Craig Camp

Are you surprised? It is really, really weird, because tonight, before I read this, I bought a Rancho Zabaco Pinot Gris and it might have been the first bottle of Pinot Gris I ever bought. It was a great match with our wasabi-crusted chicken and soba noodles with cucumber and mango. Is it a good or a bad thing when a wine goes well with wasabi?

Scientists in Bordeaux have discovered a new cause for corked flavours in wines which reveals that in many cases cork is not the culprit, research published last week shows.

A cuisine that dates back thousands of years and a beverage that dates back thousands of years -- it seems only natural in the meeting of East and West that the great wines of the West and grand edibles of the East, especially those of China, meet and greet. That's what a group of close Chinese friends figured, and acted on.

The Gallo Nero (black rooster) logo of the Chianti Classico consortium is no longer synonymous with Chianti Classico. About 80% of the wine produced with the Chianti Classico DOCG is by members of the consortium. However, in that other 20% are some of the most important quality producers. The Gallo Nero is no longer what it used to be. The term Super-Tuscan which was born out of the need to go beyond the out-dated restrictions of the old DOC and consortium and led the way to the future. Today all to often "Super-Tuscans" are a code word for wines produced in the "international" style that features heavy fruit extract and loads of new-oak. You can see ads for $10 wines calling themselves Super-Tuscan. This indeed is a term that means nothing anymore. Perhaps the best analogy now are the Super-Whites of Friuli, which are whatever their producers want them to be. This is what Super-Tuscans are. There is a legitimate need for a name to differentiate the cabernet/merlot based wines from sangiovese based wine, but "Super-Tuscan" does not (nor ever did) fulfill that need.

and HERE are some interesting comments on Pinot Grigio/Gris nomenclature

OK For great pinot grigo click here. Best Values = clean, light, fresh wines for everyday drinking Bollini *Plozner - best value year in and year out IMO Bortoluzzi Peter Zemmer Villa del Borgo Teifenbrunner

LOL

click here for Wine Camp: The rebirth of Chianti Classico Be sure to check The Daily Gullet Home Page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

do you mean the server might as well pour to the whole group to start with before it's tasted? if so, how does the server know that the table is filled with this particular type of wine nut who apparently has to taste corked wine every change he gets? You tell them. If I am there to taste wine I want to make my own decisions and to learn from the process. If it is a social event that is another thing.

2000 Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia Mind blowing wine. Complex and extraordinary in all regards. Worth serious cellar investment in both time and money.

My guess would be that it was indeed corked.

It sounds very much like a wine in the early stages of corkyness. The fruit flavors are the first thing to go. Was this a young wine recently bottled?

Remember the exception that proves the rule: Krug. They use a higher % of Meunier than just about anyone else, and make the a)most expensive and b) arguably best Champagne in the world. (Obviously the Clos de Mesnil is a Blanc de Blancs, so no Meunier there.) As for Dom Perignon, I was at a tasting with the Dom "Brand Ambassador" and he offered that in declared years they make about 1,000,000 bottles of Dom Perignon. Also he stated that the grapes for Dom are all from estate vineyards. Moet uses no pruchased grapes in Dom Pergnon. That's unusual for any Champagne from the big houses. BTW, the '95 Dom is excellent, but needs several years in bottle IMO. And in the for what it's worth section, I have a bottle of Moet Champagne that will get opened soon. It's made from a single vineyard & is 100% Pinot Meunier. We'll see what happens. I'm looking forward to trying it. Exceptions to the rules is what makes the world such an interesting place. Making 1,000,000 bottles of estate bottled wine does not mean that you necessarily make great wine - just that you own a lot of vineyards. There can be no doubt that Dom is a good wine, but there is a LONG list of equal or better wines for less money. Dom is a prestige consumer item like Montblanc pens. Sure Montblanc pens write great, but let's face it there are other pens that cost much less that work just as well. Both Dom and Montblanc are jewelry that is worn to make a statement. (By the way I have both Dom and a Montblanc pen that were given to me as gifts that I like very much )

Here is a link to Chris's longer explanation and a good look at other wine maladies: http://www.thewinedoctor.com/advisory/tastefaulty.shtml

Craig, Certainly it depends where you are dining. If it was where I work, I would have fetched another bottle before the host even tasted it. I don't taste every wine, but I do sniff every cork. The cork always gives it away. Given the scenario you mention, if no savvy sommelier is around, it could be awkward. Unfortunately many (most) expensive restaurants do not have professional sommeliers like you to that actually check the wine. What about Morton's and Ruth Chris - typical business dinner spots where it is easy to run up a big wine bill? I certainly would not rely on the captain at Morton's to be able to spot a corked wine! This experience is more common than Citronelle.

You are a guest at a business dinner in a fine restaurant. The host orders wine, tastes and approves it, and the wine is poured out. You raise the glass to your nose and are greeted the unmistakable moldy smell of a corked wine. The wine is corked to be sure - and badly corked. Meanwhile a few of the other guests compliment the wine. What to you do? Do you inform the host the wine is bad and potentially embarrass them in front of their guests? Announce you are allergic to red/white wine?

In the situation Brad describes - a table full of wine nuts - it is almost sure that if you announce the Batard is corked that everyone will want to verify that for themselves and discuss it for awhile anyway so you might as well pour it out to the whole group to start with. In a less analytical situation you would certainly want to verify the wine is good before exposing everyone to those nasty aromas and flavors and forcing the server to exchange all the glasses.

Not unless you're really a fast-talker. I assume they were just being polite or following habit.

A large welcome to eGullet for Chris Kissack of thewinedoctor.com!

1. In my experience TCA becomes more obvious after the initial fruity aromas blow off - not less. 2. Why? Don't you do the same thing when you swirl the wine in the glass? Anyway, bouquet does not really develop in the glass until the wine has been exposed to air in the glass for at least a brief time - unless the wine was decanted then there is even less reason to think you will somehow add substantially to the bouquet of a wine in this matter. I have never heard anyone argue this process is for anything else than to be sure the glass is free of off aromas.

But you can prime lots of glasses with only one splash of wine. You pour it from one into the next and so on. I suppose it depends on how much that "splash" costs. I have seen some pretty significant "splashes" go into 24 oz. Riedel glasses just for the rinse. I am not sure I am so happy to lose a half-a-glass of old Brunello just for the theatre of it. Maybe you and I only need a small spash if we are doing it ourselves, but I have often seen a waiter in a hurry pour more than a spash.

Nigel O'Mara, who is now a director of brokers In Vino Veritas, ordered and paid for the 2000s, including a substantial amount of first growths, from two French companies. These were LCDV, based in Troyes and run by Jean-Marc Grybowsky, and La Companie des Châteaux based in St Tropez and run by Jean-Marie Bellew.

1. You can't make TCA go away. I have left wines open days and weeks and it never, NEVER, goes away. If an off odor blows off it was not TCA. (If you are unfamiliar with TCA click here) 2. I do not see how rinsing the glass can significantly increase bouquet once the wine has been poured in the glass. The only reason for this procedure can be to eliminate possible odors in the glass. 3. Yes, at the very least places doing this show they are committed enough to wine to take the time. 4. I also think it is damn good theatre that most people love.

This is a huge fashion in Italy and often is done almost everywhere - even in wine bars. The equally huge fashion for gigantic wine glasses means that a big chunk of your bottle can disappear just to rinse out the glasses. I think Italy has exported this overdone exercise to the USA now. Frankly I think they can get the glasses clean without wasting your wine.

In Italy no - nobody cares about carmenere except Inama as far as I know. Everyone else still calls it cabernet franc and no one seems much interested in the difference. There is no market for Italian cabernet franc outside of Italy (usually for good reason) and even less so for Italian carmenere.