Carema

Lately there has been all manner of discussion regarding use of Merlot in Bordeaux. Some facts: Behind Grenache and Carignan, Merlot is the most wide planted grape in France. 2/3 of all acreage in Bordeaux is planted with... Merlot. Only in the Medoc is Cabernet dominant in the blend. If you aint drinking Medoc wines, most likely it is Merlot dominant. I did some figuring. Contrary to public belief the breakdown for most Classed Bdx is available on the internet. There is a great site- www.margaux.org that tells all. Of the 61 classed Bordeaux (and these all come from the Medoc save for Haut Brion & Mouton Rothschild, from Graves), here is how it all comes down: only 8 have a cepage of 75% Cab or more (The American standard for varietal labeling, just for the sake of comparison) 1st growths- Lafite,Margaux, & Latour. (Mouton is unknown) Haut Brion is 55 cab 25 merlot and 20 Cab Franc 3rd Growths- Chat Ferriere (Mgx), Chat Langoa-Barton (St Julien) 5th growths- Chat Grand Puy Lacoste, Lynch-Bages, Lynch- Moussas. (all Paulliac) about 40% fall in the between 60-74 percent cab no I will not list all. (phew!) about 5 % were unknown 5 were under 50% Cab Chat Lascombes (2nd growth, Mgx), Chat Rauzan-Gassies (2nd Mgx), Chateau palmer (2nd Mgx), Chat Marquis D'Alesme Becker (2nd Mgx) & Chat Kirwan (2nd, Mgx). In the Libournes (which encompasses all th Emilions, pomerols, Fronsac & Canon) there is more Merlot. In Graves and Sauternes There is more Merlot. In Entre Deux Mers, a huge catchall there is a heckuva lot of Merlot. The most interesting part of this exploration was reading again and again in people's descriptions of Bordeaux, how the Bouchets (Cab sauv & Cab Franc) provide the structure and how Merlot provides the depth and flavor. The relationships are intrinsic & inseparable. In a way it makes this very post futile. But hopefully it is found interesting at the very least.

I was overjoyed with relief for the May numbers when I sold vertical cases of Araujo starting with 1994 to a "never will drink it" collector. I guess it seemed as if the people to whom you sold those lovely treasures actually appreciated them. That was cool. I never actually get to see my people drinking it. (I used to, but not anymore). That is a good experience. To waltz by the eaters and see their happy contented eyes, they look up at you, eyebrows confirming that all is well in that safe enclave. Those are good moments so far and few between.... I miss making people happy in that way (greet through dessert). They mummur contentment. The Kennedys are like that I guess, they always come back. But I never get to watch them happily eat.

I think those instances of spending are becoming more rare and more rare. But it always a kick when it happens. I have a different happy dance but it makes me happy nonetheless. We have a couple, the Kennedys, who come in with their weepy eyed baby and ancient pug. He is a teacher, she might be involved in some type of handwork craft. They are the kind of attractive that is not immediately apparent. Some might call them hippies. They make dinner every night and have a bottle of wine. Always under 12 dollars. They will always take our recommendations. Her mother is Italian. We always give them something and they always come back in to report about the evening. Their life seems calm and happy. They have that kind of love that seems to elude some of us. Sometimes they bring me leftovers in a tupperware. It is my secret daily pleasure to give the Kennedys the most appropriate wine for under 12 dollars. Sometimes if something better is called for I make the difference up myself. I adore the Kennedys. They will never never ever buy something expensive. But they will always drink wine.

. Some work possibly needed there.Cabernet S was not even a figment of the imagined bordeaux sky until the Dutch drained the swamp that was the Medoc in the 1800s. Historically, and in percentage of plantings, "the little blackbird" dominates. But in the end it is just wine I guess.

The reason I thought this was funny is cuz Bordeaux is Merlot really. Remember that other Merlot thread? Everything needs to be quantified and compared. Numerical scores, good better best.... I do not know. Since I am the girl in the store I have to be nice. I soften my voice and try to jam the education in where it doesn't hurt. But now I am not sure why that was funny. But I laughed. I just gave a postwoman Moscato- she asked for plum wine. But I think she will be back for Moscato. She wanted something with a nice "patell". I think Moscato has beautiful patell.

Anecdote #1 Customer: Ma'am, do you carry any peanut nawah?" Confused Manager: "Eh? You want peanuts now? We do not carry any snacks?" Anecdote #2: Lady: I'd like some Chardonnay. I do not like oak. I really like the Sonoma Cutrer" Manager: "Lady I hate to break it to you but you like oak. Lots and lots of oak." Lady: "I do????" At a riesling tasting: Marty G (hated taster):"Why does everything smell like a sewer? {Later it was learned that Marty was employed at the Water Treatment Plant} (From Night Manager DON) Customer:"I want the closest thing you have to Sutter Home White Zinfandel. It is my wife's birthday, that's her favorite and we are eating across the street." Customer is given an Anjou Rose with a fair amount of RS. asks, "What is the difference between this and Sutter Home?" Night Manager, "This is a real wine."

I think Mr. T. Thiese (Aubry & Egly from him as well as Pierre Peters and scads of others) better git his butt into Ohio.

Oh beans. for the exact same money or maybe a few dollars more you could have Aubry NV. You might float around your room like a butterfly, or fall in love with the next person that comes your way (even if it were a cat). In any event, I cannot anticipate such reaction from sugary old White Star. I am a dumper. I dump dump dump bad wine. However I do enjoy FG's suggestion about freezing zip locks of undesirable wine, but with the voracity of my 82 year old father's freezer cleaning ( and we all reside together) I cannot fathom such a method lasting in my house. Sometimes he throws away perfectly good meat, yet hangs onto the moldiest of tomatoes. I do not get any of it. I suppose I have cast the fear of God in my friends; most are terrified to buy wine for me and know I will bring it anyway, better & cheaper. My friends provide other nuances and pleasures such as poetry & feminist treatises. My dear friend saves bottles in his fridge for weeks on end then finally dumps in one big purge. Vodka is alcohol that is consistent and resistant to the trials of time. Wine is something else. I would never dump vodka.

I think these 2 examples (92- hard & angular 99 accesible after barely a quarter of an hour) exemplify these change in Ca wine making over the last decade. I read somewhere recently that the average time elapsed between purchase and consumption of a bottle of wine was four hours. So in that context which makes more sense?

oooh. I want the Jesus Muscat now (read dissertation). Then I could have the L'Enfant from Beaune and the LaCryma Christi (tears of Christ) from Vesuvio. Any other theological wines out there? Should I have started a new thread? This could tie into Craig's odd but strangely intriguing "heaven wine" dream sequence. In fact my next soiree shall only involve wines that invoke the lord's good name. Let us make a list. We could serve unending fish and unleavened bread. Does anyone have any liquamen handy????? PS Found the dissertation greatly educative. Only having a bit of fun here getting drunk on a Tuesday night.

Blanc, Ottonel, and Alexandria. Are we missing any? And because I do not know this, how do they stack up quality wise? My inkling would be in order: 1)Ottonel, 2) Alexandria and 3) blanc. Can you weigh in on this carswell? And, are some varieties more widely found in certain areas etc. In other words, carswell, dissertation please.

Beautiful lovely dry muscats from Portugal too. There is one available in the Mid western market from Joao Pires from the wine region of Terras do Sado. Also in Austria dry muscat wines made from muskateller (that's the name there)- Gross and Tement make fabulous ones and those both are sold by Vin Di Vino who have national distribution. Apparently (side note) the Muscat grape is very appropriate for a table grape although I have never had one this way (unfermented and put straight into mouth). Those dry muscats have decent acidity and this bitter orange/lemony must to them, then underneath some apricoty falvors and again some more mustiness. They are not the cleanest wines in the world but sometimes a little dirty is not a bad thing.

I would agree with this. I had a rash of bad German riesling lately, from an esteemed and fabulous producer too. But Vintage 2000. Anyway, we went most of the winter without too many problems and now our "corked" bin is over 15 bottles. Hmmmm. I am sensing a weather correlation.

Lest we forget too, in nomenclature there is less of a distinction between Cabernet S & Cabernet F. Within St Emilion & Pomerol they both go by Bouchet, Gros (for Franc) & Petit (for Sauvignon). And while I agree that Gros Bouchet reveals its woeful, autumnal soul most uniquely in St Emilion (let's make a rally call:"Power to the melancholy!!!") perhaps too our deconstruction is a little short-sighted. Perhaps these grapes, once blended together ultimately form the power, mystique and intrigue of Bordeaux, in a dialectical way (like the Chinese language) that would be impossible to reach if each stood alone in the bottle.

yeah me too. The little blackbird. I love it so much that when I can detect it in a wine, when its loamy plum heart reveals itself to me, I must smile. People love American Merlot because it wears its heart on its sleeve, like a teenager with a crush. here I am, I am easy drink me. French merlot is a different animal. hard, fruit tied up in a big knot, a drop kick finish, ready to explode but only when it wants to or you force it hard enough. The two really cannot be compared. People do not believe me when I tell them how heavily merlot is planted in Bordeaux. They say "I always thought of Bordeaux as cab" But I would venture to say that the core of Bordeaux, well it is Merlot.

Click here This article really tired me out. There has got to be something between two buck and this. Phew!!!

My biggest problem is the promotion of the California "wine is a lifestyle" themes. You know in the middle of the country we do not always have access to well manicured patios with palacial ocean views. I look out into an alley. Sometimes I drink out of jelly jars in my pajamas with a big book in my lap no lipstick and the old spectacles on. I am sick of the well heeled ladies and their glasses of urine colored over oaked chardepoo. And I also know that if you have enough money to do a big glossy ad in a mag, then you are probably making too much wine anyway and I probably will not drink or buy you. If I have never heard of you and you are 2000 cases or less I am intrigued. Now as for beer it seems to me the cheaper the beer the bigger the boobs. Has anybody done a study to prove this? Love Carema

J; I have always been a lover of Prager, but usually with Rieslings. Would you put that name on your list??

oh lord. I try not to mix religion and wine. Once when I was eight and taking communion I saw people grabbing viciously at the chalices taking extra swigs. When It came to me even in my youth I could tell something was different. My father' store supplied the wine (gratis) to our particular Episcopol church. they had accidently delivered a case of1961 Lafite instead of the usual Masi Valpolicella.................

I am sure gruners are ageable. Look at the acididty, and austerity in youth. My friend Amy who is a righteous wine babe and very knowledgeable in the Austrian department has had old gruners. They do that weird pull taffy petrol thing, like german rieslings. By pull taffy I mean the that texturally they become less unctous and in the nose and palate more tertiary qualities emerge. Like Mark I haven't had any. But I agree, let's get Terry to post re this subject.

Lets define the term- Over: a value judgement as in "too much" Extracted: past participle of extract. Extract: in this case two definitions apply 1)preparation containing active principle of a substance in concentrated for 2)the sum of the non volatile solids of a wine ( acids minerals phenolics glycerol & glycols) I believe when the term over extracted is used generally it is to describe a wine that within the growing (for instance in germany when the grape in left on the vine then picked at Auslese level) or vinification process (such as extended maceration on skins or saignee to intensify the must) some or all of these non volatile solids are intensified. Turley's wines (which I like by the way) have the term over extracted often applied to them because the alcohol and fruit concentrations are very very high. For a lot of people who cling to traditional styles, over-extracted can be like a one trick pony. It is in your face exciting then poof she's gone.

those were the tasting notes I could only dream of writing....simply gorgeous. I felt as if I were there, Thank you

Rather than listing specific wines, I hope I might help by listing some geographic suggestions. For the amuses, I would suggest a white nothern rhone wine, marsanne based. The big ol cooperative cave de Tain L'ermitage makes a brilliant one perfect to pair with all that vegetal stuff but also perfect with fois (it does not always have to be sweet folks). Also sometimes you might find a dry delicious sparkling wine coming out of St Peray. these bottles should be found for under 20 bucks although finding them might take some investigation. Do not forget about Tavel, that southern Rhone AOC famous for rose. Rose is famous for helping out with vegetable amuses although it might be a tad alcoholic for the amphibians, mollusks and salt cod. perhaps you could do a combination of Tavel and marsanne. For the entrees. You could do one wine and cover everything or break up the menu into two sections. section 1) chicken rabbit and pheasant. 2)sausage dishes. For section one you could use a grenache based red ( dependent upon sauces) of a softer style such as Lirac. I might stay away froom those stony soiled old vine CDR villages for these. But section 2 could do with a dry village level CDR such as Cairanne (negociant Le Sec makes an awesome one very cheap), Vacqueryas, or Seguret. Perhaps you could even find a delicious but inexpensive Crozes hermitage (all syrah) from up north to add a smokey element to the sausage dishes. For desserts (what is an ouer again???) I would suggest a Muscat de beaumes de Venise, fortified muscat, sweet but not overly cloying. You could maybe entertain banyuls (fortified grenache) or rivesaltes but I do not think these are appropriate choices given your menu.

Perhaps nevan's personal bond to the OR vitner's and my own personal bitterness towards a past and crumbled life are grounds for the arguement that we cannot be very objective. All I am going to say is this: I taste a lot of wine. The Oregon pinots have absolutely skyrocketed in price and basically they get good fruit up there and don't mess much with it so you end up with products that have very similiar flavor profiles. there is not a lot of variance. St Innocent I will always stand behind. Sineann too although the pinot gris from them is what I love ( do they make a noir?) But for the money I look elsewhere than at Oregon. Peace love happiness bee balm and now I must go sell some Teroldego.

I would certainly agree with this statement, however combatting the social culture of passive agression and the general fear of confrontation and change that goes on up there (I lived there fore 13 years) is the real challenge. As a rule (and I am talking social fact in terms of the general population) there is not a whole lot of people who want to make waves. People tend to stick to themselves, their gardens, and their natural bee balms up there. So if anything cool is going to happen, someone is going to have to break the chain of social norms. See I had to move. I speak my mind. And I apologise in advance to any Pacific Northwesterners that may take offense to this. It may not apply to you and let's hope it doesn't.