I’ve been tasting a variety of excellent inexpensive whites in recent weeks and wanted to share one of my favorites. At Gabriel’s restaurant here in New York last evening, I wanted a refreshing, easy-to-drink but interesting young white ove
3.09.2010
Sips: wines we like
The latest from Chile
Christophe Salin, the president of Domaines Barons de Rothschild, which produces the Los Vascos brand in Chile, reported no damage to the company’s vineyards, buildings and technical equipment in the Feb. 28 earthquake but said in an e-mail that “some tanks, barrels and bottles have unfortunately collapsed and we anticipate a loss amounting up to 20 percent of our wine inventory.” As the harvest approaches, he said, the winery should be back to “business as usual” next week when it expects electricity, water and phone lines to be restored. He said shipments might be delayed, however.
Meanwhile, Banfi Vintners, the largest U.S. importer of wines from Chile, said shipments of its wines will resume this Thursday from the port of San Antonio. Banfi imports the wines of Concha y Toro, Chile’s largest producer, including its Trivento and Emiliana brands. Banfi said the wineries had resumed production after suspending it for a week or so. James Mariani, Banifi’s co-chief executive, noted that wine exports “constitute a key component of the Chilean economy; thus, we are all firmly committed to seeing business resume as swiftly as possible.”
3.08.2010
Chile quake update
Over the weekend, I heard from Georgio Flessati of Viña Falernia, whose excellent wine I wrote about in my column last year. In an email yesterday, he reported that while neither Falernia’s winery nor vineyards were affected by the earthquake nine days ago (it is one of Chile’s northernmost estates some 300 miles north of Santiago), it did lose wine that was in transit close to
Flessati described the wine picture after the quake as “quite complicated,” noting that the most affected area is the central-south part of the country, which accounts for 75 percent of the wine production. He said the losses there were “around 33 million gallons of wine from collapsed tanks.”
He noted that wineries in the region suffered a good deal of damage in infrastructure and production capacity, particularly in their grape reception areas. With harvest getting under way, he said everyone was working hard to be able to start the new vintage in decent condition. “Other problems,” he told me, “are the roads and water and energy, but I think in a few days the situation will be under control.” He added that “all the wineries in a few days will be able to start production and shipments and I think all of them will respect the agreements with the customers.” So, at this point, it sounds as though supplies and shipments from Chile won’t be too affected.
3.04.2010
Ah, the aromas of an online wine tasting-VIDEO
From the comfort of my home, I attended an online wine tasting this evening held by a new San Francisco-based Web site called Brixr.com. Its model is to sell wines on the Web by offering you the chance to taste them first, along with sommeliers brought in for the occasion, in a live streaming video feed. How does it work? You sign up for the tasting at Brixr and then buy samples of the wines that are shipped
The theme of this preview tasting for the wine media was France’s Rhône Valley and Rhône-style wines from California. We tasted six of them in all as the hosts, Raj Parr and Christie Dufault of the restaurant RN74 in San Francisco, described the wines and offered their impressions.
I was prepared for a bit more of a hard sell by the hosts but was pleasantly surprised by the relatively straightforward nature of the commentary. If that’s the tone for what’s to c0me, there should be considerable interest in the idea, although at $25 for the “tiny bottle” sample collection required for the tasting, the entry price is not inconsequential. Novices could conceivably skip the “tasting” part of it and learn a good deal just by watching the videos (maybe I’m not supposed to suggest that).
As for the wines, three of the six stood out for me. The first was Château Rayas’s 2006 “La Pialade” Côtes-du-Rhône, a stunningly beautiful $34 grenache-based wine that had the light color of Burgundy and classic southern Rhône white pepper and grenache’s cherry notes. From the northern Rhône, Gilles Robin’s 2006 Crozes Hermitage “Cuvee Albéric Bouvet,” a $30 syrah, had a funky yet pleasing earthiness with notes of spicy blackberry and tobacco. Perhaps the most intriguing and unexpected wine was a genuine California oddity – an 11.5 percent alcohol red wine, Arnot-Roberts’ 2008 “Clary Ranch” Syrah, $38, from the Sonoma Coast. It was a real treat, showing a beautifully balanced combination of fig, mushroom, earth and eucalyptus notes.
I’ll certainly follow up on the Arnot-Roberts wine, which, by the way, was the only one of my three favorites not listed as “out of stock” on Brixr’s Web site. You might want to order a bottle before it goes the way of the others.
3.03.2010
Spring and sauvignon in the air
Good morning. Raise you’re hand, or your wine glass, if you’re ready for this seemingly endless winter to give way to spring. I’ve got just the wine that will help get you there. As I’ve pointed out in my column in recent years, California sauvignon blancs are among the most exciting white wines (and best values) coming out of the state, and the new release of one of my favorites shows why.
It’s the 2009 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc from St. Supéry Vineyards and Winery. This is a rich yet refr
3.02.2010
Chile’s wineries report significant quake losses
The impact of the massive earthquake on Chile’s wine industry became more clear today, and it is significant, as are the ripple effects extending well beyond Chile.
Concha y Toro, Chile’s largest producer and exporter with vineyards throughout the wine region, said it had suspended its production for at least a week while it assesses the full extent of the damage. In a statement, it said “our company, as well as the rest of the industry, have been heavily impacted by this catastrophe.” It described serious damage to some of its main wineries and “important loss in wine and production capacity.” It noted that the area in central Chile that felt the biggest impact from the quake “is the heartland of wine production.”
Worries about the harvest were echoed in a comment to my post below by Tim Britton, an importer of South American wines in Berkeley, California, who said he had two concerns: “One, that not only have some of the vineyards lost stock, not all but many have some significant losses of bottle and vat stock; and two, the harvest is not far off and both equipment and workers will now be in very short supply. The impact of this quake on Chile's wine exports may be felt for many years. The good news from our contacts is that with one exception no wineries incurred loss of life due to the fortunate timing of a Saturday early morning.”
Juliet Rizek, a spokesperson for TGIC Wine Importers in Woodland Hills, California, said two of the wineries it represents, Viña Montes in Colchagua and Viña Santa Ema in the Maipo Valley, suffered some wine loss and structural damage to older buildings. She said the wineries had generators and were keeping the temperatures of the wines under control. In a statement on the company’s Web site, the president and founder, Alex Guarachi, who is Chilean himself, offers a list of relief organizations to which donations can be texted on cell phones.
(Map above used with permission and courtesy of WineWeb.com)
3.01.2010
After the quake, Chile’s wineries assess damage
Along with just about everyone else in Chile , those involved with the country’s wine industry were getting a sense of the damage from Saturday’s massive earthquake, and at this point it seems to considerable, just as Chile is about to begin the 2010 harvest.
James Molesworth of Wine Spectator reports that wineries in the Maule and Curico valleys near the epicenter were hard hit, with damage as well further north in the Maipo and Rapel valleys. To put in perspective what’s at stake here, Chile’s wine exports exceeded $1 billion last year, The New York Times noted in its coverage of the quake.
Concha y Toro, Chile’s largest producer and exporter, has vineyards in Maule, Curico, Maipo and throughout the country’s large wine-growing region. Ed Barden, the New World portfolio director for Banfi Vintners, Concha y Toro’s U.S. importer, told me the company is assessing the damage to its facilities, a process that will take two or three days.
A trio of California chardonnays
I’ve been sampling California chardonnays in recent days with an eye, as always, toward well-balanced wines that are not infus
Freemark Abbey’s well-focused 2008 Napa Valley Chardonnay is an excellent value at $22. It opens with a bit of citrus, which leads to notes of ripe melon, vanilla and butterscotch, with all the elements nicely integrated in a bright, refreshing style. With relatively modest alcohol of 14.1 percent, the wine was a perfect match with grey sole fillets roasted with Dijon mustard and a splash of vermouth.
Sbragia Family Vineyards’ 2007 Home Ranch Chardonnay from the Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County is nuanced and balanced, quite Burgundian in character with pear and pink grapefruit tastes and judicious use of oak that leaves a subtle vanilla note on the finish. An elegant and sophisticated chardonnay. Another excellent buy at $26.
For a slightly richer style, consider another Sonoma wine, Rochioli Vineyards’ 2008 Russian River Valley Chardonnay. This highly enjoyable wine, with a suggested price of $50, shows pear, a considerable note of vanilla extract, some herbs and minerals and a touch of orange on the finish. All three of these wines were effortless to drink and matched well with foods, from fish to pan-seared pork chops to roast chicken. And remember, to enjoy their subtleties, don’t drink them too cold. (Wines received as press samples.)