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Merlot Thursday: Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard “The Revivalist” Merlot (2013)
Happy #MerlotThursday, which is also Thanksgiving Day! Today, I’m grateful for three things: Merlot, Australia’s McLaren Vale region, and those generous locker-holders at the wine club who are willing to pour you exquisite samples. A rare single-vineyard Merlot was on the tasting table, the 2023 Hickinbotham “Revivalist.” After decades of supplying dry-farmed grapes for some…
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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 #5: Concentric Circles Red Blend (Australia)
Welcome to another Costco wine advent calendar review! This is an ongoing feature at The Wine Fairy where we annoy our palates (and possibly ruin Christmas) by tasting through a whole case full of random half-bottles this September and October. Today’s wine is the Concentric Circles Red Blend from Australia. It’s a dry red medley…
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Review: Mitolo “7th Son” McLaren Vale Grenache-Shiraz (2017)
It’s an exciting evening at the Wine Fairy house: The bottle on the table is big, red, and Grenache-y. We’re tasting the “7th Son” red blend from McLaren Vale’s Mitolo Wines, and the one-word review summary is, “Whoa!” Mitolo’s “7th Son” is in the genre of GSM blends, but with an Italian twist: The Mourvèdre…
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Review: Clare Wine Co. Watervale Riesling (2020)
Back in college, there was a bar in the old part of town called “Bar.” It’s still there–and the official name of it is (and was) Tavern on Main–but the sign out front just said “Bar” so that’s what everybody called it. Where’s the karaoke tonight? Bar. Where did you park? Bar. The name was…
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Review: The Black Stump Durif-Shiraz (2022)
An oddball wine from Down Under is tonight’s random tipple. I don’t remember buying this, but I’m almost certain it was in my first shipment from the Wall Street Journal wine club. That means it cost approximately negative two dollars after introductory offers…so my expectations were dialed down low. The Black Stump is a blend…