Having style expectations for wines from specific regions, like the Northern Rhone as an example, is an unavoidable reflex after years of tasting. Planning to drink a Northern Rhone Syrah from AOP’s like Cote Rotie, Hermitage, Cornas, or St. Joseph requires some fortitude. For one, they are not cheap. Second, modern day Northern Rhone Syrahs […]
Txomin Etxaniz Txakoli Wine Moment
Normally, I think of Txakoli, Txakolina, or phonetically represented chockoleena in easy-drinking aperitif terms; refreshing, simple, high acidity, dazzling spritz, low alcohol. However you say or spell it, the wine pairs particularly well with seafood and a wider range of pintxos, casually served in tumblers inside Spain’s Basque region taverns. If you will, these wines remind me of little […]
Stealthy Pinot Meunier
Did Pinot Meunier enter the witness protection program? While most famous for a major role in Champagne blending along with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, when was the last time you drank a bottle of still red wine produced from Pinot Meunier after substantial skin contact? The variety has successfully avoided headlines while holding honors as […]
Permission to Drink Beautiful Aged Wines
A multitude of milestone celebrations produced a legion of guiltless permissions to pop corks on aged wines last month. Graduations, birthdays, and the annual Troquet summer cellar clearance converged. Birth year wines of graduating children, old bottles carried to my home by giddy parents on the precipices of new empty-nest lifestyles, Troquet wines on sale, and […]
Top Three Wines: Northern Burgundy and California
This past month’s cascade of fascinating wines helped bid adieu to the nasty 2013 New England Spring season and usher in the familiar comforts of summertime drinking. From Napa to Chablis, three wines stubbornly replay like broken records in the piece of my brain that clings to memorable drinking vignettes. These wines, all intense values, […]
Woodfire Grill Now Best Atlanta Restaurant
Restaurants, like professional sports teams, can tease loyal fans with eras of dynastic triumph only to lose their magic without notice. A resilient few find ways to climb back into the winner’s circle, more dominant than ever before. This appears to be the case at Atlanta’s Woodfire Grill as the 2013 spring season unveiled a […]
Blind Tasting: Varied Styles of 2010 Northern Rhone Reds
One might assume having tasted ten Northern Rhone red wines from the same 2010 vintage and two new world 2010 Syrahs side-by-side, blind, that the Rhone wines showed as siblings while the two new world Syrahs tagged along as genetically distinct and adopted brothers. As our Boston tasting group discovered blind tasting the 2010 Northern Rhone […]
Valentina Cubi Naturally Connects Valpolicella With Food
It is debatable whether Amarone, or even Valpolicella, have ever occupied a comfortably suitable spot on the dinner table. These combinations of dried Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara grapes can easily overwhelm most dishes with raisin-prune flavors, powerful concentration, oak, high alcohol, and heat. There are acceptable food pairing exceptions like Gorgonzola and other strong cheeses, […]
Brachetto d’Acqui & Paso Robles Wines Connected?
The 2011 Pineto Brachetto d’Acqui and 2009 Bodegas Paso Robles Doña Blanca are wines of different worlds. Besides the fact Pineto’s Brachetto d’Acqui is a sweet red sparkling wine from Italy’s broader Piedmont region and Doña Blanca is a Grenache Blanc/Malvasia Bianca dry white central coast California wine, the Paso Robles produced Doña Blanca deepens their […]
2009 Houillon Overnoy Poulsard and Pasta
Neither this wine nor pasta sauce are regulars on our table. The 2009 Houillon Overnoy Poulsard came via Louis/Dressner from the Jura, specifically Pupillin, where Emmanuel Houillon assumed winemaking duties at Pierre Overnoy’s tiny estate. The pasta sauce relied on “cheater” duck broth and a prosciutto “heel”. The entire meal including prep, cooking, uncorking, decanting, […]
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