Category: Discoveries
Favorites from 2021 — Classics and Values
It’s always memorable to go through our tasting notes for the year. We recorded the notes during a wide range of tasting experiences, from trying new wines at home, to dinner parties with friends, to trade tastings, industry...
Read MoreRioja Shines; Fine Red Wines from Spain, $15 to $156
Ranking wines during blind tastings can provide some eye-openers, to coin a phrase, particularly with wines from different vintages and a wide range of prices. One group in San Diego, the Carmel Valley Wine Club, held its 302d...
Read MoreExploring New World Pinot Noir, $12 to $88
The following notes are from Pinot Noir wines tasted from the New World over the past six months and rated as good, very good and excellent. For background on Pinot Noir in the New World, versus its home in Burgundy, France,...
Read MoreGood Values Along the White Wine Roads Less Traveled
With abundant supplies of fine value Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc wines currently available from all over the world, it is easy to go with those whites as the default choice for summer sipping. For a little exploration, here...
Read MoreDo California Red Wines Improve With Age?
Can fine red wines from California age, most notably the Bordeaux varietals? Even those far below the cult-level wine prices? It depends, of course, on too many variables to list here. But, in general, many do improve with age....
Read MoreRobust Red Wines to Complement Your Mastery of the Grill
In getting an early start on firing up the barbie as the days get longer and the nights warmer, we’ve been sampling more robust red wines that can be a match for grilled foods. The dishes ranged from burgers and bratwurst to...
Read MoreEasy Sipping Spring and Summer White Wines
With warmer weather in the offing and restrictions easing on getting together in crowds of more than four and spaced at two-meter intervals, it’s time to explore lower-cost, tasty wines to have handy for any group gathering or...
Read MoreExploring South African Red Wines
Blind tastings help calibrate your taste preferences (if you like it, it’s good, no matter what the experts say or how much it costs). This was reinforced recently in a blind tasting of eight wines from South Africa by a...
Read MoreWhite, Red Wine Values for Continued Hunkering in 2021
Some celebrants usher in the New Year with a little bubbly and an expensive vintage wine or two. Based on requests from some friends for lower cost wines to get through the first quarter of 2021 under a pandemic budget, we took...
Read MoreIn Search of Good Red Wine Blends — Traditional to Creative
One strategy for calibrating your palate is to taste wines made from the same varietal grape and decide on styles you like. This is best done blind, where a co-conspirator buys the wines and another puts them in numbered brown...
Read MoreSauvignon Blanc, 20 Wines from $9 to $42
The following 20 wines were tasted during the past six months and offer a range, from easy-sipping party and wedding reception wines, to stylish, crisp and complex wines to match with shellfish and seafood. We found a decent...
Read MoreSummer Whites: Easy Sipping Party Wines, Plus a Few Complex Classics
The following white wines rose to the top of our tasting leaderboard the past three months, scoring for overall quality of the wines and values delivered. Most are widely available, except for classics from the cellar and...
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