Dear Subscriber,
Some of you may have read my blog on Bibiana González, the winemaker of Cattleya, who I think has a very special gift when it comes to making white wines. Consider her Chardonnay (98 points in my book) from the cold Sonoma Coast. It’s our Wine to Know this week and it has off-the-charts refinement. At about $12 a glass, it’s also a wine that I think will impress you. On the easy-pocketbook side of things, our Steal is a juicy, you-can’t-go-wrong simple delicious red from Mendocino. And please don’t miss our Wine People Close Up video with the young, very handsome Josh Scott from New Zealand and whose incredibly priced Alan Scott wines are terrific. Plus, of course, amazing Numbers, a summer Fascinating Fact and a practically helpful Ask Karen.
—Ciao from Napa, Karen
Dr. Loosen makes fantastically pure and crystalline bone-dry Rieslings that are so vibrant they remind me of a soprano hitting a high note. This wine’s throttling freshness makes it very exciting to drink. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Chinon is one of the most singular red wines in the world, rarely mistaken for anything else. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Donnafugata (the word means “woman on the run”) makes some of Sicily’s most fascinating wines and this white, made from vineyards on the active volcano Mt Etna, is certainly that. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
93 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Tasted blind, Rippon’s sensual Pinot Noir could have you in Burgundy. There’s that The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
96 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
- Premiere Napa Valley/PAULA KORNELL “Something Old, Something New” Blanc de Noirs Brut 2018 (Carneros, CA) $ The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
Niederösterreich means “Lower Austria”—a reference to the lower part of the Danube River which flows through Austria. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
I meant it when, earlier this fall, I said that this wine (100 points) will blow your mind.The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
100 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Deeply earthy and bold, yet full of energy, lightness, and freshness, Landmark’s “Grand Detour” Pinot Noir is like someone singing bass and soprano at the same time. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
A. Muscadet
B. Menetou-Salon
C. Savennières
D. Vouvray
A. World War I (1914–1918) – the first truly global conflict that reshaped the world’s geopolitical landscape
B. The Gold Rush (Late 1840s–1850) – when hundreds of thousands of fortune-seekers migrated to California
C. Prohibition (1920–1933) – when the US banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol
D. The Reconstruction Era (1865–1877) – after the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude, was passed
Wine People Close Up – Irakli Gilauri
Twice in my career, a man from Georgia (the country) has walked into my office and changed the way I think about the world of wine.
The first time, two decades ago, the man was an Eastern Orthodox monk from an 11th century monastery. The second time, a few weeks ago, the man was Irakli Gilauri, who is changing the future of wine from the most ancient of terroirs where wine was born—Georgia.
1811
Vintage of a single bottle of German Riesling from the vineyard of Ungeheuer (“monster” in German) in the village of Forst in the Pfalz region that recently sold at auction forThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
Niederösterreich means “Lower Austria”—a reference to the lower part of the Danube River which flows through Austria. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
Patrick, in my 40 years in the wine industry, I’ve sent a bottle back maybe four times. But I’ve sent wine glasses back probably 200 times. In many restaurants, wine glasses go through the dishwasher with plates that can have everything on them from scraps of salmon to crusted pork fat. Those aromas can get trapped in the glass, because of the way wineglasses are shaped and the inside of a wine glass is microscopically pitted. So with a wine that seems funky, the glass is often the culprit. In that case, I just ask the server for a fresh glass, explaining that the wine seems a little odd, but I think it might be the glass not the wine.
A Winery Tells Its Story—The Press Release of the Future
Dear Journalists and Influencers:
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Fifty Pounds and a Gazillion Seeds
Lodi, the self-proclaimed “Zinfandel Capital of the World” (it produces over 40% of California’s zin), is also home to over 130 different grape varieties, more than any other California region. These include: The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
Alive and Ready
It may be happening. Dry Riesling may be having a moment. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
Why Burgundy? What History Could Never Have Known
A winemaker once said to me that if the Sonoma Coast had existed in the 11th century before Burgundy, the monks of Burgundy would have just thrown up their hands and said, “We give up. The greatest Pinot Noirs are already being made in California.” Hmmm. Maybe. Because Sonoma Coast Pinot can be ethereal. And YET…. Tasting three Burgundies recently, I felt the hard-to-deny pull. No other wines in the world deliver so much sensual flavor and still have a lightness of being. Here were the wines I tasted that I think can transport you. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.