The AVA name "Red Mountain" sells a lot of wine in steakhouses. I learned this from master sommelier Thomas Price of Seattle's Metropolitan Grill, who says people just like the sound and will order wine from there without knowing a thing about it. "Red Mountain is probably the best AVA
A long time ago, in ancient Italy, two neighboring republics were established - the Republic of Siena and the Republic of Florence. And between these two regions was a place called Chianti Classico. It is unclear where the name “Chianti” comes from, but it’s almost certainly Etruscan - the people
Hugely dark, no light can penetrate the wine's depths. Blackcurrants, vanilla, and black pepper show on the nose. A hint of green pepper shows for the briefest moment on the attack, giving hints of the South American origins, but disappears immediately. Blackcurrant and black pepper are joined on the mid-palate
Tom Mansell, Ph.D., Palate Press' Science Editor, offers a seven-part lecture in the science of wine. He discusses yeast, esters, flaws, and even how to fix some flaws. Tom is an entertaining and informative speaker. We hope you enjoy Wine Science Part 7, Wrap Up. d d d
Should we be worried about companies sponsoring wine-related research? In a word: no. I’m usually wary of research sponsored by private companies. Companies are likely to fund research designed to show their products in the best light. We know that privately-funded studies in medicine tend to have methodological issues, tend
Franco Biondi Santi, the patriarch of the family credited for having laid the foundations of the prestigious Brunello di Montalcino appellation, died last weekend at the age of 91. A staunch guardian of the tradition started by his grandfather Ferrucio, both by the style of the family estate's wines and
British wine critic Jancis Robinson has something of a romantic debt to American wine. Not only was her first British national wine story about American wine, but she met her husband, Nick Lander, when they organized a tasting of American wines in London. At the time, wines from the US
For the past three decades, wine enthusiasts have shuddered when presented with American rosé. The reason? Domestic rosé has long been associated with the cheap, sweet "blush" wines that became popular in the 1980s, like Sutter Home's White Zinfandel. While these wines will always have fans, they're quite different from