What do Chateau d’Yquem, Joseph Phelps, Leoville Las Cases, Champagne Roederer, and Dominus Estate have in common? First, they all share the same winemaking consultant, Xavier Chone. Originally hailing from Bordeaux, …
Valentí Llagostera of Mas Doix understands the concept of terroir. I was fortunate to spend a day with him during a recent visit to Priorat with the Wine School. Valentí’s family has …
Wine Review: Vall Llach 2009 “Idus” Priorat On the nose, a giant whiff of wild fennel and fig confit. The palate is bursting with black fruit with sweet vanilla and balsamic. …
Who are the Bouchaines? It doesn’t really matter at this point. It was the maiden name of one of the original partners in this winery. The important question is, who are …
Ottimino was established in 1999 by Brad Alper and William Knuttel. Their first bottling was from the Ranch Bello vineyard. This is Alper’s winery in many ways, but Knuttel is the name that makes …
One of the great developments in sparkling wines in the last few years has been the emergence of small grower-producer Champagne houses. They offer a level of quality and individuality that …
This is not the first time we have reviewed a [link id=”11146″ text=”Firriato wine”], and it probably won’t be the last. They bring classic Sicilian wines to the American market in …
Ribera del Jucar is one of a dozen unknown yet exemplary wine regions in Spain. It’s an ancient wine region that was under vine during the Roman Empire. But it’s also …
Chateau L’Ermitage is the classical type of French winery. Nothing exciting except the wines they produce. For the past thirty years, Michel and Jérôme Castillon have owned the winery and made …
I am not a fan of corporate wines. That is something most people in the wine trade know all too well. I am not a fan of large-scale wineries, even if …
This wine is a bit of Argentine history. Gastao Goulart originally planted the Bodega Goulart vineyard in 1915 to Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. At the time, he was a Brazilian political …
The Greve Valley is lined with terraced vineyards. Looking across the valley from this winery, those stone walls can look like a giant scallete (ladder, in Italian). At least it did for the …
A Little About ZinNo matter its pedigree, Zinfandel is big, dumb, and fun. I don’t mean that in a pejorative way. There should always be a place for fun. This is …
About Pouilly Fuissé Way back when I was in my early twenties, Pouilly-Fuissé was all the rage. The restaurant I was working at had three on their wine list. One of the …
CVNE A number of years ago, I was fortunate enough to have a one-on-one tasting with Maria Larrea, the CVNE winemaker. A wonderfully gracious woman, she took me through her entire portfolio …
Saintsbury WineryMost descriptions of Saintsbury Winery will include the word “pioneer” somewhere within the first paragraph. Go one and google it: you will get over 3.5 million pages describing how the …