Corks and Caftans

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as part of a sample from Willamette Valley Vineyards* After Carey and I returned to the east coast from our trip to the Willamette Valley last March, we truly had a lot to reflect on. It wasn’t just a visit; we’d felt taken in. Every vineyard and winery we visited, big or [...]

The departure Syrah. The summer Syrah. The Pinot Syrah. Yes, this is all true, and it’s getting credited as such. I once had a great Zinfandel from a very exciting cult Napa producer—the problem was, it was a Sangiovese. But, you would have never known—this is a undesirable departure. What Anthill accomplishes with their ’07 [...]

I managed to get past the inconsequential water-stain on the label of an HDV Carneros Syrah thus securing, as the lone bidder, a wine that is still selling in some locales for over $60 a bottle. Just $20—a wine with a 92 Spectator rating. I have to be honest, though—the label did look odious while [...]

The Progeny Vineyard Syrah was almost the Syrah that never happened. It arrived last fall once the weather cooled along with a shipment of bottles I picked off of WineBid.com during the summer months. At $20, I got a great deal, approximately a third of what the current vintage Progeny sells for.

I first learned about Tyrus Evan 3 years ago while dining at American Seasons on Nantucket. Owner/sommelier/all-round hip resident Nantucketer Orla Murphy-LaScola didn’t hesitate to recommend the Ken Wright offshoot label. It was a perfect bottle for a spectacular dinner crammed with foie gras 3 ways and bison filets.

Twitter put me in a real bind tonight. Carey alerted me at work today that we received two exciting bottles from Winebid.com—a 2000 Frank Family Cabernet Franc and a 2004 L’Aventure Syrah. Now that I am an official Twitterer, I decided to twit pic my bottles and leave it up to my followers to decide [...]

While I was seeking out backdrops and snapping photographs of last night’s wines, Carey was busy making our two favorite flatbreads for dinner with her parents—did I mention we are visiting her folks down in Florida? They were a huge success. I picked up 3 bottles of wine earlier that day at our local Ponte [...]

This is an important post. I have always made a point of reviewing and sharing wines that represent what I love and drink. Well, if this is true, which it certainly is, then I am guilty of a grave oversight. The oversight being Cline Cellars from Sonoma, Califonia—and that’s why, in this review, I’m including [...]

The family crest depiction of a severed left hand tells the story of a rowing competition among the O’Neills & the O’Reillys (Owen Roe was an O’Neill). Whoever touched land first after rowing across the lake was rewarded with the land he touched. Lagging behind, one of the kinsfolk grabs his sword to cleave his [...]

In an era of obtrusive government, the wizards of smart in Washington almost aborted a life-long, meaningful relationship between me, Carey, and Bonny Doon. A visit from our UPS man (who we know far better than our own neighbors), a mandatory I.D. check, and an excited signature were all that stood between me and my [...]

Last February I acquired a Rhône wine from one of the less prominent appellations, St. Joseph, as part of some close-out auctions on WineBid.com. Until tonight, I had all but forgotten about this bottle—one I knew nothing about. In the time since the auction, Carey and I have plucked winner upon winner from the Rhône and grown thoroughly attached [...]

Lunch with Randall Grahm, Bonny Doon founder/winemaker: “Terroir wines”, he explained, holding a dumpling suspended in midair on a fork and fixing me with a surprisingly prophetic and unmad eyes, “are just too expensive if you’re starting from scratch, as we Americans were and are. Helen Turley tells me that it costs $60,000 an acre [...]