What a treat to virtually revisit Napa Valley’s Scattered Peaks (virtually, in this case—which is fitting, given that tasting their wares was one of the last things I got to do in a public wine-media-type setting before Covid hell broke lose). This tiny outfit’s cellar is helmed by living winemaking-legend-type Joel Aiken, who, when asked…
Category: wine review
Dispatch from 1WD HQ: What We Drank at the Half-Century Mark!
According to my mother, one is allowed to turn 49 as many times as s/he likes, but one can only turn 50 once. Personally, I don’t subscribe to that particular philosophy because, well, math, but turning 50 felt like it ought to be a milestone to recognize (“Half-Century Club” actually sounds kind of cool, if…
Wine In the Time of Coronavirus, Part 54: The Coolest White Wine You Aren’t Drinking (A Nas-Cëtta Deep Dive)
Back in November 2021 (!), I attended a media tasting with producers and wines of Piedmont’s Langhe DOC Nas-Cëtta del Comune di Novello. These are basically the coolest Italian white wines that you (almost certainly) aren’t (yet) drinking. This is yet another unsung grape that appears to be native to Italy’s Piedmont. The first written…
Dispatch from 1WD Paternity Leave: What We Drank on Shannon’s Birthday
Because my partner Shannon is out-of-this-world, she got first dibs on the wine sample pool for celebrating her recent birthday. Shannon has very specific tastes and makes no bones about expressing them—she favors Grenache reds and, well, we didn’t have any. Doh! BUT… she also favors German Sekt (yet another reason she’s a keeper!), which…