Villa Maria Wines from New Zealand

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

Primo Ceramic grill, pizza, and Trediberri Barber d'Alba

Friday Night: Pizza and Trediberri Barbera d’Alba

Friday Night: Easy Pizza and a Nice Bottle of Wine When we make pizza at home, I usually make everything from scratch: dough, sauce, and a wide variety of toppings. It’s a bit of an all-day affair, not exactly easy to start at 6pm on Friday night. Unless you like pizza at midnight!  This week, … 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

Domaine Louis Max wines from Burgundy

Salmon and Morels with the Domaine Wines of Louis Max #Winophiles

French Winophiles Linger in Bourgogne Our winophiles group loves Burgundy (Bourgogne) so much, we decided we needed to spend two months exploring the region. Last month, we were in Chablis and the Northern part of the Côte d’Or: the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune. The wines of these northern regions are real … Continue reading

Crawling Through the Cellar at Louis Max

Moral of the Story: When your wine industry friend sets up a visit, JUMP ON IT! While planning our visit in France last fall, I contacted a couple of local Minnesota wine industry folks for any tips or visits we might make while in the Côte de Nuits in Burgundy. I didn’t hear anything back, … Continue reading

Château Phélan-Ségur

Tour and Taste at Château Phélan-Ségur

Château Phélan-Ségur During our week long visit hosted by our friends at Millesima, we were treated to a private visit at Château Phélan-Ségur in St. Estephe. Where the Heck is St. Estephe? You’ll never realize how large the Bordeaux wine region is until you have the opportunity to visit. Several hours drive from end to … Continue reading

Summer Wines With Memphis Style Slow Smoked Ribs #WinePW

Summertime and the Grillin’s Easy Our Wine Pairing Weekend assignment this month was a natural for the summer, the grill. Take a look at all the other enthusiastic grilling posts farther down on this page! My #WinePW buddies always have some great ideas to share. Truth be told, I grill year-round. However, in the summertime, … Continue reading

Sweet and dry marsala wine

The Sordid Tale of Marsala Wine #ItalianFWT

Italian Food Wine & Travel Group Indulges in Italian Sweeties This month, our Italian Food Wine & Travel (#ItalianFWT) group will be sampling and posting on sweet wines from Italy. Take a look farther down in this post for links to my fellow Italian wine enthusiasts contributions for the month. There is no shortage of … Continue reading

Grill roasted rabbit with wines of Navarra

Wines of Navarra Paired with Grill Roasted Rabbit

Wines of Navarra Invade the US! Have you ever heard of the Navarra region of Spain? Me neither. The winemakers of Navarra have banded together to promote the region in the US, and I was given the opportunity to receive a full set of samples for review. I had a fun evening enjoying the wines … Continue reading

Gary Farrell wines with rabbit & green olives

Gary Farrell Wines Paired with Rabbit and Green Olives

Taking Gary Farrell Wines for a Spin California is a warm place, with a beautiful Mediterranean climate, and fruit ripens without question. A vinous consequence of this warm climate is that wines can be very ripe and rich, which is appealing to many people. I find these wines just too rich to be enjoyable with … Continue reading