Archive for August, 2024

Your scribe has been writing this Monday Blog for The International Wine & Food Society with 600+ articles for over 10 years. My initial purpose when I first started it while President of IWFS was to stimulate more communication among the members on the emerging social media plus an educational contribution of wine & food knowledge. I biasedly think we have been somewhat successful. The wine & food scene has certainly changed so much over the last decade. In more recent years there is a plethora of wine (and food) opinions out there – some accurate, many not – mostly interesting but generally focused on younger current vintages. Accordingly we have moved our emphasis on this Blog to discussing many older mature wines plus advising you on the value of aging wine.

This all vividly came back to me again last week as we enjoyed several Bordeaux from the 1986 vintage. The First Growths & Super Seconds particularly from the Northern Medoc of St. Julien, Pauillac, and St. Estephe with higher cabernet sauvignon in the blend nearing 40 years of age shine brightly indeed. As expected Mouton, Leoville Las Cases & Gruaud Larose among others are most impressive. However, it was the lesser known properties like full complex Haut-Bages Liberal & earthy structured Meyney that really surprised and confirmed what value there is (even with current vintages) in aging these for a totally different wine & food experience.

Reminds me of a very recent brilliant article dated July 18, 2024 by experienced wine columnist Dan Berger in Napa Valley Focus linked here who so eruditely in detail sets out way clearer than I have been advocating “The Value of Aging Wine”. Spent time with Dan in the seventies, eighties and nineties at various wine events near his Sonoma County California home. Always respected his tasting skills and well reasoned opinions. He was LA Times wine guy from 1988-1996 and also started back in 1982 the Riverside International – now since 2016 named the Dan Berger’s International Wine Competition. I heartily endorse everything Dan states as important inspiring influences as to why you might try aging your wine a bit longer (or even extremely longer from proven regions like Bordeaux & Piedmont) for a totally different perspective. Congrats Dan for your outstanding insightful article. Enjoy reading it.

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Question: What is Nielluccio?

Answer: It’s a red grape variety that grows well in dry, hot, sunny regions and is widely planted on the French island of Corsica. Related to the Italian variety of Sangiovese. Another important grape in Corsica is Sciaccarello (Mammolo) which also produces herbal reds & roses. Growing in popularity. Check these out.

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One of the most frequent questions your scribe receives on our Wednesday weekly feature of Ask Sid is “What are the best red Burgundy values? ” My usual answer over the years has been to look for the 3 key factors of Vintage, Producer, and Region. In the past it was recommending the 2005 (also 2009/2010/2015) Vintage from a quality Producer from AC village sites. Of course less expensive regions with Premier Crus also come to mind like Savigny-Les-Beaune (especially La Dominode). All of this came back to me last week while enjoying at home a roasted pheasant dish paired with a bottle of 2005 GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN DOMAINE ALAIN JEANNIARD. This was a brilliant match as waiting nearly 20 years for the powerful structured tannins of 2005 to melt away successfully left a stunning bouquet with round silky textures. A wise investment. Previously divine matching with fresh quail. Bought also their more forwardly 2006 and the two vintages of Morey-Saint-Denis AC as well all of which provided enjoyable earlier drinking pleasures. The producer Alain Jeanniard made an initial name for himself from 2000-2006 with viticulture for the Hospices de Beaune wines in Clos de la Roche & Mazis-Chambertin – and his own family Domaine. Smart purchases that with consumer patience brought wonderful satisfaction at a bargain price.

What about red Burgundy purchases today? IMHO the same principles apply but because of the increased prices of all Burgundy – including popular AC village wines – it is necessary to go further afield. Santenay and Maranges have become more popular areas. My favs are the regions that previously were a bit too cool to fully ripen but now are thriving with global warming. Best examples are the adjacent neighbours of coveted Clos St. Jacques: Lavaux St. Jacques to the West & Les Cazetiers to the East. Even Estournelles, Poissenot, and Les Veroilles further West & Combe aux Moines, Les Goulots, and Champeaux further East now are worth exploring. My go to purchases have been Hautes-Cotes de Nuits (and Cotes de Nuits-Village) for good value. A wine like 2019 BOURGOGNE ROUGE HAUTES COTES DE NUITS AU VALLON DOMAINE MICHEL GROS fills the bill. A big fan of the ageability of the 2019 reds and this Domaine pioneered these regions with early eighties plantings at higher elevations including Monopole Fontaine Saint Martin. Since 2015 they have also produced Au Vallon from the top of this formerly cooler site on top of the Cote d’Or escarpment. Domaine Alain Jeanniard and other producers have wines from this expanding region. These currently are the kind of wines to seek out for the best quality for the price value with some aging ability to resemble the higher priced Grand & Premier Crus – and now Village ACs. Good luck in your shopping!

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