A not-so-brief report from the 2001 Boston Wine Expo

Spent Saturday afternoon at this year's Expo which was somewhat disappointing yet still worthwhile. First I'll get the grousing over with and then move on to some of the more noteworthy wines I ran into.

The Expo is becoming a victim of its own success. Too many people, too crowded, and too many folks who obviously aren't serious about wine, but view the event as some sort of club scene where you go to drink too much, parade around with your trophy girlfiend in her micro outfit, and generally just get in the way and be a pain in the *ss. Maybe I'm a bit snobbish about this, but my feeling is that if you're swallowing all the wines and not taking notes you just don't belong at this event - there are plenty of other places where you can spend the same amount of money (entry is now up to $60 each) and get plenty drunk, if that's your goal.

Much more serious, however, is the very apparent decrease in the number of high-end wineries and wines. Now I don't expect the likes of Screaming Eagle and the other micro-boutique folks to have a booth, but, unless I missed them (entirely possible, it was crowded), the larger but still excellent labels (folks like Caymus and Heitz, for example) were absent. The heavy-hitters have been there in the past - I have fond memories of being the only one at the Heitz booth years ago as Joe Heitz poured me a glass of Martha's. And the ones that were there seemed to be pouring their "second" lines. I fought my way over to the Stag's Leap booth to find they were pouring (only) Hawks Crest - a fine value wine, but not what I go to the Expo to taste. Franciscan had plenty of Simi and Estancia (again, a great value line) but no Franciscan, etc. etc. There were some exceptions, but the changes were unmistakable.

OK, enough of that - after I got home and went over my notes here are the wines that really impressed me:

1997 BV Tapestry. WOW. For me, the hit of the show. This is BV's meritage and it is refinement and finesse personified - no sharp edges, no bumps in the road, just a beautiful statement of why nobody should be asking if California wines are truly the equal of their French counterparts. About $70 retail, and hats off to Beaulieu for bucking the trend and pouring their best.

1999 EXP Syrah. From R.H. Phillips. I've fallen in love with their EXP Viognier and Toasted Head Syrah/Cab blend lately, but this was my first experience with their Syrah varietal. A wonderfully balanced plummy mouthful without the harsh edges that have kept me away from Syrahs in the past. About $14 and well worth it.

1997 El Malbec from Riccardo Santi (that last name may be a bit misspelled). Malbec in California? Yep, and it's excellent. They seem to have built in a bit more structure than I typically find in Malbecs from South America, but it's still impossible to confuse with the more typical CA varietals. Didn't get the price.

1997 Simi Cab. Simi is now part of the growing Franciscan empire and is using some of the better grapes that used to find their way into Estancia. Excellent, start to finish. About $25 and probably the best Cab I tasted at that price point.

1995 La Ragose Amarone. I really love Amarone. My favorite has always been Allegrini, but this could change my mind. Wonderfully dense and chewy with that big alcohol that clears your sinuses. This one I swallowed. $50

And finally, for the fans of BIG wines:

1997 Four Vines Old Vine Zinfandel
Four Vines Paso Robles Zin
Four Vines Syrah

Sorry I didn't get the vintages on the latter two, but they're likely '97s also. I have never tasted bigger zins - the first is made primarily from vines about 30 years old, the Paso Robles from vines about 50 years old. These are huge wines that would overwhelm just about any menu but still have amazing balance and provide great pleasure - bring on the too-old gorgonzola. Both in the upper $teens or so. Ditto on the Syrah, again bigger than any Syrah I have tasted. Look for the bottles with the ugly bright yellow capsules and the much less ugly yellowish labels. I think I ended up liking them, but regardless I certainly came away remembering them.

Shroomgirl - Our friends in town, who live very near Copley Square, tell me that Salamander is back in business at their new location at 25 Huntington.

We had dinner at Hamersley's Bistro, which still maintains its magic after all these years. Crispy duck confit on fava beans with a duck reduction as an appetizer followed by (for me) braised short ribs and (for my wife) a pan-fried whole Dover sole
that just might have been the best fish I have ever tasted. (Try to find one wine for that combination! - we ended up with a '96 Morey-St. Denis).

Sorry for the length of this post - hope some of you find it of interest.

Dick

[cape chef]

Dick,

Thank you for sharing your experience at the Boston show with us. I agree that the availability of "high profile" wines is on the decline at many tasting and more and more you need to register for a "special" tasting of premium wines.weather it be some vertical of Bordeaux or Cabernet or burgundy Etc,As the prices continue to rise to sky high prices for the top shelf,We will continue to see Vintners show casing more of the main stream varietals with a treat thrown in now and again.I love your story of Joseph Hietz and Marthas Vineyard and to have the opportunity to Quaff (sp) Martha must have been a treat.Dick,unfortunately I think those days are gone,Like you said about Screaming Eagle,You would not expect to see it poured at a tasting.and probably non of us will ever drink a bottle. hey at 300 or 400 dollars a bottle (or more)so be it.Also pedigree comes to mind with cult wines,I think honestly if I had the disposable income to buy 1 bottle of screaming eagle or 6 or more bottles of tapestry I would go for the ladder.The wine industry is changing,any high end reserve from Calif or first or second growth from France are becoming only available to people with very deep pockets.
I find myself very fortunate that I had the chance to drink many of the best.Give me Latour any day over Dalle Valle.But I also remember paying $9.99 a bottle for Beringer Nights valley not to many moons ago,Now it's $25.00 witch I used to pay for there private select What gives ? So now I'm rambling on myself
once again Dick , Thank you for contributing to this forum
cc