Terry Nozick French oak casks are used at Chapel Down My recent trip to the U.K. of course included a trip to the wine country in County Kent, about a half-hour train ride southeast of London. In my last post, I talked about my visit to the Gusbourne, a lovely artisan producer of mostly vintage sparkling wine …
Double-decker buses, pubs, royalty, theatre, Downton Abbey — these are the things most of us associate with the British Isles, but how many would think about English wine? Not many, I’m sure, but this island off the northwest coast of Europe, which falls just north of the 50th parallel — long considered the northern boundary …
The end stacks at the grocery store don’t usually appeal to me, whether they be stocked with cookies, canned vegetables, or alcoholic beverages. I snub my nose at such mass-produced and overly processed food items, assuming they are chock full of “fake” ingredients that are not good for the human body and too much packaging …
Penfolds pulls out all stops (and corks) at their recorking clinics. Those of us savvy enough to have begun collecting valuable wines early in our lives — versus me, who just wishes I had — can see significant returns on their investments. The bottle purchased at release for, say $100, can sell at auction for …
When one thinks of American wine, one is usually thinking of California Wine, as the Golden State produces approximately 95% of all wine in the country, from such well-known areas as Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles, and, increasingly, Santa Barbara County. Ventura, both the county and the town, is not a name that often pops up …
After our visit with Heidi Schrock this summer in Rust, Austria, my husband and I made the five-hour drive to eastern Hungary to visit the town of Tokaj, home to the aptly named Tokaji sweet wine, which has been made for centuries in this quiet, unassuming corner of Eastern Europe. Schrock telephoned a winemaker friend …
When my husband and I arrived in the small town of Rust on the western shore of Lake Neusiedl in sunny southeastern Austria, we felt we were stepping into the past. With ancient-looking but well-maintained family homes with large wooden “garage” doors that were once used to allow animal-drawn carts into interior courtyards, and the …
I was lucky enough to vacation this summer in Central Europe, visiting four countries, two of which are well known for their wines, Austria and Hungary. And living in California, there are of course hundreds if not thousands of wine makers within driving distance of my house that I can visit on a whim. Less …
A hard-to-pronounce grape from Northern Greece is my latest wine discovery, thanks to a recent LA Wine Writer’s luncheon at Hotel Angeleno in Los Angeles. Hosted by the the XinomavroNaoussa trade organization, the luncheon featured three Greek winemakers, a slew of wines, and some Greek food. Xinomavro (pronounced “Tsee-nó-ma-vro” I am told, with emphasis on the first …
Have you ever not purchased a bottle of wine based solely on its alcohol content? I did that for the first time recently, as I was looking for a wine to pair with a duck breast with lingonberry sauce being served at a dinner party I was attending. After consulting What to Drink With What …