Craig Camp

January 19, 2004

Carmenere is often confused with Cabernet Franc in northeasten Italy.
Confused by whom? And in what way?

It was mislabeled and propagated under the name of cabernet franc by nurseries throughout the 1900's in Italy - much the same as pinot bianco and chardonnay. It is only in recent times the differences have made any difference to producers.

January 19, 2004

Carmenere is often confused with Cabernet Franc in northeasten Italy. There is a great example of Carmenere bottled under its own name by Inama in Veneto.

January 19, 2004

The “Chianti Classico 2000” project created an area-wide and in-depth study to discover the finest clones of sangiovese and the best viticultural practices. The results of this study are only just beginning to be felt and we can expect continued dramatic improvement of the wines of Chianti Classico in the future.

Click below for Raccolta: A weekly Italian wine harvested by Craig Camp

Villa Calcinaia, Conte Capponi, Chianti Classico Riserva, 2000

January 19, 2004

For tables of 2 i tend to give a taste to both guests.There's nothing worse than hearing some pompous man saying" Oh you will like this darling".For a while i used to give just the ladies a taste, who ever ordered the wine,just to be perverse.
BD,
I like your thinking I must say. Though I would ask one thing:
isn't the point of tasting the wine to check it's condition, not whether 'you liked it'?
Scott,.
That is exactly right. People are funny about this, though. I remember once, years ago, I opened a bottle of Dom Perignon for some boob with the proper "pet de nonne" and he refused the bottle only because there had not been a loud pop.

How in the world do you maintain your cool? :blink:

January 18, 2004

I love the title of this thread - "that chi-chi beverage" because Sherry is in fact probably the greatest fine wine bargain in the world today. It is easy to find profound wines for under $20 and for just over $30 you enter the realm of the sublime.

Great Fino/Manzanilla sherry can be found for around $10 making it the best value apertif on the planet.

Chi-chi for ten bucks - what a deal!

January 18, 2004

If the stuff the purveyors is pushing is seasonal produce at the height of its perfection, or something available only because of a market quirk (kobe beef produced in Canada, available only because Japan banned all beef imports) it would be a benefit, not a problem.
But I don't think this is what you are getting at. If a restaurant managed to get all the remaining stock of a pretty good wine at a great price and passed that great price along to customers, wonderful. But does this happen often?

I'd like to meet your purveyors. Most food distributors don't sell Kobe beef and most wine distributors don't pay the bills selling DRC Le Montrachet. Nice window dressing, but not serious dollars for anything other than small specialty companies.

The question is not out of stocks or incorrect vintages, but the actual taking control of wine list production by suppliers.

January 18, 2004

It is common practice for wholesalers and importers to print wine lists for restaurants free of charge. Of course, there is always a quid-pro-quo of some sort - as they say nothing is free. While I do not think this is an issue for the local corner joint with 5 or 6 wines - it is a real issue for larger establishments. Is this fair to consumers? How would you feel about a restaurant where the local meat and fish purveyors set the menu for the day based on what items they had to move? In these days of easy desk-top publishing is there any reason for a restaurant not to print their own wine list?

January 18, 2004

On another thread the situation concerning out of stocks on restaurant wine lists has come up. In these days of computer printed wine lists is there an excuse for extensive out of stock selections? Is there a bait-and-switch issue by restaurants just trying to "look" like they have a more extensive wine list than they actually have?

January 17, 2004

OK,
In spite of anything I said in defense of Three Buck Chuck in the past. I have to admit that I opened a bottle of merlot last night and poured it right down the sink. It tasted like cheap grape juice and nothing like the first few bottles that I have sampled. I had noticed a slight variation of taste in the past, but nothing like this. This was just palin awful.

Now that's what I call a tasting note! :laugh:

January 17, 2004

DRC?

Darn' Right Capitalistic

(Domaine de la Romanee Conti)

January 17, 2004

According to the figures for the four weeks to November 22, it has now grabbed a 33.2 per cent share of the Australian category, almost double the share of Lindemans and nearly three times Rosemount's, two of Southcorp's flagship brands.

January 17, 2004

Mike Bonaccorsi, a rising star among California winemakers, was found dead in his apartment in Buellton, Calif., on Jan. 15.

I met and tasted with Mike many years ago during his Spago days. He was truly nice fellow with a great palate and big dreams. Our sympathy to his wife and family.

January 17, 2004

I often hear restaurant wine buyers exclaiming that they won't sell this or that (see the off-topic chat HERE) wine because they feel customers will simply buy these wines and ignore other good wines. For instance, should the restaurant make the choice not to carry a pinot grigio because unthinking consumers will just order it OR should they be taking the time to find a great pinot grigio so their customers can learn the difference?
Should a restaurant be a white zin and pinot grigio free zone or should they just find better examples of these wines?
I am not sure why you think Pinot Grigio or American wines like Pinot Gris made from the US grapes are lousy. Perhaps some of them are - but a lot aren't. And they don't - like most of the over oaky Chardonnays that are on restaurant menus these days - overpower the food you're eating. I - unlike a lot "wine people" - have a funny philosophy about stuff you drink with food (whether it's alcoholic or non). It should complement it - not dominate it.
I don't know much about zinfandels - but I wound up drinking a riesling which I wouldn't have ordered on my own (it was recommended by staff) at Alain Ducasse - and it was fabulous (at $130/bottle - it should have been fabulous).
I will reserve the more dominating wines to be drunk alone - or perhaps with a bit of fruit and cheese. And some really extraordinary wines - like some really big whites - should only be had on special occasions like when you're eating the best appetizer in the world in a 3 star restaurant in Paris. In more pedestrian circumstances - please tell me what's wrong with a King Estates Pinot Gris? Robyn

Robyn,

I'm sorry but you seemed to have missed the thrust of this thread. No one is arguing that there are no good wines made from these grapes, but rather why restaurants choose to remove them from the list because there is too much demand for bland commercial examples like Santa Margharita Pinot Grigio. Demands for wines like Santa Margherita make it hard to sell excellent examples of other Pinot Grigio wines.

I glad you enjoyed the riesling at Ducasse, but the unappreciated riesling is the opposite of the over-commercialized wines we are discussing here. However congratulations for squeezing a mention of Ducasse into a Pinot Grigio/Whit Zin discussion. What brands does he pour?

January 16, 2004

So if I understand you correctly, the wine in question goes by the name Pinot Grigio in only Italy and the Americas.

...and Australia and potentially NZ, South American and South Africa and probably Georgia too. It is also grown in Slovenia and Ticino.

January 16, 2004

A grape with many names-

Italy:

Pinot Grigio

France:

Tokay d'Alsace (being replaced with pinot gris)

Loire: Malvoisie or Pinot Beurot

Germany/Austria

Rulander

Grauer Burgunder

New world:

Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio

January 16, 2004

Increasingly, I see a number of moderate to upper/moderate restaurants outsourcing their wine program to a distributor/retailer/consultant. My guess is that the restaurant feels they end up with a decent wine program but don't have the expense of actually having an employee do it. From an accounting perspective, I believe it turns fixed costs into variable costs.

Is this "outsourcing" or "abdicating"?

January 16, 2004

I just did a few searches on Sherry-Lehman's site and only American and Italian wines show up as Pinot Grigio's.

If you would like to hammer out the worldwide nomenclature of pinot grigio/gris lets start another thread as it is taking this one off topic. I think it is interesting enough for its own thread.

January 16, 2004

Isn't Pinot Grigio specifically Italian? I understand the grape is the same as a French Pinot Gris.

The name is used interchangeably outside of Italy and France.

January 16, 2004

I think that Pinot Grigio is one of the most under-rated wines and I must confess that it is one of my favourites. There is only one proviso and that is that it should be French rather than Italian.

Agreed and there are been a dramatic improvement in some small estate Italians.

January 16, 2004

I often hear restaurant wine buyers exclaiming that they won't sell this or that (see the off-topic chat HERE) wine because they feel customers will simply buy these wines and ignore other good wines. For instance, should the restaurant make the choice not to carry a pinot grigio because unthinking consumers will just order it OR should they be taking the time to find a great pinot grigio so their customers can learn the difference?

Should a restaurant be a white zin and pinot grigio free zone or should they just find better examples of these wines?

January 16, 2004

We have a load of threads on Pinot Grigio let's try to keep this one on the actually topic of sexism in wine service.

The short answer to both of you is that there are excellent, good, bad and indifferent Pinot Grigio wines. The excellent ones deserve respect just like other excellent white wines.