Carignan

Domaine Juliette Avril, Cotes du Ventoux, France.

Grapes Grenache, Syrah, Carignan   Facts If you’re looking to slowly step into France, but aren’t sure where to start, wines from Ventoux might be right up your alley! I speak to a great number of people who tell me that when they buy red wine from France, it’s always so earthy, tannic and dry. The bonus with wines from Ventoux is they tend to skew a little more juicy/jammy, certainly more than their neighboring…

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Moroccan Spiced Lamb Chops Paired with La Griveliere Cotes du Rhone 2010.

Ever since receiving a set of insanely expensive Laguiole steak knives for Christmas, I’ve been dying to test them out. Truth-be-told, when I unwrapped the small rectangler box on Dec 25th, my heart dropped into my shoes when I saw the Laguiole logo on the wooden case. For one second I thought the Mrs. had dropped $100+ on a Laguiole wine opener. I don’t by any means want to sound ungrateful, it’s not that I…

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The Police “Synchronicity” Red Wine Blend, Mendocino, California.

Grapes Carignane, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Viognier (probably in that order, %’s unknown). The term “Synchronicity” refers to a “meaningful mix of seemingly unrelated events resulting in a significant sum”, which was the inspiration for this red wine blend of grapes which aren’t commonly seen together.   Facts Quite unbelievably, Sting is actually hand-harvesting all the grapes himself from this “Synchronicity-blend”. He also serves as winemaker; and can regularly be seen in the…

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Can Blau 2008 from Montsant, Spain.

Grapes Mazuelo 40%, Syrah 40%  Garnacha 20% Facts I’ve been on a bit of a Jorge Ordonez (the importer of this wine) kick lately! As the “bringer-inner” (I just made up that term) of some of the best Spanish wines in the U.S, he’s been fighting to help the wines of Spain wines out of obscurity since 1987. When looking at a bottle of Spanish wine, look for the Jorge Ordoñez importer information on the…

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