The last winery visit during our Sicily adventure was to Caruso e Minini in Marsala. This is a relatively young winery that was created when fourth-generation winemaker Stefano Caruso partnered with Northern Italian marketer extraordinaire Mario Minini to create this brand that now exports mostly indigenous Sicilian varieties, including Grillo, Catarratto, Grecanico, Inzolia, Zibibbo, Nero d’Avola, Frappato and Perricone as well as some international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Syrah, and Merlot. Today, the company is helmed by Stefano’s two daughters, Giovanna and Rosanna. I am a huge fan of their wines. In addition to the Perricone, I have enjoyed…
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The Weekly Pour is the culmination of the micro posts on Strong Coffee to Red Wine. Each week subscribers will be notified via an email that posts are available to read and enjoy. This does not apply to folks using another RRS feeder. Contesa dei Venti 2020 Vittoria Doc Nero D’Avola Sicilia Last October in Sicily, on our visit to Donnafugata, we had the good fortune to have Tommaso Bellisola, the Senior Hospitality Manager at the Vittoria tasting room, lead our tasting. His depth of knowledge and his passion for Donnafugata wines was a perfect match for our needs. Contesa…
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As one of the world’s most popular wine grapes, I feel bad for Chardonnay. Opinions of the wine are intense and quite polarizing thanks to California winemakers’ style choice back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Wines, back then, were flamboyantly big, bawdy, and voluptuous. They were heavily oaked, and in the case of Chardonnay, they were also heavily “buttered.” Some wine critics praised the choice, so the crowds dutifully followed. But these wines were the antithesis of the more restrained Burgundian style, and that’s when the maligning began. As the California trend continued, sadly, the market was flooded…
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So you wanna be cool? Then drink a wonderful chilled red wine during this heatwave. And while most red wines should be consumed cooler than room temperature, I am talking chilled to 50º-55ºF to knock that sweat from your brow. But be careful; not all red wines should be chilled to that degree. A chilled red wine should be refreshing. Chilling red wine affects characteristics in wine differently. Tannins, for example, are accentuated by the chill. Grippy, parching tannins are far from refreshing by taking on an astringent quality. Aromas and flavors are muted when chilled. So a fruit-forward wine…
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In our house, rosé is a 365 days a year beverage. It started that way and never waivered. Thankfully more and more folks understand that there is a place for rosé all day and every day. This is our annual list of rosés we love. First are our new discoveries, and then we list our usual suspects. Why? Because they are delicious year over year. But You can read about them from the last rosé post. Now let’s start with some new finds that we are loving. This is Our 2022 Rosé All Day Lineup Paul Thomas Chavignol Sancerre…
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More Paso Robles Wineries Not to be Missed It was quite a thrill to see what the co-owner of LXV Wine said about our first post about Paso Robles. “Omg, super thorough and explains the Paso Robles wine region extremely accurately!” said Kunal Mittal. I have to say, it is always nice to be affirmed by a community member. If you missed the post, be sure to click on the link above. This post will continue to share information about the remaining wineries that hosted us during WWET Paso Robles. And I should start with LXV Wines because that is the…
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As you all know, my favorite vacation is a wine-tasting vacation. What is available at the source is so much better than what distributors choose to bring to our wine and grocery stores back home. At the winery, the variety is greater, the limited production wines are available, the scenery is beyond beautiful, and you always get to try before you buy. I could keep the list going, but there is no need. I am sure you get the drift. Recently, Gary and I traveled to Paso Robles for an annual wine writers event. The “deets” on our trip After…
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I have been getting lots of questions about wine headaches, so I thought it might be time to talk about histamines in wine. But before we get there, we must talk about the elephant in the room. This post is about headaches and other reactions you get while drinking wine and not headaches resulting from being hungover. Histamines not Sulfites From a previous post, we know that for 99% of us, wine headaches do not come from sulfites; we have already gone through that. In the sulfites post, we also discussed hydration when drinking alcohol. So here it is worth…
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