Sagrantino Inspired by Bordeaux to Show Off Its Qualities

The headline of the press release read, “Sagrantino inspired by Bordeaux to show off its qualities.”  Since it was the 30th anniversary of Montefalco Sagrantino receiving its DOC designation, this was a good time to make the announcement.  The wine also has been awarded the DOCG, so the consortium was looking for a way to [...]

Prosecco DOC/DOCG with Primo Franco and Matteo Bisol

Now that Prosecco has become DOC/DOCG, I wanted to find out what the producers thought about the new laws for Italy’s largest selling sparkling wine.  As luck would have it, within the space of two weeks, I was able to meet two top producers of prosecco and ask them all my questions and then compare [...]

Speaking with Joel Peterson Founding Winemaker at Ravenswood about Zinfandel

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Recently, I was invited to meet Joel Peterson, founding winemaker of Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma. I knew Mr. Peterson by reputation and was looking forward to speaking with him and of course tasting his wines which are primarily zinfandels.  I had lost interest in Zinfandel over the past few years. I found them to be [...]

League of Gentle Men:Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux

The League of Gentle Men
The day before our latest dinner, one of the members asked if I could come before our meeting to taste a bottle of wine. It was an older vintage and he wanted to try a bottle before investing in a whole case. He had visited the producer and had a special [...]

Azienda Agricola Biologica Monte di Grazia Winery

                     Azienda Agricola Biologica Monte di Grazia Winery
 
              Every time we go to Italy I always find something new and exciting. This time it was the Monte di Grazia winery in Tramonti high above the Amalfi Coast.  Giocondo Cavliere, the Slow Food representative in the area was our guide.
 
               It was raining as we made [...]

The League of Gentle Men Celebrate Bastille Day

My men’s wine group “The League of Gentle Men” decided to have a dinner to celebrate Bastille Day. We could not do it on July 14th so we celebrated to the 13th. It was held at Nice-Martin on the upper West Side. The food was excellent and went well with the wine. The theme of [...]

Tasting Pichon-Lalande and Pichon Baron

Tasting Pichon-Lalande and Pichon-Baron
 
The Wine Media Guild had another of its very special tasting luncheons at Felidia restaurant in the spring. One of our members, Mark Golodetz, brought together for the first time two of the great Bordeaux Chateaus for a vertical tasting:  Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville and Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande. The vintages, [...]

The League of Gentle Men-Burgundy and Champagne at Bouley

The League of Gentle Men – Burgundy and Champagne at Bouley
 
   Someone said “Burgundy”, someone else said “Burgundy is always good”, and it was settled.
One member suggested Bouley, adding that he could make arrangements so that we could bring our own wine.
All agreed.  There are eight of us and the rule is one bottle per [...]

Tasting Alsatian Wine with Frederic Helfrich

                   Spring seems to be the time of year for white wines from Germany, Austria and France.  Recently, I read Eric Asimov’s article in The Times entitled “The Wines of Spring”, attended the Wine Media Guild’s Austrian Riesling tasting, and enjoyed dinner with the Alsatian producer Frederic Helfrich.  The name of his winery is Helfrichmetz and [...]

On Austrian Riesling

        Some members of the wine community think that Riesling is not only the best white wine, but also the best wine, period. There is even an International Riesling Foundation, with worldwide membership.
    In his article “ The Wines of Spring” Eric Asimov wrote in The Pour “I love Austrian riesling- just last weekend we [...]