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Feb
2021

This Week’s Latest Wine Headlines: February 21—26

categories: News, Wine

You made it through another week! Hope you have something amazing to pour in the glass to celebrate. Me? I’ve got so many bottles of wine after doing some conjunctive tastings along with my Portugal and Greece studies this past week. (To be released in the coming weeks). In case you missed my Italian notes: DipWSET Theory and Tasting—Piemonte , DipWSET Theory and Tasting—Valpolicella , DipWSET Theory—Southern Italy , and DipWSET Personal Theory and Tasting—Gavi di Gavi.

Below I’ve got this week’s round up of wine industry news. A few highlights—looks like there’s some new data/research surrounding the loss of smell due to Covid; John Fox, who ran the world’s largest wine Ponzi scheme, is officially out of prison (hold on to your magnums!); we’ve got Argentinian wine aged under the sea, the latest on Brexit, and the seemingly endless tariff wars between Australia and China.

And for for all my wine grape growing friends or those interested in learning more about California viticulture: I’ll be leading a panel discussion on regenerative agriculture at the upcoming Vineyard and Grower Conference. Other sessions include a look at the CA Crush Report and a deep dive into the latest research on smoke taint. Find out more and sign up here. I’ve also included some additional details below.

That’s all from me for now. Happy weekending. Cheers.

 

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Feb
2021

DipWSET Theory and Tasting—Valpolicella

categories: Wine, Wine 101, Wine World (D3)

When we think of Northeast Italy, we cannot forget Trentino, Alto Adige, and the Friuli regions—known predominantly for light, fruit forward, easy drinking white wines, typically for early consumption. There’s a broad range of international varieties produced. Specifically in Trentino and Alto Adige, which share geographic, cultural, and political ties to Germany and Austria, we find many varieties that grow in those countries as well. In Friuli, the aptly named Friulano is a dominant white wine grape, of course I believe most of our brain’s will veer toward Pinot Grigio grown in Grave di Friuli DOC. And don’t forget about the red wine grape Schiave. Pop Quiz: Where are more prestigious white wines produced and what is the dominant grape responsible for these higher quality wines? (You can find the answer below this post.)

For a general overview of Northern Italy, please see Wine Region Overview: Northern Italy.

Valpolicella Wine Tours
Valpolicella Wine Tours; veronissima.com

Today, however, I want to zero in on Veneto: specifically, Valpolicella because there’s something going on in there that, even in my Level 3 I kept getting confused. And, unfortunately that confusion came back to me in my Diploma Studies. I want to take the time to dive into the definitions of basic Valpolicella, passito/appassimento, recioto, Amarone, and ripasso and (hopefully) solidify that understanding with a conjunctive tasting.

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Feb
2021

This Week’s Latest Wine Headlines: February 14—19

categories: News, Wine

Hello and happy weekend. I’ve got your weekly round up of newsy wine items. Lots of great stuff both in traditional media and inside the blogs. So have a fun scroll-through.

For those of you following along on my WSET Diploma Studies, this past week we hit Italy (DipWSET Theory and Tasting—Central Italy (Part 1) DipWSET Theory and Tasting—Central Italy (Part 2)  [Paired with Metalica] DipWSET Theory and Tasting—Umbria ) and will continue with that massive, detailed country into next week.

Until then…cheers!

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Feb
2021

This Week’s Latest Wine Headlines: February 1—5

categories: News, Wine

Happy weekend everyone. Hope you’re all staying safe and healthy out there. I’ve got your weekly round-up of wine related news. A few highlights—the alcohol ban has been lifted in South Africa (woohoo); the WSET had to halt all educational programs in China (uhoh); Eric Asimov discusses the current state of the industry; and a recent post on Tim Atkin’s blog informed my most recent (wine-related) Amazon impulse buy.

I also had an article published on Wine Enthusiast. If you haven’t had a chance to see this piece in which I interview nine very different influential females in the wine industry, it’s the first link below.

Other than that, I’m studying hard. And, yes, I’ll have more DipWSET-related posts in the near future.

Cheers.

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Jan
2021

DipWSET Diploma Theory and Tasting—Red Wines of Spain

categories: Wine, Wine 101, Wine World (D3)

Welcome to Spain. One of the more intimidating countries for me to study, if I’m quite honest. But today I am breaking down a few of the major red wine producing regions via tastings. So, let’s start off with a little theory:

Describe the regions of Bierzo, Ribeiro del Duero, Rioja, and Priorat in terms of topography and climatic conditions. Describe the main red wine grape(s) of each region and create a generic dry tasting note for the red wines typical to each region.

Wine Regions of Spain; courtesy foodswinesfromspain.com
Wine Regions of Spain; courtesy foodswinesfromspain.com

Below, I’ve got bullet points that answer those few questions along with my tasting notes from each region. I’ve also slipped in a few Pop Quiz/Trivia questions throughout this post—see if you can answer those as well.

Buena suerte y salud!

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