Recent content by John Kafarski

Head over to La Isle in Hoboken. One of the few reasons to spend any time there. Solid Cuban food.

Let us also not forget the wise Tom Wark's fascination with comparing wine distributors to Nazis. http://fermentationwineblog.com/2009/11/the-big-wine-lie/

A Perfect Manhattan. Best mixed with Basil Hayden's and drunk while wearing a light sweater.

With any luck the Beatle-mania that surrounding the feeding frenzy for '09 Beaujolais continues next year. I am lucky enough to sell many of Joe's Beaujolais in the NYC market it was truly an eye opening experience what Beaujolais has to offer. Having quality wine and the help of knowledgeable...

DS and AG are on point. I especially enjoy reading Galloni. Perhaps I've generalized too much with what I said, but what I mean is that its nice to have another source of critical wine writing outside of WA and WS. Though David and Antonio are clearly ahead of the rest of the pack (from...

The key to their efforts is the quality of and emphasis on their writing. Scores from them almost seem supplementary. It's a bit of fresh air compared to the WS and WA.

Ribolla Gialla 2007 Movia Brda, Slovenia It's been too long since I have had something from Movia, but it jumped off of the shelf and into my basket when shopping for Thanksgiving shopping. The in-laws never had a chance with this one. My note from dinner. In the glass: Fresh yellow apple...

In a previous life I bought wine for two restaurants here in the hinterlands of Jersey and this little gem was buried in a very large large liquor-house book. They have been using string on this cuvee for years - but no word on if the winemaker wears skinny jeans. Either way, a sensational...

You are working in the hinterlands now, you can pull the wool over the eyes of the wine consumers in the Garden State without ever fearing loss of credibility.

Opened this fella yesterday afternoon and it started to sing after about 4 hours open in the bottle. Sourced from younger vines on Old Hill Ranch in Sonoma, the Bambino is Zinfandel blended with Alicante Bouschet, Petite Sirah, Grenache and a half dozen other grapes. Aromatically...

Who has time to read substantive wine writing? No scores, ratings or shortened blurbs summarizing the text?

The "profiling" started with the 2008 vintage and there are a limited amount of wineries participating. The number of cases is inflated because Chateau St. Michelle, Pacific Rim and others who have higher production numbers are involved. Only 1 winery from Germany - Schloss Johannisberg is on...

I like the idea as well. It's amazing how much trouble producers, distributors, retailers and sommeliers have to go through to educate consumers about Riesling. Perhaps its diversity and versatility lends to its greatness as a varietal?

What do you guys think of the new Riesling 'Taste Profile' that is finding its way onto hundreds of thousands of cases of Riesling consumed in the United States? A good idea, I think, but how many pieces of information can we put on a bottle of Riesling before we completely befuddle the...