Page 48 - Blog

Last night my wife and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary at Verace restaurant in Islip. Verace is known for fresh authentic Italian food at reasonable prices. Accompanying the great menu is an equally impressive wine list. Although I wanted this night to be special I did not want to break the bank so I needed a great drinker that would match well with the food at a great price. The chosen wine was the 2008 Eugenio Bocchino Roccabella Nebbiolo. This wine has been a favorite of mine ever since I met Eugenio and his family this past summer.

My wife generally drinks Pinot Noirs and Cabernets so I figured this would be a great introduction to a bolder Barolo type of wine. What's great about this wine is that it is produced right outside of Barolo, so you get a great Nebbiolo wine without paying a premium.

This wine blended well with every dish, from appetizer to dessert. The red fruits and silky tannins along with the long finish made for a spectacular companion

Wine: 2002 Louis Roederer Cristal
Region: Champagne
Sokolin Price: $225/btl
Rating: 97 RP-HG

At a recent dinner party with some wine loving friends, someone brought a bottle of 2002 Louis Roederer Cristal, more commonly and simply referred to as just "Cristal." Lucky us! Louis Roederer is one of the most prestigious and well-known houses in all of Champagne, France, located in the city of Reims. True champagne can only come from Champagne, France, and any other bubbly produced elsewhere is referred to as sparkling wine.

Champagne is often categorized into 2 groups - non-vintage and vintage, with the majority of champagne falling under the non-vintage category. Vintage champagne is a higher quality champagne than non-vintage, and must be aged longer than non-vintage. It is also made of higher quality grapes. A cuvee prestige champagne is even a step above vintage champagne in terms of quality, and

About once a month, we like to take our tastings on the road.  We have several favorite restaurants within 30 minutes of our offices.  Because we're so close to the Hamptons, naturally, we find ourselves there quite often.  Last night, our restaurant of choice was the Plaza Café in Southampton, probably one of the best restaurants on the east end with one of the most talented and creative chef/owners Douglas Gulija.  The restaurant has a quiet elegance, known for its world-class seafood but the meats are out of this world.  So with our pairings we can get really creative.

We took a new approach last night.  Often, one person picks the wines for the night and everyone else gets to blind taste.  On this occasion, two groups selected two sets of four wines so everyone could get into the guessing game. Taking this approach made the line-up even that much more of a challenge for the table and unexpected fun for the palate.  Here's the run

I'm in a car en route to the airport reading Bill Blatch's vintage report. He's the legendary man who follows each vintage raindrop by raindrop and counts the hours of sun. There isn't a weather pattern from spring to harvest that he misses and many think he can nail the quality of the vintage as good as any critic without tasting a drop. I have to admit, he's been spot on for decades.

Here's an overview of his 12 page report:

-A year of extreme weather that worked in favor of winemaking, but not for much else.

- Immediate comparisons to 2009 in terms of the quality but 2010 is the year of the drought, which gives it a markedly different character of more power.

-Despite the drought, by fall the vines held up well and looked like "las vegas golf courses - showing no signs of stress" in an otherwise dry environment.

I arrived in Bordeaux and I asked for a room upgrade. The lady at the front desk looked at me like I was crazy. She told me it is busier than last year!

After a quick shower, a few friends and I ate with a terrific negociant and friend of mine. He discussed the current situation about Bordeaux. He said there's not enough wine to satisfy the global demand that he sees. His office in Asia picks up 10-15 new big clients (distributor size) a month. He says that when you add 150 new institutional customers a year, it's hard to satisfy the demand.

He also mentioned that prices will be around 10% higher this year over the already expensive 2009 vintage. Add in the Euro's approximate 20 cent gain on the dollar compared to last year and we're talking about prices that could be 20%-30% higher  than 2009. Whoa. Better buy your 2009's today. We never thought about them as a good currency trade, but they are. You're buying with last year's Euro. I think they will disappear quickly.

It's 10:00am on Monday, our first day of tastings.  We arrive at Chateau Haut Brion. There's a big lineup here starting with three whites.

Here's the line-up of six wines:

Haut Brion Blanc - 54% Sauvignon Blanc makes this taste like a Didier Dagueneau Pouilly Fume on steroids. The rest is Semillion and it accounts for its richness.  Terrific!  Wow it's tasting good today. You could serve all these 2010 whites now!  96-98 points DS.

La Mission Haut Brion Blanc - It's the most balanced, complex and delicious young white Bordeaux I've ever tasted. On the palate it comes off medium bodied even though there is so much richness underneath. So much harmony here that everything is in perfect balance. This is going to be really

BIG day today - Off to Latour and then on a whirlwind tour through the Margaux region ending up at Chateau Palmer!! Psyched! 

Today, I get to test my terroir theory that the best properties can withstand and even thrive through a drought while the rest are going to have too much tannin.

I'm headed to several chateaux in Margaux.  First stop, Chateau Pavillon Rouge.   

Pavillon Rouge - Medium purple color, red fruits pop out of the glass, medium bodied in a good way with chewey tannins, sweet and delicious and all in perfect balance. Better than most Margaux from the 70s. 93-95 DS.

Chateau Margaux - Dark purple color.  The nose is unlike any other.  Violets and lavender infused plus other elements

It's 8:30 am on Wednesday.  Day four and we're off to the races.

We're hitting some of the first and super seconds today.  I'm looking forward to testing my "year of the terroir" theory.

First we hit Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou.

Bruno Borie, Ducru's owner always puts on a big show.  En route to the tasting area, we stroll thru his contemporary art collection escorted by beautiful women. It's a big show that I've noticed is being emulated elsewhere so I'll have to rate the behind the scenes show as well. Pontet Canet has adopted the "James Bond girl" approach too, so today is going to be interesting on many levels.

Ducru - Beautiful nose, complex blue fruits. On the palate it's a beauty but not an all-time great. It's softer and easier with nice (not dry) tannins so it's great by comparison to the vintage.

Around Sokolin we call Henri Boillot "the magician" as his wines always seem to be...magical.  In comparison to his peers, his wines always deliver in their price point, regardless of the vintage.  And in a vintage with the hype like 2009, they often more than deliver.

Last weekend my wife and I sampled blind a handful of Pinot Noir with some friends from multiple recent vintages, some New World and some from Burgundy, all tasty.  However, the one standout of the group was Henri Boillot's 2009 Bourgogne Rouge.

The New World selections had fruit, but lacked the earthiness and hints of minerality that the wines of Burgundy possessed.  The Burgundies from 2009 possessed a concentration and vibrancy that the 2008s and 2007s didn't, confirming the recent good press on the vintage.  Boillot's Bourgogne Rouge displayed a balance, accessibility and length that the other 2009 Burgundies, some village and even premier cru that sell for up to three times the

Today we hit the Northern Medoc, meaning St. Estephe.

We visited the 3 big boys - Calon Segur, Montrose and then Cos d'Estournel for tasting and lunch with Jean-Guillaume Prats, the managing director.

Here are my notes from these 3 chateaux.

Calon Segur - This is an old world place, and I'm a fan of this style. It's classic - not modern - and it's like wine from the 80's & 90's, but cleaner and with a touch more power. This is a medium bodied vintage. 93-95 DS.

Montrose - You are going to need quite the patience for this wine. It's traditional cabernet to the max. High note berry restrained nose, super intense and mega tannic structure with good tannins. This is like the 1989 which turned out great. It may be better than the