Harvey Steiman's Blog Archives
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January 2007
Has Riedel Gone Too Far?
Posted: 12:22 PM ET, January 31, 2007
Does the announcement that Riedel has come out with a new glass specifically designed for Oregon Pinot Noir strike you as funny as it does me? What's next? A special glass for Santa Ynez Valley Pinot Gris?
Look, I admire what Riedel has done for wine glasses as much as anyone. Read more
Rosemount Is Back, Sort of
Posted: 01:24 PM ET, January 26, 2007
Reviving Rosemount was at the top of the to-do list for Foster's when the big Australian beer and wine giant took over Southcorp in 2005. The brand had been slipping since its heyday as a privately-owned winery in the 1990s. The top wines were still good, especially Balmoral Syrah and GSM, a lovely blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre, but the modestly-priced wines no longer emerged from the pack as the great values they once were. Read more
Go Fish Gets in the Swim
Posted: 03:14 PM ET, January 24, 2007
Last fall when I reviewed Go Fish, the new Napa Valley seafood restaurant, it was a mixed bag. Ken Tominaga's sushi bar was turning out some splendid sashimi and sushi, but the western side of the kitchen seemed to be misfiring.
The people involved, namely owners Cindy Pawlcyn and Sean Knight, who also have the venerable Mustards, outside Yountville, and the supercasual Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Read more
A Weekend in the Country, Part II
Posted: 12:43 PM ET, January 22, 2007
When I started planning this weekend, I went through my cellar and made a list of mature wines I have been saving for a special occasion. Then I contacted all the participants and asked what wines they would be willing to contribute to the proceedings. Read more
A Weekend in the Country, Part I
Posted: 06:40 PM ET, January 21, 2007
To celebrate a milestone birthday (OK, it's our 60th), my wife and I invited six friends who share our love of good food and wine to rent a big house with us in Napa Valley for four days. Many of them are serious cooks. Some of us have some nice older wines that we can pluck from our cellars. Read more
Some Seriously Saucy Wine Labels
Posted: 08:51 PM ET, January 17, 2007
Gotta hand it to those Aussies. Just when you think they're all falling over each other to reach a mass market by putting kangaroos, wombats, emus, geckos and other critters on their labels, they go and make you smile with something else.
Credit Some Young Punks, a label put together by three otherwise serious winemakers in South Australia, for some of the cheekiest, most fun labels I've seen lately. Read more
Flaw? Or Complexity?
Posted: 02:41 PM ET, January 15, 2007
That flavor you hate in the wine but the guy next to you loves? To you, it's a flaw. To him, it's welcome complexity.
Somehow, I'm not surprised that this topic came up in comments about Pinot Noir. I had written that I found some of the wines in a recent tasting green and earthy. Read more
Pinot Noir Polarization
Posted: 06:53 PM ET, January 11, 2007
My friend Archie invited me to join him for a tasting of California Pinot Noirs at the Vintners Club in San Francisco the other day. I gladly accepted. Little did I expect the astonishing range of opinions.
I mean, there was one wine I found so earthy I could hardly take a second sip. Read more
Red Wine and Chocolate
Posted: 12:34 PM ET, January 08, 2007
Years ago I discovered, quite by accident, that red wine can taste just fine with chocolate. It was at a dinner where the dessert, one of those dense, not-very-sweet, runny chocolate cakes where the center oozes a molten river of dark brown goodness, had not yet become a cliché. Read more
Matching Up With Crudo
Posted: 02:30 PM ET, January 02, 2007
Does Riesling or Chardonnay go better with crudo, the Italian approach to raw fish? I am planning to prepare a crudo course to start a big dinner later this month to celebrate a milestone birthday. My usual choice for raw fish dishes is a light, fragrant, non-oaked dry white wine from Friuli, or perhaps a Falanghina from Campania, because of its crisp texture. Read more
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