The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

Most wines don't age well - they just decline, especially white. White Burgundy, on the other hand, particularly 1er and Grand Cru actually needs a few years to hit its stride. Meursault, one of the great Chardonnay villages in the world, one whose grandeur and style was the target of the legendary pioneers of California wine industry in the 1970's, such as Mike Grgich and Chateau Montelena, gives greater pleasure as it gains in maturity. But how long should you wait? And how long is too long? From the mailer by Ross Bott, the organizer: Meursault is in the geographic center of the Cotes du Beaune region of Burgundy, with Pommard two kilometers to the north and Puligny Montrachet two kilometers to the south. It totals just under a thousand acres of planted vines, almost all Chardonnay. About 200,000 cases of wines are produced each year, of which 98% are white. The vineyards of Meursault itself surround the town, with the premier cru vineyards just to the southwest and the re...

Thursday, March 4, 2010. Second year in a row, Ross decided to conduct the same type of tasting. Premier Cru Chablis side by side with Kistler Chardonnay. Last year's exhaustive analysis inspired a follow-up battle at Green Hills country club . What would this year's inspire? From the mailer by Ross Bott, the organizer: One year and two weeks ago we had a comparative tasting of French Chablis and Kistler Chardonnays from the 2002 and 2005 vintages. Most people who attended the tasting found that, while the contrast was striking, both the Chablis and the Kistlers were outstanding in their own way. It was also a demonstration of how versatile the Chardonnay varietal is when grown in different climates. ... Tonight, we'll repeat this tasting with mostly different Chablis and Kistlers. Both 2002 and 2005 are outstanding vintages in both Chablis and California. In 2002, the weather in Burgundy was largely warm and kind. Bernard Raveneau commented "2002 was the kind of...

Ross Bott was conducting the 4th in the 5-part retrospective series on 1984 Cabernets. The only one I zero'ed in on due to the French representation, specifically Chateau Margaux. My lukewarmness toward new world cabs is rather publicly stated. An inspiring example now and then keeps the faith alive, but serve me a Bordeaux 1st growth, and now we are talking! Hundreds of $$ a bottle a rare treat, but more than that - it's a Margaux, the most feminine of the Cabernet-based left-bank appellations in Bordeaux, and feminine is my kinda wine! The tasting started at 7:30. I came late, very late, 9. I was glad to be late. Ross accommodated, more than enough left in the bottle waiting for me - I love the "Bott crowd" - quirky always, grumpy sometimes, but always a caring bunch of geeks. I didn't want to do the blind tasting and ranking like the usual. I was there to take my time with Miss Margaux 1984, to give her my respects. For all the truthfulness and fairness of bl...

Unclear why anyone would want to drink aged Barbera, a wine grape that is associated with easy quaffing and everyday meals. In the land where Nebbiolo is firmly the king, why mess with that? Let Barbera and Dolcetto play their lowly part in the food chain. Affordable, refreshing, satisfyingly easy drinking table wines. What would the world do without them, no? But of course someone is always ready to challenge status quo, try to make an eagle out of a sparrow, a Boeing out of a paper plane. Treat Dolcetto like a more serious grape, and you get Dolcetto di Dogliani, deeper, richer, more ageable. Treat Barbera like that, and what do you get? On Monday, a small group of enthusiasts got together at a Ross Bott tasting in Los Altos to assess 1999-2001 Barberas by La Spinetta. La Spinetta has a "standard" or lower-end Ca' Di Pian wine that costs in the teens, and a higher-end wine that costs $40-50. Having tasted Gaja's 1995 Barbera "Sitorey" earlier this year and...

Most know Chardonnay. Of all major wine grapes, it is the most capable in delivering stunning results from across a wide range of climates. From the cold Chablis in northern France to temperate Cote d’Or in Central France to warmer climate in Sonoma to the heat of Napa. Ever since the Judgment of Paris in 1976, when Napa Valley’s own Chateau Montelena’s Chardonnay reigned supreme in a blind tasting against France’s crème de la crème, California Chardonnay has enjoyed blockbuster status in the United States, and has spurred planting and popularity across the new world. A recent Hollywood flick Bottle Shock helped distill (or dilute?) the momentous Judgment of Paris story for the masses rekindling the American Chardonnay pride at least in some. For years after 1976, the debate about the Judgment of Paris continued, and occasionally small groups of devoted wine lovers have conducted a sanity check. I have documented one such event – the Judgment at Ross Bott - recently run by the R...

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...

From the mailer by Ross Bott, the organizer: French Chablis are grown in the northernmost and among the coolest premium wine regions in the world. They bring out the minerally / flinty nature of Chardonnay, and most of them are still unoaked, allowing the essence of the varietal to shine through. The best can age effortlessly for 20 years or more. Kistler Chardonnays are grown in much warmer California, although in some of the cooler microclimates in the state (Sonoma Coast, Russian River Valley, Carneros). The additional sunshine allows the grapes to be harvested at higher sugar levels, and the resultant wines are listed at 14.1% and are sometimes slightly higher. Kistler Chardonnays are barrel fermented and aged in at least 50% new French oak. In a comparative tasting of the two, it would seem that the differences will be patently obvious. And they probably will be ... but I still think it will prove to be an interesting, instructive tasting showing two very different sides of t...

Very instructive Ross Bott blind-tasting session last night - Spanish Mourvèdre, or as it's called in Spain - Monastrell. The session was under-attended - only 5 of us, which confirms the relative obscurity or unpopularity of this grape variety here. This was great for me, as I had plenty of wine to analyze, all to myself, and had an opportunity to try something uncommon. Of course, for those who like Southern Rhone wines, Mourvèdre is one of the three main grapes used in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Lirac, and many other reds from the South of France. It is supposed to add "structure" or "backbone" (meaning "tannin" primarily) to the Rhone blends (classically consisting of Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre). Most of the relatively better known Monastrell-based wines in Spain come from the appellation called Jumilla , in the Southeast Spain in the region of Murcia near the Mediterranean, though one of the 7 wines we tasted came from La Mancha region, and another o...

Wow, what an experience last night.  It was the first time I came to a Ross Bott tasting event.  My wine friends have been telling me about these Ross Bott events around the Palo Alto area, and finally I emailed Ross to add me to the list, and so it began.  Ross Bott is a Bay Area wine guru, who has been running a wine tasting group in Palo Alto probably for the last 30 years.  His tastings are rather serious events, with wine geeks getting together with their own glasses, and quietly tasting 8 wines blind, taking notes, and finally ranking the wines in the order of preference.  Ross then collects the individual rankings and computes overall rankings, etc, and then announces those.  Each participant then sees how far they are from consensus.  Really entertaining and educational exercise.  Ross supplies the wines from his allegedly enormous stash, and everyone pitches in to cover his cost. A lot of the time these tastings (which usually run twice a week)  focus on New World wines (Calif...