One of the highlights of my wine year in 2023 was an introduction to Avignonesi and their single-vineyard Vino Nobile di Montepulciano wines. I had the good fortune of meeting Xiaowen DU, Marketing Manager and Assistant Winemaker at Avignonesi, and Master of Wine student in April. We connected via Zoom, she in Montepulciano with Avignonesi’s vineyards over her shoulder and […]
The story of Brunello di Montalcino and Bolgheri wines provide an interesting contrast between Tuscan regions that have achieved their prestige in very different ways — one through the embrace of tradition and a local variety and the other by throwing off tradition and embracing international varieties. The wines are very different, as you would expect. We received these wines […]
Avignonesi is situated in the hills of Tuscany on the edge of Montepulciano near Cortona. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is their flagship wine and while they are Sangiovese specialists, and dedicated to the variety, they are also looking to native grape varieties as a hedge against climate change. Their organic and biodynamic practices in the vineyard are carried into the […]
While it is true that we enjoy red wines more often in the cooler months of fall and winter, we are always happy to discover red wines to enjoy during spring and summer too. When we do drink red wines in warmer weather we prefer red wines that aren’t quite so rich and heavy bodied. We still look for complex […]
Pelletiere Estate Vineyard & Winery is tucked away in the Paso Robles Willow Creek District AVA on Paso’s westside. The 16-acre property is home to an interesting collection of Italian grape varieties covering a hillside above Las Tablas Willow Creek Road. In a sub-AVA that is better known for Rhône-style wines, proprietor Janis Pelletiere Denner’s Italian heritage has inspired her […]
In this, our final post, we take you along as we sit down with winemaker Mitch Cosentino to create a blended wine.
Day 2 of the Masthead blending project promised to be busy. We gathered in front of the Scotto Cellars’ tasting room in downtown Lodi early that morning. Our first stop would be Scotto Cellars’ winemaking facilities.
Ryan Sherman loves to talk wine, but he loves making wine even more. He grew up in Lodi which means an exposure to vineyards and winemaking was inescapable. He grew up with kids whose parents were farmers and winemakers, though his parents were not. Ryan’s family was in real estate and he pursued a career in commercial real estate himself. He eventually circled around to winemaking, establishing Fields Family Wines with partner Russ Fields in 2008.
We recently had a great vineyard tour at Stolpman Vineyards, located in the Ballard Canyon AVA within the Santa Ynez AVA. It was a warm December afternoon and we were met by Joe Neenan who took us on a driving and walking tour of the vineyards. We wrote about that tour in a prior post.
Wine tasting is fun any time of year, but tramping through a vineyard in December? It might sound crazy, except that we recently did just that and had a great tour thanks to Joe Neenan, ‘Passionista’, from Stolpman Vineyards.
We enjoy wine, food and travel. Pull That Cork is a chronicle of our wine adventures, the food and wine pairings we create and our travels which are increasingly organized around wine.
