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Welcome to Wine Flair!

Ever felt awkward when ordering wine at a restaurant? Ever walked into a wine store and had no idea where to begin, what to buy or how much to pay?

Ever looked at a European wine label and wondered what’s in there? Then Wine-Flair.com is just for you. It’s all about wine education and appreciation, written in plain language.

Not Ready For Prime Time? De-Alcoholized “Wine”

The wine industry, broadly, is in a tizzy about the (perceived) state of affairs: a glut of bulk wine; too many planted acres; a lower appetite for wine especially among younger adults; and a strong movement toward low- and non-alcohol beverages buttressed by stark warnings from the World Health Organization

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Make Second Wines Your First Choice!

So you’re sitting in a lovely, fine-dining restaurant that has an extensive wine list, including pages of selections from France, with a focus on Bordeaux. You’ve always liked French wine, and as you thumb through the list in a leather-bound binder, sitting on a white linen tablecloth, your eyes practically

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Does New Tech Have Wine Over a Barrel?

When you’re wine shopping in a store, you’ll usually see “shelf talkers,” those little tags that shout out wine ratings and accolades below the bottles, practically begging you to buy a bottle…or a case. If not, you can just check reviews online from, say, Wine Spectator, or even snap a

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Is Non-Alcohol “Wine” Actually Wine?

Let’s first establish something: wine is the fermented juice of grapes. Sake is not wine. Neither is strawberry “wine.” And if the grape juice isn’t fermented, or vinified, which describes the entire winemaking process, it’s also not wine. But here’s a dilemma: many so-called non-alcohol wines have actually been fermented…but

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Thanksgiving Wines for 2022

Thanksgiving will soon be here, and you’ve probably already decided on your menu. With Covid mostly out of mind now, if not totally defeated, many families have expanded Thanksgiving plans and invitations, and the wine, spirits and liquor industries are predicting Americans will “splurge” on holiday beverages this year in

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The “Clean Wine” Scam

As new wineries pop up weekly, and online direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine clubs multiply, they’re all looking for a marketing hook. Unfortunately, one that’s increasingly popular is selling their wares as “clean” wines–and it’s misleading and basically a scam. Worse still, many purveyors of “clean” and “natural” wines also often use

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Featured Wine: Dürnberg Falkenstein Grüner Veltliner 2019

Warm weather is here. Very warm. In fact, unprecedented “heat domes” in June and now well into July, across much of the country. That’s one of the reasons—plus simply on merit—I’m recommending what I think is one of the three most crisp, refreshing, and ideal summer white wines in the

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Wine of the Week: Left Coast Cellars White Pinot Noir 2019

Wait a minute. Pinot Noir is a red wine grape, so what is this nonsense about a white? Well, in this case, it’s unique, and not, in fact, nonsensical. But it’s a wine that few people have probably tasted, and that’s too bad. What it lacks in color–very slightly straw-hued–it

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