ShareFor a while now, it’s not been safe to dip your toes in the lake of wine coming from Robert Mondavi Inc., as any of you who’ve had the disappointment of tasting its declining quality during the late nineties and early 2000s can attest. I’ll never forget Robert Parker’s review of Mondavi’s 1997 line-up, from [...]

ShareI’m a little late on the uptake, but I’ve discovered the most delicious California sparkler. It’s so good, so versatile, and so well-priced ($15.99 at Trader Joe’s), it’s toppled my previous house bubbly, Gloria Ferrer’s Brut, right off my top shelf in fridge.
Why? Because Schramsberg’s new brut sparkling wine, a nonvintage blend called Mirabelle, has [...]

ShareIt wasn’t just Sideways that gave merlot an image problem. Used as a supporting grape variety in most of the most famous Bordeaux blends, merlot has a long history playing second fiddle to cabernet sauvignon. Then, domestically, it was the go-to red at fern bars throughout the seventies, in part because merlot can yield a [...]

ShareYou’d think that Tablas Creek’s remote location, more than a half hour’s drive into the oak-dotted hills from Paso Robles, would deter people. But no. In fact as we drove up, a stretch limo was disgorging a leesy troop of bachelorette-partiers; I worried they might be examples of the wine tasters gone wild phenomenon. Indeed, [...]

ShareBy spousal order, I’ve had to limit my membership in wine clubs to two. So after an excruciating process of elimination, I came up with a pair of desert-island wineries. I didn’t pick them because they make my favorite or most prized wine. (That’s what mailing lists are for, and thankfully Alice didn’t say anything [...]

ShareWine tasting — or gymnastic event?
That’s what I was wondering as I watched Steve Martell of Kaleidos climb up between two stacks of oak barrels, stacked three high. That and gee, I hope Paso Robles isn’t hit by the next Big One, right now.
But the earth stilled beneath our feet, and Steve’s thief sucked up [...]

ShareThe only cult cabernet I buy every year is Shafer’s Hillside Select — I love drinking it, and it’s the only example of this rarified category I can afford. Not that it’s cheap. But compared to Screaming Eagle at $500 or Harlan Estate at $350 per bottle, a $200 Hillside Select is a bargain. Plus, [...]

SharePink wine from California is usually off-putting. Either it’s too sweet, as in a white zinfandel. Or the pink is too, well, red — as in too fruity and alcoholic, and lacking the earthy notes and refreshing acidity of a rosé with a good European pedigree.
But I was won over recently by a Sonoma County [...]

ShareI confess I love Wine Spectator magazine. I know it’s biased toward domestic wines. I realize its 100-point rating system (which it stole from Robert Parker) oversimplifies. And it really irks me that all the featured critics, every last one of them, is male. (I mean, come on guys, in a wine world populated by [...]

ShareThis week, the first official week of summer, has also been a week of sparkling rosé discoveries. First there was the Bugey-Cerdon, the off-dry, pink bubbly from the Savoie in France. Then, another pink came out of the blue the other night. The sommelier recommended it with this pistachio, mascarpone, and cherry sorbet construction I [...]