The SavvyTaste.Com Wine Blog

How To Find A Tasty French Wine

2011-11-21T22:45:00.001-08:00

The Trick: Look for the Importer's Label Mike Steinberger, the wine writer at Salon, wrote an article titled, "Never Buy a Bad Bottle of Wine Again," in which explained how to choose a European wine without having to learn all the mind-numbing labels, domaines, chateaux, and terroirs: "There is a simple, usually failsafe means of determining whether a foreign wine is worth buying if you are

2011-09-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

"Spice & Cloves" -- A Lip-Smacking New Blend from Concannon By Mac McCarthy, SavvyTaste.com Concannon, one of the winemaking anchor tenants of Livermore, CA, has a new and very tasty red-wine blend in its lineup. Dubbed "Crimson & Clover," this is a blend that successfully turns the sometimes tannic Petite Syrah grape (or Petite Sirah, as Concannon styles it) into a juicy, fruity,

Lake County Wines: Overlooked, Underpriced, Pretty Tasty!

2011-09-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

Lake County Wines: Overlooked, Underpriced, Pretty Tasty! By Mac McCarthy, Savvytaste.com Top Line Lake County, California, is a winegrowing area in Northern California surrounding Clear Lake, east of the famed winegrowing areas of Napa and Sonoma. The lake is the largest in California, and the area includes The Geysers, the largest geothermal field complex in the world. For

2011-08-31T22:26:00.000-07:00

Urban Legend: Just What You Want from your Boutique Winery... In August (2011) I stopped by a refresher on the wines of Urban Legend, the small winery in Oakland's Ironworks district near Jack London Square, and one of my favorite of the two dozen urban wineries in the San Francisco East Bay area. Steven and Marilee Shaffer have built an interesting line of fine wines, every one a tasty

Urban Wine Xperience VI: There's Some Mighty Tasty Wines from Oakland!

2011-08-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy SavvyTaste For its 6th year, the East Bay Vintners Alliance hosted its Urban Wineries public tasting event for 18 small, in some cases boutique, wineries, all from the San Francisco East Bay communities of Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, and Alameda. And once again they proved that fine, top-notch wines can be produced in an urban environment of former aircraft hangers,

Event: Urban Wine Uncorked - Panel plus Tasting

2011-08-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

The Commonwealth Club of Californis hosts in Lafayette (near Walnut Creek) later in August a combo panel discussion and tasting of wines from urban winemakers. It should be a fun event; I'll be there. Spread the word.DetailsLocation: Lafayette Veterans Memorial Hall, 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette  Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. wine tasting reception  Cost: $22 standard,

Wine Shoppers Need Point Scores -- Because They Can't Understand Our Reviews

2011-07-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy SavvyTaste.com Respected wine guru Steve Heimoff posted a spirited defense of numerical wine scores in wine reviews -- Defending Point Scores--Again! , taking on some of the stock complaints from the growing chorus of critics of the idea of giving wines numbered or lettered scores. (There's even an anti-scoring manifesto circulating.) Heimoff 's common-sense counterarguments

Some Wines Not Safe for Beginners To Start With

2011-07-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy Editor, SavvyTaste Reason: These wines take getting used to -- They are dense, intense, tannic, and acidic -- or they are expensive and risky. Stay away until you've got some experience under your belt.... Zinfandel Yeah! Zinfandel – Me, I love big, jammy red Zinfandels — heck, I volunteer at the big ZAP Zinfandel festival every January in San Francisco, where 300

"A Day in the Dust" -- Incredible Cabs and Real Values

2011-07-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy SavvyTaste.com At "A Day in the Dust" tasting of Rutherford, CA Cabernets, hosted by the Rutherford Dust Society, I found some incredible-tasting Cabs -- no surprise, though these were even more spectacular than I anticipated -- but I also found some incredible value prices, which I certainly didn't expect -- especially from such elite wineries. WHAT'S THE

SavvyTaste News For July 26

2011-07-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Gold, fine wine, art or under the bed: what's the safest place for your cash? Is red wine actually good for your teeth? U of Fla study says wine is fruitful for one's health French monks pray and make wine on the Med Finding the wine you like through trust and an app What’s worse: cooked, corked or counterfeit wines? Sweet Wine Drinkers, (A Lack Of) Panties, And How We

Big Woop Whoops Napa Valley ... And Offers A By-The-Glass Lesson

2011-07-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

I played tourist today, visiting Calistoga which is a place that I have not spent much time in over the past 10 years or so. But in the process, I re-discovered a hard lesson for vintners in the "by the glass" process. I lunched at a restaurant called Brannan's Grill which I had been to a number of years ago and had a nice experience...then. This time, the food was forgettable and the wine

SavvyTaste News For July 22

2011-07-22T09:15:00.001-07:00

Is Cabernet Sauvignon’s Hegemony Over? How much wine outside the winery is cooked? Arrogant Frog Hops Into Yellow Tail Niche Drink Like A Woman: Ladies Take The Booze Biz By Storm Is organic wine better for you than regular wine? Almost One-Quarter of Americans Report Binge Drinking in the Past Month 101-year-old birthday girl celebrates with pizza and wine Wine labels: unfathomable, infuriating

SavvyTaste News For July 14

2011-07-14T10:38:00.001-07:00

HEY FRANCE! Being Proud of Your Country's Wine Doesn't Mean Anything if You Don't Drink It A Wine Rack...For Your Bike Regional wine labels: Is a wine where it says it's from? The Objectivity of Taste What It Takes To Make Wines Of True Character (With Matt Powell of Draconis) Grower Champagnes Rutherford: As The Dust Settles, Fine Wine Emerges Pla i Llevant: An Island Region of Growing Quality

SavvyTaste News For July 13

2011-07-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

Enobabble: Debating the "minerality" of wine Popularity takes a toll on pinot grigio Alcoholic beverages in Australia to sport health warning labels Red Wine Counters Effects of Microgravity OZ: Taking Aim at 'Nanny State' Bloodhound works as wine tester Vine grafting: Cabernet, Merlot vineyards become Petit Verdot, Malbec Lompoc Wine Ghetto: Get Your Wine On Alternative Gallo's Growing

Savvy News Links For July 8

2011-07-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

Sweet Wine Drinkers Might Not Wear Panties ... SAY WHAT?Is white wine better for my teeth than red wine?Feral Pinot Noir? Drinking wine can increase your life span Too Much Alcohol in Wine or Too Many Wines with Imperfect Balance ? Still California Dreamin' Alexander Valley Vineyards - Great Family Values and Wine Wine blends back in the mix Why are there 'systematic errors' in wine alcohol

Passaggio Shows How Delicious A Rose Can Be

2011-07-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

Cynthia Cosco's Passaggio Wines first caught my eye with a Chardonnay so wonderfully delicious that I changed my mind about white wines (see my review and discussion at http://savvytaste.blogspot.com/2010/11/three-tasty-whites-passaggio-foppiano.html), especially the much-abused Chardonnay. Now Cosco, who is a winemaker and manager at the custom-crush facility Crushpad in Sonoma, CA, has

Rock Wall's Sparkling Blanc de Blanc -- A Hit

2011-07-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy SavvyTaste.com I went over to Rock Wall Wines on the island of Alameda in San Francisco Bay to the release party of the newest sparkling wine -- Rock Wall 2010 Blanc de Blanc California Sparkling Wine ($18), and I loved it. Founder and Winemaker Shauna Rosenblum has created a bubbly targeting popular tastes, including mine: Wonderful fruit gives it a sense of sweetness though it

Is Kent Rosenblum Buying A Winery?

2011-06-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy SavvyTaste.com Sources tell us that Kent Rosenblum, founder of famed Rosenblum Cellars in Alameda, California, is shopping for a winery in the Jackson Valley, in Amador County, California. Angela Kooken, VP of Administration at Renwood Winery in Plymouth, California, acknowledged that the winery is in talks with a potential purchaser, but would not name the other party or

Death To Wine Snobs

2011-06-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

Snobs suck!This 1997 episode from San Francisco's Bay TV features wine guy Lewis Perdue (60 pounds heavier than he is now) who believes that wine snobs are a lot worse than the anti-Christ. You don't have to study wine to like it. Hell, you don't have to study Snapple to know what flavor you like. What YOU like is what YOU like.Pay no attention to those wine snobs behind the curtain.They're just

More Delicious East Bay Vintners/Passport 2011 Wines

2011-06-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco East Bay areas of Alameda, Oakland, and Berkeley--where the urban wineries movement began, and thrives with more than 20 wineries, some tiny, some large like Rosenblum--produces delicious fine wines and, even better, surprising wines from winemakers trying to step beyond the ordinary, and succeeding at it. So though I visit many of these wineries at various times during the year

The Two Most Interesting Wines at the East Bay Urban Wine Trail last month!

2011-05-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

The two most interesting wines at the April 2011 Passport to the East Bay Wine Trail tasting event, which took place in several winery locations in the San Francisco East Bay -- specifically Oakland and Alameda -- were a Pinot from a new winery called Stomping Girl Wines, and an unexpected reworking of Urban Legend's awesome and award-winning Barbera Rose. There were many other great-tasting

How I Learned To Love White Wines (Too)

2011-05-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

I've always been a red-wine guy. The kind of whites that pass by at parties and in bars have always seemed boring, bland, and uninteresting. Chardonnays in particular, but also Pinot Grigos. Sauv Blancs from New Zealand set up a brief flutter because their stony-brooks tang was a nice change. But even they bore after a while. The Change came subtly at first. At an industry Bordeaux tasting, I

Blandy's Bicentennial Madeira Tasting - Yum!

2011-05-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

I am now completely sold on Madeira. I had little experience with the fortified wine produced on the mid-Atlantic island until I had a chance last year to attend a trade tasting put on by the The Tasting Panel Magazine and notable wine advisor Anthony Dias Blue for the ancient & honorable house of Broadbent - recounted in my post "I Had No Idea It Could Taste That Good!" It was an

WINE TUTORIAL PART 4: How to Order and Drink Wine in a Restaurant

2011-04-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy, Zenergo/SavvyTaste We’ll do this tutorial mostly in bullet-list format — You’re busy, we’re busy, right? Wine is a complicated subject so it’s no wonder it’s baffling if you haven’t made a study of it. After all: Wine is made from living fruit, so hard to predict exactly how it will taste. It’s made from various grapes with different flavors. It’s grown in a variety of soils,

Foppiano Estate Bottled Petite Sirah: Delish.

2011-03-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

Petite Sirah is a tricky beverage: Too often I find a harsh, bitter note. A few hours at the 'PS I Love You' annual Petite Sirah event in San Francisco produces a substantial minority of this rich, black wine that sets my teeth on edge. One friend claims this is because there are two distinct grapes planted in California as Petite Sirah, one of them mistakenly, and that one produces this bitter

Will It Blend? Aerating Wine with a Blender (Really)

2011-03-25T16:45:00.001-07:00

Take a look at Robin Garr's experiment with aerating a big red in *a blender!* Wow, what will they think of next??

Wine Tutorial Part 3: What To Drink (For Beginners)

2011-03-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy, Zenergo Safe Wines for Beginners to Start With.... When you first try various wines, you quickly find that some -- well, many -- are hard to take, especially for a beginner. Many wines are acquired tastes -- you have to get used to them. Especially for red wine, the tannin (a stinging, puckery sort of sensation on your tongue, similar to what you'd experience if you sucked

Contest for Wine/Booze Bloggers....

2011-03-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

France's Cognac Board is running a blogging competition among U.S. bloggers, with prizes including $500 -- and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Cognac region of France! (Assuming your situation allows you to accept such a prize!)Here are the details.U.S. wine bloggers are invited by The Cognac Board (BNIC) and The Palate Press Advertising Network to compete in the 2011 Cognac Writing Contest.

An Interlude: BAWDY Wine Club report; March 2011 MERITAGE TASTING

2011-03-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

[BAWDY] is one of our local San Francisco East Bay wine clubs -- founded by Allison Wright and Arnie Becker and dedicated to having a relaxed good time with wine and friends. BAWDY stands for Bay Area Wine Drinkers And A "Y".] Hello Bawdies! This is a brief report on the wines we enjoyed at Saturday's party, hosted by the gracious FLAGGS! Thank you, Myra and Allen - not to forget the charming

Wine Tutorial Part Two: Roses, Champagnes, White Wines, Dessert Wines

2011-03-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

By Mac McCarthy, Zenergo Keywords: Rose, Pink, Blush, White Zinfandel, RAP, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris, Reisling, Gewurztraminer, Prosecco, Champagne, Pierre Jouet, Veuve Clicquot, Clairett de Die, Cremant d’Alsace, Domaine Allimant-Laugner, sparkling wine, fruit-flavored sparkling wine, dessert wine, Sauterne, Tokay, ice wine, Port, Madeira, Late Harvest

Wine Tutorial: Getting Started with Wine Tasting–Part 1

2011-02-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

By Mac McCarthy First published in Zenergo--Activate your Life! Consider this a cheat sheet for wine beginners. When you want to start or join a wine group in Zenergo, or find a wine-Activity friend, or go to a wine Event — it can be intimidating if you’re just getting started learning about and enjoying wine. Jargon, buzzwords, pompous wine twits, puzzling wine-bottle labels, and so many

Wine 101: A Series for Beginning Wine Tasters

2011-02-18T22:14:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have friends who are new at wine tasting, have them take a look at the first three posts I made to my Zenergo.com blog at http://blog.zenergo.com/ -- The third post, at the top of the page, is advice: What wines it's safe for a beginner winetaster to buy -- and what it's not safe to try. Meaning: What you're most likely to enjoy, and what is probably too intense for a

2008 Bordeaux Tasting: Where's the Fruit?

2011-01-31T19:35:00.000-08:00

Grand Cru tasting leaves me scratching my head. Bordeaux are supposed to be the finest, most refined, subtle, quietly complex wines in the world. At the 2008 Vintage trade tasting hosted January 21st at San Francisco's Palace Hotel by the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, I discovered to my disappointment that the 2008 red Bordeaux are uninteresting because their crisp tannnins lack the

"Blanding" Just A Matter of Taste?

2011-01-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

Last week, my long-time colleague Dan Berger expressed the opinion that American wines are undergoing a "blanding" in which varietal fruit flavors are getting fainter and fainter. Dan thinks that's a bad thing.Over the past several months, I've used SavvyTaste (get the Facebook App here) to share quite a few wines that I thought lacked fruit. Among those wines were Charles Shaw (Two Buck Chuck),

How to Pick the Best Bottle of Sparkling Wine for the Holidays!

2010-12-22T15:31:00.000-08:00

A *wonderful* article about all the many Champagnes and bubblies from around the world, and how their tastes compare! http://www.thirstygirl.com/index.php/quaff/article/bubbly-101-how-to-pick-the-best-bottle-for-the-holidays/

Join a Wine Club like 4 Seasons Wine from an email "special offer"? I don't think so....

2010-11-19T12:38:00.000-08:00

A friend writes that he received a "special offer" by email to get a case of unspecified wine for $69.95. He wanted to know if this sounded good. (As it happens, he lives in Oklahoma, which still forbids import of wines such as from wine clubs or wineries.) My response, which may be useful/interesting to you/friends. 4 Seasons Wine is a wine club - you join and they send you wines every month

Three Tasty Whites--Passaggio, Foppiano

2010-11-13T12:41:00.000-08:00

--By Mac McCarthy I've never been much of a white-wine fan, always preferring reds. But over the past year I've been finding more and more whites that capture the interest of my taste buds with their flavorfulness and pleasant tang. The initial provocation was an unoaked Chardonnay from Cynthia Cosco's Passaggio brand, "New Generations California Unoaked" from 2008, priced at $14 at the winery-

Beverage vs Cocktail - Can't anybody get this right? Not even Eric Asimov!

2010-10-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

NYT wine critic Eric Asimov reports today on a tasting of California Zinfandels: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/dining/13wine.html?_r=1&src=dayp ...and starts off by complaining about the "huge, dense, powerful monsters, pushing past 16 percent alcohol and overwhelming any food in their paths." Me, I love these huge, dense, powerful monsters, and the alcohol level doesn't bother me. But

Rock Me Redux

2010-10-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Rock Me ReduxBy John EngstromWell lucky, lucky me. After I posted the “Rock Me Baby” blog piece, (see below) I sent a link to it to Gary Branham, Clay Mauritson and Carol Shelton among others. Clay then sent me an invitation to attend the ‘Rockpile Rocks at Rock Wall’ event on September 8. Most of the wineries that use Rockpile grown grapes were there, along with several growers. There are no

Catchup: "Laughing Pig Rose; JC Cellars Ripkin Late Harvest Viognier"

2010-09-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Delayed notes on a couple of tasty bottles from last month. Laughing Pig Rose, Big Table Farms, Oregon, Pinot Noire Rose 2009, 14.1%, $22: Top line: A *delicious* rose -- flavorful, yummy, just-one-more-glass-please -- you know, all those technical terms. If you like rose, you'll like this dry, flavorful, aromatic and lovely wine. If you don't like rose -- well, you're just wrong, you haven't

Rock Me Baby

2010-08-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Rock Me BabyBy John Engstrom“Rock me baby, rock me all night long”: So begins B. B. King’s immortal song that could have been the theme of a memorable night of wine tasting. Tricia and David Grodin hosted a meeting of the Pompous Twits at their home recently, and all the wines were from the Rockpile AVA. An AVA, or American Viticultural Area, is a winegrowing region that has satisfactorily

5th Annual East Bay (SF) Urban Wine Xperience 2010 (UWX)

2010-08-07T19:52:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy Twenty urban wineries showed their wares at the fifth annual consumer tasting event in Oakland, California, the East Bay area of San Francisco Bay, where the urban winery concept perhaps first took hold. The wines from these small vintners were terrific, many were innovative, and all were fun for a wine lover to try. This is the fifth year the East Bay Vintner's Alliance (

My Madeira Tasting: I Had No Idea It Could Taste This Good!

2010-07-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

I've never cared much for Port wines, as I dislike the brandy used to fortify the wine. So it was with less than my usual enthusiasm that I accepted an invitation from The Tasting Panel Magazine and famed wine advisor Anthony Dias Blue to attend a "Madeira Master Class" event in June 2010. But one thing I've found in my journeys through the worlds of wine is that if you think you don't care for

I write like Nabakov?? Really?

2010-07-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

According to this amusing Web site, I Write Like, at http://www.iwl.me/ , my SavvyTaste Blog posts remind of Vladimir Nabakov! How I wish that could be true! Mac McCarthy I write likeVladimir NabokovI Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Luna Vineyards Napa Valley Pinot Grigio 2008 ($18) - Fun in the Sun

2010-07-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy Luna sent me their latest release for a taste. I reviewed three of Luna's Napa-sourced wines recently, including 2007 Pinot Grigio, a 2007 Sangiovese, and a 2006 Merlot, and found three good beverage wines perfect for light meals. The newly released 2008 Luna Vineyards Napa Valley Pinot Grigio ($18) is aromatic and grapefruity, the way PG should be. The taste is light and

Down Country Roads

2010-06-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

By John Engstrom Last weekend I visited a couple of wineries that are a bit off the main wine country highways. Coincidentally, both wineries locales were chosen because of the soil similarity to a region of France The first was Tablas Creek Winery in the northwestern reaches of Paso Robles. Opened at the dawn of this century by the owners of the renowned Chateau Beaucastel of Châteauneuf du

Three Wines from the New Foppiano

2010-06-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy Lucky me: I received the other day three wines from Foppiano Vineyards in Healdsburg (CA), a winery dating back to 1896 that has recently refresh itself, including new labels, under the direction of winemaker Natalie West and vineyard manager Paul Foppiano (all this I learned from the accompanying materials). The three wines were a Sauvignon Blanc, a Rose, and a Pinot Noir.

Taste & Talk 2008 Passaggio Chardonnay

2010-06-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy The main thing about Cyndy's Passagio 08 Chard is that it is very *flavorful* - you keep wanting to go back and take another sip! Not A Boring Chard! And amazingly, it's only $13! This is a $30 or $40 CHard, folks -- a chard for people who don't think they like Chardonnay. Problem: Only available online - at http://networkedblogs.com/4BPyn -- so shipping doubles the price.

RAP 6th Annual Pink Out! SF's Major Rose Tasting

2010-06-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

By Mac McCarthy The Rosé support group, RAP -- Rosé Avengers and Producers – presented their 6th Annual "Pink Out!" trade and public tasting in mid-May, at the charming Butterfly Restaurant at San Francisco's Pier 33. I was happy to be able to attend my sixth Pink Out! tasting in a row – this Rosé tasting is the most enjoyable winetasting events of my year, and there's a good reason for it.

"Diageo Shutters Rosenblum Winery, Moves Production to Napa"

2010-05-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

(Wine Spectator): http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/42703 Not *quite* as alarming as it first reads, but pretty alarming nonetheless: Diageo, which bought Rosenblum a couple of years ago and has been clearing out its warehouses of slower-selling highly rated bottles at bargain prices, is cutting costs by consolidating winemaking at a Napa facility, along with other wineries it

Pompous Twits tasting: "Mac's New Wineries of the East Bay"

2010-04-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

Tasting report by Mac McCarthy It was a tough month for an event, even with such a promising theme – a mere 11 of our Pompous Twits were able to appear for this month's tasting event, held at the Palomares Cafe in Castro Valley, CA. We actually had too many wines – 17, plus a bonus starter wine from Dave Hulet, a Molyneaux that was a great start. With Dave's help, I trimmed back the wine list a

Followup Pinot Noir Tasting...

2010-04-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

As a followup to our investigation of the Gallo French Pinot that might not actually be a Pinot, I gathered some friends to check the wine and compare it to other inexpensive Pinots. One taster's comment as soon as he tried the Gallo Red Bicyclette: "Hmm. Lacks varietal character." I swear I didn't prompt him! We then tried some other cheap Pinots for comparison, a $9 Castle Rock that tasted

Falcor, Girard, Etude--On the Napa & Sonoma Wine Trail with James Jazz King

2010-04-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

One great thing about social media is meeting new people. Twitter has earned me a couple of new wine-loving friends, including James Jazz King, a "personal wine educator for hire," whose Twitter handle is @UrWineGuy. James went up to Napa for a weekend a few months ago to check on a few wineries for his wine-tour business, and invited me to join him. I jumped at the chance, especially since he

Red Bicyclette: First Impressions of a Wine Scandal

2010-03-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

Last month some French wine businessmen were sent to jail on charges they substituted for cheap Pinot Noir a volume of even cheaper wine, Syrah I believe, maybe with some Merlot mixed in, nobody's sure. They sold this in large volume to American bottlers, mainly Gallo, who put it in some of their low-cost wines, most notably something called Red Bicyclette. The idea that the Gallo buyers

ZAP! Great Annual Zinfandel Fest Ready to Start!

2010-01-29T16:14:00.000-08:00

ZAP Zinfandel Festival from kjraymond on Vimeo. ZAP -- the famed Zinfandel festival held each year since 1991 in San Francisco, largest single-varietal event in the world -- kicks off this week (late January 2010), culminating in the public tasting Saturday afternoon, Jan 31 -- where 10,000 or more Zin lovers are expected to stagger down ten aisles of wonderful wines in two large buildings on

V. Sattui 2007 California Gamay Rouge, Napa

2010-01-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

12%, $17.75 at the winery.I was lucky enough to have some of this rose at a recent tasting and to take the remains home for further contemplation.Gamay Rose's are light and flavorful, and this one is so fruity and tasty it's almost like candy in a glass. I have to say, I really like it. A great aperitif, it also went well with roasted chicken. And some chocolates I had for dessert.I understand

Chalone 04 Pinot Noir, Estate - Yes indeedy!

2009-12-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

Chalone Vineyards 2004 Pinot Noir, Estate, The Pinnacles, Soledad, Monterey County, CA. 14.2%. $38.I picked up several bottles of this at the annual Diageo wine event in Napa, where interesting bargains are to be had. In this case, they were selling Chalone Pinot Noir at about a third of the list price, so I got a few bottles, and opened one this evening.It's delicious. It's exactly what I want

Luna Vineyards Pinot Grigio--Great Beverage Wine

2009-12-24T14:08:00.000-08:00

I was pleased the other day to get three bottles of wine from a winery I didn't know, Luna Vineyards -- new wineries are always fun. The bottles are attractive, with beautiful, elegant labels. The wines are all from Napa: a 2007 Pinot Grigio, a 2007 Sangiovese, and a 2006 Merlot. I opened the Pinot Grigio first, and tried it on its own as an aperatif -- I don't like it straight. It has a pleasant

My Two Favorite Livermore Valley Wineries Revisited

2009-12-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

In the past two years of going to wine festivals and other wine events in the Livermore Valley (an area to the east of San Francisco), of the 40 or so excellent wineries that make this area well worth visiting, two new wineries in particular have stood out from the crowd: Longevity, and Cuda Ridge. I stopped by both at the Livermore Holidays in the Vineyards festival this weekend, and it

Two Disappointing Wines....

2009-11-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

Opened a bottle of 2004 Chateau La Fleur Bibian ($15) the other day. It's a Listrac-Medoc "Cuvee de Coeur" Grand Vin de Bordeaux, and it's nothing. Sharp-edged and with insufficient fruit, it's a disappointment. At the other end of the ambition scale was a bottle of Rosemount Shiraz, an 05 on sale at BevMo for five bucks - I see why. I loved Rosemount's Shirazes when they first came to the US a

HOW SAVVYTASTE WORKED THE CRUSHPAD WINE BLOGGER BLENDOFF

2009-11-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Your SavvyTaste wine blog somehow managed to squeeze into the Crushpad Fusebox Wine Blogger Blendoff Contest that pitted ten wine bloggers against one another to see who could come up with the best blend of five Bordeaux-style wines.The gimmick was dreamed up by the people at Crushpad of San Francisco, a custom-crush facility that, in addition to renting its equipment and space out to small

Great images: Describing Roy Orbison's voice--or a smooth wine.

2009-10-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

As writers, we always appreciate a well-turned phrase.I'm reading the Wikipedia entry for Roy Orbison, and at one point they quote various singers attempting to describe what most referred to as his "operatic" voice -- some of these images are amazing:*Roy Orbison's voice*Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel both commented on the otherworldy quality of Orbison's voice; a particularly poetic

Bottling Time at New Jersey's 40 Wineries

2009-10-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

This little video takes you to one of New Jersey's 40 wineries -- yes, that's 40 -- where the harvest should just have ended.It's bottling season at New Jersey’s Alba Vineyard An article on the NJ.com Web site describes the newly burgeoning Jersey winegrowing scene, in an article about how the recent bad weather there is creating a problem for the 2009 vintage.The 2009 New Jersey wine vintage. A

Wine Advice for a 27-Year-Old

2009-10-20T22:37:00.001-07:00

My friend Steve Drace wrote to ask me what I'd recommend in the way of wines for an event being hosted by his son, who is 27 and unfamiliar with wines. My response could be helpful as a starting point for the youths in your family who are just starting out!Steve:Fortunately, wines for 27-year-olds are easy to find and tend to be inexpensive, especially if we're talking about untrained palates,

Pompous Twits tasting: "Weird But Wonderful!"

2009-10-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

I said I was behind on my posts, but this is ridiculous! I was plowing through my files for materials from some recent tastings and I came across this unposted report on a fun tasting we did for my other wine group, The Pompous Twits (of Hayward, CA and environs). The theme was "Weird but Wonderful!" and we were encouraged to bring our most unusual bottle -- whether the grape or the nationality

BAWDY: Old Cabs/Old Bordeaux Tasting

2009-10-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

I'm catching up on past tastings, as you will see. This was a February 2009 tasting of one of my wine groups, BAWDY ("Bay Area Wine Drinkers and-a-Y"). Hosted by Brian and Jill Oana at their Alameda CA home, the theme they chose for this BYOB was "OLD CABS/OLD BORDEAUX."Well, who's going to miss a thing like that??Of course, this means "old" in affordable terms -- we're not rich and our cellars

Taster's Guild: Monticello Vineyards Pairing

2009-10-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

Taster's Guild is a wine-and-food pairing club, with chapters around the country -- the San Francisco East Bay Area chapter, "Diablo," run by Gail and John Engstrom of Dublin, hosted the April pairing at a new location, Stacey's at Waterford, a midlevel restaurant (entrees $20-$30) known locally for being owned by the wife of Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams. This was our first time at Stacey's,

It Ain't Easy Reviewing and Writing About Wines...

2009-09-18T15:56:00.001-07:00

Small controversy going around about wine reviews: Some experienced, sophisticated wine writers who are published in top wine journals are complaining about the flood of Web wine writers and bloggers (like yours truly). Many of us don't know much about wine; many don't know much, period. Some established wine critics are busy making fools of themselves by asserting that some kind of training or

Mac's Livermore Harvest Wine Fest After-Action Report

2009-09-11T14:47:00.001-07:00

What a wonderful world, that has wine in it!I think there should be a holiday to honor the woman who discovered how to make wine! (You don't think the men would have figured it out, do you?) INTROIn the big valley east of the San Francisco Bay Area lies what some claim is the oldest winemaking region of California -- Livermore Valley, south of 580 as it heads out towards the Altamont Pass, the

Good Sense on Wine Sulfites

2009-09-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

From Robin Garr's WineLover's Page email newsletter:"First, let's get one thing perfectly clear about sulfites in wine: This is a natural process that's been used by winemakers for a couple of thousand years, with the benign purpose of keeping your wine from spoiling before you can drink it."With the limited exception of sulfite-sensitive asthmatics, who must avoid sausages, pickles and many

Should I Hold Only 'Blind' Tastings?

2009-09-04T15:34:00.001-07:00

When you're having a winetasting, this question may come up: Should you always make it a blind tasting, so people aren't influenced by the label/price/reputation? Or should it be an open tasting, so you can educate yourselves about the wines?It depends on what you are trying to accomplish.If you are rating, scoring, ranking the wines, there is considerable evidence (anecdotal as well as

Blind Tasting: Experts Can't Identify Classic Reds

2009-09-04T15:31:00.001-07:00

For one of my winetasting groups, The Pompous Twits, I hosted the March event each year, and my theme one year was a blind tasting called "Classic Reds," featuring two examples of each of seven classic wine types: a couple of Cabs, a couple of Merlots, a French-style Pinot and a West-Coast-style Pinot, a big Zin, two Bordeaux, one in each style, an Australian Shiraz, and so on.Your job was simple

Pompous Twits: Livermore Valley Wines

2009-08-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

[A Twit Don't Spit]Our Pompous Twits winetasting group's August event started at noon in the back yard of Bob and Karleta Atkinson in Livermore on a lovely August afternoon. Theme: A Taste of Livermore Valley Wines -- Karleta works at Concannon, so it's an area she knows well.Jerry, Carol, MikeActually, she said, when they went around to various wineries to pick wines for this tasting, they were

JW Morris Gewurz--Tasty! And Why Hostile to Sweet?

2009-08-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned early, the J.W. Morris Chenin Blanc I picked up at Trader Joe's for $2.99 was a very happy surprise, very tasty and refreshing.As suggested by my equally cheapskate friend, Jan Roberts, I finally located the J.W. Morris Gewurztraminer at Trade Joe's (I had to ask a clerk--you know how we guys hate to ASK). It was also $2.99 (!) and the verdict: YUM!It's off-dry -- actually, it's

Malbec as the Recession Red Wine?

2009-08-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

"New Yorkers Swap Bordeaux for Argentine Malbec," says an article in today's Bloomberg. Good Malbecs from Argentina are priced in th $18 to $22 range, says the article, which goes on to give a nice precis of the Malbec grape in Argentina, and the fact that Argentina has come up to 5th place as an importer to the U.S. In Argentina, malbec, a grape of French origin, has flourished in the intense

J.W. Morris Chenin Blanc, 2007, California, $2.99, Trader Joe's -- Not Bad!

2009-08-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

At the suggestion of a friend, I got a bottle of JW Chenin Blanc down at Trader Joe's, for the munificent sum of $2.99. So how is it? I'm drinking it now. And it's -- not bad. Not bad at all! Very pleasant, in fact.Clear, a little crispness without being too sharp. It tastes like - and this will sound odd -- it tastes like it's made from green grapes. You know, the kind you eat chilled at lunch.

Tasting on the Silverado Trail

2009-08-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

Image of Hagafen Cellars via SnoothGuest editorial from my friends Jim Allison and Lina Enrile of Castro Valley, CA (who are also in my winetasting group, BAWDY).Dear Friends, We just came back yesterday from Napa and visited wineries generally in the Stag's Leap district along the Silverado trail. It was great to visit the wineries focusing on one AVA. There is more time for tasting and less

Hard to get people to do something!

2009-08-09T21:59:00.001-07:00

It's surprisingly hard to get people to do things.I post my monthly Wine Events Calendar to my other wine blog, at http://mcwong1946.blogspot.com/ (you should subscribe to that too), and send it out to the 35 or so members of my winetasting group, and also post links to Twitter to the hundred or so people, many following me because of wine things. It's hard to tell how much action my efforts

Wines Not Worth Drinking At Any Price

2009-08-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

A wine blogger I follow on Twitter, @DailyWine, posted a Wines Not To Buy (http://bit.ly/e5rV8) -- a good idea, I thought, so I opened up my tasting file to find wines to not recommend.I was surprised that most of my Avoids were tasted ten or more years ago. Either my budget, or my tastes, have improved. Image of Cardinal Zin Cellars via SnoothHere are some less-than-impressive wines I've tasted

2007 Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon: Another Good One from Two-Buck Chuck

2009-08-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

Image by Chris Devers via FlickrOnce again, a tasty red from Charles Shaw: I just opened the 2007 California Cabernet Sauvignon. Actually, it was a little rough when I first opened it, so I put the rubber air-suction cork back on it, and a few days later tried it again.And it was tasty: Lots of appropriate fruit, good body; altogether, a very drinkable $12 wine. That of course costs $1.99 at

Affordable Wines Interesting To Drink

2009-07-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

Eric Asimov, the NYT's wine columnist, had a piece in May listing drinkable wines in his idea of the sweet spot of wine prices: $10 to $20. See "Complex American Wine at a Price Easy to Pay."He cites some Oregon Pinot Gris, a couple of California sparkling wines, a rose, a Long Island Pinot Blanc, and only a couple of reds. He remarks, in fact, on how hard it was to find "interesting" reds at

Trailer to Movie Satire, Corked!

2009-07-29T09:11:00.001-07:00

Mike Homula posted trailer to upcoming satire CORKED to his site, Pulling the Cork: http://bit.ly/15XoZU - Can't wait to see this one! It looks funny!

Tour de France: a Provençal Taste of Ventoux Wines

2009-07-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

This charming aside to the Tour de France race is courtesy of my friend, San Francisco-based French wine importer, teacher, and enthusiast (and all-around great guy) Raphael Knapp! Enjoy! -- macWhen the Tour de France climbed the famed Mont Ventoux...... it gives us the chance to talk about a Provençal taste of Ventoux wines!.. Mont Ventoux, located in the Vaucluse department, is one of the

Accessorizing Your Wine Experience

2009-07-10T18:03:00.001-07:00

My friend Scott Koegler from Wilkesboro, North Carolina, whose blog, Wines of Yadkin Valley, is a wine-traveler's guide to the area, has posted a handy-dandy guide to wine accessories, from corkscrew to wine rack: Accessorizing Your Wine Experience. Especially useful reading for those of you just starting out in your wine enthusiasms.

Judging the (Surprisingly Good) Wines of the San Joaquin Valley in California

2009-07-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaSo Lew Perdue (CEO of SavvyTaste) and I drove down from the San Francisco Bay area and Sonoma to the middle of California, most of the way down Highway 99, south of Fresno, to the hamlet of Kingsburg, a small farming community that serves as headquarters of the San Joaquin Valley Winegrower's Association.This area is also the center of the bulk-wine industry -- growing grapes

A List of Lighter-Style California Pinot Noirs

2009-07-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

Image of Calera Wine Company via Snooth(From NYT: Eric Asimov's The Pour wine column, Marh 10, 2009, titled Finessed and Light: California Pinot Noirs With a ManifestoOn the Lighter SideThe following are among the California pinot noirs made in a lighter style, emphasizing finesse over power. Some wines are widely available; others are sold by mailing list. Prices can range from around $20 for

Fine Wines of South Jersey (Yes, South Jersey)

2009-06-24T22:56:00.001-07:00

Specifically, Heritage Vineyards of Richwood, N.J.. It's outside of Swedesboro, if you know that charming little farming town--about 30 miles south-east of Philadelphia, smack in the vegetable-growing area of New Jersey, famed for its indescribably delicious tomatoes. I spent a nightmarish summer in my youth as a ketchup cook for ancient HJ Heinz packing plant in nearby Salem; I have almost

Wine Judge -and- Pinot Days Volunteering

2009-06-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

On Friday (June 26) Lew Perdue and I will be down in the Central Valley of California, judging at the 5th Annual San Joaquin Wine Competition.This is part of the Valley winegrowers' efforts to make clear that flat, dry, hot lands can produce quality wines -- contrary to the impression everyone (including me) has that you need at least some coolness, preferably fog, at certain times in the growing

Age Improves with Wine!

2009-06-21T21:17:00.001-07:00

"JC Cellars Syrah and More" -- Pompous Twits Tasting May 2009

2009-05-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

Image by Yabbb via FlickrI hosted the April 2009 tasting for the Hayward, CA wine group, The Pompous Twits -- though we had to shift it over to May 2nd, at Hayward's Neumanali restaurant, which is in a restored 1890's Victorian. We were actually in the annex, another Victorian a few doors down (which doubles as owner Julie's office--she's a CPA in her Other Life).My theme this year was Syrahs

Wine Events in the San Francisco and East Bay areas!

2009-04-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of the events going on in the San Francisco Bay Area/California for May, 2009. Enjoy!mac*To start you off on the right note, check this article: "Wine Adds Five Years to Life, More Than Beer, Dutch Study Finds"****EVENTS COMING UP for those who love wine and related activities:Image by Yabbb via Flickr*JC Cellars Wine Wednesday, Wed. May 6th, 5pm-7pm--This month featuring the

Monticello Vineyards Tasting at Stacey's in Dublin CA

2009-04-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

Tasting: Survey of JC Cellars Reds!

2009-04-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

My turn to host our Pompous Twits winetasting group, on May 2nd.Last year and the year before I offered a roundup of Rosenblum wines. Though many of our members go to Rosenblum's quarterly open-house tastings, it's easy to overlook the many wines the Big R makes besides the big Zins that have made it famous (and my favorite winery). Those tastings were, as you can imagine, big hits with our

Wine as Beverage vs Wine as Cocktail -- an Important Difference!

2009-03-11T15:35:00.001-07:00

It can be helpful to understand wines as falling into one of two categories: Beverage Wines, and Cocktail Wines. This will save you a lot of grief in choosing and enjoying a wine.Beverage Wines: The idea is that Europeans, who drink wine with meals, want a beverage to wash down what they eat -- for that you need something like but flavorful, like a Burgundy-style Pinot Noir -- not a big Zin that

Trader Joe's has Nero D'Avola! Great stuff!

2009-03-04T20:12:00.000-08:00

Hit of a recent tasting among friends, Trader Joe's Archeo Nero D'Avola costs about $4 and tastes great! A fat Sicilian red. Yum. Can't believe the price.

ZAP--Zowie Zinfandel Event in SF Terrific Again

2009-02-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

The ZAP Zinfandel Festival the end of January, 2009, at Ft Mason in San Francisco was as wonderful as always -- 350 wineries, 850 wines, ALL Zinfandels! Maybe 10,000 people showed up.I volunteered, working the Heritage Wine booth, had a great time, and tasted some good wines. No way to taste everything. No way to taste more than a handful without falling over! So I targeted. My favs that day:

Chasing fleeting wine bargains!

2009-01-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

It's bad enough trying to figure out what you like from the enormous variety of wines, regions, makers, styles, blends, varietels and on and on -- but if you happen to find a great wine bargain, sometimes it's strictly temporary.Take the Rosenblum Snow's Lake I found last month at Cost Plus/World Market. I told everybody I knew, of course, and many of them ran out to World Market to pick up this

Yep, the Snows Lake at $19 is faboo!

2008-12-31T17:00:00.000-08:00

I've now had a glass of the Costplus-World Market $19 Rosenblum Snows Lake Zinfandel 2005 and it is indeed the Real Thing -- dense, flavorful, concentrated, sweet, yet sophisticated and complex. Go right out and buy several bottles -- then save one for next year, and one for the year after -- if past history is any judge, this will get better for several years! Yet it's also dee-licious right now!

Snow's Lake Zin at $19--Unbelievable!

2008-12-31T15:04:00.001-08:00

I can't believe my eyes -- Cost Plus/World Market, in the California San Francisco Bay Area, at least, is selling one of the top Zinfandels in the world -- Rosenblum Cellars' Snows Lake Vineyard 2005 Lake County Zin!In a tasting last year with a 2004 Snows Lake, the consensus among my friends was that the Snows Lake was actually as tasty as the best Zin of all, Rosenblum's Rockpile Road 2004!Both

What Wines for the Holidays?

2008-11-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is tough for picking a wine, because of the variety of tastes.You have then two choices: Bring whatever you like and don't worry about it; and/or bring a variety of bottles and don't worry about it.One traditional T-day wine is Beaujolais Nouveau. This year's is said to be pricey and "shrugworthy" as one reviewer put it. Some recommend Cru Beaujolais, or the regular Beaujolais, from