Steven Grubbs - All Comments

RE: 10 Things I Learned By Working La Paulée de New York

Meg Houston Maker — Sat, 04 Apr 2015 13:29:09 GMT

Exceptionally thoughtful and just beautifully written. Thank you.

RE: 10 Things I Learned By Working La Paulée de New York

Philippe Danon — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:41:41 GMT

Cant wait for La Paulee in Montreal going to be such a great experience!!!

RE: 10 Things I Learned By Working La Paulée de New York

Patrick Miner — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 15:48:51 GMT

Fantastic writing. Thanks for sharing.

RE: 10 Things I Learned By Working La Paulée de New York

Margaux Burgess — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 18:21:00 GMT

Loved this - thanks !

RE: 10 Things I Learned By Working La Paulée de New York

Joshua Thomas — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 07:38:17 GMT

Love this Steven. Great piece...

Wish I could have made it back again. Sounds like it was a blast. Next year....

RE: 10 Things I Learned By Working La Paulée de New York

Cara Patricia / DECANT Bottle Shop & Bar — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:48:28 GMT

Nice post. Also, I love the Modelos scattered between those incredible burgundies in the last photo.

RE: 20 Interesting Things I Learned About Eastern American Wine (By Trying Only a Little)

Emmanuel West — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 15:48:27 GMT

I think this is an excellent offering for an important discussion of East Coast Wine. I currently reside in Baltimore, MD, and we are eagerly searching for a way to represent the region in our wine selections for a boutique hotel and restaurant. Does anyone else have any experience with MD wine?

I lived in Charlottesville, VA for 15 years, and in the heart of the Monticello AVA. There are some stunners. For years, VA wine could not be sold out of state, and I think that may have precipitated an ignorance of the development of that industry. During those years, within the state, there was a very active and engaged community. Wine Passports, events at most wineries during the growing season, event facilities, polo matches, opera events...

I'm very excited to see VA getting some attention, but there is a lot there beyond Chrysallis and Barboursville. Get a room in Charlottesville, get in the car, pick a direction, and you will probably be able to visit as many wineries and vineyards as your designated driver can tolerate.

RE: Weird on Moon Juice: A Guide to the Current State of Absinthe

Mackenzie Parks — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 21:49:50 GMT

Awesome. Incredibly awesome.

RE: Weird on Moon Juice: A Guide to the Current State of Absinthe

Joe Herrig — Sun, 24 Nov 2013 21:53:30 GMT

Nice read. Admitted don't know much about Absinthe, and- other than its notorious reputation- I really just lump it in with the rest of the anisettes.

Funny all the hallucinations always got blamed on the wormwood. Anything with 120-140 proof can probably do the trick w/ alcohol alone.

RE: Weird on Moon Juice: A Guide to the Current State of Absinthe

LGS — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 17:52:05 GMT

Great Article...Absinthe popularity at the turn of the 20th Century was motivated by the Phylloxera epidemic in Europe at the end of the 19th century & Napoleon III loss to the Prussians losing Alsace & Lorraine resulting in his abdication and the start of the third republic. The French were pretty depressed losing Alsace, a king and scarcity of wine hence Degas's famous painting L'Absinthe....might as well get strung out on Absinthe!!!. There was not enough wine to drink so all social classes began to drink Absinthe. Absinthe was drank by the lower classes until the rich started drinking it because wine was scarce. The French drank so much absinthe at the turn of century they stunted their population growth making it impossible for France to have able men to fight in WWI or WWII. This information comes from my Favorite Absinthe book, Hideous Absinthe: A history of the Devil in a bottle.

RE: Weird on Moon Juice: A Guide to the Current State of Absinthe

Brian Donegan — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 02:07:30 GMT

Great article! Thanks Steven.

It's so nice to see a well thought out and researched piece about one of my favorite drinks. Writers seems to focus more on the lore than the information. Awesome read!

For any other Absinthe enthusiasts out there I'd highly recommend searching out the bottles from Jade Liqueurs (P.F. 1901 being my personal favorite). Also Emilie Pernot (different from Pernod) sometimes makes a limited run Absinthe called 'Sauvage' from all wild wormwood. It is one of the best things I have ever drank. Sadly I went through my 3 bottle purchase pretty quickly and am now eagerly awaiting their next release.

RE: 20 Interesting Things I Learned About Eastern American Wine (By Trying Only a Little)

Rick Schofield — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 19:15:48 GMT

Great essay, Steven.

Barboursville wines are excellent, as Max commented, as are many Virginia Viogniers and red Bordeaux blends. The hybrid Norton is routinely excellent and the Italian winemaker at Barboursville is excelling with Nebbiolo, et. al.

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I like your point #16.

If the Finger Lakes Viticultural Area is so old, why are 95% of their 120 wineries under-performing?

The NY Farm Winery act was passed in 1976 as an emergency measure to allow growers to make wine in limited amounts. The big companies, Taylor, Canandaigua, etc weren’t buying grapes and the Mom & Pop farmers were going bust. They had to go into the winery business. As a hedge against a hard winter (where their entire annual income would be lost) these wineries always retained a high proportion of Labrusca and Hybrids. Locals, tourists, and unsophisticated Americans liked the grapey, and necessarily semi-sweet wines. And to this day they still do - to a point where most wineries can only sell 50% of their wine as dry Vinifera wines.

Meanwhile, 10 years later, wineries in Canada’s Niagara Peninsula started popping up with huge capital investments (as California wineries do) and they planted the right cool-climate Vinifera varieties well suited to the Northeast. The wines are stunning and very French/Northern Italian/ Germanic.

Further North, in Ontario’s Prince Edward County, growers have to bury every cane each winter to keep Vinifera plants alive, but the wines are stunning as they usually are at the climatic limits of viticulture.

Back on Seneca Lake, the new Redtail Ridge Winery grows stunning Vinifera (including Teraldogo) and the owner/winemaker is the ex-Research Winemaker from Gallo in Modesto.

Where I live in the Hudson Valley, Millbrook planted 50 Vinifera varieties in the 1980’s and now is down to 4 or 5 survivors including what they still call Tocai Friulano - it is different every year but always world class.

RE: 20 Interesting Things I Learned About Eastern American Wine (By Trying Only a Little)

Stevie Stacionis — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 17:40:35 GMT

Virginia wines = the new trend?! Nice article and summary in Bloomberg this week: www.bloomberg.com/.../jefferson-trump-share-love-of-wineries-in-virginia.html

RE: Encounters With The Surreal At This Summer's Aspen Classic

Jesse Becker — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 13:25:03 GMT

Good read.

RE: 20 Interesting Things I Learned About Eastern American Wine (By Trying Only a Little)

Maximilian Kast — Mon, 27 May 2013 00:51:41 GMT

I would say that the Virginia wine scene is one of the most exciting in the United States right now, visited RDV last month and Barboursville a few years back, and their wines are amazing. On the list we have a vertical from 2004 to 2008 of Barboursville Octagon, each vintage shows depth of character, and structure that proves that it will age for the long run. As for RDV I think that they are one of the most exciting wineries focused on Bordeaux varieties in the USA at the moment, with out a doubt. Also not to forget would be Linden Vineyards, making amazing wine from Sauvignon Blanc to late harvest Vidal Blanc. Some other great Virginia wineries would be Valhalla, making ageworthy Bordeaux variety wines, also Norton, Petite Sirah, Chardonnay, and Malbec outside of Roanoke Virginia; and one of my favorites Breaux Vineyards who make one of the best Nebbiolo's outside of the Piemonte, and I say this being one of the biggest fans of Barolo and Barbaresco that you will find anywhere. As for NC, the quality is few and far between, but the very best is the McRitchie winery outside of Elkin, who make great wines, an unoaked Chardonnay, a easy to drink Viognier, and some serious Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Also Raffaldini that make really delicious Vermentino and Montepulciano. The winemaking world in the Southeast gets better the more winemakers we get moving here from around the world. Great Blog, thank you for bringin attention to our little part of the world.