Wine

Wine

Wine and restaurant reviews

Jan 032012
 
Fun with Viognier

Happy new year all. I hope you enjoyed your holiday season, and drank some good wine. My wife and I are big red drinkers, but we had fun with the white Viognier grape last week. The catalyst for this was my Mom. She has been enjoying 2007 Bonterra Voignier as a nice change from Chardonnay […]

Dec 272011
 

2011 is almost in the books, and it delivered plenty of good material for Work, Wine and Wheels. I’ve a lot to be thankful for, including an increased number of readers. Here’s a look back at some content that proved popular with them. For Work posts, I tried to discuss important trends in technology communications. […]

Dec 162011
 

A pretty big story broke last week in the world of wine. But you wouldn’t know about unless you read wine blogs. On November 30, Jim Budd published a story on his wine blog Jim’s Loire. In it he includes emails that suggest that Pancho Campo, a well connected wine professional in Spain, was charging […]

Nov 082011
 

This weekend I stopped by Calvert Woodley, a landmark DC establishment for wine. I wanted to pick up some French wine, and I wanted to attend a tasting of some wines imported by Robert “Bobby” Kacher. Kacher is a well known importer and a resident of DC. He was gracious as he multitasked conversations and […]

Oct 252011
 

There aren’t many interesting restaurants very close to my neighborhood. Most dinners involve a drive to Old Town at least, if not DC. But this weekend we decided to go Bosnian at the Cosmopolitan Grill, located (a bit incongruously) right next to our gym along Route 1. Tom Sietsema in the Post gave the place […]

Oct 062011
 
Tasting Altos de Luzon at The Tasting Room in St. Augustine

Earlier this season Gabriele and I spent some time in St. Augustine, Florida. We were there last year as well, and had an excellent meal at a restaurant called Collage that introduced us to Foley Pinot Noir. We could of course have returned there, but part of the fun of vacationing is trying new places. […]

Aug 292011
 

Saturday night Gabriele and I had dinner at Geranio in Old Town Alexandria. We’d spent the day preparing our house as best we could for Hurricane Irene. Our backyard has drainage issues during any heavy storm, so we were concerned about water getting into our basement. However we had made reservations at Geranio partly due […]

Jul 252011
 
The Best Place to Eat in Boone, North Carolina

Earlier this year Gabriele and I rented a cabin in the high country of North Carolina, in the northwest corner of the state. It’s beautiful country down there and we had a fun and relaxing time. For dining out the most promising option was Boone, about 20 miles from where we were staying. Boone is […]

Jul 192011
 

Welcome to the third installment of Parente on Parker. In this series I take a look at some of Robert Parker’s picks for the best wines in the world under $25, and see how his reviews stack up. Here are the three wines discussed today, with links to additional information: 2009 Barbera D’Alba from Andrea […]

Jun 212011
 

Today’s video talks about how French wines can often vary greatly year to year. The wine used as an example is Domaine Grand Veneur Clos Sixte Lirac, and the differences between the 2006, 2007 and 2009 vintages. Lirac is a region in the southern Rhone area of France, very close to the more famous Chateauneuf […]