Some of the best wines I’ve ever had in my life seem to have one strange thing in common. They are made by people that, depending on your mood, might be described as cranks, hermits, crackpots, wackos, or eccentrics. Winemaking it seems, tends to either bring out the strangeness in people, or it tends to simply attract the strange ones.

Every wine writer has at one time or another compared wine to alchemy, myself included. Such comparisons invariably focus on the magical qualities of wine that somehow end up being more than the sum of their parts. But the characterization of winemaking in alchemical terms may be even more apt for the parallels between the way that arcane science was practiced and those who are changing the game in winemaking.

As far back as the first century BCE, obsessed with the quest to turn lead to gold, many men literally spent their lives and their fortunes toiling in homemade laboratories. The alchemists were a somewhat furtive bunch, and even those that didn’t prefer the company of their books to polite society were known for being more than a little eccentric.

Sound like any winemakers you know? The phenomenon that I’ll affectionately call The Crank Winemaker is common enough that any wine lover will have heard of at least one or two. But much more interestingly, these iconoclasts tend to make some of the world’s more amazing wines.

Winemaking at its most honest represents a truly creative act, one that an individual produces through a vision, a plan for how to realize that vision, and then the hard work to carry it out. Along the way, progress is measured most intimately — the ache of the hands after pruning or leafing, the taste of a ripening grape in the mouth, the smell of the fermenter, and of course, the taste of the evolving wine — all personal, visceral, and potentially private experiences. Winemakers, at least those who practice the craft on a scale proportional to their own capacities to manage the entire process, are essentially auteurs.

And the stories that they write are extraordinary:

Italian Prince Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi started making wine without any formal training, and then after figuring out how to make phenomenal wines (in part, he said, due to the thick white mold that covered everything in his cellar) he decided not to sell his wines to anyone. Only now after his death are his Fiorano wines available to the world.

Alsatian winemaker Marcel Deiss believes in part that he has a divine mandate to harvest and crush a bizarre mix of Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Noir, because in his vineyard they all ripen at the same time. Since he’s already violating the rules of the appellation, he also goes ahead and labels the wine with the vineyard name rather than the varietal.

Slovenian winemaker Ales Kristancic of Movia gets farther off the winemaking map every time he starts a new expedition. His latest creation, Lunar, is not only fully biodynamic, but completely untouched by any mechanical, human or chemical technology from the point at which the grapes are removed from the vine. They’re plopped into barrels and left alone until the juice is ready to be bottled. Never crushed, never filtered, never fined, never racked, nothing.

Josko Gravner, who makes wine in Italy’s Friuli region, doesn’t think traditional winemaking is quite traditional enough. Those wooden barrels that everyone has been using for centuries? Too much newfangled technology. Graver makes his wines in huge clay amphorae that are buried in the ground.

Austrian Roland Velich became obsessed with the untapped potential of Austria’s Blaufrankisch grape, and was convinced it could make world class wines. So he decided to treat the grape from start to finish as if he was making top-flight burgundy. He sometimes only gets a few hundred bottles per acre out of his ancient vines, some of which are over 110 years old.

The godfather of Biodynamics, Loire winemaker Nicolas Joly, makes his Chenin Blanc according to Biodynamic principles, of course, but also exposes his wines to much more air than is normally recommended by racking far more often and more loosely than most winemakers would ever contemplate doing.

Closer to home, Randall Grahm, sometimes known as the enfant terrible of winemaking in the New World, has tried on many strange hats during his career, retiring each one when they are no longer seen as quite extreme. From his beginnings trying to make Rhone style wines in California, which the French said could never be done, to today’s incarnation as a proponent of biodynamics and sensitive crystallization, Grahm may be the poster child for the Crank Winemaker in America.

This is but a brief excerpt from a list that contains names like Didier Dagueneau, Manfred Krankel, Abe Schoener, Fulvio Bressan, Stanislao Radikon, Eben Sadie, Sean Thackrey, Frank Cornelissen, and hundreds more.

Something knits together the clan of people that strike out to plant grapes where none thought they would grow, that throw away the rule books and make wine according to intuition, that combine grapes and wood and time in ways that no one ever considered before. I don’t doubt it’s the same thing that unites iconoclasts in every aesthetic field, from painting to cooking to architecture.

The fact that we can drink their work (perhaps excepting some extreme hermits, or extremely expensive examples) makes the Crank Winemakers stuff that modern odysseys are made of — wines to strive, to seek, and to find ways to consume, as often as possible.

What we really need, though, are a set of Crank Winemaker trading cards, that we can collect and trade along with empty bottles of their wine, making sure that we’ve tasted their stuff while they’re still in their prime, and reminiscing about the great vintages when they’re gone.

Who would you add to the deck, and why?

More: continued here

Every Spring the wine world begins to buzz with the anticipation of tasting through the latest vintage of Bordeaux. I’ve never been to the En Primeurs tastings, but I would like to go sometime to see the pomp and circumstance, but not really to taste the wines. Young Bordeaux are some of the most difficult and unpleasant wines to taste in the entire universe, especially when they’re not made particularly well.

A tasting of the 2006 vintage a few days ago, sponsored by the Union de Grands Crus des Bordeaux, was a both a good reminder to not open any of my own Bordeaux for a few more years, as well as an insightful view into particulars of that vintage in the region.

In general, I’m not impressed. The last time I tasted through a significant cross section of Bordeaux was for the 2002 which seemed to be more consistent in its quality.

The 2006 vintage in Bordeaux was variable due to some unexpected weather at various points in the growing cycle — cool early on, some heat spikes in August, and then some rainfall around harvest time. Crop yields were down in general, and this was apparently a year where the decision on when to pick your grapes could have a dramatic impact on the quality of the wine that you produced. Some got their grapes in during beautifully sunny, dry weather, while others battled rains into September.

Overall, the vintage, to my palate, has resulted in some extremely tannic wines, many of which lean towards the bitter side of the spectrum. Not surprisingly, as a group the wines continue to be marked by a surfeit of new oak, regardless of whether the wines are structured to accommodate this choking dose of wood. The result are wines whose true character are obscured by vanilla and toast, as winemakers in the region seem obstinate in their insistence on new, toasty oak.

It didn’t register at the time I was tasting all these wines, but on reflection it seems that the Right Bank wines were more to my taste in this vintage than the Left (which is not my usual order of preference, as I generally favor Margaux over others).

The red wine that most impressed me of the tasting was the Chateau Angelus, which struck me as being clearly the best made wine in the room, but still was not as extraordinary as it has been in better vintages. With time, however, the 2006 will clearly be a fantastic wine.

The white wines of Graves, Pessac-Leognan, and Sauternes (albeit via the somewhat limited view that this tasting afforded) seemed quite good, with excellent acids and great flavors. When it comes to favorites in this department, there’s simply no contest. Both Chateau Climens and Suduiraut were in rare form.

In short, I wouldn’t recommend anyone rush out and buy these wines when they hit the market here in a couple of months, unless you’re in the habit of squirreling away a few top bottlings for a couple of decades, and aren’t short of cash to do so. If I was going to spend more than $50 on a bottle of Bordeaux right now, I’d be buying the 1996 vintage at auction.

2006 Bordeaux Grand Cru Red Wine

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2006 Château Angélus, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. $190. Where to buy?
2006 Château Beau - Séjour Bécot, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. $60. Where to buy?
2006 Château Beauregard, Pomerol. $45. Where to buy?
2006 Château Canon - La - Gaffelière, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. $75. Where to buy?
2006 Château Grand - Mayne, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Haut - Bailly, Pessac-Léognan. $60. Where to buy?
2006 Château Kirwan, Margaux. $45. Where to buy?
2006 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan. $65. Where to buy?
2006 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac. $115. Where to buy?
2006 Château Rauzan - Ségla, Margaux. $70. Where to buy?

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2006 Château Beychevelle, Saint Julien
2006 Château Cantenac-Brown, Margaux
2006 Château Carbonnieux, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Clinet, Pomerol
2006 Château Croizet-Bages, Pauillac
2006 Château d’ Armailhac, Pauillac
2006 Château de Chantegrive, Graves
2006 Château Figeac, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Giscours, Margaux
2006 Château La Couspaude, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Larcis Ducasse, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Malartic - Lagravière, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Ormes De Pez, Saint Estephe
2006 Château Pape Clément, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Petit-Village, Pomerol
2006 Château Pontet-Canet, Pauillac
2006 Château Smith Haut-Lafitte, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Troplong Mondot, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Clos Fourtet, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Léognan

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2006 Château Batailley, Pauillac
2006 Château Beaumont, Haut Médoc
2006 Château Brane-Cantenac, Margaux
2006 Château Canon, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Chasse - Spleen, Moulis en Médoc
2006 Château Clarke, Listrac Médoc
2006 Château Clerc Milon, Pauillac
2006 Château d’Angludet, Margaux
2006 Château Dassault, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château de Fieuzal, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château de France, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Chateau Desmirail, Margaux
2006 Château Durfort Vivens, Margaux
2006 Château Franc Mayne, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Lafon - Rochet, Saint Estephe
2006 Château Lagrange, Saint Julien
2006 Château Larrivet - Haut - Brion, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Lascombes, Margaux
2006 Château Léoville Poyferré, Saint Julien
2006 Château Lynch - Bages, Pauillac
2006 Château Malescot Saint-Exupéry, Margaux
2006 Château Olivier, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Pavie - Macquin, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2006 Château Bouscaut, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Camensac, Haut Médoc
2006 Château Dauzac, Margaux
2006 Château du Tertre, Margaux
2006 Château Gazin, Pomerol
2006 Château Greysac, Médoc
2006 Château Gruaud Larose, Saint Julien
2006 Château Haut - Bages Libéral, Pauillac
2006 Château La Tour de By, Médoc
2006 Château Labegorce, Margaux
2006 Château Larmande, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Latour - Martillac, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Marquis de Terme, Margaux
2006 Château Phélan Ségur, Saint Estephe
2006 Château Pichon - Longueville, Pauillac
2006 Château Rauzan Gassies, Margaux
2006 Château Talbot, Saint Julien

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2006 Château Branaire - Ducru, Saint Julien
2006 Château Cantemerle, Haut Médoc
2006 Château Ferrière, Margaux
2006 Château Fourcas-Hosten, Listrac Médoc
2006 Château Grand - Puy - Ducasse, Pauillac
2006 Château L’ Évangile, Pomerol
2006 Château La Gaffelière, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château La Louvière, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château La Tour Carnet, Haut Médoc
2006 Château Lynch - Moussas, Pauillac
2006 Château Poujeaux, Moulis en Médoc
2006 Château Prieuré - Lichine, Margaux
2006 Château Saint-Pierre, Saint Julien
2006 Château Trottevieille, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2006 Château La Dominique, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château La Lagune, Haut Médoc

2006 Bordeaux Grand Cru White Wine

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9.5 AND 10
2006 Château Climens, Sauternes et Barsac. $90. Where to buy?
2006 Château Suduiraut, Sauternes et Barsac. $70. Where to buy?

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5
2006 Château Carbonnieux, Pessac-Léognan. $50. Where to buy?
2006 Château Doisy Daëne, Sauternes et Barsac. $120. Where to buy?

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2006 Château Bastor-Lamontagne, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château Guiraud, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château Sigalas - Rabaud, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Léognan

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2006 Château Bouscaut, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château de Chantegrive, Graves
2006 Château de Rayne Vigneau, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château La Tour Blanche, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château Malartic - Lagravière, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Pape Clément, Pessac-Léognan

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2006 Château Coutet, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château de Fieuzal, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château de France, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Larrivet - Haut - Brion, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Latour - Martillac, Pessac-Léognan

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2006 Château Olivier, Pessac-Léognan

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2006 Château La Louvière, Pessac-Léognan

More: continued here

Every Spring the wine world begins to buzz with the anticipation of tasting through the latest vintage of Bordeaux. I’ve never been to the En Primeurs tastings, but I would like to go sometime to see the pomp and circumstance, but not really to taste the wines. Young Bordeaux are some of the most difficult and unpleasant wines to taste in the entire universe, especially when they’re not made particularly well.

A tasting of the 2006 vintage a few days ago, sponsored by the Union de Grands Crus des Bordeaux, was a both a good reminder to not open any of my own Bordeaux for a few more years, as well as an insightful view into particulars of that vintage in the region.

In general, I’m not impressed. The last time I tasted through a significant cross section of Bordeaux was for the 2002 which seemed to be more consistent in its quality.

The 2006 vintage in Bordeaux was variable due to some unexpected weather at various points in the growing cycle — cool early on, some heat spikes in August, and then some rainfall around harvest time. Crop yields were down in general, and this was apparently a year where the decision on when to pick your grapes could have a dramatic impact on the quality of the wine that you produced. Some got their grapes in during beautifully sunny, dry weather, while others battled rains into September.

Overall, the vintage, to my palate, has resulted in some extremely tannic wines, many of which lean towards the bitter side of the spectrum. Not surprisingly, as a group the wines continue to be marked by a surfeit of new oak, regardless of whether the wines are structured to accommodate this choking dose of wood. The result are wines whose true character are obscured by vanilla and toast, as winemakers in the region seem obstinate in their insistence on new, toasty oak.

It didn’t register at the time I was tasting all these wines, but on reflection it seems that the Right Bank wines were more to my taste in this vintage than the Left (which is not my usual order of preference, as I generally favor Margaux over others).

The red wine that most impressed me of the tasting was the Chateau Angelus, which struck me as being clearly the best made wine in the room, but still was not as extraordinary as it has been in better vintages. With time, however, the 2006 will clearly be a fantastic wine.

The white wines of Graves, Pessac-Leognan, and Sauternes (albeit via the somewhat limited view that this tasting afforded) seemed quite good, with excellent acids and great flavors. When it comes to favorites in this department, there’s simply no contest. Both Chateau Climens and Suduiraut were in rare form.

In short, I wouldn’t recommend anyone rush out and buy these wines when they hit the market here in a couple of months, unless you’re in the habit of squirreling away a few top bottlings for a couple of decades, and aren’t short of cash to do so. If I was going to spend more than $50 on a bottle of Bordeaux right now, I’d be buying the 1996 vintage at auction.

2006 Bordeaux Grand Cru Red Wine

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2006 Château Angélus, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. $190. Where to buy?
2006 Château Beau - Séjour Bécot, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. $60. Where to buy?
2006 Château Beauregard, Pomerol. $45. Where to buy?
2006 Château Canon - La - Gaffelière, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru. $75. Where to buy?
2006 Château Grand - Mayne, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Haut - Bailly, Pessac-Léognan. $60. Where to buy?
2006 Château Kirwan, Margaux. $45. Where to buy?
2006 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan. $65. Where to buy?
2006 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac. $115. Where to buy?
2006 Château Rauzan - Ségla, Margaux. $70. Where to buy?

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2006 Château Beychevelle, Saint Julien
2006 Château Cantenac-Brown, Margaux
2006 Château Carbonnieux, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Clinet, Pomerol
2006 Château Croizet-Bages, Pauillac
2006 Château d’ Armailhac, Pauillac
2006 Château de Chantegrive, Graves
2006 Château Figeac, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Giscours, Margaux
2006 Château La Couspaude, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Larcis Ducasse, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Malartic - Lagravière, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Ormes De Pez, Saint Estephe
2006 Château Pape Clément, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Petit-Village, Pomerol
2006 Château Pontet-Canet, Pauillac
2006 Château Smith Haut-Lafitte, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Troplong Mondot, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Clos Fourtet, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Léognan

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2006 Château Batailley, Pauillac
2006 Château Beaumont, Haut Médoc
2006 Château Brane-Cantenac, Margaux
2006 Château Canon, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Chasse - Spleen, Moulis en Médoc
2006 Château Clarke, Listrac Médoc
2006 Château Clerc Milon, Pauillac
2006 Château d’Angludet, Margaux
2006 Château Dassault, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château de Fieuzal, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château de France, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Chateau Desmirail, Margaux
2006 Château Durfort Vivens, Margaux
2006 Château Franc Mayne, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Lafon - Rochet, Saint Estephe
2006 Château Lagrange, Saint Julien
2006 Château Larrivet - Haut - Brion, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Lascombes, Margaux
2006 Château Léoville Poyferré, Saint Julien
2006 Château Lynch - Bages, Pauillac
2006 Château Malescot Saint-Exupéry, Margaux
2006 Château Olivier, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Pavie - Macquin, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2006 Château Bouscaut, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Camensac, Haut Médoc
2006 Château Dauzac, Margaux
2006 Château du Tertre, Margaux
2006 Château Gazin, Pomerol
2006 Château Greysac, Médoc
2006 Château Gruaud Larose, Saint Julien
2006 Château Haut - Bages Libéral, Pauillac
2006 Château La Tour de By, Médoc
2006 Château Labegorce, Margaux
2006 Château Larmande, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château Latour - Martillac, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Marquis de Terme, Margaux
2006 Château Phélan Ségur, Saint Estephe
2006 Château Pichon - Longueville, Pauillac
2006 Château Rauzan Gassies, Margaux
2006 Château Talbot, Saint Julien

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2006 Château Branaire - Ducru, Saint Julien
2006 Château Cantemerle, Haut Médoc
2006 Château Ferrière, Margaux
2006 Château Fourcas-Hosten, Listrac Médoc
2006 Château Grand - Puy - Ducasse, Pauillac
2006 Château L’ Évangile, Pomerol
2006 Château La Gaffelière, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château La Louvière, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château La Tour Carnet, Haut Médoc
2006 Château Lynch - Moussas, Pauillac
2006 Château Poujeaux, Moulis en Médoc
2006 Château Prieuré - Lichine, Margaux
2006 Château Saint-Pierre, Saint Julien
2006 Château Trottevieille, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2006 Château La Dominique, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
2006 Château La Lagune, Haut Médoc

2006 Bordeaux Grand Cru White Wine

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9.5 AND 10
2006 Château Climens, Sauternes et Barsac. $90. Where to buy?
2006 Château Suduiraut, Sauternes et Barsac. $70. Where to buy?

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5
2006 Château Carbonnieux, Pessac-Léognan. $50. Where to buy?
2006 Château Doisy Daëne, Sauternes et Barsac. $120. Where to buy?

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2006 Château Bastor-Lamontagne, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château Guiraud, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château Sigalas - Rabaud, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Léognan

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2006 Château Bouscaut, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château de Chantegrive, Graves
2006 Château de Rayne Vigneau, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château La Tour Blanche, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château Malartic - Lagravière, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Pape Clément, Pessac-Léognan

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2006 Château Coutet, Sauternes et Barsac
2006 Château de Fieuzal, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château de France, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Larrivet - Haut - Brion, Pessac-Léognan
2006 Château Latour - Martillac, Pessac-Léognan

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2006 Château Olivier, Pessac-Léognan

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2006 Château La Louvière, Pessac-Léognan

More: continued here