ShareI love this wine because it reminds me of the sea. Indeed, the part of the world it comes from enjoys a strong maritime influence: warm summer days, but cool nights, with lots of fog and rain. (This region gets so much precipitation, actually, that in many of its older vineyards the vines are supported [...]

ShareI ordered this fine, underrated wine to go with steak tartare at the upscale bistro-style Resto in San Francisco. Its enticing aromas of ripe plum fruit and loamy earthiness got everyone excited, but the real treat lay in the mouth: huge, focused flavors of plum, licorice, and black cherry fruit belied its medium-bodied weight and [...]

ShareThis wine is the perfect pairing for a pulled pork sandwich. For a wine of its kind, it’s unusually dark in the glass — probably due to its hailing from an extra good, warm vintage in its somewhat northerly locale. Blue-black-red color, with aromas of sour cherry suckers, strawberry compote, and tell-tale green pepper. This [...]

Share“A rosé? I’ve never heard of that.”
Okay: we were in West Hollywood, rooftop-poolside at our hotel, so I admit I wasn’t swimming in a deep demographic pool of enophiles. I’d been shocked all weekend, in fact, at how un-wine-savvy the Los Angeles scene is. Even at the popular sushi spot Koi I felt like a [...]

ShareSetting: Stylish steakhouse in Napa, California.
Occasion: Valentine’s Day
Food: 16-ounce bone-in rib eye, medium
Wine: Shoulda, coulda woulda decanted, since this big young red is brand-spanking new. But we couldn’t wait, and the forward-thinking winemakers behind this wine have made it in a modern style, so we have no trouble guzzling it with our huge hunks of [...]

ShareThe first thing you notice about this wine is its aroma. Even as the wine is poured, and even if it’s not decanted, you can catch a whiff of what’s to come when you get to immerse your nose in the glass: a fresh bouquet of charred wood, tar, violets, pepper, and the alluring perfume [...]

ShareA light golden-hued, ever so slightly green liquid is in my glass. If a color could be lively, this one would be — the wine looks like it’s about to rush forward with energy and flavor. Green apples and honeysuckle on the nose, but the real attraction of this wine is the way it tastes [...]

ShareThis deep, dark red wine tastes really expensive. But it’s not. Thanks to its semi-obscure Iberian birthplace — how about that for a hint? — this old-school red delivers the quality of an old-vine, well-aged, and perfectly oaked Northern Italian Barolo or Barbaresco, but at $9.99 at about a tenth of the price. It’s got [...]

ShareI ordered the lamb; she had the duck breast, grilled and sliced. I was going to go for the Chateauneuf du Pape, a red from France that would have been the perfect mate for that duck. But my dining companion wanted something big, lush, and local. Plus, it was my birthday dinner and I was [...]

ShareThis deeply garnet-colored beauty — is that a touch of black? — is introduced by a distinctly smoky aroma mixed with loads of black fruit. But the smoke turns out to be a mixed signal; I thought it meant we were dealing with a wine that had spent some time in oak, but no, it [...]