DON SCHLIFF’S RARE VINTAGE PORT TASTING: 1935 AND 1945

  Event organizer Don Schliff heating Port tongs before applying to neck of bottles Don Schliff, renowned collector of Vintage Ports and one of the founders of Wine Warehouse in Los Angeles, organized another historic Port tasting in February this year, featuring twelve Ports from the great 1945 vintage, accompanied by four top Ports from […]

Retrospective Review Volume III, Number 6

In the summer of 1982, Volume III, Number 6 offered the following articles: One Winedrinker’s Opinion – A Case For Old Burgundies, Coming Attractions, 1979 Bordeaux, California Cabernet Sauvignons, More 1979 Red Burgundies, Distinctive New Wines, California Chardonnays, Selected Tasting Notes, Barrels and Bottles, and Cellar Notes. We are currently reproducing a copy of Volume […]

AU BON CLIMAT & QUPÉ

GREAT WINES IN THE SHED FOR OVER 20 YEARS! Last year, along with my long time friend and contributing editor Ed Lazarus, I visited Au Bon Climat, Qupé, and Chanin at the winery facility in Santa Maria. Au Bon Climat and Qupé are now pioneer winemakers in the area and start up Chanin Winery had […]

THE SORDID STORY OF WINE MANIPULATION & WINE FRAUD COVERING OVER 40 YEARS OF TASTING OLD WINES

PART I WINE MANIPULATION  & WINE FRAUD – THE EARLY STORY Introduction One of my predictions for 2012 (to read the predictions click here) was that disclosures would be made this year relative to the allegations of fraud contained in several lawsuits that have been pending for the last few years. In the Underground view, […]

WHAT IS WINE?

Simple question? Well, maybe it is not so simple as you think. Fermented grape juice? Hmmm…………….??? I guess I don’t know. I used to think that I did know. But, things have changed and now I am not so sure. What about you? How would you answer this question? But, before you do, please let […]

THE OLD BURGUNDIANS

A few years ago, my friends and contributing editors, Edward Lazarus and John Brincko, and I, along with John’s wife, Debbie, and my wife, Laurie, decided to form a group dedicated to drinking old Burgundies from our cellars. We named the group The Old Burgundians, not because of our ages, but because of the old Burgundies that would be our focus.

ALONG THE BURGUNDY TRAIL – VINTAGE 2009

Background And Table Of Contents I started going to Burgundy in 1981. In the early days, I was accompanied by Geoffrey Troy and Edward Lazarus and occasionally John Brincko. Later Geoffrey and I continued to visit Burgundy and we were joined by Ted Swinnerton. In recent years, John Brincko rejoined Geoffrey and me. Our most […]

Retrospective Review Volume I, Number 3 (December-January 1979-1980)

In this our third issue, Edward Lazarus kicked off with “Woes of a Burgundy Drinker” speaking to the fact that back then a lot of wine was spoiled by excessive heat either in transit or after arrival when many wines were stored in unrefrigerated warehouses. In Southern California, there are many weeks each year when temperatures range between 80-100 degrees. Northern California is generally cooler, but even so, temperatures can reach the same highs. This is disaster for wine storage – particularly Burgundy. Burgundies, both red and white, are among the wines most sensitive to excessive heat.

And, 30-40 years ago, many, if not most, wine storage facilities used by wholesalers and distributors were not refrigerated. So true to our mission we were straightforward with our call “must consumers deal with spoiled wines as well?” Today things have changed as now wines are transported in a temperature-controlled environment to their destination , which is temperature-controlled as well. We’ve made progress and today, thankfully, spoiled wines are a rarity.