Posts belonging to Category Value Value Value

Recently we’ve been thinking how the wine world has it all figured out now. The recession blew the socks off trophy wines taking down everyone with them. The “survivor-type” wine producers foresaw the end of the “wine bubble” and started moving to lower pricing without sacrificing quality. The intersection of CHEAP and QUALITY is precisely where most wine consumers get lost. The old signals no longer work. You really just have to taste the wines to know for sure. There are other indicators such as knowing the importer or distributor but that gets into advanced wine studies. Here are some tips for selecting and detecting which wine to buy and which wine to pass on. (more…)

Touting a Garagiste – aka “G.” – purchase is always dicey. Like nostalgia, praising a great G. buy only works in retrospect. Rimmerman’s selections almost always sell out so there is no going back and buying in. You have to be there when it all goes down. There are other pitfalls when mainlining G. which Dotoré will insist we mention [ed. and we have in an earlier G. post] such as Rimmerman’s twist on the “availability principle,” as in “it’s not a question of price but availability.” With G. you have to strike early and decisively since it is apparent G. buys “on the come.” When you check your warehouse chart you will find many “pre-arrival” notes next to the wine for which you so willingly even anxiously..yes thrillingly!!…pulled the trigger! (more…)

Summer was almost here…then it jumped off the hook just like a River Monster. tBoW and team tasters have been doing our best to get ready for endless heat and long evenings on the patio with corks getting pulled and the BBQ working. Spring cleaning usually turns up a couple surprises but this year we hit the jackpot. Been waiting on this double-and-a-half magnum for some time. We did not know what to expect although we could vouch for the past 20 years of provenance. There’s more. (more…)

Collectible kosher wines? The thought boggles the mind. How could inky purple Manischewitz syrup with a shelf life of 20 minutes get a Parker rating? Next you’ll tell me there are “growth” Bordeaux, as in those classified in 1855, that obey Talmudic law. Every year there are more customers than there are wines for those lucky labels classified under the five levels of Bordeaux Growths: wines such as Château Léoville-Poyferré a 2nd Growth St. Julien; or Château Malartic-Lagravière an unclassified yet coveted Graves; Château Pontet-Canet a 5th Growth Pauillac; and Château Le Crock a Crus Bourgeois Pauillac. Oh yes. Each one of those highly coveted labels has a kosher “edition.” N’kidding. (more…)

“This is Shotgun Tom Kelly” said the vintage KRTH 101 announcer as he loaded the Rascals “Lonely Too Long” into the queue. Shotgun followed that with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrel and tBoW was smiling wide as he climbed his favorite bike trail – Dirt Mulholland.

Listening to radio programming from the 60s/70s cuts two ways like all nostalgia reminding us how old we are and how certain music can make us young again. Shotgun has that radio voice – full throat, between bass and treble, a “hip” knowing and cheery tone. What’s it got to do with wine?

If you do not have an aerator you should get one because it shares many qualities with the radio and 60s or 70s rock music and DJ styles. The aerator takes years off wines that are too young to be properly enjoyed [ed. or does it add several years?]. While we can enjoy wine when it is young, many wines do improve with age. The aerator makes that happen right away. BOOM! We tasted several wines recently that illustrate the benefit. Actually, we went crazy with the aerator! (more…)