Our trip to Alsace could be done over a long layover, although it’s practically impossible since the nearest major airport is three hours away. Spent (mostly) eating and drinking, we also learned a ton about the people, their wines and the region. Here’s a glimpse into the 24 hours we were there. We had […]
A Google news search for El Nino’s effect on vineyards generates tens of pages of opinion articles speculating on if and how the big winter will contribute to the quality of the 2016 harvest. As always, the media is stirring up concern regarding the impact of heavy rainfall on grapevines in articles such as Eater’s, […]
Many wineries have already or are just about to make the biodynamic Preparation 500, where cow manure is packed into cow horns and buried in the soil through the winter. This Spring, the horn will be uncovered, its contents stirred into water to make a “tea” and then sprayed on the vineyards’ soil in the […]
Independence-Day Drinking or Independence Day-Drinking? Are they synonymous? Either way, this year we are fortunate to have three days on which to celebrate the 4th of July and while we’re at it, enjoy some great wines, day or night. We’ve got some suggestions… Muscadet Somebody get a bag of oysters! Raw or Barbecued, this Muscadet […]
WSET, CMS, CSW… Deciphering all these wine certifications can be less than quaffable in deciding which route to take. If you’re climbing the restaurant ladder into the position of Sommelier or Wine Program Director, then the Court is most likely the best option. But what about the rest of us in sales, hospitality, or purchasing? The […]
Believe it or not, all of Napa Valley was dry farmed until the 1960s, when overhead irrigation systems were introduced. Just a few years later came the early stages of drip irrigation. Still, the benchmark classics of Napa Valley – BV, Inglenook, Martini and others, were farmed without irrigation for many years before then. How […]
It’s Winter, or at least, in California, we pretend like it is. We all know we need more than a couple really hard rainstorms (every day, until the end of next month) to keep the snow pack, which feeds our streams, which feed our crops and vines, not to mention us! In hoping for a cool and wet March, here are some reds we love to drink when its cold to keep us warm! Best of all they’re all around 20 bucks, so you can save while you sip.
The first thing to know for Chasing New Zealand Verasion is that harvest is in the spring, or is it fall? Ok let’s keep this universal and say ‘New Zealand’s wine harvest happens in or around February-May.’
Harvest in New Zealand, or anywhere in the southern hemisphere, is another way to get great experience and a different perspective, especially if you had worked harvest in the northern hemisphere exactly prior to that. Hopefully you’ve saved up enough money to travel and get to your destination, sold your car to afford your next plane ticket and you’re off to another adventure, new land, different wines, more great friends to make.
After several years in bottle, wine can dip into a ‘dumb phase.’ This wine was probably fruit forward, round on the palate, full of minerality and expressive of all beautiful traits that define classic Riesling, but are now muted, and the wine seems uninteresting and dull. Sometimes, decanting can help bring the wine to life, but typically, this is a phase that can go on for months to a few years.
The toughest part of describing the aromas in wine is first detecting the flavors, but once you have that down, the next challenge is to find a rhythm in spitting out a description that ‘wows.’ Try this flow we’ve described in this post. Check out the color. White wines should point you down one path, say white fruits, stone fruits, citrus, reds another, red fruits like cherry, blackberry. Sometimes white and red wine aromas can overlap with fruits like orange and dried fruit aromas.
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