By the time that you read these words, the results of the 37th (!!) annual San Francisco International Wine Competition should be publicly available, so I thought that I would share some of the highlights among the event’s big winners. The SFIWC is one of my favorite weekends of the year. Under the watchful eyes…
Category: kick-ass wines
The Week That Terrantez Took Over My Brain (Tasting Old Terrantez Madeira)
“As uvas de Terrantez Não as coma nem as dês, Para vinho Deus as fez.” * Earlier this month, I had what amounted to a kind of dream speaking gig for me: leading Madeira masterclasses in both Boston (at Committee) and NYC (at Rouge Tomate Chelsea). Pinch meeeeeee!!!! I was a hired gun for these…
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2017 Critics Challenge International Wine Competition Highlights)
I was once again fortunate enough to be invited to judge at the annual Critics Challenge International Wine competition, which took place late last month in Stay-Classy San Diego. CC is always one of the highlights of my professional year; the organizers, volunteers, and fellow judges are all top-notch, and the fact that they’re also great…
Butt Bugs And The Art Of Mellowing Out (Recent – And Not So Recent – Trabucco Rapicano Releases)
You wouldn’t necessarily know it when meeting him, but Nicola Trabucco‘s childhood nicknames (which in turn provide the fantasy names for two of his eponymous winery’s releases) included “bug up the ass” and “active.” Maybe the former consulting agronomist/enologist (and, it could be argued, aging Michael Keaton doppelganger) has mellowed with age? That would be…