Rusted barrels stacked outdoors with homes across the street during winter with snow on the ground

Ohio Wine

Happy Ohio Wine Month! Ohio has a rich history of wine production dating back to the 1820s in the Ohio River Valley.  By the late 1800s, the Catawba grape was the most important grape in the state’s wine production, originally planted by Nicholas Longworth.  Today, the Catawba grape…

Close up of organic grown grapes in southern idaho

Idaho Wine

Happy Idaho Wine Month! Yeah, you heard that right, there is wine in Idaho! In fact, there are 52 wineries currently operating in the state and the number continues to increase. In the ongoing search for new frontiers of winegrowing and terroir expressions, some in the Pacific Northwest…

Michigan Wine

Happy Michigan Wine Month! With 13,700 acres under vine, Michigan is currently the 4th largest grape-growing state in the US with the #6 spot for production, just a hair behind Oregon.  Most of the acreage is devoted to Niagara and Concord grapes for table use, which make up…

Delicious homemade tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich on rye.

National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

It is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, and we decided to celebrate this year with Cameron’s favorite grilled cheese recipe and serving suggestions. Cam says, keep it simple! Too many folks nowadays use crazy cheese and fruit or protein combos.  That is fine, but to really enjoy a…

Moldova winery Milestii Mici

Off The Beaten Path: Moldova

So now our theme emerges in the Off The Beaten Path series.  Coat tailing.  Picking up from our previous article on Tunisia and people we reached out to not knowing where it was on the map, our next wine producing country is much the same. Somewhat sandwiched, but…

Understanding AOC: Languedoc-Roussillon

The Languedoc-Roussillon region of France is a strange crossroads of wine blends, ancient politics, and relatively inexpensive wine for the high quality shopper on a budget.  It is even said that the sparkling wines of this region actually predate Champagne (not to mention they are a fraction of…

Understanding AOC: Loire Valley

And without further ado, Loire Valley. Ok, no lie, we were holding off on writing about the Loire for as long as possible.  What direction should we go?  How should we present the information?  What is the best way to simplify such diversity?  This is not an easy…

A winery and vineyard in Provence region of France

Understanding AOC: Provence

Provence AOC (or Provençal wine) comes to us from the southeastern area of France along the Mediterranean Sea – an area with a winegrowing history dating back to the Greeks some 2,600 years ago. While the region is known the world over for Rosé wines, whites and reds…

Red grapes on a vine in vineyard in Maryland, USA

Happy Maryland Wine Month!

The state of Maryland has documented winemaking beginning as far back as 1648, but sadly it wasn’t until almost 300 years later in 1945 when the state had its first winery open. The state of Maryland has 3 recognized AVAs & 4 distinct growing regions: Linganore AVA –…

landscape view of Saint Emilion village in Bordeaux region in France

Understanding AOC: Bordeaux

We’re going to go out on a limb here and assume you have heard of Bordeaux before and skip the whole “one of the most recognizable wine regions in the world” speil and get down to the real reason we are talking about it – what is in…