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Review: Peña Garnacha Calatayud (2023)
Days that end in “y” are red wine days, and today I am pouring Garnacha. I snagged this bottle for $10 or $15 at Salado Wine Seller, the best little wine shop you’re likely to find while driving between Dallas and Austin. This evening’s wine is from Calatayud, in southwest Aragón: The Peña Garnacha. I…
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Review: Don Benigno Amontillado Sherry
Sherry is not easy to come by in this town, folks. (“Cherry? Yeah, we have cherry vodka.”) If you’re seeking Sherry (and you’re lucky), the liquor store person will lead you to a dusty shelf over by the jug wines, where approximately 95% of the fortified wines will be syrupy sweet and/or flavored. Even my…
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Review: Familia Torres Secret del Priorat (2021)
The bigger the better when it comes to red wine. I’ve always felt that way, and I probably can’t be reformed. Blame Napa, blame coarse American taste–it is what it is. But I have a burning spot in my heart for reds so thick you can stand a spoon up in them, so potent you…
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Review: CVNE Ribera del Duero Tempranillo (2022)
Cabernet Sauvignon may be my desert-island grape, but lately I’ve been trying to reach beyond the Bordeaux varieties to find the bold, satisfying reds I crave. Especially to drink with dinner. Cabernet and Malbec can be distracting in their bodaciousness: They strut their stuff and suck up all the attention in the room. Wines based…
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What Is This Thing? Tinto de Sol Calimocho
Welcome to the first installment of What Is This Thing?, in which we try odd bottles from the periphery of the world of wine. Today I’m tasting Tinto de Sol Calimocho. Is it wine? The label helpfully describes it as an “aromatized wine-product cocktail.” So, yes? Let’s get into it! Calimocho (also spelled Kalimoxto) is…
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Review: Sandeman “Character” Medium-Dry Amontillado Sherry
Guess what? We are Sherry fans on this blog. Get us slightly tipsy at a wine bar, and we will never shut up about how delicious the aged, fortified wines from Jerez are. My readers are lucky that The Sherry Fairy is an even dumber name for a website than The Wine Fairy, or else…
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Roman wine-making villa unearthed in Spain! But what was the wine like?
Exciting archaeological news for wine-lovers who frequently think about the Roman empire: A large wine-making villa has been unearthed at Sant Gregori villa near the coastal town of Burriana, Spain. Archaeology Magazine reports that the four-acre site is complete with all the facilities required to grow, ferment, and store grapes and wine. There are even…