 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’ve just returned from visiting wineries in California’s Lodi, Amador County and Sierra Foothills appellations and I have to say, I’m impressed. Certainly it helped that I was being shown around by my good friend Randy Caparoso, a freelance writer, restaurant wine consultant, Bottom Line Editor of Sommelier Journal, and lodiwine.com blogger. Randy helped me zero in on a subset of wineries that embody the qualities that I was seeking on this trip: top-notch products, great back-story and a sense of being at the cutting edge. [...]
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. [...]
I love writing about my friends, so when Dennis Cakebread (via Michael Gitter at First Press PR, one of the winery’s publicists) asked me to be the official blogger for this year’s annual harvest workshop (the 24th in a row!) I jumped at the chance. After all, Cakebread Cellars is a mainstay of the Napa Valley vinous scene. Its harvest workshop is an institution at this time of year. And of course, I really like Dennis. [...]
Are reds even suitable at the table during the height of the summer season? After all, it’s just plain hot outside, and varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot naturally contain high levels of summer-hating tannins. When the thermometer tops out and streets shimmer with reflected waves of heat, it’s these tannins that make such wines too spicy and thickly textured for my taste. Many other subspecies such as Zinfandel and Syrah, if fermented and stored in relatively new tannin-rich oak, can also be too stout for August imbibing. [...]
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. [...]
Greeting old friends and making new ones has always been part of my job description, and nowhere is that easier than at a trade-focused wine tasting. With dozens of wineries presenting hundreds of wines, I’m able to focus on specific styles, production areas and vintages, which in turn allows me to make some conclusions as to what I most prefer. In this particular case, I also got to try a lot of Zin. [...]
Regardless of nativity, it is clearly in California that Zinfandel has achieved its greatest variety of expression. Because Zinfandel continues to mature throughout the long growing season, Cali versions have characteristics all over the red wine map, from delicate, restrained berry elements to full-bore meatiness. Some even combine a bright raspberry nose with black plums and mushrooms on the palate, and most have sufficient acidity to pair well with a variety of dishes. [...]
In the next month I’ll be traveling to various places in American wine country, part of the annual extravaganza that public relations/marketing firms put on during what’s known in the business as O-N-D (October-November-December). This past week I was in central California attending the Paso Robles Wine Country Buyers’ Tour, organized by Paso Robles Wine (www.pasowine.com). Not only did I learn a lot about the region, but I tasted a bunch of great wines that won’t necessarily break the bank. [...]
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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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