Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny 2005: Best Wine This Year

I am fortunate to taste more than one man’s fair share of special wine every month.  Tonight, in the context of a business dinner at Momofuku Ssam Bar with a young, smart, scrappy, web marketing guru from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, we experienced the most compelling red wine I have tasted this year, and most probably one [...]

Canlis: A Seattle Food and Wine Oasis

Canlis is so much more than a place to eat and drink well in Seattle.  A combination of the scintillating year-old menu rejuvenation driven by ex-Eleven Madison Park Chef Jason Franey and the Canlis family’s sustained approach to warmth and hospitality leaves diners with nothing less than a spa-like afterglow on each visit.  Last year [...]

Jerry Garcia in WineZag?

Today would be Jerry Garcia’s 68th birthday.   Had he not passed away in early August of 1995, he most certainly would still be touring with the Grateful Dead, making music deeply embraced by an appreciative and understanding few, misinterpreted and dismissed by so many more.  Jerry gets a nod in WineZag today for [...]

Boston Troquet’s Cellar Dregs Are Wine Lover’s Treasures

Long ago, Troquet cemented its reputation with New England wine enthusiasts as the quintessential fine dining spot in Boston to order and drink memorable wine.   Actually, it all started with Chris Campbell’s earlier Commonwealth Avenue project UVA , a laid back spot offering unassuming atmosphere, serious food, easy prices, and a wine program that brought [...]

Tasting 1982 Bordeaux: Vieux Chateau Certan and Les Ormes de Pez

Having missed the 1982 Bordeaux futures market bonanza by two regrettable years, any evening I can taste two or more clarets from this historic vintage, side by side along with good people and tasty food, transforms into a trademark “good living” moment.  A few weeks ago, my friend Jacques suggested we head over to his house [...]

Leonetti Cellars Merlot Vertical Tasting: Proves Ageability and Quality

In the late 1980’s before the Walla Walla Valley appellation blossomed into more than 100 wineries farming over 1,800 acres of vineyards in a particularly dry region blessed with extended growing seasons, pioneers Gary Figgins and Rick Small slipped onto my developing list of world class winemakers.  I made sure their releases beat regular paths [...]

Fantasy Wine Fiction: Dinner for One

via drinksareonme.net
Last week Dale Cruse, the irreverently astute and bright mind behind www.drinksareonme.net asked if I was interested in playing along with a new game he cooked up called “crowdsourcing wine fan fiction”.  I knew it had to be some neat way to legitimize or make sense of the sensually interesting and edgy wine inclusive photos Dale has shared [...]

Bayamon and Barrilito: Sultry Escape From Snow and Wine

Wine Blogging Wednesday
Solera of the Caribbean Sea, Papirusa of Puerto Rico, and the Batard of Bayamon, Ron del Barrilito (rum from the little barrel) offers palates predisposed to character-rich wines a welcome midwinter alternative.  Three Fernandez generations have crafted a mysterious, deceptively complex, amber-hued, full flavored rum using the same secret family recipe since 1880.  For full appreciation and escape from frozen tundras, you can visit the Fernandez clan clinging to their patch of [...]

Zen, Hot Dogs, and Albarino

Yes, as the post’s title reflects, there is wine involved.  But this simple, value infused story of Willy completely transcends the bottle of Rias Baixas  blended white varietals I presented to him a few mornings ago in our annual Christmas gift exchange (I always get his wife’s heavenly spiced papaya dish) on a beach we ritually retreat to near San Juan, Puerto Rico.
At the end of [...]

Social Wine Media as Emblem For Learning

As the year closes I am momentarily preempting another wine ramble to share some experience and perspective that intersects both private and public realms, emerging as personally significant if not life changing.  In this story is a life lesson about new experiences that are just around the corner and accessible to anyone; experiences that have the potential to become wholly meaningful, but can just as easily disguise [...]

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