Winophilia

What wine have you and your family been enjoying most during the recent warm weather—and what, if anything, do you serve it with? I’m most interested in the wine category or the variety since Winophilia users may not be able to find exactly the bottle you’re enjoying, but please name the specific example you’re drinking right now. (Keep in mind that people are thirsty out there: they’re looking for ideas! Perhaps you have recently made a new discovery that might help them.)

Jeremy Seysses, Domaine Dujac and Triennes (France). These days, should the sun grace us with an appearance, I am loving Manzanilla, more specifically Manzanilla La Gitana from Vinícola Hidalgo. It is phenomenal with all manner of salads, tomato, cucumber, fennel, etc. It’s also great with grilled seafood (and who doesn’t enjoy grilling whenever the opportunity arises? There is a bit of Cro-Magnon in every one of us). It’s superlative with barely grilled prawns. Spectacular with gazpacho. Yummy with chorizo or merguez sausages. READ MORE »

For obvious reasons, I addressed the current Winemaker Roundtable question only to makers based in the northern hemisphere. But from the responses received, it’s quite possible that parts of Australia have enjoyed warmer weather during their winter than our own Northwest has experienced through much of this summer.

What wine have you and your family been enjoying most during the recent warm weather—and what, if anything, do you serve it with?

Jason Haas, Tablas Creek Vineyard (California). I am sure that you’ll get this response from dozens of your contributors, but I don’t think there’s a wine that can beat dry rosé for the summer. It’s great on its own, and works with a lot of the summer-weight foods you might want to be eating anyway. Drinking a rich, fully dry rosé with cold fried chicken while sitting at an outdoor concert in the Paso Robles downtown park was my summer pairing revelation! Of course, I drink a lot of our own rosé (the 2009 vintage is a blend of mourvedre, grenache and counoise) but I also love the grenache- and mourvedre-based rosés of the South of France, the pinot noir rosés from Marsannay, and the tempranillo-based rosés of Rioja. I also love that we can find one of our favorites (the Marqués de Cáceres rosé) for around $6 retail locally. READ MORE »

Now that literally dozens of winemakers around the world have described the differences between Old and New World wines, I trust you’re thoroughly confused. But by now you should also have a much better grasp of why so many wine insiders believe that the past couple of decades have witnessed a blurring of the boundaries between these two “styles” of wine.

Wine lovers often refer to wines as “Old World” or “New World” in style, sometimes without even being able to explain what they mean. What do these two terms mean to you? What are the characteristics that would make YOU call a wine New World or Old World?”

Alberto Antonini, Wine Consultant (Italy and Argentina). Old World is meant to be Europe and all its wine countries, and New World is all the others in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The OW producer is trying to sell what he is making while the NW producer is making what he thinks is easier to sell.  In other words, NW wines are designed to please the modern consumer. They are, organoleptically speaking, more friendly to the consumer (tannins are softer and juicier and aromas are more focused and upfront) and they deliver a more accessible concept to the market, which is the varietal concept (e.g., cabernet, chardonnay, etc.).  READ MORE »

Wine lovers often refer to wines as “Old World” or “New World” in style, sometimes without even being able to explain what they mean. What do these two terms mean to you? What are the characteristics that would make YOU call a wine New World or Old World?”

Frédéric Engerer, Château Latour (France). I just don’t think Old World vs New World is a good “cut.” I’m not sure it will help a wine amateur to better understand wine. I’m more interested in the traditional vs. modernist approach in EACH wine region: Ridge vs. Colgin in Napa, Dugat Py vs. Rousseau in Gevrey, Pavie vs. Figeac in Saint-Emilion, Cos vs. Montrose in 2009 maybe? I’m sure there is the same kind of difference in Argentina or Chile. So personally I find Old World vs. New World doesn’t really make a lot of sense anymore and is finally a bit vague. READ MORE »