michelle locke - Palate Press

5 min read

In Montefalco, they’re bringing Sagrantino back and creating a new “must see” wine country. Ah, Tuscany... storied land of rooms with views, Florentine frescoes and home of the wine that Hannibal Lecter likes to pair with liver. But did you know that right next door in Umbria you get the

Diodoros: Wine Among the Ruins

Michelle Locke

Feature Stories

3 min read

In Sicily, the Diodoros Project focuses on really old world wine. On a day that trembles between sunshine and showers, shafts of early morning sun slice through the clouds to light up the vineyard of Nero d’Avola grapes growing in this quiet corner of Sicily. It’s not a particularly unusual

Vino Veteran: Peter Mondavi looks back at 100

Michelle Locke

Feature Stories

3 min read

Peter Mondavi. Sr. is holding a cork from a 1966 bottle of Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon, rolling the blackened cylinder in fingers seamed with age and work. He was 52 when he made this wine and it’s held up well, still a rich garnet, savory with hints of dark red

Best of 2014: The X factor or, how I learned to love big reds in Northern Greece

Michelle Locke

Feature Stories

4 min read

In this piece, originally published in September, columnist Michelle Locke tackles tongue twisters and tongue pleasers in Northern Greece. I knew going in that Xinomavro was going to be a challenge. After all, you know you’re tasting something a little bit different when you have to start with a pronunciation

Glass sippers: Keeping abreast of fashions in sparkling stemware

Michelle Locke

Features

3 min read

Sparkling wine has always been a glass act. It was the invention of stronger bottles in 17th-century Britain that made the beverage cellar-safe, solving the problem of exploding bottles which had plagued effervescent beverages. And the glasses used to serve sparkling wines have gone through more than a few incarnations

Grape Revival: A sip-and-save approach to Thanksgiving

Michelle Locke

Features

2 min read

Thanksgiving is upon us, that glorious chaos of flavors that can defy even the savviest somm. Unless you sidestep the food issue and make it a mood pairing instead. Last year I felt traditional and drank like a Founding Mother: Madeira, sherry, cider, applejack, whiskey. Not all in one sitting.

Bubbles Amid the Storm

Michelle Locke

Feature Stories

4 min read

After a wet year, Ferrari winemakers keep calm, carry on in Trento, Italy. Walking through hillside vineyards on a seductively beautiful fall day, bands of golden sunshine draped over serried rows of green, Ferrari winery vice president Marcello Lunelli is searching for a word to describe the worst growing

The X factor or, how I learned to love big reds in Northern Greece

Michelle Locke

Feature Stories

4 min read

I knew going in that Xinomavro was going to be a challenge. After all, you know you’re tasting something a little bit different when you have to start with a pronunciation lesson (it’s ksee-NOH-mah-vroh). Throw in the fact that typical tasting notes include phrases like “lingering notes of tomato (tomato!)

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Best of 2014: The X factor or, how I learned to love big reds in Northern Greece

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Grape Revival: A sip-and-save approach to Thanksgiving

Bubbles Amid the Storm

The X factor or, how I learned to love big reds in Northern Greece