Pinot Noir facts to celebrate International Pinot Noir Day, held August 18th each year. To celebrate, we present some fun Pinot Noir facts for you today: Pinot Noir means ‘Black Pine Cone’ – ancient vine growers were pretty literal with the naming of this grape as the grape…
7 Pinot Noir Facts
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…
Oregon Wine Month!
Happy Oregon Wine Month! Break out the Chardonnay! Break out the Pinot Noir! Break out the Pinot Gris! But save those Rieslings! Oregon, especially the Willamette Valley, is a cooler climate growing region and has developed some of the most astounding of the aforementioned varieties in wines. Hell,…
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…
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…
Understanding AOC: Alsace
The Alsace AOC of France makes it easy to figure out what is in the bottle (for the most part…more on that later in the post). As we mentioned a few times earlier in this series, the Alsace AOC is the only region that labels varietal wines. As…
Understanding AOC: Champagne
We feel like there might be a theme building here with the Understanding AOC series, but we will skip over the introductions to Champagne as the most widely recognized sparkling wine in the world. At one point in time the wine was in danger of losing its signature…
Rogue Valley AVA
Nestled in the southern-most reaches of Oregon, riding the border of California and comprised of 3 adjacent river valleys is the Rogue Valley AVA (a sub-appellation of the Southern Oregon AVA). The area was originally planted by European settlers in the mid-1800s with the first official winery being Valley…
Happy Thanksgiving!
But what to pair with dinner tonight? Here is our handy guide to assist all palates and people. Sparkling Wine: What holiday celebration is complete without some bubbles? Furthermore, sparkling wines and Champagnes are wonderfully food friendly wines, hence their inclusion on every wine list in every restaurant. …
