2005 Hnos. Perez Pascuas ‘El Pedrosal’ Reserva Ribera del Duero, SP Regular Price $34.99 Sale Price $27.99 Once upon a time, grapes were planted on the high plains in north central Spain, terraced on the hillsides overlooking the meandering Rio Duero. This likely occurred around 2000 years ago or so, although that is speculative. What[…]
2017 Clotilde Davenne Domaine Les Temps Perdus Chablis, FR Regular Price $28.99 Sale Price $22.99 So, back in the day, long before the Judgement of Paris, California wineries sought to emulate the French. They did this in their approach to winemaking (the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s Napa and Sonoma Cabs are probably the most Bordeaux-like[…]
2013 La Bastide Blanche ‘Cuvée Fontaneou’ Bandol, FR Regular Price $33.99 Sale Price $26.99 Bandol is the worst kept secret in the wine world; radio wine ‘experts’ love to allude to it as if its a newly discovered region rather than the internationally recognized region that has been producing wine since about 600 BC. Or[…]
2015 Domaine Bertagna Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits ‘Les Dames Huguettes’ Burgundy, FR Regular Price $37.99 Sale Price $29.99 There’s Pinot Noir; and then there’s Burgundy. Pinot Noir is grown around the globe these days, and some of it is very good. Many of those Pinot Noirs, from California or Oregon or New Zealand, aspire[…]
2014 Joseph Faiveley Bourgogne Aligoté Burgundy, FR Regular Price $24.99 Sale Price $19.99 Once upon a time, farmers grew the grapes that their grandparents and great-grandparents grew before them. Those grapes were made into wine that were largely the same as the wines that their grandparents and great-grandparents made and those wine were traded or[…]
2016 Alfredo Maestro ‘Vina Almate’ Castilla y Leon, SP Regular Price $19.99 Sale Price $15.99 This wine is made of tempranillo, the noble grape of Spain. The general knock on tempranillo is that, by itself, it is unassuming. So, historically, Spanish winemakers have allowed the wine to steep in oak for extended periods of time,[…]
2015 Meyer-Fonne Edelzwicker Alsace, FR Regular Price $17.99 Sale Price $13.99 Many people are scared of the tall, skinny, Alsatian (and Germanic) wine bottle because they (wrongly) believe that the shape of the bottle indicates whether the wine is sweet or not. Where do people come up with these silly notions? But have no fear…although[…]
2017 Domaine de Terrebrune Bandol Rosé Provence, FR Regular Price $40.99 Sale Price $31.99 Wine is regularly contradictory. To wit: it’s a one ingredient product that has almost limitless variations. In some cultures, its the beverage of the masses; in others, clearly, the beverage of the classes. The rules for service and consumption were largely[…]
2016 Pra ‘Otto’ Soave Classico Veneto, IT Regular Price $21.99 Sale Price $16.99 I’m old enough to remember when Soave was a thing. I remember the Soave Bolla commercials from the 70’s and 80’s. I mean, everybody drank Soave! It was class personified. And then…it all but vanished, left in the dust by Pinot Grigio.[…]
2017 Maison Philippe Viallet Savoie Rosé Vin de Savoie, FR Regular Price $16.99 Sale Price $12.99 Good wine, at the very least, should be refreshing. By that I mean the wine should finish with enough acidity to clean one’s palate, refreshing it for the next sip or bite. Wines that do not refresh are[…]