• WITH RUDE NAMES, WINE STOPS MINDING ITS MANNERS

    par | Déc 9, 2011

    By WILLIAM GRIMES — The New York Times, December 6, 2011

    In a competitive market, irreverently named wines have found a niche in a certain kind of consumer.
    It’s peppery and full of fight.  The tannins have grip.  The nose takes no prisoners.  This     shiraz is a bitch.
    Bitch and Fat Bastard are two wine brands that have taken up risqué names to help their lines stand out.

    It says so on the label. Royal Bitch is the name of the wine, one of a teeming sisterhood of cabernets and chardonnays from a variety of producers with labels like Sassy Bitch, Jealous Bitch, Tasty Bitch and ThSweet Bitch.  They are reinforcements for a growing army of rude, budget-priced wines that have shoved their way into wine stores and supermarkets in the past few years — most recently Happy Bitch, a Hudson Valley rosé that made its debut last month.

    Dan Neville/The New York Times

    (suite…)

  • MOSCOU BOIT ROUGE

    par | Déc 7, 2011

    DANIEL J. BERGER

    Les amateurs et critiques moscovites aiment surtout le vin rouge. Pas forcément français d’ailleurs, comme le démontre ce récent « Jugement de Moscou » — une dégustation à l’aveugle où les bordeaux sont arrivés derniers du classement (un AOC Pauillac et le 2ème de Montrose).

    Ce concours ouvert au public était organisé par la revue anglaise Decanter et Steven Spurrier qui, au vu des résultats, a qualifié les moscovites de « buveurs de rouge », — ce même Spurrier devenu célèbre après sa fameuse dégustation de 1976 à Paris confrontant vins américains et français, au détriment des derniers, connue sous le nom de « Jugement de Paris ».

    À la suite d’un autre surprenant classement, celui du Grand Jury Européen (un bordeaux supérieur arrivé second devant les 1ers grands crus classés, voir AVEUGLES ? du 27.08.11), nous avons comme promis interrogé l’expert MICHEL DOVAZ qui a participé il y a 35 ans au premier Jugement de Paris, ainsi qu’au remake de 2006 (encore plus marqué en faveur des vins américains). Son interview est pour bientôt.

    Avant cela, Michel Dovaz donne son avis sur ce « jugement » de Moscou (résultats ci-dessous)

    Michel Dovaz, critique, expert, écrivain, collectioneur

    (suite…)

  • DRINK TASTES CHANGE IN HARLEM

    par | Déc 4, 2011

    By JOSEPH BERGER / THE NEW YORK TIMES — Dec. 1, 2011

    As Tastes Change in Harlem, Old-Look Liquor Store Stirs a Fight.
    Some affluent residents of a gentrified section of Harlem would prefer a trendy shop that offers high-priced wines.     Many neighbors agree that their genteel enclave of brownstones in the heart of Harlem does need a shop where they can pick up, say, a good cabernet for a dinner party.
    But the liquor store seeking to open on Lenox Avenue near 119th Street is decidedly not what they have in mind.

    Fred R. Conrad/The NYT

    With its roll-down steel gate, its bulletproof plexiglass to guard against robbers and drunken vagrants, and its flamboyant red-and-yellow sign, the store is a throwback to the old crime-ridden, ramshackle Harlem, some neighbors say, not the reborn Harlem they have been advancing during the past decade.  “We want to be Park Slope with charming little stores and become a destination for people,” said Ruthann Richert, a 25-year resident who is treasurer of a local group, the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association.  “A store like that is going to attract the people hanging out, drinking wine, so if you’re looking to buy a $30 bottle of wine, you’re not going to go in there.” (suite…)

  • QUELLE ÉTRANGE RELIGION…

    par | Oct 19, 2011

    LOUP FRANCART

    Photo

    Rouge, transparent, cristallin, pur,/ Que vous regardez en soulevant le verre,/
    Que l’on admire d’un œil gourmand,/ Qui résonne de sons grêles et harmonieux,/
    Qui enchante le regard avant le palais / Et que vous portez à votre nez/
    Pour en sentir les effluves, douces,/ Chatoyantes, légères comme un parfum,/
    Avant d’en prendre une gorgée, petite,/ Froide ou tiède, que vous laissez couler/
    Avec ferveur, dans votre bouche/ Pour la malaxer et ronronner/
    Jusqu’à en extraire l’ensemble du fruit,/ De la banane à la framboise,/
    Des bois d’olivier aux arbousiers,/ Et laisser mourir en vous/
    Les derniers arrière-goûts, fragiles,/ Du nectar que vous avez amoureusement/
    Ouvert, éventé, effeuillé, humé,/ Et finalement savouré.
    Quelle étrange religion que celle-ci ! …/… (suite…)

  • WINE FROM MONTMARTRE, A SUNDAY WELL SPENT

    par | Oct 6, 2011

    By LINCOLN SILIAKUS

    Daniel J. Berger, dapper wine enthusiast and blogueur, lined up two real personalities to show us around Montmartre in Paris last Sunday.

    Francis Gourdin and Raymond Lansoy

    Originally from the south, Francis Gourdin has been the official Paris City oenologist for 30 years, and is therefore responsible for the tiny cult vineyard, Le Clos Montmartre, on the north side of the hill just under the monstrous Sacré-Coeur Basilica built during the architecturally-challenged late nineteenth century.

    Raymond Lansoy is a local author from just up the road who looks just like a Montmartre author should.  Let’s just say that he looked as if he’d slept in his clothes.  His grandfather frequented the adjacent Lapin Agile singalong bistro which was also popular with Picasso and the other usual suspects.

    Back then when Picasso was hanging around, the authorities wanted to plonk a building on the plot, a good hundred metres across.  That project failed and it became a children’s playground instead.  The artists over the road worried that another project was inevitable, brought in a vigneron they knew from the Beaujolais. (suite…)