Giving South America a Second Look: Montes & Kaiken Wines
Moral of the Story: Know Your Preference, but Re-examine Your Bias Regularly. Protocol Wine Studio, Montes Wines, Kaiken Wines and the Montes Family I don’t like Argentine or Chilean wines. For Argentina: too ripe & extracted, too oaky. For Chile: hard to tell what the general style is, as it seems to be all over … Continue reading
Our Saber Crisis #MWWC18
Monthly Wine Writing Challenge 18 #MWWC18 After several months away, I’m jumping back into the game with the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge group. The premise is simple: a friendly challenge among the group to write on the topic for the month. Votes are tallied (remember, no wagering) and a winner emerges. The winner chooses the … Continue reading
Mourvedre – New World and Old
Our French Winophiles group visited (virtually) Provence last weekend. I love Provençal rosé, but I knew I had to pair a meal with a favorite wine of mine from Bandol, Domaine Tempier. When I open a classic from the “old world”, I always enjoy drinking it alongside a respectful version from the “new world”. By … Continue reading
Franco Rocca: Our Barbaresco Winegrower Friend
A Great Deal on Single Cru Barbaresco Have you heard of cruzu.com? Check them out, crowdsourcing for wineries looking for American exposure. A Barbaresco winegrower friend of ours, Franco Rocca, has an offer open until July 5, and he is looking for support. I don’t have anything to gain from this support, except that I … Continue reading
Under $20 Sparkling Showdown!
Moral of the Story You don’t need to read the rest of this post if you follow this simple advice. You need chilled sparkling wine available at your house 24/7. Whenever guests arrive, open a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate. Good day? Open some bubbly! Bad day? Some sparkling wine to salve the wounds. … Continue reading
Is Taurasi the Barolo of the South?
Taurasi Who? Have you ever heard of Taurasi? How about Aglianico? I thought so. When you’re trying to get some recognition for a little known wine, it’s helpful to compare it to a known reference. Anyone who drinks Italian wine has at least heard of Barolo, so why not? Taurasi Like many Italian wines, Taurasi … Continue reading
From Etna Bianco to Marsala, a Sicilian Wine Tour #ItalianFWT
A Virtual Visit to Sicily with #ItalianFWT Our #ItalianFWT group is off to Sicily this month (virtually). I’ve included links at the bottom of this post to see what everyone else is up to! Sicily Sicily is a large island, just off the toe of the boot of Italy, bordered by 3 different seas. It’s … Continue reading
Not Your Grandmother’s Sherry
Sherry? Who Drinks Sherry? I don’t know about you, but not many people I know are drinking sherry (me included). It seems both unfamiliar and a little bit old fashioned, a grandmother’s drink. The Wrong Way to Learn About Sherry Always curious, I tried a bottle last spring when my blogging buddy, Mike, offered up … Continue reading
The Wine that Changed It All: #That1stSip
Becca, the Academic Wino, shared a writing exercise from the recent professional wine writers conference where writers took just 5 minutes to write about “what wine changed our life”. Some of my blogging buddies have taken up the challenge, so I joined them today. If you’re interested in reading or writing, tweet about it at … Continue reading
Emilia Romagna Find: Sparkling Orange Malvasia
A Lesser Known Wine Terzo Vino Bar in Minneapolis is one of our favorite hangouts. They have a great Italian wine list with lots of interesting wines by the glass. Back in December I was thinking about Emilia Romagna, our upcoming region in our virtual tour of Italy. I was looking over the by-the-glass choices, … Continue reading
