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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…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #4: Sheep Station Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand)
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is arguably the biggest commercial success story the wine industry has seen in decades. Millennials–including the Wine Fairy household, to be honest–just can’t get enough of its zingy tropical flavors. The Marlborough style is easy to enjoy: No aging, no corkscrew, no swirling required. You will not find a restaurant or…
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Merlot Thursday: Res Fortes “Merlot Madness” Vin de France (2021)
“Merlot Madness” may be the first #MerlotThursday wine to address the elephant in the room. “Unlike the Academy Award winning film ‘Sideways,’” the label reads, “we have always loved full fruit flavour, soft tannins, and easy drinkability.” Hey, we love all those things, too! A weekly dive into a glass of Merlot has reminded us…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #3: Champs de Foin Cabernet Sauvignon (Pays d’Oc, France)
Behind door #3 of the 2025 Costco wine calendar is…gasp! Could it be? A normal wine? So far, we’ve had a ripasso and a flavored white sangria inside the mystery box. Now, we’re getting back to basics with a regular old dry red wine from France: The Champs de Foin Cabernet Sauvignon. The appellation on…
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Under $12 Review: J. Lohr “Bay Mist” White Riesling Arroyo Seco (2024)
In the week after Labor Day, summer is officially over for most of the country. But in Texas, we have 9-10 months of balmy weather each year and are in the market for porch pounders until well after Thanksgiving. The “Bay Mist” White Riesling by J. Lohr is on deck, reporting for its fruity duty.…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #2: El Campeón White Sangria (France)
Round Two of the Costco Wine Advent-ure is about to begin: El Campeón White Sangria. But is this bottle a champion, my friends? We’re about to put it to the test and find out. “Grape Wine with Natural Flavors” reads the back of the label…and that’s usually not a marker of a wine of quality.…
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7 things to love at GrapeFest 2025 (Grapevine, TX)
We adore a big-city festival with a small-town feel, and GrapeFest checks all the boxes. Located in Grapevine, Texas (a few miles from DFW Airport), it’s a festive fall activity for all your favorite winos. And that’s not just our opinion: This year, GrapeFest snagged the #7 spot on the USA Today Readers’ Choice list…
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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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Merlot Thursday: Captûre Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak Merlot (2021)
There’s a certain rebellious thrill to matching a big wine with a small occasion. In this case, the small occasion was 5 PM on a workday. And the big wine was the 2021 Merlot from Captûre Wines’ Pine Mountain estate.* I ordered this glass as a #MerlotThursday splurge after narrowly surviving (an exaggeration, but only…
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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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It’s here! The 2025 Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar
Santa’s wine elves must have been working overtime this year. The Costco wine advent calendar is ready–and it’s only Labor Day Weekend! We don’t grumble about Christmas creep where wine is involved. Holiday wines are an absolute joy…from German Glühwein to little glasses of Port by the fireplace. The earlier they’re in stores, the longer…