L-I-V-I-N: 2001 LeRoy Vosne-Romanée, 1983 Chateau Latour, 1990 Domaine Weinbach Cuvée Ste. Catherine.
Wine tasting can sometimes be counter-productive to blogging, at least in the short term. Pictured above, three reasons why I’ve been mostly absent from the internet this week. This handsome trio in the photo capped an epic Tuesday evening, which began with a blind tasting of 2007 California Pinot Noir (Kosta Browne, Papapietro Perry, Chasseur, and three others; my full report to follow next week). Before this throw-down of mailing-list Pinot, I had already spent the entire day touring Napa wine country with my friend [... read more ...]
So, I did a little web consulting the other day for my old buddy Geoff Harner at Mosher & Company Wine Importers. How it works: I help Geoff rebuild his company website, and he fuels my creativity with some European wine (nice work, if you can get it). We met up on Tuesday morning and tasted through a couple of really nice bottles, beginning with the 2005 Keller “Hubacker” Riesling, which is produced by one of the up-and-coming superstars of German wine, Klaus-Peter Keller. The 2005 “Hubacker” is a dry Riesling, and one of four or five “Grosses [... read more ...]
Ever since I posted my own insight regarding the Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) exam, I’ve been receiving hundreds of searches per week on the subject, and many folks have downloaded the study guide that I created to help myself pass the test last year. As I’ve mentioned here before, the subject of Italian wine remains one of the most challenging topics to learn. Not only does this subject require one to (a) learn all of the states in Italy, but it also involves (b) learning the sheer number of varietals in production. Then, what complicates things further is [... read more ...]
Because of my ongoing preparation for the Certified Wine Educator (CWE) exam, I haven’t been posting on this blog as much as I would like. Earning this certification is my primary goal for 2011. So I’m really just beginning to gear up for the exam, and I will grind it out for as long as possible. Anyhow, since so many people have been discovering the Thirsty Reader through CSW-related googling, I’ve decided to post my own version of the CSW study guide, which can be downloaded below as a 55-page PDF document.
I need to acknowledge at the outset [... read more ...]
As part of my on-going preparation for the Certified Wine Educator (CWE) exam in 2010, I’ve continued to compose a few short quizzes that really test the depth of knowledge for the world’s most important wine-growing regions. Again, this quiz may not actually be the most difficult in the world, but it’s not amateur hour, either. Much like the 20-question quiz I created for Burgundy Grand Cru, these 25 questions concerning Bordeaux require much more than a superficial knowledge of the region. For the most part, this quiz looks beyond the five First Growths, and delves into the lesser-known [... read more ...]
