by Chef David Darugh
You put cream in your coffee, I don’t. You put salt on your eggs, I don’t. I put Tabasco on almost everything, you don’t. We all have different tastes; it’s just that simple.If we translate that to wine, you drink oaky Chardonnay while I prefer a steely Sauvignon Blanc. You drink Beaujolais while I enjoy a hearty Cabernet. We have different tastes. In my earlier days I used to think all wine tasted more or less the same. I liked some better than others, but I could not say why. When drinking wine, as opposed to Pepsi, you should keep two things in mind: Slow down and pay attention. The more attentively you smell and taste wine the more interesting you will find it, and the more you will learn. There are countless books written on wine-tasting, but I figure you just want the esse...
by Bok Nan Lo
Casual drinking with an old themeLast night, friends called me up for a last minute drinking session…. Theme, something old. That obviously get me excited. Without hesitation, I quickly grabbed an old bottle that happened to be standing up for a couple of days and rushed over.In his cellar, a glance and I saw some striking labels – Gaja. They didn’t blind the bottle. Interesting, I never had very old Gaja before, so I thought this is going to be some interesting session.We pulled out our weapons – the old cork remover, The Durango. My bottle’s cork came off nicely. My friend’s Gaja Barbaresco 1962 wasn’t so lucky – a bit of pressure applied and the cork sank further in, even our old faithful weapon couldn’t salvage sinking cork. So no choice, just got to depress the cork ...
by Andrew John Chalk
by Andrew ChalkCan a Chilean wine age and improve for a quarter of a century? More expert Dallas wine tasters are saying ‘yes’ today after an impressive vertical showing by parent winery Concha y Toro of their flagship Don Melchor to a trade audience last week where i was an invited guest. Backed by the wine-friendly food and seamless service of The Capital Grille Dallas, winemaker Enrique Tirado made a presentation about Don Melchor and guided attendees through a tasting of the 1989, 1993, 2006 and 2009 vintages.Don Melchor was the founder of Concha y Toro. The decision to name a wine in his honor came after a 1986 initiative by the head of the winery, Don Eduardo Guilisasti Tagle, to send his son along with the winery’s enologist to Bordeaux to meet with legendary French enologist ...
by Bok Nan Lo
I had two separate events this week, and both events lead to one conclusion. Before we jump to conclusion, let's look at the processes.Pauillac Blind TastingAn overseas friend came over during the weekend, so I threw a theme before they fly over -- let's do a blind tasting of Pauillac wines regardless of the vintage. So they picked up a bottle of wine in HK before heading to Singapore.5 bottles and 6 persons attended the dinner cum tasting. The event is served double blind, no labels, no vintage ideas. We had a pour each and started guessing which are the top 3 consensus wines, and we had an answer within an hour.At this point, we revealed what wines we have brought, these are the wines:Lynch Bages 89Lynch Bages 2000Mouton Rothschild 83Pichon Baron 96Latour 83Now all 6 of us voted, and we ...
by Bok Nan Lo
Bordeaux 89 versus 90 Blind TastingMonday, 29 October 2012(Derby Restaurant, Hong Kong Jockey Club, Hong Kong)Sommelier in Charge: Herve Pennequin, 3rd best Sommelier in the World 2004Bordeaux 89 versus 90The FormatAs a group of my friends have established substantial drinking experience with various vintages of Bordeaux, we decided to do a comparison of two good vintages and see what are the choices available. Originally, only first growth wines were allowed, but I opposed to it as I can name exactly what wines will be top choices -- Haut Brion 89, Lafite 90, followed by Latour 89 and arguably Mouton Rothschild 90. So we allowed classified growths which I will bring some surprise bottles after so many years of drinking both vintages, I know exactly what's going to sing in the blind tastin...
by Laura Ness
The holidays call for a mix of beverages, to meet the needs of a wide array of palate preferences. Every “Libations List” should begin with two sparklings: a sparkling wine (or two) and a sparkling cider or sparkling water. You always want something non-alcoholic on hand. Ideally, you should also have at least two whites (a chardonnay is always in style plus something sassy or a bit sweeter, depending on your guest list), as well as three to four reds, including a couple of pinots, a syrah and a Bordeaux wine of some sort. Let's take a look at some artisan wine producers from the Central Coast of California that have wonderful gems to enjoy.Sparkling: Hand Over the BubblesTwo fabulous sparklings that are well-made and obtainable hail from Laetitia in Arroyo Grande. The Laetitia Brut Cu...
by Andrew John Chalk
I recently reported on a tasting of Texas wines made from the Rhône grape named Roussanne. Thirty four Dallas consumers blind-tasted 17 Roussanne wines (or blends) from major Roussanne growing regions (10 wines were from Texas) and when the results were in, Texas wines occupied four of the five top positions, including first.That tasting, organized by a wine event group named Gusto, has been replicated closely by them in Houston and Austin. Here are the results for the top five wines out of 17 in each tasting. I have highlighted the Texas wines to draw attention to their rankings: Location: Austin @ Malaga Tapas & Bar. Date: 7/30/2013 – 27 Tasters1. Truchard, Carneros, Roussanne, 2011 $22.2. Calais Winery, Texas High Plains, ‘La Cuvee Principale’ Roussanne, 2011. $21.3. Bending Bra...
by Laura Ness
When I was a teenager, I finally convinced my Mother to pay for horseback riding lessons: something I’d wanted to do since I was able to walk. My instructor, who lived even farther out in the boonies of the Hudson Valley than we did, boarded three horses, two of which I got to ride. The third, an impressively enormous black stallion with a white star on his face, was a bit too out of control for a beginner like me. At 18.5 hands high, Danny Boy was stunning, high-spirited and slightly evil. He was constantly grabbing hold of the rope handle to the barn door, which swung at least 20 feet over my head, pulling it down with a thud. If you turned your back to him, he was nipping on your hair band, trying to steal your sweater or biting your butt. I wanted nothing more in the world than to ri...
by Andrew John Chalk
There is general agreement that Tempranillo is the red grape that has done best in Texas thus far. I decided it was time to do a comparative tasting in order to get an idea of how good Texas Tempranillo has become, and who is doing the best job with the grape. I put out an APB to every winery in Texas for their currently available Texas Tempranillos and received no fewer than 23 different wines from fifteen wineries in response. As with our earlier comparison of Texas Viognier, the tasting would be blind and the tasters would be volunteers from the Dallas sommelier community.Seven sommeliers, plus myself, assembled at WinePoste.com in the Dallas Design District over several hours to sip and slurp our way through the wines. I excluded my scores from the results below as I was involved in th...
by Steven Sinkler
The leaves have changed to beautiful golden colors and can now be seen drifting to the ground. Those fabulous long summer days are behind us and the temperatures now require sweatshirts, hats, and those long-forgotten things called gloves. There’s no getting around it - Fall is in full swing and Winter is around the corner. What does that mean in terms of wine? Well, many of us enjoy a nice crisp glass (or, bottle!) of rosé or white wine during the warmer months. But, this is the time of year for bigger and fuller wines that will warm you up on chilly evenings. Red wine lovers rejoice; this column is dedicated to you! One of my recently discovered favorite wines is Lujon “Walla Walla” Cabernet Sauvignon. Lujon’s winemaker, John Derthick, graduated from UC-Davis in 1999 and m...
