Posts belonging to Category Burgundy

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…)

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…)

With temps in the 80s, offshore winds and longer daysit is starting to feel like Dotoré’s favorite season. Fighting off the urge to nap we have time to hit you with some wine reviews. And the occasional observation.

What if Andrew Dice Clay reviewed wines?

The Underground Wine Letter is running a series on wine fraud. Phony DRC wines caught at auction. I saw a guy on Auction Hunters crying because he only got $55,000 for his Delorean “time machine.” It was a replica. So these wine frauds pay for empty bottles of premium Bordeaux and Burgundy. If you can get past the effete-iness it makes for interesting reading. Especially the entry where Tilson (UWL editor) goes through a multi-decade process solving a mystery about a case of very unusual 1928 St Emilion he bought at auction. (more…)

Burgundy and Barolo are possibly the greatest red wines and certainly the most vexing. When they are great they are the BEST OF WINES. And when they are not ready they can produce more frustration than a Fox news host getting philosophical. Here is the Burgundy dilemma. They are rarely bad wines…with exceptions and we have written about those here. But they can simply be…not ready. Which is almost worse than being bad or flawed [ed. from Flod? near Bosche?] (more…)

2012 will be a terrific year just because there is a Presidential election. This one promises to be more entertaining than is usual mainly because tBoW has it on good authority the GOP has already thrown in the towel on going up against an incumbent in a re-election year… even though the incumbent appears to unusually vulnerable even though he drifted to the right all summer long. This election is set up for the GOP regulars who are by all indication going to deal with the Tea Party goofballs with extreme prejudice. More in coming blogs. Cross your fingers for an old-fashioned GOP convention where a surprise nominee is put forward from the convention floor! This could be as exciting as awaiting a Garagiste shipment! (more…)