Blog Index

James Laube

A Crash Course In Napa Valley Cabernet

Posted: 02:45 PM ET, 03/31/08

Last night I attended what amounted to a crash course in Napa Valley Cabernet. Four wineries and the same four vintages from each were poured at dinner at La Toque, Ken Frank’s sensational restaurant in Rutherford, Calif. The seven-course dinner was part of an auction lot from the Central Coast Wine Classic and hosted by its director, Archie McLaren. Read more

Harvey Steiman

Chefs Impress at Pebble Beach Inaugural

Posted: 12:59 PM ET, 03/31/08

One night Charlie Trotter from Chicago, Jean Joho of Everest, Douglas Keane of Cyrus and Michel Richard of Citronelle shared a kitchen to make dinner for 175. The next night, David Kinch of Manresa along with Josiah Citrin of Mélisse, Richard Reddington of Redd and Michael Mina from San Francisco cooked up a few things for 300. Read more

James Molesworth

Down to Patagonia: La Pampa and Neuquén

Posted: 10:50 AM ET, 03/31/08

My schedule in Mendoza resulted in more than a few missed meals, so the refueling on ojo de bife in Buenos Aires was critical, as it was soon time to gear up again. I was heading down to Patagonia, a region that in recent years has produced some tantalizing wines. Read more

James Suckling

The Jewels in 2007

Posted: 10:39 AM ET, 03/31/08

Tasting a vintage like 2007 from barrel can become tedious at times. It’s just one good wine after another, but nothing really exciting. It takes some time to uncover the jewels in a vintage like 2007. But every vintage has some bright spots -- those wines that make you understand why you are sticking it out tasting, and why you will remember the young vintage. Read more

Harvey Steiman

Pebble Beach Tees Up a Starry Food and Wine Event

Posted: 09:34 PM ET, 03/28/08

It seemed like every longtime attendee of the Masters of Food and Wine was asking each other what they thought on opening night Thursday of the new Pebble Beach Food and Wine event, its successor. The new event is bigger and more sprawling, and there were plenty of hot wineries pouring samples and famous chefs dishing up tasty creations. Read more

James Suckling

Quick Message from Bordeaux

Posted: 02:53 PM ET, 03/28/08

Despite all the bad weather, the Right Bank provided some good to outstanding wines today from barrel. And it appears that Pomerol is the best region of all in 2007. I still have to taste wines this weekend from Pessac-Leognan and other parts of the Graves – especially first growth Haut-Brion, which some say is excellent. Read more

James Molesworth

Steak for Dinner, Steak for Lunch: 36 Hours in Buenos Aires

Posted: 10:18 AM ET, 03/28/08

My final visit in Mendoza was with Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky, the husband-and-wife team behind Dominio del Plata. The winery produces the Susana Balbo and BenMarco brands, the former in Balbo’s preferred supple, velvety style and the latter in Marchevsky’s preferred structured and more muscular vein. Read more

James Laube

An Evening with Robert Mondavi

Posted: 05:14 PM ET, 03/27/08

Fighters don’t go down easy here on Wappo Hill. So far this year, Robert Mondavi has won bouts with pneumonia and the shingles. The former a deathly threat to someone who’s 94 years old, and the latter is a similarly painful and threatening disease. Read more

James Molesworth

Turning Around a Tanker

Posted: 02:04 PM ET, 03/27/08

Since I began covering the wines of Argentina in 2000, Trapiche hasn’t exactly been among my favorite wineries. As the winery cranked out large volumes, I often found quality to be lackluster. That now seems to be changing, thanks to the efforts of head winemaker, Daniel Pi. Read more

James Suckling

More Thoughts on 2007

Posted: 01:27 PM ET, 03/27/08

Today was a reality check on 2007. I tasted a number of very good reds, including Margaux, Palmer, Rauzan-Segla, and Pichon-Baron, but the rest of the 60 or so reds were inconsistent in quality at best. Many were lean, diluted or short on the palate. Read more

- Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 -