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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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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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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Back to the Futures–In Bordeaux! UPDATED

Most wine drinkers, even real enthusiasts, will never buy wine futures–but, some of us of even modest means will splurge. So what exactly is a “wine future?” Well for starters, it’s just what it says: wine that will be available down the road. Also known as “en primeur,” French for

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