Smack up against the Dentelles de Montmirail mountain range sits Gigondas, a former ancient Roman soldier retirement home area and Southern Rhône cru that, technically, contains more woodlands than vineyards. And that’s after a killer frost in the 1960s wiped out a good portion of olive tree plantings, ushering in a shift towards more vine…
Month: May 2019
Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For May 13, 2019
2015 Ravenswood Winery Angeli Carignan (Sonoma County): High-toned, perfumed, and about as large-and-in-charge as Carignan can possibly get. $42 B+ 2016 Turley Wine Cellars Hayne Vineyard Petite Sirah (Napa Valley): When the Valley puts on its best Mountain Man impersonation, & it’s a good one. $75 A- 2017 St. Amant Winery Alicante Bouschet (Lodi): Linear,…
“Big Character” (Diving Into Rasteau’s New-Old Identity)
Well… I’m in the unenviable position of having to date myself. Embarrassingly (not because of my age, about which I mostly don’t care, but because of my obvious lack of knowledge), I knew little about the Rasteau appellation prior to visiting it on a recent Rhône media jaunt, aside from the fact that it was…
Wine Reviews: Weekly Mini Round-Up For May 6, 2019
2017 Tenuta St Lucia ‘AlbaRara’ (Albana di Romagna Secco): Eating apricots & edible flowers while sitting on a rock at the seashore. $NA B+ 2012 Fattoria Paradiso Vigna delle Lepri Sangiovese di Romagna Superiore Riserva (Emilia-Romagna): Harmonious, powerful, and gorgeous, and… wait, how much is this again?!?? $25 A- 2012 Fattoria Paradiso ‘Il Dosso’ Barbarossa…