Quickthink

`What a great phrase! Can there be a straight line to perfection? Proponents of business plans writing might argue “Yes!” You get a great idea and off you go. Actually, this is nonsense. The original idea is less valuable than the adjustments (or pivots) that you make when you receive client feedback.

In fact, this type of learning produces zig zags — and that is what you need in order to get up to the next level. Where did I come up with this idea? Well, it was from a NYT article by Eric Asimov on buying local wine.  BTW, it is worth a read.

Enjoy!

Rosie Schaap offers a charming review of Irish whiskeys in preparation for St. Paddy’s day. next week Rosie fancies Jamesons. Well, there is no harm there. But truth be told, I be a Bushmill man meself. And Rosie, bless her heart, left out my favorite luxury choice. That would be Connemara 12 year old.  Be that as it may, I hold no grudge and I have added a link to Rosie’s article to my Wine and Spirit Buzz page on the right.

Bottom’s up!

How is your wine cellar developing these days?

Yesterday, I didn’t even bother to check where the red wine that I bought to sip with dindin came from. For 4€ what does one expect? But that doesn’t mean I have lost my wonder at the excitement one can get from great wine regions. So I had some recompense with Eric Asimov’s review of wines from the douro.

Enjoy!

BTW, I collect these reviews on the “Wine and Spriit’s Buzz” page over on the right.

I don’t know about you, but I am in the mood to find new areas that are making rieslings and pinots. NYT gives a nice preview of one such area - the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. Very interesting.

Eric Asimov has a good eye for obscure wine producing regions and I like that. Today he tells the story of Priorat in Spain, an ancient hamlet that was only rediscovered back in the 1970’s. Here is a quick quote comparing the wines from Priorat with those from Chateauneuf du Pape

The wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, also dominated by grenache, offer a ready parallel in terms of size and power. Yet where the best Châteauneufs show indisputable evidence of Provence, with their dense, earthy, herbal wildness, the best Priorats we tasted were juicy, succulent and full of distinctive mineral flavors not at all like Châteauneufs.

“These wines are big, and they’re strong, but they seduce,” Victoria said. “You taste it, you feel it, you want to touch it. It’s very visceral to me.”

Interesting. And his favorite? Mas La Mola. Here is the link.

It has been quite a long time since the days when I fancied myself to be well informed about Napa vintages. But this quote from Eric Asimov rekindled some of my old passion

EVEN in Napa Valley, where only the rare vintage is spoken of in less than superlatives, 2007 was considered nearly perfect for cabernet sauvignon. Wine Spectator rated it 99 on its 100-point scale, while other commentators, perhaps exhibiting more caution, used words like “splendid” and “extraordinary.”

But as expected,  the great weather did not make all Napa cabernets better. The best value? Surprise, surprise. It is my old favorite, Clos du Val. Here is a link to Eric’s article.

I run a small wine import business. Well “run” is the wrong word actually. I bought the business but I haven’t really done much with it yet. Perhaps you could say that I “walk” the business rather than “run” it. But one focus of my business plan is clear. I  import wines from small producers only. None of the corporate stuff that you find at Selver. So, one would assume that I favor family owned wineries over ones that are corporate controlled. And I do.

But Jancis Robinson offers an interesting post today on whether family run wine making actually is better over all. She points out that in many cases being part of a family can be a pain in the neck, while corporations often maintain a commitment to the  “long term”. Here is the link.

Jancis is a leading expert on the wine industry and I would be foolish to quarrel with her. And it is fun to read her comments about the ups and downs of wine making at the top end of the business. But I think she neglects to mention what corporate control means most of the time for wine making. BORING. Most often, corporations target the middle ranges of the market where they can sell at high volume and take advantage of economies of scale. These wines are drinkable, but have no real personality. End of story for me.

FOLLOW -  Eric Asimov offers an interesting piece about 2008 syrahs that he recently tasted from Crozes-Hermitage in the Rhone Valley and found some — but not all — of these to be boring as well. Here is a link to his article with some recommendations.

Neil Cammies offers a definition of a quality rosé

My definition of a good rosé is plenty of summer fruit, tart and extracted, and a defined acidity that gives the wine direction.

And he offers a few recommendations. Here is the link.

Jancys Robinson makes some interesting comparisons between Chillean and Argentine wine export patterns. Here is the link.

Thinking about buying some Bordeaux? Andrew Della Casa has the following recommendation

An investment in Bordeaux wine has consistently been low risk, certainly when risk is defined as standard deviation and when comparing the Liv-ex 100 (the benchmark fine wine index), to U.K. and U.S. stock markets. On the Sharpe ratio, which combines absolute performance with price volatility to assess risk, fine wine returns are superior even to those of gold and oil.

Here is the link to his interview.

Oh! You wanted to drink it?

Then perhaps then you would like to know more about the “mystique of Margaux” from expert wine guy. Here is the link.