I just finished reading the silliest editorial with a really great title, called “Talk Dirt To Me,” about “terroir,” in the Spring issue of the Sunday New York Times Style Magazine by Harold McGee and Daniel Paterson. In it, they start out by setting up a straw man contending that terroir means you …

Having a dog is great, but it’s nice to get a break from her sometimes demanding presence. It additionally means the cats have the run of the house once again. Tonight I’m trying a couple of ciders for a forthcoming Sunday Express spread, both from Waitrose and made by Herefordshire cidery (is that…

I’ve returned early from my Devon holiday, leaving my family and RTL and catching the train back up to London for an early flight to Portugal tomorrow. It’s only been a brief break, but despite some dodgy weather, I’ll remember it as one of the best family holidays we’ve had. It just worked. Picture…

Pindar Vineyards (on the North Fork of faraway Island, New York) produces a Bordeaux style blend, or as the label says a Meritage, combining all the the classic grapes of Bordeaux - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot listed on the label by percentages. that might le…

(NW) came up for Memorial Day weekend with my newest grand daughter and family in tow plus two dogs (with my own) made three. I decided it would be fun to do a blind flight of three wines; two old world, one new world and just let the chips fall where they may. After my less than enthusiastic review…

This was (PB’s) ringer in the tasting–the wine was aging by the color with a slightly yellow rim with some darker core hues. The wine had a big vegetal bouquet with hefty aromas giving way with some breathing, to dark fruit and a touch of cedar and dill. Molasses emerges later with thick sweet a…

This was one of (NW’s) contributions to the tasting and was obviously an aged wine on the pour with an amber rim and cherry red core. The bouquet was rare with cedar and dark cassis with something sweet, and elegant that eludes description. It reminded me of a Madeira.In the mouth though the wine…

This wine tasted blind has a very nice cranberry to purple hue with a bouquet of dark black cherry, vegetal notes which changes to blueberry jam!In the mouth it is a rich jammy wine with some chocolate and black berry patch flavors which are nice. It is obviously a new world wine which I pegged as a…

2003 was a really good year for Tuscany and that creation is a classic example of fine Tuscan wine. It has a gorgeous “burgundy red” hue with classic stingy aromas with some solid Sangiovese aromas and steely notes, with dried cherries but is really tight on opening and needs to be aired out some.E…

Seems like an oxymoron, but it’s not. There are inexpensive Bordeaux out there, but you really have to hunt for them. One example is the 2001 Chateau DeLord, a Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux brought into Seattle by Youngs-Columbia and purchased by me a few years ago at QFC for $12. Premieres Cotes de B…