April is the time of year when wine people start pricking up their ears, scanning for news from Bordeaux. A few actually go there for the en primeur tastings of the latest vintage in early April, while the rest wait around until their tasting notes are made public. Occasionally, we
Hugely dark, no light can penetrate the wine's depths. Blackcurrants, vanilla, and black pepper show on the nose. A hint of green pepper shows for the briefest moment on the attack, giving hints of the South American origins, but disappears immediately. Blackcurrant and black pepper are joined on the mid-palate
Franco Biondi Santi, the patriarch of the family credited for having laid the foundations of the prestigious Brunello di Montalcino appellation, died last weekend at the age of 91. A staunch guardian of the tradition started by his grandfather Ferrucio, both by the style of the family estate's wines and
British wine critic Jancis Robinson has something of a romantic debt to American wine. Not only was her first British national wine story about American wine, but she met her husband, Nick Lander, when they organized a tasting of American wines in London. At the time, wines from the US
We reviewed five of them for Palate Press, focusing on pairing with a traditional Passover meal, from gefilte fish to brisket. Hagafen's wines are all certified by the Orthodox Union as Kosher for Passover. They are also yayin mevushal through the process of flash pasteurization. For the uninitiated, this means they
The color is a very pretty flamingo pink. The nose reveals aromas of roses and watermelon. On the palate it is fresh, bright but not quit zingy with acids, leading with roses, strawberry and lime, juice and pith, moving away from strawberry and to watermelon on the mid-palate. It closes
Hardy Wallace gave himself one year to sell through his first significant release of wines from Dirty and Rowdy Family Winery in late August, 2012. It would be work, hand selling, lots of travel. If they could sell out in a year, it would be a sign that maybe this
If you’re like most people, the light-bodied, refreshing Vinho Verde is what comes to mind when you think of wines from Portugal. Few today can name a producer making a “serious” red wine or describe its grapes or style. The fact is, most of these wines are consumed within Portugal