I lean towards naturally made wines subjected to minimal human intervention that can transport me to the vineyards, hills, and cellars of their birthplace. So it was no surprise that tasting through seven recent releases from the venerable Rioja producer, Lopez de Heredia, made for a compelling, head-turning, and fully recommended indulgence. These are profound wines which […]
2005 Clos Rougeard Les Poyeux and Menton Boston
In both cases, drinking 2005 Clos Rougeard (click for review) and luxuriating over dinner at Barbara Lynch’s Menton (click for review) in Boston’s Fort Point extension last week were opportunities for critical return visits. I first tasted the entry level 2005 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny a couple of months back and made my one and only previous visit to […]
Smart Pick For Global Champagne (Or Any Other) Day
Bringing the right Champagne to a party is always dicey and curious business for me. Picking bubbles for a gathering of wine and food writers creates new layers of complexity and anxiety. When the occasion falls on the evening (tonight) of a global Champagne celebration that will connect tasters all around the world at their […]
2009 Burgaud Chateau De Thulon Beaujolais Villages: Top Vintage, Producer, and Value
It has been a charmed decade for Beaujolais producers and 2009 is highly anticipated as the best yet. First there was 2003, possibly the best Beaujolais vintage in at least 40 years, producing deliciously round, richly fruited wines and then quickly followed two years later by the well hyped and overall excellent 2005 vintage where the Cru […]
Sean Thackrey Pleiades XI-XVIII: Vertical Tasting Without Boundaries
This weekend’s vertical tasting of Sean Thackrey’s Pleiades XI-XVIII offered a thrilling departure from the familiar variables more traditional vertical tasting sessions showcase; particularly the satisfying intellectual discovery stemming from sensory embodiment of vintage variation against a backdrop of consistent terroir. Then again, Marin County based Thackrey is the antithetic picture of California wine producers, coming at it with […]
An Afternoon With Alan Peirson and Lesley Warner-Peirson: Peirson Meyer and L’Angevin Wines
L’Angevin and Peirson Meyer wines are so consistently special, they can resolve the bias of even the most severe doubter that has bumped up against one too many bottles of mediocre, simple, and frankly bad California Chardonnay. If I had my own winery in Napa Valley, I would solicit Alan Peirson to manage my vineyards […]
Recommending 2007 O’Shaughnessy “Howell Mountain” Cabernet Sauvignon
September 10, 2010 was a bright sunny day in Napa Valley, warm but still not hot enough for growers dealing with tensions around the slower grape maturation associated with this year’s uncharacteristically cool west coast summer. While row after row of sun bathed thinned canopies yearned for a few more degrees of heat exposure, […]
Napa Valley Wine Visit: Making It Small
I have not enjoyed my visits to Napa Valley in the same way I did in the early 1980’s. So, I have been asking myself if I am excited to be heading back to the Napa wine scene today after a purposely extended hiatus and so many years of waning interest in another visit to […]
Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny 2005: Best Wine This Year
I am fortunate to taste more than one man’s fair share of special wine every month. Tonight, in the context of a business dinner at Momofuku Ssam Bar with a young, smart, scrappy, web marketing guru from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, we experienced the most compelling red wine I have tasted this year, and most probably one […]
Loomis Vineyards Achieves Early Statement of Style
I like discovering young wineries working their own infant vineyards as wine makers unveil unique styling and a reliance on their own maturing vines that are not yet naturally producing lower yields with more intense and concentrated fruit. While it can take years to release the untold treasures embodied in newly planted land, it is […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- …
- 13
- Next Page »