The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

This year's Tre Bicchieri event in San Francisco continued the string of exciting annual tastings organized by the prestigious Gambero Rosso Italian food and wine magazine. I am proud to have been covering this event for many years now, as it is the top Italian wine tasting event of the year in the Bay Area. 415 wines made it into the "2014 Best Italian Wines" list out of tens of thousands sampled from across the prodigious land of Italy in the past year. For more details about Tre Bicchieri process and winners, see here  (html) and here (pdf). Most of the cult names were awarded, but not present at the tasting this time. In general, the amount and variety of wines poured per winery was the lowest I had seen. The explanation I got was that producers are no longer allowed to take any left-over wine out of the building, so many were quite conservative in how much they brought in, and quite a few ran out of wine well before the end of the tasting. 2009 Barolos on displa...

Baby Evan is now four months old, and Rona and I are starting to get out for an occasional picnic or lunch, while enjoying simple yet delectable food and wine pairings from local foodie joints that we've been missing. Here are a few photos from the past two weekends, taken with my trusty iPhone4 camera. Enjoying 2009 white Burgundy from Domaine Jacob (under $17, courtesy of Garagiste) at the  Old Port Lobster Shack  in Redwood City (the corkage is only $5) - excellent, lively, mineral-infused, flavorful, Chardonnay with no new oak. I expect value-driven red Burgundies to do well in 2009, across the board. But the whites in 2009 may be hit or miss. This one certainly hit the nail on the head. Fantastic with New England clam chowder. Below is the same wine, equally excellent with fish and chips, and Maine lobster rolls, and fries! Then an excellent Chianti Classico from a very solid producer Il Molino di Grace from the very good 2006 vintage. Got this wine fo...

It seems almost every one of my last few posts mentioned cheese. I didn't plan it, but it just so happens in an evolution of a wino that the love for cheese blossoms to wine-like proportions. How can it not, when cheese makes ordinary foods taste extra-ordinary?! Take for instance this simple linguine with diced heirloom tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, salt-n-peppa. Now imagine melting a (un)healthy helping of triple-cream brie cheese (with rind removed) into the dish! The result is marvelously decadent and creamy pasta, out of this world (courtesy of Karen R., thanks!) This would pair well with many Italian reds, but I would recommend the super aromatic and creamy 2006 Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva ($24). Got cheese?

It is Thursday, March 5, 2009. Six Chiantis, two Brunello di Montalcino's. All from the great 1990 vintage in Italy. Unusually full Ross Bott gathering, not enough space at the tables, spilling over to the couch. Guess people are into Italian... Certainly me, lately . Same grape (Sangiovese), same vintage ('90), same region (Tuscany). Can the crowd of 20 tell Brunellos from the Chiantis? From the mailer by Ross Bott, the organizer: The 1990 vintage was a spectacular one in Tuscany, one of the best of the twentieth century. The summer was very hot, and the harvest began in the first week of September, one of the earliest on record. Yields were low, and the grapes were small and very concentrated. Wine Spectator's description of the Brunellos and Chiantis of this vintage was "Super structure; powerful and ripe yet balanced" and ranked it 98/100, their highest rating for any Tuscan vintage since they started their reviews. Tonight we'll try six Chianti Riserv...

Just had 2005 Poggio Belvedere by Ardnaldo Caprai from Umbria (Italy) for the first time - 80% Sangiovese, 20% Ciliegiolo.  I picked it up from Alex Bernardo over at Vineyardgate in Millbrae - one of my favorite wine shops in the Bay Area (talking to Alex is always a fun and educational experience, but that's a subject for another post).  Normally, I wouldn't pay much attention to yet another Italian red, but this time Alex snuck it into his Saturday tasting line-up.  The wine is only $13 (i.e. a type of wine one can afford with an everyday meal), and it was an amazing match to the food.  I had it with pasta and prawns in red sauce (with garlic and herbs from my garden).  Typically, I would have a Chianti (or maybe a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo) with this type of food.  In a Chianti, as in most inexpensive Italian reds I try, one would see a ton of acidity dominating the fruit.  But this fresh light-to-medium body wine was singing as a perfect duo of juicy fruit and zingy aci...