Colombo wasn’t just a detective on a TV show

… He is also a famous winemaker from Southern France.
Wine Review of the 2006 Jean Luc Colombo La Violette Viognier
Produced from 20 year old vines in the Languedoc-Roussillon, the La Violette underwent controlled fermentation and maceration at 59ºF, 80% in stainless steel tanks and 20% in barrels. The wine then spent 6 months on the [...]

Kermit Lynch Tasting at The Barrel Thief

Last night I attending the Kermit Lynch tasting at the Barrel Thief in Short Pump, and as the email promised, it was HUGE.  Now Kermit Lynch himself was not there but 5 of his top imports were represented via the winemakers, who were there pouring their juice for us to try. For 10 bones we [...]

The “other” Duero

A few weeks ago we joined some friends in Ashland Virginia for a wine and beer tasting at the Caboose, a small wine, beer and cheese shop that sits alongside the railroad tracks.  At the tasting were quite a few wines I had not had the pleasure of tasting before, including the 2004 Rivola Sardon [...]

Virginia Wine Industry in the News

After self distribution rights were taken away from Virginia wineries almost 2 years ago, a huge gap was left for someone to fill.  Enter the Virginia Wineries Distribution Company (VWDC), a new inexpensive outlet for Virginia Wineries to distribute their wine. For a nominal fee of $5 per transaction (size doesn’t matter) wineries in the [...]

This Fridays wines at the Wine Cellar and Live Passionately

This Friday Jeff and the Wine Cellar gang are offering up a mixed bag of new wines for their weekly tasting.  Italy, California, Oregon, Portugal and Argentina will be represented in the mix of two white and three red wines.  It should be interesting, fun and FREE as usual. This Friday from 5:00 to 8:00

 
There [...]

Verbena is no lemon!

Verbena is actually the name of a lemon or a type of lemon but it is also the name of a new restaurant here in Richmond, which was by no means a lemon in our opinion. After getting much fanfare from the local blog scene and traditional press, and seeing that they had a couple [...]

River City Cellars Tasting 4.11.08

Friday night we decided to mix things up and hit the wine tasting at River City Cellars instead of our old standby the Wine Cellar.  Megan and I had never been to River City before so we did some perusing around the shop to see what they had to offer. They have great prices and [...]

Wine Blogging Wednesday #45 Announced

Tim at Winecast has announced next months Wine Blogging Wednesday #45 and the date is none other than my birthday, May 7th.  Tim has asked us to select an Old World (Germany, Austria, France) Riesling at any price point and of course blog about it. I of course already have mine picked out thanks to [...]

Tastings At The Wine Cellar

Last Friday we hit the Wine Cellar for their regular Friday night tasting. We had missed the past couple of weeks, where we diverged from our regular Friday night routine. On the menu were wines from South America, from both Chile and Argentina. 
 
1 – Casa Lapostolle Estate Bottled Sauvignon Blanc from Cachspoal Valley, Chile [...]

Wine Blogging Wednesday #44 French Cabernet Franc

Yes I know it is Tuesday, almost a week after WBW #44, but better late than never right. The reason for my tardiness on this post is due to my procrastination in ordering the WBW Three Pack from Domaine547.  It arrived Saturday afternoon (yay for Fedex shipping on Sat.) and we had it for dinner [...]

Pulling into Port!

After meeting Jeff and Elizabeth for dinner, Megan and I decided to treat ourselves to a little dessert of chocolate and Port once we got back to the house. In the cellar I had a few ports, but one I had been wanting to open since we tasted it back in January caught my eye [...]

Unfiltered?

 ~Plate and Frame Filter~

The process of filtering wine, especially red wine, is often a hot topic of discussion in the winemaking world.  Research from UC Davis has shown that at the molecular level no aroma or flavor compounds are removed when red wines are filtered.  The problem that this study, as well as others, does [...]