Let’s begin with a bit of history: as the Romans expanded their empire across Europe, they followed the Mediterranean coast and the Rhone River into the very heart of Gaul. They cut back the forests along its banks to pacify the land, and planted grape vines, an essential part of the life, diet and culture …
There are thousands of grape varieties that get made into wine, but a well-known few dominate the market: for white wines, Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon blanc, and Pinot Grigio are the ones most of us could name and expect to recognize on a label. But every now and then some rare variety rockets out of obscurity …
Bordeaux, the world’s premier wine region, is split in two by the Gironde estuary, that estuary itself formed by the confluence of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers. All of the great chateaux of Bordeaux that we have talked about so far lie on the “left bank”; that is, the west side of the Gironde and …
St. Emilion, France’s prettiest wine town – and wine! Read More »
Beaujolais is one of those wines that everybody knows about but nobody drinks very much. Maybe the first real wine you tasted in your youth, it’s not one that often appears on your table, and you certainly don’t lay it down in your cellar. Beaujolais has its place in the world of wine; it is …
This is the time of year we all rejoice to welcome – the days grow longer, the sun grows stronger, the snowbanks recede, and the first fresh produce of the season makes its way to our outdoor patio tables. This is the time when the crisp, bright white wines from France’s upper Loire River valley …
While writing about wines and offering personal opinionated ratings of them has been around for many decades, the current rage for rating every wine on a scale of (hypothetically) 0 to 100 is more recent. And recent though it may be, it seems to be taking over almost all current wine criticism. I don’t think …
Burgundy is an enigma, an ongoing puzzle defying complete solution. Some of the greatest wines on earth come from burgundy, yet it is maddeningly unreliable. You can pay a fantastic price and be disappointed, and you can pay a moderate price and be delighted. You can try to learn all the important names, and discover …
Bordeaux is the reference standard for wine. Bordeaux produces more wine, more great wine, more good wine, more ordinary wine, more red wine, more white wine and more sweet wine than any other single wine region in the world. And Bordeaux has been doing this for centuries. There was wine produced here during the Roman …
Making wine from grapes is, at its heart, a simple natural process. (See That Great Gift of Nature We Call – WINE (Part 1 and Part 2) But certain wines have their own unique character that depends upon more direct intervention on the part of the winemaker. We look at some of those unique wines …
That Great Gift of Nature That We Call – WINE! (Part 3) Read More »
Making wine from grapes is, at its heart, a simple natural process. (See That Great Gift of Nature We Call – WINE Part 1) Making wine today has become a unique blend of art and science, as winemakers have learned how to manipulate and control nature’s basic good idea. To make good wine, you need …
That Great Gift of Nature We Call – WINE! (Part 2 ) Read More »