 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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Our most festive holiday traditions revolve around children. There is indeed much joy to be found in a child’s eyes as they enjoy the presents given to them by friends and family. However, in order to be able to produce such joy the adults in the room may require some fortification. This column is dedicated to those folks. [...]
As I often say in my Potpourri columns, I’m able to write about most of the bottles I like as part of a themed experience. But occasionally wines are tasted too soon after a piece about similar juice. Other wines require a delay to allow importation into the U.S. of the current vintage. A few even occupy the niche of true oddball without compare. What follows is the last potpourri column of 2011, detailing some of the quirkier wines I’ve recently had the pleasure to taste. [...]
A hint of chill in the air reminds me that fall is here and winter isn’t far away. The end of November is just around the corner and many of you will be purchasing wines for your Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday tables. We could spend time talking turkey, but generally such food-and-wine pairings rely more on understanding the impact of flavorful sauces and side dishes than of the main course’s relatively neutral protein. [...]
This past week, Paula Sullivan of Abbondanza Toscana, Andrea Frizzi of Il Posto Restaurant and I escorted ten wine enthusiasts through a week’s in-depth sampling of Piemontese wine and food. We focused on wineries that embody the best of Barbaresco, Barolo and Dogliani. So much has happened that I’ve decided to split my tale into two columns. This is Part I, and while we tasted plenty of Dolcettos and Barberas I’m going to focus on our experiences with Nebbiolo, the king of Piemontese wine grapes. [...]
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to have recently spent time in Champagne, France, the spiritual home of bubbly wines. I always knew I liked Champagne, but this experience has led me to plan a return to the region after this week’s Wine On The Road tour of Piedmont, Italy, a white truffle-infused, wine-soaked adventure. My goal is to plan a tour of Champagne for my clients in the fall of 2012. [...]
As I said in my last several Potpourri columns, I’m able to write about most of the bottles I like as part of a themed column. But occasionally wines are tasted too soon after a piece about similar juice. Others require a delay to allow importation into the U.S. of the current vintage. A few even occupy the niche of true oddball without compare. Because I’ll be penning several travel-oriented columns over the next few weeks I figured I should get in some of the quirkier wines I’ve recently tasted while I still can. [...]
This summer I’ve recommended a lot of white wines that were produced on the western coast of the United States. There are good reasons for this emphasis. Most of my samples come from these regions, and for the majority of my readers they’re the easiest wines to find on the shelf. But recently I’ve had the pleasure to taste some excellent Italian and Spanish whites that are being sold at very reasonable prices. Not only are these bottles refreshing, they also pair exceedingly well with summer fare. So I figured you’d want to know about the best of them. [...]
It’s no mystery that white wines pair perfectly with hot-weather foods. Heavier reds are just too, well, heavy. Rosés, while also great in the summertime, are harder to find at the top end of the quality scale (many are cheap, bland mélanges or mash-ups of a winery’s existing red and white portfolios). So when the mercury rises and the air starts shimmering, there’s nothing quite like a thirst quenching white to banish the dog-days-of-summer blues. [...]
Wine On The Road, my behind-the-scenes, luxury wine-focused touring company, has several trips in the works for the coming year. I’m also now exploring the idea of leading wine, food, music and culture tours to northern California. Wine production is focused around Napa and Sonoma Counties, and an extraordinary number of great restaurants, hotels and wineries in the immediate vicinity mean that any trip I can envision is eminently doable. But first I have to find the right wineries. [...]
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. [...]
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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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