An absolute powerhouse Corbieres, at an unbeatable price! A great Corbières red is easy to love; the robustness, exotic spiciness, and succulent red fruit profile can be like scoring a killer Châteauneuf-du-Pape at half the price. What’s not easy is actually finding a great one for under $45…
There’s something going on in Clarksburg… Roughly two or three years back (memory escapes us at this point for the exact timing), we stumbled on a producer in Clarksburg that has somehow miraculously become a bit of a showstopper for us. European oddities, in CA soil, just outside…
Learn to pair Cotes du Rhone Blanc (white wines) In the Southern Rhône, three red grapes dominate the landscape; Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre. In the North, three white grapes do the same; Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne. Now that’s not to say the north only makes white wines, and…
In tasting room, restaurant, or wine shop conversations you might hear the term Noble Grapes, but what are they referring to? This is a two-part answer. Depending on context, they may be referring to either The Six Noble Grapes or referring to The Five Noble Grapes of Bordeaux. It can be…
Wine Term: Appellation Variations: Viticultural Area, Wine Growing Region, Region Alternate Usages: AVA, AOC, DO, DOC, QbA, DVA What it really means: Where is the wine from? You never want to say, “What city is the wine from?” – that just sounds uninformed. It is best to ask,…
Happy International Sauvignon Blanc Day! We have a fun challenge for you today… more on that in a moment. Sauvignon Blanc is a grape that truly deserves international acclaim. Noble grape of the Bordeaux, hero of Sancerre in Loire, strange invader of Burgundy (yes, there is Sauvignon Blanc…
In our previous Off The Beaten Path post, we spoke about Corsican wines and the multitude of influences that created the modern day scene there. If you noticed, there was one or two strange places to have brought winemaking influence to Corsica. One of which was Tunisia. Sadly,…
Coat tailing off of our Understanding AOC series and introducing the Off the Beaten Path series this April, we are taking a look at one of the lesser-known regions of France, the Island of Corsica. The simplest way we can generalize Corsica for those unfamiliar with the island…
In California wines, you will see a blend called Meritage (rhymes with “heritage”), but what does that mean? Meritage is a portmanteau of the words “merit” and “heritage.” It is used in regards to the merit of the noble Bordeaux grapes that make up these blends and a testament…
European wine labels can be confusing if you don’t speak the language they are written in, furthermore they have all types of different classifications from one country to the next without consistent naming or labeling even existing within the same country itself, and to make things even more…