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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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Merlot Thursday: Mouton Cadet “Les Terroirs” Bordeaux Rouge (2023)
Welcome to another #MerlotThursday, where we make a weeknight meal of a bottle of Merlot! (And usually some food, too.) Today’s wine is from the Mouton Cadet line of daily drinkers. The story of this label goes back to 1930, when a disastrous harvest resulted in wines that Baron Phillipe de Rothschild decided were not…
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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: Grand Enclos du Château de Cérons Graves Rouge (2016)
Buying premium Cabernet at a steakhouse is a bit like buying a phone charger at an airport. If you gotta have it, then you gotta have it–but there are way better times and places to make that particular purchase. As a price-conscious wine lover, I try to maneuver around the restaurant markups while still treating…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #7: Queen’s Gambit Zinfandel (California)
I’m ripping into the Costco advent calendar early, like a naughty kid at Christmastime. Except my advent calendar is full of wine instead of candy, and there’s no grown-ups here to scold me. Today I’m pouring up Bottle #7, “Queen’s Gambit.” But is this California Zinfandel fit for a queen, or should it be banished…
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Merlot Thursday: Château Gaby “Silver Label” Canon-Fronsac Bordeaux (2014)
For this #MerlotThursday, I hopped the (metaphorical) pond back over to France for a Bordeaux break. The venue is Winestein’s Tasting Room in Grapevine, where I’ve landed after a long and exciting afternoon of trying out Texans wines. The wine is Château Gaby “Silver Label.” (It’s the second wine from the Château. The “Gold Label”…
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Cabernet Sauvignon: The King of Grapes (Total Wine class review)
Born by happy accident in 17th-century Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon is now the world’s favorite grape. Almost every wine-producing country grows a bunch of it, and almost everybody likes it. It’s no wonder that Total Wine’s “King of Grapes” class always fills the room. “Always”? Yep, this is the third time I’ve taken “King of Grapes”–but…
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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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Merlot Thursday: Matanzas Creek Alexander Valley Merlot (2021)
Happy, happy #MerlotThursday! Today we’re tasting the 2021 Matanzas Creek Winery Merlot from California’s Alexander Valley. Sonoma County winemakers since 1977, Matanzas Creek emphasizes cooler-climate sites and has built a reputation on their Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot. A little Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Bordeaux-style red is also grown. Recently, the winery has branched out to…
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Review: Early Mountain “Foothills” Virginia Red Blend (2023)
Wine is great stuff–but wine people are the very best. While volunteering at the TEXSOM Conference last month, I met a wonderful couple who know a ton about Virginia wine and are eager to share their favorites with the world. Over towering racks of freshly-washed glasses, wine chat turned into more wine chat. I mentioned…
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Robert Biale Vineyards tasting at The Wine Authority (Richardson, TX)
In the Cabernet-obsessed realm of Napa Valley, Robert Biale Vineyards is an outlier: A heritage winery focused mainly on Zinfandel. When commercial winemaking was restored in California after Prohibition, the Biale family, as immigrants from Northern Italy, chose to cultivate (only) this flavorful and hardy grape. Aldo Biale’s homemade wines were sold–illicitly at first–beginning in…