Category Archives: winemaking

Further thoughts about that whole Lagrézette challenge thing…

Last week, in conjunction with my participation in Malbec Days, I took part as planned in a blind tasting of eight malbec wines organized by Château Lagrézette, Cahors’ best known wine producer, internationally. The whole event, as I wrote before on this blog and on PalatePress, was a “rematch”, following my review of Le Pigeonnier [...]
Also posted in France, red wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Natural wine: it’s complicated, naturally

“We consider the best wine is one that can be aged without any preservative; nothing must be mixed with it which might obscure its natural taste. For the most excellent wine is one which has given pleasure by its own natural qualities.” – Columella, On Agriculture, Book 12. It all started (this time around) with a [...]
Also posted in Alice Feiring, wine, wine trade | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 50 Comments

Winemaking. It’s all about balance, people

Being in the midst of the Olympics, as the whole world is watching athletes striving to go faster, higher, stronger, it’s good to remember that winemaking is not an athletic endeavour. It may be about better, but it’s not about bigger and more. It’s about balance. It’s about working out a set of variables so that [...]
Also posted in producers, wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Conversations with winemakers on Twitter

Yeah, I’ll admit it, Twitter sometimes keeps me from blogging more. When fatigue sets in, it’s easier to keep to the under-140-character format, and just stay with the conversations and the flow of information, rather than piping down and getting that blog post finished. Mind you, as I look back on 2009, I must also point [...]
Also posted in wine and food, wine blog | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Tasting Note: Undercurrent Muscat-Sauvignon Blanc 2007 and other crazy wines from Creekside Estate Winery

Creekside is one interesting winery. They can make some very straightforward, accessible wines with a great quality-price ratio, as shown not only by their Estate series of wines (like that nice, pepper-strawberry driven shiraz), but also by the 60,000 some odd cases the same winemaking team makes for No. 99 Estates Winery, generally known as [...]
Also posted in Canadian wine, Niagara, Ontario, Wayne Gretzky, producers, tasting, white wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments