Over the past year, I’ve found myself becoming more and more a fan of South African wines. Of course with any region there are going to be some wines that are better than others — and some producers who are better that others. And Ken Forrester is quckly becoming my “go to” producer from South […]
When a PR rep reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested in tasting a “prickly rosso” I said, “Hell yes!” It wasn’t that I expected it to be a spectacular wine, but it was something different and that’s one of the things I love about wine – exploring different ones. By “prickly” […]
Jacob’s Creek is a pretty big producer from Australia with good distribution in the United States, which means this should be a relatively easy wine to find. That said, this is a new release and it may take some time for it to show up widely in stores. But when it does, it will be […]
I often get the question, “what’s your favorite wine?” To which I never have a simple answer. I don’t really have one favorite. It depends on what mood I’m in, what I’m eating, what the weather is, etc. That’s like asking me what my favorite song is. I can’t narrow it down to just one. […]
This is a wine that falls in the not-exactly-cheap-but-pretty-darn-good category. It comes from Ponzi Vineyards in Willamette Valley, Oregon. Ponzi is a family-owned producer that was founded back in 1970. They have 120 acres of LIVE Certified Sustainable vineyards in Northern Willamette Valley, a cool-climate wine region—perfect for pinot noir. The winemaker at Ponzi is Luisa […]
It was just earlier this year that I posted a review of the 2010 Casillero del Diablo merlot and now we’re on to the 2011. Although it seems that I could taste a different wine every day of my life and never run out of new wines, I do like to revisit wines I’ve tasted […]
Meritage, pronounced like “heritage” with an M, is a name for Bordeaux-style blends that come from regions other than Bordeaux. This one comes from Robert Mondavi Private Selection. I think it’s a safe assumption for me to figure that you’ve heard of Robert Mondavi. The company has a number of different tiers in their wine […]
I’m starting to sound like a broken record when I say that Chile is a great region for good wine values. I say this realizing that some readers under 30 may not know what the “broken record” analogy means. This makes the generation gap painfully obvious to me. A little side story about generation gaps… […]
I’m a big fan of sangiovese, but I’m also a little prejudiced with a preference toward Italian sangiovese. I particularly like sangiovese via Brunello di Montalcino (which usually doesn’t qualify as a “cheap” wine). I don’t rule out the possibility that other regions can do good things with sangiovese, but Italy has much more experience […]
In America, we love to celebrate entrepreneurs. Our modern day heroes are people who start businesses in their garages and transform them into successful enterprises. But not all of those garage-bound creators are technology nerds. There are plenty of stories in the wine industry of producers who just started making wine in their garage or […]