April 3, 2006 - Recent Wine Books worth a read

Since this is a blog on wine, I thought it might be worth sharing a few good reads as of late.

The Emperor of Wine - The rise of Robert M. Parker, JR.
Whichever camp ( pro or anti Parker ) you belong in, this biography of RMP is a must read. While I am told some of the facts in this book are not quite correct - it still a thoroughly enjoying read. The reader gets sucked into the wine world with its myriad of colorful characters. 94pts

The Accidental Connoissuer - An Irreverant Journey through the wine world.
The title is exactly how it reads, an almost random romp through wine world. Charming & witty at times however be prepared for more than a few "boring patches". 88pts

Inspiring Thirst
The winehunter's favorite in this lot. Kermit is the GRANDADDY of all Winehunters. Names like Chave, Jayer, Clape, DRC... The man has been through them all except he did it 30 years ago! This book is a collection of 30 years worth of Kermit Lynch's newletters highlighting wines in his unmistakable style. Reading through the newsletters is like going through a time machine.
In one of them he talks about bottle shock and how things got much better after he started shipping wines by refrigeterated containers (aka reefers) this was years ago. What a pioneer - wine merchants take heed - you know who you are. Check out the price of some Henri Jayer's wines back then!! 96pts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adventures in Italy

Image
We only spent one night in Rome and that was the gastronomic low point of the trip. Thinking we couldn't go wrong by picking the most crowded joint in the vicinity.... oops bad luck. We just could not understand why there were so many people. Maybe they served the leftovers to the tourists? The fish was stale and the lamb was pretty sad as well. Sub-standard food, expensive and mediocre service ( restaurant pictured below). One of the best places in terms of food was in the town of Lucca. Over lunch we went to this lovely little place called "Canuleia". The fresh vegetable salad with burrata cheese was lovely. Being quite creamy on the inside, the cheese liquids gets mixed up with the olive oil and vegetables outside resulting in a lovely dressing - I'm sure it was deliberate. Last but not least, a lovely wine from Tenuta Campo di Sasso called Insiglio . You may not have heard of this outfit but this is where Lodovico Antinori went when his beloved Ornelia was sold.
Read more

Dinner with Lodovico Antinori & Tenuta di Biserno

A few years back, I mentioned about a wine that stood out on a trip to Tuscany. That wine was called Isoglio del Cinghiale. After some fact checking, the people behind this winery were none other than Lodovico & Piero Antinori - the previous owner(s) of Tenuta Ornellia. Fast forward almost 2.5 years later and we had a very special treat - dinner with Lodovico in person. Insoglio is basically their everyday drinking product. Up until 2005, it was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Verdot and Cab. Franc. Starting in 2006, Syrah was added to the blend and by 2007 I believe Cabernet Sauvignon was completely eliminated. Going forward from the 2007 the blend of varietals have pretty much "settled" in. Given the price point of this wine which is ~ EUR15, no complaints. More than acceptable as an everyday quaffer. Next up is the Il Pino di Biserno which is a more Bordeaux-like blend and does not contain any Syrah unlike the Insoglio. This is a much more complex wine a
Read more

Leflaive Revisited (Olivier)

Image
Domaine Leflaive has occupied a special place in Burgundy for the longest time. Regarded as one of if not THE finest white Burgundy estates. There may be healthy debate about who is on top nowadays. Whether that is Coche-Dury or Domaine D'Auvenay, Ramonet, Lafon, PYCM, Henri Boillot, Roulot but you exclude Leflaive at your own peril. What is undeniable however, is that Leflaive owns some of the best vineyards in puligny montrachet for ages and have been fully bio-dynamic for 25 years (since 1997) by this point. So why bring up a very well known domaine whose prices are already sky high?  Well here is where it gets interesting.  Olivier Leflaive is the cousin of the now deceased Anne-Claude Leflaive running Olivier Leflaive Freres. After leaving the domaine to develop his negociant business 5 plots in the below vineyards were placed on an 18 year lease to Domaine Leflaive. This lease ended in 2010 and those very same biodynamic parcels reverted back to Olivier Leflaive (see below).
Read more