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Three December Days in Zurich

Zurich at night

We were fortunate enough to spend a couple of weeks in Europe in December of last year, starting in Amsterdam and winding our way up the Rhine River, with a final stop in Zurich. The trip had its ups and downs, starting on a high in Amsterdam for three days,

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A Big, Expressive Red from J. Lohr

Paso Robles in California is known for big reds, as well as other styles. The climate here promotes long hang time, high sugar and frequently high alcohol. Taming that into a wine that is still balanced and fruit forward is a challenge, but here is a wine that succeeds wonderfully.

Wine: 2021 J. Lohr Pure

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A Barbera Built for Food from Riva Leone

Here’s a good red for Italian food, one that will stand up to red sauce nicely and pare with your next pizza or pasta.

Wine: 2021 Riva Leone Barbera

Winery Location: Piemonte, Italy

Tasted By: Neil & Cheri Date: Feb 2024

Tasting Notes: Medium dark purplish ruby in color, this wine has a nose of

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A Throwback Look at the 2015 Canard Throwback Cabernet

We opened up a bottle of the 2015 Canard Vineyards Throwback Cabernet Sauvignon recently. It started when we received several older vintages in our club shipment from Canard in the fall, owing to the fact that it should have been 2020 wines, but those were lost to the fires of that year. So we started

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A Rustic Chianti Classico from Banfi

Here’s a wine from a tried and true producer, Castello Banfi. They can generally be trusted to provide a good value and a quality wine no matter which Banfi bottle you open. This one is a Chianti from their Tuscan line, and let’s see how it holds up to the Banfi reputation.

Wine: 2019 Banfi

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Two Outstanding Reds from Argentina and Domaine Bousquet

We’ve reviewed many wines from Domaine Bousquet over the past few years. Mendoza, in Argentina, is a world class wine producing area known widely for its quality and value. Standing at the feet of the Andes, this is a land of high altitude vineyards and low rainfall, lying in the rain shadow of the moutnains.

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Wines from the Abruzzo Region of Italy and the Masciarelli Family

Tenute Agricole Masciarelli was established in the Abruzzo region of Italy in 1981 by Gianni Masciarelli, starting with about 5 acres of vineyards owned by his grandfather. Things would grow rapidly from there, as Gianni introduced a reserve level Montepulciano d’Abruzzo in 1984. He bought more vineyard land, expanding the comany holdings. Throughout the vineyards

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Dutch Gin and the House of Bols

Genever Tasting

One of our favorite things about traveling is the unexpected, the surprising and delightful place, person or experience you just stumble upon. We had several of those during our trip to Europe in December, some coming during our time in Amsterdam. This was one, when we found an inviting bar in

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Top 20 Wines of 2023!

Another year has passed and it was an eventful one, filled with travel and work and everything else that makes up life. Instead of sampling 600-800 wines as we would with a wine event heavy year, our field of view was once again smaller. This year it was in the neighborhood of 200-300. Some made

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A Twenty Year Old Bordeaux Still Going Strong

As usual we opened some older and special bottles of wine this holiday season. A Brunello from 2000, a more recent Napa Cab, a really good Italian Merlot; all were vanquished. The best of the bunch however was probably the Bordeaux we popped on New Year’s eve. This was a beautiful wine, perfectly integrated and

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