Wine Tasting

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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Photo of food pairing with Rose de Leoube

April 1, 2017 13

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
I’m No Fool!

When I saw a bottle of Château Léoube's "Rosé de Léoube" on sale, I bought it. I'm no fool. Yes, it's a little more expensive than our usual wine purchases, but I have heard from many people how good it is, and I wanted to know firsthand. Let me start by saying that I wish I had bought out their inventory! (So maybe I was a fool after all...?)

The first thing I did after getting the bottle was send a quick note to my Instagram friend Jérôme Pernot - a.k.a. Mr. Léoube - and asked him what he recommended serving with his wine. His suggestion? Roasted chicken

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March 12, 2017 8

MILLÉSIME BIO 2017: CONVERSATIONS WITH ORGANIC AND BIODYNAMIC WINEMAKERS

“We don’t have fancy booths. We are natural. Authentic, like our wines,” observed one of the exhibitors at last month’s Millésime Bio Wine Fair in

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Siblings Fabien and Emilie Brotons were pouring wine from their family estate Clos de l'Ours winery.

March 9, 2017 2

Millésime Bio 2018 Slated for Late January in Montpellier

Millésime Bio, said to be the world’s largest trade fair devoted to organic wine, has announced its 2018 dates and a return to Montpellier: it will take place from Monday 29 January to Wednesday 31 January next year at the

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Duck Confit Cake and Domaine Moulin-la-Viguerie Tavel Wine

March 3, 2017 12

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
A Well-Traveled Tavel

It isn't often that I get wines straight off the plane from the vineyard in France. But, this week, that is exactly (well, sort of) what happened. You see, Sandra Gay-Moulines, attaché de communication for the Syndicat Viticole de l'Appellation Tavel, got a couple of bottles direct from the winery, whose owner, Gaël Petit, happens to be president of the Syndicat. Sandra gave them to Susan and Towny, who brought them back to States, and then they shipped them to me. See? Direct from the winery!

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Rosé wines served at Vinisud masterclass

February 16, 2017 2

Vinisud 2017 Masterclass: Rosé Diversity in Ten Glasses

Abandon the notion that rosé is cheap and uncomplicated.

Anyone who still clings to this view would surely have shaken it had he or she attended the masterclass at Vinisud 2017 led by Sarah Abbott MW and Elizabeth Gabay MW [...]

September 20, 2016 12

DOMAINE SAINT ANDRIEU IS WELL WORTH THE DRIVE UP THE HILL

Deep in the heart of the Var, north of Brignoles, and a wee bit past the tiny predominantly organic village of Correns, there is a long and winding road just off the Grand Rue (also called the D45). Soon after making that turn, on to Le Collet de Recoux, that [...]

August 12, 2016 25

Musings of a Wine Maven
“Has a Good Beat … Easy to Dance to”

Raise your hand if you immediately recognize this title as coming from Dick Clark’s American Bandstand “Rate a Record” segment. Hmm, not as many hands went up as I thought would. Perhaps, readers of this blog were busy watching Julia Child’s The French Chef or Graham Kerr on The Galloping Gourmet or, as I think about it, perhaps many readers were not yet born. Dick Clark’s legendary TV show, on the air from 1952 to 1989, showcased at least one band and played the Top 40’s songs to which gaggles of teenagers danced the hour away.

I am reminded of Dick Clark as I walk down the overstocked aisles in wine superstores these days and note the liberal use of “shelf talkers,” touting this wine and that wine [...]

August 6, 2016 13

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Tasting Tavel

Four years ago, almost to the day, I was at a dinner party for which each of the eight guests was asked to bring a rosé to include in a blind tasting. The wines came from all around the world, and no one wine was duplicated. One of the wines presented was a Tavel; its dark hue was unfamiliar to us and assumptions of sugar content and [...]

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