Latest Garagiste article on Mystification and De-Mystification of wine

An article I wrote completely out of the box. Please read and comment whenever you can.

Wineepedia entry of the day - Sancerre

I cannot think of anything more American than Sancerre.

Wineepedia entry of the day - Chinon

Chinon . . . .Chinon . . . .Chinon . . . .thank goodness for Chinon.

The Internet has zero to little impact on wine sales say Vinexpo luminary

Who are these people kidding? Just another example of the old guard in denial about the impact of the new media, the internet (I was selling tons of wine via the internet in 2000, before all this social media was even a drop in the bucket!) has on wine sales. It is absolutely amazing how many people are still in denial about how will be sold in the future. Plus the guy is completely dismissive about all the interesting side shows at Vinexpo of natural, biodynamic and organic wineries. There's a ways to go before people have a clue. Look at all the wine Gary V moves. Garagiste. PC blow out special weekend pricing sales. When I was at CSW, we blew threw wine with e-mail blasts and e-mails back and forth with customers. Wine-Searcher? C'mon people!

Wineepedia entry of the day - Pouilly-Fuisse and Pouilly-Vinzelles

Thought I could give Pouilly-Vinzelles its own day but it's just so small and there is only one producer so I thought I would double dip with Pouilly-Fuisse. Does anybody know of any other decent producers of Pouilly-Vinzelles besides the Bret Brothers?

Wineepedia entry of the day - Flagey-Echezeaux

Your weekly dose of Wineepedia stuff is back with a little piece on Flagey-Echezeaux, the only village in Burgundy where the first name gets short shrift. I am backlogged and please comment if I am missing any producers you think are worthy.

Huet and Schafer-Frohlich

Had a lovely bottle of the 2007 Huet Vouvray Le Mont Sec which was raging on all cylinders. Le Mont Sec I think is always the most open of the young Huet secs. This had a piercing nose of salt, honeycomb, almonds and wet wool along with a steely element. Lovely purity and completeness on the palate with a surreal sense of balance. So easily drinkable but as this wine aerated over the coming days the minerality came more and more pronounced and either it shut down or will not last as long as I initially thought it would. The first night it was glorious but it went downhill after that. Huet, I find, usually improves in the bottle after a day or two in the cave. I hear Pinguet is using less sulphur these days. Maybe that is a factor?

Had a fascinating bottle of the 2006 Schafer-Frohlich Kabinett and as usual with Tim's wines it was a whirlwind experience. No one is making as fine Rieslings in the Nahe in my opinion. The character and purity of the wines is astonishing. This had the typical "funky" nose of a Frohlich wine with honey, wild yeast, reductive and slight sulphur aromas with red cherries and some pit fruit. The palate is a wild untamed monster on day one with good delineation but nothing near where this wine was on day three. Layers of sweet peach and apricot fruit, buffered by great acidity and purity is where this puppy finally landed. Maybe better acidity than '07? This is a Kabinett for the ages. My last bottle alas but if you are going to cellar a Kabinett I'd say SF should be at the top of anyone's list.

Oh yeah. Sorry for font change for this one post. Cut and pasted these notes and not in the mood to deal with changing it.