On May 24, 1976 Chateau Montelena’s fortunes changed for the better — and in a big way. Jim Barrett’s 1973 Chardonnay won the Judgement of Paris white wine competition. It wasn’t just any competition. The Judgement of Paris was organized as a blind tasting of California Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon against France’s best Burgundy and Bordeaux. Not insignificantly the competition was in France and the judges were French.
The best way to learn about a wine region is to visit the region, see the lay of the land, talk to the winemakers and taste the wines. When travel to a region isn’t possible virtual travel along with wine tasting can be an effective way to learn about a winery and by extension the wine region. We recently participated in a virtual tasting which included four wines provided to us as tasting samples. The virtual tasting was hosted by Snooth and we had the opportunity to taste the wines made by winemaker Robbie Meyer at Murrieta’s Well Estate Vineyard in the Livermore Valley as he told us about his winemaking and answered our questions. It was the next best thing to visiting the winery.
Only a single, short row of Zinfandel remains on the Mokelumne Glen Vineyard property that follows a bend in the Mokelumne River.
It’s official, summer has arrived. That means warm temperatures, backyard grilling and warm afternoons and evenings spent sipping chilled wine.
Almost every month we participate in Wine Pairing Weekend, also known as #winePW on Twitter. #winePW is a group of bloggers who gather together to create food and wine pairings centered on a common theme. This month the theme is Rosé Pairings and we at Pull That Cork are the hosts.
The casual wine drinker may not give dirt much thought, but rest assured winemakers think a lot about it.
Wines from Portugal? Yes, please! With more than 200 indigenous grape varieties and a wide variety of growing conditions, Portugal has plenty to offer the adventurous wine drinker. We recently had the opportunity to sample four wines from the Tejo (pronounced te-zhoo) wine region of Portugal. Until 2009 this region was know as Ribatejo.
The 2015 Wine Bloggers’ Conference (#WBC15) is what brought us to the Finger Lakes wine region. Every year the conference, which is organized by Zephyr Adventures, is held in a different wine region and provides attendees the opportunity to dive into the details of the region.
Our experience began with the Pre-Conference Excursion on the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. The excursion was limited to only 50 bloggers, so early registration was a must. The Seneca Lake Wine Trail, and its over 30 winery, distillery, meadery and hard cider producer-members sponsored the excursion.
Our August Wine Pairing Weekend took us to Portugal, thanks to this month’s host, Christy Majors, who chose the topic. The theme instantly reminded me of the trips we have taken to the Açores and Madeira Islands along with memories of the delicious food and wine we enjoyed while there.
Situated just south of Lake Ontario in New York state, the Finger Lakes American Viticultural Area (AVA) is named for the long, slender lakes created over successive waves of glacial activity beginning over one hundred-thousand years ago. Retreating glaciers carved out the lakes as they moved south.
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.