Okay, so the goose doesn't exactly make the Pinot, but Toulouse Vineyards' mascot is most definitely a goose, and their Pinot is without a doubt off the charts (though admittedly made by human hands). I absolutely loved the 2006 Toulouse Anderson Valley Pinot Noir my sister picked up in Mendo recently, and which I had the pleasure of quaffing a few days ago in the baking hot Central Valley, where I'm visiting my family. The newish operation (their first vintage was 2002) is run by Vern and Maxine Boltz, a retired Oakland fire chief and United airline stewardess, respectively, and Toulouse Vineyards represents

Continue reading ""Huge Blocky Goose" Makes Great Pinot" »

Posted by Courtney at 09:03 AM

Woop, looks like another celeb designer has gotten in on the wine design thang. Busy Italian designer Roberto Cavalli - famous for his flamboyant, figure-hugging frocks worn by adventurous celebutantes on many a red carpet - has just released Roberto Cavalli Selection, a Tuscan IGT made with the assistance of Italian wine guru Carlo Ferrini. Just about 5,000 bottles were made of the debut vintage, 2004, a portion of which come in this appropriately flamboyant box covered in leopard print used in the designer's 1996 Spring/Summer collection and...

Continue reading "Design My Wine: Roberto Cavalli" »

Posted by Courtney at 01:15 PM • Comments (0)

"From Major Leaguers to major religious leaders, celebrities of all stripes are catching the wine bug these days, lending their names and likenesses to bottles, participating in the promotion of the wines and sometimes even cuing up the blends themselves. And while celebrity wines are hardly a new phenomenon, the most recent influx of offerings brings with it a surprisingly diverse mix of celebs, not to mention a fascinating blend of prices, styles and blends to boot...

Continue reading "Almost Famous: Celebs Put New Spin on Wine" »

Posted by Courtney at 12:45 PM

Keller Estate's Syrah-based 2007 Sonoma Coast Rose is a delight. I'm always searching for a rose from California that's not too pink and not too sweet (not to mention a lot of fun to drink & great with food) and this one fits the bill just right. Made for the winery founder's 75th birthday, this medium pink-hued quaffer offers up delightful aromas of watermelon Jolly Rancher candy (always a favorite), caramel, chamomile, rose water and a kiss of pink grapefruit...

Continue reading "A Sprightly Rose for Spring" »

Posted by Courtney at 02:38 PM

After a week in New York - including a couple of downright cold days upstate to give a talk at Cornell - I have to say it definitely doesn't feel very spring-like on the East Coast! But, the buds are beginning to break on the trees in NYC, and last night my pal Lesley joined me out at a fab fete at the Theory store in the Meatpacking district in a skirt, sans stockings. She froze, for sure, but kept insisting, "It's spring, damnit!"

Indeed, depending on where you are the weather is turning warmer, albeit by varying degrees. In Cali, we've been enjoying beautiful days for weeks now (including two stunningly sunny 70-degree'ers when I was in Napa for a blissful Easter weekend; The French Laundry was beyond!!). And no matter where you are, it's not too early to start drinking for warmer weather. Read on for the lowdown on my favorite sippers for spring, and here's looking forward to balmier weather in everyone's not-too-distant future.

Photo: Vines at Smith-Madrone atop Spring Mountain, Napa Valley this spring

Continue reading "Sipping Pretty: Winning Wines for the Spring Season" »

Posted by Courtney at 07:20 AM

When I met Suzanne Phifer Pavitt at a recent conference in Napa, I knew I liked her immediately. Tall, blonde and friendly with a self assuredness amiably matched by a good dash of down-home Southern Charm (from Georgia, this one), Suzanne was thrilled to tell me about her new wine - Phifer Pavitt (Date Night) - that she lately launched with her husband, Shane Pavitt. And when I tasted (Date Night) - named for the weekly date nights during which the couple devised the plan for their own label - I was thrilled to find it equally charming.

Brimming with lovely aromas of toasty oak, caramel-and-chocolate-covered coffee beans, black cherries, star anise and cocoa, the full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon delivers big on the palate, too, with delicious flavors of ripe black fruits, cocoa nib, brown sugar and blackberry jam. In spite of its heft, the wine's super-rich, almost dessert-wine-like concentration is in balance, and the finish is loooong. I scored it 92 points. One to check out, although I don't recommend waiting around for a date night - this wine will win you over ANY NIGHT.

If you can afford it, that is ;) - 300 cases made, $75/bottle.

Posted by Courtney at 03:52 PM

If a prominent French Champagne producer's putting the American flag on a bottle of bubbly isn't proof of improving French-American relations, I don't know what is. This new, limited edition single serving offering from Pommery's design-forward "POP" (Product of Pommery) line of bubblies is just what it appears to be - a visual tribute to Americana, all the way from the blustery vineyards of northern France.

Made in a slightly sweeter style than typical Pommery Brut bubblies, POP America is being billed as the perfect drink for 2008 Fourth of July celebrations and summer BBQs, and I have to admit - a bucket of it would make a smashing centerpiece at a luxe Fourth gathering. Why luxe? Because at $13.99 per single serving bottle, these are pricey bubbs. But then again, who can put a price on independence?

Posted by Courtney at 05:35 PM • Comments (0)

Dearest readers - I'm sorry I've been away for so long. I promise to start posting lots again very soon, and in the mean time please enjoy this snap from my recent NY book release party and a Valentine's-appropriate ditty I just wrote for WineCountry.com. Cheers, CC ;)

"Once upon a time, there was a wine so big, so bold and so outrageously outsized that its fans felt ashamed admitting it was their favorite. "Oh no," naysayers would insist, "a wine that big just can't be good with food. Why, it's so ridiculously over the top as to hardly even resemble what I think of as a wine."

Despairingly, lovers of Petite Sirah would retreat to enjoy their prodigious darling in the privacy of their own homes, away from the prying eyes of fellow drinkers who insisted that a wine must have impeccable balance - meaning it could harbor neither outsized fruit nor high-octane alcohol - in order to be enjoyed..."

Continue reading my latest article at WineCountry.com

Posted by Courtney at 02:37 PM • Comments (1)

There's nothing like a crazy winter storm to make you crave a deep, dark bottle of wine that's as brooding as what's happening outside. After waking up Friday to the biggest storm I've seen since moving here and an eerie all-day power outage (rumor has it some San Franciscans are still without power), I've been contemplating a wine that matches my mood. As luck would have it, I was recently sent a bunch of samples of Madiran wines - inky, wonderfully brooding reds from southwestern France that perfectly fit the bill.

The best of the bunch was the 2002 Plaimont Plenitude, an awesomely complex bottling comprised of 80% Tannat and 20% Cab Sauvignon. Tannat is the signature grape of the Madiran region, and Cab's the key player in blends from nearby Bordeaux, so it's not surprising that the latter shows up in the blend. Plus, Tannat has been recently recognized for its remarkably high amounts of heart-healthy compounds called procyanidins - always a good thing in wine.

Continue reading "Heart of Darkness" »

Posted by Courtney at 08:46 PM • Comments (0)

How cool are these bottles?! I just received a pack of six of them in the mail as a thank-you gift (thank YOU to the person who was thanking me), and have to say it was tough to pop the cork on a few of them last night with friends, but we managed. It was tough because they're so cool-looking you just want to keep them around to, well, look at. But alas, like so many good things in life, these beasts just weren't meant to last.

The bottles are part of the POP Art line by Pommery Champagne, which commissions a new artist each year to create something totally unexpected on a Champagne mini. This year - the third for the endeavor - Japanese artist Takahiro Okawa created the POP Safari collection, which includes the "skins" of the likes of zebras, jaguars, giraffes, crocodiles, tigers and (wild?) cows.

Very limited. Insanely cool-looking.

I can't seem to track down the Safari collection, but another (frankly less cool!) collection is up for $60 for a six-pack at Wine.com.

Posted by Courtney at 08:05 PM • Comments (0)

In a curious twist of linguistic fate, some decidedly frightening-sounding statements have been lately transformed into vehicles of praise. Mostly refashioned, as far as I can tell, by loquacious members of the surfer/skater culture prevalent in California, the phrases run the gamut of topics and references, but given the time of year I've singled out two that undoubtedly invoke Halloween.

A sampling:

"These [insert noun in the plural form] are scary good!"
Translation: These [things] are delicious.

"That [insert noun] was wicked bad." Translation: That [thing] was very cool/extremely impressive. (Note: True to the ironic spirit of this group, the use of two negative descriptors - "wicked" and "bad" - in this one makes it all that much more complimentary.

And so, to borrow a page from this verbally adventuresome sub-culture, I'd like to say that the following sweet wines are scary good, and that serving them on Halloween this year would be wicked bad of you.

Continue reading my latest article at WineCountry.com

Posted by Courtney at 11:07 PM • Comments (0)

My grandmother from Colorado - of all people - just sent me a newspaper clipping about Kobe Bryant's Cristal binge at the recent opening of BLUSH nightclub at the Wynn in Vegas. She recognized Cristal from a mention in my book (she has an early copy - shhh!!), and was THRILLED to be "with it" enough to ID the famous bubbly. Great to see the Hip Tastes book having an impact already! The gist of the story is that

Continue reading "Kobe Hearts Cristal" »

Posted by Courtney at 10:24 AM • Comments (0)

It's not the first time I've written about boxed wine in this blog, but it's still a memorable occasion for me. The reason is that this marks the first time I kept right on drinking a boxed wine until it turned - which means I found it pretty decent! I bought the Trove 3 liter-sized box at my local Safeway (the "crazy" Safeway, as I like to call it, on Market St. in the Castro - those who've shopped there know exactly what I mean) six weeks ago,

Continue reading "As the Trove Turns" »

Posted by Courtney at 10:31 AM • Comments (0)

I was asked to do a guest blog for Glam.com - which went live today - and decided to answer this question as part of my entry. It seemed like the right thing to do, given the site. For those who don't know, Glam.com is one of the web's most highly trafficked lifestyle sites for women and covers everything from fashion to celeb gossip to, well, wine. Some of my favs featured include Hundred Acre Winery's "Gold" Chardonnay blend, which includes consumable fleks of real 24k gold, and Piper-Heidsieck's "Dressed" by Jean-Paul Gaultier, which arrives outfitted in a see-through red corset (the bottle, that is, not the delivery guy). Check it out here.

Posted by Courtney at 10:38 AM • Comments (0)

Geeze, louise - I've been gone for so long everyone probably wonders if I've dropped off the face. Hardly! Just been wrapping up the Hip Tastes book (why didn't someone send me the "your book will take you WAY longer than you expected" memo?!) and taking some much needed R&R as that chapter of my life wraps up. As I'm coming up for air I thought I'd check back in and share with everyone a little 411 on the most AMAZING Pinot I've had in a long time - definitely one of the best ever. It's stolen my heart, that's for sure, Bon Jovi style. What's it called? Thought you'd never ask...

Continue reading "Shot through the heart (by Pinot)" »

Posted by Courtney at 08:59 PM • Comments (1)

Leave it to the renegades over at Three Thieves to put out the snazziest-looking bottle of wine I've seen in a while. The brand spanking new "The Show" California Cabernet Sauvignon isn't a serious wine, but it's seriously fun. And with labels created by 100+-year-old country music poster master Hatch Show Print (whose body of work includes show posters for the likes of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams & Patsy Cline), the bottles capture the spirit of the Old West alongside a consummately quaffable blend that's decidedly tailored to today's tastes.

Continue reading "Show Me the Cabernet" »

Posted by Courtney at 04:48 PM • Comments (2)

I'm currently enjoying a pretty wine from Germany's northerly Ahr region (sorry for the silly title; just be glad I didn't go with the pirate thing), where a unique strain of Pinot Noir called Fruhburgunder makes mega light reds that have been compared to light Burgundies. I actually find this one more similar to a Beaujolais Villages, but no matter: it's always a treat to find a wine I've never tried before, and it's even better when it's surprisingly tasty.

Continue reading "Ahr You Sure That's a Pinot?" »

Posted by Courtney at 06:55 PM • Comments (0)

I know, you're going to feel really sorry for me. Today when I made a routine visit to my mail box down the street I found - much to my total delight - this absolutely fabulous - no, beyond fabulous (is there a word for super fabulous?) - magnum of vino. Ta da! Guess who's the proud new owner of a magnum of 2004 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir from the Santa Rita Hills? That's right - a MAGNUM of Sea Smoke! For those who're wondering just what the big deal is, Sea Smoke is consistently rated in the top 100 Wines of the Year by Wine Spectator (the '02 Southing made the list not long ago with a score of 93 pts) and has received countless other insanely high marks and praise from the wine glitterati of the globe.

Continue reading "Holy Smoke!" »

Posted by Courtney at 02:06 PM • Comments (6)

"I think I smell a soupcon of cat's pee in this wine."
"Come again?"
"You know, pipi du chat."

Um, ok. Whatever you call it - cat's pee or the more sophisticated-sounding French version, pipi du chat - there's no getting around the fact that this is one ugly way to describe a wine. I've heard it used to describe the good stuff time and again and have hated it every time. I mean, can you think of a more unsettling way to describe something you're about to drink? But, I must say that when I attended a recent media lunch for Pouilly Fume's Claude MICHOT, pictured here with me, I really felt like the pipi du chat descriptor suited his wine. And that's not to say it wasn't good wine - on the contrary, it was outstanding!

Continue reading "Bring On the Cat's Pee!" »

Posted by Courtney at 12:53 PM • Comments (6)

If I had a dollar for every time I tried a new Gewurztraminer - the varietal popularly held to be "the spicy white" - and didn't find it even remotely spicy I'd be quite a bit better off than I am now. The fact of the matter is that Gewurz, which literally means "spice" in German, isn't usually all that spicy. It's super aromatic, to be sure: I almost always detect pronounced aromas of lychees, flowers and canned fruit syrup, amongst other things, but rarely the token spice I'm looking for. So imagine my excitement when I came upon what I've affectionately dubbed a Gewurz's Gewurz - one that tastes and smells exactly like the varietal's supposed to! Even better yet: this beauty hails, of all places, from little-known Tasmania.

Continue reading "Excuse me, did you say spice?" »

Posted by Courtney at 11:37 PM • Comments (0)

A couple of Saturdays ago my sister and I took an impromptu trip to Santa Cruz. It was one of those Saturdays where you find yourself, surprisingly, with some free time on your hands, and so we thought "why not?!" I'd been itching to check out the area, and harvest time seemed the perfect time to do it. All I can say is that we had a simply fabulous time, particularly at very laid-back Burrell School Vineyards in the middle of this mountainous area, where we were lucky enough to sit down with owners Dave & Anne Moulton and hear their personal account of the winery's 30+ year history while looking out over an amazing view and enjoying some delicious food.

* Here we are posing on the Burrell School Vineyards tractor!

Continue reading "Harvest Tales: Chilling in Santa Cruz" »

Posted by Courtney at 07:12 PM • Comments (2)

Alright, alright, so it's not what you think! For those in the know out there, Chateau de Beaucastel, one of the most famous estates in France's southern Rhone Valley, is known for having enormous stones in its vineyards.

So large, in fact, that standing amongst them feels sort of like what I imagine being in quicksand would be like. "Like quick sand, but quick stones," is the way the operation's sommelier, Fabrice Langlois, explained it.

Continue reading "POSTCARDS FROM PROVENCE 7:
Stoned at Beaucastel" »

Posted by Courtney at 11:14 PM • Comments (9)

For those of you who've been reading my posts about very cool GREEN winery Medlock Ames FYI there is a tasting coming up at SoMa's Vino Venue where you can meet some of the folks from Medlock and - of course! - taste their wines! The focus will be on biodynamic and organic farming methods they use and you'll also get to sample their '02 merlot, '02 cabernet, and '02 red. Learn more and sign up at Vino Venue's site. I'll still be in France but hope those of you who are able to make it enjoy. Cheers!

$10 to taste plus 15% off Medlock wines

Posted by Courtney at 03:40 AM • Comments (1)

Everyone, meet Rodolphe de Pins, current winemaker-owner at Chateau de Montfaucon, a southern Rhone estate that's been around for just about a Millenium. Davis-educated, world-traveled, and totally down-to-earth, de Pins is in the process of rejuvenating his family's ancient estate and turning out some really excellent wines. In the process, he's beautifully marrying new methods with old locations and philosophies, as evidenced in his outfitting the estate's 500-year-old winery with new equipment and barrels. The result is a totally functional and appealingly harmonious coming-together of old and new, all situated just beneath his family's 1000-year-old chateau on the hill.

Continue reading "POSTCARDS FROM PROVENCE 3
Family Ties:
A Thousand Years Isn't Old in the Rhone" »

Posted by Courtney at 09:32 AM • Comments (3)

"It is a very good day. We got a new tractor and the cicadas didn't start singing until 9AM."

So began our wonderful day at Moulin de la Gardette, a small family-run estate in the Gigondas district of France's southern Rhone Valley about 45 minutes from Avignon. We spent a total of about five and a half hours with Jean Baptiste Meunier, the jovial owner and winemaker, during which time he showed us the grounds, the vines, the winery and the surrounding village before hosting us at a lovely luncheon in the town square. JC and I left with a feeling of total contentment and a conviction that if we are ever reincarnated as grapes, we'd like to be some of Moulin de la Gardette's.

Continue reading "POSTCARDS FROM PROVENCE Part Deux:
Good Vibes & Van Halen in Gigondas" »

Posted by Courtney at 09:51 AM • Comments (1)

Things got off to a very good start today after I disembarked from my red eye from NYC. Amazingly enough, my good pal and travel partner in crime JC was right on time meeting me at the Bordeaux airport, our chosen spot of contact for this leg of the trip. After high fives and mutual congratulations on our improbable promptness, we set out in our rented Peugeot for none other than Chateau Margaux, one of the five illustrious first growths of this great region, and an absolutely gorgeous spot.

Continue reading "POSTCARDS FROM PROVENCE 1:
Blondes Have More Fun At Chateau Margaux" »

Posted by Courtney at 12:35 AM • Comments (4)

I've always thought of wine as the ultimate interpreter. As interpreter par excellence of place, of people, of culture. I think there are other things that also capture time and momentum and the spirit of of an era. Film and music come to mind as the clearest examples of this ability of one thing to encapsulate so many different things cultural and temporal.

But wine, in its abstractness, like art becomes a sort of kaleidoscopic lense to view the world it comes from. What you get from wine, then, is not a pure reflection of things but instead a refracted, reinterpreted and ultimately more adventurous view of reality, one where ordinary things take on extraordinary qualities, and the sum of a thousand tiny influences takes on a new identity at once familiar and totally unique. And you can experience all this in a single glass of wine.

* pictured: Medlock Ames marketing guru Kenneth Rochford, as seen through my glass with the winery in the distance

Continue reading "Through the Looking Glass
The Wine Glass, That Is" »

Posted by Courtney at 09:09 AM • Comments (1)

I visited cult Cab producer PRIDE recently in my ongoing quest to learn more about the somewhat mysterious Spring Mountain appellation. Situated literally on the crest of the Mayacamas Mountains, the range that splits Napa County from its neighbor Sonoma (the break in vines in this pic is the actual county line!), Pride is a bit of a study in dualities. With 52% of its land in Napa, technically speaking, and the remainder in Sonoma, the folks at Pride understandably seem a bit torn between two opposites - the high point-scoring realm of Cult Napa Cabs and all the hoopla that comes with it, and the down-home "aw shucks, we're just farmers" MO of Sonoma-ns.

Continue reading "PRIDE: Split Personality on Spring Mountain" »

Posted by Courtney at 10:41 PM • Comments (0)

Tired of aimlessly wandering the aisles of your local wine store like a bargain hunter at a played-out sample sale? Know your Two Buck Chuck from your Opus 1, but everything else in between seems...the same?

No more! It's time to feel fabulous about every bottle of wine you crack open, something the new HIP TASTES Wine Club makes possible, whether you live in San Fran, NYC or Wanker's Corner (yes, this place actually exists, in Oregon; we can currently ship to 30 states including CA, NY and OR). Take your pick from shipments of 2, 4, 6 or 12 bottles and get ready to start drinking more adventurous wines, which'll be delivered right to your door regularly so you have to do nada, natch.

Continue reading "And Then There Was a Wine Club" »

Posted by Courtney at 07:53 PM • Comments (1)

As an English major in college I was prone to long windedness. Fortunately, they looked fondly on that so long as you got your message across at the same time. Detailed descriptions, colorful but precise verbs and well chosen metaphors were preferred to, say, just saying something. Although a simple phrase like "The woman wept" may have been completely true, penning it as such would never get you Latin Honors at graduation. Instead, you might say something like "having cast off her youthful naivete and accepted that her love would never be requited, the lonely woman wept; in doing so she demonstrated both her vulnerability and her transition to the hard but all-comprehending world of adulthood."

Ok, so maybe that's a little overkill, but you get the point. Along these lines, one of my favorite things about wine is that it, too, can provoke long windedness. And I don't mean the kind that'll annoy your lit professor and provoke widespread eye rolling amongst your companions.

Continue reading "A Long Winded Wine" »

Posted by Courtney at 04:57 PM • Comments (2)

My sister called me the other day more upset than I'd heard her sound in a long time. "Dude," she said to me. "Yes?" I replied. "I've got viral pink eye." Doh! I thought immediately, Homer Simpson's catchall bummer phrase perfectly appropriate. You see, Claire's bday was coming up, and this pink eye thing put a major monkey wrench in her plans. Apparently pink eye - in both eyes nonetheless - is seriously contagious for at least 5 to 7 days' time. Her birthday is this weekend. She's had to cancel all celebrations and revelry. And, worst of all, she can't even see anyone for fear of transmitting the virus. Homegirl can't even go to WORK. It's sort of like solitary confinement, except that your boss still expects you to electronically transmit your work from your prison cell.

Continue reading "Of Pork and Pink Eye" »

Posted by Courtney at 06:04 PM • Comments (1)

Capri Suns are SO last year.

Although it seems like the 80s since I sucked one down (probably because it was), I couldn't help but reminisce when I took the plunge and bought Three Thieves' Bandit Pinot Grigio not long ago. The reason Suns came to mind is that the Grigio's packaged in this very cool juice-box-reminiscent...well, box. It's lime green and has three gun-wielding dudes on horses on the front. AND, there's booze inside, not some lame imitation non-alcholic fruit juice.

Yeah, NOW we're talking.

Continue reading "The Juice Box, All Grown Up" »

Posted by Courtney at 11:38 PM • Comments (0)

I recently checked in on the mysterious Cain Vineyard & Winery on the same trip that took me to Smith Madrone on Spring Mountain above Napa Valley. I say "mysterious" because, although I've heard a lot about the winery's famous Cain Five Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend, until I was at the winery I'd never actually SEEN a real live bottle of the stuff. It was the much-lauded-but-never-seen wine. And it's bloody expensive. So, you know, I find it mysterious.

And intriguing. So I thought I'd go see what all the fuss is about. Boy am I glad I did.

Continue reading "Rapping & Racking on Spring Mountain" »

Posted by Courtney at 07:33 PM • Comments (0)

oh so compact cube!
Syrah is juicy and hot
simple but pleasant

*props go out to my buddies at Red Wine Haiku blog, for inspiration for this piece

When I was home for Mother's Day my mom gave me a Wine Cube she picked up at Target on a shopping trip. Isn't it fantastic the ways moms will continue to buy you random stuff that makes them think of you, even when you're a confirmed adult? Thanks, Mom.

Continue reading "Haiku, cubed" »

Posted by Courtney at 08:37 PM • Comments (1)

I recently had the great pleasure of visiting one of the best estates on Napa's Spring Mountain, Smith Madrone. I'd connected with the two brothers who own and run the operation, Charlie and Stu Smith, through Stu's wife, Julie Ann, with whom I recently became acquainted. Julie Ann said that if I was ever in Napa looking for a good spot to visit and taste, I ought to consider her husband's place. When I planned a trip earlier this month, I reconnected and made an appointment. Boy am I glad I did! In going to Smith Madrone I felt like I took a step back in time.

Continue reading "Smith Madrone On My Mind" »

Posted by Courtney at 01:16 PM • Comments (0)

Naomi Campbell's ego. China's Great Wall. Dolly Parton's breasts.

There are some things that aren't ashamed of being big. That's my favorite thing about Petite Sirah, a monster of a grape that makes wines aptly described as "full throttle" by fans. Inky purple in color and loaded with ripe red and black fruit, spice, pepper and healthy tannin, Petite Sirah is truly one of the wine world's biggest wines.

A long misunderstood wine, Petite Sirah's history is still something of a mystery to most people. And because I've seen it more and more on restaurant wine lists and in retail stores lately, I decided to do a little research into its history and makeup.

Continue reading "PS: Nothing Small About It" »

Posted by Courtney at 04:08 PM • Comments (1)