Wine and restaurant reviews
The Rhone wine region in southern France is one of the most famous sources of wine in the world. Rhones wines can often deliver a quality to price ratio that other French regions such as Burgundy and Bordeaux can’t match. This Rhone roundup takes a look at five wines with broad availability in the DC/Virginia/Maryland […]
Silicon Valley bank bank produces an excellent annual report on the U.S. wine industry. With all the industry has been through recently, first fires and then the COVID-19 pandemic, the State of the Wine Industry 2021 report is particularly relevant. 2021 is the 20th anniversary of SVB putting out the report. It’s a deep dive […]
Like (hopefully) most people, our Thanksgiving was smaller and quieter this year. We couldn’t celebrate with the number of family and friends that we typically have in past years due to the pandemic. So to try something different we went with only French wines with the meal. Not that drinking French wine is a radical […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended society in the past three weeks. It’s a massive challenge and meeting it requires a level of communal cooperation not seen since WWII. I hope everyone reading this is safe, healthy and thinking about how their actions affect those around them. My wife and I are fortunate we are accustomed […]
Recently we got back from a quick trip to Pittsburgh, PA. Neither of us had ever been before and we were ready for a different scene not too far away. We had also read that there was a flourishing foodie scene in Pittsburgh and decided to see for ourselves. The rumors were well-founded. Pittsburgh today […]
Recently Gabriele and I have had three excellent wines while dining out. Two were Italian, and one was a Bordeaux. We had a nice Barolo while away for a week on vacation in West Virginia. We had dinner at the Press Room restaurant in Shepherdstown – nice place and recommended. (Bistro 112, a French place […]
Last Sunday Gabriele and I attended a tasting featuring Antiquum Farm wines, put on by Grape and Bean in Old Town, Alexandria. Owner and winemaker Stephen Hagen took us through his unique approaches to soil cultivation and winemaking. By chance we just had enjoyed an Antiquum wine a few weeks ago. We had the 2016 […]
One of the most popular wine posts on this site was a story I did five years ago on the demographics of U.S. wine consumption. So it’s past time for me to return to the U.S. wine market and see what’s changed over the past five years. Silicon Valley Bank produces an annual report on […]
Recently Gabriele and I found an excellent, and relatively affordable, Oregon Pinot Noir. It’s the 2015 Evesham Wood Mahonia Vineyard. I heard about the wine from a trusted source for all things Pinot Noir, the Prince of Pinot. Dr. Rusty Gaffney started the Prince of Pinot after retiring. He uses the 100 point system for […]
Periodically I share information about Bordeaux wine we’ve enjoyed. Recently we had dinner with another couple at a favorite French restaurant and enjoyed a wine which then led us to a couple of other Bordeaux winners. The wine with dinner was a 2010 Les Fiefs de Lagrange from St. Julien. The wine list at this […]
Last week Gabriele and I spent an enjoyable and educational evening learning the finer details of Oregon Pinot Noir. Our instructor was Ken Wright, owner of the eponymous wine company and all around evangelist of Pinot Noir. Background on Wright from the Prince of Pinot — a fantastic online source: “Wright left a position at […]
Gabriele and I are just back from a week in Durham, NC. We rented a house through Airbnb in a laid back neighborhood not far from the campus of Duke University. It was a fun week, and we enjoyed some new wines while we were there. Hands down the best meal we had was at […]