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Do you have an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) on your premises? Are your vineyards Sustainable? Is your winery Sustainable? BIG QUESTION: Are your people sustainable? Aha! There’s no badge, per se, for that… BUT, if an AED is hanging on your wall, it speaks volumes. Do you know you can get an AED for FREE? […] The post Dear California …

Here we go, off on a gastronomic adventure, with an Estate Argyros 2020 Cuvée Monsignori, a product is Santorini Greece. Alcohol is 14.5 % by volume, just for the record. Back label, since most of us are learning here, “The vines of Monsignori. The oldest Assyrtiko vines of the estate. The vines of Mon Signor […] The post Estate Argyros …

This was a perfect Fathers Day bubbly. Quite honestly, for my palate, Domaine Bousquet (Mendoza, Argentina) creates wines that are so incredibly tasty! While I receive them as samples, I also buy them in my supermarket. They hit all the right buttons: tasty (repeating it, I know), affordable, organic/biodynamic, a very sweet family with good […] The post Fathers Day …

I had the good fortune last week of being invited to the home of a wine collector in San Francisco who is obsessed with older California wines. Over a home-cooked meal, he pulled treasure after treasure out of his cellar for his guests to taste blind. While I have had the privilege to taste some California wines dating back to …

From Lyon to the Rhône, Rhône being just south of Lyon. Some consider Lyon the food capital of the world… From French Onion Soup to a Roasted Chicken, wines to match and enjoy! 2022 Côtes du Rhône: Louis Bernard and Domaine Paul Jaboulet Aîné, Wondrous… https://www.wine-blog.org/…/cote-du-rhone-2022…/ A bit about the Rhône Valley on my wine […] The post Louis Bernard …

2015 Bordeaux: Chateaux Puyanché Grand Vin de Bordeaux A.O.C. Francs Cotes de Bordeaux (Right Bank) is 80 percent Merlot and 20 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. The alcohol is 14.5 percent. There is no grand story on this bottle of the wine’s BACK LABEL. But, the grand story for me was that this bottle is already eight […] The post BORDEAUX CHATEAU …

This bottle of wine recently arrived as a sample, from Ettore.wine, called “Signature.” Very clever label, all upper case with one lower case. It reminds me that nothing is perfect in life, and that has slowed me down from trying to be. It also gives me permission to forgive those who aren’t, when my expectation […] The post Ettore.wine, called …

Let’s keep the autumn vibe going this week, shall we? Some of the most spectacular autumn vineyard views I’ve ever seen were on a trip to the Douro Valley in Portugal, where terraced vineyards stood out against green grass underneath and the sheer scale of the place made for impressive views every way I turned. INSTRUCTIONS:Download this image by right-clicking …

Introduction How can a bottle of wine become the invitation, slow down the moment, and create space for real conversation? Why does the wine industry need to look beyond wine itself to win back consumers? How can wine become more relevant to younger consumers? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with John Boynton You can find …

Introduction How can a bottle of wine become the invitation, slow down the moment, and create space for real conversation? Why does the wine industry need to look beyond wine itself to win back consumers? How can wine become more relevant to younger consumers? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with John Boynton You can find …

Hello and welcome to my weekly roundup of the wine stories that I find of interest on the web. I spend each week exploring the internet for everything published about wine online, and here’s all the stuff that I think would be worth your valuable time. Marc Kent on Porseleinberg 2024 and the birth of a SA wine iconOne of …

I’m a writer Photographer, and have decided to take you along on a 10-day trip. I left from Sonoma County and flew to Evora, Portugal. My story will be in succession of each place visited. The Name of Each winery will be highlighted. I’ll talk about the wines, but not dwell on them. Each one […] The post Writer Photographer: …

This past July 28th, the wine world mourned the death of pioneering winegrower David Hirsch, who showed the California wine industry, and the wider world, that Pinot Noir could be grown brilliantly a mere 3 miles from the chilly Pacific Ocean in the shadow of towering redwoods. A 2014 tractor accident put the then-70-year-old Hirsch in a wheelchair and hastened …

The Douro Valley is one of the most jaw-dropping slices of wine country to be found anywhere on earth. Stunningly beautiful, it is also massive on a scale that few other wine regions can approach. With incredibly steep hillsides sporting terraces blasted out of solid rock with dynamite, climbing thousands of feet up from the river valley to incredible heights, …

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up a bottle of wine that had the words “old vines,” “vieilles vignes,” or “vigna vecchia” on the label and turned it around to find absolutely no further information about the vineyard that produced it. Were the vines 40 years old or 140? Did this come from one old vineyard or …

Introduction How can two rums taste completely different even though they’re both made from sugar cane? What makes Jamaican rum so famously funky, and what does a dunder pit have to do with it? How does the type of ice you use change the strength, temperature, and texture of a cocktail? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m …

Hello and welcome to my weekly roundup of the wine stories that I find of interest on the web. I spend each week exploring the internet for everything published about wine online, and here’s all the stuff that I think would be worth your valuable time. Pinot Noir Just Sang to Me: A Chat with Pinot Pioneer Lane TannerA nice …

Hello and welcome to my weekly dig through the pile of wine samples that show up on my doorstep, asking to be tasted. I’m pleased to bring you the latest installment of Vinography Unboxed, where I highlight some of the better bottles that have arrived recently. This past week I received a few bottles from Whitehall Lane in Napa. Their …

One of the most spectacular and unexpected terroirs in the world can be found in the midst of one of Europe’s largest cities. The vineyards of Vienna, preserved for centuries from urban encroachment thanks to progressive wine taxation laws put in place by Emperor Joseph II in 1794, are surrounded on all sides by the city (often by some of …

When one of the world’s most talented and ambitious winemakers decides to lay out what sounds like a grand unified field theory for making great wine, you shut your mouth and listen. Last autumn, I had the good fortune to spend an afternoon with Eben Sadie at his estate in the Swartland region of South Africa. We were joined by …