Connecting Intellectual and Palate Learning: Tasting Two Sakes and California Cabernet

An insatiable hunger for discovery and wine education is rewarded every time I taste wines in peer groups.  Without the chance to examine lots of wines every day over an extended period, even frequent tastings of one wine per sitting lays down hurdles to thorough assessment most easily cleared via contextual, side-by-side tastings.   The most [...]

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 [...]

One Enthusiast’s View on Wine as an Investment Vehicle

I always buy wine with an intention to drink it….someday.  For me, enjoying wine requires popped corks.  Unlike paintings, sculpture, or antiques that can be enjoyed without harming value appreciation or resale opportunities, wine is a consumable whose value remains elusive until it swirls in a glass under nose, eliminating any possibility for future valuation. [...]

A Taste of Loire, Burgundy, and Bordeaux: Replaying Four Remarkable Wines

Louis needed to miss our 2000 Bordeaux tasting.  Instead, he was happily conflicted by a commitment to host dinner at his home for a group of thirty like-minded, active community members dedicated to the preservation and improvement of a local school system’s already profound results.   Louis was intending to pair each of the evening’s [...]

Blind Tasting Series Report Part II: 2000 Bordeaux

The kaleidoscope of quality wine in market channels at any given time serves as decoy and easy distraction from the simple truth of Bordeaux’s classic performance and superior drinking experience.  My cellared claret sits ignored and unmoved for long stretches of time while I uncork wines with age-worthiness generating far less confidence.  The second flight of 2000 [...]

2007 Dominus Pre Arrival Deal

Last week Wired for Wine delivered a sweet deal on 1990 Chateau Latour.  Here, they are following on with another quality wine, 2007 Dominus, and at a really attractive retail price of $117.97 and free shipping on a minimum of two bottles.  If it looks interesting to you, move quickly since they sell only one [...]

Wired for 1990 Chateau Latour

In the event you birthed a child in 1990,  got married that year, or are secure in your belief that spending slightly under $700  a bottle can represent a really fine wine deal, then you will want to make sure you check out Wired for Wine at 10:00am on Monday, May 3.  They will be [...]

Affordability and Value in Las Vegas’ Trophy Wine Jungle

I find it exhilarating digging through overpriced, top-heavy wine lists filled with $100-a-glass labels in search of affordability or value. I first remember getting that sensation 35 years ago, opening the Racing Form back in Brooklyn at Aqueduct Race Track looking for the day’s long shot. Garage sale hunters seem to chase a [...]

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 [...]

Special Wine Alert: 2008 Brewer-Clifton Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir

Tonight, a couple of colleagues and I hosted dinner at Sushi Den in Denver for Chris Mygatt, President of Coldwell Banker Residential in Colorado.  Chris was a great dinner companion, and shared some  of the really progressive activities he has been orchestrating in concert with the 1100 Colorado Coldwell agents.  It is possible to get [...]

Next Page »