Many wine lovers have experienced at least one epiphany in their life-long association with wine. My first eye-opening...
Three Views of Syrah
In the mid to late 19th century, the great red wines of the Northern Rhône, all made from Syrah, were considered among the...
Colores del Sol, Mendoza (Argentina) Malbec 2008
Who would have thought that Malbec would get a second chance in the high semi-desert Mendoza Valley of Argentina? Not only...
Tokaji: Maddeningly Complex, Totally Marvelous
In Hugh Johnson's early edition of The World Atlas of Wine, he sets the mood for a fascinating treatise on Tokaji, one of the...
Palmaz: An Astonishing Napa Winery
Drop this into a wine conversation sometime: 'There's this new winery in the Napa Valley that has to be seen to be...
Thankfully, Another New Pinot
How many new single-vineyard Pinot Noir wines do we need? More important, how many new single-vineyard Pinots will an...
Caymus: The Wagner Legacy
At Caymus Vineyards in the Napa Valley, the family creed is, "one wine, one label." Caymus has been operating since 1971,...
Great Wine Estates: Coppola’s Rubicon Quiets the Critics
"Our goal is to make great estate Cabernet Sauvignon," is the clarion call of every Napa Valley winemaker (except for those who...
Monte Rosso: A Classic Sonoma Vineyard
A recent visit to the Monte Rosso Vineyard in Sonoma County got me to thinking about when I first began writing about...
Rhymes with Pinot: Mendocino
The hunt for America's most intriguing Pinot Noir continues. This time 'round, Mendocino County is the search...
Ramos Pinto: A Port Paragon
In today's fast-paced, high-tech wine world, the low-tech serenity of Portugal's remote Douro River Valley is an intriguing...
Spring Mountain: High-End Napa
Making sense of the mountain maze that holds the Napa Valley together can be a bit of a puzzle. The eastern ridges are...