You gotta love an Italian’s sense of historical perspective. In the case of Torre Rosazza (whose wares I sampled during a virtual media tasting earlier this year), they’re named after the “Tower of Roses” (Palazzo De Marchi, near Oleis di Manzano), which was originally a fortress, but was converted to a dwelling… in 1550. So…
Category: wine review
WTAF Just Happened?!? (An Insider’s View of Judging the 2023 Grenaches du Monde Wine Competition)
Earlier this year, I received a rather interestingly odd invitation to judge a wine competition. Now, there’s nothing particularly odd about me being invited to judge, as I’ve had the good fortune of judging several wine competitions over the last decade-plus, and probably should consider myself an old-timer seasoned veteran of wine competitions at this…
Natural Science (Rhys Vineyards Recent Releases)
Given its current darling status among the wine media cognoscenti, I suppose that I should have been predisposed to like the wines that Rhys Vineyards is plying. But the first two minutes of a Zoom tasting with winemaker Jeff Brinkman (formerly of R.H. Phillips, Antica, and Husch Vineyards & Winery) almost sealed the deal before…
Yo Yo YO Sannio! (A Sannio Campania Deep Dive in Philly)
A few months ago, I braved the utter hellishness of I-76 rush hour traffic (along with several other fine Philadelphia-area wine pro folks) to attend a media dinner at the venerable Old City restaurant Panorama. The star attraction? Wines from Italy’s Sannio DOC in Campania. Sannio was awarded DOC status in the 1990s, though its…