Rob Theakston
There comes a point when the concept of “fun” morphs into things taking place before midnight. Nights once stretching into the daybreak, fueled by questionable decisions and a bottle of 151, begin to feel less like adventure and more like a painful debt still being repaid with interest, days later. For most of us, this…
There are very few constants in life: death and the arrival of Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book; now in its 49th year of serving as a sobering reminder that you really do not know as much about wine as you think you do. The guide has become as dependable as sunrise, albeit slightly denser and…
Last month, we reviewed an Alfrocheiro wine from Portugal’s Tabodella winery, a pleasant and serviceable wine slightly deviating from the common Portuguese offerings. This month, we are trying its Villae offering, which is a red blend consisting of 40% Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), 20% Jaen (Mencia), 20% Tinta Pinheira (Rufete), and 20% Alfrocheiro (Alfrocheiro) grapes. This…
This year’s vintage of Frescobaldi Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico opens with an assertive, tart attack immediately framing its personality. Aromas of Bing cherry and cassis lead the charge, eventually joined by rhubarb for a slightly edgy touch. Hints of orange zest and vanilla lend a bit of gentle softness without sacrificing the wine’s rather large…
Last autumn, we reviewed a modest cohort of Sagrantino, a red so bold and tannic it feels less like wine and more like a conquest at the end of a long journey. Hailing almost exclusively from Umbria, it is not the sort of bottle you casually slide into a dinner party menu unless you’ve advised…
The wines of California’s Mi Sueño (“my dream”) have been surprisingly absent from our site since 2018, and today we plan to remedy this situation by taking a look at four of their recent offerings. For a quick orientation into the amazing history of this particular winery, I would advise you to check Christopher’s review…
Like rent, Xanax, and everything else in the universe, Malbec’s prices seem incapable of going anywhere but up. Bottles that once lived pleasantly in the Illinois or Kentucky Avenue price ranges now flirt with dangerously close to North Carolina or Pacific Avenue, while the prestige labels charge fees worthy of Park Place or Boardwalk. However,…
A few months back, I found myself tasting two amber wines from Georgia, both aged in a qvevri: a massive, egg-shaped clay vessel the Georgians have been burying underground for something like 8,000 years. Which, as wine traditions go, makes Bordeaux look like a Kickstarter project. Some of these amphorae hold more than a thousand…
Viña Carmen’s website declares that they are the oldest winery in Chile. While I’m usually pretty excited to go down the rabbit hole in an expeditious attempt to confirm the facts, today I think I’m just going to roll with it, offer up a polite nod of affirmation and enjoy two of its latest offerings.…
Lambrusco is one of those wines people think they know, but usually for maligned reasons. Either it’s remembered as a fizzy adult soda your aunt smuggled in during the Thanksgiving of 1989, or praised by some dusty Roman throwback when they weren’t busy pillaging villages or shouting at their crops. But when done well, it…