Wine and restaurant reviews
Gabriele and I recently enjoyed Cafe Caturra, located near the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and South Glebe Road in Arlington. This section of town is often called Arlandria and doesn’t have many interesting places to eat. Cafe Caturra gives the area a nice and versatile neighborhood restaurant. The operative word when you walk in […]
WINE & DINE COLUMN My latest wine column published today on WashingtonExec. The Washington DC area has a number of choices if you’re eating out early in the week. Half price wine nights are a win-win. Restaurants pull in more business on slower weekday nights, and customers can go for a bottle of wine at […]
When I published my WashingtonExec column on Sonoma, I gave an overview of our trip. I also promised reviews of the wines we brought home. Here are some wines we’ve been enjoying since we got back. We brought home wines not available for retail sale on this coast. Two were from familiar names in the […]
WINE & DINE COLUMN My latest Wine and Dine column in live over at WashingtonExec. Gabriele and I recently got back from a very enjoyable getaway featuring perfect weather and beautiful vineyards. My WashingtonExec piece tries to provide general tips for visiting Sonoma. I’ll be reviewing some of the specific wines we enjoyed in subsequent […]
My Wine and Dine column on WashingtonExec has been taking up the majority of my wine posts lately. So it’s time for a post on some good wines I’ve enjoyed this spring. As readers of the blog know, I look for a balance of value and experience in a wine. With more earth under cultivation […]
WINE & DINE COLUMN My latest Wine and Dine column was published yesterday on WashingtonExec. I review Palena, which remains one of the best places in greater DC for a meal. We also had a very good new Pinot Noir, the 2009 Cameron Reserve Dundee Hills.
This past weekend Gabriele and I tried Grand Cru, a wine bar and bistro in the Ballston section of Arlington. I hadn’t heard much about it and don’t think of Ballston as having a lot of good places. It really delivered and we had a very nice meal. It’s a bit tucked away amidst some […]
WINE & DINE COLUMN My latest column was published on WashingtonExec today. It focuses on nearby Front Royal, Virginia. Front Royal has always offered the natural beauty of Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive. In more recent years, high quality restaurants and nearby vineyards have created a new reason to visit. Next time you can […]
In this post I take a look at some top Chiantis reviewed by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, wine writers for the Wall Street Journal from 1998 to 2009. They found some favorites back in 1998 — how do they compare with today’s vintages? I also include in the video review below another Chianti found […]
WINE & DINE COLUMN My latest wine and dine article published today on WashingtonExec. I talk about how GSMs — blends made with the prominent varietals of the southern Rhone in France — can be great crowd pleasers. I list four GSMs I’ve found and enjoyed in the greater DC region. If you can add […]
I hope all my readers are enjoying good wine this winter. Here are some new discoveries Gabriele and I have made recently. 2009 Line Shack Cabernet This California Cabernet Sauvignon was recommended by Vince at Total Wine as a good, inexpensive California Cabernet. At only $15, it delivers good taste and good value. It’s light […]
WINE & DINE COLUMN Recently I was asked by online magazine WashingtonExec to write their new Wine and Dine column. My most recent column appeared this week, reviewing the buzzworthy Ripple in Cleveland Park. Here’s the review. Wines discussed are the 2010 Grochau Cellars Pinot Noir and the 2010 Sharecropper Cabernet Sauvignon.