In principle, I object to a wine world so starkly divided, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t occasionally resort to the use of these labels and the generalizations they imply to make a point.

I certainly can’t deny, especially while standing in a stone-walled vineyard that has been farmed by people with the same last name since before the United States even existed, that such places have a depth of history, tradition, and identity that is entirely absent (or at least purely nascent) in America or the other places we commonly refer to as the New World of wine.

For me, one of the icons of such deep history and tradition in the European wine world can be found in the heart of a region whose very name conjures a rich landscape and a lifestyle that are both legendary: Provence. In this land of lavender and thyme, rolling hills, and incredible cuisine, the wine estate called Domaine Tempier might easily be the archetype of the Old World winery.

Writing about Domaine Tempier isn’t the easiest thing to do, if only because any effort to do justice to this winery and its history must both reference, and be compared to the eloquence of Kermit Lynch, the importer who is responsible for bringing their wines to the US and who wrote about them in his wonderful book Adventures on the Wine Route.

So, rather than attempt to write about a place that I have not been myself, let me share with you some of what Lynch has to say about Domaine Tempier and its home in Bandol, the wine region which takes its name from a little tourist town on the Mediterranean coast.

“Domaine Tempier is a place in Provence, a home with its winery and vineyards, its olive trees and cypresses. It is home to a large joyful Provencal family. It is a wine. And while it must be inadvertent, one of those fortuitous miracles that embellish existence (there is no recipe for it dispensed at wine school), there is a certain vital spirit that one imbibes with each gorgeous swallow of Domaine Tempier’s wine.”

What Lynch manages to capture so eloquently here, and in the rest of the chapter in his book which he dedicates to this Domaine, is the energy, history, and the cumulative experience that is embodied in this family-run establishment that can claim single-handed responsibility for the creation AND preservation of the appellation of Bandol.

I won’t attempt to retell everything in the book, but it is important to know that the entire family is involved in only the business of their wine, with vineyard management and winemaking split between the two sons of the family, each having naturally gravitated towards the area that most suited him.

Domaine Tempier grows its grapes in a traditional manner that may best be described as painstaking. Their vineyards, terraced into stony hillsides, are so steep and narrow that the family’s tractors need roll-bars to avoid certain death should they topple down the hill. Filled with old, old vines of Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Carignan, and Grenache, along with some white grape varieties, these vineyards yield microscopic amounts of fruit each harvest. They are farmed with no herbicides, no irrigation, weeding by hand, and their only fertilizer every year is the hand sown remains of the must (grape skins, seeds, etc.) from the previous year’s vintage

When it comes to winemaking, no commercial yeasts are used in the production of the wine, and in a remarkable showing of patience and winemaking tradition, the wines are allowed to finish their fermentation naturally, no matter how long it takes. Lynch relates in his book that the 1971 vintage took a staggering four years to finally ferment to dryness. Any other modern vintner (perhaps anyone with a shred of sanity) would have inoculated the wine with some additional yeast to complete fermentation, and in doing so, at least according to the Tempier family, would have ruined the wine.

Such is the mindset, and the devotion, that goes into every bottle produced by the family and, frankly, it shows. I adore all of the wines produced by this estate, but perhaps none so much as their ros&eacute which I use as the benchmark for every pink wine I drink. All of the wines, but especially the reds age beautifully. Or, as some might say, they are truly ageless, improving for decades and lasting many more.

I recently had the opportunity to taste much of the most recent vintage from Tempier, including, for the first time, their white wine, which was wonderful.

Full disclosure: I received some of these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:

2007 Domaine Tempier Blanc, Bandol, France
Pale gold in color, this wine has a beautiful nose of citrus juices, cut grass and lime zest aromas. In the mouth it is beautifully balanced, with great acidity yet also nice richness of texture and weight that carries a swirling mix of pear, gooseberry, and other grassy, herbal flavors across the palate into a fantastic finish. Truly lovely. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $39. Where to buy?

2007 Domaine Tempier Rosé, Bandol, France
Palest peach colored in the glass, this wine has a bright, stony nose of roses, rosehips, and other floral and mineral aromas. In the mouth it is explosive in its crispness with zingy, juicy flavors of rosehips and redcurrant supported by a steely undercarriage of wet stone minerality that slides around the mouth and lingers through a long finish. As usual, outstanding. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $32. Where to buy?

2006 Domaine Tempier Rouge, Bandol, France
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a rich nose of well-oiled leather, mulberry and cassis flavors tinged with green herbs. In the mouth the wine is mysterious — gorgeously velvet in texture with a melange of flavors that is difficult to describe: a mix of wet earth, mulberry, thyme, and wet stone that are blended together into an obsidian smoothness. Lovely. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $39. Where to buy?

2006 Domaine Tempier “La Tourtine,” Rouge, Bandol, France
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a nose of wet green wood, black cherry, and green herbs. In the mouth it is tart and taut with cassis, green herbs, and cedar flavors with moderate tannins and a long finish of sandalwood and oregano that turns a little bitter. Score: around 9. Cost: $55. Where to buy?

2006 Domaine Tempier “La Migoua,” Rouge, Bandol, France
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of roasted meats, green herbs, mulberries, and black cherry. In the mouth the wine is bursting with mulberry and black cherry fruit, and shot through with aromatic garrigue aromas that intertwine with the velvety tannins that linger in the finish. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $60. Where to buy?

2005 Domaine Tempier Rouge, Bandol, France
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a deep nose of currant and leather aromas tinged with a little grapeyness. In the mouth it is deep and rich with grippy tannins and a core of black currant, leather, and wet dirt flavors that are rimmed by tart cherry qualities that linger into the long finish. Score: around 9. Cost: $45. Where to buy?

In addition to the above wines, the Domaine also produces two other designated bottlings, named Cabassaou(usually their most expensive wine) and Cuvee Speciale.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

I certainly take for granted the fact that most everything I would want to buy for myself is available online, and that includes the wine I drink. I have the dual privilege of living in the state of California, as well as being fully plugged into the Internet (if I could get an implant, I would).

This means that I can, for all intents and purposes, buy pretty much every wine I could want from the comfort of my iPhone. But that is NOT true for a large part of this country. Yet.

The reasons for this are really involved, and are inextricably linked with the bizarre history of the United States, prohibition, and political corruption.

Any modern wine lover who seeks out wines beyond what is available at the nearest wine shop, and even those who are content to shop within walking distance of their home, should have an understanding of just how fucked up the American system that regulates the sale of alcohol actually is.

And by far the best and most complete explanation I have ever read was written a couple of weeks ago by fellow blogger Tom Wark.

I highly recommend — nay I insist — that you read his article if you love wine. The more people that understand the sorry state of affairs that we have when it comes to alcohol sales in the U.S. the more people can get on the bandwagon calling for change. There aren’t a lot of threats to your ability as a free citizen of this country to enjoy a nice glass of wine, but this system is definitely one of them.

Check it out.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Conegliano Valdobbiadene and Colli Asolani. Is it one DOCG or is it two? Here we have a classic case of al’Italiana, confusion right from the onset. Most likely it was a political decision, and seeing as we are in Luca Zaia’s backyard, all the more reason for a politician to decide what’s best for the farmers. Good old Dr. Zaia.

I could understand Conegliano Valdobbiadene a little better than Colli Asolani, but really, is there any Prosecco worthy of a DOCG? If there was, perhaps we might want to consider reserving it for wines that come from the Cartizze, a small and revered spot which is the heart and soul of Prosecco. Maybe a Cartizze would be a laudable rival to one of the great Italian sparkling wines, Franciacorta. But, no, that wasn’t the solution. Why recognize a lion when there are so many asses braying for attention. Let’s give it to them all. But just one problem, say some of the producers. The new law will restrict production, forcing higher prices. Perfect timing for a world where the popularity of Champagne plummets daily.

The reality is, there will be less Prosecco DOCG (or Conegliano Valdobbiadene and Colli Asolani as the politicians have deigned to call it, making it even more confusing) and there will also be a Prosecco DOC. Great. That’s probably what they should have done to Chianti and Chianti Classico, but that’s another paragraph. I wouldn’t want to be a Prosecco producer right now. The folks in Trentino must be having a gay old time with this one.

A couple of whites (not the only ones, by the way) that I find hard to imagine being DOCG-worthy: Albana di Romagna. What in heaven’s name allowed that to happen? It’s a fine wine to have when one is in the area, but really, is it on the same par as a Fiano or a Gavi? I think not. I tried to grok the wine, and as early as the mid 1980’s I was on to it, looking for every example I could find to determine the mystique of this wine. But, like Galestro, it fell short of fabulous and I couldn’t figure out why the Italian authorities thought this wine worthy of a DOCG. So I chalked it up to a brilliant political maneuver by the communists of the region. I am surprised they haven’t gotten a DOCG for Lambrusco yet.

The other white, I am sorry to say, is Vernaccia di San Gimignano. I know, I know, Michelangelo, is said to have described the wine he loved and wrote poetry as one that “kisses, licks, bites, pinches and stings”. In all the many times I have drunk Vernaccia from San Gimignano I can attest to four out of the five qualities. But kissing? Rarely. Sting, yes. Bites, yes. Pinches, yes. Even licks. But no smooch fest is Vernaccia. So it was given the DOCG for the respect that one gives to an early white DOC? That’s like saying let’s give the part in a new movie to the old star even though the role calls for a younger person. Vernaccia is a minor player in an operetta. Not Puccini and La Boheme or Madam Butterfly or Tosca. No. Not. Ever. Quel dommage.

While we are rampaging through the Tuscan countryside, let’s tackle Chianti. First, let me be clear. Chianti Classico has a right to the claim of DOCG. Absolutely. But plain vanilla, made in an industrial manner straight Chianti? In Fiasco? What’s up with that? Other than appearing to be totally wrong and sending a very off beam message, it isn’t likely that the powers that be in Italy will ever rescind the DOCG for plain vanilla Chianti. But the whole legitimacy of the Chianti Classico, and even the sub regions, Rufina et al, is compromised precariously. Guilt by association. Hard to keep staying alive. I reckon the lesson that the folks in Bordeaux are learning once again ( the hard way) are not comprehended by their Italian cousins in Tuscany. Might as well be another planet. It too is a shame, because as the world fine wine market is melting down, and we have just seen the tip of the iceberg, the Italians are more interested in their August vacations than the 4th quarter of 2009. Bordeaux is failing and with more revelations to come. Tuscany, well they are waiting in line to get a towel and an umbrella and a beach chair. Bless their hearts.

Last one- Bardolino Superiore. Now I like Bardolino and I love the Chiaretto. But the wine is a romp, a fun time, a fast ride with the windows down. Bardolino is a hot date with a cute blond in a mini. But there is no gravitas attached to it. Bardolino is a summer affair, while the faithful spouse, let’s call her Amarone, sits at home and waits. And feeds the kids. And is full of character. Yes, Bardolino is fine as a DOC, but no “G’, no “G”. Ah gee.

It is July and I’m entering that period where the sun beats down on my head and funny ideas emerge. But the Italians have me beat with their misfit decisions about which wines should and shouldn’t be the standard bearers for the country. Greed, politics, back room haggling, deals made in smoky chambers, in a word, politics.

Like I said, quel dommage.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Besides giving you that morning boost, coffee may actually boost your memory as well, helping to keep memory loss at bay.

That mug of morning coffee may do more than keep you from falling asleep at your desk. New research shows it could also help treat or stave off memory loss, a key symptom of Alzheimer’s disease.

Studies have found that giving lab

Original post by Robert

Costa Rican coffee production is forecast to rise 5 percent during the 2009-2010 cycle, the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (ICAFE) reported. The next production cycle, which begins its harvest in October, is expected to generate 1,671,270 bags of coffee.

“Each season we have a technical management team that visits each region where

Original post by Robert

As I′m in the business of sharing great wine with readers all the time, I can’t really afford to hold much back. But I′d be lying if I told you I had reviewed or written about all my most favorite wineries around the world. Some of them I′ve just not gotten around to yet, and others are just easier to put off writing about with the excuse of wanting to come up with just the right way to talk about them.

But as I’m a blogger, rather than a print journalist, I lack the luxury of thoughtfully composed, well researched, professionally edited prose. The conceit of a considered essay is a blogger’s fantasy, for the most part. Instead I scrape an hour or two of my day together out of 15 minute snippets and toss out raw thoughts about the things I care most about, including those secrets that a better writer might spend months deciding how to frame.

Lang and Reed Wine Company is simply one of those labels that represents everything I wish Napa might become over time. Or perhaps put another way, they are something I hope Napa never manages to lose.

Run by John and Tracey Skupny, Lang and Reed winery represents the culmination of a love affair with Cabernet Franc that is perhaps outlasted only by John and Tracey’s own romance, which began back when both of them were just teenagers in Missouri, and carried them on adventures together on shoestring budgets throughout Europe after they both graduated from college. From the Midwest to the Loire and many places in between, the Skupnys finally settled down in the town of St. Helena in the Napa Valley to raise a family and to slowly cultivate the idea that maybe, just maybe, someone could survive making wines that contained solely Cabernet Franc. Yeah, they thought that was a pretty insane idea, too.

John Skupny had the length of a whole career in Napa to consider the possibility. Over the past twenty years he has worked for more than twenty five vineyards in the Napa Valley in some capacity or other, but perhaps most notably, he served as the Marketing and Sales Director for Caymus, the President of Clos du Val, and the General Manager of Niebaum-Coppola winery.

It was during his tenure at Niebaum-Coppola that his obsession with Cabernet Franc finally took hold in a way that was impossible to ignore. Plantings of the varietal in the valley were solid and mature, and many vineyards were turning out some great fruit, which everyone promptly blended back into their Cabernet Sauvignon almost without a second thought. But John, with a soft spot in his heart for the Loire wines of Chinon and Bourgueil (and probably some great memories of romantic evenings with Tracey in Angers, France) decided that Cabernet Franc deserved a voice of its own — a little solo gig in a town dominated by big acts like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and their various ensembles.

So in 1996, John and Tracey began arranging contracts for small amounts of grapes from at first, one or two, and then later, close to a dozen of the best growers of Cabernet Franc in the valley. Their goal was simple: to make a wine that showed what their favorite varietal was capable of in California, and that they would love to drink themselves. They named the wine after their two sons, J. Reed and Jerzy Lang, and did everything themselves, from grape sorting to slapping the labels on the bottles.

And for the last ten years, they’ve pretty much been doing the same thing. John, an art school graduate who got into the wine business on the bottom run of the ladder (retail), and climbed his way up, takes care of the winemaking, while Tracey takes care of the sales and marketing. When they were younger, the two sons pitched in as well, but now that they’re off having their own lives, mostly they just help drink the wine.

The Lang and Reed vision for what Cabernet Franc should be is unique not only for its singularity — up until their recent first ever bottling of a Bordeaux blend, the label made only Cabernet Franc — but also for its approach to the varietal. One of the reasons that Cabernet Franc is most often used as a blending grape is that it can very easily be turned into a wine with great aromatics, excellent texture, and completely unremarkable presence on the palate. In describing this phenomenon, John will sometimes refer to the “mid-palate hole” that can occur when Cabernet Franc is treated like Cabernet Sauvignon and dumped into exclusively brand new French oak barrels.

Lang and Reed’s approach to the varietal is to treat the grape delicately, almost as if it were the thin skinned Pinot Noir: picking carefully to avoid over-ripeness, fully destemming, fermenting whole berries, gently pressing, and aging in mostly neutral oak. The result is a wine that trades the leathery, stiff tannins that can be typical for the Cabernet Franc for a juiciness and accessibility that make Lang and Reed’s wines a pleasure to drink. A certain amount of age-worthiness is probably sacrificed for this approach, but the wines retain an acidity and a subtle tannic structure that will certainly keep them evolving for some time.

The winery produces around 2500 cases of wine each year in three primary bottlings — a North Coast designated Cabernet Franc, a Napa designated Cabernet Franc, and a reserve bottling named “Premiere Etage” which gets a slightly more traditional winemaking regimen (extended maceration, etc.) and is aged for at least 24 months in mostly neutral oak, but with an occasional new barrel thrown into the mix.

The winery occasionally produces a tiny amount of rosé, and much to my delight, has just started making small quantities of a Bordeaux blend called “Right Bank,” which they have, until this point, only made for charity auctions.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:
2007 Lang & Reed Cabernet Franc, North Coast
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of wet wood, hazelnut skin, black cherry, with a sweet balsamic note to it. In the mouth it is beautifully velvety on the tongue with pungent plum and black cherry flavors that despite deep in tone, have a lightness to them. This wine is medium bodied and elegant and quite tasty. Notes of dark roasted coffee beans enter the finish, which also has a wet wood quality to it. Delicious and only 13.5% alcohol. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $20. Where to buy?

2004 Lang & Reed “Premiere Etage” Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
Medium to dark ruby in color this wine has a bright nose of hazelnut skin, black cherry,violets, and a tiny hint of green bell pepper to keep things real and the nose true to this varietal. In the mouth it is gorgeously smooth, like a baby’s skin on satin sheets, and lush with flavors of black cherry, dark plum, violets, and lavender. With little or no trace of oak influence to be found, this wines tannins are quite airy and light, and not likely to be noticed by most, who will be too busy loving the gorgeous fruit and lengthy finish. Outstanding. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $37. Where to buy?

2004 Lang & Reed “Right Bank” Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
Medium to dark ruby in color with thick chunky sediment that speaks to no fining or filtration, this wine has an incredible nose of black cherry, tobacco, and cedar. In the mouth it is gorgeously light on its feet (think Fred Astaire at his best), with soft velvety tannins and dry, earthy flavors of cherry, tobacco, and wet slate that swirl into a gorgeous, sexy concoction that forces a smile. The long finish has an airy sweetness to it, and the acid balance of the wine makes it very difficult not to follow one mouthful after another. Fan-@#$%ing-tastic. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $80. Where to buy?

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

I was also into winemaking and this was the area where T.V. Munson set up his vines and lab to help save the European vineyards. See my book review on Munson and his life over at Alder Yarrow’s Vinography blog (where he has me do the occasional book review for the site).

Anyway, today I was in the mood for catfish and fried pie and there was a little shack out there that Saveur magazine had just written up, so I figured a country run was once more in order.

I can almost drive the road in my sleep; so many times I remember doing it. Once when I was up there, on Dec 31, 1981, when I got home my apartment had been broken in and my precious Canon VIT rangefinder was stolen. A month later I bought a house, @ 16.5% interest. It was the heady Reagan era, and times were tough for middle class folks just starting up in the wine biz. But hey, I made it through that and worse.

Today, though I headed first to lunch. I had spent the better part of the morning power washing the apartment building that I have a condo in and today was “duty day” for me. Soaking wet and hungry, I quickly showered and headed up the road, 66 miles away.

The sign was pretty funny, and there was a waiting line for lunch. But it was cool inside and the smell of fried hushpuppies and catfish was too much. Within minutes, after stepping into an east Texas dialect we ordered up, catfish, shrimp and sides.

But the icing on the cake was the fried pie. I had an aunt, her name was Amelia, but we all called her Aunt Mil, who was one of the greatest cooks in my life. And Aunt Mil could cook just about anything. She knew how to fry a pie and this one did her memory well. As the apricot oozed out of the flaky shell I could almost hear my aunt calling me to the table. It’s been ten years since she passed on, Boy, do I miss her cooking almost more than anything.

After lunch we headed on over to the T.V. Munson homestead and looked over his Italianate home and vineyards. The neighborhood has grown up around the old regal home, some of the neighbors probably don’t know (or care) what this man’s work represents to the people of France and Europe. He was a giant.

After our pilgrimage we headed back home but not before stopping by one of my old accounts, Driggs #3. The owner, Robert Driggs, was there and we barely noticed each other. But after a few minutes of reminiscing, we hit our stride and got back up to speed. Robert is a really great guy, so friendly and really one of the people who put fine wine on the map in North Texas. He lives in a pretty quiet way and place, but some of the wines I have sold (and bought) with Robert have been pretty amazing. I saw a 1975 Il Poggione Brunello in the display case along with a 1988 Ridge Montebello. And the prices are so reasonable. I picked up a 1979 Château Ducru Beaucaillou and a 1980 Foppiano Petite Sirah for a song. I know in his cellar there are stashed some great Mosel wines from the mid 1970’s along with almost every Opus One every made. And that’s just for starters. The man has an incredible sense of what great wine is and I have never been disappointed in the wines I took home from his shop. The 1968 San Martin Petite Sirah was one of the greatest wines I have ever had. I hate to tell you how little I paid for it.

Not bad for what I thought would be a day off; great fried pie, a pilgrimage to the Munson home and a couple of great bottles to take home for the July 4th celebration.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

By Molly Walsh, Free Press Staff Writer • July 5, 2009

WATERBURY — Five years ago, no one knew quite what to do with the decrepit train station in the center of this small town. Then came local employer Green Mountain Coffee Roasters with a plan to help renovate the 1875 building and lease a portion for a cafe and company visitors center.

The venture

Original post by Robert

By Mike Hughlett | TRIBUNE REPORTER

TYLER, Texas — Every day at the Distant Lands roasting plant here, a river of green coffee beans is transformed into espresso, fuel for McDonald’s Corp.’s boldest gambit in decades.

Distant Lands’ Russell Kramer was skeptical at first that it would ever happen. Could the burger giant

Original post by Robert

Highlights include evening dinner receptions, workshops, trade show, silent auction and farm tours. Funded in part by the state Department of Agriculture, this is the inaugural

Original post by Robert