behind the cork
Charles Smith 2014 Kungfu Girl Riesling ($14) Another from the amazing winemaker Charles Smith. This Riesling from Washington State is light and fruity with just a hint of sweetness. Chill this one and serve it your favorite hot and spicy dish. ...
Read more →When pairing wines with food, the general goal is to make sure that the flavors of the food don’t overwhelm the wine and cover up all of the wine’s wonderful flavors. And the basic rule of wine pairing says that you should have a red wine with beef a...
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behind the cork
2014 Il Tarocco Chianti Classico ($10)  As you can immediately tell from the black rooster on the neck of the bottle, this is a Chianti Classico. The black rooster let’s you know this is ...
Read more →Chianti is a great wine to enjoy with an Italian meal. Whether it is spaghetti and meatballs, sausages or pizza, a Chianti is a great pairing. And it’s not hard to find a good one. Chianti is a region within Tuscany in central Italy, between Florenc...
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behind the cork
Boeger 2012 Barbera - El Dorado ($15)  This Barbera is from one of the oldest wineries in the Sierra Foothills. Barbera is a grape grown throughout Italy. It’s a grape known for high acid...
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general
We’ve just completed a series on wines and body. We’ve addressed light, medium and full bodied white wines and red wines. And within this series, factors such as mouth feel, alcohol, tannin and residual sugar have been discussed. Fruit flavors also...
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behind the cork
Michael David Petite Petit ($14)  I always passed by this cartoon character label with the two elephants sipping wine. But Wine Enthusiast named this Petite Sirah their #2 pick on the 201...
Read more →We’ve explored the various styles of white wines and made it through the light and medium bodied reds. Now it’s time to take the final step and look at the big, full bodied red wines. These full bodied reds are going to be very dark in color, have r...
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behind the cork
Alexander Valley Vineyards Merlot ($15)  The Alexander Valley in Sonoma County turns out some terrific wines, including this Merlot from the winery named for the originator of the valley....
Read more →Recent posts have addressed light bodied red wines including two of the most common, Gamay and Pinot Noir. Light bodied red wines have bright red fruit flavor and little to no tannin. But looking across all red wines you’ll find very few that are li...
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