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September 10, 2012
Complimentary Wine Tasting at III Forks- Jacksonville.
September 9, 2012
Was Dom Perignon Blind?
September 8, 2012
The Curious Disappearance of New Zealand Pinot Noir.
September 7, 2012
I caught this article by Lettie Teague in the Wall Street Journal a few days ago. In essence, she points out that NZ PN seem to be disappearing from restaurant wine lists and retailers shelves. She writes:
It wasn’t so long ago that New Zealand Pinot Noir was hot—or at least there were a lot more of the wines around. After all, Pinot Noir had been touted as New Zealand’s greatest discovery since Sauvignon Blanc (whose sales, by the way, are still growing by leaps and bounds).
New Zealand producers have planted Pinot Noir all over both islands—in regions like Central Otago, Canterbury, Waipara and Marlborough on South Island as well as Martinborough, Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay to the north.
Posted in News | Tagged New Zealand, Pinot Noir | Leave a comment //Haraszthy Zinfandel, Amador County, California.
September 7, 2012
Grapes
93% Zinfandel, 7% Mourvedre
Facts
- The Haraszthy line of wines [pronounced: Hare-ass-tee] is part of the Bronco Wine Company portfolio. If Bronco doesn’t sound too familiar, maybe this one will: Fred Franzia. That’s right, Ol’ Fred Franzia, nephew of Ernest Gallo, and founder of the Charles Shaw brand, otherwise more affectionately known as “Two Buck Chuck.” Now, before you get ahead of yourself, Fred Franzia has no part in the winemaking for this particular wine! Read on…
- Hungarian-born Count Agoston Haraszthy was born into a wealthy winemaking family, but you could probably guess the wealthy-part that by the “Count” prefix on his name.
He emigrated to America in 1842, ending up in Wisconsin of all places (kind-of reminds of that one scene in Love Actually….I wonder if Wisconsin girls dig a Hungarian accent?) and after planting some vines there, he moved further west with his family.
In 1857, he founded the first winery in California: Buena Vista. - Agoston Haraszthy is known to this day as the “The Father of California Viticulture.”
- The Haraszthy winery has been handed down through the generations, and is now in the capable hands of winemaker Vallejo Haraszthy. “Val” as he’s known to his friends, is a result of the marriage of Count Agoston Haraszthy’s son (Attila), and General Mariano Vallejo’s daughter. (who founded Sonoma in 1834 as Mexico’s northernmost military outpost) .
Side-note: I’m always jealous of people with that kind of family history! I have nothing like that in my family tree! We’ve done NOTHING of ANY relevance the whole time we’ve been on this earth, at least, nothing that would make the history books! Oh well…
Did Italian Wine Jump the Shark with its Wine Purse?
September 6, 2012
I have to admit that I didn’t even want to write this post, but it seems to keep getting blasted at me from every angle on the Interweb (I guess the PR company must has really been hammering-out the samples on this one!), so find myself in the position of being forced to share my two cents…
Volere (pictured below) is a boxed-wine like any other box wine, except for the minor detail that the box is shaped like a purse. A genius idea really, and quite unbelievable that no-one else thought of it first!
The Volere comes to us from Cantina di Soave in Italy’s Veneto region, who is (according to their own website): “one of Italy’s most respected and progressive wine producers.” I get the feeling that their level of “respect” in the Italian wine community may have been taken down 
a notch or three with this latest innovation…
So I have to admit, I haven’t tasted the stuff (which is available in Pinot Grigio (Tan/white purse), Merlot/Pinot Noir (Red purse) and Rosé (Pink/white purse)); but from what I’ve seen, the reviews aren’t looking too great, at least, not from the people who know what they’re talking about i.e. the wine media.
On the flip-side of that, plenty of lifestyle columnists (and even KLG and Hoda) seem to have fallen handbag-over-heels in love with the Volere, which is quite concerning, since they’re the ones reaching the “masses.”
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