Friday, August 13, 2010

2005 Clarendon Hills Grenache

Wow. In the photo to your right, that is the Clarendon Hills vineyard, planted in the 1920's. This is 25 miles south of Adelaide, NE of McLaren Vale.


No trellises. No wires. Just a fine witch's stew of gangly, contorted head-pruned branches.

It's beautiful.

The 2005 Clarendon Hills Grenache series (from six vineyards) are great wines (91-94 points, Spectator). Even better, they were released at retail from US$61-$100, but can now be had (from me) for $28.50. However, the 2005s are almost gone forever.

Friday, August 6, 2010

The Billionaire's Vinegar


This book, by Wallace, is a very difficult read. It contains fascinating wine collecting tidbits and snippets, without being overall interesting. If you want to read it (for any purpose other than the need to put yourself to sleep), be warned: This book will bore you to death, but on some pages there are stories that will highly entertain you.
Still, why would such a clear charlatan not be called out sooner by the wine industry? If the owner of Petrus thinks that Petrus never issued a 1787 magnum, then why not publicly state doubts about the provenance of such a bottle? Why would a fraudster, who has gone to all the trouble to mimic the correct bottle, label and capsule, and has probably also put expensive 19th-century wine from the same chateau into an 18th century bottle, then use corks which are clearly not "original issue"?
Why would anyone who bought a bottle from the 18th Century, then open it?
Questions, but no answers . . .

Wine and Your Health: Getting Real

 Here are two articles on wine and our health: 1. First article : Grapes are a superfood that lower bad chloresterol. Many of their healthy ...