The kaleidoscope of quality wine in market channels at any given time serves as decoy and easy distraction from the simple truth of Bordeaux’s classic performance and superior drinking experience. My cellared claret sits ignored and unmoved for long stretches of time while I uncork wines with age-worthiness generating far less confidence. The second flight of 2000 […]
Blind Tasting Series Report Part 1: Viognier
After a several year hiatus, a successful season of reincarnation has passed for the blind tasting series and wine enthusiast group that I am pleased to regale monthly at my home. Each tasting requires hours of preparation including wine acquisition, printed line ups, tasting agendas, room set, food and bread supply, wine prep, glassware provisioning, […]
2007 Dominus Pre Arrival Deal
Last week Wired for Wine delivered a sweet deal on 1990 Chateau Latour. Here, they are following on with another quality wine, 2007 Dominus, and at a really attractive retail price of $117.97 and free shipping on a minimum of two bottles. If it looks interesting to you, move quickly since they sell only one […]
Happy Birthday WineZag
Today, WineZag cheers for its first birthday and one full year of steady wine writing to celebrate 25 years of wine appreciation. The place that fine wine, human experience, and written perspective intersect has turned into a personally sacred way point along an unending path to deeper appreciation of wine as a lifestyle component and the […]
Chenin Heaven from Vouvray’s Bernard Fouquet and Domaine des Aubuisieres’ 2008 Les Girardieres
Bernard Fouquet is an accomplished and quality Vouvray producer, focused on Chenin Blanc across 25 hectares and and seven vineyards that make up Domaine des Aubuisieres’ fruit sources. All of unique character and terroir, they split into two primary soil types including clay/limestone or clay/flint. His portfolio includes soil specific blends and vineyard specific bottlings. On […]
Wired for 1990 Chateau Latour
In the event you birthed a child in 1990, got married that year, or are secure in your belief that spending slightly under $700 a bottle can represent a really fine wine deal, then you will want to make sure you check out Wired for Wine at 10:00am on Monday, May 3. They will be […]
Languedoc Tasting: Expressive Wines and Multiple Styles
Some things about the Languedoc just don’t seem very French at all. Frontier lands, Spanish culinary influence, Gypsy lore, uncontrolled wine production, and more. In a recent visit to the edge of the region’s northwest Mediterannean shoreline, Camargue, we reveled in almost unlimited sightings of wild white horse and pink flamingo from the comfort of […]
Clos de la Roilette: Age Worthy Gamay from Fleurie
An Easter ham dinner set the legitimate stage for tasting one of several newly acquired bottles of Coudert’s 2008 Clos de la Roilette from Louis/Dressner Selections. Tinged with intrigue and mystery, the vineyard was originally classified Moulin-a-Vent before Fleurie was declared into existence back in the ’20s, causing an angered owner to spite France’s wine market by […]
Affordability and Value in Las Vegas’ Trophy Wine Jungle
I find it exhilarating digging through overpriced, top-heavy wine lists filled with $100-a-glass labels in search of affordability or value. I first remember getting that sensation 35 years ago, opening the Racing Form back in Brooklyn at Aqueduct Race Track looking for the day’s long shot. Garage sale hunters seem to chase a similar rush. […]
Leonetti Cellars Merlot Vertical Tasting: Proves Ageability and Quality
In the late 1980’s before the Walla Walla Valley appellation blossomed into more than 100 wineries farming over 1,800 acres of vineyards in a particularly dry region blessed with extended growing seasons, pioneers Gary Figgins and Rick Small slipped onto my developing list of world class winemakers. I made sure their releases beat regular paths […]