Even before I started looking into the background of Gilbert Picq, a renowned Chablis producer in Burgundy, I knew from tasting the wine that it was among the purest expressions of Chardonnay to be found anywhere. Picq’s 2017 Chablis represents the appellation at its best — a mineral-driven wine whose soul lies is in the […]
Nebbiolo is one the world’s greatest grapes. It’s the pride of Piedmont, the northern Italian region that gives us the storied wines of Barolo and Barbaresco. These wines often require two things that present challenges to many wine lovers: significant money and time aging in the bottle. Fortunately, there is very good Nebbiolo that can […]
When friends from out of town invited a small group of us to dinner recently, as they do almost every fall, it was at the same Manhattan restaurant where we usually convene — an Italian institution known to us for its familiarity, consistency, and quality.
The Finger Lakes region in upstate New York is, without doubt, the leading wine area in the eastern United States. While it has gained international notoriety for its Rieslings, the region also produces some outstanding red wines, perhaps most notably from the Cabernet Franc grape. One of the best of the Cab Francs is from […]
For around $20 or so, this is one of the more interesting wine values from Tuscany. It’s a consistently exciting red made with Sangiovese grapes grown organically and biodynamically. Montesecondo is the name of the family farm owned by Silvio Messana and purchased by his father in 1963 in San Casciano Val di Pesa.
Of all the appellations in France’s vast and varied Loire Valley, Cheverny is one of the smallest and least known. But the area, on the eastern edge of the large Touraine region of the Loire, offers unusual and distinct wines that are well worth trying.
How many times have you opened a cold bottle of white wine, only to find that it didn’t have much taste? The problem could have been that it was simply too cold. When over-chilled wines warm five to 10 degrees, their aromas and flavors begin to emerge.
At this time of year, with the fall bounty of local vegetables in the homestretch, I like to combine them into a seafood stew.
Napa Valley is not the first place that comes to mind when I think of Sauvignon Blanc. But in cooler corners of the region, the grape does well, producing wines that can be both generous and fresh, often with some oak aging to round them off. Mondavi’s Fumé Blancs, as its Sauvignons are called, are […]
