The Caslot siblings are gifts to the wine world, as are their wines. The value for the quality of the work over the amount of land they have (quite a... read more →
Joe Pedicini has a long commute from his home in Brooklyn to the Oregon vines, but somehow when the wine gets to the bottle, the work looks simple. This vineyard... read more →
Why oh why oh why isn’t there more carignan in California? The grape suits the place and climate so very well. And up in Mendocino? It so often seems brilliant.... read more →
At first I admit, I wasn’t sure, but the longer this was open the more it grew on me, the next day and then the next. When a wine sings... read more →
When I first broke wine with Steve, it was at Gramercy Tavern. We bonded over our mutual love of gamay, and California’s current gamay revival owes much to his efforts... read more →
In 2004 when I was the Time magazine wine correspondent, I visited winemakers/farmers/artists Kim Engle and Debra Birmingham, who were then in a very different vinous place. In 2006, a... read more →
When the vintage is stellar, we get the aforementioned cabernet franc, but in lesser years, Kim and Debra blend it with some gamay noir (which they believe is actually valdigue),... read more →
Lovers of traditional Piedmontese wines, rejoice. Since 2004, Ferdinando has eliminated the chemicals in the vineyard and in the winery. This was lovely. From vineyards in Monforte and Serralunga, I... read more →
The way Hardy (Dirty) Wallace talks of this vineyard it might as well be his spiritual home, and the love has always come through in the bottle. In 2013, the... read more →
In 2013, the Los Pilares was a foot-stomped glory. If you remember the previous vintage you’ll get the difference; in part it’s due to vintage, part to different fruit sourcing... read more →