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What Is This Thing? Fratelli Alessandria Barolo Chinato (NV)
It’s a wide, wide world of wine out there and there’s no way to taste it all in many lifetimes. I’m basically resigned to that fact. But even so, a completionist impulse lurks within the heart of every wine lover. So if I see something novel on a wine list or back bar, you can…
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Merlot Thursday: Tenuta Campo al Mare “Baia al Vento” Bolgheri Superiore (2019)
I hope I never stop encountering wines that defy description. Variety is the spice of life, they say. And that nagging side-brain itch you get when you’re trying to describe an aroma that just won’t let itself be assigned to any normal noun or adjective? I’m trying to learn to love that feeling, that little…
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Review: Tiziano Pinot Grigio delle Venezie (2021)
This pretty Pinot Grigio is named for the Venetian painter Titian–but is it a masterpiece? Let’s pour a glass of Tiziano and ponder its dimensions. Medium yellow in the glass and giving off aromas of apple and citrus blossom. Faint stone fruit, too. The palate is mostly apple and ripe pear. I taste hay and…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #1: L’Artiste Ripasso (Italy)
Last year, I got the Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar around Thanksgiving, hoping to taste all the wines before December 25. But wouldn’t you know it? The busy-ness (and booziness) of the holiday season intervened, and I fell too far behind. I forgot I had a wine fridge full of half-bottles. I ended up drinking most…
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Review: Giuseppe Sedilesu “Mamuthone” Cannonau di Sardegna (2020)
“Cannonau” is the Sardinian name for the variety Grenache. This is the sort of random wine fact that I didn’t know six months ago, or need to know. But then the wine bug bit and some book learnin’ happened. Now when I see the word “Cannonau” on a wine list or a label, I don’t…
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2025 TEXSOM Diaries: Sommer Camp Part Two
I’m a first-timer at TEXSOM’s Sommer Camp in Irving, Texas this year. I’ll be sharing my conference experiences here on The Wine Fairy blog. This is Part Two, in which we polish a billion glasses, drink a really old Napa Cab, and pair sweet Bordeaux with Tex-Mex. If you haven’t read Part One, you can…
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Review: w/o Frappato Terre Siciliane IGT (2023)
Tasting a new grape is a lot like meeting a friend of a trusted friend: Hello, new grape! Unless you give me a reason not to, I’m certain I’m going to love you. I was especially predisposed to love Frappato, one of Southern Italy’s rare and special wine varieties. Lighter and more aromatic than Nero…
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Review: Donnachiara Fiano de Avellino (2022)
When shopping for EU wines, it can be hard to make sense of the label. There are far too many proper nouns. It’s a humbling reminder of how much there is to learn in the world of wine. For those of us who grew up drinking mass-produced domestic wines with just a couple of words…
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Review: La Chiamata Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (2022)
I’m trying to get better at blind tasting–both for upcoming exams and as a cool party trick. Practicing (and usually being wrong) at home is way less stressful than doing it at a wine bar. So that is what we’re doing, about one night per week. Last night’s blind bottle was La Chiamata Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.…
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Review: Capisco Pinot Grigio (2023)
“Click-click” goes the screw-cap, “ploop-ploop” goes the wine–and we are dipping into a chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio. This midday treat is the latest one to be opened out of a case of budget Italian wines from WSJ Wine. The producer is one Alessandro Gallici, the same Northern Italian winemaker responsible for the “Visionario” Bianco…
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Southern Italy (Campania & Puglia) tasting at Corner Wines (Plano, TX)
Wine, at its best, is both a teleporter and a time machine. The right glass can whisk you away to distant locales visited long ago (or never), to historical moments remembered or imagined by the yearning, eternal soul inside each of your tastebuds. This is why we drink wine. That, and because it’s a tasty…
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Review: Trabucco “ÉRRE” Falerno del Massico (2020)
Small wine shops are the best, am I right? Even better are the ones with a “drink it here” option. Once a week or so, I make a date night out of it and choose a bottle that I can’t find on every wine list in town. Often, it’s a bottle I doubt is on…