This is an absolutely lovely wine, rich but balanced, with complex fruit and a solid backbone. The nose shows blackberry and elderberry, bright on top with earthiness in counterpoint. It really explodes on the palate, with the black fruit getting elbowed aside on the mid-palate by black cherry and ripe
My first education in wine came from my mum - a woman who loved fermented juice in a simple, unpretentious way, and who rarely if ever bought a bottle that cost more than $20. Bordeaux wines, she told me, were for the mind - the intellect even. Whereas Burgundy and Pinot
Once you’ve tasted victory, its flavor tends to linger in your mouth. Especially if victory’s flavor flows from the nectar of 100-point red wines, wines you have personally sealed into the bottles. From 2002 to 2005, John Irving Levenberg was a leader of the team that garnered California’s Paul Hobbs
It's Monday again. I got through it. How about you? Let's celebrate. Today we're going to start with Dry Fly Washington Gin, a delightful offering from Dry Fly Distilling, in Spokane, Washington. It's a lovely gin, intensely fruity, with berries taking the front seat to traditional juniper. Too much vermouth,
Laura Albertini, young owner of the small winery Terre di Pietra (mentioned in my recent column on this year’s Amarone tastings), passed away suddenly on the first of March, 2017. Married to Cristiano Saletti and the mother of two children, Anna and Alice (pictured above), Laura was just 36 years
For true wine lovers, appreciating the rich, decadent Amarone della Valpolicella is almost a given (despite W. Blake Gray's opinion). In fact, 11% of all the Amarone sold abroad ends up in American wine glasses. Concentrated and wonderful, long-aged and long-lived, Amarone is created in Italy’s Veneto region by intensifying
Every so often, someone digs up an ancient clay amphora with grape residue and we all hold our breaths, waiting for scientists to try to re-create the wine stored inside 8,000 years ago. Occasionally it even works, and we’re thrilled we could be tasting the same wine that Biblical-era peoples
Juniper? Of course, but that's not what drives Principe de los Apostoles Mate Gin. It's the peppermint, the eucalyptus, and yerba mate, used in traditional Argentine tea, that makes this go. The peppermint and eucalyptus take the lead, but a silky chocolate lingers on the finish. Turning this into a