Wine Spotlight
Surrounding the Italian capital city of Rome is a wine province we don’t hear much about: Lazio. Which is surprising,...
“It’ll be just like Hell today, but with more humidity,” joked the radio weatherman. I believed him; it was one of those brutal summer weeks in the low country – near Charleston, SC – where not only did the mercury-read more- Read More
I was surprised to find the St. Laurent grape grown in the Napa Valley, since I usually encounter it only in Austria. In fact this wine is made from the grapes of one single vineyard in Napa. The wine has heady, sharp, boysenberry aromas and a bright flavor, light and Read More
Fattoria Paradiso sits in Emilia-Romagna, a region of Italy that is just east of Tuscany, so it is not surprising that many of their great wines are made with the same grape as Chianti, Montepulciano and Brunello: sangiovese. In this case, the wine is made with sangiovese grosso, the traditional Read More
Twenty years ago, there were three different, fairly well-known European grapes commonly referred to as “tokay” (with various spellings); today there is only one. These three grapes came from three separate countries: Italy, France and Hungary. With the launch of the European Union in the mid-1990s, grape names have been Read More
From the organic Aquila del Torre Winery in the extreme northeastern region of Italy Imagine a wine that is layered and deep, echoing the soil and the hillside terroir where it is grown. And this is a white wine – perhaps not exactly what you might be expecting, since more Read More
This is the first of a series of three articles on the terroir of Central Otago, the most southerly wine growing region in the world, at 45 degrees South, marked by a dry, semi-continental climate. Known for pinot noir, the region has more than one grape to it—and more than Read More
This is the second in a three-part series on the terroirs of Central Otago. After Gibbston and Wanaka, last week, here is a look at the largest winegrowing areas: The Cromwell Basin and Bannockburn, which combine to account for 70% of all Central Otago vineyards. The Cromwell Basin is east Read More
This is the last of a three part series on the terroirs of New Zealand’s Central Otago. After Gibbston and Wanaka and The Cromwell Basin and Bannockburn, we are finishing with Bendigo and The Alexandra Basin, the two lowest elevation, most easterly sub-regions. Bendigo Bendigo is just east of the Read More
Even in a wine world where context is king, Donnafugata’s complex sweet wine called Ben Ryé - the product of air-dried Zibbibo (Muscat) grapes - stands out as uniquely tied to its place of origin. Second generation winegrowers Antonio and José Rallo, who helm the Sicilian winery, describe its production Read More
I went to Valpolicella to learn about the region's most expensive, highly regarded wine: Amarone. Made from dried grapes, this wine is hotter than ever and the Italian press now gathers annually to taste new Amarone releases. I tagged along, hoping to discover what I have been missing. Instead, I Read More
A wine region’s reputation is often frozen within a slice of time, like a specimen encased in paraffin awaiting the guillotine cut of the microtome followed by the analysis that occurs under the wine-glass microscope by the consumers of the world. Take Dão. The region is located in the interior Read More
Even if they've drunk it before, most everyone experiences a serious first encounter with wine – one moment when you know you’ve really latched onto something magical. When I escaped Appalachia after college, the people I associated with, first academics and journalists, then corporate types, mainly drank cocktails, starting at Read More
All over the world, numbers are up for sparkling wines. In the US and UK, we are huge consumers of Asti sparkling wines from northern Italy, but these have traditionally been rather sweet. Recently, however, Asti producers have created a new category that's nearly as dry as Brut Champagne. Asti Read More
Trigger warning: This story will praise Merlot. Is Malbec actually the grape Argentina does best? And what are the best wines to drink from Argentina? The answer to the first question, for those buying $10 or $15 wines, is probably "yes." Malbec seems to be more forgiving of industrial-scale production Read More
Palate Press staff writer Simon Woolf is in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to fund a book entitled Amber Revolution - How the world learned to love orange wine. The illustrated 250-page book tells the full, forgotten story of orange wine, from Friuli & Slovenia to Georgia and beyond. According Read More
In Arroyo Seco - a tiny California appellation most of us have never heard of - winemakers have been perfecting a different type of Sauvignon Blanc: musqué. This particular clone [pronounced Moose-KAY] produces wine that is distinctly different from the traditional French green herb aromas or the New Zealand-style boxwood-scented Read More
Cava has a problem, a common one in the wine industry. Call it the trap of cheapness. The question is, with the new Cavas de Paratges category, introduced this summer, have the Catalans found the key to escape? But first, the trap. Big Cava producers sold the Spanish bubbly worldwide Read More
Books are strange things. In the 21st century, they're curiously out of whack with our demands for immediacy, and fast being replaced by digital equivalents in many settings. Yet they carry a certain gravitas about them, perhaps due to their permanence or even their physical weight - not to mention Read More
Deep rich purple in color with an exceptional dark stone fruit nose on this GSM blend. Dense blackberries and dark...
Light straw in color with a bright nose with subdued white stone fruits. Solid fruit on the palate and well...
Densely purple in color with blackberry fruit on the nose. A delightful blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah...
Casa Del Sol is a celebrity tequila that has been done correctly and thoughtfully. 11:11 Angel’s Reserve is their pinnacle...
This wine is a new classic style: Prosecco Brut. It has a balanced aroma with some light florals, and a...
Champagne Billecart-Salmon is always one of our favorite makers of astounding bubbly. Year after year their creations wet our lips...
Cocktails featuring coffee are nothing new. A bracing Irish coffee with whiskey may be welcome in winter. A Dublin Iced...
San Francisco institution Izzy’s is bouncing back from a harsh two years and welcoming in friends and family on National...