Life on the vine

I comment on wines, and the industry. I believe that you can enjoy good wine, sometimes even great wine, without spending a fortune.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Use your digital camera to remind you of good wine
Lots of wine drinkers I know have the following dilemma: Geez, I can't remember the name of that wine that I liked so much.
That’s because we buy a wine or drink a wine and like it so much, but we never record the experience.
Lots of wine experts say you should keep a journal, a little notebook in which you jot down the name and the year and varietal of the wine and a little bit about why you liked it so much. That’s good advice -– but it’s old-school.
Do you really want to carry a notebook around with you to record your wine-drinking experiences?
Let me suggest a more modern way: Drink the wine -– and take a picture of the label. Use a digital camera. Download the image onto your computer – and then burn a CD of all of the wine labels. Keep the labels only of the wines that you like. That way, you really, really don’t need to keep any notes. All you need to know is that you liked it.
Take a look at the labels on your CD before you go out and buy more wine. If you encounter a wine you like at a friend’s place, ask the friend to do the work for you: Take a picture of the label and email it to you.

Monday, January 09, 2006

A sucker for celebrity wines

I'm a sucker for wines in any way connected to celebrities. Maybe you are, too.
I bought a bottle of 2003 pinot noir from a grocery store in Amelia Island, Florida, just because a painting of William Shakespeare was on the label. I'm an English major, OK, I love Shakespeare. Worse, I gave the bottle to a friend as a gift without finding out whether the pinot was good or not. Because I live six hours away from the grocery store where I bought the wine, it may be awhile before I get a chance to taste it.
Do you have a favorite celebrity wine? Let me know.
Meanwhile, here are a few I've tasted recently:
--Several by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppolla. The latest was a 2003 chardonnay, for about $18. Widely available.
--2002 Blue Suede chardonnay. These are the wines that feature Elvis on the label. It was about $11. So-so.
--Marilyn Merlot, the 2002 version, for $28. A very good merlot.
--2002 Fess Parker Santa Barbara chardonnay, $24. Parker is the guy who played Daniel Boone in the TV series in the 1960s. His winery was also the one referred to as "Frass Canyon," in the movie Sideways -- a winery that lead character/wine geek Miles ridiculed. Sorry, Miles, Parker makes a pretty good chardonnay for the money.