Taking the world one wine at a time.
National Prohibition (1920-1933) led to a huge boom in the cruise industry. By taking what were advertised as “cruises to nowhere,” people could legally consume alcohol as soon as the ship entered international waters where they would typically cruise in circles. The cruises quickly became known as “booze cruises.”
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Grape 100% Riesling Facts If German Riesling conjures up images of Blue Nuns and Black Katz, you’re forgiven! I’ve been saying for quite some time now that Riesling is one of the most misunderstood grapes there is; but sometimes it’s like banging your head against a brick wall! The perception of the “average” consumer is that all Rieslings are sugar-water, in the form of wine. But who can blame them!?!? The market is dominated…
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Pick up any wine book, and flip to the page on the Southern Languedoc region of France. More often than not, the term “wine lake” or “ocean of vines” will be used, usually within the first set of paragraphs. No-doubt, the Languedoc certainly has some marketing challenges on its hands! With wine history in the region dating back to Roman times, the Languedoc has had plenty of time to practice the art of winemaking. However,…
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The Mrs. wanted burgers, I wanted steak. Since it way my day off, and therefore my turn to cook: STEAK IT IS (WAS)! Hanger Steak is one of my favorite cuts of meat, however, I think my brief stay in England a few weeks ago might have impaired my ability to grill red meat to a cooking temperature of rare. I’m serious! It’s a major problem over there, with most beef being served to the…
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Grape 100% Merlot Place Hunter Valley, Australia Price $13.99
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Grape 100% Malbec (fortified with brandy) Facts Q: When is a Port not a Port? A: When it’s made in Argentina. – The Malamado holds the title of the first ever fortified Malbec produced in Argentina; however it can’t be considered a true Port since it isn’t actually made in Portugal, even though it’s produced in the same style. – All Zuccardi wines are made from estate-grown grapes (they generally don’t buy from…
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Grape(s) 81% Cabernet, 19% Merlot. Facts I was thinking to myself the other day; “I wonder if readers of my website think that I’ve decided to take a stance toward only featuring affordable wines?” Not that this is too far from the truth, but the real reason that I feature a great deal of wines under the $20 retail mark, is that I purchase the wines for review myself. Affordability is therefore key!…
Read More“We created a 13 x 8.2 foot structure with 1000 acrylic cells and an automated robotic mechanism, that would be filled with 6 different shades of wine, people could choose a cell and sent a text message, and the robot filled each box with wine. At the end people could recreate the Van Gogh’s self portrait and build a masterpiece with our masterpiece Navarro Correas wine.”
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I couldn’t resist! Fernando Beteta (Master Sommelier) made a post on Twitter late last night which spoke to me, channeling my inner-wine nerd! Haven’t YOU always wanted a guide to the wine regions of France, all laid out before you in all its 18×24 glory, formatted in a similar style to the London or Paris subway maps!?!? Ok, granted it has never crossed my mind either until I saw San Francisco architect and professor David…
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As you some of you may or may not know, I recently spent 10 days back home in good old England. The reason for my visit? Well, it was really more of an obligation than it was a vacation. It’d been a couple of years since I’d been back, and in that time my younger sister had given birth to a bouncing baby girl. How time flies! We were just playing hide-and-seek last Wednesday…or that’s…
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Grape 100% Riesling Facts Let’s get this out of the way before we start! Riesling, by most standards, is considered a sweet and almost dessert-style wine. Quite often begin shunned by most “serious” wine drinkers, with ridiculous rhetoric like “sugar water” and “soda pop”! But let me tell you a quick story that hopefully might cause you to think about Riesling in a different light! Many moons ago (2006), after I sat my…
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