While I’ve talked about visiting Australia’s Victoria region (over ten years ago!), highlighted wines from its unusually ancient soils, and explored selections from its primarily family-owned producers, I haven’t really talked about the fact that the region still packs quite a punch in terms of value delivered per hard-earned buck spent. Ever-changing tarriff issues aside,…
Category: wine review
“The World’s Oldest Startup” (Catching Up With Livermore Valley’s Wente Family)
At this point, I think that I’ve met most of the 5th generation of the Wente family (including jamming with Winegrower & Chief Land and Supply Officer Karl Wente at his then unfinished house several years ago, which is just the kind of thing that happens to people like me on wine travels, I guess)….
“The Biggest Fear” (Catching Up With Bolgheri’s Tenuta Argentiera)
“We want to have elegance be the main focus of our wines. The biggest fear for me is over-extraction.” Tenuta Argentiera winemaker Nicolò Carrara is right to be a little afraid. He is dealing with ripening and fermenting grapes in Tuscany’s Bolgheri, after all, where sunlight and the potential for big levels of ripeness—not to…
“The Difference” (A Villa Rosa Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vertical)
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of bumping into Cecchi fourth-generation wine family icon Andrea Cecchi a handful of times at locales all over the globe, but earlier this year (2025) marked the first time that I had a virtual sit-down with him over Zoom. Not as fun as our usual face-to-face run-ins, but…