Hard to believe, yet the holidays are almost here! Soon, you’ll be walking into your supermarket or wine store for a celebratory sparkler and reach for the familiar "Freixenet" name, knowing the name spells "quality" that will be recognized by your family and friends.  After all, the winery and many of its other sparklers [...]

  “We green harvest in the vineyard by fifty percent,” says vivacious young Judit Llop, standing in a perfect-looking vineyard in the middle of harvest on a gorgeous sunny Fall day. “That’s why it grows so healthy and ripe.”

 Judit is the winemaker for Morlanda & Fra Guerau wineries located in the world-famous Denominacion de [...]

  Ribera del Duero!

 In Manhattan, this Spanish Denominacion de Origen (DO) sounded so glamorous and exotic, especially as it is home to the world’s most famous and expensive wines (Vega Sicilia, anyone?)

 Terroir of the Duero

 Wine students learn all about the soil (clay and sand), and the vineyards that stretch from the famed [...]

  Quick! Thick of Rioja (the famous Spanish wine) and what flavors come to mind? One of my favorite sommelier instructors thought that during a blind tasting, a Rioja can often be recognized by a dusty, leather saddle sort of scent, or by its American oak trademarks of dill and coconut. Actually, Rioja is a [...]

  Think of Cava sparkling wine, and chances are the familiar brown and gold label of Segura Viudas comes to mind. Few people realize that this popular wine is actually named after the man who founded it in the 1950s. Mr. Viudas was a grower who made sparkling wine – Cava – and sold it [...]

  You know Freixenet – of course you do! With production over 200 million bottles a year, it’s America’s favorite Cava (sparkling wine) for dinner parties, birthdays, and special events. Yet the story of why Freixenet controls market share and how it was able to hold on to it for so long is a story [...]

  .. in these economic times everyone is looking for a way to get great quality wine at a value. The "private selection" name sounds posh but the bottom line is  that this new brand offers both value and quality because of the Mondavi name. I tried both the 2008 Meritage and Cabernet Sauvignon and [...]

  So I just received two wines today from producer Arnaldo-Caprai. The Grecante, a white, is 100% Grechetto from Dei Colli Martani.  This is a delicious white wine with a light straw color and intense nose of very ripe golden melon and a spritz of yellow grapefruit skin. On the palate, medium body with refreshing [...]