Wine Tasting

December 2, 2017 8

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Cool Wine, Daddy-O… I’m Hip!

I found the following on the British blog Golly's Wine Drops: "Léon Perdigal Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc ’15 has a full on hipster collection of grapes in it... So cool you’ve never heard of half of them. It doesn’t hold any truck with oak either so the grapes get to do all the talking." It makes me wonder, what would really make a wine "hipster?" [...]

November 5, 2017 8

Provence WineZine Goes to RAW WINE New York

Today is the start of RAW WINE New York, a two-day artisan wine fair devoted to natural wine. It’s the second year in the Big Apple and promises to be a popular event again—tickets for today sold out three days ago and apparently Monday is now also sold out (although organizers encourage interested parties to check availability at the door…and suggest they may be lucky). About 2300 people attended last [...]

November 4, 2017 6

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
A Goddess in Our Midst

Toward the end of my pairing notes last month, I suggested I might have remembered Rolle being someone softer, fuller, and rounder than its Italian counterpart, Vermentino. It seems that I was right. Disclaimer: I only tasted two of hundreds of wines out there that are made with 100% Rolle or Vermentino. Just two. However, they are both highly rated and come from well-respected vintners. As I tested the Antinori Vermentino twice, I thought it only fair to do the same with the Rolle. For one [...]

June 19, 2017 14

OFF THE VIA DOMITIA
THE RHÔNE RANGERS RAISE THEIR GLASSES IN HONOR OF SONOMA RESTAURATEUR SONDRA BERNSTEIN

It was the perfect assemblage to honor the woman who created the “Rhône Alone” wine list: an unusually glorious June day in San Francisco; the Golden

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June 4, 2017 8

Wine and Jazz in Provence

What is the perfect musical pairing for the wines of Provence and southern Rhône? Jazz! There are terrific jazz events held in and about wineries during the summer months throughout Provence and most include wine tasting as part of the festivities. Take a picnic, try the wine, and listen to some jazz--what could be better!

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June 3, 2017 7

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Beauty and the Belle

A little over two years ago, I fell in love with a blonde bombshell - a white Châteauneuf-du-Pape. I was somewhat in awe of this wine, and never dreamed I would see its doppelgänger here on these shores. But, as you read on, you will find I was wrong.

Just this past October, Susan Manfull wrote an article for the Provence WineZine about a wine bloggers conference she attended last August in Lodi, California, that included visit to Acquiesce Vineyards. It was then she

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May 14, 2017 32

IS ROSÉ A SERIOUS WINE?
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT

“Rosé does not merit serious tasting”

…Such were the recent words of a fellow wine writer, one very knowledgeable about wine, and one whose opinion I respect immensely on

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April 9, 2017 7

Diary of a Master of Wine in Provence
Côtes de Provence, Prowein, and Coteaux Varois

One region, one new vintage, two countries, three colours, three appellations, three departments, four fairs… Round one of my official tasting season is over, and now is time for a brief retrospective pause to think about them and the rosés tasted. Concentrating on research for my rosé book means that I often didn’t have time to taste all the reds and whites I want to – that is something to look forward to this autumn.

The one region is Provence with three of the four tasting events being for Côtes de Provence, Coteaux Varois and Coteaux d’Aix who together make up 95% of the region’s production, and held, respectively in the departments of Alpes Maritimes, Var and Bouches du Rhône. The fourth event at Prowein, in Germany, was for the three regions together. The two countries were France and Germany.

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April 7, 2017 5

E & J Gallo Quietly Launches Provence Rosé, Fleur de Mer, into the U.S. Market

Knowing that Americans are thirsty for Provence rosé, E & J Gallo has hooked up with Les Maïtres Vignerons de la Presqu’île de Saint-Tropez in Provence to make a rosé for the U.S. market. After introducing two rosés, both produced by Les Maïtres Vignerons, to several test markets in key U.S. areas (e.g., Los Angeles, Florida, and New England), Gallo selected

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April 7, 2017 17

Musings of a Wine Maven
Lord Save Us, Martha Stewart is Selling Wine Again

Never a quitter, Martha has shaken off the debacle of her failed venture with Gallo a decade ago to come back at the unsuspecting wine consumer with a new wine marketing scheme. Unable then to successfully sell her Martha Stewart Vintage label at fifteen bucks a bottle, her name is now attached to a box of six of her favorite selections for $59.99, served up in a wine club framework. Hmmm, if a fifteen buck wine made for her by Gallo couldn’t sell, why then these ten buck finds (introductory price) from California, Spain, Italy and France?

There are at least two rosés from Provence, the region that has taken the U.S. by storm with its immensely popular pink wine

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