When I opened a bottle from France's Loire Valley this past weekend, Hervé Villemade's 2015 Sauvignon Blanc, I was reminded of the importance of temperature in enjoying the full spectrum of a wine's flavors “ and that wines without prestigious appellations on their labels can often be delicious values.What turned out to be a lovely, subtly complex...

The wine world is awash in sauvignon blanc. The grape is ubiquitous, grown in just about every wine-producing country, from the zippy Southern Hemisphere wines of New Zealand and Chile, to the mineral-driven sauvignons of France's Loire Valley, to the more opulent wines of California, where one sauvignon blanc is in a class by itself.That wine is G...

Brazil produces a ton of wine, most of it in the temperate south with its four seasons. The fact that Brazil makes wine at all is something that most people in this country probably don't realize, given how Chile and Argentina, with their marketing muscle, dominate South American imports and sales. I can't recall being queried about my interest in ...

It's mid-August, and with the heat and humidity truly stifling here in New York, I have no use for wines that aren't fresh and light (while still interesting, of course). Among whites, sauvignon blancs immediately come to mind. For the interesting? component, my mind -- and palate -- naturally veer toward France's Loire Valley. The Loire is sauvign...

As I write this on a warm, early autumn day, I am reminded that many fruits on the farm stands are at their peak: the last of the peaches are being scooped up as the apples and pears take their place; there may still be some berries around.What made me think of this was a gorgeous white wine I am tasting from the Rias Baixas region of Galicia in no...

California chardonnay is often a difficult proposition for me. So much oak, so much alcohol, so little balance. That is, of course, a big generalization, but after so much criticism of the style, it’s remarkable how many California chardonnays are still made in that clumsy, overbearing style.One that is not is Anaba’s 2012 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, ...

The Gascony region in France’s southwest is most famous for Armagnac, but the grapes used in the brandy are also used in some excellent fresh white wines that offer real value.One of my favorites is Domaine du Tariquet’s Cotes de Gascogne “Classic,” and the newly released 2014 vintage is one of the best I’ve tasted. This $8 blend of ugni blanc, col...

As I write this, it’s about to drop down to two degrees again here in New York, hardly the kind of weather that brings on thoughts of refreshing summer wines. But as part of my own strategy for coping with this brutal blast of winter we’ve been enduring for weeks, that’s exactly what I’ve been tasting. It’s not a substitute for a warm beach, but it...

It was on this day back in 1933 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt ended Prohibition after roughly 14 years. Take a look at this old newsreel on the announcement that includes some classic images showing how authorities tried to enforce the ban on alcohol.Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I've been thinking a lot in recent weeks about a growing trend in California winemaking -- a return to more modest and elegant wines that still have great fruit concentration but with lower levels of alcohol. Some of this has to do with weather conditions, some with vineyard location and some with a winemaker's decision on when to harvest grapes (t...

These days, making wine is often about creating a concept, for better or worse. The store shelves are loaded with bottles depicting everything from animals to cars and trucks to those that donate part of their sales to research on various diseases. And now, a new concept -- a wine billed by its promoters as "the first wine created in support of equ...

A couple of weeks ago, after I reviewed an excellent Tuscan red made by the tenor Andrea Bocelli in my NBCNews.com column , a number of readers asked if I could provide a recipe for the pasta dish I had with the wine. I use yellow tomatoes when available for this sauce because I like their lower acidity and their sweetness, but I have also enjoyed ...

I am always on the hunt for juicy, fruit-forward Italian reds, the kind I can pop open on the spur of the moment to enjoy with pasta, pizza or other casual foods. One that really over-delivers for $11 or so is a red from the Abruzzo region, La Quercia’s 2010 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.This is a relatively soft, easy-drinking casual wine that’s made fr...

I taste a fair amount of pinot noir from California and Oregon, much of it in what I’ll call a big American fruit style, often with high alcohol levels that, to my palate at least, make some of these wines ponderous and cumbersome. One that falls pleasantly on the other side of the spectrum is Chehalem’s 2010 Stoller Vineyard Pinot Noir from the Du...

Last night with friends, we had a nice meal at Restaurant La Grange in Bize Minervois in France’s Languedoc region. Almost all the wines on the list were from the list were from Minervois, so they didn’t have to travel more than a few miles from vineyard to table. Even so, I was struck by the prices. They were downright cheap. A very good bottle of...

Dozens of rosés have come my way in recent weeks, and in my latest MSNBC column I highlight ten outstanding wines from Spain, France, Portugal, Austria, Washington and Oregon, where they are making some superb rosés of pinot noir in the Willamette Valley. I was struck by the inherent value of these ten wines. They pack a lot of complexity for $20 o...

For the next week, I’ll be traveling through France’s Loire Valley, trying to deepen my understanding of this large and highly diverse region along with four other American wine writers. As I customarily do on such trips, I’ll begin with a word about how I got here. I was invited to the region by two of its trade organizations, Interprofession Vins...

Recommended. Red berry fruit and some blueberry emerge as this wine from the Peninsula de Setubal region on the central Atlantic coast opens up. There’s a big oak influence and muscular tannins, which demand red meat. The fruit is concentrated, accented by a powdery cinnamon note.  A blend of 40 percent aragonez (tempranillo), 40 percent alica...

Do celebrities make better wines? Would you be more likely to buy a wine if a celebrity were associated with it? I explore these questions in my column this week on MSNBC.com. The occasion is Drew Barrymore's debut in the wine business and the release of her first wine, a pinot grigio. How does it stack up? I put it to the (taste) test and take a l...

Like most wine writers, I often receive dozens of story proposals a day. They range from those that are well-conceived and researched and convey an understanding of the wines being represented and my own interests, to those that are little more than blast emails replete with gushing descriptions and elaborate, company-supplied “tasting notes.” The...

In case you missed my current “Weekend Wines” column on MSNBC.com, I’m linking here to my piece on Domaine du Tariquet and how this winery in southwest France is making some exciting chardonnay-based blends. They’re good examples of what a large, commercial winery can do in the $10-$15 range. After I  wrote about these wines, I also tasted Ta...

“Organic” has become a strong marketing tool, and the top of the label on this $12 red blend from Languedoc trumpets the fact that the wine is “made with organically grown grapes.” Desipte a dumbed-down approach – the wine’s origin is described as “South of France” -- this is a decent blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, grenache and carignan. Ther...

Given the magnitude of this, I thought I'd get it out right away, just as I received it.***BECKMEN VINEYARDS WINEGROWER STEVE BECKMENIS A DIRECT DESCENDENT OF DIONYSUSBeckmen also confirmed as the inventor of Grenache.SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – April 1, 2012 – Beckmen Vineyards ispleased to announce that after extensive genealogical research, i...

I’m just catching up with a newly released guide to Italian wines called “Slow Wine 2012: A Year in the Life of Italy’s Vineyards and Wines,” which marks the debut of an English-language edition of this reference. The guide, which covers 3,000 wines produced by 400 cellars, is notable for a number of reasons. Not only does it describe the people, v...

SWIRL: The New York Times has an interesting piece today on the fast-growing French expat community in China, particularly Hong Kong, which, with its growing wealth and hunger for luxury goods, is drawing more and more wine and other entrepreneurs eager to bring their products to the Chinese market. SWIRL: Speaking of China, the Minneapolis Star ...

Hardly a day goes by without a headline about the frenzied wine market in Asia, particularly China. This week, Wine Enthusiast Magazine announced that it will produce a Mandarin edition for circulation to 100,000 “Chinese VIP consumers.” France’s Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters announced a 29 percent increase in shipments to Asia last year...

At least one of my NBC colleagues shook his head when I told him I was preparing a story on wines that would work well at a Super Bowl party with all its varied food possibilities. Like many, he's a beer man when it comes to the big game. But for those of you wondering about wines to serve with a Super Bowl spread, I have some suggestions, plus tho...

A couple of weeks ago, I was delighted with a dinner at our neighborhood bistro, Café du Soleil, on New York’s Upper West Side. The reason? For one thing, it perfectly satisfied the carnivorous cravings of our family of four, including hangar steak and leg of lamb for the parents, a steak au poivre for the 12-year- old and a good old hamburger for ...

I had a delightful revelation about food and wine the other night. But first, a little background on how I got there. For years, I’ve had an unwritten rule about Italian-inspired food: match it with Italian wines, which so often seem just the right choice. With linguine and white clam sauce is there anything better than a pinot grigio from Alto Adi...

Once a week or so, I make it a point to sneak out of my office for a quick lunch, which inevitably leads me on a 10-minute walk to the famed Oyster Bar & Restaurant at Grand Central Station. There, I almost always order one of New York’s great cheap meals – an overflowing bowl of New England clam chowder, which goes for $6.25 (a tomato-based Ma...

Suddenly, it seems, the organic wine crowd is coming out of the woodwork. From growers to importers to supermarkets and other retailers, the wine world is seizing on “organic” as never before. Some growers, of course, have been making natural wines for years, including quite a few in France’s Loire Valley where most choose not to call attention...

Over the holidays I found myself a couple of times in New York's Chinatown, a place that, despite its fame and familiarity, remains a largely separate world. Whenever I'm there, I make a point of stopping by the hole-in-the-wall restaurant simply called "Fried Dumpling" on Mosco Street, a one-block lane you'll have to search for. The name is pedest...

How often, when enjoying an evening out, are you distracted by annoying wine issues? For us, a case in point came the other night when friends invited us to dinner at a restaurant in New York’s Greenwich Village. In these budget-conscious times, don’t we all want to believe we’re getting good value when eating out in both food and wine? But that w...

After three days of holiday entertaining, a simple pasta sauce and a (hopefully) decent, inexpensive red wine were on tap for our dinner the other night. The pasta would be based on some of the tomatoes I picked in late summer and early fall, then skinned,  seeded and placed in Ziploc bags for freezing so that we might  enjoy them at thi...

Among the joys in this line of work are the elements of surprise and discovery – taking chances on new wines and seeing what they bring. Sometimes, of course, there is disappointment, as with a simple ‘09 Beaujolais I bought last night. It was imported by a company I respect, which is often a first line of defense when it comes to quality. Alas, th...

It is a fact of life in the online wine world: just about everyone who makes or sells or writes about wine these days promotes their efforts via social media, especially Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. I use all three at times to make readers aware of stories on this website, especially Twitter, whose robust wine community I enjoy being part of, at...

Before having some second thoughts, I began this story as one more gee-whiz  item from the increasingly crazy world of wine sales. Here’s what I wrote: I don’t know about you, but I haven’t found many wine bargains in recent years at duty-free shops in France. But then again, I’m not shopping at the level of a certain buyer who recently purch...

Perhaps no producer makes the case for aging white wine better than R. López de Heredia, the famed Rioja traditionalist whose wines are typically aged for a decade or more, including years in oak barrels, before release. I got to experience one of these unique wines again last week at dinner with friends at a New York restaurant. All of us ordered...