Small Family Wineries: Fantastic to Drink, Tough to Get Your Hands On

In the time that I have been writing about wine, I have made no secret of the fact that I have a tremendous affinity for small family estate wineries. I believe these wines are the truest representation of what wine should be. They are crafted without the influence of corporate oversight, by those who make wine as a labor of love above all else. The proprietors of small family estate wineries are out in the vineyards almost every day, closely monitoring the growth and development of the grapes. They are either directly involved in the harvest of the grapes, or are judicious overseers in the process. They know their land, they know their craft, and their wines are their passion. As anyone who regularly drinks small production, craft wines can tell you, this passion is reflected in their taste. There is a singularity, and a uniqueness that is found in these wines. They are not just simply another wine in the supermarket aisle.

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Football, Oysters & Riesling, and a Reminder Not to Forget Bordeaux

This past Saturday night, my fiancée and I sat down to enjoy the Patriots-Colts game, in style. Rather than choosing to enjoy traditional football fare as we cheered the Patriots on to victory, we decided to be a little fancier, and a little healthier. So, instead of loading up on pizza, chicken wings, and other snacks, we took a trip to Guild Fine Meats, and stocked up on oysters and a roast chicken for our gametime enjoyment. And of course, I was prepared to enjoy a few good wines during the game.

We enjoyed the oysters during the first half with a bottle of 2003 Trimbach Cuvée Frédéric Emile, a tremendous Riesling from Alsace. Oysters are becoming a new passion of mine, and after a rough first attempt at shucking them where I put a nasty gash into my left hand, I've become quite proficient at preparing a plate of oysters. (I've also bought an oyster glove.)Shucking oysters, my new culinary passion. As my obsession with oysters has developed, I've noticed that they demonstrate a terroir in a manner similar to wine. The oysters we enjoyed on Saturday were Thatch Island Oysters, from Barnstable Harbor, in Cape Cod. I'm still enough of an oyster novice that I probably couldn't tell the difference between a Thatch Island Oyster and a Wellfleet, or a Bluepoint, but I'm excited to test my palate, and learn more about oysters in the years to come. (Note: For anyone who might also be interested in learning about oysters, I was given a great book for Christmas, called A Geography of Oysters, by Rowan Jacobsen, which has been a tremendous resource in my oyster education thus far.

However, despite my love for oysters, and delicious flavors of petrol, honeyed mineral, and citrus displayed by the 2003 Trimbach Cuvée Frédéric Emile, it was a bottle of 2001 Chateau Talbot that left me awestruck on Saturday night.

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