Late last month, I wrapped up a stint at the fourth and final wine competition in which I’d be judging in 2013, the 10th Annual Critics Challenge in (Stay Classy) San Diego. The results of that comp. have been announced. Following are some thoughts on the Critics Challenge itself, and notes on some of the…
Category: overachiever wines
Planes, Trains, And Single-Day Butt-Numbing Automobile Rides To Dão (Quinta dos Roques Recent Releases)
The first thing I need to tell you is that I’m deeply grateful to ViniPortugal for having invited me to Lisbon to judge in the 2013 Wines of Portugal Challenge (the first time they’ve opened it up to international judging), and for the hospitality that they showed to me while I was there. I have…
Toilet Frogs And Whale Tails (Alto De La Ballena Recent Releases)
One could go their entire blogging life and never be fortunate enough to use the phrase “toilet frog.” And yet… here I am, able to use the term from personal experience. I need a moment to revel in this, people. Please, indulge me a moment, for I have met them, in person. T-o-i-l-e-t f-r-o-g-s…. As…
Rocks, (PhD) Papers, Capybara (Bouza Winery Recent Releases, Uruguay)
Bouza Winery is small even by Uruguay’s petite wine production standards. 25 hectares of vineyards spread out between two plantings, in the Melilla and Las Violetas regions near Montevideo, yielding about 120 thousand bottles a year. But you wouldn’t know it tasting their wines, which are bold, modernly stylized (okay, and in a few cases…