2004
Low yields in well-balanced climatic conditions produced classic reds that will age extremely well.
Hold
96
2003
Giant, long lasting wines from the famous heatwave summer. Many top wines will last 20+ years.
Hold
94
2002
Inconsistent vintage due to sporadic rainfall and difficult ripening conditions. Keep to trusted names.
Drink
83
2001
Good vintage with occasional outstanding wines
Hold
92
2000
Average vintage, less rich than in past 2 years, but some very good wines
Drink or Hold
89
1999
Superb year, Cote Rotie and Cornas outstanding, long-aging wines
Hold
96
1998
Good, consistent vintage, best wines will age well
Drink or Hold
90
1997
Light but quaffable. Time to drink them up!
Drink
81
1996
Good wines, attractive balance, full flavoured.
Drink
88
1995
Classic vintage – near its peak.
Drink or Hold
92
1994
Light but quaffable – now past its best.
Drink
81
1993
Poor year
Avoid
69
1992
Past peak. Avoid now.
Avoid
80
1991
Good vintage, firm structure, attractive balance
Drink or Hold
88
1990
Very great year. Biggest Côte Rôtie and Hermitage peaking around 2006-2008.
Drink or Hold
98
1989
Classic vintage. Côte Rôtie and Hermitage can age 20 years.
Drink
92
1988
Classic vintage. Great Cornas and St Joseph.
Drink
92
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Judge halts moth spraying in Monterey County
State agriculture officials plan to appeal a superior court judge's ruling that halts aerial spraying to eradicate the light brown apple moth in Monterey County until an environmental impact report can be completed.
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Robert O'Farrell ruled today that the discovery of the moth - a pest that is considered a threat to the state's agricultural economy - does not constitute a legal emergency. He ordered the aerial spraying of a moth pheromone pesticide stopped until a report on the environmental effects of the spraying operation can be completed in January.
A.G. Kawamura, state agriculture secretary, said the state Department of Food and Agriculture would appeal the decision immediately, combining it with a similar decision two weeks ago in Santa Cruz County.
"The light brown apple moth infestation is, in fact, an emergency that threatens our nation's food supply and our state's environment," he said in a prepared statement.
The moth species was first detected in Berkeley about a year ago, and specimens have since turned up in Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, Solano, Napa, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties. The state agency plans to spray a synthetic pheromone pesticide over much of the Bay Area this summer in hopes of getting rid of the pest by interrupting its mating cycle.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had halted planned spraying in the 12 counties until Aug. 17 to allow safety tests to be completed.
Michael Cabanatuan
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Robert O'Farrell ruled today that the discovery of the moth - a pest that is considered a threat to the state's agricultural economy - does not constitute a legal emergency. He ordered the aerial spraying of a moth pheromone pesticide stopped until a report on the environmental effects of the spraying operation can be completed in January.
A.G. Kawamura, state agriculture secretary, said the state Department of Food and Agriculture would appeal the decision immediately, combining it with a similar decision two weeks ago in Santa Cruz County.
"The light brown apple moth infestation is, in fact, an emergency that threatens our nation's food supply and our state's environment," he said in a prepared statement.
The moth species was first detected in Berkeley about a year ago, and specimens have since turned up in Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, Solano, Napa, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties. The state agency plans to spray a synthetic pheromone pesticide over much of the Bay Area this summer in hopes of getting rid of the pest by interrupting its mating cycle.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had halted planned spraying in the 12 counties until Aug. 17 to allow safety tests to be completed.
Michael Cabanatuan
US threatens to block all Brunello imports
The United States has threatened to block all imports of Brunello di Montalcino from 9 June.
From that date all Brunello coming into the US must be accompanied by laboratory analysis certifying that the wine is 'pure Sangiovese'.
The US is Brunello's biggest market, importing 25% of total Brunello production.
Francesco Marone Cinzano, president of the trade body, the Brunello Consorzio, said the news came via a letter from the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to the US Embassy in Rome on 9 May.
'Starting on 9 June, the US will block all Brunello imports unless the wine is accompanied by laboratory analysis proving that the wine is pure Sangiovese,' he said.
Since Brunello must by law be 100% Sangiovese, adding other grapes would be a violation of a strict labelling convention between the US and the EU that stipulates that what is on the label must guarantee what is in the bottle.
According to reports, the Italian Embassy in Washington had received numerous written requests starting on 9 April from the ATTB for more information and verification on the grape blending scandal that has recently battered the denomination.
The fact the requests were ignored led to this more aggressive stance, sources say.
'We have a general assembly in two days, and organising laboratory analysis will be our number one priority, to ensure that Brunello will continue to be imported into the US,' Marone Cinzano said.
He added that the latest generation of laboratory analysis can certify the authenticity only of wines made with three varieties: Sangiovese, Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir. 'Based on the level of anthocyanins, tests can prove whether wines made with any one of these three varieties are pure or if they have been blended with other varieties.'
'We now need to act rapidly to ensure consumers in the US and everywhere of Brunello's authenticity.'
In New York City, Sergio Esposito, proprietor of retailer Italian Wine Merchants, said it is wrong for Washington 'to penalize Brunello for blowing the whistle on itself.'
'Consumers have a right to know what they are drinking,' he said. 'But everybody in the wine trade knows that blending goes on in every region and every country. This means that, to be fair, the US should spot-check imported wines from everywhere that critics give 98 points or more' in order to make sure the contents are authentic.
Kerin O'Keefe & Howard Goldberg
From that date all Brunello coming into the US must be accompanied by laboratory analysis certifying that the wine is 'pure Sangiovese'.
The US is Brunello's biggest market, importing 25% of total Brunello production.
Francesco Marone Cinzano, president of the trade body, the Brunello Consorzio, said the news came via a letter from the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to the US Embassy in Rome on 9 May.
'Starting on 9 June, the US will block all Brunello imports unless the wine is accompanied by laboratory analysis proving that the wine is pure Sangiovese,' he said.
Since Brunello must by law be 100% Sangiovese, adding other grapes would be a violation of a strict labelling convention between the US and the EU that stipulates that what is on the label must guarantee what is in the bottle.
According to reports, the Italian Embassy in Washington had received numerous written requests starting on 9 April from the ATTB for more information and verification on the grape blending scandal that has recently battered the denomination.
The fact the requests were ignored led to this more aggressive stance, sources say.
'We have a general assembly in two days, and organising laboratory analysis will be our number one priority, to ensure that Brunello will continue to be imported into the US,' Marone Cinzano said.
He added that the latest generation of laboratory analysis can certify the authenticity only of wines made with three varieties: Sangiovese, Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir. 'Based on the level of anthocyanins, tests can prove whether wines made with any one of these three varieties are pure or if they have been blended with other varieties.'
'We now need to act rapidly to ensure consumers in the US and everywhere of Brunello's authenticity.'
In New York City, Sergio Esposito, proprietor of retailer Italian Wine Merchants, said it is wrong for Washington 'to penalize Brunello for blowing the whistle on itself.'
'Consumers have a right to know what they are drinking,' he said. 'But everybody in the wine trade knows that blending goes on in every region and every country. This means that, to be fair, the US should spot-check imported wines from everywhere that critics give 98 points or more' in order to make sure the contents are authentic.
Kerin O'Keefe & Howard Goldberg
Merchant accused of selling fake top Bordeaux
A Bordeaux wine merchant has been accused of selling table wine labelled as top Bordeaux from prestigious chateaux including Pichon Longueville, Leoville Barton, Gruaud Larose and Saransot Dupre.
Amar Derriche, a former cellar master based in Moulis-en-Medoc, allegedly blended and bottled vins de table and charged well over their true value – but far less than the real wines would have cost.
For example, he was selling the 2000 vintage for €20 (£14) per bottle - ten times the price of a vin de table, but less than half the price of the wines they were supposed to be, which would have cost upwards of €50 (£35) a bottle.
Derriche was caught in a random check by the customs office, which found 13,000 fake labels, and 5,600 fake capsules and corks in the back of his shop - alongside several genuine cases.
He at first confessed, but later retracted the confession, saying the labels were to be sold as souvenirs, and the real bottles were for his personal consumption.
Of the chateaux involved - who declined to comment – six have begun a civil suit against Derriche for 'damage to reputation' and are seeking the equivalent of £43,000. The customs office is seeking £29,000, and the INAO (the national wine industry oversight body) expects £11,000.
Jane Anson
Amar Derriche, a former cellar master based in Moulis-en-Medoc, allegedly blended and bottled vins de table and charged well over their true value – but far less than the real wines would have cost.
For example, he was selling the 2000 vintage for €20 (£14) per bottle - ten times the price of a vin de table, but less than half the price of the wines they were supposed to be, which would have cost upwards of €50 (£35) a bottle.
Derriche was caught in a random check by the customs office, which found 13,000 fake labels, and 5,600 fake capsules and corks in the back of his shop - alongside several genuine cases.
He at first confessed, but later retracted the confession, saying the labels were to be sold as souvenirs, and the real bottles were for his personal consumption.
Of the chateaux involved - who declined to comment – six have begun a civil suit against Derriche for 'damage to reputation' and are seeking the equivalent of £43,000. The customs office is seeking £29,000, and the INAO (the national wine industry oversight body) expects £11,000.
Jane Anson
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Confrontation
You've been drinking for hours, I would say at least four bottles you've downed by yourself. When do you intend to stop? I don't intend to, I was fine until I dealt with you, responded the wine drinker.
Wino
Wino
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Influential US critic gives Bordeaux 2007 thumbs down
Influential US wine critic Robert Parker has drawn long faces in Bordeaux, handing out a series of low scores, and telling buyers not to bother with the 2007 vintage unless chateaux owners cut prices substantially.
"There is unquestionably little need to buy these wines as futures, unless dramatic price reductions occur. I don't expect that to happen," said Parker in his annual vintage review, titled "2007 Bordeaux: Who Will Buy Them and at What Price?"
Bordeaux wine primeurs, or futures as they are also known, are barrel samples of the latest vintage, tasted by critics in the first week of April and sold in the following months -- two years before bottling. Prices are released on a chateau by chateau basis, with the most famous often waiting till the end of June.
Parker's annual review is always eagerly awaited in Bordeaux, and while he publishes a written opinion, it is his score out of 100 to each wine that matters most. With Bordeaux producers convinced of the importance of the score in determining demand, many wait for Parker's review before issuing prices.
"You know how the saying goes -- if it's over 90 you can't find it, if it's below 90 you can't sell it," said Bordeaux-based wine merchant, Jeffrey Davies.
He added however that winemakers and buyers often did themselves injustice by dismissing wines that got a Parker score of less than 90. "An 85 to 89 is actually a B+, that's a good score," he told AFP.
But Parker's severity this year has left a bitter taste.
"Parker is a good taster, and I have great respect for him but some of these scores are really unjust," said Benoit Ricaud Dussarget, a Bordeaux wine broker reacting to the 2007 report.
"A score in the 70's for a good Bordeaux is crazy," he said. "He has assassinated some of the wines."
To date, only a handful of lesser known chateaux have released their prices following the publication of Parker's review a few days ago.
All prices to date Tuesday are slightly lower than the 2006 vintage, but the reductions of between 3 and 11 percent are not expected to be big enough to tempt the main primeur markets, Britain and the United States, given the uneven quality of the vintage, and euro-dollar, euro-sterling disparities.
"The 11 percent reduction from Chateau Quinault (one of the first reds to release its price after a 93 score) only scratches the surface of what is necessary to attract the attention of anyone outside the euro zone," said Davies, who was hoping for cuts between 30 and 40 percent.
Overall, while Parker said good wines from the 2007 vintage were "seductive, and fruit-forward", he opined there were plenty of poor quality ones that were "thin and green".
In total Parker only gave three 100 point scores, and all three were for whites, in a town best known for its reds.
Chateau Pape Clement white and Haut-Brion, were both marked 96-100, and Chateau Climens, a sweet white tasted by Parker's British sidekick Neal Martin, got 98-100.
Of Bordeaux's top five, first growth wines, the highest mark was 94, with Chateau Margaux earning a 92-94, Chateau Haut-Brion a 91-94, and Mouton-Rothschild a 90-94. Chateau Lafite and Chateau Latour both got a 90-93.
BORDEAUX (AFP)
"There is unquestionably little need to buy these wines as futures, unless dramatic price reductions occur. I don't expect that to happen," said Parker in his annual vintage review, titled "2007 Bordeaux: Who Will Buy Them and at What Price?"
Bordeaux wine primeurs, or futures as they are also known, are barrel samples of the latest vintage, tasted by critics in the first week of April and sold in the following months -- two years before bottling. Prices are released on a chateau by chateau basis, with the most famous often waiting till the end of June.
Parker's annual review is always eagerly awaited in Bordeaux, and while he publishes a written opinion, it is his score out of 100 to each wine that matters most. With Bordeaux producers convinced of the importance of the score in determining demand, many wait for Parker's review before issuing prices.
"You know how the saying goes -- if it's over 90 you can't find it, if it's below 90 you can't sell it," said Bordeaux-based wine merchant, Jeffrey Davies.
He added however that winemakers and buyers often did themselves injustice by dismissing wines that got a Parker score of less than 90. "An 85 to 89 is actually a B+, that's a good score," he told AFP.
But Parker's severity this year has left a bitter taste.
"Parker is a good taster, and I have great respect for him but some of these scores are really unjust," said Benoit Ricaud Dussarget, a Bordeaux wine broker reacting to the 2007 report.
"A score in the 70's for a good Bordeaux is crazy," he said. "He has assassinated some of the wines."
To date, only a handful of lesser known chateaux have released their prices following the publication of Parker's review a few days ago.
All prices to date Tuesday are slightly lower than the 2006 vintage, but the reductions of between 3 and 11 percent are not expected to be big enough to tempt the main primeur markets, Britain and the United States, given the uneven quality of the vintage, and euro-dollar, euro-sterling disparities.
"The 11 percent reduction from Chateau Quinault (one of the first reds to release its price after a 93 score) only scratches the surface of what is necessary to attract the attention of anyone outside the euro zone," said Davies, who was hoping for cuts between 30 and 40 percent.
Overall, while Parker said good wines from the 2007 vintage were "seductive, and fruit-forward", he opined there were plenty of poor quality ones that were "thin and green".
In total Parker only gave three 100 point scores, and all three were for whites, in a town best known for its reds.
Chateau Pape Clement white and Haut-Brion, were both marked 96-100, and Chateau Climens, a sweet white tasted by Parker's British sidekick Neal Martin, got 98-100.
Of Bordeaux's top five, first growth wines, the highest mark was 94, with Chateau Margaux earning a 92-94, Chateau Haut-Brion a 91-94, and Mouton-Rothschild a 90-94. Chateau Lafite and Chateau Latour both got a 90-93.
BORDEAUX (AFP)
Monday, May 5, 2008
California wine? Down the drain
The peaches squirt, the tomatoes drip, and don't get me started on the chew of the frisky, wild-yeasted bread. I love eating in California. Whenever I return from the Golden State to my New York City five-floor walk-up, I am laden down with the state's riches. So why is it that for the last 10 years I can't drink the wines?
Back in the late '70s, California whupped the French at wine competitions with offerings that were classily expressive and mostly low-tech. But, by the year 2000, California lost its way, something I attribute, in part, to the desperate desire for 95-plus-point ratings, that ultimate affirmation from top wine critics. Forget "Eureka," the new state motto can well be: "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing." Today's California wines are overblown, over-alcoholed, over-oaked, overpriced and over-manipulated.
When I first stopped drinking the Left Coast, it was because I was offended by the overuse of wood, boring flavors and lack of structure. The wines, many of which had plenty of edge and personality, seemed neutered to me. I soon learned that the other part of the story was that an arsenal of technology was deployed to make them that way: yeast, enzymes, tannin, oak and acid, as well as over-extracting techniques, micro-oxygenation, dialysis and reverse osmosis.
Even when winemakers shun these technologies and attempt a naturalish wine, their grapes are often picked so ripe -- all the rage since famed winemaker Helen Turley was anointed a grape goddess by famed critic Robert M. Parker Jr. back in the mid-1990s -- that all chance for complexity and interest is stripped away. There are so many strikes against the local wines -- not the least the taste and the cost -- that when I evaluate them, I think not in terms of whether I like them but whether I can tolerate them.
But take heart, Golden State, you're not alone in making what I consider to be undrinkable wine. About 90% of the rest of mondo del vino has been similarly corrupted. Mercifully, there are still a few beauties made, mostly in France, by vignerons who could care less what the critics think or even what the public thinks it likes. Instead, they make wines of authenticity. Try, for example, the cot (malbec) from the Loire's Clos Roche Blanche (under $20), which makes me conjure up violets floating through a chalk straw. Or Pierre Gonon's St. Joseph (under $40), which illustrates what syrah should taste like -- and it's not cherry vanilla.
Sure, France makes oceans of crappy stuff, but there is also an ever-expanding band of winemakers fiercely committed to working with, not against, nature. Their philosophy is spreading to Italy and slowly to the rest of Europe, while California has been slow on the uptake. And what's more, even with the beastly exchange rate, they are bargains compared with the pricey bottles from Napa or Santa Barbara counties.
This spring, I wondered if while I was otherwise occupied, California vintners had found the road to sanity. I took advantage of the flowering of spring distributor events in New York City. I went tasting and found too many wines still based on over-ripe fruit. Alcohol levels still flirted with those as high as port. Even wine from prized makers such as Heidi Barrett or the highly touted ones from Sea Smoke and Brewer-Clifton were disasters.
At one tasting, I stopped by a relative newcomer, Stewart Cellars. Michael Stewart, a Texan, told me he discarded the 2005 vintage because it tasted "too French." When asked what that meant, he replied "more earth than fruit." Then he added, "I want to make a California wine, not a French wine."
Dull, fruit-driven, alcoholic wines have become the incontrovertible wine identity of California. Or is there hope?
Two tables down, Napa winemaker Cathy Corison stood flanked by decanters and bottles. Her '03 Kronos was shockingly elegant. Her 1996 cabernet wore its gorgeous herbs unapologetically, with vibrancy. The wines weighed in at a miraculous 13.6% alcohol, compared with a more typical 14.9% and beyond. I asked her how she managed this remarkable feat, and she answered: "I don't make wine from prunes. I don't make Las Vegas showgirls."
Forever the cynic, I asked if she had perhaps reduced the alcohol with reverse osmosis. Her response was something along the line of: On a cold day in hell, I would. She has never followed the fashion; she has stayed true to her mission. There aren't many like her around.
Around the aisle from her stood a grinning Mike Dashe. I heard he recently made a wine so un-Californian he was at risk of deportation. It was made in a manner worthy of the French natural wine movement: organic, no added yeasts or trickery, no wood influence. It was a zinfandel with structure and earth and lightness. It also had a color that a famous wine critic might call "feeble."
"I can't show this to critics," Dashe said. "They'd be offended." It was delicious.
Maybe these two represent a fledgling natural wine revolution. If so, I'll certainly wave that flag. But until the overthrow is complete and more California vintners give making real wine a go, I'll always have France.
Alice Feiring
Back in the late '70s, California whupped the French at wine competitions with offerings that were classily expressive and mostly low-tech. But, by the year 2000, California lost its way, something I attribute, in part, to the desperate desire for 95-plus-point ratings, that ultimate affirmation from top wine critics. Forget "Eureka," the new state motto can well be: "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing." Today's California wines are overblown, over-alcoholed, over-oaked, overpriced and over-manipulated.
When I first stopped drinking the Left Coast, it was because I was offended by the overuse of wood, boring flavors and lack of structure. The wines, many of which had plenty of edge and personality, seemed neutered to me. I soon learned that the other part of the story was that an arsenal of technology was deployed to make them that way: yeast, enzymes, tannin, oak and acid, as well as over-extracting techniques, micro-oxygenation, dialysis and reverse osmosis.
Even when winemakers shun these technologies and attempt a naturalish wine, their grapes are often picked so ripe -- all the rage since famed winemaker Helen Turley was anointed a grape goddess by famed critic Robert M. Parker Jr. back in the mid-1990s -- that all chance for complexity and interest is stripped away. There are so many strikes against the local wines -- not the least the taste and the cost -- that when I evaluate them, I think not in terms of whether I like them but whether I can tolerate them.
But take heart, Golden State, you're not alone in making what I consider to be undrinkable wine. About 90% of the rest of mondo del vino has been similarly corrupted. Mercifully, there are still a few beauties made, mostly in France, by vignerons who could care less what the critics think or even what the public thinks it likes. Instead, they make wines of authenticity. Try, for example, the cot (malbec) from the Loire's Clos Roche Blanche (under $20), which makes me conjure up violets floating through a chalk straw. Or Pierre Gonon's St. Joseph (under $40), which illustrates what syrah should taste like -- and it's not cherry vanilla.
Sure, France makes oceans of crappy stuff, but there is also an ever-expanding band of winemakers fiercely committed to working with, not against, nature. Their philosophy is spreading to Italy and slowly to the rest of Europe, while California has been slow on the uptake. And what's more, even with the beastly exchange rate, they are bargains compared with the pricey bottles from Napa or Santa Barbara counties.
This spring, I wondered if while I was otherwise occupied, California vintners had found the road to sanity. I took advantage of the flowering of spring distributor events in New York City. I went tasting and found too many wines still based on over-ripe fruit. Alcohol levels still flirted with those as high as port. Even wine from prized makers such as Heidi Barrett or the highly touted ones from Sea Smoke and Brewer-Clifton were disasters.
At one tasting, I stopped by a relative newcomer, Stewart Cellars. Michael Stewart, a Texan, told me he discarded the 2005 vintage because it tasted "too French." When asked what that meant, he replied "more earth than fruit." Then he added, "I want to make a California wine, not a French wine."
Dull, fruit-driven, alcoholic wines have become the incontrovertible wine identity of California. Or is there hope?
Two tables down, Napa winemaker Cathy Corison stood flanked by decanters and bottles. Her '03 Kronos was shockingly elegant. Her 1996 cabernet wore its gorgeous herbs unapologetically, with vibrancy. The wines weighed in at a miraculous 13.6% alcohol, compared with a more typical 14.9% and beyond. I asked her how she managed this remarkable feat, and she answered: "I don't make wine from prunes. I don't make Las Vegas showgirls."
Forever the cynic, I asked if she had perhaps reduced the alcohol with reverse osmosis. Her response was something along the line of: On a cold day in hell, I would. She has never followed the fashion; she has stayed true to her mission. There aren't many like her around.
Around the aisle from her stood a grinning Mike Dashe. I heard he recently made a wine so un-Californian he was at risk of deportation. It was made in a manner worthy of the French natural wine movement: organic, no added yeasts or trickery, no wood influence. It was a zinfandel with structure and earth and lightness. It also had a color that a famous wine critic might call "feeble."
"I can't show this to critics," Dashe said. "They'd be offended." It was delicious.
Maybe these two represent a fledgling natural wine revolution. If so, I'll certainly wave that flag. But until the overthrow is complete and more California vintners give making real wine a go, I'll always have France.
Alice Feiring
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