Posts belonging to Category Marsanne

Hand over the mantle of leadership for Rhone style wine-making to the Tablas Creek team. Something has happened in Paso and we need to understand how…somehow. A region that once struggled to overcome vegetal Cabernets and tomato-flavored Pinot Noir is the zenith of New World Rhone style wines. No more fruit bombs. Plenty of spine and grip. And lush fruit. (more…)

Let the Roussanne love flow freely. This is part two of what promises to be an ongoing love affair with the great white grape that thrives in the Rhone and SoCal [ed. find Part One here]. This diatribe includes a couple of warning shots to the bow of your glass so stay frosty. (more…)

Holidays are here. tBoW is getting ready for a big Xmas day party. Touring local wineries today. Here is my holiday bling collection courtesy of a Downtown LA vendor. Have to make a shopping stop there next week. Here are the wines bringing holiday cheer.
2005 Fitou Bel Armant Chateau Champ des Souers $15: This may be the third time tBoW has reviewed this wonderful little Languedoc/Corbieres wine from Beck Wasserman. Toffee nose, soft, vanilla, fruity. Balanced well. Blends Grenache, Carignan and Mourv√®dre. Just very pleasant and completely enjoyable. 13.5% (more…)

Jim Morrison sang “Strange days have found us. Strange days have tracked us down. They’re going to destroy our casual joys<. Can we use his gravesite as metaphor for the 2008/9 economic collapse? His fevered fans have trashed his grave like our fevered wall streeters trashed…you get the point. I hope we all listen to his moody lyrics and act with the anger he showed singing. Troubled rock stars are a clich√© today. We can only hope boom-to-bust traders, AIG executives and hedge fund managers will become tired clich√©s tomorrow. I can foresee a new era of celebreality shows that replace the Bad Girls Club; maybe Broke Brokers and Bad Bankers, or TARP Traders; re-enact the hey-day of unbounded greed and self-interest. Thursdays at 9:00 on the WB. Strange days have come!!
Yeh!! (more…)

The wine economy update:When I wrote this post about a month ago in advance of this publication preceded the greatest economic event in our lifetlme. The current financial crisis in world markets has bearing upon what we will be buying and drinking over the next couple years. It is more important than ever to find value wines and avoid the vinous equivalents of institutions deep into credit debt swaps
The end-of-days folks are getting new airtime. tBoW finds that contemplating the mass psychology of cataclysmic disaster scenarios makes it all the more important to attend to more rational minds breaking new ground in their own way. (more…)