To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. In June of 2025, such a time has come for my wine writing adventure. Continue reading “Wine time changes 6-11-2025”
Category: Recent Columns
Wine-mood pairings 6-4-2025
We know wine is magnificent paired with food, enhancing qualities of both. Wine and food also can be a welcomed pairing when dealing with the vicissitudes or triumphs of life. Examples: Continue reading “Wine-mood pairings 6-4-2025”
Warm weather wine 5-28-2025
As May flowers fade, the more stern months of summer saunter into our lives and our wine drinking regimen. Continue reading “Warm weather wine 5-28-2025”
Cava confusion 5-21-2025
Cava is Spanish sparkling wine made using the traditional method developed in Champagne, right? Continue reading “Cava confusion 5-21-2025”
Winery wars 5-14-2025
The wine industry faces the first headwinds it has faced in half a century. Inevitably things get snippy in the previously collegial competition among makers. Continue reading “Winery wars 5-14-2025”
Mother’s Day 5-7-2025
Mother’s Day easily can be promoted as “Buy Mom Some Wine Day.” There is the cliché joke: “buy mom wine because you are the reason she drinks.” But there is a less jejune reason to do the right thing—moms who enjoy alcohol drinks overwhelmingly prefer wine over spirits and beer.
According to polls over several years, women make up some 60% of wine buyers. Gallup in 2021 reported women choose wine 49% over liquor 26% and beer 23%. Multiple surveys show women are the dominant consumer group in wine sales.
So, if part of your Mother’s Day strategy is gifting her an alcoholic drink—accompanied by flowers, candy, cards, and obsequious fawning—then your safe choice is wine. Especially the wine she likes to drink. And if you do not know what wine that is, you have work to do.
According to a superfluity of surveys, the “little woman’s” favorite is not automatically insipid white zinfandel or cloyingly sweet plonk or vanishingly ephemeral rosé. Moms like wines. Bold reds paired with the fat-dripping grilled steak she cooked for you. Mineral and saline whites from Santorini with the Mediterranean white fish she serves on special occasions. An etherial Willamette Valley pinot noir with the turkey she baked for your Thanksgiving feast. Nothing wrong with white zin, but that decidedly is not the momma whole story.
In short, there is no timid stereotype female wine drinker. According to a cascade of scientific studies, women are gifted with more sophisticated and discriminating tasting resources on their tongues than men. Mom gets it that wine is a wonderful and appropriate companion to a meal. Especially one with the family where she was the lead character in the creation. Next Sunday, act accordingly if she is your mom or you are the reason she is a mom.
Tasting notes:
• Lake Sonoma Winery Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019: Stays true to soft, round, easy drinking Lake Sonoma style. $25-29 Link to my review
• Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2022: Outstanding, subtle richness, wonderful fruit, respectful, restrained winemaking. Creamy mouthfeel. $35-48 Link to my review
• Tenuta di Arceno Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020: Serene tannins, solid backbone of acidity frames impressive medley of dark fruits. $36-45 Link to my review
• Sokol Blosser Estate Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills, Oregon 2020: Easy going, easily slurpable, eager-to-please wine from Dundee Hills pioneering winery. $44 Link to my review
• Goldeneye Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley 2022: Superb cooler climate effort. Enchanting finish. Benchmark New World pinot noir. $45-62 Link to my review
Last round: God promised men they could find women who were good and obedient in all the corners of Earth. Then God made the Earth round. Wine time.
Goldeneye Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley 2022
Medium ruby color; bing cherry, blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, nutmeg, black tea, wild mint, mushroom, baking spices, whisper of vanilla, hint of salinity, earth on the nose and palate. Continue reading “Goldeneye Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley 2022”
The future of wine 4-30-2025
Wine has been a staple of food and culture for 8,000 years. It is not going away. But the wine industry’s exhilarating days of the past 50 years are fading. Let’s explore. Continue reading “The future of wine 4-30-2025”
Questions and answers 4-23-2025
Answers to common wine questions: Continue reading “Questions and answers 4-23-2025”
Questions and answers 4-16-2025
Some answers to common questions:
• What does “fruity” and “sweet” mean in a wine review?
They are two different concepts. Fruity or “fruit-forward” wine is one where fruit flavors dominate over other flavors such as vanilla, oak toast, minerality. Sweet wine has perceptible residual sugar because not all of the grape sugar was converted into alcohol or sugar was added after complete fermentation.
Confusion arises when a dry wine with little or no residual sugar has very ripe fruit flavors. Our minds and tastebuds associate vivid fruit flavors with sweetness. We think the wine is sweet, even if lab results show there is little or no residual sugar. Most table wines are dry or off-dry (0-35 g/L). Dessert wines such as sauternes, porto, and sherry usually have significant residual sugar (120 or more g/L).
• What do “perlage,” “mousse,” and “bead” mean in sparkling wine?
Broadly, they all refer to the bubbles. Perlage can indicate finer, softer, smaller bubbles. Mousse can imply creamier bubbles. Bead can refer to the trail of bubbles rising in the glass. There is no hard definition and the terms can be used interchangeably.
• What should I do if I break my wineglass at a restaurant?
Notify a staff member immediately. No need to be embarrassed or make excuses; this happens all the time. The staff will want to clean it up themselves so you won’t cut yourself and make the situation even worse. The staff has the tools and experience to make the problem go away quickly. You might sweeten the tip, however.
• What is “structure” in a wine?
Structure is an abstract term that is hard to define. Structure is about the relationship between all the components in a wine—tannins, acidity, alcohol, body, glycerol, and more. When a wine has “good structure” it means all the parts work together harmoniously. Tannins are the base element of wines with good structure, but structure is the sum of all the parts of a wine. You may not be able to define it, but you will know it when you taste it.
• How do I open a bottle of wine with a wax seal?
Ignore the wax seal, insert the worm through the wax into the cork and twist it down. Pull the cork. The wax seal will shatter to bits and fall away. If some wax clings near the opening, peel it away before fully pulling the cork.
Last round: May your troubles be less, your blessings more, and nothing but happiness come through your door. I think that means a wine delivery. Wine time.