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Review: Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau (2025)
Posting tasting notes for Beaujolais Nouveaux is like reviewing Taco Bell’s food on Yelp. If you enjoy this kind of thing, then you’re going to continue to enjoy it–no matter what some critic has to say about it. Likewise, if you think it’s too cheesy or artificial-tasting or unhealthy, then there’s likely nothing I or…
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Happy Beaujolais Nouveau Day! Here’s eight fun facts to pair with a glass of Beaujolais
While you’re busy shopping for cranberry sauce and turkey and pie, it’s easy to overlook November’s other foodie holiday. That’s right–tomorrow is Beaujolais Nouveau day! Beaujolais Nouveau is released on the third Thursday in November, exactly one week before Thanksgiving Day. It’s an unofficial beginning to the festive season, and a great excuse to cut…
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Champagne Laurent-Perrier tasting at Pogo’s Wine & Spirits (Dallas, TX)
I used to credit most of Champagne’s popularity to marketing glitz. It’s all about the image, right? I guzzled cheap Cava and grocery-store Crémant, feeling smug and wise. But I was wrong. Good Champagne, alas, occupies its own tier of deliciousness among sparkling wines. The bubbles are finer, the texture richer, the flavors brighter and…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #14: Solo Reflections Chardonnay (Australia)
Another day, another Chardonnay! I’m busting out my best stemless glassware for a casual pour from Down Under, the 2025 Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar‘s wine #14: Solo Reflections Chardonnay. It’s well-chilled–and I’m ready to be well-chilled, too. Costco wine can help with that. No thinking, just drinking. But is Solo Reflections a wine that likes…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #13: Latitude 44 Pinot Noir (France)
A savage wine review is a delightful thing. I run across them most often on Reddit. Usually it’s written by someone who doesn’t like wine very much–and often, by someone who has resorted to drinking wine after running out of hard liquor. “Chewed raisins,” “prison toilet hooch,” “liquid vanilla candle.” (Or my new favorite natural…
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Celebrating Wines of Hungary with Günzer Estate Winery
A rare opportunity to taste the wines of Hungary popped up on the calendar this past week. So we hustled over to Total Wine in East Plano for a joint presentation by Thomas Hoeber (of Dallas-based importer Aqueous Spirits) and Norman Günzer (of Villány’s Günzer Estate Winery). Hungarian wines have a long and illustrious history.…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #11: Baciato dal Sol Red Blend (Italy)
“What’s the house wine?” you ask, glancing over the menu. “It’s red or white,” the server replies. And if, despite your trepidation, you go ahead and order the red wine, you’re likely to end up with a glass a lot like this one, the Baciato dal Sol from Costco. It’s the epitome of mystery red…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #10: Vin Twenty Three Red Blend (Côtes du Rhône, France)
The quest to taste all the Costco advent calendar wines continues! Next up is Bottle #10, a Côtes du Rhône blend called Vin Twenty Three. The label descriptors for these bottles are mostly breathless, AI-generated slop. But perhaps they may be valuable to someone who is trying to decide whether they will like this wine,…
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Catena Zapata tasting at the Wine Authority (Richardson, TX)
The fine wine was Argentine at The Wine Authority on Thursday. We hustled over after work to taste six wines from the Catena family in a presentation led by South American wine specialist Jorge Liloy. Catena essentially created the market for Malbec, planting the first vines in 1902 and elevating a minor blending grape to…
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WSET Level 3 Class: Week 2 Thoughts
Back at school for more wine study! I’ve just wrapped up my second weekend of classes at Dallas Wine Education Center, where I am a candidate for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 3 Award in Wines. It’s been a very vinous few weeks for The Wine Fairy. In between WSET classes on Saturday…
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Flâneur Wines tasting at The Wine Authority (Richardson, TX)
We caught the Flâneur tour for sure at The Wine Authority last night. Who can resist a parade of premium Willamette Pinot passing though town? As a special treat, Flâneur founder Marty Doerschlag was behind the bar, answering questions and opening bottles of these beautiful wines. Established in 2013, Flâneur Wines makes organically farmed Willamette…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #8: The Conductor Chardonnay Pays d’Oc (France)
What if wine was more like groceries? What if it was just another foodstuff–a staple of shopping lists and a part of healthy adults’ daily diets? Many folks, particularly those in the wine industry, believe that would be a good thing. The United States has one of the lowest per capita wine consumption rates of…