The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

I tasted in quiet contemplation, taking time to explore every reflection of the light, every smell, every sip. Fourteen wines in front of me. Most mere mortals never experience any of them... it was a privilege. I talked a lot about Bill Harlan and his vision in a recent BOND article . To sum it up, in Napa, it doesn't get much "cultier" than Harlan Estate . In its rarified stratosphere of wine prestige only few others make it - Screaming Eagle, Araujo , Harlan's other great label BOND , a handful of others. These are the American "first growths", with mad following to stalk their wait lists and price tags to match. "First growth" may be a French concept, but to me, Harlan tastes nothing like its famous Bordeaux brethren. Distinctly new-world, Harlan is a wine of decadence, perhaps the most hedonistic, luscious, richest red wine I've ever had. I asked the director of Harlan Estate - Don Weaver, who has been with the estate for 26 years, tha...

Yesterday I had the pleasure of drinking 2001 Chateau Rayas, paired with bbq ribs expertly made by my friend Chris B. Chateau Rayas is considered by most winos I know the best winery of the Southern Rhone. Located in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, it is as close, in my opinion, as Rhone comes to Burgundy. Color - translucent blood. Velvety texture and light body - so Burgundian. Flavor - Southern - spice box, berries, and a hint of veggie. Mezmerizing. Unusual for Southern Rhone where GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) blends rule the reds, Rayas is 100% Grenache. The best expression of Grenache in the world. I don't even like Grenache - it tends to be alcoholic, soft and low-acid. That's why it's usually "strengthened" by Syrah and Mourvedre. But not this wine. At 10 years of age, Rayas was an amazing elixir for those who look for both elegance and adventure in their bottle. Somehow images of classy vampires (from the movie Underworld) come to mind. Just look at the color...

AC Joseph's annual tomato taste-off comes around in September. For the past two years, I have attended and documented this event not just for fun but also for my next year's pick of heirloom tomato seedlings. AC and her friends, myself included, take tomatoes quite seriously. Come August-September, we enjoy Palo Alto nature's bounty with fresh buffalo mozzarella or burrata, fresh olive oil from Sigona's , fresh basil, and various other herbs and greens from my garden nearly every single day. And a basket of them makes a great gift. The rainbow of flavors, shapes and colors of heirloom tomato beauties are a feast for the senses; and they go well with a variety of summery white and rosé wines on a warm Palo Alto weekend. It seems that 2011 has been a great vintage for tomatoes in the Bay Area. The warm, dry weather cooperated, and there are more flavorful darlings this year than in the last two. Out of 3-4 dozen varieties in the contest, I found at least a dozen that...

Last week was the inaugural wine tasting at my new company - Tango . The place is so cool, the head of HR actually asked me if I would conduct wine tastings! All I have to do is come up with a theme, bring wines, whatever I decide, and talk about them. For a relatively small startup, more than twenty people signed up for the "Tango Winos" wine group, the execs jumped in too - why not?! - three of them are French! The company paid for nice Riedel glasses and for the food. At Tango, we get breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, catered from popular local restaurants, suggested by the employees. But the cost of wine for the tasting group is shared among the participants. (It's a good tactic to discourage frivolous "drive-by" drinkers, even if the company were willing to pay for it.) I arranged the wine tasting to go with the dinner on Wednesday at 6pm. Since so many people told me how much they loved big, thick, juicy Napa Cabs (and on the flip-side, how they we...