Travel & Tasting Notes From A Couple of Wine Lovers
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
Underrated. Unappreciated. Overlooked. That’s Umbria. Always playing catch-up to neighboring Tuscany, with its celebrated Chiantis and Brunellos and swoon-worthy medieval hill towns. Umbria's wine culture “dates back to the Etruscans, from the 8th to 1st centuries BCE,” but Umbria has yet to claim its place in the pantheon of Italy’s picture postcard wine regions. It's… Continue reading Discovering Umbria: Italy’s Hidden Wine Gem
About 18 months ago we were in France, winding [or wine-ing?] our way through Paris, Bordeaux, and Languedoc. You can read about our adventures here. This year, we gave Italy its due: Rome, Umbria, Tuscany, and Sardinia. But first, another stop in Paris, where we started our journey with a two-night stay. Our primary goal… Continue reading Notre Dame + Wine Bars: The Perfect Paris Weekend
Everyone's Re-visiting Temecula! In February 2024, VinoDuo returned to Temecula, a small-ish wine region south of LA that we first visited in the early 2000s. We found a lively, expanding wine culture whose growers, grapes, and production stand in marked contrast to the mega regions of Napa and Sonoma. Amid the familiar Cabs and Sauvignon… Continue reading Top Temecula Wineries: Insights from VinoDuo and Wine Enthusiast
In the 1960s and 70’s, Lisa visited her grandmothers in Hallandale, FL, about 40 minutes north of Miami. Occasionally, the family would venture to the adjacent city of Hollywood, which was a bit dumpy and honkytonk, but had a fun beach broadwalk for strolling and gawking. Fast forward 50 years and Lisa was once again… Continue reading Wine Bar Review: Vintage on Harrison Hollywood, FL
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
On a recent flight to LA we passed the time with Wine Enthusiast’s Best of 2023” issue. As fans of Duckhorn Vineyards‘ “everyday” Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (@$40) we were pleased to see its much pricier ($125) 2019 Monitor Ledge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon named the #1 wine of the year. Imagine our delight when we… Continue reading When a Duck is a Decoy
After VinoDuo’s five-day trip through several Bordeaux AOCs with our guide Frederic from Into the Vineyard we took the [extremely fast and clean] TGI train to the city of Montpellier, which would be our home base for exploring several small AOPs [Appellation d'Origine Protégée, similar to AOC] in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Before we post our… Continue reading What’s Up, Languedoc?
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
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