Jump to content

Craig Camp

eGullet Society staff emeritus
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,274

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Craig Camp

    What do you mean you don't like Merlot?

    in Wine

    Posted

    I've regarded it as useful mostly as a secondary grape in Medoc, Pomerol, and St. Emilion for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon to add softness, bouquet, and fruit. By itself, it promises to be low in body. But is early to ripe, productive, and ready sooner than Cabernet Sauvignon.

    !

    Merlot is the predominate red grape varietal planted in Bordeaux. In Pomerol and St. Emilion cabernet sauvignon is the blending grape not merlot. Excellent merlot is certainly not low in body, but produces a voluptuous wine. In soils that are a little cool for cabernet sauvignon merlot shines. The problem comes when it is planted in the wrong place or allowed to over-produce.

    Chateau Petrus is almost 100% merlot. It's not a bad wine. :wink:

    WTN: Felice Coppo Bastian Cuntrari 1999

    in Wine

    Posted

    Sorry Craig, I'm probably completely wrong but I thought I'd read that they had experimented by adding merlot in the 99. Unfortunately I can't find any reference to that now and in fact there is very little information about the wine or producer on the web.

    I also have a bottle of 1998 which I plan to drink soon unless you think it will improve further.

    Like I said anything is possible, but I think they are into 100% barbera. I visited the winery about 3 years ago and I believe they were only doing barbera. There are two partners in this estate and one - Fabrizio Iuli - also does his own wine. Maybe there is merlot in that blend, but I have never actually seen a bottle out in the market.

    To me this is a wine to drink up young - it is all about the fruit, but then again I have never tasted an older one.

    What's it sell for in your town?

    in Wine

    Posted

    The main complaint about Santa Margherita is not its taste, but that it an incredibly bad value. It is neutral, mass produced wine that sells for about $6 US in Italy, but by the time it hits the States it costs triple the price of wines that are clearly better and sold at higher prices in Italy. In fact in Italy everyone knows it is mass produced industrial wine and it gets no serious attention at all - there must be 59 million wine snobs here. Santa Margherita is the result of marketing not winemaking.

    It is not snobby to make this point, but only telling the truth. It fact, drinking wines like Santa Margherita IS snobby. People drink it because it is a recognized brand. I defy anyone to conduct a blind tasting of Pinot Grigio in any price range that Santa Margherita could win. It is a cheap, industrial wine produced from overcropped grapes. If that is the type of wine you like great - there is never any arguing with personal preference - but if you do like that type of wine you should be paying under $10 a bottle for it not $20. There is an ocean of cheap pinot grigio that tastes exactly like Santa Margherita because it is in fact exactly like Santa Margherita - it is only missing the brand name.

    The question is not why anyone would drink a light clean pinot grigio. The question is why they would choose to drink a $20 one?

    WTN: Felice Coppo Bastian Cuntrari 1999

    in Wine

    Posted

    I would be surprised if this wine had any merlot in the blend, but anything is possible. The Bastian Cuntrari that I am familiar with has always been 100% barbera - harvested late - then aged in only stainless steel to produce an intense and concentrated version of barbera fruit essence - and 14%+ alcohol.

    Last I heard they were making this wine under the guidance of wine journalist Luca Maroni (creator of the most complicated and unintelligible scoring system ever). The production is small - only about 4,000 bottles from an old vineyard in Monferrato.

    Restaurant Wine List Prices

    in Wine

    Posted

    (As I mentioned in a thread on the NY board):

    Corton-Charlemagne, Domaine Jean-François Coche-Dury, 2000

    Fancy restaurant in Washington, DC: $400

    Fancy restaurant in New York City: $1300

    I assume the NYC restaurant is Alain Ducasse NY.

    Murdering Merlot

    in Wine

    Posted

    Thanks Craig Camp; I haven't had Matanza's Creek in a few years, but at the time I remember liking it better than others I've tasted.

    That said, I should probably troll around a bunch of Merlot threads here to learn more.

    It used to be an excellent merlot, but after the McIvers sold it to Kendall Jackson that was the end of that.

    Murdering Merlot

    in Wine

    Posted

    I haven't tasted any great Pomeral's....so I'm wondering how better Merlots from Sonoma like:

    St. Francis

    &

    Matanza's Creek

    would compare?

    Any candidates for excellent Merlots from Sonoma or Napa?

    I would put Matanzas Creek into the category of an EX-great merlot. Today it is just another Kendall Jackson sweet-fruit-bomb and the price/value relationship of Journey is an embarrassment to the California wine industry.

    It's been awhile since I tasted St. Francis, but I don't remember being impressed.

    Murdering Merlot

    in Wine

    Posted

    Last night I opened a bottle of 2000 Terrabianca Il Tesoro Merlot. My friend Roberto took a sip and said with amazement, "THIS is a merlot?" Yes indeed this extraordinary bottle was 100% merlot. It reminded me that this varietal indeed can be great.

    So why does everybody murder merlot? I'm not talking about the mass of cheap merlot that has flooded the market, but about bottles with serious prices that pretend to be serious wines.

    Outside of Pomerol what are the really great merlot wines being produced today?

    I will enthusiastically put my vote behind the Terrabianca Il Tesoro - a great bottle by any standard.

    I will giving this Merlot a try - but If I don't like it, you'll be hearing from my attorney :biggrin:

    WARNING: Il Tesoro is still a baby - I would suggest at least 5 years in a cool dark place.

    Murdering Merlot

    in Wine

    Posted

    Last night I opened a bottle of 2000 Terrabianca Il Tesoro Merlot. My friend Roberto took a sip and said with amazement, "THIS is a merlot?" Yes indeed this extraordinary bottle was 100% merlot. It reminded me that this varietal indeed can be great.

    So why does everybody murder merlot? I'm not talking about the mass of cheap merlot that has flooded the market, but about bottles with serious prices that pretend to be serious wines.

    Outside of Pomerol what are the really great merlot wines being produced today?

    I will enthusiastically put my vote behind the Terrabianca Il Tesoro - a great bottle by any standard.

    Restaurant Wine List Prices

    in Wine

    Posted

    I'm sick and tired and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!

    Sick of wine list rip-offs? Warn your fellow eGulleteers in advance. However, don't just post a rant - give us some facts. Pick a wine on the list and compare it to the local retail price in the same town as the restaurant. It used to be considered an acceptable rule-of-thumb for wine list pricing to be double retail, but this standard seems to have been left far behind. Please remember that it is not fair to compare prices at your local wine bar where you play darts with a top restaurant that has to cover a sommelier, front and back waiters, captains and 2 dozen different types of Riedel - everything has a price and they have the right to charge more - just not 4 times more.

    posts should look something like this

    Fancy restaurant, Chicago IL - 2001 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio - wine list price: $45.00 - Retail price: $14.99

    What's it sell for in your town?

    in Wine

    Posted

    This is the first of what I hope will be an active new series of consumer oriented threads on the Wine Forum at eGullet. By posting pricing in many different markets members can get a better idea which wines are bad values. The format is simple - just post the price, the town and the merchant. Don't use close-out pricing - just normal sales and everyday prices. Please feel free to start your own threads on brands that interest you - just put "What's it sell for in your town" in the Topic title and then put the brand in the topic description. Let's start with Santa Margherita because it is a very large brand, sold in every market with varied pricing.

    I'll start

    Euro 5.50, Il Gigante, Gallarate Lombardia

    What we had to drink with what (USA/Can.)

    in Wine

    Posted

    Craig,

    How long would you let the Felsina Rancias from good vintages age to reach maturity? I only have a limited supply of '97 and (I think) '99 (though it might be '00) and don't want to waste them.

    Thanks,

    David

    I say this is least a ten year wine to really start showing its best. After that it can go as long as any Chianti Classico.

    Chinese Food and Wine

    in Wine

    Posted

    Certainly not an availability problem. One of the best German wine retailers is in the bay area (Dee Vine).

    Than it has to be attitude. How can you ignore riesling (domestic or otherwise) when almost every wine and food pairing resource on the planet will list riesling and guwurztraminer as the recommended wines for Oriental food in general?

    Isn't this the SF newspaper with the famed wine and food section and facility?

×
×
  • Create New...