Category Archives: tasting

Enjoying older wine the way it is

Tonight, at a family dinner, with my parents and my sister’s family, we drank a 2000 Dame de Montrose, the second wine from Château Montrose. It was delicious and  well-rounded, tannins nicely softened up, still a lovely amount of fruit, and that pleasant dustiness that comes to Bordeaux wines, especially those with a good dose [...]
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Live Wine Blogging from Charlottesville, Virginia – now, the reds

Yesterday was the Live Wine Blogging session for white wines at the Wine Bloggers Conference. Today, after a great keynote speech by Eric Asimov, who insisted on tasting wine in context, we’re stepping right into this speed dating format. Ironic but fun. CalNaturale 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon I was not terribly impressed by the white TetraPak wine from [...]
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Live wine blogging from WBC11 in Charlottesville, Virginia

The fourth annual Wine Bloggers Conference started officially at 1 PM today in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a great, down to earth keynote speech from Jancis Robinson, followed by breakout sessions (including the one on local wine, which I was happy  to take part in with Lenn Thompson, Frank Morgan and Dave McIntyre). But now, the crazy [...]
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Tasting Note (and more): Littorai 2006 Roman Vineyard Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley AVA

Almost three years after I met him in October 2008 at his winery in Sebastopol, California, I still consider the hour or two I spent with Littorai’s winemaker, Ted Lemon, one of the most enlightening moments I’ve had in my years as a wine writer. Lemon, who makes a number of remarkably diverse chardonnays and pinot [...]
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Tasting Note: 2009 Old Vines Chenin Blanc, Road 13 Vineyards, Okanagan Valley VQA

Road 13 Vineyards, at the southern end of the Okanagan Valley, has certainly won notice for the remarkable blends that Michael Bartier, the estate’s winemaker until last January, put together seamlessly from sometimes improbable combinations of varieties. Whether it’s the Stemwinder white (chardonnay, chardonnay musqué and sauvignon blanc) or the Rockpile red (60% syrah, 19% [...]
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