When the summer heat kicks into high gear, many wine lovers want to have lighter, chilled wines, like Prosecco. Many of you probably already know that Prosecco is a sparkling wine from northern Italy, made using the Charmat method. The Charmat method involves putting the wine into pressurized stainless steel tanks during secondary fermentation in […]
Review: Cerro Del Toro Tannat
Summer is here, which means ’tis the season. No, not the season for crisp, chilled white or rosé wines. Well… I guess that too, but that’s not what I’m writing about today. I’ll get to those soon. What I’m talking about today is it ’tis the season to fire up the grill and make a […]
Review: Pisano, RPF Tannat
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Garzón Tannat and highlighted the fact that seeking wines from ‘under the radar’ wine regions can yield exceptional values. However, I neglected to mention the fact that the grape in this wine, Tannat, could also be considered an ‘under the radar’ grape! Tannat is not as obscure as […]
Domaine Bousquet Cabernet Sauvignon
Inflation. Everyone is talking about inflation. It’s true, many things have gotten more expensive over the past couple of years. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still deals to be found. Case in point: This Cabernet Sauvignon, made from organic grapes, which has a suggested retail price of a mere $13. Ten years ago, before […]
Review: Garzón Reserva Tannat
I’ve been writing about value wines since 2007 and one reliable trick I’ve used over the years for finding wines of exceptional value is to look for wines from under the radar regions. It comes down to simple supply and demand. If you buy wines from the most well-known wine regions, you’re probably going to […]
Review: Gaia Malbec Nouveau
I was intrigued when I first saw the name of this wine, Malbec Nouveau. The “Nouveau” part of the name, I assume, is an homage to Beaujolais Nouveau — which is a French wine released each fall as a first release of wine from that vintage. Nouveau translates to mean “new” in English. In the […]
Review: Domaine Bousquet, Méthode Traditionnelle Brut
I am a big fan of sparkling wine, bubbly, bubbles… whatever you prefer to call it. Just don’t call it Champagne unless it comes from the Champagne region of France. Good bubbly is being produced in wine regions around the world. To me, sparkling wine is one of the most food friendly types of wine […]
Review: Morandé, Vitis Unica Carménère
I’ve recently been doing a short series on Carménère, highlighting the new styles winemakers are producing from this once thought to be lost grape. It was once one of the grapes used to produce Bordeaux until 1867, when a pest called phylloxera destroyed most of the vineyards in Europe and completely decimated Carménère vineyards there. […]
Review: In Situ Reserva Carménère
Last week I published a post about Luma Chequén Gran Reserva Carménère and highlighted the new approach many producers in Chile are taking with Carménère. In a nutshell, producers are embracing the pyrazine qualities of Carménère to showcase the true essence of this grape. So as not to repeat myself, you can read that previous […]
Luma Chequén Gran Reserva Carménère
Let me begin by saying, “I was wrong about Carménère.” This is not the first time I’ve had to admit being wrong and it won’t be the last. But fortunately, I’m willing to own up to it when I’m wrong and change my thinking… which, in my humble opinion, is more important than being right […]