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From the Cotes du Rhone region in France comes the news that the 2005 vintage is exceptional.
HOW SWEET IT IS
Most sweet dessert ice wine comes in half (375 ml) bottles. Now Vidal by Inniskillin is adding a quarter (187 ml) bottle, priced at $38, to the 2004 vintage. It will be on retail shelves soon.
WINE BLOGTom Wark, a wine industry publicist who runs a popular 6,000 readers monthly wine blog called Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog, says there are now about 120 wine blogs on the Internet. He links to many of them from his site, www.warkcommunications.com
In a recent posting, Wark poses the question, "At what point does a wine reviewer have an obligation to comment on the price of a wine, in addition to its quality and characteristics?" He is referring to a $1,680 bottle of 2002 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee Conti that was rated 90 points, but the reviewer said nothing about the price.
ON THE SHELFTo get the best value from books about wines and drinks, check out the wide variety of choices available to find those that offer information at the level you want.
Recent publications cover levels from beginner to connoisseur. They're packed with facts, opinions and advice drawn from the experience of specialists who really know their field. Here are just a few to consider from late 2005.
- Drinks by Vincent Gasnier (DK, $50) is from a French-born master sommelier, and its cover explains that it's all about "enjoying, choosing, storing, serving and appreciating wines, beers, cocktails, spirits, aperitifs, liqueurs and ciders."
This large-format 512-page book is also global in its reach and colorfully illustrated with images that energize its helpful text.
- Andrea Immer Robinson's 2006 Wine Buying Guide for Everyone (Broadway, $12.95 paperback) is the handy little text you slip into your pocket to take with you to the wine store after you learn the basics and gain confidence from reading Immer Robinson's other works.
- The Wine Guy by Andy Besch (William Morrow, $23.95), co-written with Ellen Kaye, his wife, suggests that uncertain or neophyte wine drinkers should just relax, read a little and taste a lot of wine.
- A History of Wine in America by Thomas Pinney (University of California Press, $45) surveys the subject from Prohibition to the present. This is a scholarly tome, written by an academic who also wrote the precursor, A History of Wine in America: From the Beginnings to Prohibition (1989). This is not light reading, but wine lovers may find it adds an extra perspective to their interest.
- Compiled by JANET K. KEELER from the Associated Press and Los Angeles Daily News. She can be reached at 727 893-8586 or krieta@sptimes.com Her blog, Stir Crazy, is www.sptimes.com/blogs/food