Category Archives: Sauvignon Blanc

Ready To Read Another Dull ‘En Primeur’ Column? Good, Because I’m Not Ready To Write One

American wine people love to pronounce French words—especially those that they actually can pronounce. That’s why they’re always talking about lieu-dit, cépage and egrappage when they could be talking about ‘vineyard’, ‘kind of grape’ and ‘yanking the friggin’ stems off’. … Continue reading

Posted in Bordeaux, Cab/Merlot, Cabernet Franc, FRANCE, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

A Long Languid Lope Down The Loire

Part I:  How White is My Valley? The wild Loire is the longest river in France, and its associated winemaking  ward covers a whoppin’ 185,000 acres.  Originating in the deep south—virtually in the Rhône appellation—it scrambles up through Orléans (Jeanne … Continue reading

Posted in Loire, Melon de Bourgogne, Sauvignon Blanc | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Napa Cellars Wines: Generically Delicious!

I know, bubeleh; I know.  After earning your MBA from the Carnegie Mellon School of Business and your Ph.D from MIT, after a brief teaching stint at Stanford Graduate School (for which you wrote three textbooks on macroeconomics) and your subsequent … Continue reading

Posted in Cab/Merlot, CALIFORNIA, Chardonnay, Merlot, Napa, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Whitehaven Winery: Kiwi Kwality Kontinues Unkompromised

Some facts you may not know about New Zealand: It was the last large land mass discovered on earth, making it, for all intents, our planet’s youngest country. New Zealand is the only nation on earth to have three official … Continue reading

Posted in Marlborough, NEW ZEALAND, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Robert Mondavi and 9/11: A Connection?

First, the good news: Egg white is a fining agent used in Burgundy to clarify wine.  Although other products work equally well, albumen is particularly prized because lots of Cordon Bleu recipes call for egg yolks, and that leaves the … Continue reading

Posted in CALIFORNIA, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah/Shiraz, Zinfandel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Marlborough Country Minus The Lung Disease

These days, if you happen to be a Marlborough Man, you’d better sport a kiwi accent or risk falling afoul of the PC gestapo.  No worries, mate. I suppose that once having referred to New Zealand’s national bird as the … Continue reading

Posted in Marlborough, NEW ZEALAND, Sauvignon Blanc | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sauvignon Blonde: The Wit Just Keeps Gettin’ Harder To Find

Marilyn Monroe wasn’t really blonde. Oh, you already knew that? Okay, smarty pants; I suppose you also knew that Napoleon wasn’t really French, Cleopatra wasn’t really Egyptian, Hitler wasn’t German, Alexander wasn’t Greek and Stalin wasn’t Russian?   And even though … Continue reading

Posted in CALIFORNIA, Sauvignon Blanc | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Upper Loire: How White Was My Valley?

How white? Apartheid white.  Pillsbury Doughboy white. University of Mississippi, pre-1962 before-the-fire-hoses white.  White enough to say to Johnny Winter, ‘Nice tan, dude’… I’m talking about the wine. The wild Loire is the longest river in France, and the associated … Continue reading

Posted in Loire, Sauvignon Blanc | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments