Dr Vino's wine blog

Ruca Malen, Yaoquen, Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec, 2004 $9 (find this wine)
When I greeted Mrs. Vino with a glass of this wine after she came home at the end of a long day last week she took a sip and said, “delicious!” I couldn’t have said it better myself. This blend of Cab and Malbec hit the high points of the flavor arc (more on that here) for a low price tag. Inky purple in color, with blackcurrant and violets in the aromas, this lush and velvety wine is a guaranteed crowd pleaser whether outside by the grill or inside at the table. But you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank since it is such a steal. Importer: Domaine Select Wine Estates, NY, NY.

tags: wine | malbec

Pretty often when I come back from a big tasting, Mrs. Vino asks me how it was and I smile and say “great!” Then she tells me I have purple teeth. Gulp. Such are the hazards of the job.

But apparently a red wine rinse can be good for your teeth. A few weeks ago, researchers at Universite Laval in Quebec released a study showing that the polyphenols in red wine inhibit periodontal disease. Wow, um, who knew!

Since I am heading to the polyphenol capital of red wine, the high-altitude Mendoza, my gums ought to be in great shape when I return next week. But what am I packing in my bag to ward off the inky stains of the Malbec? Tom’s of Maine baking soda toothpaste. Might as well try to keep ’em pearly white too.

tags: wine | polyphenols | purple teeth

One of these two headlines from Decanter.com is a spoof. Which is it? Hard to tell at first glance!

Government orders bird flu protection at En Primeur
As the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus continues to cause concern across Europe, the French government has ordered Bordeaux chateaux to take protective measures for the barrel tastings next week. [link]

Macho image for new range of reds
A wine aimed exclusively at men is set to launch in the US – and there won’t be any Pinot Noir in the range. [link]

tags: wine | April fool

Astor Wine and Spirits, a Greenwich Village New York institution is no longer on Astor Place. After 40 years on the corner of Astor and Lafayette, a case of greedy landlord raised the rent too high for the wine store. CVS will soon occupy the space.

But Astor lives! They have moved down the block to Lafayette and 4th and will retain the name Astor Wines. The old space was admittedly looking a little dingy but it had huge storage capacity in the basement. The swanky new space has 50 percent more floor space but less storage space. More to follow on the new space tomorrow…

tags: wine | Astor wine | New York City

Fifty protestors crashed a harvest festival in central Chile that the Minister of Agriculture was attending. (link) Their gripe? Grapes, and the declining prices thereof. A rise in the Chilean peso by about ten percent over the past year has crimped the margins of Chile’s wineries, which rely on strong exports. The wineries are paying less this year for grapes, sometimes as much as 50 percent less. My question: will Chilean wines lose the cost advantage they have enjoyed in the US?

1 USD in pesos
Peso’s gain, growers’ pain

tags: wine | wine from Chile | Chilean peso

…bottles! Greg is in Italy now visiting Cabanon, a biodynamic producer in Lombardy whose wines he imports. The cousin of the wine maker painted each of these 12 liter bottles (16 normal 750ml bottles! Each must weigh 50 pounds). These massive bottles contain the 2001 La Botte 18, cuoredivino. Greg writes that this Bonarda is only made in “exceptional vintages.”

So does the price per ounce go up in a bottle like this I wonder? One would assume but how often do you need 16 bottles of the same wine? But then again, who wouldn’t want to cackle, “ha! I spit on your little magnum!”

We’ll ask him the prices when he comes back and we catch up with him in The Real Wine World!

tags: wine | Bondarda | really big wine bottles

Name: Texoma

Date of birth: January 6, 2006 (link to pdf of birth announcement)

Size: 3,650 square miles (2.3 million acres)

Includes: Currently 55 acres under vine (out of the 2.3 million) and four vintners. The area includes Montague, Cooke, Grayson, and Fannin Counties.

Parent’s comment (TTB): “We designate viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.”

Somewhere along on the Texas-Oklahoma border one of America’s newest AVAs, or American Viticultural Areas, was recently born. It was found along the banks of the Red River and the 89,000 acre Lake Texoma, built in the 1940s by the Army Corps of Engineers and now known as a recreation area with power boating and bass fishing (more).

Despite it’s hefty size, the AVA weighs in only at eleventh in AVAs (list). Like all infants, it trades more on future promise than past results. It currently has four wineries in the 2.3 million acres: Texoma Winery, Grayson Hills, and Homestead Winery’s two locations.

Let’s give ’em a big welcome!

(Homage a Colbert)

tags: wine | ava | Texoma | Colbert report

Labor is not a subject that gets a lot of attention in the wine world. If California’s vineyard workers come from south of the border, where do New Zealand’s come from?

Why north of the border of course. In this case, about a thousand miles north of the border from the islands of Fiji.

With harvest winding down, vintners down under are in the most labor intensive part of the year. But a government plan to provide more seasonal work permits has failed to deliver enough vineyard workers, as stuff.co.nz reports labor shortages.

So as pruning season looms next, many vintners in Marlborough are thinking about offering Fijians one year contracts to reduce training costs and increase worker satisfaction. But their biggest obstacle to providing these pruners better contracts will be cutting through the red tape that places limits on foreign workers. Sounds a lot like California.

tags: wine | New Zealand wine | wine labor