We recently made the acquaintance of Alice and Eliot Sutro, the couple behind Sutro Wine Co. We had the opportunity to taste their wines and tour the Warnecke Ranch which is the source of the grapes for their wines. We began in the vineyards below Chalk Hill, with Alice, and finished in Healdsburg, where Eliot joined us, for a wine […]
If someone says Rombauer Vineyards to you, what is the first thought that comes to mind? I’d be willing to bet it’s: Chardonnay. Even Rombauer Vineyards’ winemaker, Richie Allen, jokes that some people think Chardonnay is all that Rombauer produces.
We recently had the opportunity to taste a range of wines produced by Brian and Stephy Terrizzi under their label Broadside. The couple participated in an online tasting during which they answered our questions and tasted four of their wines with us. The wine was provided to us as tasting samples. The tasting, among other things, highlighted the variety of wine styles being produced in the Paso Robles AVA.
We continued talking wine education with PROTOCOL wine studio, and several of their guests, while sipping two delicious HALL Wines on a recent Tuesday evening. PROTOCOL wine studio provides wine education via Twitter on Tuesday evenings (search #WineStudio on Twitter) and in their classroom in San Diego. It was fun and instructive.
Aaldering Vineyards and Wines is an Estate winery located in Devon Valley, a ward within the Stellenbosch district is South Africa. It’s history is relatively recent compared to some wine farms in South Africa, having been established in 2004 with the purchase of 24 hectares. Aaldering’s first vintage was 2007, which they released in 2010.
The birch tree in our backyard has turned bright yellow, and its leaves are dropping rapidly, creating a brilliant carpet. The weather is cooling and my taste is turning once again to red wine. I do love fall.
Just ahead of the change of seasons, we recently received two red wines as tasting samples from our twitter friend Mark Aselstine (@wineclubguy). Yes, as you might guess from Mark’s twitter handle he has established a wine club, along with brother-in-law Matt Krause. It’s cleverly called Uncorked Ventures. But it’s more than just a wine club.
Travel is great fun and so is wine. Combining the two can be twice the fun. As we planned our trip to Africa, we knew we would be tasting many wines from South Africa. In fact we extended our stay to do just that. But, we also wanted to try and find wine from at least one of the other countries we would be visiting. We succeeded in tasting four interesting wines from Bushman Rock Estate in Zimbabwe while we were in Botswana. What a great wine adventure!
The Peter Mondavi family and Charles Krug Winery have much to celebrate in 2014. The winery has completed an ambitious renovation of both their vineyards and winery as well as the Redwood Cellar tasting room originally built in 1872. Owner Peter Mondavi Sr. will celebrate his 100th birthday this year and the Charles Krug Winery spring release wines from the 2011 vintage represent both the 150th Anniversary harvest and the inaugural release of the Family Reserve Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.
A recent tasting of Cabernet Franc from around the world got me thinking about the variety. I love the flavors and aromas Cabernet Franc produces, that combination of dark fruit, berries and vegetal notes. But what I didn’t know is that Merlot the parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenère. Pretty impressive offspring, I’d say.
This is the second post reviewing a group of South African wines we received as tasting samples from Cape Classics, an importer of South African (and French) wines in to the US, with distribution in 49 states. We dedicated the prior post to the white wines in the selection.
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.