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Additional Articles/Posts by Snooth

  • Why We Love Piedmont Wines
    I'm sitting here in Piedmont on a beautiful late spring day, lamenting the coming rains as well as the masses of tourists. The fact that this spring has been decidedly wet certainly contributes to a mad rush like this when the weather turns, but what...

  • Wine Pairings for Grilled Chicken
    Chicken is like the blank canvas of the culinary world. Mild and amenable, it’s an easy vehicle to bring global flavors to life. So this summer, instead of just slathering on the barbecue sauce, let your chicken take you to the far-flung corners of...

  • Chianti for Every Day
    Often overlooked, and suffering still from its days in straw covered fiasci, chianti continues to offer great value to the savvy shopper. A large region of Tuscany is devoted to the production of chianti of all sorts and stripes, and while the wines may...

  • Wine Recommendations for Grilling Vegetables
    Some things in life come easily. Others, you have to wait for. After all, you can grill up a steak just about anytime you want (though December in New York probably does not offer optimal conditions). But when it comes to things like baby squash and farm-...

  • The Best Petite Sirahs for Grilling
    Like zinfandel, petite sirah is primarily a California wine: the Golden State’s long, sunny growing seasons are necessary to ripen petite sirah’s substantial tannins and reveal its rich blackberry flavors. The wine’s structure, fruit,...

  • An Inside Look at Beringer Vineyards
    Those of my ilk tend to perpetuate certain notions. For example, the idea that smaller or newer is better, as if merely being either bestows some magical ability. It's a symptom of our society, with its 24-hour news cycle and instantaneous social...

  • The Wines of Brazil
    Next up in our series of Snooth Peoples Voice Awards Wine Writer Seminar portfolios (that's a mouthful) are reports on the little-known wines of Brazil. I've been fortunate to visit Brazilian wine country, so I'm familiar with the wines they...

  • Top 15 Syrahs for Grilling
    Carnivores and grillers, a few reasons to love syrah: it’s a fantastic wine for pairing with any roasted meats, especially red meats like beef and lamb, as well as wild game. It is often peppery and sometimes smoky, with a roasted fruit and/or...

  • 5 Ways to Reuse Your Wine Corks
    We’ve been taking a look at some of the wineries that "give back" to various charities, helping to make the world a better place. While this is an admirable part of any effective business plan, it doesn’t absolve the user of these...

  • Wine Pairings for Mahimahi
    Modern life affords us access to many seasonal foods year-round, but the truth is there remain peak times for certain items, particularly if you’re going to go about harvesting them yourself. Take mahimahi for example. We’re in the peak...

  • 10 Spring Wines You've Never Heard Of
    I love spring. In fact, it’s my favorite time of year. The return of warmer weather, the bursting forth of new life, the promise of so much all wrapped up in these first few days of the season that I am filled with remarkable enthusiasm for doing....

  • Top 15 Chardonnays for Grilling
    Chardonnay is an ideal wine to pair with many grilled foods. For one thing, it’s immensely popular — I have friends who prefer it to anything else. It is also extremely versatile, with the best examples having not only the acidity to cut...

  • 8 Reasons to Celebrate Malbec World Day
    In case you missed out on our most recent Virtual Tasting, we enjoyed a stellar lineup of malbec-based wines with Nora Favelukes, the U.S. representative of the Wines of Argentina. Just in time for Malbec World Day, April 17, take advantage of all the...

  • Sonoma, the Desination for Pinot Noir
    In some ways, California is an odd place when it comes to wine. Regions tend to become associated with a particular variety: Napa with Cabernet, Santa Barbara with Pinot Noir, Lodi with Zinfandel. It's not that these regions can't do anything else...

  • 5 Wine Regions to Visit This Spring
    Things are about to get a lot busier. If spring ever arrives, and I’ve been assured that it is on its way, we won’t only be looking at southern wine destinations. Meanwhile, I’m willing to give them one more month. April is a wonderful...

  • The Best Wine for Spring You've Never Heard Of
    As the weather warms up I know we'll all be reaching for more white wines. The question, of course, is which whites will those be? Are we all going to be predictable and reach for sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, and the occasional oddball, or is it time...

  • Aging Your Own Wine? Here's How
    One of the enemies of the wine lover is time. The greatest wines in the world are meant to be aged, to be given the time to allow oxygen, and who knows what else, to work their magic on young wine. The edges smooth out, the texture turns silky, flavors...

  • The Hottest White Wines for Spring
    So here's a question for all the ITB folks out there. With the change of the seasons, how heavily do you change your product mix? We all know that rosés are going to be big again this summer, and seem to be relegated to summer-time consumption...

  • The Best Napa Valley Wineries You've Never Heard Of
    There’s more to Napa Valley, Calif., than the big, well-established brands and "cult" producers of unobtainable cabernet sauvignon. There are hundreds of family-owned wineries making distinctive wines that are reasonably priced and not...

  • The World of Pinot Blancs
    Wine is so confusing! I love a good pinot blanc, or pinot bianco. But what do I love when it's not necessarily a pinot blanc? Let me explain. Alsace is unique in France, having created its appellation system by varietal instead of region. Except when...

  • The Alternative to Chardonnay: The Best of Chablis Wine
    With rumors of an impending spring abounding, I'm turning my eyes toward some white wines with which to welcome the changing of the seasons. So far it, looks like winter is leading into more winter here on the East Coast, but that won't stop me,...

  • Food and Wine Pairings for Spring
    Spring has arrived, supposedly. Judging from the freezing temperatures and snow flurries outside, a healthy dose of doubt is warranted. But very soon there will be proof of the changing seasons, like those first spring vegetables, tender and fresh,...

  • New Beers for Spring
    Many of us aren't seeing evidence of spring just yet, but the season is almost upon us. And with any luck, we'll be getting more flowers than showers over the next few months. Whatever we get, the best method for handling the arrival of a season...

  • California Zinfandel and Its Success
    Zinfandel, it’s no secret that I’ve carried on a long and intimate relationship with you. There is so much you have to offer. Sometimes you're a bit rough and tumble, edgy, even dangerous, while other times you’re coy or playful. But...

  • The Best Zinfandels for Less Than $20
    I make no secret of my love for zinfandel. It’s California’s greatest red wine, with petite sirah making it a competitive race. Yes, that goes against the cabernet orthodoxy, but I find too much cabernet tastes alike, and not compellingly like...

  • The Value Wine You Need
    Cabernet sauvignon is Chile’s most cultivated grape, with more than 98,000 acres of vines planted. While the character of Chilean cabernet varies, it often has fresh black fruit and good acidity. Although alcohol levels can be in the 13 to 14...

  • How to Tell If Wine Is Bad
    There are many potential flaws in bad wines, and the sad part is that, more often than not, a bad wine's flaw is so subtle that it ruins our experience without us even knowing — well, almost. Most of the major flaws found in a bad wine are...

  • The Best Rieslings on a Budget
    As I tasted riesling last week, I considered some of the reasons for its lack of wider popularity. Some say it's because the wines range from dry to very sweet, but I’m not convinced. I think one of the reasons is that too much riesling out...

  • Everything You Need to Know About Cabernet Sauvignon
    Cabernet sauvignon is one of the most popular and widely planted red grape varietals in the world. Part of its attraction is that it has a distinctive and very recognizable taste no matter where it is grown — which is perhaps why today we can find...

  • What Are You Really Nosing in Your Wine Glass?
    Ever wonder what the heck wine writers are talking about when they describe the nose of a wine? Like, how about that buttery thing that goes on with some of the wines you love. What is up with that? Well, almost all of the weird descriptors for a wine...

  • 10 Reasons to Love Riesling
    Riesling is always the next big thing, even though it’s been overtaken by a slew of other hip varieties. A few great examples and thoughts on why they suffer. This week I spent several hours tasting through several dozen bottles of riesling....

  • Best Foods to Pair with Cabernet Sauvignon
    Having just returned from California, and specifically, Napa, Calif., I’m in a bit of a cabernet state of mind, not that there is anything wrong with that. Napa is, after all, Cabernet Central; though many other fine wines can be found there, there...

  • Stark Wines: Sharing Profits for a Cause
    Stark Wine was first brought to my attention last year by a friend of a friend who was making wine, and the inevitable "could I try it"?  It's not a terribly uncommon occurrence, and one fraught with implications that require careful...

  • The Best Value Wines in Napa Valley
    I‘ve recently been tasting through recent cabernet releases from the Napa Valley and have been struck by the appeal of many of the wines. This is due in small part to the string of vintages, cooler than typical, that winemakers have recently been...

  • Taste Test: Château de Beaucastel Wines
    Sometimes the wine gods conspire against you. I actually knew something like this was coming. Things had been going too well for too long. I recently thought about the roll I was on, nary a corked bottle in months, and even some suspect oldies had showed...

  • A Look at Wine Country in Santa Cruz, California
    California's home to many renowned wine regions, some well-equipped to handle tourists, others less so. For some regions it’s a question of terrain, for others location, but that shouldn’t keep intrepid travelers from making an extra...

  • The Best Australian Blends
    Down Under, the traditional Southern Rhône blend of grenache, syrah, and mourvedre is commonly known by the name GSM (or SGM) — based on the Australian no-nonsense attitude and strong belief in "calling a spade a spade," or calling...

  • The Best of Austrian Red Wines
    It’s been cold as an Alpine breeze here in New York and that got me thinking of mountain wines — red mountain wines to be precise. Now this is a bit of a departure for me; I generally prefer these wines when the weather is not quite so...

  • New Beer for the New Year
    The year still has a shiny new sheen to it, so there’s still time for you to make and keep a few more resolutions. Me personally, I suggest turning over a new leaf and experimenting with new and unique beers. Explore and you will find very...

  • Top 8 2010 Burgundies
    2010 burgundies are hitting the shelves, or in some cases due to the marriage of limited quantities and high ratings, are slipping through the retail channels without ever having seen a shelf. Yes, this is the perfect storm: a great vintage, lower than...

  • 3 Wines That Give Back to Charity
    We live in an odd world, one where many of us routinely slurp down wines costing $10, $20, or more per bottle, while others struggle with the basic necessities of life. I'm not trying to guilt anyone into giving up wine here, but I do want to take...

  • Has Syrah's Time Finally Come?
    Syrah has been a perennial dark horse in the U.S. market for much of the last two decades. It’s a grape that always seems to be on the verge of greatness, even exploding on the scene in the late 1990s under the shiraz moniker and with a thick...

  • Italian Varietals in Oregon Wine Country
    After a quick tour of the winery, we settled in at the bar and sampled a couple of Remy’s fantastic single vineyard Italian varietal wines: the 2009 Illahe Vineyard Oregon Lagrein and the 2009 Rosebud Vineyard Washington Barbera. The lagrein was...

  • A Simple Guide to Rhone Blends
    I’ve been tasting a few Rhone style blends of as of late, and am looking forward to a small vertical of Château Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape covering the vintages 1995-2005 next week, a report on which will be coming soon. With all these...

  • Pairing Wines with Spanish Food
    Sometimes one feels like a nut, sometimes one doesn’t. I may be reaching here, but I love the simplicity of this statement, and to paraphrase while retaining the essence of this statement, sometimes you feel like a classic wine and food pairing, and...

  • What's Up with Wine Ratings?
    I’ve been thinking about writing up my thoughts on this issue for some time, but I had always thought it was just too simple an issue; something that might be summed up in a few sentences, but perhaps I was wrong. The issue of course is wine ratings...

  • The Best Wine Shops in Denver
    Many transplants to Colorado consider the liquor laws here odd. For instance, every bar is required to serve food and no liquor store proprietor is allowed to own more than one liquor license. This last law, while disconcerting to some people who are used...

  • Red Wine Blends That Won't Hurt Your Wallet
    I began today ostensibly writing about Meritage wines and bordeaux, but then the truth interfered. The truth is, Meritage wines, and some of bordeaux can't really be distinguished today from many other more "inventive" blends that are...

  • What Foods to Pair with Sparkling Wine
    I never gave sparkling wine a fair shake (no pun intended). Like most people, my first exposures to sparkling wines were New Year’s Eve parties as a kid. Sooner or later, someone would put a glass of Champagne in my hand. I’d take a sip and...

  • Top 10 Sparkling Rosés for New Year's Eve
    When people think of sparkling wine they tend to think of the white varieties, which of course are delicious and festive. However, when I think of the holidays and sparkling wines, my mind instantly goes to rosés. The addition of a bright hue that...

  • A Guide to Cava for the Holidays
    If your budget can’t afford Champagne, and you’ve had one too many glasses of prosecco this year, consider ringing in 2013 with Spain’s popular sparkling wine, cava. Here’s are the top ten things you should know about cava to raise...

  • Wines to Pair with the Feast of the 7 Fishes
    While this is a classic Italian, and more specifically Southern Italian, way of celebrating Christmas Eve, its broad appeal is undeniable. What could be better than a meal composed of seven small plates of perfectly prepared fish dishes? Typically, the...

  • Last-Minute Gift Guide: 7 Wine Gifts
    With time running short, have you figured out what you’ll be buying the wine lovers on your list? We’ve made plenty of suggestions for specific wines from $25 to $50, $50, to $75, $75 and above, and a whole variety of price points as well....

  • Top 10 Cabernet Sauvignons From Washington State
    Cabernet sauvignon is often blended. This changes — and some would say completes — its distinctive profile. To showcase this iconic black grape, I wanted to pluck out varietal cabernets. However, I most wanted to spotlight wines from...

  • Best Cabernets for Home
    One of the main frustrations voiced by our readers is the difficulty one sometimes encounters when trying to track down highly rated wines. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable due to the fragmented nature of the wine distribution industry in the U.S.,...

  • Best Moscatos for the Holidays
    Moscato has been on fire as of late. The combination of modest alcohol, often between 5 percent and 10 percent, noticeable sweetness, and a bit of fizz has found an eager and thirsty audience. Of course, there is moscato and there is moscato; many a...

  • Best Decanters to Gift This Season
    Gifts are supposed to be light-hearted and even frivolous, especially when you're buying a gift for a hard-to-shop-for wine geek. You can rack your brain trying to find the perfect wine or glassware, but truth be told, those are generally hard to find...

  • 7 Courses of Wine for the Holidays
    We recently concluded our People’s Voice Awards Epicurean Edition after receiving tens of thousands of votes for delicious recipes and their wine pairings. The results are in, and we can definitely declare that Italian food seems to have run away...

  • Best Under-$50 Wine Gifts for the Holidays
    Last week I wrote about gifts for your high-end wine lovers. I realize that $100 a bottle sounds like a heck of a lot of money, so today I’m taking a look at wines that, while still relatively pricey at $25 to $50 a bottle, deliver serious bang for...

  • Holiday Glassware Guide
    Originally published in 2011, eveything here still holds true today, and we've even added some great deals on glassware to buy this holiday season! Still looking for that perfect holiday gift? Consider glassware. Seriously, it's something every...

  • Holiday Wine Gifts
    Wine geeks are an odd lot to shop for during the holiday season. You can always buy them wine, but will they like it? Ditto for glassware. Why are there so many different types? Is it just to cause gifting anxiety? Yes it’s true, while we wine...

  • 5 Basic Food and Wine Pairing Concepts
    We’re heading full steam into the holiday season, the time of year most people find themselves in front of seemingly endless shelves of wine wondering what to buy. You know what you like, that’s not the problem, it’s trying to figure out...

  • 5 Ports Worth Trying
    The holiday season is prime dessert wine drinking time for several reasons. It’s hard to drink a lot of dessert wine. They come after a huge meal and many other wines. We are full. Please not a wafer, no! Add in the fact that many dessert wines are...

  • Luxury Wine Gifts for the Holidays
    If you want to find a special gift for the wine lover on your list, you might want to plan ahead. It’s easy enough to find a decent $20 bottle of wine at your corner liquor or grocery store, but if you’re looking to really wow someone, you...

  • 5 Party Wines Less Than $20
    Now that you have Cyber Monday-induced carpal tunnel syndrome, it’s time to put the mouse down and use the gray mush between your ears for a bit. I know, it’s not as fun as spending money, but a well-considered gift might save you a little...

  • A Tour of the Oregon Wine Harvest
    On the third day of the incredible Oregon Wine Harvest Tour through the gorgeous state I proudly call home, our group of wine writers was lucky enough to sit down with four of Oregon’s top producers of fine chardonnay: Jim Bernau of Willamette...

  • Top Pinot Noir Picks
    Value is a nebulous thing. It can be found everywhere, but sometimes we don’t even realize that what we’re looking at is value if we don’t have a context to place it in. The following list is a set of value wines, with each bottle...

  • Pairing Pinot Noir
    Pinot noir has become a serious contender in the world of fine wine. There was a time when the name pinot noir was an obscurity amongst the average wine drinker. Those in the know understood that red burgundy was made from pinot and vintner-pioneers in...

  • Value Pinots for the Holidays
    Pinot noir is probably the most popular choice for Thanksgiving Day tables and the holiday parties that follow. This can present certain problems, mainly the difficult challenge of finding high-quality pinots at wallet-friendly prices. High quality pinot...

  • The Wine Region of the Year
    Wine writers like to give out awards. Sometimes, those awards are for wines that win comparative taste tests, a dubious proposition in many ways. Other times, it’s simply the best wine a writer has tasted all year. Perhaps I am naive, but I give out...

  • Holiday Wines: Rioja Reserva
    With the holidays fast approaching, this is the time of the year when most of us begin to look for wines that are a cut above our average, wines that deliver something special yet hopefully do not break the bank while doing so. There are many possible...

  • Best 4 Viogniers for Roasted Turkey
    Roast turkey is a classic holiday meal, but it really tends to only be part of the whole picture. Unlike many other main courses, there is a set of dishes that we all expect to appear beside our golden roast bird. These dishes, and in particular the...

  • The Best of Spanish Wines
    Spain is a huge country that produces tons of wine, but we often get caught up in tasting wines from only its most famous regions. I repeatedly hear what great bargains can be found throughout Spain and I agree wholeheartedly, but sometimes for the best...

  • What to Buy: 12 Lodi, California, Wines
    Fine wine can be likened to aesthetic arts or crafts, the qualities appreciated are sensory, a state of mind, rather than a measurable technology. For the most curious and adventurous wine enthusiasts of the world, the most exciting wines are typically...

  • What Is Monastrell?
    It’s a good question. Many people are not familiar with the grape, also known as mourvedre, mazuelo, and mataro. Also, a lot of producers aren’t completely sure where they want to go with this tough, often spicy, gamy, tannic, and mysterious...

  • Top Portuguese Red Wines
    The wines of Portugal, and the red wines in particular, offer consumers a glimpse back in time. Many of the wines are still made in a slightly rustic style with flavors that proudly display the earth, spice, and savory tones that almost define Old World...

  • Spain and Portugal Wine Pairings
    It’s funny how people like to stay within their comfort zones. When most of us get into wine, it’s usually a question of French or Italian. As we explore deeper, we are introduced to the wines of Australia, Germany, Napa Valley, and Spain....

  • Snapshots From the 2012 Wine Harvest
    2012 was a bit of an atypical vintage across Europe. The weather was difficult through the spring and early summer, and even later in some regions, which generally delayed the vegetative cycle and set the vines back from the get-go. Additional issues...

  • 10 Wines for Fall Foods
    It is that time of year again — days are growing shorter, it’s still dark when we wake up, and soon enough, it’ll be night when we leave our offices each evening, too. Don’t despair. With every season comes something to celebrate....

  • What We're Drinking: 2010 Red Burgundy
    As I said in my post on 2010 Burgundian whites, this vintage is delicious. I discussed there how weather affects white and red wines differently. So far, it’s hard to say which color I favor, though I’m leaning towards the whites. However...

  • 9 Wine Terms to Know by Heart
    Some of my recent wine reviews have featured a new approach to reviewing. I’m trying to make my reviews more useful to a broader range of wine lovers, so I’ve simplified the written review and tried to make some objective information more...

  • What We're Drinking: 2010 Northern Rhone
    I don’t do syrah justice on these pages. Coming from around the world, the wines often do not get the distribution they need because of a soft market. On the other hand, Northern Rhone reds, which are either completely syrah or predominantly syrah,...

  • Wine Tasting at Youngberg Hill
    One of my favorite things about the Wine Bloggers Conference is that attendees have the opportunity to visit nearby wine country. This year's Wine Bloggers Conference was held in Portland, Ore., and being a finalist and winner of the Best New Wine...

  • Trait-d'Union Champagnes
    As harvest is once again upon us, I thought it would be fun to elaborate on a few champagne producers who have been working in a different way for a few decades and who have come together under the name Trait-d'Union. The group is made up of Champagne...

  • Insider (Wine) Trading
    With the help of instantaneous search results, anyone can pick out a good $100 bottle of wine these days. The real question is how to bluff your way to the blue chip crowd and how to look good doing it. Of course, I'm not suggesting that there aren...

  • The Best Mid-Range Merlots
    I often say that the sweet spot for wine falls roughly in the $15 to $25 range. In this range, you can find producers who are out of favor, undiscovered, or working in regions that, for some reason, lack prestige yet produce wines that are equal to...

  • Experience the Wines of Brazil
    Where can you find more than 1,100 wineries spanning almost half the globe? Brazil! Yes, Brazil produces wine, and lots of it. Currently the fifth-largest producer of wine in the Southern Hemisphere, Brazil is one of the fastest-growing wine markets in...

  • Pairing Merlot
    Thinking back, I can remember a time when merlot was all the craze. It was widely popular and one of the most planted varieties around the world. Now, I find people telling me that they don’t like merlot more than any other grape variety that I know...

  • The Best 2010 Burgundy Whites
    The 2010 wines from Burgundy are delicious. The weather affects white and red wines differently. I’ll start by pointing out why small weather events can change a lot, and sometimes everything, in the way wines taste in the end. In this post, I...

  • Budget Wines: Merlot for Less Than $15
    Merlot is not the four-letter word it once was. In fact, it’s rapidly becoming a five-letter word. That word is VALUE my friends! You see, while everybody was going on about not drinking any merlot, a funny thing happened, the crappy merlot...

  • 5 Annoying Wine Terms
    Wine can be a pretty stuffy topic. Historically, it’s been dominated by old men tasting wine in wood-panelled libraries, speaking with a little Locust Valley lockjaw (if you know what I mean, Lovey). The fact that the people responsible for tasting...

  • The Food and Wine of Alto Adige
    Having recently returned from a trip to Trentino and the Alto Adige, my mind is insistent on reminding me of the wonderful food and wine I enjoyed while there. In late August, the nights were cool and crisp, lending themselves to a rather indulgent...

  • The Best of 2008 Barolo
    As many of you already know, barolo is my favorite wine. I look forward to my annual visits to the region, where I taste several hundred wines each year. As can be the case with such repetitive visits, I have pretty much settled on my favorite producers,...

  • Traveling Through Spain and Portugal's Wine Country
    Spain is an enchanted destination for all types of travelers. There are castles from the Middle Ages, celebrated works of contemporary architecture, rustic tapas, and Michelin-rated restaurants. There is world-class surfing, skiing in the Sierra Nevada,...

  • The Seductive Reds of Friuli Venezia-Giulia
    I remember my first few encounters with Friulian reds. I adored them instantly. The wines possess freshness and cheerful purpose. Brisk acidity focuses the wines and feisty, sometimes bracing tannins add a vivid crunch. Earthy, woodsy components play an...

  • 5 Wine Myths, Busted
    Wine is a complicated matter. Or that’s at least what all wine experts are hoping you’ll believe! The truth is that wine is a remarkably flexible product, ending up as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Let’s take a few of...

  • Pairing Northern Italian Red Wines
    Northern Italy presents the food lover with an arsenal of food-friendly wines made in a multitude of styles. As you look at each region of Northern Italy, you can see the influences of the surrounding cultures. Remember that through the centuries, these...

  • The Best of Barbera Wines
    Barbera elicits the most remarkable reactions from people. Those who are more accustomed to modern wines only recall the worst of the wine’s history. The thin, incredibly high-acid examples seemed better suited for use in the garage as a...

  • Amarone Buying Guide
    Amarone is essentially a modern-day update on a traditional wine made for centuries from dried grapes in the area around Verona in Italy’s Veneto region — Recioto della Valpolicella. Whereas recioto is quite sweet, however, thanks to a...

  • Pairing Meritage and Bordeaux-Style Wines
    For many people, wine appreciation, collecting, and drinking begins and ends with bordeaux. You may not even realize it, but it is primarily two grapes that make up the lion's share of the bordeaux blend, namely cabernet sauvignon and merlot, with...

  • Exploring the Craft Beer Cocktail Movement
    There are a lot of boozy movements out there these days. You've got your craft cocktail movement, your craft beer movement and your craft beer cocktail movement. Wait, what was that last one? You heard me right! And we're talking about much more...

  • Pairing Salmon with Wine
    Sometimes, a wine and food pairing takes you by surprise even though it fits into the general rules of food and wine pairing. Consider salmon, which seems to be paired almost exclusively with pinot noir these days. Are these pairings always well thought...

  • The Best of Oregon Pinot Gris
    Oregon has slowly been carving out a niche for itself with pinot gris. At first, the wines tended to be on the sweet side. Admittedly, the buying public was well served by the chosen moniker, pinot gris, over the more common and familiar pinot grigio. The...

  • The 6 Wines You Should Have On Hand
    With the end of summer approaching, it is easy to get caught with one’s proverbial pants down. All this sun and warm weather has turned our brains to mush and lulled us into a false sense of security. The first snap of fall will change all of that....

  • Pairing Wine with Grilled Fish
    Summer’s end is closing in on us, as witnessed by the encroaching darkness that makes grilling more and more of a challenge each weekend. I lament the passing of yet another summer, but I am determined to use my full grilling quota. With the bounty...

  • Wedding Wines, Part 1
    No, I don’t mean to suggest that you share crappy wine at your wedding. Instead, I think that an easy guide like this will make selecting your wines an easy task, one you can quickly clear off your plate. So take some time and read our tips for a...

  • Pinot Grigio for Less Than $15
    One thing you learn quickly when you get to taste as many wines as I do is that there is only a loose correlation between price and quality. Paying more for a wine certainly doesn’t guarantee a better wine, but when you move from one price point to...

  • Wine Vocabulary: 5 Wine Components You Need to Know
    How often have you run across these phrases when you’re reading a wine review: "highly structured," "crisp," "bright," "firm tannins," "fine-grained tannins." How do they translate into your flavor...

  • Do Bordeaux Blends Age?
    With my recent tasting of 2008 bordeaux fresh in my mind, it is the perfect time to revisit a tasting from early this year of what can only be described as minor bordeaux of the 1980s. Truth be told, I don’t recall the exact pricing for many of...

  • The Best Wines and Wineries of Brazil
    What follows are brief snapshots of 10 important Brazilian wineries I visited in May. They all play specific roles in the Brazilian wine industry, whether that means producing high volumes, pioneering emerging regions and varieties, or simply helping to...

  • Restaurants for Wine Lovers in Las Vegas
    For those traveling to Las Vegas, there are hundreds of restaurants to choose from. Celebrity chefs are opening up restaurants left and right, restaurants from around the country are opening up Vegas outposts, and high-end restaurants are not want for...

  • 5 Questions for Nikolaus Saahs, Winemaker at Weingut Nikolaihof
    If you're familiar with Austrian wine, you are more than likely familiar with Weingut Nikolaihof. For decades, Nikolaihof has, perhaps unwittingly, been at the forefront of quality wine production in Austria and the world. Consider the fact that...

  • 8 Elegant Zinfandels
    After last week’s look at value-oriented Zinfandel, I was pretty excited to jump into and taste some higher end wines. I love Zinfandel’s many iterations. From the Claret styles of yore to the fruit bombs that have made bold headlines and big...

  • The Best 5 Zinfandels for Less Than $15
    Zinfandel has a perhaps well-deserved reputation of being a wine that goes well with barbecue. The problem is that the reputation overlooks many of the finer zins that might be totally obscured by the heavy and intense flavors most ‘cue brings to...

  • Women Make Better Wine Than Men
    A recent Santa Clara University study of "highly acclaimed" California wineries suggests that women winemakers, despite their minority in the field, are beating their male counterparts in the quality game. The paper, "Evidence of Women...

  • Liquid Dessert: 5 Most Popular Dessert White Wines
    If you're considering skipping dessert, we suggest you reconsider. There are so many amazing dessert white wines available that perhaps you should consider drinking dessert. As our People's Voice Wine Awards campaign enters its fifth week, we'...

  • Chionetti Winery: Dolcetto di Dogliani
    A little over a year ago, my husband and I went arbitrarily cruising in our convertible VW bug looking for fun wineries to visit. We ended up in the middle of the vineyards of Dogliani and took the driveway marked Chionetti. Looking more like someone'...

  • Super Expensive Bucket List Wines
    Recently, I’ve been counting down my bucket list wines of various categories in a series of emails. Even though I’ve tried to be clear as day that my lists are written in attempt to keep within the means of most people, even if that means...

  • Riesling Ages for Ages, Top Wine Swillers Say
    So what’s the deal and why would you age something that is already so freaking delicious? Well, maybe you shouldn’t. Just sayin’… Riesling does age very well and for a long time, that we all know and understand. But what exactly...

  • Seeing Life Through Glasses of Rosé: The Top 5 Rosé Wines
    Summer is a perfect time to sit outside, put your feet up, and sip something cool and maybe a little sweet — like a glass of chilled rosé. Its summertime appeal is likely what makes rosé such a popular selection. The category of ros...

  • Bucket List Wines: California
    I’m moving on with my bucket list wines with a nice follow-up to the last installment, one which featured super expensive wines that most of us will probably never be able to afford. Today’s installment features wines that might not be overly...

  • The Best Budget-Friendly Rieslings
    It’s not easy to find a great riesling under $12. It is a very particular challenge since producers can always rely on their favorite crutch, sugar, when producing rieslings. After working through over a case of value-priced rieslings, I was...

  • Bucket List Wines, France: Part 2
    I published a bucket list for the wines of France two weeks ago and took some grief for it. I try to keep these installments short, so I felt a need to be strict in my selection process. Many people felt I was a little too strict. Here’s a...

  • Sour Beers for Wine Lovers
    As the resident beer writer here at Snooth, I am aware that most of you dear readers are wine lovers. I also know (thanks to Nielsen) that about 72 percent of you enjoy a craft beer here and there. For those of you who haven’t really ventured into...

  • 7 Unusual Wines for Pork
    Some wines are hard to taste. It’s not because they are actually hard to taste (well, there is that also), but rather because you don’t know when to taste them. Funky red blends, for example, tend to fall outside of the generally regional- or...

  • Bucket List Wines: France
    We’re back, this time picking up were we left off and continuing the countdown of my bucket list wines. It would be easy to say that the sky’s the limit, but I’ve chosen to remain somewhat reasonable in my picks. Financially reasonable,...

  • The Top 11 Wine-Drinking Countries
    This should have been a simple task. After all, the numbers I’m using come from The Wine Institute’s annual tally of wine consumption, this time for the vintage of 2010. So it’s just a simple list, right? Well, yes and no. No because it...

  • What to Pair with Rosé
    The wine world is suddenly catching on; there’s nothing wrong with drinking rosé. In my time, I’ve heard people talk down rosé more than any other style of wine. Why? Some will say it was the rise of White Zinfandel that forever...

  • Austin's Best Wine Bars
    Austin’s wine bars are as varied as its population. Be it the hippy, all-organic crowd or the UT frat crew, there’s a wine bar for all of the personalities you can find in our laid-back, more-liberal-than-the-rest-of-the-state city. Whether...

  • Pairing Sauvignon Blanc
    Spring is here with summer around the corner, and although I will miss the big, structured red wines that I love so much, this time of year has me longing for sauvignon blanc. I know that some people might think of chardonnay, but not me. For me,...

  • Moët Ice Imperial and 5 Other Gimmick Wines
    Summertime means drinking champagne on ice, right? Well that’s what Moët & Chandon wants you to think. The winery has released their Moët Ice Imperial, a champagne meant to be sipped on ice. Reviews have been mixed, and the Huffington...

  • Best 5 Red Wines for Grilling
    I should have titled this article "5 Wines for Grilled Beef," but the wine recommendations that I’ll be making are pretty much all beef-friendly. It’s just that all of the beef I plan to consume from now through Labor Day will very...

  • 10 Budget-Friendly Grenaches
    I started building this last week, when I felt compelled to segment my Top 10 Grenache Producers list because I simply could not trim the list to 10 without eliminating some great producers. Eventually I realized that the easiest course of action...

  • Getting to Know Grenache
    Grenache is one of the wine world’s great chameleons. Not only does it successfully change character from place to place, but it seems to change from season to season, making it a perfect wine for spring and fall. It might seem like a bit of a...

  • 8 Must-Try Wines From Chile
    So, I spent a week in Chile and this is all I can come up with? A list of eight wines. What a slacker! Truth be told, I have several lists in the works, all with many more than eight wines on them, but I wanted to get the ball rolling while the wines are...

  • What Wine Would Your Favorite 'Avengers' Character Be?
    Starting early yesterday evening, comic fans across the nation began lining up at local movie theaters to ensure their entry to the biggest movie opening of the season: Joss Whedon's The Avengers. Starring all of our favorite comic characters, the...

  • 7 Mistakes Wine Drinkers Make
    I know some might argue that it should just be about the wine and how it tastes, which is true, but by knowing, recognizing, and avoiding these 7 Deadly Sins of wine, you might enjoy that glass even more. Getting the most out of each bottle is important...

  • 5 New York State Red Wines to Try
    The Hudson Valley was once the land of strange hybrid wines that were sweet, foxy, and just outright weird. Today, most of the reds are produced with more familiar European varieties like pinot noir and cabernet franc. The style of the wines tend to be...

  • Washington Wine Industry Worth $8.6 Billion, Study Finds
    A new study from the Washington Wine Commission found that Washington’s wine industry is worth $8.6 billion a year, according to The Bellingham Herald. The second-largest wine producing state in the country, Washington nearly tripled its worth...

  • Reconsidering Pinot Gris
    Eventually someone will ask, "What's the wine that got you into wine?" Then come the phenomenal answers of ancient brunellos discovered on semesters abroad and burgundies shared with lovers who don't speak the language. You know, mind-...

  • How to Choose Wines for Your Wedding
    No, I don’t mean to suggest that you share crappy wine at your wedding. Rather, I think that an easy guide like this will make selecting your wines a less daunting task — one you can quickly clear off your plate. So take some time and read our...

  • Chemical Found in Red Wine Blocks Fat Formation, Study Finds
    A recent study found that a chemical in red wine, piceatannol, may prevent the production of fat in the body, according to Wine Spectator. The study, published in the March issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, found that subjects experienced up...

  • What to Make of 2008 Bordeaux Wines
    There’s no doubt that in many markets, Bordeaux is hot once again. Given the amazing media hype of the 2009 and 2010 vintages, it might be easy to forget the situation the Bordelaise were facing late in 2008. Not only was the world’s economy...

  • Market Share of Import Wines to Increase, Report Says
    Consumers are expected to opt for less expensive import wines in the coming years to avoid paying more for domestic wines, whose prices are expected to increase because of grape shortages, according to Wines & Vines. Silicon Valley Bank’s "...

  • Pairing Food with Bordeaux Blends
    For many people, wine appreciation, collecting, and drinking begins and ends with Bordeaux. You may not even realize it, but it is primarily two grapes that make up the lion's share of the Bordeaux blend, namely cabernet sauvignon and merlot, with...

  • Wine Attempts to Gain Traction with Nascar Fans
    Beer is often the drink of choice at sports venues, but wine could be making a play from behind. Riunite and Banfi are taking a step toward changing previous drinking conventions by introducing wine to NASCAR, a MediaPost article says. Since 2009, Banfi...

  • 5 Wines of Portugal
    With all the recent focus on things like chardonnay and white rhône blends, it's easy to overlook the fact that not every region or variety is so widespread to warrant two weeks of intense inspection. By that same token, there can be a...

  • Researchers Discover Carcinogens in Alcoholic Beverages
    Passionate wine drinkers are aware of the many substances found in their wines. Things like acids, tannins, and resveratrol float around in every glass. A new study has found that carcinogens can be found in those wines as well, according to WineSpectator...

  • 7 Italian White Wines Worth Tasting
    Are you drinking enough Italian whites? Probably not. In fact, you’ve probably never even heard of some of these wines. I found a wine new to me as well, and I loved it. How cool is that? That is why we do this crazy thing we do, pursuing wines...

  • Vine Shortage Strikes California
    The grape shortage in California predicted not too long ago may get worse before it gets any better. With excess grapes gone, California wineries are scrambling to procure new vines, but the state’s vine nurseries do not have enough vines to meet...

  • What Wines Pair with Easter Candy?
    Wine and Easter candy sounds like a recipe for disaster. For today, set your preconceived notions aside and come along as we pair four wines with the most popular and nostalgic Easter candies out there. With the recent surge of unique wine pairings on...

  • Pairing White Rhône Wines with Food
    When most people think of the Northern Rhône, they don't think of white wine. It's really no surprise that viognier (one of the principal white grapes of the region) had nearly gone extinct only fifty years ago, with just eight acres...

  • Midwest Grape Growers Fear Late Spring Frost
    From the few months we’ve had so far, it seems 2012 is not the greatest year for grape growing. California is already facing a grape shortage and now weather in the Midwest is causing some growers to break into a sweat over a potential winter...

  • Top 5 Red Wines for Spring
    Quick, don’t blink or you’ll miss spring! One moment it’s here, the next it’s not. You have to be prepared if you want to enjoy some springtime fresh wines before the summer rolls in! I laid out a plan for some spring whites...

  • Raise a Glass to Dry Farmed Wines
    Today I want to take a moment to consider the impact winemaking has not just on our lives, but also on the world around us. It can be a very intensive type of farming, with many producers using fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and significant amounts...

  • Lack of Rain Threatens California's Grape Reserves
    To compound their problems with grape shortages, California winemakers must now be wary of low rain potentially decreasing their grape reserves, according to the Western Farm Press. In a meeting for grape growers presented by the San Joaquin Valley...

  • 10 White Wines for Spring
    Spring has definitely sprung around these parts and while I am fully cognizant of the fact that I'm going to get caught in a trap, I'm thinking of my wines for spring already. I know, I'll be out sipping summery whites and Mother Nature'...

  • Best Wine Bars in Seattle
    Seattleites love their wine. It could be because of the Emerald City’s wealth of precipitous and overcast days which are generally celebrated by locals indoors. These indoor activities are more often than not accompanied by good bottles of wine to...

  • Santa Ynez Valley Wine Country
    The Central Coast is home to some of the most breathtaking landscapes in California. With its panoramic view of the ocean and mountains and wide array of culture, it’s no wonder the area attracts so many visitors. The coast is also home to the best...

  • Women Pioneers in Wine
    A few centuries ago, at the dawn of the French Revolution, one women changed the world of champagne and in turn the world of wine forever. Nicole-Barbe Ponsardin, better known as the Veuve Clicquot, revolutionized the champagne trade, invented the...

  • Sangiovese Food and Wine Pairings
    Sangiovese is easily one of my favorite wines to pair with food. It’s versatile, with many different interpretations that open up numerous opportunities for pairings. I would place sangiovese in my top five food-friendly wines, with many examples...

  • How to Survive the Wine Retail Business
    I recently had the opportunity to sit down with several friends who work in retail stores here in New York City. Over the course of several days and a few long conversations, I began to think of their plight. Not only have they been fairly battered by the...

  • 5 Wines to Serve at a Playdate
    Before you full-on assault me, let me point out that the idea for this article came from recent Grapes & Grain Opinion Panel results, a survey of more than 10,000 wine consumers. A full third of respondents, some 36 percent, felt it was usually or...

  • How to Pair Wine with Cookies
    Man, with this winter being but a tease, I am doubtful that we’ll have enough time for all the required cookie baking of the season. The smell of freshly baked cookies, no — the smell of a house full of freshly baked cookies, is one of winter...

  • 20 Top New Zealand Chardonnays
    New Zealand has made a name for itself first with sauvignon blanc and increasingly with pinot noir, but one of its greatest gifts to wine lovers everywhere has pretty much remained a secret. That secret is chardonnay. The wine that everyone loves to hate...

  • Consumers Prefer Low-Alcohol Wines
    A study from Wine Intelligence found that participants preferred wines with lower alcohol content, according to Decanter. The study, which polled 1,000 wine drinkers from the United States, the U.K., China, and Germany, found that 22 percent from Britain...

  • Have Craft Cocktails Hurt or Helped Wine Sales?
    Boston, like many cities, has experienced a boom in craft cocktail culture. Bars like Hawthorne and Drink cater to those who know the difference between a flip and fizz. Then there are those Tequila bars that keep popping up. I'm curious if this boom...

  • Skinnygirl to Begin Selling Wine in March
    Weight-conscious wine drinkers, rejoice! Skinnygirl, known for its low-calorie, pre-made margarita, will enter the wine market next month, according to Wine Spectator.  The 2011 Skinnygirl vintage will include a red blend made primarily from syrah,...

  • Top 10 Syrah Producers
    Syrah has a problem. Actually, it’s a crisis — an identity crisis. While producing world-class syrah (shiraz), winemakers have failed to capture the imaginations of many consumers. But why? Mostly because syrah, like it’s duel name...

  • Along the Virginia Wine Trail
    The chardonnay at Pollak Vineyards tasted of crème brûlée and fig. Or was that the viognier? After our fourth Virginia Charlottesville-Piedmont region winery of the day, my notes were just a wee bit wine-spotted. The chardonnays and...

  • Top 5 Cabernet Sauvignon Wines
    There are many great and fine cabernets out there, but I find it awfully difficult to work my way through the vast majority on the market today. Where’s the elegance? The freshness? Enough with the blueberry milkshakes, give me some herbs. Please....

  • How to Spit Wine Like a Pro
    At some point in your wine journey, you will face the ultimate test of oenophile professionalism: spitting. Yes, spitting. We all know it's a tough skill to learn, especially when you want to come across as a professional. Some of you have already...

  • 5 Best Food Pairings for Chardonnay
    I’ve been letting people know about my recent rediscovery of chardonnay. While so many bottles get drained as a cocktail wine, the most successful of those will probably not appeal to me. The reason? They are made to be fruity and rich, so they...

  • 6 Favorite Chardonnays
    Why am I drinking chardonnay when it’s freezing out? Because, to put it simply, it's always time for chardonnay. I have to laugh while writing this, as not too long ago I was almost of the opinion that it was never time for chardonnay. I have to...

  • Top 10 Italian Red Wines
    Having recently tasted a few 2006 Brunellos, my thoughts turned to the reputation of Brunello and where it fits within the hierarchy of Italian wines. While there are some lovely wines from Brunello, it has never been one of my go-to regions in Italy....

  • What Wines Pair with Healthy Winter Dishes?
    We’re still in full New Year’s resolution mode, right? If you’re like me, you’ve made some promise to yourself to eat healthier, whether or not that means dieting. The notion of “healthy eating” can take many forms,...

  • What Wines Pair with Healthy Winter Dishes?
    We’re still in full New Year’s resolution mode, right? If you’re like me, you’ve made some promise to yourself to eat healthier, whether or not that means dieting. The notion of “healthy eating” can take many forms,...

  • Guide to Drinking Wine on a Diet
    What is your New Year’s resolution? I bet for many of you, myself included, it is to take better care of yourselves. That usually means trying to slim down. While at first pass you might think that means cutting out the wine from your diet, there...

  • Best Value Wines to Buy
    Wine prices getting you down? Tired of feeling like you’re getting screwed every time you buy a bottle of wine? Well, there are options. I’m not saying that you can get the same wine for less, but you can get a similar wine for less! And you...

  • 9 Great Bottles of Prosecco
    Prosecco was one of the great stories of 2011 for several reasons. First was the great growth that continued for this fresh and fruity sparkler from the northeast of Italy, but beyond that was the  intriguing change that came to prosecco. Prosecco...

  • All About Champagne
    ‘Tis the season and everyone is scrambling for Champagne. Do you remember what you bought last year? Did you even like it? If you can’t answer that question, you really should pay attention to the next few morsels of information. Not only do...

  • Best Kosher Wines for Hanukkah
    Kosher wines rarely get any love. Most wine critics don't keep kosher, yours truly included. Even if they did, there's a bit of a stigma attached to kosher wines, mainly because they have been kind of crappy in years gone by. Today, that has...

  • Top Rated Wines for Gifting
    When choosing a wine as a gift, there are many considerations that one can take into account. Is the region famous enough? Did it have a great vintage? Is the producer well known for producing great wine? Will people realize how much I spend when they...

  • The Best Boxed Wines
    It’s time to party! You have to ask yourself, do you feel lucky? Do you, punk? Just like Inspector Harry Callahan, boxed wines are a bit outside of the mainstream, are unorthodox, fresh, and get the job done. Sometimes they're messy and the...

  • Sexy Wine Labels
    Sex sells, we all know that. Wine being an adult beverage, it would seem like sex would be a happy partner for marketing, but to date its use has been sparce. That seems like it’s about to change. While there has been some undercurrent of sexy...

  • Top 10 Wine Books for the Holidays
    One good thing about a wine lover is that there is always something new to buy for him or her each holiday season. I mean, you have 100,000 new wines to choose from! Daunting is it? Well, you also have a never-ending crop of new wine books that are...

  • The 6 Worst Wine Disasters
    What do you think of when you hear the words "wine disaster"? Red wine on a light carpet? A corked bottle? Stained teeth? Those things all suck, but not nearly as much as the six wine disasters you are about to learn about. From millions of...

  • The Best Wine Pairings for Fall Foods
    After a summer of enjoying whites and lightly chilled reds, it’s time to kick down the cellar doors and start pulling bottles once again. One thing I love about fall is that the changing seasons make hearty reds the star of any table. Last year, I...

  • What Wines Pair with Pizza?
    Pizza and wine: It’s a natural combination, right? In my ongoing quest to find what wines go with fast food, I turn now to my favorite fast food of all, pizza. What epitomizes fast food — and I’m talking New York City fast food —...

  • 6 Current Issues in the Wine Industry
    I have spent a lot of time among wine professionals and super consumers over the past few weeks, and I have to tell you that we are all amazed at how badly many wine drinkers are getting screwed. It is a rampant problem, you see, with multiple causes....

  • 10 Awesome Wine Labels
    When shopping, a wine label is likely the first thing to call your attention to any particular wine bottle. But do you know just how much that label influences your purchasing habits? Research shows that when browsing a store's shelf, 100 percent of...

  • 6 Green Ways to Bottle Wine
    Winemakers continue to make many decisions that impact the environment well after the wine has been made. Both container choices and closure choices have implications on both the wine’s quality and carbon footprint. This might seem inconsequential...

  • How Wine Prices Have Changed
    You might have noticed that I complain about wine prices. A lot. Maybe I’m just jaded, or spoiled since I’ve been buying wine for so long, or perhaps my standard of living has simply eroded. Then again, I’ve grown more mature and...

  • How to Preserve an Open Bottle of Wine
    I get this question so often that I am sort of shocked that I haven’t addressed it yet. It’s perhaps one of the best questions about wine, but its simple answer often gets obscured by marketing pitches designed to solve a problem that you...

  • 9 Great Bordeaux Wines
    Bordeaux doesn’t need much introduction. These are the classic wines of Southwest France, complex and age worthy, and based on blends that have become benchmarks the world over. Of course, many people dismiss Bordeaux wines because of their...

  • 12 Kosher Wines Besides Manischewitz
    Well, it's that time of year again. By that time of year, I mean when you go to your local wine shop — before making your way to your parents house for Rosh Hashanah dinner — and sift through what's left of their Kosher wine selection...

  • 8 Funky New Ways to Package Wine
    You may think you're going to your local wine shop to grab a bottle, but chances are, you might actually end up coming home instead with a box, pouch, or can. More and more, brands are seeking to cut through the clutter and be more sustainable in...

  • Something's Brewing in New York City
    There’s an old joke: What do having sex in a canoe and American beer have in common? They’re both f****ng close to water. Of course, that hasn’t been true for years. Starting in the 1970s and '80s, with small breweries like San...

  • New York City's Best Wine Shops
    I'm really fortunate to live in New York City. Not only are there great wine shops in ever corner of the city, but they are easy to get to, and easy to find. Of course with today's ease of shipping, which is not perfect but certainly getting...

  • In-N-Out Wine Pairings
    During my visit to Sonoma this year (when I raced up and down the county on #CabernetDay as a kick-off to our own GTiCabernet, as well as spent the better part of a week visiting wineries and grabbing some great interviews during the Visa Sonoma Wine...

  • Top Tailgating Wines
    Are you ready for some football? Some Monday night parties? How about some Sunday afternoon bacchanalia? Wait a minute, that’s not how the song goes. But if you’re like me, that might be how your life goes. Football season is upon us and...

  • New York City's Top Wine Lists
    Wine lists. The truth is that I like reading them more than ordering off one. I don't like the exorbitant markups and limited selections that characterize the majority of wine lists I am faced with, but sometimes a great BYOB option is not on the...

  • Put a Cork In It
    Alternative closures were all the rage in the 1990s and that has been a real challenge for the cork industry, which saw its dominance of the sector diminish considerably thanks to competitive closures such as screwcaps, glass closures, synthetic corks and...

  • International Spritzers
    Want to put soda in your wine? Many wine snobs would scream and shout in opposition. Despite their compelling arguments that watering down, or adding soda or juices, takes away from the complexities and true taste of the wine, many countries around the...

  • Unusual Wine Bar Offerings
    If you’ve been to a few wine bars, you’ve probably come to expect certain regulars on the food menu: assorted salumi and marinated olives; the requisite cheese plate; a selection of flat breads or crostini; maybe a pâté or two....

  • How to Travel with Wine
    Somehow, we're already finding ourselves in August and that means the high point of summer vacations. Here at Snooth, it seems like every week somebody different is out of the office. So for all of those who are traveling, domestic or abroad, we have...

  • 5 Great Grenache Blends
    Writing about Grenache got me thinking I ought to taste some; so I rounded up some representative samples of both the reds and the rosés to try. In this post, I'm reporting back on the reds, but keep your eyes out for the upcoming report on...

  • Musicians' Backstage Drink Demands
    Everyone loves to hear about celebs in their more humanistic moments. We crave to hear about where they go on weekends, what they buy at the grocery store and, better yet, what weird things they request while on tour. It is always strangely fascinating to...

  • Burger King Wine Pairings
    It's time for Round Four of our probing investigative series on Fast Food and Wine Pairings! I'm actually beginning to understand more about these pairings. Well, more about fast food to be specific, and how they in turn affect the wines. Our...

  • Top Cool Climate Wines
    Cool climate wines — sure sounds good right about now as we start stringing together the hottest days of the year. Cool climate, icy mountain springs, fresh breezes, brisk nights around the campfire, that’s what we’re talking about....

  • How to Spot a Great Wine List
    A lot gets written for restaurateurs about how to put together a great list, but very little get written for consumers regarding how they can recognize that great list. So many metrics that are frequently used to measure the quality of wine lists, number...

  • Transforming the World We Drink In
    Very few of the things that make our lives better suffer through such a violent and tumultuous life as wine. Neither food, music, literature nor art (which all tend to evolve slowly), ever really abandon their roots in the way that wine does. Wines from...

  • Anniversary Wines
    One of the most common questions I get deals with anniversary wines. By that I mean the kind of wines that one opens for milestone dates: 25th, 30th, even 21st. Generally, people are looking to celebrate the passage of these days with a bottle from the...

  • Best Rosé Wines for July
    Nothing says summer like rosé wine. Well, that not true; nothing says summer like bottles and bottles of this captured sunshine! Sales of rosé have exploded over the past several years and while that has brought many more players into the...

  • KFC Wine Pairings
    I'm back at the dinner table, checking off another one of your favorite fast food joints and this time it's finger lickin' good. Chicken tends to be a fairly easy dish to pair with wines and seeing that we are in full summer mode, it's the...

  • Wine's Just Desserts
    It’s no surprise that we gravitate towards cool, crisp whites and chilled rosés during these warm summer months. Easy to drink and easy to enjoy, a wine’s quaffable nature is precisely what we’re after! But as much as we enjoy a...

  • World's Coolest Winery Features
    We’ve been taking a look at the design of wineries around the world over these past few weeks from a rather holistic point of view. The truth is that almost every winery is designed with some aesthetic, some just resonate more with me and some are...

  • Chipotle Wine Pairings
    We are at it again! Looking to pair your favorite foods with wines that work. It’s not always easy and some people don’t even think it’s worth the time. The truth is we can’t always sit down to a crown roast, but that should not...

  • Solar-Powered Wineries
    Last week, Google announced a $280 million dollar deal with SolarCity, a solar paneling company that will build and lease solar power systems to between 7,000 and 9,000 homeowners, according to Reuters. This is Google’s largest investment yet and...

  • Top 10 North Fork Wines
    When people think of wine in the United States, their initial thoughts turn to California. Of course, California’s winemaking history goes back more than two hundred years, with international recognition booming in the 70s and 80s, and the branding...

  • McDonald's Wine Pairings
    So what could be better than a Big Mac? A Big Mac and a glass of wine! Well, we can try to take mere takeout and transform it into a meal (or at least we can tell ourselves that). Seriously, what’s wrong with pairing wine with some Mickey D's,...

  • Rosés of Provence
    Cezanne, van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Munch, Monet. Quite the list of famous painters, and no they weren’t also winemakers. The artiste as entrepreneur, return to the earth movement is a relatively recent phenomenon, requiring of course that...

  • Summer Sauvignon Blanc
    With these warm spring days we all can’t help but think that summer is right around the corner. And with those summer days come the cool, crisp whites that make for some memorable, if not well remembered, summer nights. I’ll be taking a look...

  • Chilling with Pinot Noir
    With summer on everyone’s mind, the wine writing community tends to obsess about the white wines that we’ll all be greedily slurping down over the coming months; but the truth is, there will be plenty of red wines called for, as well as ros...

  • Funnymen Wines
    Sometimes you just have to laugh, hopefully with some frequency, especially if you’re one of our funnymen winemakers. Everybody knows that the best way to easy riches is by owning a winery. Bada-bum-bum. Rimshot! Joke. Okay, so the real joke is how...

  • 1990 Barolo
    It’s been a very good year. Over the past 12 months or so, I’ve been fortunate to taste through quite a few 1990 Barolo on several occasions. Those who know me have heard me say more than once that I don’t consider 1990 to be one of...

  • 6 More Common Wine Questions
    What temperature should I serve wine at? This is a question that I have answered before in some detail. The simple answer is cooler than you think, and warmer than you think! Many resources recommend serving red wines at "room temperature....

  • 10 Secrets of Barbera
    Barbera is known for its dark color, bright acidity, and soft tannins. Due to the balance of acid and tannins, Barbera has done well in warmer climates and can benefit from some time on barriques — even new ones! California has had some good...

  • The 7 Steps to Wine Geekdom
    We all have to start somewhere. Many of us start where it’s most easy, and that usually means sweet! There’s nothing wrong with starting on White Zin and inexpensive German wines — they all serve a purpose as gateway wines. Each...

  • Top 3 South African Reds Tasted
    2003 Morgenster Stellenbosch 13.5% A bit reticent on the nose but with super finely delineated black currant fruit topped with nuanced tomato leaf, black olive and Necco wafer notes. Really lovely nose that recalls fine Bordeaux and gains depth and...

  • Rock-Star Wines
    There’s an old saying that if you want to make $1 million in the winemaking business, it’s easy — just start with $4 million! That may not be entirely true; you’re probably more likely to end up with nothing, but that’s...

  • Why We Should Drink Pinot Blanc
    It's the wild child of Pinot Noir. Yes, it’s true: Pinot Blanc, or Pinot Bianco in Italy, is actually a pigment-free mutation of Pinot Noir, and as such is really a rather diverse group of mutants at that. What can be said about Pinot Blanc is...

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