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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 25, 2010
As much as I agree with those critics who lament the overly-ambitious style of many California Pinot Noirs today - wines that are too dark in color and in personality, with excessively high alcohol levels and inadequate finesse - I must admit that some California Pinots are absolutely terrific. My favorites hail from California's cooler regions, especially the Sonoma Coast AVA. This wine is from another cool climate zone, Sonoma's Russian River Valley AVA.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 10, 2010
This column is for those of you who don't want to spend a fortune on good wine. It's for wine lovers who are struggling with the heat and humidity, and feeling frustrated that the weather seems to make 'serious' wines taste disappointing. It's for anyone who is a bit disillusioned with the style of many Sauvignon Blancs from California today. Here is a wine that you can afford, that you can enjoy in the summer and beyond, that's dry, and that's food-friendly.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 27, 2010
I am a huge fan of Chablis, particularly in what you might call 'classic' vintages in which the wines retain a strong backbone of acidity and express minerality of aroma and flavor in no uncertain terms. The 2008 wines that have just come on the market have that great acidity and minerality -- and their vintage does 'classic' one better by also endowing the wines with body and richness. Lucky days for Chablis lovers!
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 13, 2010
Ever since the 1970s, Italy has been tremendously successful in making clean, fresh, food-friendly white wines that are popular with wine drinkers, even though wine professionals deride their lack of flavor. Fortunately, such wines tell only half the story of Italian white wine today. At the opposite end of the spectrum are high-quality, individualistic, flavorful whites. The region of Campania on Italy's southwest coast lays claim to several of these wines.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 29, 2010
Have you noticed that I am an Italophile? Searching for inspiration for this column, I blind-tasted, from California, six 2008 Chardonnays and six prestigious reds, mainly Cabernets and one Syrah. Good wines, all -- but none of them struck that chord in me that says: I really want to tell others about this wine. Then I blind-tasted this red from Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. It whispered to me, 'Welcome home.'
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 15, 2010
I've been following with excitement the Pinot Noirs produced from grapes grown on the far Sonoma Coast -- that part of the large Sonoma Coast AVA that is closest to the Pacific Ocean. Over the past year, I've come to know and admire the Pinots of Cobb Wines, a fairly new winery founded in 2001. Although the brand is relatively new, the Cobb family is well established on the Sonoma Coast viticulturally, because David Cobb planted Coastlands Vineyard in the coastal southern portion of Sonoma County in 1989 and was a pioneer in the area.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 1, 2010
Brunello di Montalcino was the first great wine I ever tasted. The occasion was dinner for two at Sabatini restaurant in Florence many years ago, when I was so young that the waiter thought me unworthy of Brunello and tried to steer me toward Chianti instead. In stumbling Italian, I explained to him that Brunello di Montalcino was not available in the U.S., and that I was therefore determined to taste it in Italy. I can still remember that glorious wine.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 19, 2010
I find German Rieslings to be utterly compelling, fascinating, sometimes mind-bending in their improbable combination of sweetness and acidity, weight and delicacy. Every time I taste them I realize that I should drink them more often.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 4, 2010
I suspect that I have tasted more Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve than any other California wine. I've been fortunate to have attended vertical tastings going back to 1971, and I have also bought and cellared the wine. It is always one of my favorite Napa Valley Cabs, in fact one of favorite Cabernet-based wines outside of Bordeaux.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 20, 2010
The Chianti Classico DOCG zone in central Tuscany is one of the world's most historic and most beautiful wine regions. It's a fairly compact area of about 100 square miles, but because the zone is all hilly, almost everything that defines terroir -- vineyard altitude, the directional aspect of the vines, the soils and the climate of the vineyards -- varies from one part of the territory to the next. As a result, Chianti Classico wines display enormous variation in style according to the location of their vineyard estate (and of course further variation according to the winemaking techniques employed). The diversity of the area and its wines has given me happy material for research for many years.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 7, 2010
When Robert Mondavi and Vittorio Frescobaldi decided to create the wine called Luce in 1995, the venture was hailed as a momentous one, along the lines of Mondavi's collaboration with Baron Phillipe de Rothschild to create Opus One in 1978. Followers of Italian wine might have seen it differently. Another Super Tuscan wine, envisioned in large part by a California winemaker - what's the point of that? I was skeptical. But I have come to believe that over its15 years of history, the Luce della Vite winery has developed authenticity, and its wines are worthy of attention in their own right, not just for the famous names that created the brand.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 23, 2010
Migration is a brand within the Duckhorn Wine Company, which embodies the Goldeneye, Paraduxx and Duckhorn wine estates. Unlike those estates, which are grounded in specific terroirs -- Anderson Valley for Goldeneye and Napa Valley for the other two -- Migration's identity (picture the label with ducks in flight) is to make Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from cool climate terroirs without being tied to a specific AVA. Since its founding in 2001, Migration has made only Pinot Noir, only from Anderson Valley. With this wine, the ducks take flight to Russian River Valley, and Duckhorn Wine Company's very first Chardonnay is the result.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 9, 2010
At the Masters of Wine Study Course in Napa Valley last month, several of us presented an Italian wine seminar followed by a walk-around tasting that featured 45 outstanding Italian reds and whites. I spent most of the tasting behind the white-wine table, but broke free to taste the northern and central reds. I tasted one great wine after another but the wine that stopped me in my tracks was this Barbaresco.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 23, 2010
Although I agree with most other wine critics that far too many California Chardonnays are far too oaky and far too huge, I am mighty glad that not every winemaker has followed the pendulum's swing toward delicacy. A lavish Chardonnay can be pure delight. This Stonestreet Chardonnay provides that kind of treasure.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 9, 2010
Many wine drinkers enjoy Pinot Noir wines because they are flavorful, fruity and not so tannic as Cabernet. What I love about Pinot Noirs is their diversity. Even a limited group of Pinot Noir wines -- all New World, say, or even all from California -- can present a fascinating range of dryness levels, weight and body, richness or delicacy of aromas and flavors, and personality, let alone the range of aromas and flavors themselves. I had a ball when I recently blind-tasted a dozen California Pinots, and was thrilled to discover that my favorite, this La Crema 2008, was also one of the least expensive wines in the group.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 26, 2010
Some wineries come out with new wines, line extensions or new brands as a normal matter of business. However, for a winery such as Shafer Vineyards--a fairly small (32,000 cases), family-owned estate winery--I imagine that a new wine is a big step, especially when that winery already enjoys a respected reputation from critics and connoisseurs. The new wine, in this case One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon, now in its third vintage, has mighty big shoes to fill.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 12, 2010
In the past year, I reviewed two fine Merlots from California, the 2005 Matanzas Creek and the 2006 Duckhorn. I wish that I could time-travel back to the occasions when I tasted each of those wines and try this Swanson 2005 Merlot side by side. Which of the three Merlots would be my favorite at that moment? All three are classic Merlots and excellent wines. Today, this Swanson is so satisfying that I can't imagine it could be trumped.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 29, 2009
Monte Antico is a brand created by Neil and Maria Empson in 1977, five years after they launched their company, Neil Empson Selections, a highy-regarded Milan-based operation that exports and markets fine Italian wines all over the world. Their partner in Monte Antico is Franco Bernabei, one of Italy's earliest consulting winemakers and one of the finest, in my opinion. After 30 years of experience with Monte Antico, Neil Empson and Bernabei created Supremus, a 75-15-10 percent blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Like Monte Antico itself, Supremus comes from grapes grown in various parts of Tuscany, including the coastal Maremma zone, Chianti Classico and other growing districts.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 15, 2009
I don't particularly have difficulty making decisions, but when compelled to choose between two wines that are stylistically different, both of which I like a lot, I can become stymied. That happened when I dined with Seven Hills Winery owners, Vicky and Casey McClelland, and it happened again when I tasted my two favorites of their wines at home. One wine is softer, subtler and more approachable, and the other is tight and lean with concentrated fruit character and oak to age -- but both are excellent.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 1, 2009
I first tasted this wine blind alongside what turned out to be other Chardonnays from California. This one was so different from the others that I didn't fully appreciate the wine at first. It was a rich, oaked Chardonnay like the others, but unlike them it was bone dry and had very high acidity and relatively low alcohol. With time, the other wines became tiring while this one grew more and more interesting. If I'd been drinking instead of tasting, this would have been the bottle that I emptied.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Nov 17, 2009
Tasting wine is never-ending learning. A case in point is this wondrously rich Dolcetto. I know what Dolcetto tastes like: it's a dry, generally lean-structured, dryish-textured, spicy-style red with flavors of dark fruit whose degree of concentration renders the wine either moderately serious or everyday quaffable. And then I encounter a Dolcetto like this one, and I must reconsider all my assumptions.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Nov 3, 2009
The Carmenere grape has emerged from obscurity in recent years because of the number of Carmenere wines available from Chile and the belief that Carmenere can be Chile's flagship wine, just as Malbec is Argentina's. I have not espoused that belief, because I've found Chile's Carmeneres as a group inferior to its Cabernets. They often don't seem to get ripe enough to lose their herbaceous notes. But I have found one Carmenere-based wine that I can enthusiastically endorse. It is from, of all places, northeastern Italy.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 20, 2009
I first had this bubbly at an informal tasting of Austrian wines, where it stood out to me as a star. But I don't put a lot of stock in the impressions that I take away from walk-around wine-tastings, and I decided to taste the wine again -- this time blind, in the company of similar sparkling wines. It was my favorite.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 6, 2009
When I prepared to taste this wine, I had mixed expectations. I wanted to like it, and expected to like it, because I have so much admiration for the Huneeus family, which owns the Quintessa estate in Napa Valley and the Veramonte winery in Chile. But how much can you expect these days from a $20 wine? And does the world need really another Argentine Malbec?
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 22, 2009
Francis Ford Coppola owns some of the finest and most pedigreed Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards in California, namely, the Rubicon Estate land once owned by Gustave Niebaum and the neighboring land which was the source of the legendary Inglenook Cabernets of the 1940s made by John Daniel. Those vineyards make Rubicon ($145) and Rubicon Estate 'Cask' Cabernet Sauvignon ($75), a wine named in tribute to those earlier Inglenook 'Cask' Cabernets. Coppola also produces two moderate-priced Cabernet-based wines that deserve their own fifteen minutes of recognition.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 8, 2009
California has many wineries that are Pinot Noir specialists, and maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to be in a position to judge which winery over time is the stellar Pinot Noir specialist in the state. For now, I will say that Hartford Family Winery in Sonoma County is definitely on my short list. This winery grows Pinot Noir in nine vineyards -- mainly in Sonoma County but also in the Anderson Valley in Mendocino County -- and makes ten distinct Pinot Noir wines. And yet its total Pinot Noir production is only about 8,000 cases per year; most of its Pinots are produced in quantities of fewer than 500 cases per year. Quality across the board is excellent, and the diversity from one Pinot to the next proves what individual attention each terroir receives.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 25, 2009
Vermentino has long grown on the island of Sardinia but my favorite renditions of the grape variety hail from the adjacent regions of Liguria and Tuscany, where the wines seem to have more substance. In Tuscany, the grape grows not in the central part of the region but along the coast, as it does in Liguria. This wine is from the DOC zone of Bolgheri, about 50 miles southwest of Florence, world-famous for its red wines such as Sassicaia and Ornellaia; the regulations for Bolgheri DOC permit blended whites from Trebbiano, Vermentino and/or Sauvignon Blanc, as well as varietal whites from either Vermentino or Sauvignon Blanc, which are the finest whites of the zone.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 11, 2009
I do love California's mountain Cabernets! They combine power with character, and richness with restraint, pushing the limit of Cabernet's intensity without going over the top. Now I'm adding another Cabernet to my list of favorites in this style: The 2005 J. Davies Cabernet Sauvignon.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 28, 2009
When the circumstances are right -- hot summer day, cold wine and a relaxed atmosphere -- I can find pleasure in almost any dry rosé wine that you might hand me. But how good are these wines really, I mean technically, when you scrutinize them against each other as wines rather than simply drinking them for pleasure? I recently put more than a dozen to the test, and the Sinskey Vin Gris of Pinot Noir blew the other rosés off the table.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 14, 2009
When I agreed to meet Marcello Lunelli, chief winemaker of the family-owned Ferrari wine house, and taste through his sparkling wines, I had my eyes on the company's prize wine, the $95 vintage-dated Giulio Ferrari Brut Reserve. Much to my surprise, the wine that captivated me was the basic, regular non-vintage (NV) Ferrari Brut. Don't get me wrong: the 1999 Giulo Ferrari is fantastic, and I rate it higher than the NV Brut. But the Brut is so utterly enjoyable!
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 30, 2009
I've forgotten the vintage, but I can still recall the taste of the first Masseto I experienced many years ago. I had never encountered an Italian wine that was so plump and so dense with fruit character. As a Merlot, it was also vastly different from the fairly austere and simple Merlots from Italy's northeastern regions -- a revelation. Masseto is the star of the outstanding collection of wines made by the Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, in the Bolgheri wine zone on the Tuscan coast. The estate was founded in 1981 by Ludovico Antinori and now, after various changes in ownership, is the property of the Frescobaldi family. The wine called Masseto comes from a single vineyard of the same name, whose 17 acres are planted entirely to Merlot.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 16, 2009
I can get really excited about Syrah, but only certain expressions of it: Not the delicious, bright-fruity Southeastern Australian versions; not the supremely powerful, super-ripe wines that some Barossa Valley producers make; and not the dullish, baked-fruit wines that California used to make (and sometimes still does). I want weight in Syrah, but with sleekness, fresh fruity character, and complexity that goes beyond fruitiness -- characteristics that Syrah can have when the grapes grow in cool wine regions. Luckily for me, fanatics like Steve MacRostie are taking a gamble on growing Syrah in California's cool-climate fringes.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 2, 2009
I have tasted many great red wines from Mayacamas Vineyards over the years. The winery has a reputation among collectors for making seemingly immortal Cabernets. I recall blind-tasting the Mayacamas 1975 Cabernet in 2000 and thinking it was a 15 year old, classified-growth Bordeaux; only when I could not find a Bordeaux vintage whose style and age fit the taste of the wine did I realize the wine was a sensational 25-year-young Cab from California.
Actually, Mayacamas makes white wines, too: about 2000 cases a year of Chardonnay and 600 cases a year of Sauvignon Blanc.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 19, 2009
I am a longtime fan of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon. Sometimes, people have been surprised to hear me say that. This wine is not one of the new, cutting-edge, powerful Cabernets or Cab blends that excite critics and collectors. It has been around forever (since 1976, anyway) and it never seems to vary much in style. In today's bombastic milieu, it speaks the language of restraint and moderation. But that is precisely what I love about it.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 5, 2009
My plan was to review just one Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc-based wine, the very fine Sancerre of Lucien Crochet. But just for fun, I also opened a wine from a lesser Loire appellation: a straw dog I suppose I considered it. Rather than serving as a foil to the Sancerre's quality, however, that wine set up a fascinating and intriguing stylistic opposition. Essentially, the pairing is that of a humbler wine whose charms are immediately available and a more elite wine whose quality is indisputable and whose style is extremely refined. The common man and the aristocrat, as it were; both wonderful, depending on your taste, your mood and the food.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 21, 2009
Of all the styles of Riesling that exist, the dry style is my favorite. But sometimes when I taste an off-dry Riesling, I can hear in my head (like the voice of conscience) my German-wine-loving friend who maintains that dry Rieslings can be austere and that the best German Rieslings have some residual sugar to balance their refreshingly high acidity. Tasting this Riesling, I think that he has a point.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 7, 2009
Of all the producers in California, Duckhorn Vineyards is probably the one most closely associated with Merlot. Duckhorn has made celebrated Merlots since its first harvest, in 1978, and the success of its Three Palm Vineyards Merlot in particular was undoubtedly an impetus behind the emergence of Merlot as one of California's major red varietal wines. These days, Duckhorn makes relatively small amounts of the Three Palms Merlot and since 1995 has made an Estate Merlot (both are priced at $85). This Napa Valley Merlot, which has been a staple for the winery since 1979, is Duckhorn's other Merlot, and the one that you can most easily get your hands on.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 24, 2009
I don't drink Brunello di Montalcino on a regular basis (who does?) and therefore I sometimes forget how much I love this wine. Thirty-plus years ago, a Brunello was the first great wine that I ever experienced -- my 'Aha!' wine, as Oprah might put it -- and my admiration for Brunello has grown ever since. Tonight I am fortunate enough to be swirling in my glass a terrific Brunello from a top producer in an excellent vintage. A seven year old Brunello Riserva should by all rights be a baby, too young to enjoy. But Col d'Orcia's Riserva Poggio al Vento is approachable and delicious, a powerful wine that is nonetheless soft and ample and fills the mouth with ripe rather than aggressive tannin. The reason has to do with the production area as well as the wine's traditional winemaking technique.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 10, 2009
I enjoy Pinot Noirs from cool climate regions, and the Sonoma Coast is probably the coolest of California's cool regions. The 2006 Freestone Pinot Noir is indeed impressive and it epitomizes all that I love in this style of Pinot Noir. Its pronounced flavors are fresh, complex and concentrated within a sleek frame that has plenty of depth.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 24, 2009
My husband Ed is the cellarmaster and sommelier in our family. Every night he's the one who decides what might be fun to drink, and he usually serves his selection to me blind. After months of choosing mainly California wines as research for our upcoming book (California Wine For Dummies), he surprised me one evening with a thoroughly delightful Valpolicella. It was a complete change of pace from our recent norm, and a real discovery.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 10, 2009
In 2007, California wineries crushed 25% more Syrah grapes than they did just five years earlier -- and more than 200 times as much as they did in 1990. Although Syrah plantings represent only 24% of Cabernet Sauvignon's acreage in California, Syrah is clearly gaining steam. Much of the enthusiasm about Syrah is coming from those who have planted this grape in cooler parts of the state, such as Sonoma Coast, Santa Barbara and, in the case of this wine, Carneros.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 27, 2009
Domaine Laroche Chablis 'Saint Martin' 2006 ($30, Remy Cointreau USA):
Some readers might consider Chablis to be an odd wine to review in the middle of winter. I agree that crisp, refreshing white wines do not soothe the spirit when snow is falling outside quite so effectively as a lusty, full-bodied red wine would. I weighed that thought against the possibility that by the time Spring comes, this fine wine might no longer be available in this vintage; the bird in the hand won.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 13, 2009
Of all white grape varieties, Sauvignon Blanc might very well be the one whose wines vary most in style from one wine region to another and, in the case of New World wines, from one producer to another. California Sauvignon Blancs vary quite a lot in the nature of their fruit character, which can be extremely fruity or minerally or slightly vegetal. These variations in raw material are then compounded by winemaking differences stemming from the presence or absence of oak, the inclusion or exclusion of Semillon, and the amount of residual sugar left in the finished wine. In general, the fruity versions are not my favorites. But, as this particular wine has caused me to realize, there's fruity and then there's fruity….
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 30, 2008
Whenever I write about Merlot, that disparaging remark in the film, Sideways, continues to pop into my mind just the way a competitor's website might annoyingly pop up when you google your own business. I look forward to the day when good California Merlots no longer have to take a defensive stance. I applaud wines such as this fine Matanzas Creek Merlot that will help speed the arrival of that day.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 16, 2008
Sometimes a wine's story can captivate you as much as the taste of the wine does. That is the case with this new Rioja wine, which is the first release in modern times from an ancient, rock-walled winery that has been painstakingly restored by its owner.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 2, 2008
The name Robert Oatley doesn't mean a lot to many wine drinkers in America, but those in the wine trade who have followed the success story of Australian wines might be inclined to genuflect before the Ozzie octogenarian. For he is the man who created Rosemount Estate, which in turn became the phalanx that opened the U.S. market to Australian wines. (I remember well the stir that Rosemount Chardonnay caused when it debuted in a blind tasting at International Wine Center in 1985--and stole the show, to the astonishment of tasters who had never before tried an Australian wine.)
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Nov 18, 2008
Italy's Nebbiolo grape--the grape behind Piedmont's glorious Barolo and Barbaresco wines--is notorious for its inability to perform well outside its home region. But every rule has its exception, and what's more, patience pays off. After decades of commitment to Nebbiolo and other Italian grape varieties, California winery Martin & Weyrich is producing Nebbiolos that are better than any I have tasted outside of Italy.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Nov 4, 2008
This wonderful Bouchaine Chardonnay from Carneros is the fifth Chardonnay wine that I have reviewed in the past two months. I have wondered whether I am overdoing it. After all, we all hear (and I have written) that wine drinkers are bored with Chardonnay, that the wines all taste the same and are too big and oaky to enjoy with food, and so forth. But I have been tasting good Chardonnays lately. Bouchaine's 2006 Estate Chardonnay is one of the best.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 21, 2008
Willowbrook Cellars is a seven-year-old winery that specializes in Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley and other cool-climate locales. It is a partnership between winemaker Joe Otos and retired technology executives John Tracy -- who owns a vineyard in Forestville, in the Russian River Valley -- and Ed Sillari. For its first two years, Willowbrook produced small amounts of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Tracy's vineyard; subsequently, Otos has branched out, seeking additional small vineyards that offer distinctive Pinot Noir fruit. The winery's current offerings include Pinots from Sonoma Coast (Kastaniah Vineyard and Dunah Vineyard), Russian River Valley, and this delicious Pinot from Marin County.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 7, 2008
I discovered this fantastic-value Chardonnay on a day when value was far from my mind. My mission was to taste Michael Mondavi's brand new, elite Cabernet Sauvignon, 'M' by Michael Mondavi, which hadn't yet been released. I previously was fortunate enough to have an early taste of 'Continuum,' the impressive new wine made by Michael's brother, Tim, and I was eager to know how 'M' would stack up. It did not disappoint in the least. But the opening act was, in its own way, also remarkable: a dry rosé and this Chardonnay from Michael's wife, Isabel.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 23, 2008
You might already know that the illustrious Domaine Leflaive winery in Puligny-Montrachet, in Burgundy's famed Côte d'Or district, now makes a wine from the Mâconnais district, about two-hours' drive south. Or maybe, like me, you heard that, and you even tasted the wine, and then (the Information Age being so impossibly full of information!) you forgot. In that case, I am happy to remind you, because the result of Anne-Claude Leflaive's venture to the south is a delicious, high quality and pedigreed white Burgundy that's actually affordable enough to drink more often than just on special occasions.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 9, 2008
I love Bordeaux, and maybe that's why this Australian Cabernet stood out when I tasted it in the midst of dozens of other wines at a trade convention this summer. Part of what caught my attention was the improbability of it all: A Cabernet from Australia, the land of fruity, flavorful wines, that reminds me of Bordeaux reds, which are generally low-key in flavor.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 26, 2008
Would it sound like boasting if I said that I've known Cervaro della Sala since that wine was just a glint in the winemaker's eye? I can say this at all only because, of all the wineries I have visited, my evening at Antinori's Castello della Sala in the early 1980s, when winemaker Renzo Cotarella gave me a taste of a new Chardonnay, still stands out for me.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 12, 2008
I have long been a fan of William Fèvre's Chablis wines. About 20 years ago, before oak returned to its current favor among Chablis producers, Fèvre was one of the few who consistently made Chablis using oak, and his wines excelled in that style. Ten years ago, Fèvre sold his Chablis winery and vineyards to the Henriot family, which continues to make and market the wines as Domaine William Fèvre. Now Fèvre himself makes Chardonnay halfway around the globe, in Chile.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 29, 2008
I've been tasting lots of Sauvignon Blancs this summer, and have reviewed a few of them here on WRO already. Time to give it a rest, move on to other types of wine. But I feel compelled to share my feelings about this Sauvignon Blanc from Australia, which just might be my favorite Sauvignon Blanc from anywhere in the New World.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 15, 2008
In the early days of Washington's emergence as a wine region, all the talk was about the quality of its Merlot. Then somewhere along the way, some critics (including me) decided that the state's Cabernets were more impressive. Well, Chateau Ste. Michelle's 2005 'Artists Series' Meritage (a blend of 57% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, along with 5% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec) might put to rest any arguments about which is Washington's better variety: It might prove that the best is a blend of both.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 1, 2008
The first time I ever had a bird's eye view of the vineyards of eastern Washington State, it was in a small plane piloted by grapegrower Mike Hogue of The Hogue Cellars. Recently I encountered Mike in a whole new capacity, seven years after he sold The Hogue Cellars; he is now co-owner of the new Mercer Estates winery in partnership with grower Bud Mercer and both of their families.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 17, 2008
Capel Vale 2005 Shiraz from Mount Barker in Western Australia is a terrific example of a Shiraz that's more elegant and refined than the Barossa model, and far more nuanced than the ubiquitous and popular South Eastern Australia brands. It's the kind of Shiraz that will intrigue thoughtful tasters and yet provide plenty of straightforward pleasure for more casual drinkers.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 3, 2008
When I visited Western Australia a year ago, a highlight of my trip was a vertical tasting of Howard Park Riesling going back to the 1988 vintage. The wines were terrific, and showed impressive longevity. I understood then that Howard Park winery is a Riesling power.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 20, 2008
At a recent tasting of Alto Adige wines, I sampled the wines of twelve producers and rated none of them lower than 87, although some cost as little as $12 a bottle. One wine that captivated me was this single-vineyard Pinot Bianco from Elena Walch, a former architect who is one of the most admired winemakers in the region.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 6, 2008
The 2005 Domaine Jessiaume Santenay Gravieres is a surprisingly affordable premier cru Burgundy that shows all the charm of the vintage itself. It has impressive concentration of black cherry fruit on the nose, coupled with a marked mineral character that I find typical of Santenay.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 22, 2008
I was particularly intrigued by several California wines in a recent tasting of every recent-vintage Sauvignon Blanc in my cellar, including this 2006 bottling from Silverado Vineyards. All were unoaked, with high acidity and yet ripe, fruity flavors and softer texture than you would expect for wines with high acidity. The Silverado stood out from the rest because of the delicacy of its fruit character and a certain understatement of expression, as well as its depth and length across the palate.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 8, 2008
In 1976, I traveled by car from Sicily to Italy's northernmost reaches, on my personal Italian wine odyssey. One of my fondest memories from that trip was an audience (yes, as if with the Pope!) with Mr. Nino Negri, the frail head of the leading winery in Lombardy's remote Valtellina district. Of the relatively few brands of Italian wines available then in the U.S., Negri was one of the best. To sit with Mr. Negri at his winery was an honor I never forgot.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 25, 2008
I recently enjoyed a remarkable wine-on-the-table experience with a modest, $11 bottle of Riesling. The wine was Pacific Rim Dry Riesling. The Pacific Rim brand had been part of the Bonny Doon Winery in California, but in 2007, owner Randall Grahm spun off the brand into an independent operation situated in Washington. Eighty percent of this wine comes from grapes grown in Washington and twenty percent comes from the Mosel region of Germany, in cooperation with respected winemaker Johannes Selbach.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 11, 2008
What is Rosso di Montalcino anyway? It's usually explained as a readier-to-drink version of Brunello di Montalcino. But Brunello is (classically speaking) a wine that requires more age than almost any other wine in the world; a younger version of an eternal wine is not a throwaway everyday red. Rosso's identity is further confused by the fact that producers take different approaches to the wine, using the fruit of young vines in some cases, or selecting out wines that are not appropriate for Brunello--within the legal parameters dictating that the wine be entirely Sangiovese from the Montalcino area.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 26, 2008
One of the reasons that I like the 2004 Val delle Rose Morellino di Scansano is that, despite being very modern--fresh, clean, with bright fruit character--it is also very typically Italian, in its trim cut, its fairly high acidity and its firm, characterful tannin. To maintain the traditional and yet incorporate the modern is an admirable trait.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 12, 2008
Despite all the overly-ambitious California Pinot Noirs that the 'Sideways' Pinot boom has spawned, I am grateful for the boom because it has given all of us many more opportunities to have fun with Pinot Noir. Good, poor, or in-between, Pinot Noir is fascinating to taste and fascinating to think about. Having a bit of fun myself, I sampled the 2005 Logan Pinot Noir recently with dinner. A bit fleshier than I like my Pinots, I thought at first. And yet so richly flavorful--not to mention that it's showing no particular oaky character. And it's fairly priced. I like it!
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 29, 2008
I am a big fan of Christian Mouiex--president of Etablissements Jean-Pierre Moueix, a major Bordeaux négociant company that owns or manages legendary châteaux such as Petrus and Trotanoy, and owner of Dominus winery in Napa Valley. Now, this great value wine gives me all the more reason. What's so special is not just the wine's very good quality but also the fact that it's part of a dynamite concept: a line of regional Bordeaux reds with non-traditional labels, fair prices, and approachable taste for today's wine drinker.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 15, 2008
I don't drink nearly as much white Burgundy as I would like. Recently at a very special wine dinner at Blantyre, a homey yet truly luxurious Relais et Chateaux resort in Lenox MA, we drank four terrific white Burgundies as a prelude to two main-event flights of red Bordeaux, and the folly of my ways hit me. Returning home, I scoured my cellar for every expendable (that is, affordable) recent-vintage white Burgundy, and opened them one by one with dinner. What satisfied me most were the 2004's I tried.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 1, 2008
If you like dry Rieslings, you know that finding them can be tricky. Many domestic wines labeled as Dry Riesling really aren't truly dry; they are merely less sweet than the wine labeled simply as Riesling by the same producer. And Alsace, once a reliable source for Rieslings that are dry, now makes many Rieslings that are so ripe and rich that they do not offer the bracing satisfaction of a truly dry wine. My own personal frustration has ended, however, because I have discovered the Rieslings of Western Australia.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 18, 2007
New Zealand is the promised land for Pinot Noir in the New World -- or so they say. Personally, I haven't been sure, especially as far as New Zealand's Marlborough region is concerned. But this wine has convinced me that Marlborough has more range and more potential for greatness in Pinot Noir than I have previously given it credit for. Here is a world-class Pinot.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 4, 2007
Ever since I tasted my first Washington Syrah -- Columbia Crest's first, the 1994 if I remember correctly -- I have been convinced that Washington has special talent for this grape. That wine had real complexity of aroma and flavor, of the sort that was unusual outside the Northern Rhône, and yet it boasted unmistakable New World fruitiness, with none of that cooked fruit dullness so common in California Syrahs of the day.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Nov 20, 2007
I've sometimes wondered why Frank Mitolo, owner and founder of the Mitolo winery in McLaren Vale, would name this wine in honor of a court clown. I have a feeling that it might have to do with things being different than they appear. Shakespeare's jesters played fools, but were actually clever; this wine is so concentrated and rich that it could be mistaken for a standard Aussie powerhouse, but actually it has real grace.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 23, 2007
Of the wine producing countries not traditional for Syrah, Chile might prove to be one of the very best. It was only 14 years ago that French clones of Syrah came to Chile thanks to the Errazuriz winery, and only 11 years since the first Syrah vineyard was officially registered in the country.
The newest entry on the Chilean Syrah market is a formidable one. Pangea is made at Viña Ventisquero by none other than John Duval, former Penfolds chief winemaker, together with Ventisquero's own talented winemaker Felipe Tosso.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 9, 2007
Google 'Muscadet,' and you'll come up with references to good value wines, wines for hot weather, and wines for diabetics. Muscadet, it seems, has been relegated to a remote fringe of the wine world populated by wines for special needs rather than the more desirable neighborhood of good quality, great-tasting wines. Two things are wrong with this situation: one, it is unfair to the fine Muscadets that exist; and two, it deprives many wine lovers of experiencing the tremendous pleasure they might get from a bottle of Muscadet.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 25, 2007
If you didn't know that J Vineyards & Winery is owned by a woman, you might nevertheless figure that it is. The evidence, in a word, would be style: stylish bottles, stylish website, innovative and stylish branding. And the wines themselves? Well, my summary descriptor for this 2005 Pinot Noir just happens to be 'extremely stylish.'
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 11, 2007
Change being the constant that it is, many Chianti Classicos these days are not particularly classic. Exaggerated ripeness, fleshy texture, and strong aromas and flavors of oak are fairly common among high-end Chianti Classicos--those that have the extra year of aging necessary for the Riserva category--and the wines are therefore richer and heavier than they traditionally were. In Castello di Volpaia's Riserva, however, classic delicacy and grace still reign.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 28, 2007
Even if my first encounter with this wine had not been on one of those steamy days that white wines are made for, and even if winery CEO Jeff Bundschu had not personally handed me the glass, I think that I would still have been bowled over by this wine.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 14, 2007
When I first got involved in wine, Rioja was fairly easy. The wines of only a few major producers, all tradition-minded, were available in the U.S. Some of them made two styles - their soft, full-bodied 'Burgundian' style, and their leaner 'Bordeaux' style - and of course some wines were reservas or gran reservas. But the complexities of the Rioja region in terms of terroir, grape blend and modern versus traditional styling were not yet hot issues.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 31, 2007
Albariño, the white wine from the Rias Baixas region, in northwestern Spain, seems to have come on even faster than Grüner Veltliner, Austria's "hot" white wine. The appeal for wine drinkers is similar: both are vibrant, fresh, flavorful whites with character.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 17, 2007
Italy has her share of iconic, independent-minded wine producers--guys (they mainly are guys) who break with the status quo in their region by trying new techniques, planting new grape varieties, and/or disavowing the local DOC identities for their wines. In the Soave district of the Veneto, that would apply to Roberto Anselmi.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 3, 2007
I stuck my nose into the glass of 2004 Freemark Abbey Chardonnay and time-travelled more than 20 years back to my early experiences with California Chardonnays. The aroma of this Freemark Abbey was almost indescribable, and it struck a chord. Oak, certainly, but in the sweetest, most seductive way, and apples, slightly baked as if in a succulent apple pie. What's not to like?
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 19, 2007
This review begins in a confessional tone. I once followed the wines of Chalk Hill closely, but then I forgot all about them. Back when David Ramey was winemaker, this was one of my favorite California wineries. I was intrigued by Ramey's then avant garde techniques such as barrel fermentation with ambient yeast, and I adored the wines, especially the whites (especially the Sauvignon Blanc). Then I moved on. Too many wines and wine regions, too little time, I suppose. Mea culpa.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 5, 2007
I was blind-tasting a group of Beaujolais wines, many of them cru Beaujolais, when I came upon this wine. It seemed completely out of place because it was so much more concentrated than the other wines. For my immediate purpose of identifying 'summer wines' to recommend to mainstream wine drinkers, it was useless. But as a fine wine to recommend to wine lovers...bingo!
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 22, 2007
People will call me crazy if I say that my favorite type of white Burgundy is Chablis. I admit that no Chardonnay wine in the world can compare with a top Corton Charlemagne that has had enough aging, or with a Montrachet from a great producer. But such wines need time to develop, are rare and hence difficult to find, and are mighty expensive. Chablis delivers authenticity and quality for a fraction of the price, and in my experience is more reliable more often from more producers.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 8, 2007
This wine has so many stories to tell, I'm not sure where to begin. There's the story of Nebbiolo, of course: Italy's very special, very particular noble red grape. And there's the story of the Langhe Hills, the wondrous wine district of tiny hilltop villages that evoke a calm, simple approach to the good life. And the story of Vietti, a family winery whose owners, the Currados, have long been leaders in bringing the warmth and richness of the Piedmont region to American wine lovers.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 24, 2007
Yes, another wine with animals on its label. But no, definitely not a 'critter-label' wine, as in mass-market, popularly priced, millennial-generation crowd-pleaser wine. The wine called Blackbird Vineyards is a connoisseur's wine through and through.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 10, 2007
In 2005, approximately 270 new wineries opened in California. Terlato Family Vineyards was one of them. As start-ups go, however, this new winery was hardly new. Its owners, the Terlato family, have been major players in the wine world for more than 50 years. Its director of winemaking, Doug Fletcher, has been making fine wine in California over four decades. You could say that this new Syrah coming from this 'new' winery was generations in the making.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 27, 2007
You know that you've got a hot tip on a wine when you hear it from the winery's competition. I was sipping pisco sours at a restaurant in Santiago in the company of several wine producers, talking about the remarkable progress that Chilean Sauvignon Blancs have made in recent years. I complimented one of the winemakers on his own Sauvignon Blanc. Then he asked, 'Have you tried Montes' Leyda Valley Sauvignon? It's one of the best.'
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 13, 2007
I hate to be a follower of trends, but it's Academy Awards night as I write this, and I am drinking Pinot Noir. The Sideways effect lives on, not just in mainstream wine drinkers but also, apparently, in me.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 27, 2007
My deadline was looming, and inspiration was lacking. I just didn't seem to like any wine I opened. The affordable Mercurey was too tart, the $75 Napa Valley Cab was boring, and the fancy new Riesling was clumsy and too sweet. Rescue came in the highly improbable form of a 2002 red wine from Tuscany --"improbable" because that vintage was roundly criticized at the time as one of Italy's worst recent years. In Tuscany, some producers call it "disastrous."
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 13, 2007
Some wines wow you at first taste, but others conquer you gradually, until (as it were) you discover that you are in love with someone whom you had always considered just a good friend. That is my experience with the Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc Reserve. I always liked and admired the wine, and then, tasting the 2004 vintage at a Napa Valley Vintners seminar two weeks ago, I experienced a moment of truth: it is one of my very favorite white wines.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 30, 2007
This could be the last review I ever write of a Tocai Friulano wine. It's not that I have sworn off the wine; in fact, I consider it one of Italy's best white wines. But as of March, wine producers of Italy's Friuli region can no longer label wines with the varietal name, "Tocai Friulano," because EU wine authorities have deemed the name "Tocai" too similar to Tokaj Hegyalja, Hungary's wine region famous for the botrytised dessert wine, Tokaji Aszú.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 16, 2007
When Argyle Winery was founded two decades ago, it put Oregon on the map for sparkling wines. Still today, many wine drinkers would say that bubbly wine is precisely what Argyle is about--and understandably, because Arglye Brut (and the winery's limited production sparkling wines available mainly locally) are excellent wines. But actually the Argyle still wines are every bit as fine as the bubblies, and in fact dominate the winery's production.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 2, 2007
Wine today has become rather like Las Vegas: colorful, flashy, vibrant, with lots of flavor to stimulate the senses, and, in most cases, a lowest-common-denominator appeal. The wines of Bodega Norton, especially the very fine 'Privada' red blend, are an antidote to this crass trend toward sensory overload. They are understated, genuine wines for sophisticated appreciation.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 17, 2006
For a few months now, I have had the impression that the wine gods have been sending me messages about Marchesi di Gresy. Wines from this producer seem to be constantly crossing my consciousness quite by chance: a terrific 2001 Barbaresco from the Martinenga vineyard that someone handed me a glass of, unidentified, at a trade tasting, for example, or an exceptionally good 1999 Barbaresco from the Gaiun vineyard that someone brought to a BYO dinner recently.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 5, 2006
This wine has received stellar reviews over the years, garnering a score of 91 points from Robert Parker several years ago, and being named one of the 100 Best Wines in 2001 by Wine & Spirits magazine. So why is it still available? The only answer that I can fathom is that it is Portuguese, and therefore belongs to a class of wines that the marketplace simply does not sufficiently appreciate, even when the wine is excellent, as this one is.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Nov 21, 2006
One of the advantages of connoisseurship is spotting wines (or music or art) that mainstream consumers might pass up. Whenever I see this Italian Gewürztraminer on a restaurant wine list, for example, I am likely to order it. Gewürztraminer is an unlikely grape variety for an Italian wine, but this particular Gewürztraminer happens to be one of the finest in the world.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Nov 7, 2006
I first tasted the wines of Nickel & Nickel in 2000, when the winery's inaugural vintage, 1997, was released. I was immediately captivated by the concept - a collection of small-lot, 100%-varietal, single-vineyard wines - and by the wines themselves, especially the Cabernets. Six vintages later, the wines continue to excite me.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 24, 2006
Wineries situated in Mendocino County tend to be overlooked by many critics and wine lovers, perhaps because they are far off the beaten tourist path. They deserve attention, however, because their wines are generally very good. Handley Cellars, one of the top wineries in the Anderson Valley, is a personal favorite of mine, and the Handley wines continually please me.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 10, 2006
When I taste Clos de los Siete, I can imagine that I am experiencing the infancy of a new grand cru. This wine has everything going for it that a first growth wine might need: a special vineyard, pedigreed ownership, and first-rate winemaking talent. It is a wine being built from the ground up with a spirit of discovery, and it somehow conveys a sense of destiny.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 26, 2006
How very good Italian white wines have become! Never before have there been so many wines with real flavor and concentration without oakiness. Whites with character. Immediate case in point: Feudi di San Gregorio Greco di Tufo from the Cutizzi Vineyard.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 12, 2006
Give me the choice of Merlot or another red wine from the same producer, and I will usually choose the other one, especially if it's a Cabernet or Syrah. But Mission Hill S.L.C. Merlot from the Okanagan Valley in western Canada fooled me. It is the best varietal red from this very serious winery, and it deserves to be a front-line choice.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 29, 2006
I love this wine. It is as pristine and refreshing as I imagine glacial water might be, but it is also as succulent, as a crossing of peach and grapefruit might be. It is a terrific, inspired wine, very solid in quality, not at all flashy.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 15, 2006
When the temperature soars and the menu grows lighter, this Riesling becomes one of my favorite wines to drink. Notice that I said "drink." Encountering this wine in a tasting is always a pleasure, and it's also a great choice for sipping slowly at a party-but this wine is made for drinking.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 1, 2006
The dozens of wineries that debut each year in California all have interesting stories behind them, but Alma Rosa's story is more compelling than most. It stars Richard Sanford, the first to plant Pinot Noir in the Santa Ynez Valley, founder of Sanford Winery together with his wife, Thekla, and a pioneer and zealot for Pinot Noir in Santa Barbara County.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 18, 2006
Summertime, and the living is easy. A salad, grilled fish marinated in soy sauce, ginger and garlic, an inexpensive white wine that's easy to drink, and you're all set ... But hey --you're a wine lover and you won't settle for a white wine that isn't high in quality. And interesting. It should fascinate you, but be affordable.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jul 4, 2006
In a buying culture of "expensive equals better," this wine has the good sense to be reasonably priced. You might perhaps think that $40 for a bottle of Cabernet is not all that reasonable. But this is really good Cabernet! It's rich and ripe and velvety and generous. It's well-made, well-balanced for drinking now and for aging, and it's delicious.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 20, 2006
I dislike many wines from the 2003 vintage because that hot and dry year in Europe produced overly big wines with dull or baked-fruit aromas and flavors and undeveloped tannins. This Pinot Bianco from Alto Adige, however, reminds me of the dangers in generalizing. While it is a big wine, it is fascinating and delicious.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jun 6, 2006
I still have not visited the rugged, forsaken Priorat region, but I am a fan of it anyway, because I have fallen in love with its powerful wines. My current flames are the wines of Ricard Pasanau, whose family has farmed vineyards in Priorat since the 13th century, and in 1995 built a modern winery there.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 23, 2006
Over the years, I've had a love-hate relationship with Zinfandel. Loved it until about the mid-1980s, back when many of the best Zins were lean and concentrated. Hated the super-ripe, exaggerated fruit versions that many people exalted in the 1990's. Here again in this offering from Dry Creek is a Zinfandel that I love--and maybe one that those who enjoy extreme Zin can love, too.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
May 9, 2006
Nozzole Chianti Classico is one of those wines that you come to appreciate when you find yourself dining in a restaurant of the sort that you would never go to for the wine list alone.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 25, 2006
I can still remember the trip I made to the Douro in 2000 to explore the emerging table wine production there. I tasted some fantastic red wines (and some just-average wines) made from the classic varieties used for Port, from vineyards whose grapes were formerly dedicated to Port production. Those wines really moved me. I felt a bit like Columbus, discovering a whole new world that actually had been there all along.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Apr 11, 2006
If I tasted a whole line-up of Schiopetto 2004s, maybe I would find one I liked even more than this Pinot Bianco, but this wine is so good and so satisfying that further research seemed unnecessary. Lowly Pinot Blanc is the wine that textbooks describe as "neutral," and suggest, between the lines, is useful mainly as a high-acid palate-cleanser between bites of food. People who write that have obviously not experienced the character that Pinot Blanc can achieve in Northeastern Italy. Here is Pinot Blanc that makes you sit up and pay attention.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 28, 2006
I don't expect much when I open a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. These wines are are usually decent, but in my mind they are underachievers. The rich history of the vineyards around the town of Montepulciano and the wine's lofty position in the hierarchy of Tuscan reds--it is part of the classic triumvirate that includes Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico--causes me to want more from the wines than what they usually deliver. But this particular Vino Nobile does not disappoint.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Mar 14, 2006
The 2002 Rubicon--the namesake of the now re-named Rubicon Estate winery--is a worthy representative of the historic re-uniting of the former Inglenook vineyards and winery. It is a smashing wine, rich and soft and seductive yet very powerful.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 28, 2006
Some wines are pure pleasure, while others set you to thinking. The 2002 Trilogy falls into the second category. It's not just a delicious wine; it seems to represent things beyond more. The Bordeaux heritage re-born in California. Napa Valley mountain fruit versus valley floor fruit. The modern idiom of enjoyable-young-yet-ageworthy. Wine for thought.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Feb 14, 2006
Shafer has long been one of my favorite California wineries, and Shafer Merlot is consistently one of the Shafer wines I prefer the most. It's not nearly as dense, concentrated and powerful as the admirable Hillside Select Cabernet, which most regard as the finest wine in the Shafer stable, but to me, especially in recent vintages, its beauty is more appealing than the Cabernet's brawn.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 31, 2006
A recent visit to Argentina filled me with excitement for what is to come in Argentine wines. Not that you can't find plenty to enjoy in the wines today--but the potential is so much greater even than the pleasures that today's wines offer. Argentina seems to be a land destined to make some great wines.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 17, 2006
Dark, powerful Vintage Ports claim the lion's share of attention from wine connoisseurs, and therefore it's easy to forget that those elite wines are not the only Ports worthy of acclaim. The tawny Port category encompasses great wines that are readier to drink upon release than Vintage Ports are, easier to handle, and every bit as delicious, in a kinder, gentler style.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 3, 2006
Over the years, I have come to understand that David Lake's finest wines need time to develop. Sometimes, at large tastings, the long-time winemaker of Columbia Winery has brought along an older vintage of one of his wines to pour alongside the current vintage; tasting the older wines, I gained insight into his younger wines. They are tightly wound, and become more expressive with age.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 20, 2005
In the wine classes I teach, we discuss the market performance of the types of wines we study--which for Sherry means admitting that few wine lovers today care much about this type of wine. This, to me, is one of the tragedies of today's wine market. Sherry is not only one of the world's classic and historic wines, but also Sherries such as this dry, aged amontillado are great and glorious wines, period.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Dec 6, 2005
My taste runs to wines that are not very fruity. In the interests of being open-minded and pleasing readers whose tastes might differ from my own, I thought that I should make an effort to review a fruity wine. I tasted various reds from California and Australia without finding inspiration. Then I remembered this bottle of Campofiorin, which had been sent to me with the idea that it's an appropriate wine to recommend with turkey. Bingo!
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Nov 22, 2005
I love Chablis. Although Chablis wines generally don't have the weight of white Burgundies from the Côte d'Or and they definitely lack the flavor intensity of California Chardonnays, no other Chardonnay-based wine in the world can match the compelling minerality and endless finish of a good Chablis.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Nov 8, 2005
Winemakers in Tuscany are enthusiastic about their 2001 wines--especially those whose vineyards are in the Chianti Classico area. Antinori's elite "Super Tuscan" Tignanello hails from the Chianti Classico district, and not surprisingly, the 2001 grandly lives up to expectations.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 25, 2005
Because I taste hundreds of under-$15 wines each year, when I sit down to a blind tasting of pricier wines, I'm prepared to be impressed. But the wines don't always comply. A recent tasting of several elite West Coast reds, mainly Cabernets priced at $35 to $50, was a punishing undertaking. But one entry--Ferrari-Carano's 2001 Trésor--was a breath of fresh air.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Oct 11, 2005
I have often seriously considered joining the "Anything But&" club--but then I taste a Chardonnay of such refinement and pedigree that I recall why Chardonnay is considered a noble grape. My most recent such epiphany was sparked by the fine Chardonnay that winemaker Martin Shaw fashions from the M3 vineyard in Australia's cool Adelaide Hills region.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 27, 2005
I faced a wine lover's dream dilemma: which of two good vintages of a favorite wine would be better? This question is often moot, because for most wines only one vintage is normally available at any point. In the case of the wine I chose to review, Château Lagrezette Cahors, a re-release of the 2001 vintage put that wine side-by-side on the shelf against the 2002. Which would I prefer?
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Sep 13, 2005
I set off on my Greek wine odyssey expecting to find good wines, far better than most people might expect from Greece. And I found them. But scattered among the very good wineries I visited were a handful that were superior, for any country. Alpha Estate is one of them.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 30, 2005
Increasingly, I feel that ambition is a cardinal sin in Italian winemaking. Producers in Chianti Classico, for example, have incorporated numerous techniques--such as the use of super-rich clones or non-native grapes in the vineyard and enzyme treatments and microxygenation in the winery--to make their wines softer, fleshier, plumper and more fruit-forward than they naturally are, for the benefit of critics and international palates. Instead of these nouveau riche wines, I value the lean wines, the un-fleshy wines, the wines that my palate can see into, straight to their soul.
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 15, 2005
I have always loved a good Pinot Gris, and I have admired David Lett, owner-winemaker of The Eyrie Vineyards in Oregon, for as long as I've known him (which must be more than 20 years now).
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Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Aug 1, 2005
This wine delights me in two ways. First, it's a Quincy (a Sauvignon Blanc-based wine from a tiny district in the central Loire) and therefore a fairly unusual find. Second, it's so thoroughly satisfying. It doesn't make a dramatic first impression the way a New Zealand or South African Sauvignon Blanc might, but the more I tasted the wine, the more it delivered. It's genuine, it's delicious, and it's high quality--all for about $17 a bottle.
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Where Delicious Meets Serious
