Tales of TCA + Glorious Godello
Year 13, No. 11
In terms of global conspiracies, the one that few if any talk about is how the calendar that we all know and love… only has 11 months.
When creating it, Those Who Know discovered that there was this unfortunate void between July and September and decided to invent ‘August’ to fill up this otherwise useless space and so, here we are, in the dead middle of the void.
Given the general nothingness we find ourselves in, it’s a perfect moment to chill and read the latest essay from today, About that Cork Taint (*) as, despite some people noting it diminishing, I’ve seen the opposite.
For those who are paid subscribers, you can enjoy a look at eight Godello wines from the Bierzo region which sits at the doorstep of Galicia. While it’s gotten more fame for its Mencía wines as of late, these whites are very much worth your while as well.
As something of a housekeeping note, since November, 2022, I’ve long-wondered what will happen to ‘Wine Twitter’ (*) and have in fact massively reduced my use of the platform, Like many, the time has come to fully move on from Twitter (*) as with fewer good accounts posting, what lay lurking in the depths has risen to the surface more and more. While I’ve been enjoying Twitter (sorry, ‘X’) less and less, I’ve been enjoying interacting with people via this newsletter more and more as well as a relatively ancient form of communication called, ‘face-to-face’.
As we’re in the bowels of August, articles will slow down for a few days. This doesn’t however mean I’m taking time off (okay maybe a little) as I’m working with my developer to expand a number of functions on the site and prepare the Rioja Report for release in early September. I’m also continuing to enter the backlog of tasting notes and scores which seems to never end and totals over 7,200 available on the site currently.
Again, all of this is available for paid subscribers.
Drink well, be well.
-Miquel
(*) Free to read
The Featured Essay
About that Cork Taint (*)
Yay, it’s diminishing! Wait, no it’s not… The never-ending battle to deal with this very annoying chemical fault that can taint wines from any price and quality level.
The Featured Book Review
In catching up with a backlog of wine books to review, I’ve finally arrived to this gorgeous book, “The South America Wine Guide” (*) by Amanda Barnes which serves as a reference for all countries in South America that produce wine. It also serves as the 50th wine book review on the site. Woo hoo!
And Now This
Have you tasted any wines from Cairanne, France lately? If you haven’t, then you should look into this one from Domaine Boisson.
What’s makes a wine theft a big one, not a small one? It’s clearly not the number of bottles, as shown by this swipe job in the Empordà region of Catalunya last month: “Is that a pry bar in your pants or are you just happy to steal some pricey wines?”
The Featured Wine
When releasing the 2023 Priorat Report, I was reminded that it’s important to look at those wines from the region that don’t have triple-digit prices and are in fact quite affordable, yet manage to deliver consistently. This is why it’s worth featuring the Vall Llach - Embruix 2021 which I scored with one of its highest marks to date at 93pts.