You know the story by now: All the Washington contenders, whether they work behind a stove or a computer, were shut out at the 2012 James Beard Foundation Awards last night in New York.
There’s no shame in losing a Beard Award, of course, although …
Our warm spring means an early rosé season. The new, fresh rosés from 2011 are beginning to reach our market, promising a summer’s worth of refreshment on the patio or by the pool. A good, well-chilled rosé makes an excellent aperitif and tends t…
DrinkLocalWine.com, an organization I co-founded four years ago with Dallas-based wine writer Jeff Siegel, held its fourth annual conference last weekend in Denver, bringing together bloggers from as far away as New York and California to explore Col…
Along with a sense of humor, wine should have integrity. Bonny Doon has both. On the back label of its 2011 Vin Gris de Cigare, right under the winery’s address — “Santa Cruz, CA, USA, EARTH” — I found this description: “Ingredients: 73% G…
As tricky as it might be to assess the merits of red wine vinegar on its own or at the rosy, softened end of a baguette slice, our panel made its way through 10 brands of red wine vinegar available in the Washington area, rating them on a scale of 0 t…
Giuseppe “Joe” Ricciardi owns two places to eat and drink in Fairfax City. One is a restaurant called Dolce Vita, which the native Italian opened in 1995. The other is Dolce Veloce Cicchetti Wine Bar, which began serving Italian small plates, or c…
Second of two parts on California pinot noirs
Listen to wine lovers talk about their favorite drink and you will soon hear the word “balance.” Some are so enthusiastic about balance, they might as well be discussing their favorite sports teams….
First of two parts on California pinot noir
When you buy an American wine, do you pay attention to the geographic description on the label? Most people probably don’t, as long as the word “California” is in there somewhere.
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Pinot noir from the Sonoma Coast is almost always expensive and hard to find. Most of these wines are sold primarily to restaurants; they are worth searching and splurging for when dining out, as examples of what this California region can accomplish …
COGNAC, FRANCE — I have a lot of faith in my ability to taste and evaluate. I’m the dude who sniffs and sips and opines, and I’m arrogant enough to think that my palate should be heeded by others.
So it felt weird to be, literally, on the oth…
Jackie and I had been away for a couple of weeks, and we headed off to the farmers market thinking that we’d find all sorts of new produce. The daffodils were out in force (some of them, indeed, already drooping), so why not the onions? Well, the th…
Wine is increasingly becoming part of our modern dining culture, a drink to be enjoyed regularly and not just on special occasions. That’s to be applauded from a wine writer’s perspective; after all, I’m recommending five or six wines every week…
There’s been some feather-ruffling on the wine blahblahsphere lately about a “war” between critics and sommeliers. As described by W. Blake Gray on Palate Press, sommeliers resent wine critics and their 100-point scoring systems because the scri…
California is the pinnacle of American wine. It produces 90 percent of all wine produced in the United States, and its best rival those of any wines in the world. Yet in global terms, California is still a young wine region — evolving in style, infl…
I recently received a news release and some samples of a “new, edgy” brand of wines called TXT Cellars. The line included the following four bottles:
OMG!!! Chardonnay
LOL!!! Riesling
LMAO!!! Pinot Grigio
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When I think about port, I think of my earliest, clumsy attempts at seeming — with requisite air quotes — “sophisticated,” or at least “fancy.” Back then, in my 20s, port seemed like the fast track to connoisseurship. “I’ll take a glas…
John Williams will throw a once-in-a-quadrennium party Wednesday evening. Williams, winemaker and owner of Frog’s Leap Winery in Napa Valley’s Rutherford district, has been celebrating his favorite “free day” every four years since 1984 by inv…
Having the word “Leap” in a winery’s name is no guarantee of quality, but these wineries actually have a pretty good track record. Long jump? High jump? You be the judge.
Frog’s Leap Rutherford 2007/2008
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Mention Argentina and wine, and the first word that comes to any oenophile’s mind will be “malbec.” Argentina’s success with its signature red grape over the past decade has been astounding and could be a case study for marketing classes. Arge…
When I wrote my very first Spirits column five years ago, the topic was vermouth. It’s hard to imagine now, but I felt I had to persuade readers to show vermouth a little respect.
At the time, in the early stages of the classic cocktail trend, verm…
Michael Scaffidi would like to offer you a sip through history. Dine at Plume, the luxury restaurant in the Jefferson Hotel downtown, and he is likely to approach at the end of your meal, pushing a small cart clinking with bottles stenciled with obscu…
★★★Exceptional ★★Excellent ★Very Good
Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor.
Madeira can be dry (Sercial or Verdelho), medium sweet (Bual) o…
Opportunities to participate in a vertical tasting of a premier wine are rare, so I jumped at the invitation to participate in an 11-vintage retrospective of Chateau Figeac, a Premier Grand Cru Classe producer in St. Emilion, Bordeaux.
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A lonely-hearts columnist, I’m not. But wine is a romantic drink that can help set the mood for a special occasion, especially on Valentine’s Day. So here’s some wine advice for romantics preparing a special dinner for loved ones this week. The …
★★★Exceptional ★★Excellent ★Very Good
Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor.
Here are some wines that suggest romance for Valentine’s Day. …
How important is wine to Virginia? About three-quarters-of-a-billion important.
A new study released Thursday by Gov. Bob McDonnel
l concluded that Virginia’s wine industry contributed $747 million to the Commonwealth’s economy in 2010. That’s u…
In the 10 years since we began to compile our list of community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs in the Washington area, the number of participating farms has skyrocketed from around a dozen to nearly 70. That’s not surprising, given how the ter…
Local wines shined — or at least won shiny medals — at this year’s San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the largest annual contest featuring wines from around the United States. Barboursville Vineyards took Best in Class for its 2008 cabern…
Editor’s note: This is the second installment of Dave McIntyre’s occasional series in which he talks to local retailers about the state of wine in the DMV. The first interview can be found here.
Christina Findley opened the Bottle Shop just ov…
They can’t label their brands “the champagne of bottled beers,” because a large national brewer preempted that slogan. But a handful of breweries in Europe and America are imitating the winemakers in the Champagne region of northern France.
Read…
