Wine Blog

Côte D’Or: A Celebration of the Great Wines of Burgundy
The heart of Burgundy, the Côte D’Or, produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines that are unrivaled in their quality, intensity, and ability to age in the bottle. On this “golden slope” in eastern France, with its unique terrains and climats, grow the vines for some of the world’s finest wines, among them such heralded names as Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée, Puligny- and Chassagne-Montrachet, and Aloxe-Corton. Clive Coates, Master of Wine, has spent much of the last fifteen years in the Côte D’Or, and this book is the splendid result of his assiduous exploring, tasting, and assessing of the region’s wines.
With his unique access to each clos and domaine, and to individual negociants and vignerons, Coates may know more about the Côte D’Or and its wines than any other living writer. In Part One, he describes the Côte D’Or’s famous villages, introduces every manor grower and his wines, and evaluates each grand and premier cru, recommending the best sources in every climat. Part Two profiles the top sixty domaines, with notes on a vertical tasting of one of their wines. Part Three consists of vintage assessments on the best red and white years since 1945 and includes thousands of detailed tasting notes.
Côte D’Or is a work of love and passion, praise and criticism, understanding and scholarship. Above all, it is a celebration of one of the world’s great wine regions, the people who live there, and their fabled wines. It is an essential addition to every wine library and an inviting read for any wine lover.

Customer Review: Coates Review
Overall, the text is easy to read and it is educational. However, the individual wines reviewed are not even close to being up to date. Because this was written years ago, it doesn’t cover many of the new up and coming wines and vintners.

Customer Review: The best of its kind
Burgundy is one of the most difficult-to-grasp wine regions in the world. Many studies have been done on the soil, climate, wind direction, sun exposure, rainfall, etc., yet nobody really knows, yet, why one acre of Burgundy produces a certain kind of wine and the acre right next to it something different. Clive Coates book comes as close as humanly possible to explain it. He begins his sections with a “History” of the region, then continues with “Location”, “Vineyard”, and then defines and describes the wines made from the Grand Crus and the Premier Crus, recommending sources and also providing the size of each vineyard. Also, he covers vintages.

It’s amazing how Coates takes such a difficult region and maps it out so succinctly for us. Far better effort than Parker’s “Burgundy”.

Vintner’s Art: How Great Wines Are Made

The skills used in the making of wine are directly relevant to the consumer, for the choices made in the vineyard and in the winery are crucial to the quality of the end product. Here, for the first time, is a book that enlightens the wine lover on the “hows” and “whys” of the winemaker’s choices.

Today, winemakers have at their disposal an unprecedented array of opportunities to influence the way their wine will taste: science and technology have granted them creative power undreamt of only twenty years ago. Wine is no longer entirely the product of nature; it is a collaboration, and one in which the winemaker is becoming more and more the dominant partner.

The winemaker’s choices begin in the vineyard with the selection of the grape variety and the way it will be farmed. In the winery, every step poses questions, from crushing the grapes to bottling the wine. The sum total of the decisions taken by the winemaker is the taste of the wine in our glass, and this book explains how this taste is achieved.

Hugh Johnson and James Halliday explore this fast-moving new world, looking at the influence of tradition, the effects of modern technology, and the latest thinking of winemakers from every continent.

For everyone for whom a glass of wine is worth a moment’s reflection, this is an essential book. Beautiful, absorbing, and entertaining, The Vintner’s Art combines the best in wine writing with dramatic modern design, using graphics and superb photography.

Customer Review: Unique
There are four main sources of flavor in wine.
* The grape variety.
* The place where it is grown.
* The way in which it is grown
* The winemaking techniques used.

This valuable book is mostly about the last of these sources,
although there is a brief nod to vineyard management at the
beginning.

You could argue for any of these sources as the primary source
of wine’s flavor and could easily produce pairs of wines that
support your claim. Grape varieties, like apple varieties,
have different flavors. These differences become accentuated
when grape juice ferments into wine and produces or reveals
its unique set of acids, esters, and other flavor chemicals.

Vineyards have their own flavors, too. Apart from obvious
considerations like sun exposure and soil structure, we
know depressingly little about how this works. People who
own the vineyards that produce the best wines often make
a great deal of the unique contribution of their particular
patch of ground, and we can hardly blame them. “Them” in
this case is mostly the French, who use the word “terroir”
to express this influence. Many of these winemakers consider
their mission to be allowing their wine to `”express the
nature of the terroir” Incidentally, all the possible
jokes about “terroirists” have already been made.

The management of grape vines in order to optimize flavor
has been a realm of extreme conservativism until recently.
Peasant farmers are understandably reluctant to undertake
experiments when tradition is recognizeably safe.

Winemaking techniques expand, contract, or radically alter
the taste of wine. Some of these alterations – like
prolonged contact between the freshly crushed juice and
the grape skins or the choice of yeast – are in deliberate
service to the flavors they produce. Others, like filtration
and pasteurization, are driven by economic considerations
and have secondary-and sometimes unfortunate-flavor consequences.

It’s the discussion of this last area-a matter often hinted
at in other publications-that this book does so well. Taking
each of eight categories of wine, the book discusses the
winemaking choices that go into producing the characteristic
taste of that category. So we have chapters on:

Light-bodied Whites
Wooded and Full-bodied Whites
Sparkling
Sweet
Light-bodied Reds
Medium-bodied Reds
Full-bodied Reds
Fortified Wines

There is a brief section on the rôle of barrel storage,
but it’s far from complete.

The description of winemakers’ choices in this book
is clear, extensive and beautifully presented. Their
occasional snide remarks about New World winemaking should
be taken lightly as a bit of Euro-Austro provincialism.

Delightful reading for anyone who wants to know where
all those great tastes come from.

–Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN
9781601640005

Customer Review: Not merely a coffee-table book
I bought this book as a companion volume to my little home winemaking library and am very glad I did. The authors explain and illustrate very clearly the choices that winemakers make in response to, and to complement, what nature gives them: The Grape. Four stars because of the exclusive focus on “great” wines (far too expensive for you and I), which as Johnson freely admits, are as much a product of mystique, fame, and rarity as of winemaking practice. Also, the authors’ constant fawning over everything French at the expense of the rest of the world lessens the book’s value to someone interested in winemaking in California. Still, beautiful photography combined with clear illustrations and excellent, sharp writing make this a must read for the serious winelover interested in more than snobbery, or the amateur winemaker intent on improving his/her closet-full of cab.

Free Organic wine tasting at Niko’s Wine Corner
Enjoy a free of charge Organic Wine tasting at Niko’s Wine Corner. The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at 2050 Scenic Hwy. Suite # G & H, Snellville GA 30078, on Thursday January 5, 2012. Niko Patel have been helping people from all around the Atlanta

Altrusa uncorks wine tasting fundraiser
Corks will pop as Altrusa International of Pendleton hosts its annual Wine Tasting and Hors d’oeuvres event. The fundraiser helps support the community service club’s Feed the Child project. The event is Saturday, Jan. 14 from 5-8 p.m. at

The Wine Lover’s Healthy Weight Loss Plan

Now there’s a heart-healthy weight loss program that lets you enjoy the benefits of your cherished Chardonnay

For some time the media has been abuzz with news of the health benefits of wine, but until now there has been no authoritative source for those interested in making wine part of a healthy diet. Coauthored by a noted cardiologist and an award-winning chef, The Wine Lover’s Healthy Weight Loss Plan shows how you can easily shed unwanted pounds, while maximizing the health benefits of your favorite wines.

Sample recipes include:

• Scampi with Chipotle-Orange Sauce, paired with a 2004 Marquis-Philips “Holly’s Blend,” Verdelho, McLaren Vale, Australia
• Roast Duck with Lavender-Lemon Honey Sauce, paired with a Bergstrom Winery 2004 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

Customer Review: Not just for wine lovers
In my business, I receive a lot of requests for endorsements, but accept only those I deem the best. And I jumped on this request immediately. It could not be more appropriate for my audience.

I agree with the reviewer from Seattle who described this as a great reference book – both for its informed health information and its storehouse of healthy gourmet recipes (no those are NOT compatible).

Not just for wine lovers? No, this is a great source book for those wondering whether wine can be beneficial to their health. The answer is yes it is beneficial, if consumed daily and in moderation. And that’s good news for all of us.

Dave Chambers, Wine Merchant
SidewaysWineClub.com

Customer Review: Informational and realistic
Being an active and health conscious individual, I was looking for a realistic weight loss plan that would suit my urban lifestyle. After reading the “Wine Lovers…” I’ve found what I was looking for. This book provides a food and wine education surrounding the lifestyle choices of those in the Mediterranean. The “Wine Lovers…” author(s) are passionate, well-informed, and educated. Their enthusiasm for food and wine spills gracefully onto the pages of this book. The “Wine Lovers…” also boasts quality recipes far above the standard for diet books. It’s like having a gourmet cookbook inside a diet book! I urge anyone who is looking for a lifestyle change, trying to lose weight, or who simply desires the richness and fulfillment of wine to consider this book for purchase.