Certain issues of great public interest, say, hurricanes, internecine conflicts or celebrity bedroom secrets, can inspire jaded pen pushers to literary heights. But the Super Bowl, an event of such hopelessly irredeemable banality, seems doomed to bring out their worst -- especially as the journalists in question are a coterie of boozed-up and pun-happy wine writers. (Just take a look at what kitschy Christmas did to them...) It's all the more pleasant a surprise, then, that the best wine writing this week may well be found in just these football-themed stories. For one, Laurie Winer's tale of saving her family from Cheesy Bites and Crunch Wrap Supremes is the most entertaining and ardent LA Times food/wine feature for many a week. Over in the SF Chronicle, Christina Kelly patiently outlines wine pairing suggestions for nachos and buffalo wings. And if you've ever lost sleep over the age-old question of which bottle to crack open when someone's just "fumbled away a first down in the red zone," Paul Gregutt is your man.
Wine Columns for the Week of January 24, 2007
Vegan baked goods aside, it's hard to think of anything more abhorrent in the world of food and wine than a used spit bucket. In this week's Chronicle wine section, drinking from a spit bucket makes not one, but two, nauseating cameos. First comes a report of a San Anselmo wine club's tasting game where the loser's unspeakable punishment is to, yes, drink from the bucket. Then there's an interview with Sideways author Rex Pickett where he reveals the truth behind the movie's infamous bucket scene. I can do little else but quote his words verbatim:
It was a special tasting upstairs. It was high-end Cab. They weren't really spitting, they were dumping. Maybe a few had spit. You've got to understand, I was broke back then. I thought, "Wait a minute, there's a lot of good Cab in there." I picked it up and drank from it... I admit, I was a little drunk at this point. I think I said something like, "This is a great Meritage."
Have a great weekend...
Wine Columns for the Week of January 17, 2007
After the devastation suffered by Californian orange and lemon farmers this winter, it's ironic how many of this week's food columns are citrus-centered. Unfortunately for editors, the gods have very little sympathy for lead times. It's much harder to pin down a theme for the wine columns. (Maybe glibness of prose?) There are just as many European features (ausleses and first-growth Bordeaux) as ones set in the new world (Australian cabs and New Zealand pinot noir). And for every raving write-up of a "lush, fruity red", there's another devoted to "bracing, zippy" whites.
Paul Gregutt might have picked up on a trend with his compelling case for lower-alcohol vintages. But as it so happens, his pick of the week (a Gruner Veltliner) was roundly dismissed as so "5 minutes ago" by wine experts polled in the SF Chronicle. Cyrus wine director Jim Rollston's haughty put-down: "Gruner Veltliner is still a great wine, but it's had its moment." Ouch.
Wine Columns for the Week of January 10, 2007
Red is the color of this (or rather, last) week's wine columns, with only one or two bucking the season by talking about whites. Of the latter, Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher's vilification of cheap Chardonnays is the most notable. Something about merlot still captivates many of the wine writers, but Fred Tasker wins the prize for this week's most entertaining wine column by imagining Jerry Springer asking of syrah, "Who's your daddy?" Wines from lesser known regions are also getting press. The Washington Post profiles Liechtensteinian wines, while Matt Kramer in the Oregonian highlights a couple of interesting Portuguese and Sardinian reds. The Chronicle also gets in the regional act by introducing a new series of articles focusing on notable wine regions around the world. Looks quite good.
Finally, Rachel might find a particular poignancy in Paul Gregutt's piece on the 2004 frost which hit Walla Walla...
Wine Columns for the Week of December 26, 2006 and January 3, 2007
With the end of the year come end-of-the-year lists. Not too much to say about lists, except that there are lots of them. A couple of brave writers also attempt to defy the spirit of the New Year by not writing about champagne. Sadly, they're slapped down by their editors and have to recount the same cliches about sparkles and bubbles and popping corks. Lists and not-quite-effervescent prose aside, recent weeks have found writers in a nostalgic and troubled mood. Patrick Comiskey pines for the cabernets of yesteryear, lamenting how many are now as "challenging as a kitten or a chocolate-covered cherry." Similarly, still languishing with a 500 word limit in the Houston Chronicle, Michael Lonsford takes out his frustrations on overripe and unbalanced reds. Meanwhile, over in France, Eric Asimov finds solace in a bottle of 160-year old Meursault Charmes...
Wine Columns for the Week of December 13th, 2006
This week (or I should say last week), while one poor wine writer seems to have had his word count slashed to less than 400, another squanders a terrific story idea (narrative as a fundamental aspect of the best wines) by recounting a string of fatuous vineyard tales. Elsewhere, Eric Asimov considers the Sideways effect on Merlots and finds hope. There are also some more gift-giving stories for last-minute gift-buyers. (Not that it's really the last minute yet!)