In May, the Association for the Promotion of Wines and Spirits in North America (the APVSA, based in Montreal) came to San Francisco on their spring tasting tour–the Wine Not! Tour. As a member of the new media, I was invited along to taste the wines they sampled for potential distributors, importers, and retail clients.
Read more

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
Read more

Vouvray Brut Le Bouchet Loire Valley, France This sparkling wine (someday, I’m going to buck tradition and just start calling them all champagne, but that day is not today) is made from 100% chenin blanc grapes. It’s light in texture and full of tight bubbles. Sweetness is rampant among the kiwi, grapefruit, and almond notes.
Read more

Cava Brut Gran Sarao Spain This sparkling wine has a thin-body and lots and lots of bubbles. It’s very refreshing with light flavors of green apple and a dash of something floral for good measure. There might be some orange mingling in it also. It’s a simple wine but simply good, too.

Jujube, Chapel Hill $40 per plate Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending another Jujube wine dinner—it had been a while! These dinners are kept affordable by profiling wines in the $10 to $20 range from the Hope Valley Bottle Shop crew, of which Drew did the sommelier honors this evening. Alas, I was
Read more