Touraine may not grab the vinous headlines of, say, Sancerre or Vouvray, but in ways it is the aesthetic paradigm for the region: Made of castles and gardens and vineyards lining the capricious and majestic Loire from Anjou in the…
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Posted on 2024.07.25 in Touraine Azay-le-Rideau, Touraine, Coteaux-du-Loir, Cheverny, Coteaux-du-Loir, Cour-Cheverny, France, Wine-Aid Packages, Loire  | Read more...
A communion with the soil is the most important relationship a winemaker will ever forge, and nowhere is this demonstrated more reliably than in Sancerre, where three distinct soil types produce a split-personality of wine characteristics. This may be something…
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Posted on 2024.07.20 in Sancerre, Rosé de Loire, France, Wine-Aid Packages, Loire  | Read more...
Two things that France and the United States share: A red, white and blue flag and a passion for rosé. So, while we’re celebrating both on the Fourth of July, we’ll take the opportunity to offer a springboard to this…
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Posted on 2024.07.05 in cassis, Bandol, Menetou-Salon, Santenay, Chinon, Sancerre, Côte-de-Provence, Côtes-du-Rhône, Rosé de Loire, Anjou, France, Beaujolais, Wine-Aid Packages, Loire, Southern Rhone  | Read more...
There’s no reason why the term ‘minerality’ should be controversial in wine descriptions, but since it is, maybe it’s better to think of it like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart did pornography: “I may not be able to define it,…
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Posted on 2024.06.27 in France, Wine-Aid Packages, Alsace, Costers del Segre  | Read more...
According to the ‘superstore’ timetable, once the Fourth of July is in the can, it’s time for us to start buying Halloween decorations. While we prefer to avoid feeding the retail rascal before its time, there is one beverage typically…
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Posted on 2024.06.26 in Cidre, France, Wine-Aid Packages  | Read more...
2024 marks the hundred-and-second anniversary of the release of James Joyce’s modernist masterpiece ‘Ulysses,’ and a few venerable souls who purchased a copy on the day it came out are still trying to wade through it. Not everyone agrees on…
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Posted on 2024.06.15 in Chablis, France, Wine-Aid Packages  | Read more...
Gifts Fit For A Great Father’s Day Fathers come in all stripes and strengths, of course, and so no wine can serve as a ‘one-size-fits-all.’ But if ever a wine comes close, it’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Or, for our purposes, Châteauneuf-du-Papa. Like…
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Posted on 2024.06.10 in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Lirac, France, Wine-Aid Packages, Southern Rhone  | Read more...
Memorial Day is a time to reflect on mortality as well as to celebrate the rebirth of warmth and leisure time. No wine captures the complexity emotions better than Beaujolais, which can be light and lyrical as well as profound…
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Posted on 2024.05.23 in Chirouble, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Beaujolais-Villages, Regnie, Chenas, France, Beaujolais, Wine-Aid Packages  | Read more...
“I am tasting stars!” Dom Perignon’s famous quote, reported to have been uttered upon his first taste of Champagne, is likely apocryphal, but the trio of stars that align in a cold, northerly slice of France that sits on the…
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Posted on 2024.05.13 in Crémant du Bourgogne, France, Champagne, Wine-Aid Packages  | Read more...
In our last newsletter, we looked at Burgundy’s fantastic 2015 vintage as represented by some of the top vignerons in the Côte de Nuit. This week, we head south to Beaune to look at the stylistically-unique red wines…
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Posted on 2024.05.01 in Auxey-Duresses, Santenay, Côte de Beaune, Pommard, Beaune, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Aloxe-Corton, France, Burgundy, Wine-Aid Packages  | Read more...