Crisper Whites for Crisper Nights.
This week may be a bit cooler than last, but face it: we're still in Arizona, and it's still well within reason to think about a crisp bottle of white wine with dinner, or even without dinner.
Wine
Feast offers a wine tasting every Saturday, another on the last Sunday of each month, and occasional wine dinners. Subscribe to our email list and you'll be the first to know about all of them.
Past Wine
By Rhône inspired
Kevin is getting into the spirit of our much-anticipated autumn by pulling out some heartier red wines this week, at our Saturday tasting themed "By Rhône inspired." Not a one from the Rhône proper, but Rhône varietals- two from elsewhere in France and from sunny California.
Speaking Francly, if I may…
The red wines of Bordeaux are a trifecta of fruit, power and brilliance. There's the terroir, to be sure, and the winemaking, and the oak, and styles favoring one aspect or another way throughout the region, and each varietal brings to the table a different aspect: Cabernet Sauvignon brings tannin- power and body and grip. Merlot brings abundance of dark fruit and plush texture.
Your Iberian Travelogue
Those of you who've been attending our monthly wine tastings for any significant length of time know that we periodically host a wine tasting designed to create trust. We call these tastings the "Trust Your Importer" series, the idea being that most of us can't possibly have tasted and familiarized ourselves with the massive selection of wines available to us all at any given moment.
Savage Sauvignon Blanc
I don't imagine you'll find anything particularly savage about these Sauvignon Blancs, but this Saturday, Kevin will be opening SB's from all over the place, so whether you're fond of the grapefruit-and-gooseberry style that hails from New Zealand or the dry, gravelly stuff from Cheverny, you'll find something interesting here.
The UNusual Suspects
You've tasted Cabernet Sauvignon with us, and Syrah and Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. But this week, the usual suspects have been kicked to the curb.
Chardonnay- Classic French vs. the “California” approach
Nothing cuts through that monsoon season humidity like white wine, and more specifically like white Burgundy.
Half Time Entertainment
Maybe it's because you just don't have it in you that day, or maybe it's because that was already the second bottle, but whatever the reason, you cork it and come back to it only to discover that the fruit's fallen off, or it tastes like oxidized prunes now, or some such problem.
Tour de France
I know it seems like we're en train de battre un cheval mort, after all the Bastille Day food and drink and what with three of last week's four wines being French, but what can I say? There's a certain je ne sais quoi about the wines of France.
Italy, outside the northern regions
Somewhere, at some point, some undoubtedly supercilious person decided that the wines of northern Italy were infinitely superior to those of southern Italy. We dispute that theory, always, and offer the assertion that geography is simply geography, and while a region may impart a certain terroir, there is nothing inherently better or worse about any given region's flavors and subtleties than those of any other region.