Justin is the sommelier and beverage director at Central Market in Houston. For the uninitiated, Central Market is a grocery store combined with the reality that everything is better,I mean bigger in Texas. Ridiculous selection, sensory overload, and temptation to buy what’s not on your shopping list. The Houston Central Market carries over 3,000 wine selections and over 500 beer selections.

The Terroirists found Justin via his blog, Weapons Grade Drink. Reading his most recent post about taking the Master Sommelier exam, you can’t help but feel like you’re part of the intense emotion-wrenching ordeal. He writes about his experience with amusing analogies, self-admitted hyperbole, humor, and a certain irreverent reverence. He brings this same style to his descriptions of wine – I read an article where he spoke about Txakoli and said, “It’s like drinking electricity. So good.” I love this. [And found from the interview that it also applies to a Riesling sold at Central Market.] Read on for more about Justin. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Oh, and, for any children reading this wine blog (as I’m sure there are loads), don’t click below the jump. Parental discretion is advised. Read the rest of this entry »

Some huge news for Terroirist: Yesterday, we were named an official finalist in the “Best New Wine Blog” category for the annual Wine Blog Awards. The final winner will be determined via a 50/50 weighting of the public vote and that of the judges. Voting ends on June 27, so when you have a minute, please consider voting for us! Winners will be announced at the North American Wine Bloggers Conference, and there are some great (and worthy) blogs in each category.

Now, onto some less more important news:

In his latest Wine Spectator column, Matt Kramer offers a few observations about “defensive wine driving” to wine newbies. Even oenophiles can benefit from this advice.

In a post about supermarket wine sales, Alder Yarrow dares New York legislators to “do the right thing by consumers and let folks buy wine the way the rest of the civilized world does.”

Tom Wark urges America’s administrators and regulators of state liquor laws to avoid chiming on HR 1161, aka the Wholesaler Protection Act.

Last month, we reported on the study from the American Association of Wine Economists that looked increasing alcohol levels in wine. And we highlighted an excellent analysis of the study from Terroirist friend Tom Natan. Yesterday, Reuters financial commentator Felix Salmon chimed in with his thoughts.

Could the future of Australia’s wine be in Tasmania?

Does the summer have you thinking about tropical drinks, check out Eric Asimov’s latest column.

Dr. Vino alerts us to page one of Paul Grieco’s his wine list at Hearth and Terroir. Wow.

I’m a big fan of economist Tyler Cowen. And when it comes to books, I urge everyone that’ll listen to follow Cowen’s “first rule of reading: You need not finish.”

As a recent Bloomberg profile explained, “[Cowen] takes up books with great hope and no mercy, and when he is done — sometimes after five minutes — he abandons them… an act he calls a ‘liberation.’”

These days, most of the books I pick up are about wine. Consequently, so too are most of the books I quit reading. I didn’t quit Evan Dawson’s Summer in a Glass. In fact, I couldn’t put it down.

Many oenophiles will recognize Dawson’s name. A television news reporter and anchor in Rochester, he’s best known in the wine community as the managing editor and Finger Lakes correspondent for New York Cork Report, a online publication that offers news, reviews, and commentary on the New York wine scene.

In Summer in a Glass, Dawson chronicles the story of the Finger Lakes wine region by profiling 12 key winemakers and growers, detailing why they decided to make wine in the Finger Lakes. Read the rest of this entry »

Several Terroirists spent the past week focusing on non-Bacchian activities that curtailed our collective wine-drinking. Nevertheless, see below for some of the week’s more interesting tastes: Read the rest of this entry »

Jancis Robinson dines with Francis Ford Coppola in London.

In New Jersey, local wineries are allowed to sell directly to wine stores and have off-premise tasting rooms. Out-of-state wineries, though, are prohibited from both activities. A federal court has ruled that this discrimination is unconstitutional, and instructed the New Jersey legislature to act. Tom Wark has a prescription for New Jersey lawmakers: freedom.

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Jon Bonné writes a long feature on the “small renaissance” taking place in the Sierra foothills.

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator’s lead Bordeaux taster, is back from en primeur. Because the vintage is so strong, he thinks there are some great values to be had – and shares ten hidden gems with Shanken News Daily.

Wine Spectator has the details on Cheval-Blanc’s new “minimalist, ultramodern $18.5 million cellar,” which has “transformed the landscape on the plateau where St.-Emilion meets Pomerol.”

Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons.

I often find it difficult to explain my passion for wine. When talking to the uninitiated – friends, colleagues, strangers, the folks that just aren’t as obsessed as we all are – it’s tough to explain why wine is so important to me; why I spend so much time thinking about it, talking about it, writing about it, and drinking it.

I often compare it to childhood baseball card collecting — after all, we trade bottles and compare collections — but that doesn’t quite capture it. Only with wine is there literally an infinite number of choices. Only with wine can you get to know the story behind each bottle – by meeting the winemaker, visiting the vineyard, seeing where the wine is made, and learning the challenges of the growing season. Only with wine can you turn any moment into a special occasion by opening a prized bottle.

All of this makes sense to us – but it rarely makes sense to others.

The only other “hobby” I’ve dedicated as much time to is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. As with wine, I’ve always found it difficult to explain to others why Springsteen’s music is so important to me. Fortunately, as it is with wine, there’s a community of people that are just as obsessed as me.

Over the weekend, the E Street Band lost one of its pillars. The immeasurable Clarence Clemons died of complications from a stroke. Read the rest of this entry »

The San Diego shoreline.

“San Diego. Founded by the Germans in 1906…” Even though the legendary anchorman Ron Burgundy was a bit mistaken on its history, California’s second largest city is nonetheless just as spectacular as the make-believe newsman states.

San Diego is, of course, well known for the glorious weather that attracts so many people to visit or relocate. The plentiful sunshine and numerous beaches make a compelling argument for anyone considering a move. Add in state parks, dog friendly beaches, funky beach communities, amazing coastlines and sunsets, San Diego makes for a great destination.

Yet “America’s Finest City” may not be known for another attractive feature: culinary diversity. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2010 Bordeaux campaign has fallen flat. According to the Financial Times, wine merchants in London are reporting that  “sales of the 2010 vintage – while still in the barrel, or en primeur – are running at half the volume of last year.” Jancis Robinson provides some nice commentary – via a video interview – on the FT website.

On the Wall Street Journal’s wine blog, Will Lyons expresses disappointment with the prices. “Another year, another price increase and another Bordeaux Chateau passes out of our financial reach.” Fortunately, he also provides some advice on bottlings that won’t “worry your bank manager.”

More coverage of Bordeaux’s en primeur campaign in Wine Spectator, with pithy commentary from Daniel Posner of Grapes The Wine Company: “As a whole, the prices are pretty absurd.”

In the pages of the Wall Street Journal, Will Lyons stands up for Cava, arguing that some producers have “earned a place on the top table of sparkling wine.”

Elsewhere in the Wall Street Journal, Jay McInerney profiles winemaker David Ramey, expressing a “special fondness for his Chardonnays, which seem to me to strike a perfect balance between the elusive virtues of white Burgundy and the hedonistic pleasures of Chardonnays from the Golden State.”

W. Blake Gray writes about the absurdity that is the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

David Kent, CEO of The Wine Group, has been named chairman of the Wine Institute.

Tom Higgins. Photo courtesy of New York Cork Report.

Each week, as regular readers know, Terroirist poses 16 questions to a winemaker. This week, we’re featuring Tom Higgins, the owner and winemaker of the Heart & Hands Wine Company in the Finger Lakes.

I learned about Tom by reading Evan Dawson’s excellent new book, Summer in a Glass. Dawson’s book chronicles a number of winemakers in the Finger Lakes, and Tom was one of the guys that immediately jumped out at me. (Dawson has also written about Higgins for the New York Cork Report.)

Tom’s passion for wine — detailed in Dawson’s book by what almost became a Sisyphean search for limestone soil — leaped from the pages. Heart & Hands opened in 2008, and produces just 1,500 cases of wine each year, split  between Pinot Noir and Riesling. Check out our interview with Tom below the fold. Read the rest of this entry »

Visitors, including my sister, enjoying the twilight tour at Mondavi

Today at 2pm PDT / 5pm EDT / 10pm GMT, you’re invited to raise a glass to the legacy and contributions of Robert Mondavi on his birthday. At the winery in Napa, Mondavi’s wife Margrit and director of winemaking, Genevieve Janssens will be hosting an open house and streaming their global toast live via Facebook.

Additionally, in honor of Mondavi, with every new “LIKE” received on The Robert Mondavi Winery Facebook page during June 13th -17th, Robert Mondavi Winery will donate $1 (up to $10,000) to Days of Taste, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating children about the food we eat. Days of Taste is the community action group of the American Institute of Wine & Food, which was founded by Julia Child and Robert Mondavi.

The United States’ wine industry would be very different without the ambition, innovation, and marketing savvy of Mondavi. Below is a quick timeline of his accomplishments:

• In 1966, he founded the Robert Mondavi Winery in the Napa Valley with the goal of producing wines that would rival the finest wines of Europe.
• In 1968 he made a dry oak–aged Sauvignon Blanc, an unpopular variety in California at the time, and labeled it “Fumé Blanc“. Love it or hate it, the wine was a success and, in time, Fumé Blanc became accepted as an industry synonym for Sauvignon Blanc.
• In 1979, he entered into a joint venture with the Baron Philippe de Rothschild to create Opus One Winery, and since the 1990s has set up joint ventures with local partners in Europe, South America and Australia.
• In the Grand European Jury Wine Tasting of 1997, the Robert Mondavi Chardonnay Reserve was ranked number one.

Happy Birthday, Robert Mondavi!