Considering that I’ve been so surprised by the high quality of some Aussie white wines in the last several months, it seems surprising that I should be surprised at all when Aussie wine surprises me these days. And yet, my mind is simple enough (and apparently entrenched enough in its own little preconceived notions) that…
Category: sexy wines
On Demand Reviews: Dashe Cellars Recent Releases
Today… well, today is all about downtown Oakland’s vinous urban success story, Dashe Cellars – because YOU demanded it. Well, technically not YOU exactly, unless you’re Martin Dredmond. Martin was one of two winners of the 1WD ZAP 2012 Zinfandel Festival tickets giveaway, in which the ticket winners also determined which Zinfandels I would be…
Holiday Reservations (Putting Mondavi Reserves Under The Christmas Dinner Grindstone)
For all of my talk about not digging big-ass wines, I sure do seem to end up talking about a lot of “good” big-ass wines. Take this past Christmas, for example. We host some extended family every third Christmas or so, as part of a rotation that has us visiting Florida and Washington on the…
Medieval Secrets: Ancient Walls, Modern Winemaking in Chianti’s Castello di Volpaia
When you’re dealing with the wine biz on a consistent basis, there’s one thing you get to see a whole lot of (besides wine, Styrofoam, and cardboard, I mean): Stainless steel tanks. Everybody who produces wine wants to show you their steel tanks. Wine people are obsessed with their steel tanks; they basically have total…