Wine around the world

I won't be winning any awards this year for "timely reporting." It's now been more than three months since the event called La Paulée de San Francisco came to town, but I'm finally getting my notes from the grand tasting posted here.

For those who aren't familiar with La Paulée, it offers the opportunity to spit out thousands of dollars of wine in the space of a couple of hours. In other words, it's one of world's best Burgundy tastings, where attendees get the chance to sample some wines that are made in such small quantities, and at such high prices, that most people never have a prayer of getting their hands on some.

Not all the Burgundies at
La Paulée are that elusive, but they are mostly all that good.

La Paulée is an annual event started in 2000 by sommelier Daniel Johnnes in the spirit of an event known as La Paulée de Meursault, which has been held, in some form or another since 1923 in and around the commune of Meursault in Burgundy, France.

The French version began as a communal dinner among wine producers, and evolved into its modern incarnation as an extravagant lunch that follows the Hospices de Beaune wine auction every year. This luncheon (to which I have never been) is really more of a feast of wine that begins in the early afternoon and lasts well into the evening. It is marked by good food and in particular, by incredible old Burgundies brought from the personal cellars of all who attend.

It was this spirit of conviviality, as well as this passionate consumption of what he considers to be the world's greatest wines, that prompted Johnnes to hold his own such celebration. The event now flip-flops back and forth between New York and San Francisco, and offers an over-the-top experience for anyone who loves Burgundy, or simply wants to get to know it better.

I get a press pass to the grand tasting, but the real event is the evening grand dinner, which I can't afford to attend, and since press passes to that aren't available, I merely live with the fantasy of one day finding a ticket to it in a bar of chocolate, or something like that.

But in the meantime I'm always deliriously happy to buckle down and taste a lot of really fine wine at the grand tasting. This year's tasting improved mightily on the one held two years ago in the logistics department. Spit buckets were plentiful and the room was arranged with much more space available for tasting. It was still crowded, of course, but the press and crush that marked the 2008 tasting was gone. You could actually stop to have a conversation with a winemaker if you wanted, instead of being edged out immediately by the next person looking for a taste. The food, provided by the likes of A16, Perbacco, and Quince, was excellent.

Below are my notes on the wines I tasted.

White

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9.5 AND 10

2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chenevottes"
Near colorless in the glass, this wine has a fantastic nose that mixes herbal and mineral aromas with amazingly perfumed pine sap and lemon zest aromas. In the mouth, the wine offers amazement from the moment it hits the tongue. A terrific melange of flavors that range from the nutty to the piney are shot through with an incredible lemon and grapefruit essence that is captivating. Like balancing a kitchen knife on the point of another kitchen knife, the wine hangs in perfect balance through an incredibly long finish. Wow. $74. Click to buy.

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5

2007 Domaine Faiveley Corton-Charlemagne
Pale gold in color, this wine has a phenomenal nose of rainwater, cold cream and wet stones, as if it emerged from a cave of limestone. In the mouth the wine explodes on the palate with lemon juice and lemon zest shrapnel. A tart minerality grips the bright fruit with a firm grasp and allows it to vibrate through the long finish. Mouthwateringly delicious. $180.

2007 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Pucelles"
Pale gold in the glass with greenish highlights, this wine smells of unripe apple and the fresh zest of a pomelo. In the mouth the wine has a crystalline minerality and offers flavors of tart lemon zest, grapefruit, and hints of unripe apricot that linger in a long gorgeous finish. Delicate and powerful in the same breath, this wine sings like a struck chime. $??

2008 Domaine Matrot Meursault 1er Cru "Perrières"
No tasting note.

2008 Domaine Matrot Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chalumaux"
Pale gold in color, this wine has a powerful nose of piney apple and raw quince aromas. In the mouth the wine is electric with lemon zest and pink grapefruit juiciness. Fantastic acidity makes this wine vibrate even as a resonant mineral foundation courses its way through the wine like a river of stone. Very long finish. Outstanding. $60 Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chenevottes"
Pale greenish-gold in color, this wine has a wonderfully mineral nose of cold cream, pastry cream and rainwater aromas. In the mouth a burst of pink grapefruit dances a jig with lemon curd smeared on a cold marble slab. Wonderful acidity and fantastic balance drive this wine through a long and lip smacking finish. $60 Click to buy.

2007 Hospices de Beaune Corton-Charlemagne "Cuvée François de Salins"
No tasting note.

2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru "En Remilly"
Near colorless in the glass, this wine has a nose of explosive lemon essence and pastry cream. In the mouth the wine is just as dynamic, with juicy lemon oil and piney, sap flavors that zip around the palate on the back of racy acidity. Fantastically delicious. $40. Click to buy.

2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Meursault 1er Cru "Perrières"
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of nut skin and lemon zest. In the mouth the wine does a wonderful trick of being both rich as well as crystalline in its minerality. Flavors of lemon, lemon zest, and wet stones course electrically through the finish. Outstanding. $100. Click to buy.

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2007 Domaine Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne
2007 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru "Clos Saint-Landry"
2007 Domaine Brocard Chablis 1er Cru Vaulorent
2007 Domaine Brocard Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses
2007 Domaine Brocard Chablis Grand Cru Bougros
2007 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Valmur
2007 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos
2007 Domaine de la Vougeraie Vougeot 1er Cru "Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot" Monopole
2007 Domaine de Montille Château de Puligny Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Folatières"
2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault "Clos de la Barre"
2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru "Charmes"
2007 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet
2007 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Clavaillon"
2008 Domaine Matrot Meursault 1er Cru "Charmes"
2007 Domaine Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chaumées"
2007 Domaine Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Maltroie"
2007 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Ruchottes"
2007 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet
2007 Maison Louis Jadot Pommard 1er Cru "Les Rugiens"
2007 Maison Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne
2008 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru "Les Champlots"

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2007 Domaine Alain Chavy Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Folatières"
2007 Domaine Ballot-Millot Meursault 1er Cru "Genevrières"
2007 Domaine Ballot-Millot Meursault 1er Cru "Perrières"
2007 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Clos Saint-Jean"
2007 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Boudriotte"
2007 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Morgeot"
2007 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Cailleret"
2007 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault 1er Cru "Genevrières"
2008 Domaine Brocard Chablis Boissoneuse
2007 Domaine Bruno Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Boudriotte"
2007 Domaine Bruno Colin Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Truffière"
2007 Domaine Charles Audoin Marsannay "Au Champ Salomon"
2008 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis 1er Cru Vaillon
2007 Domaine Dujac Morey-Saint-Denis Blanc
2007 Domaine Leflaive Mâcon-Verzé
2004 Domaine Long Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru "La Moutonne" Monopole
2002 Domaine Long Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru "La Moutonne" Monopole
2001 Domaine Long Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru "La Moutonne" Monopole
2007 Domaine Marquis D'Angerville Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos de l'Arlot" Blanc
2008 Domaine Matrot Meursault
2007 Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Les Terres Blanches" Blanc
2007 Domaine Philippe Colin Chassagne-Montrachet
2007 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chaumées"
2007 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru " Clos des Mouches" Blanc
2007 Maison Deux Montille Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru "Sous Frétille"

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2007 Domaine Alain Chavy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru "En Remilly"
2007 Domaine Ballot-Millot Meursault 1er Cru "Charmes"
2008 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Mâcon-Chardonnay "Clos de la Crochette"
2006 Domaine Long Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru "La Moutonne" Monopole
2008 Joseph Drouhin Chablis 1er Cru "Sécher"

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2007 Domaine Alain Chavy Puligny-Montrachet
2007 Domaine Alain Chavy Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Clavoillons"
2007 Domaine Bruno Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "Les Chaumées"
2008 Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis

Red

2007 Domaine Faiveley Corton "Clos des Cortons"
Pale ruby in color, this wine has a mostly indescribable raspberry cocaine (if there was such a thing) aroma to it that will completely stop you in your tracks. If you can bear to get your nose out of the glass and actually taste this wine, you will find crystalline flavors of tart sour cherry dusting a wet forest floor and a deep mineral aspect to the wine. Perfectly balanced and poised, the wine has a minutes long finish that begs for silence and stillness. Phenomenal. $100. Click to buy.

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5

2007 Domaine D'Eugénie Clos de Vougeot
Pale garnet in the glass, this wine smells of a gorgeous, piney forest floor dusted with fresh raspberries. In the mouth bright, flavors of black raspberry are blown about in a dusty blanket of earthiness. Wet dirt and cranberry flavors linger on the finish. Great acidity, fine grained, muscular tannins, and a wonderful balance pervade the wine. Excellent and distinctive. $260. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine de Montille Pommard 1er Cru "Les Pézerolles"
Pale ruby in color, this wine has a wonderfully rustic nose of briary raspberry aromas. In the mouth it is impeccably balanced, with fine grained tannins and delicate acidity that wrap around a core of redcurrant and raspberry fruit. An undercurrent of that same briary woodiness works its way through the wine into the finish. Delicious. $83. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Champeaux"
Pale garnet in the glass, this wine has a fantastic nose of violet, cranberry and raspberry aromas. In the mouth soft cranberry and black raspberry fruit lays on a bed of velvety tannins. The wine has an utterly compelling texture, somewhere between velvety and satiny on the tongue and seems to have a bluish fruit quality to it as well, whatever that means. Fantastic length and deep deliciousness. $140. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Lavaut Saint-Jacques"
Pale garnet in color, this wine smells of violets and cherry fruit. In the mouth it has a silky sexiness that is difficult to ignore as incredibly juicy flavors of raspberry, orange peel, and forest floor dance like fairies in a glen across the palate. A fantastic earthiness rumbles below the tinkling fruit that shines brightly with the wine's great acidity. Lovely finish. $140. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Faiveley Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Les Cazetiers"
Light garnet in color, this wine smells of raspberry fruit, briary green stems, and a wet stone quality that is quite disarming. In the mouth flavors of raspberry, redcurrant, and a hint of green, even minty herbs course through a raceway sketched by beautiful acidity. A fantastic texture of silkiness pervades the wine and it lingers in the finish with aromas of pine boughs and that mint character hanging just out of reach. Outstanding. $60. Click to buy.

2007 Domaine Faiveley Échezeaux
Pale ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of bright raspberry and wet stone aromas. In the mouth the wine has a classic, regal composure with flavors of raspberry, redcurrant, and a stony minerality that hang beautifully in balance like some creation of Alexander Calder, as ocean breezes waft underneath. Wonderfully long finish. Delicious.

2007 Domaine Perrot-Minot Morey-Saint-Denis "La Rue de Vergy"
Pale ruby in color, this wine smells beautifully with the perfume of violets and cranberry skin. In the mouth the wine has an incredible stained glass window quality to it, shining with light and flavors of raspberry and redcurrant. An aromatic sweetness suffuses the wine, and fantastic acidity lifts the whole luminous swell across the palate. Delicious.

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2007 David Duband Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru "Les Sentiers"
2007 David Duband Échezeaux
2007 Domaine Chevalier Père et Fils Ladoix 1er Cru "Les Grechons"
2007 Domaine Chevalier Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne
2006 Domaine Chevalier Père et Fils Corton "Le Rognet"
2007 Domaine D'Eugénie Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru "Aux Brulées"
2007 Domaine D'Eugénie Grands-Échezeaux
2007 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin Vielles Vignes
2007 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin "En Champs"
2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Volnay 1er Cru "Santenots du Milieu"
2007 Domaine Dujac Morey-Saint-Denis Rouge
2007 Domaine Dujac Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru "Aux Combottes"
2007 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche
2007 Domaine Georges Roumier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru "Les Cras"
2007 Domaine Georges Roumier Bonnes-Mares
2007 Domaine Marquis D'Angerville Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos de l'Arlot"
2007 Domaine Marquis D'Angerville Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos des Forets Saint Georges"
2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Beaune 1er Cru "Les Toussaints"
2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Corton "Les Renardes"
2007 Domaine Michel Gros Nuits-Saint-Georges "Les Chaliots"
2007 Domaine Michel Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru "Clos des Réas"
2007 Domaine Michel Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru "Aux Brulées"
2007 Domaine Michel Gros Clos de Vougeot
2007 Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos des Argillières"
2007 Domaine Perrot-Minot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "La Richemone"
2007 Domaine Perrot-Minot Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru "La Combe d'Orveau"
2007 Domaine Perrot-Minot Charmes-Chambertin
2007 Domaine Pierre Gelin Fixin 1er Cru "Clos Napoleon"
2007 Domaine Pierre Gelin Chambertin-Clos de Bèze
2007 Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Boudriotte" Rouge
2005 Hospices de Beaune Corton Grand Cru "Cuvée Charlotte Dumay" Rouge
2007 Maison Louis Jadot Clos de Vougeot
2007 Maison Louis Jadot Domaine Duc de Magenta Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot "Clos de la Chapelle"
2006 Thibault Liger-Belair Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Les Saint Georges"
2007 Thibault Liger-Belair Clos de Vougeot

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2007 David Duband Nuits-Saint-Georges
2007 David Duband Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru "Clos Sorbè"
2007 Domaine Bruno Colin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru "La Maltroie" Rouge
2007 Domaine Charles Audoin Fixin "Le Rozier"
2006 Domaine Chevalier Père et Fils Ladoix 1er Cru "La Corvée"
2007 Domaine D'Eugénie Vosne-Romanée
2007 Domaine de la Vougeraie Côte de Beaune "Les Pierres Blanches" Rouge
2007 Domaine de la Vougeraie Gevrey-Chambertin "Les Evocelles"
2007 Domaine de la Vougeraie Clos de Vougeot
2006 Domaine de Montille Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Aux Thorey"
2007 Domaine Georges Roumier Chambolle-Musigny
2006 Domaine Jean Grivot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Aux Boudots"
2006 Domaine Jean Grivot Échezeaux
2007 Domaine Marquis D'Angerville Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Clos du Chapeau"
2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Savigny-lès-Beaunes 1er Cru "Aux Serpentières"
2005 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Beaune 1er Cru "Aux Coucherias"
2007 Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion Nuits-Saint-Georges Vieilles Vignes
2007 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru "Les Lavières"
2007 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Corton-Bressandes
2007 Hospices de Beaune Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epenots "Cuvée Dom Goblet" Rouge
2006 Hospices de Beaune Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru "Cuvée Madeleine Collignon" Rouge
2007 Thibault Liger-Belair Vosne-Romanée "Aux Réas"
2007 Thibault Liger-Belair Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Les Saint Georges"

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2007 Domaine Ballot-Millot Pommard 1er Cru "Les Pézerolles" 8.75
2006 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru "Grèves" Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus 8.75
2006 Domaine Bouchard Père et Fils Volnay 1er Cru "Caillerets" Ancienne Cuvée Carnot 8.75
2007 Domaine Charles Audoin Marsannay "Clos du Roy" 8.75
2007 Domaine Charles Audoin Marsannay "Les Longeroies" 8.75
2007 Domaine Georges Roumier Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru "Clos de La Bussière" 8.75
2006 Domaine Jean Grivot Vosne-Romanée 8.75
2006 Domaine Jean Grivot Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru "Roncière" 8.75
2007 Domaine Michèle & Patrice Rion Chambolle-Musigny 8.75
2007 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Chorey-lès-Beaune 8.75
2007 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Beaune 1er Cru "Les Grèves" 8.75
2007 Joseph Drouhin Grands Échezeaux 8.75

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2007 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru " Clos des Mouches" Rouge

Sommeliers have it pretty rough. They have to deal with the assholes of the wine world who view a conversation with a sommelier as an opportunity to demonstrate their hubris and wine knowledge like a rooster strutting before a cockfight. And then there are those who are not annoying, but still dreadfully unfortunate for a working sommelier: those who are too intimidated by their sense of the complexities of the wine world or the daunting size of the wine list, or what they see as the imposing figure of the sommelier himself (or herself), to engage.

If sommeliers were doctors, they'd spend a good portion of their time dealing with boastfully self-diagnosing patients that had never gone to medical school and people who couldn't be coaxed out of the waiting room to get examined.

More than one accomplished sommelier has, perhaps not even in a moment of unguarded and slightly tipsy honesty, told me how much they appreciated those diners that actually understood what their job was, and used them in the way they are trained to be used.

But the world is fraught with danger for even the most expert and helpful sommelier. Take Eric Asimov's article in today's New York Times, which offers yet another stumbling block in the way of helpful sommeliers everywhere: a story of an astonished diner who is troubled, if not mildly outraged, by a sommelier who tasted the wine first before pouring it for the diner and his companions.

Of course, there will always be people who, unfamiliar with the ceremony and services involved in fine dining, are taken aback by some practices. I can remember my own bumbling and minor frustration as a young man the first time I was taken out to eat in a restaurant where they pushed my seat in for me and placed the napkin on my lap. I didn't know what was going on, and was embarrassed that I didn't know.

But the issue raised in Eric's column is clearly not the product of inexperience. This diner simply wasn't used to the idea of someone else tasting the wine he had paid for. To him, and doubtless to many others, it's likely a question of principle: I bought the wine, therefore I should get to decide who gets a sip and who doesn't. Even my blogging colleague Joe Roberts, of One Wine Dude is on the record in the story expressing some amount of dismay at the idea of a sommelier tasting the wine in advance without his knowledge.

Come on, people. You don't think the cooks taste the sauce before they put it on your dish? Let sommeliers do their jobs.

I don't doubt that many people might bristle a little at someone tasting their wine before they themselves do. But I think these same people may not really know what a sommelier's job is. Now I'm no sommelier myself, but here's my understanding of what you should expect when there's a sommelier on the floor of a restaurant you're dining at.

1. There should be a wine list available for you to look at, that should include a variety of wines by the glass and by the bottle, across a range of price points appropriate to the restaurant.

2. The sommelier has either personally put that wine list together, or is paid to know it almost that well. Which means they should have a sense of how the wines match the menu, the style and character of the wines on it (i.e. how they taste), and of course, what wines they've actually got.

3. You can have a conversation with the sommelier if you want, and they will recommend wines to you based on your preferences, your food choices, and/or your budget. They should be able to answer just about any question you have that is relevant to the role that wine will play in your evening's meal. They should not be there to push any specific wine, sell you wine if you don't want it, or try to get you to spend more than you really wanted to.

4. On occasion the sommelier's responsibility will also include matching specific wines to specific dishes as part of a wine flight that goes along with a specific menu created by the chef, or to a menu of your choosing.

5. The sommelier's job (and the wine director's if they are different people) also includes making sure that the wine is purchased from reputable sources, stored appropriately, and served at the correct temperature, with proper stemware. The sommelier (or often the waiter, as well) will (always by default, but definitely at your discretion) pour the wine for you and your companions throughout your meal.

6. In states or countries where it is legal, the sommelier will also care for a bottle of wine that you have brought with you to the restaurant to consume, with the same level of attention as any bottle they might be selling you. This includes understanding how and when you wish the wine to be opened and served, and at what temperature.

7. Importantly, the sommelier is also paid to ensure that you get a sound bottle (or glass) of wine -- one that is not spoiled, prematurely oxidized, cooked, corked, or otherwise tainted. And this includes that bottle you might have brought with you. (As an aside, everyone should note that this point does not include ensuring that you actually like the wine that you ordered).

It's this last set of responsibilities that give the sommelier license to, and I might even say the duty, to taste any bottle that they open in the restaurant. And by taste, that means pouring a very, very small amount (half an ounce, perhaps) into a glass or a tastevin to smell and taste before offering the bottle to the diner for evaluation.

Sommeliers are trained or experienced enough, if they are truly worthy of holding the title, to spot flawed wine in ways that even very experienced wine lovers are not. Having them taste a bottle, even if it is one you've brought from home, is like having someone who can, in a matter of seconds, check to make sure that the brakes aren't going to fail in the car you're about to race off in.

Of course, practically speaking, sommeliers don't have time to taste every bottle they open in a restaurant, but some are much less in need of professional evaluation before being served. A brand new vintage of California Chardonnay does not need to be inspected in the same way that a 1980 Meursault does. For the most part (but not categorically) screw-capped wines don't need advanced tasting.

From my perspective, I'd love a sommelier to taste every wine I ever buy at or bring to a restaurant from this day forward. Even if, as it so happened a couple of months ago, all it means is that I can commiserate with them about how badly corked the bottle was that I had brought to dinner. The sommelier tasted it first and then, knowing I'd want to smell, came out to my table with his glass and a grimace. He didn't have to get the glass within two feet before I could smell how badly corked the wine was. We bemoaned the loss of a great Brunello, and then he was off to find me something to replace it -- in my price range, and with the particular style I was looking for.

I know I don't need to tell many of you readers how to let sommeliers do their jobs. But for some of you, it might be news that it is not only acceptable to have a sommelier take a sip before you do, it might also be a good idea. No one likes to start a dinner with a bad taste in their mouth.

Read the full article in the New York Times.

At the risk of oversimplifying things past the point of reasonableness, I'd like to suggest that there are really two kinds of wineries in Napa Valley. Those that have been made great in modern times and those that were great long before Napa Cabernet cost more than even $1.00 a bottle. There are a handful of wineries that must be considered some of the valley's historical treasures, and those that continue to make excellent wine (not all do) are to be treasured even more for it.

The famous sign that welcomes the world to Napa Valley hosts a quote by author Robert Louis Stevenson: "...and the wine was bottled poetry." In the early 1880's Stevenson took his honeymoon in the northern end of Napa valley, and wrote about it in a book called the Silverado Squatters. In it, he describes his visit to the property of German immigrant Jacob Schram:

"Mr. Schram's, on the other hand, is the oldest vineyard in the valley, eighteen years old I think; yet he began a penniless barber, and even after he had broken ground up here with his black malvoisies, continued for long to tramp the valley with his razor. Now, his place is the picture of prosperity: stuffed birds on the verandah, cellars far dug into the hillside, and resting on pillars like a bandit's cave: all trimness, varnish, flowers, and sunshine, among the tangled wildwood. Stout, smiling Mrs. Schram, who has been to Europe and apparently all about the States for pleasure, entertained Fanny in the verandah, while I was tasting wines in the cellar. To Mr. Schram this was a solemn office; his serious gusto warmed my heart; prosperity had not yet wholly banished a certain neophyte and girlish trepidation, and he followed every sip and read my face with proud anxiety. I tasted all. I tasted every variety and shade of Schramberger, red and white Schramberger, Burgundy Schramberger, Schramberger Hock, Schramberger Golden Chasselas, the latter with a notable bouquet, and I fear to think how many more. Much of it goes to London - most, I think; and Mr. Schram has a great notion of the English taste.

In this wild spot, I did not feel the sacredness of ancient cultivation. It was still raw, it was no Marathon, and no Johannesburg; yet the stirring sunlight, and the growing vines, and the vats and bottles in the cavern, made a pleasant music for the mind. Here, also, earth's cream was being skimmed and garnered: and the customers can taste, such as it is, the tang of the earth in this green valley. So local, so quintessential is a wine, that it seems the very birds in the verandah might communicate a flavor, and that romantic cellar influence the bottle next to be uncorked in Pimlico, and the smile of jolly Mr. Schram might mantle in the glass."

Jacob Schram was indeed a penniless barber. At the age of sixteen, to avoid being drafted into the German army, Schram set off to find his fortune in the New World, on a steamer to New York, where he first apprenticed as a barber, and then south to the Caribbean, across Panama (no canal yet) and then on a ship to California. Shaves and haircuts, trims and tonics, paid his way until he reached the Napa Valley, where he set up a barber shop in Napa City, found himself a wife named Annie Christine Weber, and settled down to a life of modest prosperity.

In 1862, as the government was beginning to offer land grants to spur development, it occurred to Schram that that he might trade one sort of shears for another, and with his savings, he purchased 200 acres on Diamond Mountain, and slowly began to plant vineyards.

Schram, and some of the others that made up this earliest wave of Napa viticulture, benefitted greatly from the coincidental completion of the transcontinental railroad in San Francisco. Large numbers of Chinese immigrants who had be "imported" specifically to work on the railroad were fanning out from San Francisco looking for work. Many found it in the burgeoning vineyards of the Napa Valley, including the Schram farm, where they helped plant the vineyards and dig what would be Napa's first underground wine caves.

By the time Stevenson visited in 1880, the winery had 50 acres of vines and was producing roughly 8000 cases of wine per year. When Schram passed away and his son took over the family business in 1905, the winery was producing more than 25,000 cases of wine.

And then.... the first World War and Prohibition finished off what was left of the Napa wine industry after the Phylloxera epidemic just a few years earlier. The winery was sold to an investment firm, and Schramsberg wines were no longer sold.

Over the next few decades, the winery changed hands several times. Some of the owners started producing wine again, and in 1951, the current owner, Douglas Pringle revived the Schramsberg label, and began producing wines, including sparkling wine. In 1957, the property was designated a state Historical Monument, and in 1965, Jack and Jamie Davies -- he a successful executive, she an art gallery owner -- purchase the property with a grand dream: to make world class sparkling wine in California.

And for more than forty years, the Davies' family pursued that odyssey with remarkable success. Schramsberg Vineyards indeed became an icon not only of the Napa Valley, but of California and the nation. From the first use of Chardonnay for sparkling wine in the U.S., to one of the earliest uses of the traditional Methode Champenoise for making sparkling wine, Schramsberg was an early pioneer of American sparkling wine.

Today, after the passing of both his parents, the Davies' son Hugh continues their legacy and presides over the production of some of the finest sparkling wine made in America.

The winemaking for the estate's roughly 60,000 case production begins with grapes from the estate's original acreage, as well as many contract vineyard sources for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay around Sonoma and Napa counties. Whether owned by the Davies family or farmed on contract, all of the grapes are carefully farmed and picked by hand. The winemaking involves a portion of the grapes (depending on the wine) fermented in barrel. Portions of the wine are also aged for extended time in the barrel, and these barrel aged wines are then used as blending components in several of the winery's bottlings.

As with Champagne, the wines undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle deep in the cool, humid caves that were dug by Chinese laborers more than 150 years ago. As the bubbles are forming during this second ferment, the bottles are "riddled" or turned to allow the yeast to accumulate in the neck before it is disgorged and the bottle topped up, corked and sealed for sale.

There are very few sparkling wines in America that can begin to equal the quality and complexity of Champagne, but Schramsberg is unquestionably among those few. With a few years of age on it, their top bottlings can hold their own among many tete-de-cuvees from France. While I enjoy their commercial bottlings, I have perhaps been most impressed with some small bits of very late-disgorged wines that the winery often makes available at the annual Premier Napa Valley auction for the trade. These wines, which have 10 or more years of aging on their lees are truly world-class and among some of the best wines I've tasted from Napa Valley.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:

2002 Schramsberg Vineyards "J. Schram" Sparkling Wine, North Coast
Light greenish gold in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of unripe apples, lemon zest, and chamomile. In the mouth it is tart and edgy, with sour lemon zest and chamomile flavors that meld with a light yeastiness. The wine has a somewhat angular and slightly bitter cut to it that makes me think it would benefit from a little more aging. It's juicy however, and quite refreshing. A mix of 83% Chardonnay and 17% Pinot Noir. Score: between9 and 9.5. Cost: $100. Click to buy.

2006 Schramsberg Vineyards "Blanc de Noirs" Sparkling Wine, North Coast
Pale greenish-gold in the glass with medium-fine bubbles, this wine has a nose of unripe apples and quince aromas with some smells of wet stones. In the mouth it offers crisp and bright flavors of baked apples, lemon juice, and wet stones. Great acidity and hint of sourdough yeastiness round out this delicious wine. 100% Pinot Noir. Score: around 9. Cost: $28. Click to buy.

2006 Schramsberg Vineyards "Blanc de Blancs" Sparkling Wine, Napa
Pale greenish-gold in the glass with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of citrus pith and wet stones. In the mouth the wine is quite delicate with lemon juice, wet stones, crisp ripe apples, and the barest hint of brewers yeast. The wine finishes cleanly with lingering flavors of lemon zest. Very, very tasty. 100% Chardonnay. Score: around 9. Cost: $25. Click to buy.

In addition to the wines above, Schramsberg makes 7 other sparkling wines and some Cabernet under the J. Davies label.

The second of the two seminars I gave at the recent Aspen Food & Wine Classic festival was entitled "Secrets of the Napa Valley." The folks at Food & Wine magazine sort of have me slotted as the California guy, so every year I tend to do at least one Napa or Sonoma focused seminar.

This year I wanted to highlight some of the least known wines or producers of Napa in an attempt to get people to broaden their horizons, and showcase some of the diversity that flies a bit under the surface of the sea of Cabernet.

The seminar was also an excuse for me to share some real gems -- a few of which are some of my absolute favorite wines made in the valley, to the point that I actually buy them with some regularity.

I tried to make a video of this seminar as well, but the conditions were less favorable than the South African seminar. It was popular and because they squeezed so many folks into the tent, there wasn't table space for my tripod and flip camera. As a result I had to fudge it a little and I ended up with a video with lousy sound and my head cut off a lot of the time. So no video of this one to share, sadly.

Instead I'll offer my tasting notes on the wines below, and some brief thoughts on why they qualify as some of Napa's secrets.

2008 Smith Madrone Riesling, Spring Mountain District
Near colorless in the glass, this wine smells of rainwater, lychee, and wet stones. In the mouth it offers delicate flavors of unripe pear, lychee, and wet stones with a lovely wet chalkboard quality on the finish. Balanced and comely, a small bit of residual sugar adds a lip smacking quality to the wine. Score: around 9. Cost: $25. Click to buy.

Smith-Madrone is a lesser known producer that has a great "lost in time" quality to it. Founders Stu Smith and Charles Smith revived an ancient vineyard site that Stu found while hiking on Spring Mountain. The first thing they planted? Riesling. Some of those vines are now 30+ years old and are yielding a tiny amount of fruit that goes into this bottling, which is one of California's very best. Very few people have had a Napa Riesling, and few get to try this one, which is sold almost entirely to those in the know.

2007 Heitz Cellars Grignolino, Napa Valley
Light ruby in color with a hint of purple, this wine has a nose of bright huckleberry and blackberry fruit aromas. In the mouth it has a bright strawberry jam, cassis, and spicy cherry flavor that makes it difficult to take life seriously. Excellent acidity and a bouncy juicy personality make this wine a real pleasure to drink. Not complicated or complex, just damn fun. Serve slightly chilled for best effect. Score: around 9. Cost: $15. Click to buy.

One of the best values of any wine in Napa, this is also perhaps the least known bottling by a famous producer. In 1961 by Joe and Alice Heitz bought a little 8-acre property from a Swiss-Italian farmer looking to get out of the wine business. The entire property was planted with his favorite grape, and one he was sure would be the future of Napa valley: grignolino. Originally from the Piemonte region of Italy, the grape is grown almost nowhere else, but the Heitz family in its wisdom has preserved the original acreage. If you don't get your annual allotment of Martha's Vineyard Cabernet, you might pick up a case or two of this wine (or the rosé they also make from the grape).

2007 Lang & Reed "214" Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry, tobacco, and as it gets more air, some wonderfully floral aromas. In the mouth the wine has a wonderful polish and presence, with flavors of cherry, cedar, cocoa powder, fantastic acidity, and wonderful velvety tannins. Incredibly lush and juicy, the wine has a rich timbre to it that makes it super delicious. Outstanding. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $40. The wine will be released on Bastille Day (July 14th) 2010. Call the winery and get some if you want it.

This wine is a secret for two reasons. One, because Lang & Reed wine company, dedicated to making Cabernet Franc in a valley obsessed with Cabernet Sauvignon, flies very much under the radar for most people. Two because this wine (until my seminar three weeks ago) has never been tasted by the public. A brand new bottling made from the only plantings (to anyone's knowledge) of the Etay 214 clone of Cabernet Franc direct from the Loire, it is the latest in a series of stellar wines made by John and Tracy Skupny, the high school sweethearts who fell in love and then fell in love again with Chinon as they traveled around the world together.

2001 Farella Park "Alta" Red Wine, Napa Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of sweet tobacco, cherry, and wet earth. In the mouth this blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot has a lovely, soft tannic structure and velvety texture that caresses flavors of cedar, cherry, tobacco, leather, and wonderful earthiness. Perfect acidity, wonderful clarity and length, with fantastic mineral qualities that linger in the finish, this wine would be very difficult to peg as 10 years old. Aging beautifully, it has another 10 years of improvement ahead of it. Outstanding. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $75. Click to buy.

Farella Park Vineyards, run by winemaker/philosopher/botanist Tom Farella is one of my favorite secret wineries in Napa. Located in the often-overlooked Coombsville region of the valley, Farella winery was started in the 70s by Tom's dad, Frank. Tom started working there as soon as he was able, and now, despite being relatively young, he has nearly 30 vintages under his belt. He took over as winemaker fully in 1990, and it took him 10 years before he felt like he understood the vineyard enough to make a wine that fully expressed its potential. In 2001 it was time, and he created "Alta." I was truly privileged to offer a taste of this wine to the crowd in Aspen, and they were quite lucky to have a chance to taste it, given the small quantities that were made, and even smaller quantity that remains in the winery's cellar. It is one of my favorite Napa Cabernets.

2007 Casa Nuestra "Tinto St. Helena" Red Blend, St. Helena, Napa
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of mocha, dates, prunes, and wonderful blackberry aromas. In the mouth the wine has taut, leathery tannins that make a fist around flavors of blackberry, cocoa powder, dried figs, black cherry and dusty earthiness. The finish has a distinctly dusty quality with lingering flavors of leather and tight earthiness. Unique and distinctive, the wine is quite young and will benefit from three to five years of bottle aging. Score: around 9. Cost: $35. Click to buy.

Whenever someone asks me where they ought to go "off the beaten path" in Napa, I send them to Casa Nuestra. With its pen of goats, rock and roll blaring in the tasting room, and gregarious tasting room staff (and their wine club secret handshake), it is one of the least "Napa" wineries in Napa, if you get my drift. This wine is special because it comes from an ancient mixed black vineyard planted with (hold on to your hats): Cabernet Pfeffer, Zinfandel, Alicante, Mourvedre, Mondouse, Carignane, Refosco, Pinot Noir, Petit Sirah, Gamay, and four or five varieties that have yet to be identified. Actually the wine comes from a new vineyard in front of the tasting room that has been painstakingly grafted from this original vineyard onto newer, healthier rootstock. The winery now makes this bottling, a traditional field blend of all the above grapes, and a blend from the original vineyard called Tinto Oakville. Every year I have a different favorite, this year it was Tinto St. Helena. One of the more unique wines in Napa.

2005 Spencer Roloson "La Herradura" Syrah, Napa Valley
Inky garnet in the glass, this wine smells of deep, black cassis, white pepper, and briary blackberry fruit. In the mouth the wine has a fantastic weight and texture on the palate, with velvet glove tannins that caress flavors of blackberry, espresso, woodsmoke, and cassis that swirl on top of a foundation of deep minerality. The finish has a lovely tart, floral quality. Impeccably balanced, with a raw yet restrained power, the wine is frankly, impressive. Quite possibly the best Syrah made in Napa. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $48. Click to buy.

This wine is a secret for the opposite reason of the 214 Cabernet Franc. This will be the last vintage that the public gets to taste of this wine. The 2006 vintage wasn't bottled, and in 2007 the vineyard was sold, and the winemaker, Sam Spencer no longer has rights to the fruit. This is a double shame, not just because of what this wine demonstrates is possible from this vineyard, but because Sam planted and farmed this vineyard for the previous owners. A wonderfully unique vineyard that has a bowl-shaped 180 degree exposure, it was planted with "suitcase cuttings" from (if my memory serves) Hermitage in the Northern Rhone. The 2005 is, poignantly, my absolute favorite vintage of this wine, and a demonstration of what a great loss it will be to no longer get to taste it.

* * *

There are very few "true" secrets in Napa. Most of the roads are pretty well traveled. But the wines above will reward anyone looking for something special off the beaten path. A few are really only available by calling the winery, which I highly encourage you to do. Tell them I sent you.

One of the minor gigs I have landed as a result of my verbal flailings around these parts is as a nominating judge for the Vintners Hall of Fame, an ongoing program of awards hosted by the Culinary Institute of America. Gig is clearly the wrong word for it, of course, as that has some connotation that there's some form of compensation. No, mostly what I get to do is sit around and talk with people who generally know a lot more about the history of California wine than I do.

Here's how it works. Every year, the nominating committee gets together and sifts through the hundreds of worthy names to try to come up with a selection of a few people who have had the greatest impact on the California wine industry. Yes, I know, the award should therefore be called the California Wine Hall of Fame, but we've hashed that one though every year, and the Vintners Hall of Fame is what it will stay, despite not every inductee being a vintner. But I digress.

Our job as the nominating committee is to arrive at a list of maybe a dozen or two dozen people that then get presented to essentially every professional wine writer in the country to vote on.

The nominees fall into two categories: Pioneers (folks who have been dead for more than 10 years), and everyone else. Beyond that, the criteria simply have to do with the scale of impact that the person has had on the California wine industry (i.e. large). Inductees can be growers, scientists, journalists, retailers, most anything in addition to winemakers.

Here's the list of everyone that we've inducted so far:

Leon Adams
Gerald Asher
Maynard Amerine, Ph. D.
Andy Beckstoffer
Frederick and Jacob Beringer
Brother Timothy
Al Brounstein
Darrell Corti
John Daniel, Jr.
Jack and Jamie Davies
Georges de Latour
Paul Draper
Ernest and Julio Gallo
Randall Grahm
Miljenko "Mike" Grgich
Agoston Haraszthy
Jess Stonestreet Jackson
Charles Krug
Zelma Long
Louis P. Martini
Carol Meredith, Ph.D.
Justin Meyer
Robert Mondavi
Gustave Niebaum
Harold Olmo, Ph. D.
Andrè Tchelistcheff
Carl Heinrich Wente
Warren Winiarski

The question is, who should be next? The inducting committee is meeting next week, to begin assembling the list. We keep track of the list of folks that don't make the final cut each year, so we've got a good starting point, but it occurs to me that all you readers may have some good ideas.

Who do you think has had a disproportionately large impact on the entire California wine industry, to the point that they need to be memorialized in a bronze plaque in the historic barrel room of the Greystone castle in St. Helena? I'm particularly interested (personally) in names not associated with Napa and its history, which is slightly over-represented in the existing Hall of Fame.

I spend most of my day helping companies do a better job connecting with their customers. It would be really easy for me to turn this blog into a constant conversation and critique about marketing in the wine industry. But that's not nearly as fun as drinking the stuff, so I try to hold off on the discussions about brand experience. However, on occasion I come across industry-related goings on that are worth talking about.

As regular readers know, I spent some time in Australia back in March of this year, exploring some of the wine regions I hadn't been to and visiting some of the country's smaller producers. My summary of that experience included some thoughts on the challenge that Australia faces in the wake of the global financial crisis and shifting preferences of global wine consumers. In particular I was interested in the dichotomy between where the money is in the Australian wine industry (the big exporters) and where I believe the future is for their industry (smaller producers).

I wrote:

"Indeed, some of the most exciting wines I had in Australia are made by tiny producers who don't make much wine, and export even less to the U.S. It seemed rather clear to me that Australia hasn't figured out a way to easily make this diversity available to the world at large, perhaps as a result of scale, but perhaps also as a result of a focus of its energy on "simpler" ways of communicating to global consumers about Australian wine. Australia (by which I mean primarily the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, the main trade body in the country) should be celebrating and promoting its smaller producers more."

Well I learned recently that the folks in Australia have been thinking along the same lines, and have launched what I think is the best marketing campaign I have ever seen or heard of for a wine region.

It's called A Plus (Australia Plus) and it's so brilliantly simple, the tag line explains it completely: "every one has a story."

It's a web site where every winery in Australia can submit a photo, a brief story about what makes them interesting, and put a link to their web site. Visitors can browse all the stories, vote on the ones they like the best, and share their favorites with friends. But most importantly they can see the stories.

The stories are short. Some are funny, some are profound, but mostly they're all at least interesting, which is more than you can say about 95% of the winery web sites and marketing campaigns in existence.

According to Paul Henry, the director of the Australia Wine and Brandy Corporation who responded to my questions about the campaign, this is merely the first phase of a dedicated effort over an extended period of time to use these stories as the basis for retelling the larger story of Australian wine, or as he put it "I believe the artistic term is 'finding one's voice.'"

Stories are what we care about. Stories are meaningful, and they are memorable. Wine is ultimately a story, of a place, of the people who farm it, and the unique circumstances that lead to the creation of every vintage.

Despite this, it's the story that gets lost in all the concern for points, tasting notes, and pricing that pervades the wine marketplace today.

And that's why I'm so impressed with this A+ campaign. It's such an honest, soulful departure from the usual ways in which countries or wine regions go about marketing themselves. You've certainly seen those campaigns before -- the ones that could be selling anything from Viagra to time-share vacation rentals. They always remind me of the campaign that ad exec Dudley Moore created in the movie Crazy People: "Come to Greece, the French can be Annoying."

The A+ web site is well executed, and it has a ton of potential. There's a lot more that can be done with these stories as they begin to accumulate, but the site is a great start and just what Australia needs. Provided that they can:

1. Actually get Australian wineries to participate (they'd be silly not to)
2. Get global consumers to the site (not an insignificant challenge)
3. Figure out how to leverage the content and the buzz on an ongoing basis

I predict it will be a great success. Of course, there's still the challenge of selling the wine, but stories have sold stuff since the beginning of time.

Check it out.

I think the very nature of coffee table books encourage them to be over the top. What else do we want, lounging around in the living room, than to be transported to someplace wonderful? A good coffee table book is better than TV in my opinion, if only because you want to experience it multiple times, which is more than I can say for pretty much any given TV show episode.

I've now leafed through both The Most Beautiful Wine Cellars in the World and Living With Wine several times, and probably will again. While it's somewhat crude to us the word pornography to describe each of these tomes, perhaps the authors and those familiar with the increasingly acceptable phrase "food porn" will forgive me. The books, replete with centerfold after centerfold of stunning images from wine cellars around the world, are surely the wine collector's version of Playboy, albeit more highbrow. One focuses mostly on the wine cellars of some of the world's greatest wineries, the other focuses on private cellars. Together they represent a drool-worthy composition of what you get when you combine design, history, architecture, wine, and (almost always) gobs and gobs of money.

Living With Wine, by Samantha Nestor with text by Alice Feiring and Photographs by Andrew French came out last year in time for the holiday gift-giving season, and offers an intimate view into roughly thirty temples built to honor that luxury of luxuries: the wine collection.

Most of the cellars showcased in Living with Wine are in private homes, though the book includes New York restaurants Alto and Adour. Ranging from the stark modern expanse of an Asian influenced museum piece to a barrel-vaulted, limestone brick nave, the cellars are beautifully lit and photographed. Each includes a profile of the owner (though some remain anonymous) and often some dialogue with the designer or architect. As if the money shots of magnums of grand cru Burgundies or California cult cabs weren't enough, the profiles also include a listing of the owners most prized bottles.

To some, the very notion of a wine collection -- at least one that contains valuable bottles to be cherished for a time as opposed to just a few more than can be drunk in a single setting -- represents a sort of overt luxury that is not only out of reach, but distasteful. Anyone who might scoff at the pages of the Robb Report or Architectural Digest, will find plenty to disdain in the pages of Living With Wine, which clearly showcases a wanton disregard for cost as much as it does the craft of showcasing wine collections big and small. But that, after all, is part of the fantasy, is it not?

If Living with Wine gives us the opportunity to fantasize about what we might like to build for ourselves, The Most Beautiful Wine Cellars in the World, edited by Astrid Fobelets, Jurgen Lijcops, and Janneke Sinot, on the other hand gives us the opportunity to fantasize about where we might like to visit. Instead of private homes (though the book does include a few stunning private cellars) its pages reveal the "back rooms" of some of the world's greatest wine estates, hotels, and restaurants.

Lacking a table of contents or any apparent organizational principle (that's just how much the editors want you to simply flip your way through) and offering only a paragraph or three about each location, The Most Beautiful Wine Cellars in the World becomes simply a visual feast of Old World wine history embodied in the remarkable fusion of glass bottles and architecture.

My eyes widened with delight at the incredible crypt-like staircase that leads to the cellar of the hotel Don Alfonso south of Naples, Italy; I marveled at the quarry-hewn caves of Chateau Ausone in Bordeaux; and I delighted at a view of the vaults of dusty bottles in the cellars of Massandra in the Ukraine and Chateau Ksara in Lebanon that I have imagined while appreciatively sipping their progeny.

Anyone whose pulse quickens at a pile of bottles overgrown with mold (but not so much that you can't read the little sign: 1934 Clos Vougeot) will want to ensure they enjoy The Most Beautiful Wine Cellars in the World with a full glass of red wine. A pencil and notebook may come in handy as well, to write down all the places that need to be added to the bucket list of places to see (and drink) before you die.

Both Living with Wine and The Most Beautiful Wine Cellars in the World offer many different flavors of perfection when it comes to the celebration of wine in ways that don't involve actually opening a bottle. The armchair collector and armchair traveler will find inspiration in both.

Samantha Nestor, Living With Wine, Clarkson Potter 2009, $47.25, (Hardcover).

Astrid Fobelets, Jurgen Lijcops, and Janneke Sinot, editors, The Most Beautiful Wine Cellars in the World, 2nd ed., Van den Heuvel 2009, $56.39, (Hardcover).

Full disclosure: I received review copies of these books.

I was poking around in my wine cellar last night, taking stock of what I might be drinking soon, now that I'm through some serious crunch time at work. In particular I was looking for some nice bottles of rosé that I might enjoy on the back porch, on those rare evenings where the summer fog doesn't make such activities tantamount to frostbite.

I found some nice bottles that all had one thing in common: none of them were made in America. Most were French, some were Italian. I wouldn't have really given that much thought except for the fact that hours earlier I had been unboxing wine samples and groaning at the massive influx of rosé, or more correctly what passes for rosé in California -- clear bottles filled with a liquid so dark it might be Benadryl. Or Pinot Noir, for that matter.

Great rosé is light and lithe, and dances on the palate with bright acidity. It is crisp and bright with faint floral and fruit flavors twined with rivers of wet stone and maybe fresh herbs. Hints of orange peel or hibiscus, strawberry and watermelon are all welcome.

Bad rosé, which includes 95% of the rosé made in this country, is overly fruity yet with a bitter aftertaste. It tastes of cherry and cranberry and cough syrup, and in some cases, it's actually sweet. Of course, let's leave aside White Zinfandel for the moment, which is its own category of beverage that isn't exactly trying to be a proper rosé. The folks who make that stuff and the folks who love it get a pass in this rant.

Of course, this isn't the first time I've cursed in frustration at the sorry state of rosé in this country, but what I don't understand is why it doesn't really seem to be getting any better. It's not like there aren't plenty of examples of how to do it well. It's not like American winemakers haven't managed to figure out how to make decent Pinot Noir. It could hardly be as difficult as growing The Heartbreak Grape.

The only reason I can think of for the pitiful state of rosé in this country is that most consumers don't know the difference between good rosé and bad. Otherwise why in the world would they keep drinking Merlot that is only one or two shades of red lighter than the wine it was pulled out of a few days earlier? Or maybe it's just that most American winemakers are too lazy to be bothered with learning how to make rosé properly and can't be bothered to pick their grapes before they hit 26 Brix?

Well in the event that you're a consumer who's not sure if you know the difference between good rosé and bad, here's a quick lesson.

Good rosé is simple to spot, and you don't even have to open a bottle to get pointed in the right direction at least.

Unless your rosé has the word Tavel on the front label (the rosé-only appellation in France's Rhone Valley that tends to make darker -- but very good -- rosé from Syrah) a proper rosé should never, ever look like this:

Instead, this is what rosé should look like:

Or ideally even lighter -- light copper, pale salmon, or even just a hint of pink. As light as possible. Not ruby colored. Not garnet colored. Never to be mistaken for a red wine.

And, unless the grapes are in the hands of one of the world's most talented winemakers, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot really aren't viable options for making good rosé. Try Grenache, Cinsault, Carignan, Pinot Noir, Gamay, or even Sangiovese or Tempranillo.

While I'm not a winemaker, and couldn't even pretend to know what I'm doing, I do know that the most important step in making proper rosé is deciding to grow the grapes as if they're going to be made into one, rather than growing the grapes as if they're going to be made into red wine. This means, at the very least, picking them earlier.

Yet so few American winemakers seem willing to do so. What they do instead is make a red wine, and then bleed off some of the juice, in a process known to the French as saignee. While this method itself does not spell problems, as much good rose is made that way, but invariably winemakers don't do it soon enough (hence the rosés that are darker ruby than pink). And because the grapes have been grown, harvested, crushed, and soaked like they are going to be a darker red wine, they have far too many tannins, and other bitter compounds that are fine and dandy in a big red wine, but death to a proper rosé.

Of course, there are a few American winemakers that do know how to make a proper rosé and have proven it by doing so. One of the best rosés made in this country comes from Robert Sinskey, whose ever-so-pale rosé of Pinot Noir has made its way into Whole Foods with some regularity. Other producers who know what they're doing include Tablas Creek, Fort Ross Vineyard, Clos Saron, and York Creek Vineyards. If you're buying pink wine from America, I'd stick to those names.

But by far the best way to ensure you're going to enjoy a proper rosé this summer is to buy French. Look for words on the label like Aix en Provence, Côtes de Provence, Cotes de Ventoux, Bandol, or even Côtes du Roussillon.

Thanks to the efforts of folks like RAP, the Rosé Avengers and Producers organization, we've thankfully reached a point in this country where rosé is actually somewhat fashionable. Now if we need to take the next step and actually make it good.

Some places in this world are simply hallowed ground when it comes to winemaking. Of course every deep-rooted and honest winemaker treats his own land that way, but there are some places on earth that long ago transcended the brief attentions of mortal winemakers and instead exist in a pantheon of the world's greatest vineyard sites.

No one knows exactly when the first vines were sunk into the impossibly steep granite hillsides in this particular elbow of the Rhone river valley, but in all likelihood there were grapes growing on the hillside now called Hermitage for more than five centuries before Jesus Christ was born. A mere 326 acres in size (smaller than some Bordeaux estates, aficionados will be pleased to remind you) the thin scrabbly soils of Hermitage's granite hillside represent one of the worlds most singular expressions of terroir, and the apogee of what the Syrah grape is capable of, in my opinion.

Originally called "Ermitage" with an "h" tacked on later for reasons none too clear, this appellation played host to some of the most famous wines in Europe outside of Bordeaux starting as far back as the 16th century. Indeed, though no one particularly cares to remember, there were times when the top Chateaux in Bordeaux used to augment a particularly thin vintage with a little Hermitage for color and body.

If there is one family name indelibly associated with the terroir of Hermitage, it would be Chave. One only need look at the neck of one of the domaine's wine bottles to understand why. Written there in fine print you will see the words "Vignerons de Père en Fils depuis 1481" -- Wine growers from father to son since 1481.

Domaine JL Chave owns about 35 acres of this hillside and has been farming it for more than a century. The family still owns about three acres of vines in the Saint Joseph appellation, which has been passed down through the family for more than sixteen generations.

JL Chave is currently run by the soft spoken Jean-Louis Chave (the modern incarnation of the domaine was named after his grandfather who bore the same name). Chave has been gradually assumed responsibilities for the estate from his father Gerard over the past few years, after getting his MBA and oenology degree here in the United States.

I recently had the pleasure of listening to Jean-Louis talk about his wines, and more importantly, the place where they are grown during a seminar at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic. I hope he will forgive me for my somewhat patchwork reconstruction of some of his remarks, which were punctuated by the ecstatic tasting of his current release wines, as well as some older vintages.

"Yes, we have been here for 16 generations. But I don't sell a name or a brand. What I do is explain and share the history of Hermitage. What is important is not the people that make the wine but where the wines come from. Hermitage has been here before us and will be around after us. It is more important than anything.

I think a lot of people don't know about Hermitage. When they know about the Rhone, it is more the southern Rhone. We are the Northern Rhone, of course, but we are not the very north. We like to say North of the South. We're not in Provence yet. We are in the region where we cook with butter, not olive oil.

It is not a warm place. It is pretty cold. We have more in common with Burgundy as a matter of climate than Chateauneuf-du-Pape as a matter of principle.

Our vineyards are on the hills because they need to look for the sun. Hermitage is Hermitage because it faces south. If there is a place that ever was supposed to be a home for grapes it is Hermitage. I thank my history and my family for finding it. We are very lucky to have these vineyards.

More than anything Hermitage is great, in the sense of Grand Vin, and quite unusually, it is great for both the white and the red wines. It is very rare to have an appellation where you can make both red and white at the same level of quality.

White grapes are nearly one fourth of the appellation, and in our case very, very old vines. Eighty to one-hundred-year-old Marsanne and Roussanne. We have both these grapes, but we don't know how much of each. People ask me what the percentage is of our white wine, and I am being honest when I say we don't know. When the vineyard was planted, the people who did it didn't know they were two different kind of grapes.

The red is Syrah but we don't ever use the word Syrah. We only say Hermitage, or Le Meal, or the various other parcels in the vineyard that give their own personality. The grape is a vector for the soil to express itself in the wine. Granite is the backbone. It gives the tightness in the spine. And then some parts of the vineyard give the flesh and the spice.

We make each parcel separately, and we keep them that way. You have to wait until the very end to see each wine express its personality, and then to finally be able to answer this question: what is Hermitage? There are different answers to that question, but as we like to say, we don't propose more than one each year. Making wine is not our job, it is our life. So this blending every year is not something to do on the day you go into your cellar and say "I feel well, I'm going to blend today." You think about it all the time. You blend in your mind, all the time. It is definitely emotional, and the emotional is important. But you can't be entirely emotional about it, because it is also your livelihood. You need to be objective sometimes, too.

When you look at our bottles you see what you need to know about us. We don't want to be Chave, we want to be Hermitage. That's where the wine comes from. It just happens to be Chave."

Despite making only three primary bottlings each year, the family actually makes dozens of wines, vinifying each section of the Hermitage hillside separately, as each parcel has a slightly different aspect and soil composition, and only blending after the wines are finished and aged in old oak casks or in stainless steel. Very, very little new oak is used on these wines, letting the hand-picked, gently pressed grapes do the talking.

In addition to the white and red Hermitage, the family also makes a red from their property in St. Joseph, and in some years a special red cuvee called Cuvée Cathelin, and an even rarer Vin de Paille dessert wine made from air-dried white grapes.

The wines are nothing short of spectacular, and without question, some of the best in the world. I am particularly fond of the Hermitage Blanc, which I have had occasion to taste only three or four times in my life, but each time I continue to be astonished by what is most definitely one of the world's greatest white wines.

Chave wines are made in minuscule quantities each year, and then only a portion of that production makes its way to the U.S.

TASTING NOTES:

2007 J.L. Chave Hermitage Blanc, Rhone Valley, France
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has an unbelievable nose of sweet cream and honey, lemon curd and jasmine aromas. One of the things I love about this wine is that it really smells like nothing else in the world. In the mouth, the wine has an incredibly sexy texture of liquid glass with a satin polish. Flavors of honeysuckle, beeswax, lemon curd, yellow melon, and a myriad of other fantastic floral flavors swirl and dance on the knife edge of balance that this wine seems to walk. An incredibly long finish rounds out the package. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $169. Click to buy.

2003 J.L. Chave Hermitage Blanc, Rhone Valley, France
Light yellow gold in the glass, this wine smells incredibly like a combination of piney aromas, honey, bee pollen, and beautiful floral notes. In the mouth, the wine has the usual gorgeous silky texture with flavors of bee pollen, honeysuckle, jasmine, and a fantastic smooth, granitic minerality and length. Impeccably poised and at once both delicate and powerful, the wine demands to be drunk. Fantastic. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $199. Click to buy.

2000 J.L. Chave Hermitage Blanc, Rhone Valley, France
Light yellow gold in the glass with a hint of green, despite being ten years old, this wine looks like it was just bottled, and may have even gotten lighter in color as it has aged. From even a foot away, this wine has a nose of incredible savory, even salty, bee pollen, lemon curd, and honeysuckle. In the mouth it is simply perfect. No other word suffices, and no string of expletives could possibly capture the unique combination of flavors and aromas. An impeccably balanced mouthful of liquid sex that smells like the spiritual essence of golden delicious apples mating with honeysuckle on a nuptial bed of slick wet granite. Flavors of lemon curd and yellow melon swirl through the mouth as the wine lingers for minutes in the finish. This is one of those of utterly fantastic, smack-yourself-over-the-head-with-the-wine-bottle wines. Fucking beautiful. Score: a perfect 10. Cost: $110. Click to buy.

2007 J.L. Chave Saint Joseph Rouge, Rhone Valley, France
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of bright mulberries, cherries, and delicate, mouthwatering spices. In the mouth the wine attacks with a bright burst of spicy cassis and plum flavors that bounce and swirl with an agility brought on by fantastic acidity. Strong violet flavors emerge on the long finish along with faint tannins. Almost irresistible in its mouthwateringness, having tasted it at this age, I would be hard pressed to keep myself from drinking it, even knowing it would improve for 15 years. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $60. Click to buy.

2006 J.L. Chave Saint Joseph Rouge, Rhone Valley, France
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of ripe plums, black cherry, and dried cherry fruit. In the mouth, velvety tannins that are lightly tacky in texture and almost playful in the way they tuck into corners of the mouth surround wonderful flavors of black plum and cassis. As the wine moves across the palate, hints of leather and bits of chocolate mixed with wet earth emerge. A beautiful and distinctive wine. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $48. Click to buy.

2007 J. L. Chave Hermitage Rouge, Rhone Valley, France
Dark garnet in the glass has a nose of absolutely incredible purity. Cassis, violets, licorice and a deep woody spice explode out of the glass even at arms length. In the mouth, the wine proves impossible not to swallow. Fantastic flavors of cassis, violets, hints of anise, woodsmoke, and a deep stony minerality are all welded into a seamless, sexy whole. Fantastically balanced, with near-perfect acidity and fine grained, muscular tannins that bring to mind the blue-black rippling beneath the hide of a prize bull. Utterly pure wet stone and violet scents suffuse the minutes long finish. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $169. Click to buy.

2004 J. L. Chave Hermitage Rouge, Rhone Valley, France
Medium to dark ruby in the glass, with a hint of brick at the rim and faint sediment, this wine smells of faintly smoked meats and granite in the rain. This aromatic image of a slab of mountainside drenched from the sky lingers even as gorgeous leathery flavors of dried apples, cherry, and aromatic cedar run across the palate. Gorgeously powdery tannins swirl and play tag with the bright notes driven by great acidity. The finish is long and delicate. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $159. Click to buy.

2001 J. L. Chave Hermitage Rouge, Rhone Valley, France
Medium ruby in the glass, with a hint of brick at the rim, this wine smells of sandalwood, incense, leather and smoked meats. Some wines, after you smell them you just pray for them to taste exactly as they smell. This is one of those wines. If I could drink those aromas... But in the mouth, the wine is differently delicious, giving me two reasons to love it. Wonderful balanced flavors of leather and cedar and dried apples begin the song that is this wine, followed by and incredible long refrain of cocoa powder and wet wood powdered by lush tannins. Outstanding. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $185 . Click to buy.

As some of you know, I spent last week at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, where amongst a lot of drinking, socializing, and eating, I also gave two wine seminars. The first of those seminars was entitled South African Gems, and was an opportunity for me to showcase some of my very favorite South African wines for a crowd of about 160 people.

Here's what it looked like, courtesy of my little Flip camera placed on the edge of one of the tables.

The video offers the full seminar for those with the patience to watch. The wines I highlighted in the seminar are as follows:

2008 Vins d'Orrance "Cuvee Anais" Chardonnay, Western Cape
Light greenish gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of cold cream and buttered popcorn. In the mouth the wine has a bright, fantastic acidity that brings to life juicy flavors of lemon curd, white flowers, and lemon peel that linger with a really nice minerality in a clean finish. Fresh, vibrant, and full of fruit, this wine is a pleasure to drink. Score: around 9. Cost: $25. Click to buy.

2009 Kleinood "Tamberskloof" Viognier, Stellenbosch
Light greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of unripe peaches, orange peel, and wet stones. In the mouth it is bright and zingy with great acidity and nice flavors of unripe peach, mandarin oranges, and lemon zest that linger through a long clean finish. The wine lacks the characteristic thick unctuousness of Viognier, which is one of the reasons I like it. Lithe and dancing on the palate, it is quite delicious and in my experience the best example of the variety grown in South Africa. Score: around 9. Cost: $n/a. The wine is sadly not yet available in the U.S. If purchased in South Africa it would cost about $10 US.

2005 Sadie Family Vineyards "Sequillo" Red Wine, Swartland
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells fantastically of forest floor, juicy cherry, and cedar aromas. In the mouth the wine has an explosively aromatic and juicy quality that simply forces you to salivate. Flavors of cherry, black cherry, licorice, and cedar swirl amidst faint tannins and a faint rumbling of minerality underneath. An amazing complexity of flavor, balanced so well makes you wonder why anyone bothers to use new oak on wines at all if you can get something this tasty without any. A long finish of cedar and anise rounds out the package. Definitely one of the better wines being made in South Africa today. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $32. Click to buy.

2005 Kanonkop "Paul Sauer" Red Wine, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells headily of sweet oak and black cherry, with tobacco undertones. In the mouth the wine has a beautiful smoothness to it, a liquid velvet quality that is quite disarming. Flavors of sweet oak, cherry, and tobacco dominate the wine, which is wrapped in faint smooth tannins. To be honest, the oak is a bit strong at this point and needs some time to better integrate to the wine (as I have seen it do in older vintages). A coffee with milk flavor emerges on the long finish. Score: around 9. Cost: $35. Click to buy. (Note that the 2005 vintage is just being released).

2006 Stellekaya "Orion" Cabernet Sauvignon Blend, Stellenbosch
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a wonderful nose of green herbs, violets, and black cherry aromas. In the mouth it is smooth and supple, with a rippling glassy musculature of firm tannins. Flavors of cedar, cocoa powder, and cherry swirl through the center of the wine, and hints of violets emerge on the finish. Excellent acidity and wonderful balance, despite being a lush, powerful wine. Score: around 9. Cost: $35. This wine is available in the U.S. but can be difficult to find.

2006 Stark-Conde "Three Pines" Syrah, Jonkershoek Valley
Inky garnet in the glass, this wine smells beautifully of pine, cassis, and black cherry aromas, but with a purity and a resonance that is immediately striking before you even put it in your mouth. On the palate the wine has a remarkable presence that is hard to describe as anything other than clarity. It knows what it is, in the same way a dancer knows how to move with the music. A wonderful welded medley of black cherry, cassis, and wet stones mix with a shifting smoke of incense, spices, and green herbs. Juicy and earthy all at the same time, while sliding across the tongue in a satin slipperiness, this is one hell of a sexy wine. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $35. Click to buy.