My Top Five Aesthetic Discoveries of 2006
My Top Five Aesthetic Discoveries of 2006
5. Hiromi
This young Japanese jazz artist is...well...remarkable. Her compositions are original and unique in the same way the sound of The Who or Led Zeppelin's compositions were unique. If you are a Jazz fan this woman's work should become indispensable.
4. George Saintsbury
He's not exactly "new". However, in the course of doing work for Saintsbury winery this year I had a chance to read through his work, mainly his "Notes on a Cellar Book. Saintsbury was a very influential English literary historian and critic who possessed a keenly intellectual and, I think, visceral appreciation for wine. In "Notes" you see these two things meshed with his Victorian sensibilities. Reading "Notes" is a real pleasure. Here is a good Post from WineSapian on Saintsbury and his "Notes on a Cellar Book".
3. Aged Sauvignon Blanc
We just don't drink our whites with age on them, do we. My first exposure to a well aged SB that pleased me was a 20 year old Pat Paulson SB that was amazing...for about 10 minutes, then fell apart. In those 10 minutes it tasted like no other white wine I'd had from the U.S. and I wanted more. But it left the room. This year I decided it was time to test aged SB and went out and found 3 or 4 ten year old examples. These were expressive, subtly fruity, with hints of maderization, a nuttiness and the best still possessed a backbone of acidity. I'm hooked.
2. Kermit Lynch's Palate
The man is legend and for very good reason. A bit of a tempered iconoclast, Lynch gained famed with his book "Adventures on the Wine Route". MFK Fisher called this book, "
"One of the pleasantest and truest books about wine I've ever read." I never really sought out the wines that Lynch discovers and brings to his store, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants, until this year. I've yet to be disappointed. He brings me discoveries and new wines and new ideas all at the same time when his packages of wine arrive at my home.
1. Old Hill Ranch Vineyard
Bucklin Winery became a client of Wark Communications in 2006. With that relationship came access to Bucklin's 150+ year old Old Hill Ranch vineyard in Glen Ellen in the middle of Sonoma Valley. For those of you who are thinking, "Tom's about to go off on a promotional aside for a client"...I don't care. I've walked throughout this vineyard, through the season, this year and I never failed to be stunned by it's complex, natural and intellectual beauty. Many of the individual vines are so unique they take on personality, particularly if you follow their progression throughout the seasons. Then there is the odd intermixing of varieties throughout the vineyard, a flagrant and promiscuous ensemble of more than 25 different types of grapevines. After harvest this year I was walking through the vineyard. The vines' second crop and part of the first was still hanging on the vines. As I walked through the vineyard I found myself gobbling up and tasting Grenache, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Alicante Bouschet, Carignane, Syrah, Lenoir, Tempranillo, Chasselas, Mourvedre and who knows what else. And many of the grapes hung on vines over 100 years old. A sensual experience of this sort must be what wine lovers live for.





Last week many of us read about the sale over in London of an extraordinary collection of wine: A 135-Bottle Vertical Collection of Chateau d'Yquem ranging from 1860 to 2003.
I have to admit that of late it seems I've encountered far fewer "corked" wines than in the past. I've no solid, scientific evidence to know this. It just seems this way.
America's most influetial living Jazz pianist takes the stage at
I've thought about it. Winemakers have and most certainly wine marketers have: Do women perceive wine differently than men. Not "do women react differently to wine packaging than men?" Not, "Do women serve or use wine differently than men"?" Rather, when women smell and taste wine do they have a different reaction than men would to the same wine?
question of how women's palates differ from men's. It wouldn't be too difficult. You'd simple have two groups of judges, one all male and one all female, all judging the same wines in the same manner. As it is, the best tool this competition will yield is a set of wines that are endorsed by women. That's not a bad thing. As the Women for Winesense points out, women by far more wine than men do. Personally, I'd love to have a sticker to put on my wine bottle that says, "Judged Superior by Women".
Howard Goldberg has released what I believe has become his
Is it just me or does anyone else have a hard time imagining Silver Oak Winery inhabiting the Roshambo Winery facility on Westside Road in Healdsburg? In fact, I can't imagine any other winery successfully occupying this amazing facility.
this was a case of a facility and a personality (Naomi Brilliant's) matching perfectly and in a rather spectacular way.
As I sat, sipped coffee and read my newspapers this morning I was still feeling the ill effects of last night's foray into consumerist hell: The Mall. Let me be very precise about my feelings concerning enclosed malls: I hate them! I hate them even more at Christmas time. They are Hell.
Ours is a culture in which information almost always serves commerce. This is particularly true of wine information. Nearly all of the wine information we consume leads us in one way or another to disposing of our income or our capital.
good and useful.
Nick Passmore has certainly done this.
We PR folks are known for cooking up all sorts of wild things for our clients. Some ideas are better than others...to be sure. One idea that I've occasionally suggested to clients is the simple act of publishing a book about the winery's history.
had as much experience with the grape called Petite Sirah. One of those wineries was Concannon.
For as long as I've been in the wine business I've heard rumors of "specially bottled" versions of wines that get sent on to reviewers and tasting panels. These special bottlings are supposedly designed to meet the palate preferences of particular reviewers or they are wines bottled up from the very best barrels that are supposed to be blended in with a number of other lots. I've never confirmed this actualy happening. But in all honesty, I believe it has happened...and probably often.
The Center for Wine Orignins as well as Europeans will continue to push for the complete banning of the 16 terms above, as well as others. But will American firms like Korbel ever agree to stop using the term "Champagne" to describe their sparkling wine?
"Fortified Zinfandel". There's not much of a ring to that is there? How about "Tawny"? Zinfandel Tawny. Better, but not truly discriptive.
I know for a fact that a huge number of you who read this blog and other wine blogs also frequent food blogs. You really should take the time to head over and take part in the
When I was playing Little League Baseball every year there would be an awards ceremony at the end of the season. The winning team would get an award. "Coach of the Years" would be awarded. "Most Valuable Player" awards would be given out. Then, at the end, they'd give this award: "Friendliest Player Award".
I love sparkling wine.
How do you know when your hometown has officially morphed from a place to live into a "lifestyle"?
There was a time when Wark Communications wasn't doing to well. Wineries seemed to be choosing other public relation firms over ours. In the face of this difficulty, I seriously considered attacking and burning down the buildings that held the offices of competing pubic relations firms. You know, really punishing them them having the audacity to compete with me. That would teach them!