Wine Tasting Articles

Featured Tasting Articles by
Mike Potashnik and Don Winkler.

Amarone della Valpolicella
Annual Rosé Report
Recioto di Soave
Puligny-Montrachet from Jean Louis Chavy
The Wines of Miles Mossop
Wrath Wine's of Monterey County
Farrell Russian River Wines

Previous Tastings

Future Reports

Report #37
The Wines of Sicily

Sicily is one of the most exciting wine regions in Italy. In recent decades Sicilian wines have greatly improved in quality. Field work on the report will carried out in Sicily in May

Report #38
The Wines of Washington State

In 1970 Washington had just half a dozen commercial wineries; today it has over 750 with 13 different AVAs. The wines are widely recognized for producing flavorful, superbly structured wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and other varieties, but the single most planted variety is Riesling, We travel to Washington State in late June to taste wines, talk with winemakers, and tour the famous vineyards of the state. Look for our report later this year.

California Chardonnay: Reviews of New Releases

ABC [Anything But Chardonnay]? Chardonnay is California’s most widely planted variety, and is the most popular wine in the US. It represents an astounding 28 percent of all California wine. One of the secrets to Chardonnay’s success is the variety of styles it offers, from vanilla-infused, unctuous wines with significant residual sugar to unoaked, fresh and frisky wines that can pair with oysters on the shell. [About the latter, see our Report #10 Unoaked Chardonnay.] We’ve recently tasted a number of California Chardonnays from the relatively cool 2009 and 2010 vintages. And they’re quite a contrast with the warm 2007 and 2008 years. Given the vintage, we also find a variety of winemaking styles. While the traditional California style is well-oaked, buttery and rich, the new style is often aged in neutral oak, crisp and mineral-like with a low percentage going through secondary, malolactic fermentation. Tasting through the 25 wines reviewed below, we wondered if the pendulum has swung a bit too far towards the new style, especially for cooler vintages.

Our conclusion: Making a world class Chardonnay is very difficult. We all want a wine that’s full of fruit, with almost no obvious oak, of low residual sugar and good acidity, yet with a creamy, full mouthfeel and perhaps a chalky mineral note on the finish. Californian producers are getting better at making this ideal Chardonnay, but there’s still a way to go.