This summer has been warmer than the past few. We have been hit with heat waves lasting several days that have brought temperatures over 100º F. In between we’ve enjoyed cooler temperatures in the 80s and 90s with mornings and evenings that cool off nicely. This is when we reach for red wine, otherwise it’s mostly rosé and white wine. […]
What do wine bloggers do on a day off? Taste wine, of course. It’s a bit like a busman’s holiday — not that we’re complaining! Last Friday we took a slight detour through the southern end of Napa Valley on our way to a evening get-together with friends. For some time we have been wanting to stop and taste the […]
When I think of Chilean wine, I have to I admit, I don’t think of sparkling wine. I think of red wine — Cabernet Sauvignon or Carménère. Today I have the opportunity to challenge that association by sharing my tasting notes of a sparkling rosé and white wine from longtime Chilean producer Viña Valdivieso. This may be my first taste […]
Numismatist. Not your everyday word. Thanks to Steve and Seanne Contursi, the creative couple behind Arrow&Branch winery, I recently learned the meaning of this difficult-to-pronounce word and had the opportunity to taste their Arrow&Branch wines. It is because of Steve’s success as a numismatist (a coin collector and trader) that the Contursis are able to realize their dream of owning […]
Maison Ferraton Père & Fils was founded in 1946 with the purchase of a small vineyard in Hermitage. Today Ferraton Père & Fils is a relatively large producer making a range of wines. Estate vineyards in Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph are farmed biodynamically. Wine production from these esteemed vineyard locations represents only a small part of total production. We won’t […]
Silverado Vineyards has been a landmark in the Napa Valley for us nearly as long as we have been visiting Napa. The winery sits at the top of a knoll above the Silverado Trail and is about a 90-minute drive from our home. In spite of knowing right were Silverado Vineyards is located, we only recently visited for the first […]
The theme for our July Wine Pairing Weekend is Summer Supper & Wine. Our pairing for the get-together is super simple, on the light side and doesn’t require the use of the oven. Quick, easy, doesn’t heat up the house are all good things in the warmth of summer. This meal comes with the added bonus of leftovers. We started […]
The theme for our July Wine Pairing Weekend (aka: #winePW) is Summer Supper & Wine and we at Pull That Cork are hosting the July event. Wine Pairing Weekend is a group of bloggers who gather together once a month to create food and wine pairings around a theme. David Crowley started the group in June 2014 and this is […]
The origin of the name Villa Maria has been a curiosity to me since first I first read the wine bottle label and realized it was a New Zealand wine. The name never quite fit with its New Zealand origin. I remember several years ago searching the Villa Maria website for a clue as to its origin. The founder of […]
Ongava Game Reserve sits just south of Etosha National Park in northwest Namibia. The private reserve covers more than 74,000 acres that include rolling hills and mopane bush. As we drove from the airstrip to camp the landscape looked familiar, but not to anything we had seen in Namibia. Rather the rolling hills, dusty earth and rustling mopane bush reminded […]
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.