From: wbg@mtek.com (W. Brewster Gillett)
Subject: Re: dialogue
Reply-To: brew@mtek.com
Organization: MTEK International, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 18:29:56 GMT

len@persephone.think.com (Leonard Franco) writes:


>Thanks for all the reponse to my question 

>But let's not let the dialogue die there. How about
>jug wines? Do they have any socially redeeming value?

> Also, I'm on a personal quest to discover good Chianti's
>and red CA zins. Any recommendations?

>Len

Damned little IMNSHO. In my own experience, as well as that of several dozen
wine buddies, the longer you spend with the good stuff, at whatever level,
the less inclination you have to even smell jug wine, let alone drink it.
Fact is, people's palates tend to evolve over time. I can manage to down the
odd white box or jug offering if it isn't too dreadful, during a taco
potluck or similar. The jug/junk reds are just too much; the fatal
combination of harshness and lack of real fruit is not to be borne except
under extreme duress. BTW, Gallo has occasionally released some corked
varietals (several cabs come to mind) that are easily equal or superior to
anything in their price range. Now and then they release a held earlier
vintage of one of these and they're often surprisingly good. I have in mind
a particular run of '78 Gallo cab (in magnums, no less!) that our local
distributor came up with about 3 or 4 years ago. I bought one for sampling,
and consequently was moved to acquire several more for laying down. It
didn't hurt that '78 was generally a very good year for CA cabs.

Ridge and Lytton Springs both crank out very creditable zins. As with all
reds you want to know the vintage; despite some of the earlier hype about
"vintages don't matter in CA", most people now acknowledge that indeed the
seasonal variations do matter even in Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino, to name
the big three. I don't have my reference material handy, or I'd offer some
suggestions for CA zin years. BTW, the SE Washington (Columbia Valley
appellation, mostly) area has been turning out some fabulous Merlot and cab
in the last few years.

As to Chianti, there have been several quite good years recently - I'd seek
out '85 and 88. The sheer number of good producers and the large volume of
production conspire to keep these a relative bargain. Know that Chianti for
some people can be an acquired taste; there are flavor and bouquet
components in typical Chiantis that aren't necessarily everyone's cup of
quaff. Try to stick to the "Chianti Classico" and "Riserva" designations as
much as possible. I'm not aware of any domestic (CA, WA, OR) producers who
grow the Sangiovese, but a few are experimenting with the Nebbiolo grape.

A recommended area which which I as yet have little familiarity (I've been
too hooked on Bordeaux for too many years) is the Rhone region of France.
There are some extremely interesting and delicious examples from this area.
Parker has written a very informative book on the Rhone which I understand
is nearly as exhaustive as his famous _Bordeaux_ (an absolutely
indispensable reference source, BTW, and one of the few reference tomes of
any kind that I've ever found that is actually fun to just read through).

As always, there's no substitute for the read-about-it/taste it cycle.
Buy the Parker _Bordeaux_, the general Parker-on-wine volume, and perhaps
subscribe to _The Wine Spectator_. For Burgundy fanatics, the Matt Kramer
work is hard to beat.

"Life is too short to drink bad wine"

-- 
_________________________________________________________________
brew@mtek.com
MTEK International, Inc.             Throughput Technology Corp.
Throughput!