Blog Index

2008 Harvest

Warm Tuscan Septembers Mean Good Ripening and Possible Hail

Posted: 10:00 AM ET, 09/11/08

Posted by Barbara Kronenberg-Widmer

The Chianti weather continues to be dreamlike. If the days were not getting shorter, you would not realize that it is almost mid-September. Moreover, the weather forecast for the coming weeks promises stable temperatures, despite the fact that the risk of thunderstorms is supposed to increase heavily in the next 15 days. Read more

James Laube

Second Chance Not Always For The Better

Posted: 05:17 PM ET, 09/10/08

As the tastings wind down for any given varietal, and the wines that need a second, or third, or even fourth review pass through the tasting room, sometimes things get ugly.

We re-taste wines for a variety of reasons. Wines with bad corks, spoiled wines or bottles that have been cooked during shipping are routinely tasted a second time. Read more

Harvey Steiman

Ripeness

Posted: 12:41 PM ET, 09/10/08

The question of ripeness vs. over-ripeness hovers over everything that's going on in today's wine world. My buddy James Laube brought it up in his blog last week, and guest blogger Adam Lee weighed in on it this week. I grapple with it constantly in the wines I review, especially Australian Shiraz but also in warmer vintages of Oregon Pinot Noir, such as the 2006s I have been tasting this past week, when most of the best grapes were picked during a long, late heat wave. Read more

2008 Harvest

Oregon's 2008 Vintage Conditions May Push the Envelope, Again

Posted: 11:28 AM ET, 09/10/08

Posted by Josh Bergström

As I traveled up California’s Highway 101 through Santa Rosa last week, I couldn’t help but notice all of the deeply colored fruit hanging on tired vines, the picking bins stacked in vineyard rows and the harvest trucks with juicy payloads cruising back and forth between busy wineries. Read more

Josh Bergström

Oregon's 2008 Vintage Conditions May Push the Envelope, Again

Posted: 11:20 AM ET, 09/10/08

Josh Bergström is blogging for Wine Spectator as part of our 2008 Harvest Winemakers' Blog. To read more of his posts, visit that blog.

As I traveled up California’s Highway 101 through Santa Rosa last week, I couldn’t help but notice all of the deeply colored fruit hanging on tired vines, the picking bins stacked in vineyard rows and the harvest trucks with juicy payloads cruising back and forth between busy wineries. Read more

James Suckling

Remembering Claret

Posted: 04:15 PM ET, 09/09/08

I was thinking about my trip to Bordeaux last week, and how many elegant and beautiful wines I tasted as well as consumed. The latter action is the most important one for me to remember.

Sure, I was tasting three or four dozen wines a day in my tasting room at the hotel Les Sources de Caudelie in the Pessac-Leognan region. Read more

James Laube

Patience Rewarded as Pace Slows for 2008

Posted: 01:57 PM ET, 09/09/08

Last week’s heat wave-induced grape picking frenzy seems like a distant memory now that temperatures in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino dipped back into the tolerable range over the weekend. This morning it was downright chilly, and the trees and their yellowing leaves are signaling the onset of fall. Read more

Brian Loring

2008 Harvest

Posted: 01:44 PM ET, 09/09/08

Brian Loring is now blogging for Wine Spectator as part of our 2008 Harvest Winemakers' Blog. To read more of his posts, visit that blog.

Read more

2008 Harvest

Mi Bins Es Su Bins

Posted: 12:28 PM ET, 09/09/08

Posted by Brian Loring

You can pick your friends, and you can pick your vineyards, though you can't pick your friends’ vineyards—but it turns out you CAN pick with your friends’ bins! And you can also borrow your friend’s intros. Read more

Bruce Sanderson

What a Difference a Year Makes

Posted: 10:58 AM ET, 09/09/08

I have written and blogged about dry German Rieslings in the past. It’s true that these wines have come a long way from the thin, tart versions I tried in the mid-80s while living in Germany.

So what’s different now? A year. Specifically, the 2007 vintage. Read more

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