America’s growing fascination with wine has fueled an increasing interest in all sorts of topics that might’ve seemed superfluous only 10 years ago. Just consult a set of wine notes from the average Napa Valley winery, and you’ll discover data relating to everything from barrels to brix, to pH levels, to harvest dates, to clonal selections. In any area of interest, the true enthusiast will always embrace the minute details, whether that topic is wine, baseball statistics, or Star Trek episodes. But I will say one thing about some of these oenological facts and figures: if you’ve [... read more ...]
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The Culinary Timeline is a side-project that I've been working on since October. I'm hoping to have most of it complete by the end of January, with any luck. Until then, updates around here will be weekly, rather than twice weekly. Do stay tuned. • • •
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The term “noble rot” has long been a secret handshake among wine connoisseurs, an English translation of the French pourriture noble, or what biologists would officially call “botrytis” (and even more officially, Botrytis cinerea). At its essence, “noble rot” is a benevolent fungus, critical to the production of many of the world’s top late-harvest wines. Botrytis appears in the fall — with the onset of humidity in the vineyard — helping to concentrate the sugar levels in the grapes as it facilitates dehydration. For this reason, the words “noble rot” are often synonymous with the Bordeaux region [... read more ...] In his book “To Cork or Not to Cork,” author George Taber devotes 265 pages to bottle closures, a fact in itself that demonstrates at least one universal truth: that wine aficionados are an odd, yet passionate lot. After all, who else would read an entire book on this particular subject? Even wine guru Karen MacNeil, who contributed the foreward to the text, was at first a bit skeptical, and for very good reason. An entire book dedicated to the cork-versus-screw cap debate? Honestly, I sometimes feel that wine aficionados must be the Trekkies of the culinary [... read more ...] In spite of our present fascination with Champagne, it should come as little surprise that one of the region’s most legendary figures, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, remains mostly a mystery. After all, the Champagne region itself has been the source of many wine-related myths and mistruths, perhaps none greater than that of Dom Perignon, the monk at Hautvillers whom is often cited as the benevolent inventor of sparkling wine (in reality, Perignon was a gifted blender of still wines, but he considered bubbles to be a major flaw). In the case of Clicquot Ponsardin, the mystery [... read more ...] Like many of the great books within its genre, Gerald Asher’s “Vineyard Tales” is one part history lesson and one part wine appreciation. Originally published in 1996, “Vineyard Tales” remains an invaluable text, offering plenty of insight regarding wines that span the globe. Along the way, Asher seems to cover most of the interesting American regions, touching upon places such as Washington State and New York’s North Fork, while also devoting requisite chapters to Napa Cabernet and Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Considering the scope and diversity of his topics, Asher’s detailed histories are the strength [... read more ...] As the former employee of a BioDynamic winery, I’ve had dozens of opportunities to promote the theories of BioDynamic farming. Unfortunately, the vagaries of BioDynamics are founded upon some very challenging ideas. For this reason, and despite my rhetoric on the subject, I feel that the BioDynamic movement remains largely misunderstood. At worst, BioDynamics is labeled as mere superstition. And while this dismissal is entirely unfair, I will admit that the underlying principles of BioDynamics are indeed strange and esoteric. I will also admit that, honestly, I don’t even understand many of the theories that surround BioDynamics [... read more ...] Although many travel writers may rely upon their role as “the outsider” for either a comedic or a dramatic crutch, the most valuable travelogues are the ones that can accurately portray the local point of view. After all, once the narrator becomes a character — rather than a conduit — the fundamental purpose of a travelogue can become muddled. The challenge, of course, is to provide enough detailed perspective to maintain interest and insight, without delving too much into the ordinary and mundane. In Steve Heimoff’s “A Wine Journey along the Russian River,” the author strikes a [... read more ...] Every time I receive a new issue of Wine Spectator, my ritual is always the same. First, I always flip to the back of the magazine to ogle the point rankings. I suppose I’m like most people — I have a strange fascination with the very things that I rally against — but I must admit that I do enjoy reading the scores. I am always eager to see which wineries are anointed with high marks, and likewise, I’m always interested to see how I might agree or disagree with the magazine’s assessments. But shortly after thumbing [... read more ...] With so much emphasis placed upon Burgundy and Bordeaux these days, the demure wines of Beaujolais receive very little attention among wine critics. Of course, this type of elitism has become endemic among wine writers, since wine has been subject to rampant deconstruction in recent years. Thanks to the dreaded 100-point scale (coupled with some outlandish flavor descriptors), the casual enjoyment of wine seems to have become a quaint afterthought for the dedicated aficionado. In “I’ll Drink to That,” author Rudolph Chelminski helps to remove some of the pretense surrounding wine by extolling the virtues [... read more ...] I found an interesting book at the Napa Valley Goodwill today: Anthony Dias Blue’s “American Wine,” which was published in 1985. Although the information in the book has become a bit stale (to say the least), for two dollars, it remains an interesting time capsule. The book lists prices, features wine ratings, and tells the history and vital statistics for hundreds of wineries throughout the United States. Here are some interesting tidbits from 1985: • The 1980 vintage of Kistler Dutton Ranch Chardonnay is given zero stars, and is noted as seriously flawed. The following [... read more ...] |
 
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