Once upon a time (1395, to be exact), the Duke of Burgundy, France, issued a royal decree. He ordered Gamay, a red grape grown on the limestone hillsides of Burgundy, to leave his realm – go south – to make room for the more favored Pinot Noir. And the rest, as they say, is history. […]
Gamay and granite – a Beaujolais love story (#Winophiles) Read More »
Springtime evokes memories of road trips for me. Especially memorable are trips I’ve taken to the stunning Finger Lakes wine region of upstate New York. Four years ago, my travels took me to seven wineries ringing Seneca Lake and my first experience tasting skin-contact white wines – a 2014 Anthony Road Riesling and a 2014
Revisiting NY Finger Lakes Skin-Contact White Wines (#WinePW) Read More »
European winemakers have known their fair share of hardship. First phylloxera, a viral pest, wiped out vineyards throughout Europe in the late 19th century. Then two world wars raged across the continent causing widespread suffering and economic upheaval. After World War II, winemakers worked hard to regain their footing. Sometimes they banded together to form
Coda di Volpe from Campania’s protector of native grapes (#ItalianFWT) Read More »
The Rhône wine region of France is a house divided. To the north, compact vineyards lie along both sides of the Rhone river in a narrow, steep-sided strip of land only 40 miles long. In the south, vineyards fan out from the river across a comparatively broad plain. The north is cool. The south is
Crozes-Hermitage: A gateway to northern Rhône wine (#Winophiles) Read More »
Is Greek winemaking ancient? Is it new? If you answered “both,” you’d be correct. Greek winemaking dates back at least 4,000 years and left its mark throughout the Mediterranean world during ancient times. Greek wine was especially prized in Italy under the Roman Empire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_wine). In the Middle Ages, however, Ottoman rulers placed heavy taxes
Agiorgitiko: Modern Greek wine from an ancient land (#WinePW) Read More »
