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Domaine Rose-Dieu Plan de Dieu, 2014
Domaine Rose-Dieu 2014 “Plan De Dieu”, 14.5% ABV, Approx $16/bottle in 2016. Most wine lovers have favorites when it comes to Côtes du Rhône village-level wines. This one I found locally for about $16, but I’ve seen as low as $12 online! Domaine Rose Dieu’s Plan De Dieu, a full-bodied, spicy blend of Grenache, Syrah, […]
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Troon Takes Orange Wine to the Next Level
Troon Vineyards 2019 Kubli Bench Amber, Estate Orange Wine; Applegate Valley AVA, OR. 13.3% ABV, MSRP $30/bottle. Kubli Bench Amber is an orange wine from Troon Vineyards, a Demeter BioDynamic, Certified Organic winery in the Applegate Valley AVA, located in the southwestern region of Oregon. The Kubli Bench Amber is a blend of 74% […]
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Smith Madrone: Blurring the Lines Between Old and New World Wines.
I recently had the opportunity to join in a live tasting of four wines I’d highly enjoyed a year ago. The winery, Smith-Madrone, is one of the best under-the-radar labels you can find. I’m still surprised their prices have not sky-rocketed, but their wines are selling out faster every year and their value is among […]
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Wines of the Dão
When I think about wines with tremendous value, my first reaction is the Iberian Peninsula. But move over Spain, the wines of Portugal are coming through! OK, so is this really new? Maybe you’ve tried some Portuguese wines before. But this IS new, unless you have truly paid serious attention to the wines of the Dão […]
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Old World Flavors From a New World Vineyard: Lucas & Lewellen Toccata Classico 2015
Lucas & Lewellen Toccata 2015 Classico Red Wine, Santa Barbara County, California, USA. 14.7%ABV, SRP is $29/bottle. Sample Provided. Winemaker Megan McGrath Gates blended 50% sangiovese, 30% cabernet sauvignon, and 5% each of merlot, cab franc, petite verdot, and freisa , from Santa Barbara County’s Los Alamos and Valley View vineyards. Color is a medium […]
Recent Reviews
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Troon Takes Orange Wine to the Next Level
Troon Vineyards 2019 Kubli Bench Amber, Estate Orange Wine; Applegate Valley AVA, OR. 13.3% ABV, MSRP $30/bottle. Kubli Bench Amber is an orange wine from Troon Vineyards, a Demeter BioDynamic, Certified Organic winery in the Applegate Valley AVA, located in the southwestern region of Oregon. The Kubli Bench Amber is a blend of 74% […]
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Smith Madrone: Blurring the Lines Between Old and New World Wines.
I recently had the opportunity to join in a live tasting of four wines I’d highly enjoyed a year ago. The winery, Smith-Madrone, is one of the best under-the-radar labels you can find. I’m still surprised their prices have not sky-rocketed, but their wines are selling out faster every year and their value is among […]
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Wines of the Dão
When I think about wines with tremendous value, my first reaction is the Iberian Peninsula. But move over Spain, the wines of Portugal are coming through! OK, so is this really new? Maybe you’ve tried some Portuguese wines before. But this IS new, unless you have truly paid serious attention to the wines of the Dão […]
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2016 Aridus Graciano and Syrah from Cochise County, Arizona
Aridus 2016 Graciano, Cochise County, Arizona. %14.4 ABV, SRP $37/bottle. By Jim vanBergen, JvBUnCorked. All Rights Reserved. Copyright by Jim van Bergen, JvB UnCorked 2019. May Not Be Duplicated Without Permission. Color is an opaque purple center with dark ruby edging. The nose shows black and blue fruit compote, eucalyptus, and a subtle herbal blend. […]
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Pazo Torrado Albariño Rias Baixas, Galicia
Pazo Torrado Albariño 2017, D.O. Rías Baixas, Galicia, Spain. 12.5%ABV, SRP around $11/bottle. All Rights Reserved. Copyright by Jim van Bergen, JvB UnCorked 2019. May Not Be Duplicated Without Permission. By Jim van Bergen, JvBUnCorked Color is a translucent medium straw. The nose offers a luxurious floral aroma, hyacinth, orchid and pineapple. […]
Recent Commentary:
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Evening Land 2011 Bourgogne Rouge
My love of pinot noir began with Burgundy and expanded rapidly around the world. More than ten years ago, I was attending an Oregon regional tasting and had been severely impressed with an Evening Land wine I tasted from the Eola-Amity Hills AVA of the Willamette Valley. When I found out they were also making […]
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Enjoying Aged White Wine & Pierre Morey 2011 Bourgogne Aligoté
Let me start with a wine review: Pierre Morey, 2011 Bourgogne Aligoté, Meursalt, Cote D’Or, France. 12% ABV; Case purchase in 2013 for $17/bottle. At nine years of age, the color has only slightly deepened to a maturing pale gold. Aroma is light and mellow, reductive of dried wildflowers and lemon zest. On the palate, the […]
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New Year’s Bottles and my “Dry” January
Several close friends decided to have a dry January. Everyone understands the idea, you’re dieting off the weight that got put on over the holidays, and your liver could use a break. While I had some time off from work, I saw my doctor and had my blood work done- so I know my liver […]
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Flattery in Wine?
When people make fun of your passions, or when personal and professional interests crossover, it must be a sign your blog is doing something right. Right? A friend of mine texted me today with this gem: It was funny, in a laughing-at-Sideways kind of moment. But now I’m suddenly feeling like a glass of merlot! […]
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What You Learn When Pouring for Others
I love pouring wine for others. I recently donated several cases of wine to a fundraiser, and in addition to the wine, I poured glasses to the attendees. They walked up to a wine bar, I asked them what they liked to drink, and then poured them a taste. Sometimes I poured them tastes from […]
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Searching for the Wine World’s Walter White
3 DecWe need the next Walter White. But not the meth lab’s Walter White. We need that character’s ‘Heisenberg’ of the wine world…perhaps, our own reinvented Jean-Antoine Chaptal! (Never heard of him? He was an 18th Century chemist who added sugar to wine prior to fermentation to increase the alcohol content. But we digress!)
It’s time. It is time, my friends. We are ready to open that bottle of 1949 Latour, have a half glass, re-cork it, and not worry about the air that gets into the bottle being enough to turn the wine into vinegar. It is time because we want to be able to do that, but in reality, we simply can not at this time. Even by removing air from the bottle and refrigerating, a wine will only keep for so long. But, we are now on the precipice of a new possibility!
Bethany Brookshire of The Science Times reported on Dec 2, 2013 in her article, “Keeping Wine Fine for a Longer Time” about studies done at Penn State and UC Davis in which tests were done a model wine with the intention of adding a metal chelator, ferrozine, to wine, to slow or reduce oxidation in wine. As we all know from experience, oxidation and reduction happen naturally in the process of opening a bottle and extracting wine, which allows both the poured wine as well as the rest of the wine still in the bottle to be exposed to air, eventually discolor, and spoil.
Wouldn’t you like to be able to open a bottle and have it LAST? Of course you would.
Now, if you’re inclined, I suggest you click the links and read the article, and then the actual study on which the article is based to understand the scientific perspective. While still in the early stages, the ideas are incredibly exciting. BRAVO to these programs at Penn and UC Davis, and to the paper’s authors Kreitman, Cantu, Waterhouse, and Elias for their forward thinking and commitment to oenological development!
So what if the concept isn’t ready for primetime at the moment. It happens to be good work on a great idea! Yes, it’s got problems at the moment. It was simply a study, perhaps the first (or even the twenty-first) attempt. But that didn’t stop Edison, and nor should it stop this movement. The successful reality is probably years off. There are obvious concerns: yes, we actually want fewer additives in our wine, and prefer organic wines simply because we know intrinsically that mother nature knows best. We don’t want hormone-induced anything in our bodies or, heaven forbid, our children’s bodies. Yes, it has to be FDA approved. Yes, it can’t be bad for either the human or the wine. But those concerns are simply minor framework in the big picture.
Imagine being able to put a spray of something FDA approved in a glass before you pour wine in it, and once you pour, have that wine NOT change. Imagine having a glass of wine, and putting a single drop of a chemical in the bottle to retain its perfection, so you can come back to it in a week, a month, a year, a decade. It’s a cool concept. Would it be even better if you buy a bottle of wine that has been re-corked with a specific additive so that whenever you open it, it should be good? What if your beaujolais nouveau, instead of turning to salad dressing, could really stay nouveau indefinitely? What if you could open that ’49 Latour every New Year’s Eve and drink an once, enjoying the perfection, year after year?
It is very exciting news. While not ready for our use at the moment, it IS very promising! And that’s how I feel when I look at the tons of grapes on a hillside. I can’t drink them now, but imagine how wonderful they might be to enjoy in a decade or more, assuming we find the wine world’s Walter White or JeanAntoine Chaptal, to make the perfect connection and concoction. It’s something to consider: The Possibilities of What May Come!
Chaptal? We’re ready for you!
à votre santé!
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Tags: Making Wine Last, Walter White of Wine