The 2004 Gruners from Austria are here; I just picked up a 1L bottle for 10 bucks. It is a joy to drink: crisp, fun, dry. One liter bottles rule. 2004 Loimer Gruner Veltliner Check out the incredible architecture of his winery! So modern.

One of the finest wines I have recently drank from the legendary 2000 vintage: Clos Badon – Thunevin This wine (with the cock in top hat, sporting a cane…I LOVE THIS LABEL) is a right-bank from Saint-Emilion, so it is predominately Merlot. It kept evolving as it was open over a couple hours and kept [More]

Well, you are house-sitting and out on the deck on a cool night, at the top of a hill gazing over Seattle. You see the water, downtown, and homes lined up and down the hills. Suddenly, your Riesling is that much more delicious.

Another great thing about German Riesling (and Austrian Gruner) is that you can often get their wines in a 1000ml bottle instead of the normal 750 bottle. So they give you 33 1/3% free! These bottles rock. I actually couldn’t say it better than the importer of this wine: “You should be deeply ashamed to [More]

Normally, I cringe when I see wines with cutesy-labels with some cuddly animal. But with German Riesling, people are so scared off by the long words on the label, like Riesling Kabinett Helder Spelder Trocken Weirdenheimer (or something like that). So I understand the need from a marketing standpoint. And this Riesling is delicious. I [More]

Click on photo to enlarge and see my ha ha funny.

Wow, the Hiedler Gruner Veltliner Loss (2004) is incredible! “Maria Angeles Hiedler has created the highly successful image of the winery, her catalonian origin gives the house and its products a unique, tender and affirmative face.”  

Terry Theise is a riot. Read his catalog, especially the German one to learn a lot and laugh a lot. I went to a tasting of his and he is one of those guys who will call a wine “kick-ass” or “fucking great.” We bullshitted about wine, restaurants in Chicago, and he was really cool. [More]