Washington wines — on the wrong day?
Wonderful concept by Cadaretta Winery: show its cabernet sauvignon in a line-up of half a dozen similarly priced ($40) cabs. It showed OK, but thinking about it later, none of the wines really stood...
View ArticleYellow Tail Reserve wines: Nice Whites, Reds too Similar
I like to think I’m not a wine snob. So when I heard about mega-popular [yellow tail] ® wines’ Reserve line of course I wanted to try it Luckily, I learned about it through the US distributor, and WJ...
View ArticleHidden Ridge does vertical wine
A vertical vineyard, that’s intriguing. 55 degree slopes, it says on the label. The wines were velvety, rich and smooth. I was reminded of the day some years ago when I wound my way up to Pride Winery...
View ArticleBordeaux Soup, Part IV — Along the Dordogne River, on the Arcachon Bay, and...
Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur vineyards also line the wide Dordogne River. There, several new families have taken up residence and are re-working the traditional vineyards according to the new AOCs’...
View ArticleWater Witching like Marc Mondavi
When I was little, we went out on my great-uncle’s farm in Illinois one day, while he was figuring out where to dig a new well. My great-uncle had hired a dowser, which was the preferred Midwestern...
View ArticleTasting Wines Direct from the Vineyards: Estrella Farms
When I sample wines, they are often blends of grapes from different vineyards. Some grapes come from vineyards owned by the winery while others are purchased from various growers. And sometimes these...
View ArticleBlack Box Wines: More to Like? Yes and No
If you’re like me and you want great wine at a great price, sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. (Though, as a positive-type person, I don’t tend to write about most of...
View ArticleThe Beginning of April…in Spanish Wine
A Junior year abroad turned into a love affair with a Spaniard then changed course and morphed into a love of Spanish wines. And all these years later, we’re standing in my kitchen sipping the first of...
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