Moving Closer to “All Are Welcome Here” in Wine
All Are Welcome Here In all walks of life, opportunities are needed for people who perhaps don’t look like “us”. Recently, the wine community has started to face the unflattering fact that we are not as diverse as we need to be. One of the big things to help is for businesses to create opportunities … Continue reading
Willamette Valley – Beacon Hill Winery & Vineyard
Willamette Valley Wines – Sub AVA Tour – Soil As we virtually tour the sub AVA’s of Willamette Valley, we’re finding that each of the AVAs shows a unique character. One of the variables is the soil common in that AVA, there being 3 main types in the Willamette Valley: volcanic, marine sedimentary, and windblown. … Continue reading
Willamettte Valley Wines – Sokol Blosser
Willamette Valley Wines – Sub-AVA tour As we drive around the Willamette Valley (virtually) we see the rich soil of the valley floor is great for lots of agriculture, but not grapes. Grapes grow best on the hillsides in poor soil. We start to see the smaller AVA’s defined by a minimum altitude contour line. … Continue reading
Willamette Valley Wines – Carabella
Willamette Valley Wines Tour – Kickoff We’re starting our Willamette Valley virtual tour by trying some moderately priced ($30-45 generally) estate wines from different sub-AVA’s within Willamette Valley. For this first look, we’ll concentrate mostly on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. First up: Chehalem Mountains AVA and Carabella. (click on any image to see in a … Continue reading
Willamette Valley Wines – Be Careful What You Wish For!
Would You Like to Review Some Willamette Valley Wines? This spring, I received an email from Willamette Valley Wineries Association inquiring whether I would be interested in sampling some wines. I’m a big fan of Oregon wines in general so of course I agreed, anticipating 3-4 bottles of wine. I posted a video with the … Continue reading
Need Your Help Today – Wine Tariffs
I’m asking for your help today to enter consumer feedback to the US Trade Representative on the impact of wine tariffs on US businesses and customers. Current feedback closes on July 26. It only takes a few minutes! Tariffs Kill American Businesses and US Customers Pay Late last year, the US enacted tariffs on a … Continue reading
Moldova Wine and Food Preview #WinePW
Celebrate Wines of Moldova with the Wine Pairing Weekend Group On a press trip to Moldova last summer, I could only think how much our Wine Pairing Weekend blogging group would enjoy visiting Moldova for the food, wine and the culture! After returning to the US, I contacted our friends at Wine of Moldova about … Continue reading
The Polar Opposite of House Style at Champagne Coessens #winophiles
French Winophiles Look for Unexpected Pleasures in Champagne This month, our French Winophiles are looking in the dusty corners of Champagne for surprises and unexpected pleasures. Join us as we explore. Do you have an unexpected pleasure of Champagne? Join our chat on Saturday June 20 on Twitter. Just look for us 10-11am CDT at … Continue reading
Lifetime Vintage: A Virtual Blind Tasting Solution
Blind Wine Tasting Tasting wines blind is instructional for wine certification students, but it can also be a fun activity for groups of wine lovers or just plain wine drinkers. I participate in a couple of blind tasting groups which are now proceeding virtually due to our stay at home mandates from the novel coronavirus. … Continue reading
Wine 201: Orange Wine Primer with Food Pairings to Try #WinePW
Wine Pairing Weekend Group Tackles Foods with Orange Wine April showers bring May orange wines? Put simply, orange wines are white wines fermented in contact with their skins. Our Wine Pairing Weekend group is tackling orange wines this month, crafting some great ideas for food pairings with this genre of wines which many are discovering. … Continue reading
