Once a month, on a Wednesday, a group of wine bloggers "meet" (in the virtual sense) to share their tasting notes and insights and post around a central theme. They call this, WBW, or Wine Blogging Wednesday, and some really solid, witty wine writing has come out of it, such as this post from the Second Glass.
The group was started by Lenn Thomspson of Lenndevours and here's how it works:
My main problem with most wine critics like Robert Parker Jr., and magazines like Wine Spectator is that they have specific tastes that don’t always correspond to my own. Another problem I have, even as a wine professional, is remembering all the wines I’ve tasted, what they tasted like, and whether I liked them.
Two new relatively new websites, Snooth and Cork'd solve these problems and do a bit more. On these sites, you can create a profile, which allows you to record your tasting notes and review and rate wines, find wine ratings from other users, see what your drinking buddies think, and receive recommendations and buy wines from a retailer. They also both act as online communities that unite oenophiles across the world.
After tooling around on them for a morning I found them to be quite similar to one another, and your choice should be based on personal preference. However each does have strengths and weaknesses:
I'll never forget the feeling of disappointment. On my twenty-first birthday, my uncle had chosen a wine from his cellar harvested in the year of my birth for us to enjoy. After careful decanting, he served it only to realize that the wine was not in good condition. In fact, it was awful. It tasted of oxidation and decay. Years of moving it from one makeshift cellar to another (one damp basement to another) had taken its toll on the wine. All that build-up and years of waiting had culminated in something that was more vinegar than vino.
When people speak of traditional Italian wines (as opposed to modern ones), they mean wines that are produced more or less the way they were about 100 years ago. The turn of the twentieth century was a time before the widespread introduction of French barriques, single vineyard bottlings, and temperature-controlled fermentations in stainless steel tanks. All of these inventions (combined with lower yields, global warming, and a shorter aging period) has combined to make wines that are now more concentrated, fruit-forward, and oaky than in times past. In short, more modern.
Josko Gravner, an off-the-wall winemaker in the northeastern region of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, makes a very different type of "traditional" Italian wine. Instead of using methods from 100 years ago, he makes wines as they did in ancient Greek and Roman times.
Eric Asimov's recent blog post on drinking beer with "wine people" reminded me of my first night on the floor as a sommelier at Babbo. Any time someone wanted a bottle from the cellar, I had to run down a flight of stairs, make sure not to bump into anyone running food, squeeze my way through the people crowding the maître d' (always brandishing a sweet, comforting smile even though I was freaking out on the inside), run down another flight of stairs, and search for the bottle in the enormous space. Then I would repeat the whole process on the way up. I broke a sweat in my first 30 minutes on the job, and this went on for the next seven hours.
At the end of the night, I pulled up to the bar to get my manager's drink, and Ken, the veteran bartender, asked this sage question: "So do you want a bionda [a light beer from the Chelsea Brewing Company] or a bruna [a darker beer from the same place]?"
"How did you know I wanted beer?" I asked naively.
The Judgment of Paris is the Greek myth detailing Paris's selection of the most beautiful Greek goddess. His choice of Aphrodite eventually led to the Trojan War. It is also the name of a historic wine tasting that took place in Paris in 1976 and has been restaged many times since. The 1976 event pitted the top French white and red wines against the best of the fledgling California industry. The judges: the most respected French palates of the time. The outcome: an equally epic war between the victorious American and the defeated French.
Gary Vaynerchuk in Episode #285 of Wine Library TV.
Two nights ago, a top television exec dined at Babbo and I was his sommelier. As I masterfully executed a long-pour across the table, I hinted at my desire to host my own prime-time wine television show. He said, “I think you’re right. I was speaking with the president of the Food Network over lunch yesterday, trying to convince him that this was a good idea. America is ready for it."
In a recent Decanter blog post, Oliver Styles asked whether the wine industry should be thinking more about global warming or was it doing enough? And, should we as consumers be more aware of the impact we have? Silly questions for such a serious publication. Because of travel, waste, and agricultural byproducts, wine is a product that can have serious effects on the environment and leave a Sasquatch-sized carbon footprint. It can contribute to global warming and be affected by it.
If you're a wine lover, all of these issues should be on your mind, at least because, as weather changes—and wine is directly affected by weather—the wines we know and love may no longer exist. (That and the whole save-the-planet thing.) But what can we as wine drinkers do about it?
If Chianti can overcome the image of a dripping wax candle stuck into a fiasco (the traditional straw covered Chianti bottle with low-quality connotations) then why can’t Lambrusco? In a recent article by Eric Asimov, he points out that Lambrusco is worth drinking and mentions the struggle it has had in overcoming an image as a commercial, low-quality product.
And so Lambrusco became a joke among serious wine-lovers, who had little use for it other than comparing memories, as with Boone’s Farm or Lancer’s rosé, of their introductions to the pleasures of hangovers. The time has come to consign this unfortunate impression of Lambrusco to the same locked attic trunk that holds the '70s disco wear.
A quick correction: The kind people at Snooth pointed out that I am at least partially incompetent. If you search using the button "wines in stock" you are presented with a very helpful site that lists a variety of retailers and their pricing for that particular wine. For me, Corkd was intuitive but once you figure out Snooth's wine-purchasing system, you see they have pricing comparisons for over 200 retailers and it is quite easy to use.
Joe
Wow swirlingnotions, your post was great! Thanks for sharing!
Joe
Thanks for sharing that great story! Please keep them coming!
-Joe
I had a seriously disappointing experience at Aqua al 2. Blueberry steak? I think I'll pass. Also I'll take my 5 courses of pasta without the American tourists, please.
Check out:
Osteria Santo Spirito (Florence on Piazza Santo Spirito)
Trattoria Martio (Florence) only open for lunch on the days that the Mercato Centrale is open
"Who makes the best wine?" Exactly the question they were trying to answer in the movie.
My answer; try as many wines as you possibly can and the wines you like the most are the best wines.
If its a wine I've never tried before I always look for the importer (which must be listed on every imported bottle) because there are some importers who have taste very close mine. Some of my favorites: Neal Rosenthal, Kermit Lynch, Robert Chadderdon and Terry Theisse.
Cheers,
Joe
Here's a link to the Conan episode:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/djsteen/videos/69/
I agree. With his whole "Vaynernation" and "Vayniacs" it seems like he's trying to build a TV persona. The Jim Cramer of wine?
That's a great point Ben. Something I always found to be peculiar is that when a peach is grown organically (in the U.S.) it is advertised as such but most organic wine makes no note anywhere on the bottle. Why do you think this is?
Hey Tyler,
Thanks for responding. By "travel" I mean that many of our favorite wines must travel great distances from the winery to our table. This wine "travel" has an environmental cost due to fuel use during transportation. If we purchase local or organic wines and recycle the bottles, we can try to offset some of this impact.
Although I don't doubt that bovine waste has a greater contribution to global warming - and I wouldn't get between anyone and the juicy bovine goodness that is a perfectly grilled hamburger - if we make informed purchasing decisions, whether it be wine or meat, we can ensure that bigfoot treads lightly and leaves shallow footprints.
You're right, this is a very complex topic and until New York starts making wine as good as the best of Europe I won't switch over to all local wine. I just hope to preserve some of my favorite wines by doing my part to slow global warming so that Champagne, France never becomes a red wine region.
Drink well,
Joe
Check out Vinquire.com - I'm part of this great new wine site. Has a great wine review feature (you can share and store your own) plus a where to buy feature. And our where to buy is not owned by a retailer, like cork'd is!
I've used both Corkd and Snooth, and I find Corkd easier to use, although I think the 100 point rating is not intuitive for most people. I've seen a few people rave about a wine and then give it 75 points. There's also Winelog, which is more comprehensive.
In florence don't miss the greatest focaccia and pizza: Pugi ..right near the Accademia.
Oops--look what happens when you don't preview your post--should read
DO NOT MISS going to Vivoli for gelato
Sounds like a number of great places to eat--but please while in Florence do miss going to Vivoli for gelato. The best of the best--the melon, strawberry, lemon and pistachio are out of this world--just ask my 14 year old son who dropped a lot of Euro there during our trip last summer.
siena: osteria del gato.... very good!
I agree, I will be in Florence and Siena in September also and love The Food Lover's Guide to Florence. She also has a blog now and there are some updates to the book on it. It's worth getting if you will be in the Florence area for a bit.
Check out Emily Wise Miller's The Food Lover's Guide to Florence. It's availabe at amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Food-Lovers-Guide-Florence-Excursions/dp/1580088252/). Great suggestions and a good read!
I had a seriously disappointing experience at Aqua al 2. Blueberry steak? I think I'll pass. Also I'll take my 5 courses of pasta without the American tourists, please.
I'm working on it (trying as many as possible)
:-)
Tonight I tried French wine for the first time and Loved it! There are so many different kinds and I look forward to trying the next one. I'll look for the names you mentioned ..
Thanks!
Elizabeth
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Website: http://www.dellanima.com
Location: New York
About: I own a restaurant in the West Village of Manhattan called dell'anima. I'm a former sommelier at Babbo. I freelance for Beverage Media, Inked, debonairmag.com and worksnw.com. I'll finish my masters in Food Studies at NYU in May 2008. I'm 23 years old.
Favorite foods: Nebbiolo, Aglianico, Ribolla Gialla, Tocai Friulano, Refosco, Sangiovese and black and white cookies.
Last bite on earth: Handmade pappardelle al cinghiale washed down with a simple Chianti.