Old World vs New World Wine

What does this mean, Old World/New World? Old World: the best wines, the only ones worth drinking, the most historic and fancy, I only drink Buuuuuurgundy and Italian wines (i.e. the earth is flat) New World: rule breakers, I’m going to plant what I want, where I want, give me BIG FRUIT! (i.e. the earth…

What Is Rosé?

Are all rosés from the famous Provence region in southern France? NO!!! They are from all over the world with varying styles. Rosés can be vastly different – some are sweet, some are off dry (aka slightly sweet), and others are totally dry (no perceived sweetness). So how do you know what you’re getting in…

Remote Wine Education

During COVID many folks are spending less time at tastings and more time with Netflix, myself included. If you’ve been scanning for some new knowledge, here are a few things I’ve found over the past couple of months. Wine in 9 on Udemy (thanks Shawn!) is a series of online courses that you take at…

My First Wine…since having a baby

I have missed you. And I have missed wine. I have missed this time to taste, research and write. What has kept me from you? The day I passed my Certified Specialist in Wine (CSW) exam on August 20, 2019, I also found out I was pregnant! And even before that I hadn’t been able…

Host your own wine tasting

“Do you have any tips for my wine tasting next weekend? I’ve asked people to bring one bottle per person…and we have picked 3 or 4.” Do. I. Have. Tips. I have to reign it in because I get so excited and geek out and tend to overcomplicate things. And even though there are already…

The Gambler’s Wine

You won’t know if it’s sweet or dry, unless the bottle tells you (or of course, you could taste).  It could also be still (no bubbles) or sparkling!  That’s the tricky thing about the Chenin Blanc (shenin blawnk).  Depending on when the winemaker stops the sugar fermentation, there could be a little Residual Sugar (RS)…

Why you need a tasting group

I have just come off an amazing few days in Napa and Sonoma. It wasn’t amazing just because these are beautiful places and there were great wines (all true). It was remarkable because over the past two years a group of people that were complete strangers to me are now a second family to me,…