I have been fairly lucky. I drink a lot of wine, and I have doing it since about 1980 (yes, I was legal). So the odds are that I would have come across dozens, or perhaps hundreds, of corked bottles. The industry assumes that about 3%-5% of all bottles have detectable TCA (2,4,6-Trichloroanisole) contamination. Through [...]
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I am usually happy with zinfandels, at least at some level. Oh, sometimes they are over the hill and have lost their fruit, or they are too soft and unstructured. But there is almost always something interesting going on in the glass. Not last night though! Yes, it was probably too old to expect much [...]
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I store our wine, both red and white, at 56°F. But what temperature is appropriate for drinking? I think that for reds, cellar temperature is just about perfect. All too often I have been served red wines at temperatures that I normally reserve for hot chocolate. The wines, and the waiter’s tip, have suffered. [...]
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I am not sure that reviewing this wine is of any use, other than possibly demonstrating that I am a pompous ass. It is almost impossible to find any of it, and I bought it from the mailing list when it was released. But, damn it was good!
I’ll give you the downside first. The [...]
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Because my lovely wife will spit out any wine that isn’t chardonnay made in California, my opportunities for trying other white wines are limited. But we had a bunch of people over and I thought I could sneak one into the mix. Shocking as it may seem, not everyone is enamored of oaky, buttery chardonnays. [...]
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My wife is a Chardonnay addict. If I open an amazing Zinfandel that knocks my socks off, or an incredibly perfumed and complex Pinot Noir, she will say “that’s nice dear. Give me a glass of Chardonnay.” After opening two mediocre (okay, one was mediocre, and one was horrible) Chardonnays for her, I had to [...]
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Every now and then, I open a bottle of wine that is so much fun to drink and gives such pleasure that before I know it, the bottle is empty. This is one of those wines. We opened this wine at a dinner of mostly leftovers (but good leftovers). It was smooth and rounded, with [...]
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Turley Zinfandels are still great, but I think they are declining. Not declining enough to stop me from drinking too much of them, but…
Obviously I am on vacation. I will provide a brilliant and pithy review of the 2003 Old Vines when I return.
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I bought a bottle of this Aussie shiraz blend on the recommendation of a friend. Wow! He was right. I have been drinking it over the past few months and it’s getting better and better. This is not a sissy wine. Lots of alcohol balanced by a ton of fruit and licorice and a hint [...]
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This is a fine example of a very well made, pleasant California cab that is thoroughly forgettable. There is nothing wrong with this wine, in fact it is very well made, with nice balance between the fruit and tannins. But it tastes like every other well made cab. There just isn’t anything interesting in the [...]
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