The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine is powerful in its youth, perhaps too powerful for my palate. That's why I believe it's a great transition wine for new world palates. It's got the rich fruit and texture, plus the extras - spices, tar, acidity. The magic happens though at about 10 year mark, give or take - where the wines mellow out, meld the various components, and start showing wonderfully complex layers of iron, meat, blood, and yet more spices - the package I fondly refer to as "the wild boar" bouquet. They are still "Viking" wines compared to the more civilized brethren from Burgundy and Bordeaux, but nonetheless mature Chateauneuf-du-Pape's are full of character, complexity, depth, and just pure deliciousness. The "soul of the Viking"? Our local wine shop Vin Vino Wine is known for doing tastings of older wines, particularly older Rhones. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of tasting thru a venerable line-up, my notes below. 1995 Domaine du ...

Five years in a row I have now attended this great event in San Francisco, organized by Wine & Spirits Magazine . As usual, fantastic ambiance of hors d'oeuvres , wines , chocolates and coffee, live music, and well-dressed people, with a gorgeous view from the City View at Metreon! I did not intend to provide exhaustive coverage. The following sampling of tweets reflects subjectively my most memorable wines at the event: Le Moine Charmes Chambertin 2010 Grand Cru Burg best wine W&S Top 100 2013. Spectacular. Rich focused powerful. Wow. pic.twitter.com/3oVbfaGGlc — Gary Iron Chevsky (@IronChevsky) October 16, 2013 Ridge Monte Bello 2009 - best new world red at W&S Top 100 Wineries 2013. Complex, delicious, great acid, incomparable. — Gary Iron Chevsky (@IronChevsky) October 16, 2013 Louis Roederer Cristal 2005 - best Champagne at Wine&Spirits Top 100. pic.twitter.com/PavSjb4ZDq — Gary Iron Chevsky (@IronChevsky) October 16, 2013 JJ Prum very good, es...

On Sunday afternoon, when most wine shops are shut, owners dining and wining elsewhere with their foodie friends, Vin Vino Wine on Palo Alto's California Ave threw their 25th anniversary party "La Paulee" style. Never mind the pouring rain, never mind Sunday family chores, or the NFL Sunday games, or having to dig up a dear bottle of your own to share with the crowd - none of it seemed to contain the amplitude of the festivities that pulsed at VVW. Hors d'Oeuvres that interplayed uncannily with the wines, folks who've been coming there for years if not decades, the atmosphere was positively New Year's-like. The "La Paulee style" is based on an old Burgundian tradition called La Paulée de Meursault where wine folk got together once a year to share their choice bottles with others in a 3-day "orgy" of fine wine drinking, eating and story-telling. The original event in France has always maintained a neighborly feel, while the grand affair pu...