The Latest…
My most recent columns and articles:
In BLOOMBERG NEWS:
Adria Brews Beer, Boulud Makes Whisky in Latest Trend
May 6, 2013 – Chef Daniel Boulud still remembers the unique smokiness when he took his first sip of scotch at age 12. “Not many liquors are as interesting and complex as whisky,” he says, recalling the decadent, charming countess who gave him a taste when he delivered goat cheese from his family’s farm in France.
Last month, he debuted his own single malt, a bespoke collaboration with the Dalmore distillery, at his New Yorkrestaurants. This week, “Dalmore Selected by Daniel Boulud” is on the menu, paired with whisky-laced desserts.
Famous chefs are the latest celebrities lending their names to wines, spirits, and beers. They join scores of musicians (B.B. King), actors (George Clooney), race-car drivers (Jarno Trulli), porn stars (Natalie Oliveros, a.k.a. Savanna Samson) who’ve extended their brands to alcohol.
I’ve never had high expectations for celeb bottlings. Many create buzz but are pretty ordinary — or worse — in taste quality. My “ugh!” examples: Fergie’s Fergalicious red and Drew Barrymore’s pinot grigio delle Venezie.
From a top chef, whose superior palate is at the core of his or her image, I expect the offered liquid to be as delicious as the cuisine — and of course, food friendly.
Boulud’s golden-colored whisky doesn’t disappoint….
In BLOOMBERG MARKETS:
Taste of Bordeaux: Rating 12 Bottles from 2009
May, 2013 — Polished glass of red Bordeaux from 12 top chateaux face five expert tasters. The vintage is 2009, one of the best in the past decade for France’s most famous wine region. Critics raved about the wines’ ripe, opulent, seductive and dramatic character while they were still aging in barrels. Futures prices were astronomical, up as much as 350 percent from the previous vintage and the most ex- pensive ever.
Now, these stellar wines are in retail shops. To see which ones are worth buying, four fellow judges and I re- cently gathered on the 28th floor of Bloomberg LP’s New York headquar- ters for a blind tasting of a dozen examples. The wines cost from $40 to $250 a bottle—pretty reasonable when compared with first growths such as Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Ch. La- tour that go for $1,100 to $1,700….
In ZESTERDAILY:
Billionaire Bill Koch’s War Against Wine Fraud Heats Up
3.27.13 – This week, billionaire William Koch is finally facing off against wealthy San Francisco-based entrepreneur Eric Greenberg before a jury in a federal courtroom in downtown Manhattan. The trial, which began on Tuesday (March 26), is the latest development in a long, tangled legal tale between two wine mega-collectors, one with an avowed mission to wipe out wine fraud.
Koch, founder and president of Florida-based Oxbow Group, filed his complaint alleging Greenberg sold him counterfeit wines back in 2007.
Initially, that suit included Scarsdale, N.Y.-based Zachys Wine Auctions and Zachys Wine & Liquor Store. It claims that some of the rare, expensive bottles Koch purchased at Zachys’ sales in 2004 and 2005, one of which featured 17,000 bottles from Greenberg’s collection, were fakes….
Elin McCoy’s Wine of the Week: 2011 Broc Cellars Cabernet Franc
4. 29. 13 — I’ve long been a fan of the “other” Cabernet, but most of the ones I prize are French. This spicy, delicious 2011 Broc Cellars Cabernet Franc, with fresh, plummy fruit and savory accents, is, surprisingly, from warm Paso Robles in California. It’s a light, layered, easy red, with hints of olives and the kind of sappy acidity that makes a wine wonderfully food-friendly.
Last week, a West Coast wine colleague brought a bottle of this gulpable wine to a lunch at Le Philosophe, a tiny French bistro on Bond Street in New York. Since one wall of the restaurant has large black-and-white photos of famous philosophers, the wine seemed an especially appropriate choice: Broc Cellars’ owner and winemaker Chris Brockway obtained a degree in philosophy before eventually turning to wine. With the restaurant’s creamy blanquette de veau, this Cabernet Franc, his second vintage of the variety, was perfect….
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