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Robert Whitley
May 14, 2013
BUDAPEST, Hungary - Upon my arrival in the beautiful capital of Hungary, often described as the Paris of eastern Europe, I planted my travel weary bones on a bar stool at the swank Le Meridien hotel in Pest and told the bartender I would like a glass of dry white Hungarian wine of his choosing. For one thing, I couldn't even begin to pronounce most of the names of the wine producers I saw on the hotel's list of wines. There was that and the fact that my previous exposure to Hungarian wine had been limited to the occasional sample of this country's revered dessert wine, Tokay, and the dry white Furmint from the same region within Hungary.
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Robert Whitley
Apr 16, 2013
Tapping into the pleasure of wine would seem to be a simple matter of popping a cork and pouring the wine into a decent glass, and for the most part it is. Yet there are easy things anyone can do that might enhance the experience. Half the battle for most people is finding out what they like. Do you prefer your white wines crisp and dry, rich and full-bodied, or perhaps slightly sweet? Do you enjoy light, fruity reds or deeper reds that possess power and heft?
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Robert Whitley
Mar 26, 2013
Wine competitions are now a fact of life throughout the United States. There are more than 60 that I am aware of, and probably a few dozen more that are flying under the radar. Wineries have a singular purpose when they enter a wine into a commercial wine competition: They want to win a significant award to boost sales. 'Any winery owner who has a tasting room and doesn't enter wine competitions is an idiot,' Gary Eberle of Eberle Winery in Paso Robles said bluntly the weekend of the 30th annual San Diego International, where he was among the team of 35 wine professionals judging more than 1700 wines earlier this month. 'If I win a gold medal and post the result in my tasting room, that wine will sell out just like that.'
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Robert Whitley
Mar 19, 2013
Beaulieu Vineyard traces its roots to the turn of the 20th century, when Georges de Latour purchased a vineyard in the Napa Valley near the village of Rutherford. No one knows for sure, but it's a good bet the BV wines of that era weren't much of a threat to the great chateaux and domaines of France. It wasn't until 1938, following the end of Prohibition, that de Latour journeyed to France and hired a brilliant young Russian-born winemaker named Andre Tchelistcheff to run the winery. For the next several decades Tchelistcheff was America's most influential winemaker.
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Robert Whitley
Feb 19, 2013
I am often met with a raised eyebrow when I mention that I am off to judge at a wine competition. It seems many do not connect the concept of a so-called "award-winning" wine with the fact that the wine must have been subjected to critical evaluation in a competitive environment to make the "award" claim.
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Robert Whitley
Jan 22, 2013
Chardonnay is America's favorite white wine. Nothing else is even close. Yet this popular wine has notoriously underperformed on the wine competition circuit in recent years despite its far-reaching appeal. As Director of four important international wine competitions, and a judge at numerous wine competitions around the globe, I've seen judges go through their sauvignon blanc stage, their riesling stage, their viognier stage, and the occasional flirtation with steely white wines such as albarino and gruner veltliner.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 25, 2012
Unlike many of my colleagues, I don't have a crystal ball that allows me a glimpse into the future. I usually can't spot a wine trend until it lands in my glass. I merely have a wish list.
So for 2013 I have a few modest proposals for the wine industry.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 28, 2012
As I visit my favorite wine merchant this holiday season, there are but two kinds of wine that interest me: gifting wines, which by their nature tend to be expensive, and value wines, which are a matter of financial survival.
Between the parties, the dinners, convivial impromptu gatherings and the like, my tab for wine eventually takes a toll on my wallet. So for those holiday occasions that really do require a step up from the mundane everyday wine, I try to shop smart.
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Robert Whitley
Oct 31, 2012
To the extent that you think about Italian sparkling wine, if you think about it at all, you are probably most familiar with the refreshing aperitif bubbly, prosecco. Attractive pricing and improved quality have strengthened demand for and the availability of prosecco in recent years. You also might have a passing acquaintance with Asti spumante, the exotically perfumed dessert bubbly, particularly if you've attended an Italian wedding recently. Few wines go better with wedding cake or traditional Italian cookies. And if you have a curious and daring palate, you may have taken a trip on the wild side and indulged in a bit of brachetto d'Aqui, the bright red bubbly from Piedmont that goes both ways, either as an aperitif or with, especially with, fruit-based desserts.
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Robert Whitley
Oct 2, 2012
Over the next couple of months there will be much attention focused on sparkling wine. Industry sources estimate that as much as half, perhaps more, of all sparkling wine consumed in the United States is sold in the run-up to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve.
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Robert Whitley
Sep 4, 2012
Rummaging through the cellar early one summer evening, I happened across a long-forgotten bottle of California cabernet sauvignon from the 1993 vintage. It was from Rodney Strong Vineyards in Sonoma County, a reserve wine that still had the $30 price tag on the bottle. I remembered enjoying it at one time, but I had my doubts that it had survived to the ripe old age of 19 in good condition. Knowing I would be grilling a flat-iron steak later that evening, I decided it was now or never for the '93 RS Reserve Cab.
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Robert Whitley
Sep 4, 2012
In the event you missed it, there was big news out of Bordeaux last week. Two estates in Saint-Emilion, one of the most important wine districts in the Bordeaux region, were elevated to the lofty status of Premier Grand Cru Classe A within the district's official classification. Chateau Pavie and Chateau Angelus joined Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau Ausone at the pinnacle of the hierarchy in Saint-Emilion. Thus Pavie and Angelus became the first chateaux to overcome the stranglehold on the top classification that Cheval Blanc and Ausone have enjoyed since the ranking was established in 1955.
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Robert Whitley
Aug 7, 2012
California Chardonnay, according to the Wine Institute, is far and away the most popular wine sold in America. At the end of 2011, there were nearly 100,000 acres of Chardonnay under vine in California. And Chardonnay accounts for nearly 30 percent of all the table wine shipped from California to the U.S. market. So how is it that hardly anyone I know drinks the stuff? This is the mystery of California Chardonnay. Few will admit they love it, yet wine merchants can't keep it in stock.
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Robert Whitley
Jul 10, 2012
The lesson here is that the words value and cheap are not interchangeable. Value simply means the wine was worth more than the asking price. Value simply means the wine delivered quality beyond its price tag. So make no mistake, when I tag a wine for "value," I am looking well beyond the price. I've bought my share of expensive wines and have no regrets. Yet many of my most satisfying purchases have involved wines that some would consider cheap by today's standards.
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Robert Whitley
Jun 13, 2012
As summer approaches and temperatures soar, the weekly wine-buying binge becomes more focused. Now is the time to reach for wines that are light and easy, because that's what's refreshing under the glare of the summer sun. My collection of heavy reds is safe for another season.
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Robert Whitley
May 15, 2012
Over a recent weekend, I conducted my annual wine-tasting fundraiser for the La Jolla Symphony. Each year, this year being the 11th, I choose a theme that might provide an educational component as well as have entertainment value. This year's topic: "The Grapes of Bordeaux." The subject is near and dear to me because of a fascination with Bordeaux that goes back more than 30 years, to a time when I was a novice collector assembling my first wine cellar.
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Robert Whitley
Apr 24, 2012
BEAUNE, France - Once upon a time, a hefty selection of Burgundy was a staple of virtually every fine wine shop in America. Burgundy was the benchmark for any wine made from pinot noir or chardonnay, so much so that winemakers from the New World hardly ever missed an opportunity to characterize their style of chardonnay or pinot as "Burgundian." Of course, few of them were, for Burgundy's aromas and flavors, the structure and textures of its wines, are driven as much by the unique soils and climate of the region as they are by the hand of the winemaker.
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Robert Whitley
Apr 17, 2012
BORDEAUX, France - Prospects for another good vintage in Bordeaux appeared grim as the harvest approached in September 2011. "It was a complicated vintage," explained Florence Cathiard of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, a top-notch property in the Graves district of Bordeaux. "We had summer in spring, then spring in summer and summer again in fall."
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Robert Whitley
Mar 20, 2012
The 29th edition of the San Diego International Wine Competition, staged earlier this month, was clearly a case of colliding cliches. The "dog bites man" narrative was entirely predictable, as the Napa Valley captured a major share of the important awards. America's most renowned wine region is expected to do well whenever wines are put under the microscope in a competitive environment. It should, and it did.
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Robert Whitley
Feb 22, 2012
It isn't enough for me to merely understand how I got to this place where my home is stuffed with bottles of wine in every available empty space. In recent years, I've had to come to grips with the reality that I can no longer afford to buy the wines I once loved, the wines that by and large set me on the path to collecting fine wine as a hobby.
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Robert Whitley
Jan 24, 2012
One of the more enjoyable aspects of a major wine competition, for me at least, is the discovery of affordable wines that were impressive in the challenging environment of a professional wine judging. Whether I am a judge, as I often am, or an official, as I was at the third annual Winemaker Challenge, where I am the director, I am keen to know which of the wines priced at $20 or less stood out. Although I occasionally splurge on an expensive bottle of wine, my everyday wines must fit within my budget.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 27, 2011
REIMS, France - Regis Camus was already something of a legend when he arrived at the state-of-the-art Heidsieck compound in 1994, where he joined another legend, the late Daniel Thibault, to form something of a dream team in the world of Champenois winemakers. The two men had a mission: to restore the great name and reputation of the historic Champagne houses of Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck, which had been purchased in the 1980s by the prestigious drinks firm Remy-Cointreau.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 29, 2011
This Christmas season I intend to give the gift that keeps on giving. That would be wine with cellar potential. That would be wine that improves with age, as urban legend would have it. And that would be despite the recent controversy, sparked by one famous wine critic who argued that aged wines aren't necessarily all they're cracked up to be.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 1, 2011
Champagne's strongest competition in the world of luxury bubbly (with apologies to Spain, which has seen cava quality improve dramatically) comes from Italy and the United States. The Franciacorta district in northern Italy, between Milan and Venice, produces Italy's finest sparkling wines, many of which rival Champagne in both quality and price. In the United States, the epicenter of luxury sparkling is California, specifically Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino.
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Robert Whitley
Oct 4, 2011
Foraging through the wine cellar, as I often do before dinner, I've discovered recently that over the years I've tucked away a fair amount of Merlot. You heard that right, Merlot, the wine that was so famously bashed in the Academy Award-nominated movie, Sideways. You may wonder what I was thinking, given that interest in Merlot waned and sales tanked after it became cool to diss Merlot. Call me an opportunist. I've always thought Merlot grown in the right location is capable of producing world class red wine
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Robert Whitley
Sep 7, 2011
The email came from a friend who was about to throw a dinner party. One of her guests, she had been told, was bringing a very old bottle of Madeira to serve with the dessert course. Though the news was cause for celebration, it posed a challenge as well. She had read that old Madeira should be decanted 24 hours in advance, and wondered if that was truly the case or simply one of the many pretensions of the wine culture.
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Robert Whitley
Aug 9, 2011
With so much troubling economic news on every front these days, it seems now would be a good time for wine enthusiasts to once again take stock of their options in the value wine market. My definition of a value wine is a wine that over-delivers on its quality-price ratio. Simply being cheap does not qualify a wine for the value distinction. It's got to be very, very yummy, too. Today, I've set the value bar at $20. There are a remarkable number of truly outstanding wines that will cost you less. Here are but a few:
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Robert Whitley
Jul 12, 2011
If you love wine with dinner and put a $10-$15 wine on the table with every evening meal, your wine budget for the year would likely exceed $4,000. For some, that's a staggering sum to spend on wine, and it doesn't even take into account the occasional splurge on a luxury wine that might cost $50 or more. I am, like many wine enthusiasts, caught in the struggle between my desire to taste extraordinary wines and my ability to afford them on anything like a regular basis.
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Robert Whitley
Jun 14, 2011
Excerpts from the judges' tasting notes are posted on the competition website for all to see. You no longer have to wonder what the judges were thinking when they handed a wine a silver or gold medal. To be sure, some of the comments are more detailed than others, but generally the excerpts convey a sense of the judges' enthusiasm for the wine being medaled.
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Robert Whitley
May 17, 2011
The glorious 1982 vintage in Bordeaux, which Parker lavished with praise, helped make his point. The Bordeaux of '82 were ripe, lush and delicious from the start, and with Parker's megaphone the world knew it. That was the beginning of the great run-up in Bordeaux prices that continues to this day. At the same time, a market was created for ripe, supple Bordeaux that could be drunk young, and the rest of the wine world took notice. Ripeness and alcohol levels have been climbing ever since.
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Robert Whitley
Apr 19, 2011
To every wine, there is a season. If it is now the middle of April, it must be time for a glass of lightly chilled Beaujolais, or perhaps a slightly tart Picpoul de Pinet. Maybe even a fruity rosado from Navarra, Spain. What these wines share in common is freshness; that and the fact that they are typically at their best when served young. They are the wines of spring.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 23, 2011
Of course, I expect nothing less from the Smith brothers, Charlie and Stuart, who've been making great Cab up on Spring Mountain for the past quarter-century. They are farmers, for one thing, and don't have their finger to the wind to determine which way the critics - yes, people like me - are leaning. They just do what they do best: get their grapes ripe, don't overdo it, and sell their wine at a fair price.
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Robert Whitley
Feb 22, 2011
Several of the winners at the recent Winemaker Challenge competition hit me where I live, literally. That would be San Diego, at the southernmost tip of Southern California. We are known for our beautiful beaches, spicy Mexican cuisine, Sea World and an amazing zoo. Hardly anyone comes to San Diego for the wine. Maybe they should, for at least one San Diego winery, Fallbrook, left quite an impression on the judges at Winemaker Challenge II.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 28, 2010
These are delicious wines produced from the Sonoma Valley side of Mount Veeder. Owned by Mitchell Ming, the winery is named after two of his children, Korbin and Kameron. The site is special, but so is the winemaker. That would be Bob Pepi of Napa Valley fame. Pepi is no longer involved with the Pepi winery, which was sold several years ago, but he makes wines under his own label, Eponymous, and works as a consultant for a number of clients. Korbin Kameron entered three wines - 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Valley ($40), 2005 Merlot Estate, Sonoma Mountain ($35), and 2006 Cuvee Kristin, Sonoma Valley ($50) - in both the Critics and Sommelier Challenges. The winery won a combined six medals: two platinum medals, three gold medals and a silver medal. Move that winery a few hundred yards to the east, so that it sits on the Napa Valley side of Mount Veeder, and you could just about double those prices.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 30, 2010
Still, efforts to replicate Champagne go on, and not without some success. A handful of producers in California make sparkling wines that compare favorably to the real thing. Located in the North Coast region that encompasses Sonoma and Mendocino counties and the Napa Valley, there exists a group of wineries that consistently craft the world's finest sparkling wines outside of Champagne.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 3, 2010
As the California wine grape harvest draws to a close, three to four weeks later than normal, one thing is perfectly clear: Vintage 2010 has been the most unusual in memory, more Bordeaux than Napa. It is a crop that will challenge winemakers conditioned to dealing with the certainty of perfectly ripe grapes each and every year.
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Robert Whitley
Oct 5, 2010
This was precisely what Blake encountered at the Mondavi soiree, where the soils of the To-Kalon vineyard were on display. They were there to be sniffed and tasted, along with the wines that had been spawned from To-Kalon grapes. A reasonable person would taste the connection between soil and wine, no?
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Robert Whitley
Sep 7, 2010
Much as I love Bordeaux and recognize that it is the foundation of many a spectacular wine cellar, including my own, I also know it is not the only wine worthy of such devotion. There are other wines, many others, that mature to greatness when cellared properly, and cost a fraction of the asking price for top-tier 2009 Bordeaux.
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Robert Whitley
Aug 10, 2010
It has been centuries since residents of the walled Tuscan city of Montalcino have had to worry about barbarians at the gates. That does not mean life in Italy's most famous hill town has been without drama. It was only a couple of months ago that a man from Asti, in Piemonte, was elected president of the consorzio that rules the production of Montalcino's beloved Brunello, one of Italy's most important red wines. Ezio Rivella, the acclaimed winemaker, might as well have been from another country, or another planet.
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Robert Whitley
Jul 13, 2010
First, a wine competition medal is a neutral third-party endorsement. This can be a powerful tool for a winery attempting to distinguish its product from an ocean of competitors. Used properly this can be a powerful marketing tool, for competition judges taste each wine blind and are not influenced by the name on the label. It's reassuring to consumers to know that someone other than your mother-in-law has vouched for the quality in the bottle.
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Robert Whitley
Jun 15, 2010
Legend most likely will perpetuate the myth that the harvest of 2009 smiled on Bordeaux with sunny skies and ideal conditions, which would support the narrative of greatness that has accompanied this vintage from the moment the first grapes were crushed. In fact, it was a very good year, with even ripening throughout the summer and a healthy crop of gorgeous fruit as the end of summer arrived. This stood in stark contrast to the three previous vintages, which had been difficult. Yet '09 did suffer a blip, which isn't much talked about, and the Right Bank communes of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion were hit with rains that certainly caused vignerons to scramble, if not outright panic.
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Robert Whitley
May 18, 2010
I am @wineguru. That's on Twitter. Over at Facebook, I appear as myself. And over at Creators.com, writing for the national syndicate, I am the "Wine Talk" columnist. The face of wine journalism and criticism has changed, and I would argue for the better. The days of one or two loud voices (such as Robert Parker and Wine Spectator) dominating the debate are long past.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 23, 2010
I've learned from experience that the best way to assess the vintage while attending Primeurs is to pay attention to the lesser chateaux. Latour, Mouton and Cheval Blanc never fire blanks. Regardless of the circumstances, they will make extraordinary wine. The top estates not only have the finest terroir, but the wherewithal to produce second labels that can absorb whatever fruit fails to make the final cut. Combined with the technical expertise of modern viticulture and winemaking, the top classified growths of Bordeaux have become nearly fool proof. But only in the great years do the less professional, more rustic operations produce superb wine.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 9, 2010
After 17 years as director of the venerable Monterey Wine Competition, I've come to expect the unexpected. So, surprised I wasn't when the hands went up en masse as we polled the judges on the one Vignoles in the showdown for Best of Show white wine this year.
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Robert Whitley
Feb 23, 2010
To my way of thinking it is very telling that even a handful of high-end luxury Napa Valley wineries are playing around with the Right Bank model. It goes against the conventional wisdom that the valley's highest and best vineyard use is Cabernet Sauvignon. And that speaks to the wisdom of a few men with vision and courage to step outside the Napa Valley's safe zone and plant the grapes that actually work in their vineyards.
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Robert Whitley
Jan 27, 2010
Take Prairie Berry, for example. It's a winery in South Dakota. Uh huh, South Dakota. On the wine map, it might as well be Siberia. So imagine my surprise when we rolled out the wines nominated for best of show in their class and Prairie Berry is among them. Out of 796 wines entered, 39 were nominated for best of show. That's a platinum honor at the Winemaker Challenge. That's Prairie Berry. The wine was a 2008 Frontenac from the Lewis & Clark Vineyard, of all places. It will set you back $21.50 at full retail. And it was delicious; a clean, well balanced dessert wine deserving of its seat at the table. Didn't win (a 2008 Inniskillin Riesling Icewine from the Niagara Peninsula, $80 per 375ml took the category) but it was certainly in the game.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 30, 2009
My number one hope for the new year is that Bordeaux, my first love, comes back to earth. I once bought all of the first growths from nearly every vintage, and many of the seconds. But the 1989 vintage broke the bank, and I've been a fringe player in the Bordeaux arena ever since. I long for the days when the great chateaux were attainable. I still buy the occasional Chateau Margaux or Cheval Blanc, but at current prices those purchases are few and far between. I wonder what will happen to Bordeaux when an entire generation of wine enthusiasts has missed out on the experience of a beautifully cellared classified growth from a glorious vintage. Will anyone care if no one outside the auction salons of Sotheby's has partaken? Bordeaux, it's time to come home.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 1, 2009
Consider: That wine is made in virtually every state, and it's getting better all the time. New York, Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Missouri and even Michigan have sent impressive wines and won scads of medals at the major wine competitions with which I'm involved. Yes, I'm the one rummaging through the leftover wines after each competition in search of a spare bottle of Dr. Konstantin Frank Riesling from the Finger Lakes. I can actually encourage you to drink local wine and mean it!
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Robert Whitley
Nov 4, 2009
Seems hardly a day goes by that I don't encounter another tale of misery and financial pain in the wine industry. The pain is real, and I suspect it will get worse before it gets better. Vineyard values, winery values, grape prices, even the price of an ordinary bottle of Cabernet rode the dotcom bubble and housing bubble to unsustainable levels. There is a reluctance to accept the new reality: Few wine-related assets are worth now what they were a year ago. The pain I observe most is the anguish of falling prices set against the hopeless struggle to maintain unrealistic price points.
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Robert Whitley
Oct 6, 2009
So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the Beringer entry for the debut Sommelier Challenge, a new wine competition that exclusively uses professional sommeliers as judges. The iconic Napa Valley winery entered but two wines, the 2005 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ($115) and the 2007 Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay ($35). Those are the big guns, Beringer's flagship red and flagship white, both of which have been Wine Spectator Wine of the Year in previous vintages. Anything can happen in a blind tasting, so Beringer's decision to only enter its best wines took great courage. On the other hand, if you've got it, why not flaunt it?
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Robert Whitley
Sep 8, 2009
There isn't a winemaker alive who hasn't bottled a wine and then tasted it a couple of months later only to wonder what the hell went wrong. Most of the time that's a temporary condition and the wine - if it is well made and from quality grapes - will come around with time. Sometimes that's a matter of years, sometimes a matter of months and often only a matter of weeks. And that's my point. At the early stages of a wine's life, it is the wines more often than the judges that are inconsistent.
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Robert Whitley
Aug 11, 2009
Over the years I've come to admire a number of grape varieties that I will charitably describe as out of the mainstream. I'm not talking about obscure grapes that sometimes find their way into an eclectic blend. Even I wouldn't try to fob a Lladonner or Bourboulenc on you. The object of my affection is fabulous wine made primarily from grapes that exist despite lack of strong consumer demand. Two of the greatest examples of this are Cabernet Franc and Pinot Blanc.
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Robert Whitley
Jul 2, 2009
One of the enduring myths of wine appreciation is the idea that price is the greatest measure of quality. I can say with utter confidence that you don't always get what you pay for - sometimes you get more! I take this lesson time and again from the three international wine competitions I direct. Professional wine judges tasting blind, meaning the identity of the wine being evaluated is concealed, have plenty of love for inexpensive wines, as the recent Critics Challenge International Wine Competition demonstrates.
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Robert Whitley
Jun 23, 2009
Over the years there have been other "oak-free" Chardonnays, though mostly a concession to the cost of an oak barrel. So the evolution of un-oaked Chardonnay in the New World revolved around price. Un-oaked Chardonnay tended to be cheaper wine. I discovered this to my chagrin while judging the un-oaked category at the Chardonnay Challenge in New Zealand a number of years ago. The un-oaked Chardonnays were a huge disappointment, for they were generally lifeless and lacking in character. As a Chablis enthusiast, I was puzzled.
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Robert Whitley
May 19, 2009
That got me to thinking about the high price of collectible wines, particularly from Bordeaux, but also Burgundy and the Napa Valley. I remembered foraging through the wine shops of Saint-Emilion last fall only to leave disappointed and empty handed because the wines I fancied were all beyond my financial means.
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Robert Whitley
Apr 27, 2009
In the news recently was a report that suggests the grim economy is not slowing the consumption of wine. Americans are still swirling and sipping with bull-market enthusiasm. The only concession to recession seems to be selection. Americans are trading down and purchasing less expensive wines. I've lived long enough to have experienced a number of economic dips (including some that were self-induced) so I have a few thoughts along those lines.
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Robert Whitley
Feb 25, 2009
I probably spend three nights a week dining out, and I'm sad to report I see signs of the economic downturn everywhere I go. Staff cuts are the order of the day. Wine lists aren't being updated - meaning new inventory isn't being purchased. And empty seats abound. I have yet to meet the restaurateur clever enough to make money without customers. The problem? People aren't going out, at least not as much. The drop in business threatens everyone, but especially those restaurants with steep overhead, such as rent or debt.
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Robert Whitley
Jan 27, 2009
This week I mourn the passing of my good friend Leone Santoro, the Don Quixote of winemakers. Leon, as everyone called him, died Jan. 22, 2009, at the age of 58 as he awaited a lung transplant. Leon was born in the Abruzzi region of central Italy and came to the United States as a young man. He was being groomed by uncles who owned restaurants in New York to be an Italian chef, but Leon had other ideas. He made his way to the Napa Valley and summoned the courage to bang on Robert Mondavi's door and ask the great man for a job.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 30, 2008
My choice of Producer of the Year -- Nickel & Nickel of the Napa Valley -- would seem to have been a fairly decisive pick. Evaluating the 2005 vintage of Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon was certainly a memorable tasting experience, one I will not soon forget. When I saw that I had rated each and every Nickel & Nickel Cab 95 points or higher, I knew I was on to something. Yet, dazzling as the Nickel & Nickel wines were, they were hardly the only impressive performers over what I would have to describe as a very good year.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 2, 2008
Of course the economy is affecting the wine business. It would be naïve to think otherwise. I see it every day, from the worried faces of wine reps I bump into from time to time to the anecdotal whispers of severely 'allocated' wines that are now, suddenly, available. Lost in the panic since the collapse of Lehman and talk of a bailout for the Big Three is the now obvious fact that a wine 'bubble' existed long before the credit markets unraveled.
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Robert Whitley
Sep 10, 2008
I have just come from the movie "Bottle Shock," which is loosely based on the now infamous Paris tastings of 1976. While the movie had its moments, what I took away was a reminder that acceptance of California wine was not always a slam-dunk. The pioneers of the modern Napa Valley struggled mightily for recognition. For one thing, we were not a wine-consuming nation. Certainly not along the same lines as the countries of Western Europe, considered the center of the cultural universe at the time.
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Robert Whitley
Aug 12, 2008
The average football fan, if you buy the Madison Avenue hype, dips his mass-produced corn chips into salsa from a jar, guzzles light beer and wears a baseball cap backwards as he roots for the home team in front of a humongous plasma TV on the typical autumn weekend. Doesn't sound like anyone I know, though I'm sure that snapshot does play out somewhere. Perhaps at a college frat house. In my neighborhood, folks are serious about the game and what they serve friends and neighbors who come over to watch.
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Robert Whitley
Jul 15, 2008
Rules is rules. Just ask an Italian winemaker. Most wine producing regions of Italy have their own peculiar grape varieties, and guidelines that control how the grapes must be used to obtain the coveted DOC stickers that are applied to the neck of the bottle and immediately flag a wine as Italian, even to novices. The rules are administered by the usual suspects: the authorities. The authorities monitor the vineyards and taste the wines and issue the stickers that theoretically guarantee the authenticity and, it is presumed, the quality of the wine in the bottle.
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Robert Whitley
Jun 17, 2008
Today begins what we hope will be a new era in the life and times of Wine Review Online, which will celebrate its third birthday in little more than a month. We have moved our wine reviews behind a subscription wall. Only subscribers will be allowed access to new reviews, posted each Wednesday, and the thousands of reviews residing in our archives. I realize some of you may think we're just being greedy bastards, but as Publisher it is my duty to ensure the financial well being of Wine Review Online.
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Robert Whitley
May 20, 2008
As luck would have it, and while we are on the topic of the high price of wine, I have recently taken stock, making note of wines that are not only ready to drink now, but affordable in the sense that I can serve them on an everyday basis without fear that I am depleting a precious commodity or paving my way to the poor house.
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Robert Whitley
May 6, 2008
I'm prepping for the grill season and looking at my checklist. Two heavy cooking mitts for that awkward moment when I've foolishly bitten on the proposition that a person can roast a turkey on the Weber, but now I've got to get this fully cooked bird to the table without dripping grease over the hot coals. Grill tools the size of pitchforks for those really thick steaks. And enough wood chips for the smoker to guarantee I show up at the office every Monday morning with my hair still smelling of chicken and ribs.
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Robert Whitley
Apr 23, 2008
Over the 15 years that I've been running major U.S. wine competitions, I've often wondered why they do it. Enter wine competitions, that is. It's a rhetorical question. They do it because competition is good. How? Let me count the ways.
Robert Mondavi, the only real marketing genius in the history of U.S. wine, probably started the first domestic wine competition. The competition was Robert Mondavi Winery versus the world, waged shortly after the then-youthful Mondavi had opened his new winery in Oakville, California, in the 1960s.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 25, 2008
Many of my recent columns and comments touting various gold-medal winning wines have unleashed a familiar response. Where, oh where, does a person find those wines? I share your pain. Here's the problem. Wine is not Coca-Cola. The winery can't just make another batch of a popular item when it runs out. There is a finite supply, and when it's gone, it's really gone. The next vintage could be months away, and even then it wouldn't necessarily be the same wine. Similar perhaps, but not the same.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 4, 2008
Here's the A-J list of medal-winning wines from the 15th annual Monterey Wine Competition, staged March 1-2 at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in King City, Ca. A team of 24 wine professionals -- overseen by Chief Judge Linda Murphy -- evaluated more than 1200 wines over two days. Best of Show Sparkling went to the 2000 Gloria Ferrer Royal Cuvee; Best of Show White was the 2006 Ventana Vineyards Riesling; Best of Show Red the 2005 V. Sattui Vittorio's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignonl; and Best of Show Dessert was bestwoed upon the 2006 Navarro Vineyards gewurztraminer Late Harvest.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 4, 2008
Here's the K-S list of medal-winning wines from the 15th annual Monterey Wine Competition, staged March 1-2 at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in King City, Ca.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 4, 2008
Here's the T-Z list of medal-winning wines from the 15th annual Monterey Wine Competition, staged March 1-2 at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in King City, Ca.
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Robert Whitley
Feb 26, 2008
I must have Spring fever. Or was that an epiphany? We are a Chardonnay nation no more. At least not the way we once were. The voluptuous tropical fruit notes and honeyed, buttery texture of Chardonnay continue to be in great demand -- in fact, Chardonnay is still No. 1 in white wine sales -- but there has been a discernible shift in consumer taste. Move over Chardonnay and make room for those crisp, lip-smacking white wines that are now soaring in popularity!
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Robert Whitley
Jan 29, 2008
I can sympathize with the folks who are put off by many of the rituals of wine. I, too, know a ritual or two I could do without. Take the Valentine's Day ritual. Please! Lest you fear, however, that the curmudgeon in me has finally gone too far, be advised I am not talking about Valentine's Day itself. Nor do I wish to uncouple the strong tradition of the gift of wine for the person who may be the object of your affection. I'm talking about the gratuitous linkage of any old wine that just happens to be red with the traditions of Valentine's Day.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 18, 2007
No one should be surprised that my most frequently asked question in this season of gifting is what to give someone who is wild about wine. Choosing the right gift is not as easy as it would seem. Of course, it would help to know a bit about the wine lover in your life. Does this person already own an extensive array of good wines? If so, what is the focus? If not, what do they like when you order from a wine list at a restaurant with a well-stocked cellar? What's the budget?
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Robert Whitley
Dec 11, 2007
I decided to put the question to the readers of my syndicated Copley News Service column. Would they find the alcohol percentage helpful in making their wine-buying decisions? Never in my 17 years as a wine journalist have I seen such an outpouring from readers on a single topic. I have been inundated with dozens upon dozens of emails passionately making the case for listing the percentages. Readers, my readers anyway, are fed up with these high-octane wines and, by an overwhelming margin, they want to know what the numbers are before they set out to find my recommended wines. Frankly, I was stunned.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 15, 2007
I confess I'm a creature of habit on Thanksgiving Day. Others may choose to bake a ham, roast a duck or cook a goose, but I talk turkey. Gotta be a fresh bird, although my mother and grandmothers all made do with frozen. But I've been brainwashed by the Whole Foods phenomenon; what can I say?
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Robert Whitley
Oct 11, 2007
Stop me if you've heard this one.
Successful businessman buys a piece of land in the California wine country. After a few years he decides to plant grapes. By and by a winery is born. The daughter, with a business degree from a prestigious Ivy League school, is charged with running the enterprise. She hires a top-gun winemaker and, after a few prosaic accolades from admiring critics, the smiling family dances into the sunset in gentrified bliss.
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Robert Whitley
Sep 17, 2007
KATZRIN, Israel - You may wonder how a nice California boy with a degree in winemaking from UC-Davis ended up producing exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and sparkling wine in the Golan Heights, a stone's throw from the Sea of Galilee. Victor Schoenfeld, born and raised in Rancho Palos Verdes, Ca., more or less always knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. His lifelong interest in gastronomy took him to Davis, but before that Schoenfeld made a pilgrimage to Israel where he met the owners of the Golan Heights Winery, a contact that would prove fortuitous as he launched his winemaking career.
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Robert Whitley
Aug 17, 2007
VILA NOVA DE GAIA, Portugal -- One of the most hedonistic pleasures a wine enthusiast can experience is the glass of properly aged Vintage Port with a savory cheese at the end of a meal. Yet I would be willing to wager that for most of us, including serious collectors, the occasions for such indulgence are few and far between. It's simple economics.
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Robert Whitley
Jul 26, 2007
From San Francisco, you simply hop in the rental car, steer toward the Golden Gate Bridge and drive north on U.S. Highway 101 for 90 minutes. You're only halfway there, but Healdsburg is as good a place as any to take a driving break. Refuel the coffee mug at the Flying Goat, just off the town square, and proceed north on the 101 another 30 minutes. You're in Cloverdale now, where you will make a hard left toward the Pacific Ocean, along twisting California Route 128. As the crow flies, you're almost there.
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Robert Whitley
Jun 19, 2007
I'm frequently asked for advice on starting a wine collection. This is not rocket science, I explain. Every collection should begin with a small mass of affordable everyday wines that the ambitious wine collector can stock and consume without feeling the guilt of pouring a wine well before its time.
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Robert Whitley
May 29, 2007
It was an ordinary visit to the local market for a few essentials. When I arrived at the checkout counter, however, I realized that during my shop I had been under the influence of a powerful force. Instead of milk and bread, my basket was crammed with shiny new grilling tools. Time now, I thought, to begin stocking up on summer wines.
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Robert Whitley
May 15, 2007
I often wonder what makes a good wine bar.
Could it merely be the wine - some combination of outstanding selection and price? I think not. I base that conclusion on my experience with Bottega del Vino, the Holy Grail of wine bars, located in Verona, Italy. There is no other place quite like Bottega, though owner Severino Barzan tries mightily to replicate his success elsewhere.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 27, 2007
It has become something of a luxury item, akin to a specialty bottling of aged Scotch. Some folks could make a mortgage payment with what you'd pay for a bottle of Chateau Latour.
These days I look elsewhere for fabulous red wines to stuff into my modest wine cellar, especially to Italy, a country steeped in the tradition of red wine but only recently at the same level of quality as France and much of the New World.
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Robert Whitley
Jan 30, 2007
You've no doubt heard some of the buzz about terroir. It is particularly strong on the West Coast, where wineries large and small have embraced the idea of terroir-based wines. In almost every respect this is a positive development. But I fear there is a dark side to the current terroir craze. I will explain.
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Robert Whitley
Jan 9, 2007
If you've ever tasted an old-fashioned Sagrantino you know what I mean. It only proves that Caprai is a visionary as well as a skilled enologist. There was little charm in the robust, tannic Sagrantinos of yore, wines that would have certainly put hair on your chest. Caprai saw the potential and crafted the first Sagrantinos that were actually drinkable.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 5, 2006
I had only been in the Napa Valley for a few days when I detected a low level of anger bubbling barely beneath the surface. Seems there's been a knock on the 2003 vintage. I had my first inkling of this a few weeks ago when Tom Shelton of Joseph Phelps shot me a quick note about my comments on the 2003 Insignia. He opined somewhat cryptically that he was happy to see at least someone was supporting the '03 vintage.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 22, 2006
Everybody loves a deal. Even me. Especially me. I learned about wine drinking Bordeaux, but I was young and hardly flush so the Bordeaux I went after were the steals. Good wines from poor vintages. Unknown Chateaux. Close-outs. Almost nothing gave me greater pleasure as a wine enthusiast than bragging about how little I paid for a seriously good wine.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 7, 2006
NUITS-SAINT-GEORGES, France -- The feet skipping quickly down the stairs of the dimly lit cellar were those of a man in a hurry. The harvest was about to begin in the Cote d'Or and Nicolas Potel was apologetic that he only had a few minutes to chat. He is a young man, still on the good side of 40, and something of a boy wonder in the rapidly changing landscape of Burgundy, with its respect for tradition and yet a yearning to join the modern world of wine.
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Robert Whitley
Oct 10, 2006
I understand the angst. I share those reservations, and certainly appreciate the magnificence of the wines of previous generations. Yet I have my feet firmly planted in the other camp, believing that the internationalization of wines and wine styles has been a good thing. We are living in the golden age of wine, but only because winemakers from every corner of the globe have embraced a common goal: Wines that will be appealing and competitive on the world stage.
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Robert Whitley
Sep 12, 2006
A demi of Bonneau du Martray's 1993 Corton Charlemagne catches my eye. This is a 13-year-old grand cru white Burgundy, a rare wine to begin with, but even more of a rarity considering it's by the half bottle in a modest restaurant where I'm sitting on a folding chair at a sidewalk café, and using paper napkins.
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Robert Whitley
Aug 15, 2006
Before our launch in August of 2005, we wondered whether there was room for another website devoted exclusively to wine, particularly in light of the growing number of blogs, or weblogs, crowding onto the internet.
We were confident that our format - built around a core group of nationally and internationally recognized wine journalists - was solid, but when we flipped the switch I, for one, held my breath.
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Robert Whitley
Jul 25, 2006
Every weekend thousands of gringos pour across the Mexico-U.S. border into Baja California. Most are going for the sun, the sand and the big surf, or the local lobster with either a cold cerveza or a hand-made margarita. An increasing number, however, are making the trip for the wine.
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Robert Whitley
Jul 18, 2006
I wrote back explaining that the taste sensations - flavors and aromas - that are found in wine are very real and come from a number of sources. Grapes, unlike most other fruits, harbor a vast array of aromas in the pulp and the skins. The aroma profile depends upon the grape variety, but there are other factors that influence aroma.
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Robert Whitley
Jul 11, 2006
The evening typically unfolds with friends ordering up great vintages of Barolo, Barbaresco and even Bordeaux. As the wine list is passed to me, I feign exasperation that I will be able to match or top any of the wines that have come to the table amid much fanfare. But I quickly turn to a familiar page and point to a red wine that has served me so well in the past.
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Robert Whitley
Jun 20, 2006
The wineries I typically visit during the week of the auction hold what I consider to be historical significance in the evolution of fine wine in the United States. Over the years I've dropped in on Chateau Montelena, Mayacamas, Diamond Creek, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Joseph Phelps, Beringer and the like. But this year I thought I'd change tack. I requested events at the so-called "cult" wineries, deciding at long last that they've been around long enough at this point to fit into my historical scope.
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Robert Whitley
May 23, 2006
There I was on a warm summer evening situated comfortably at an outdoor café near the main square in the center of Beaune. As the waiter dropped off the wine list it occurred to me that life doesn't get much better for a confirmed enophile. Yet as I perused the list it dawned on me that every white wine selection was a Burgundy, and thus a Chardonnay. All great stuff, but not what I had in mind as I sought to refresh my palate and cool my heels at the end of a long, steamy day of touring the region.
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Robert Whitley
Apr 26, 2006
I've long admired the beautiful red wines of Bodegas Montecillo, which is among the most consistently brilliant producers in Spain's renowned Rioja district. Until recently, however, I didn't know the secret to Montecillo's remarkable record of consistency.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 28, 2006
The year was 1958, and Miljenko "Mike" Grgich had just arrived in the Napa Valley, where he went to work for Lee Stewart at Souverain Winery. "I remember the first time I saw the vineyards at Souverain, which is now Burgess," said Grgich. "I said, 'This looks like my home in Croatia.'"
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Robert Whitley
Feb 28, 2006
Once upon a time there were firmly established notions about which parts of the world were suited for the production of exceptional wine.
Central and northern Italy were taken seriously, the southern part of the country was not. France was once famous for the regions of Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Loire Valley and every other region, including the Rhone, was considered second class.
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Robert Whitley
Jan 31, 2006
Though purists would have it otherwise, the business of rating wines is a numbers game.
The first number that comes to mind is zero. That's approximately how much chance there is that the glory days of florid prose and ambiguous pronouncements will ever again be the standard for serious wine analysis.
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Robert Whitley
Jan 2, 2006
It was a very good year, 2005. Pardon me if I savor it.
This was the year most California wineries released their reds from the 2002 vintage, and many were scintillating.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 6, 2005
MEURSAULT, France -- It wouldn't be much of a stretch to call this small village toward the southern end of Burgundy's Cote d'Or the center of the white wine universe. Though Meursault can claim no grand cru vineyards, its Chardonnays are prized the world over for their intense minerality, remarkable complexity and the ability to age for decades in a proper cellar.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 8, 2005
Friends and colleagues gathered recently at Santa Barbara County's La Purisima Mission to honor Richard Sanford, and I couldn't help but wonder what took them so long. Sanford, if not a winemaking legend, is at least the next best thing.
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Robert Whitley
Oct 11, 2005
The California wine landscape is constantly changing, and it takes an alert mind and an agile palate just to keep up. Seems like a new darling or two is born with every vintage. This week I raise a glass (or two) to a few of my favorite rising stars on the California wine scene.
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Wine on the Danube