Sorry that I have been incommunicado, but we went to Northern California Wine Country. If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen some of our social media posts. Just know, we were hard at work exploring, learning, tasting, and more tasting of wine from Lodi, Sonoma, Napa, and Suisun AVAs. We traveled with friends and fellow wine writers Amber & David Burke of Wine Travel Eats and Allison Levine of Please The Palate. This trip would not have been possible without them and the countless others that set us on this journey. In eight days, we visited 36…
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I first met Anne Hubatch, proprietor and winemaker of Helioterra Wines, at a wine tasting during the WWET Willamette Conference in 2019. She was presenting at the “Other Varieties from Willamette” Seminar and Tasting. She presented her Melon de Bourgogne and an Arneis. I loved them both and subsequently ordered wine from her to enjoy and write about. (There are two posts -The first, her wines were included in my Boutique Winery Must Buys, and you can Oregon Wine in My Glass.) I felt an immediate kinship with Anne, and I knew I needed to promote her wines as best…
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Recently, I had a neighbor tell me she was in a wine rut. She drinks the same two New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc wines all the time. They are available everywhere, very affordable, and consistently deliver what she likes in wine. Thus a wine that is light-bodied, low alcohol, bone dry, and high acidity. Aromas and flavors should be herbaceous and preferably grapefruity, but other citrus flavors are fine. She is looking to expand beyond New Zealand and beyond just Sauv. Blanc. So I chose a bunch of wine that could blast her out of her comfort zone. Oh, and she…
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I wanted this post’s title to be positive, so I chose the word “Pivot.” The only other words that represent 2020 I could think of was “sucked and shitshow.” And that it did and was. But because of that, I, we, many of us, if not all of us, had to pivot. You may have had to homeschool your kids, work from home, or both. I can not imagine how hard that must have been or still is. While we all had our own personal obstacles to overcome in 2020, there were also some valuable lessons. This post is a…
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Sip: Those special wines that fall into your lap or forgot that you even had. Taste: New wines to share with others. Chug: Doing what I did to get through the election and COVID-19. You may not have heard much from me lately, but I have been busy sipping, drinking, and tasting a lot of wine. Ok, not really chugging, but you know what I mean… I so wanted to chug sometimes. So let’s get to it. Sip This: 2016 “1886” Cabernet Sauvignon, Ehler Estate, St. Helena, Napa Valley Suffice it to say, when friends presented this wine to share…
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History tells us that wine was first made in Persia some 6,000 years ago. It is believed that one of the king’s wives thought it was poison and drank it to commit suicide. Instead, she laughed and sang and danced around the room. I doubt she really cared how it tasted, but I wish to thank her for her efforts as wine became a magic elixir that followed humans through the millennia. At least for me, it is the perceptions of taste and smell that make wine a magical elixir. How can one beverage deliver so many different flavors and…
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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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I have several folks in my sphere in healthcare and public health that are telling us to settle in. That this virus is not going anywhere for at least a year, but if the ‘rona is going to continue to be in our lives so that we need to mask and distance for a year, we will definitely need more wine, and I believe you will as well. That is why I am committed to finding more wineries to partner with us and do more virtual tastings. And that is why I am reaching out to encourage you to participate.…
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