Wine Weekly

Villa Antinori Toscana Bianco 2006 IGT A few years back, Pinot Grigio replaced Chardonnay as the number-one selling white wine in the USA. As a result, prices for established, reliable Pinot Grigio skyrocketed, and a slew of unknown Pinots — of varying degrees of quality — flooded the market. The popularity of the wine became [...]

Does this term mean the wine is 100% organic? Does it mean it’s “plain and simple in style”, or “plain in taste” as Merriam-Webster defines? No, no, and no. While a wine that is organic CAN be earthy, an earthy wine is not necessarily organic, and an earthy wine is often the opposite of plain [...]

Simi Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma County 2007 Usually when in the wine shop, I try to pick up a bottle (or vintage) that I’ve never tasted before — to me, exploration and discovering something new is what wine drinking is all about. Once in a while, though — and often when I’m purchasing a bottle for [...]

M. Chapoutier Cotes-du-Rhone “Belleruche” Rose 2007 Autumn is almost upon us in the US, but it’s still warm enough to enjoy pink wines. This one comes from the Cotes-du-Rhone in France, an area that’s better known for red wines that some describe as “bistro wines” for their ability to match with a variety of dishes [...]

Rubicon 2004 If you’re looking for a Jeep review, move on. This is a site for cork dorks. Last week we learned about Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon Estate, and the one white wine produced there, Blancaneaux. Today we’ll review the flagship wine of the estate, and the wine that gives the estate its name: Rubicon. [...]

Blancaneaux 2006 Not all high-quality white wines from Napa, California, are Chardonnay. Never one to do the same thing everyone else is doing, pioneering filmmaker and winery owner Francis Ford Coppola chose to do something unusual with a patch of land on his Rubicon Estate — grow Rhone white varietals Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier. The [...]

Perhaps the greatest tragedy in the history of American winemaking is the story of Inglenook. Most of today’s casual wine drinkers know Inglenook as “one of those jug wines”. However, the “old school” wine folks, and anyone who has did a bit of research on American wine history, knows that the “real” Inglenook is quite [...]