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Wine Reviews

Wine Reviews
Five Nonalcoholic Drinks That Actually Taste Good

Isn’t it great that there are finally some cool looking and delicious nonalcoholic wines and spirits out there? It’s tempting to choose on packaging or buzz alone. But that may not be the best strategy for finding nonalcoholic drinks that actually taste good. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know how a 0-proof drink truly tastes until you plunk down your money and take it home. Despite the fancy packaging, some nonalcoholic adult drinks taste like water or awfully bitter and medicinal. I’ve made some bad purchases that I tossed or stuck in the back of the liquor cabinet to collect dust. I wish celebs backing some of these nonalcoholic drinks would be required to taste their products live on Instagram. Wouldn’t that be enlightening and entertaining?! Until that happens, I’ve been keeping my own list of taste-tested 0-proof drinks that are worth the money. In these nonalcoholic drinks, the taste…
August 15, 2023
Wine Reviews
Have You Heard About Domaine Faury-Gros Pinot Noir?

François Gros is pretty good at understatement. Which means he’s a master at that Gallic style of sharing big news in an offhand way. He says has a barrel company. Translation: He runs the U.S. business for H&A one of the nation’s biggest barrel-leasing companies. Business is good — two years ago he leased about 2,300 barrels. This year he’s already moved three times that amount. “I have trucks and warehouses… it’s crazy.” But not too crazy to meet me at The Oxbow on a Thursday morning for a wine tasting at the picnic tables. We’re here because he mentioned in passing he makes pinot noir with a friend, and at the time, they only sold it by word of mouth. Turns out this friend is another Frenchman— Simon Faury, the winemaker at Merryvale Vineyards. They had had bumped into each other in Condrieu at Domaine Yves Gangloff…
July 31, 2019
Sparkling Wine, Wine Reviews
Can Sparkling Wine Age? You Bet!

So as I looked in my wine fridge for a wine to bring to a holiday dinner, I discovered a bottle of Schramsberg Reserve sparkling wine from 1987. What a thrilling discovery – vintage bubbly! But I kind of worried too that I had aged it into a bottle of Napa Valley pinot noir vinegar. Both the front and back labels call it “Napa Valley Champagne.” Back in 1987, a gallon of gas cost 89 cents. The most popular car was the Ford Escort (MSRP $6,895). That was also the year that The Simpsons and FOX Broadcasting debuted and Prozac went on the market. I was barely old enough to drink legally. So much has changed in the past 26 years. Fortunately, well-made sparkling wine can wait. Once uncorked, the wine was a deep golden color with deep notes of golden apple, nuts, toast and Madeira wrapped in mouthwatering acidity.…
December 26, 2013
Sparkling Wine, Wine Reviews
Wine Review: Va de Vi from Gloria Ferrer

People often ask me to name my favorite bubbly. And my answer is always the same: it depends. I appreciate sparkling wines ranging from the crisp brut nature champagne to the deep dark sparkling shiraz from Australia to the sparkling ice wine from Canada. What I want depends on what food I’m eating. I found that the right food made all the difference with VA\a de Vi, a dry (read slightly sweet) sparkling wine that’s a recent release from Gloria Ferrer in Sonoma. The first time I tried it, we didn’t connect. But when I tried it with a variety of Asian foods that might be challenging for other wines, Va de Vi charmed me with its versatility. Va de Vi is a golden méthode champenoise sparkling wine with persistent medium-fine bubbles. The winery calls it an “ultra cuvée” crafted from a blend of 89% pinot noir, 8% chardonnay plus…
October 18, 2011
Sparkling Wine, Wine Reviews
Sex in a Glass: A Sparkling Wine from Michigan

There are lots of drinks described as sex in a glass: pinot noir; champagne; and there’s even a Sex in a Glass cocktail made of Cointreau, Kahlua and Angostura bitters. But as it happens, Sex is the name of a sparkling wine from Michigan that I tasted recently. It’s made by a quirky winemaker named Larry Mawby. For the past 10 years, Mawby has made nothing but sparkling wine in the Leelanau Peninsula, in the northern part of the state. Mawby likes to get people’s attention. His newest wine is a fruity and slightly sweet sparkling wine called Detroit, that blends riesling with the rather obscure grapes traminette and Cayuga. But he’s probably best known for his M.Lawrence range of sparkling wines with titillating, tongue in cheek names like Wet, Fizz and Sex. He also makes a more “serious” range of méthode champenoise wines under the name L. Mawby. I…
August 31, 2010