Weekly Wine Bullets (July 11)
Legal battles, Bon Iver, and cellar raiding at Augusta National
Happy Friday friends. Enjoy this week’s Wine Bullets, and hit reply to let me know what you’ve been drinking recently. Here’s the previous edition if you missed it.
Quote I like
"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink, I feel shame! Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this wine, they might be out of work, and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, ‘It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.”
-Jack Handey
Article I’m reading
Napa’s legal battle over the To Kalon name — I don’t love the idea of a big corporation like Constellation trying to claim that Napa’s most historical vineyard site is not a place, but rather a brand (that they conveniently own). And I really don’t love this quote from their petition: “Constellation's right to use 'To Kalon' is not constrained by history or geography—it may call any wine 'To Kalon' regardless of whether it is sourced (either wholly or in part) from Mondavi's Oakville lands.” The Old World would never…
Video I’m watching
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry raiding the cellar at Augusta — I guess that’s one less case of 1990 Lafite Rothschild in the world.
Cork Beats (wine+music pairings)
Franny Beck “Our Wines” Pinot Noir paired with Towers by Bon Iver. I’ve been listening to one of my favorite albums — Bon Iver’s self-titled record. For this pairing I wanted a wine that was clean and pure to match the undistorted guitar on Towers, but I also wanted something I’d drink in a cabin in the woods on a rainy day, which is the general vibe of the whole album. Unfortunately this small Oregon winery closed its doors recently, so I’m enjoying these bottles while I can.
Favorite bottles from this week
Two Italian wines on opposite ends of the accessibility spectrum this week.
One of my favorite easy-drinking Nebbiolo wines is Vietti’s Langhe Nebbiolo. If you like Nebbiolo but you don’t want to pay the premium for Barolo, and you want something you don’t have to age for 20 years, the broader Langhe region is the place to go. This bottle was delicious and usually retails around $30. I enjoyed it late night while listening to Marvin Gaye. Your local wine shop should be able to source this for you.
I was fortunate enough to have a glass of 2008 Masseto, a bucket list wine for me. This wine is often considered Italy’s greatest Merlot, made from a single tiny vineyard in Tuscany. All I can say is wow.
Cheers everyone!