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Tag: Italy

More, More, More… WIMG!

… how do you like it? More, more, more. Well, that is a throwback to the disco days of my youth, 1976. When it comes to sharing wine, it’s always more. Corte Gardoni, Bianco di Custoza Greoto 2021, Veneto, Italy This barrel-blended white wine from Corte Gardoni is scrumptious. This northeastern wine region hangs north over the city of Venice and spreads west just past Verona. Well-known wines from this region include Prosecco, Soave, Valpolicella, and others. I chose this wine for an Italian tasting I did in June. This white blend starts with 40% Gargenega (the lone grape in…

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WIMG – July – What’s been in My Glass!

Since the last wine tasting we hosted on June 10th, we have been tasting, sampling, and drinking a variety of wines. It is a tough job, but someone has to do it. So wimg? Let’s dig in, shall we? WIMG (If you forget, this means:  What’s in my glass?)   Celler del Roere Vermell 2019, Valencia, Spain Pablo Calatayud of Celler del Roere transformed an ancient wine cellar on their property into a gold mine. Centuries-old amphorae remain embedded in the earth, and after being cleaned up and some repaired, they can still hold and age wine the way it…

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Red Wine for the Heat Wave

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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Chilled Red Wine For Summer

{Chilled Red Wine For Summer is a long-form post. Reading time is approximately 7.3 minutes} Warmer weather is coming as we move from spring to summer. Here in Charleston, we have already had some days in the eighties, but the real heat with humidity is just around the corner. While Gary and I could drink white and rosé wines throughout the summer, sometimes you just have to have a glass of red wine. Nothing too big and heavy, but definitely red. Some red wines are great with a bit of a chill on them. That makes them perfect for summer.…

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Unique and New: Dry Brachetto & Assyrtiko

I am always up for trying a “new to me” wine or, better yet, a new wine variety. The more unique, the better. Just yesterday, I picked up a bottle of Monte Rio 2019 Mission, Lodi, CA. I am super excited to try it as it is the first wine grape to be brought to the New World in the 16th century. More on that wine once we drink it. In our last post, you read that we drank our first Uruguayan wine. This week I have two more fun wines that were firsts for both of us. So without…

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Under $13 Wine Challenge

A fellow beverage writer and consultant, Justin Koury of Bevfluence, put out the challenge of finding and tasting at least 5-6 wines that sell for under $13.00. This sounded like fun. So, we were definitely up for this challenge. Several other blogger friends also accepted the challenge. I was looking forward to what we each found. Each of us was assigned a different retailer that are regional or national chains. Additionally, I added a requirement to not buy national grocery store brands like Barefoot, Cupcake, Apothic, and others. Bottles, Mount Pleasant, is a 15,000 square foot “beverage superstore.”  There are…

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2020 Favorite & Most Memorable: Part 1

As I look back on 2020 and the wine we consumed, we sampled some amazing juice. To be clear, if a specific wine was featured on our blog, it is one of the best we drank as many don’t make the cut. But the wine on this list is our favorite and most memorable for 2020.  These wines are ones about which I can not stop thinking. These are wines that tick every box for what I love in a wine. These are also wines that shocked me. Shocked, insofar as I am usually not a big fan of that…

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Sip, Taste, Chug – Let’s do this!

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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