syrah

Last time on the VC blog, we talked about how to pair wine and food.  That got me thinking about the kind of foods I've been craving and cooking this winter: hot soups, hearty braises served over polenta, and rich pear tarts.  The rich comfort foods of winter definitely call for wines that can stand up to deep flavors.  When...

Summer's here and that means grilling season.  When the summer days mean it's too stifling to cook over a hot stove, I loveto take the kitchen prep outside and cook as much as I can over the open flame.  Not only does it keep the house cool, grilling outside lets me enjoy the warm summer evenings, and offers the delicious...

Some VERY old bottles. Let's hope they have what it takes to open up well! Aging a bottle of wine has a very distinct, qualitative effect on the contents. But it's a very unpredictable effect. This leaves wine aficionados in a rough place--you don't want to spend the time and the money aging a nice bottle of wine, only to open...

It's still hot outside, but it won't stay that way for long.  Soon, fall will be here, and its chilly breezes will make you crave wines that are deep, rich, and robust.  One perfect wine for fall?  Syrah, sometimes called Shiraz. Syrah or Shiraz is a very dark wine grape--almost black in color--that produces bold and rich wine.  Syrah grapes have...

Ever since our post on weird wine names, I've been on the hunt for wines with quirky names.  Finally I got the chance to try one--the 2007 Arrogant Frog "Croak-Rotie."  And surprise!  A funky wine name does not a funky wine make.  In fact, I deemed this one good enough to share with you. Ok, I'll admit it--it's the label...

Oakiness: you read about this quality on some wine bottles, along with acidity, tannins, and sweetness. How long a wine ferments in oak barrels does impact its taste, nose, and texture, but a lot of winemakers don’t like to discuss this part of the aging process.  In recent years, they've become afraid people will jump to conclusions that their wines...