Not a super-young wine, probably at its peak now, it has the distinction of being a Napa Valley red with only 13.7% alcohol: nicely restrained level. And nicely touched up with oak that is barely there – refreshing in a wine from this area (which unfortunately does affect the pricing).
If you find a bottle of this wine lingering in a wine shop, buy it. According to my sources, it averages around $15 – if you can find it. This is a very good red wine made with Bordeaux varieties of grapes, and it won’t get any better so drink
The streets of old Europe can be hauntingly quiet. In small villages, one can walk along cobbled corridors in the middle of a weekday afternoon and hear nothing but the breeze. The streets are lined with stone buildings, some of them homes, some of them businesses. Trousers hang to dry
This past weekend in Sonoma County, California, 17 vintners gathered for a wine tasting they dubbed “The 7 Percent Solution.” As the organizers explained, “roughly 93 percent of Northern California vineyard acreage is planted to eight major grape varietals. The remaining 7 percent is home to numerous lesser-known varietals, [which]
At first, the aromas of this deep purple wine are of just-picked grapes and new wine, but it soon evolves in the glass to a dark fruitiness. And on the palate, the wine is light at first, but becomes bigger and then gives up dark fruit with accents of wild,
In a tasting of Finger Lakes Rieslings, this wine stood out because of its finesse and complexity. It has a classic Riesling aroma of minerals shading into honeyed pear. The flavor is somewhat crisp, layered and mineral, with citrus too. More tropical fruit and grapefruit appear as it warms in
At this point, its reasonably common knowledge that terroir isn’t all about soil. Studies since the 1970’s have told us that wine from grapes grown on different soil types in different locations don’t necessary taste different. Nouveau chic wine critics – Steve Heimoff, Eric Asimov, W. Blake Gray, among others
This is an impressive Champagne, especially as it’s the entry-level non-vintage for this Champagne House. Medium-light straw-gold in color. A nice, strong yeast and toasted aroma, almost like Marmite but in a good way (if you can imagine that). On the palate, more toast, fruit and lemon integrate into a