When I first began my wine studies, it was all France, France, France. France, by definition at the time, had the benchmarks (Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhône etc.) and they also had the muscle-flexing claim of regularly being the largest wine producing country, a mantle that they have owned… until now.

With the 2008 harvest, the center of gravity has shifted and Italy, based in part on the recent successes of Pinot Grigio and Prosecco in the American export market, has retaken the reins as being the largest wine producing country after a ten year second place finish. Amazing! Continue reading »

When I was growing up, there was a humorous ad campaign for a local Bay Area dairy brand, Berkeley Farms. The tag line at the end was “Farms in Berkeley?” a jab at the reality that, of course, there is no farm land much less dairy in the metropolitan area that houses the University of California campus and the famed Telegraph Avenue with its beatnik edge. Perhaps that same tagline should come out of mothballs and be tweaked for a modern day campaign - ‘Wines in Uruguay?”. The irony in this case however would be that there is indeed a thriving wine industry in Uruguay with more and more wines making themselves available outside of this small but significant country. Read on… Continue reading »

In Uruguay, if you ask you this question, people chuckle as if it’s obvious, because it is as close as you come to the national dish. When I asked around when back home in San Francisco, there were some interesting replies- a little goat (my son), a gang member from Southern California (a non-foodie) and a kind of sandwich (kinda’ right). While wine is emerging in Uruguay, as I will discuss in the next blog, beef (as good if not better than in Argentina) is established and legendary. Classic grills, asados or parillas are a main stay, as they are in Argentina, but the chivito, the Uruguayan cultural equal of the American hamburger, well, that’s epicurean religion. Continue reading »

Though I am not a skier, I am a good listener and skiers talk to me about how altitude affects the quality of the skiing. I know this in winemaking too - but we speak more of altitude in the context of mountain vineyards, stressed vines and lower yields. Rarely do we talk about it in the context of vines being so much higher and closer to the sun that it actually affects wine style. Well the Southern part of Argentina’s key Mendoza region, the Uco Valley, is a case in point. Here they achieve an almost perfect physiological ripeness with manageable alcohol dues to the proximity to the sun. It’s amazing in the opposite sense of what happened to Icarus! Continue reading »

While there are several prominent wine regions in Argentina, the conversation starts and stops in Mendoza, the country’s largest and most important production area. And though one can make specific associations of multiple grapes and wines in Argentina’s other regions that are critical to the overall texture of her culture - Torrents and Salta (especially those of Cafayate), Syrah and San Juan, Pinot Noir and Patagonia’s Rio Negro area - Argentina is spiritually about Malbec and Mendoza is about Malbec.

We had several meals, gazillions of tastings and lots of evocative conversations of which the following is assembled. Much of this information is as a result of a follow up of dinner held in Buenos Aires with Victor Honoré, proprietor of his eponymous company in BA (Buenos Aires), and mixed with my own notes. A little key info…

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I am fortunate to say that I have been to Buenos Aires a couple of times in my life. I am not so happy to say that this current trip, the kickoff of a nine day wine adventure in Argentina and Uruguay, has been the first that I have actually gotten out of the hotel conference room/ office meeting to restaurant(s) to meetings and then hotel to sleep type of visit. What was I thinking!?

This cosmopolitan metropolis of South America, so often referred to as the “Paris of the Southern Hemisphere”, is truly awesome. A dense city proper of three million people (five million if you include the daily commuter population) fans out to include an additional ten million more including the suburbs and adjacent urban areas. It is a wonderful assemblage of French (architecture, wide boulevards etc.), Spanish (clearly from its colonial beginnings, the city oozes español - beyond the spoken word) and Italian (the population clearly views themselves as much Italian as anything else and you can taste it in the delicious Italian food and fabulous gelato among other Italo-markers). Continue reading »

It’s hard to believe this year is almost over. Late November and the first of many holidays always frame the year’s passing to the new one… slowly but definitively. And while I am still digesting a magnificent Thanksgiving day meal at my Momma’s (nice to have Joyce Goldstein in charge of your turkey and the like!) washed down with 1988 Vosne Romanée from Jean Gros and a delightful 1988 Clos de la Roche from Domaine Dujuac (Yum), I realized I need to get out my tryptophan induced laziness and get off a blog before heading to Argentina and Uruguay on Friday. I will do my next couple of blogs efforts from South America of course (and if I remember my camera… there will be accompanying photos).

The easy post Thanksgiving blog would be something about the best thing to do with leftover turkey, fun pairings for turkey hash, open faced turkey sandwiches and the like. But then that’s what everyone will be writing about on the days that follow. So, with giving on the mind (Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanza and the like) I thought I would share a few cool gift ideas, especially those that can be ordered online, without fighting the department store crowds. So… if you’ve not been naughty this year (or know someone who’s been good) – here are a few cool ideas to think about: Continue reading »