Yearly Archives: 2011

Tasting Sangiovese in South Africa with Ntsiki Biyela of Stellekaya

Posted on November 6, 2011 by don

Last night we joined Ntsiki Biyela, the young winemaker of the boutique winery Stellekaya, at the Jena Viva Restaurant in Somerset West for wine tasting and dinner. Having grown up in Kwa Nondlovu village in KwaZulu Natal, Ntsiki exceled in … Continue reading →

Posted in Red Wine, South Africa | Tagged | 3 Comments

Grower Champagne New Releases

Posted on October 26, 2011 by don

Grower Champagne is quite different from House Champagne. The former sources fruit from a single vineyard or village and, thus, expresses the terroir of that specific site and often reflects the peculiarities of a particular vintage. The latter (i.e., House … Continue reading →

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Six Hats Fair Trade Wines from South Africa: Super Value with Equity

Posted on October 25, 2011 by don

Fair Trade, of course, has the goal of improving the wages and working conditions of the farmers and workers in the developing world. In 2007, Charles Back (the famed owner of Fairview and Goats do Roam) helped the Citrusdale Wines … Continue reading →

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Tastings of 2008 Ravenswood Single Vineyard Zinfandels

Posted on October 21, 2011 by don

Ravenswood is one of California’s iconic Zinfandel producers. Our evaluations and tasting notes of the 2008 single vineyard Zinfandels are given below. Ravenswood was founded by Joel Peterson, who started his wine career as a Zinfandel garagiste, making just a … Continue reading →

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The 2011 Vintage: First Releases from Chile and South Africa

Posted on October 18, 2011 by don

We recently tasted the first releases of the Southern Hemisphere’s 2011 vintage to arrive in the States. We’ll be tasting a lot more on our upcoming trip to South Africa and will report on them later. The 2011 vintage was … Continue reading →

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Vinhos de Lisboa [Wines of Lisbon]

Posted on October 8, 2011 by don

The Comissão Vitivinícola da Região Lisboa presented new releases of several producers at tastings in New York and Washington this week. In centuries past these wines were highly sought after. In today’s globalized world they are almost impossible to find, … Continue reading →

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Muscat Sales Exploding in the US

Posted on October 6, 2011 by don

It seems that the Millenial Generation has discovered Moscato. This lightly sweet and often low-alcohol wine is easy to drink, especially for those Millenials (age 21+) who grew up drinking sweet sodas. It seems that Moscato, oftentimes lightly sparkling, is … Continue reading →

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A Special Vertical Tasting of Laurel Glen Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon: 1981-2006

Posted on October 6, 2011 by don

Laurel Glen Vineyard is widely recognized as one of Sonoma’s top producers of Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery was founded in the late 1970s by Patrick Campell (pictured here), a fastidious grower and winemaker who until recently crafted the wines at … Continue reading →

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Feiler-Artinger and Wenzel: Top Producers of Ruster Ausbruch

Posted on October 3, 2011 by don

The town of Rust on the western shore of Lake Neusiedl [pictured here] is world famous for the special sweet wine called Ruster Ausbruch. The wine is made from botrysized grapes and was a favorite of the Habsburgs. Indeed, they … Continue reading →

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Dalton Winery: Selected New Releases

Posted on October 1, 2011 by don

Dalton Winery is one of Israel’s most successful wineries.Founded as a boutique winery in 1995 in the mountainous Upper Galilee by the Haruni family, Dalton has grown steadily over the years to become one Israel’s most successful producers of premium … Continue reading →

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