Page 36 - Staff Tastings

Last week all the first growths released their wines, and while a few more chateaux released prices today, we are essentially at the end of the 2010 futures campaign.  I have witnessed many futures campaigns come and go and have learned a lot about the fine wine retail trade throughout my career.  Not only from my own experience but from my father and grandfather as well.  After all, 77 years is a very long time to be open for business.  Words of wisdom I will never forget; "Don't fight your customers, fight for them."  We have so many valued customers and friends that I must make sure that I protect their best interests and by doing so keeping up the tradition of my family's love and passion for the business.  This is why I must be open and honest about my thoughts on this shocking 2010 Bordeaux campaign.  
 
While futures campaigns have generally lasted 6 weeks, the past two vintages have lasted for twelve weeks.  In my mind,

Domaine les Aphillanthes has been producing wines for four generations and their Rasteau holding was planted in 1921.  As far as Villages in the Cotes du Rhone AOC go, Rasteau is regarded as one of the best. 

Philippe Cambie, the most sought after oenologist in Southern Rhone, possibly most known for his work in helping Clos Saint Jean to cult status with fashioning 100 point Ex Machina and Combe des Fous, was recently brought on for consultation.

Factor this all together and their 2009 CdRV Rasteau basically delivers the equivalent of a 93pt Chateauneuf du Pape for as little as $26.99, or as Robert Parker exclaimed "Bravo!"

When I recently popped a bottle, it revealed aromas of dark berries, licorice, tapenade and asphalt.  When tasted, the wine came across the palate in waves, first with black cherries, followed by baking spices, tea and dried mushrooms.  It then finished with notes of mocha and cocoa powder in dusty tannins.

Recently I've had several customers asking about ready to drink back-vintage red Burgundies.  These prized wines are made in such tiny quantities, that when we get them in, they don't last long.   So being a "Burg-head" myself, I was none too pleased to deliver on my clients' requests so I scoured our suppliers lists in search of ready to drink Burgs.

After combing the lists I stumbled upon two Grand Cru's by one of my favorite producers, Domaine Faiveley.  They were from the excellent '02 vintage, which was THE vintage that sold me on Burgundy. Even better, they were listing pristine, original wood cases and 10 of each! Burgundy lovers know production is super-low on these wines and it's almost impossible to find back-vintage Burgundy in case quantities. Immediately we knew we had to jump on these, but as with all the wines we carry, we must taste before selling. We flew two bottles over. One was the 2002 Faiveley Corton Clos des Corton, and the other bottle

This time of year calls for a certain type of white wine.

Not too serious...  not too pricey...  but just right!

We have dozens of these wines that would fit the bill for this type of poolside occasion, however I just had the pleasure of enjoying two of these that I highly recommend.  It was a family get-together with about 20 of us.  90 degrees out, grill was going and lots of fun summery appetizers - clams on the half shell, shrimp cocktail, chips and guacamole, etc.  And I'm happy to say that I picked the perfect wines for the party:

2009 Morgan Chardonnay Metallico (California) - $16.95/bottle, 91 pts WS.   Crisp, clean and no oak.  Bright green apple and juicy pear flavors with great acidity and just delicious!  And all for $16.95?!  Incredible value.

2009

For me, the concept of "on sale" rarely makes sense.

Any business that includes frequent or recurring "sale times" in their strategy by definition must include times when things are more expensive. Like it or not, it's the reality of what a sale is. 

THE DRAMA OF SALE
Most companies use sales to create drama, and in reality I've found that many of them are hype. At Sokolin, we have an actual department dedicated to keeping our prices competitive and we usually find that our competition's "sales" tend to have exaggerated "was" prices so the new NOW price looks cheap by comparison. A real sale is one thing, but my team keeps re-discovering that this is usually not the case.

IT MIGHT BE LESS EXCITING, BUT IT'S ACTUALLY IN YOUR BEST INTEREST
My preference is to maintain the lowest possible prices everyday so that clients

Recently I celebrated my 30th birthday with a retrospective look at the 1981 vintage.  I wanted this to be a special tasting and so the planning began about a year before the date.  I stole the idea from an old boss of mine at a restaurant called Fatheads in Pittsburgh, PA and modified it to be my own.  Instead of 40 bottles of 40oz beers we were going to drink 30 bottles of 1981 vintage wines from around the globe. 

It was a good thing I started planning early as it took up until the very last moment to secure the 30th bottle.  I wanted to have a nice mix of wines; Bordeaux, Italian, Burgundy, Rhone, California, Spanish, Australia, sweet, red, and white.  I wanted to throw some ringers in as well as some of the top wines for the vintage.  Little did I know the task would be daunting and often times I wondered why I was putting myself through this. 

The day of the party, July 2, was a beautiful sunny day.  I ran down

We are not IT guys trying to make a quick buck by cashing in on the recent wine boom.  Our website was born as an extension of a store that was opened in 1934.  We know wine because we drink it and thoroughly enjoy it too.

Every day, we strive to know more, learn more and bring you the best that the wine world has to offer.  We LOVE finding a great wine at a great price because we're taking a few cases home too.

You can be rest assured that everything on our website is recommended by someone; either by a knowledgeable wine reviewer or us.  And just because a wine gets a great review doesn't mean we'll automatically carry that wine.  It has to meet certain standards, and first and foremost, it has to be good.

Case in point: At a company wine dinner, we blind tasted a handful of wines.  All of which we carry here.  All were great in their own way, but the stunner of the night was a beautifully drinking Pinot Noir. 

Though the likes of Matt Kramer and Allen Meadows have mentioned their appreciation of Westrey's consistency in creating quality pinots at reasonable prices, it is difficult to actually find recent reviews of their wines.  So when recently I had the opportunity to taste one of Westrey's wines, I was extremely interested to see what it was all about.

2009 Westrey Pinot Noir Oracle Vineyard comes from their first estate vineyard, located in the Dundee Hills AVA of Oregon.  About 24% of the blend is from Pommard clones planted in 1977 on their own roots, and the remainder from various Dijon clones planted in 2001.

In the glass, aromas of wild raspberry and blackberry leap from the glass along with sensation of cream soda.  This then settles into notes of dried violets and a hint of minerality.  There is a juicy core of cherry, rhubarb and cola on the palate, with just the right touch of richness that is offset by a streak of acidity and subtle

This is an incredible dish that I made recently for people who like spicy seafood and great wine to complement it.  It's a Chili Garlic Shrimp with Zucchini over rice that I paired with a delicious Gruner Veltliner from an amazing sustainable-farming producer in Austria!

Start with some chopped zucchini and onions and sauté over medium heat in some olive oil.  Toss in some shelled raw shrimp and a touch of sesame oil for flavor.  Once the shrimp is almost cooked through, add a tablespoon of chili garlic sauce (from your Asian market) and thoroughly mix everything together in your sauté pan.  Serve this over jasmine rice, and you've got yourself a very simple, but very tasty and spicy shrimp dish - perfect for a week night!

The perfect wine complement to this dish is the 2007 Arndorfer Gruner Veltliner die Leidenschaft.  "Die Leidenschaft" means "the passion", and once you taste this wine, you will understand why they've named it as

My girlfriend and I recently took a long weekend trip to the mountains of Southern PA for an adventure in the Laurel Highlands.  There are some great foodie type restaurants, and it's a nice place to go relax for a few days.  The first night we thought we would cook together and make ourselves a nice meal.  We wanted to just relax over a bottle of 2008 Remoissenet Bourgogne Blanc and decided we would make a stir fry. What a complement the Remoissenet was to the dish!  It brought out the flavors of the squash and zucchini but never blanketed them.  The '08 Remoissenet was less acidic and more rounded than I expected a Bourgogne Blanc to be; it was fabulous! 

The next day, the pooch, my girlfriend and I spent hiking a trail and put a good six miles on our shoes.  The trail was laced with color and beauty and afforded us the opportunity to see some wild blackberries and blueberries growing.  By the time we got back, we were spent and had