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Review: El Pino Club “Sea Floored” Pinot Noir (2021)
Working as a prep cook in a hotel, I used to clean a lot of strawberries. Strawberries for the breakfast buffet, strawberries for the cold line’s fruit plates and salads, strawberries for the pastry shop. (This is a Pinot Noir review–I’m getting to it, I promise. But first I want to tell you about my…
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Merlot Thursday: Château la Grâce Dieu les Menuts Saint-Émilion Grand Cru (2016)
If there is any 2016 Saint-Émilion left on the planet at the end of this year, it won’t be for lack of trying. I have been uncorking these bottles with relish on Thursdays (and other days), and they are consistently tasting just right. Want a sip of this vintage? Then you’d better hurry. Château la…
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Review: Ciavolich Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo (2023)
Montepulciano was a grape that I thought I’d left in the distant past: The carafes of soft, plodding table wine ordered alongside spaghetti and mozzarella sticks. To a college-age Wine Fairy, “Montepulciano” sounded sophisticated and worldly. It seemed like a step up from the house Chianti in the wicker basket, if only because it was…
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I tried all the wines on the drink package! Here’s the lowdown on 23 of Princess Cruises’ house wines.
Gangway crossed, drink package purchased, Princess Medallion® in hand. It was time to attempt a feat of exploration and endurance: Tasting all of the available wines before disembarkation day on a 7-day Caribbean cruise. Buying the drink package presented an irresistible opportunity. Normally, I have to pay for the glasses and bottles I review for…
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Review: Masi “Bonacosta” Valpolicella Classico (2022)
Rare bottles are nice and all. But sometimes your mood (or your wallet) pulls you in a different direction–toward clunky glassware, red-sauce pasta, and BYOB. Wine can be part of the occasion without being the occasion. Valpolicella knows this, and is a gracious guest at almost any table. My bottle of the night is a…
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Merlot Thursday: St. Supéry Rutherford Estate Vineyard Merlot (2021)
I’ve pinched myself a bunch of times today, but it hasn’t worked. This is no dream…I really am in California. It’s the last full day of the Wine Writers’ Symposium in Napa Valley. It’s just after sundown. And there is excellent wine everywhere. Earlier today, I woke up in a cottage on the side of…
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Napa Zin for the win: A visit to Robert Biale Vineyards
Trying to choose just one winery to visit in Napa Valley is a torturous exercise, like buying a single scoop from an ice cream shop with dozens of bins. Whatever you pick, it’s sure to be good. But choosing Pistachio means passing up Boysenberry and Black Walnut and Lavender Honey–there’s only so much flavor you…
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Merlot Thursday: Reclos de la Couronne Montagne-Saint-Émilion (2022)
Every week, following the example of a loose community of online wine nerds, I stop whatever I’m doing and drink a Merlot. There are two main reasons for the exercise: One, I’m trying to train my palate to recognize subtle differences in terroir and winemaking by becoming overly familiar with one variety, and two, Merlot…
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Champagne Road Trip (Part Two): Épernay and Vallée de la Marne
This is Part Two (of Two) of a dream-worthy jaunt to France’s Champagne region. Check out Part One here. Champagne may be a relatively small wine region, but it’s a huge business: A whopping 35% of France’s total wine exports by value. The world’s love for Champagne extends to wine tourism, with an estimated 3.5…
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Merlot Thursday: Martin Ray “Courtney’s Cuvée” Merlot (2021)–and the trouble with wine on tap
The quest to bring back Merlot got a boost this week from a delightful “Sideways Effect” piece by Willa Paskin for Slate: “For years, many believed that one tiny movie brainwashed American wine drinkers forever. The truth is weirder.” All the biggest questions and juiciest details are in that article: Is it true that one…
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Merlot Thursday: Dubourdieu “Liaison” Graves Red Bordeaux Merlot (2022)
As Winter Storm Fern wraps up her national tour, I’m stuck inside for a couple more days. (I love you, Dallas–but your roads don’t function with snow and sleet.) On the plus side, there is plenty of wine at home. In fact, it’s about time I got around to tasting some of these bottles from…
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Review: Malbado Luján de Cuyo Malbec (2019)
“Malbado” means “the bad one,” but this Mendoza Malbec actually wasn’t so bad. I pulled it from my strategic wine reserve (that is, the rack full of old Total Wine bottles) to uncork in the middle of a winter storm. Yes, this is a Total Wine private label wine with all the tell-tale signs: Big…