Napa Valley Wine Calendar Winemakers in Napa Valley brave all for their new calendar. Ever since those cheeky, middle-aged British women posed in the buff in 1999, nude calendars have become a popular source of fundraising. French winemakers released a nude calendar in 2004 to promote the wines of Bordeaux. Now, for the third year, [...]
Merryvale Starmont Cabernet 2005 A family-owned winery that has been turning out exceptional wines for 25 years. In 2006 they opened their new Starmont Winery – a state-of-the-art “green” facility. This may be the company’s third tier label, but the finished product is first class. A blend of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc marry [...]
Chateau Montelena Chardonnay 2006 The Napa Valley Winery that put California at the forefront of world-class wine making is still doing it right. Jim and Bo Barrett’s 2006 chardonnay came in first place in the 2009 Westchester Wine School tasting in Rye Brook, N.Y. Although not as famous as the 2006 Paris event, the prize [...]
The French Wine Industry vs Parisian Bureaucrats While the French wine industry is reeling from same economic downturn as the rest of the world, members have had to defend themselves in the National Assembly against Bachelot’s Law, which would have forced wine writers to state a warning that “the consumption of alcohol is detrimental to [...]
Hong Kong The Hong Kong Government abolished it’s excise tax on wine last year. Previously it was 80%. In 2007 it cut the tax in half – to 40%, and then, last year they eliminated the tax completely! The Chinese taste for wine is growing and Hong Kong wants to be the Asian hub for [...]
$80 Michigan ice wine The sauvignon blanc was from California, the pinot noir from Oregon. But the wine served Sunday night with dessert as the nation’s governors dined at the White House was the most unusual — a Michigan ice wine from Black Star Farms in Suttons Bay. The frozen grapes were picked in December [...]
Continue reading about What They’re Serving at the White House
Asti is a lovely town, set in the gently rolling hills of Piedmont, in northern Italy. The craggy, limestone soil there is ideal for growing grapes. A semi-sparkling wine with about half the carbonation of a typical sparkling wine, Moscato d’Asti is light and crisp and relatively low in alcohol, about 5 to 7 percent. [...]
