Wine People

I never much liked Ayn Rand’s books, but…

Arthur P. Johnson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:41:13 +0000

This Fountainhead is a different deal. With only 501 cases made, **-2006 Fountainhead Cabernet Sauvignon Morisoli Borges Vineyard won’t be easy to find, but if you find it, fork over the forty-some bucks and pull a cork. It’s fragrant as all get-out and even more so the following day. Think cassis with a dash of kirsch. With a touch of grit on the palate as befits a Rutherford Cab, it fills the mouth nicely and finishes well. Fresh, juicy and just delicious for drinking now.

Ah, Youth

Arthur P. Johnson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:02:34 +0000

When a wine critic says “this profound stuff should age effortlessly for 20 years”… ever wonder how the heck he arrives at that guess? I don’t have a clue. But I do have a trick for figuring out if a wine should be cellared at all.

Drink half the bottle, ram the cork back in and stick it in the fridge. Then come back to it in a couple of days and see if it’s still worth drinking. If it actually tastes better, you’ve got a winner. If it’s worse, well, poor you.

Both things happened to me yesterday. Out of the icebox I drew:

1997 Etude Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. Once a firm-framed, three-star seductress, this wine had softened up quite a bit when I tasted it a couple of years ago. Now it’s fading at an alarming pace. Ashy notes prevent much pleasure until it airs for half an hour. Then a core of fruit shines forth — but not enough for my liking. Drink up!

*++2005 CrauforD Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon “Tattoo” I really think this one is a bit better three days later. Blackberry, a hint of licorice and a smidge of cranberry jam — just the same as it was on opening, only louder. Nice texture. Fills up the mid-palate pleasingly. If the finish were fuller, this discovery would merit two stars, maybe more. Anyhow, at under 25 bucks, it’s a buy for Napa Cab addicts like me.

Screwcaps: The Future?

Arthur P. Johnson — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:41:10 +0000

Adam Lee of Siduri is not only a terrific winemaker, but a relentless innovator

(September 12, 2009) Adam Lee of Siduri is always amazingly generous with his time. I collared him for a few lines right before the full fury of crush struck. We spoke about what Siduri is doing with screwcaps. This is scarcely an interview, but as I scramble for time to start up this Website, hey, it’ll do!

APJ: Question, Adam ─ you’ve been using screwcaps on some of your regional bottlings, a practice that I heartily endorse. What drives the decision to screwcap some wines and not others? Do you have a cutoff price-point, or is it something else? (By the way, congrats on your Sonoma County bottling getting awarded “Best American Pinot Noir under $20″ by Food and Wine magazine. What took ‘em so long to discover it! )

Adam: We’ve used screwcaps thus far on our Appellation wines, but it isn’t a price point thing. We’ve got a number of customers that have been aging our single-vineyard Pinots for 5-7 years or perhaps more. We’ve been doing some trials on those wines, bottling them mainly under cork, but a few cases under screwcap to see how they do with more years. We are 3 years in and so far so good. With the Appellation wines, we seem to have far fewer folks aging them for more than 3+ years so we feel pretty good about going that way. Does that make sense?

APJ: Yes, it makes plenty of sense, but I also noticed that some of your appellation wines come with corks, and some with screwcaps?

Adam: Not any more. We did that trial as well for fewer years…just a couple. We were pleased, so now all appellation Pinots are screwcaps.

APJ: So I take it that restaurants are okay with this?

Adam: With the screwcaps? Or with our gradual process of getting there? They seem to like the screwcaps.

APJ: I meant with the screwcaps. That’s great news. If the sommeliers are okay with it, I would guess they’ll educate the consumers.