The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

My friend hit a big round 4-"Oh oh" date yesterday. This friend is special to me - years ago as my wine class teacher he opened my eyes to the world of wine beyond California. And so he was instrumental in all that came later. This poem was my toast and my thanks: Ode to the Sensei Seasons come and seasons go Vintages: some great and some amiss In 40 seasons the world has never known Vintage as good as this This vintage is mysterious So critics disagree Some say it's overly complex. To some, but not to me! Some say it is ethereal Fleeting and seductive like a dream Some say it is imperial Reserved, and commanding esteem Some find it inaccessible Worthy only of DRC I find it infinitely addressable Why is it so kind me? This vintage has so many layers Not easy to peel away But hear this, naysayers, For underneath that pinot skin I see the purity that lies within The vintage of the man Whom every day So proudly I call my friend and my "sensei"

Lots of stir the last couple of days about the France's Ministry of Health conviction of alcohol as cause of cancer. I will be attempting to consolidate the most relevant information from the web to provide a balanced view of this development, and how it relates to moderate wine drinking. If anyone is seriously considering this seriously, what comes packaged with the same research is this: apart from wine, the dangerous stuff is red meat, charcuterie and salt. “The risk of colon-rectal cancer rises by 29 per cent per 100-gramme portion of red meat per day and 21 per cent per 50-gramme portion of charcuterie.” Are people going to stop eating those? - not a chance! Are people going to be moderate about those? Yes, people who care, already are. It's about balance and common sense. Wine has been shown to have positive impact on some aspects of our health, especially the heart. However, it also appears to increase chances of certain types of cancer. Like pretty much all drugs, it h...

...continued from Episode 3 . If you are new to this series, start here . This is an awesome Japanese Manga -drama about wine. Laugh, cry, enjoy as you watch Kami no Shizuku ("Drops of God"). Episode 4 Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Episode 5 is posted here .

From the mailer by Ross Bott, the organizer: French Chablis are grown in the northernmost and among the coolest premium wine regions in the world. They bring out the minerally / flinty nature of Chardonnay, and most of them are still unoaked, allowing the essence of the varietal to shine through. The best can age effortlessly for 20 years or more. Kistler Chardonnays are grown in much warmer California, although in some of the cooler microclimates in the state (Sonoma Coast, Russian River Valley, Carneros). The additional sunshine allows the grapes to be harvested at higher sugar levels, and the resultant wines are listed at 14.1% and are sometimes slightly higher. Kistler Chardonnays are barrel fermented and aged in at least 50% new French oak. In a comparative tasting of the two, it would seem that the differences will be patently obvious. And they probably will be ... but I still think it will prove to be an interesting, instructive tasting showing two very different sides of t...

This brief post is my counter to Alder Yarrow's "The Perfect Cluster" post on his Vinography blog (one of the top wine blogs on the internet). Alder Yarrow's "the perfect cluster": Click through on the above photo - you can see the slender threads of spider webs and the moisture particles on the skins of the grapes. Inspiring. Dreamy. Magnificent! Professionally taken by Andy Katz . Iron Chevsky's "the imperfect cluster": The shot above I took with my point-and-shoot camera on the way to Minervois appellation in Languedoc -- semi-frozen grapes left to die on the vine in the midst of December. You can't help but feel sorry for them... Does the imperfection make you cringe or love? Does it make you want to throw it away or blanket it with your warmth? The struggling little imperfection, it is indeed dear to my heart, for it is about life not wine.

...continued from Episode 2 . If you are new to this series, start here . This is an awesome Japanese Manga -drama about wine. Laugh, cry, enjoy as you watch Kami no Shizuku ("Drops of God"). Episode 3 Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: To learn more about the 2nd apostle wine from this episode, read my post here (don't click until you've watched episode 3) . Episode 4 is posted here .

The content for this blog post was provided by a friend, Alex Bernardo, the owner of the Vineyardgate wine shop in Millbrae - who has graciously agreed to let me republish it here from his Vineyardgate blog . Photography by Andrew Chan. Written by Alex Bernardo Until 3 to 4 years ago, Vineyardgate Wine Sellers used to host themed wine dinners in various San Francisco and Peninsula restaurants about four to six times a year. The first one was ten years ago in 1999 at then newly renovated 231 Ellsworth Restaurant in San Mateo, CA, where we featured a vertical of Cabernet Sauvignons from 1983 to 1997, including Cain Five, Pride, Dalla Valle, Shafer Hillside Select, Lokoya, and Laurel Glen. The inspired kitchen of 231 came up with a spectacular multi-course pairing involving foie gras, black truffles, beef cheeks, roast duck, and lamb—many of the dishes were unexpected pairings but worked perfectly. Working with restaurants to come up with special menus involving unusual pairings is someth...

Watch this video. It's the latest in the string of increasingly popular wine celebrity Gary Vaynerchuk's appearances in mainstream media TV programs. This one is the Feb 13 Valentine's Day episode of the MSNBC's Today Show. Gary is great - he holds his own against the professional TV hosts, but that is not the point I want to focus on here. The point of this post is to make you think about the average American lay-person, and how the mass media attempt to reflect that lay-person's outlook on wine through the types of content they deliver on a program like this. Was it entertaining? Yes! Was it stupid? YES!!! Why? Read on. In order to understand my irritation with this program, it helps to appreciate that I have watched every single TV appearance that Gary Vaynerchuk posted via his website or his facebook page (he and I are connected on facebook). They all share the tone - a wine-ignorant (or pretending to be ignorant) host, and a super entertaining wine geek (...

...continued from Episode 1 in my last post. Pointed out by a friend who happens to know a lot about Japanese, French, and American cultures and wine, comes this awesome Japanese Manga -drama about wine. Laugh, cry, enjoy as you watch Kami no Shizuku ("Drops of God"). Episode 2 Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Episode 3 is posted here .

No ads. Pointed out by a friend who happens to know a lot about Japanese, French, and American cultures and wine, comes this awesome Japanese Manga -drama about wine. Laugh, cry, enjoy as you watch Kami no Shizuku ("Drops of God"). After a world-famous wine critic Kanzaki Yutaka dies leaving his huge fortune up for contest between his biological son Shizuku Kanzaki (who hates wine) and his adopted son Toumine Issei (who is a talented wine critic), the two face off to win the inheritance. In the process, Shizuku discovers more about himself and about wine than he ever imagined. Episode 1 Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Part 4: The show is currently airing in Japan. Apparently it's been quite a phenomenon in Asia . Let me know what you think... Episode 2 is coming up in the next post ...

In the previous blog post , we posed a fun question-puzzle. If you don't want to spoil the surprise, make sure you read that first before returning here. But first, a little bit about the setting... At 5:30pm on Dec 29, 2008, at the end of a busy day of wine exploration in Southern Rhone, surrounded by total darkness at the outer edge of the town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, we slowly drove up along the dirt road to Domaine du Pegau. It was dead quiet, we knocked on the front door of a house. We were supposed to be expected. But an elderly man we saw through the window seemed surprised by our visit. Briskly he came out and unable to speak English, gestured for us to follow him to what from outside looked like half garage half barn. It was the cellar. A helper inside luckily spoke English, and explained that Laurence (pronounced "Law-runs") Feraud, the older man's daughter, who had scheduled the appointment with us, had car trouble returning from a wine tip to Burgundy, an...

On a recent visit to Domaine du Pegau in Chateauneuf-du-Pape on Dec 29, 2008, I had this memorable picture taken. What's wrong with it? Can you figure it out? The answer will be revealed in the next blog post.