Over the past decade, I have found that Zinfandel has become one of my favorite domestic grape varietals. It is definitely a United States featured wine. Planted to vine throughout California, Zinfandel has a pretty cool diversity of flavor and texture. Huge fruit is commonplace for Zinfandel, full bodied, spicy, and generally high in sugar and alcohol content. Zinfandel was historically a blending grape for years in California, but in the nineties we started seeing the grape

In January 2020, just before the world stood still for a year, I had the opportunity to spend six short days in New Zealand. I flew into Auckland on the north half of the north island. I had booked a flight to Melbourne, Australia so that I could investigate the Pinot Noir being produced in the Mornington Peninsula and found myself with an 18 hour layover. I decided to bump it to four days to check out the city, and I am so happy that I did, I also spent 2 days on my return t

Grüner Veltliner is produced in Austria, and has had an exciting growth in the last decade in the United States. These Austrian white wines tend to be smooth in texture, medium bodied, and elegant. Not too sharp, not too sweet with aromas of apple, stone fruit, and white pepper. I remember my first experience with Grüner Veltliner at a Brasserie that I worked at in Minneapolis. Like most of my community in 1999, I had not had the opportunity to try handfuls of wine from Austr

Sémillon is a green grape variety that you have likely had, but never saw on the label. It is most frequently used in Bordeaux, France to soften the acidity in Sauvignon Blanc. Bottles from Bordeaux are not generally labelled by varietal, and Semillon is usually less than 30% of the blend. Sémillon is full bodied, and adds weight to balance the tangy crispness associated with Sauvignon Blanc. It is used independently in Bordeaux to produce the amazing botrytis affected late h

Muscat or Moscato, in Asti from northern Italy is another grape that many people associate with sweeter style wines. This is often the case, but I want my readers to be aware of drier styles as well. Once again, Alsace, France is a good place to seek out dry styles of white wine that may otherwise be traditionally thought of as sweet. In Alsace, the wines are light to medium bodied, with floral aromas, and grape flavors, yes grape. Many of these are harvested late with heavy

Sangiovese is the principle grape in the wines of Tuscany, Italy. It is used to make Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. In fact, within Tuscany you may recognize clonal names like Sangioveto, Prugnolo Gentile, and Morellino. In Tuscany, the Sangiovese grape has been used for hundreds of years, and the production process of the wines includes years of ageing in oak barrels followed by years of bottle age before release. The process is p

Summer weather allows me to show more white wines to my guests, simply because it is hot, people who prefer red wines typically, seem to be open minded to a refreshing, crisp white wine. Chenin Blanc is just that type of wine. I refer to apples a lot when teaching about this grape, my favorites come from the Loire River Valley, in northern France in an area called Vouvray. Proximity to Normandy apple country, and similar color and flavors to Honeycrisps. The wines tend to be

Mourvedre is one of the grapes used in the southern Rhone Valley, usually blended with Grenache, and Syrah. Though a small percentage of the blend, historically, the Mourvedre imparts much of the color to the wines of the southern Rhone. On it's own, Mourvedre, or Monastrell in Spain is dark purple colored and creates dark tannic wines with plummy flavor. In Cataluña and Valencia, Spain the wines are very dry, with a peppery characteristic showcased brilliantly, and the grape

I just wrote the other day about Viognier, and I realized that almost all of my blog posts, thus far, have been about aromatic white wines, or rosé wines. Not a bad deal in spring and summer, but lets get into red. We will start with one of my favorite, widely differing grapes. Syrah is from the northern Rhone Valley in France. Once believed to have been originally sourced in the Persian Empire near the city of Shiraz, that has been debunked, and nowadays the Aussies are the

I love aromatic white wines. Viognier is one of my favorites. I first learned of the grape as the varietal used in the production of wines from Condrieu in the northern Rhone Valley of France. White wine from Condrieu tend to be a bit expensive, but are truly a treat to try. They are medium to full bodied with spectacular aromas of peach, white pepper, orange blossom, mango, or other tropical fruits. They are fermented to dry, but the aromas lead your nose to think they might

I am frequently told that Riesling is sweet. I have guests who chuckle when Riesling is mentioned, as if it is a faux pas to enjoy such a wine, this causes me great sadness. Indeed, sweet Riesling does exist, and it is a moderate amount of the Riesling produced out there, but if you want to try some of my favorite white wines on Earth, you would need to taste some Riesling. Let me begin by ensuring that you have been made aware that any grape can be fermented to dry... During

Sauvignon Blanc is a pretty popular white wine grape varietal, and one of my favorites to show in a compare and contrast style. Sauvignon Blanc originally comes from Bordeaux, France where it is the principle grape in the production of Bordeaux Blancs. It is blended in Bordeaux with a grape called Sémillon, which allows the blend to be rounder and less sharply acidic. When I teach about Sauvignon Blanc, I prefer to show examples from the Loire Valley, north of Bordeaux, where

In 1999, I worked in Minneapolis at a Brasserie. I learned several things about France, and French culture. Three have stayed with me for over 20 years. I love Edith Piaf, I love all regional French cuisine, and I love the opportunity to show people peppery, dry, fruity rosé wines. I have carried the serious pink wine crusade with me for all of my restaurant experience. I always throw a rosé wine or two on every wine list I create, whether or not the menu requires one. Rosé w

I was introduced to Gewürztraminer at a restaurant that I worked at in the early 1990's. I had a brilliant, French-inspired menu and wine program, and plenty of enthusiastic teachers that I worked with. For this reason, I have little experience with Gewürztraminer that is sweet. Many people tell me that they have been exposed to only sweet versions of the wine, and it leads me to question whether they have really been fed sweet Gewürztraminer, or if they perceive sweetness fr