Holiday Gift Idea: Plonk Wine Club!
A Gift for the Wine Enthusiast on Your List Do you have a wine enthusiast on your holiday gift list? Need an easy, fun idea? How about a wine club subscription! Now, buyer beware, wine clubs are everywhere these days. Food and Wine Magazine, Wall Street Journal (a sure source of wine information??????), everyone has … Continue reading
Surprisingly Affordable Wine Region: Bordeaux! #Winophiles
#Winophiles Need Affordable Wines Too Our August meeting of our French Winophiles group has us digging around for good, affordable French wines. Sure, some of the world’s most expensive wines come from France (I’m talking to you, Burgundy. And you, Bordeaux!), but there are also great values to be found if you know where to … Continue reading
Are Winemaker Consultants Good or Bad Wizards?
Good Wizard or Bad Wizard? Winemaking consultants, “Flying Winemakers”, you’ve probably heard of one or more. The best known is perhaps Michel Rolland, reknown for helping wineries adjust their vineyard and cellar practices to achieve riper wines with bolder flavors. These translate into high scores from major publications such as those of Robert Parker and … Continue reading
Natura Wines – Organically Grown, Fresh & Affordable
Natura Wines – Organic, Affordable, Delicious I received a set of Natura Wine samples this spring from the parent company, Banfi Vintners. Natura Wines come from Chile, and they represent a line of inexpensive wines made from hand harvested organic grapes. Affordable and hand harvested organic aren’t typically seen in the same sentence, so I … Continue reading
Friday Night: Sipping as Our Forefathers Did – Madeira
Dessert Wines – Wines with a Story Almost every dessert wine I know has an interesting story. Sometimes it’s the vineyard conditions: foggy fall mornings, early freezes, long dry autumns. Often, the story involves history and the challenges of transporting wines over long distances before the age of refrigeration. On the Friday evening of our … Continue reading
Villa Maria Virtual Visit
A Virtual New Zealand Visit to Villa Maria via Snooth Virtual Tastings/Chats are a blast, if you’re an action junkie. The biggest challenge is managing your time for the hour of the chat. We taste, eat, tweet, photograph, and often are chatting on a custom media outside of the usual suspects (Twitter, Facebook, etc…). Tonight, … Continue reading
Rosé Time 2017!
Welcome to Rosé Time! Spring has sprung, and the hot weather has arrived. In Minnesota, it always takes us a few extra weeks to be really sure the cold weather has gone for the season. Farmers markets have opened, the yard has greened up, and the mosquitoes are due any day now. That can only … Continue reading
Avina Wine Tools
I recently received two corkscrews as samples for review from Avina Wine Tools. Avina makes a variety of wine openers and a unique bottle stopper. When it comes to wine accessories, I have a very short list of items I use: 2 stage waiter’s corkscrew “Ah-so” two prong cork remover for old, delicate corks Drip-stop … Continue reading
Cork Dork: Will the Real Bianca Bosker Please Step Forward?
Punch Out and Be a Sommelier Many a wine enthusiast has the occasional Walter Mitty-esque dream of punching out of his/her daily occupation to become a sommelier. To be surrounded by wine, sharing the great stories with customers, hob-nobbing with winemakers. Ahh, the life! Well, Bianca Bosker did just that in her new book: “Cork … Continue reading
French Wine 101 – Loire Valley Wines
Wine 101 Series This is one of a series of posts aimed at newcomers to wine with interest but a modest checkbook. Previous Posts Bordeaux, Burgundy & Rhone Affordable Bubbles- Crémant & More Languedoc-Roussillon and Alsace A Few Simple Rules Just the facts, no flowery language Key types of wine from a region Some help in navigating … Continue reading
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