 Check out Wine On The Road to explore the world’s most renowned wine regions with behind-the-scenes access to top winemakers and their incomparable wines. With Wine on the Road tours, professional wine writer and Chief Wine Sherpa Ben Weinberg has created the ultimate in wine-focused, behind-the-scenes wine country experiences, combining award-winning wines and exquisite dining and lodging with uniquely local flair and flavor. Our wine-focused, luxurious, behind-the-scenes itineraries are now available online. Go to Wine On The Road for more details.
Ben is the author of Weinberg's Wine Tech in Sommelier Journal and regularly contributes features, as well. Take a look at Sommelier Journal’s website for more information on this excellent behind-the-scenes wine magazine.
He is the Rocky Mountain Editor for Tasting Panel Magazine. Check out Tasting Panel’s website for more information on this wine industry powerhouse. Ben will continue to craft feature stories fpr Tasting Panel but will also be providing monthly briefs on Colorado restaurants for national publication. If you wish your restaurant to be considered for these articles please email him at:
benweinberg@
unfilteredunfined.com
Ben also pens "Politics Uncorked with Ben Weinberg" on a bi-monthly basis for the Colorado Statesman. Check out the Colorado Statesman’s website to learn what's going on in Colorado politics and wine.
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I love to pour juice that evokes the rhythm of the seasons, especially bottles that pair perfectly with hot-weather food. While it is true that summer’s swelter limits the use of heavier reds, there are plenty of great wine values that do seem to match summer’s fare pretty well. [...]
This column is dedicated to Pinot Noir, a red wine grape that appears to have originated in Burgundy, France. Pinot’s name is derived from the French words for pine and black, alluding to the grape’s tightly clustered, dark purple, pine-cone-shaped bunches of fruit. While some versions are earthy and dense others can be quite delicate in nature, perfect for matching with summer fare at picnics, barbeques, even while just hanging out on the porch. [...]
I regularly taste hundreds of varietal wines, many of them unusual or obscure. After such tastings I often find myself pining for more familiar grapes. This column is dedicated to the Pinots, a family of delicately flavored grapes that originated in Burgundy, France. There are four main branches of the Pinot tree, and differences between them offer a short course in practical genetics. [...]
While corned beef and cabbage is a very beer- and whiskey-friendly dish, in terms of wine it’s not that great. With a lot of spice and actually quite a sour flavor, the meat tends to make other acidic foodstuffs (like wine) taste metallic. But the day for wearing the green has come and gone, and with spring’s promise perfuming the air it’s time to focus on winning wines that pair well with other foods of the season. [...]
After visiting wineries in California’s Lodi, Amador County and Sierra Foothills appellations, I continued on my north-of-Napa journey all the way to Mendocino County. Mendo is full of laid-back farmers, an impressive green movement, and a whole lot of wine grapes. This time I was the guest of the Mendocino Winegrape and Wine Commission, and after we toured a bunch of wineries I ended up at the Alsace Festival in Boonville. [...]
As I’ve said in other Potpourri columns, I’m able to fit most of the bottles I like into various themes. But certain bottles simply do not lend themselves to categorization. Some were tasted too soon after a column about similar wines. Others required a delay to allow importation into the U.S. But only a few are both good enough to recommend and so oddly composed (particularly when compared to other wines from the same region) that they defy comparison. Regardless of reason, what follows are notes on some of the best oddball wines that I’ve tasted over the past several months. [...]
I’m able to fit most of the bottles I like into various themes, but there are some that I’ve been unable to shoehorn into tidy cubbyholes. Some were tasted too soon after a column about similar wines. Others required a delay to allow importation into the U.S. of the current vintage. Some even occupied the niche of true oddball without compare…Regardless of reason, what follows are notes on some of my favorite sample bottles, not easily categorized, that I’ve tasted over the past several months. One thing I focus on in these reviews is the wine’s ability to match with holiday foods, a critical attribute at this festive time of year. [...]
…while I’m able to fit most of the bottles I like into various themes there are some that I’m unable to shoehorn into tidy cubbyholes. Some were tasted too soon after a column about similar wines. Others require a delay to allow importation into the U.S. of the current vintage. Some even occupy the niche of true oddball without compare. Regardless of reason, what follows are notes on some of my favorite sample bottles, not easily categorized, that I’ve tasted over the past several months. [...]
Here we go again. The load of samples sent to me while I was traveling through wine country has finally been sampled. I’ve waded my way through all of them, and while in my last column I focused exclusively on whites and rosés, there are certainly also lots of great reds perfect for summertime thirst quenching. [...]
While big, red wines have their place in the wine lifestyle most bottles worth opening on a warm porch will probably be either white or pink. Whites and rosés are generally lighter than most reds. However, as we’ll see later, there are definitely red wines that deserve a vernal mention. And of course, in order to be properly poundable, prices must be reasonable. [...]
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In reference to any wine prices I publish in my writings, they are based on the lowest generally available prices I find in the U.S. at the time of publication. I use commercially available wine searching software such as Winesearcher Pro and Global Wine Stocks in my analyses, and as such, these prices may not be available to consumers in all markets.
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