Gary and I purchase a significant amount of wine from direct to consumer (DTC) wineries that we have visited, been referred to, or worked with doing local tasting parties. Wine region economies are built on the backs of the DTC winery, and this pandemic is suffocating entire swaths of California, Oregon, etc.. Some of these wineries make less than 2,000 cases a year. For those, 100% of their business usually comes from sales in their tasting room and from consumers who join their wine club. (Winery wine clubs are super cool. But that is another post for another time.) Tasting…
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Tuesday Wine Tastings Last week, we had my sister’s two dogs for eight days while they went skiing. If there were ever a time that we “needed” wine as much as we wanted wine, this would have been it. Don’t get me wrong; we loooovvvvve these puppies, but a 14-week-old can be a holy terror, and Aspen is no exception. Thankfully, Breezy is very patient with her, as are we. The scheduling of the puppies and the wine events was a coincidence because we could not have planned this if we tried. But having several wine events, including two tastings…
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Our favorite wines of 2019 offered a few surprises. For me, the biggest surprise was that two of the top four are California Chardonnays. Let me be clear; Gary loves Chardonnay but prefers French. But for me, of all the white wine varietals that I have tasted, Chardonnay is (was) one of my least favorite. Now that does not mean I am an ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) drinker. It’s just that my history with Chardonnay has been fraught with too much oak and, or too much butter. Both Gary and I are thrilled that the trend is moving away from…
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Yes, Gary and I are still drinking rosé this fall, and we will continue to do so through the winter. Our journey of drinkable pink wines has been a blast, and I want to share some of the bottles that we have sampled and loved. Some of these new wines we now buy by the case as they are that good. Drinkable pink – two different tastings. First, I taught a rosé class at Edison James Island as part of my educational wine tasting series. (Sign up here) A second tasting then happened a couple of days later when we…
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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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A Horse of a Different Color When the Ehlers Estate 2018 Sylviane Rosé was released last Spring, I was super stoked. The 2017 vintage was my #1 favorite wine last year. Everyone I knew that tried this vintage swooned over it. It was a 100% Cabernet Franc rosé that really knocked it out of the park. So with the 2018 vintage released, I was ordering my first case, no problem, with more to follow I was sure. Now I knew that there was a new winemaker at Ehlers. After all, I did run a Q&A with her last fall. (You…
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With the thermometer topping 100 degrees already this Spring, I am sure this is going to be a long and super hot summer. Days like these require quenching, quaffable, and affordable summer sips to help me make it through the next several months. These wine are sold at big box stores, Total Wine, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s. That said they may not be in your area due to lack of distribution in your state. Summer Sips – Sparkler Gruet Brut Rosé NV Who knew that such fantastic and affordable sparkling wines come from New Mexico? They have an…
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I promised you that I would post the remaining six wines that were part of the Croatian & Portuguese Wine Tasting. If you missed that post, you could check it out by clicking on the link. I still think about how much fun we had that evening. Going to wine tastings is the best way to broaden your palate and find new wines to add to your cellar or wine rack. These wines are amazingly affordable and were a big hit at the tasting. Portuguese Wine: Avicella Rosé 2017, Vinho Verde This classic Portuguese wine from Vinho Verde has slight…
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