It’s true…I read the wine press. What I find there is often misleading, mythologizing or just plain wrong. Sometimes, however, I find some useful information, but generally, by the end of the article, I’m shaking my head about something or another. Take, for instance, the recent ‘20 wine for $20’ list in the inestimable ‘New[…]
2017 Feudi di San Gregorio ‘Rubrato’, Irpinia, IT $16.80 Made of 100% Aglianico, unmarred by any barrel aging, this rustic and ripe Southern Italian wine is inexpensive enough to be your pizza wine and interesting enough to serve to, well, some snobbish wine writers. The name, Rubrato, is a homage to the color of the[…]
2020 Ostatu Rosado Rioja Alavesa | Spain | $13.60 Composed of 70% Tempranillo, 27% Garnacha and 3% Viura, sourced from high elevation, old-vine vineyards in Rioja Alavesa, Ostatu Rosado is fermented in stainless steel using only native yeasts. This modern take on Rioja Rosado emphasizes bright fruit and refreshing acidity.The Tempranillo component provides structure and[…]
The 2020 Torre dei Beati Cerasuolo is a classic Rosato of Montepulciano from the central Italian region of Abruzzo. The winery is a small operation run by Fausto Albanesi whose father planted the family’s first Montepulciano vines in 1972. The Rosa-ae is created from 50% of juice bled from Montepulciano red production along with 50%[…]
Wines that surprise may elicit responses such as “I wasn’t expecting oak flavors in my Chablis”, or “I didn’t know they grew Malbec in the Loire”. Wines that delight could find us thinking “I remember drinking a great Sangiovese like this Wines that surprise may elicit responses such as “I wasn’t expecting oak flavors in[…]
The French Paradox Value Wine of 2021 In selecting a value wine of the year for 2021, we followed much the same criteria as we had in choosing the overall wine of the year. Just as before, the nominees were required to be compelling, available and (in this case) under $20. Our initial debates unearthed[…]
The French Paradox Value Wine of 2021 In selecting a value wine of the year for 2021, we followed much the same criteria as we had in choosing the overall wine of the year. Just as before, the nominees were required to be compelling, available and (in this case) under $20. Our initial debates unearthed[…]
2018 Suavia ‘Monte Carbonare’ Soave Classico (release the balloons!) This wine is just crazy good, shockingly so. Made of 100% Garganega (yes, I know, you’ve never heard of the grape), from the (no longer very) famous wine region of Soave, in Veneto, in northeast Italy, it’s just exciting and compelling and delicious and, and, and…our[…]
Okay, some criteria first…to be considered, I decided, the wine must be: Compelling (or at least interesting) Affordable (under $30 per bottle), and Available (for purchase) I announced the criteria to Matt and Ian last week, and we came up with 6 different wines pretty quickly…ranging from a red from Ventoux to a rosé from[…]
My Favorite Wine…2021 From the middle of December and into January, we’re typically inundated with ‘top wines of the year’ lists from various wine and lifestyle publications. Recently, it seems that every critic and even some liquor store chains are jumping in and announcing their own top ten (or twenty or one hundred). And although[…]