Innehållsförteckning för November 30, 2015 från Wine Spectator

Life is good if you drink California Merlot. The 2012 vintage is one of the best in years, offering all the qualities that once made this variety so popular—lush texture and gobs of rich, silky fruit. It’s a big shift from my last report on the category (“California Merlot Weathers the Storm,” Nov. 30, 2014). The 2011 vintage, which dominated the shelves last year, was of decent quality overall, but too many bottlings showed bracing acidity, angular tannins and herbal flavors. Since then I have blind-tasted more than 150 Merlots in our Napa office. About 32 percent of the 2012s scored an outstanding 90 points or higher on our 100-point scale. In light of that, I give the 2012 vintage a score of 91 points for Napa, the best showing…

“L’exactitude n’est pas la vérité,” Henri Matisse famously declared in 1947. Precision is not truth. You would think that wine lovers, of all people, would readily con-cur. But it’s not so. Witness the endless—and endlessly circular—arguments applied to just one word: typicity. Few other wine words, even terroir, are as polarizing. What’s the problem? In short, the grievance against the idea of typicity is that there’s no verifiable benchmark for what makes a wine from a particu-lar grape variety or appellation true to type. Who’s to say that one wine is any more or less typical of its appellation or grape variety than another? This is not as academic as it may sound. It has cropped up repeatedly over the past few decades, especially in Europe, when one or another…

Julian Serrano is the executive chef at Wine Spectator Grand Award–winning Picasso, in Las Vegas. But that’s not where he learned to entertain. The three recipes, with wine matches, that he supplied for this holiday menu were inspired by events at his home years ago. • “My wife loved to entertain, but would not prepare; then I had to jump in and help cook at the last moment,” he says. “She had no mise en place. You don’t want to rush after having a couple of glasses of wine.” But Serrano cooks at a very high level. Raised in Madrid, he went on to cook at classic Lucas Carton, in Paris, and groundbreaking Masa’s, in San Francisco, among others. Pi-casso opened in 1998, at Bellagio, and was one of the…

Fifteen years ago, the Roussillon wine region, on France’s Medi-terranean flank near Spain, was a backwater. Today, more and more winemakers see Roussillon as France’s next big thing. The area boasts terroirs that are often compared to those of Priorat, Spain’s rising star some 150 miles to the south. “It’s just a question of time,” says winemaker Gérard Bertrand, 50, who is part of a wave of newcomers helping to transform this Grenache-rich region of rugged sea and mountain landscapes from a producer of fortified aperitif wines into a bastion of fine dry reds. “There’s a rebirth of Roussillon happening now, with modern winegrowing, modern winemaking, a new way of thinking of about terroirs and a will to make high-class wines,” explains Bertrand, a southern France native and leading biodynamic…

The wine world is a genteel place, for the most part. Pastoral vineyards, serene wine cellars, sociable gatherings to taste and talk. But like any business, the wine industry suffers its share of scandals, scams and frauds. As we have reported over the years, the rising prices of collectible wines have been accompanied by a striking increase in the number of counterfeit bottles. Nobody really knows how much fraudulent wine has hit the market, but high-profile arrests around the world testify to a surge in schemes designed to cheat those of us who care about quality and authenticity. In our cover story this issue, we look at the global fight against fraudulent wine. It’s an engaging group of stories, with plots and characters worthy of a crime novel. Associate editor…

Scientists have repeat-edly linked heavy alcohol consumption to a greater risk of some forms of cancer, but a new study explores whether light to moderate drinking poses a threat. The authors found good news: In most cases, nonsmokers who en-joyed one to two alcoholic drinks a day did not suffer a greater chance of devel-oping cancers linked to al-cohol, such as cancers of the colon, mouth, throat and liver. But there was also bad news: In women, moderate consumption was linked to a higher risk of breast cancer. The team of researchers, from Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, exam-ined data collected by two large, ongoing studies: the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which have tracked 88,084 women…

Many travelers to the Bahamas see little of its capital city of Nassau as they shuttle between the airport and their all-inclu-sive resort or boat to Bimini. That’s a shame, because the is-land is rich in history and cul-ture. Efforts are being made to shine a light on this facet of the city: The Downtown Nassau Partnership and the Historic Charles Towne Association are stimulating small businesses, supporting cultural and histori-cal sites and encouraging foot traffic in the area. Among the stately old buildings uphill from the docks are Jacaranda House, soon to be a bar and restaurant with a separate pri-vate club, and the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas. Nassau is also home to Graycliff, a hotel atop one of the great wine cellars of the world. The…

CALIFORNIA’S BOUNTY These value-oriented reds and whites hail from several regions around the Golden State, offering a range of varietals to choose from. There’s Sauvignon Blanc from Dry Creek and Capay valleys, Syrah from Santa Barbara, Zinfandel from Sonoma and a pair of Merlots from two of Napa Valley’s historic estates. JAFFURS Syrah Santa Barbara County 2013 (91, $29) Raspberry, wildflower, blackberry, smoky sage, cracked pepper; focused CASEY FLAT RANCH Sauvignon Blanc Capay Valley 2014 (90, $18) Elegant; peach, apricot, lemongrass, thyme, white flowers MURPHY-GOODE Zinfandel Sonoma County Liar’s Dice 2012 (90, $21) Plush; cherry pie, raspberry, cinnamon, toasted spice QUIVIRA Sauvignon Blanc Dry Creek Valley 2014 (90, $15) Vivid, intense; passion fruit, citrus, melon, floral, spice, lemon verbena BERINGER Merlot Napa Valley 2013 (89, $19) Black cherry, herb, currant,…

Ten years ago, Michel Laroche, then majority owner of Domaine Laroche in Chablis, made the decision to bottle his entire range of wines, including premiers and grands crus, with screwcaps. “As winemakers, we try to avoid oxidation,” Laroche said at the time. “Even without TCA [the chemical that can produce moldy flavors via tainted corks], a cork is not neutral. With a fresh, delicate style of wine like Chablis, the cork marks it quickly, like a little spot on a white shirt.” Laroche had armed himself with research from Australia, a pioneer in the use of screwcap closures, in addition to experimentation with his own wines. In May 2005, I attended a tasting conducted by Laroche at which seven pairs of his Chablis were poured, each pair bottled at the…

“FBI! Open the door!” Armed federal agents wearing bulletproof vests are not a typical sight in Arcadia, Calif. This leafy, suburban Los Angeles neighborhood just east of Pasadena is home to the Santa Anita horse track and the city’s botanical gardens. But in the predawn cool of a March morning in 2012, in a strip mall parking lot, James Wynne, a veteran special agent from the New York office, is briefing 10 local FBI men. Wynne’s partner on the case, assistant U.S. attorney Jason Hernandez, listens via cellphone from a hotel in Marina Del Rey. When Wynne finishes, the team takes a short drive to a quiet nearby street, stopping in front of an unremarkable four-bedroom house. Wynne watches from the periphery as the agents take their positions. At 6…

In 2013, Mother Nature gave French vintners one of their toughest challenges in recent memory. Most of the country’s best-known regions, including Bordeaux and the Loire Val-ley, struggled mightily. The Rhône Valley endured the tricky weather as well, but as a whole the region succeeded where others did not. In particular, the northern portion of the valley—home to reds from Syrah and whites from Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne— performed very well as the area relished a cool, dry growing season that resulted in pure, focused, acid-driven wines. The Southern Rhône is a step behind, with the region’s lead red grape, Grenache, struggling in terms of both ripeness and yields. But there are still numerous successes here as well, primarily due to the south’s sup-porting cast of grapes such as Syrah…

Highly Recommended The issue’s most impressive wines. Includes top-scorers and wines that represent optimal purchases based on their combination of score, price and availability. 95 Mount Eden Chardonnay Santa Cruz Moun-tains 2012 $60 CALIFORNIA Spicy, toasty, aro-matic oak offers an enticing start, with a fresh, vibrant core of lemon-lime, lemon curd, white peach and stone fruit that is very tight, dense, focused and persistent. Ends with a juicy Key lime aftertaste. Drink now through 2029. 1,986 cases made.—J.L. 95 Ram’s Gate Chardonnay Carneros Hyde Vineyard 2013 $68 CALIFORNIA A rich, dense, layered mix of smoky oak, ripe fig, butterscotch, lemon peel and spice coats the palate, revealing depth and intensity. Ends long, pure and clean, with the fruit rising to the top. The oak provides a pleasant backdrop. Drink now…

This Buying Guide contains ratings of new releases from around the world and the results of special tastings reported on in greater depth elsewhere in the issue. Complete tasting notes are provided for all new releases scoring 85 or more points (on the Wine Spectator 100-point scale, explained below); notes for wines scoring 84 points or less are included at the discretion of the taster. Additional reviews appear on our website, www.winespectator.com. Each review carries the initials of the Wine Spectator editor who blind-tasted and scored the wine and wrote the review, based on the regional specializations indicated below. If no reviewer’s initials appear, the wine was tasted by a panel of Wine Spectator editors. James Laube California Harvey Steiman Australia, Oregon, Washington Thomas Matthews Spain Kim Marcus Argentina, Austria, Chile, Germany, Portugal Bruce…

ARGENTINA Cabernet Sauvignon 90 Ernesto Catena Cabernet Sauvignon Mendoza Tahuan 2010 $16 See Smart Buys, page 105. 89 Valentin Bianchi Cabernet Sauvignon Mendoza Famiglia 2012 $20 A lithe red, with plenty of hot stone accents to the dried raspberry and cherry flavors. Hints of smoke and plenty of Asian spice details emerge on the well-structured finish. Drink now through 2019. 7,500 cases made.—K.M. 89 Bodega Catena Zapata Cabernet Sauvignon Mendoza 2013 $20 Rich and ripe, with good lift to the dark plum, cherry tart and brambly flavors, backed by vibrant acidity. Accents of green olive show on the zesty finish. Firm tannins. Drink now through 2019. 18,000 cases imported.—K.M. 88 Bodega del Desierto Cabernet Sauvignon Patagonia 25 2013 $15 A taut, medium-bodied red, with well-sculpted flavors of red plum, raspberry…

A restaurant should always welcome feedback, but it’s best not to do it when the restaurant is packed, and the host and the servers are be-yond busy. However, some-one who feels strongly about an issue should never just slink away. The restaurant won’t notice that you aren’t coming back. Larry Chandler Although there are many knowledgeable opinions out there, and any restaurateur or operations manager or beverage director should be 12 open to all feedback from guests, you might not see the entire picture of that restau-rant’s operations. How much is their rent? Are the ingre-dients they are utilizing in their menu very expensive, and they are looking to bal-ance out their profit margin with wine sales just to stay open? Are they in a state that is enforcing a…

Napa Valley Cabernet casts an imposing shadow over the mar-ket, making it easy to overlook alternatives. But they do exist—and in a wider vari-ety of styles and price points than many realize. Sonoma, Napa’s neighbor to the west, offers the most possibilities. It’s also in a strong position when it comes to quality-to-price ratio, the sweet intersection wine lovers look for with any region. It’s here that Sonoma is making its presence felt. Cabernet has long been part of Sonoma’s mindset, but it never took hold there the way it has in Napa. The surge in Napa labels beginning in the 1970s reinforced the region’s reputa-tion for Cabernet and left Sonoma off the pace. Instead, Sonoma came to be defined by Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which have both risen markedly…

DR. VINNY Dear Dr. Vinny, I have some wine I’d like to sell, and the common carriers won’t send the bottles. How do I go about not only selling wine, but shipping it? —Cameo, Greenwood Village, Colo. Dear Cameo, The short answer is that without a license, you don’t—if you’ve sold a bottle of wine to a friend, or even just dropped one in the mail as a gift, you are in fact a wine criminal! And last year, an attorney in Pennsylvania was arrested for doing just that. After the repeal of Prohibition, the states came up with their own laws on how to handle alcohol, which has resulted in a pretty tangled web of restrictions regarding things like shipping wine. Winery direct shipping, where a licensed winery ships…