Wine

10 Wines for Thanksgiving — No Pinot or Chardonnay Allowed

I know when the holidays are nearing because of the massive number of pitches, press releases and (a small amount) of wine start coming in. I’ve been getting these since before Halloween, just like the department stores putting out Christmas decorations super early. Much of the wine is Pinot Noir. I certainly understand that. It’s a safe and expected choice.

Not knocking Pinot here, but I like to introduce my guests to interesting wines. So no Pinot Noir or Chardonnay here, just my top 10 recommendations to try along with the turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. All the wines, except for a big splurge on a Sauternes from Chateau Coutet (hey, it’s the holidays), sell for $25 and less. Read more

Turning Winemaking Over to Facebook Fans

“They did not pick the yeast that I normally use,” winemaker Tom Johnson says.  “It’s a new experience for me.”

The “they” refers to Silversmith’s Facebook fans, 797 of them, who are voting on winemaking decisions for the 2011 vintage.  “I thought Matt was crazy when he came up with this idea,” says Tom.  “I thought no one would be interested and no one would participate.  Boy was I wrong.”

Matt Johnson is Tom’s son and sales and marketing director for Silversmith Vineyards. His idea: crowd source all the decisions in the winemaking process to the winery’s Facebook fans who “like” the winery’s page.  

This may be the best use of social media in the wine world. Read more

Wine Pairings Have Jumped the Shark

“Jumped the Shark” is a TV term coined when an episode of Happy Days featured Fonzie jumping a shark on water skis while wearing his iconic leather jacket. It was such a ridiculous plot line that it pushed the show way over the edge and it never recovered. From that point on “jumped the shark” meant the downhill slide of an otherwise good TV series. It can apply to other things as well.

As Halloween approaches, we’re bombarded with blogs and articles touting how great wine pairings can be with candy. Give me a break. Read more

5 Things I’ll Miss About GaryVee TV

Gary Vaynerchuk, the outspoken and sometimes outrageous media wine guru, is someone who is not easily overshadowed. But it happened last week. On Tuesday, August 23 Gary produced his last daily wine video on Daily Grape, episode #89.  How could he have known that a 5.8 magnitude earthquake would shake the east coast that same day, or that  Steve Jobs would announce his stepping down as CEO the next day (on August 24).  Gary tweeted “Wait…did my retirement just cause an Earthquake.”  Hmmm, along with Hurricane Irene, maybe the wine gods are trying to tell him something.

Being a wine TV and video producer myself, I know how much influence Gary has had on the wine video world – just look at all the copycat wine videos out there now.  Will someone step in and fill the void Gary leaves behind?  Those are big shoes to fill.  Here’s what I will miss the most. Read more

Virginia is for Viognier Lovers (not Earthquakes)

In July I went to the annual Wine Bloggers Conference, held in Charlottesville, Virginia. I’d never been to that area of the country, but had always heard it was beautiful, with Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, and the University of Virginia. Throw in wine, and to me it was a trip not to be missed.

If you’re a Viognier lover like me, you want to get to Virginia wine country as soon as possible or seek out some pretty amazing bottles. It’s about time the really good wines – especially the Viogniers – get the recognition they deserve. Read more

20 High-Low Late Summer Wines

We have about three weeks until Labor Day weekend, the end of summer. This is my favorite time of year (I love heat) for food and for wine. When the temperature rises I instinctively reach for an aromatic white or rosé. Of all the wines I’ve been drinking this summer, my favorites fall into two distinct price categories: $15 or less, or over $20. Many of my go to wines come from Trader Joe’s and are less than $10.

That got me thinking about fashion, and how the most stylish dressers put together outfits that are high-low combinations. For example, you pair a H&M top at $14.99 with Tory Burch pants that cost $295 and a pair of Michael Michael Kors shoes (his 2nd label, also called a diffusion line) for $120. And you probably get more compliments on the H&M top than you do the pants or shoes.

With high-low wine you can find some fabulous bottles for less than $15 that I bet you’ll get compliments on. But every now and then you want to splurge on a great pair of $300 boots just because. Same with wine, there are just some times when a splurge on a bottle with a price tag of $20 or higher is justified. I’ve made list of 20 wines, with pairs grouped according to the high-low principle. Read more

Top 10 Takeaways from the Wine Bloggers Conference

Did you know that there are enough wine bloggers to hold an annual conference? There are actually about 1500 of us more or less. Approximately 300 bloggers, me included, showed up in Charlottesville, Virginia for the 4th Wine Bloggers Conference last week. It was a big deal to Virginia. The Governor taped a special hello. There were banners in downtown Charlottesville welcoming the bloggers. We even had a special wine reception on the hallowed grounds of Monticello. Oh yeah, we were big in Virginia.

I had never tasted a Virginia wine, and knew nothing about the state’s wineries. Now that I’ve been to six Virginia wineries, and tasted dozens of the state’s wines, I can tell you that Virginia is on its way to being a player in the wine world. Not all wines were good, and they do make a lot of sweet wine. Even so, you must get to know the wines coming out of this state.

When all is said and done, there are 10 takeaways from my time at the Wine Bloggers Conference, on Virginia wine and on blogging. Read more

An Ultimate Girls Summer Weekend in Wine Country

I’ve been on at least a dozen girls weekends. The destinations are always great: New York, Palm Springs, Chicago, Miami, the North Carolina mountains. But I’d not done a girls trip to Napa Valley wine country. I’m not talking over the top 5-star accommodations and 3 star Michelin restaurants; we were more budget minded (we’d rather have money for shopping). We ate and drank well, and even found a nice place to stay that was less than $200 per night (thanks Priceline!)

You probably don’t think of downtown Napa as a destination for style or shopping. People used to bypass Napa on their way to winery tasting rooms and St. Helena. Well things have changed. Now Napa is a must stop for great dining, wine tasting and shopping. Read more

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