The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

This year the much heralded La Paulee event comes back to San Francisco (last year was in New York), with the focus on 2013 vintage in Burgundy. It really needs no advertisement, the event tends to be fully booked, regardless of the lofty admission price tags, because of the quality of wineries and wines showcased there, and the grandeur of the events. I will be attending the grand tasting for the 4th time in a row, and this tends to be my most memorable wine event of the year, and the opportunity to taste once-in-a-lifetime burgundies and rub elbows with gods of the wine world. Last time in SF (in 2014) featured the 2011 vintage and was covered here . I will point out a couple of lesser known events in the week-long La Paulee program. The Off Grid tasting and the Roulot Play . The Off Grid "Tasting of Burgundy's Hidden Gems" event showcases 50 wineries from Burgundy's less premium appellations and up-and-coming winemakers, along with small plates from SF'...

I don't always drink new-world Chardonnay, but when I do, it's Rombauer! Stay thirsty, my friends! kidding... kidding... My palate gravitates toward French, Italian, and German. For whites - white burgundy - Chardonnay that expresses fruit, minerals and cooler climate of Côte de Beaune (Burgundy, France) and Chablis in a leaner, higher acidity, and dare I say, a more nuanced way that challenges many American palates. Polar opposite of Rombauer. Rombauer is colloquially known as everyone's mother's favorite Chardonnay - a rich, sweetly, buttery, and approachable California Chardonnay, a style that huge number of domestic consumers adore. I rarely make it to Napa anymore, but recently when I got an invitation for a press tasting and tour at Rombauer, I cast my personal preconceived notions aside, and decided to learn more about what makes Rombauer a public's darling, with 100,000 cases of their "house-style" Carneros Chardonnay sold each year. It's...

When I started covering Dunn Vineyards few years back , they seemed to be a classic winery, kind of left in the past, unpretentious, un-marketed, appreciated mainly by wine geeks. I immediately fell in love with the wines, and wrote about them with great enthusiasm and appreciation on this blog. In the last couple of years, the famous critics seemed to have re-discovered Dunn, bestowed raving articles and high scores upon them, and the winery now enjoys more prestige and buzz, which in my opinion they duly deserve. I am proud to have jumped on the Dunn band-wagon earlier, and happy to see that Mike Dunn has not let the recent recognition go to his head. Still the same down-to-earth, easy-going man that makes you feel comfortable whenever you sit down with him at the Dunn's family home in Angwin (Howell Mountain). Unfortunately, alas, prices expectedly are up, though still far below other top cabs. In January, I made a trek over there to pick up my case of 1998's - one of my ...

Chianti Classico wine region (DOCG) in Tuscany, identified by a black rooster logo, covers the territory lying between the provinces of Florence and Siena, and includes a number of communes such as Greve, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Radda, Castellina, and a few others. Encompassing the original Chianti zone dating back to 1716, it's officially different and more prestigious than Chianti (DOCG) which had spread outside the initial boundaries, and includes areas such as Chianti Ruffina, Chianti Colli Senesi, Chianti Colli Aretini, Chainti Colli Pisani, etc. In 2013, producers of Chianti Classico created a new denomination of quality within their zone, the highest rung in the ladder, their version of a "grand cru" called "Gran Selezione". Approximately 10% of the production based on stricter selection and longer aging qualifies to be the creme of the crop, one step above the already serious Riserva designation. While Brunello has more prestige and commands higher p...

Thibault Liger-Belair 's 2012 red burgundies are a step up from any previous vintage I recall from this producer. I hadn't drunk many of his wines in the past, simply because on the occasions I had tried them, they had left me uninspired. However, the 2012's are high-quality, albeit not necessarily all to my liking in terms of style and flavor. The domain is relatively young, though the vineyard holdings go back for generations. In its present shape under Thibault's name, it was established in 2001 by then the 26-year-old passionate Thibault Liger Belair who took back family vineyards from share-croppers. It is perhaps not surprising that several years were required for the results of that work to start showing. The 2012's certainly make me re-consider the 2012 as a more serious vintage for reds than I have been giving it credit for. Recently, I had an opportunity to taste several of Thibault's 2012's and though not exhaustive, the tasting pulled this prod...

Raveneau is the top Chablis producer, everyone knows it, the prices are sky high, yet worth it in my opinion, as the quality experience is virtually guaranteed, both young and especially with age. 2012 vintage in Chablis was particularly strong, and Raveneau's 2012's that I tasted were fabulous. Riesling-like minerality, honeyed, spicy butteriness that lingered on the lips for hours, viscous oily textures and exotic seawater / seaweed salinity were the hallmarks of this lineup, with the bonus 1999 Montee de Tonnerre showing amazing seamless silkiness and marvelous complexity. Yet with all those admirable attributes, these are not wines of weight and obviousness, but rather of elegance, complexity, texture, precision and enormous class. My oh my, I was smitten, they were the best 2012 white burgundies (if you can call Chablis that) I have had! In 2012, there were other excellent Chablis producers that cost a fraction of Raveneau - the likes of Dauvissat, William Fevre, Christian...

Iron Chevsky and Erwan Faiveley (right),  with his outstanding 2013 Corton-Charlemagne. At the 2015 Frederick Wildman Burgundy portfolio tasting in San Francisco, I got a chance to sample some very good wines from the upcoming 2013 vintage. Some (like Olivier Leflaive) are currently being bottled while others are a few months away. But the vintage characteristics already shine through. And I very much liked what I saw, at least from the top producers at this tasting. I generally preferred the reds here to the 2012's. While the 2012 is hyped by many as a great vintage, I personally don't think so. The 2012 reds are fluffy, juicy and plush - but they seem to lack structure. The 2013's on the other hand have it - they are more serious and angular, with nice ripe dark fruits reminiscent of black tea, with tart acidity and fine tannins. The acidity seems to stick out just a bit on some of the reds at this early stage, but I think it will integrate nicely in the coming mon...