Yearly Archives: 2018
The New Best $15 Pinot Noir
Probably/definitely blasphemous, but I liken the task of finding a Pinot Noir 15 bucks or less to that of the quest for the Holy Grail. So when I picked up a bottle of Les Deux Moulins Pinot from the Loire Valley, I had a bit of trepidation. Though I was cautiously optimistic, because I had [More]
Hess Collection Chardonnay, Oak, and Texture
Anyone who knows me is aware I am a fan of oaky white wines. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that at a recent lunch I was invited to I fell hard for the Hess Collection Chardonnay (2016). Hess Collection Chardonnay 2016 Joining a small group of scribes at this meal was Nicole Carter, the [More]
Blind Tasting and the Pepsi Challenge
I just went down an internet rabbit hole reliving the Pepsi Challenge ad campaign of the late 1970s and early 80s. It was a blind taste test of a small cup of Coke and one of Pepsi. The latter did surprisingly well. So well, that Coke ended up coming out with the infamous “New Coke” [More]
Murgo Brut Rosé is a Scintillating Sicilian Sparkler
It was my birthday and you know I was going to drink something sparkling so I headed to see my Seattle pal (we worked together at Bottlehouse for years) Carson at Scampi. He started me off with a glass of Murgo Brut Rosé (2015). First let me begin by saying the wine list at Scampi [More]
The Fizzy Delights of Pét-Nat: Three to Try
Pétillant-Naturel wines, charmingly shortened to Pét-Nat, are some of the most fun wines out there. The (ancestral) method to its madness is that the wine is bottled (usually with a crown cap, like a beer) while still fermenting. Carbon dioxide, one of the byproducts of fermentation, gets trapped in the bottle. The resulting wine is a [More]
I Praise This Wine Without Using Exclamation Points
I am so guilty of excessively using exclamation points. If you read the “About Me” section of this very blog, I even confess/brag about it. I refer to my predilection as deploying an “overabundance” of them. A quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald has stuck with me: “An exclamation point is like laughing at your own [More]
Seven Hills Winery Rosé Makes Cabernet Franc The Star
I am a huge fan of Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley. Many bottles are in my Hall of Fame, including one that’s probably in my Top Ten reds, ever. It’s a rising star on another continent, in a different guise, and what might seem a surprising state. Yes, Washington. Enter the Seven Hills Winery Rosé. [More]
