The Industrial
Domaine de Saint Pierre
Château Renard Arbois Chardonnay Savagnin 2009
Nice and hearty, with a rustic savory character that heartens back in my imagination to a pre-industrial European winemaking time, sort of a wine version of folk music. I love a wine that transports the imagination. — 9 years ago
Azienda Agricola Valentini
Trebbiano d'Abruzzo 1998
Really complicated on these so suspect days, expose themselves with concepts such as: tradition, terroir, identity without falling into the most sinister rhetoric if not sounds just trite and hypocritical as the counterfeit currency with which even large-scale industries - supported by marketing - pays back its inattentive mass audience riding the wave of the country of origin or protected typicality. A diabolical mechanism this one for which even the most noble ideas probably the right practices and good experiences completed in the scale of centuries to human measure and not on massive industrial scale, are trivialized by sleazy slogan, emptied of meaning to be more or less surreptitious thanks to barbaric persuasion techniques and brain-washing propaganda.
Yet with the Valentini's Trebbiano you may not groped to summarize in words if not by drawing on terms so appropriate to express it. Now concerning this iconic label we've got behind it a local grape variety, a real family and a great wine that collect in a bottle the past and present story of a side of Abruzzo who claims to defeats victories and sacrifices to dominate the abuses (on and of) nature, miseries and splendours of agricultural seasons. Places, people, vision, wines such as Valentini are here to remind us how each bottle stay so proudly standing as non-reproducible beauty and fermented goodness expressing all its artisanal uniqueness and authenticity which are just that suspect to industrial wine production in manufacturing chains on standardized quantities; wines that are all equal to themselves even though wine itself is not much left at the end of the day/cycle. Trebbiano d'Abruzzo Valentini 1998 is what we have to rate right now: rusticity with class; style, purity and glory of a local grape recognized by many admirers from all over the world: act local think global this is another slogan-cliché which in this specific Valentini's wine exemple could sounds a little less false and more effective. — 10 years ago
Paul Lato
Belle de Jour Hilliard Bruce Vineyard Chardonnay 2010
Belle Glos
Meiomi Pinot Noir 2012
Nice pinot noir at industrial kitchen. Light and sweet. — 10 years ago
E. Malamatinas & Son
Retsina Malamatina
Disclaimer: ONE glass... OK. After that, you're on your own.
Who knew they made "The Crystal of Retsinas" in industrial sized bottles! You can enjoy a beach side cocktail mixed with Sprite and a piece of ice and strip your floors with the rest. GOOD STUFF. — 10 years ago
Nickel & Nickel
Suscol Ranch Napa Valley Merlot 2011
Sawdust and drywall on the nose. Also industrial steel beam. Spice as well. Black pepper subtleties. Vanilla oak and dill on the palate. Fine tannins. — 11 years ago
De Forville
Barbaresco Nebbiolo 2009
Very good except for the banana flavor that suddenly emerged from what I presume to be industrial yeast infecting their "cultivated" yeast. — 12 years ago
Karl Erbes
Erdener Pralat Riesling Auslese 2015
- baked pear, honey, sweet aromatics
- industrial smell
- really sweet, almost like fruit juice, not at all like wine
- red slate, more iron — 8 years ago
Elouan
Oregon Pinot Noir 2014
Nice fruity aroma, smooth, medium bodied, mildly complex wine. This bottle did not last long. Having said that, let me warn you, this bottle came with a new fangled, industrial-foil wrapped, plastic screw top that was damn near impossible to penetrate. It took, literally (I am not exaggerating) 5 minutes, and enough blood to soak a tissue, to get the bottle open. — 9 years ago
Itata Tierra Antigua
A Los Viñateros Bravos Canto a Lo Divino Itata Cinsault 2014
Wow, this is a great wine! And I've learned that the independent/small grower/non-industrial winemaking community in Chile is probably 20x (or 50x) larger than I thought. And as far as I can tell they are all making interesting stuff. This producer makes an amazing $14 Cinsault in Itata valley, which I had never heard of before, but the sommelier I bought this from (@vinomio in Santiago, Chile) said it was a real backwater until recently. This is a vibrant, fresh wine with a nice bouquet and burgundy-like color in the glass. It's so pleasant to drink that I can't resist downing the whole bottle (unfortunately). It has 12.8% alcohol and doesn't even have a bar code, which I think gives an indication of their production values. From Vinomio in Santiago. — 9 years ago
W. & J. Graham's
Malvedos Vintage Porto 1999
you better have port wine on your screen, and graham's is a big player, big in quality, though, as well!
never say "industrial" here.
qd malvedos is a sub vinery and allowed to make it's own vintage ports in years graham's doesn't declare.
this is a catch, really, if you are lucky enough to get it! — 10 years ago
Marco De Bartoli
Riserva Marsala Superiore Grillo 1986
What is happening over here is an odd experiment that put together two fairly different elements, two opposit vision of life: the out-of-date Marsala "fortified Mistella" wine, aged in old cask which outcome of a pre-industrial and artisan era; therefore a plastic coffee cup synthesized from petroleum process, sad expression of our too-chemical contemporary age we're be subjected to in nowadays world.. I'm certainly on the Marsala De Bartoli side of the road weaving together my hands in the shape of a bowl to drink it like I was a cave man, till the end of time! http://www.marcodebartoli.com/en/ — 10 years ago
Emilio Hidalgo
La Panesa Fino Especial Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Palomino Fino
Owner TomeVinos wine shops, WSET Level 3, Blogger www.spanishwinesandmore.com, blog.tomevinos.com
Interesting aromas of smoke from an industrial machine or a Diesel engine and of acetyl dehide aromas. Long finish. Excellent. I liked the Amontillado of this bodega even more — 10 years ago
Leo Buring
Leonay DW T17 Rhine Riesling 1990
An Australian icon-aged Clare Valley Riesling (in those days called Rhine Riesling unfortunately due to our country's slim knowledge base but later corrected against a barrage of opposition from conservatives and industrial makers of riesling, but not using riesling!) Classic glass of flavour; #honey #burnttoast #agedriesling #brulee #butter #crunch #yum #mouthful #watervale #treasuryestates ; wine made by the great man John Vickery before his defection to Richmond Grove when the Fosters people closed the brand down; but now it is back! Wine won three gold medals in the year of production-1990; probably never shown since. 12.5%; 1990 a terrific red year, usually not so for riesling; this had backbone; sweet acidity; nut power. — 11 years ago
Alberto Tedeschi
Colfondo Frizzante Pignoletto 2010
so f'n good. bottle-fermented pignoletto. read about alberto tedeschi on the louis/dressner website: "I'm just getting started: my parents have other jobs, so I'm starting from scratch! We work organically in the vineyard, and it's very important for me to work traditionally in the cellar. And even though I'm renting my vines, I'm ok with that because they produce quality grapes and I can make the wines I want to make. These are fresh wines with great acidity, that can be drank young, but can also age in bottle for quite some time. I am also proud to make GOOD territorial wine; most consider Bologna wine to be an industrial product, and most of the time they are right! I only work with Pignoletto. I drive the grapes (which are in boxes) to the cellar in my van. I then do a direct press; Pignoletto is thick skinned and very tannic, so it's important to be gentle. After that I leave the juice outside overnight, then I rack it to stainless steel. The natural fermentation begins, then nothing! After three of four days, I re-rack the wine back to old oak barrels, where they stay on the lees for 12 months. That's for the Bellaria. For the frizzante, the fermentation and aging is in stainless steel (almost a year). I take a bit of must (which hasn't fermented) I've kept in the fridge, and add it to the still wine, then I bottle. The sugar of the must then begins the refermentation in bottle. It's a really typical way of making wine in our region. In Emilia, we are not famous for rich, big wine. We are country folk! We make easy, drinkable wine made to enjoy in the moment." — 12 years ago
Liquid Farm
Four Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay 2014
True love. This is why I've been a member since I stumbled across this little winery with no tasting room, just a industrial center and a table and wine. Awesome crew. This wine... The fruit is so fresh and pure, without being perfumed. It has a touch of the citric acid and salinity that just brings everything together. The palette is just wonderful, a slow drive initially then the mouth filling acid comes through, though still restrained. It has wonderful floral depth. The finish lingers. Bravo. — 8 years ago
Bergström Wines
Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir 2014
Deep musty. Manure. Medical facility / sterile alcohol forward nose. Nose develops over time, and softens from the harsh industrial qualities. Taste is surprising. Big juicy fruit. Alcohol certainly is more prominent than in others by same. — 8 years ago
Foxen
Soloman Hills Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013
Part of my October wine club shipment, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this little beauty. As opposed to the Burgundy Pinot I last reviewed, this is a strictly new world juice. As noted in previous reviews, new world producers (think US, South America, Australia, etc.) have started to play around with their Pinots and in California, a prevailing trend is to create a luscious, velvety juice from an otherwise subtle grape and then punch it up several more notches. This wine is a cuvée of Dijon 115 and 667 clones with a bit of Pommard. Solomon Hills is a part of the Santa Maria AVA, located on its western edge which means it is situated perfectly to take advantage of the maritime climate of the area. The soils are sandy loam which allow the roots of the vines to dig deep - yielding an excellent mineralty and salinity to the grape. As stated before, this isn't your average Pinot, feel free to pair with something fatty and enjoy. ~$58 | #foxen #solomonhills #pinotnoir
On the eyes: Pale, med concentration, ruby red, med stain, med+ tears, no gas/floc.
On the nose: Floral, clove, juicy strawberry and cherry, with just a bit of pleasant industrial aroma. Med+ alcohol.
On the tongue: Med acid, med tannin, med+ alcohol, med body. Tons of floral rose character and juicy red fruit flavor that dances on the palette, spicy going down, cinnamon and clove, with a nice subtle mushroom note, ending with toasty, smoky oak. Med+ alcohol, long finish. If you like your Pinots bold and heavily new world, you can't get much better.
— 9 years ago
Domaine Bernard Baudry
La Croix Boissée Chinon Blanc Chenin Blanc 2004
Steel, wet wool, peach put. Saline & industrial. Great 15 year Chenin is pretty awesome. — 10 years ago
Black Shirt Brewing Co.
Blood Orange Double India Pale Ale
Tatomer
Lafond Riesling 2010
Max'd out petrol and beeswax. This wine caused an epiphany that my latest expressions and interpretations of Japanese influenced cuisine tastes like umami lifted city smog and combined is a fucking remarkable experience. Reveling in edible militaristic industrial sense overloads. Pretty damn surprised here. This is a legit Riesling experience. Almost no fruit. Hell ya. — 10 years ago
Concha y Toro
Private Reserve Don Melchor Puente Alto Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1991
Very industrial smelling, petrol, Cade oil. Prunes, savoury, smoked. Very interesting palate, star anise, still stands strong with medium tannin. — 10 years ago
Schiavo
Amaro Felsina
Learned a lot tonight. Varnelli is industrial, this is artisanal. — 10 years ago
Altamana
Grande Reserve Maule Valley Malbec 2013
In the wine business for 250 years father still lives in champagne they used to own piper Heidsieck . Patrick's ancestors sold their champagne to Marie Antoinette the still have a painting of this transaction. After champagne Patrick bought a small estate in st emilion on the top of the plateau there he met jean Michel owner of clinet. They both wanted to do something else and looked to find somewhere else and in Argentina you have more freedom to do new and different things so Mendoza was the best choice because they love Malbec. 1998 they visited and very industrial at that time only interested in quantity not quality. They had an internal crisis. And the locals stopped drinking wine so they needed to export the wines as they could no longer sell them locally. They started with a small production of alta 600 cases 80 year old vines and they sold out locally in a very short time as this was one of the first quality wines produced in Mendoza. This winery is a combination of both cultures. This is Malbec from chile and still has that intense blackberry fruit hints of black earth and pepper spice hints of coffee and violet floral notes nice complexity. Lovely intensity very rich and fruity but has wonderful freshness velvety pith tannins and a very balanced and fresh finish. Finish 40+ excellent — 11 years ago
Steve Anderson
Abe Schoener of Scholium Project is planning an urban winery in LA and gave a tour of the location he is trying to secure in an industrial area along the concrete banks of the Los Angeles River. Fittingly, the area was a vineyard in the 1800’s. Will be a couple of years before this comes to fruition, but an interesting plan. This wine was consumed from Solo Cup, so the score may not be fair. A Merlot Sangiovese blend on the riper end of the spectrum, but the tannins have softened since the last time I had this. — 8 years ago