Travel & Tasting Notes From A Couple of Wine Lovers
We had the great pleasure of taking two wine-tasting trips to Europe in 2025, where we tramped through gorgeous vineyards, met with visionary winemakers, and sampled a whole lot of brilliant wine. In Spring we visited parts of Umbria, Tuscany [Chianti, Brunello] and Sardinia. In the Fall we took our first wine-focused trip to Spain,… Continue reading VinoDuo’s 12 Favorite Wines of 2025
OR, HOW WE SPENT [PART OF] OUR SUMMER VACATION Last Night's Pour of Acinore Like most wine lovers, we have favorite bottles that we return to time and again. From Puglia, two exquisite Primativos: Acinore and Rinforzo Primitivo Salento. From Napa, Edict and Burgess [a 2024 discovery] Cabernet Sauvignon. And from Trader Joe's by way… Continue reading Ten Wine Discoveries To Buy Now
It's easy to fall in love with a wine when you're surrounded by gorgeous vineyards and savoring local meats and cheeses while chatting with the staff. Every wine tastes good under those conditions! But sometimes, a wine that charmed us in situ was less charming when we got it home. You've likely had the same… Continue reading You Loved it at the Winery, but how Does it Taste at Home?
Put four opinionated oenophiles in a room with four Tuscan reds and you're sure to get a lively debate and a few surprises. Since our return from Tuscany [see our post], we've become evangelists for lesser-known wines from the Chianti region. So we threw down the gauntlet: we invited our wine-loving friends to a blind-tasting and… Continue reading Blind Tasting: Battle of the Super Tuscans
Siena is a glorious Tuscan city, markedly smaller than Florence but with its own storied history and fantastic architecture, food, and wine. Lisa had visited Siena 40 years ago (!) and Gary had never been, so we were eager to spend four days exploring its narrow streets and broad piazzas. Known worldwide for the Palio… Continue reading Drinking Chianti in Chianti
Great Wines from Our Trip to Umbria, Tuscany + Sardinia You Can Buy Locally from $18 to $100+ Stumbling on a small mom-and-pop winery in the middle of Italy can be a great joy. You sit with the winemaker, often in their kitchen/tasting room, and listen to stories about their passion projects. But ask where… Continue reading These 9 Wines have US Distribution
After spending three delightful days in Umbria, we drove two hours north to Tuscany. While the charms of Tuscany were never a secret, the region rocketed to the top of everyone's Italian bucket list following the 1996 publication of Frances Mayes' uplifting, romantic memoir, "Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy." The book remained… Continue reading A [Short] Guide to Brunello di Montalcino: Great Wines, Great Time
Since Thursday is the new Friday for evening social events we said "Yes!" to an invitation to taste some rare and exquisite wines at the Washington Square Tavern in Brookline, MA. The restaurant owner is a wine genius, with a great shop of his own, so we knew the wines would be worth tasting, even… Continue reading Champagne Taste on a Big Champagne Budget…like $400 Big
When friends from California came calling this summer, we made them feel right at home with a casual tasting of 2020 and 2021 releases of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. We paired two lesser-known producers with a couple of Napa superstars but when those four didn't completely delight, we hastily added a 2019 also drawn from… Continue reading Pine Ridge Napa Cab ’19 Smokes the Competition in Five-Wine Tasting
Temecu-what? And where? Temecula is a steadily expanding wine region 90 miles south of Los Angeles. VinoDuo first visited this then-unknown area over 15 years ago, when there were fewer than 12 wineries. Back then, the wines were certainly drinkable but only a few were noteworthy. The vines were young and the learning curve of… Continue reading Temecula Redux
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