Last Wednesday I attended my first wine dinner in like a year. I’m not going to lie, I was incredibly nervous. Especially when I found out that dinner was inside the restaurant and not outside on the patio. I had gotten accustomed to outdoor dining around the city. It was a little tight inside but …
Fun conversation yesterday with @blackgirlsdinetoo and @oleobrigado. We listened in as they discussed Cava & Caviar. You definitely don’t have to spend a lot of money to enjoy fabulous things! This delicious bottle of Brut Nature Naveran Cava (grapes: 50% Xarello, 30% Macabeo, 20% Parellada) can be purchase for around $15-17. Not only can it …
I am loving the Zoom life! It has afforded me the option of listening to some awesome educators and winemakers. Last week I had the pleasure to attend an online tasting with Winemaker Theresa Heredia of Gary Farrell Vineyards & Winery. Theresa has worked as winemaker at Gary Farrell since 2012. She brings her experience …
Before last week’s Golden Wines of Bordeaux class, I definitely would not have thought outside the box when it came to pairing sweet wines with food. However, Yannick Benjamin said try something different. So I did. I ordered a medium heat Chicken Breast Wrap from Nando Peri Peri — a mix of crunchy vegetables, sweet …
Okay, I’ll be honest I was going to keep these Maker Wine cans for myself. But decided it would be really great to share with friends. I love that the box came with notecards that listed the stories of each winemaker. Their stories are also on the back of each can. So we were able …
A Champagne tasting with St Anselm Beverage Director, Vanessa Cominsky & Wine Writer, Educator and founder of Black Wine Professionals, Julia Coney. I picked up my bubbles and some snacks from St Anselm the day of the tasting. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how the bubbles were going to transfer from the restaurant to …
A little tasting and education on Saturday with Winemaker Matt Taylor and Master Somm Carlton McCoy. The tasting featured Matt’s sold out, hard to find label Chamboulé. These wines are 100% whole cluster and made with very little sulfur. Carlton walked us through a tasting of Matt’s 3 Cabernets. 1. 2015 Chamboulé Cabernet Sauvignon Constant …
Tonight I’m joining Janet Cam and Ben Jordan (Early Mountain & Lightwell Survey) for some Zoom wine education. They will be discussing Early Mountain’s 2019 Rosé and the 2017 Eluvium. Since I am already familiar with EM’s delicious Rosé, I decided to try their 2019 PUR — 60% Chardonnay, 35% Viognier and 5% Pinot Gris. …
Sipping something tasty on a Sunday. This amber colored Georgian wine is 100% Tsolikouri grape (a well known grape variety in Georgia). It is fermented in a Qvevri, an “earthenware vessels used for fermentation, storage and aging.” This unfiltered wine smells like citrus with a little honey and a dash of salt. Sounds weird? But …
To be honest, prior to planning a trip to Morocco, I figured it was going to be mostly a “dry” trip. I prepared myself to be sober for a few weeks. Yikes! I naively thought that the North African country seriously frowned upon all drinking. Well, all things except Moroccan Whiskey aka Mint Tea. Ya’ll …
I had the pleasure to sit and chat with Rachel Martin, Owner/Vintner of Oceano Wines (Marbue Marke is the Winemaker). If her name sounds familiar it’s because she used to work with her family at Boxwood Estate Winery (Middleburg, VA) before starting Oceano. We sampled two Chardonnays – 2016 & 2017. This beautiful expression of …
My final session of SommCon was Viewing Wines Through The Lens of Diversity. The session not only included a dynamic discussion but we also followed along as the panelists did a blind tasting of wines from around the world. The wines were from China, Mexico, US, Israel and South Africa. The first picture shows wine …
As a lover of VA wine, it was pretty cool to assist and sit in on the SommCon session Stranger Things: New + Experimental Wines of Virginia session. This session shows that there are a wide variety of delicious and fun wines for folks to try that are unfamiliar with VA wines. King Family Vineyards …
My first SommCon session of day two was Time Traveling in Napa – How to Access Library Wines, and How Top Producers Release Them. This session is merely just one of the reasons to come to SommCon! Where can you try a 1985 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, 1966 Charles Krug Cabernet or 1997 & 2010 Schramsberg …
Fresh off my trip, I was able to get it together to volunteer for this year’s SommCon DC (read last year’s post). The first session I assisted with was New Horizon of Asian Wines, World Class Chinese and Japanese Wines. The session was moderated by Toshio Ueno – VP & Executive Instructor, Sake School of …
