At Bisou Bistronomy in the Castro, an impressive handful of Bay Area winos—oops, I mean wine bloggers—gathered to explore the wares of one of the newer importers on the block: Bliss Wine Imports. And we didn’t even run the other customers out of the restaurant until an hour into the tasting! Alleah Friedrichs and Erin
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I hope it’s been a pleasant Saturday for you so far, readers. This is just a quick note to let you know that I’ll be participating in the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance’s launch of their 2013 Reislings in a short 3 hours from now, from 7 to 9 PM EST, which is 4 to 6
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LaCheteau Vouvray 2011 Loire Valley, France The nose of this white wine is subdued. Honeydew and the tickle of tannins are all I get from it. On tasting, it initially reminds me of Southern white wines with a lot of sweetness. Luckily, a healthy dose of acidity counteracts that. It’s bright and buttery, and lime,
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Country Vintner 2013 Trade Show Finds Last week, I attended the Country Vintner’s 2013 Trade Show stop at the Cookery, one of a few stops they made in the state to show off their current portfolio of wines to local restaurants and wine purchasers from all over. The Country Vintner is a large wine sales
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Broadbent Vinho Verde Portugal I love Vinho Verde. Wine made from its or Torrontes’s grapes convinced me I’d given white wines too hard of a time when they became popular in the last few years. So I’m always happy to try another bottle of the stuff. The Broadbent Vinho Verde has a delicious nose of
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Seigneurs de Bergerac 2011 Bergerac Sec Dordogne Valley, France This wine was part of a value pack from my wine shop up the street. It’s pale yellow. The nose is a well-blended mix of flowers and minerals. Mildly sweet, and tannins play against that sweetness for a nicely balanced body. The lime is perhaps too
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Virginia Wine Tasting at the Fox Liquor Bar Back in July, I attended a wine tasting event at the Angus Barn promoting wineries from Virginia. It was very informative and a great preparation for my trip to Charlottesville a few weeks later. Well, the VA Wine Board was back in town a week and a
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American Chenin Blanc The Biltmore Estate North Carolina The Biltmore Estate wines are some of the best known ones from North Carolina, but I haven’t found one I enjoy yet. Thus, this purchase was to examine if a new cultivar would make a difference for me. I am not familiar with Chenin Blanc, and I
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La Ronescina Pinot Grigio Collio, Italy This white wine smells mildly of cantaloupe, but no other scents jump out at me.  That’s probably because it’s extra chilled, which dulls the aroma — my bad. It tastes dry at first, but a sweetness swells up in the middle of the glass. The notes are vanilla with
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Protocolo 2011 White Wine Castilla, Spain This white wine blend is very light in coloring. It smells like honeysuckle and citrus with afterthoughts of vanilla and cedar. The wine is thin to medium bodied. Plenty of butter coats the mouth. Other than that buttery quality, there is honeydew and perhaps honeysuckle—I’ve never eaten it, so
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