I was recently the guest of the Portland Indie Wine Festival, a very interesting event you will read more about later this month. It was my first trip to Portland and I was absolutely dumbfounded at the quality and variety-read more-
Clear, bright, pale gold color. Clean nose with aromas of pear, apple, soft citrus, and tropical fruit. Dry on the palate, medium-low acidity, medium body, simple flavors of pear and yellow apple, with a medium yeasty finish. Drink with grilled-read more-
This sparkler opening with loads of apples of every kind. On the palate apples were also prevalent, along with buttered brioche, turning to caramel as it moved to the finish. It has 1.2% residual sugar and a fine backbone of-read more-
Achaval-Ferrer is famed for producing extremely complex—and extremely expensive—Malbec, but their Quimera blend (made from malbec, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot from varying locations and in varying percentages) is a steal even at forty bucks. Quimera is-read more-
Golden with a greenish tinge, this Chardonnay has enough flavors of crème brûlée, vanilla, golden apples and apricot preserves—along with enough gorgeous, mouth filling complexity—to get Napa winemakers in a nervous sweat. It’s a steakhouse worthy Chardonnay, built for potatoes-read more-
Ezequiel Eskenazi, the down-to-earth founder of XumeK, is carving out a wine lifestyle destination a solid two hours drive northwest from Mendoza in San Juan, complete with a life size reproduction of a whale constructed by famed artist Adrian Villar-read more-
Winemaker Marcelo Retamal is developing a well deserved reputation as one of Chile’s visionaries, and this field blend red (made mostly from Malbec vines planted in the mid 1950s) shows why. This wine is the full package: tobacco smoke, meat,-read more-
Morandé’s winemaking director Pablo Morandé is often regarded as the godfather of Chile’s modern winemaking industry, and he’s not afraid of taking risky chances when the pay off is a result like this great wine, made from a variety that-read more-