Central Coast-ish California’s Pence Ranch, and its charismatic owner, Blair Pence (who, with toothy grin and cowboy hat looks every bit the part of a rancher) have been making the wine scene headlines so far in 2013, and not in a good way. To bring you up to speed on what has become the U.S….
Tag: wine review
What We Drank When Shelby Left Us
Last month, I had the sad duty of bidding farewell to Shelby Vittek, who most of you know as “The Young Unpaid Shelby,” the 1WD intern. Shelby’s official internship (the actually-earning-university-credits part) concluded at the end of March. Everyone in Roberts HQ has been sad to see her go, most palpably my daughter who literally…
Back From The Dead: Casca Wines Battles To Save Ramisco
It’s not often that you hear a winemaker say things like this about one of their wines: “We don’t care if people like it or not; if not, I’ll drink it!” And yet, that’s exactly what Casa Wines’ Helder Cunha said to me earlier this year in New York City, when I worked my way…
Righting Wine Award Wrongs (Merced del Estero 2012 Mil Vientos Torrontes)
Merced del Estero, in the über-sunny San Juan region of Argentina, has been tending vineyards under the care of the familia Rodriguez for three generations, since 1897. But it took me just one iteration of the annual Argentina Wine Awards to help screw them up a little bit. MdE was one of the producer visit stops…