Mar
01
2009
This is the 19th installment find the 1st one here
There are few times in life, mine anyway, when you get the chance to drink a cabernet that is 24 years old. Now most things that I have read about the taste of old wine is probably not good unless one; you know exactly what you are drinking and two; how that wine has been stored over its many years of bottled life. Many articles that I have read warn about developing a taste for “old wines”. They are definitely different in structure, flavor, texture and color. Continue Reading »
Tags: 1985, cabernet, Freemark Abbey, Freemark Abbey 85, old wine, Selyem, William, William Selyem, wine
Feb
28
2009
This is the 18h installment find the 1st one here
We have had several different styles of wine glasses in our home over the 38 year of marriage and until recently, we have never paid much attention to what we were drinking out of. We do have the red wine (balloons) ever since my friend pointed out, “You need to drink reds out a glass like that and not the skinny ones!” Continue Reading »
Tags: balloon, grand tour, red wine, red wine balloon, ridel, wine, wine balloon
Feb
28
2009
This is the 17th installment find the 1st one here
Traveling for a large company as I do, takes me to some really strange, wonderful and interesting places. On just that type of a 3 day trip to do “all-day” meetings I ended up in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the fall of 2007. I stumbled onto a local winery when I was unconsciously thumbing through the rack of pamphlets and brochures for the local area near the elevator at the hotel, mostly out of boredom, waiting for it to come back down to the lobby. One caught my eye as it was a winery/tasting room/restaurant not far from the hotel and meeting facility.
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Tags: Merlot, mexico, new mexico, sinclair, sinclair 06 merlot, sinclair 2006 merlot, sinclair merlot, wine
Feb
28
2009
This is the 16th installment find the 1st one here
I travel for a living with a major company and I often end up in Las Vegas for national trade shows. I had just returned from one of my many road trips for the company and was sitting down with my wife and sharing a great bottle of pinot noir that Friday evening. She told me that she had debated telling me about a flyer she had opened that was in the mail from the “Wine Spectator” advertising the Las Vegas “Grand Tour” wine tasting event in May. Continue Reading »
Tags: grand tour, las vegas, vegas, venetian, wine, wine spectator
Feb
28
2009
This is the 15th installment find the 1st one here
A couple of years ago, my nephew and his lovely bride were to be married in Palo Alto, California and my wife and I were planning to attend. Naturally, I took a few extra of my vacation days to travel to “wine country” seeing that we were so close and June was a great time to be there. We had hit on the fact that we both really like the “Russian River Valley” pinot noirs and would like to visit wineries in that area around Santa Rosa and Healdsburg for a few days and really enjoy ourselves. Great idea!
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Tags: California, destination, tasteing, tasteing destination, tasting, trip, vacation, wine
Feb
28
2009
This is the 14th installment find the 1st one here
Who didn’t see the movie “Sideways” and didn’t just love it? I did! That movie has been credited with the biggest upsurge in the interest and sales of pinot noir in the history of wine in the United States. My wife and I saw it when we were going through a phase where we only drank cabernet and occasionally a merlot – that’s it! We were stuck in a rut, but we liked it.
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Tags: Pino Noir, red wine, sideways, wine
Oct
09
2008
This is the 13th installment find the 1st one here
Barnes & Nobel and Borders book stores have become my destination of choice for books to learn more about buying, tasting and producing good wine. I want to know everything I can about wine. I have immersed myself in studying and taking notes on wine facts and characteristics. I did not study this diligently in college! My wife thought at first that I was “cracking up”! I loved it and still do. What an amazing science, that of producing great wine!
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Tags: books, wine, wine books
Oct
08
2008
This is the 12th installment find the 1st one here
The more new wines I tried, the more I wanted to read about them, find out how they were made, where they came from and what to look for in the new ones to try. A few years ago I bought a copy of the “Wine Spectator” and was immediately taken in by it. There was so much information for a novice like me that I was able to finally slice, dice and analyze it for hours on end. I was particularly “smitten” by the 100 point wine rating scale. I soon found that almost all the rated wines were not available in the local grocery stores where I had been buying my wine. I figured most of them to be out of reach and not available in our area being from California, Washington and Oregon and were simply out of the question for me to buy and try.
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Tags: magazine, wine, wine magazine
Oct
07
2008
This is the 11th installment find the 1st one here
It was truly amazing! We actually found a vintage of cabernet that we really liked from a California winery. My wife even said, “Why don’t you go get several bottles just to have on hand?” Wow! That was so out of character for her that I could hardly believe it! I dutifully trekked off to the grocery store to buy a case of wine. I went directly to the section and shelf where I’d bought that “really great wine” last week and it was GONE! What the heck?
I cornered a stocking guy who was pulling new bottles out of a case of wine and setting them on the shelves further down the isle. I asked him if he had any more of the vintage I was looking for in the back room. He smiled and said, “Nope, that’s it! The new vintage should be here in a week or two.” Oh, God! Would it be as good? Would it cost the same? Maybe I could still find it in other stores! I panicked!
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Tags: cabernet, vintage, wine
Oct
03
2008
This is the 10th installment find the 1st one here
My wife and I were invited to a recently acquainted friend’s home near us on the beach. She is a well-to-do realtor and the evening promised to be fun and interesting. She offered us a glass of wine and in tandem, we responded, “A glass of white wine, please.” I soon learned that this person was way beyond opinionated and replied, “All white wine tastes like crap! I only drink cabernet – you’ll love it!” (Yeah right!) I watched as she took it out of the rack, popped the cork out and poured three glasses (balloons, of course) of warm red wine. This was going to be horrible but, remember, you’re a guest so shut up, sip it slowly and don’t pucker or comment. Continue Reading »
Tags: 1st, first great wine, red, red wine, wine
