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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I had so much to stay that Instagram would not allow me to post that much, so I moved the post here. Thank you, Alice and Brook, for partnering with @strongcoffeetoredwine. THANK YOU! One of the joys of this wine excursion was to meet with the wineries that have partnered with me. Brook from @bannisterwines and Alice from @sutrowine are two of my original partners. Meeting them and saying THANK YOU was a highlight of my trip. But, of course, we also got the added bonus of tasting their current releases. Since neither wineries have a tasting room, we met at…
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New Fall Releases from Acquiesce Winery: A Virtual Tasting Thursday, September 17, 2020 * 6:30pm – 8:00pm EDT Order must be placed by August 30th at 6pm EDT Please join Rick Dean and Gary Link along with a special guest appearance by Sue Tipton, the winemaker, and co-owner of Acquiesce Winery and Vineyard. This is a virtual tasting that any white wine drinker must attend and experience new wines that will make your palate explode with joy. Featuring these four world-class, estate-grown Rhône style wines with amuse bouche pairings About the winery Acquiesce Winery located in the Lodi Appellation…
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If you are heading to Willamette Valley for a wine tasting experience, it means that you must love Pinot Noir. After all, 68% of all grapevines planted in the valley are Pinot Noir. Similarly, if you head to Napa, you must love Cabernet Sauvignon. But what really gets my Pavlovian responses into overdrive is when I discover the “other wine” of the region. These wines typically are not publicized, are listed last on their website, and not included in the basic tasting. And that is what makes finding them so much fun. The wines are typically pet projects of the…
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Edison James Island Klinker Brick Wine Dinner You all know by now that I am a huge fan of wine dinners. The ones I attend tend to cost in the $90 to $125 range including tax and gratuity, although I have seen some advertised for as much as $200 to $300 per person. This occasion was my first wine dinner at Edison James Island. In my experience, wine dinners always sell out, and that makes me very happy. What made this wine dinner so interesting to me is the quality to price ratio (QPR) of the Klinker Brick wines and…
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A few weeks ago, I had the honor of attending the Laherte Frères Champagne Dinner at Edmund’s Oast. All of the wine dinners I have gone to at Edmund’s Oast have been a lot of fun as well as great learning experiences. But I was super excited about this one because I have a significant knowledge deficit when it comes to the art of champagne. Since this is one of Sarah O’Kelley’s (the sommelier at Edmund’s Oast), favorite producers, I knew I was in for a treat. Side note: All Champagne is sparkling wine. But all sparkling wine is NOT…
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5 minute read A Bubbles Primer It is almost New Year’s Eve, the evening we drink an estimated 360 million glasses of Champagne and sparkling wine in the USA. That is a lot of bubbles. Notice that I said Champagne and sparkling wine. Are they not the same thing? Well, it’s complicated. First, all Champagne is sparkling wine, but most sparkling wines are NOT Champagne. Stay tuned, I will explain below. Second, all Champagnes and sparkling wines have additional carbon dioxide dissolved into the wine that creates the bubbles once you open the bottle. After that, is when it gets…
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Chardonnay is the most popular wine in the USA based on sales volume. That said, I was very, very slow to the starting gate because I “thought” I did not “like” white wine. I have told the story before when several years ago, I was graciously “slapped around” by a winemaker in France who clarified that I had just not found the style of white wine I preferred. I was so used to only trying the wines that my husband and sister liked that I had never really given most white varieties a chance. Thankfully, I took the information to heart and…
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