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Month: August 2019

Tasting Willamette – Damnit

Last week, I was part of the Wine Writer’s Educational Tour (WWET) to Willamette Valley in Oregon. Four intensive days of classroom, tasting, touring and wining & dining throughout the northern section of the Willamette Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area). Each day, I would rise at 7:00 am to be on the bus by 8:00 am only to return to the hotel around 11:00 pm. Over these four days, I tasted upwards of 140 different wines from wineries all over the AVA. The wines were mostly Pinot Noir, but we also had a session on Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling, and…

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Clif Family Does Wine Right

I dare say there is not an adult in this country that has not eaten a Clif Bar at some point in their life. Thanks to the success of those bars, Clif Family has also ventured into winemaking in Napa Valley. And like anything that they do, they do it incredibly well, and they go big. Many successful wineries in Napa may offer five wines. At Clif Family, I counted 24 on their website. As I said, they go BIG. Clif Family Winery On A Whim During my May of 2018 trip to Napa, we made a last-minute stop at…

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Wine & Company on Upper Meeting St.

Wine bars have exploded all over Charleston. For the longest time, the best that I could tell, there were just two, Bin 152 on lower King St. and Avondale Wine and Cheese in West Ashley. Then the trend hit Charleston, and there seemed to be a new one opening every few months, as well as pre-existing bars tweaking their offerings to become a wine bar. My unofficial count at this point is fourteen. Some might argue that there are more, but I am happy with my count. But there was one I kept coming up in conversation, Wine & Company,…

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