It’s been a while since I had a nice German riesling and I was rummaging through my wine storage and found this: (get ready…it’s a mouthful) 2001 Dr. Hermann Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese ** (yes, the *s are part of the name…I could also have put “Gold Cap” after the *s, but I wanted to [More]

Montsant in Spain. This area surrounds the Priorat and the wines are a bit more affordable and very, very tasty. I will report on a Priorat soon. 2003 Joan D’Anguera La Planella Click on the title of this link for more info.

Once again, I am realizing how great these wines are. I drank a 1999 Calon-Segur and it was stunning. So elegant and silky; I think the 1999 vintage is drinking great right now and a bargain compared to the 2000s. (Though having drank some mind-blowing 2000s, I wouldn’t hesitate to pay extra). The Calon-Segur went [More]

I was picking out a white wine to drink and realized I had not an Austrian Riesling for a long time. WOW! I drank: 2001 Rudi Pichler Terrassen Riesling Smaragd It was still an infant, with great acidity and minerality, almost a salty/saline quality (in a good way). These are phenomenal whites. It wasn’t cheap, [More]

We had our company holiday party and there were some mind-blowing wines: 1997 Pahlmeyer1997 Allegrini La Poja1997 Produttori del Barbaresco Rabaja and Montestefano Magnums!1995 Lynch-Bages1982 Haut Brion The Pahlmeyer blew me away the most; still has a lot of life, great Bordeaux aromas and flavors but with that plush, opulent California fruit. This is a [More]

How can you not want to drink Champagne that says “Bouzy” on the label. Bouzy is actually a region of Champagne and some of the tastiest rose champagnes come from Bouzy (hee hee…Bouzy). I went a little nutty with some x-mas dough I got and sprung for a couple bottles of the Paul Bara Cuvee [More]

My throat is finally healing and I was able to sneak in some wine-drinking in Chicago. Went to one of my favorite places to eat there: avec (http://www.avecrestaurant.com/). Lots of small plates and a quirky, inexpensive wine list. Drank a couple of very food-friendly wines: an Italian cab franc (2003) and a Spanish grenache/syrah (2004). [More]

I have had a horrific cold/flu that has me stuffed up and with a sore throat. There have been so many great wines open around me and I can’t even enjoy them. They are like nails and battery acid on my throat. I think my ideal drink would be a hot toddy right now. So [More]