By Mannie Berk on May 7th, 2010
This wonderful 1940s caricature of Mario Barbeito was submerged for hours during the recent Madeira floods. But, miraculously, it survived with only some soiling.
It took great courage for Mario Barbeito to start a new Madeira house in 1946. These were desperate times for the Madeira trade, with sales having hit rock bottom during World War II.
The U.S. market, just beginning to recover from Prohibition, dwindled to virtually nothing as our government banned the poorly made wartime glass bottles coming out of Portugal. And the all-important British market was devastated by years of Nazi treachery. Because of marauding U-Boats, Madeira merchants found themselves unable to ship wine to England, and a number lost irreplaceable wine when their London cellars were bombed during Luftwafte air raids.
The situation was so bad that the last two British houses to remain independent, Miles and Cossart, would soon throw in the towel, consolidating with all the other British houses in the Madeira Wine Association.
Yet, Mario Barbeito had a vision that he could make it in that difficult time. Like H.M. Borges in 1877–who founded his own company into the teeth of Phylloxera– Read more…
By Mannie Berk on October 31st, 2009
1964 Giacomo Conterno Barolo
When I first learned about Barolo in the 1970s, friends told me that you should open the wine a day in advance. It seemed like nonsense, but it corresponded to the then widely held view that Barolo is so inherently tannic that it never really loses its hard edge.
Of course, neither idea was true, but like many other myths, each was rooted in reality. The Barolos of that era were very tannic, needing decades to come around. And they did demand plenty of breathing, though perhaps not 24 hours worth.
As the years have gone by, I have come to the view that a well-cellared bottle of old, traditionally made Barolo should breathe for at least an hour or two before drinking. This applies especially to Barolos in their 30s, 40s and 50s. In my life, I have seen far too many old Barolos (and Barbarescos, too) uncorked, poured and drunk, without giving the wines a chance to express themselves.
This past Monday evening, a small group of friends and I had the chance to learn this lesson, not the hard way, but by witnessing a parade of legendary old Barolos blossom before our eyes. But if we hadn’t trusted the wines’ condition and potential, things might have worked out very differently. Read more…
By Mannie Berk on June 25th, 2009
Occidental Vineyard in The True
Since this spring, we’ve been thinking a lot about California Pinot Noir: what’s good about it and what’s not. In the five years since the movie Sideways, we’ve had to pick through the mountain of mediocre Pinot Noirs to find the few that really taste like Pinot Noir. As for the rest of what’s reaching the market, each bottle seems less expressive and more alcoholic than the one that came before it.
But what has got us thinking far more positively (and even excitedly) about Pinot’s potential in California was our work in preparation for our Evening Land offering in early May. And to be more specific, we are increasingly fascinated with the potential for extreme western Sonoma County to produce some of the greatest Pinot Noirs this country has ever seen. Read more…
