Wine of the Week: Vistini Ribolla Gialla Colli Orientali del Friuli 2010

Ribolla Gialla is one of my all-time favorite grapes. It’s also an excellent way to wean your friends off Pinot Grigio. It’s usually more complex and less fruity – tighter and more elegant. That said, Vistini makes an amazing orange-hued(from skin maceration) Pinot Grigio.

One strange thing about this wine is that it gets more intense in the mid-palate, which is the opposite of pretty much every other wine. It might be just a short phase this bottle is going through or a phase that my taste buds are going through as well.

Are vintages subjective? 8 out of 10 cats would agree that wine ratings are based on personal taste. Vintages, on the other hand, seem to be more grounded in the firm reality of weather and climate and their effects on the grapes. A good year is a good year, no? CLICK TO SEE THE FULL [...]

Selecting the perfect yacht juice Yachts? Rosés? But the markets are tanking and the summer is over! Damn the reality1, full speed ahead! For the past few years rosé sales have power-sailed at a record pace. No one knows exactly why given their perpetual image problem due to (in no apparent order): White Zinfandel Rosé [...]

This article appeared in the August 2007 edition of Connections Magazine (Ireland) A man walks into a restaurant just outside of Naples and barks out his order. “I want three things: a pepperoni pizza, a green salad and a bottle of red wine – Chianti.” This guy just wasn’t about to get sweet talked into [...]

This article appeared in the June 2007 edition of Connections Magazine (Ireland) People who know nothing about wine – no, not you, I’m talking about people who think Chardonnay is a brand name – somehow know enough to say “I like a dry wine” even if they don’t. Yes, the underlying insecurities that seem to [...]

“I’ll be pouring some excellent Cab Francs today.” Whatever happened to “We’re tasting some excellent Cab Francs today?” Everyone seems to be pouring everywhere these days. Am I the only person who thinks that this sounds strange? What would the equivalent be with chocolate chip cookies? “I’ll be placing some excellent chocolate chip cookies today?” [...]

This article appeared in the December 2007 edition of Connections Magazine (Ireland) So what do you get for the wine lover who has everything? Bottles of wine can be tricky unless you really understand the receiver’s preferences very well. And even then, the element of surprise – the hallmark of any good gift – ups [...]

An evening at the Autour d’ un Verre Copyright 2007 Brice Dunwoodie This article appeared in the October 2007 edition of Connections Magazine (Ireland) People used to say that you can’t get a bad meal in Paris. Sadly, this is no longer true (perhaps it never was!) and the same goes for wine. Still, there’s [...]

It used to be said – actually quite often – that wine people are all so nice. But Bacchus got bored of that. Polite disagreements turned into towel-swatting. Towel-swatting turned into fisticuffs. And fisticuffs turned into an all out head-in-the-turnbuckle, tomahawk chopping, pile driving, suplexing brawl. Yes, the world of wine has become like professional [...]

Is it OK to yell blueberry milkshake in a crowded wine tasting? Portugal and Spain are often described as both new world and old world wine countries because of the mix of traditional and modern methods. This doesn’t just mean that there are new players making wine among the traditionalists. The winemakers themselves are increasingly [...]

This article is a part of Wine Blogging Wednesday “go native”1 sponsored by Dr. Vino. Verdelho, along with Sercial, Malmsey and Bual, is one of the 4 main Madeira grape varieties. As one of the dry styles of Madeira, it’s made in a way similar to sherry; in other words, we’re not going to get [...]