Wine Words Demystified: Garigue

You know the deal, the more some folks learn about a topic, the more shortcuts/slang/acronyms/initials/technical jargon can be tossed around.  I’m here to help you understand those sometimes mysterious words and phrases, thus – Wine Words Demystified! This week’s phrase is Garigue.. According to Karen MacNeil‘s The Wine Bible:  A word used to describe the arid landscape of Provence and the…

Wine Words Demystified: Old World

You know the deal, the more some folks learn about a topic, the more shortcuts/slang/acronyms/initials/technical jargon can be tossed around.  I’m here to help you understand those sometimes mysterious words and phrases, thus – Wine Words Demystified! This week’s word is Old World… According to Karen MacNeil‘s The Wine Bible:  Old World refers to those countries where wine first flourished, namely…

T.G.I.F. Champagne and the like…2005 Iron Horse Vineyard Russian Cuvée

This week it’s another  sparkler is from Iron Horse Vineyards in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma.  It’s one of four Sonoma sparkling wine houses (the others being J, Korbel and Gloria Ferrer) in Sonoma County. They are a family owned winery founded by Audrey and Barry Sterling.  Iron Horse produces a variety of vintage sparkling wines along with still wines (Pinot…

T.G.I.F. Champagne and the like…Elyssia Pinot Noir Brut Cava

Elyssia is separate label produced by Freixenet (pronounced ‘fresh-eh-NET) one of the largest producers of sparkling wine in the world.  You may know Freixenet from their ubiquitous black Cordon Negro Cava, which is the #1 imported sparkling wine in the world. This Cava is different in that none of the grapes used in the traditional…