Category: Wine

Darius Allyn’s Wine Crawl. With Commentary.

Eating Las Vegas rarely publishes press releases — unlike most media in town — and when we do, we tell our readers that’s what we’re doing — unlike most media in town.

But we’re big fans of Darius Allyn (we even knew him when he went by a different name!), and as a congratulatory gesture for him becoming the newest Master Sommelier at Bellagio, we thought we’d show you his top 10 wine venues (with stilted, promotional commentary provided by a public relations person who probably knows next to nothing about wine – other than it’s wet). Amazingly, some of these are not on MGM-Mirage (his employer) properties:

DARIUS ALLYN’S TOP 10 WINE VENUES

1. Craving Spanish wine? Head to Bellagio’s Picasso for a selection of more than 1,500 of the best wines from Spain, as well as classics from the rest of the world. Find out why Picasso has made the annual list of Wine Spectator’s Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers since 2002 and has received their Grand Award from 2003-2005 and again in 2008. (ELV note: no commentary needed. Robert Smith runs one of the nation’s best wine programs and should’ve won a Beard Award by now.)

Continue reading “Darius Allyn’s Wine Crawl. With Commentary.”

Are High Alcohol Wines On Way Out?

(ELV note: This article appears in the current issue of John Mariani’s The Virutal Gourmet found at www.johnmariani.com.)

p.s. ELV has been complaining about high alcohol red wines (both new world and old) for years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

`Tiresome’ High-Alcohol Wines Face Backlash as Buyers Wake Up

by John Mariani

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I had just enjoyed a glass of white wine with some seafood and the next course was lamb, with which was served a big red Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Trouble was, this was lunch, and I spent the rest of the afternoon asleep.
True, the older one gets the less one should drink at lunch, but the real culprit was the red’s 14.5 percent alcohol, a level made popular by the sun-burned Napa Valley blockbusters and California cult wines that delighted many U.S. wine critics since they emerged in the late 1970s.
Robert Parker (right), publisher of The Wine Advocate, raved about big “plummy” high-alcohol red wines with “gobs of fruit,” encouraging California winemakers to go for higher and higher alcohol levels. Some labels now list 17 percent, which may actually be a degree or higher in the bottle — closer to Port than wine.


Continue reading “Are High Alcohol Wines On Way Out?”