.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Wines & Foods of Greece's Macedonia

2011-10-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

In the new issue of Intermezzo, I report on the food and wine, mountains and seasides, people and culture of the north of Greece.

Back Story: Cotes du Bordeaux

2011-09-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

Age and experience may not give you wisdom, but they do give you a bookshelf full of trip journals. Some time ago, I started using a separate journal for each reporting sojourn I've gone on, which means that dozens of them now line the back bar opposite my desk. Each one is a collection of facts, interviews, observations, contact info and tasting notes. Although most of this information is related to assignments I have before getting on the airplane, many of the articles that they later generated resulted from pitches I made after returning. My favorite part of the flight home is sipping a handful of Jack Damiels on the rocks while evaluating new article ideas that had come up during the trip and which editors might want them.

So any time I have a new assignment - even if it entails a new reporting trip - I'm always combing through the old journals to see what information is relevant to the new assignment. Of course, I just use this material as a starting point before I start making new calls and firing off new e-mails, but the notebooks provide me a perspective which, I hope, gives the new article some depth, insight and richness. Thus was the case with the Cotes du Bordeaux story below, recently printed in Sommelier Journal. Some of the people I quote were folks I first interviewed a dozen or so years ago. Not that there weren't last-minutes back and forths with sources in Bordeaux for updates and fact checks.

In the past couple of weeks, I've received assignments for articles on Beaujolais (two), France's South West, Toro, New Zealand, Gimblet Gravels and parts of Australia. A couple are mainly travel. Most are mainly wine-related.

It's time to hit the notebooks again.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Cotes de Bordeaux Heads New Pubs

2011-09-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

The last week of Summer before Labor Day has been a good one for harvesting publications:

1. A colorful piece on the new Cotes de Bordeaux appellation for Sommelier Journal (see below).

2. A heady drink of Xtabentun for the Daily Meal at www.thedailymeal.com/xtabent-n-marks-spot.

3. Running the tab at regional breweries in Delaware Today.

4. Putting the Brandywine wineries under the microscope for Sommelier News (http://www.internationalsommelier.com/).

5. A defense of big-*** California wines on my blog at iSante' Magazine (http://www.isantemagazine.com/).

Until the next time....

Roger Morris

Serving Up Wine by the Glass

2011-08-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

Beverage Media is the official beverage journal in more than 30 states (including New York), and the editorial material - including the article below on wine-by-the-glass programs - appears in all of them.

Porto as Viewed from the Yeatman

2011-07-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

The opening of the luxury hotel, The Yeatman, draws attention to the city that gave its name to one of the world's most-noted wines. Below, a poolside view.

Life after Red: Going into the White Lights

2011-06-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

When I'm tasting accumulated wine samples assembled by chance and for no particular article, I usually taste in ones and twos, keeping good notes so that I will have plenty of ammunition if I'm called upon to write about 10 fantastic barbecue wines or great wine pairings for Arbor Day (what really goes best with oak, not just in it?)

But sometimes I'm faced with a Fedex-borne tsunami of bottles, which happens when wine publicists suddenly wake up one Monday morning and all individually make mental notes to themselves as they brush their teeth - "Today is the day to get out those samples!" And just when I've cleared my entry hall of the first wave of fortified boxes, here comes UPS with the second wave.

So early this week, I woke up and suddenly proclaimed as I brushed my teeth, "Today is the day to taste all those summer white samples." In fairness, I waited until my teeth were properly dirty again and absent any taint of the dreaded "minty mouth" before I started tasting, around 11. I get up at 4, so seven hours without wine is a long time.

I combined for the tasting (1) Pinot Grigios from northeast Italy, (2) Assyrtikos from Santorini, (3) Rieslings from Germany and (4) three Pacific Rim Rieslings from the Columbia Valley. Overall, the wines were all reasonably well-made, none were fantastic and a few stood out in a positive manner.

My favorite among the PGs was the 2009 Bollin Trentino, which I found to be juicy and rich, a touch bready as PGs from that area tend to be, but with more zesty and minerally than the others. Fruit flavors? Most of the Grigios had a pleasant but not snappy flavor of plum pulp.

On to the Assyrtikos. Assyrtiko is one of the most popular white grapes in Greece, and much that we drink in the U.S, comes from the isle of Santorini, although a crisper version from northern Macedonia is coming into its own. The two that appealed to me most were the 2009 Argyros, which iss big, juicy, fruity, well-balanced with good acidity and just begging to be taken to the table, and the 2010 Sigalas, which is juicy, spritzy, with a slight Sauvignon-like vegetal note. Neither was particularly complex, but both are good drinking for now.

The Rieslings - 10 of them - are all from P.J. Valkenberg, known especially for its value wines. I did find the very dry, very basic ones left something to be desired, but I've always felt that trockens faced an uphill battle against the contradictions of Riesling being at once demure and opulent. But there were five Rieslings that I though particularly stood out.

Although my wife, who did a walk-by sipping of my top 5, disagrees on this one, I was most taken by the 2009 Baron zu Knyphausen Erbacher Michelmark Rheingau Riesling Erste Lage. [Where are those damned diacritical marks in this program?] It has a lovely, clean nose that doesn't foreshadow the complexity that lay beneath, which is marked by brulee and apricot essence. There is excellent firmness, great minerality and light tannins. It is the kind of drink that shows its presence without being aggressive.

The 2009 Johannishof "Charta" Rheingau Riseling has nice stone fruit flavors with tastes of pear and apricot skins, is slightly juicy, well-balnaced and long on the palate. The 2010 Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Piesporter Goldtropfchen Piesporter Riesling is rich and rounded with good balance, stone-fruit nectars with good minerality and light tannins. The light-alcohol (9.5%) 2010 Schloss Saarstein Riesling Kabinett reminds me of an apricot cider - juicy, tangy fruit skins, good minerality. Finally, the 2010 Graff Graacher Himmelreich Mosel Riesling Spatlese (8%) is very focused, high on the palate and having a combo of tart apples and light apricot flavors.

As for the Pacific Rim Rieslings are concerned, the brand has always provided the pleasant, basic fruitiness of American Riesling as an attractive price, but they won't take you much beyond that. They make a dry, an off-dry and a sweet.

Until next time,

Roger Morris

Cognac & Bordeaux: The Tesseron Touch

2011-06-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

How lucky can one man be - to own a respected Bordeaux chateau and a Cognac maison? My interview with Alfred Tesseron in the July issue of Wine Enthusiast.

Brandywineries Promote Local Food

2011-06-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

From the July issue of Delaware Today.

Next Big Destination: Pan-a-ma!

2011-06-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

You've done Costa Rica. But have you tried Panama? My overview below in USA Today's new travel magazine.

Whatever Happened to the Garagistes?

2011-06-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago, garagiste winemakers were all the rage - especially in Bordeaux. Where are they now? Has Bordeaux mainstreamed them, or have the garagistes radicalized Bordeaux? I report on this in the June issue of Drinks Business, reprinted below.

Touring & Dining along the Brandywine

2011-06-15T05:44:00.001-07:00

Copies of Intermezzo are available at Borders and Barnes & Noble. A more-recent restaurant that should be added to the list is Twelves in West Grove, a great place to dine for lunch and dinner.

Just Published: Touring Rioja

2011-06-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

A Spanish Lust for Tomato Bread

2011-06-06T05:34:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from a trip to the Carinena region of Spain where I renewed by interest in tasty, affordable Garnacha and my unquechable lust for tomato bread. Both were available for every lunch and dinner, and the tomato bread was there for breakfast as well.

Tomato bread is one of those simple pleasures in life - at its most basic just freshly squeezed juice from tomatoes (forget about commercial, concentrated tomato juice) and a sliced piece of bread. It can be served with the juice already on the bread or with a demure bowl with spoon next to it. If you like variety, you can toast the bread and, as it was served in Seville where I first encountered it a few years ago, rubbed with fresh garlic and olive oil before the juice of the tomato is applied and finally topped with a few flakes of sea salt.

I've perfected tomato bread, which I have with a tall mug of dark-roasted coffee every morning when I get up at 4 a.m. It's what's for breakfast. My version is this: a thick slice of rosemary foccacia from the local bakery with a drizzle of olive oil, another sprinkle of dried rosemary and then a topping of slightly spicy commercial tomato. Gently brown in a toaster oven.

But it was good to get back to basics in Carinena. I was not able to convince my traveling partners - fellow writers David Rosengarten, Michael Franz and John Stroker - to convert to tomato bread as a breakfast food. Or that 4 a.m. is a sane rising time with you been out tapas dancing the night before.

They did buy into the Garnacha part.

Until next time...
Roger Morris

Recently Published
In the current issue of Intermezzo, dining along Canada's Atlantic Rim and traveling through the Brandywine Valley. In Beverage Media, an article on how Prosecco sales are still bubbling. In Signature Brandywine, an update on the legacy of artist Andrew Wyeth. In thedailymeal.com, a report on those Garnachas from Carinena and (coming soon) spirited gift ideas for Ol' Dad. And in isantemagazine.com, how the Queen Mary 2 keeps its food service afloat.

Tasting the Too-Sweet Life

2011-04-10T11:49:00.000-07:00

Some notes and thoughts on recent bottles tasted:

While some of my colleagues seem to be on a campaign to kill all high-alcohol table wines, I'm much more concerned with the sweetification of table wines. Or, as a winemaking friend of mine complains, "It seems like I can't get a completely dry red wine by the glass anymore."

I tried two wines recently that suffered from this. One was a complete surprise - the 2009 Pali "Alphabets" Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (about $20). I really liked what this new firm did in the first vintage of diverse and higher-priced Pinots that I tasted. So when I unscrewed this one, I was surprised by how fruity and sweet it was. I screwed it back, and tried it twice more over the next day. No better. The alcohol is listed at 14.2% - did they cut it off short so that it wouldn't reach 15% and thus kept the sugar. I really felt guilty in not being able to drink more than a glass total of it. The second wine, the 2008 Brazin Lodi Zinfandel ($17), hit me the same way when first I tasted it. But it developed quite nicely when I came back to it the next day. There was a second sample bottle, so I cracked it. Same phenomenon. Obviously, the sugar didn't go away, but the fruitiness that came with it was subdued with some airing, and the Brazin became an respectable Zin with cherries and ripe blackberries, ideal for someone who wants a little of the sweet life in their table wines.

There were two enjoyable Chardonnays in my recent tastings - a 2009 Blackstone Montery County Chardonnay ($9) and a 2009 Frank Family Carneros Chardonnay ($27). The Blackstone is a good wine for everyday drinking - very lively, full, with lots of lime. The Frank Family is more complex, lots of tropical tones with some orange flavors from the oak and quite pleasurable.

A different kind Sauvignon came my way in the bottle of 2007 Magito North Coast Sauvignon Blanc ($10). I wasn't very crazy about it just out of the bottle, but my wife and I ended up drinking the whole thing with dinner. At first it seemed disjointed with crisp Sauvignon herbalness mixed with aromatics that a 100% Sauvignon has never kbown. But gradually it married in the glass - enjoyable, if not something I'd run to the store for. Then I looked at the back label, which explained everything. It was 82% SB, 8% Viognier and 10 % Verdelho. What kind of a sick mind - or genius - would devise such a blend?

Finally, a 2009 Runcaris Soave Classico ($12), a good Veronese white for the price - good fruitiness with lime, mint, chalk, good body and good length.

Recent Publications and Postings:

At http://www.isantemagazine.com/ - an article on how Panama's national drink, Seco Herrerano, may be the American bartender's next best mixological friend. Also, how Aimee Olexy has assembled a greener-than-green wine list for her new Philly restaurant, Talula's Garden, which she opens Monday with serial restaurateur Stephen Starr.

In the April issue of Writer's Digest - a story about how freelance writers can stop leaving money on the table by working both the consumer and trade sides of the street.

At http://www.thedailymeal.com/ - a piece on how conservative non-drinker Donald Trump bought Kluge Estate winery in Virginia and wants politically liberal Patricia Kluge to stay on to run the place. Earlier, an article on Italy's special 150th anniversary wine.

In Signature Brandywine - I do the home thing with articles on putting together a secret garden and on having an "away place" - a home library.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Three Wines, Three Continents

2011-03-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

Three recently tasted wines of interest from three continents (I'm counting New Zealand as an adjunct to Australia):

2010 Nobilo Icon Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (about $15). In general, my own personal taste doesn't drift to Sauvignons from New Zealand's southern island's northern tip. I find them pleasant, but generally having too much green fruit and acidity - and I've tasted other Nobilos in this category. But I truly love this wine because, without losing crisp acidity, is has dried tropical fruitiness, a lovely gamy and tangy nose and finish, plus a drinking-water-from-a-tin-can minerality. I'll take this one.

2009 Cecchi Bonizio Sangiovese di Maremma ($9). This is a pleaseant drinking wine, and it is worth the price. That being said, it comes across too much like an Aussie fruity Shiraz in the same price range or a California Central Coast Merlot. I taste very little Sangiovese character. Of course, great Super Tuscans have sprung from the hills bordering the Maremma plain, but pure Sangiovese seems to not flourish there unless it is on well-drained soil - and sometimes not even them.

2007 Va La Avondale "Cedar" (about $45). First, decant this wine before you go to table, not because it's massive, but because it blossoms with just a few minutes of fresh air. This is a delicious wine that is truly a food wine in the Va La style. Made from a blend of northern Italian grapes grown in a little estate vineyard along Pennsylvania's US 41, it is full of zingy fresh, lightly tart, cherry flavors, fresh oak well blended with a hint of vanilla, a little dark (not creamy) chocolate the more it breathes and tannins so well-integrated you barely know they are there. Although it will age, it makes great drinking now.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

Your Link or Mine? Recent Articles

2011-03-02T02:31:00.000-08:00

Catching up on some recent postings, blogs, print articles:

Wine Enthusiast: In the current issue, a short piece on wine-bottle apps and how you can check all the vital stats on some wines by scanning labels with your smart phone.

iSante': Recently, I've had an article posted on the lives of winery chefs, featuring who and what's cooking at Jordan, Signorello and Robert Sinskey. On my blog at http://www.isantemagazine.com/, I've also covered spring rose' wines and recovered from Open that Bottle Night and thought about how we each have our own different preferences in how we taste and drink wines.

The Daily Meal: New articles on how foodies can start a 12-bottle wine cellar for under $200, about how we Americans will become the biggest wine-guzzling country in 2012, and about the 2009 vintage in Burgundy. At http://www.thedailymeal.com/.

Sommelier News: Just posted at http://www.internationalsommelier.com/: "The Riedels' Crystal Revolution," or how we learned to drink wine from the right glass(es).

Delaware Today: For all you First Staters, this is a new venue for me. I start my new column, "Into the Drink," with a look at the local cocktail scene where the belly meets the bar.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Corvina: The Gentleman of Verona

2011-02-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

I've always had a special fondness for the Corvina grape.

A gift of a Bolla three-pack was what drove me to buy my first wine book, and two of the three Veronese wines in the trio were, in theory, made in part with Corvina - Bardolino and Valpolicella. In the late 70s, I fell in love with Amarone about the time I was discovering late-harvest Zins from Amador County.

More locally, I have been drinking wines from the past 10 years from my neighborhood Pennsylvania winery, Va La Vineyards, that does an excellent job of growing northern Italian grapes and making fine wines from them. For a time, the owner/winemaker, Anthony Vietri, made a solo Corvina - probably the first and only such wine in the U.S. - but more recently he has been blending Corvina and Nebbiolo to make what might be consider a local IGT. It is quite delicious.

Which brings me to two wine samples I received recently. I was quite excited that one of them was actually labeled "Corvina" - the just-launched 2005 Cesari "Jema" Corvina made from a single vineyard from San Pietro in the Valpolicella Classico region. It is a big and very serious wine, but still with a lot of fresh fruit going into its sixth year. There is a pleasant meaty flavor to it, with moderate tannins, good acidity and a creme fraiche undertaste. It developed well in the glass over an hour of drinking, but lost none of its freshness. It's a keeper and worth the $45 price tag.

The other wine is the 2006 Allegrini Amarone ($90). Allegrini is well-known for it's well-structured Amarones, and this one certainly keeps the faith. At first, the flavors of dark cherries are very sophisticated and smooth, but it gradually develops much-more-complex, earthy tastes with lots of tannins, exotic spices and a few bars of dark chocolate. It's very drinkable now, but will really blossom over the next two-to-five years and last much longer than that. Like most Amarones, it has some other grapes to go along with Corvina (80%), including Rondinella (15) and Oseleta (5).

Tasting these two wines at the same time made me reflect that, yes, life is good, as well as making a note to myself to check the air fare to Verona.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

QUICK HITS: It's nice to be writing again for Colman Andrews, my editor for years at Saveur, at http://www.thedailymeal.com/. My first post for them was last week on the "new" 155-year-old Taylor Fladgate "Scion" Port, which I also covered for http://www.isantemagazine.com/. Also check out this month's issue of Sommelier Journal for my seven-page article on the Alentejo region of Portugal.

The Back Label: Each Day Is Valentine's Day

2011-02-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

Fonseca Bin No. 27: It's the chocolate, cupid!

Few wines go as well with chocolate as Fonseca Bin No. 27, especially if the chocolate comes from New York City's Jacques Torres (www.mrchocolate.com) and if Torres has sweetened his choc pot with a little of the Bin. I've never been a great believer of cooking with the same wine that is being served with the meal - I don't think so! - as that means you're either wasting classic wine in a reduction sauce or else you're drinking crappy wine. An exception is chocolate wine truffles, and many wineries now sell in their tasting rooms truffles made from their primo reds.

What works so well with Bin No. 27 (about$20) is that is tastes a bit like a chocolate truffle - a dollop of red and black berry essence wrapped in a cocoa powder-like coating. Take a bite of a chewy Torres sweetie and a sip of Fonseca together, and it's difficult to see where the taste of one leaves off and the other begins.

Wild Oak Shows Its Staying Power

Most California Chardonnay have lousy longevity - no Viagra is those drip systems - but I pulled this bottle of 2005 St. Francis Wild Oak Sonoma County Chardonnay out of my cellar, where it had been put away by mistake, and I was pleased with how much better it is that when I first tasted it. It's almost six years old now, and the bottle age has developed and made richer its tropical fruits, and those stray oxygen molecules have baked a nice little loaf of brioche flavors.

It makes me want to go back underground and see what else I might have mislaid.

King George's Pinot Noir: Speech! Speech!

OK, so George Bursick isn't a king, though he wouldn't mind being the king of California Pinot Noir. It's been interesting to see the improvement of J Vineyards' Pinots since Bursick has taken over, and the 2008 J Russian River Pinot Noir ($35) is a case in point. It's J's basic Pinot, and it's particularly appealing because it's one of those wines that excite the gastric juices and makes the brain in the stomach start checking the refrigerator.

It also tastes good - tight black cherry flavors, a fair amount of minerality, touches of cola, anda dusting of dried herbs. In fact, it speaks for itself.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

Follow my new blog weekly on www.isantemagazine.com.

Mondavi's Cru Classe' Fume Blanc

2011-01-24T11:59:00.000-08:00

When I first started hanging out in the Napa Valley in the late 1970s, visiting Robert Mondavi and his winery was like going to the fountainhead. There were perhaps a dozen or so fascinating winemakers at the time who were great people to taste and talk with, but the Mondavi Winery was special because Robert and his people encouraged experimentation, debate (sometimes quite heated) and interplay with other winemakers. Even vintners who thought they made better wine appreciated the fact that the Mondavis were always available if there was a need and that the publicity Robert garnered brightened the spotlight on all the other Napa wineries.

I also remember when Robert started to popularize the term "Fume Blanc" instead of Sauvignon Blanc. In those days when Chardonnay was queen, I personally had my doubts if the American palate would appreciate the more vegetal tastes of Sauvignon. I should not have worried. I also remember the discussions about To Kalon vineyard ("how do you spell that, Robert?") and how special he considered it.

All this comes to mind after drinking a bottle at dinner the other night of the 2007 Robert Mondavi I Block Fume Blanc from the To Kalon vineyard, a 100 percent varietal available only through the winery at $75. Just 208 cases were made. I love to be stunned by a great white, and this one did just that as it progressed through three layers. First, a melody of tropical and stone fruits - peach, mango, apricot skin, mellow tangerine juice - followed by a layer of brioche and subtle smokiness, then finished off with a minerally display of limestone and tart citrus out of a tin cup. The wine is full on the palate (14.7% alcohol) yet has great closing acidity.

In her notes, director of winemaking Genevieve Janssens, says To Kalon is "what I consider the first growth of Napa Valley." I would agree with her, although I would add the word "among," for the valley does have other vineyards worthy of that appellation.

And, at all levels, I continue to be impressed with the high standards of winemaking at Robert Mondavi at To Kalon and elsewhere. It is a worthy keeper of the cru.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Table with a View - The Bayard House

2011-01-02T06:17:00.000-08:00

First in a series of postings on restaurants from around the world offering spectacular, or at least interesting, views.

The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal first opened its gates to seagoing traffic between the Chesapeake Bay to its west and the Delaware Bay to its east in 1829 - a span of 14 miles across the states of Maryland and Delaware. In the 181 years since, it has been widened and deepened, changed ownerships, and transformed from a canal with locks to the sea-level passage that it is today. It serves as a shorcut for all sorts of seagoing vessels - some quite monstrous in size - traveling between the port of Baltimore at one end and the ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia at the other. Like the Mason-Dixon line, which parallels it a few miles north, the canal has served as a division line as well - in this case between the more-industrial, more-populated northern Delaware and the more-rural, much-flatter southern Delaware, known affectionately by the northerners as "Slower Delaware."

There are no major cities along the canal's route, but there is one fascinating small town - Chesapeake City in Maryland. Chesapeake City is the southern terminus for the region's thoroughbred farms - another duPont family outpost - but it mainly today serves as an historic village with historical registry homes, a few shops and galleries, and a place to have lunch or dinner and watch the ships go by. The canal splits the town, but the halves are conveniently connected by a high-rise, two-lane bridge along Maryland 213, the access route for Pennsylvanians who want to spend summer weekends along the Eastern Shore.

Years ago, shortly after we moved to Delaware and later a few miles away to Pennsylvania, we used to enjoy dining in the Maxwell's Plum atmosphere of Schaefer's Canal House on the northern side of the canal. Ships going through the canal must do so under the guidance of special pilots who know the channel and how not to run over pleasure boats with their drunken owners during the summer months. The pilots at the western end board and debark the seafaring ships just west of where Schaefers is located. Back then, the owner of the restaurant would dim the lights as a ship was passing by the large glass windows and tell us the name of the vessel, its port of registry, and what it was carrying, at least legally. I thoroughly enjoyed the showmanship.

Although the Canal House building is still there and subject to re-openings and rumors of re-openings, we have since transferred our dining allegiance to the Bayard House on the southern side of the canal, generally for lunch once or twice a year. The building that houses the restaurant itself dates back to the 1780s and was thus already a half-century old when the canal first connected the east and west coasts of the ghastly named Delmarva Peninsula. We went back to the Bayard in early January for the crab soup and other regional delicacies, including a damn fine Bloody Mary rimmed in Old Bay seasoning.

Depending on the season and geo-economic trends, we may or may not see a ship passing by our windows during the hour of dining. Even if not, there are ducks to amuse us, pleasure boats in the summer bearing bikinis large and small, and the coming in and going out of the tides - not as dramatic as Fundy, but seriously roiling around nonetheless. One cold winter, there was a massive floe of broken ice churning back and forth as the tides were in the midest of a shift.

But just as often as not, there is a ship, such as the one in the photos above, chugging from Maryland to the left while nearing Delaware to the right. This boat was at about eye-level (the restaurant is on the second floor, and the building sits up about another floor above canal level. But we have seen very tall cargo ships go buy, and we crane our necks up at them as they sweep by our table. Similarly, the top of a cargo ship approaching from the east can be seen for a few minutes before it rounds a slight bend in the waterway and the bottom comes into view.

This time, we had bagged our ship - although we didn't know its provenance or cargo - while we were still on our Bloody, and thus were free to enjoy our food while keeping an eye out for another ship that might pass in the day.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

This Writer's Life: 2010 Edition

2010-12-29T02:21:00.000-08:00

Above: Wine tasting of Chianti Collio Fiorentini in Florence, September 2010.

Yesterday I received a PDF of an article of mine, "Emilia Romagna Rising," that has just been published in the December 15 edition of Sommelier Journal, my first assignment for that magazine. From a writer's standpoint, the article has all the elements that give satisfaction to being a member of the craft and the culmination of a process that began when I visited the region for the first time in February earlier this year. In the months since that visit, I have written about segments of the trip for other publications. But working with my editor at Sommelier Journal was an experience of being a magazine correspondent at its best - plenty of space to write both descriptive passages to give the reader a feel of the place while also providing the nuts and bolts of the grape varieties, types of wines and the interlocking appellations. I was also able to call in samples from various importers and distributors to write detailed tasting notes.

My editor was adroit in getting the most out of me as a writer - occasional fact-checking questions, the "can you give me two more sentences of explanation here?" queries, a request for another sidebar, contact information for photo sources and a very light editing pencil. Not a single thing on her part that didn't make the article better. And yesterday, the gratifying result - 7 pages filled with photos (some mine), beautifully laid out, an article that I believe will be interesting and informative to readers. Moreover, the PDF is something that I can send to my sources - a non-fiction writer's greatest strength - and say, "Thank you; this is what I had in mind when we talked in February or some time in between, and I hope you understand that you were an important part of it."

Fortunately, I have at least another 10 or so other editors who are delightful professionals for whom I love to write. Some of us barely talk or trade e-mails once the assignment is made, a sign that I take as a positive one, until I submit the article, usually a few days early. Then, something like, "The piece looks good, I'll edit it later, send me an invoice. Do you have photos?" And then it's published a few weeks or a couple of months later. Of course, other editors prefer a more collaborative process. With one editor, I know that I need to write fast before the assignment is yet again modified. I enjoy their diversity.

I tell people that while what I do is hard work (it's difficult to get sympathy as a traveling wine writer), but it really is what I wanted to do in my 20s - either be on a magazine staff or be an in-demand freelancer. Instead, I decided to take the more lucrative route of working in corporation marketing, which wasn't a bad life. Now, for the past dozen years, I have gradually built a life as a writer-at-large at the same time I have consulted in the healthcare area. Of course, I had written an article here, an article there since college - including stints some years ago as wine columnist for the late Washington Star and for the startup USA Today - but I got back into writing seriously in 1998 as a wine columnist for The NewsJournal in Wilmington, Delaware. Then, in 2000, I wrote my first article for Colman Andrews at Saveur, and things gradually grew from there.

The year 2010 has been another solid one. First, there were the 10 or so wine trips - a great source of ideas and content: three to California, two to Bordeaux, one each to Emilia Romagna, the Loire Valley, Greece, Florence and Portugal. Two or three times a month, I catch an Amtrak to New York City for an interview or a tasting, ocassionally three in the same day. I also value the input of 15 or so public relations executives who provide ideas, information, insider updates on what is happening where, contacts and often very good advice.

This year has also been a good one for hooking up with new editors and new publications. I have had first assignments, some already published, some waiting for 2011, from Sommelier Journal, Writer's Digest, USA Today magazines, Book Page, Sante' and iSante', Plaisirs de Vivre in Canada, Delaware Today and Bentley in the UK. And I continue writing for, and pitching new ideas to, such reliable publications as Wine Enthusiast and winemag.com, Beverage Media, Robb Report, Intermezzo, Drinks Business (UK) and Drinks (US), Sommelier News, PA Wine & Spirits Quarterly, The Hunt, Signature Brandywine, Caviar Affair and others. Unfortunately, a couple of publications have ceased publication this year, and I quit writing a regular column for The NewsJournal after a dozen years due to another sign of the times, the shrinking "editorial hole."

During 2010, by my count, I had 67 magazine articles published in print or online, sometimes both. Among the highlights, in addition to the Emilia Romagna piece, have been a 10-page spread on "A Day in the Life of a Chateau" and a one-page Q&A with Michel Rolland for Wine Enthusiast; a Champagne "cheat sheet" for winemag.com; "Greece is the Word" for iSante' and a profile of the hardest restaurant table in the U.S. - Talula's Table - for Sante'; profiles of Riccardo Illy for Drinks Business, the Antinori sisters for La Vie Claire, and sporting car driver and wine glass master Maximilian Riedel for Bentley; pieces on sweet wines makeover and American sparkling wines among others for Beverage Media; monthly contributions to Sommelier News, including a fun piece on Chateau Palmer night at Christie's; an assortment of regional, mainly non-wine articles for The Hunt and Signature Brandywine, and a review of Bourdain's latest kitchen-tell tome for Book Page.

2011? It's starting our very well - 40 assignments, 26 of them already written. And to be successful in this business, you have to love pitching article ideas to current and future editors. I have three or four out there getting a full look from exciting new (for me) magazines. My fingers are crossed, which may have accounted for some of the typos and errors above.

So thanks to everyone - sources, PR folks, importers and distributors and especially to the winemakers and winery owners who love to tell me about what they do - and let me taste some of it.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Tuesday Lineup: Ports & Sparkling Wines

2010-12-14T11:22:00.000-08:00

Wines of the Week

Not every vintage in Port land is a great one, and in those years - as well as years when more prior vintages have been declared than the markets can absorb - vintage-dated Ports are made from the greatest of the single quintas or vineyards. In theory, these single-quinta Ports should not be as good, both because the year might not have been a superior one and because the selection pool is less than when a Port house declares a vintage.

Yet there are those of us who love the single-quintas because they are the sole expression of one great vineyard. Most masters of Port are hesitant to say so publicly, but many of them love the vineyard-specific Ports as much as their declared vintages. I find my own preferences are influenced by what has just being released for tasting - the vintages or the quintas. This year, the Fladgate Partnership family of Ports released in the United States three of their quintas from the 2008 harvest. All are delicious in their own ways:

2008 Croft Quinta da Roeda ($46). Lots of plump raisin flavors and figs in the foretaste, then walnuty tannins, followed by a minerally, gravelly finish with echoes of dried fruits.

2008 Fonseca Quinta do Panascal ($48). A broader, less-segmented taste of preserved fruits and pistachios. Lots of dusty tannins, tingling black pepper, and hints of freshly-cut tobacco plug. The fruits are a little redder in this one.

2008 Taylor Fladgate Vargellas ($60). A very luscious mouth feel, though not as voluminous. More concentrated, but not more forceful. Less nuttiness. Somewhat of an elegant, pretty wine - a fruity truffle with a dusting of cocoa.

With sparkling wines, Champagne has always played the role of vintage Port - the standard by which others in the category are compared. Yet that is a little like trying to argue that great red wines should all taste like Bordeaux or like Burgundy. Some of the best sparklings I've tasted are Proseccos and spumantes from the Prosecco regions in the hills north of Venice, where terroir is all important. This one certainly can hold its own with any other bubbly:

2009 Adami "Vigneto Giardino Rive di Colbrtaldo" Valodibbiadene Prosecco Superiore Dry ($21). Just a delicious wine - lovely floral nose, intense micro-bubbles with great richness and acidity with flavors of pears, cream, and marzipan followed by a minerally finish with touches of kiwi and citrus.

Wines of Interest

NV Jaillance "Cuvee de l'Abbaye" Cremant de Bordeaux ($19). From 100% Semillon grapes, it has a lot of minerality on the nose, full brioche flavors, not a lot of bubbles, and a minerally finish like drink sparkling wine from a tin cup or a rocky spring.

NV Adami Garbel Treviso Prosecco Brut ($15). Lots of mousse bearing delicate aromas of ripe pears. Creamy at the start and green fruity at the finish - cream & kiwi. Hint of tannins. Very elegant and well-structured if not as complex as some Adami entries.

NV Adami "Bosco di Gica" Valdobbiademe Prosecco Superiore Brut ($18). Beautiful nose - elegant - with hints of cocoanut. Minerally, light in the Champagne style with not as much apparent fruitiness. More of a sipper than a food wine.

NVJaume Serra Cristalino Cava Brut ($10). Note to Champagne and EU authorities: Although this is a nice wine for the price - a clean, assertive cava that can have a lot of holiday uses - I'm didn't really confuse it with Cristal at 10 to 20x. No worries, monsieurs.

Wine Noted

NV Santa Margherita Valdobbiadene Prosecco Brut ($18). Full and a little heavy on the palate. Hints of caramel. More of a food wine than a sipper.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

The Lineup: Three for Every Night Drinking

2010-12-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

Random notes on selected wines recently tasted.

Wines of Interest

2008 Ravenswood Lodi Zinfandel ($13). One of the more interesting of their Zin releases - creamy black raspberry, rich and deep, with some pleasant greenbrier edges and dusty tannins. Drinking well, but can be a keeper.

2009 Vionta Rias Baixas Albarino ($15). A nice combo of good, green fruits with hints of melon and golden baking spices. Full-bodied. Nice aromatics without being too fruity.

2009 Cadet d'Oc Cabernet Sauvignon ($10). This reminds of some of the better regional Bordeaux that the shippers used to crank out for the British supermarket trade before Australia undercut the market. Touch of dried stemminess, good mature cherry and currant fruit with light tannins and hints of garrigue.

Until the next time...

Roger Morris

Why Don't You Drink More Sake?

2010-12-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, I had a delightful tasting session and discussion in New York with Henry Sidel, founder and president of Joto Sake, which imports and distributes small-batch Japanese sake producers in about 30 states. I will be writing more about sake in other publications soon, but there were several topics that came up that I would like to open to discussion now. If you have thoughts and opinions, please (1) comment below, (2) send me a message on Facebook, or (3) write me a note at londonbritain@msn.com.

Sidel has an extensive trade background in spirits and beer, but decided a few years ago to devote his energies to sake. Although we tasted several great drinks (my favorites were those brewed by Chikurin and Watari Bune) and went through sake production (a necessity, still), I was much more interested in how the consumption of sake can grow beyond the coterie of people who like sushi and sashimi or who have a fetish for small ceramic cups.

I will save for future articles what Sidel has to say on these topics, but here are some questions I posed to him. I would like to know what you think, whether or not you're a regular sake drinker.

1. Does sake need to be Westernized - for example, not drunk from small ceramic cups and paired only with Japanese food - to become successful, or is "being different" a neccesary part of it's charm, which, if abandoned, would mean less acceptance?

2. Does your everyday consumer - the same one who doesn't care about whether her Chardonnay went through malolactic fermentation - need to know the intricacies of what grains are used for sake and how it is made?

3. In restaurants, would sake be more successful if it were simply sold by the glass - say two different styles on the bar list?

4. Along the same line, does offering sake only by the bottle (even a small one), as is now generally done, psychologically ask the consumer for a commitment when by the glass would allow merely a passing curiosity?

5. And would it be appreciated more if there were a Riedel glass designed for it? Seriously?

6. How can retail stores better display bottles of sake so that they don't look as disorganized as roadside accident memorials?

7. Are sommeliers willing to suggest a bottle of Watari Bune Junmai Ginjo with duck breast (which would be a good pairing) rather than a wine?

8. Knowing that most good sakes are served chilled, would you rather have a mug of very warm and basic futsu-shu sake on a cold day than an Irish coffee or mulled cider? Is warm sake neccessary bad or gauche?

9. A variation of an early question: if the 6-10 different styles, or combos of styles, have recognizable similarities of taste, will people be willing to remember such basic categories as honjozo, ginjo and junmai ginjo, which are also easy to pronounce?

10. We are used to drinking wines with meals more than other alcoholic beverages. Sake can be a little more alcoholic, so are we willing to "sip" as we eat rather than "drink" when we eat?

Just some questions. Let me know what you think.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Snappy Ginger: Domaine de Canton

2010-11-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

My wife loves all things ginger, especially nibbling on candied ginger. This week she was feeling a tad under the weather from a nasty cold she purports to have caught from me, so when I opened a bottle of the ginger-scented Domaine de Canton, I waved a glass of it under her reddened nose. She seized the potion, and while the Cognac-based liqueur didn't set her dancing, it did bring a smile to her face and bought temporary forgiveness to me.

Domaine de Canton is quite a nice brew, made in France's Cognac region by blending baby Vietnamese ginger, Provencal honey, Tunisian ginseng, and vanilla bean of undefined heritage with VSOP and XO Grande Champagne Cognacs. The resulting liqueur has a crisp ginger aroma, a delightful, honey-like, viscous body that is sharply accented by the somewhat hot spiciness of peeled ginger. It is delicious but certainly not delicate.

It is enjoyable on several levels - a good companion in a Cognac glass, served neat, to sip in luscious quarter-teaspoon portions whenever your mind gets stuck as you bang away on the laptop, great over the rocks as you try to tease is out drop by drop from between the ice cubes, or as a barman's dream mixed with all sorts of exotic spirits and fruits.

But my favorite is a few drops, not too many as it's potent, in a chilled glass of Prosecco - a Ginsecco Ale - to carry about a party or around a bar as you loosen up for an evening of conversation.

Domaine de Canton is about $30 for a 750 ml bottle and is 28% alcohol.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Chateau Palmer & Wines of the Week

2010-11-14T00:38:00.000-08:00

For those of us who seldom wave a paddle for naughty pleasures or haughty treasures, attending Wednesday evening's preview tasting and master class for Chateau Palmer at Christie's in New York City was a little like attending a wedding rehearsal dinner - a lot more fun than the main event and no expensive commitments.

Chateau Palmer has always been a favorite of Bordeaux lovers, and many who can afford both prefer it to Chateau Margaux, at least in certain vintages, so the turnout was large and enthusiastic. And, surprisingly, a good mix of young and old. The attendees were at overflow capacity in the Haunch of Venison gallery when festivities got underway at 6:15 and enjoyed a backdrop serenade throughout the evening by the city's fleet of emergency vehicles below on Sixth Avenue and the responding Middle Eastern chorus of honking cab drivers.

Cutting to the chase, as we should in such a gamely named venue, the wines we tasted were Alter Ego - Palmer's not-second-label alternate wine - from the 2006 and 2003 vintages, and the chateau wines from 2005, 2001, 1996, 1991, 1989, 1983, 1978, and 1971. It is not just being polite to the hosts to say that all the wines were superb, although there was lively discussion about whether this or that wine was yet at its peak, in its dumb stage, or declining.

By own favorites were the 1971 - marvelously alive with fresh fruitness - and the 2005, Thomas Duroux's marvelous creation that was a game changer, I think, at Palmer to a more-modern style wine than we normally see at major Left Bank properities. My second favorites were the 1983 and the 1989, neither as perfect as the '71 and '05, but both flashing the charm that less-than-perfect wines and people often have.

Almost as interesting as the wines were the presenters at the master class, which ran concurrently with the tasting. Ferdinand Mahler-Besse, whose family is part owner of Palmer and whose negociant cellars provided most of the wines, helped provide context. Export manager and Palmer insider Bernard de Laage gave fascinating information about the wines and about Medoc winemaking in general, and Christie's wine expert, Charles Curtis, acted as M.C. and chief inquisitor.

For more about the evening and de Laage's insightful commentary, stay tuned for my article in the December issue of the online publication, Sommelier News.

Appropriately for the dawn of another holiday season, this week's top wines tasted (other than the Palmers) are a top sparkling wine and an affordable Port.

Wines of the Week

NV J Russian River Valley Brut Rose' ($35). I like what George Bursick is doing with the sparkling wines at J, and this one is a great example - copper-colored, light and creamy with delightful wild strawberry flavors, a huge mousse, and a minerally finish. Sip on!

Noval Black ($22). A good basic Port is a little like a good basic fruitcake - lots of candied fruits, dark earthy flavors, a pronounced nuttiness, a nice shot of alochol (but not too hot), and a dollop of chocolate flavors. Noval has over-hyped the wine and the packaging - it is hardly revolutionary - but it is a very nice buy directed at young people not ready to deal with all the Port nomenclature and who want a delectable, ready-to-drink Port at a good price. It is all that, and it is a good basic Port for us older folks, as well.

Wines of Interest

2008 Chateau de La Chaize Brouilly ($17). Roger's First Rule of Diminishing Bottles is that some of the wines that taste fantastic on the first sip tend to grow off you and make you longing for a divorce by the time you're nearing the bottom of the bottle, a case of too much too soon. Chaize has always been a favorite Beaujolais (yes, I also liked the old bottle and packaging much better), and this one is the opposite of the prior cited rule. Even though it is "just a Beaujolais," it gets better as the bottom is plumbed, opening up from its lean, lightly gamy fruitness to a fuller taste. (Of course, there are wags who say that any wine tastes better the more you consume, citing the parallel but opposing Roger's Third Rule of Last Calls, which states that everything looks more appealing as time elapses and alcohol increases.)

2009 Wither Hill Wairau Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($11). Good herbal notes, yet not as lean and grassy as most Marbs. It's also fuller and rounder, yet well-balanced for food. Well worth trying.

2007 Li Veli "Pezzo Morgana" Salice Salentino ($20). Complex and brooding, but drinking well now. Lively ruby fruit above and darker, preserved fruit below. Lots of acidity, and 100% Negromaro grapes.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

A Week of Drinking Adventurously

2010-11-06T02:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 31

Through the years, I have been fortunate to be friends or close acquaintances with a number of winemakers in America and abroad. It always brings up the question of whether I can be totally objective in what I write about their wines, and the answer is, "Yes." As a college instructor at Arizona State during the wild 1960s, I often partied with students (no one gave it a second thought back then), some of whom I had to give a "D," while some non-partiers got an "A." If you can't separate your judgments from your emotions, you shouldn't be a writer, a critic, a teacher, or a judge of any sort. You end up lying to yourself and everyone else.

The good thing about being friends with a winemaker is that you can learn a lot. Even though they may disagree with some judgments and opinions I have, they gain a certain trust - and, hopefully, respect. They know what they can say off the record, they are open to giving opinions and theories, and occasionally they ask for honest feedback on one of their wines.

Michael Richmond at Bouchaine in Napa Valley is a complete joy to talk with. I've learned a lot over casual lunches with Francois Thienpot of the famous winemaking family on Bordeaux' Right Bank and from Bernard de Laage of the extended winemaking team at Chateau Palmer on the Left. Locally, I can discuss anything with Eric Miller of Chaddsford and expect a very frank appraisal, which we often then discuss with some heat.

Anthony Vietri at Va La Vineyards in Avondale and I probably have more time to talk about wine (and sports and politics) than most because, I think, we are both good observors and because he lives 15 minutes away. Sometimes, after we spend an afternoon over a bottle or two of wine and some good local cheese and his own figs and chesnuts at his winery, he will pull out something he has just released and ask, "Do you mind tasting this and tell me what you think?" Fortunately, Tony is a very good winemaker who makes very distinctive wines. "Give a little time to breathe," he cautioned on Thursday as I departed with a bottle of 2007 Mahogany, his Barbera-dominated wine that is probably his top cuvee.

It is now about 4:15 a.m. on Sunday morning, and I have just gotten up to feed the cats, brew some coffee, and toast some focaccia with a little salsa on top. While the coffee is brewing, I open the decanter with the Mahogany. I decanted it on Thursday night in a large vessel, but put a stopper in it so that the wine would get a lot of air but all recirculated off the surface of the wine. The first taste on Thursday still had a touch of post-partum sulphur which gave it a little gaminess, a taste I like but one which I knew would disappear. I have been writing Tony twice-a-day notes since.

This morning, I taste it, make notes, grab the coffee and focaccia, and go to my office with my indoor/outdoor cat, Lyle Lovett, racing up the stairs ahead of me. I e-mail Tony, "The last taste was probably the best. I finished it this morning. It has all integrated for the first time into one taste - purple fruit, close to black raspberry, with cream and a tug of tannin at the end."

Lyle Lovett snuggles in behind me on my writing stool. Not a bad way to start a week of drinking.

Monday, November 1

It has been a busy day of writing, but I have again worked my way ahead of the assignments-due versus articles- completed curve, having knocked off the last of eight holiday pieces for Caviar Affair and a Porto travel piece for The Hunt.

Tonight, Ella and I are relaxing at a wine dinner at Domaine Hudson in Wilmington (see earlier post) that features Le Cadeau Pinot Noirs from Oregon. I am the designated driver, so I am watching the pours, especially since I had tasted the wines Saturday night at a party for the Mortimers, who own Le Cadeau. It's a chatty group at our end of the table, and my notes trail off to nothiness - I'm covered! - as courses come and wine flows. At the end are business entrepreneurs and executives Ajit and Sarah George, whom we chatted with at Saturday's grand tasting, and next to us are Al Mascitti and Valerie Helmbrecht, both writers who often do other things.

Al puts his nose in one wine and says, "I like this, but I would have never guessed it was a Pinot Noir," and we are off into a discussion of how modern winemaking techniques have lessened the relevance of "varietal characteristics," which we all talked about during the '70s and '80s, in favor of "taste profiles" (a winese term which I detest) emphasizing whether the fruit is red, purple, or black.

I ask Al if he misses being a restaurant critic after doing it for years. "Not at all," he says. "I can now order what I want, but generally I'd rather eat at home." "And when we do go to a restaurant," Valerie adds, "Al doesn't tell me what to order!"

Tomorrow being election day, the talk shifts to politics - Al and Valerie have both covered Delaware politics as a reporter, and Ajit has been a campaign volunteer - so I stop taking wine notes altogether and plunge in.

Tuesday, November 2

Election Day. I have voted, taken a long walk, and posted the Le Cadeau piece. I see my piece on Nouveau Brandywine has been posted by a regional site. It is now about 8 p.m., and I decide to fix myself a drink to sip as I monitor returns on the New York Times and Politico sites. Last week, also in the New York Times, Frank Bruni wrote about his quest to find out how to make a Frisco, a cocktail that still, apparently, haunts his memory. Eventually, he came up with a rye, Benedictine, and lemon juice combination that satisfied his memory and his tastes.

So yesterday I bought Benedictine, having only B&B in the cabinet, and now I'm blending, blending, blending the three ingredients, then add ice. I make a very big drink, for it will be a long evening. I take the first sip, and I am not sold - too much lemon juice, a little too bitter, although that may suit my mood as the returns come in. But as the evening goes on, the results, and the drink, mellow. So do I. Looking at the Senate map as it fills in, I see a lot of red fruit in the profile, but there are some welcome blue fruit notes here and there.

But Frank, I'll be looking for a sweeter cocktail two years from now.

Wednesday, November 3

The sample bottles arrive in the morning - 6 tiny wine bottles, enough for a taste or religious communion (a possible market?) - for this afternoon's 3 p.m. tasting. How's that for confidence in Fedex or last-minute planning ("Did I send the wine? I thought you sent the wine! OMG!")

Normally, I amtrak to New York City a few times a month, and occasionally to Washington, from my home in Chester County, PA, for a wine tasting and seminar conducted by a winemaker. (Occasionally, the PR agency tries to slip in another writer or sommelier - skip those.) But, increasingly, Webinars are saving everyone time and money. I watched Montes from the vineyards in Chile, Raymond talking from California. Today, it will be Cameron Hughes talking and tasting from Napa Valley, with his sidekick, Sam Spencer.

At 3 p.m., I have lined up six large glasses that tower over the six screwy Lilliputs. I turn on the radio - I mean, click on the website, pump up the volume, and Cameron and Sam start talking at me. One by one, we go through each Lot Number, and the wines, all lots purchased negociant-style by CH, are very good and very good values to boot. And no need to spit, as all six might add up to one good pour. I decide I could start a relationship with Lot 175, purchased from Havens. It's my favorite, and I lust after more than this brief kiss.

There are about 25 of us online now, and we type in questions that are relayed to Cameron and Sam. I ask if all of their high-end partners are in distress, or if some are using CH to declassify as they might normally do in bulking off. Cameron leaps on the first part of my question, looks straight at me through the ether-world, and explains to me that many of his partners are in good financial straits. He didn't hear the second part, but that's OK.

Cameron, you've found a good business model for now, a good way to send just-in-time wine samples, and a good way to tell me all I need to know about your wines, taking less than 30 minutes of my time.

Thursday, November 4

It is a miserable, rainy, cold day - the kind us Anglophiles just love. I have spent the morning at the University of Delaware lecturing, as I do once a semester, to one of Robert Nelson's hospitality classes on worldwide wine trends. They are a good undergraduate audience, even though most of them are not yet of an age to legally drink up any part of my talk.

I don't cook enough any more, so today I make a bean and Italian sausage soup. Whenever I'm not traveling, Ella and I share a bottle of wine with dinner, generally trying to remove one from the kitchen pantry cabinet where I keep the samples that come to my doorstep like abandoned foundlings. Since most arrive in 750ml (note to Cameron) diapers, our pantry is generally overflowing. I don't choose anything dramatic tonight, but it turns out to be a very satisfying meal of homemade soup and 2008 Le Veli Salento "Primonero."

Today, comfort food, comfort wine.

Friday, November 5

I see my article on the Douro Makeover has been posted on Sommelier News, as the November issue is beamed out to its audience.

Tonight, Ella goes with me to a walk-around tasting, generally not my favorite type of wine venue. Too often they are shoulder-to-shoulder crowded, and it's almost impossible to concentrate on the wine you're tasting or talk with the people pouring the wines. Tonight, it's different on all counts. It's the annual calling-all-vendors bash by the Wine and Spirit Company of Greenville, a retail store, and it's being held at Brantwyn, one of the many decommissioned mansions and great houses of the scions of the founder of DuPont, the company, scattered all over the Brandywine Valley.

Once inside, over there is Michael Richmond, winemaker at Bouchaine (wasn't I just talking about him?), a winery owned by the Copelands, who also own the wine shop. And beside that table is David Duckhorn, the genial wine importer, with his cache of California and New Zealand wines. And so we work our way from table to table, room to room - a sip of wine and a brief chat at each. And about 40 minutes later we are back out into the night air.

At home, Ella and I again raid the sample pantry, this time for a bottle of 2007 Blason d'Issan. We were in the Medoc that harvest, so it gives us something else to chat about as we sit at the kitchen counter and raid the refrigerator for some of Tom Schaer's underground sheep cheese from just across the creek and some artisan salumi handmade by Phil Pyle, a chef owner at Fair Hill Inn, a handful of miles away in Maryland. It's a wonderful after-the-theater snack.

But it's only 8:30, so I delve a little further into my novel and Ella into her Kindle as we read ourselves to sleep.

Saturday, November 5

One more night out. It's now late in the afternoon, and I have to finish this posting so we won't be late for tonight's dinner at Susan Teiser's Centreville Cafe, co-hosted by Linda Collier of Collier's of Centreville wine shop. I have to be there - no excuses - because "Roger Morris Selections" will be poured tonight to accompany the great food of Susan and her staff.

It's a coming-out dinner of sorts, as I recently expanded my involvement from writing about the wine trade to being part of it as a broker in Delaware for three California wineries - Bell Cellars, Mauritson, and Hidden Ridge. I hesitated for a long time before making this commitment. One, I still fully plan to be a wine writer first, so I've made the vow not to write about my wines in any sort of advocacy way. When I mentioned this to Clay Mauritson, I liked his reply: "Hell, I don't care if you don't write about my wines. I want you to sell my wines." Point taken, so you'll see none of them as my Wines of the Week.

The second reservation is that I'm not a entrepreneur, although I love entrepreneurism. Translated, I love working with new ideas, launches, and new ventures, but I hate putting up money that I might lose. John Lowman, my partner in RMS' parent company, North Fork Wine & Spirits, put that fear in proper perspective. "The worse that can happen," John said, "is that we'll have to drink a few pallets of wine."

Okay, it's almost time to go drink - sorry Clay, sell - some wine. And tonight I can leave my notebook at home.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup: Livelli 'Primonero'

2010-11-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Wines of the Week

2008 Li Veli Salento "Primonero" IGT ($10). Made from a 50/50 mixture of Primotivo and Negromaro, the wine is tight with high acidity in the finish, but it has a core fruit flavor of black raspberry that opens up beautifully in the glass - a fruity wine that goes well with red meats and red sauce. Very good value.

2007 Macari "Bergen Road" North Fork of Long Island Red Wine ($46). I like Macari because they approach winemaking as winemaking, not as Eastern winemaking. Know what I mean? Anyway, "Bergen Road" is always an interesting blend, whatever the vintage, and this one has loads of dark red fruit flavors with rich oak notes, a hint of mint, and lots of smooth tannins. It will age well, and it will taste even better with decanting, whether you drink it now or in 10 years. With 42% Merlot, 30% Cab Sauv, 21% Cab Franc, and 7% Petite Verdot.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Tom & Deb Mortimer's Gift

2010-11-02T03:49:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about wine is that it all tastes differently. A second great thing is that no two wineries have the same philosophy or business model.

Having said that, Le Cadeau is a little different than most. There's no doubt that Le Cadeau's vineyard, located on a rocky hillside near Newburg in the Willamette Valley, has the right terroir and the right owners to make great Pinot Noir. It's the diversity of the Le Cadeau Pinots and the way they're made that is fascinating.

On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to taste practically every Pinot that has any relationship to Le Cadeau (the gift) and it's owners, Tom and Deb Mortimer, at the home of Tom and Meg Hudson in Wilmington. Meg kept her day job as a business executive, while Tom, an accountant, abandoned all his business principles five years ago to launch Domaine Hudson eatery and wine bar. That evening, by my count, I tried around 26 wines that bore either one of Le Cadeau's labels, or that of its Aubichon joint venture, dating back to its first commercial production in 2002.

In recent vintages, Le Cadeau has had four releases - "Cote Est," "Rocheaux" and "Equinoxe," all named after their vineyard plots, and "Diversite," which blends seven different clones from "a row here, and a row there" and is co-fermented, some in stainless and some in wood. In 2009, a fifth label, "Merci," made from one acre of heritage clones (Swan, Calera, Mount Eden), was added.

The odd thing is that Mortimer - who oversees the vineyard - has a different winemaker for each Le Cadeau label. "In 2008, we had five different winemakers," Mortimer says, "but normally we have four." These winemakers have day jobs elsewhere or own their own wineries. As illustration that no logistic is too difficult too overcome, Mortimer shipped the grapes for two of his cuvees this year to California, where their winemakers happened to have these day jobs. While Mortimer does oversee the grape growing, he picks according to the prefernces of the individual winemaker.

This approach does add a slight complication for the inquisitive drinker, as we have to guess whether the differences between the different wines is due to its vineyard plots and clones or the styles of their winemakers. During the Saturday tasting, and again last evening when we tasted the four 2008 cuvees again with the delicious food of Patrick McMahon at Domaine Hudson's fifth aniversary celebration, I kept coming back to Equinoxe as my favorite, although I would be happy to have any of the Le Cadeau wines in the desert island scenario.

The 2006 Equinoxe, its first vintage, was smooth and elegant, but also large-bodied with a pronounced ripe-fruitiness and finishing flavors of black raspberries. The 2007 was also rich and showed some tannins, as did the 2008. Winemaker Jim Sanders likes his grapes picked late, says Mortimer, and the two together launched the Aubichon joint venture.

The Mortimers make only a few hundred cases on their 28-acre property, and it always sells out. But it's doubtful they'll make money on it anytime soon, so in a way Le Cadeau is their gift to us. Which brings us to the third great thing about wine, in addition to its diversity and the diverse ways in which its made - some of the friendliest and most interesting people make it.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup: Robert Mondavi Merlot

2010-10-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Wine of the Week

2007 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Merlot ($23). Like many writers, I have fond memories of Robert Mondavi the man and of visits to his winery in the late 1970s and early 1980s when its - and his - reputation was in its ascendancy. And, like many writers, I am used to eponymous wineries falling off the quality bandwagon when the "brand" is purchased by a larger corporation. I'll admit I have not had an up close view to what has been going on at Robert Mondavi winery in recent years, but I continue to be impressed by the bottles I keep opening and their prices. And this wine is an excellent example of continuing quality and value at RMW. The 2007 Merlot, a complex wine that will get moreso, has lots of juicy blackberries and loads of tannins. This, I think, shows what Napa Valley can do with a Merlot, yet the price is very reasonable. It has 16 percent alcohol, but it doesn't come across to me as either too hot nor unbalanced. I would decant it for a couple of hours if drinking it now. The wine is certainly in the quality category of Merlots selling in the $40-$60 range. And for someone interested in collecting wines for aging, not just buying expensive trophies, it would be smart to purchase a couple of cases. You'll be richly rewarded in the years to come.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Report: Dynamite Silvaner

2010-10-14T15:57:00.001-07:00

Wine of the Week

2009 Castell-Castell Franken Silvaner Trocken ($13). I can't remember the last time I raved about a Silvaner, because the chances are I have never before raved about a Silvaner. Typically Silvaner, aka Sylvaner, has all the distinctiveness of a Trebbiano... yeah, right. But this wine is simply delicious - spicy, tangy, crisp with flavors of grapefruit and green apple skins. We had pork ribs, sauerkraut and stuffing last night with it - with lots of fresh and dried herbs floating around - and the wine was superb. It was also great without the food. Did I say I liked this wine?

Sermonette of the Week

For years, we wine writers have been reporting that red wine producers have changed their styles to accommodate the fact that no one cellars wines for years anymore. Under this story that we've been telling - and if there is anyone who can document they've been telling a different story, please step across the dotted line right now - wines are being made kinder and gentler so they can be consumed immediately.

It's finally gotten it through my dense brain that this is all a fraud! While we have fewer under-ripe grapes, and while the tannins are perhaps a tad more friendly, red wines from the primary regions are just as big and aggressive as they ever were - plus they have more alcohol (not necessarily a sin in my book).

The only difference is that we all - from winemakers to wine writers - have been telling people that the wines are mellower. And they're not! I don't think anyone has been dishonest on purpose; we've just believed what seems to be intuitive.

Time to trot out credentials: I've been drinking serious reds seriously since the mid-1970s - that's 35 years of somewhat sober observation - from Napa's tannic monsters to Medoc's annual primeurs tastings of barrel monsters. Last week, I reported on recent tastings of Amarones, Argentine Malbecs and Barolos - and those wines were just as big as they were 30 years ago. Not as funky with buggy big barrel aromas as in the old days, but every bit as big as what I was tasting decades ago.

Now listen to the mantra the winemakers chant: "This wine is drinkable now, but it will last another 10 years." Voice from the crowd: "Maybe 15!" Hell, these wines will still need to be decanted 20 years down the road.

This isn't a complaint. I love the way that big reds are being made. I love to taste them right out of the barrel when they are like riding a wild horses. And I love tasting them 20 years later when they are smooth and sophisticated.

Wines may have actually gotten bigger over the past 30 years, but we've convinced ourselves that they are "much more accessible" than in the old days. They are not. They may be cleaner. They may be fruitier. They may be fresher. They may even have smoother tannins - although generally not. But they are just as concentrated, as extracted, as alcoholic as they ever were. Certainly that is the case in Medoc, where some older vintages - before good vineyard practices and global warming - were downright anemic.

My point is: I like the way big reds wines are being made. Let's just admit that they are as huge as they ever were. We're just eating them younger than we used to.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

Plaisirs de Vivre: Why Drink?

2010-10-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

If seems like an absurd question: Why Drink?

Yet when editor Celine Tremblay of the Montreal-based magazine, Plaisirs de Vivre, and I were travelling through Macedonina earlier this year visiting Greek wineries, she told me about her philosophical conversations in Paris with French wine writing elder statesman Henri Elwing and challenged me to give a practical, American reply to the question. Here are my thoughts on the matter as they appeared in the October issue of Plaisirs - minus the neat graphic interpretations:

Some people are born to wine. Others of us come to it.

The first time I drank wine was a blind tasting – in a manner. At the time, I was still a country teenager, out walking along a dirt road in the very narrow valley where I was born. An older neighbor’s truck bumped toward me and stopped. George leaned out the open window and extended a brown paper bag – a “poke” in our local vernacular – with the paper twisted around the neck of what must have been a bottle.

“Want a drink?” George asked.

“Sure,” I said.

Although ours was a dry household in the 1950s, a couple of times before I had tasted bourbon with a little hot water and rock candy as a special treat when my dad and another neighbor celebrated Christmas. This tasted different – not as fiery as whisky and certainly sweeter.

George told me it was red wine.

I would like to claim that I can still remember that first taste and have since divined its manufacturer and provenance. But I don’t, and I can’t. And it would be several more years before I became a regular wine drinker and still more years before I began to write about this special beverage.

I’ve thought a lot over the years about the attraction of alcoholic drinks and why I drink what I drink, while others drink something else or consume no alcohol at all. Here’s how I see it:

Beer is for refreshment.

Spirits are for relaxation.

Wine is all about pleasure.

I drink all three – a beer after mowing the lawn on a hot day, a Manhattan or a Bloody Mary when I sit at the bar before dinner or to chat with friends. But when I want a drink to savor and contemplate, or one to have with food, it has to be wine.

To me, wine has always had a romance to it. The first episode in this romance came when my brother David gave me a three-pack of Bolla wines – Soave, Bardolino and Valpolicella. I had heard of none of them – this was in the 1970s when most Americans thought of wine as something winos drank – but the names sounded exotic and magical.

So I bought a book on wine – one in the Time Life series, I believe – and I became enamored. The names Hermitage, Meursault and Haut-Brion bedazzled me, as did the photos of the châteaux, the chais and the vines. I pored over maps of the Cotes d’Or, reading the names of famous terroirs that I would walk through decades later, as enthralling in person as they were on paper.

Nothing is as romantic as sitting across the table chatting with an interesting woman – preferably my wife – while having a great meal and a great bottle of wine. But a close second is being at a similar table with a winemaker, sharing her or his thoughts and theories about terroirs, fermentation and the wine and food liaison.

Why drink? Is there any beverage so complex and changeable that it almost has human qualities? Can any other glass carry such a romantic retinue of shared thoughts

and experiences? Wine is the sole drink that brings us both rapt anticipation and the warmth of memories.

Why drink? Wine is the drink of Gods, and it makes us feel like one of them.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

Friday Lineup: Amarone, Mastrojanni, Montes

2010-10-08T01:52:00.000-07:00

The 12 Families of Amarone

Amarone has long been a friend of mine. Names like Masi, Thomassi and Speri have been hanging out in my cellar for decades, getting mellow until I can wait no longer - and I pull the cork.

Amarone's little brother, simple Valpolicella, was one of the wines that got me interested in the wine business many years ago. At that time, I was given a three pack of Verona-region wines, so I wanted to find out more about these weird-sounding wines - the others being a Bardolino and a Soave. Amarone is grown in the same region and uses the same grapes as everyday Valpolicella, but there the similarities disappear. Amarone employs more of Corvina, the chief regional red grape, it is grown on better hillside plots, and its grapes are dried in bunches until the alcohol from the concentrating sugar produce wines hovers at 15% or more. Finally, it gathers and somewhat tames tannins while spending several years in the oak. The finished product, to my palate, is arguably the best high-alcohol red table wine, possessing some of the rich flavors of Port without the sweetness.

Recently, I was in New York at the Public Library to check out recent vintages (mainly 2000 to 2006) being poured by a new group of 12 families of Amarone producers formed less than two years ago and now on its first U.S. tour.

All of the families sell their wines in the U.S., although some are much more familiar - and available - than others. Alphabetically, they are: Allegrini, Begali, Brigaldara, Masi, Musella, Nicolis, Speri, Tedeschi, Tenuta Sant'Antonio, Tommasi, Venturini and Zenato. Of course, all these people make very good wines, so, in tasting them, it comes down to personal preferences and small degrees of difference.

I did notice that the Musella wines seemed to be slightly richer than the rest, and that the Tedeschi bottles were the most tightly knit and concentrated for their ages. So my first wine of the week is:

2005 Musella Amarone Riserva (about $56). Brilliant blueberries in the nose and mouth as well as the traditional dark red/purple fruits, a long richness of fruit on the palate with integrated oak and loads of dusty tannins for aging a couple of more decades.

Illy Intros Newly-Purchased Mastrojanni

Riccardo Illy at Mastrojanni

Mastrojanni is a Tuscan brand I have drunk and followed for a couple of decades - I have some Rosso di Montalcino from the late '80s in my cellar - so I was especially intertested when I heard that Riccardo Illy would also be in New York this week. Illy is head of Gruppo Illy, a family-owned business that is famous for Illy brand coffee (you can't seriously travel to Europe without drinking lots of Illy espresso, and my wife Ella bought me an Illy machine for Christmas) and has broadening into producing tea, chocolate, various formed of preserved fruit, and now wine - all the basic food groups.

I have a couple of assignments to write articles about Illy and Mastrojanni, so I won't use all my material here. Let me just say that Riccardo Illy is charming and witty, a very astute businessman and politician (he was a member of the Italian parliament and mayor of his native Trieste, where Illy is located) and is fascinated by Mastrojanni, which the family purchased in 2008.

One of Riccardo Illy's business tenets is to retain management when you buy a company, so Andrea Machetti has stayed on as managing director of Mastrojanni. All of the wines I tasted were delicious - the 2005 Brunello, the lovely, dark, somewhat meaty 2004 "Vigna Schiena d'Asino" Brunello, and the 2007 IGT Super Tuscan "San Pio" (80% Cab, 20% Sangio) with it's lovely raspberry fruit and violet aromas. But, because it is the first vintage released since the Illy purchase and because it's a great value wine, my second wine of the week is:

2008 Mastrojanni Rosso di Montalcino ($25). Bright, lively fruit up front with a dark, rich fruit in the finish to add length and complexity. It has moderate tannins, so the wine is very drinkable now.

Montes: Let Them Drink Kaiken

Aurelio Montes has a phrase: "We had some more energy." He established, with partners, Montes as the first all-premium Chilean winery, then "we had some more energy," and Montes leaped across the Andes to make wine under the Kaiken label in Argentina. Further energized, he went north to Napa for NapaAngel. Then, propelled by his love for Syrah, he nosed around in Paso Robles for the right grapes and created StarAngel.

In some ways, Montes is a half-mystic like another brilliant winemaker, the Italian Alois Lageder in that both play music for the wines slumbering in the barrel. But Montes is the only winemaker I know who created a winery - the Montes facility at Apalta - according to Feng Shui principles. So it isn't surprising that Montes named the Paso wine StarAngel after former business partner Douglas Murray, who recently died and who loved the concept of angels and brought the motif to Montes.

So there was no way I'd miss Aurelio Montes' presentation yesterday afternoon of 12 of his red wines before and over lunch at Aureole in mid-town Manhattan. They are all big, bold but very drinkable wines from Bordeaux blends to Malbecs to Syrahs to Carmenere - all different but with a similar touch.

The wine I want to feature as my third wine of the week, however, is the one that Aurelio came to show us as the new Kaiken on the block, "Mai," the first Montes icon wine from Argentina:

2007 Kaiken "Mai" ($90). Mai is 100% Malbec, but a blend of three Mendoza regional vineyards. It has ripe berries and spices, with dark cherry being the dominant flavor, well-balanced with loads of tannins. It is long on the palate, but still very tight. Aurelio recommends it with wild boar and other game, but if I were going to have it this evening with pork sauvage, I would decant it around noon.

Recently Published Articles:

In the October Beverage Media, I explore how the classic producers of sweet wines are updating their profiles and portfolio - or not - in "Still Sweet - but Not Old-Fashioned."

In the October Sommelier News, I visit the vineyard Mer Soileil, "The White Jewel of Monterey."

And for four years I've been choosing a representative 12 bottles of wine from Southeastern Pennsylvania producers. Read about the "2010 Case of the Brandywine" in the Oct/Nov issue of Signature Brandywine.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

A Week of Drinking Locally - Sort Of

2010-10-05T02:26:00.000-07:00

A week of drinking locally - above from the top down: (1) The Horse Knows the Way, as proprietor Stefaan Massart does a tour de vines of his Chateau Vilatte estate near Puynormand; (2) The End of Bordeaux lies just beyond the building at the bottom of the slope, as the vines Chateau Parencherre near Ligueux look eastward toward Dordogne; (3) in the Colli Fiorentini, A Cellar with a View looks skyward from the ancient castle keep of Fattoria Torre a Cona.

For the last week, I've been a strict locaboire, drinking only local wines to pair with local foods.

The week began quite pleasantly with a Monday lunch at the Planet Bordeaux wine tourism center, feasting on duck confit and Bordeaux Superieure rouge at the intriguing facility just off the main route between Bordeaux City and Libourne that is all about Bordeaux' mainstay brands - Bordeaux AC and Bordeaux Superior wines.

After drinking and eating my way across Entre-Deux-Mer and adjacent regions, I landed Thursday evening in Florence in time for a long dinner at Trattorio da Tito, sampling a dozen or so bottles of delightful Chianti Colli Fiorentini reds and riservas before nearly collapsing from sensory overload into my steak Florentine.

Following a major tasting of wines of the CCF Riserva appellation at the city's Limonaia on Friday morning and visiting on Saturday four estates in the hills surrounding Italy's favorite city, I found myself on the flight back from Paris to Pennsylvania. There, my wife Ella's classic pasta with red sauce awaited me, savored at a Sunday evening dinner in front of the season's first fire and matched with two locally made Chester County wines - a homemade 2007 Pinot Noir from David Othmer's Haywagon Vineyard and a well-aged 2003 Va La Vineyards Nebbilo made by its proprietor, Anthony Vietri.

Eat local, drink local - wherever local happens to be at the moment.

The purpose of this week on the road was to get a closer view of two under-appreciated wine regions where great quality and value exist. Bordeaux AC and Bordeaux Superieur, whose wineries are concentrated in, but not limited to, the Entre-Deux-Mers region between Boredeaux' Medoc and Graves regions and Ste-Emilion and Pomerol, makes delicious red, white, sweet and even sparkling wines at affordable prices. Chianti Colli Fiorentini is lesser known than Chianti Classico, but it also makes great value wines in the hills, or colli, around Florence.

Some highlights of the week:

1. Shopping the weekly market at Creon and seeing the source of Bordeaux' fabuluos duck cuisine,

2. Touring Renaissance man Stefaan Massart's Chateau Vilatte vineyards by horse-drawn carriage then sitting down to dinner with bread made by Massart at the brick oven he reconstructed,

3. Hearing and watching in the gathering darkness as the mascaret, or incoming mini-tidal wave, swept up the Dordogne River from the Atlantic, at riverside Chateau de Bel,

4. Walking through the caverns beneath Chateau Lamothe d'Haux, carved out long ago to get limestone building blocks for chateaux and city buildings, then having lunch on the terrace above,

5. Examining the century-old vines newly identified as being from the rare Bouchales variety at Chateau de la Vieille Chapelle,

6. Watching - quel frommage! - cheeses being made at Domaine de l'Hirondelle,

7. Savoring a family dinner with the Demononchaux at Chateau Pierrail,

8. Interviewing the fascinating Antoine Touton on camera at Chateau Sainte-Barbe.

9. At Florence's Boboli Gardens, tasting through the 2008 vintage of Chiani Colli Fiorentini in the caveronous Limonaia, then

10. Visiting four estates in the maze of hills around the city.

And, of course, the pleasures of being back home again with local food, local wine, and a local bed!

Until next time,

Roger Morris

In the September issue of the UK's The Drinks Business, read my business case study, "John Larchet's Aussie Wine Journal."

Friday Lineup: Laura Catena's Argentina

2010-09-25T01:51:00.000-07:00

Laura Catena is one of those people you would love to have living next door - loads of practical knowledge, makes fabulous wines, tells great stories, and is an emergency room physician in case things get a tad grim. The only thing is that next door could be San Francisco, where she practices medicine, or Mendoza, where she practices wine.

She is also daughter of wine pioneer Nicolas Catena and great-granddaughter of immigrants from the Italian Marche to Argentina's premier wine-growing country. I met both Nicolas and Laura Catena at dinner about seven years ago at the famous Mayan temple-like Catena Zapata winery south of Mendoza city.

Today, Laura Catena is president of Catena Zapata and owner of her own Luca winery, based in the Uco Valley and specializing in wines made from grapes grown in ultra-high, small-lot vineyards on the eastern slope of the Andes. And if we can't have her living next door, we now have the next best thing: a just-out copy of her new book, Vino Argentina (Chronicle Books, $27.50), being released next Wednesday, and a bottle of her 2008 Luca Mendoza Malbec.

The book first - and it is an "everything book," one of those unusual blends of precise information you want when you're in a hurry and cultural grazing when you want context and a good story. Essentially, it is first a hands-on guidebook to Argentina wines and wineries with names and contact info. Second, it a book on the wine culture and foods of Argentina with lots of specific and delightful background material. Finally, it is a cookbook for those who can't make it to Argentina or who just came back from there and want a lingering taste of the Argentine lifestyle.

In short, Laura Catena's Vino Argentina is the one book I would read before going back to Argentina, then I would pack it in the luggage.

Now the wine:

Wine of the Week:

2008 Luca Mendoza Malbec ($32). The aroma is powerful - dark berries and murky oak - and there is an immediate sensation of richness (but not fat) on the palate. The basics flavors are the ones I'm immediately drawn to - very tangy fruit, like slightly dried but still plump Bing cherries, lying in a bed of creme fraiche or sour cream. The fruity creaminess lingers in the aftertaste. It has excellent integration of oak and fruit. Three ways of serving this wine come quickly to mind - with flaky, rich but not buttery cow's milk cheese, with an elegant dish of pink beef or lamb and a rich reduction sauce, or with goat stew. Very drinkable now, but will age well.

Until next week...

Roger Morris

New Articles:

- Profile of Talula's Table restaurant in current issue of Sante'.

- Wines of Greek Macedonia in the current issue of Sommelier News.

- Why Drink? in the current issue of the Montreal-based Plaisirs de Vivre. Why, indeed?

From the Alentejo Plains to the Douro Slopes

2010-09-17T02:19:00.000-07:00

First things first: If you haven't tasted the delicious table wines David Baverstock has been making from Alentejo grapes for Esporao over the past 18 years, go out and buy some now. Esporao, like many Portuguese wineries, makes wines at various levels of price and corresponding complexities, and I was struck by the house consistency that Baverstock has achieved at all the levels. The simplest wines have some of the same appealing characteristics as the greatest. Beyond this, there is a consistency between vintages, although vintages definitely matter in the Alentejo.

Second: Mark your calendar for Spring 2011 when the first wines from Esporao-owned Quinta dos Murcas will start appearing in America of Douro table wines from Baverstock, an old hand at both Port and table wines from Portugal's north,

I just got back yesteday from visiting both estates on assignment to write five or so articles and had a great time. The food, particularly at the finer restaurants, was delicious, although we had a lovely lunch prepared by resident cook Dona Ana Maria of Murcas, including a fresh octopus with potatoes and broccoli (see photo). Through it all, there was not a single wine we tasted from the two estates that didn't show quality and that wasn't a very good food wine.

I'll be posting links to articles as they appear, but I hope you enjoyed this quick preview - including photos of the vines of Alentejo from a centuries-old tower, the harvest at Esporao, and a grape's-eye view of the Douro from atop one of Murcas' lofty vineyards.

Until next time,

Roger Morris

Cruzan Rummages Through the Spice Rack

2010-09-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

Certain spirits are for sipping, what you reach for when you are relaxing or have something pleasurable to mull over. Pour me a Jack Daniels on the rocks during a long flight across the Atlantic when I'm leafing through my trip journal or a dollop of Cognac or Armagnac in a retro snifter while I'm at the bar listening to jazz piano after a pleasant, solo dinner or else when I'm reading the latest Vanity Fair in a stuffed chair on a wintry evening as the wind howls outside.

Now add Cruzan 9 spiced rum to make it a trilogy. Rum has always been an occasional drink for me, one that I certainly enjoy by itself or as the lead ingredient in a cocktail, but it isn't a regular on my iPod play list. But the other day, I received a promotional bottle of Cruzan spiced - No. 379 of the first 500 production run it says in the add-on label - and it blew me away. It's perhaps the smoothest full-scale (40% alcohol) flavored spirit I have tasted, and though it boasts nine "heirloom" spices, vanilla is its dominant aroma, both from the spice itself and the toasted wood. The other eight include cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, even a touch of juniper berry. It costs about $16 a bottle.

Although it's a serious drink, the nose immediately says "vanilla-bean ice cream." But I've resisted the temptation to buy some and try the combination. Mostly, I've just been sipping it neat, both at room temperature and chilled. I haven't wanted to weaken it with ice, but sooner or later, I suppose I'll have to try that as well.

It's also a pleasant morning drink - just a taste after some strong Italian-roast coffee, which is what I'm having now at 4:30 a.m. as I'm working on this posting. The day is already rosy, and it isn't even daylight.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

Friday Lineup: This Writer's Life

2010-09-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

Carla Capalbo is a respected wine and food correspondent, commentator and photographer, and those of you read Decanter regularly probably recognize her byline on dispatches, especially from Italy. I've met up with her over the past year or so in Bordeaux and Greece and have come to enjoy her insights and to be amused by her camera unipod (a tripod minus two) that must give airport security fits when she shows up with it on her trips.

When we were together with other journalists in Macedonia in late June, Carla showed me her just-published book, Collio: Fine Wines and Foods from Italy's North-East, for which she did text and color photos. It is a beautiful book, whether you're reading page-by-page or just thumbing through for an overview. Collio is a lovely section of the world that produces some heavenly wines, especially whites, and Carla has done a great job of capturing the place, the people and the wines and food. It is published by Pallas Athene, and you won't have any problem finding it on the internet or ordering it though your local indie.

This is not her first wine and food book, and what makes Carla so good is that she takes the time to know a region, either camping out in it for weeks or visiting with frequency if she lives nearby.

Buy it, either for yourself or the wino who lives on the other side of your bed.

GO ON - PUT A BOTTLE TO MY HEAD!

I frequently try to tell people that wine writing and the travel it entails - especially those long second-class flights to vineyards inconveniently planted on the other side of the Atlantic or the 12-hour days in the tasting room and at the dinner table with nothing to do except drink, eat, ask questions and take notes - can be pure hell. No one believes me. "Can I carry your bags?" they ask. "How to I get your job?" they plead.

While I was away traveling to Paso Robles on a wine assignment recently, my friend and colleague John Lowman clipped the cartoon above from The New Yorker and slow-mailed it to me so I would see it on my return.

Need I say anything else?

Wine of the Week

2001 Montecillo Rioja Gran Riserva ($25). Maria Martinez was one of the first women in Europe to break the for-men-only cellar-door barrier and open it to a flood of female winemakers, and her experience shows off in this wonderly sophisticated Tempranillo. For people who don't have the storage room or the patience to age their own wines, this is the way you used to be able to buy reds - fully mature when you opened the bottle and ready to drink without being tired or dried out. This nine-year old new release has rounded red fruit, mellow, well-integrated oak, just a touch of tannins and food-loving acidity. It will keep for more years, but why not drink it now? A steal at $25.

Wines of Interest

2009 Vina Costeira Ribeiro ($15). A tangy, refreshing white from Spain's left coast with medium body and lots of citrus and floral notes and a touch of brioche in the finish. Very nice blend of indigenous grapes with Treixadura (70%) leading the way. (Note: Ribeiro D.O. is not to be confused with Ribera del Duero.)

2008 Blackstone Winemaker Select California Merlot ($11). Ripe, rich fruit with moderate oak and a touch of creaminess in the end. A harmonious wine, simple and not complex.
2008 Un4seen California Red Wine ($11). When I unscrewed this and took the first taste, I was hit with the sweet fruitiness of the kind of wine I don't drink. But the second sip showed good structure and a surprisingly fine spicy, satisfying finish. I drank some and came back the next day to finish the bottle. That said, Un4seen is really a wine for people who like a sweeter, fruitier table companion, but don't want a cloying finish. If you're climbing up or going down that sweet to dry ladder, this could be your wine. A blend of Zin, Malbec, PV and Merlot.

Now Playing at a Newstand (or Computer Screen) Near You

My latest harvest of wine articles has some nice ones:

Drinks Business, the UK-based wine business publication, carries my case study of Michel Rolland's Mendoza wine collective, Clos de los Siete, in its August issue.

Drinks, the American consumer magazine, has my cover story on "Spain's Greatest Grape: The Many Faces of Tempranillo," in its fall issue.

And the August issue of Sommelier News, the online magazine at http://www.internationalsommelier.com/, features my piece on Sangiovese di Romagna, vying to become Italy's fourth great Sangiovese region.

Let me know if you would like to see a scanned copy of either the Clos de los Siete or Tempranillo articles.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Rant in a Minor Key: Going Against the Green

2010-08-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

For me, green is beginning to look a lot browner.

My dad believed in conservation - he was a union wage earner coming out of the Depression with four kids and a wife who was a week-night and weekend farmer because he had always been a farmer and because we needed the food. To dad two of the most dispicable words in the English language were scabs (the anti-union kind) and soil erosion. We caught hell if we tried to dam up the little stream that flowed by our house or cut play roads into the bare hillside.

I grew up as an environmentalist, which meant that I sometimes was at odds with the company I worked for - DuPont - but also sometimes defended them when I thought they were the victim of kneejerk criticisms of big business.

But I'm sick of green. Green is the new patriotism. Salute without even counting the stars in the flag. What set me off this time was seeing an ad about a Ford hybrid with its boast for how many miles a gallon it got in city driving. How much electricity does it take for recharging and how is that electricity manufactured? How much energy does it take to mine rare metals for the battery and what does it do to the environment? What is the total energy savings, if any? Tell me all that information in less-than-fine print, tell me all the tradeoffs, and I might seriously consider the ad's message.

The same with all our electronics. I love computers and my e-mail and my Blackberry and my blogging, but at what environmental cost? Electronics are far from being environmentally clean or even energy efficient from their birth to their final disposal. So spare me that puritan little note about considering whether I need to print out a message on (renewable and biodegradable and recyclable) paper if I want to retain something.

Yes, I do believe in some green causes. I believe absolutely that plastic bags are evil and not necessary because they last forever and are clogging up wire fences across the country and contaminating our oceans. They are the graffiti of packaging. When I need to carry something, I take along my own reusable bag in 90% of the cases. The other 10% is due to a faulty memory. Mostly, I love to carry things in my bare hands, sans baggage.

I was - am- a marketer of products and ideas. But I do get tired of so many false or unprovable green claims that I get daily from people touting their greener-than-green wine or food packaging, their tiny little carbon footprints, and their chastity-like sustainability. I delete most of these messages immediately without reading. And don't worry about me printing them out first.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup: Austin Hope's Terroir

2010-08-27T03:07:00.000-07:00

One of the topics wine people often discuss is how certain grape varieties thrive in particular settings or terroirs and how, over time, the wines made from these grapes grow to reflect these respective terroirs.

This week, I spent a few days with Austin Hope, his family and his colleagues at Hope Family Wines in Paso Robles, and it gradually occured to me that wineries and the people who work there often reflect the terroir as surely as their wines. Those who know Austin, his crew, and his wines would probably agree that no person, no winery better reflects the spirit of California's Central Coast in general, and Paso Robles in particular, than do Austin and his multi-faceted winery.

I love the sophistication of the Medoc and Napa Valley, but I also enjoy the more-rural pace of the Central Coast. Things don't move any slower in the country - a tired myth - but things are more deliberate, and there are fewer distractions. Similarly, everything seems less ostentatious and more utilitarian.

Austin Hope and his family moved to Paso Robles in 1978 from the Central Valley to grow apples and grapes (the apples made a quick exit), and Austin started working in the vineyard when he was eight. Today, Hope Family Wines is a very large, though not huge enterprise. Many of us have drunk their Treana red and white for over a decade and their Liberty School everyday wines, especally the Cab, even longer - from the days when the Hopes were selling grapes to Caymus before they bought the brand outright.

In recent years, as Austin began to take over the day-to-day from his father, Chuck, the line and the marketing have expanded. First, there was the prestige Austin Hope varietals that have proven to be a steady brand. More recently, we have seen the introduction of the ground-breaking, multi-vintage Candor line and the relaunching of Westside Red.

Hope is a complex and very likable guy who still has a touch of shy boyishness about him. Although he loves farming and winemaking, he is also a shrewd at business planning, something his father admits was not his first love. Hope understands tradition, but he doesn't get mired down in it. He enjoys thinking radical thoughts - such as betting on multi-vintage wines at higher price and quality levels rather than just sticking to the handcuffs of straight vintages - and acting on many of these thoughts. The people whom he has gathered around him - winemakers JC Diefendorfer and Soren Christenson and grower relations head Kristen Lane - reflect his spirit and intellectual restlessness. It was refreshing not to hear this week the routine, if well-meaning, cliches that often go with winemaking. And there is also some good ol' boy in Hope. He likes cars and bars and hunting as well as the next guy.

Of course, there are the wines. There is a preference for Cabernet and the Rhone varietals - what grows well here - especially at the high levels. If there is a house style, it is fruitiness up front, full body on the palate, and a lean finish with food-loving acidity. Fortunately, I got to taste the wines with a lot of good food provided by Thomas Hill Organics, Il Cortile, Artisan, and Bistro Laurent. You may not find many designer clothing stores in downtown Paso, but you certainly can eat well.

Over the next few weeks and months, I will be writing more about Hope Family Wines, and I will let you know as those articles start to appear as the grape are harvested, the leaves turn, and the snow flies. In the meantime, search out some of the newer Hope wines such as Candor and Westside Red and even Austin Hope wines if you haven't tried them.

When I returned from California, a friend had sent me a Hamilton cartoon that showed a sophisticated woman and a laid-back man chatting across a table with a bottle of wine. She asks him as he looks rather smug, "Do wine writers suffer and all that?" Sometimes, when you're stuck at Charles de Gaulle or it's past midnight in Spain and you haven't ordered the first course or on those long bus rides back to the hotel, we do suffer - a little. But this week, being a wine writer in Paso Robles and hanging out with the Hope folks was pure pleasure.

For wine pricing and location, go to www.wine-searcher.com.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup: Ends of the Spectrum

2010-08-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Wine of the Week

2007 Sequoia Grove Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($35). There are certain wines that bring a smile to your face when you pull the cork and smell the bottle, a welcoming aroma like coming through the front door on a cold day at dinner time. This is one of them. It may not be an outstanding wine, but it is certainly a very good one, especially at this price - a full-bodied Napa Cab that is not too oaky, too tannic, nor too fruit-forward. Instead, it has a lovely berry and cassis nose with flavors of tart blackberries, dark chocolate, mushrooms, forest floor and mellow oak. It is also somewhat lean and minerally, only mildly tannic and is, perhaps at this stage, a little too tight. The finish and aftertaste are a surprise - touches of raspberry cream and violets. Well structured and a delicious food wine.

Wines of Interest

2008 Ajello Sicily Nero d'Avola ($12). True to the Nero's taste profile, this is a big, unapoletically assertive wine with dark fruit flavors, mouthfuls of tannin and a pleasant bitterness around the edges. Don't try to explain it - like it or hate it for what it is, the wine equivalent of a burly Islay Scotch. Sip it, savor it with some spicy salumi. Let the afternoon pass away.

2009 Thomas Henry Borden Ranch Verdelho ($12). I had this wine a few days after the Nero d'Alba, and I thought they represented the A and the Z of wine drinking. Although both state 14% alcohol on the label, the Verdelho - how many of those do you see from California? - is a pouf by comparison, a little pond of lemon meringue and sugar floating in the middle of your palate. Drink it, and it immediately disappears. A nice amusement while you're waiting around the kitchen with guests before leaving for dinner.

2005 Undone Rheinhessen Pinot Noir ($13). German Pinots are still a bit of a wonder to us, and few to date have gone beyond the novelty state. This is a very simple one - unoaked - with rooty, cola flavors. Light-body, easy drinking at an attractive price.

2007 Waterstone Napa Merlot ($18). This is a Southwest Airlines kind of no-frills wine. Plump, smooth, plummy fruit with light oak and mild tannins.

Prices approximate. For availability, go to http://www.wine-searcher.com/

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Friday Lineup: Riesling Matches

2010-08-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

Rieslings have been collecting for some time in my wine samples bin, so I tasted 18 of them this week in one swell foop. Of these, I thought 11 were quite enjoyable, six not worth noting, and one, a classic German one, was so over-sulphured it never really blew off.

Some of the ones from the West Coast not noted were quite dull and clumsy, and it seems as if they were there simply because someone said, "We need a Riesling in our product line."

Wines of the Week

2009 Johannishof "V" Rheingau Johannisberg Riesling Kabinett ($24). Lovely floral aromas with gamy edges - apricot and peaches melded into a balsamic-like flavors. It's one of those instances where an interesting flavor or aroma gets near the edge, but doesn't go over it. Would be fine with Alsatian dishes.

2009 Craggy Range "Fletcher Family" Marlborough Riesling ($20). Pleasant oily Riesling aromas blended in with orange peel smells and tastes. Mildly assertive. Stony, minerally, metallic under pinnings.

2009 Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt "Josephofer" Riesling Kabinett ($30). Clean aromas with delicious, ripe fruit - apricot and plum peel - but with a tart finish. Excellent structure. A lean, piano-wire Riesling that nevertheless has appealing fruitiness.

2008 Mercer Yakima Valley Riesling ($15). Nice and elegant, with a balance between full and lean styles. Petroleum aromas, metallic and minerally, with apricot and orange notes throughout. A nice drinking wine, with or without food.

Wines of Interest

2009 Villa Sacher "Rheingraf" Rheinhessen Dry Riesling ($14). Excellent mouth feel - luscious and velvety - with muted fruit, floral and dry herbal, forest-floor flavors. A savory wine that is long on the palate.

2009 Macari Finger Lakes Riesling ($30). Lots of petroleum in the lovely nose. Lean, minerally, slate-like with tart apple skins. Lightly tannic - a pleasantly assertive wine that would stand up to tuna steaks and sushi.

2009 Liebfrauenstift Rheinhessen Dry Riesling ($14). Very delicate, but well-balanced with light nectar flavors. A good sipping wine.

2008 Liebfrauenstift Rheinhessen Riesling Trocken ($14). Again, lightish with flavors high on the palate of peach peel, minerals, slate. Quite nice.

2008 Blackstone Monterey County Riesling ($12). A good, basic "peaches and plums" Riesling. Not elegant, but-well integrated fruit. Full without being dull.

2007 Firestone Central Coast Riesling ($12). Petroleum notes. Fairly big with lots of apricots and peaches, but with a touch of taffy. Far from classic, but a good larger-style Riesling.

2009 Pacific Rim Columbia Valley Sweet Riesling ($10). Better than in its drier styles. Clove aromas with almost creamy, floral peaches. Well-balanced acidity.

Prices are approximate. For more-precise pricing and availability, check out:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Locavoracious: The Produce Road to Strasburg

2010-07-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

The best produce road in the region, perhaps in America, this time of year is the 20-mile stretch of Route 896 between Russellville, where 896 and Route 10 intersect at a four-way stop, and Strasburg, Pennsylvania, on the outskirts of Lancaster. This is uncommercialized Amish and Mennonite country, and the first-time traveler will be fascinated by the large farms that have no electric lines leading to the houses and barns, by horse-drawn farm instruments lumbering through the fields and hay meadows, and by roadside signs in hot weather that read "water for horses." And horses do travel this road constantly, pulling small carriages of one to four people going from one farm to the next or to commercial shops on the Strasburg Road.

This is farming country with huge, rolling fields of corn and tobacco - still a large local crop, witness the number of tobacco barns with their strips of siding that open to let the bundled leaves dry after harvesting - as well as vegetable gardens for fresh food for the table in the summer and canned produce for the rough winters. And as a summer cash crop to sell to tourists or locals passing through.

Last week, we drove to Lancaster to do some outlet shopping as well as buy fresh produce for the weekend. It seemed that every quarter mile there was another small farm stand, often manned by young girls in long, traditional skirts or young boys with straw hats and black trousers held up by braces. For foodies, the signs shouted out temptations: Fresh blackberries, corn, tomatoes by the bushels, locally made root beer, brown, free-range hen eggs, onions, squashes, cucumbers, melons and old-fashioned flowers for the table.

We limited ourselves to juicy blackberries to make a cobbler, tomatoes for pasta sauce and gazpacho, and some root beer for a hot afternoon.

The next day, I felt like getting in the car and doing it all again.

Stopping for a fresh milkshake. Another locavoracious favorite is Woodside Farm Creamery in North Star, near Hockessin, in Delaware. How many places can you stop for fresh ice cream and see the brown and white cows - Guernseys, if my childhood memories serve me right - that produced it grazing in the field above the ice cream stand?

I stopped by the other day for a milkshake, and the shop was like a scene from Norman Rockwell. Perhaps a dozen children were running about outside while their minders lolled around picnic tables under the shade trees. As I was trying to decide my flavor, the kids were running in asking for samples of bacon ice cream served by the young women behind the counter on bite-sized plastic spoons.

Clearly, the combination of bits of real bacon blended into ice cream was too much for some of the young explorers. One young lad got a disgusted look on his face and ran out when his bite was offered. I was not tempted either. I left drinking a cookies-and-cream.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

For wine pricing and location, check

http://www.wine-searcher.com/

The Friday Lineup: Wines of Meritage

2010-07-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

For years it was not a problem. Any red-blooded winemaker in the Napa Valley during the Roaring '70s who grew Cabernet Sauvignon made it into a 100% varietal. Blending was for those Bordeaux effetests, where they had something known as "vintage problems." But that attitude gradually changed in the 1980s, and people started blending Cab with Merlot and maybe even with Cab Franc and Petit Verdot if they could find any. These wines were referred to collectively as "Bordeaux blends," but that term didn't sound very American, now did it, and so a contest was held in 1981, and the name Meritage won out.

Agustin Huneeus (google "Franciscan," "Veramonte," "Quintessa," etc., if you've not heard of him) didn't see anything wrong with blending. For a variety of reasons, he founded Estancia in 1986, sourcing grapes from prime vineyards in the Alexander Valley and the Pinnacles. In 1987, the first Estancia Meritage was made. In 1988, the Meritage Association (now Alliance) was born with Estancia as one of its founding members. Through the years, the word "meritage" was probably associated more with Estancia than any other winery. Estancia Meritage has always been known as a solid wine, if not one that would always bedazzle you.

Constellation now owns the brand, and they came to Manhattan this week with winemaker Scott Kelley and Estancia Meritage as the headliners for a vertical tasting of six of the wines followed by a pairing dinner at Gramercy Tavern. The evening was a very enjoyable one, the food was very good, and all six wines tasted well, with each of the vintages - 1994, 1997, 2001 A, 2001 B, 2004, and 2007 - having its advocates.

But beyond the tasting notes for each of the wines, the tasting showed the difficulties in a brand maintaining consistency from vintage to vintage, even beyond the expected differences in the grapes harvested and where in their aging cycle the wines are as you are tasting them. Consistency is neither good nor bad, but the event showed it is a very difficult thing to maintain, especially in California.

Consider this:

The six wines we tasted made over this 14-year period had three winemakers (Larry Levine, Robert Cook and Kelley), two significant owners (Hueneeus sold to Constellation in 1999), a major switch in grape sourcing from Alexander Valley (through 2001 A) to Paso Robles (from 2001 B), changes in winemaking philosophy (according to Kelley) from French to American to somewhere in between, and - we are talking about a Meritage after all - significant shifts in grapes used (heavy on Cab Franc early on, no Cab Franc and more Merlot later on) in the blends. We won't go into oak.

I've always enjoyed Estancia wines, especially the early Pinot Noirs and the Meritages, and I liked each of the Meritages at the Gramercy tasting. But, using a dreaded sports analogy, it does remind me a little of liking to root for the Eagles or the Giants or the Saints. Just don't expect the roster or the outcome to be the same from one year to the next.

Wine of the Week

2007 Richard Huber "Alle Reben" Bader Spatburgunder ($80). One of the more interesting German Pinot Noirs I've had recently - nice ripe, slightly gamy cherry fruit with a medium body. Long aftertaste, with some tonic water bitters in the finish.

Wines of Interest

2007 Avignonesi Tuscany Rosso di Montepulciano ($15). This is not a complex wine, but it is one of those Italian reds you can sip on forever because it has generous red cherry fruit up front and a minerally, raspy finish. A blend of 40% Prugnolo Gentile (the neighborhood version of Sangiovese), 30% Cab Sauv and 30% Merlot.

2008 Tikal Argentina Patriota ($20). Lots of good blueberry/blackberry juiciness with medium body and light tannins. Hints of chalk. Rich and satisying finish. Bonarda and Malbec blend.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Locavoracious: Barbera, Pizza & Salumi

2010-07-24T12:31:00.001-07:00

The Brandywine region continues to get better and better as a place to live and to enjoy what I call the local "cultural terroir." About 10 years ago, Va La Vineyards opened its doors in Avondale and started producing small-batch, high-quality wines made from mainly Italian grapes such as barbara, nebbiolo and malvasia bianco produced by their small vineyard. Over the years, owners Anthony and Karen Vietri have helped provide increased demand for locally made cheeses, which they feature in their tasting programs and sell for take-away. The past few weeks, they've gone a step further by working with pizza maker Jason Brown and his Beatrice's Inferno business. Brown has created a portable woodfire pizza oven and teamed with Va La to come up with a line of hand-made savory and dessert pizzas to match Va La's wines. On recent weekends (check http://www.valavineyards.com/ for schedule), Brown has pulled up to the winery with his pizza oven in tow and set up shop out back.

This Friday afternoon, Ella and I drove the 10 minutes to Va La, grabbed an inside table to get away from the heat, ordered two individual pizzas, and popped a bottle of Va La Castagna, made from barbera grapes grown in the vineyard 30 yards from the picture window. The pizzas and the wine were delicious as was the chattery among the hungry patrons. Brown also passed around samples of a couple of his special dessert pizzas, including a fantastic berry preserves and cheese number and another that was awash with smores, not a favorite delicacy of mine.

Today, Phil Pyle, co-chef and co-owner at Fair Hill Inn in Maryland, had on sale to the public his hand-made salumis, which normally we get to eat only as a special course when having dinner at Fair Hill. The last time Pyle had a salumi sale, the cupboard was bare in less than an hour. So we were there at the appointed 2 p.m. to be first in line to buy his Artisan Dail charcuterie, choosing a selection of lamb, spicy Hungarian, Tuscan fennel and wild boar.

On the way home, we stopped at a farm stand to buy some tomatoes in bulk to try our hand at making a corn-syrup free, homemade ketchup. We'll let you know how that experiment turns out.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Friday Lineup: From Montefalco to Mendoza

2010-07-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on wines tasted, usually both solo and with food.

The Ruca Malen winery and vineyards in Mendoza.

Wines of the Week

2005 Cantina Novelli Montefalco Sagrantino ($41). Sagrantino has traditionally been made as a very assertive wine that opens up about as quickly as a clam, but, increasingly, vintners have tried to tame this Umbrian red into a more-open style that still preserves the raspy, gritty characteristics of the original. Novelli is a good example of the more-accessible style - nice, light red fruit flavors, very drinkable, yet with that typical Sagrantino tightness in the finish. It's a great red sauce wine, because it can balance the tomato's fruitiness while matching its acidity. If you haven't tried a Sagrantino, this one is a good place to start.

2009 Ruca Malen Mendoza Chardonnay Reserva ($18). This is a well-priced Chardonnay that fits the niche of having a little oak while maintaining the crispness and minerality of a stainless Chard. A touch of creaminess, moderate fullness with light apple and peach flavors make it a versatile wine at the table.

Label Notes: I had the opportunity to taste these wines at the table this week with people from the winery - Ruca Malen winemaker Pablo Cuneo and Novelli's export director Giulia Luccioli. Both labels are new or recently reintroduced to the U.S. and will not immediately be available in all markets.

Cuneo is a very passionate winemaker who barely pauses to eat as he explains in detail his vineyard and winery practices in making very good Chardonnays and Malbecs. Luccioli is equally passionate about the Novelli wines, chiefly the Sagrantino and a Trebbiano Spoletino, made from a clone that Novelli has rescued from obscurity with the help of the University of Milano.

Wines of Interest

2008 Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz ($15). This is the style of Shiraz I like - more earthy than in-your-face fruity, with good cherry-flavors, but dried cherries. It almost has some Cab Franc characteristics with its caky texture and flavors. Very drinkable.

2007 Sumptary Amador Zinfandel ($14). Not a world beater, but one of those Zins you love to uncork and be greeted with rich, creamy, black raspberry flavors. A bit hot in the finish.

2009 Valckenberg Dornfelder ($12). Sweet, fruity red tables wines is not a category I normally put to my lips, but this German is a little different because it closes so cleanly. Would I regularly drink it? No. But if I had a friend or relative who loves sweeter wines with their meal, I would take this along as a house gift that I could share.

Until next week...

Roger Morris

Moet Hennessy's All-Star Cru Crew

2010-07-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago, the Miami Heat put together its basketball dream team of multi-million dollar babies by signing up LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside Dwayne Wade in the coming year's NBA campaign.

They look paltry alonside the Moet Hennessy all-star squad.

Last week Moet slouched into New York with its cru crew of winemakers representing some of its top table-wine brands. Moet didn't even have to pop any of its stellar line of bubblies to get our attention. Let me count the names:

Chateau de Sancerre (Marc Sorrel), Cheval des Andes (Nicolas Audebert), Lapostelle (Andrea Leon), Monsanto (Laura Bianchi), Capezzana (Leone Contini Bonacossi), Cloudy Bay (Ian Morden), Domaine Chandon (Joel Burt, showing the still wines only), Livio Felluga (Andrea Felluga), Newton (Chris Millard), Numanthia (Manuel Louzada) and Terrazas (Adrian Meyer).

The morning started with a seminar led by everyone's favorite wine educator and sommelier, Kevin Zraly, who did his best James Lipton routine by questioning the panel on everything from the best, or most notable, wine they had tasted to what they really thought about wine critics - which was a bit of fun as there were a couple of dozen of those of us on the other side of the table. The wine writers, in retaliation, did what wine writers do best in these situations: They made positioning statements about what they thought about everything from high-alcohol wines to the loveliness of Greek whites and reds in the guise of asking questions.

To mix metaphors - but staying with sports - the seminar was the home run derby before the actual game. Each of the 11 winemakers or owners next went to their respective tables to pour one or two of their top wines and answer questions one on one - which was really quite delightful for the palate and the increasingly benumbed brain. In addition to these 11, Moet threw in a couple of their top wines whose owners were not present, so we were also treated to the Lurtons' 2001 Cheval Blanc and 1995 Chateau d'Yquem.

The tasting was really quite spectacular, both because of the great wines and the conversations with the winemakers, all quite intelligent and charming. If I had to choose a favorite combination - not necessarily the best wine - it was talking with Newton's Millard about how science is allowing winemakers to becoming more traditional in their winemaking, without suffering all the traditional downsides of doing so, while drinking his 2007 The Puzzle. The Puzzle is a a Bordeaux blend of Newton's top Spring Mountain vineyard blocks. I love the savory characteristic of this wine - dried flowers and herbs, brambles, mint (does Spring Mountain have garrigue?) to go along with the dried raspberry and blackberries and a lean finish.

If I gave a complete report on the wines and the winemakers, it would take more space than even the ethernet can make available. I have had many great one-on-one experiences with winemakers and their wines in fine restaurants, among cellar barrels and at kitchen tables, but this one counts among the best of the staged group affairs, which too often become mad jumbles. It is a credit to MH and its agency, Gregory White PR, that this one was just the opposite - a large group tasting and seminar that was fun and inspiring.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup

2010-07-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

An almost weekly commentary on selected wines tasted, both pristine and with food where possible.

Wine of the Week

2005 Mount Veeder Reserve Napa Valley Red Wine ($80). There's a lot of full-fruit stuffing in this wine made of Cabernet Sauvignon (76%), Merlot ($17) and Malbec (7%), mainly dark cherries and other dried fruits laced with creamy mint. It's an excellent food wine - Bordeaux-like in its structure - with the fruit up front and a lean finish with dusty tannins.

Wines of Interest

NV Elyssia Gran Cuvee Brut ($18). I love this cava from the folks at Freixenet. It's one of those cloud-like sparklers with a lot of mousse and flavors of dried herbs, mellow apples and a touch of cream that drift pleasantly into the finish.

2008 Thomas Henry Napa County Pinot Noir ($16). A lightish wine, but a textbook display of West Coast Pinot flavors - light cherries, cola, forest floor, dried spices and roots. A hint of tannins. Nice, easy drinking, but it can easily be over-matched by heavier meats.

2007 Luca Mendoza Beso de Dante (about $45). A Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon blend in almost equal measure, this is a big, slightly meaty wine that is nevertheless quite smooth and creamy. My sole complaint is that the oak imparts a little too much caramel for my tastes, although it lessens (or you get used to it) as the wine in the bottle diminishes.

2008 Saarstein Mosel Pinot Blanc (about $18). Quite pleasurable and reasonably dry with floral orange and lemon flavors and a touch of tonic water spritz.

2008 Susana Balbo Mendoza Malbec ($13). Cherry-currant upfront fruit that is quite nice, but I find the tannic, Bakers chocolate and coffee finish a bit harsh and tight.

2007 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($28). A very nice wine, especially for the price, with dark cherry flavors and a granular texture.

2009 Wild Rock Hawke's Bay Rose' ($14). Merlot, Malbec and Syrah. This is a better food wine - substantial and assertive - than a sipping wine, as the finish becomes a bit tiresome with solo ingestion. Pure strawberries with a touch of cream.

2009 Dancing Coyote Clarksburg Gewurztraminer ($11). A little on the sweet side, but very true Gewurz flavors with the requisite spiciness.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Champagne & Sancerre: New Articles

2010-07-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on recently published online articles:

The Wine Enthusiast's http://www.winemag.com/ has posted my "Champagne Cheat Sheet," an examination of what all those cuvees listed on the label are up to.

At http://www.internationalsommelier.com/, I have a look at Nebbiolos in the June issue of Sommelier News and a piece in the July issue on Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays in Sancerre and neighboring regions in "Burgundy-sur-Loire."

Those readers in the mid-Atlantic area, might enjoy an article on the art of blending as practiced at the new Galer Estate at Chester County Dwell - http://www.ccdwell.com/.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

Friday Lineup: From Epanomi Beach to the Upper Slopes of Mount Olympus

2010-07-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

From top to bottom: Katsaros vineyards on Mount Olympus, early course at a wine dinner at the Katsaros home, afternoon party time at a taverna in Epanomi (don't step on the broken crockery), and Gerovassiliou vineyards rolling like waves toward the Aegean.

It seems only proper that I started a week of drinking Greek wine - accompanied by platefuls of delicious Greek foods - on the umbrella-covered deck of a bare-bones kantina at the edge of the Aegean and ended it in the lair of the Gods on the heights of Mount Olympus.

With some magazine and web assignments to write about Greek wines in my jacket pocket, I arrived at the beginning of the week in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city and the capital of Macedonia, wedged between the ocean and the foothills that extend into the nearby Balkans. Most of the next four days I spent exploring three connected, yet diverse wineries and their cultural environs - Domaine Gerovassiliou, whose vineyards are just a few feet above sea level in nearby Epanomi, Biblia Chora, northeast of the city on the way to Kavala, and Katsaros Estate, high above the village of Krania on one of the many slopes of the sprawling Olympus.

While I won't review all the individual wines tasted during the trip - and almost all of which are available in Canada and New York City - a few observations can be made:

1. Although Greek white wines have received most of the attention in these discovery years since the Olympics, the reds are just as good and certainly capable of long cellar aging.

2. The most-popular indigenous grapes, both white and black, from the best producers could easily be mistaken in blind tastings for some of the international varietals - a plus if you're looking for acceptance, a minus if you're looking for sharp differentiation.

3. International varieties grow well in Greece, and there is an understandable temptation to mix them with Greek grapes - sometimes in the minority cuvee - to form Super Greek blends.

4. Where a grape still planted matters, which comes as no surprise, so a Malagousia grape planted in Macedonia (the locals pronounce it with a hard "c" - "Mackadonia") will yield different wine than grapes planted on one of the islands.

5. The names aren't as hard to learn and pronounce as you might think: Can you say Malagousia, Assyrtico, Xinomavro and Roditis? Sure you can! OK, Agiorghitiko might take some tutoring.

Although I have tasted many wines from Greece before, this was the first time I tasted them at the source along with the local cuisine in all of its various venue - from a kantina on the beach to a taverna to a fine restaurant in downtown Thessalonika to the homes of winemakers' wives Sonia Gerovassiliou and cookbook author Stella Katsaros. It was also the first time I had an opportunity to taste so many Greek wines of high quality on continuous days, rather than a couple of good ones here and a couple of iffy ones there. It does make a positive difference in the overall perception.

As the articles are written and printed in the weeks and months ahead, I will post them or their links to this site. In the meantime, ask your sommelier or wine merchant for recommendations for some good Greek whites you can chill out with over the midsummer holiday.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Friday Lineup: The Price of Wine

2010-06-25T02:06:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days, I have had several casual conversations about the price of a bottle of wine with colleagues in the trade and with my wife last night at dinner at Twelves Grill, our neighborhood BYOB in West Grove.

In each case, I said I really don't give much consideration to the price of a wine, whether I am tasting samples sent to me or sampling at wineries as I often do, other than to pass the SRP (suggested retail price) along to readers if I write about the wines in question.

I also said the only time I really seriously consider price personally is if

1. I am buying a bottle with my own money, or

2. Someone is paying me to consult with them on establishing their wine prices, which, thus far, no one has been bonkers enough to do, although I have has many casual conversations over dinner or in the cellar with winemakers about their pricing.

At VinExpo last year, my friend and colleague, Washington Post columnist Dave McIntyre, and I were tasting and commenting very positively on a fantastic bottle of Aussie red at 9 a.m. in the morning. Dave asked the winemaker the SRP for the U.S., then later commented to me, "I like it, but I don't know if I like it that much at $86 a bottle." And there you have the differences in philosophy. Dave and some other wine writers like to pontificate on what a wine is "worth," while I and some other writers are happy to describe the wine and its provenance and let the potential buyer decide whether he or she wants to spend that much. Sometimes I might be tempted to comment on the great value of an excellent wine being sold at $15 a bottle, but seldom comment the other way around.

Price, like beauty, is in the eye of the buyer, who may want to purchase a bottle to drink now or in a few years, give as an impressive gift, lay away for a child or grandchild, put in the cellar to impress people, retain as an investment to sell at auction when the price goes up or gambling debts mount, or give to charity. I have no intention of setting up shop within these potential buyers' minds as they make those decisions. A bottle that cost $20 or $200 or $2,000 will be "outrageous" to one consumer and a "bargain" to another, depending on why the wine is being purchased.

People who are new to the business often think price is just a matter of cost of goods and labor plus a profit. If the cost of producing a bottle is $10, give $2 profit to the producer, and the retail price will emerge at somewhere around $25 to $30 a bottle. Simple. Deal done. In real life, other factors come into play, such as the 3 Rs - ratings (Enthusiast, Parker, Spectator), rarity of the bottle if little is produced or remains available, and the reputation of the winery and the region.

Additionally, a producer - being a farmer - has to consider other factors, most notably quality and quantity of the harvest. Having a 30 percent crop reduction in a cool year might bode well for quality, but seldom can the producer simply raise his price per bottle to recover that loss. Plus there is investment. Drug companies love to point out the years of research costs that must be recovered in defending the prices of their medicines. The same is true of wineries who, say, need to replant three acres of old vines. Not only does it cost a lot to do that, but replanting also deprives them of any income off that land for three years or more. And they complain about the price of new oak barrels the way consumers complain about the price of bottles. Plus, if a wine has to spend extended time in barrel or bottle before shipping, there's the cost of carrying inventory.

Competitive pricing is another factor. For years, the trade mantra has been, "I can get the same quality wine at a lower price in Australia or Chile or Argentina," whenever a producer tried to sell a wine to importers or distributors or retailers or consumers. This particularly hits American East Coast wineries where production costs are higher by double digits than West Coast or foreign producers ("why" is another discussion). Local restaurateurs and retailers often complain that local wine pricing is not competitive. Yet local wineries - especially where I live in southeast Pennsylvania - find that it means something to consumers to buy good local wine even at an increased price. One, they like to buy local wine just as they like to buy local produce. Two, there is the social value of being able to go out with friends to the local tasting rooms for an afternoon of moderate drinking and lots of talking. Three, for lovers, it's a cheap date. Four, there is pride in having "my local winery," just as you identify with a certain football team or soccer club. Five, going to local tasting rooms provides entertainment for out-of-town guests. In short, there can be a built-in value added for a wine that costs more than an outsider perceives its true value.

Nowhere is competitive pricing more evident - and more fun to follow - than in Bordeaux. There are several reason for this. Bordeaux is the world's most-visible wine region. Production at the middle and top levels is sold through a level of middle-men - the negociants - who can influence price greatly but never set it, at least not at the top houses. Finally, Bordeaux has traditionally lessened the impact of carrying inventory by selling the wine in advance to these "negoces" who then sell the wine-in-progress in advance as "futures" to importers and retailers, who do the same to consumers. So in Bordeaux, setting the price on a new vintage is very complex and nerve-wracking for many producers. They have to ask, what was the reaction of the negoces, the trade and the wine press when the last vintage was officially tasted at just a few months old as barrel samples at primeurs in April of the following year? What did I charge last year? How much inventory of previous vintages is still on the market? What is the state of the world economy? If America isn't buying, can I sell it in China? What price will my neighbor or my competitors charge? Should I wait for them to "declare" first, or should I? Should I price before Parker gives the vintage - and my wine - a tentative score? This dance - called locally in Bordeaux "the campaign" - starts even before primeurs week is over and can extend two to three months into mid-summer with some vintages.

As I write trade pieces for such publications as Beverage Media in the U.S. and Drinks Business in the U.K., I absolutely love to report on these pricing issues and especially Bordeaux' campaign dance. Writing about both wine the drink (for consumers) and wine the business (for the trade) is a delightful experience that is worth those 12-hour days when traveling or at home trying to meet deadlines.

But to answer the question for a consumer, "Is the wine worth the price?" - you tell me.

Wines of Interest

2006 Rubicon Estate ($145). Fans of Rubicon Estate will certainly enjoy this one - smooth, mellow red and purple fruits with an underlayer of forest floor and ripe tannins. To me, however, it could use a bit more stuffing for the long haul and a bit more definition in the middle palate.

2009 Montecillo Verdemar Albarino ($14). Very refreshing white from Spain's Rias Baixas, it has fresh green flavors with a light creaminess, and is more floral than vegetal in impact. Good spicy notes around the edges. A party or a table wine.

2007 Peter Lehman Clancy's ($16). This is a very satisfying red in the style of most of Lehman's reds - good balance and some leaness to go with dried blackberry and raspberry fruits and a touch of violets. Blend of Shiraz, Caberbet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup: In Vino Verite'

2010-06-21T05:41:00.000-07:00

Above top - Verite' winemaker Pierre Seillan shows a list of dozens of "micro-crus" he sources for grapes that go into the three Verite' wines. Center - Seillan at the wheel of his prized 1941 Buick Eight. Bottom - at a celebration reception and dinner at Redwoods, Seillan pours a drop of Verite' for owner Jess Jackson.

Jess Jackson delights in telling the story about giving his partner and premier winemaker, Pierre Seillan, a wake-up call in Bordeaux earlier this year to let Seillan know Robert Parker had given the three 2007 Verite' labels a combined rating of 297 points out of 300 - 98, 99 and 100.

"He was surly when he answered," Jess laughed as he told the story at a celebration reception and dinner on Thursday at the Jackson estate at Redwoods high above Healdsburg in Sonoma County. "It's 4 a.m. here," Jackson said, mimicking the protesting Seillan. "Then I played a guessing game with him with each wine. 'Was it over 95?' Pierre asked. 'You're getting warm'." Finally, Jackson relinguished the three scores - 98 points for the 2007 Le Desir, 99 for the 2007 La Muse and a perfect 100 for the 2007 La Joie.

"I can't go back to sleep," Seillan said. "I need to go for a walk."

"Give me a call when you get back," Jackson chuckled.

The next day, Friday, June 18, I got to enjoy one of the best Friday Lineups I will ever post:

Wines of the Week

2007 Verite' La Muse (99 points). Touch of eucalyptus from somewhere in the nose. Beautiful fruit intensity and lots of soft, pecan-shell tannins. Black raspberry flavors float throught with an underlayer of earthiness and brownie/macaroon cakiness. In spite of the loads of fruit, it finishes with a surprising and excellent leanness. (Merlot dominated blend.)

2007 Verite' La Joie (100 points). Big Cab nose with lots of currants aromas. The flavors fall in the middle purple-fruit range ahead of a bombardment of tannins, that will help ensure a long aging, and a very long finish. Rich and complex wine, very much in the Parker-Rolland sphere. The strength of the wine is straight down the middle of the palate. Touch of forest floor on the undertaste and hints of chalk, though not creamy. (Cabernet Sauvignon dominated blend.)

2007 Verite' Le Desir (98 points). Getting 98 points in this lineup is like scoring 15 under par in the Masters only to have Tiger card 20 under. Nose very much like a Pomerol. Still tight, though generally more dimutive than its sisters. Hints of cherry stems (good) and graphite. Lovely finish that beautifully concentrates the fruit and acidity. Also more spice in this one, with nutmeg and other baking spices in the finish. (Cabernet Franc dominated blend.)

Release date is September 1 with La Muse and Le Desir priced at $720 and La Joie at $800.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

A New Category: Cougar Wines

2010-06-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of days or so ago I did a Facebook post about reorganizing my cellar according to vintage and made mention of having several California reds from the 1980s. There were a couple of responses about 30-year-old Cabs, as though they had passed some quality statute of limitations.

I like a variety of wines and love to guess how classic Bordeaux reds will age when I taste them from the barrel barely six months old. But I've always loved the classic structure and lean finesse of older wines, and my wife and I regularly pull 20- or 30-year-old everyday wines from our cellar that are perfect for dinner.

But not every one believes.

So I've decided to promote a new class of wines - "cougar wines" after the name given to women of a certain age who may not have the bloom of youth but who proudly wear the patina of experience.

So let's hear it for cougar wines. There will be more on this subject.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup

2010-06-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are tasted pristine and with food.

Wine of The Week

2007 De Martino "Legado" Reserva Maipo Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($15). Pure, deep blackberry flavors at their best. Complex fruitiness without being fruit forward. Nice balancing acidity. Very good wine for price.

I tasted several of De Martino wines this week in New York at an event held by Opici, importer for the Chilean winemaker, and the wines were all very enjoyable, especially the Chardonnay (see below) and Carmeniere. (Two or three of the reds had a rubbery/pungent earthy nose that wasn't present in the taste and which mostly dissipated with time.) In addition to the quality of its wines, De Martino is known for sourcing its fruits from a variety of locations throuhout the country, rather than expecting the same region to produce quality in all varietals. Additionally, some of its labels are made with organically grown fruit.

Wines of Interest

2008 Wild Rock Central Otago Pinot Noir ($21). A wine light in body, this Pinot has beautiful, pure, varietally correct cherry fruit flavors and a hint of chalkines. It is not as lean in the finish as similar Pinots from Burgundy - which is both good and bad. On the one hand (or palate), I expected a richer finish with more gravity. On the other palate, it nevertheless has a long and haunting aftertaste. Either way, it makes a nice summer sipping wine and can even be served lightly chilled.

2007 Mount Veeder Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($40). This is a lovely wine for drinking now or for cellaring. It has dark blackberry flavors with finishing hints of vanilla and tannic sootiness reminiscent of Cab Franc. Even though it has 14.5% alcohol, it is not a big wine, but rather one of those smooth, balanced, delicious drinking Cabs that made many of us first fall in love with Napa Valley reds during the 1970s.

2008 De Martino "Legado" Limari Valley Chardonnay ($15). This is both a very enjoyable and a very interesting wine, starting with its floral nose of fresh clover and continuing with its lemon cream middle body and a vanilla finish. It has a touch of residual sugar, but not too much. The interesting part is that it comes from a small valley in Northern Chile which is much closer to the Equator than the white-grape vineyards around Santiago. Yet the ocean proximity maintains the grapes' freshness and acidity.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup

2010-06-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

This week's tasting: Whenever I receive multiple samples from a winery, I usually taste and write about them individually over a period of weeks. And if I'm doing a comparative tasting - say, of several Alexander Valley Cabernets - then naturally I'll taste them together at the same time right after they are opened and then again in a few hours or the next morning. Anything good leftover is dropped on our neighbors' door steps.

But last week I was suddenly presented with a mixed half-case of 2007 Burgundies - three whites, three reds - from the esteemed house of Bouchard Pere & Fils, I knew exactly what I would do. Over the next several days I tasted them one by one, some at home, others at BYOBs, and today I devote this edition of The Friday Lineup to the Bouchard Six.

Wines of The Week

2007 Bouchard Meursault Perrieres 1er Cru ($88). Delicious and bold - nervy, lush green (not unripe) fruit with hints of chalk supported by mature toasted oak and a finish of fine, austere acidity and minerality. Can a wine be both full and lean at the same time? This one can. An excellent food wine (we had it with plump crab cakes) and one that is at its most exciting fresh out of the bottle.

2007 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru ($141). Great fruit essence, a long minerals-driven finish with a fresh acidity, followed by a pop-up of toasty oak. Objectively, this is probably the better wine - fuller, more mature, very good balance - but the liveliness of the Perrieres might make me choose it in a game of "If you could only choose one..."

2007 Bouchard Beaune Greves L'Enfant Jesus 1er Crus ($97). When I took the first sip, there was the tangible sensation of a liquid blanket of velvet slipping across my tongue followed by an apple acidity. Wow! Light and elegant with flavors of cedar, green olives, tart cherries and hints of smoke.

Wines of Interest

2007 Bouchard Le Corton Grand Cru ($97). Quite lean and elegant with flavors of small, wild strawberries and red cherries. I had this for my birthday dinner at Twelves Grill, our neighborhood restaurant, and it went very well with the surprising combination of small, rare duck breast and mild wild board sausages. That prompted sending a glass back to the kitchen - cooking very good food should also have its rewards.

2007 Bouchard Meursault Domaine ($45). A very sensible wine with some of the spirited, racy green fruit of Perrieres and CC, but with a broader middle palate of whey and lees. Very good and very versatile.

2007 Bouchard Bourgogne Pinot Noir Reserve ($21). A good, basic, everyday Burgundy, so we shouldn't ask too much of it. Good cherry fruit, some notes of coffee, and very lean with nice acidity.

Until next week...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-05-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine of the Week

2006 Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($52). An excellent wine that is more European than Californian in nature. I decided to decant it, as I do most serious wines, but I knew there was little need, because the tannins in Jordan Cabs are always so well-integrated already and because the wines are usually bottle ready to drink. The wine reminds me in style of a slightly more fruity Margaux from one of the better châteaux – fine mature berries with a lean finish, good closing acidity and barely noticeable tannins.

Wines of Interest

2009 Helfrich Vin d’Alsace Riesling ($15) and 2007 Helfrich Alsace Grand Cru Riesling ($25). Thank god for Alsace Riesling table wines! The varietal fragrances and tastes of Rieslings as they appear in Germany and California make for great sipping wines and dessert wines in their sweeter forms, but they always taste not-quite-right for my palate with foods. They may “work,” but there are always two or three other wines I would prefer, regardless of the food. I drank both the Helfrich Rieslings, as well as their Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, over a delightful lunch at Chifa restaurant in Philadelphiawith one of the owners, Anne-Laurie Helfrich, and the winemaker, Serge Fleischer. Both Rieslings were quite good. The everyday (“noble tier”) Riesling is a perfect food wine. While it has the Riesling fragrances, it is dominated by minerally, earthy, tart, rocky, raspy flavors that are very food friendly. The grand cru version spent much of its extra age on the lees, so it is fuller with a yeasty/brioche layer on top of the minerals. Very reasonable prices for both, as well. I found both versions of the Pinot Gris and the Gewurtz enjoyable, but a little more ordinary and somewhat sweeter.

2008 Treana Central Coast White ($25). Last week, I had the Treana red as the wine of the week, and the white could easily deserve such honors as well. It is a perfect blend of fruit and savory flavors, as the best Rhone-style whites are - fruit essences of ripe peaches and mangoes and Mediterranean dried herbs. Full and unctuous on the palate with good acidity. Marsanne dominates in this blend with Viognier.

2009 Dancing Wolf Clarksburg Verdelho ($11). In the May 7 Friday Lineup, I said some nice things about two of the line-priced Dancing Wolf wines, but I found this one rather ordinary and with a tad too much residual sugar. Yeah, I know, what do you expect for $11? They just spoiled me with the Albarino.

2007 Clos la Chance Santa Clara Mountains “Biagini” Pinot Noir ($50). This wine has about as much concentrated, jammy fruit – black raspberries and preserved cherries – as you’ll ever get from a Pinot Noir without being heavy on the palate. Delicious flavors! Unfortunately, it is also somewhat hot and prickly at the finish, which is becoming more common with La Chance wines. Maybe it’s because of the 14.5% alcohol, but there may be something else going on here in the cellar.

Articles of Some Note:

1. "A River Runs Through It” in the current issue of Drinks magazine (http://www.drinksmag.com/) is a run-down of the lovely white wines of the Loire Valley.

2. My debut review for Book Page, the independent booksellers’ journal, in on Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw. Such a nice young boy, that Tony! (http://www.bookpage.com/).

3. My journeys through Italy’s are chronicled in “Nebbiolo Country” in the current Sommelier News. (http://www.internationalsommelier.com/).

4. And, closer to home, my blog in www.ccdwell.com looks at putting together a “50-Mile Wineries” cellar from my home base in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Until next time…

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-05-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine of the Week

2007 Treana Paso Robles Red ($50). Some years ago when attending a pharmaceutical convention in San Francisco, I somehow found myself at the Fairmont Hotel bar in search of a big glass of red. For a price, the barkeep suggested a generous pour of Treana, and the two of us have been having serial one-night stands – one bottle, one night – ever since. I’ve always thought there’s been a Rhone style to Austin Hope’s big red, but it’s primarily Cabernet Sauvignon with a lesser amount of Syrah. When I decanted this one, aromas of wet cracked grain and pure blackberry juice wafted up, and that was verified in the glass by big warm oak flavors expertly blended in with dark, yet vibrant, purple fruit. Very good to drink straight, but I would prefer it with a robust, meaty cassoulet.

Wines of Interest

2007 Inama Veneto IGT Carmenere Piu (20 bucks). Stefano Inama is mainly known for his complex Soaves (see May 8 Lineup), but he also makes this big, monolithic red of 75% Carm, 20% Merlot and a droplet of Raboso Veronese. In some ways it’s a work-in-progress. It is quite likable without being sophisticated and elegant. It is flavorful and enticing, yet it tromps tannins across the tongue. My guess is that it will be somewhat tamed in five years, but, as for now, it is very tight and closed on opening with lots of big tannins, then gradually opening over several hours to reveal almost sweet preserved fig flavors at its core along with other dark fruits, and the tannins reluctantly show hints of alluring Baker’s chocolate.

2009 Concha y Toro Central Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($7). Given C y T’s historical core, it isn’t surprising that the Cabernet Sauvignon is my pick of their line of varietal releases from Chile and Argentina. The fruit is pure Cab, the balance is good, and the tannins are friendly. Nice wine, especially for the price.

2009 Chaddsford Spring Wine ($14). Winemaker Eric Miller has always made some of the best wines on the East Coast, but when he began pioneering Southeast Pennsylvania as a new wine region, he understood he would need to make wines for wine geeks at most ends of the spectrum if he were to survive. This wine is for the folks who loved yellow tail before there was a yellow tail and white Zin before there was a white Zin. It is fruity and somewhat sweet, but it is also refreshing with orange and white flower flavors with a limpid mouth feel. It is a wine of some interest, at least for a half glass, when it begins to lag at the finish. The grapes are totally hybrid – Vignoles, Seyval Blanc and Vidal Blanc.

Until next time,,,,

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™ - Loire Valley Report

2010-05-16T05:28:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Last week, I tasted about 220 wines in the Loire Valley from Muscadet to Sancerre. Here are some wineries and wines that caught my attention. (Sorry that my program doesn’t permit the addition of diacritical marks.)

If it’s Monday, it must be Muscadet…

We start a cool, overcast, rainy week meeting five producers in Muscadet Cotes de Grandlieu at Severine Larcher’s Domaine des Herbauges. I am especially impressed with Domaine du Haut Bourg’s crisp, floral wines and Prieure Royal Saint-Laurent’s complex, long-lived whites. Winemaker Michel Morilleau likes to have his wines get some oxygen to emphasize the floral aspects and uses as little sulfur as possible. (“It makes the wine white, and I hate that!”)

Frog legs from the nearby lac cooked in garlic and beurre blanc are a lunch centerpiece at La Grignotiere in the village of Bouaye.

Afternoon at Muscadet de Sevres et Main is a tasting of very good new and old wines, including a 1997, at Domaine de la Quilla, along with those from Clos de la Houssaie.

But the highlight of the day comes with dinner at La Terrace in Savennieres (sandre with shallot beurre blanc) with several producers. The restaurant has a marvelous view of the Loire, and, within a few square kilometers along the slopes of the river just downstream from Angers, some of France’s best white wines are made. This is also the heartland of French biodynamics, and we are hosted by bio’s always-vivacious Evelyne de Pontbriand of Domaine du Closel, although I must admit that Closel’s wines, with loads of oxygen and dancing on the edges of volatility, are not my favorites from the region. The show-stealers are single bottles from Damien Laureau, Domaine aux Moines and Eric Morgat.

Tuesday in the Anjou hills…

It is still raining and windy when we get to the spectacular Chateau Soucherie, which is undergoing an extreme makeover under new owners, led by charismatic and talented winemaker Thilbaud Boudignon. I particularly enjoy his Anjou Blanc, Savenierres and sweet Coteaux du Layon.

Delicious rare duck breast with a potato gratin highlights the lunch at La Corniche, a roadside restaurant near rural Saint Aubin de Luigne.

We move on to the Cave des Vignerons de Saumur in Saint Cyr en Bourg. Most of the 20-some wines we taste are well-made, affordable-but-not-memorable, everyday regional wines. That being said, I am extremely impressed by the winemaker, young Eric Laurent, who attacks the job of producing wines from more than 110,000 hectares of vines in 4,000 parcels by more than 150 growers. Imagine making critical decisions as an average 800 tons of grapes per day arrive at the winery over a period of four weeks of harvest!

Dinner is at L’Alchemiste, a small restaurant with high standards on a back street in Saumur. Tonight’s food star is a delicious dorade (I think) with small flavorable beans. We are hosted by the big sparkling wine houses – Ackerman, Bouvet, Louis de Grenelle, Langlois Chateau, Blanc Foussy, JM Monmousseau. All produce nice, good-value wines, although some are a bit broad and cling to the palate. None of them blow me away.

Red-Wine Wednesday in Chinon and Bourgueil…

The high points of today are visits to two domaines – Jerome Billard’s La Noblaie in Chinon and Denis Gambier’s des Ouches in Bourgueil. Billard’s rose’ from Cabernet Franc is one of the best I have tasted, and his reds are complex, fruity, earthy and very age-worthy. Gambier’s reds, made in the old limestone caves of the regions, are lovely monster wines in the Medoc manner – huge, complex Cab Francs with loads of tannins, fruit and alcohol that take about six years to come around. He makes different cuvees from the hillsides and “the gravels,” plus a reserve with some Cab Sauv. While most of the reds of the Loire are easy drinking and low in alcohol, those of des Ouches (oooches) shows that the region can produce big wines that are well worth the wait.

At the newly opened La Maison des Vins de Loire in the old section of Tours, we are treated to wines from the seldom-seen appellation of Montlouis. I am especially impression the sparkling Chenin Blanc, Bubulle, and the whites of Domaine de la Taille (Jacky Blot),

Two very good meals today. Lunch at Stephane and Yelena Perrot’s L’Ardoise in Chinon is the best stop on the trip for food, presentation, service and ambience. If you’re touring the region, L’Ardoise is a must-taste. The dishes, served on rectangles of black slate, are much too elaborate to describe in detail, but the foie gras served two ways with a fig ice cream and a beef fillet with a lightly sweet wine reduction sauce are superb today. Dinner at La Theleme in Tours – a lovely, lively city – is also noteworthy, especially the creamy crab wrapped in seaweed with chives.

Ascension Day Thursday at Vouvray…

People actually lived in these caves along the river, even after the richer class started building residences above ground from the stones quarried below.

Today is a holiday in France (the country has an equal amount of holidays and work stoppages, it seems) but the Vouvray producers graciously give up their mornings to treat us to a tasting of Chenin Blancs and lunch in their maze of caves. The wines here are uniformly very good – the sparkling, the lightly sweet whites and, especially, the dry whites. The first three producers I taste are a good case in point of different styles.

Domaine Vigneau-Chevreau wines, a bio producer, are juicy and fruity, yet in balance. Those of Domaine de la Chataigneraie are light and elegant, from sparkling to white table, and those of Domainee de la Fontainerie are very lively and aggressive, great food wines. “I don’t make feminine wines,” says La Fontainerie’s Catherine Dhoye Deruet. Also interesting are the wines of Clos de l’Epinay, Chateau Gaudrelle and Domaine d’Orfeuilles.

In the afternoon, we go up the Cher Valley and then cut cross-country through the hills until we re-enter the Loire near the lovely old hillside town of Sancerre, where we stay the night. Is there a more beautiful visit of towns and rolling hillsides of vines along the Loire? For dinner, there is a lovely mint pea soup with partially dried tomatoes and a crab claw at La Pomme d’Or.

Friday in Sancerre and Pouilly Fume…

The best total portfolio of wines we explore on the visit is at Domaine Serge Dagueneau et Filles in the Pouilly Fume town of St. Andelain, where Valerie Dagueneau takes us through her spectacular array of wines – the Chasselas-dominated Pouilly-sur-Loire, several Sauvignons from Pouilly Fume and three very nice wines from the re-emerging area of Cotes de Charite, until this year known as Cotes de Charitois – a Chardonnay, Pinot Beurrot (Gris) and a very satisfying, gamy Pinot Noir.

After a couple of more stops, we finish at Domaine Fouassier, a 10th-generation producer, at the foot of Sancerre Mountain. The whites all have the best characteristics of great Sancerre – fruit, acid, flowers, complexity – but winemaker Benoit Fouassier, who took over winemaking with his cousin in 2000, reminds us that Sancerre also makes reds from Pinot Noir. And his Pinots are big, chewy and tannic. It also occurs to me that Benoit has the grapes and the guts to do what other winemakers can’t or don’t do – make big, mouth-filling, well-aging Pinot Noirs that are not the least bit feminine, as Burgundies have been characterized for centuries.

And so, as the week on the Loire finishes on, surprisingly, a Pinot high, it’s dozing time on the long ride back to a welcome hotel room at Charles de Gaulle.

Until next time…

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-05-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.
Last week I took off Friday as I was en route back from the West Coast where I visited several wineries, with in-depth looks at Jordan and Bouchaine, both for assignments for upcoming magazine pieces. And next week I will be late again, coming back from assignment in the Loire Valley. But I will be posting.

Wine of the Week

2007 Inama Vigneti di Foscarino Soave Classico ($19). I’ve been commenting on several interesting Soaves recently, but this has to be one of my favorites, and Stefano Inama is definitely my favorite winemaker in the appellation and certainly one of the most interesting winemakers anywhere to talk with. This wine is 100% hillside Garganega, which produces here juicy, tropical flavors – full and complex, yet with good acidity. I found I had to work my way into the wine, however, and not just start drinking, which is unusual – almost as if the wine were saying, “Don’t take me casually.” But the more I sipped, the more I became pulled in.

Wines of Interest

2008 Bota Box California Cabernet Sauvignon ($19 for 3 liters). Yeah, yeah, I know that good box wines are no longer news, and I don’t need another pitch on environmentally correct packaging. But you’re going to have to work hard to find a better Cab at under $5 a bottle. This one has plenty of straightforward cherry and raspberry fruit and offers a very pleasing, lightly tangy finish (the way Cotes de Rhones used to do). All of which makes it very drinkable with or without food.

I am moved, though, to wonder whether we will need new terminology for boxers. Can a wine have “box shock?” Will BYOBs charge you a “spigot fee?” And if a box of red has bret, should we term it a “bladder infection”?

2009 Dancing Coyote Clarksburg (CA) Albarino and 2008 Dancing Coyote Clarksburg Petite Sirah (line priced at $11). I was prepared for a critter attack when I opened the shipment of extended varietals from this appellation that has in the past produced the best Chenin Blanc in America. And I was partially right, but not with the Albarino. It is quite delicious – very much like what you would get from Spain’s Galicia – with crisp, aromatic pear and light melon flavors and a lightly spicy finish with fine acidity. The Petite Sirah was also good, if not outstanding, but only after it sat overnight uncorked and a glass short. Increasingly, I am finding red wines from California that have bitter edges just after they are opened and poured that grate on the palate. More-complex wines can get away with it, as we’re used to decanting or giving the wines a little airing to come around. But that's demanding a lot work and time from a simple grab-and-gulper.

2009 Concha y Toro Xplorador Mendoza Malbec ($7). This is a fairly new line of wines from the venerable Chilean house that is now a Banfi brand, so I decided to start with the one wine from outside that country and get to the ones from Chile later. It’s OK for an entry wine with true Malbec flavors, but it doesn’t quite have enough of them. Simple cherry flavors with a sweetish finish and some mild tannins.

2008 Rocca di Montemassi “Calasole” Maremma Toscano Vermentino ($15). A very nice wine from a grape few Americans have had from a beautiful region of Tuscany (the coast) that few of us have visited. It has juicy, green flavors – somewhat similar to a Sauvignon though not as grassy – that are refreshing and clean. Very versatile food wine.

Article Alert: Read my piece in the May Beverage Media about the state of American sparkling wines at http://www.bevnetwork.com/monthly_issue_article.asp?ID=419

Until next time…

Roger Morris

Van Gogh's Magic Spirits Garden

2010-05-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

"I've been to a lot of wine tastings," says Tim Vos, who distills some of the world's most-famous vodkas, "but at vodka tastings, no one spits it out the way they do with wines." Uh, good point, Tim. I look at my plastic cup. No, not a trace of vodka there.

We are at a luncheon tasting of Van Gogh's flavored vodkas and Van Gogh Blue, its smooth-as-satin non-flavored vodka, at 100 Acres restaurant on MacDougal Street in lower Manhattan. Tim hasn't yet yet figured out how to make a flavored vodka out of the color blue, but give him time, as he's been able to extract flavors from about everything else as the Dutch connection in shaping the extremely successful Van Gogh product line.

The idea of the luncheon is to show writers how VG Blue has been blended from a variety of European wheats, how some of the most-famous Van Gogh flavor blends taste in the glass and how well they go into cocktails sipped with food.

For example, 100 Acres mixologist Miljan Milosevic serves us two Blue cocktails with Marc Meyers' hand-shucked sea scallops, a VG pineapple and a VG coconut cocktail with chicken breast with fennel and red grapefruit and a VG double espresso cocktail and a VG Dutch caramel cocktail with a dessert tray.

Do I smell mocha in the caramel, I ask Van Gogh CEO and super marketer Norm Bonchick. "You have a very good palate," he says, and a healthy ego as well as I also note the finishing touch of vanilla in the double X.

"We've about run out of fruits to use as flavors," Bonchick says, "so we've started thinking about flowers," detailing some distillerations with a rose-petal blend. Apparently, there has been no serious consideration of a Van Gogh sunflower vodka, which might sell well on the drinks list at The Modern.

Me, I especially adore the double X, and its Red Bullish shot of caffeine does nothing to keep me awake as I board Amtrak and am quietly shuttled out of New York for points south with visions of starry, starry nights bouncing through my sleepy head.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-04-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine Tasting of the Week:

John Larchet is at it again. The man who put together The Australian Premium Wine Collection (TAPWC) a little over a dozen years, bringing us such stellar estates as Hewitson, Elderton and Grossett, has now launched WWHQ – World Wine Headquarters. The intent of WWHQ is to put together what is in essence the Larchet Collection, consisting of two to four estate each from a half-dozen countries to which Larchet as an affinity – New Zealand, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Austria and eventually France and the U.S.

Earlier this week, I tasted some of the collection in New York with John at the Cooper Square Hotel. Almost all of the wines are under $20, and there are many winners. I will give more complete notes at a later date, but I was especially impressed by the wines from Lobster Reef (NZ), Altivo and Ichanka (Argentina), and Tilenus and Monte Vicor (Spain). Good work.

Wine of the Week

2007 Mercer Yakima Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($23). I’ve always been impressed with the promise of Washington cabs, as they seem – as a group – to be plumper in fruit than those from the Medoc, yet not as big and boisterous as many from Napa Valley. This is one of those wines – lots of sweet dark cherry and purple cassis fruit, a defining touch of brambles, followed by silky tannins. Easy to drink now, but also a keeper, one perhaps under-priced by $10 to $20.

Wines of Interest

2009 J California Pinot Gris ($15). Wines from J often have a pronounced edge – somewhere between being abrasive and peppery – that is a little heavy for my taste, especially in its sparkling wines. But here it works nicely with the grape's signature firm pear fruit, allowing it to step up to food a little more than most PGs without an excess of acidity. The price is right, too.

2007 Rocca Family Napa Valley Bad Boy Red ($32). If a label is intended as a warning, heed this one, unless you are looking for a kick-ass wine. I think it is too aggressive coming out of the bottle – alcoholic, tannic, extracted – but, like many bad boys, it mellows with morning light. There is good fruit and chocolate tannins in there, but it needs a few years in the clink or some slapping around in a decanter before it becomes acceptable for polite company.

2007 Blackstone Sonoma County Reserve Merlot ($20). This is a very nice effort from Blackstone – firm, full fruit that is neither too lean nor too fruit-forward – nice for sipping or at the table. It is well balanced (with 7% Cab, 6% Ruby Cab, 2% PV), though not particularly complex. Try a bottle, because, if you like it, it would be a nice one to lay away for future drinking at a reasonable price.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-04-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine of the Week:

NV Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Rosé ($45). This is one of the most satisfying Champagnes you can drink and not spend a fortune. It can be described in a very few words – rich, ripe fruit that envelopes the whole palate and is accentuated by dried strawberry flavors and a lengthy finish. I enjoyed sipping it before dinner, and I enjoyed pairing it with a green salad with chicken.

Back Story I:

I’ve always enjoyed the NF line (never pass up a chance to drink Palmes d’Or), so I had a great timing chatting with cellar master Jean-Pierre Vincent about the various Feuillatte cuvees during an interview in New York earlier this week at A Voce at Columbus Circle. After the interview, Jean-Pierre made a tasting presentation for media and trade of six still wines from eight villages – two each of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. I had to leave before the lunch, and rumor had it that I, indeed, probably passed up an opportunity to drink Palmes d’Or.

Back Story II:

You’ll notice the glass in the picture is not a Champagne flute but a white wine glass, what Georg Riedel would call a “wine-friendly glass” as opposed to a “varietal specific” glass. The day after the Nicolas Feuillatte tasting, I had the opportunity to do an in-depth interview with Riedel on a Lear 35 flight from Teterboro to Ohio, where he gave a sold-out tasting workshop to winemakers from the Eastern United States in convention at Geneva on the Lake. No matter how much you know about wine, it is always fascinating to hear Riedel’s ideas about how shapes of wine glasses affect the tastes of wine. “We don’t make wines,” he’s fond of saying, “we make tools for drinking wines.” And another: “Winemakers use chemistry. We use physics.” Which brings us to the glass. Having finally abandoned the coupe, many drinkers still love the Champagne flute because of its presentation of the bubbles. Pretty, but you can’t really appreciate the aromatics or tastes of a fine Champagne in a flute the way you can in a wine glass. And taste trumps esthetics.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-04-09T05:50:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wines of the Week:

2008 Franciscan Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($17) and 2008 Franciscan Napa Valley Chardonnay ($18). The area where I live – Chester County, PA – is well-known for its many great BYOBs, as on-premise liquor licenses in this quirky state are scarce and expensive. These bottles from the venerable Franciscan Estate are just the kinds of wine to “bring” on a weekday night when you want something a cut above average but not extravagant. They are of a kind – both with complex tropical fruit flavors, yet both finish with a lean, though not harsh, juiciness. The Sauvignon is in the style of Pessac-Leognan, rather than the Loire, with herbal, sur lie richness and a finishing ripe, red gooseberry tanginess. The Chardonnay has melons with lots of creamy, but not heavy, toasty oak. Both are good values.

Wines of Interest:

2008 Quivira “Wine Creek Ranch” Grenache ($26). This wine is not quite “there” yet, but it’s getting close. The fruit is right – big dark, Languedoc-style Grenache berries, good firm tannins, a gentle bit of tonic bitters prickling around the edges in the finish. The oak, to my taste, is not quite right – a little too much caramel, which fights with the fruit for dominance. The two blend much better in a next-morning second tasting, which indicates that a better harmony might be achieved with decanting or a couple of years of bottle aging.

NV Dibon Brut Reserva Cava ($9). It’s an elegant sparkler with light candied flavors, but it sort of fades in the stretch just when – like so many things in life – you wish it could last just… a… little… longer.

Articles of Interest

It’s been a good couple of weeks for articles, especially in the May issue of Wine Enthusiast – a major piece on “A Day in the Life of a Chateau” with six pages of text and photos, plus an probing Q&A session with consultant and winemaker Michel Rolland. In Signature Brandywine, there is a profile of perhaps the first cult winery and cult winemaker on the East Coast – Anthony Vietri and his Va La Vineyards. The Hunt magazine features my piece on Bluecoat gin. Online, Sommelier News (

www.internationalsommelier.com) has my piece on how Rioja is reloading, and Chester County Dwell (www.ccdwell.com) features an article on the first solar-powered vineyard operation in the region.

Until next time…

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-04-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine of the Week:

2008 Robert Mondavi Private Selection California Merlot ($9). This was not the best wine I tasted this week, but it certainly was the best value wine I tried. I especially like it because it has more character and finesse than most low-priced wines, which are generally just fruity and acceptable. This Merlot is good for sipping and great for food, because it is a prickly fresh, lean Merlot - in itself unusual - and it has a nice dollop of ripe but subdued cherry just as you swallow.

Wines of Interest:

2006 Benzinger Signaterra “Three Blocks” Sonoma Valley Red Wine ($49). Is it just me, or do most wines that are biodynamic or made from organic grapes taste more like they’re good for you than simply just taste good? OK, then, forget that the Benzingers may know more about both bio and orgo than anyone else in California. This is just a damn good wine – 64% Cab, the rest Merlot – big without being overly concentrated or extracted. It is full of well-balanced flavors – dark chocolate tannins, mocha, sparkling blackberries, earthiness, fresh corn oil. – dark, dark, dark; good, good, good.

2004 Selvapiana “Fornace” Toscana IGT ($35). If you don’t decant this wine, it seems a little ordinary at first. With some air, it grows in the glass, tasting both Tuscan and Bordelaise – Tuscan for its lean citric finish and Bordeaux-like because of its leathery, cigar-box qualities. The fruit, once it rises, is like fresh, not overly ripe blackberries. Start shaving the black truffles, please.

2007 J Vineyards Russian River Pinot Noir ($28). On a visit to the winery in early 2008 to J’s veteran, but recently hired, winemaker, George Bursick, said, “Come back in two years, and we will be the Number 1 Pinot Noir in California.” It’s good to aim high. Maybe George has a special cuvee hidden in the cellars, but this Pinot falls somewhat short of that ambition. It is a very nice wine, though somewhat conflicted. The middle taste is light and a little thin – though with a moderate tangy, gaminess that I like – while the finish is concentrated dark Bing cherries that clings at the finish a little too long. I love wines that have an aftertaste, but it’s a tricky business in that the finish has to be fresh, or else it accumulates a heaviness over a few sips.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Lucie Snodgrass Dishes Up Maryland

2010-03-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

One of the restaurants featured in Lucie Snodgrass' comprensive Dishing Up Maryland (Storey Publishing, 2010, paper, $19.95) is the Fair Hill Inn in Cecil County in northest Maryland, so it's fitting that she have one of her first book signings there on a chilly evening in late March. While we nibble hors d'oeuvres rushed out of the kitchen by co-chefs Brian Shaw and Phil Pyle and sip a variety of wines, Lucie stands behind the sturdy bar and wields a pen.

She explains that, although she was born in England of Swiss parents and has roamed the world a bit, she has lived for many years on the west side of the Susquehanna near the Pennsylvania border with her horticulturalist husband, Edmund, a fifth generation farmer and a scholar who pioneered green roof plantings - itself a story for another day. So there are a lot of plant experts from the region in the old stone inn this evening, sipping wine and discussing their specialties and their lecturing circuits.

Snodgrass has written an excellent cookbook with 150 recipes from all corners of Maryland's diverse landscape, but she also has written a cultural guidebook with stories about the people who grow the food, as well as those who cook it, such as the Ways of Rumbleway Farm just down the road near the Susquehanna or the Hayden Brothers, watermen down the Chesapeake Bay, or the Bruscos of South Mountain Creamery in the hills of Frederick County.

And like a delicious entree that also is beautifully plated, Lucie Snodgrass' book has dozens of colorful photos by Edwin Remsberg printed on glossy stock. Well worth ordering through your local bookseller.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-03-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine of the Week:

2007 Pfendler Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($45). Last weekend, Jancis Robinson wrote in her Financial Times column that it might be a good idea to have food present even at serious wine tastings in spite of all those potentially distracting smells and tastes. After all, isn’t that how we consume most wine? Besides, the stomach often demands it. And when I first tasted this Pinot, my stomach said very firmly, “Roger, go immediately to the refrigerator and arrange a culinary marriage of convenience.” This wine is part of an evolving line of very good to excellent Pinots from the Sonoma Coast (that gerrymandered app) with a good concentration of ripe Bing cherries and dark plums laced with plenty of acidity, minerality and refreshing tonic-water bitters around the edges. This is not one of those complex wines that goes wandering across the terrain of the palate but instead sinuously flows across the mouth, drops down the chute and lingers long after the lips are closed.

Wines of Interest:

2007 Chaddsford Portfolio Collection “Miller Estate” Chambourcin ($26). If Chambourcin were an indigenous grape growing in Italy or Spain, the Trendy Wines Brigade (TWB) would be all over it. As is, it’s ignored because it grows best on the East Coast (oh, there…) where it is almost indigenous. It's one of those French-American hybrids that lost the battle of replacing phylloxera-devastated vineyards many harvests ago to vinifera vines grafted on American rootstock. It is still a finicky grape to make better-than-average wine out of, but winemaker Eric Miller has mastered it. And this is not a wimpy East Coast red, but a complex, full-bodied food wine that opens to aromas and flavors of dark fruits, bacon fat, tobacco leaf and a little cola. Very well-balanced. Even if Miller knows how to make Chambourcin, he is still befuddled (as am I) as to which Chambourcins will age well and which will not. He sensibly recommends, “Drink it now.”

2006 Hidden Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon ($40). This is a Spring Mountain wine that can’t call itself that because it's on a mountain dimple between the two main ridges of the Mayacamas range and is thus legally in Sonoma County. I tasted it while interviewing winery co-owner Casidy Ward in the lobby of the Helmsley in New York one morning recently, so my notes are less that laboratoryesque. But I did enjoy the plumpness of the Cab fruit and the sinewy finish and noted it is a very good wine, especially at the price. Yes, I was looking around for food.

2008 Monthaven Central Coast Chardonnay ($24 for 3 liters). This is a very good affordable party wine, the kind that won’t ruin your reputation even though it does come from a box. Or something to have in the fridge if your spouse is out of town and you need liquid to help you make it through the week without pulling corks and restoppering. Nice clean fruit with hints of tartness, moderately lean like a Macon.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-03-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted. All wines are sampled pristine and with food.

Wine of the Week:

2007 Craggy Range “Te Kahu” Gimblett Gravels ($22). How many times do I have to say it – Steve Smith really knows how to make wines, whatever the grape. OK, so this may not be the best wine I’ve ever tasted, but it is a delicious Bordeaux blend – complex fruit with mulberries, minty creams, dark cherry, buttery oak and a lean finish. As a winemaker friend who tasted this with me said, “It has New World fruit, but is very smooth and drinkable.” Blend is Merlot (54%), Cab Sauv, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot.

Wines of Interest:

2008 Liebfraustift-Kirchenstuck Riesling Trocken (SRP not set). This is a good wine for Riesling lovers who can’t make up their whether they prefer plumpness or austerity, as it has a little of both. The first taste is of succulent oranges and peaches smoothly transition into a slatey, minerally finish. Not a great wine, but a very pleasant one. (Estate formerly known as P.J. Valckenberg.)

2008 Gabriel Meffre “Laurus” Gigondas ($24). Dark, concentrated cassis and raspberry flavors with nice tonic bitters around the edges. Tasted it with a cassoulet, and it was a great pairing.

2009 Craggy Range “Te Muna” Road Martinborough Sauvignon Blanc ($22). This is a big and firm wine, seeming almost a different variety that the boxwoody, lean Sauvignons of Marlborough across the straits at the tip of New Zealand’s South Island. It is an excellent food wine, well-balanced, with more tropical fruit flavors than grassy tastes. Apples and pears.

2007 Blackstone Winemaker’s Select Merlot ($12). A bargain. I like this wine for its dark fruits concentration – especially black raspberry - yet it never becomes too fruit-forward or tiring on the palate. In some ways, it is more reminiscent of a good, earthy Grenache from the southern Rhone or Languedoc than of a Bordeaux varietal.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Farm to Fork - An Historic Tale

2010-03-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

We learned to eat with our fingers first.

The Church liked us that way and for a long time preached that some eating utensils were an affront to God. The English once considered the fork to be a foppish Italian affectation. And “farm to fork” local food sourcing had another meaning – essentially, the instruments we eat with are merely scaled-down farming tools.

All these thoughts came to me recently when we were having dinner with friends, and I referred to a table knife as a “case knife.” The hostess had never heard of the term, but it was such a common one when I was growing up – “reach me a case knife” – that I never thought about its origins. Interestingly, another couple at the table, both from Tennessee, had also used the term.

When I was growing up in rural West Virginia, we always had names for our various types of knives – case knife, butcher knife, paring knife, pocket knife, switchblade, hunting knife. We didn’t use bread knives, as we seldom baked yeast bread in loaves, or boning knives, not being a fishing people.

So I promised to Google “case knife” and get back to my hostess. The first reference I found was to a company that makes mainly pocket and hunting knives – W.R. Case – but that turned out to be the simple answer but wrong one. Rather, the term dates back to travel in the American South, where 19th Century inns did not provide eating utensils for their guests. The fork was still a rarity at the time, so travelers ate with their fingers and used their knives, which all men carried at the time as a necessary tool and/or weapon, to cut meat at the table or spear errant bits of food.

As the fork was gradually introduced into American society as an eating instrument, really classy men (few women traveled) began traveling with their own eating utensils – a fork, a knife, and maybe a spoon – packed together in their own cases. As forks were new to cutlery, they did not need a distinguishing name, but knives carried for use only at the table only became known as “case knives.”

Early English travelers to Italy made references to the use of table forks there in the early 1600s, but it was well over a hundred years later before they became common in England and later still the U.S. During this period of culinary abstinence, one Catholic cleric wrote, “God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks – his fingers. Therefore it is an insult to Him to substitute artificial metallic forks when eating.” This also seemed to have been the philosophy of my Uncle Amos, who, in the late 1940s, still licked his plate – holding it up to his face – when he was through eating. While it might not have affronted the deitic Him, it did gross out the rest of Us at the table.

Of course, it’s easy to speculate that all table instruments, used more for delicacy and cleanliness than for a real need – what you can’t eat with your fingers can be drunk from a bowl – came from the miniaturization of farm instruments which were invented centuries earlier as labor-saving devices.

It went like this:

The table knife was a smaller adaptation of a hand saw, and many knives had, and still have, serrations to separate joints of meat or to “saw off” a piece of particularly tough meat.

The spoon had its origins with the shovel, although it was used at table more for liquids than solids.

The fork came from the pitch fork (furca in Latin), used to collect and carry straw, hay and weeds, and at the table was used to collect items on the plate that were in pieces and for which knives and spoons were useless. One could speculate (rightly or wrongly) that the fork first evolved in Italy from a farm instrument to a table instrument as the result of that country’s invention and wide use of spaghetti and other forms of pasta, the quintessential food for forks.

Hewing or striking instruments on the farm – such as axes, hoes and hammers – had little use at the table in their miniature forms, although they are used in the kitchen – meat cleavers (axes) and tenderizers (hammers). The garden hoe or mattock? Simply another form of an axe with the blade on the horizontal.

I’m sure some scholar has determined why early Asians didn’t widely use forks and spoons at the table, but instead devised chop sticks, which are simply an unhinged pair of tongs that utilize the digits of the hand – the thumb especially – as a fulcrum.

In practice, of course, food still falls off my fork, causing a splatter, which invariably gets grease, sauce, or oil on my necktie – but then it’s only serving its probable historic purpose, most likely having evolved from the bib or napkin.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-03-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted.

2008 Corzano e Paterno “Il Corzanello” Tuscany Rosso IGT ($15). Warm, lush cherry fruit with a lean finísh. Delicious. Buy

2006 Corzano e Paterno “Tre Borri” Chianti Riserva ($44). My favorite of the three tasted here – great smooth tannins with vanilla and tart cherry flavors. Buy

2006 Corzano e Paterno “Il Corzano” Tuscany Rosso ($44). Great food wine with good finishing acidity, but not as rich or complex as the Tre Borri. Consider

2006 Clos la Chance “Hummingbird Series” Monterey County Chardonnay ($15). The oak isn’t well integrated, so the wine comes across as too aggressive on the palate. Pass

2005 Marcari North Fork of Long Island Merlot Reserve ($36). Very nice. Dark cherries with a touch of spice. Try.

2007 Estancia “Keyes Canyon” Central Canyon Merlot ($12). Estancia has been through so many owners and iterations through its history that it’s nice to pull a cork and find that the wine is still quite enjoyable – creamy and juicy cherry fruit, a deep purple coloring, but not too extracted or overly fruit forward. Buy.

2005 Chaddsford Pennsylvania "Merican" ($40). A Bordeaux blend mainly of Cab Sauv (60%) with portions of Merlot, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot. It has welcoming aromas and flavors of warm, slightly caramelized oak mingled in with firm fruit and a nice, lean finish. Consider.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup

2010-03-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted.

2007 Mouton Cadet Bordeaux Rouge (about $10). Sometimes a flaw can be charming, as in a dinner companion’s crooked grin or a touch of green stemmy-ness in a red Bordeaux. The vins gendarmes don’t like any vegetable notes in their red wines, due to early harvesting, but some of us grew up with a hint of greenbriers in our reds and still enjoy it. This Mouton also has good fruit from the 65% Merlot, 20 Cab Sauv and 15 Cab Franc blend. Buy.

2007 Clos de La Chance “Hummingbird Series” Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon ($18). This falls into that nice-for-the-price category – good fruit, minerally, touch of leather, mild tannins. Not complex. Consider.

NV Fantinel Prosecco Vino Spumante Extra Dry ($15). Usually the extra dry category is littered with saccharine wines, but this is not one of them. It is as complex, fruity and clean on the palate as most bruts. Buy.

2008 Patone Cellars Brandywine Valley “La Fleur Blanc” (22). This is a promising new winery from Pennsylvania’s Chester County that uses purchased fruit, and with this wine the fruit is a blend of apples and oranges. At least in the flavors – orange notes from the Viognier, and apples from its Chardonnay companion. A very chalky wine, with a crisp and refreshing finish. Try.

2007 Patino Cellars Brandywine Valley Malbec ($30). Lots of cassis and spicy peppermint, yet this isn’t a fruit-forward wine, but more of a savory one. Well-made and interesting. Consider.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup™

2010-02-26T05:10:00.000-08:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted.

2008 Hayman & Hill Santa Lucia Highlands Reserve Selection Pinot Noir ($18). If you think of a bowl of tomato soup as great comfort food, as I do, then a glass of well-made but simple Pinot Noir in the Burgundy style is a comfort wine. Although it comes from southern Monterey County, this California Pinot is such a wine, much like ones made in good vintages from the less-familiar vineyards of the Cote d’Or. It’s a light wine, but certainly not short on the palate – mellow cherry and cola flavors with a touch of creaminess and a smooth finish. That’s it. But I’ve bought cases of wine such as these from Burgundy (and from Sonoma County back in the day when extract wasn’t important) and opened bottles a decade or two later that were as comforting to savor as – another analogy – a mild cigar. Buy.

2007 Frank Family Napa Valley Chardonnay ($33). Redolent with stone-fruit flavors like ripe apricots and dark peaches and savory spices like those found in Southern Rhone whites. Quite enjoyable. Consider.

2007 Blackstone Monterey County Riesling ($12). Acceptable citrus flavors, but sugary and dull in the finish. Pass.

2007 Chaddsford Portfolio Collection Pennsylvania “Due Rossi” ($25). Pennsylvania’s Chester County continues to show that it can produce very good reds – generally blends – from Northern Italian varieties. This one is 80% Barbera and 20% Sangiovese, and winemaker Eric Miller has put together a full wine with dark, smoky berries, ripe cherries, warm oak and a hint of typical Sangio citrus notes in the finish. Buy.

20007 La Linda Mendoza Malbec ($10- $12). Very nice wine that seems more Northern Rhone than Bordeaux in its style and flavors – a dark black raspberry core of flavor wrapped in rich earthiness. Excellent for winter meals. Buy.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Recent Glimpses of Emilia-Romagna

2010-02-24T08:42:00.000-08:00

I traveled to Bologna last week to take part in the annual Vini ad Arte program in nearby Faenza and to barrel sample the delicious 2009 Sangioveses di Romagna. I'll be writing several articles about the wine, food, art and people of Emilia-Romagna, but here is my own "sample" - a few advance glmpses of what I saw and did:

With Gian Alfonso Roda, president of the Enoteca Regionale Emilia-Romagna, I got to taste a cross-section of the wines of the region in the Enoteca's castle headquarters in the little hill town of Dozza - from semi-sparkling Lambruscos to Albanas in table wine and passito versions to the Gutturnio blends of Barbera and Bonarda to Pignolettos. The Sangioveses would come later. I'm the kind of drinker who likes a large variety of wines, which means that I enjoy the diversity of E-R. It can be confusing, however, as Roda notes: "For the novice drinker, Emilia-Romagna is a little like the Forrest Gump movie - it's like opening a box of chocolates when you're not sure what you'll get."

Then there are the Dozza walls. About 50 years ago, the town of Dozza, with its stone and stucco walls and narrow streets, started a Biennale competition (the next is September 2011) in which artists from around the world execute permanent paintings in all styles and subjects on the outside walls of the locals' bedrooms and dining rooms (see below). I found it fascinating walking around, and I hope I get an invitation to come back in a 18 months. :)

Third, I got a cross-section of the region's cuisine with three pasta dishes - the passatelli ("a handful of grated bread crumbs, a handful of parmigiano reggiano and an egg" in brodo with some grated nutmeg) of Ristorante Canè in Dozza, the signature tagliatelle bolognese ("no onions, no tomatoes, no garlic") at Daniele Minarelli's Osteria Bottega in Bologna and the uovo in ravioli (an orange-hued yoke ravioli with lots of cheese and truffle slices) at the elegant San Domenico in Imola.

Then there was the diverse array of ceramics from around the world - holy and profane, ancient and modern, utilitarian and whimsical - at the International Ceramics Museum (top) in Faenza (yes, the word source of faience ceramics).

Finally, there were the tastings of barrel samples and old bottles of Sangiovese di Romagna put together by the Convito di Romagna, headed by Enrico Drei Donà, pictured below at the family estate. It is my belief that Romagna is proving itself the fourth region of great Sangiovese, moving up to conversing terms with its more-famous Tuscan neighbors.

But more about all of this later. I'll keep you posted as articles appear over the next several months. For more on the region, go to www.enotecaemiliaromagna.it/

Until the next time....

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup

2010-02-19T04:41:00.000-08:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted.

2008 Monte Carbonare “Suavia” Soave Classico (about $27). Soave is going through the same transition that Chianti did 30 years ago – having people discover that in spite of the lower-quality examples that we generally find in America, there is some really good stuff being made in this region. And this is one of them. Suavia has strong lactic and minerally qualities, tastes a bit like a cross between an un-oaked Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc, although the grapes are 100% Garganega. Lively fruit and acidity. Quite good. Buy.

2008 Ruffino Chianti ($9). As defense secretaries and football coaches like to mutter, “It is what it is,” and this Ruffino is a simple, inexpensive Chianti. Nice cherry flavors and a tin-cup minerality with a touch of the Sangiovese raspy finish. Yet why does it remind me more of a simple Beaujolais than Chianti? Consider.

2006 Cuvelier Los Andes Grand Vin ($40). This Malbec-dominated wine comes from the family which owns Château Le Crock in St.-Estephe and it a part of the Michel Rolland-led Clos de los Siete compound in Mendoza. The breeding shows. The Cuvelier family and Rolland were both raised in the grand Bordeaux blending tradition, and this blend of Malbec (70 percent) and 10 each of Merlot, Caberet Sauvignon and Syrah is delicious. It has loads of stuffing, but it is approachable now – dark fruits, chocolates, earthiness, dusty tannins. Buy

2008 Alice White Southeast Australia Shriaz ($7). Some good fruit in the front, but the finish is too earthy and gawky for me. Pass.

2008 Ruffino “Lumina” Pinot Grigio ($11). It’s enjoyable – fruity with dried spices around the edges – but tastes a tad sweet and artificial. You can do better for the same price. Pass.

2007 “Red Guitar” Old Vine Tempranillo/Garnacha Navarra ($9). I really like this wine and kept coming back to the open bottle. Lots of ripe, rounded fruit, moderately complex, deeply satisfying. Buy.

2007 Think Tank “La Encantada” Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir ($60). In limited distribution. This is a big wine with concentrated black raspberry flavors, yet the taste is more Burgundy than new world. Nice chalky finish with good acidity and a long finish. Very nice wine, though I should warn that the concentration will be too much for those who like lighter Pinots. Buy.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup - Bordeaux Style

2010-02-13T13:39:00.001-08:00

It is true that I have been drinking wine in Bordeaux for the past several days, although not to review them, as I normally do in The Friday Lineup. Instead, I was on assignment to work on a half-dozen articles - but that doesn't mean I don't have some reader recommendations.

First, get ready for the 2009 vintage when it comes up to buy on futures this summer. I tried several 2009s, both the components and the blends, at several wineries, and what I tasted was uniformly good. It's been touted as the best since 2005. We're still six weeks or so away from primeurs - the big 2009 vintage tasting - so the blends that have just been put into barrels will taste even better when they are formally presented to the wine world. Balance is the key to this vintage, although those who wring their hands over alcohol will pay too much attention to what's on the label and not in their mouth. Anne-Francois Quie of Chateau Rauzan-Gassies calls 2009 a "winemakers vintage" in that there were so many options. "There was no rushing or disasters at harvest, so we could make choices."

Second, pay more attention to the Cotes de Castillon, the wine region east of St.-Emilion that occupies the same plateau as that stellar app. The wines are similar in composition and style to St. Emmy, but are much more reasonable in price. I visited four chateaux which sell to the U.S., and I can recommand all of them - Clos Puy Arnaud and Chateaux Castegens, de Pitray and Poupille.

Third, if you visit Bordeaux, take time to go Margaux gourmet with a tour set up by women at four chateaux who call themselves Les 4 Margalaises. The chateaux are Rauzan-Gassies, Kirwan, La Tour de Bessan and Prieure-Lichine, and the tour includes a lot of background on Margaux that I found fascinating, even after many visits there. Plus you get to drink and nibble at each chateau and experience a gourmet lunch at one of them.

Next week, we get back to our regular programming of wines to consider, buy, try and take a pass on.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup

2010-01-29T06:25:00.000-08:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted.

2007 Liberty School Central Coast Cuvee ($12). A well-known practice among European wine estates is “declassifying,” or taking juice that would normally go into the grand vin and putting it into lesser wines in the portfolio – either because the vintage wasn’t up to grand vin standards or because there was more of the good stuff than they could use. Could Austin Hope have done some declassifying here to launch his newest Liberty School – a Rhone blend using grapes that would normally go into his estate Syrah or the Treana blend? “Cuvee” is seriously good wine that could compete with top-end Gigondas. It is rich and big and earthy with the essence of black raspberries, dark chocolate, anise, earthiness and mocha that is long on the palate. What’s more, with its balance it will age for a decade or two, even though it is not highly tannic. Will the 2008 be as good? Do you want to wait and take that chance? Buy.

2006 Clos de Haute Combe Juliénas ($16). A nice everyday Beaujolais with good fruits and acids reminds me of a good everyday Cotes du Rhone – a pleasant wine companion to take to the table, one that has something to say but won’t dominate conversation. This is such a wine. Consider.

2006 Olivier Leflaive Montée de Tonnerre Ier Cru Chablis ($50). A very good wine with mellow fruits and meadow flowers laid over a chalky base with good acidity that brings everything back to earth. Who could ask for more? Buy.

2008 Jackson Estate “Vintage Widow” Marlborough Pinot Noir ($32). What I love about New Zealand winemakers is they don’t try to make wines that taste like the wines of anyone else. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc doesn’t try to mimic Loire Valley, and their Pinot Noirs don’t ape Burgundy. In fact, except for the nose, this wine might even make you question whether Pinot is the grape, as the flavors are similar to fresh Grenache. It’s almost spritzy in its raspberry freshness, yet it has balancing weight and gravity. For all that, it is a very nicely made and interesting bottle from a secondary NZ Pinot region. Consider.

2007 Neirano “Pitule” Moscato d’Asti ($12). Moscatos are seldom great wines, but they are interesting wines. The ones from Asti have bubbles, but low enough pressure that they can be stoppered with a regular cork. Alcohol is low, around 7%. They are generally lightly sweet, but have good acidity and can easily be used as food wines, especially with poultry. This is a nice one with floral aromas and tastes of almonds and meringue. If you aren’t familiar with these wines, give it a Try.

Note: I will be on assignment in Bordeaux on Friday, February 5, so look for the next posting of The Friday Lineup on February 12.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

Antinori Sisters in La Vie Claire Magazine

2010-01-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

I've written before about the Antinori sisters and how they will eventually take over the centuries-old family business of wines and hospitality, but the 10-page spread in the current issue of La Vie Claire is the best to date. Check it out. Until next time....

Roger Morris

Gourmet & the Lost Generation of Foodies

2010-01-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

As much as I loved the movie Julie & Julia, Julia Child did not teach my generation to become better-than-average cooks and free-wheeling foodies. Gourmet magazine did. For those of who graduated from college, got good jobs and came of cultural age during the '60s, '70s and '80s, the slick, advertising-heavy food magazine was our portal into what we wanted to be - the kind of meals we wanted to conjure up and to prepare for friends, the restaurants we wanted to eat in when we "got to" New York or Los Angeles, and the kind of spas and hotels we wished we could afford to visit on the Riviera or in the Black Forest. As a wine writer, I loved Gerald Asher's travelogues of his visits to the world's great wineries and winemakers. I am still trying to catch up with him. Gourmet's layouts were stunning, the photography urbane, the recipes generally challenging. There was always an ingredient I couldn't find and a term I would have to look up in those pre-Google days - but many of my attempts were successful, and I learned first-hand how to appreciate good food and dining.

It was quite common in those days to go into a friend's kitchen on a Friday evening for a dinner party for 8 and see a recent issue of Gourmet folded to that evening's holy grail, a heavy kitchen knife keeping the book open to the right page, flecks of creme fraiche or maybe tartar sauce spread across the type. Gourmet was our handbook in the kitchen and our travel guide on the road. Looking into the magazine racks in our living rooms, next to the Bentwood rockers, rya rugs and too many potted plants, the only reading materials that all of us generally had in common was Gourmet. Old issues of it, and sometimes the New Yorker, were stacked in our basements and hall closets, and when we were forced to throw them, their covers were often neatly filed away.

Truthfully, the magazine had started going downhill before Ruth Reichl got her hands on it. But after she did, it was dumbed down beyond all recognition, except for the gloss. Urbane was replaced by urban. We learned how to make street food and revisit comfort foods and maybe even tried to convince ourselves that it was "authentic cooking."

Each day, I find more new things to attract my interest than the old things from yesterday that I leave behind. But I do miss the old Gourmet, even though I don't want to relive the days when it was flourishing. My hope is that some day someone will revive it the way they did Vanity Fair. But that probably won't happen. Gourmet gave us good times and a good feeling, but I didn't shed tears when it closed, although I did feel sorry for people I knew who worked there and lost jobs..

As a source of inspiration, the soul of Gourmet was dead long before the body quit breathing.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup

2010-01-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted.

2006 Mandolin Central Coast Merlot ($10). This is just a little jewel of a wine at an unbelievable price. It has dark, rich cherry flavors followed by light chocolate and anise in the finish. Definite, but light, tannins. Buy a case to drink and one to put away for 10 years. Leave the price stickers on so that you can marvel at how well this cheap wine ages. Buy.

2007 Frank Family Napa Zinfandel ($37). Big and friendly. Lovely, but not overpowering fruit – mainly fresh-picked blackberries, with good acidity. Very long on the palate. It has that decided “burnished” oak flavor that some won’t like, but it is well-integrated and adds complexity. Buy.

2007 Geoffrey Domaine le Verger Chablis ($13). Excellent minerality and acidity, but it has more residual sweetness –not fruitiness – than I like. Those who like KJ Chards will probably disagree, but this one became a little tiring over the course of a meal. Pass.

2007 Va La “Seed” Pennsylvania Red Wine ($35). A discussion of this wine has many facets. (1) The winegrower, Anthony Vietri, is a friend of mine who makes excellent wines that are red or white blends of mainly Italian grapes - Mahogany, Cedar, La Prima Donna – grown under such strict vineyard conditions that it may reference his Catholic school upbringing. (2) This is a wine made of experimental crosses of vinifera whose parentage is still being kept secret. (3) The wine is a full-bodied red that is in part a response to the challenge of making a big, complex, New World style red on the East Coast. (4) It is a single-barrel wine, #53, that produced just 198 bottles which are only being sold at the winery in Avondale. I decanted the wine, but started tasting not long afterward. It began very full and a little heavy on the palate with lots of oak and a tad of grapey-ness and some sharp edges. I came back to it two hours later, and the grapey-ness had gone as had most of the sharp edges. It also seemed leaner, more like Vietri’s other reds, which lends me to believe that the wine would profit greatly from more bottle aging, which is what I intend to do with the other bottle I purchased. My take is that Vietri is well on the route to making a big East Coast red, more in the California style than the European style, which is where all the regional success to date has lain. This vintage of Seed, and the whole Seed project, is very encouraging. If you’re looking for an exciting, I-was-there-at-the-genesis bottle of wine, you should give it a try. I feel a little bit like someone watching a new Sam Shepard play in New Haven. I can’t wait ‘til it gets to Broadway. Consider.

2006 Domaine des Nugues Beaujolais-Villages ($12). Enjoyable purple, mulberry fruit, but the wine seems a little tired and lacking in freshness that goes beyond its earthy nature. Pass.

Until next time...

Roger Morris

The Iuli Barberas of Piemonte's Monferrato

2010-01-17T07:18:00.000-08:00

People who don't know any better often tell me with great confidence and solemnity, usually just after returning from their first trip to the vineyards of Europe, "The really good stuff never makes it here," meaning the United States. Of course, they are wrong, but it is amazing the number of very good winemakers or wineries that don't have representation in America for a number of years and, yes, even sometimes never.

But usually some small importer building a portfolio knocks on a winery door, and, as a result, we wine lovers find a new treat - or several of them. Such was the case when Summer Wolff, living in Italy, buying wines for her Sokolin customers, conducting culinary tours, and building her own import portfolio at Indie Wineries, met Fabrizio Iuli, winemaker and proprietor at the 10-year-old Iuli winery in Monferrato in Piemonte. Last evening, Wolff brought Iuli and his Barbera-dominant portfolio to Maryland's Fair Hill Inn in a special dinner to match his wines with the delicious foods put together by co-chefs Phil Pyle and Brian Shaw. It was a memorable event with every table and chair sold out in advance.

Iuli makes three different Barberas ("Umberta," "Rossore," and "Barabba") utilizing different vineyards and different oak regimines (or not), a Barbera and Nebbiolo blend ("Malidea"), and a Pinot Noir ("Nino"), a varietal that seems to challenge most every winemaker, wherever they live, to give it a try somewhere in their career. The wines, ranging in price from $28 to $60, were all very good and were allowed to open before serving, having been poured individually in large glasses before being transported to the table.

If Iuli has a house style - and I think he does - it is that the wines all have good fruit (dark cherries, a touch of dried cranberries), are tart and tangy in the way that sour cream is, have good savory spices, finish well with smooth acidity and dusty tannins, have moderate minerality, and are long on the palate. The Barabba and the Malidea are still a little tight in the finish, but that should loosen up in aging. Pinot Noir is a flexible grape, and Iulu's Nino seems to have decided to blend in with the Barbera clan, though with its own flavors of sweet roots (sassafras) and baking spices.

I love going to wine dinners that Pyle and Shaw put together because they understand wines, and they know how to match flavors better than most chefs, plus they take the time in advance to drink and discuss the wines before putting together the menus (those would be amusing sessions to watch some time). The Nino Pinot appeared with a mushroom tart with cherry tomato marmalade and roasted garlic oil, the first Barbera (Umberta) came with balsamic-cured salmon with a pickled egg snow and defining fennel and orange flavors, and the Rossore was matched with Chef Pyle's antipasti salumi. After a few years of experimenting, Pyle has become a rising American star in salumi production.

But it was the fourth course that seemed to cause the most buzz among dinners - a fantastic risotto with Pyle's pancetta, Shaw's pecorino, and a mixture of cippolini onion, radicchio and winter greens that was matched with Iuli's top-of-the-line 2004 Barabba. Finally, the half-and-half blend of Nebby and Barbie in Iuli's Malidea came with fall-off-your-fork braised beef with a vegetable-packed polenta.

Wolff translated Iuli's comments in Italian to the diners and the diners' praises in English back to the winemaker in Italian. Wolff's wines are available through Sokolin, although wider distribution is being planned, and she can be reached at summer@solkolin.com.

Until next time....

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup

2010-01-15T07:47:00.000-08:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted.

2008 Daniel Bouland Vieilles Vignes Morgon ($20). It’s a fine between a wine having the fresh acidity that pairs it so well with food and possessing a razor’s-edge sharpness that calls too much attention to its finish, and I think this wine pours over that line. I love the fruit, but not the finish. Pass.

2008 Domaine Bernard Defaix Petit Chablis (about $15). This wine does not cross the acid line, even though it is fresh, quite tart, minerally and comes as close as Chardonnay will ever come to passing for Sauvignon Blanc in the finish. A touch of chalkiness helps balance the acid. Consider.

NV Mumm Napa Brut Rosé ($21). Why don’t I drink this wine more! Without much thought, I paired it with a creamy-inside, crusty-outside chevre soufflé, and the tangy, meaty, gamey, rich sparkler with its strawberry and grapefruit flavors went perfectly with the almost truffly elegance of the egg dish – a soufflé being as close as food can get to being Champagne. Buy.

2006 Billaud-Salmon “Vaudesir” Chablis Grand Cru ($110) OK, so this reminds me of a really good Sonoma Chardonnay – and that’s OK – with its round, juicy, rich varietal flavors of tropical fruits and tree-picked apricots. It does have more minerality than most Sonomans, but its 13.5 alcohol gives it the mouth-feel of a Californian. Very nice. Buy if you can afford it.

2008 Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages ($13). Smooth and light, a very quaffable wine with mellow, strawberry-dominant fruit and a very long finish. Try.

Until next time….

Roger Morris

The Friday Lineup

2010-01-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted.

2007 Antech Blanquette de Limoux ($15). For anyone not familiar with this sparkling wine region of the Lanquedoc, this is a good place to start. The Antech is clean, fresh without being overly acidic, full without being heavy. It’s very easy drinking, but it is also complex enough to give you something to think about while you’re counting bubbles. Buy.

2008 Chateau Jaumard ($13). I know this red doesn’t cost much, but I would expect more bang from this vintage. The wine is light on fruit and has a lot of briers and cherry-stem flavors, usually associated with fruit picked too soon. Take a Pass on this one.

2005 Simonnet-Febvre Chablis (about $17). Purchasing an older Chablis can be dicey unless you know what you’re looking for. With this one, I wanted hearty brioche flavors from lees contact and from mild oxidation to go along with roasted game hens and cornbread stuffing. A good match. Consider.

NV Hi Prosecco ($15). I was prepared not to like this bubbler because of its cutesy branding, but it really is a nice, dry Prosecco with fresh fruit and flower notes and good acidity. Give it a Try.

2008 Jackson Estate “Stich” Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($22). This wine has all the herbal notes that Marlborough lovers want, yet it is a couple of notches up the ladder because of its rounder, riper gooseberry flavors. Quite nice. Buy.

2006 Pascal Granger Moulin a Vent (about $19). A pleasant, middle-of-the-road Beaujolais – a good café wine – with strawberry preserves flavors, some creamy candy notes and nice bitters edging to wrap it all up. Consider.

2004 Château Coutet (about $60). Rich honey and honeycomb tastes, very nice acidity and quite clean and fresh for its fullness and age. Buy.

2003 Giaconda Victoria “Aeolia” (about $70-$80 for current vintages). A friend brought this 100% Aussie Roussanne from his cellar, and it’s a lovely wine, with aromas and flavors of warm, ripe pears blended with lemon-cream pie. A Search for wine.

The Friday Lineup

2010-01-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

A weekly commentary on selected wines tasted.
New Year’s Day 2010 edition.

NV Ch. Gardet & Co. Selected Reserve Champagne (about $35). If you love aged sparklers with lots of nuts and toasty brioche on the nose and palate, this is your wine. The still wines are first aged in oak, and then the finished Champagne is aged in the bottle for five more years. Blend of cru grapes – 40% each Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Meunier. It is delightful. Buy.

Josh Hexter trained at UC-Davis, and now he is making beautiful wines in the Jerusalem Hills for Psagot. Here are three of his reds, all kosher but not mevushal. 2007 Psagot Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ($21) is an enjoyable blend of tart blackberry and dried blueberry flavors with light hints of milk chocolate. Moderate tannins, and, like all three Psagots, very smooth. 2007 Psagot Cabernet Franc ($21) is 100% Franc – lots of coffee and earthly flavors with the crisp finish that a good food wine deserves. The 2007 Psagot Edom ($25) is a Cab Sauv-dominated blend with a combined 40% Merlot, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot. It is a blend of tart cherry and fruity blueberry tastes, medium bodied with light tannins. Buy.

2007 Pacific Rim “Wallula Vineyard” Columbia Valley Riesling ($19). On the full but not heavy side of Riesling – minerally, touch of oiliness, lots of citrus notes. It’s certified biodynamic. Consider.

2007 Macari Dos Aguas ($27). A nicely made Bordeaux blend from eastern Long Island that has good fruit concentration without being jammy with lots of vanilla. Consider.

2006 Craggy Range Te Muna Aroha ($65 at launch). A very elegant Pinot Noir from New Zealand’s North Island. The fruit is very fresh, yet mellow, well-rounded and complex with lots of savory and spicy notes. Buy.

NV Gruet New Mexico Blanc de Noirs ($15). Is there anyone who doesn’t enjoy the sparkling wines from this Champagne family who set up shop in sagebrush country? Toasty with full flavors, good with appetizers. Try.

Until next time...

Roger Morris