I have been tasting and drinking wine for almost 30 years, so I thought this should be easy. I planned to look over the form, select the grapes I have tasted, and send the form back to De Long. (more…)

So Michael and I are heading to the American Wine Blogger’s Conference in Sonoma, which is on October 24-26th. (more…)

The common aromas found in white and red wine are listed separately, and we also provide some common smells that you don’t want to find in your wine but sometimes do. Let us know what you think, and if there’s any way we can improve it. There is also a pdf available for downloading, printing, or emailing.

There is a wine tent at ACL. That is to say, there is a tent and they serve fermented grape juice in it – the likes of which are a closer relative to box wine than anything else. I’d recommend just using it as a place to meet up with your friends in the sea of crowds. (You can, however, buy a bottle of wine that they will dump into a sports bottle for you, if you’re just looking for a good wine buzz with your music.) (more…)

However, I recently visited a site that lists the excise tax imposed by each state on wine. It turns out that Texas has one of the lowest excise taxes in the US, at $0.20 per gallon. Only New York ($0.19/gal) and Louisiana ($0.11/gal) have lower wine taxes. So what gives? (more…)

If you are not familiar with CostCo, they are kind of like a high-end Sam’s Club. They sell big lots and overstocked items they buy in bulk. They also have a house label, Kirkland Signature. (more…)

So I dropped by K & L Wine Merchants in San Francisco and got the local retail prices for several bottles of wine and took the information with me when I went out to eat. (more…)

Great Wine Made Simple by Andrea Immer

Hands down, my favorite book when I was just beginning was Great Wine Made Simple by Andrea Immer. As one of only 160 Master Sommeliers in the world, Immer is more than qualified to write an educational book on wine. It’s the most accessible book I’ve come across, and it helped me to start to understand wine and compartmentalize the constant barrage of different flavors and aromas. (more…)

First, having the word “organic” on a wine label does not tell you much. In fact, there are essentially no organic wines, only “wines made from organic grapes”, which is probably not enough information for concerned shoppers. The words biodynamic and natural offer even less assurances about what is in the bottle along with the wine. If you are looking for a wine without sulfur or wine produced without the use of animal products, there are not many choices and existing labeling regulations do not provide any help in identifying the few bottles of wine that meet these needs. (more…)

This often happens when people apply statistics to “prove” their argument. A great example is a recent post on Vinography. (more…)