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2004 Propietà Sperino Lessona D.O.C. This post is supposed to feature a nice Tuscan red alternative appropriate for winter nights; however, irony always makes things quite interesting. Case in point, although today?s recommended wine comes from the nice people responsible for none other than Isole e Olena?s delights, this particular wine is produced at their family estate in Piemonte. Composed almost entirely of replanted Nebbiolo along with traces of Vespolina and Croatina in the de Marchi family?s hilly Villa Sperino plots, whic
Leelanau Cellars markets this unique spiced wine as Witches’ Brew around Halloween, but let me assure you that it is a great wine to have on hand throughout the winter. This wine has two labels, the Halloween one (Witches Brew) and the label for the rest of the year, simply named Leelanau Cellars Spiced Wine.
If you’re looking for something fun and unique to bring to a holiday party this year, this is your wine! This wine is best served heated! Simmer in a pot over low heat until it is warm (the temperature of a witches’ tongue, if you’re celebrating Halloween). This spiced wine should not be served with dinner, but rather as dessert, with some good, dark chocolate. I suppose it could also be good before dinner, while folks are still arriving to the party. It would make a great ice-breaker!
Witches Brew is obviously a sweet wine, with aromas of cinnamon and cloves. It has very different characteristics when heated vs. room temperature. Try both!
Rating: 9/10 — Truly unique! Price: $5.99 Where can I get it? Many places in Michigan carry this wine, especially around the holidays. I found it at Meijer. You could always visit the Leelanau Cellars north of Traverse City to stock up!
Wines to try before I get old. Are you tired of seeing certain wines reviewed or being auctioned for exorbitant prices? Do you often wonder, "what's the big fuss"? Would you like an opportunity to voice your opinion? If so, what would be the wines you choose? I made a ...
This $10 sparkling wine from Vouvray France is really very nice! Made from Chenin Blanc, it is pale straw in color with a lemony melon bouquet that is understated. It is somewhat thin on flavor but is crisply made and refreshing.
Somewhat non-descript but I tell you this is a "best buy" sparkler and worth seeking out! I'll buy more if given the chance. Raise a glass!
Little kids go through a phase where they need to put everything in their mouth. I wonder what it says about me that I'm pretty much stuck there? I really enjoy trying out new wines and sakes, especially those that are well off the beaten path.
So when Beau Timkin, the owner of True Sake in San Francisco handed me this bottle and said "check this out" I couldn't resist. After all, it was the sake equivalent of....well.....(if you'll excuse what may be a somewhat obscure (to you) Japanese animation reference) Howl's Moving Castle.
This sake is:
1. Nigori - an unfiltered sake
2. Junmai Daiginjo -- the highest grade of sake, where the rice kernels have been polished to less than 55% of their original volume.
3. Nama sake -- unpastuerized, designed to be drunk very soon after production, much like Beaujolais
Can you understand my fascination? Even if you've never seen the phantasmagorical animation movie referenced above perhaps you can understand what a strange beast this sake would be.
Many people who enjoy sake even occasionally are familiar with the cloudy nigori sakes, as they are somewhat trendy and likely to be offered in most sushi restaurants that aspire to have anything more than just the standard hot sake on the menu. Nigori sakes are cloudy because minute rice particles (think flour particles) that are normally filtered out of the sake are left in. These bits of starch both make the sake milky white, as well as add a slight sweetness to the liquid because they contain sugars.
Most nigori sakes are considered to be somewhat rustic, harkening back to the beginnings of sake when, in fact, all sake was nigori sake, since no one bothered to (or had the technology to) filter it in the early days of sake brewing. Consequently nigori sakes do not tend to be premium sakes, which is to say that they are most often made from rice that has not been polished to the level required for premium sake.
So to see a Junmai Daiginjo nigori sake is quite unusual, both because it means that the brewer has gone to quite an expense to deliberately produce such a sake, and that the brewer is confident that such a sake merits such treatment, as the rice sediments that are left in nigori sake tend, on the whole, to mask some of the more delicate flavors and aromas that a junmai daiginjo sake has been made to possess.
Nama sake or namazake is the sake world's equivalent of Beaujolais Nouveau, or perhaps more accurately, fresh raw milk, which is unfortunately illegal in the US. Unpastuerized by heat, namazake has a different character that is cherished by die-hard sake fans as more rustic and "authentic" than commercial releases that go through the pasteurization and stabilization process.
And sparkling sake? Well, what can I say. Sparkling sake is just a oddball phenomenon. It has been made here and there by various producers over the last decade, but not with any regularity, nor with any real commercial strategy. It is perhaps best characterized as one big experiment.
If there is any brewery that isn't afraid of experimenting, it's the Tsuki no Katsura brewery in the Fushimi district of Kyoto in western Japan. One of the oldest and most regal of breweries in the area, it is single-handedly responsible for the fact that nigori sake even exists today as a commercial product.
As I mentioned, originally all sake was effectively nigori, as it went unfiltered. But sometime before the 19th century, many makers began to press their sake through mesh bags to filter out the sediment. When the "rules" for how to make sake were written in the 1800's and it became regulated by the government, filtering (or more accurately, pressing, as there is most often a final filtration after pressing) became part of the required regimen, and nigori sake effectively became illegal. One of the primary reasons for this was that the filtering process was when the government levied its taxes on sake makers. For perhaps understandable reasons, the government wasn't too keen on the idea of skipping that step for aesthetic reasons.
But nigori sake wasn't forgotten, and after decades of tireless lobbying, Tsuki no Katsura managed to convince the government to allow them to make nigori sake. How did they manage to get around at least two hundred years of precedent for pressing sake through a filter to remove solids? Well, in the end they didn't. They were still forced to filter their sake, but they convinced the government to let them use a filter that had holes in it about the size of golf balls. Apparently it took a couple of years of changing their production process so the government ministry that oversees sake brewing would approve, but eventually they did, paving the way for all modern nigori sake.
Today, Tsuki no Katsura is one of the largest producers of nigori sake in Japan, and is apparently breaking new ground by moving into the sparkling sake world as well. They also produce a range of standard sakes which are rumored to be decent as well.
Full disclosure: I received this sake as a press sample.
Tasting Notes: Cloudy white to the point of being chunky, with a medium-strong effervescence, this sake has a yeasty nose with scents of bubblegum and malted milk. In the mouth it has a thick presence on the palate and about as much carbonation as some soft drinks. The flavors are cool and rainy, with a distinct flavor of wet paper, a light floral element, and a finish that is beer like with hints of yeast. I'm not sure if my sense of the beer-like flavor was influenced by the carbonation or not. Overall this is not a sake that does a lot for me, but it was a fascinating drinking experience and one worth trying just on principle, especially for those who are interested in sake.
Food Pairing: Nigori sakes normally reward pairings with slightly more substantial foods than their lighter, more delicate filtered brethren. I'm not confident about it, but I might try pairing this sake with tonkatsu, the traditional breaded and fried Japanese pork cutlet.
Overall Score: 8/8.5
How Much?: $20 for 300ml bottle
This sake is not available for sale on the internet. You can give Beau a call if you're interested: 415.355.9555
Our dinner at The Restaurant at Meadowood was lovely. The restaurant has a pleasant, relaxed décor which is still elegant. This casual elegance is reflected in the food from Chef Christopher Kostow. The meal was very enjoyable and we would happily return.
[05/06/2006, 06:55]
GREAT GOLD MEDAL FOR CHILEAN WINES. In order to reaffirm its prestige, Chile gained 9 Great Gold Medal by its wines. These distinctions were gained in the "Concours Mondial de Bruxelles" finalized in Lisbon the 23 of April.
These great prizes corresponded all to wines of the Carmenere variety. The Carmenere has its sanctuary in Chile indeed. An historical event: in the middle of century XIX the phylloxera attacked the Old World and she destroyed the vineyards. An agriculturist came to Chile from France and helped to develop the Carmenere. That man of Bachelet last name also turned out to be the first ancestor in Chile of Michelle Bachelet, president of the country today .
Now, by the excellence of his carmenere, received Great Gold Medal: Aresti Chile Wine (Valley of Curico), two for Casa Silva Ltda. (Valley of Colchagua), Siegel S.A. (Valley of Colchagua), Misiones de Rengo (Valley of Rapel), Santa Helena S.A. (Valley of Colchagua), Casa Tamaya S.A. (Valley of Limari), Ventisquero (Valley of Maipo) and Viu Manent (Valley of Colchagua).
We present here the detail of some of these good wines.
ARESTI RESERVA CARMENERE 2004 - ARESTI CHILE WINE LTDA.(Curico Valley) - Great Gold Medal Deep colour. In nose opened fragances are outlined of spice as cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa as well as fragances of fruits of berry and cassis. Highlighting the fruit for on the fragances of wood. It fills well the mouth with a sweet touch proving to be balanced with good persistence. More information in the web.
SELECCION CARMENERE - SANTA HELENA S.A. (Colchagua Valley) - Great Gold Medal Deep ruby red in colour. On the nose, ripe red fruit aromas combine with spice and chocolate notes. Strong volume and structure. On the palate , with sweet tannins, red fruits aromas combine with spice and vanilla notes. Good final persistence. More information in the web.
MISIONES DE RENGO RESERVA CARMENERE - MISIONES DE RENGO S.A. (Rapel Valley) - Great Gold Medal Deep colour. Intense, with notes of the spice, as the black pepper and the cinnamon. We find also black fruit as the plum accompanied of exquisite aromas of black chocolate and coffee. Young, soft, fresh wine. Mature and long tannins. Notes of spice interlace harmoniously with notes of smoke and candy. End agreeable and pleasant taste. More information in the web.
Wine is all about the senses. About sensory evaluation, sensuality and consensual enjoyment. And wouldn't it be awful to lose your sense of taste, of smell, of touch, of sight?
It happens. Years ago, a wine-loving colleague went through a devastating course of chemotherapy to treat cancer and was cured. Afterwards he told me he had permanently lost his taste for wine. He sold his not inconsiderable cellar soon afterwards. Another friend had an operation on his nose that left him without a sense of smell. He'll drink a glass of wine with dinner but admits to being indifferent to its finer points.
I was reminded of this aspect of wine and the senses recently while listening to a wine expert banging on about the unimportance of colour in wine. If I heard him correctly, his thesis was that if the wine smelt and tasted good you shouldn't worry too much about its colour.
I couldn't disagree more. I love the colour of wine in the morning, or the evening. The crystal clear, green-hued glisten of a young riesling; the black cherry colour of a young shiraz; the vibrant inky purple of a Coonawarra cabern? [enough already! - Ed.] The visual appeal of wine in the glass is to me an unmissable part of wine drinking.
The banging on wine person finally admitted to being colour blind! They used to call this attitude making a virtue of a necessity.
And talking of sensory evaluation Long due for reassessment is the ancient scoring system used at most Australian wine shows. The one where wines are scored out of 20 - with a possible three points (15%) awarded for appearance, seven (35%) for bouquet and ten (50%) for palate. Anyone who's ever had a cold will tell you that smell is probably the most important sensory sensation where wine is concerned. When people have colds they typically complain, ?I can't taste a thing.' What they really mean is, ?I can't smell a thing.' It's their noses that are blocked up - not their mouths.
I realise that many judges just award an intuitive score out of 20 rather than individually scoring each component and then adding up the total. Nevertheless, I'd re-jig the weighting thus: three points (15%) for appearance, nine (45%) for bouquet, five (25%) for palate and three (15%) for overall finesse and balance. Whether the scoring system is out of 20 or 100, or whatever, the percentage weighting would remain the same.
The last in a trio from Barossa producers Scorpiiion is their 2006 GSM, which is comprised of 45% Grenache, 42% Shiraz and 13% Mataro, all of which is sourced from the Barossa Valley.
Vibrant ripe plum and blackberry aromas are entwined with lurking chocolate and vanilla. On the palate I found intense flavours of fleshy dark fruits, a velvety mouthfeel and a little drying tannin on the finish. Its full bodied, fruit forward and very gluggable.
After having the chance to taste three different wines produced by Scorpiiion, I can definitely see the fruit driven but balanced style they are aiming for across the range. The GSM represents the best bang for your buck and is a great option if you just want to buy, open and drink. Prices appear to range from $15-23, depending on your selection of retailer and the number of bottles, Squashedgrape being the cheapest at this time.
Score: 89/100 Price: $21 Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 14.5% Other Opinions:Wine Without Wank Would I buy this wine? Although I personally lean toward more savoury styles, $17 per bottle is a great price.
Nuits St George, Burgundy, France. 13%. Cork. Half bottle. Approx $A40.
Quite similar to the last De L'Arlot I had, though with perhaps a little more softness and flesh.
Lovely initial burst of rose petal, perfume and sap, before settling into a more earthy and understated repose. Like its sibling, there is a note of ginseng, though as mentioned I thought this was more rounded and plump. The softness is evanescent and soon replaced by something more meaty and firm.
Randy Hall, in response to our report that American Wine Wholesalers claim they are saving lives by making sure no tainted wine hits the shelves, answered the question I forgot to answer. Namely, How exactly do those amazing wholesalers actually check each and every bottle of wine to make sure it isn't tainted, thereby saving countless lives?
His Answer? X-RAY WINE GOGGLES!!
And he's right. Why it's downright amazing the kind of space age technology that can be developed when you are flush with dough due only to your state-granted monopoly. And now you can have your own, genuine set of WSWA X-RAY WINE SPECS.
Do any of you folks have any advice for finding a specific type of wine that my local wine shop no longer carries? I've googled, I've ordered two bottles from an importer/reseller in Chicago, and I've not really had any luck finding any others (said store in Chicago has sold all of their other bottles of the stuff). Apparently my Google-Fu isn't strong enough to find anything else, much to my chagrin.
What I'm looking for is a rioja that I had last year. Muga produces an occasional Seleccion Especial. The 2001 vintage is what I'm looking for (though I suspect that I may invest in the 2004 as well, which I can actually find online), and like I said, short of the two bottles that I ordered from the folks in Chicago (I ordered it in October, and it's supposed to sail from Spain this weekend, finally), I haven't been able to find it anywhere else.
I don't know that I'm ever going to be able to find it again, to be perfectly honest, but I figured that I'd mention it here in the hopes that someone might have some sort of hints or information about hunting down somewhat rare wines. Thanks in advance!
Yes, that was basically the point of this quick weekend post.Over the past week I made the best attempt I could at finding all six single-variety wines that the South African producers released, and have only achieved partial success (3/6).Though not so entirely happy with one of the whites (sadly the only one I could track down), I return to the reds to find a very interesting Shiraz.
A small clarification about how I view value wines though.Obviously, the MAN Shiraz is no Crozes-Hermitages, but that simply isn?t the objective with a value selection recommendation.It doesn?t make it better than say, a Northern Rhône Syrah that usually sells for more.Value selections like this one are unusually interesting for the price point.That shortsighted all-or-nothing approach people have the tendency to apply to so many things in life seems absurdly inappropriate even with wine.I thought about that today when I read the latest post over at The Pour, which somewhat deals with a new book on wine reminiscent of that 20/20 segment from 2005 which relegates the value of art and art criticism (good parallel with wine) to that of upper-brow contempt for the masses.How many certifiable idiots have you overheard in a hotel lobby asking trite questions that more or less resemble ?which one?s the best, Flemish art or Florentine art?The inanity of an exchange like this swiftly reveals the poverty of knowledge, or perhaps more crucial to the matter, lack of genuine appreciation which the participants must have for art.
As someone who seriously studies literature and has a couple of degrees to back that up, I have always cringed at those book club type questions where two writers from completely different perspectives and time periods are given the old CNN Crossfire treatment, ?George Sand or Danielle Steele??On a whole, more people would likely prefer Steele, who no doubt is an accomplished writer; her work could thus be considered better, right?No, no and no.As with artists or writers, let?s please leave wine out of that sort of thing.
At any rate, this Coastal Region Shiraz is all about straightforward flavors and food-accompanying functionality.I thought it a bit complex for the price point, with nice plum, berry, spice and smoke.Balance wasn?t too far off, with medium acidity, high body, medium-high tannin and solid fruit which stood up to the vegetal and spice flavors for three days after opening.An added bonus, considering most sub-$10 reds, was that the oak presence was never overwhelming.I?ll certainly consider the MAN Syrah and Pinotage again when looking for value-priced accompaniments to grilled meats and those ostrich burgers I have come to enjoy recently.
On the tasting bench today is the Scorpiiion Shiraz 2005 which unlike their Cabernet is made from 100% Barossa fruit.
Dark inky red in colour with sweet dark fruit and chocolate aromas. Easy drinking and full flavoured with juicy shiraz fruit really coming to the fore, it’s full bodied with a little spice and fine tannin on the finish. Although there was some alcoholic heat present, it would make a crowd pleasing bbq wine.
Overall a well made Shiraz in a typically Barossan style. If big, ballsy, fruit driven reds are your poison, you should get some mileage from the Scorpiiion.
Score: 87/100 Price: $21 Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 14.8% Other Opinions: Can’t find any online Would I buy this wine? Probably not, although I would be happy enough if a glass was placed in my hand
CityWire, one of the UK's 'leading personal finance and investment websites', is offering a weekly prize of an annual subscription (worth £70) to Jancis Robinson's award-winning website, www.jancisrobinson.com.
Here's how to enter:
1. Visit CityWire and view Jancis's latest Wine Of The Week
2. Read the clue at the end. You'll find the answer on Jancis's own website.
3. Send the answer to wine@citywire.co.uk and you may win the prize.
This Bordeaux Cotes De Bourg wine is another 05 value. It has a black cherry hue with tight fruit of black cherry and some raspberry notes with minerals and steel.
In the mouth this wine is sweet with some tannic structure, bready notes but needs to open. With breathing it is a tad hot but nice flavors and body with good structure and a good food wine. Buy this wine and two more to lay down for another year and reap the rewards. All this for only $14 so raise a glass to a great vintage!
"Consumer Learnings for Make Benefit Glorious Zinfandel Future" Christian Miller, owner of Full Glass Research?a wine industry research firm?chose this title for a presentation he gave in Paso Robles as a joking reference to the movie Borat. (See the movie's wine episode here.) And it?s pretty appropriate, because depending on who you talk to, zinfandel means different things to different people. There?s an almost Babel-like confusion involved in the language of zinfandel. Some people expect jammy wines. Some people expect spice and pepper. Some people don?t like it because they don?t know what to expect. Only 17% of hard core...
I just finished reading a very interesting book. Sensi DiVini is a tiny 80 page treatise on how our brain deals with tasting wine. It is a collection of short essays written by various experts in their fields. It is quite technical, and while I love all things techie, there can be no doubt that some of it was completely over my head.
Even while plowing through descriptions of the various parts of the brain I could immediately understand the relationship of the material to my experiences with tasting wine. The book even gave some scientific insight into why we enjoy elaborate feasts such as my famed seven course dinners.
It has been explained many times in the past, even by me, that taste is nothing without smell. We can only taste 5 things (it used to be 4, but there is a new one now). Sweet, sour, bitter, salty and the newly recognized sensation, umami. Umami has been described as our ability to taste ?savory? but the scientific description is more to the point, it is the taste of proteins.
It is the first three taste sensations; sweet, sour and bitter; that come into play in wine. The other ?tastes? in wine are due to aromas. We may only be able to taste 5 sensations, but our ability to ascertain individual aromas is seemingly endless.
From a mere 300 aroma sensors (mice have 1000) we can distinguish grapefruit from lemon, bing cherries from maraschinos, and pleasant aromas from nasty ones.
It was the need to distinguish edible from less edible foods that helped us evolve this complex interplay of flavors and aromas with recognition and selection or rejection. If it tastes good we enjoy it, and we eat it. If it tastes nasty, we spit it out, sometimes even involuntarily as with a gag reflex.
The sense of aroma is almost directly tied into the brain, making smells one of most primal senses. It is for this reason that a smell can so easily conjure a memory. We also use visual and gustatory senses when tasting, and even the sense of somatosensory (touch). These other senses combine with aroma to form recognition and pleasure through a process referred to as binding.
Binding is taking the information from several parts of the brain and creating a single unifying experience. A great example from the book is when we watch tennis. We recognize the ball as a shape, we recognize the yellow of the ball as a color, and we recognize the movement to allow us to follow its trajectory.
I have long known that I taste more effectively when I am a little hungry. This follows the research that shows that our impression of flavor (which for this discussion is a combination of taste and aroma) is highly regulated by our current level of satiety for that flavor or even nutritional value.
We are not really good at craving specific nutrients, so instead our mind equates textures, shapes and colors along with flavor, as broader nutritional needs. This is why some foods sound more appealing to us at any given time than other foods.
Once you have been eating a specific food your ability to derive pleasure from it is reduced, as is your ability to recognize the intensity of the flavor or aroma. You may be satiated from one flavor, but a new different one has all the intensity and pleasure potential you got from the first item at the start. This is the scientific reasoning behind courses or even having more than one food on your plate.
I have long held that education of any subject increases your enjoyment of it. This is especially true of wine, and the entire rationale behind my given vocation. It turns out there is some empirical evidence to support this.
Sesi DiVini recounts a study wherein wine experts and wine novices where each placed in an MRI and given tastes of wine, and of course a control solution of glucose. The wine experts had much more activity in the brain, especially in the pleasure centers. Because the experts were analyzing the wine and the novices were not, the experts ?got more out of tasting wine.?
I am not exactly a book reviewer, and this is not exactly a book review, but it is a look at a subject that I have never seen handled so scientifically. I had to write away to Italy to get the book, but they are looking into why it isn?t on Amazon any more. If you are intrigued and want a copy of your own, you can get it here.
Eating and drinking are rewarding in of themselves. Knowing how the brain reacts to flavors will probably not bring you more joy when you eat and drink, but knowing more about what you are eating and drinking will. As always I challenge you to get more out of your life by experimenting with food and wine at every opportunity. Taste something new today, it turns out the experience may even help you enjoy your old favorites all that much more.
Tuscan Wine Tours offers day tours of Italy's region of Tuscany. In this video, the group visits two small wineries and enjoys a relaxing lunch al fresco, a typical tour. Take a look:
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A couple of people asked me what happens when it rains during harvest. As the skies above some of the world's greatest vineyards seem to be dumping unending moisture on the fragile grapes, the questions seems particularly timely.
Water is an important part of the cycle of life. Almost nothing can live without it, and most non aquatic life will drown given too much water. In all things balance, and when it comes to harvesting grapes, less water is better.
Wet bunches of grapes tend to rot. Rot does not add pleasant flavors to wine. Even Nobel Rot (botrytis) which is responsible for the world's great dessert wines is not a good thing for dry wines.
Some grapes tend to have tighter bunches than others, and these are that much more susceptible to rot, since air can not easily get between the berries to dry them out. And air is the key. A few warm windy days following a heavy rain can save a vintage.
Even if the grapes do not rot, they may absorb the water and swell, reducing the intensity of flavors. Picking while it is raining poses a similar danger. Wet grapes add water to your wine.
If a grape swells beyond the skin's ability to contain it, it will burst. Now you have a grape that is exposed to insects and bacteria. The aphorism about bad apples is doubly true for bad grapes. You don't want these grapes in with the rest.
The best defense against the bad grapes, not only those that may have burst, but those that may have been damaged by birds or other animals, is to hand sort. This costly and time consuming procedure is exactly what it sounds like.
Imagine staring at a conveyer belt full of grapes and trying to pick out the bad ones (along with leaves and other non grape materials). Not much fun, incredibly labor intensive and for some wineries difficult or impossible to accomplish.
Even if your grapes survive the rains, the rot, the birds and the bees (ok, yellow jackets) you may have a whole new issue to deal with. Those cloudy cool days kept your grapes from ripening, and now you are faced with the prospect of leaving your grapes out even longer than you intended, just to get that little bit of extra ripening.
The longer your grapes are left out in the field the riper they get to be sure, but also the greater the risk. The later in the season it gets, the greater the chance of frost in some regions, and rain in many others.
Winemakers that find themselves staring at soggy vineyards this week are all posing the same dramatic query. To pick, or not to pick, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler of time to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.
They may not have to chose between life and death, but for some it may be the financial equivalent. To play it safe and make a lesser quality wine, or to take a chance for better quality and profits. Ay, there's the rub.
The judges have narrowed the field down to three finalists. To the Juice Crew members: Please vote for your favorite label by sending a message to me by 5 December. I will tally up the votes and announce the winning design shortly thereafter. Thanks to all the contestants!
The wine world is chock full of gadgets these days and this is one of the funniest I have seen in such a while. A physician by trade, Patrick Farrell claims that he has an invention that will improve the quality of a wine simply by pouring wine into a glass. Let me explain?
He has created a device that will fit around the neck of a bottle that uses magnets to enhance the wine.
Farrell started out tying magnets to the neck of a bottle at the urging of business acquaintances who were distributing magnets to try to improve water quality. At the time, he thought the chance magnets would work on wine was ?about the same as seeing pigs fly.? But, he says, ?I took the thing home, put it on a bottl
Tecnorati
Little kids go through a phase where they need to put everything in their mouth. I wonder what it says about me that I'm pretty much stuck there? I really enjoy trying out new wines and sakes, especially those that are well off the beaten path.
Bruxelles" finalized in Lisbon the 23 of April.
The last in a trio from Barossa producers 
On the tasting bench today is the Scorpiiion Shiraz 2005 which unlike their 
