Sips And Swallows

From Around The Wine World

*I am currently enjoying the recently released book entitled The House of Mondavi by Julia Flynn Siler. It chronicles the Mondavi history as one of California’s preeminent wine families.

The Mondavi family has been part of the California wine business since the 1920s and this book details the family’s squabbles, successes and failures in an eminently readable style. It is a truly American success story with plenty of soap opera sidelights to spice up the story.

*The popularity of the movie Sideways in 2004 resulted in a large number of wine drinkers turning to Pinot Noir as their red wine of choice. The increasing popularity of Pinot Noir caught winemakers by surprise and resulted in shortages of this tasty red.

Newly planted vineyards are now becoming productive and the shortage should be coming to an end. Prices have risen, but at least Pinot Noir drinkers will soon be able to find their favorite brands on a fairly consistent basis.

* For some reason, the prices of half bottles of wine (375 ml) are usually considerably more per ounce than that of a full bottle of the same wine (750 ml). I am starting to see the release of some excellent wines in half bottles at affordable pricing.

Hopefully this trend will continue for those of us who are only looking to have one or two glasses of wine with our evening meal.

*The fall is usually the time when the wineries release their new vintages. Before I begin to sample the new releases, I would like to give credit to some of the best wines I have tasted this year.

The 2005 Sonoma Coast Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc is a California white that is just loaded with deliciously complex fruit flavors.

The 2003 Cenit is a rich Spanish red wine made from old vines that I also found to be just delicious.

Finally the 1999 J Schram from California’s Schramsberg winery is an incredible bottle of sparkling wine.

(Newtown resident and wine enthusiast Steve Small is the general manager at Yankee Wine & Spirits on Queen Street.)