Tasting notes for individual wines.
Soliloquy is one of Flora Springs’ two flagship wines; the other, Trilogy, is a red blend. You would expect a Napa Valley winery to have a flagship red wine, but maybe not a flagship white wine. The folks at Flora Springs, however, are particularly proud of Soliloquy, also the name of the Sauvignon Blanc clone that is the basis for […]
Sicily lies just off the toe of Italy’s boot. Having just enjoyed watching more than two weeks of Olympic sports, I can’t help but think of Sicily as the rugby ball (or misshapen soccer ball) at Italy’s toe. Sicily is more correctly described as the largest island in the Mediterranean and is home to a variety of indigenous white and […]
We are sipping pink wine again today. While I’m happy to sip rosé any time of year, summertime is when we most often enjoy rosé. If you add bubbles, and in one case organic certification, you have the perfect summer sip. We received both wines as tasting samples. Not wanting to miss out on the rosé craze, sparkling rosé has […]
Sipping a chilled rosé is a refreshing way to keep cool on a warm afternoon. Rosé is also appealing for its beautiful color and its lively, fresh flavor profile that pairs well with food. As a bonus, rosé is often relatively low in alcohol. All three of the wines in this tasting, which we received as tasting samples, have these […]
The Camargue is situated along the coast of southern France south of the city of Arles between two forks of the Rhône River. The Petite-Rhône forms the western boundary and the Grande-Rhône forms the eastern boundary of what is the largest river delta in western Europe. You may be familiar with the Camargue horse, a stocky, grey breed indigenous to […]
One thing you may have gathered about the folks at Domaine Bousquet, from reading about them here and elsewhere, is that they never stand still. Jean Bousquet’s goal from the very beginning was to farm organically and make the best quality wines possible in Mendoza’s Uco Valley. Jean’s daughter Anne Bousquet and her husband Labid Al Ameri have for some […]
California’s Livermore Valley AVA is situated about 35 miles east of San Francisco Bay. The valley has an unusual east-west orientation within the Coast Range that allows cool, maritime breezes to be funneled inland through the valley from the bay. The region is still quite warm with ample sunshine and cool nights. Valley floor and mountainside vineyard locations boast well-drained […]
Many wineries are turning to bag-in-box (BIB) packaging for their wines to reduce their carbon footprint among other things. BIB wines are lighter to transport, take up less space and keep wine fresh longer than glass bottles. Alileo is one such brand packaged in a box. In addition to BIB, Alileo packages sparkling wine under crown cap and cork and […]
I have a thing for mountainside vineyards. Growing vines on the side of a mountain is definitely not the easiest place to grow them, but some of the most interesting and complex wines I’ve tasted are grown there. Smith-Madrone wines are both. They are also elegant, unexpected and affordable. Affordable and Napa Valley are sometimes mutually exclusive with regard to […]
Last spring we tasted a group of wines from Uruguay that included Sauvignon Blanc, Moscatel and Cabernet Franc in addition to the country’s flagship variety, Tannat. That tasting was accompanied by a webinar that provided a detailed introduction to the country, its wine regions and growing conditions. We were impressed by the quality and affordability of the wines we tasted. […]
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.
