Rosé Season!
Summer = Rosé Have you stocked up on Rosé for the summer? Have you had a traditional (dry) Rosé? If you thought Rosé was a sweet wine for beginners, please go find a bottle of real Rosé to sample. You’ll be hooked! What is Rosé? With white wines the juice is pressed off the grapes … Continue reading
Port 101 in Porto, Portugal
The moral of this story: Don’t taste 40 year Tawny Port! All lesser ports will be nice, but you’ll forever be thinking about the 40. You have been warned! I just finished a two week European trip for my real job: 14 days, 8 flights, 7 cities – whew! Luckily, I did get a couple … Continue reading
A Nice Budget Mourvèdre
You might like to try a Mourvèdre, but you say you don’t have $50 burning a hole in your pocket? How about $15? I wanted to see if I could find a Mourvèdre (French or American) that is widely available and less than $20. I haven’t found a French one yet, but the Cline Cellars … Continue reading
More Mourvèdre Please
Say that three times fast! We usually try to match the wine with the food pretty carefully, but sometimes “Eat what you like with what you like to drink” is what happens. On this particular Sunday afternoon, I was knee-deep in my Mourvèdre investigation, and we decided we wanted to try a couple of recipes … Continue reading
Idiot’s Grace Vineyard Walk
Last week (May 15), I had the opportunity to take a walk in the Idiot’s Grace Vineyard in Mosier, OR. Memaloose Wines has two properties: Mistral Ranch and Idiot’s Grace. All their wines come from one of these two estate vineyards, both located in the tiny Columbia Gorge AVA. I love the opportunity to see … Continue reading
#ChardonnayDay
We interrupt our Mourvedre investigation for Chardonnay Day. Who decides these things? May 23 is officially “ChardonnayDay”. We’re encouraged to open a Chardonnay and share our experience. These twitter celebrations are kind of goofy, but they are kind of fun, too! We got a late start this evening, this is our Chardonnay Day choice. A … Continue reading
Mourvèdre: Unpronounceable
So you want to buy some Mourvèdre, but how in the world do you pronounce it? “Move Over Dear?” You’re in luck, just click here. It’s kind of fun! Of course, the French ones will be Bandol, which is easier but less fun to pronounce. Today we’re trying another Bandol classic with an American Mourvèdre … Continue reading
What’s Mourvèdre?
The Mourvèdre grape is widely used as one of the blending grapes in Southern Rhone wines such as Côtes du Rhone and Châteauneuf du Pape; wines we enjoy. To get a sense of Mourvèdre at center stage however, we need to look beyond the Rhone. Bandol is a town in Provence and its red wines must … Continue reading
Tweet Your Recipe
Tweet Your Recipe Imagine squeezing a recipe with local ingredients into a single 140 character tweet. Recently, Rick Bakas challenged his readers to tweet food pairing submissions in a competition featuring a different Washington State wine every day. Sponsored by @2DaysinSeattle, the wine assignment for Wednesday was Andrew Will Sorella 2004, a bordeaux style blend … Continue reading
Kielbasi, Sauerkraut & Two Cab Francs
When learning a new grape, I try to get examples from both the classic “old world” and the “new world”. I don’t expect them to be identical, but I enjoy comparing the two for similarities and differences. Pairing with food can be a bit of a guess until I have more experience with the grape. … Continue reading
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