Chateau Ollieux Romanis 2011 “Cuvee Capucine” Corbieres-Boutenac
I don’t know why this wine is named Capucine. Was it named after the French actress who lives about an hour away? Or Refuge Capucine, a dog shelter near the winery? …
Bacchus
Rivetto 2007 “Lirano Soprano” Barbera D’Alba
Rivetto is well known for their Barolo, which is all well and good. Those bottles earn their high price tags, but the hidden gem in the lineup is Barbera d’Alba. Along …
St. Urbans-Hof 2011 Zickelgarten Riesling Spatlese
I tried this wine for the first time almost one year ago. I was at the annual trade tasting for a wine importer. He had just brought this wine less than …
A Service Dog and Her Winemaker
This article is one of the few articles written about Keith’s life before founding the Wine School. It prominently features Rosie, his dog of many years. Sadly, Rosie passed away in …
Tara Nurin Named 2012 Writer of the Year
The ContestEpikur Writer of the Year is a new event that seeks to honor the best food and booze writing in Philadelphia. It is to be an annual contest and is …
Cuna de Reyes 2009 Rioja Crianza (Spain)
Aged for a year in French and American oak, this wine is mostly Tempranillo with some Garnacha and Mazuelo. Grapes are sourced from vineyards in Nájera, in the southern edge of Rioja …
Michele Satta 2005 Cavaliere (Super Tuscan)
A voluptuous Sangiovese with a slight salinity that veers to black olive but pulls back into a beautiful layered expression of chocolate. A glass-staining beauty with plump blackberry and kirsch notes …
Passitivo 2010 Primitivo, Puglia
Judging wines isn’t a linear job. It’s not really about grading all wines as a spectrum of quality. We don’t judge a Red Zinfandel from Russian River next to a bottle …
Chateau Ramage La Batisse 2005 Haut Medoc (Bordeaux)
A finely honed bottle with eucalyptus and wet stone aromas that edge into black fruit and crème de cassis. Full-bodied and velvety, the palate offers fresh red fruit, black tea, and a bracing minerality …
Kumeu River Estate 2006 Chardonnay, New Zealand
The aromas and flavors of chalk, lemongrass, and honeysuckle scream out White Burgundy. Chablis, even. Pretty notes of exotic fruit round out the profile. A lovely wine that shows character and …
Cantine dei Colli Ripani 2004 “Ninfa Ripana” Passerina
Verdicchio has been the shining star of white wine from the Marche since Fazzi-Battaglia hit the market with its fish-shaped bottle over thirty years ago. Lesser-known whites were pushed even farther …
Bodegas del Rosario 2006 3000 Anos, Bullas
From Murcia, the native home of the Monastrell grape, comes this beautiful beasty. More muscle and punch than a roomful of angry kickboxers. The nose of tobacco and fresh sweat keeps …
Cellers Baronia del Montsant 2009 Flor de Englora Roure
A review of a top class Grenache blend. Glass staining and inky black, the Flor d’Englora Roure is full bodied and richly flavored. Aromas of toast, campfire, and coriander rise from the glass, with a thread of liquorice. Tobacco and mocha on the palate with a rich deep fruit flavors, plum and dark cherry.
Offley 2006 Late Bottled Vintage Porto
Sometimes is about having something good at an impossible price. The ’06 vintage isn’t the greatest. The ’05 and the ’07 Offley bottlings are better. However, at the price that the PLCB …
Alexander Valley Vineyards 2008 “Redemption” Zinfandel
If you drink Zin for its delightful complexity, you aren’t thinking straight. Zinfandel –despite its pink alter ego– is a major badass. This bottle is in keeping with such a reputation. …
Belguardo 2009 Serrata, Tuscany
Up until twenty years ago, the Tuscan coast was more well know for Etruscan ghosts than wine. What’re a few decades compared to a few millennia? In what is known as …