Quite some time ago, I heard a wine friend say they were a proud member of the ABC club. I asked what that was, and he laughed and claimed “Anything But Chardonnay.” At the time, I was young in my wine experiences and laughed. I didn’t really understand why someone would be so against a…
Oscar Wilde once said “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” Well, at Luke Columbia Valley, they don’t believe that statement, Instead, they believe in being an original. In 2012, Thomas and Kristin Vogele brought a combined 30 years of wine business experience and redirected it into making bold…
Recently I had the pleasure of attending a virtual tasting including five New York wineries that are producing Rosé. The event was sponsored by New York Wine and Grape Foundation. The tasting was moderated by Wanda Mann, founder of Wine with Wanda, and East Coast Editor for Somm Journal. What is Rosé? There are two main…
This past week I had the pleasure of participating in a virtual tasting with Enrique Tirado of Viña Don Melchor. The tasting was a vertical of the 2017 30th anniversary and the 2018 which is one of the few Chilean wines to receive a perfect 100-point score from James Suckling. The event was moderated by…
Aquanet Generation For decades we lived on this earth without any concern for the effects our existence had on it. I think back to my high school days, in the 80s. Man, oh man, the hairspray that was used! I think hair back then defied the laws of physics! Hairspray was such a mainstay, that…
Valentine’s Day is holiday that is shrouded in layers of mystery. It is most often thought that it is a celebration of St. Valentine. But which one? The Catholic Church recognizes three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus. The most known Valentine was a priest, who performed marriages for young lovers in secret when Emperor Claudius II…
History of Tannat The term Tannat is a derivative of “tannin” and for good reason. Wines derived from Tannat is typically very dark, rustic and rather powerful thanks to the extremely thick skins. Another interesting characteristic that adds to the tannic structure of the wine is the high seed count of the grape. Tannat grapes…
Let’s face it. 2020, well… it sucked! Besides the horrible virus, we had murder hornets and a record number of fires. There was toilet paper hoarding (I still don’t understand the reason for this) For the first time ever, the naming system of storms needed to go into Greek letters because 26 was not enough….
Global warming. Let’s get real.. It is happening. But long before anyone termed the phrase, glaciers were melting and began to migrate. These glacial movements left us with some of the most beautiful regions of the world. One such region is the Finger Lakes in New York. The Finger Lakes In their wake, they left…
