I was actually a little surprised when I saw that Redwood Creek had a Malbec. I typically think of them as producers of Californian wine. After all, the brand name “Redwood” makes you think of northern California. But Redwood Creek is ultimately part of E&J Gallo, who distribute wines from all over the world. You’ll […]
This past week I took part in a Taste Live event featuring Stepping Stone wines from Cornerstone Cellars. Taste Live events are wine tastings where numerous wine bloggers and media from around the country all taste the same wines and share their thoughts via Twitter. Cornerstone Cellars is a Napa Valley, California producer and is […]
Before jumping into the next big series, I thought we’d review some odds and ends. Wines that we’ve received as samples, but are unique enough that we don’t get the quantity needed to do a full series. Today, we’re checking out a Sangiovese from Dievole. Wine production at Dievole dates back to the 12th century […]
We’ve been reviewing Cabernet Sauvignon for the past several weeks and now it’s time to do the roundup of all the reviews. Usually, we name a specific wine as the top pick in these roundups. But this time we’re going with a wine region: Chile. Chilean wines took the top five spots in our showdown. […]
Although Viña Carmen has been around since 1850, it was reborn in 1987 when it was acquired by Claro Group. Today, their main vineyards are in Maipo Valley, but they also have vineyards in Rapel, Casablanca and Curicó Valley. And they are one of the top producers in Chile. This wine continues the trend we’ve […]
You might be surprised to find out how many of the wine brands you see on the shelves come from the same company. There are a few giants in the wine business, plus thousands of small wineries. One of the giants whose brands you’ll come across in just about any grocery store that sells wine […]
As a publisher focused on reviewing inexpensive wines, we can’t ignore the “bag in a box” segment, also known as “boxed wine.” We’ve actually reviewed a couple boxed wines before and we’ve found some decent ones out there. Boxed wine doesn’t get much respect. In many ways, that’s deserved. There is some heinous stuff out […]
I don’t have a lot of background on Peñalolen to share. The winery was founded by Ricardo and Isabel Peña, who brought in Jean-Pascal Lacaze as their winemaker. Peñalolén also happens to be the name of a community at the eastern edge of Santiago, right up against the Andean foothills. This is part of the […]
It’s a quick review tonight—not that any of them are exceptionally long. I like to get right to the point. So, let’s get there. The 2006 Main Street Winery Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot, with grapes from Lake County (54%), Monterey County (24%) and Santa Barbara County (22%). […]
When I’m not enjoying a bargain wine, in other words when I splurge, I have a preference for Italian wines, especially those from the Piedmont region. If you know wines from this region, you know that many of them have exceptional depth, structure, complexity and balance. Simply put, they’re beautiful wines. Most of them don’t […]
