Yearly Archives: 2018
Beautiful Label, Beautiful Wine (Again) from Donnafugata
I love love love wine labels. Mostly because I had to sell/see so many bottles with crap ones. There is a winery in Sicily that always impresses me with what’s inside and outside the bottle. The Donnafugata Floramundi carries on that tradition. Perhaps you may remember Donnafugata from such bottles with great labels as Anthìlia, a [More]
A Wine Shop Bestowing Bottles with Unique, Delightful Notes
One of my favorite activities as a buyer at the QFC Broadway Market in Seattle was hand-writing notes about wines I personally selected for the store. (I also had crazy things happen there.) We refer to such written missives in the business as “shelf talkers.” What they all have in common is a long profile [More]
Gewürztraminer Greatness
I drink oceans of white wine year-round but there are some grapes that just don’t get into heavy or even light rotation. One of them is definitely Gewürz. Badly/indifferently done, it can be oily, flabby, and overly perfume-y. But, whoa, the Tiefenbrunner Gewürztraminer from Italy’s spectacular Alto Adige region is a stunner. (It was sent [More]
Washington Red Wine Blends Podcast
Its a time of the year when my thoughts are dominated by white wine and rosé. Particularly since it’s going to be 90 degrees and humid in Brooklyn…again. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take time out of my sweltering day to speak about Washington red wine blends. On the latest episode of the What [More]
Greek Rosé Time
When I visit a new wineshop I always try and buy something new to me. It’s a way to get a feel for the buyer and what they are into. So I pushed aside my penchant to buy a nearly transparent pale rosé and stepped up to by a bottle with a deeper pink shade [More]
Domaine Tempier Rosé 2017 is a Legendary Bottle
Much time has passed since I last had one of the world’s most iconic wines. It’s not just legendary, but vital year after year. I’m talking about the Domaine Tempier Rosé. Yesterday I enjoyed a bottle as it is best enjoyed (outside of southern France, at least): with a friend over a great, leisurely lunch. [More]
Liquid Geography Rosé is a Feel-Good Wine
I’ve been a fan of a small region in Northwest Spain for quite a while: Bierzo. (I first wrote about the region, albeit quite briefly, in 2005!) The main grape you’ll find there, Mencía, makes great red wines. Now I’m delighted to get into some pink examples. Liquid Geography rosé is the most recent bottle I’ve [More]
