Taking the world one wine at a time.
I’m not breaking new ground when I say that wine labels are so bloody difficult to make sense of! The good news is that Californian wine labels are, for the most part, much easier to wrap your head around than European labels. However, they’re still kind-of a minefield! The following list will help to shed some light on what all that lingo means and hopefully guide you in your wine buying decisions…at least with Californian…
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Grapes 60% Cabernet, 40% Shiraz Facts I’d never seen this wine before, so I was over the moon when I received it as a gift on Tuesday! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “Keep your friends close, and your wine-drinker friends closer!” The name Duel comes from the blend of Cabernet and Shiraz, and is illustrated on the front label by the dueling lion and bull. The idea is that the…
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It seems that we have a small “underground wine revolution” on our hands, ladies and gentlemen! A handful of wineries in California have taken up the challenge to take White Zinfandel out of the depths of wine-obscurity, and restore it to its former glory…actually…it never had glory in the first place…but I think you catch my drift… Montevina in California’s Amador County is one of the wineries who has picked up the “pink gauntlet.” Winemaker…
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I would like to point-out that this recipe made my house smell AMAZING! Of course, that wasn’t the best thing about the meal, but it’s always a pleasant byproduct! I have to admit that I’m usually pretty lazy when it comes to roasting a whole chicken, and I’m sure I’m not the only one (I’m talking about you)! The chickens that enter my house, 99% of the time, are entering already roasted i.e. I buy…
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Grapes 100% Chenin Blanc Facts Chenin Blanc! Not exactly the first grape that springs to mind when you think of California! Some people may even say that, as a winemaker, you would have to be CRAZY to bother with a grape which has a relatively low level of consumer recognition. This, when you could much more easily make/market Cab or Chard etc. This leads nicely to my next point… The founder of the Rendez-vous…
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Grapes 100% Petite Sirah (sometimes written as Petit Syrah, although it refers to the same grape). Facts Petite Sirah is a wine you can’t take lightly. You to be in the mood for it. That’s because Petite Sirah typically has about as much subtlety and restraint as being awoken in the morning to a 300lb man in a dark purple suit, jumping up-and-down on your bed, singing Bohemian Rhapsody, while he simultaneously throws…
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“What’s with all the recipes you’ve been making with peas? You know I hate peas!” said Mrs Chislett. This was news to me. Or maybe not! Maybe it’s just been that long since I actually used peas in cooking, that it completely slipped my mind! Peas always remind me of school dinners, with the only reason that I find myself using them again here is I had a bag leftover from the…
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It seems that a select few California wineries are secretly producing wines laced with cannabis, according to The Drinks Business, and Cabernet Sauvignon seems to be the grape variety of choice for the blend. “Pot wine is increasingly fashionable in wine country – much of the marijuana used for the wine comes from California’s weed capital Humboldt County,” Crane Carter, president of the Napa Valley Marijuana Growers said. According to Carter, pot wine delivers a…
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Grapes 100% Cabernet Facts Admittedly I’ve bit on a little “Napa-binge” lately, for which there is very good reason: I lost faith. Napa just hasn’t been “turning me on” much recently. There’s so much out there, but I think so many wineries are resting on their laurels, pumping out good (but not great) juice, slapping Napa on the label, charging a premium and hoping for the best. Fair play to them though,…
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News article taken from Press Democrat. So it appears that the annual Wine Road Barrel Tasting in Sonoma may be uncorking a little too much rowdiness for the town in the center of it all! Healdsburg merchants are complaining that younger imbibers are getting carried away, transforming the event into a “frat party,” and even a “beer blaster.” “There’s incredible drunkenness,” Anne Marie Montecuollo, owner of a fine jewelry store, told the City Council Monday….
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Grapes 80% Semillon, 20% Sauvignon Blanc Facts Dessert wines have developed such a bad reputation. As stupid as it sounds, if I have to hear one more person say “…wow…that’s sweet!!!” or “…I couldn’t drink a whole bottle of that!!!” I may very well stab myself in the eye with a wine opener. To me, it’s exactly the same as saying “…wow….this Filet Mignon is kind of beefy!!!” or “…this steak is great…but I…
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