Today is Earth Day and there are actually a number of different environment-related topics that I could write about relevant to wine. Sustainable agriculture, organic wines and bio-dynamic wines are a few topics that come to mind. But I’m going to write about a less sexy topic—packaging. Actually, packaging can be sexy, but it’s something […]
Sometimes in the wine business the convoluted world of holding companies, parent companies, sister companies, etc. can get confusing. To a degree, that’s the case with Redwood Creek, which is part of Frei Brothers, which is owned by E&J Gallo. In many cases the large parent companies in the wine business just act as holding […]
Last year I tried the Red Diamond Cabernet Sauvignon and ended up being one of my favorites, so I was looking forward to trying the Merlot. This one didn’t come through as strong as the Cabernet though. Like some other Merlots that I’ve been tasting, this has a more than just Merlot in it. It […]
At this point in time, there is only one variety of wine under the Red Rock Winery label and that variety is Merlot. I don’t know if they have any plans for other varieties, but for now it’s Merlot. And it’s a good Merlot. Actually, while it only says Merlot on the label there are […]
The Carmenet (pronounced Car-mah-nay) brand has been around for a while, but just recently became part of the Bronco Wine Company portfolio. Perhaps you haven’t heard of the Bronco Wine Company, but you’ve probably heard of some of their wines. They are best known for producing Charles Shaw wines, known by many as “Two Buck […]
I was intrigued when I saw a kosher wine from Chile on the shelf, so I had to give this one a try. I’ve reviewed a number of Chilean wines recently and have been generally pleased with what I’ve gotten, so I was really curious how this one would stack up. In doing some digging, […]
Today we are trying another kosher wine, this one from Barkan. The roots of the Barkan winery go back more than a century, but it was born into it’s current name and ownership in 1990. The winery overlooks a 120 hectare vineyard at Kibbutz Hulda in Israel and has capacity for 12 million liters of […]
With Passover just around the corner, I wanted to post a few reviews of kosher wines over the next week or so. The first kosher wine I’m reviewing comes from the Golan Heights in the Galilee appellation in Israel. Yarden Mount Hermon Red is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit […]
The Shiraz challenge is over (for now) leaving us with seven picks that won’t break the bank. We ended up trying wines from several different regions for this showdown, including France, Chile, Australia and the US. Shiraz is actually a challenging variety to find one that is both inexpensive and exceptional, but we did find […]
McWilliam’s Wines has a long heritage as a family-run winery in Australia since 1877. They tout themselves as “Australia’s most awarded winery,” and they certainly have earned a number of awards over the years. McWilliam’s has vineyards in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales—the latter being the area where the grapes for this Shiraz […]
