Three Loire Cabernet Franc by Xavier Amirault
What can make French wine confusing to newcomers is that often the name of the grape inside the bottle is nowhere to be found on the outside of the bottle.
That means to know what grapes are inside the bottle you have to know what is grown in the region named on the bottle.
While wine grapes may be grown throughout the world, it is France that many consider the most important country for wine. Ever since the Greeks cultivated grapes in Gaul (France) in the 6th century, for over 2,000 years, growing grapes and making wine has been an important aspect of life in France. Wine grapes are grown throughout the country with 7-8 million bottles produced every year making France the number one producer of wine by volume in the world.
Did you know that most of the well-known grapes grown globally are actually French in origin? Continue reading
You have until midnight Eastern time or 9pm Pacific time TODAY Monday January 13 to comment about the proposed 100% Trump Tariffs against food and wine from the EU that might start as early as TOMORROW Jan. 14.
calling to complain: SO PLEAE Call YOUR senators and representatives and urge them to pressure the Office of the US Trade Representative to reconsider their proposed tariffs
Yes, some of these tariffs are 100%.
If you like wine, BUY, and enjoy cheese, olive oil, and so many other food products,
this will devastate YOU.
Because it will cost you so much more to buy the food, wine, and spirits products you love. AND it hurts many Americans who are in the import business– Americans who are your neighbors.
So what can you do? Read about it and comment here. Continue reading
January 11 is my birthday; I’m Gen X.
It’s also the birthday of WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, a Millenial who turned 36.
And of Larry Harvey, Burning Man founder (RIP), a Boomer, who was fond of absinthe by Absinthia.
How did 2019 go by so fast? is it really 2020 — time of vision past and future?
I’d like to celebrate all three of us — Larry, Matt and ME, the future and the past plus any other Capricorns along for the ride…
and I’d like to ask for your support. Because this was not a typical birthday for me…
On Wednesday, my dog Cisco was hit by a car as I was on my way to a pre-birthday celebration; 24 hours in the ER later, we owed $2.5 k AND he still needs between $2-6k in treatment to fix his displaced hip. He’s in a great deal of pain. I spent most of my birthday taking care of and cleaning up after him. Continue reading
Unusual White Wines from Paso Robles , CA
As people think first of red wines when think about wine from Central California’s Paso Robles if at all, we thought it would be fun to feature these uncommon and unexpected yet delightful white grapes from this less well known and under-appreciated region that is best known for its zinfandel, syrah, and cabernet blends — wines that are rich and red and often high in alcohol because so much of the AVA gets really hot in the summer.
2020 is barely a week old, but as I’m calendaring the year’s prompts for #ItalianFWT, #WinePW, #Winophiles, winemaker lunches and trade tastings in LA as well as other activities like the Wine Media Conference in Oregon and wine travel to Europe and South America, I’m reflecting on what we accomplished here on Wine Predator in 2019– and trying to decide what to submit for the Born Digital Awards (see what articles I submitted to the Millesima contest here).
I’m not really sure how we found the time, but Sue and I participated in EVERY SINGLE monthly prompt for Italian Food Wine Travel aka #ItalianFWT, Wine Pairing Weekend aka #WinePW, and the French Winophiles #Winophiles.
We joined wine bloggers and influencers from around the world but mostly from the US as we tasted and wrote about wines together following prompts that the group developed and organized sometimes with samples, and sometimes not.
Here on Wine Predator, that means 36 posts altogether at 15-20k words each! That’s the word count of a good sized book!
For almost every single article, I researched the region, the wine, the winery, and Sue and I both researched the cuisine to come up with menus and pairing ideas. Continue reading
From Franciacorta in the north in Lombardy and Friuli in the northeast to Toscana in central west and Sicily in the southwest, Italy is full of wines to discover. With over 2000 indigenous grapes grown in the 20 regions, the range of wines and expressions makes getting to know and understand Italian wine an interesting challenge as I discovered last year during the VinItaly Wine Ambassador Course.
Think it’s time to tune up your Italian wine game in 2020?
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 