dmwine

The local distributor informs me they are almost out of the 07, ready to transition to the 08. I haven't tasted the new one.

I second Joe's recommendation. Quinta do Vallado is terrific. I wrote it up last year, when the 06 was in the market, having tasted the 07 at Vinexpo. It is distributed here, but somewhat more expensive and probably hard to find. And definitely worth the hunt!

Shlotszky? Are you part of the deli clan? What wine mit pastrami?

This is a top-notch portfolio. With the summer weather, everyone should check out the La Bastide Saint Dominique 2009 Rosé that I recommended in my column last week. It's terrific, and only $10. ETA the tasting note and availability info: La Bastide Saint Dominique Rosé, 2009 ** 1/2 (out of three; Excellent to Extraordinary) France, $10 This is a scintillating celebration of summer, with bright strawberry and raspberry flavors backed by laser-sharp acidity to keep the wine refreshing. Buy this by the case, and keep a bottle chilled at all times. If anything can conquer summer's humidity, this can. Simon 'N' Cellars: Available in the District at Cork & Fork, MacArthur Beverages, Potomac Wine & Spirits. Available in Virginia at the Vineyard in McLean, Screwtop Wine Bar & Cheese Shop in Arlington, Unwined in Alexandria.

Your best bet might be a DC store that can Direct Import some. Cleveland Park is a good bet - they have carried Frank and Wagner before, and probably have the best selection of East Coast wines in DC. I've seen Standing Stone wines here and there. The VA ABC Web site lists Suprex Intl of Fairfax as the VA distributor for Standing Stone - you could call them to find out what retail outlets carry it: (703) 237-9209 . Otherwise, from general experience: Fox Run Red Newt Hermann J. Wiemer Dr Frank Anthony Road Heron Hill ? Lamoreaux Landing

I read about him somewhere recently ... PS - I vote for Tempranillo, too.

>ahem< The 08 is pretty darn good, too, and perhaps a little easier to find.

Dan - at the risk of shameless self-promotion, check out my recent articles in The Washington Post Food section, of August 19 and October 14, for some local coverage. (I'd post links, but the link window goes off the edge of my screen and won't let me insert anything.)

For anyone going to the Bethesda Central Farm Market this Sunday, Sept. 13, there will be a guest vendor - Black Ankle Vineyards, the first time a winery has been allowed to participate in a farm market, according to market organizers. More about it here on my blog. Don - not sure if this should be here or under Farmers Markets, and I'm sooo not into self promotion to post it twice ...

What does he know? Here for some good 'uns.

I'm doing a Post column on New World rosé. Okay, Okay, I know, but there are a few good ones out there. One I wanted to include was Beckmen Vineyards Purisma Vineyard Grenache Rosé 2008, which I thought was quite nice. So I called the winery and asked who carries it in this market. (This is sometimes an issue with samples.) The winery marketing director told me it was distributed by The Country Vintner. So I contacted TCV, which told me they've dropped Beckmen in an effort to pare down their portfolio. Country Vintner in recent years bought out The Wine Source, a major local distributor, when it went under, then expanded to take over The Henry Wine Group (which itself had swallowed up Franklin Selections). The Country Vintner, in other words, is a huge player in the DC-region wine wholesale market. So my question to DR.commies: Are there any wine labels that you miss the last few years? Something you used to buy but can no longer find? These may or may not be related to Country Vintner - there has been much other consolidation in the wholesale realm too - but I'd like to trace the effect of consolidation on the consumer, by tracking down some of these disappearing wine brands. Cheers, Dave McIntyre [ETA: I don't mean this query as a slap at Country Vintner as they adjust to their new portfolio and business structure, but rather as a general query about brands disappearing after consolidation in the distribution business. TCV is merely a recent example - and not even the most recent, as Mark mentions below, considering Billington recently went out of business and most of their line was taken up by Winebow.]

Potentially, yes. Your fingerprints can also smear the glass and make it harder to appreciate the visuals. Wine geeks use all seven senses in wine appreciation, after all.

Consult the local Consorzio, and the Strada del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. They have some leaving from the piazza grande - it's a beautiful hill town, by the way. If you don't already have lodging arranged, look for Agriturismo - inns set up by wineries. Not always cheap, but often very nice. Happy Travels!

Not the most earth-shattering of news, in the Obama-visits-Ray's genre, but DrinkLocalWine.com has been updated and relaunched. This is the site I helped create last fall, along with my pal Jeff Siegel, the Dallas-based "Wine Curmudgeon," to showcase bloggers around North America who were writing about wines that were not from California, Oregon or Washington state. The idea is to have a portal site where readers can link to blogs about regional wines. Jeff has made the effort to update the site, and I hope folks here will check it out - and if you know of any bloggers writing interesting coverage of local wines (wherever "local" may be), please let me know about them! There's even - ugh! - a podcast of the two of us talking about this, to be posted on Friday. And to show that we are not the middle-aged fuddy duddies we think we are, we even have a Facebook page (DrinkLocalWine.com) for folks to become "fans" - more than 400 in just a few days - that's more than all my "friends"! - and a Twitter twit feed, or whatever, at /drinklocalwine ... I hope you'll at least check it out. Wine Country is Everywhere!

From the video in Waitman's link, he said "medium", not medium-well, because he was ordering extras and didn't know how people would want them. ETA: Oops! Heard a radio clip on the way home - he did indeed order his own medium-well. Sigh. Nobody's perfect.

He'll know after tomorrow's Food section.

Sue you? No. But Don might accuse you of being a straw man.

Yes - she is allowed to "import" directly from the winery, provided it produces fewer than 11,000 cases annually. The law was designed to help Maryland wineries distribute within state, but is not restricted to Maryland wineries.

I am unable to make the yearly comparison/generalization, because I skipped the past several years, being rather crowd averse. But I wonder what you expect from this show - it is clearly not aimed at someone who is a collector with an old-world palate who scours the Internet for the best deals on barolos and bordeaux from obscure New Jersey retailers. (I write this with a hint of sarcasm, but mostly respect for your knowledge of and passion for wine, which is evident from your posts.) This festival has several audiences: 1) Wineries and importers who are NOT yet represented in this market, but who participate hoping to attract the attention of a distributor (or wine writer) who will represent (or champion) them, such as Frontaura from Toro in Spain, really nice Tempranillo wines - these participants are there primarily for the two hours of trade tasting just before the public is admitted; 2) Importers and distributors who are new to this market and hope to get some consumer (and trade and wine writer) attention - such as the New York or Virginia wineries, or a new Italian importer from NoVa called Il Pioppo Selections, with a few really nice Proseccos, a tart, lemon/lime Soave and a couple racy Sicilians - who are hoping to gain a little traction in this market by pouring their wines for interested consumers and retailers; 3) The general public - but not necessarily people who are really into wine; rather, those who are interested or newly interested and eager to expand their horizons by trying new things, maybe finding an unoaked chardonnay like Four Vines from CA, or a really nice sparkling wine (Kluge) from Virginia, go figure. These folks are the bread and butter market for a festival like this - and that's why wineries, importers and distributors come with mid-range wines, but usually better-than-average mid-range wines, trying to stand out among the crowd. They might even find some fun bargains, such as the under $10 Casita di Mama line from Navarra in Spain or the - get this - sustainably grown Fetzer Valley Oaks line from Mendocino. Full disclosure - As I said above, I skipped the last few years because I don't get my jollies elbowing my way to a tasting table and discovering four or five patchouli-scented people between me and the nearest spit bucket. I attended both days this weekend because I now write for the Washington Post, which sponsors the festival, and I did a presentation of wines featured in the new TastePost program. But I honestly think most of the few hundred folks I poured wine for had a good time, tried a few good wines they wouldn't have plucked off a store shelf without some prodding - and if they left with a few good wines in mind to try again in a more civilized setting, they probably felt the festival was worthwhile. And for those of you on Saturday who used the festival as Stage One of your Valentine's Day activities and couldn't wait to get out of there before moving on the Stage Two .... Sheesh, I hope you found a room!

Rieslings! And never enough of them!

Um, well, Dave, I have published 11 columns in the Post over the last three months (with the one coming in this Wednesday's editions.) Two on fizz - including a little "factory fizz" but focusing on more interesting stuff - whether made in Champagne or elsewhere. And in the Shameless Self-Promotion Department, ..... [edited to delete the bleat ] .... Thanks for worrying about me, Dave, but I've fine and you can read me anytime! And we can all enjoy Eric's column, too. Cheers, and happy holidays to all! I'll retreat back into the shadows now .. Dave Mc

No, goat CHEESE! The Monocacy Ash is brilliant. Try it with a nice Chilean sauvignon blanc, or even better, a Linden sauvignon blanc from just across the river in Virginia.

Your words, not mine.

And it's actually with armagnac, rather than rum, a nod to Ducasse's southwestern upbringing, perhaps. At least it was on opening night.

Thank you all for your good wishes and your support. I’m very excited at the opportunity to take over the Post Wine column, and I obviously hope everyone here will enjoy and appreciate my efforts. I want to let you know a little of what I will be attempting to accomplish. I know that Washington Post readers have high expectations for the paper’s wine column. We have a wonderfully diverse market, with several local importers offering exciting wines, restaurants and wine bars with new and fascinating wine programs, and a venerable retail market that is experiencing generational changes in some established stores, while newer stores push into once unfriendly markets. Most of all, we have a knowledgeable and sophisticated readership, including wine lovers who want to know what’s going on locally, nationally, even internationally, as well as those less vino-obsessed who just want to know what’s good. I must write for several different audiences. I will keep in mind that the average price paid for 750 ml of wine in this country is $5; however, I know that people who read wine columns tend to spend more, and want to know what wines out there are worth $15, $40, even $75 and up. So I hope that if a particular column doesn’t resonate for you, that you will remember others may gain from it. Expect to read about what I call “S/O/B” wines - those grown with sustainable, organic, or biodynamic viticulture. I will question your love of wines with heavy bottles - and correspondingly large “carbon footprints” - and I will ask you to think about your preference for screwcaps over natural closures such as cork. After all, if we’re balking at spring water in plastic bottles and lobbying Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to do away with plastic bags, we should be thinking about how our wine choices affect the environment, too. And I will be challenging you to overcome your bias against local wines. This “Oh, yeah, well, it’s okay for Virginia ... “ condescension needs to stop. Local wines are getting better, and they are worthy of our attention. I will not hesitate to take a stand. I will take chances. While I hope you’ll agree with my views, I look forward to your comments and criticisms here on DR.com, and in a lively debate through comments to my columns online. Most of all, I hope my modest scriblings will add to your enjoyment of wine. This is gonna be fun! Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get to work ... WHERE’S MY CORKSCREW????