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
Category: Big Splurges $75+
Pine Ridge Napa Cab ’19 Smokes the Competition in Five-Wine Tasting
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
Temecula Redux
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
Top 12 Wines of 2023
We were blessed with a year of good health, great wines, and the cherished company of friends and family to share a glass or two with. We enjoyed a lot of good wine, and a small quantity of outstanding wine...that's what you'll find in our Top 12 list. This year, we divided our top wines… Continue reading Top 12 Wines of 2023
Does High Cost = High Quality? VinoDuo Investigates
We interrupt our Grande French Adventure Series to Consider Cost, Quality, and the Correlation Between them in the Wines of Bordeaux. While wandering through the wine shops and vineyards of Saint-Émilion, Saint-Julien, Médoc, Pomerol, and Pessac-Léognan we noticed significant pricing disparities for seemingly similar wines. In Saint Émilion we wondered why the flagship wine's best… Continue reading Does High Cost = High Quality? VinoDuo Investigates
Our Grande French Adventure, Part 3
The Wineries of Saint-Julien We concluded our visit to Bordeaux's Left Bank with stops in the Saint-Julien appellation. The smallest of the four "communes" that make up Bordeaux's Haut-Médoc region, St.-Julien is Cabernet Sauvignon country and, therefore, Gary [and often, Lisa] country. In fact, Gary hand-picked each of the wineries and Into the Vineyard made… Continue reading Our Grande French Adventure, Part 3
Our Grande French Adventure, Part 2
I. The City of BordeauxWhen you hear "Bordeaux," you think of the wine region. We certainly did. And then we spent three nights in the city of Bordeaux...an ancient [3rd century], lively city that benefits from its namesake wine region's popularity but stands on its own if you never sip a drop of wine during… Continue reading Our Grande French Adventure, Part 2
Our Grande French Adventure, Part 1
When we started VinoDuo about 17 years ago we called it a wine and travel blog. The intent was to visit and uncover lesser-known wine regions in the US. In the early years we stopped in Temecula, Livermore, and Paso Robles, CA; the then-nascent Woodinville, WA area; the North Fork of Long Island, and the… Continue reading Our Grande French Adventure, Part 1
A Trip to France Yields Beaucoup Bottles to Recommend
Part 2 - Red Wines For many wine lovers, Bordeaux is Mecca; the greatest wine region in the world. So we made a pilgrimage to Bordeaux in October, along with a three-day visit to Languedoc, an under-appreciated wine region in the South of France. Our Bordeaux journey was coordinated by wine travel planner Into the… Continue reading A Trip to France Yields Beaucoup Bottles to Recommend
“Noble” Brunello di Montalcino Tasting
Brunello di Montalcino is widely regarded as one of the three “noble wines” of Italy, the others being Barolo and Amarone [Super Tuscan lovers, hold your boos.] Produced exclusively around the village of Montalcino using a particular variety of the Sangiovese grape, the ‘Sangiovese Grosso’, a Brunello di Montalcino must be made with 100% Sangiovese,… Continue reading “Noble” Brunello di Montalcino Tasting
