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Patrick Comiskey
Jul 28, 2009
There was wine news this week that will very likely affect the wines you see on the shelf the next time you head into your local wine shop. Constellation Brands, the world's largest wine and spirits company, announced a consolidation in the number of companies they do business with. If you're a small brand or wine import company already represented by a distributor like Southern, get ready to suck in your gut: a very large gorilla has crashed into the room.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jun 30, 2009
I moved to Los Angeles from wine-savvy San Francisco in 2004, with little sense of just what kind of wine town it was, but soon learned that strictly in terms of wine geek credentials, it had few to none. That has all changed dramatically in the last decade, and no phenomenon exemplifies this change better than in the wave of new wine bars that have opened here in the last few years.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jun 2, 2009
Those of us who collect wine do so for the pleasure it has in store for us, and it is ours to decide when: either right away, or at some point in the future. But each evening, as I gaze upon the racks in my cellar and wonder which bottle I'll open, my eyes invariably stray to the rare ones, the coveted ones, the three or four older Bordeaux I somehow find myself in possession of; the twelve year old Shiraz whose 'right moment' regularly eludes me, the '93 Spätlese I've held onto for so long that I've probably missed its peak; the extremely expensive bottle of Napa Cabernet that, though I'm dying to know what it tastes like, I can't quite bring myself to open -- I can't bear to face the hole in my collection once it is consumed. How much better it is to have the wine on hand for when I'll really need it?
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Patrick Comiskey
May 5, 2009
This past weekend marked the 17th edition of Hospice du Rhône, a celebration of Rhône varieties worldwide that places American Rhône wines and its producers in an international context. It's a time for celebration, silliness, a bit of indulgence, many ugly shirts, much bad bowling, and a lot of very serious tasting. It's our annual snapshot of the Rhône movement in all its forms.
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Patrick Comiskey
Apr 7, 2009
The Rhône Valley consists of 17 appellations, eight in the north and seven in the south, though the south is home to most of the vines that make up the last two appellations, Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône Villages, which of course makes up the bulk of the production. That production is enormous, second only to Bordeaux in France. No fewer than 22 grape varieties are in use in the entire appellation. While this may seem designed to confuse the average wine lover, it's actually what makes Côtes du Rhône wines so consistently enjoyable, and nearly always well-priced.
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Patrick Comiskey
Mar 10, 2009
For no earthly reason, other than the fact that the Internet makes procrastinators of us all, I recently decided to look for 'Pinot Noir' on the social networking website, Facebook. It came up immediately: the digital image showed a heavy, very ripe cluster of velvety purple grapes with a "come hither" look that perfectly captured its seductive gifts.
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Patrick Comiskey
Feb 10, 2009
No matter how good their Pinot is, all New Zealand producers, from the biggest players to the smallest boutique wineries, seem to make a Sauvignon Blanc. In fact for most producers, making Sauvignon is obligatory: if you're from New Zealand, you have to come to market with a "Savvy," whether you want to or not.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jan 13, 2009
This year I've decided to forge ahead with a few predictions, coming on the heels of what was an exciting, tumultuous 2008. It was a year of continued growth for the American palate, a year where curiosity and interest in wine never flagged, even as our buying power did. It was the year we lost several of the great figures in the wine world -- Robert Mondavi, David Lett, Didier Dagueneau, and Alois Kracher -- but saw the work of these visionaries carried forward in the markets, the standards, and the regions they pioneered. Despite a gloomy economic picture, the prospects for the wine industry seem as robust as ever.
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Patrick Comiskey
Dec 16, 2008
Anyone who loves Rhône-style wines owes a debt of gratitude to Mat Garretson, The Man in the Pink Tights, whose improbable pursuit of an unheard-of variety took him down a one-of-a-kind path -- and the wine world we inhabit is considerably richer for it.
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Patrick Comiskey
Nov 18, 2008
The changing of the guard in Washington seems a good occasion to challenge old assumptions about a lot of things, including wine. Recently I lined up a group of Australian Shiraz bottlings, from seven different regions of the country -- Margaret River, Barossa, Coonawara, the Clare Valley, the Yarra Valley, Bendigo and Orange -- and it was a lesson learned.
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Patrick Comiskey
Oct 21, 2008
I'm sure that newly-famous Joe the Plumber is wondering what all the hubbub is about. He seems like a nice guy. He certainly is patient enough, judging from the way he handled hundreds of reporters who assembled on his lawn at 6 a.m. the morning after a debate. He looks and sounds intelligent, concerned, a little worried about his future, a little conservative socially, but not reactionary. He's no Joe Sixpack, but he may be Joe S's neighbor, and as such, I decided to believe that wine is his preferred beverage.
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Patrick Comiskey
Sep 23, 2008
Now that the 'Anything but Chardonnay' frenzy has died down to an extent, the Rhône trend-chasers have peeled away and the great practitioners have remained true to the cause, but the single white Rhône variety that has winemakers losing sleep, the one that lures them with its promise and its complexity, just as surely as Ulysses was lured to the rocks by the Sirens, is Roussanne.
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Patrick Comiskey
Aug 26, 2008
If it's August, it must be Winery of the Year time for the magazine I write for, Wine & Spirits. Each year, the editorial team crunches out a series of database reports on the 10,000 or so wines that have been tasted for the year and assembles a list of the best wines, and of the top 100 best wineries who made them. Then we the critics write a profile of each one. By a mile, it's the most intense writing project of the year. Writing project? It's more like a death march.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jul 29, 2008
I recently attended lunch at Lucques with Christian Moueix, one of the world's best known winemakers, proprietor of legendary Bordeaux properties (most on the Right Bank) including the great Pomerols Chateau Trotanoy and Chateau Petrus, as well as Dominus, the fine Napa Valley estate. In an era when most wines are meant to bonk you over the head with their power (and alcohol), the Moueix wines epitomize elegance, balance, and restraint.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jul 1, 2008
Walla Walla's geology is so bizarre that it remained a virtual mystery until the 1940s. The examination of Walla Walla's terroir is so nascent that there are still vast areas that are yet to be explored. Some exciting discoveries are being made, however, and I've got the rocks to prove it.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jun 3, 2008
I'd like to have you believe that real life rarely intrudes upon my wine-induced reality bubble, but that's simply not true. I wish I could say that I rise every morning having dreamed about Barolo, the Alps rising on the horizon, my glass always full, my lips always moist with Nebbiolo, then I brush my teeth with dry Riesling and stumble into the kitchen and pour myself some cru-Beaujolais. But real life keeps barging into my wine consciousness.
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Patrick Comiskey
May 6, 2008
Late last month I sat down with ten colleagues at the Water Grill in downtown Los Angeles and was told to consume as many oysters as I could in one sitting. The occasion was the Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition held each year by Taylor Shellfish Farms of Shelton, WA, and presided over by a benevolent, thoroughly unflappable old salt named Jon Rowley. Rowley conducts the competition in three cities on the West Coast, using only domestic white wines, with experts scoring the 'bliss' factor.
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Patrick Comiskey
Apr 8, 2008
Burgundy's vineyards exist in similarly undulating hillsides. The Cote d'Or slopes, taken together, form the gentlest of S's, running from Dijon to Chagny. It has unbelievable gravity, but appears to move or spill in places that make your own equilibrium seem a little off-kilter. You may experience a similar gentle undulation when you taste a great Burgundy. There is such a presence to a great wine it can feel, in its way, massive, commanding, it can stop you in your tracks.
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Patrick Comiskey
Mar 11, 2008
Last week I moderated a panel at the annual conference held in California's Central Coast called 'World of Pinot Noir,' at Domaine Alfred in the Edna Valley. The idea of the seminar was to compare old vine / old clone Pinot Noir with young vine / young clone Pinot Noir, and we had a terrific group of winemakers who brought wines from each category to compare and discuss. In two hours we were able to examine just a few aspects of what is a fairly complicated, multi-dimensional subject.
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Patrick Comiskey
Feb 12, 2008
Adam Tolmach owns Ojai Winery, in California's south Central Coast, and has been making wine for more than 30 years. In October, just after harvest, Tolmach met with Los Angeles Times reporter Corie Brown to taste a few older vintages and to forecast what was, for him, a new direction for his wines and his approach to making them. In the course of the interview, Tolmach reported to Brown that he no longer drinks his own wines. 'We lost our rudder when we went for ever bolder, riper flavors,' he said. 'We have to do the right thing. I've stopped drinking my own wines.' Brown, like any good reporter, pursued this rather amazing statement. What followed was one of the more intriguing articles about wine trends to have occurred in recent years, where a winemaker honestly admitted to losing his way, to succumbing to fashionable levels of extraction and alcohol in his red wines to the point that they no longer pleased him.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jan 15, 2008
So it's January--time to look forward on the year to come with excitement, trepidation, and at least the illusion that the slate is clean, that change is possible--and that I can make some resolutions regarding my relationship with wine that will prove to be worth keeping.
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Patrick Comiskey
Dec 18, 2007
When you visit kj.com, the home page of Kendall-Jackson, there is a picture of its patriarch and owner, Jess Jackson, leg up on a pile of attractive rubble in one of his vineyards. Beneath the pile of rock a single word appears: Truth. It's not clear if this is meant to be a motto, a promise, a projection, or a character-defining trait, but the association and the positioning are pretty unmistakable.
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Patrick Comiskey
Nov 20, 2007
If you're raising your wine glass this holiday season to give thanks among the company of family and friends, take a moment to remember the thousands of laborers in this country, and the millions worldwide, who toil in vineyards to bring that fruit to the bottle. Because all of the mystique, all of the prestige, all of the warmth, the sophistication, the glamour, and the grandeur that wine embodies is resting on their tired, stiff shoulders, and supported by their aching backs. Without them you'd have nothing to toast with.
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Patrick Comiskey
Oct 23, 2007
The southern France region of Languedoc, in the departement known as l'Herault, is a geographical wonder. It's the place where the Massif Central grinds to a halt and collapses into a plain rolling southward toward the Mediterranean. The mountains here don't resemble peaks so much as tabletops, tilted into the sky and sheared off at the edges, leaving behind a rubble of geology wherein vines have been planted since Roman times. And even with that long history, it's possible the best sites have yet to be discovered.
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Patrick Comiskey
Sep 25, 2007
Recently I poured a couple of California reds for some friends, including a Cab called 'Coup de Foudre,' from the newish, cultish winery, Amuse Bouche. It smelled like sweet perfume, a maraschino cherry dipped in chocolate, and then dipped in vanilla. It was the sort of California wine that's now becoming classic, in its way; shapely, beautiful and empty. I was forced to wonder: what is a Cabernet without structure? An enhancement? Or an abomination?
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Patrick Comiskey
Aug 28, 2007
Certain wines work very well in a picnic setting, whereas others are much less appropriate, and there are some interesting lessons to be learned when sorting out which is which.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jul 31, 2007
It's moving month--my wife and I are getting out of an overstuffed one-bedroom to nest in a soon-to-be-overstuffed two-bedroom in the flats, with the plebes, in Los Angeles, CA. If for some good reason you haven't done this in a while, allow me to remind you what an enormous pain in the ass moving is. But don't pity me. I set aside a dozen or so bottles of wine to gird my loins late in the evening, just prior to collapse. It's the proverbial grab-box, wines that have found their way onto the wine rack and for one reason or another have gone untasted.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jul 3, 2007
June, for this writer, has been International Riesling Month. This immersion has been one of the most exhilarating in my professional life. I don't think I've encountered a greater challenge, nor met with more rewards, than in these few weeks. I come away convinced that there is no more confounding, complex, and fascinating grape variety in existence.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jun 5, 2007
It's June, people. Summer is but days away. Soon the sun will rise and seem never to set, baking, melting, or desiccating everything in its path. What, please God, is in the fridge to stave off the torrid days to come?
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Patrick Comiskey
May 8, 2007
Rising demand for Pinot has brought many new brands into the market, and much of the swelling middle ground bears little resemblance to California Pinot's traditional flavor profile; to varying degrees, the new Pinot profile has done away with Pinot's delicacy, its haunting subtlety, and replaced it with darker fruit, a more obvious, extracted style, huge ripeness and alcohol levels, and generally more masculine features.
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Patrick Comiskey
Apr 10, 2007
In this column, I'm going to break one of my own rules: I'm going to write about a tasting. I generally don't do this because it seems a little ridiculous to go on and on about an event that occurred weeks ago; to discuss, in detail, old and ultra-rare wines that nobody can find. Furthermore, it feels a little impolite, like saying 'Wow, dude, those wines were totally amazing; it's too bad you weren't there, sucker.'
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Patrick Comiskey
Mar 13, 2007
Last month I went to Mendoza, Argentina, to get my head around Malbec. It was my first trip to South America, and my first time laying eyes on the Andes, a range of mountains whose size and monumental beauty left me speechless. The people are warm, generous, and beautiful, and the steaks--oh, Lord, here's a country that loves its meat. And they grow the perfect wine to wash it down with.
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Patrick Comiskey
Feb 13, 2007
A few weeks ago I made a wish on Wine Review Online that California's most out-there region, the Anderson Valley, remain as far from its flashier neighbors as it possibly can. Last weekend I drove up to the Valley for its second annual Alsatian Wine Festival, and it seems I have little to worry about.
It's still very much out of the way. Whereas Napa is sort of a petting zoo rural, the Anderson Valley is the real thing: I didn't take a census, but it's a safe bet that there are more sheep than people within its borders.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jan 16, 2007
I look for comfort against the rigors of winter on my wine rack. It's usually red; most of the whites are tucked away for a winter's nap; not that there's never an occasion to drink them, but I find I'm not often in the mood. The reds tend to be dark, warm-toned, generous and satisfying, wines that fill out an evening or cradle a meal. And the ones I reach for are generally undemanding and open-handed, their pleasures lie in their modesty and simplicity. It doesn't hurt that they're re not pricey.
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Patrick Comiskey
Dec 19, 2006
The holidays are upon us. It's the perfect time to pause, reflect, and count one's blessings, and in the world of wine that's often a bounty like no other. Allow me then to look back on the year, and mention a few things I'm grateful for.
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Patrick Comiskey
Nov 21, 2006
Mourvedre is not high on the agendas of most American wine drinkers, but few grapes are more distinctive or better able to convey the savor of the soil of a particular vineyard. On a recent tour of the southern Rhône Valley, I found that its virtues were evident in glass after glass.
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Patrick Comiskey
Oct 24, 2006
I have just returned from a trip to the Languedoc region in southern France, and I am confused. I have read that the region, which derives its name from Langue d'Oc, or language of the Occitaine, is fiercely independent, with a separate Occitaine identity. I see evidence of this graffiti'd on walls in tiny villages, slogans calling for independence with the same insistence as the separatists in the nearby Basque region of Spain; I look for that spirit in each bottle of wine.
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Patrick Comiskey
Sep 26, 2006
The biodynamic wines I tried last week were remarkable, but I'm not confident enough to say why. Perhaps when I have a better sense of my own place in the cosmos, I'll know. But I do know that careful farming of the sort that produces wines like these is rapidly coming to define Northwest viticulture, and it is turning up in the glass.
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Patrick Comiskey
Aug 29, 2006
Remember all of those 2003 harvest reports you read at the end of that year? Me neither. That's one of the many challenges of keeping up in the wine world; the vintage is captured in a bottle, only to be released years after you've read about it, making the drama in the glass always a complex interpretive act.
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Patrick Comiskey
Aug 8, 2006
Before you take a sip of the Krug 89, ask yourself if you're ready to take a sip of the Krug 89. Try, if you can, to accept the fact that no Champagne will ever taste quite like it, that you will in fact be ruined by this experience.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jul 4, 2006
So let us remind ourselves that nature and man in its infinite variety has bestowed us with nearly 5000 varieties - of one species. It has, as well, given certain winemakers sufficient curiosity to venture beyond the usual suspects. Sometimes it's a question of resurrecting an old vineyard that produces extraordinary fruit from an all but forgotten variety.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jun 6, 2006
Two weeks ago, wine merchant Stephen Spurrier and his partner Patricia Gastaud-Gallagher commemorated their famous "Judgment of Paris" by re-enacting the tasting with the original red wines, from the same vintages, in an event held simultaneously in London and Napa. And again, California stunned the world by winning the competition.
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Patrick Comiskey
May 9, 2006
Entre Deux Mers may be among Bordeaux's least heralded regions, but it's probably its most beautiful area, with rolling hills, bucolic pastureland, and quiet woodland, not to mention countless streams crisscrossing the countryside.
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Patrick Comiskey
Apr 11, 2006
Last month, scientists, professors, winemakers, journalists, and students gathered for three days at the University of California at Davis to try and put their finger on one of the wine world's most ubiquitous and elusive topics: terroir. It seems like terroir is one of those topics where the more you talk about it, the more it eludes you, and this conference seemed designed to prove the rule.
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Patrick Comiskey
Mar 14, 2006
In March, Pinot Noir fanatics from all over the world gather in Shell Beach, CA for a festival called World of Pinot Noir, which is now in its sixth year. Not all festivals are this way, but WOPN seems to draw an especially obsessive and close-knit group of regulars, in something like the wine equivalent of a Star Trek Convention without the ridiculous costumes (though there are some disturbingly loud Hawaiian shirts).
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Patrick Comiskey
Feb 14, 2006
The world of wine is largely a commercial one. Although passion gets people into the business, the choice of what to plant and what to make in California tends to be limited by the range of what the masses love to drink. Thankfully, however, nature in its infinite variety has bestowed us with nearly 5,000 grape varieties. It has, as well, given certain winemakers sufficient curiosity to venture beyond the usual suspects.
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Patrick Comiskey
Jan 17, 2006
One of the first things you'll notice after entering Laos is that the few open shops on the very quiet streets are proudly displaying two things: water and whiskey. The water comes in cheap plastic and is a good reminder that Laos is a place where if it ain't boiled, you'd better not drink it.
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Widgets with a Kick: The Upshot of the Constellation Deal
