Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:40:56 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Matt Kramer :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Matt+Kramer istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/refreshing-pours/76762/ Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 EST It says something about wine — and not something flattering, either — that one of the most praiseworthy words is "serious." In order to get respect (or at least a high price), solemnity is required. You never hear about a Barolo compared to, say, a Toots Thielemans harmonica solo. Happily, though, this rule is tossed aside with the arrival of summer. Now, the watchword is "refreshing." Like Mr. Thielemans's mastery of the chromatic harmonica, a refreshing wine can also be — dare I say it?... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/wines-to-be-treasured/75585/ Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The literature of wine is ripe with descriptions (and barely concealed avarice) about wine buying. Here's Thomas Jefferson in 1787, acquisitive and even geeky in his wine pursuit, writing to a friend: "I cannot deny myself the pleasure of asking you to participate of a parcel of wine ... It is of the vineyard of Obrion [Château Haut-Brion], one of the four established as the very best, and it is of the vintage of 1784, the only very fine one since the year 1779." Even in the early 20th century... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/little-known-west-coast-vintages-head-east/73186/ Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Although it can't be proved, it's nevertheless safe to say that when it comes to wine, New Yorkers are Europhiles. And why not? Europe still offers the most interesting and varied wines. As a result, New York has always looked more east to Europe than west to California, even today. Partly it's a matter of availability. Many of California's most interesting wines are what might be called small-hatch offerings: The local trout snaps them up. Nevertheless, even if New Yorkers aren't quite as... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/say-bonjour-to-the-free-market/71571/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST "How has France, the carefree country of joie-de-vivre, come to this?" plaintively asked Denis Saverot, the editor in chief of France's most important wine magazine, La Revue du vin de France. In a recent column in these pages, I wrote about how a French court ruled that a newspaper article that recommended French Champagnes was "intended to promote sales of alcoholic beverages in exercising a psychological effect on the reader that incited him or her to buy alcohol." As a result, it could be... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/folly-that-is-france/70044/ Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST In this most political of seasons, it's comforting to know that the politics of other nations can be even nuttier than our own. Proof comes from France, where two recent court decisions out of Paris this month have demonstrated the zealousness of France's insistence on curtailing the promotion of alcohol, which inevitably means wine in this most wine-centric of countries. In one case, the magnificently named Tribunal de Grande Instance (the French equivalent of a small claims court) ruled that... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/impressing-the-sommelier/69176/ Wed, 9 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST One of the great imbibers of modern British literature and television, London barrister Horace Rumpole is, alas, no connoisseur. As author John Mortimer frequently notes, Rumpole's preferred tipple is an inexpensive plonk called Château Thames Embankment, which Rumpole consumes in copious quantities at his preferred boîte, Pommeroy's Wine Bar. Nevertheless, Rumpole is not without a certain sensibility. "Just sometimes, wasn't life like the law?" he once mused. "It shouldn't only be lived, but... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/immediate-pleasure-in-late-bottled-port/68571/ Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Although I have a vested interest in noting this, wine writing may as well be written in disappearing ink. The wine scribblers of yesteryear are abandoned like so many empty bottles set out for the recycling bin. Mind you, this is not because some wine writers can't swing a deft word. One of America's finest wine writers — who's still happily alive but has long since retired from the field — is Bob Thompson. A man who once wrote, "In certain fussy-eater circles, drinking Gewürztraminer is... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/holiday-gifts-for-collectors/67951/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Those of us in the advice-giving game know what's expected of us for the holiday season. We're supposed to tantalize you with you-gotta-give-it goodies — and you're supposed to clap your hands with delight. We are all exhorted to think that our loved ones will be inconsolable without, say, a jeroboam of Château Lafite-Rothschild 2005 ($6,757.99 at Zachys) or a bottle of Montrachet 2004 from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. (Even for a rarity such as DRC Montrachet, it pays to shop around... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/revolutions-in-wine/67152/ Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:38:52 EST Although wine seems somehow fixed, even staid, the facts tell a different story. The past few decades have seen two revolutions that have permanently rearranged the landscape on both sides of the aisle, as it were. From the wine-producing side, the great revolution was the rise and current preeminence of estate bottling, where the grower makes wine only from his or her own grapes and sells it under his or her own label. Prior to the 1960s, estate bottling was a rarity everywhere in the world... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/thanksgiving-day-pours/66415/ Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Wine lovers are generous sorts and their admirable, even laudatory, instinct is what might be called an evangelical openhandedness. We're so enraptured with the beauty of wine that, like all believers, we lose sight that others, ahem, might be less enthralled. Hence this well-meant (and time-tested) advice: Do not trot out your best wines for the Thanksgiving feast. Save your very best bottles for another occasion. Having gotten this public service announcement out of the way, let's get down to... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/beyond-the-familiar/65577/ Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST In a rare moment of concision, the novelist and critic Henry James observed, "There are two kinds of taste, the taste for emotions of surprise, and the taste for emotions of recognition." Wine writers everywhere know — let's be honest here — that most wine buyers seek the familiar. They have a Jamesian taste for "emotions of recognition." And who can blame anyone for seeking "comfort wines"? When you glance at the wines to follow, your eyes will likely glaze over. The names seem so unfamiliar... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/separating-cost-quality/64706/ Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST The problem with wine today is money. But it's not, as you might be thinking, the nosebleed prices fetched by a variety of famous Bordeaux, Burgundy, and California cabernets. Those wines aren't the problem at all. Rather, the money problem afflicting wine today is that so many wines are astoundingly good, yet the price is disproportionately low for the quality. This begs credulity. How good can a wine be if it's so cheap? Winemakers are aware of this quandary, to their dismay and frustration... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/toasting-louis-pasteur/63868/ Wed, 3 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST ARBOIS, France — The region of Jura is known — if at all — for its green, rolling hills and as a source for the firm, delectable cheese called Comté. But as you drive into Jura, you see official road signs describing Jura as the "Pays de Pasteur," the land of Louis Pasteur. Indeed, Pasteur is why I went to Arbois. It is a town of 3,698 people, nearly all of whom seem dedicated to eating Jura's traditional, rather heavy, and utterly delicious food, and drinking the peculiar, sherry-like dry... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/simple-answer-to-complex-wine/62923/ Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST VOLNAY, France — Whenever I am asked to recommend a red Burgundy, I issue a gnomic utterance: "Volnay." It hardly suffices. But the fact remains that if you know nothing about Burgundy — which is treacherous, given its prices and variability — you can do no better than to scan a wine list or a retail shelf looking for Volnay. The reason is simple, and that's a word rarely applied to Burgundy: Volnay is unusually small. It counts just 323 residents. Its vineyard area is little bigger, with just... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/bottle-of-wine-minus-cork/61888/ Wed, 5 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST At a conference in Wellington for New Zealand wineries seeking to export their wines — that goes for pretty much every winery in New Zealand, which exports a cool 43% of the country's entire wine production — an American gave the Kiwis an interesting tidbit of valuable data. The American was John Blazon, 47, of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Mr. Blazon, who has a master sommelier credential and a matter-of-fact modesty, noted in his polished Power-Point presentation that Walt Disney World... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/in-wine-shade/61069/ Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST "Wine is earth's answer to the sun," a 19th-century transcendentalist, Margaret Fuller, wrote. That sounds just about right, especially in late August. Although Fuller was pondering deep thoughts, those of us savoring the summer season know that wine is an ideal answer to the sun — or at least its heat. The wines that follow are ripostes, indeed. They should be served cool, and preferably in the shade. HERE'S THE (SUNNY) DEAL Pinot Bianco "Alto Adige" 2006, Alois Lageder — Italian white wines... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/locating-that-hard-to-find-wine-online/60089/ Wed, 8 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The most frequently asked question wine writers everywhere receive (apart from the perennial "How can I get a job like yours?") is: "Where can I find the wines you recommend?" The person who has the answer resides in, of all places, Auckland. "It always bothered me that there was no simple, easy way to find out which wine merchant has which wines," the creator and developer of the Web site Wine-Searcher.com, Martin Brown, 50, said during a recent interview. Although he... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/competition-driving-down-wine-prices/59105/ Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Have you looked at the exchange rate between the American dollar and the euro lately? Recently, the euro hit an all-time high against the dollar: One euro now costs about $1.38. But when you wander into wine shops, you'd think that only some European wines are being sold to us in oppressively priced euros, while others must be traded in Polish zlotys (about 37 cents buys a zloty). What's happening here? The answer varies with the wine, but the gist is that while prices for a relative handful of... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/hunting-down-white-wines/58198/ Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST In the "Federalist Papers," Alexander Hamilton went to some pains to describe the advantages and distinctions of what he called a "commercial republic." I thought of Hamilton, of all people, when drinking the delectable white wines recommended below. You would think, in our commercial republic, that wine distributors would want to do business whenever and wherever they can. But it's not so simple. Last year, for example, I contacted the New York-based national importer of the superb sauvignon... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/wines-for-the-obsessive-mind/57388/ Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST All my professional life I've been conflicted — a little ashamed, even — about the obsessive tug of wine loving. Let's be honest: Wine loving lends itself to what might be called single-mindedness. Something about wine excites not only the usual sins of greed, covetousness, and avarice but also an elaborate fantasy life about idealized beauty. Wine, like stereo equipment, lends itself to a kind of perfectionism. If this pinot noir tastes good from vines yielding two tons to the acre, how much... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/getting-in-on-the-burgundy-bonanza/56464/ Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Unless you live in the fevered world of the wine trade — or at least among the wine-fixated — you may be unaware of the latest you-gotta-have-it obsession among America's wine fanatics: Burgundy's 2005 vintage. A small neighborhood wine shop owner wine recently lamented that he couldn't obtain a big enough supply of 2005 Burgundies for his customers to buy on futures. This is not for stock on hand, mind you, so that you can walk out the door with a nice bottle for dinner tonight. This was for... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/wine-behind-the-machines/55495/ Wed, 30 May 2007 00:00:00 EST In his tough-guy fashion, Raymond Chandler — or his alter ego, private detective Philip Marlowe — would have made a terrific wine critic, especially these days. Today's calculated wine commercialism employs practices designed to make wines seem better than they really are. For example, in California it's now common practice to allow grapes to become overripe, the better to create outsize flavors and soft tannins. A traditional wine made from such sugar-rich grapes would be very high in alcohol... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/tender-old-age/55029/ Wed, 23 May 2007 00:00:00 EST It is an article of faith among many wine lovers — and a good number of winegrowers, too — that old vines are inherently superior to younger vines when it comes to wine of the highest quality. But is that actually true? The scientifically-minded submit that this worship of old vines has no basis in verifiable fact, which is another way of saying, "We have no instruments that can measure any differences, therefore it doesn't exist." In Jamie Goode's superb book "The Science of Wine: From Vine to... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/beaujolais-bargain/54603/ Wed, 16 May 2007 00:00:00 EST The best deal in fine wine this year can be summed up in a single word: Beaujolais. I can hear your incredulity already. "Beaujolais?" you exclaim. "That's so, well, passé. That's what we drank when we started out with wine." Be that as it may, the fact is that the greatest bargain this year is Beaujolais, specifically from the magnificent 2005 vintage. It is the single best Beaujolais vintage in recent memory. Now, keep in mind that wine importers are getting clobbered by the weak dollar... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/in-the-pink-2007-05-09/54135/ Wed, 9 May 2007 00:00:00 EST "The gods first make fashionable that which they would destroy" is one of life's truisms. This is why you should enjoy rosé wines while you still can, because in another year or two, they will pall. Everyone will be drinking rosé and — see truism above — quality will consequently plummet. Now, wine cynics might say that no such pinnacle of quality has ever been reached by rosé such that "plummet" applies. True, most rosés remain banal. But the current fashionable status of rosé — not just in... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/beyond-i-like-it-and-i-dont/53608/ Wed, 2 May 2007 00:00:00 EST Wine proselytizers seem perennially torn about how best to evangelize the stuff. One school advocates the "you have to study it" approach. The other is more defiantly populist. Its rallying cry is "Pull the cork, pour, and glug." The wine formalists believe the complications of wine are such that mere drinking isn't enough and that study is essential. The "pull, pour, and glug" adherents find this approach overly prescriptive and pretentious. They believe that if you leave wine drinkers to... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/blurring-the-lines-blending-the-grapes/53161/ Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST After spending considerable time in Australia, I've returned home more convinced than ever about what might be called the primacy of place. Put another way, you can't blend your way to greatness. What about Bordeaux, you ask? Isn't that a blended wine? It certainly is, typically a mix of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc, along with dollops of petit verdot and malbec. Châteauneuf du Pape in the southern Rhone Valley is even more extreme, with 13 grape varieties authorized for the... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/search-for-closure/52685/ Wed, 18 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST HUNTER VALLEY, Australia — In the course of working my way through a vertical tasting (multiple vintages of one wine) of superb, dry, crisp semillons from Brokenwood winery in the Hunter Valley district two hours' drive north of Sydney, the subject of closures came up. In wine circles, "closures" is not some psychobabble, but the generic term for whatever you use to seal a bottle of wine: traditional cork, screw cap, synthetic cork, or the newfangled glass cork where a silicone O-ring attached... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/counterfeit-confidential/51767/ Wed, 4 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST Last week at a small private dinner, the host, a wine importer, brought forth a bottle of 1928 Château Desmirail, a third-growth red Bordeaux from the Margaux district. Normally, at such a "tah-dah" moment, the wine is presented with academic reverence about its historicity or fetishistic fussing about the condition of its cork. But the first thing the host said upon presenting the wine was, "I bought this years ago, before there was any likelihood that anyone would fake a wine like this."... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/not-too-hot-not-too-cold/50402/ Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST MELBOURNE, Australia — Ludwig Bemelmans, who is best known today for his "Madeline" series of children's books, was an acute observer of life at the table. I thought of Bemelmans while at tables in several of Melbourne's high-end restaurants. Melbourne has an energetic, almost fevered restaurant scene. Australia is enjoying a years-long economic boom, and cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth are awash in money. I've never seen as many late-model Ferraris and Lamborghinis as those that... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/remembering-the-king-of-pink-chablis/50090/ Thu, 8 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST The death of Ernest Gallo on Tuesday at age 97 is the sort of event that has memorialists everywhere trotting out that journalistic chestnut, the "end of an era." It would be closer to the truth to say that Mr. Gallo actually outlived his era. While his fellow achiever in family wine fame, Robert Mondavi, singularly reshaped American wine and brought it a global respectability, Mr. Gallo was more comfortable in the pennies-from-heaven mentality of bulk wine. But make no mistake: Those pennies... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/mickey-mantle-of-wine/49506/ Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Wine, like baseball playing cards, has its hierarchies: For instance, it was a universal truth in my longago youth that two Roger Marises were always worth one Mickey Mantle. For its part, wine reaches its pinnacle of esteem with Burgundy's Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Wine collectors everywhere will trade two or more of just about any other wine in exchange for one of this estate's top bottles. Partly this is a function of price. DRC (as this estate is breezily abbreviated) offers seven... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/in-the-wet/48631/ Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST MELBOURNE, Australia — "Why is everything so expensive down here?" I recently demanded of a hapless wine clerk. To an American used to competitive wine prices — indeed, to competitive pricing on just about everything — Australia is an expensive place. Here in Melbourne, dinner at a decent restaurant will cost about 80 Australian dollars, or $62 at the current exchange rate, and that's before you order a bottle of wine, which typically starts at $40 and can soar to several hundred bucks. By the... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/something-in-the-water/47709/ Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST HEATHCOTE, Australia — If you study wine long enough, across not only a span of vintages but also across national wine cultures, you begin to perceive certain "truths." One such verity — the ur-truth, if you will — is that if a culture seeks to create fine wine, it will inevitably pursue and celebrate the power of place. This is what makes Australia such a fascinating 21st-century wine experience. The finewine ambition has taken almost ferocious hold in Australia. One such example is a district... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/bottles-worth-bragging-about/47310/ Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST "There is perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride," Benjamin Franklin wrote in his "Autobiography." "Disguise it, struggle with it, stifle it, mortify it as much as you please, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself." I thought of Franklin's observation when choosing the two wines for this week's column because I confess to an unseemly pride in finding wines to bring to your attention. Actually, it's more than ordinary pride: It's a... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/beautiful-barbaresco/46834/ Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Italian wines, perhaps more than any others in the world, are vexing. This is not because of quality — the best Italian reds take their place with the world's greatest — or availability. Instead, the vexation is a uniquely Italian unpredictability about style. Despite a famous name, such as Chianti or Soave, there's really no way to know or even predict what sort of wine you'll discover after opening the bottle. Will it be heavily veneered with oak? Many Italian producers are enthralled by... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/talking-points/46413/ Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Some peculiarities of wine in our time are the side effects of the widespread use of the 100-point system of scoring wines. It was pioneered by the wine newsletter writer Robert M. Parker, Jr., in 1978 and then given broader exposure when adopted by Wine Spectator magazine in the mid-1980s. Originally an American phenomenon, the 100-point system is now employed in other nations, including France, Italy, and Australia. Although decried by traditionalists as crude and inappropriate, the fact is... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/wine-for-right-now/46039/ Wed, 3 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Like doctors who annually advise their patients to lose some weight or dentists who tell you to floss, I find myself at this time of year offering what I know to be excellent advice that similarly won't be taken. This advice is simple: Start a wine cellar. Without my wishing to belabor matters: You want a wine cellar because it's the only way you'll get a chance to drink reasonably mature wines. And it will allow you to lay in wines you really like that don't cost much money. You already know... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/brush-up-on-bubbly/45765/ Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Wine writers, like other service workers, are in thrall to seasonality. If it's summer, you can be sure you won't be reading about vintage port. And if New Year's Eve is imminent, the inevitable topic is champagne. After all, New Year's Eve without champagne is as unimaginable as Thanksgiving without turkey, or the New York Knicks without arguments. But by now, you've already been fizzed, frothed, bubbled, and effervesced ad nauseum about sparkling wines. Do you really want to read yet more... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/right-questions/45488/ Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST While walking through a wine shop the other day, I witnessed a woman scanning what I presumed was a gift list. It was clear that, quite understandably, today's wine offerings are overwhelming. I was about to approach and, with a rhetorical flourish of my cape, offer to escort her across the wine puddle, as it were. However, a sales person arrived just before my musketeer moment. Now, it's tempting to presume that our wine damsel was in distress, trapped in the clutches of an uncaring and... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/for-the-oenophile-who-has-everything/45061/ Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Among the many traumas I seem to inflict upon my friends and relations, two are noted more than others. One is "I'd be terrified to cook for you." For the record, I'm easygoing as a guest. But I was a food writer for many years and that, like an unflattering school nickname, dogs you forever. The other involves wine, of course, for pretty much the same reason. "I can't imagine what I could buy you" is the refrain I always hear. It has to be noted that there's a practical, rather self-serving... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/versace-of-champagnes/44676/ Wed, 6 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Every year at this time I am importuned by friends about which champagne to buy. This activates my humbug gene turning holiday cheer into holiday jeer. Champagne, you see, is all about marketing. Can you think of another wine where producers pay for the privilege of having their wines poured over athlete's heads? Or another wine whose names are so brazenly emblazoned on hot-air balloons and race cars, and expensively inserted into James Bond movies? Can you imagine what would happen if you... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/fortuitous-mistake/44333/ Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST "I made a mistake," Aldo Conterno growled. After a lifetime of winemaking, Mr. Conterno, 75, is not used to making mistakes. Indeed, he has made very few, which explains why he is recognized as one of Barolo's greatest winemakers. His Barolos routinely fetch triple-digit prices and are collected with the same obsessive attention lavished on Bordeaux and Burgundy. Barolo — made 100% from the nebbiolo grape variety — is universally recognized as Italy's greatest red wine. But it's not an easy... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/what-goes-with-turkey/44017/ Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Thanksgiving looms and you, the designated wine provider — or at least a bearer of wine gifts to the host — have not quite gotten around to the job. Procrastination did not quite merit its own circle in Dante's Hell, but the spirits were beseeched to redeem Dante's "neglect and procrastination" as he passed through Purgatory. They obliged. Allow me to, ahem, help you on your wine way. First, we need a plan of attack. Chances are that you won't be anywhere near a really good wine shop. So you'll... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/cultivated-with-care/43580/ Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST MASSA MARITTIMA, Italy — An unwritten convention among wine scribes is that you write about wines your readers can obtain. This makes sense, of course. There's nothing more frustrating than to read about some wonderful bottle but — oh, by the way — you can't get it. Well, thanks, pal. Still, occasionally you come across a producer so distinctive, so fundamentally worthy, that this prerequisite of availability is ignored in exchange for the greater good of knowledge for its own sake. Such is the... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/worlds-best-lagrein/43095/ Wed, 8 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST TRAMIN, Italy — A small, picturesque Tyrolean village just south of the city of Bolzano, the village of Tramin is not counted among the world's great wine destinations. Yet if you're on the hunt for great lagrein, then eventually you'll find your way to Tramin, specifically to the winery of J. Hofstätter. Because this winery, now run by Martin Foradori Hofstätter, 36, makes what is arguably the world's finest lagrein. Even Mr. Hofstätter laughs amiably at the phrase "world's finest lagrein." "I... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/on-the-waterfront-fresh-fish-great-wine/42705/ Wed, 1 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST VENICE, Italy — At 54, Cesare Benelli is a handsome, solidly built man with a full head of white curling hair who exudes an animated warmth. A chef by trade and a former amateur boxer, Mr. Benelli is a martyr to a cause that other, more cynical, sorts in this most touristed of cities likely consider a folly. As the chef-owner of a 40-seat restaurant called Al Covo (the lair), Mr. Benelli has a cause that is hairshirt-simple: serving the freshest fish imaginable with deference to Venetian... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/tuts-tomb-of-wine-in-colorado/42264/ Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Tom Passavant, a wine-loving friend who fled New York for the ski slopes of Aspen, stumbled upon one of those improbable wine shops that you expect in New York but not in Carbondale, Colo. "It's about 30 miles down valley from Aspen," he said. Called the Catherine Store, it's an old gas station run by a former New York derivatives trader and her companion, a physician who specializes in gerontology. "Anyway," Mr. Passavant continued, "I walk into this place and discover a King Tut's Tomb of... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/bottled-poetry/41800/ Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Most New Yorkers of my acquaintance are unfamiliar with the normal lapse rate, which involves temperature and altitude. Granted, my circle may be confined to dunderheads — as I've long suspected — but I don't think the normal lapse rate is the stuff of cocktail conversation even among a better class. Likely this is because — you don't want to hear this, I know — New York City is height challenged. For example, Manhattan's highest point, once stripped to its structural skivvies, is just 265 feet... MATT KRAMER http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/perils-of-price-dissonance/41352/ Wed, 11 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST The matter of Bordeaux's unprecedentedly high prices for its 2005 vintage crus classés, or classed growths, is churning on wine chat boards worldwide. Every time the Bordelais ratchet up their prices — which occurs with clockwork regularity whenever they have a great vintage — the reaction is one of consumer outrage.Yet the wines sell anyway. You see, Bordeaux buyers — uniquely, I believe — suffer from what psych-savvy sorts call cognitive dissonance, which is roughly defined as the discrepancy...