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Robert Whitley
Mar 10, 2009
Ventana Vineyards, Barnard Griffin Winery and Navarro Vineyards were the big winners in the 16th annual 2009 Monterey Wine Competition, which concluded March 8 at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in King City, Ca. Ventana scored a rare double with its second Best of Show White Wine award of the season for the same wine, the 2007 Ventana Vineyards Riesling. The '07 also captured Best of Show White at the San Francisco Chronicle competition earlier this year. Barnard Griffin's 2006 Reserve Merlot, Columbia Valley, was voted Best Red Wine and Navarro's 2007 Cluster Select Riesling, Mendocino County, was the winner in the Best Dessert category.
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Robert Whitley
Mar 9, 2009
Ventana Vineyards, Barnard Griffin Winery and Navarro Vineyards were the big winners in the 16th annual 2009 Monterey Wine Competition, which concluded March 8 at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds in King City, Ca. Ventana scored a rare double with its second Best of Show White Wine award of the season for the same wine, the 2007 Ventana Vineyards Riesling. The '07 also captured Best of Show White at the San Francisco Chronicle competition earlier this year. Barnard Griffin's 2006 Reserve Merlot, Columbia Valley, was voted Best Red Wine and Navarro's 2007 Cluster Select Riesling, Mendocino County, was the winner in the Best Dessert category.
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Robert Whitley
Nov 4, 2008
It's not unusual for food and wine lovers to think thin around the holidays. After all, the battle of the bulge comes with the season. In these difficult economic times, however, the same strategy might be applied to your budget for entertaining. Tightening the belt may not be easy, but sometimes it must be done.
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Marguerite Thomas
May 6, 2008
You can drink a specific wine. You can read books and magazine articles about it. You may even catch a TV documentary describing it and the place it comes from. But sometimes the only way to truly understand certain wines is to visit their country of origin, specifically the region where the grapes are grown and some of the wineries there. Albariño is just such a wine.
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Elin McCoy
Apr 8, 2008
A couple of weeks ago I spent a rainy five days in Burgundy tasting a few hundred wines from the 2006 vintage. As usual, I was hunting for organic and biodynamic gems among them, hoping to find some from producers new to me. I did, but I expected even more estates to be following these eco-friendly paths.
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Sarah Belk King
Mar 4, 2008
Although I was pretty sure I wouldn't fall off my bike on the Columbia Gorge highway or tip my canoe into the Willamette River during my sojourn with Zephyr Adventures last fall, I did have a spill. In fact, the volcanic splash of (very delicious) King Estate Pinot Noir resulted in special recognition. At our farewell dinner, a 'certificate of completion' was handed to me with great pomp and circumstance with the award description: 'First Wine Spill.' Yup, I made a mess of that crisp, white tablecloth on Day One, but there would be more gaffes and giggles to come as the journey continued.
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Elin McCoy
Feb 5, 2008
Now that the idea of growing grapes organically and biodynamically has become oh-so-buzzworthy and draws more media attention than ever, I've been thinking about what happens to all those juicy eco-friendly grapes after they've been harvested, when they move on to the crushpad, fermentation tank, and barrel. If wines made from grapes grown without toxic chemicals taste better, shouldn't wines made naturally in the cellar taste better, too?
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Jim Clarke
Jan 8, 2008
Sake and sushi may have seemed like part of a broad Japanese fad back in the 80s, but while movies like Gung-ho have faded into Michael Keaton's back-catalog, Japanese cuisine has pressed on. However, while many have gotten their head around the differences between sashimi, tuna's various cuts, rolls, and maki, sake remains fairly mysterious.
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Robert Whitley
Jan 1, 2008
You probably don't stay awake at night worrying about the legion of grape growers tending hundreds of thousands of acres of Chardonnay vines in a world suddenly infatuated by leaner, crisper white wines. Neither do I. I do wonder, though, how long it will take to repair the damage done to the world's most important white wine grape by two decades of winemaking excess.
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Ed McCarthy
Nov 27, 2007
Is it just me, or do we all need Champagne more than ever this year? At any rate, what would the convivial holidays and family get-togethers be without some bubbly? If you'll be ordering or buying Champagne or sparkling wine for the holidays, I'll attempt to make your task easier. I've grouped my bubbly wine suggestions into three categories: inexpensive but decent sparkling wines for big parties; good-value, non-vintage Brut Champagnes and other moderately-priced sparkling wines for smaller groups and family gatherings, and Top Champagnes and sparkling wines for special occasions.
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Gerald D. Boyd
Nov 6, 2007
In wine circles today, a topic generating a lot of buzz is high alcohol wines. Over the past few years, the amount of alcohol in a finished wine, especially reds, has crept up from a respectable 12.5% to more than 15%. The reasons for this alcohol escalation are many and varied, depending on who is being asked.
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Elin McCoy
Oct 2, 2007
In my travels I've found going green is on the rise in every wine region in the world--Spain now has over 100 wineries with organic vineyards, while the number of biodynamic U. S. wineries is five times what it was only a few years ago. So, now seemed to be the right time to start a column devoted to reviewing the latest 'green' wines and tracking important issues and developments.
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Rebecca Murphy
Aug 21, 2007
Sherry may conjure the image of old ladies drinking a cloyingly sweet wine. Yet, this fortified wine from southern Spain made predominantly from one grape variety comes in a dizzying array of styles, colors and sweetness levels, ranging from straw-colored, pungent and bone dry to viscous, black coffee-colored and syrupy. Then again, perhaps that's the reason sherry is so underappreciated in the U.S. It's complicated and confusing. It's also unique, a wine like no other, offering something for everyone.
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Michael Apstein
Jun 5, 2007
Variable is the best way to describe the 2006 vintage in Bordeaux--except for the dry whites, which are consistently excellent. That's my assessment after tasting about 250 wines--all barrel samples--in Bordeaux last month. Although general variability suggests caution as a rule, some properties, such as Château Mouton and Château Lafite Rothschild, made fabulous wines, and some châteaux actually made better wine in 2006 than 2005.
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Michael Apstein
Jun 5, 2007
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Linda Murphy
Apr 3, 2007
When it comes to Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, those priced under $50 can fall into no-man's land--they're not expensive enough to attract attention from 'serious' buyers and collectors, yet are too expensive for bargain hunters. Yet many under-$50 Napa Cabs taste as good, and in some cases better, than their more expensive counterparts.
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Gerald D. Boyd
Mar 2, 2007
In recent years, the very presence of alcohol in table wines has skyrocketed into the stratosphere, going from an acceptable 12%-13% to 14%-15% and over. Back in those good old days, there was the odd high-alcohol wine, like Italy's Amarone or California's Late Harvest Zinfandel, but even knowing their over-sized character, wine drinkers puzzled over what to do with these vinous hot shots.
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Marguerite Thomas
Jan 30, 2007
John F. Mariani, Jr. is proprietor of the family owned Banfi Vintners of Old Brookville, NY, and its Italian subsidiary, Castello Banfi of Montalcino, Italy. Banfi Vintners, wholly American-owned and founded in New York in 1919, today ranks among the world's most prestigious wine houses. Castello Banfi has garnered numerous medals and awards, including an unprecedented four-time presentation of VinItaly's Gran Premio Cup, Italy's highest honor.
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Michael Franz
Dec 26, 2006
I recently asked all of our regular contributors to send me their selections for the wines and producers they most admire based on their experiences during 2006. You'll see that the wines selected are delightfully varied, which reflects the eclectic tastes of our writers. We don't push a particular stylistic preference or "party line" at WRO, and you'll see that this approach bears very interesting fruit.
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Ed McCarthy
Nov 24, 2006
Producers of Champagne and other sparkling wines love the month of December! And why not? Some of them sell as much as half of their annual production in this one month. Family get-togethers during the Holidays, office parties, annual bonuses and New Year's Eve all combine to push annual sales solidly into the black. The Champagne region in particular has been experiencing a boom in sales during the last several years.
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Michael Franz
Nov 13, 2006
With Thanksgiving dinner bearing down on us once again, we confront the annual challenge of selecting wines that will harmonize with the highly varied flavors involved in this complex meal. I hope that you are as eager as I was to learn what some our Wine Review Online regulars would select as their 'play it safe' and 'go for broke' wine choices for what may be the year's most difficult dinner.
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Michael Apstein
Sep 26, 2006
Spain, a country with a long history of wine production, is seeing an unparalleled renaissance in its wines. In the past few years, Spain has leaped to primacy among wine producing countries in putting exciting new wines on the market. Although many regions are making important contributions, Catalonia's recent performance has been particularly impressive.
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Ed McCarthy
Jul 14, 2006
For Chianti, particularly Chianti Classico - clearly the finest district in the Chianti region - Ruffino's Riserva Ducale, especially its Gold Label, has been the paragon for Chianti for at least 50 years. It is arguably the best-known Chianti in the wine world, and has been consistently high in quality for many decades.
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Ed McCarthy
May 30, 2006
It is astonishing to me that someone can spend thousands of dollars on fine wines and then skimp on his or her wine glasses. I suspect that the explanation for this is that many wine drinkers simply don't realize how important wine glasses are in conveying the taste and complete flavor profile of the wine to our palates.
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Leslie Sbrocco
May 30, 2006
Pioneers of modern-style California wine, Barbara and Warren Winiarski of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars shot to fame early on but have continued to lead by example.
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Michael Apstein
May 2, 2006
The 2005 vintage offers consumers a unique opportunity to cellar Bordeaux and reward themselves five to ten years later, after the wines have unfolded and developed as only Bordeaux does. These wines will take time to develop, to allow the tannins to mellow and the ripe fruit character to transform like magic into almost indescribable flavors.
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Michael Apstein
May 2, 2006
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Norm Roby
Mar 28, 2006
To most Americans, Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio is a trendy white wine that suddenly appeared from Italy, California and Oregon just in time to rescue them from a lifetime of Chardonnay. Nowadays we are seeing more and more Pinot Gris coming to our shores from Italy as well as from Australia and New Zealand. Oddly, the one region we have not heard much from yet is Alsace, which is known for its white wines and has long favored varietal names. But for several reasons, Alsace has been more than a little slow in responding to the demand.
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Gerald D. Boyd
Feb 26, 2006
Opinions on wine are like noses: everyone has one. There are dedicated fans who prefer Piedmontese reds fashioned from Nebbiolo, while other Italian wine lovers claim the best rosso is made from Tuscan Sangiovese. Even among Tuscan red wine drinkers, partisans debate the relative merits of Chianti, Vino Nobile, Carmignano and Brunello di Montalcino.
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Ed McCarthy
Feb 21, 2006
Torino, Piedmont's capital, has been receiving the world's attention lately, as host of the Winter Olympics. Just an hour south of Turin (the city's English name) lies one of the great, unique wine regions of the world, the Langhe hills, home of the Nebbiolo grape and its two most prestigious wines, Barolo and Barbaresco. Nowhere else in the world does Nebbiolo make such fine wines as here.
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Gerald D. Boyd
Jan 24, 2006
Venerable liqueurs, such as Chartreuse and Benedictine, have existed for centuries, their recipes kept by their makers under lock from one generation to the next. Classically rendered and full of finesse, these time-tested drinks bear little resemblance to today's breed of razzle-dazzle liqueurs, which boast a wild mix of brash colors, cloyingly sweet flavors, exotic names and outrageous bottle shapes.
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Robert Whitley
Dec 20, 2005
When we asked our regular columnists here at Wine Review Online to share their thoughts and experiences with Champagne and/or sparkling wine as we neared the celebration of a New Year, I wasn't sure what to expect.
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Patrick Comiskey
Nov 22, 2005
Chardonnay is not an inherently expressive varietal, compared with, well, anything, from Riesling to Viognier. Fermented on its own, it's a juice that practically begs for manipulation, which is how oak barrels and malolactic fermentation have come to be mistaken for the grape's essential flavors. All of which raises the question: does Chardonnay have natural beauty, or is its beauty attributable to a set of cosmetic acts?
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Robert Whitley
Nov 22, 2005
Whether you are serious about wine or merely indulge occasionally, somewhere along the way you've probably heard that Beaujolais is the perfect match with roasted turkey on Thanksgiving. It has become one of most enduring wine clichés.
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Robert Whitley
Oct 25, 2005
It is hardly unusual here in the center of Alsace to encounter a vigneron whose family set up shop in the wine business in the 16th or 17th century. Stability and continuity are prized in this stunningly beautiful region that over the centuries has taken turns between pledging allegiance to both Germany and France.
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Ed McCarthy
Sep 27, 2005
Why are the wines of Greece suddenly getting attention in the U.S.? Perhaps it's because more and more American tourists are discovering them while vacationing in Greece. Also, the sprouting of quite a few fine Greek restaurants in our country has helped to promote them. But I would like to believe that the main reason is that Greek wines have vastly improved during the last decade.
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Michael Franz
Aug 30, 2005
When I first heard South Styria characterized as "The Tuscany of Austria," I was certain I had encountered a new low in Public Relations Shamelessness. But when I actually got to the region, I realized that I had encountered one of the world's greatest wine travel destinations.
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Gerald D. Boyd
Aug 1, 2005
I'm an admitted Pinot Noir lover. There--I've said it. After all, Pinot Noir is hard to dislike, so why fight it with claims for Cabernet Sauvignon's superiority? Anyway, I suspect that many hard core promoters of Cabernet secretly have Pinot envy.
Luscious and lively, supple and silky, bursting with berry flavors, Pinot Noir is a sensual wine that invites drinkers to get personal. It's not unusual to hear Pinot lovers describe themselves as "Pinot fanatics." When was the last time you heard a Cabernet drinker get that emotional?
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2009 Monterey Wine Competition Winners N-Z
Albariño: A Gastronomic Pilgrimage
Burgundy, Biodynamics, and the Scary Prospect of Pesticides 
Wine Touring Thrills and Spills in Oregon
Real Wine is More than Organic Grapes
Sake Made Manageable
Sparkling Suggestions for the Holidays
High-Alcohol Wines: Boon or Bane?
Going Green in Wine Country
The Different World of Sherry
Bordeaux 2006: Variable, with Superb Peaks
Under-Appreciated Napa Cabernets
Who's to Blame for Surge In High Alcohol Wines?
Maxims, Mottos and Memories: An Interview with John Mariani
WRO Wines and Wine Producers of the Year, 2006
Holiday Champagne & Sparkling Guide for Dummies
Two Bottles for the Bird
Catalonia: Leading the Renaissance in Spain
A Chianti Benchmark Through Its Golden Years
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars: Bottling the Test of Time 
Alsatian Pinot Gris: How Sweet It Is!
Benvenuto Brunello
Venerable Liqueurs
Chardonnay Pilgrims, Take Heart
Beaujolais Rises to the Occasion
Greek Wines on Stage
South Styria: Austria's Little-Known Paradise
