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Wine Writing

Click on the links below to read some of John Foy's recent articles...

Chateau d'Issan vintages are worthwhile

By John Foy -  Wednesday, February 01, 2012

In our period of excessive grape ripeness, oak aging and high alcohol, it is pleasing to taste the classic wine of Chateau d’Issan.

Created when England ruled Bordeaux, Chateau d’Issan is one of its oldest vineyards and chateaux. Poets have written about it, and it produced the favorite wine of the Austrian Emperor Franz-Joseph. “On the table of kings and the altar of gods” proclaims its not-so-modest motto.

The long series of owners including one named Foy-Candale (could I have a d’Issan ancestor?), and it’s now run by the Cruse family, which purchased the property in 1945.

Last month, I tasted the wines of Chateau d’Issan from 2000 through 2009 with third-generation owner, Emmanuel Cruse. Along with his wines, Cruse brought a refreshingly candid view of Bordeaux and a keen wit and self-deprecating humor that belied his sharp intellect.

Chateau d’Issan is located in the Margaux appellation and ranked a third-growth in Bordeaux’s famed 1855 Classification. There is a valid argument for ignoring or updating a wine hierarchy that is 157 years old, but any revised classification would certainly include the well-made wines of Chateau d’Issan.

http://www.nj.com/homegarden/entertaining/index.ssf/2012/02/chateau_dissan_vintages_are_wo.html

Piccini preserves Chianti Classico style

By John Foy -  Thursday, January 26, 2012

Tradition in the wine world is claimed more than it is observed, but you can find it in a glass of the 2008 Piccini Chianti Classico.

Tuscany is no more exempt from the clash of New World and Old World wine styles than anywhere else. Fighting for a place in consumers’ wine shopping baskets, retailers’ shelves, and restaurant wine lists is as much a full-time job for wineries as tending the vines and making the wine.

Noble families with centuries of winemaking, nouveaux riche with inflated egos and freshly purchased wineries, and down-to-earth grape growers are all making wines that they think are either what the critics and public want, or what they have always done. But when the wine comes from Tuscany, there are thousands of years of winemaking history shadowing it.

Eight centuries before Christ, Etruscans were making wine and shipping it in amphoras to southern Italy. In the Middle Ages, monks made and sold wine, and Florence had a flourishing wine market with a wine guild and regulations.

In modern times, Tuscany has modified its rules about which grapes, and in what percentages, can be used to make Chianti Classico, and an entirely new wine was created called Super-Tuscan, partly in respone to wine styles coming from California.

http://www.nj.com/homegarden/entertaining/index.ssf/2012/01/piccini_preserves_chianti_clas.html

Shafer chardonnay brings classic quality to Napa Valley

By John Foy -  Wednesday, January 18, 2012,

Regular readers know that California chardonnay is a rare species in this space, but one beautiful rendition is the 2009 Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch Napa Valley Chardonnay.

Twenty years ago, California chardonnay balanced its rich fruit with acidity, supported it with mild oak aroma and flavor, and kept its alcohol level below 14 percent. It was a wine I collected and enjoyed. But that style disappeared.

Since the 1990s, too many California chardonnays are made with overripe fruit and are unbalanced from a lack of acidity and an exaggerated use of new French oak barrels for aging. To make matters worse, winemakers employ 100 percent malolatic fermentation- a process that changes the grape’s natural tart acidity (think green apple) to a creamy texture (think milk), which imparts a butter popcorn-like aroma and flavor. And if all that wasn’t enough of a turnoff, the elevated levels of 14.5 to 16 percent alcohol knock out your palate and endanger the drive home.

I met John Shafer about 30 years ago during trips to Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District for tastings at the new wineries. His son Doug became the winemaker at Shafer Vineyards in 1983, joined a year later by Elias Fernandez. In 1994, Fernandez became the sole winemaker when Dour Shafer joined his father in the administration of the winery.

http://www.nj.com/homegarden/entertaining/index.ssf/2012/01/shafer_chardonnay_brings_class.html

From java masters, robust Italian reds

By John Foy -  Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Last week brought the first frigid winter air, and I recommended a wonderful antidote: Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino.

In 1975, Roman lawyer Gabriele Mastrojanni established an estate in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, an undeveloped area of Montalcino, the ancient hillside Tuscan town. He produced his first Brunello di Montalcino five years later.

Over the ensuing decades, 30 of the 62 acres planted were devoted to brunello, the local name for the sangiovese grape. Since the early 1990s, Mastrojanni has been under the care of general manager Andrea Machetti and the talented winemaker Maurizio Castelli. The team consistently produced elegant wines, earning awards and respect for Mastrojanni and its area.

Mastrojanni died in 2005, and three years later, the Mastrojanni family decided to sell the winery. Machetti approached Francesco Illy, who had renovated and developed an adjoining property and who is member of the family that owns the world-famous Illy coffee company. The family took over the winery, retained Machetti and Castelli, and made additional investments in the vineyards, winemaking equipment and cellar.

http://www.nj.com/homegarden/entertaining/index.ssf/2012/01/from_java_masters_robust_itali.html

Delicious Chilean pinot noir five generations in the making

By John Foy - Thursday, January 05, 2012

Maxed out your credit cards during the holidays? Never fear- you’ll be happy with the nicely priced and delightfully flavored 2010 Casa Silva Pinot Noir Reserva.

Casa Silva Pinot Noir.pngCasa Silva Pinot Noir Reserva 2010
Casa Silva is now in the hands of the fifth generation of the Bouchon and Silva families, but it took a determined visionary to get to this point.

In 1892, Emile Bouchon left Bordeaux for Chile, where he established the first winery in Colchagua Valley. His son, Abel Bouchon, and a third generation, Jorge Silva, continued the legacy. But with each succeeding generation, ownership was divided, and some family members sold off their portion.

In 1977, fourth-generation owner, Mario Silva Cifuentes, married to Maria Teresa Silva Bouchon, wanted to reestablish the original vineyards and winery and repurchased the lands and old cellar.

He sold his wine in bulk to other wine merchants until 1997, when his oldest son, Mario Pablo Silva, proposed they bottle and sell the wines under the family name, Casa Silva. Today, the Silva family runs the oldest winery in Colchagua Valley.

http://www.nj.com/homegarden/entertaining/index.ssf/2012/01/delicious_chilean_pinot_noir_f.html

John Foy's Pre-2012 Articles...

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