Recent content by Mike Hinds

Clearly you're looking for the Eyrie Original Vines pinot gris. Fermented dry, vines planted in the 60s, not even cold stabilized, sans soufre. Oh, and it definitely needs to be decanted to come together.

Seconded. I'd throw in the Roulot interview to round out a quadfecta.

No such thing as wild yeast fermentation? Total nonsense. (These are Wark's words, not Lange's, so far as I know). I'm not disputing that the BC study found what it found, nor am I saying that the data were mishandled. I am saying that other studies have shown that there is such a thing as wild...

The 2008 Huët Demi-Sec Le Mont was open at cork pop last night, and it still is tonight. But it's still so young, may as well let the other bottles sleep, regardless. It is weird to read the word "flamboyant" in association with Foreau.

Rolle / vermentino / pigato may be one of our more terroir-sensitive grapes... as rolle it's often bland and dull in southern France but in Liguria pigato can be an almost achingly pure wine, practically bereft of fruit yet somehow complete, even at a very young age, with gorgeous texture and...

My income is on the modest side, so take this comment with that context... But as of right now, Gideon's wines are some of the very few in the New World that can get a Grant out of me. Not that you'd pay anything close to that for a wine as astonishing as the Carte Blanche.

Did anyone listen to Levi's interview with Jean-Marie Fourrier? About what RP wrote about the Fourrier domaine in the 80s following an acrimonious disagreement with Fourrier's father over new oak? It sure seems like RP has long reacted with extreme hostility toward those he perceives as enemies...

This is what has me worried. Here in the Willamette Valley, we had a record wet January 2012 and a record cold and wet June 2012, followed by a record dry July-Sept 2012 and a record dry Jan-March 2013. These periods occurred without the benefit of an El Niño or a La Niña, btw.

I love the way that old Vouvray goes reddish-brown. Of course, that's just one of the many ways in which I love these wines. I wish I had friends who A) had Vouvray this old and B) open them on a "whim." +1 for using the word "perky" to describe a Foreau.

Second. I'm pretty sure that no zinfandel will ever claim my heart, but the Scherrer is a damn fine wine, with depth and nuance.

Good to know, tasting bottles in Chicago from the 2006 vintage I found a slightly heavy hand and have shied away from them since despite good words from good quarters. This more specific info suggests / confirms that I need to visit the more recent vintages.

Yes. Yes, exactly. This is what I've been trying to articulate for years. I've articulated it well, I think, but not as well as this.

Gideon at Clos Saron adds back stems to quite good effect. I'm wondering why the difference, given that you work with similar varieties in a (fairly) similar part of the world at (fairly) similar levels of ripeness... Or if the difference is about judgment of the finished wine.

I cannot supply the right answer, but I can quote from Patience Gray's "Honey From a Weed" (1986): "Like the Catalan wine of the Priorat, the Apulian wine is of such strength that it is acquired to reinforce weaker wines, for the manufacture of aperitifs, or drunk on the spot. One comes at...

I highly recommend Ocone's senza sulfiti Falanghina (melon, minerals, herbs, and so on) which is delicious for several days from the fridge. I love their piedirosso, too... I forget how "vin de soif" translates into Italian.