Halloween Wines

What could be more Halloween festive than an orange wine label? I have served a Spanish Tempranillo called the Cortijo III, has a super bright orange label. This wine is coincidentally perfect for the season for it's easy drinking qualities. Halloween is all about walking around, candy, fun times, so this wine doesn't need to be paired with big protein entrees and be be easlily enjoyed on it's on, no food nessasary. So happy Halloween, call me if you need any!

White Wine for Red Wine Lovers

A common occurrence for me at the restaurant is people in general lean mostly towards red wines to taste by the flight, glass, or bottle. This is of course fine with me, I just want my guests to be happy with their choice and if red is what you want, then I'm all for it! Wine is a personal preference after all and I want you to enjoy what you really want. I also like to be adventurous and offer suggestions for wines that are incredible but you might not ask for them or be thinking along those lines. Grenache Blanc, Roussane, Vermentino, Hondurabi Zurbi, Cava, Dry Riesling just to name a few. I have found on more than one occation that sampling a few of these fun whites can turn anyone who says that will never put a white wine up to their lips.....become a white wine finatic.

Allocations....Allocations

For those of us who are into the high-end, hard to find, low production wines, we know the word "allocation" like we know own own name. This game isn't always fun, sometimes you have to "take" what the winery gives you "or else." I have heard countless stories of people basically being forced to buy cases and cases of a wine they didn't even want to simply get a couple of bottles of that coveted, sacred, high scoring wine. I am not saying that is the right or wrong thing to do, but sometimes we have to pay in order to get what everyone else wants!! The problem for the winery of course is that everyone wants just one of the wines they are famous for, and will buy that one all up instantly, leaving the winery with tons of un-purchased other wine from year to year. I think the classiest way to make this work is to package these wines in a mixed case or six pack. Then the package looks nice, you get the wine you're wanting and taking some of their less popular wine home. Everyone wins, and you don't have to buy 5 cases! Look around at the big-name wineries or the culty high-scorers and see how they are packaging their product.

With Weather, Comes Wine

Time to load up on those cinnimon spicy Pinots, Barberas, and Cabernets if you're up for it. The heartier reds with more structured tanins go well with bigger, more heavy foods that we seem to enjoy in the fall months. Try some more full-bodied reds today but please do yourself a favor and taste them with food as those tanins will subside with those food proteins.