Domaine A. & P. De Villaine, Forlorn Hope, Gillmore, Sea Smoke, Latta   We’re featuring quite a diverse list of wines in our blog this week as some of the stars from recent Spring tastings are making their ways on to the shelves.    Domaine A. & P. De Villaine,…

Chateau Puygueraud, Dunn Vineyards, Mount Eden Vineyards, Ridge, Bouchard Pere et Fils   Finding the right present for your pops year in and year out can be daunting. You may have already bought him enough socks to cover the feet of a small battalion or presented him with enough ties…

Very few wine cooperatives have reached the level of acclaim or impacted the world of wine more than the Produttori del Barbaresco. With various roots tracing back to the late 1800’s, this organization along with Angelo Gaja, played a major role in the creation of Barbaresco as a region apart…

What is the best possible wine pairing for a hammock? What about one for the grill? Which wine will grace the picnic table and be able to please both Auntie Mabel as well as your cousin’s new partner who seems to start every sentence with “when I was living in…

Matthiasson, Broc Cellars, Hirsch, Forlorn Hope   Questioning why we drink what we drink intrigues me. Tasty magical potions don’t just emerge out of the ether as pieces to complete our fickle consumption puzzle.  As our tastes and the products that quench them take form, multiple factors are at play from…

  There are many aspects to take into account when selecting a bottle of wine. Excuse the pun, but the word “aspect” in wine speak refers to the cardinal direction a vineyard faces; i.e. it’s north/south orientation. In cooler northern regions where grapes struggle to ripen, south-facing vineyards provide the…

  Spring is finally here! For the wine industry, Spring brings with it one of our favorite aspects of our jobs, a ton of portfolio tastings. This is the time of year when distributors open their doors, pop corks, and let buyers taste through dozens and dozens of wines as…

    Bedrock Wine Company, Domaine Lafage, Flor de Pingus, Cims de Porrera, Birichino   It doesn’t take much to realize when a vine is old. They resemble large bonsai trees with their gnarled, thick, twisting masses and often quitely plot out small patches of land in remote areas of wine…

Albert Boxler Edelzwicker Reserve, Forlorn Hope Gemischter Satz, Chateau Musar Blanc, Chateau Graville-Lacoste Graves Blanc   Believe it or not, a strategy exists behind the prying questions of a wine retailer. When entering a wine shop a customer will likely hear some variation of the following:   What are you…

Clos Saron, Smockshop Band, Cayuse, Domaine Cauhape, Domaine Huet  Hearing the words “It’s a fruit day” is becoming more and more common around an open bottle of wine. In fact, many of our major local wine distributors actually schedule portfolio tastings on dates to ensure that buyers don’t taste wines…