Red Wine

October 17, 2015 50

THE PASTAGA OF LÉOUBE

In August of last year, Château Léoube’s Secret de Léoube was given a shout by Drinks Magazine, having placed in the gold medal tier of their 2014 Global Rosé Masters wine tasting competition with such local Provence favorites as Château d’Esclans and Mirabeau en Provence. Embarrassingly enough, having lived only an hour away for years, I had been blissfully ignorant of this domain. As Provence [...]

September 30, 2015 1

A Belated Salut to the Winemakers of Les Baux-de-Provence

This summer the winemakers of Les Baux-de-Provence celebrated their 20-year anniversary as an appellation. The winemakers group, Les Vignerons de Baux, hosted a party at the Carrières de Lumières in Les Baux-de-Baux (a medieval commune famous for [...]

September 27, 2015 12

A CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE IN HONOR OF POPE FRANCIS

Since the arrival of Pope Francis in Washington, D.C. and his stirring address to Congress—rousing all but the most lackluster members of this elite audience—I have been riveted by his words to each of the disparate groups he would go on to meet. No matter what one’s political or religious beliefs may be, there seemed to be something for [...]

July 19, 2015 11

CHEZ LES BRUN-CRAVERIS, VIGNERONS “BIO” CUEILLETTE DE… POMME AU JARDIN D’ÉDEN!

Dans un écrin d’authenticité, entre campagne et bord de mer, le domaine oéli-viticole “La Tourraque” est un joyau rare, et - grâce à la famille Brun-Craveris - ce qui pouvait arriver de mieux à ce site d’exception, à deux pas du Cap Taillat (l’endroit le plus naturel de toute la presqu’île - accès seulement à pied), et à quelques minutes du zoo de Saint-Tropez (on dit que sur le quai Suffren, il n’y a que deux genres d’animaux : ceux qui se pavanent, et [...]

July 10, 2015 14

Musings of a Wine Maven
TRAVELING THE WINE TRAIL FROM LUGDUNUM TO AVENNIO, WONDERING IF 1 WAS A GOOD YEAR?

Growing up in Ohio I recall long car trips counting telephone polls, smiling at Burma Shave signs, and singing the bottles-of-beer-on-the-wall song. For the most part, the landscape was flat, flat, flat. [...]

May 31, 2015 49

Musings of a Wine Maven
ON THE PASSING OF JOSEPH PHELPS (1927-2015)

In April of this year, the California wine industry lost Joseph Phelps. Vineyards bearing his name line the famed Silverado Trail that winds its way past many well regarded Napa Valley vineyards that, for the most part, did not exist when he opened in 1973. He leaves behind his son Bill to continue the family commitment to the creation of outstanding [...]

April 26, 2015 5

THE 2014 VINTAGE OF PROVENCE ROSÉ IS ON THE SHELVES…AND IN OUR GLASSES

I drink rosé all year ’round. I encourage others to do the same. Pourquoi pas? As regular readers know, I take every opportunity to bemoan the predictable purge of rosés from the shelves of wine stores come the day after Labor Day. [...]

April 12, 2015 3

A BARREL TASTING AT THE TARDIEU – LAURENT CELLARS

Tardieu–Laurent is one of the premiere négociants in the Rhône Valley, and their cellars happen to be located in our favorite village Lourmarin. I began to hear about them soon after we discovered Lourmarin in the late-1990s, a few years after Michel Tardieu and Dominique Laurent [...]

February 15, 2015 19

DOMAINE DES TERRES BLANCHES IN THE PREDOMINANTLY ORGANIC APPELLATION OF LES BAUX-DE-PROVENCE

A bottle of Domaine des Terres Blanches wine was among the well-chosen bevy of refreshments my husband and I found in our lovely room at the gorgeous five-star hotel, Château des Alpilles, located on the outskirts of St. Rémy-de-Provence. This early 19th-century property, set [...]

February 7, 2015 5

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Surprise Me!

When you have a 2006 Côtes du Rhône in the wine rack, you don't just serve it with anything, especially if it is a Rasteau. This is a wine for certainty, not a wine you pull when you're serving a frozen dinner. (Okay, I know anyone who reads this blog is most likely not making a TV dinner, but you get my point.) If I were to think of things to serve with a Rasteau, salmon would not leap to mind. Yet, I do know that, if your guests are solely red wine drinkers, a Côtes du Rhône is a good choice for salmon. So, for today's pairing I actually surprised myself, and in a good way. I decided to put my [...]

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