Category: France
White, 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...
Read MoreA Sampling of Fine Burgundy Reds from 1998 to 2011
In tasting some 100 Burgundy wines over the past six months and from eight vintages from 1998 to 2011, we’ve compiled our top 20. Each exhibited the wonderful characteristics of its climat, even in awkward vintages. In going...
Read More18 Chardonnays for Spring and Summer Sipping
The following wines were selected from tastings over the past three months for a combination of quality, style and price. Sources were local grocery stores, wine merchants, online discount houses and a warehouse store. Prices...
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Burgundy Wines – Hunting for Quality in Less Famous Appellations
It’s a good day that starts at 9 a.m. with an introduction to the wines of Burgundy. Or you could...
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Syrah Smackdown: Appreciating a Sense of Place and Personality
The annual SommCon® conference provides sommelier-level education and training of wine...
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Bordeaux: Introduction to Second Labels, Second Wines and Petit Chateau
Confused about second labels, second wines, third labels and petit chateau in Bordeaux? Mary...
Read More32 Wines Under $23 for Spring Sipping, Picnic and Party Fun
The following wines rise to the top in price and value from among several hundred wines tasted over the past few months, from individual bottles with food at home to sampling through scores at trade tastings and industry...
Read MoreSingle Blind Tasting – Fun Exercise in Improving Wine Appreciation
Can a single blind tasting be of value to wine drinkers seeking to learn more techniques for identifying the similarities and differences in wines, while honing their individual palates and sensitivities? The answer is yes,...
Read MoreUnderstanding Dry White Bordeaux
SommCon®, the annual conference and exposition for sommelier-level education and training of wine professionals and serious enthusiasts, returned to San Diego in November. The conference offers a strong educational component for...
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