With a rich and creamy mouth feel, the wine made its entrance with the typical apple and pear you’d expect at the surface. Underneath however, I detected entrancing layers of melon and tropical star fruit notes while the mouth offered-read more-
“How do you like the wine?” my husband asked me, after pouring a traditionally-styled 2001 Chianti Classico Riserva. “I find it blousy and a bit unfocused,” I replied. “Let’s try it in narrower glass.” Sure enough, the narrower glass reined-read more-
The sign outside the entrance to the winery of Angelo Gaja, in the Piedmontese village of Barbaresco, says volumes in little: Gaja—four letters on a square plaque, gray on gray, like a cornerstone on a civic monument. When Angelo Gaja-read more-
The 2009 JK Carriere Glass White Pinot Noir holds all the promise of summer in one glass. The wine is produced using the same techniques as turn-of-the-century French rosé Champagne, and though it doesn’t actually have any bubbles, it does-read more-
This is a very pleasant Sauvignon Blanc. It is neither overblown with oak nor starkly acidic and reeking of cat urine. Rather, it has grassy flavors with white grapefruit and just a tiny background hint of gooseberry. It has a-read more-
The use of wood is obvious and provides much of the flavor. There is a lot of fruit, cherries with a little blueberry, but vanilla, butter, baking spice, and tannins all come from the wood. Bonarda is usually lighter and-read more-
This is a lovely glass of bubbles. When first opened it displayed a lot of lemon flavors, but after just a few minutes it showed far more complexity and depth. There was lightly yeasty well-browned toast, almonds, loads of pears-read more-
Moving to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, I fully expected to be surrounded by heavenly coffee, fantastic food, killer microbrews, and world-class Pinot noir. Lots of Pinot noir. What I did not expect was to discover a thriving scene of-read more-