It had been more than a decade since I’d spent any time with former Silver Oak head winemaker Daniel Baron, with whom I’d felt an easy rapport and a deep appreciation of the man’s impressive intellect. So I immediately accepted an invite to catch up with him and taste samples of his new project, Complant,…
Category: wine review
Big Sights Set On Big Skies (Favorites From the 2023 CO Governor’s Cup Wine Competition)
As I gear up for the 2023 Wine Future Conference, here’s a quick-hit post to highlight my favorites from the recent 2023 Colorado Governor’s Cup Wine Competition, at which I once again had the pleasure of judging this year. After just two stints judging this event, it’s become a highlight of my year—the staff, the…
Towering Pillars of Fresh (Torre Rosazza Friuli Recent Releases)
You gotta love an Italian’s sense of historical perspective. In the case of Torre Rosazza (whose wares I sampled during a virtual media tasting earlier this year), they’re named after the “Tower of Roses” (Palazzo De Marchi, near Oleis di Manzano), which was originally a fortress, but was converted to a dwelling… in 1550. So…
WTAF Just Happened?!? (An Insider’s View of Judging the 2023 Grenaches du Monde Wine Competition)
Earlier this year, I received a rather interestingly odd invitation to judge a wine competition. Now, there’s nothing particularly odd about me being invited to judge, as I’ve had the good fortune of judging several wine competitions over the last decade-plus, and probably should consider myself an old-timer seasoned veteran of wine competitions at this…