Wine Reviews

Ratings Explained

84 & Below – Not Posted ‘cause we won’t drink it
85 + A good wine. Buy if the price is right
90 + A very good wine, in our humble opinion
95 + An awe inspiring wine – Possibly life altering

All wine reviews are based solely on the personal tastes of the authors.
Disclosure: Samples are designated by an “S” beside the wine reviewed.
We’re still objective. Robert Parker doesn’t buy his wines either

Sep 092010
 
Wine Blog, best wine blog, love wine

Wine Caves at Kenzo Estate

Day 1

Each day we will give a summary of the day before. More detailed stories about many of the places we visit with specific wine recommendations will be posted in the weeks to come.

The fall B&B Napa/Sonoma sojourn I must admit had a dubious start. We were up at 5AM to make an 8:30 flight to San Francisco. While standing in the security line Donna received an automated call from Southwest Airlines saying our flight was delayed an hour due to weather in San Francisco. If you’ve ever been to the San Francisco airport and rented a car, you know what an arduous experience that is, including a 50 minute wait in line because Hertz had no cars. Fortunately, we got all the rough stuff out of the way early and had a great rest of the day.

Continue reading »

Jul 112010
 

Recently I was reading an article on our slow to rebound economy. The writer interviewed an upscale restaurateur who claimed his sales were still off by 60% from a couple of years ago. I have no idea where the restaurant is but that doesn’t seem to be the case in my two cities, Denver, CO and my beloved Austin, TX.

Donna and I spent a little time discussing the restaurateurs claim and agreed that we don’t eat out as much as we did. So we asked why? We came to the conclusion that there are a number of restaurants we like very much but refuse to pay their exorbitant wine mark ups. In my early days of wine collecting (that was a long time ago) in Austin I’ll admit I was spoiled (Henry and Jay, you know who you are). Back then wholesale laws and enforcement were much more lax and I’d buy cases of great wine wholesale, compliments of my restaurant buddies. So very early on I learned the real cost of wine.

Here’s my rant. What the hell am I getting when I pay a restaurant 200% or more than I can buy the exact same wine retail. Continue reading »

May 202010
 

Strings Restaurant (Denver) & Van Duzer Pinot Noir – A Nice Combination

We were excited last week to see a posting from our friends at LocalWineEvents.com for a wine dinner at Strings Restaurant in Denver with Van Duzer Vineyards Pinots from Willamette Valley, Oregon. We had wanted to give Strings a try after a couple of good recommendations and we like Van Duzer pinots…nice combination. Continue reading »