trying to take it back to that first sip...

It's hard finding your voice when you first set out to write a blog. I know the message I'm trying to put out there, but to ensure that those ideals permeate my writing always, is difficult. So this is my attempt to take it back to when it was all about that first sip. When finding the words to describe the wine often meant making my own rules. If I can educate a little along the way, I will do so. Most importantly I don't want to find myself echoing these pretentious old farts pontificating over every sip in a "what has this wine done for me lately" fashion.













Is it possible to have fun with wine and avoid the pitfalls of snobberry?



















Now if that means I get grouped with these guys instead so be it. At least they look like they are having fun!


So lets have some fun and drink some wine! I'll do my best to show you what it's like behind the scenes in my industry and help you find out where your money is best spent.

Not just another tasting!!!

That is what Michael Skurnik had as his tag line for promoting this year's portfolio tasting. Not only was it not just another tasting but it was also the 20th anniversary for the company. By far this is one of the biggest and best industry wine tastings held in nyc. It is a veritable Monster Truck rally of drinking and spitting! Even when you are spitting at this event trying to taste even a third of the wines here will get you ripped from back wash alone.

There were over a thousand wines at this tasting and hundreds of people attending. Pulling it off takes a big space, alot of wine glasses and a dump truck of cheese and crackers!






Every table I approached with a skurnik rep. at, I was made to feel important. Now I know how fortunate I am to be the wine buyer for such a busy restaurant. I know that this is why most of the skurnik employees were so nice to me and made me feel so special, never the less, it made the whole experience that much more fun. I even got to try some special wines that were not available to most of the buyers there. Such as the special barrel tasting bottle of Vega Sicilia "Unico" 98. It was linear and massive!




Alot of the tasting became about revisiting my wine list and checking out the new vintages, some bottled less within less than 12 days of the event. There were however a few wines that really stood out for me.



Etude put out some great pinot noirs that were so exciting that they reminded me of when Etude was first becoming well known in the wine community. The wines were appropriately priced and drinking amazing. The two wines I speak of are the "Temblor" and the "Heirloom". Both drank with that fantastic Burgundian nose and terroir. But since you get what you pay for, and the "Temblor" being slightly less expensive, is a less intense expression of this style of wine. Normally when we are talking Californian wine I would say the less intense wine would be drinking better. In this case that is not the story. Those beautiful aromatiques of corriander and cardimom perfume the glass like a grand cru.



Another poplular Californian wine maker that took me back was the fine Turley family. They had a very similar situation. All of Turley's wines drank well as usual, but they had two single vineyard Zinfandels that really blew me away. The "Duarte" and "Dusi Vineyard" wines both had an unusual but incredibly pleasant soft acidity that drank with dried apricot and clementine pith. These flavors complimented the dark fruit flavors we expect of a Turley Zin. The acidity balanced these big boys better than I've seen in their very expensive low production "Hayne Vineyards" Zin.

These are just two producers that really impressed me at the Skurnik tasting. I'll be talking about more of the producers I enjoyed as the week goes on. I'll be going through my notes and the spending will begin! Look for much more to come as Michael Skurniks efforts come to fruition in the form of massive sales!

When good wine makers are human.

Last night I had the pleasure of hosting a small intimate wine dinner for wine maker Andy Peay. This what we call a "full comp" check. I invited him and a few wine industry people into our restaurant for dinner on us. The chef and I prepared a menu special just for him and his guests.

Andy was nice enough to bring in a ton of great wines including two different vintages of a few of his wines. He brought Estate Chardonnay '04 and 06', Scallop Shelf Pinot Noir, Pomarium Pinot Noir, and two different single vineyard sites of syrah. But the real treat was a wine he doesn't even release to his distributor but rather sells directly through his winery. It's a wine blended of Marsanne and Rousanne. A blended Rhone style white that likes being drunk closer to ambient temperature, this wine shows beautiful waxiness and tropical fruit notes. Given the fact that he makes this wine from a total of one sixth of an acre, I get why he might gaurd this wine well.

Overall the dinner was great but Mr. Peay still showed himself to be human when he corrected me on the pronunciation of his single vineyard Syrah "Les Titans" in way that really turned me off to his whole experience. Though some day I would love to learn the french language, his french pronunciation (lay- tee-tawn) of this single vineyard site really reminded me why sometimes I fucking hate these people so much. YOUR VINEYARD IS IN CALIFORNIA! Andy on one hand is the coolest, most laid back wonderfully talanted wine maker. On the other hand he might be the same guy that would comb my website for spelling and gramatical errors. Come on man make that last step! See the big picture! And get over the pretense!

A case of the Mondays? Not at Bar Boulud!

Last night I had the pleasure of enjoying some incredible french wine and food at Bar Boulud. There were so many great wines and delicious examples of charcuterie. Courtesy of Bar Boulud were earthy Duck Rillette, rendered salty pork belly, and some of the best pork based terrine I have ever had in all my years.

The pork terrine had perfect weight texture and flavor. The natural sweetness of the pork shined through and paired perfectly with my favorite wine of the night. Comtes Lafon's Volnay '03. This is a wine that most of us might not afford let alone try and get our hands on some. It's incredibly small production keeps this wine elusive every year. 2003 was such a tough vintage for most of burgundy, really the antithisis of 2005. So my experience with this wine took me back. As soon as the wine steward popped the cork the wine was ready to drink. Bright, balanced vibrant red cherry fruit was subtly smooth on the palate. The tannins more refined than I expected. This wine is drinking great now and will for the next 10 years.




Thanks again to all the fine people at Michael Skurnik wines and Bar Boulud for helping me start the week of right!

WINE TASTING MONTH

Well here it is folks! This is the one time of year where everyone I know who's not in this business becomes incredibly jealous of my job and wants to come to work with me. That's right it's the spring time. And for people in my business that means it's time for portfolio tasting. Through out the next month I will be giving you a behind the scenes look at my terribly tough job of tasting through thousands of wines.

The other very difficult part about this time of year is that all the winemakers are in town to personally show us how great their wines are. At the tastings they will tell us all about how their harvest and show us pictures of the properties where they grow their fruit. Then they will tell us about the way they aged the wine and how they selected the barrels for the aging. Beautifully romanticized are the wine makers in their descriptions. Now the difficult part is this. Often with good customers like myself they will invite us to private tastings of their most sought after wines usually at wonderful restaurants. The answer should always be "YES!" you think, but alas it is not that easy. I still have a ton of work that does not go away just because all these talented wine makers are in town.

Here is my wine dilemma this week.

Monday: Private tasting with some of the best Burgundy and Rhone producers at the newly reviewed Bar Boulud. (No this one I will not miss)


Tuesday: Private Luncheon at A Voce (NYTimes 3 Star) with favorite Italian producer Bibi Graetz. I've known Nicolo one of Bibi's younger producers for a while and he has tried to court me with the promise they will be pouring their incredibly small production %100 Caniolo wine. Unfortunately I have to work from ten a.m. to three in the morning and need to be ready for Wednesday, so I will not attend.

Wednesday: Monticastelli is holding a private tasting at Fiamma. Wow do I want to check out Fiama on their dime. Unfortunately attending would interfere with the biggest tasting of the year for me. Michael Skurnik is having their full portfolio tasting!!! Now their are many wine tastings from companies like this all year round but none bigger. It's so big they rent out the Puck Building on Houston to hold it. This is not a sprint it is a marathon of tasting. This is the big one!
I have taken the day off just to pace myself and focus on this tasting.

getting CRUSHED by retail wine

I recently made a day of bouncing around the city to check out some of manhattan's premier wine shops. The ones that stuck out the most were Chamber Street Wines and Crush Wine Shop. These two shops couldn't have been more different. Sure they both have a decent selection of wine, but what set these two small business' apart was attitude.

I walked into Chambers, on a cold day, excited to peruse their selection of burgundies and older german rieslings that they are well known for. Instead of getting a simple hello or a "can I help you?" I was greeted with glares at my leather motorcycle jacket. My brief encounter with two different employees there, both times initiated by myself, were less than cordial.

Next up was the off spring of old employees of Chambers the shop Crush Wine. Unlike Chamber Street Wine's boring un-curated space, Crush was an experience in design as soon as you walked in. Modern and sleek was the fluid, wavy wine wall that has won adwards and my attention. In the back they have a beautiful temperature controlled wine room for older vintage items. I was quickly approached and offered a little help in navigating their incredibly selection. The employee that approached me was incredibly unpretentious and very knowledgeable. He listened to me as I told him what I was looking for and though his personal tastes became clear he helped me find items that he knew were for my palate. He also introduced me to a producer which is now amongst my favorite, The Scholium Project, more on that later.

Though neither of these business' are even remotely near where I might travel in my daily routine ie; work and home, Stephen has made me a fan and a customer for life of Crush Wine shop. Through knowledge not of wine but how to treat people, he is truely what I believe to be the new school of people in this industry.

SCARING PEOPLE AT WINE AUCTIONS: A HOW TO. PART #1

Welcome to what I hope will be a weekly installment of a how to in buying wine at Auction. The first thing you should know is that wine auctions are no more than yard sales for wine. It may seem like the wines are rediculously expensive but if you are willing to take the time to browse around you can find some really nice treats!

Without too much instruction here, my recomendation for beginers is to check out www.Winebid.com. It's user friendly and offers lots of cheap options for the beginner as well as the pro. Just keep in mind that shipping is involved and the more you get the cheaper the shipping. I've found lots of great wines for a steal on this site but my favorite find ever was a 1979 Dr. Thanisch Spatlese Riesling. For just $40.00 I found a wine that was sure to be an experience. Since there are no gaurantees in life I had low expectations of what might be in the bottle but was hoping to be suprised. I went down to a neighborhood restaurant Mas Farmhouse and asked the sommolier if he minded if we opened it. He was more than gracious about it and to our surprise the wine was incredible! So many layers of flavor, scents and texture. We shared it with the sommolier, the server and the chef. Anyway, check it out, auctions start every Monday and end on Sunday.

KNOWING WHAT YOU LIKE AND WHY YOU LIKE IT

This single phrase might be the closest I've ever come to having my own mantra when it comes to how to share wine with others. It may seem simple, you think "Of course I know what I like", and guess what? I believe you. But like most people out there.... you have a hard time telling me exactly what that is. I used to feel like I was rolling the dice with my hard earned money when at a restaurant or a wine shop.

I remember the first time I let a waiter help me pick out a bottle of wine. I was just 21 and already had a deep interest in learning about wine but to be honest my expertise focused more on natty light than on wine. But I was ready! A buddy of mine and I went to the nicest italian restaurant in town. We "ordered well" when it came to food and liked our server, so we figured why not let her guide our wine experience. She began to talk quickly about what some of her favorites were and I began to feel like I was in a Peanut's cartoon with the teacher talking... "This wine, one of my favorites, is made of wawa waw waw waa wa...", she said. I poised my face as to give her the impression that I completely understood and nodded with agreement. "Yes that sounds like exactly what we are looking for."
The server came and presented the wine, opened it, and poured it for me to taste. As I had seen in the movies I tried to swirl it in the glass, (though failed miserably) and tasted it. ...
I tried to smile but I'm sure my eyes showed my dissapointment. It was an awkward moment. "Please, pour it." I said, trying to reassure her that I would not make her pay for my inexperience. There we sat quietly disillusioned eating our broccoli rabe drinking an $80.00 bottle of wine that neither of us understood nor really cared to. It would be more than a few years before I listened to a server or a clerk at a wine shop again. Instead, I preferred to grab blindly in the dark and make up my own mind.

Years later as I thought back on this I realized there were two problems with that experience. Problem one; my server didn't ask me what I like in a wine but instead told me what SHE liked. Was SHE the one who was going to drink the wine? Hell no! I was! Problem two; even if she HAD asked me what I liked, I don't think I would have been able to tell her. I had learned the value of wine vocabulary.
Now does this mean you need to pontificate over every sip of wine you drink, constantly trying to extract descriptive words through osmosis? No... but next time you taste a wine and like it, try and ask yourself, what do I like about it?

That night I had nearly two hours to sit and stare at that purple juice and ask myself why I didn't like it.
It was so hard to swallow.
It wasn't smooth.
It made my mouth pucker (and not in a way that I enjoyed).
It tasted like dirt and leather.
Knowing what you don't like is just as valuable as knowing what you do like. One of the most important things to remember when trying to vocalize what's in the glass, is that there are almost no wrong answers. Just relax and think about what the wine reminds you of...
Does it remind you of All Berry Juicy Juice, burning rubber or caramel?
Just keep it simple and have fun.

To the right you will find the beginning of my vocabulary selection, hopefully that can get you started.