2016 Terenzi Vermentino di Maremma ‘Balbino’ Toscano, IT Regular Price $19.99 Sale Price $15.99 Vermentino is great fun, both to drink and to confuse your wine snob friends because, its: A; known by about 20 different names, and B; is easily confused with nearly every other white wine. Its crisp and clean with floral and[…]
I read an opinion piece this morning that was defending wine critics and writers by claiming that wine is too ‘mystical’ and ‘complex’ to be properly understood except by those that study and truly venerate wine. I couldn’t disagree with that contention more. Yes, wine is complicated, and the more one learns about wine, the[…]
One of the ongoing conversations here in the shop among customers is restaurants’ wine pricing. Specifically, if $30 buys you a great bottle of wine retail (and it should!) then why do restaurants charge $60-70 for the same wine? The simple answer is that they are gouging the consumer, but, really that’s only part of[…]
2016 Jean-Luc Mader Pinot Gris Hunawihr, Alsace Regular Price $22.99 Sale Price $17.99 But here’s the real problem with wines from Alsace; they just don’t behave! I mean, they are mostly white, and as the wine gatekeepers will tell you, white wines are thin (not true, but stay with me here). The critics gush over[…]
La Mateo Rioja (Jovan) 2016 Regular price: $12.99 Sale Price: $9.99 Old (45 yrs), low yielding, non-irrigated vines, hand-picked, fermented slowly then aged for 6 months in 2 year old barrels. The wine is rich, balanced and well-made. It starts off a bit reticent but gains weight and aromatics in the glass. Half way through[…]
2015 Le Rocher des Violettes ‘Touche-Mitaine’ Montlouis-sur-Loire, FR Regular Price $28.99 Sale Price $22.99 The most famous wine in the middle Loire Valley is Vouvray, made entirely of Chenin Blanc, one the greatest and most versatile wine grapes on the planet. Lesser known, and just across the Loire River, is tiny Montlouis, a fifth of[…]
Ah, summer! Time for vacation! And whether you decamp for the beach or the lake or the mountains (or if you just stay at home) a common activity is grilling! And regardless of what (or where) you’re grilling, the wine to drink with grilled foods is Rioja. No question about it. Riojas work with burgers[…]
2016 La Mateo Rioja, Spain Regular Price $12.99 Sale Price $9.99 The challenge in making a good, cheap wine is that nearly every step that you undertake to make a better wine is antithetical to making a cheap wine. First of all, to make a cheap wine, you need cheap grapes. So, you can’t grow[…]
2017 Daniel Boccard LB PInot Rosé Bugey, FR Regular Price $18.99 Sale Price $14.99 Rosé is not a rarity any longer and neither is Pinot Noir, but for many, a Rosé made of Pinot Noir is still an oddity. Well, then, how about a Pinot Noir Rosé from Bugey? How different is that? In truth,[…]
Brigaldara Valpolicella DOC 2016 Regular price: $16.99 Sale Price: $12.99 The principal grapes in Valpolicella are largely unknown beyond Verona: Corvina, Molinara and Rondinella and although the quantity of wine produced in the area is 2nd only to Tuscany, many don’t know (or appreciate) the virtues of Valpolicella. This is a wine of grace rather[…]