Will Yao Ming’s small production wine boost all of California wine in China? Score inflation is rampant and remains the biggest threat to scores themselves. The Mayans forecast a cataclysmic finish for 2012. Will dogmatism die? ” Will prices of European wines fall if the euro weakens? Dream on. Transparency is key.

While Galloni had only been to California and Burgundy twice before assuming his coverage of those areas, it’s not immediately clear if Martin, in particular, has been ever been to and tasted in the regions of his new assignment. He was an importer of German wines. He will add Oregon and Washington to this list. wine writing

Meanwhile he heaped praise on the Marcassin handing out high scores and calling it “prodigious.&# I asked the Advocate’s new Burgundy critic Galloni what he was going to do try to recapture that; Galloni will also review California wines for the publication and it will be interesting to see his opinions of Marcassin.)

In the context of a discussion about how 2001 California wines are tasting ten years on, he posted on his web site’s discussion board that synthetic cork producers would have “serious liability issues&# if the closure is the cause of the “failure&# of a ten-year old wine. Robert Parker suggests so. wine writing

The lanky, California maker of pinot noir, chardonnay, and syrah told me at his Sonoma winery that he had his conversion in 2005, after returning from a trip to Burgundy and the Rhone. The wines were made in a big, full-bodied style and had received high scores, including some 95s from Robert Parker. Search for Copain wines at retail.

There was no note taking, point scoring, chest thumping, one-upping, well-I-once-drank-a-1952 recounting, check listing but not truly drinking and understanding, nonsense. This past weekend I participated in one of the greatest wine events of my life. This was not a business lunch. The wines were very special.

Rather risky, don’t you think, to put a California sparkling wine up for comparison among some of the best houses in Champagne? “Of course, I can detect a California sparkler!&# Unique among California sparkling wine houses, Schramsberg ferments 25 percent of its juice in oak barrels. Schram and J. schramsberg.

California produces some good wines from this grape, yet as a whole the region lacks the characteristic soil and microclimate of its foreign competitors. “I want a wine that tastes like summer,” the chic woman tells the clerk at an upscale wine store. Something that pairs well with grilled skewers of fresh shrimp and swordfish. Salud!

Now that I am on the East coast and more Old World focused as a result of my (more Old World) wine studies, it is great to re-discover California wine. Winemakers, John and Helen Falcone, joined Rusack Vineyards in 2001(one of the few husband and wife winemaking teams in California).

In an article entitled “Once Upon a Time (1899, 1929, 1949, 1959, 2009),&# he lavished praise on the vintage, particularly the cabernet blends of the left bank, and on many wines individually: 21 wines received scores of potentially 100 points. Robert Parker posted his reviews of Bordeaux 2009 yesterday on his subscription web site.

haven't checked the scores, but this is likely to receive 95+ if it hasn't already. Tags: Cellar Selection Central California 2006 3 stars Oregon 2007 2008 4 stars On Monday I was fortunate to attend a lunch at Eleven Madison Park hosted by Maggie Harrison, the proprietor of Antica Terra winery in Amity, Oregon. spice?)

Magali Delmas and Laura Grant, of UCLA and UCSB respectively, examined 13,400 California wines from an eight-year period ending in 2005 to reach their conclusions, which will appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal Business & Society. Delmas, M. and Grant, L. Forthcoming. Business and Society.

The buyer was California’s E&J Gallo for their Red Bicyclette brand, which sells for about $9 a bottle. A French court found 12 executives guilty of selling the equivalent of 18 million bottles of cheaper wine as pinot noir. One of the firms involved had been paying 58 euros for the wines it sold to Gallo. million) in the scheme.

Let’s turn the floor over to John for his views from the cellar… Mayacamas Vineyards is one of the greatest cabernet sauvignon producers in the history of California. John Gilman, author of the newsletter A View from the Cellar , weighs in today with his thoughts on Mayacamas Vineyards. 2015-2050. superb vintage for Mayacamas.

Fred Franzia : The California-based creator of Two Buck Chuck, which debuted in 2002, believes that no wine should sell for more than $10 a bottle. Thanks to everyone for the fascinating discussion suggesting nominees for the Wine Person of the Decade. Now it’s voting time! You can only vote for one person.

Wineries that advertise in Wine Spectator have their wines score better–but only by less than one point. Some California wineries are going all Rioja and consciously holding wines back for bottle aging–sometimes a decade or more–at the winery. SIPPED: number crunching. WS editor Tom Matthews responds to the research.

More tasting notes from the Snooth California Cabernet Sauvignon Blind Tasting earlier this month. would be shocked if it scored anything less than 92 points. Made from 90% Cabernet, 6% Tempranillo, 4% Syrah. This lot in particular has been nothing less than mind-blowing.

My tasting notes from the Snooth California Cabernet Sauvignon Blind Tasting earlier this month yielded this natural winner for me. Sourced from some of the best vineyards in Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, and Spring Mountain, this wine receives continual 91, 92, and 93 point scores.

would have enjoyed a touch more ripeness on the finish, but maybe I've been jaded by California wines. lovely wine for dinner, and probably warrants a higher score in 2-3 years. I am a sucker for discounted Chapoutier. What can I say? Some people claim these little touches mean nothing to the underlying wine, but I disagree.

The Yanks dramatically tie the score in late innings during the Stony Hill, and win a thriller in the 13th inning. Tags: Beer Suduiraut Claux Delorme California Bordeaux Stony Hill Fugedaboudit Loire Valley Germany Champagne Delamotte François Pinon Maybe I am going insane, but I like to think of it as healthy superstition. Estèphe.

Robert Parker score 95-97. Tags: Cellar Selection USA Central California Good Value Paso Robles 2007 4 stars A great post at Reign of Terroir alerted me today to the need to disclose to my loyal fanbase what I recieve by way of compensation for writing Slaked! As I have said before, that number would zero. Nothing. Zilch. Slaked!

Premature oxidation of dry, age-worthy white wines–be they from Burgundy, Bordeaux or California–is a tremendous problem today, and at this point in time it does not look to me as if any meaningful progress has been made since the scourge first became readily apparent when the 1996 white Burgundies began to tank. think not.

For those who haven’t checked out the saga (see Felix Salmon’s excellent summary over on Reuters.com ), an influential critic gave a wine brand called Sierra Carche the score of 96, retailers sold the wine touting that score, but many consumers then found the wine undrinkable (as the critic also did 10 months later).

Many of the pairings reaffirm the classics such as oysters with muscadet and sauternes with foie gras , so score one for intuition. For what it’s worth, I think he’s right; try spicy Thai dishes with high-alcohol gewurztraminer from Alsace or red zinfandel from California and be amazed by the synergy.

It displays its varietal characteristics nicely, with more ground pepper and spice than many blueberry-dominated Santa Barbara look alikes that receive 90+ scores. Tags: 2 stars USA Central California 2006 Angelica Cellars' second vintage of Coquelicot is a winner. Produced at the famous Crushpad in San Francisco.

I've been wondering recently what it would mean if Hanzell, which planted the first pinot noir vines in California in 1953, received 95+ points from the major trade press regularly. One 99 point score from Robert Parker is pretty much all it would take. The 2004 is now five years old and tastes like a young Kongsgaard The Judge.

I'm not sure what it means to apply a numerical score to the taste of a wine. scoring 95 point wines, it's the fact that they taste almost purely, and almost identically, like blueberry, and not much else. Tags: 2004 USA Central California Sonoma Napa Valley 4 stars In a word: blueberry.

Score one for the winemakers! California’s legislature approved a new budget without increasing the excise tax on wine. SPIT: Bordeaux futures. In recent years, Bordeaux futures ran up to tremendous highs (see above chart above for three top chateaus ex-cellars; compiled from data from The Times of London ). Bloomberg ].

Those who don't constantly seek out loam in their zin will score this higher than I have, because it is rich, flamboyant, and aims to please. Tags: ATP Central California 2006 1 star Ridge Vineyards The wine is concentrated, ruby red, and has mild smoke and bacon notes underneath.

So buckle up and get ready to hear his thoughts on what’s wrong with Riesling from Austria and Australia, screwcaps and their problems, the Loire, California cab then and now, indigenous yeasts, roto-fermenters, small oak barrels, wines over 14% alcohol and why he uses scores! California cabs from the 70s. Wine scores.

We know that it's hard for the wine lover to know how to navigate the scores, prices and hype about wine out there. Lot 86, a 2006 Lodi Zinfandel from California: Nose: warm, wood, jammy on the sweet side of dry, juicy and chewy, also very nice. Lot 72, a 2005 Meritage from California: Nose: sweet, earthy aromas with a Bordeaux model.

routinely disagree with their wine scores (they gave Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 2005 only 85 points - WTF are they thinking?!) Audrey, reading Wine Spectator in Lake Tahoe, Spring 2008) So it was with glee and trepidation that I ordered one ticket for the California Wine Experience at the Marriot in NYC - but mostly glee. Very fine.

The "Southing" 2004 is the second wine, much better with less sweet fruit and more balance, but still not worth the mega scores from the mega critics in my opinion. The crisp acidity and earthy flavors somehow compliment this brisk NYC air. Sweet tannins and fresh underlying acidity, with mild earth notes on on the finish. Cellar selection.

This is about the fraudulent use of a meaningless stamp of approval, as useful as lets, see, a California Cabernet that has the U.C. Goldstein spoofed up a restaurant, created a reserve list that he cherry picked from a collection of mostly low scoring Spectator wines. August 19, 2008 Mom called. Did you see the Sunday Magazine? Fraud?

and "California promotes wines that dont suck" Um.since when did fresh herbs become weird?! And millions of people think that California wines dont suck.but that certainly isnt an indication of greatness. Doesnt the fellow realize there would be no California wine without Europe? Now, what could make the fellow happier? Sheesh.

The California wine industry that welcomed a wine-novice Wine Tasting Guy with open arms is under attack. criteria that enables wines to score highly amongst the well known critic's ratings. But in her LA Times OpEd piece " California Wine? Wine drinkers everywhere are seemingly under attack. Sure controversy sells.

The article begins by discussing some of the influencing factors for wine enjoyment, from varietal familiarity & easy to discern label to price & score. And the second of "buddies at a steakhouse" enjoying a California Cab & then not having the same level of enjoyment when drinking that same bottle with pasta at home.

as most wine aficionados know, is the worlds most influential nose, a Maryland-based former government lawyer who shot to prominence in the 1980s with his newsletter The Wine Advocate, largely on the virtue of its much-copied 100-point scoring system. Among other additives are enzymes that deepen colour and boost "mouth feel." Welcome to Ms.

Rogov gives the 2004 the best score of the bunch, but any will do the trick at $14 or so. Relative to other wine producing regions (think California or France) this is still a very reasonable price point, but to be completely honest none of these wines get me too excited. The first price point you may ask about is the UNDER $10 range.

OK, the title is a little old-man-pun style, and the article was written citing some recent research done by Standford Business School and California Institute of technology (regarding how price influences people's appreciation of wine).but deduct 3-5 points from their scoring of the wine. like blind tasting for a multitude of reasons.

Is it a high score from a critic? Complicated in that I don't think too many people would admit that they buy wine based on price or scores, but it is a sad reality. But I raise it having recently read about a winemaker in California who admitted to falling into the Parker trap. What makes a wine GOOD ? Easy right?

This site would include wines at all price ranges, and would be oriented towards wine lovers and geeks who are willing to think and to learn, not towards the people consuming the vast oceans of insipid yet expensive California and Bordeaux wine made by large companies who require a score of 90+ points for revenues. So good.

Organic" WAS conventional, in that it was just-the-way-things-were-done, up until about a half century ago when chemical companies began calling on farmers (I interviewed one of the patriarchs of California agriculture recently, and he was the one who turned on that lightbulb for me. Main | Hearty Burgundy at Sanford? Do check it out.

The waitress recommended a California Pinot, but at $80 bottle, kinda steep, especially for someone who is not a big fan of California Pinot - too fruity!  My Napa contacts might kill me for saying this, but I think I preferred this wine to some of the high scoring California Pinot's I have had. On to the wine.

Each taster noted their top three favorites, in order, and we added up the scores to pick a winner (first place vote=3 pts; second place vote=2 pts; third place vote=1 pt). Not only to my tastes, either - they were the top scoring wines. The two wines pulling up the rear, so to speak, were both from California. Another time.

When I get to go to a tasting like Martin Scott's, I get really excited, and in my excitement I shared lots of my personal wine scores in previous posts. But you're not reading this because you care about my personal scoring of wines. How do I know this? Well, first of all, you could hear crickets chirping on the other posts - silence.

Yes, I didn't taste one Spanish wine, nothing from Australia, very few California wines, and I completely missed the lineup of dessert wine. tried a new rating system this time, scoring wines out of 10 points and writing only the briefest of notes in order to speed myself up. cannot enjoy myself that way. Also very good. What a nose!

Pinot from all over the world is discussed and reviewed, but California seems to appear more often than anything else. Interesting to see how his tasting group scored the wines. Here are a couple of posts from the past month or so that really stand out for me. Take a peek and see if you read them already, if not - worth your perusal.

If you're interested in Oregon wine you probably know by now that Shea 's crop of 2004 wines received high praise and high scores from Wine Spadvocator. And until recently, Sine Qua Non, the California cult winery, put out a Pinot Noir sourcing Shea grapes. am excited to report that the wine is truly fantastic. Not a tuna sandwich.