© 1996 JDM Enterprises
THIS 'N' THATby Jerry D. MeadYou just wouldn't believe the stuff that comes across my desk. I continue to be amazed after nearly 30 years of columnizing. Like I got an e-mail from a chap in Oman offering to sell me some date syrup from the "world's largest and most modern manufacturer" of said syrup. I was also told that, "This product gives a unique wine which is full bodied and delicious." I hit the "forward" icon and sent the message on to several vintners...no takers yet that I know of.
BIRTHDAYS, ETCBalzer turns 85 this June 30, just returned from an annual jaunt to North Coast wine country with the graduating class from his latest wine course, and is leading a tour to Italy in the fall. There just may be something to this science that says wine contributes to good health and long life.
MERLOT'S BIRTHDAYThe Martini family first planted the variety in 1965, initially to use as a blending grape with Cabernet Sauvignon. Then the late Louis M. Martini tasted a varietal Merlot from Switzerland that he really liked and decided to make one in Napa Valley. The first Martini (and therefore America's first) Merlot was a multi-vintage wine from 68/70 released in 1972. I remember it well. I did not like it. It was awfully light and I thought wimpy. The style has definitely changed over the years. While Martini Merlot is noted for generally being softer and more appealing in its youth than its cousin Cabernet Sauvignon, it has become more robust and certainly can't be called "wimpy" anymore. Old Louis M. only wanted to make a wine style he found attractive. He couldn't possibly have known that Merlot would become the major force it has in the American wine market. It has been the fastest growing red wine for several years now, and it's being grown literally all over California and in Washington and several other states. It's also a hot import from Chile, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Slovenia and several other places. Thanks, Louis M. WHAT I'VE BEEN MISSINGI'll bet it has been 25 years since I last tasted one of the most popular Bordeaux wines in the world, Mouton Cadet. Back then, I used to compare every wine to the greatest wines in the world, like Cadet's big, big brother, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. I fixed in my mind that Mouton Cadet was ordinary and never bothered to taste it again. A lot has happened since. For one thing, winemaking and grape growing technology the world over has improved dramatically and that is especially true of Bordeaux. For another, the wine is now being made at a newly constructed, state-of-the-art winery. And finally, the Rothschild family has never settled for status quo...they have always sought innovation and improvement. The Rothschilds were the first in Bordeaux to bottle their wine at their Chateau, and this way back in the twenties. It used to be common policy to sell the wine in bulk to negociants and bottlers, and so there would be several different versions of Chateau Lafite, Latour and so on. And since there were always differences between bottlings, fraud was always suspected. When Chateau Mouton-Rothschild became the first to chateau-bottle, the rest of the famous labels followed soon after. And it was Baron Philippe de Rothschild who started that policy (while still a young man in his 20s), became the first to commission a famous contemporary artist to create a new label for every vintage of his famous wine, and created the concept of Mouton Cadet, a blended Bordeaux wine that would be consistent in quality and affordable in price. More than a million cases a year are now sold.
BEST BUY WHITE WINE OF THE WEEKRating: 88/93 BEST BUY RED WINE OF THE WEEKWines are scored using a unique 100 point system. First number rates quality; second number rates value.
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