I was tasting in Montefalco, Umbria, recently, when I had a moment of clarity. It came while I was visiting the organic Di Filippo estate… Read More »Time to Retire “Feminine” and “Masculine” from your Tasting Note Vocabulary
Wine from Dried Grapes Just Might be Italy’s Secret Weapon If your area is too warm to make Ice Wine, you can most likely make… Read More »Great Sweet Wines of the World Part 2: Passito
A Crib Sheet for the Strange Stuff Sparkling wines are wonderful! In fact, Iād be drinking them every day, except that would leave less capacity… Read More »Sparkling Wine: Bubbles, Pressure and Sweetness
Solera You may have encountered this word before. If you drink Sherry or Spanish Brandy, you almost certainly have. But what does it mean? Let… Read More »Solera and the Solera System
Wine Myths, Misconceptions and Misinformation #3: Old Vines Make Better Wine Nearly everybody knows that āold vinesā make better wine. If you didnāt know that… Read More »Wine Myths #3: Old Vines Make Better Wine
The Obstacles for Natural Wines Before I launch into a long, nasty tirade about this very misunderstood area of wine, indulge me for a moment… Read More »Natural Wines: Two Obstacles
A visit to Domaine Laurent Bannwarth, natural Qvevri wine maker in Alsace. Itās always tough to plan visits to vineyards around vintage time.… Read More »Qvevri winemaking at Domaine Laurent Bannwarth
Understanding the German naming system in a few easy steps. German wine labels are famously confusing ā and with good reason. The amount of information… Read More »German Wine Labels – Page 1: Introduction
Page 2 – The Official System First, let us deal with the opacity of German quality levels, place names will be on the next post.… Read More »German Wine Labels – Page 2: The Official System
Page 3 – German Vineyard Names Please take careful note of the disclaimer at the bottom of this page. Okay, German vineyard names tend to… Read More »German Wine Labels – Page 3: Vineyards and Sites