Napa Valley’s Francisan Wines

In Napa’s Rutherford area lies the tasting room for Franciscan vineyards. Franciscan’s history began more than 30 years ago with the release of its 1975 Cabernet Sauvignon. Today it continues a tradition of making wonderful wines that are available around the country, including in the D.C. area.
Franciscan wine highlights the importance of mesoclimates—relatively small areas [...]

2007 Dowsett Family Gewurztraminer, Celilo Vineyard, WA

This week’s pick comes from Addison Richards of the award-winning restaurant Wild Ginger in Seattle:  ”When discussing finicky wine varieties,  Gewurztraminer isn’t often the first grape to come up.  The truth is that once the grape leaves the old world, Gewurztraminer can be a difficult wine to make.  It often comes across as cloying, [...]

2007 Scarpetta Pinot Grigio, Friuli, Italy

This week’s pick comes from Jesse Rodriguez of the award-winning Addison restaurant in San Diego.  He said of the 2007 Scarpetta Pinot Grigio:  ”Guests were wowed, and asked where they could get it.”  Right now, you’ll be lucky to find it at restaurants like Addison, or online at scarpettawine.com.  The wine is made by Master [...]

2008 Hesketh “Scissorhands” Riesling, Clare Valley, Australia

This week’s pick comes from Sandy Block, Master of Wine and Vice President of Beverage at Legal Sea Foods.  He chose this single-vineyard Australian white for a number of its endearing qualities.  The wine is very fresh with an extremely lime-lke aroma and a bone-dry green apple character.  It has a tartness which Sandy [...]

2008 Berger Gruner Veltliner, Austria

This week’s pick comes from Inez Ribustello of On The Square in Tarboro, NC.  Inez was recently honored in the American Sommelier Association’s Best Sommelier in America competition.  ”Right now, I’m super hot on Berger Gruner Veltliner from Niederösterreich, Austria.  It comes in a liter bottle  and has a pop top cap that is [...]

Next Page »