![]() Full-bodied, with good fruit and an apple, honey and cream character. Plus, it’s cool to have all these interesting small, hand-made bottlings in the market – although some are much better than others.Ģ006 La Fenêtre Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard Block Eleven Santa Maria Valley: Pretty aromas of apples, cream and toasted oak. It makes them better-educated about wine and even more dedicated to bringing you great bottles of wine in restaurants. More and more sommeliers, wine buyers and restaurateurs, particularly in California as well as Nevada (Las Vegas) are becoming vintners, which I think is a great and fun development. I also liked the Chardonnay, although it was a little hot on the finish, and the Syrah and Cabernet were good but nothing special. Sometimes single-vineyard designations in California don’t seem to show a lot but in this case the Pinots did. The Pinot Noirs were clearly the best of the lot and showed solid stylistic differences, which is important. Obviously it was not a blind tasting, nor an official tasting for the magazine, or anything like that. So, I tasted the wines yesterday in my room with Nat Gunter, the wine buyer at Marmont, and we talked about the wines, and about Santa Barbara viticulture in general. Josh asked me to taste his wines because he wanted get someone with a European perspective to take a look at them. All were 2006, which Josh says is “a great vintage.” He sells most of his wine in Southern California in top restaurants and at two or three retail stores. There were three Pinots, a Chardonnay, a Syrah and a Cabernet in the box. All the grapes are sourced from Santa Barbara County. ![]() ![]() He makes from 48 to 127 cases of each wine. He sells the wines under the name La Fenêtre, or "the window" in French. It was a range of wines produced by Josh Klapper, a sommelier from Sona, one of my favorite restaurants in the city, and a Wine Spectator Grand Award-winner. He also writes feature stories and commentary for each issue of the magazine.I just spent a few days in Los Angeles visiting family and friends, and when I arrived at my hotel, the Chateau Marmont, a half-case of wine was waiting for me. In addition to his duties as editor and publisher, Greene serves as the critic for Napa Valley, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Portugal, Rioja, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Greene has traveled extensively in the wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and all the major wine regions of the United States. His work with Wine & Spirits began on a consulting basis, eventually leading to his purchase of the magazine in 1989. After graduating from Princeton University in 1981, Greene pursued a career in magazines, focusing on the management of special-interest publications. In later years, he worked in wine shops in western Massachusetts and served as wine captain at Wheatleigh, a small inn in Lenox. I think that people do know now that if they don’t like something they can send it back.Įditor and Publisher of Wine & Spirits since 1986, Joshua Greene began drinking wine with meals during a summer in Galicia, Spain, at the age of 13. Maybe they know the producer, or maybe they’re putting their trust in us, or even in the industry. It’s funny: I used to have to list the predominant grape in the blend, and if people didn’t know what it was, they didn’t know if they were going to like it. I’ve got Pape Star, Seth Kunin’s Rhône blend, and the Mountain Cuvée from Gundlach Bundschu. The staff really got behind it-they like the fact that it’s a pinot grigio orange wine and not all oxidative and weird.īlends are moving way more than they have been. Then I found and poured a domestic example from Point Concepcion. We couldn’t get orange wines to sell at all until a year ago. We have a really great local albariño from Martian Ranch-“Uforic,” a Central Coast grüner veltliner from Habit, Folk Machine chenin blanc and the chard I run with, La Fenêtre’s A Côté, is more Burgundian, very lean and elegant. ![]() You do a lot with alternative-variety whites as well. If someone asks for a cab we usually turn them onto blaufränkisch, or Rhône blends, but lighter style, like the style of Seth Kunin at Kunin Wines. Working with the menu meant pulling away from those deeper darker blue-fruited wines that I’ve relied on in other restaurants, and going lighter. We’re talking mostly Santa Barbara County and Central Coast, and even some from San Diego County. Well, yes, most of our menu is dominated by vegetables, and all of them are local bounty, so while there are some international wines, our by-the-glass wines and most of our bottles are local. ![]()
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