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Archive for the ‘tasting wine’ Category

Building Community

Posted in natural wine, san francisco, tasting wine, wine and technology, wine industry, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 20, 2009 | 4 Comments »

Above: The new tools of the trade?
One of my favorite aspects about the wine, specialty cocktail and food business is that it builds communities, from casual tasting groups to communal neighborhood gardens. And this is one reason tools like blogging, twitter, Chowhound and (gasp) even Yelp are so well-suited to the food and wine world, [...]

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Big Bottles

Posted in restaurants, san francisco, tasting wine, wine, tagged , , , , , , , on March 24, 2009 | 5 Comments »

What can I say? I’m a bit of a size-queen when it comes to magnums (or bigger) of wine.
Large-format bottles age better than 750s, the greater volume making for subtle and slow aging thanks in part to a low ratio of oxygen to wine. Perhaps hindering the desire to age your magnum is the fact [...]

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Value for Winegeeks: A Gobless Surprise

Posted in tasting wine, value wines, wine, tagged , , , , , on January 27, 2009 | 10 Comments »

I was at Bi-Rite Market buying meat last week when on a whim I took a detour through the wine section. Okay, the line at the counter was rather long so I grabbed a number and decided to kill time oogling bottles. The one below immediately caught my eye — the sort of faux medieval [...]

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Speechless

Posted in tasting wine, wine, tagged , , , , on January 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Mmm…
Above: The last few precious sips of 1985 Viña Tondonia from R. López de Heredia at dinner last night. I kept smelling my empty glass, which I refused to put down.
These elegant, traditionally styled Riojas need no introduction from me. You can visit the winery’s website to learn more; K&L has a short interview with [...]

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Stereolab vs. Marcel Lapierre

Posted in music, tasting wine, wine, tagged , , , , , on October 24, 2008 | 3 Comments »

I love the idea of pairing wine and music. Aside from the fact that there are plenty of songs where wine features prominently in the lyrics, the two have a lot in common, sensorially speaking. A quick scan through various blogs (and even mainstream publications) suggests that others feel this way too. And why not? [...]

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Does Terroir Matter?

Posted in friday linkfest, tasting wine, tagged , , , , on August 29, 2008 | 3 Comments »

(Above: I image googled ‘terroir’ and got this abstract painting* back as a result)
A challenging question apparently, and while I would answer in the affirmative, that yes it does, there are people out there who might disagree. And that’s fine.
But I did drink a syrah the other night that had me wondering for a moment, [...]

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Midsummer Hedonism

Posted in food, tasting wine, wine, tagged , , , on August 7, 2008 | 5 Comments »

Like many people in the wine biz, I’m part of a tasting group that meets regularly to sniff, sip, ‘n spit wines. I’m also part of another subgroup – with some of the same people from the main group – where instead of getting together and writing tasting notes that we’ll probably never read again, [...]

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Recalibrating My Palate

Posted in tasting wine, wine, tagged , , , , on April 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

…Etc.
Maybe it’s because I had an excellent yoga class earlier tonight, but I’m suddenly in a mood to recalibrate a few things in my life. Starting with my palate. Although that’s more of a work excuse than anything else. After a long break from tasting wine at Wine & Spirits, I’m about to start regular [...]

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More Olfactory Delights

Posted in tasting wine, wine and technology, tagged , , , on March 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

Following my recent post touching ever so briefly on the sensory experience of perfume and wine, I wanted to share John Lancaster’s excellent article from the New Yorker’s March 10 Style Issue. Maybe it’s already made the rounds, but since the New Yorker is something I have a hard time keeping up with, and since [...]

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Antreprima

Posted in italy, tasting wine, travel, wine events, tagged , , , , on February 25, 2008 | 5 Comments »

I guess one advantage to jet-lag is waking up early. At least when you want to be productive. Here it is, 6.30 am in New York and I don’t even have to be at work until 9.30. And for a prosecco tasting at that. So who’s got some breakfast/coffee place recommendations out here? None of [...]

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