|
Subscribe: My AOL,
MyYahoo,
Bloglines,
Google
5 of 5 stars - Very smooth fresh wine. Highly recommend this one. Moderately priced too (10 -15$)
(Link: wineweb.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
2007 Smoking Loon Pinot Grigio, Calif., about $11. This is definitely not made in the Italian style, meaning there is some oomph here, in the form of sweet pear flavors. But it's also rather simple and fat and is missing...
(Link: rssfeeds.usatoday.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
5 of 5 stars - We tried some of Charles Travers 06 Merlot it had a chocolate berry aroma and tasted great. I do highly recommend trying some of this nector.
(Link: wineweb.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
5 of 5 stars - GREAT Cabernet dont change anything.
(Link: wineweb.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
Straightforward, showing cherry, cola and charred oak aromas and flavors, with rustic tannins. Zinfandel, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now. 70,000 cases made.
(Link: winespectator.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
Mineral, apple and cream on the nose. Medium-bodied, with clean fruit and a crisp finish. Drink now. 65,000 cases made.
(Link: winespectator.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
Bright and open-textured, with pretty raspberry and currant flavors at the core, lingering nicely against finely polished tannins. Has depth and focus, with a coffee note adding interest as the finish rolls on elegantly. Drink now through 2015. 2,100 cases made.
(Link: winespectator.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
5 of 5 stars - An outstanding small winery. Chambourcin is their best red.
(Link: wineweb.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
Review by Jessica Yadegaran
Do readers really care about active yeasts and secondary fermentation? Or do they long to understand wine's seductions, and its otherworldly sense of place? Do they care about a region's production, or would they rather hear how a glass of juice resembles a curvy redhead, and why it makes them feel the way it does? You know, drunk.
This is among Natalie MacLean's first points in Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass. A descendent of Celtic alcohol-lovers and livers, MacLean, a sommelier, writes first and foremost from a sensual place, dispelling many commonly held myths about wine writers: she doesn't spit a whole lot, and she loves the buzz just as much as she loves obsessing over the grape. The book is entertaining, informative and ideally suited for someone who has a working knowledge of wine.
From her first visits to Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Domaine Leflaive to her honest appraisal of biodynamics in Burgundy - she's on the fence - MacLean's observations are cerebral and spot-on, and her language both beguiling and accessible: "Some wines will always taste like a lost argument or a long embrace." The book lacks an index, but is part-travelogue, part-memoir. You learn as she learns.
From Burgundy, MacLean leads us to the cellars of Champagne, winning points with readers who might not be familiar with the grande dames who have kept that region running. We meet Gerard Liger-Belair, a professor of bubby at the University of Liger-Belair before taking off for the land of Zinfandel, and MacLean's internship with Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards.
It's hard to decide if it's MacLean's colorful prose, pop wine sensibility or portraitures of winerati that make her book so readable. The latter is definitely the case when it comes to Grahm, who, through MacLean's eyes, comes across very much like one of the wild-eyed Ralph Steadman drawings that grace his bottles. In other words, spot-on.
The book quiets down a bit when MacLean gets practical. She pulls a nine to five at two wine stores - The Jug Shop in San Francisco and Discovery Wines in New York City - and even does sommelier duty at Le Baccara in Quebec (yes, she drips). She shows you how to throw a tasting party.
She takes on Georg Riedel and Robert Parker and devotes too much of the book's denouement, sacrificing her flow, in my opinion, to wine auction number-crunching, but makes up for it by ending on a lavish dinner with Jay McInerney, the 1980s cocaine-novelist-turned wine writer, who tells her: "Wine makes me more thoughtful. I always want to taste the next thing so it slows me down; I pace myself. Wine saved me from rehab."
And MacLean saved us from another predictable wine book.
Natalie MacLean, Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass, Bloomsbury 2007, $10.17 (Paperback).
Jessica Yadegaran is a wine writer for the Bay Area News Group and wine educator. Read her blog at www.ibabuzz.com/corkheads or visit her Web site at theswirlgirl.com.
(Link: vinography.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments

Water Droplet
"Taking interesting pictures in vineyards isn't easy. While many are surely picturesque, there is a lot of sameness in them -- row after row of vines -- and that repetition makes it easy to overlook little details like this that can be quite beautiful" -- Alder Yarrow
INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking (Mac users, click and hold) on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image and drag it to your desktop.
To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.
PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning an archive quality print of this image, or any of the other vineyard images featured here on Vinography, you can purchase one on the Michael Regnier Photography web site for $85.
ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
Vinography regularly features images by photographer Michael Regnier for readers' personal use as desktop backgrounds or screen savers. We hope you enjoy them. Please respect the copyright on these images.
(Link: vinography.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
This has nice focus, with dark cherry and currant fruit layered with some sweet toast. Shows dashes of vanilla and loam on the finish. Drink now. 50,000 cases made.
(Link: winespectator.com)
Tell a friend
|
Bookmark
|
Comments
[top] |