Barton Family Wines Hot Blooded: 2014 Counoise

categories: Booze, Wine

I came across Barton Family Wines during my most recent Paso Robles visit. It’s absolutely one of my top recommended wine stops when visiting the area. Winemaker and proprietor, Joe Barton, took me through a full line up of his current releases (including those in his Grey and Grey Wolf line). I loved that his Chenin Blanc had actual body and substance; appreciated that his rosé still had a bit of tannic red wine quality; and was impressed by his confidence to bottle a single-varietal (face-puckering) Tannat. But what truly turned me on, the wine I walked away with, was the Barton Family Wines Hot Blooded — a single-varietal bottling of 100% Counoise.

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17
Mar
2017

Workman/Ayer 2014 Ipso Facto White Wine

categories: Booze, Wine

All of Workman/Ayer wines come out of the central coast, specifically Santa Barbara County. It’s an area I’m only beginning to familiarize myself with. While it’s not the “Rhone Ranger” station like Paso Robles, it seems Rhone varietals do thrive in the area — and winemakers are doing interesting things with those grapes. Just take a sip of Workman/Ayer 2014 Ipso Facto white wine…

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15
Mar
2017

Luna Vineyards 2014 Sangiovese Riserva

categories: Booze, Wine

This is a continuation of a story. To understand the story behind Luna Vineyards Sangiovese Riserva, I recommend first taking a look at the story behind the Luna Vineyards Sangiovese Classico. Though the two wines celebrate the same vintage, they come from markedly different vineyards. While the Classico hails from Napa Valley’s Atlas Peak, Oak Knoll, Oakville, Calistoga, and Pope Valley vineyards, the Riserva is, well, more reserved. She’s a one-vineyard kind of lady and her exclusivity results in a graceful outward attitude.

Dice buona sera alla Sangiovese Riserva degli Vigneti Luna.

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14
Mar
2017

Book Review: Slave to the Vine by Darren Delmore

categories: Books

Slave to the Vine: Confessions of a Vagabond Cellarhand

by Darren Delmore

Wine. It makes us feel so cool — sipping at home next to a roaring fire; ordering something unpronounceable at a the latest Michelin-starred restaurant; being seen, glass in hand, at the local hipster tasting room. It’s unfortunate that in this life-is-a-constant-photo-op day and age, wine has become a prop, a fashion-icon even. And for wine drinkers (as opposed to wine appreciators or wine students), the story stops there. To those wine drinkers I say: You know nothing.

What we pour into our glass is not a drink. It is a story — a story of a farmer who planted his parcel to vines; a story of climate and soil; a story of farmhands who pruned, picked, and sorted; a story of cellarhands who pressed, pumped, and racked. Forget the bottle, forget the label, forget your crystal stemware. Wine’s story is rustic, it’s dirty, it’s gritty. Wine’s story is a story of hard labor and hard decisions. Wine’s story: If you haven’t lived it, you don’t really know.

Darren Delmore has lived it and shares his story here.

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13
Mar
2017

Workman/Ayer 2013 De Facto Red Wine

categories: Booze, Wine

Workman/Ayer is the story of a couple who shares a passion for California Central Coast vines and wines. They’re an extremely boutique operation, with just 100 – 200 cases each of their current releases (which at the moment consists of one white and one red wine). So when Michel Ayer kindly sent me a bottle of each, I was eager to learn a bit more about the man and woman behind the bottle — and honored to taste what was inside.