At this point, I think that we’ve established that Bordeaux native Christine Barbe is at least a little bit crazy. Very talented, but a little crazy. Crazy enough to justify the namesake of her personal brand, Toquade, anyway. She has, after all, devoted a significant portion of her current winemaking career to – egads! –…
Category: overachiever wines
Same Old Song (Ridge Lytton Springs Recent Releases)
“We sing the same old songJust like a vintage car,You can look, but you won’t ever drive it.We drink the same old wineFrom a brand new jar,We get hung-over, but we always survive it.”– “New Song” by The Who Some tasks are just… unenviable. Take, for example, trying to say something new about iconic California…
Enthralled With Pinot Noir (Thralls Family Cellars Recent Releases)
It’s funny (as in “refreshingly interesting,” and not as in “ha-ha, I almost peed my pants!” or “ewww, well… that’s weird) how success in the wine business keeps getting redefined and reinvented. To wit: by now, we shouldn’t be surprised that we’re seeing wine lovers migrate from the online wine world into viable writing and…
Old School Cool (Casa Nuestra Recent Releases)
A conversation I had at the tail end of the 2014 Premiere Napa Valley Auction: Alder Yarrow: “So, where are you visiting when you’re in town?” Me: “I’ve got appointments at Stony Hill, Kapcsandy, Casa Nuestra…” Alder: “Casa Nuestra! Oh, yeeeah!” Me: “Did you just squeal?” And so there you have it, one of the…