From the category archives:

USA

Long Meadow Ranch, a Californian Sauvignon Blanc

5 August 2011
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Californian wines just don’t seem to have found their place in the UK market which is a shame because they are not all “red fruit bombs” or “butter bomb” Chardonnays. I was in Brighton recently for a Napa Valley winemakers dinner and the very first wine served to us was a Californian sauvignon blanc. Many [...]

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Essensia Orange Muscat 2007 – Vitamin C Tablets in Liquid Form

25 May 2011
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I haven’t bought a lot of dessert wines lately but – like an overweight monk might possibly have said once on a cold January morning –  I’m trying to get back into the habit. I’m familliar with Muscat, but not in this form – usually I find it’s paler: a kind of straw-yellow, maybe with [...]

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Robert Mondavi Private Selection From Ralphs – A Round-Up

2 January 2011
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Casually mention your predilection for Robert Mondavi wines in polite society and you could cause something of a stir. But if having a name so similar to a universally loathed dictator has ever troubled Mr Mondavi, one of California’s preeminent vintners, he’s not letting it show in the quality of his wines, which provided the [...]

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A Tasting on the Sweet Side: Muscadine wines at San Sebastian Winery, St. Augustine, Florida

21 December 2010
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During my cursory research into Floridian winemaking I was shocked to discover there are no AVAs in the state. Not one. Zilch. Given that Florida was the first state in which migrant Europeans cultivated grapes (the Spanish, aparently, for sacramental wine) this may seem strange, but the climate of Florida is so hot and humid – borderline [...]

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Oak Grove California Viognier 2009 Reserve

10 December 2010
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I didn’t have a bad bottle of wine in my week in California this winter, and Oak Grove’s Viognier was among the best. We picked this up from Ralph’s supermarket in Palm Desert as an alternative to the many bottles of good, classic Californian Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc we’d enjoyed over the first few days. [...]

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Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Chardonnay 2006

7 December 2010
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Robert Mondavi is an American winemaking legend known throughout the world. Raised in a traditional Italian family, he appreciated that sharing good wine with good food is one of life’s simplest yet best pleasures. He was the first to recognise the potential of the Napa Valley in California for growing vines and established the first [...]

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Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay 2006

12 November 2010
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Californian Chardonnay is to be steered clear of in my experience, if you don’t like oak or butter and prefer your white wines to be on the crisp and citrusy side. If, however, you are like me and prefer a good Chardonnay to any other white wine varietal and like it to be robust enough [...]

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Erath Pinot Gris 2007, Oregon

9 June 2009
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The state of Oregon in the USA has built up a great reputation for Pinot Noir, producing world class wines, with Pinot Gris its secondary grape – achieving the complexity and depth of flavour for which its Alsace counterpart is famous. Dick Erath is one of the original wine pioneers of Oregon, who travelled west [...]

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