Category: Booze

Wine reviews, pairings, events, and getaways

50 years of Custoza : A Masterclass with Kerin O’Keefe

Custoza, if you’ve not heard of it, is located Northern Italy in the Provence of Verona—comprised of nine townships, named after village of Custoza, a hamlet of Sommacamapgna. The hills originate from glacial deposts between Verona and Lake Garda – massive amount of deposits created an incredibly complex and variable soil situation. The main soils are calcareous clay, interspersed with gravelly rocks and sand. It is this soil structure that greatly differentiates Custoza from surrounding DOCs. It is the soil that creates a uniqueness to the white wines produced, providing a savoriness that will make any doubter of the reality of ‘minerality’ a true believer.

Maps courtesy CONSORZIO di TUTELA del VINO CUSTOZA DOC
Maps courtesy of the Consorzio di Tutela del Vino Custoza DOC

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Costières de Nîmes

It’s listed under “other Rhone appellations” in our WSET Diploma book, given but a short few sentences of description—all of which, let’s face, it quite generic. “Lies between the Rhone and eastern Languedoc.” “Vines are grown on south-west facing slopes.” “Maximum permitted yield is 60 hL/ha.” “Most wines are good to very good.” Blah.

Costières de Nîmes is a lot more interesting than that.

Courtesy https://www.costieres-nimes.org/
Courtesy costieres-nimes.org

 

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This Week’s Latest Wine Headlines: June 6—June 11

Happy weekend, folks. Can a week go by fast and slow at the same time? It definitely has for me—and the amount of news gathered in this weekly round-up is a testament to that. In fact, there’s so much stuff, I’m just going to let you do your thing. Scroll through, read, learn, have some fun. And, as always, drink good wine. Cheers.

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This Week’s Latest Wine Headlines: May 23—May 28

Hello and happy weekend—and happy long weekend for those who get Memorial Day off. I, for one, am taking off early this week, shutting down the home office early Friday afternoon to enjoy the start to the summer season and—oh yeah—my anniversary. ❤️

So, in that spirit, I’ll keep this quite short and leave it to you to scroll through this week’s wine news. Looking ahead, I’ve got quite a few tours and tastings booked, so be on the lookout for fresh content both here and around the globe in traditional media outlets.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and have some good wine. Cheers.

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