The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

Impressive showing by 2008 lineup from Robert Chevillon at our local wine shop Vin Vino Wine. The vintage is starting to approach the window of drinkability. High-acidity is a common attribute of 2008 red burgundies in general, and it's true for Chevillon as well. The Nuits-Saint-Georges "meatiness" comes through in spades in these wines. Spice combined with acidity gives them attractive savoriness that contributes to complexity. Most of the wines are still 2-5 years away from optimal drinking IMO. As the fruit is ripe, acidity will carry them a long time without distorting balance, the wines should continue to mellow out and integrate. We have much to look forward to. Tasting notes Robert Chevillon 2008 Nuits-Saint-Georges "Vieilles Vignes" - nose: hibiscus and herbs, at the peak. Palate: good chocolate and spice flavor but finishes very short as flavor fades almost immediately, this is light and savory without enough substance. Uninspiring. Robert C...

Recent annual tasting by AWA (Angeles Wine Agency) afforded me the first broad look at the 2012 vintage in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. These were all barrel samples that will start rolling out as finished wines in 3-6 months. I have to admit, I don't drink much Chateauneuf, as the wines tend to be heavy and jammy in their youth, and require IMO at least 7-10 years of age before they soften, attenuate and may ( or may not ) reveal marvelous complexity of flavor. A typical young Chateauneuf has neither the elegance nor freshness nor nuance. It's a big corpulent hairy blob. So when a vintage with some refinement, some delineation, some backbone comes along, I get excited. Two years ago when I first tasted the 2010's, my initially low expectations led to a huge positive surprise - that vintage turned out absolutely stellar. Last year, the 2011's disappointed . This year, I am pleased to say that the 2012's are a big step up from the '11's, and are not far behind the...

I run a wine tasting club at  Tango . It's a great perk for employees, especially when their VP of Engineering (i.e. yours truly) personally invests time and energy to entertain and educate. About a third of the company attends, it's popular. To celebrate our recent D round ( $280M ) and passing 200m registered users, we splurged a little bit. See for yourself - this was a mesmerizing line-up of some of the world's greatest wines. Chave and Quintarelli were jaw-droppingly, mind-bogglingly great. Others - very good too. Tasting notes: JL Chave Hermitage blanc 2009 - wow, amazing wine, depth, complexity, impact! Up there with top grand cru white burgundy. Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er "Clos des Ducs" monopole 2006 - top wine from Volnay, complex and interesting, secondary notes, but a bit medicinal / pine-needle and in need of more time to smooth out the remaining tannins. I suspect that 2006 was not the greatest vintage of this legendary wine. Gia...

The 2011 line-up of great burgundies, a celebration of celebrations that takes place once every two years in San Francisco, and a must-attend for a serious Burgundy lover, did not disappoint. I've written about this glorious tasting  in the past , and this was my third time covering the event. On March 15, the long-awaited La Paulee came to San Francisco again, and the 2011's on display confirmed my positive impression of the 2011 vintage so far - there were many very good and even brilliant wines, with much great drinking to look forward to in the next 15 years, and even a lot to enjoy in the relatively immediate future as many wines are already quite delicious. As usual, the food at this event is top-notch. Tons of amazing gourmet bites from top restaurants... Three producers stood out for me. Armand Rousseau . That's Eric Rousseau in the photo below - the current owner of the domain, holding his precious Chambertin Grand Cru. One month ago I tasted a barrel sam...

For those not familiar with Bing , it is not just a cherry or a search engine. We first learned about Bing almost 3 years ago when Rona solicited preschool recommendations from our Crescent Park neighbors for our then new-born son. Located in Stanford and part of the university research program in child development, Bing is a cozy idyllic oasis of child happiness and learning that parents aspire to get their offspring to be immersed in. We're eager to get to know the Bing community as Evan is fast-approaching preschool age. So at the Bing Harvest Moon Auction last fall, we donated a rare wine tasting to be hosted at the Domaine du Chevsky (i.e. my home) in Palo Alto. As all proceeds from this event go to the Bing Scholarship Fund, we were super excited to put this great extravaganza together. There are wine tastings.... And then there are IRON CHEVSKY wine tastings. The event was intended for a relatively small group, sized to sample several rarities without getting tipsy. We h...