Category: Wine Reviews

The Wines of Rully on a Wednesday Morning
Press trips like the one I’m on are not exactly the vacations that my friends and many readers imagine them

Domaine Vessigaud, Pouilly, France: Current Releases
Arguably, one of the key defining features of Burgundy as a wine region must be the huge plateau of limestone

2007 Three Sticks “Durell Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
People tend to turn up their noses at the word “pedigree” as it is most often invoked in the context

Looking Forward To, and Back On, the Last Decade of Napa Cabernet
There are few types of wine writing I tend to ignore so completely as I do vintage reports. The generally

The Best Wines of the Year?: Taste Testing the Wine & Spirits Top 100
The difference between a good public wine tasting and a bad one can be quite dramatic. The bad ones are

2007 Freestone Vineyards “Ovation” Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast
Most people aren’t aware that I grew up, at least partially, in Sonoma County. My parents split up pretty early

2007 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateuneuf-du-Pape Blanc, Rhone Valley, France
My love of deeply complex white wines has been growing for some time. I’m not sure exactly when I learned

2001 Thierry Allemand “Cuvee Reynard” Cornas, Rhone Valley, France
As much as I love wines from all over the world, and as open and welcoming as I am of

2007 Hess Collection “Allomi Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
I can still remember my first wine tasting trip to the Napa Valley. I’m young, so it wasn’t that long

Where is All the Deeply Discounted Champagne?
Every day, I get e-mails with wines being offered at more and more outrageous prices. What you can get for
Masters of Wine Champagne Tasting 2010: September 27, San Francisco
I never liked Champagne until I had the really good stuff. For years I went to weddings and New Year’s

Dry Creek Vineyard, Healdsburg, CA: Some Current Releases
Driving through California’s wine country, with its carefully manicured vineyards carpeting huge swaths of the countryside, it’s easy to imagine

The World’s Best Sake: Tasting at the Joy of Sake Soiree 2010
One of the public wine tastings I most look forward to every year doesn’t serve a single drop of wine.

2008 Outpost Grenache, Howell Mountain, Napa
To the casual visitor or inexperienced wine lover, Napa may just be a name on a bottle, or a vision
Lake County’s Best Wines: Tasting the People’s Choice Awards
Those of you who follow this blog closely know that a few weeks ago I played hooky from work and

2007 Anaba Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
One of my greatest pleasures remains my “discovery” of small new wineries, and the opportunity to watch them mature over

2008 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany
There are a few categories of wine that qualify for the designation of “I just don’t drink nearly enough of
Joy of Sake Tasting 2010: San Francisco 9/9, and NYC 9/23
I absolutely love the fact that we’ve reached a point in this country where I don’t need to explain why

1997 Calera Wine Company “Mills Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Mt. Harlan, CA
Those of you who know me well understand the soft spot I have in my heart for iconoclastic winemakers. The