Etna has spent the better part of a decade becoming the wine media’s darling, with many of us waxing poetic about the quality of “volcanic wines” (guilty!). And Etna is finally capitalizing on it. The Consorzio Tutela Vini Etna DOC has (as of early November 2023) voted unanimously to pursue “DOCG recognition for the entire…
Tag: wine review
“Someone Needs To Own It” (Complant Wines Recent Releases)
It had been more than a decade since I’d spent any time with former Silver Oak head winemaker Daniel Baron, with whom I’d felt an easy rapport and a deep appreciation of the man’s impressive intellect. So I immediately accepted an invite to catch up with him and taste samples of his new project, Complant,…
Towering Pillars of Fresh (Torre Rosazza Friuli Recent Releases)
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…
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…