2020-05-31_Wine_Spectator

FEEDBACK

Back Issue Bonus

I have been a subscriber to

Wine Spectator magazine

since 1999 and have saved

every issue, as I enjoy refer-

ring back to them for infor-

mation and ideas about wines

and wine regions.

For example, we recently

took (another) trip to So-

noma County. I perused my

library of back issues and

found the June 15, 2018,

issue, which featured the

history and attractions of

Sonoma County. We re-read

the articles, taking notes on

wineries to visit and places to

eat. I applaud Wine Spectator

for featuring wine destination

travel and hope the great

issues keep coming.

Kevin Stein and

Amanda Heilbron

Atlanta, Ga.

Great Wine North

In 2019, Canada imported

CA$484.9 million of Cali-

fornia wines and grape must

as the No. 1 single-country

export market for California

wines. With Canadians’

longstanding enjoyment of

California’s bounty, it was

therefore a pleasure to see

Bruce Sanderson look north

of the border for an update

on Canadian wines (“After

the Gold Rush,” Jan. 31 -

Feb. 15).

Here’s to more regular

Canadian wine coverage in

the future. On a recent trip

to Ontario, my family and I

enjoyed sampling the bright

and minerally Chardonnays

of the Prince Edward County

wine region, which do well

in the region’s limestone-rich

terroir.

Stephen Armstrong

Tustin Ranch, Calif.

Arizona Advocate

Thank you for briefly high-

lighting Arizona wines in the

Wine Focus section of the

March 31 issue. I remember

my first experience with Ari-

zona wine tasting about eight

years ago, which was disap-

pointing at best. We took an-

other chance with our state’s

wines about three years ago

and were more than pleas-

antly surprised! Over the past

three years we have sampled

most of the wines available

from Arizona and many of

them are very good to excep-

tional. Our personal prefer-

ences are the wines from the

Willcox area, with wines

from Sonoita/Elgin being

very good also. I would love

to see a more in-depth article

solely on the wines of Ari-

zona. There are some excep-

tionally talented winemakers

in the Grand Canyon state

who deserve recognition.

Richard Perry

Gilbert, Ariz.

Sassi Who?

On our last trip to Italy, my

wife and I had the best travel

guide we have ever had.

However, he had not heard of

Sassicaia wine and Bolgheri,

and we had, thanks to Wine

Spectator. Bolgheri was not

on the map of Italy supplied

to us; I think it was too small

a town to be included.

Thanks to Wine Spectator

for keeping me informed.

Fred A. Stephens

Indian Springs, Ala.

Big Bottle Tales:

Chapter One

I received a note from Sothe-

by’s telling me to pick up

some wine I bought at auc-

tion in 2012 but had never

12 WINE SPECTATOR • MAY 31, 2020

retrieved. I traveled to their

warehouse and recovered a

wood case of magnums of all

three Diamond Creek bot-

tlings from the 1985 vintage.

They had been in that ware-

house for seven years.

At a party my wife and I

hosted, we addressed a bottle.

It showed a clean label, a full

fill and good color. However,

the cork was bone-dry and

broke into fragments as I

worked the corkscrew, most

of which I had to push into

the wine. I brought over my

Chemex and poured the wine

through a filter into a carafe.

I then poured that liquid

through an antique wine fun-

nel/strainer into a two-bottle

decanter. The wine was as-

toundingly good. All agreed it

was like a magnificently aged

first-growth Bordeaux.

Some lessons: 1) Magnums

are almost bulletproof. 2)

Huge Cabernets like this one

can take terrific punishment

and cheerfully move along

on their glorious trajectory.

3) Wine is a natural product,

and its behavior cannot be

predicted according to rules

and formulas.

Peter Bienstock

Princeton, N.J.

Big Bottle Tales:

Chapter Two

Recently, at a memorial cele-

bration, I was asked to open

a 1989 Lynch-Bages in Nebu-

chadnezzar. The Nebuchad-

nezzar, holding the liquid

equivalent of 20 750-ml

bottles, posed potential

problems. None of the usual

corkscrews could accommo-

date the size of the cork,

nor ensure that the old cork

wouldn’t disintegrate. If that

were to occur, decanting and

filtering the wine would have

required a 5-gallon bucket

and a couple of bodybuilders!

Three tools are required: 1)

the Durant worm drive only;

2) the AhSo (do not use the

Durant similar part); 3) the

Screwpull worm drive.

The operation: 1) Clean

the top of the bottle around

the cork; 2) secure the cork

with the Durant worm drive;

3) reverse the AhSo custom-

ary position so that the short

blade is outside the neck of

the bottle, and begin verti-

cally inserting and extracting

the long blade along the rim

of the cork, repeating the

process about 10 times all

around the rim of the cork,

whereby moving the position

of the Durant slightly once so

that the portion of the cork

covered by its lever is also

freed (this will free the cork

from sticking against the rim

of the bottle); 4) remove the

Durant and insert the longer,

wider Screwpull deep enough

until the entire cork has been

pierced (if one were to pull

the Durant, which is not long

enough, the cork may split

with the rest still remaining

in the bottle); 5) gently pull

(though some controlled

muscle is necessary) the

Screwpull and the cork will

pop out in one piece.

George Caloyannidis

Calistoga, Calif.

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Spectator, 825 Eighth Ave., 33rd

Floor, New York, NY 10019; send a

fax to (212) 684-5424; or email us

at [email protected].

WS053120_feedbackRev.indd 12 3/18/20 11:05 AM