jfialkovich

Lager or Ale? What’s the Difference?

In honor of our first upcoming Brew Ha-Ha, or beer festival if you will, I thought I would dedicate a post to our most popular beer question….What’s the difference between a lager and an ale? There are actually only two basic categories of beer: lager... Read >

Touring California

Another formal wine presentation tonight for some new corporate clients. We are going to tour California with some of our favorites from Napa, Sonoma, and Monterey. Here are my notes for your perusal. Domaine Carneros Brut * Champagne style wi... Read >

Fleur du Cap: Award Winning South African Winery

South African wine is hot right now. It’s the new trend everyone is following, and its event hotter to travel there and taste South Africa’s ‘real’ wine (it is highly rumored that they exported the ‘crap’ and keep the good stuff for themselves). As a re... Read >

A Smoky Vintage: 2008 California Pinot Noir

We may not remember it clearly, but the headlines during the summer of 2008 were all about the wildfires raging in California. They spread from Santa Barbara to Oregon. They were collectively called the “Northern California Lightning Series" which inclu... Read >

A Wine List Fit for a King (or Queen)

A few weeks ago we made the lengthy voyage up to Tampa (ok it was only a two hour drive) to dine at Bern’s Steak House. We’ve heard over and over and over about how wonderful this place is and how the wine list is just beyond comparison. So being the wi... Read >

Recap of the Century Club Tasting

Last night myself and forty-plus other individuals entered our journey into The Wine Century Club. (For more on The Wine Century Club and our tasting series, click here.) Twenty-five wines and twenty-six grape varietals later we had all discovered a lot ... Read >

Congress & Florida Attack Direct Shipping…Again.

Yet another bill has been introduced to U.S. Congress that will limit direct shipments of wine, House Resolution 1161 resumes the battle that H.R. 5034 fought last year (and lost). Introduced by Republican Jason Chaffetz, Utah (go figure) this year’s ver... Read >

Winery Feature – Klinker Brick

When someone says ‘old vines’ in California, you might immediately recall the 60′s when the hippies first invaded Napa County or the 1970′s when California wine first made a name for itself. But the early 1900′s? Never in a 110 years w... Read >

Nutritional Labels for Wine – What’s the Big Deal?

It is not a recent argument, and it is probably one that will not end anytime soon…should the government require wineries to put nutritional labels on their wine? But the concept has gotten a lot of people up in arms and spurred some pretty lengthy artic... Read >

California Rhone Rangers

I’ve discussed before how fabulous Rhone Valley wines are, and what great values they present in France. But in recent years, we’ve been able to find those unique grapes and complex wines closer to home – in California. In Wine Spectator’s feature a... Read >

Who do you trust with your wine buying?

A recent article in Publix’s publication, Grape Magazine, spurred this post. I was flipping through the Sunday edition of the Naples Daily News when I came across the Grape and became interested and started flipping as well. The issue had a lot of helpf... Read >

A Closer Look at Hestan Vineyards

Love is a funny thing, it’s blinding and often shields its admirer from the truth. So I approached this Throwdown (more information about the Throwdown at the end of this post) with caution and hesitation not to get too over zealous about my love, Hestan... Read >

Traveling through the Ribera del Duero

I’ve said a few times now that I thought the best value to find in Europe right now is Spain, so I thought I would feature one of my favorite regions of Spain – the Ribera del Duero. Ribera del Duero is a Denominación de Origen (DO), which is a classif... Read >

Feature Winery: Saddlerock Vineyards

When I think of Malibu, I think of sand and surf, movie stars and shopping…but not necessarily food and wine. But if you think of the Santa Monica Mountain Range situated slightly west of the city, the climate is actually pretty good for growing grapes. ... Read >

New Arrivals: Value Section

We’ve all been there, we’re three bottles deep with a group of friends and no one can even taste the wine – but we want more…OR that neighbor that couldn’t tell the difference between Kendall Jackson and Kistler ‘pops over for a drink’…OR it’s just Monday... Read >