It’s International Albariño Day and what better way to celebrate than drinking some! Well, as Americans, it isn’t commonplace to have some just laying around the house or in our cellars – in fact, most supermarkets won’t have it in the wine isle, so let’s take a moment…
International Albariño Day!
Decoded: On Breathing & Decanting
Today we’ll learn about breathing and decanting wine. Most simply put, Breathing is allowing the wine to interact with Oxygen with the cork removed or poured into a decanter. Decanting is the process of separating the sediment in your wine from the juice you desire (and possibly waited…
Our Top Tips for Hosting a Dinner Party
It takes all kinds… Here to illustrate that idea is our staff’s list of the top tips they have to offer for hosting a successful dinner party. Let us state: this was intended to help initially, but as most things go around here, it devolves into foolishness pretty…
Decoded: Blends
Let’s talk blends, and what the language your local wine shop representative uses actually means. At the top of the blending language list we have Champagne and Bordeaux. The word Champagne is synonymous with being expensive, of quality, for celebrations, and from Champagne, France. Champagne is generally made…
Transportation & Enjoyment (Musings on Bottle Shock & Travel Conditions)
To understand the ideas behind travel & bottle shock (bottle sickness, travel shock, shipping shock), we must first understand that wine is a living, breathing organism. This is from the same understanding that is the basis of aging wines. We’d always prefer a cool, dark cellar with stable…
What Is Rosé?
It’s synonymous with summer. It’s fashionable. It’s crisp. It’s light. It’s not just your grandmother’s White Zinfandel anymore. But what, exactly is Rosé? Speaking in broad general stokes, Rosé is not red wine mixed with white wine – The majority of France actually makes it illegal to do…
Decoded: Blending
Blending is essential for all wines. It can be argued that if it were not for blending by way of cross pollination or grafting of rootstocks most varieties of grapes that wines were originally made from would have gone extinct at this point in time, replaced by a…
Decoded: Oregon Chardonnay
While Chardonnay takes a distant third place in plantings in Oregon (behind Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris), more interest, investment and development has continued to be behind growth and plantings of the grape to develop its market presence and the potential diversity of its stylings. Oregon Chardonnay runs…
Neuroenology: How the Brain Creates the Taste of Wine by Gordon Shepherd
Found a great short read to share with everyone! We were recently speaking in the office, going over an old, firm belief in the art world about how your brain processes that which it cannot comprehend by forcing comprehension – this is the basic principle behind all visual…
