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Appellation Feiring What am I looking for in wine? I'm looking for the Leon Trotskys, the Philip Roths, the Chaucers and the Edith Whartons of the wine world. I want my wines to tell a good story. I want them natural and most of all, like my dear friends, I want them to speak the truth even if we argue. With this messiah thing going on, I'm trying to swell the ranks of those who love the differences in each vintage, who abhor homogenization, who want wines that make them smile, think, laugh,and feel sexy. For better or worse, it seems as if I am a wine cop traversing the earth, writing and speaking my mind, drinking and recommending wines that are honest. Please check in frequently for news of my latest travels, travel, wine tips and rants. PostsWant to Chip in For Latour? January 5, 2009 Then try calling Phil in Australia. Phil White has an engaging blog and his subtle touch with Ch. Latour had me laughing so hard I knocked myself off of my chair. While you're at it, add him to your googlereader. He'll be on mine. DRINKSTER...more # of comments Leave a comment 
Abe on Pinot Grigio and a Call From Ethel. January 5, 2009 These two might have nothing to do with each other, or the fact that this is the first post of the New Year, tardy, as I have been felled by one of the Great White Colds, roaming the New York City streets of late, but here is my beginning of the year nonsequiter. Ethel-aka Mom-- calls me this morning to give me this piece of well-meaning wisdom, "In this economic downturn, no one is going to want to read about wine, get working on the novel." (right Ethel, another big money maker). Then she says, "You loser, why can't you get on Mike Meco's food talk show on WOR? Who is this David Lynch I'm listing to talking about wine snobs?" You see what I have to deal with? And then there's Abe Schoener, and his Scholium Project wines. Also a force to deal with. Presented here is the second Flip Clip I've posted, shot in his kitchen this past November. The winemaker has big ideas. I might not always jive with his wine. but I do like that the man/winemaker thinks. Here he muses about his pink, skin-fermented Pinot Grigio....more # of comments Leave a comment
Wine of the Year! December 30, 2008 Wine Spectator 100 best wines of the year issue? Forget it. I did. I was going to grouse about it. And then, Bartholomew Broadbent stopped me. He was far more appreciative of the list than I was and to try to bring me over to his kinder, gentler side, he wrote, "There's a Portuguese wine near the top!" ---or something like that. His efforts were successful. So this year, they're off the hook. And I can hear Tom Matthews sigh in relief. Truly. (I mean there were at least 5 wines I wanted to drink on their list, not that bad.) Then tonight. I was feeling fatigued, not wanting to go out. I was looking at a pile of work and instead of digging in, I contemplated LAST year's AF wine of the year, the Clos Roche Blanche Pineau d'Aunis. The last time I cracked a bottle I found it a little cloying and I was doubting my unbridled enthusiams of a year ago. I knew the wine was going through transition, bottles started to push their corks. But this one, tonight, was all warm roses in the snow. Gosh, so pretty. It made me feel optimistic. In the...more # of comments Leave a comment
Remedial Bubble Assistance! December 27, 2008 The rain stopped. The snow washed away. I fetched my bicycle from the rear of my tenement. And there, tumbling from the garbage pails next to my little bike housing, were bottles of spent Moet et Chandon. I wondered, which one of my neighbors needed remedial bubble help? I had a suspicion the victims were my immediate downstairs neighbors, one French, one Australian. For years that apartment was haunted. First it was the heroin addict. Then there were a series of alcoholics, young ones, who mistook my door for theirs, sometimes rather aggressively. Now, the ghosts were renovated out, and this lovely and sweet but gullible couple moved in and they pay close to $3500 a month. Looking at the detritus, I felt sorry for them. For one, they over pay greatly for real estate. Two, They couldn't really like the stuff, could they? And even if they paid $25 a bottle, that was too much for sugar water and bubbles. After all, don't they make Moet in China these days? Here's the deal: this year if you're having a party for more than ten people, most likely real champagne is not on your list of bouvables. But splitting...more # of comments Leave a comment
Bloomberg La Tache Blooper and a Sad Article on Sparklers/ a rant December 26, 2008 Looks like some lucky (or desperate) consumer from Beijiing just cooked a lot of pasta at CDG's over-priced wine department. A 1991 Cote de Rhone La Tache? At least I hope that's just some sloppy journalism instead of an over zealous salesperson looking to put something over on some poor shnook looking for a fancy label. I actually remember being shocked to see that La Tache at the airport store a few years back. I snapped a photo of it, mostly because it was so grossly overpriced and wanted to document. The Aeroporte person threatened to confiscate my camera. I haven't flown Air France since. (Though that was before KLM took them over and the last time I flew a Delta/AF share, the AF staff (not to be confused with this Alice Feiring, AF) were immensely more pleasant. I might give them another shot.) Where am I going with this post? Who knows. I was amused and wanted to have a giggle in order to avert my eyes from the growing stockpile of chardonnays on my bench. I am more and more convinced that all chardonnay vines should be ripped out of California and replaced with trebbiano. Aeroports de Paris...more # of comments Leave a comment
Notes on a Los Angeles Wine Bars Part Scene, Part 2 December 24, 2008 Just when I was about to give up, return to the safety of AOC and settle for the glass of wine and no wine dialogue—unless Manny was installed-- I got a tip on 55 Degrees in Atwater, tucked into a mini-strip mall, shadowed by a Starbucks. Den-like. underneath its eponymous wine store, all seven tables were filled early on a Saturday night. Mike Brosnan poured Valtellina and Chiavennasca (a white Nebbiolo) and talked up the oft-maligned Lambrusco to the small crowd, another crop of millennials. Wine curiosity here was the focus and fuel. There was nothing tangential. The strip mall was no impediment to success. But as Lou on Vine is also in a strip mall, were the best wine spots in the most unattractive real estate? Sandwiched between a Thai Massage parlor and a Laundromat, the interior's reality is so altered by paint and paper that the obvious and seedy is replaced by secret and sexy. (And here I can break the fourth wall of my magazine voice. I discovered Lou last year, 2007, when I was in town for a Vin Italy thing. Loved it. Was thrilled they wanted to do a book event for me, which...more # of comments Leave a comment
Notes on a Los Angeles Wine Scene December 24, 2008 On this hot Christmas Eve I find myself thinking about the pieces that never saw the light of day, and find myself wishing I could get on the plane and go to Lou in LA. But instead, I'll give you this post. Seated at the back bar at AOC, which houses one of LA's most celebrated wines bars, I was sipping a Yann Chave Crozes-Hermitage, contemplating the curried cauliflower. I scrutinized another solo diner, Manny. Manny, had a surfer's build, ponytail, Hawaiian shirt and a self-satisfied smile. I was quite certain he had 'duded' the valet who parked his vintage convertible. I was equally sure he was going to order some fat, over-oaked chardonnay. Ready to pat myself on the back for savvy wine profiling, the man flipped my prejudice on its ear as he started to cobble together food and wine pairings. Jurancon for his paté. Loire Cab Franc for roast halibut. The pairings as they continued were so thoughtful and sophisticated, I digested the fact that Los Angeles' wine culture demolished my stereotypes. Watching Manny turned my experience profound, especially when I overheard him saying, "I was an accountant for sixteen years, it almost killed me." He found...more # of comments Leave a comment
Abe Schoener on Temperature Control December 20, 2008 Is Abe Schoener the most polarizing winemaker in the states? I think so. Plenty of people/drinkers (including Abe) find his un-shy wines undrinkable. But they are worth debating. And as their maker, so is he. For better or for worse, Abe is a thinker and there are few thinkers when it comes to wine these days and I'm eager to see what emerges from his chrysalis of invention. Is he experimenting? Sure. But he uses no adjuncts. He plays with natural but is so highly manipulative it is hard to call him low interventionist. Is it okay that there are fans out there who like his wines more than he does? Like Paul Grieco? Absolutely. Would I rather drink these massively alcoholic wines than, let's say, Vecina from Napa? Sure. Pass his cherry juice colored pinot grigio please, and the petite syrah has some redeaming social value. Last month, before I knew I was going to write about Abe, I knew that I had to meet him and I wasn't disappointed. I I took a series of Flips on a recent hook up in Abe's kitchen. Here he talks about his attitude on heating and cooling....more # of comments Leave a comment
Salvation and the Plight of a Wine Writer December 19, 2008 I don't go in for the what I drank last night kind of blogging but every once in a while I have to give in to the temptation. And mostly because I've been complaining about the lack of excitement in my glass. The last time I was in this situation--craving old wine--sweet and tart, Gerald Weisl of Weimax in Burlingame came to my rescue, in one of the more endearing moves of the year for me, he made a dinner party (Never did this ever happen in my life, and I've been around the block a couple of few decades). and told me the trip to Burlingame Was it ever. 1954 Tondonia? 1971 Giacomo Conterno? Gerald! And overdue but sincere and public thank you for a great evening. Then just this week, the effects wore off and I just couldn't sustain myself on memory alone. Nothing othing but older burgundy (or barolo or Cornas) would do to haul me out of the hole. As I assume we are currently experiencing not just the end of the year but the end of the world, I expected to have to make do with the few 2002 on my shelves and close my...more # of comments Leave a comment
LVMH--the machine December 15, 2008 I was hoping the company would get out of the champagne business but so far, desperate for more land, they are getting in deeper. The company that likes to sell the look of luxe instead of the real thing, acquired the previously family owned Montaudon, which according to the out of date Tom Stevenson World Encyclopedia of Champagne, owns about 80 acres of pinot noir planted vineyards. Stevenson writes, "The non-vintage and vintage have always been passable but not special." Meanwhile the LVMH press release writes: Christophe Navarre, chairman of Moët Hennessy, said: "The acquisition of Montaudon enables us to complete our portfolio of prestigious brands and to increase our Champagne reserves. This corresponds with Moët Hennessy's strategy to strengthen its worldwide leadership in the luxury wines and spirits sector."...more # of comments Leave a comment
Looking for that Magical Mood Altering Taste December 14, 2008 I'm sure THEY ask you, THEY are surely asking me: what have you been drinking that is exciting. Maybe it's the season, maybe it's my taste buds or my mood, or my recent plague of hives(and I'm not talking bees) and the mood altering prednisone that was required to fix me up....but NOTHING has been pleasing me. I have had nothing that excited me, except the recent night sky with the moon squaring off with Venus and Jupiter. And as usual, even looking over the 100 best wines from the Spectator doesn't get me salivating. I look at my wine shelves and I'm like a girl looking in her closet, I have nothing to drink/nothing to wear. Then I get an email from a friend about that 1947 Louis Martini. JEALOUSY!. I just got another email from a friend about that Selosse they had. JEALOUSY! FYI, my last bottles were drunk in the Rhone at George the Greek in 2004, pick up THE BOOK Which brings me to other night when I was barside at Balthazar comforting a friend. I wanted the Pepiere muscadet, but they only 1/2 carafe it and she was hankering for vodka. I'm doomed, I thought....more # of comments Leave a comment
And For that Pudding-Like Texture December 14, 2008 What is the chicest container for fermenting wine in? Is it the cement egg? (last seen at Viader in Napa) or is it amphora? Good question. The egg is catching on and it is easier to ship to the states, so far there are no amphora, but give it a few seconds. But the reason for this blog is pudding, not ceramics. I went to the Georgian wine tasting last week because I wanted to taste the Kisi grape made in amphora. What I found was a collection of wine wines that had that just about to gel texture of Ko-Jel of my youth. This gel like texture seems to be taking over in many wines and not only whites: I find it disturbing. When I was in California one cellar rat told me, as he was looking over a line-up of pinot, "I can tell if the winemaker uses gum arabic just by the look of the legs." Could these be the culprit? And if so, why on earth does a winemaker think this is necessary? STABIVIN #15480 1 kg Gum Arabic for Prevention of Colloidal Sedimentation #15481 5 kg Stabivin is a filtered solution of purified gum derived...more # of comments Leave a comment
Joe's New Blog December 12, 2008 Many already know. Joe Dressner, my mentor and a character in my life and in my book has brain cancer. This has been just one of the reasons for my silence over the past few weeks. I just don't know what to write. And frankly, I've been very upset about the intricate web of ministries my friend and his family have to navigate. Joe is letting us all in on his process in what I imagine will be one of the more entertaining blogs on dealing with cancer ever to go down in the 'sphere. What's more, there is a brilliant illustration of Joe as superman and Buster peeing. For irony dependent readers, this is a new must read. Read Joe's newest blog...more # of comments Leave a comment
Flash! Wine Traveler December 11, 2008 I got it. I've been looking for a way to smuggle wine on the plane for three years now. I found the apparatus thanks to these vials VinQuiry gives out to wineries for free. It's not much, but if you decant wine into four of these guys on to the plane (so far, went through twice and not stopped once), there is enough to have a modest glass of wine, a piece of cheese, an ambien and wake up to La Belle France....more # of comments Leave a comment
What is with Mike? December 4, 2008 I went to the NYTimes website to see if any question needed answering and thought I would share this nut job's comment. Clearly on his side, a little knowledge is a liability and an excuse to foam at the mouth and take it out on me that his wife left him. Reminds me of being attacked for eating fish if I don't eat meat, as if there was some law around eating habits. But what is the reason for his wrath, for the attack, for the passive-aggressive behavior? Because our way of trying to make a wine as natural as possible didn't measure up to his version of the category? And as far as the long maceration, why attack instead of ask a question. He might have received an intelligent answer. I supposed if most couples learned to ask instead of attack, there would be fewer divorces and fewer tears. And no, I did not correct his typos. ++ I'm curious about "natural: wine making. Just because you didn't add cultured yeast and M-L baerctia doesn't mean they didn't ferment your wine. Was your wineries' fermentation area and equipment totally stertilized of any viable yeast cells from prior innoculations? It...more # of comments Leave a comment
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