This pale pink bubbly's sweetly scented, dried rose petals laced with peach and dried strawberries lead to a generous body creamy with bubbles. The back palate turns nicely focused with thirst-quenching, acidic lift. Delightfully easy-drinking and light-bodied with plenty of mineral elegance and just a hint of toast, I prefer serving this with hors d'oeuvres rather than at the table.
Read MoreSusana Balbo 2018 Rosé Signature: Gleaming in appearance with a pale salmon color, this wine has a teasing, almost evasive nose. Light and airy, it tastes of peach fuzz and watermelon rinds. A fun, phenolic pithiness nicely balances the brisk acidity that surges on the minerally but quick finish. It’s a fun, uncomplicated aperitivo.
Read MoreSavory, saline and yeasty, this wine absolutely earns its moniker “SEA”, reflecting the scents and tastes of the sea. As the moniker goes, “If it comes from the sea, it goes with Chablis.”
Read MoreMore red wine than rosé, this wine is weighty on the palate. It’s not a rosé to toss back poolside.
Read MoreRich and abundantly fruit-driven on the nose with a vibrant, gold color and supremely ripe orchard fruits, this Chardonnay has a delightfully chewy texture thanks in large part to its excellent fruit concentration.
Read MoreRoero Arneis can be all up-front aroma with no follow-through on the palate. This one is distinctively different. That isn’t only because Vietti was the first to bottle this long-lost variety as a varietal wine all the way back in 1967. (Yep, old vines help give depth of flavor.)
Read MoreWe typically think of sweet wines with dessert, but sweet wines can work just as well with the beginning and the middle of a meal. Foods that have a natural sweetness to them should blend nicely with the wine, especially when there is caramelization (a combination of sugar and heat), Maillard reaction (a combination of amino acids, sugar and heat) or a crisp pastry or fried batter.
Read MorePanko-Crusted Veal Picatta: The idea of this pairing was to blend the wine’s subtlety with the delicacy of veal. It worked brilliantly!
Read MoreThis magenta-inflected, rose-colored wine drinks more like a light red than most rosatos. So, I’m a fan of serving it only gently chilled.
Read MoreThis bubbly really surprised! It has chops and can serve as well at the table as it can as a hearty apéritif. Lightly fruity on the dry attack, the palate then fills in with a super pleasant, toasty yeastiness then with a crispness akin to dried bread crumbs on the back palate.
Read MoreWith 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, this blend is particularly generous in Cabernet Sauvignon for an Haut-Médoc. The Bordelais eat lots of meat with their husky reds, so I naturally turned in that direction.
Read MoreEntirely different from this artisan’s heavenly vintage 2002 bottling I tried in Austria in 2012, I was a bit at a loss as to what to do with it, even with a vibrantly acidic seafood dish.
Read MoreIts suave, creamy mouthfeel is driven by serious flavor density as well as considerable – and well-integrated – residual sugar. Its lower, 9.5% alcohol and lemony acidity keep this Riesling in the mid-weight category. Its structure reminds me of the Nahe king, Dönnhoff. Though imminently glugable, this wine’s complexity deserves a slow and thoughtful sipping pace.
Read MoreThis varietal Muscat, locally called Zibibbo, starts with serious aromatic pop. It’s plump with lime zest, pink grapefruit, white peppercorn and Mediterranean scrub-baking-under-a-hot-summer-sun. The palate is crisp, dry and light. The combination is so drinkable that you just might think the liquid is evaporating from your glass.
Read MoreVintage 2005 was among the best Bordelais vintages in the last 20 years. This wine epitomizes its force. Nine years on, it isn’t showing a hint of development. It’s belligerently youthful.
Read MoreSpain keeps surprising us with its nouveau wines and denominations. This wine is pristinely clean and value-priced.
Read MoreJuicy, succulent and sappy, this Cabernet Sauvignon aims to be everyman’s wine. It satisfies the connoisseur with its classic black currant notes and pacifies the anti-tanninist with its rounded mouthfeel.
Read MoreThis classic Australian expression of Riesling offers an aromatic potpourri of lemon curd, white peach and verbena. Petrol notes accompany this flamboyant bouquet, betraying its otherwise youthful profile and showing its five years of evolution.
Read MoreThis blend of Grenache, Syrah and Carignan offers a rich and welcoming nose of briar patch fruits entirely absent of oak influence. The tannins caress softly and the acidity lurks subtly. The voluptous and youthful loveliness of the very pure fruit make for easy sipping.
Read MoreA brilliant pairing! The white miso, sake and mirin marinade contributes an unctuous sweetness that melds seamlessly with the wine’s decadent fruit.
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