Wine Library TV

Unfortunately, Time Magazine beat me to the punch and revealed my newest dark secret.... I, like many others, can now come out of the closet and admit to family, co-workers and friends my addiction. No longer do I need to hid or skulk in the shadows as I hunt for a fix. I can now admit, "MY NAME IS MIKE BRENNAN AND I AM A WINE LIBRARY TV ADDICT".

For anyone, like me, who has an interest in learning about wine and doesn't buy into wine snobbery, please check this out. Every day, more or less, there is a new wine tasting to which we are now all invited. The site is run by Gary Vaynerchuk, who runs his family's business, Wine Library in NJ. (http://www.winelibrary.com/). His irrational and logic-defying love of the NY Jets, hasn't seemed to affect his palate and wine knowledge. I've found that I've agreed with the reviews where I had actually tasted the wines. The Wine Library's prices and selection are both reasonable and impressive. Unfortunately, until the Massachusetts legislature pulls their collective heads out of their asses, you can't buy their wine on-line and ship to MA.

In the past, I have fallen into the "more expensive means better" pitfall. I know this isn't true and my daily fix of Wine Library TV gives me something to think about and makes me think a little more about QPR. Whether your looking for old world wines or new world fruit bombs, WLTV has something for everyone. After a long hiatus, I even started drinking white wine again after 2 recent episodes (one about Reislings, which, if you haven't tried, you really need to).

Bottom line, this site is one of the greatest gems of the wine world. Find it. Subscribe to it. Watch it. Join the revolution. "Because YOU with little bit of me, we're changing the wine world aren't we........"

Beehive Restaurant and Bedell Cellars 2005 Taste Red

We went to a new and allegedly hip new restaurant last night in Boston's South End called the Beehive. It's located on Tremont Street at the BCA. Only opened two weeks, the service was good, the seating cramped, the food OK and wine list limited.

Our reservations were at 7 pm and we were seated promptly (so far so good). The waiter was friendly, attentive and knowledgeable (also good). The cocktails were also good. The waiter suggested a surprisingly good wine from, of all places, Long Island, NY.

"2005 Taste Red" is made by Bedell Cellars, which I believe is on the North fork of Long Island, this is a small production wine that tasted very much like a left bank Bordeaux. The wine is 55% Merlot 25% Cabernet Sauvignon 10% Cabernet Franc, and (here is the difference) 10% Syra. It's aged for 15 months in new French Oak barrels. Again, for what I was expecting, it was very good. It smelled of barnyard and ripe fruit and had a very forward blackberry fruit and currant taste and firm tannins. For a younger wine, it was well balanced and well structured. The upside, I thought it was worth $50 at a restaurant, but looked on-line and found it for as low as $24.00, but retails for $30ish. For $30, I can buy 2-3 bottles of either fabulous Spanish reds, Southern Hemisphere reds or even French reds (e.g., Chateau d'Oupia ).

All in all, Beehive didn't remotely deliver on the hype and towards the end, things went from pretty good to really pretty bad. The place showcases bands and because it was a Saturday night things were busy. A little after 9:00, the waiter (on instructions, I'm sure) came over to let us know that there was another party waiting for our table. We weren't offered dessert, coffee or after dinner drinks. It was basically, "thanks for coming. See ya". To quote my friend Sarah, who we went with, the place was "big on attitude and not much on gratitude."

This place hasn't been opened long enough to cop an attitude like that. If you're looking for a hip/scene kind of place, I'm sure you can find better, hipper and tastier places with a more extensive wine list.

Bordeaux Bargains: 2003 Chateau Greysac

By guest contributor Adam L. Sisitsky

Forgive me lest I sound the snob but I really enjoy a good Bordeaux. Whether it's a Quatrieme Cru from Saint-Julien or a Bordeaux Superieur from the Medoc, there really is something to be said for the notion of terroir and the chance to enjoy the depth and complexity of a wine beyond just "the fruit." Don't get me wrong: if you can't appreciate the flavor and aroma of an explosive, jammy Australian Shiraz (see Mike's prior post on the recent Mollydooker wines which are just tremendous) then there must be something wrong with you. But (forgive the analogy) as much as I like the action and entertainment of a flashy Tom Cruise movie, or the zippy, make-you-cringe humor of the next Will Ferrell film, there is something special about the cinematic experience of a Roberto Begnini picture (or whatever the latest sub-titled art-house film that gives you something to think about). Thus the beauty of Bordeaux. The good ones give you something to think about. Of course, there is always the issue of cost. And as much as I don't think Napoleon III was giving much thought to "marketing" when he tasked the various French wine regions with coming up with classifications for their wines back in 1855, that certainly has been one of the profitable after-effects realized by the old Châteaux Bordelais. When you start ranking things that people buy - whatever those things may be - the higher ranked ones generally end up costing more. Whether it is justified or not.

That's why as much as I enjoy a good Bordeaux, I especially enjoy a good value Bordeaux. Let's face it, unless you run with the Hedge Fund Crowd that my buddy Mike usually hangs with (simple country lawyer, my ass!) most of the truly special Bordeaux wines are out-of-reach cost-wise, or at the very least reserved for that rare special occasion when one can somehow rationalize dropping a few-hundred dollars on a 750ml glass bottle filled with a blend of fermented grape juice.

The 2003 Chateau Greysac is precisely the type of good value Bordeaux that I love to find. I'll admit to being a Parker fan (even more so since he signed Bordeaux aficionado Neal Martin to his team this year), and although I try to follow his tasting notes more than the actual scores, I think it is significant that Parker gave this vintage an 88 -- the highest score he's ever given a Greysac.

Located in the Medoc region of Bordeaux, Chateau Greysac lies to the north of Saint Estephe, near the towns of By and Begadan. Its vineyards are comprised of about 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. The average age of the vines is 30 years. Classified as a "Cru Bourgeois" since 1978, Greysac produces approximately 45,000 cases per year. With a new ownership group that came in 1973, the Chateau has since made great strides in updating and renovating its facilities and has brought in a series of renowned wine-making consultants to assist with improvements.

While I agree with Parker's assessment that the 2003 is a tasty "medium-bodied" wine (albeit a deep, ruby-hued one), I find it to be more on the "fuller" side of "medium." The cherry/berry flavors jump out for sure, but there is definitely enough tannin, smoke and texture to let you know where this wine comes from. There is Bordeaux terroir to this wine for sure (along with a nice textured finish). And at about $14 ($13.95 at www.capitalwine.net) it is priced at a point that I can open a bottle on a week-night and not feel guilty about it. Well, regardless of guilt, at least I can truthfully tell my wife how much I paid for it without provoking one of "those looks." In sum, if you're looking for a Bordeaux that won't make you recoil when the credit-card statement arrives, but that still captures the taste, flavor and feel of what one comes to expect from this special part of France, give this wine a try.

28 Degrees

28 Degrees is located in Boston's trendy South End. They offer valet parking ($16) and a pretty good menu and wine list. The restaurant is a great people watching space with comfortable booths that surround a pretty "cool" bar area where the hip young beatiful people hang out (I am neither young, hip, nor beautiful, so I don't know what I was doing at the bar, but I was there). Although the restaurant offers a great drink menu (the frozen peach bellini martini was really good), the menu is fairly deceptive. It looks like a regular menu, but is really intended to be eaten by groups, family style. The waiter described that the restaurant is self-described as a tapas style restaurant and suggested that we order accordingly. That information in hand, the menu made more sense.

Being a tapas restaurant, we ordered Rioja and the sommelier did what many restaurants now do (which I find really annoying), they brought out a different year (More in a later post). The rioja we ordered was a 2000 Riserva, but were given a 2001. Now, frankly, I don't know if we were being given the deal of the century or getting screwed, but I want to read a wine list, make a choice and get what I ordered or be informed that they don't have year "x" but can still offer the wine in year "y". Instead, as so many other restaurants now do, they try to pawn off the bottle like its the same thing and look at us crazily if we mention the fact that the listed wine if for a different year. That said the wine and food was reasonably priced and pretty good.

Bordeaux - A Beginners Guide to French Wine

The Red wines from Bordeaux are primarily blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. White wines from the region are usually blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. To really understand Bordeaux, it’s is important to understand a little about the history of France. If you don’t want to learn that much about France, it’s enough to know that French wine, unlike the wines of other places are named for the places they are grown/made. Bordeaux is always and only from Bordeaux. Médoc wines only come from the Médoc area of Bordeaux. Champagne is only from Champagne and similar wines are not Champagne, but are sparkling wines.

Bordeaux is divided by the Gironde River and understanding this is the key to understanding Bordeaux. It tells you where the grapes are from, which usually will tell you the dominant grape and, therefore, style of wine (remember the wine guy at the store describing a particular wine as either left bank or right bank as you nodded your head cluelessly? I do.)

The Left Bank (Médoc/Haut-Médoc)

This area of Bordeaux is located on the northern tip of Bordeaux on the left bank (west) of the Gironde River. South of the Médoc is Haut-Médoc, which includes the villages of St-Estèphe, Moulis, Listrac, Pauillac, St-Julien and Margaux.

Here, as they say, Cabernet is King. During great years, wines produced here can be aged for years or even decades. When wine drinkers think of Cabernet, they think of Bordeaux and that means left-bank. There wines are always blends, but the dominant grape is cabernet sauvignon (which I just learned was produced by a making a hybrid of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, go figure). Most of the left bank cabs I have tasted have been on the more austere side, but, when done right these wines are powerhouses with intense flavors or very reserved with a great amount of elegance.

The Right Bank (Pomerol & St. Emilion)

To the east of the Gironde estuary (Right Bank) are the Chateaux of Pomerol and St-Emilion. In addition to these more well-known appellations, the right bank includes Lalande-de-Pomerol, Lussac-St-Emilion, Montagne-St-Emilion, Puisseguin-St-Emilion and St-Georges-St-Emilion. The dominant grape here is Merlot which thrives in clay rich soil and produces a softer, rounder, more fruit-forward wine and tends to be a little more drinkable for regular old wine lovers than the sometimes more powerful wines of the left-bank.

Lesser Appellations

The less prominent appellations of Bordeaux are certainly worth knowing about. This is where you can get great French wine for a fraction of the price of the wines listed above. In previous postings, I have mentioned Chateau D’Oupia and other inexpensive (NOT cheap) French wines. Many came/come from the areas listed here: Just west of Pomerol are Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac. Further north are the Premières Côtes de Blaye and the Côtes de Bourg, producing mostly red wines. To the east of St-Emilion are the Côtes de Castillon and the Côtes de Francs.

On the east bank of the Garonne, the Premières Côtes de Bordeaux is better known for sweet wines, but it also produces dry wines, both red, white, and rosé.

Sauternes

While on vacation last summer, I read a fantastic book about French wine and history of French wine industry. The title of the book, Noble Rot, refers to a fungus (Botrytis cinerea) which infects the grapes and increases their sugar content and allowing sweet wines like Sauternes and Tokays to be made. These wines are often very expensive because of they are supposed to be very labor intensive to make. Some of the better producers also hold back stock making the wines more expensive due to a lack of supply.

Having said that, these delicious dessert wines with tastes of honey suckle, ripe apple and pear are found on the west bank of the Garonne, south of Graves. Within Sauternes is the commune of Barsac, which also contains a number of top properties. Interestingly, wines from Barsac may be made from grapes form either the Barsac or Sauternes appellations.

Bordeaux Wine Classifications

In 1855, in preparation for Napolean III’s University of Paris Expo, the Gironde Chamber of Commerce requested that wine producing estates of Bordeaux be classified or ranked to accompany its display of fine wines for the visitors from around the world. The Bordeaux Wine Brokers Union devised the rankings that are still in use today. Essentially what they did was to rank the Chateaux of Bordeaux from best to worst. In doing so, they came up with a five-class ranking system of the red wines from the Medoc region, with the exception of Chateau Haut-Brion (which is from Graves), because it was widely recognized as an exeptional wine. Included in these rankings were the white bordeaux of Sauternes and Barsac. They were placed into a two-class ranking (except for Chateau d’Yquem, which was classified as Premier Cru Supérieur. It is the only wine, red or white to receive that classification, which means “First Great Growth”).

While these rankings often do not mean that a top ranked chateaux wine will be better than a lesser chateaux, it does add to the cache of the wine and, usually, the price and availability of the wine at market.

*The following is a list of the original 1855 Classification of Medoc wines:

First Growths (Premiers Crus) Commune

Château Lafite-Rothschild (Pauillac)
Château Margaux (Margaux)
Château Latour (Pauillac)
Château Haut-Brion Pessac (Graves)
Château Mouton-Rothschild (Pauillac)

Second Growths (Deuxièmes Crus) Commune
Château Rausan-Ségla (Margaux)
Château Rauzan-Gassies (Margaux)
Château Léoville-Las Cases (Saint-Julien)
Château Léoville-Poyferré (Saint-Julien)
Château Léoville-Barton (Saint-Julien)
Château Durfort-Vivens (Margaux)
Château Gruaud-Larose (Saint-Julien)
Château Lascombes (Margaux)
Château Brane-Cantenac Cantenac (Margaux)
Château Pichon-Longueville-Baron (Pauillac)
Château Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande (Pauillac)
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou (Saint-Julien)
Château Cos d'Estournel (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Montrose (Saint-Estèphe)

Third Growths (Troisièmes Crus) Commune
Château Kirwan Cantenac (Margaux)
Château d'Issan Cantenac (Margaux)
Château Lagrange (Saint-Julien)
Château Langoa-Barton (Saint-Julien)
Château Giscours Labarde (Margaux)
Château Malescot Saint-Exupéry (Margaux)
Château Boyd-Cantenac Cantenac (Margaux)
Château Cantenac-Brown Cantenac (Margaux)
Château Palmer Cantenac (Margaux)
Château La Lagune Ludon (Haut-Médoc)
Château Desmirail (Margaux)
Château Calon-Ségur (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Ferrière (Margaux)
Château Marquis d'Alesme-Becker (Margaux)

Fourth Growths (Quatrièmes Crus) Commune
Château Saint-Pierre (Saint-Julien)
Château Talbot (Saint-Julien)
Château Branaire-Ducru (Saint-Julien)
Château Duhart-Milon-Rothschild (Pauillac)
Château Pouget Cantenac (Margaux)
Château La Tour-Carnet Saint-Laurent (Haut Médoc)
Château Lafon-Rochet (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Beychevelle (Saint-Julien)
Château Prieuré-Lichine Cantenac (Margaux)
Château Marquis-de-Terme (Margaux)

Fifth Growths (Cinquièmes Crus) Commune
Château Pontet-Canet (Pauillac)
Château Batailley (Pauillac)
Château Haut-Batailley (Pauillac)
Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste (Pauillac)
Château Grand-Puy-Ducasse (Pauillac)
Château Lynch-Bages (Pauillac)
Château Lynch-Moussas (Pauillac)
Château Dauzac Labarde (Margaux)
Château Mouton-Baronne-Philippe (Pauillac)
Château du Tertre Arsac (Margaux)
Château Haut-Bages-Libéral (Pauillac)
Château Pédesclaux (Pauillac)
Château Belgrave Saint-Laurent (Haut-Médoc)
Château de Camensac Saint-Laurent (Haut-Médoc)
Château Cos-Labory (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Clerc-Milon (Pauillac)
Château Croizet-Bages (Pauillac)
Château Cantemerle Macau (Haut-Médoc)

The 1855 Official Classification of SAUTERNES – BARSAC

First Great Growth (Premier Cru Supérieur) Commune
Château d'Yquem (Sauternes)

First Growths (Premiers Crus) Commune
Château La Tour-Blanche (Bommes)
Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey (Bommes)
Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey (Bommes)
Château de Rayne-Vigneau (Bommes)
Château Suduiraut (Preignac)
Château Coutet (Barsac)
Château Climens (Barsac)
Château Guiraud (Sauternes)
Château Rieussec (Fargues)
Château Rabaud-Promis (Bommes)
Château Sigalas-Rabaud (Bommes)

Second Growths (Deuxièmes Crus) Commune

Château de Myrat (Barsac)
Château Doisy-Daëne (Barsac)
Château Doisy-Dubroca (Barsac)
Château Doisy-Védrines (Barsac)
Château d'Arche (Sauternes)
Château Filhot (Sauternes)
Château Broustet (Barsac)
Château Nairac (Barsac)
Château Caillou (Barsac)
Château Suau (Barsac)
Château de Malle (Preignac)
Château Romer-du-Hayot (Fargues)
Château Lamothe-Despujols (Sauternes)
Château Lamothe-Guignard (Sauternes)

* Remember, just because a wine is listed a 5th Growth or a Bordeaux Superior, doesn't mean that it's not an amazing wine. Like all things created by French bureaucracy, take the classifications with a grain of salt.