Articles

3/11/15 - On a recent trip to Pittsburgh I visited numerous watering holes* and was delighted by cocktails crafted from fresh components.  Some drinks featured innovative ingredients (coconut cream, tarragon, crushed red pepper,) others were deftly executed classics, but every bar had an assortment of exciting spirits from Pittsburgh’s own Wigle distillery. Local spirits are alive and well. ​ (One of Pittsburgh's famous Primanti...

3/10/15 (Les Picaudières) Beginning with the 2009 vintage, and based on a recommendation from Jean Gonon, we have been featuring the wonderful Crozes-Hermitages and Saint-Joseph from Stéphan and Isabelle Rousset.  Stephane's great uncle was the legendary Raymond Roure, from whom the Roussets purchased the "Picaudières" vineyard in Gervans - it's one of the best vineyards in the region with terraces cut out of the...

3/8/15 - (Danila Pisano: certified organic) Liguria is one of Italy’s most picturesque and dramatic wine regions. It’s a sliver that runs along the northwest corner of the country where the Maritime Alps jut-out over the Ligurian sea. Many famous towns and cities like Savona and Genova cling to the cliffs, connected by the raised Autostrada, which offers magnificent (but sometimes terrifying) views from...

3/6/15 - (Christoph Wachter-Wiesler shows off the slate of the Eisenberg in Austria's Sudburgenland.) Over the past few months I’ve enjoyed assembling a small selection of Austrian and German rot weine (red wines) that are a little outside of the norm. By that, I really just mean that these producers make wines that aren't afraid to exhibit a little more idiosyncrasy, simply by eschewing...

3/4/15 - (Dominique Belluard at the foot of his Le Feu parcel.) It’s that time of the year again, and after a long absence of one of my favorite winemakers from our shelves, the wines from Dominique Belluard are here again! For those of us familiar with these fantastic wines, rejoice! And for those who haven’t had the pleasure of tasting them before, take...

2/26/15 - Gideon Beinstock of Clos Saron is coming to town and we are thrilled to have an entire evening to spend with him! Following decades of experience in wine sales, winemaking, and viticulture for Renaissance (the pioneering winery in California’s Sierra Foothills), Gideon and his wife, Saron, came upon a tiny vineyard not too far from Renaissance in the Oregon House Valley with...

2/25/15 -   We’ve never had such a dynamic (and delicious!) selection of Californian wines. Between classics and new producers, if you haven’t been paying attention to what’s going on on the West Coast then you are missing out on a heap of excitement. Winemakers are interested in grape varieties outside of the Cabernet Sauvignon – Pinot Noir – Chardonnay – Sauvignon Blanc paradigm....

 2/21/15 - (Erich and Johannes Weber, the father and son team behind Falkenstein (photo by Lars Carlberg)) ‘Make wines low in alcohol with lovely aromas.’ A tenet of the legendary Jules Chauvet of Beaujolais, rarely is this phrase associated with German winemaking. Yet the wines of Hofgut Falkenstein in the Saar valley fulfill this as well as any producer in Germany, let alone France....

2/19/15 -  (Los Chorrancos Vineyard, El Tiemblo (photo courtesy of Daniel Ramos).) To the best of our knowledge, Garnacha originated in northeastern Spain's Aragon region, which was the center of the powerful maritime confederacy known as the Crown of Aragon. From the 12th to 17th centuries, the Crown extended from Spain to absorb the Mediterranean states of Mallorca, Sardinia, and Sicily (among others), as...

  2/12/15 - Sweet wines are sadly overlooked, misunderstood, and maligned. Perhaps uncertain of the wines' place at the table, we refer to them as dessert wines, as if to pair with cake or pastry; in truth there can be some inspired pairings. But when the sweetness would serve as a counterpoint to savory cheese, delegating the wine to confections seems a missed opportunity....

 2/10/15 - Excluding some malt Whisky, it’s very unusual to find a vintage date on a bottle of booze. According to the previous owner, everything in this collection was purchased prior to 1990, and most of it well before then. We’ve noted a few bottles that have dated tax-stamps, and there are some with period labels that give a clue to the date of...

2/7/15 - Precursors to rum date back to antiquity with documented examples of drinks made from fermented sugarcane juice in China, India, and Malaysia; however modern-day distillation of this fermented alcohol did not take place until the 17th century on Caribbean sugarcane plantations. The British colonies did not take long to adopt this island spirit, opening their first distillery on what is today known...

1/27/15 - Jean and Chantal Berthet-Bondet do not come from a long line of winemakers. They do, however, know a thing or two about agriculture. The two met in Montpellier as they pursued their respective courses in agronomy, leading Jean to take an assignment as a cooperante (a voluntary role as a researcher in underdeveloped countries) in Nepal working with wild oxen and buffalo,...

1/21/15 - Clos du Joncuas, founded in 1920 by Pierre Auguste Chastan, has always farmed with natural methods and has been officially organic since 1980. Currently run by sisters Dany and Carole Chastan, the estate's Gigondas vines are on slopes below the Dentelles de Montmirail on soils of clay with dolomite and gypsum over the limestone of the Dentelles and average 40 to 90...

1/17/15 - This shouldn’t come as news to anyone who loves white Burgundy, but Pierre Yves Colin-Morey has risen to the top rank of the region’s producers. That they have done so based on the less-than-fashionable appellation of St. Aubin, is in some ways the more notable accomplishment. Considered a rising star over the last decade (though he worked at his family’s Domaine Marc...