Vinography Headlines

For Pete's Sake, Don't Throw Out That Wine!

In the course of trolling the Internet for all things wine, I recently came across a remarkable statistic: UK consumers throw away around 50 million liters of wine per year, valued at around $726 million.

That's a lot of wine being poured down the sink.

The British supermarket chain that reported this statistic, presumably from some study they had done, suggests that it is due "in part, to Brits not knowing how long it stays fresh in open bottles and too much wine being served at a time."

Leaving aside for the moment the fact that the people reporting this statistic are purveyors of bag-in-the-box wine that combats this very problem, let's assume for a moment this is actually true, and that consumers everywhere (at least those with options for refrigerating their wine) have the same issue.

Either people are tossing out wine too early, for fear that it has gone bad, or they're keeping it too long without finishing it and finding that it has indeed gone bad.

Care to hazard a guess which is more likely? I'm not sure myself, but if I had to put my money on one, it would be that people are throwing out a lot of perfectly good wine.

I'm not infrequently asked how to store opened wine, and also continue to come across friends who express surprise to see me (or to be instructed by me to) put the cork back in a bottle and throw it in the fridge. Red or white, it doesn't matter.

This is by far the most common way I store wine for later consumption. If I were richer, and a little more organized about such things, I'd buy inert gas canisters and spray some of that into my better bottles to displace the oxygen before putting the cork in to make sure the wines lasted the longest, but really, I can't be bothered (not to mention paying eight bucks for a can that feels like it has nothing in it still makes me feel a little weird). At any given time I've got several bottles in the door of my fridge at home.

Keeping wine in the refrigerator is quite important if you want it to last once opened. The chemical reactions, that take place to spoil wine, especially those involving living organisms like bacteria and yeasts are dramatically slowed by cooler temperatures. Oxidation, on the other hand, can be slowed by the aforementioned dose of Nitrogen or Argon, or by simply keeping an empty half-bottle and a funnel around and pouring it full of the leftover wine, thereby dramatically reducing the amount of oxygen that can come into contact with the wine.

But let's get back to the basics: push the cork back in, and throw it in the fridge.

I've tried those mechanical vacuum sealers and pumps of different kinds and I don't think they really make much of a difference over the course of time. Don't waste your money or your time -- though the little rubber stoppers you get with them can be handy.

As for how long wine will keep with the cork shoved back in the bottle (or that screw cap re-threaded): a lot longer than some people think.

I tend to keep white wines (and pink ones) re-corked in the fridge for sometimes up to three or four weeks. Yes, at week four I can often taste some oxidation, but most white wines are still quite drinkable even at that stage. Sadly Champagnes don't last nearly that long, but as someone once put it to me in outrage: "what on earth would make you not want to finish a bottle of Champagne once it was opened?" A very good question, indeed.

Red wines are a different story, as they oxidize much quicker than white wines. How long a red wine will last in the fridge seems to be much more variable, and in my experience dependent upon the winemaking. Without getting into a whole digression here about what makes some wines able to age much longer than others, suffice it to say that the wines most likely to last decades in your cellar are those most likely to last weeks in your fridge.

I recently "lost" a bottle of red wine in my fridge (OK, so I mostly just ignored it in favor of other wines for weeks) and found it in remarkably good shape after more than three weeks. At that point the blend of Pinot Noir and Pinotage tasted like it was 10-years-old, but it was quite surprisingly still in fine shape. It made me think I ought to buy a case of it and throw it in the cellar for a long time.

That bottle is an extreme case however. Usually my reds last about a week before they show noticeable signs of oxidation. Some I can continue drinking for another week, others are pretty much kaput on day seven. It's always luck of the draw, and in my house I have the luxury of having a lot of other wines around if one opened bottle from last week turns out to be over the hill.

But the short story is that keeping leftover wine to drink later is a pretty simple proposition that merely involves remembering not to throw out that cork (or screw cap) once you remove it. And perhaps reminding yourself to not pour the remains of that bottle down the sink after all.

Photo courtesy of Ninja M

Lake County's Best Wines: Tasting the People's Choice Awards

Those of you who follow this blog closely know that a few weeks ago I played hooky from work and drove over the mountain into Lake County to be a judge for the Lake County People's Choice Wine Awards.

Now, wine competitions are definitely not my thing, in general, but this competition was an interesting one because we weren't giving out any of the medals I so despise; because we were just narrowing the field of wines to a few top wines per category that the public then gets to taste blind and judge themselves; and finally because more than most competitions, this one offered a fairly comprehensive set of wines for the region, which meant I had the opportunity to taste the vast majority of Lake County wines in a single sitting -- an educational opportunity that was hard to pass up.

I'm not sure how many Lake County wines I had tasted before I sat down to the nearly 150 wines I tasted over the two days of judging, but the number was probably somewhere around 40 or 50. This competition was an opportunity for me to both calibrate my palate for what Lake County "tasted like" and what it was capable of.

I was somewhat surprised by what I found.

Every emerging wine region (and Lake County seems to fit that description in my book) seeks to define itself somehow, often through its "signature" grape or winemaking style. Those regions without significant historical precedent, have somewhat of an empty slate on which to write their viticultural personality, at least within the bounds of reasonable climatological and geological appropriateness.

Lake County seems to have settled on three signature grape varieties: Sauvignon Blanc, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Sauvignon. By settled I mean that these are the wines that, through a combination of critical acclaim and marketing push by the region, have become known as the things that the region does well.

Well I'm here to tell you that I disagree. While I tasted some decent, even excellent examples of all three, the wines that excited me the most in the tasting were the white and red Rhone varieties, but in particular the whites. While not nearly as many of them are being made as these other wines, the Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier, Grenache, Syrah, and Counoise that I tasted were far more interesting and distinctive (not to mention, higher quality, in my opinion) than most of the Sauvignon Blanc, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Sauvignon that passed my lips in the course of the judging (though there are some excellent examples that I note below).

Our judging was done blind, with the exception of the grape variety, and the wines that were eventually selected as finalists were those that received the highest average scores from both panels of judges. The scores were calculated by taking an average of each individual judge's score for the wines.

The official finalists have been announced, so you can check those out, but what I'd like to do is provide you with the complete set of my personal scores for all the wines I tasted, as well as some tasting notes for my top wines.

Lake County is certainly a wine region to watch. While the wines are still a mixed bag, there are some very nice ones out there, suggesting that it may be only a matter of time before the region turns out its first seriously blockbuster wines. Provided, of course, that global warming doesn't turn up the (already high) temperatures there.

TASTING NOTES:

TOP WHITES

2008 Shannon Ridge Morine Ranch Roussanne, High Valley
Light greenish-gold in the glass, this wine smells of honey and wet stones in a really compelling way. In the mouth it offers smooth, silky textured flavors of apple, melon, paraffin, and bright juicy appley acidity. Sexy texture, lovely. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

2008 Writer's Block Roussanne
Pale greenish-gold in the glass, this wine smells of melon and spiced baked apple. In the mouth it is juicy, bright and delicious, with apple and mineral flavors, and a spicy woodiness that is quite compelling. Great balance, excellent food wine. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $15. Click to buy.

2009 Six Sigma Sauvignon Blanc
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a classic gooseberry driven nose with hints of green melon and cucumber. In the mouth the wine has a bright profile of gooseberry, lime, and green melon. Clean finish, exactly what you want in a Sav Blanc. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

2009 Hess Select Sauvignon Blanc
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has an intriguing floral quality to it with hints of citrus juice. In the mouth it is exceedingly delicate and bright, with perhaps a touch less acidity than I would like, but a wonderful balance and detail that is admirable. Score: around 9. Cost: $11. Click to buy.

2008 Brassfield "Susan's Passion" Riesling, High Valley
Light yellow-gold in the glass, this wine smells of sweet, bright honey and white flowers. In the mouth it is beautifully textured, with soft silkiness and a nice weight on the tongue. Moderately sweet with flavors of clover honey and orange peel, the wine has nice acidity that keeps it from being cloying. Very nicely done. Score: around 9. Cost: $??.

2008 Gregory Graham "Bartolucci Vineyard" Viognier
Light greenish gold in color, this wine has a nose of bright rich white peach fruit. In the mouth the wine has a fresh peach quality that is delicious, with a smooth, but not oily (as sometimes Viognier can be) mouthfeel. Hints of orange peel filter into the finish. Excellent wine. Score: around 9. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

FAVORITE PINK

2008 Moore Family Winery Rosé, Red Hills
Light ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of bright mineral and tart bright red berry aromas. In the mouth the wine offers bright strawberry, watermelon, and mineral flavors, with a bright juicy acidity and nice long finish. Excellent. Score: around 9. Cost: $??

TOP REDS

2008 Writer's Block Grenache
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry and strawberry jam, with a dose of wet stones. In the mouth the wine is nicely balanced with a good mineral backbone, and flavors of strawberry, cherry, cedar, and wet stones. Somewhat restrained in its flavors, this is an interesting wine and a nice take on the grape variety. Very tasty. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $12. Click to buy.

2008 Moore Family Winery Syrah, Red Hills
Inky garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of rich cassis and black cherry with a hint of violets. In the mouth the wine is bright and juicy, with cassis, cherry, and black raspberry fruit that linger in a crystalline quality through the finish. Fine grained tannins hang in the background and add some complexity with the perfectly balanced acidity. Excellent. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $??

2007 Six Sigma "Cuvee Pique-Nique" Red Blend
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of bright floral, cherry and violet scents. In the mouth the wine has wonderfully fine grained tannins, an excellent acid balance, and fantastic earthy flavors of cherry, cassis, mulberry mixed with a charming wet dirt note. Blessedly lacking the signature of sweet oak, the winemaker has been very judicious here, much to my great pleasure and relief. A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petite Verdot. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $25. Click to buy.

2006 Langtry "Tephra Ridge Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a very pretty nose of cherry and cedar aromas. In the mouth it has a clean, bright quality to it that is quite disarming. Crystalline cherry fruit with plum notes burst juicy and lively on the tongue while drying tannins linger through a long finish. The wine needs age for the tannins to soften, but if they soften, the wine will show really well. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $40. Click to buy.

2007 Sol Rouge "Gypsy Rouge" Red Blend
Dark garnet in the glass, this blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, and Petite Sirah has a nose of cassis and cherry fruit with a spicy chocolate quality. In the mouth the wine offers juicy and spicy cherry, cedar, and blackberry fruit with nice powdery tannins. Good acid lingers through the finish which has a briary quality. Score: around 9. Cost: $??

2006 Brassfield "Volcano Ridge Eruption" Red Blend, High Valley
Very dark garnet in color, this blend of Mourvedre, Grenache, Syrah, and Petite Sirah smells of woodsmoke, cassis and blueberry fruit. In the mouth the wine has a lovely texture, with suede-like tannins and flavors of woodsmoke, wet dirt, cassis and black cherry that linger in a fine grained finish. Score: around 9. Cost: $18. Click to buy.

2007 Shooting Star Syrah
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a nose of slightly meaty blackberry and black cherry fruit. In the mouth the wine is restrained and really beautifully balanced, with hints of sweet oak, but mostly black cherry, cassis, and wet dirt flavors. A hint of cedar and vanilla emerge on the long finish. Great acidity and texture. Score: around 9. Cost: $15. Click to buy.

2006 High Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, High Valley
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry, cassis, and tobacco. In the mouth, intense dark cherry and cassis fruit layer in the mouth with power and finesse. Thick tannins envelop the wine, and suggest a few years in the bottle might be warranted before cracking open this quite tasty wine. Score: around 9. Cost: $??

2008 Shannon Ridge "Terre Vermielle" Barbera, High Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of plum, tobacco, wet dirt, and a hint of mulberry. In the mouth the wine is bright and has the bright, acidic sharpness that Barbera should have, with nicely integrated oak, plum, black cherry, and mulberry flavors. The long finish has a sour cherry quality. Score: around 9. Cost: $24. Click to buy.

2007 Cougar's Leap Zinfandel
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blackberry, dried flowers, and cassis. In the mouth the wine has a bright juicy quality to it, with wonderful rich blackberry and cassis fruit flavors. Light briary notes and suede-like tannins creep into the finish. Very nice. Score: around 9. Cost: $ . Click to buy.

2007 Red Lava Vineyards Syrah, Red Hills
Inky, opaque garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of black cherry and cedar fruit. In the mouth, fleshy, leathery tannins wrap around a core of black cherry and cassis fruit that is quite rich and appealing. Blackberry flavors, and the faintest hint of alcoholic heat creep into the finish. A burly, rich wine, that will please many who like their reds big and assertive. Score: around 9. Cost: $22. Click to buy.

2006 Gregory Graham "Crimson Hill Vineyard" Syrah, Red Hills
Inky garnet in color, this wine has a shy nose of black cherry and kirsch. In the mouth the wine is deep and rich, with a smoky blackberry and cassis body that is quite appealing. Rich cassis and smoky flavors linger with thick muscular tannins in the finish. Score: around 9. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

2005 Six Sigma Tempranillo
Inky garnet in the glass, this wine smells of nice cherry fruit with a darker, earthier note. In the mouth the wine has a dark earthy complexion, with a wood bark bitterness and powdery tannins that wrap around cherry and chocolate. Excellent. Dark and delicious. Score: around 9. Cost: $35. Click to buy.

ALL THE OTHERS
What follows below are my scores for all the other wines tasted in the tasting. Note that these are my personal scores, (which were normalized to the 100 point scale for averaging with other judges).

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2009 Robinson Lake Vineyard Glamazon White Blend
2009 Brassfield "Serenity" White Blend, High Valley
2009 Steele Viognier
2009 Shannon Ridge Chardonnay
2008 Shooting Star Riesling
2009 Brassfield High "Serenity Ranch Vineyard" Sauvignon Blanc, High Valley
2008 Langtry "Genevieve Vineyard" Chardonnay, Guenoc Valley
2009 Wildhurst Vineyards Reserve Sauvignon Blanc
2009 Six Sigma "Michael's Vineyard" Sauvignon Blanc
2009 Bell Sauvignon Blanc
2008 Wildhurst Vineyards Orange Muscat

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2009 Guenoc Sauvignon Blanc
2009 Ceago "Kathleen's Vineyard" Sauvignon Blanc, Clear Lake
2008 Gregory Graham "Rolling Knolls Vineyard" Sauvignon Blanc, Red Hills
2009 Ceago "Del Lago" Muscat Canelli, Clear Lake

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2008 Gregory Graham "Roumiguiere Vineyard" Riesling
2009 Wildhurst Vineyards Reserve Chardonnay
2009 Shed Horn Cellars Sauvignon Blanc
2008 Robledo "The Seven Brothers" Sauvignon Blanc
2009 Brassfield "High Serenity Ranch" Pinot Grigio, High Valley
2008 Wildhurst Vineyards Muscat Canelli

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2009 Line 39 Sauvignon Blanc
2008 Langtry "Lillie Vineyard" Sauvignon Blanc, Guenoc Valley
2008 Guenoc Chardonnay
2008 Six Sigma "Michael's Vineyard" Sauvignon Blanc
2009 Shannon Ridge Sauvignon Blanc
2008 Moore Family Winery Sauvignon Blanc, Red Hills

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7.5
2009 Moore Family Winery "Muscat Love" Muscat Canelli

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7
2009 Noggle "Squirrel Hollow Vineyard" Sauvignon Blanc
2009 Shannon Ridge "Falconer Ranch" Riesling

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 6.5 and 7
2009 Robinson Lake Vineyard "Glamazon" Sauvignon Blanc
2009 Shooting Star Sauvignon Blanc
2008 Encanto Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc

PINK WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2009 Six Sigma Rosé

PINK WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2009 Gregory Graham "Crimson Hill Vineyard" Rosé
2008 Sol Rouge Rosé

PINK WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2009 Steele Cabernet Franc Rosé
2008 Gregory Graham "Crimson Hill Vineyard" Rosé, Red Hills

PINK WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7.5 AND 8
2008 Six Sigma Rosé
2008 Brassfield "High Serenity Ranch" Pinot Noir Rosé, High Valley

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2007 Dusinberre "100 Percent" Petite Sirah, Red Hills
2007 Cougar's Leap Petite Sirah, Red Hills
2008 Steele "Catfish Vineyard" Zinfandel, Clear Lake
2007 Writer's Block Syrah
2007 Writer's Block Petite Sirah
2007 Guenoc Petite Sirah
2007 Gregory Graham "Crimson Hill Vineyard" Grenache, Red Hills
2006 Obsidian Ridge "Half Mile" Red Blend, Red Hills
2006 Brassfield "Round Mountain Volcano" Zinfandel, High Valley
2007 Shed Horn Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Gregory Graham "Crimson Hill Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Hills
2007 Sol Rouge Syrah
2006 Brassfield "Volcano Ridge" Petite Sirah, High Valley
2008 Shooting Star Barbera
2009 Writer's Block Counoise
2006 Steele Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Hills
2007 Obsidian Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Hills
2007 McDermaid Family Vineyard Malbec, Red Hills
2007 Sol Rouge Mourvedre

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2006 Robledo "El Ray" Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Hills
2006 Eden Crest Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Hills
2006 Snows Lake "Two" Red Blend, Red Hills
NV Rosa D'Oro Dolcetto
2006 Six Sigma Tempranillo

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2007 Steele Merlot, Clear Lake
2007 Wildhurst Vineyards Reserve Zinfandel
2007 Dusinberre "100 Percent" Malbec, Red Hills
2007 Rosa D'Oro Primitivo
2008 Shooting Star Pinot Noir
2009 Brassfield "High Serenity Ranch" Pinot Noir, High Valley
2007 Steele Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Sol Rouge Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 Shannon Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon
2006 Noggle "Old Long Valley Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 Diamond Ridge Vineyards Petite Sirah
2007 Writer's Block Cabernet Franc
2006 Six Sigma Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Line 39 Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Gregory Graham "Crimson Hill Vineyard" Syrah, Red Hills
2006 Langtry "Serpentine Meadow Vineyard" Petite Sirah, Guenoc Valley
2007 Rosa D'Oro Dolcetto

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2007 Writer's Block Zinfandel
2008 Gregory Graham "Crimson Hill Vineyard" Zinfandel, Red Hills
2005 Brassfield "Round Mountain Volcano" Syrah, High Valley
2007 Shooting Star Merlot
2007 Sol Rouge Zinfandel
2006 Derenoncourt Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Hills
2008 Wildhurst Vineyards Reserve Petite Sirah
2007 Rosa D'Oro Barbera

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7.5 AND 8
2006 Steele "Stymie Founder's Reserve" Merlot
2007 Diamond Ridge Vineyards "Aspects" Red Blend
2007 Wildhurst Vineyards Reserve Syrah
2008 Shannon Ridge Petite Sirah
2007 Dusinberre "100 Percent" Petite Verdot, Red Hills
2007 Six Sigma "Christian's Vineyard" Pinot Noir
2007 Wildhurst Vineyards Reserve Merlot
2007 Ceago "Field Blend" Red Blend, Clear Lake
2007 Steele Cabernet Franc
2007 Beaver Creek "Horne Ranch" Cabernet Sauvignon

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7.5
2008 Guenoc Cabernet Sauvignon
2006 Fore Family Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Hills
2006 Steele "Stymie Founder's Reserve" Syrah
2008 Shooting Star Zinfandel
2008 Shannon Ridge Zinfandel
2007 Tulip Hill "Delirious" Zinfandel
2005 Blue Wing "Obsidian Ridge Vineyard" Syrah, Red Hills
2007 Shed Horn Cellars Petite Sirah
2007 Beaver Creek "Horne Ranch" Petite Sirah

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7 AND 7.5
2007 Shooting Star Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 Moore Family Winery Zinfandel, Red Hills
2006 Snows Lake "One" Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 Tulip Hill "Canino Ridge Vineyard" Petite Sirah

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7
2006 Ceago "Winemaker's Blend" Red Blend, Clear Lake
2008 Shed Horn Cellars Zinfandel
2007 Big Valley Zinfandel
2007 Beaver Creek Zinfandel

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6.5
2008 Writer's Block Malbec

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6
2005 Sly Dog Cellars "Bin 92" Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Hills
2006 Big Valley Syrah
2008 Robledo "The Seven Brothers" Tempranillo

RED DESSERT WINES / PORTS*
2006 Guenoc "Serpentine Meadow Port" Petite Sirah, Guenoc Valley. Score: between 8.5 and 9.
Non Vintage Wildhurst Vineyards Port Sweet Red. Score: between 8.5 and 9.
2007 Gregory Graham Cluster Select Sweet Zinfandel, Red Hills. Score: between 7.5 and 8.
2007 Steele Syrah Port. Score: around 7.5.

*Note that while it is currently illegal to label wines with European protected place names like Port, some of these producers have been doing so for so long that they have been grandfathered in, and can continue to use the term on the products that they have been making historically.

Vinography Images: The Old Way

The Old Way
Vineyards have gone through several evolutions in how they are planted. At first, the vines were planted willy-nilly, at incredibly high densities, and were only (could only) be worked by hand. Then as the use of horses became common in European agriculture, the vineyards were replanted in regular rows to allow them to be worked in just the same way as this picture from the Apalta Valley demonstrates. Some, like this gentleman, still choose to work vineyards this way, even as vineyards are now planted with spacing to allow tractors between the rows. -- Alder Yarrow

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning a print of this image please contact photographer Matt Wilson through his web site.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
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2007 Anaba Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

One of my greatest pleasures remains my "discovery" of small new wineries, and the opportunity to watch them mature over time. Of course, three vintages isn't exactly a lot of time to watch a winery mature, but it's quite exciting to see the third vintage of a winery that seemed to hit it out of the ballpark with their very first release.

A couple of years ago some bottles showed up on my doorstep bearing the name Anaba in beautiful looping script. I was immediately intrigued to note that the first releases from this new Sonoma County winery were Rhone style blends -- far from the typical initial foray that most new wineries make in Sonoma County. I noted at the time my surprise that they weren't making a Pinot Noir, and received an e-mail note from the owner saying, essentially, "wait for it."

So, a year has gone by, and what should arrive on my doorstep last month, but a package of wines from Anaba, this time, including two very nice Pinot Noirs.

Anaba Wines, named for the anabatic winds (big points with meteorology geeks) that are so crucial to the climate of Sonoma's wine country, is a new label started by John Sweazey and his wife Kathleen in 2006. Sweazey fell in love with wine in college, and after graduating into a successful job selling IBM PCs in the early days of the industry, his first opportunity to take a sabbatical found him wandering the wine regions of France and Italy.

Sweazey continued his exploration of wine through a long career in real estate, and like many, at a certain point he began dreaming of owning a vineyard. Through all his travels to various wine regions with his wife, Sonoma county, and in particular the town of Sonoma, felt the most like home to him. So when the time was right, he struck a deal with Vic McWilliams, who had decided to unload the winery and 16 acres of vineyards known as Castle Winery in Carneros. Sweazey promptly renamed the label, started replanting, and purchased some grapes from vineyards like Sangiacomo Vineyard, Windsor Oaks, Ferguson Ranch and Bacigalupi Vineyard, to make the first wines under his new label.

For help with winemaking Sweazey turned to the young Jennifer Marion, a recent graduate of the U.C. Davis enology program, and most recently the assistant winemaker at MacCrostie Winery in Carneros as well as a technical vineyard consultant for agricultural management company Crop Care Associates. Marion, given her background in both viticulture and enology is responsible for everything that happens in the vineyard (both the estate vineyard that is being replanted and the contract vineyard sources) as well as the cellar.

Marion continues to do an excellent job with the wines, and seems to be maintaining the style she established with the winery's first two vintages: generally lower alcohol (though this wine doesn't exactly qualify), very little new oak, and pure fruit expression. This particular wine was fermented in small lots and aged for 17 months in French oak before bottling. The grapes came from a number of different sources throughout the Sonoma Coast appellation, spanning warmer, as well as cooler sites.

In addition to being one of the most promising new wineries in Sonoma, the Anaba seems focused on making sure it is relevant to today's, producing wines in the $20-$35 price point, which will make them quite attractive to wine lovers in search of a treat in these tighter times. This wine in particular achieves the remarkable feat of being a Pinot Noir, being under $30, and actually being really good -- something that for the past decade has been as elusive as a unicorn, but which may thankfully begin to be more common as the California wine industry adjusts to the new normal.

Full disclosure: I received this wines as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Medium ruby in the glass with a faint orange highlight, this wine smells of raspberry and red apple skin, with notes of sandalwood. In the mouth the wine offers bright raspberry and dark wet earth flavors welded to a beautiful cedar and pine bough aspect that is really charming. Faint leathery tannins emerge as the wine lingers with raspberry, apple skin, and orange peel aromas in a long finish. Impeccably balanced, with a very nice personality. 14.5% alcohol.

Food Pairing:
This is a great food wine that will go with most anything you want a nice Pinot for, but especially a nice bit of duck confit.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $25

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Give Them Some Wine!

The thought of being trapped underground for any length of time is enough to send some people off the deep end. The thought of being trapped underground for 3 months without any wine is a whole different ball game.

In the event you missed the news, an underground landslide has trapped 33 Chilean miners about 700 meters underground since August 5th. Already the group has been trapped longer than any other in history. The miners are miraculously in good health and reasonably good spirits. One of them has proposed to his girlfriend. They've made videos for the world. They're getting vitamins, food, and anti-depressants.

But apparently they won't be getting any wine, despite specifically requesting it.

Now, there may very well be some very good reason why these guys shouldn't have any wine, but notwithstanding some dire threat to their welfare as a result (dehydration? rash decisions under the influence) it certainly seems like it would be the humane thing to do to pour some Carmenere down their little supply tube.

If they can't take a shower, at least let them have a glass of wine.

Read the full story.

Vinography Images: Winemaker's Cottage

Winemaker's Cottage
This is a photograph of the cottage where the winemaker for J. Bouchon winery lives in Chile's Maule Valley. I never really imagine myself as a winemaker or winegrower (I'd much rather just drink the stuff, and I tend to kill plants) but if I were so inclined, I'd definitely want to live in the middle of my vineyards. It seems to me that if you are going to tie your livelihood to plants, and if you aspire to grow them to the peak of perfection, you should live with them for as much of your day as possible. Of course, it would help if your vineyards were in as beautiful a landscape as these. -- Alder Yarrow

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning a print of this image please contact photographer Matt Wilson through his web site.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
Vinography regularly features images by photographer Matt Wilson for readers' personal use as desktop backgrounds or screen savers. We hope you enjoy them. Please respect the copyright on these images.

2008 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany

There are a few categories of wine that qualify for the designation of "I just don't drink nearly enough of this stuff" in my house, and one of the top candidates is German Riesling. When it's good, it's just so damn good. It goes so well with food, and it makes you happy. What's not to love?

Of course, to the uninitiated (and that applied to me about six years ago) it can be an intimidating landscape to navigate. The inscrutable labels, the different levels of sweetness, the unfamiliar quality designations -- they all contribute to an unease for many wine lovers that I remember well. Luckily, I got over my fear and learned enough to navigate my way through the forest of umlauts and hard consonants, and have been rewarded with experiencing some of the most delicious wines on the planet.

This particular bottle is a near-perfect example of everything good that German Riesling has to offer, thanks to its legendary producer, fantastic vineyard site, and classic flavors.

The name on the label is one of the most well known in Germany's Mosel Valley, and even the country as a whole. The Loosen family has owned and farmed vineyards on the steep riverbanks for more than two centuries. The doctor on the label is one Ernst Loosen, who assumed control of his family's vineyard in 1988, and quite single-handedly took the estate to an entirely new level of quality in the three decades since.

Loosen had the good fortune to be working with some of the best possible raw materials on the planet. The Loosen family vineyards are some of the oldest and most distinctive vineyard plots in Germany, among which the vineyard that produced this wine, the Ürziger Würzgarten, may be the most superlative.

Translated to English, the vineyard's name means the Spice Garden of Ürzig, Ürzig being the little village that sits below the vineyard at the water's edge. Containing some of the oldest vines (some exceeding 120 years of age) owned by the Loosens, this vineyard is a mindbogglingly steep slope of bright red rock that sweeps up from the river's edge in a shallow bowl. Impossible to work mechanically, and dangerous to work manually, getting fruit out of this vineyard can only be described as a labor of love. It takes somewhere between 1000 and 1500 man-hours per acre each year to maintain the vineyard, whose old vines (many of which predate the phylloxera epidemic that wiped out nearly all of Europe's vineyards) yield precious little fruit.

The vineyard, like all of Loosen's Mosel vineyards, is farmed organically, and painstakingly by hand. The elimination of all chemical fertilizers and pesticides was one of Loosen's first decisions in his quest to elevate the quality of his family's wines. Likewise, the cellar techniques have been reduced to their most fundamental, with as little mechanical or chemical intervention in the winemaking as possible.

This wine is classified as a spätlese, which literally translates to "late harvest" and which means that the grapes used to make it were picked at least seven days after the normal harvest that would have yielded a dry, kabinett level wine. Confusingly the spätlese designation does not technically guarantee anything about the level of sweetness in the bottle, only that the grapes were a little extra ripe when they were picked. In practice, however, German spätlese, in particular, tend to be lightly to moderately sweet, this wine being no exception.

Dr. Loosen is now one of the most consistent and high-quality producers in the Mosel, and this is one of my favorite wines from his portfolio (the other being the spätlese from the fabulous Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard). I highly recommend it to anyone, from those looking to dip their toe into German Riesling, to those like me who can't seem to find enough excuses to drink the stuff.

This 2008 vintage wine has just been released globally, and may take a little time before being more widely available.

Full disclosure: this wine was sent to me as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Near colorless in the glass, this wine smells of lychee, ripe pear, and honeysuckle flowers. In the mouth, a wonderful silky texture marries with bright mandarin orange, pear, and honeysuckle fruit flavors, a light sweetness, and a crackling mineral undertone that does, true to name, yield to a light spiciness. Fantastically balanced, this wine keeps on giving through a very long finish. Effortless to drink.

Food Pairing:
I'd love to drink this wine with any sort of Vietnamese food, like Vietnamese noodle bowl and Imperial Rolls.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $38

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

This Year's Candidates for the Vintners Hall of Fame

Many of you had a lot of things to say a couple of months ago when I wrote a post entitled Who Should Be in the Vintners Hall of Fame? It was great to see such a passionate tide of enthusiasm for inducting various winemakers and historical wine personalities.

Those of us that make up the nominating committee talked a lot about many of the names suggested, and about many of the names that weren't suggested, and after much debate and voting, we've come up with the names for this years ballot.

That ballot has been mailed out to the wine writers in the Culinary Institute of America's database and the voting has begun.

The full details on who is on the ballot and some wise words about those who perhaps didn't get on the ballot have been published by my colleague Blake Gray on his fine blog The Gray Market Report. Those of you who felt strongly about the ballot are welcome to offer your thoughts and criticisms on this year's candidates.

And if you are a professional wine writer and you haven't received a ballot, you should definitely let Blake know.

See this year's candidates for election into the Vintners Hall of Fame on The Gray Market Report.

Joy of Sake Tasting 2010: San Francisco 9/9, and NYC 9/23

I absolutely love the fact that we've reached a point in this country where I don't need to explain why a sake tasting in San Francisco or New York might be an enjoyable way to spend an evening. In the six and a half years since I've been writing this blog, sake has gone from obscure to obvious, hardly known to hip. The availability and visibility of sake in the US has blossomed, driving by fine dining establishments and the increasing popularity of all things Japanese.

Despite this, however, the average wine lovers' knowledge of sake is extremely limited, mostly by virtue of not having tasted very much sake side-by-side in comparison with one another. And that of course, is where the Joy of Sake comes in. This tasting event, the largest public sake tasting outside of Japan, is much more than just an opportunity to compare a few sakes. Nowhere outside of Japan do consumers have the opportunity to sample so many different, and so many high quality sakes as they do at this event. For anyone truly interested in sake, this tasting cannot be missed.

Hundreds of different sakes are on offer, including the dozens of gold and silver medal winners from the annual U.S. National Sake Appraisal, a competition held each year in Hawaii. Dozens of local restaurants serve up sake friendly food to accompany the brews, which are sampled by attendees using the traditional eyedroppers to fill their glasses.

The one difference between the Joy of Sake tasting and a normal wine tasting event has to do with the information that is available to the curious taster. While there are volunteers whose job it is primarily to make sure that the reservoir cups of sake don't run dry, these folks have an extremely inconsistent knowledge of what they're actually pouring. Unlike a large public wine tasting where the folks behind the table are informed about their particular wine, there is little or no information available about these sakes, should you fall in love with any of them, or have questions about what you are tasting.

Despite this lack of information, the event can be an incredible education to the attentive palate, and is always a great reminder to me of just how much great sake there is out there to be experienced.

For the second year, San Francisco has gotten the short end of the stick for this sake tasting. While the New York event seems to offer the usual selection of hundreds of sakes, the San Francisco event is billed as the Sake Soiree, and it is being held again at Yoshi's nightclub and restaurant, which is cramped and hot and noisy. To add insult to injury they've changed it from 3.5 hours to just three hours, and have raised the price $15 to $65 a person.

This is still an event worth going to for San Franciscans, especially those who are fans of sake or want to learn about it, but I recommend going early especially if you want to get some food.

JOY OF SAKE 2010

September 23rd, New York City
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
82 Mercer Street
New York, NY 10003
888-799-7242

Tickets are $65 per person for San Francisco and $90 for New York and can be purchased in advance online. The price goes up at the door.

Sake tasting is even harder work than wine tasting, as sake is higher in alcohol and much more subtle in flavor. I recommend snacking your way through the tasting to keep your palate fresh. Maddeningly, in the past years they have not provided spit buckets with any regularity, so I recommend bringing your own spit cup or bottle if you are a serious taster. And if you truly consider yourself the latter, I also recommend bringing a small white wine glass, the better to appreciate the aromas.

1997 Calera Wine Company "Mills Vineyard" Pinot Noir, Mt. Harlan, CA

Those of you who know me well understand the soft spot I have in my heart for iconoclastic winemakers. The crazier the better, in my book, but at the very least, so steadfastly committed to their idea of what makes for great wine that they're willing to persist in their quest even when everyone else says they are nuts.

And that's exactly what most people said when they spotted Josh Jensen driving up and down California in his beat-up Volkswagen stopping here and there to get out of the car and sprinkle hydrochloric acid on the ground -- even those who were able to figure out what it was he was doing.

Jensen was looking for limestone. And a lot of it. Several million tons, to be exact. It was the secret ingredient that made the great Burgundies of the world what they were, and Jensen wanted to make wine that was just as good.

It was 1971, and Jensen had just finished working two harvests in Burgundy at Domaine de la Romanee Conti, and Domaine Dujac. Thanks to his father and some generous friends, Jensen had been drinking top Burgundies since before he was legally able, and despite an education that might have sent him into academia (Yale undergrad, Masters in Anthropology at Oxford), Jensen was in love with wine, and though his prospects better there than looking for a tenure track position somewhere.

That was before he started looking for several million tons of limestone close to the surface in California (a state with very little of it to begin with). Jensen's challenge was compounded by the fact that he not only needed a lot of limestone, but he needed it in a place with decent weather for grapes (e.g. not Death Valley), and he needed to be able to buy the land.

The wacko winemakers of the world that I love are nothing if not persistent. Eventually Jensen found his limestone, in a place that even thirty years later still feels like the middle of freaking nowhere.

Jensen found an old limestone quarry high in the Gavilan Mountains on the side of a peak named Mount Harlan, about 30 miles south of the town of Hollister. He bought 324 acres, and planted a few acres of Pinot Noir, before he had electricity, running water, or even a proper road to the property. He named his winery Calera, Spanish for lime kiln, the remains of which he found on the property, and eventually restored. The first few years were hard going, but eventually, in 1978, Jensen harvested his first couple of barrels of Pinot Noir and has never looked back.

Over the past three decades, few winemakers in California could possibly compete with Jensen for fidelity to an original vision of what kind of wine they wanted to make. In those three decades, the only concession to modernity that Jensen has allowed is the addition of a mechanical crusher-destemmer to his operation. Apart from that he continues to make Pinot Noir the way he learned to in Burgundy: perfectly ripe, meticulously farmed grapes; whole cluster fermentation with native yeasts in small vats, punched down by hand; aging for at least 16 months, in French oak (of which only about 30% is new) and then bottling without any filtration.

In 1990 Jensen's patch of limestone (and about 7000 acres surrounding it) were granted the status of being an American Viticultural Area, but by then most people who cared about California Pinot Noir already had heard of the winemaker up on the mountain who was making some of the best Pinot Noir to be found outside of Burgundy.

Remarkably, that is still true today. Calera's single vineyard Pinot Noirs are some of the best around, yet more so than any other wine of their caliber, they are reasonably easy to find, and priced within the reach of mere mortals -- something to do with the fact that they don't have the words Sonoma or Napa anywhere on the label.

As further proof of his foresight and vision, Jensen has also long had a deep library program, meaning that older vintage wines are still available to purchase, in case you need to prove to yourself that his wines will last 15 years without blinking an eye.

Jensen often brings along these older vintages to tastings, where lucky folk like myself get a chance to taste them.

If you have not had a chance to taste the single vineyard wines of Calera, you are missing out on some of the most distinctive and characterful Pinot Noirs made in America. I recommend them highly.

Tasting Notes:
Bright ruby and orange in the glass with a bright amber color at the rim, this wine smells delightfully of red apple skin, river mud, and a sort of unspecific potpourri of spices. In the mouth, the wine distinguishes itself with two remarkable characteristics. The first is the sheer muscle of the voluminous tannins that still give a tensile structure to the wine, even as they are suede-soft in their feel against the edges of the mouth and tongue. The second is the bright acidity that still holds in suspension flavors of red apple skin, raisins, dried cherries and cedar. These flavors, poised as they are in very fine balance, linger through the very long finish with notes of cocoa powder.

Food Pairing:
Wines like this are often fun to appreciate on their own, if only to watch them shift and change in the glass with air and time, but if I were trying to find something to eat to complement the wine, I might opt for a classic tea-smoked duck from a little hole in the wall Shanghainese restaurant.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $60

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Taste of Beverly Hills: September 2-5, Beverly Hills, CA

Food and Wine Magazine knows when it's onto a good thing. Building on the success of the long running and incredibly popular Aspen Food and Wine Classic, the magazine (actually it's publisher, American Express) has branched out to bring a similar, if somewhat abbreviated version to South Beach in Florida, and has become a major sponsor of the Pebble Beach Food and Wine event in Carmel, California

And now Food and Wine magazine has launched the Taste of Beverly Hills, a four-day extravaganza of food, wine, cocktails and music at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Attendees to the event will have the opportunity to taste food from many of LA's top restaurants; watch cooking demonstrations by big-name chefs and cocktail mixing demos by top mixologists; taste wine from more than 80 different wineries (including some really excellent ones); and more.

Some of my readers have complained in the past about the quality of wine and food festivals in the Los Angeles area, so I would expect this event to set a new bar for both the quality of food and the quality of the logistics. The event also features a lot of music, a nice touch to complement all the food and wine.

Consult the event web site for lots of information about the schedule of events, which celebrity chefs will be in attendance, and more.

The Inaugural Taste of Beverly Hills
September 2-5, 2010
Behind the Beverly Hilton
9900 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills 90210 (map)

Tickets start at $150, with various VIP passes available for all events and special access. They should be purchased in advance online.

Valet parking for $30 will be available at the Beverly Hilton, and self-parking will be available in Century City for $12 with a free parking shuttle.

Vinography Images: Southern Pinot

Southern Pinot
One of my greatest regrets from my trip to Chile last year was that I didn't have the time to get down to the tiny region of Biobio to check out one of the new frontiers of extreme winegrowing. One of the most southerly winegrowing regions in the world, this small, cool appellation has begun to yield some very interesting fruit, but perhaps of most interest is the Pinot Noir, shown here in all its Fall harvest glory. There aren't many wineries down in Biobio, but many top producers are starting to put in vineyards there, so it won't be long now. -- Alder Yarrow

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning a print of this image please contact photographer Matt Wilson through his web site.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
Vinography regularly features images by photographer Matt Wilson for readers' personal use as desktop backgrounds or screen savers. We hope you enjoy them. Please respect the copyright on these images.

The Philosophy of Wabi-Sabi and Wine

Perhaps as unlikely as it may seem, one of the keys to my appreciation of wine lies in an esoteric principle at the heart of Japanese culture and philosophy.

The 18 months I spent living in Japan were among the most intense of my life, and some of the most rewarding. I developed a deep appreciation for many aspects of the Japanese culture (not to mention the food), even at the limited level of understanding I was able to cultivate without speaking the language beyond the first-grade-level tourist vocabulary I attained by the time I left.

In particular, I am fascinated by the aesthetic principles that find their intersection in Japanese gardens, traditional wood architecture, and the ritual and philosophy of the tea ceremony. In these three arts, the Japanese have created a vocabulary that I find much more suited to describing some of wine's most ineffable qualities than we posses in English.

Before I can talk about how that vocabulary is meaningful to me, however, I need to share some background on how I think about experiencing wine. So bear with me a moment.

Talking about wine in any language is difficult. I will admit to having fantasized at times (OK, frequently) about being a synaesthete -- someone who, by virtual of some unique wiring, perceives some things with an unusual combination of senses, such as hearing sounds as particular colors. I fantasize that if I had such an ability, it would be easier to describe and talk about wine, and more importantly, to experience it in a more profound way.

Words are blocky and difficult to wrangle into semblances of meaning that approach what I enjoy in wine. Despite a somewhat established vocabulary for the discipline, in order to capture anything about wine that transcends the clinical, we must resort to metaphor and symbolism, as we struggle to express an experience that is, at best, only partly linguistic.

While the deconstruction of wine into its components plays a role in its critical evaluation, and for some, its enjoyment (just like those who enjoy picking out the melody line of a single instrument in a symphony), wine also offers the opportunity to be understood in the context of a singular experience, or a sum total, if you will. Of course, we experience wine in a series of shifting and fluid experiences, from the moment we first smell it to the moments in which the taste still lingers after a swallow, and everything in between. Our perception of a wine shifts and changes through the various mechanical aspects of sipping and swallowing, and over the course of time in the glass. Just as we see a landscape, a painting, or an oriental rug not in a single glance, but in a series of rapid, infinitesimal twitches of our eye (the technical term is saccades) that our brain stitches together for us, so too is my sense of a wine made up of little bursts of perception and memory that fuse together into a "sensibility" of what that wine is all about.

At some point, though, and not necessarily at a fixed and predictable point in this experience, we often have a sense of the wine as a whole. It might be after a full glass, it might be at the end of the meal, taking the last sips of the wine before leaving the table, it might be days later in reflection. But if we're considered, and attentive to the wine, there is some moment that we can apprehend it as a whole.

It is at this moment of appreciation for a wine that I have come to appreciate and understand the beauty of the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, and its ability to capture a complexity that we cannot easily express in our own English language and our vocabulary of beauty.

Notoriously difficult to translate, wabi-sabi lies at the heart of the Japanese aesthetic philosophy (which is itself closely tied to Zen Buddhism), and to a certain extent, the traditional Japanese culture. The words were originally strung together in the context of the aesthetics of the tea ceremony, an art form which profoundly influences many aspects of the Japanese culture.

The entry for the term in Wikipedia does a nice job at an attempted definition:

Wabi originally referred to the loneliness of living in nature, remote from society; sabi meant "chill", "lean" or "withered". Around the 14th century these meanings began to change, taking on more positive connotations. Wabi now connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs.

From an engineering or design point of view, "wabi" may be interpreted as the imperfect quality of any object, due to inevitable limitations in design and construction/manufacture especially with respect to unpredictable or changing usage conditions; then "sabi" could be interpreted as the aspect of imperfect reliability, or limited mortality of any object, hence the etymological connection with the Japanese word sabi, to rust....

Wabi sabi can change our perception of our world to the extent that a chip or crack in a vase makes it more interesting and gives the object greater meditative value. Similarly materials that age such as bare wood, paper and fabric become more interesting as they exhibit changes that can be observed over time.

For me wabi-sabi is a fusion of several tensions -- harmony and dissonance, new and old, sculpted and organic -- as well as the emotional state of wistful reflection that these tensions produce.

I wrote some time ago about the concept of honesty in wine, and wabi sabi is at a level deeper still. The wines that I find I am most drawn to, that compel my attention as I appreciate them as a whole, evoke the notion of wabi-sabi.

These are wines that are not symmetrical, nor polished perfectly smooth. They have rough edges. They do not follow a formula. They do not harmonize in major chords, they have a faint minor key to them. They show their patina of age, or in the roughness of their youth they choose not to obscure their rawness with anything, but leave it bare to my palate.

Wines that are wabi-sabi evoke something deeper than flavors, deeper even than a place. Wabi-sabi involves a deep connection with reality, in a way that is unvarnished, but also rich and profound in its intimacy. And this is what I find in the most magical wines.

Of course, not all great wines embody this aesthetic principle, and nor should they. And I am certainly not dogmatic in my quest to drink only such wines. Some wines are profound and equally pleasurable for other reasons, even those that can be said to be truly the opposite of wabi-sabi in their fresh, vibrant purity, or their lush, rich opulence.

There is also presumably such a thing as too much wabi-sabi, though I have yet to experience such a surfeit in my life. Instead I merely savor those moments when I can take another sip of a wine, close my eyes, and experience that poignant sense of mortality, beauty, and imperfection that is evoked by the wine, but ultimately lives within me.

A Glass of Wine to Keep You Sane

I've long said that wine helps me maintain my sanity. Well it turns out I may have been more right than I know. Researchers have recently discovered that while it doesn't necessarily make me smarter (damn!), it may help me stave off dementia or whatever special breed of insanity waits for me in my old age. Chalk up another superpower for wine.

Of course like all studies, this one has its limitations. Thankfully it wasn't performed on lab rats, but actually featured real people. Norweigans, specifically -- about 5000 of them. So the surest way to make sure that your cognitive abilities don't decline in old age would be to move to Norway, drink a lot of wine, and presumably eat lots of Lutefisk.

Interestingly, the study suggested that wine consumption only aided women's cognitive function (and beer consumption had negative effects) both wine and beer consumption enhanced men's cognitive function over time.

And the men of the world rejoiced.

The real question is whether or not the study is more broadly applicable beyond Norway, but just to be safe, I'm going to keep drinking wine. How about you?

Read the full story.