Category Archives: EMPTIED BOTTLES

Here reside my bottle breakdowns. These reviews provide information about each wine’s context: history, geography, value, etc., and composition: from appearance and aromas, to sweetness, acidity, tannin, body, length, flavors and quality within its type. Each review features a chart where I rank the wine’s qualities (e.g. light, medium, or full bodied) according to the Wine and Spirit Education Trust’s tasting guide. These are snapshots of a wine and reviewer. Don’t be surprised if the wine and your perception of it change. Use this data to buy and taste wine with purpose.

Stop worrying if a wine is bad or good. Judgment only describes the judge. Instead, treat each wine, each bottle, even each sip as a meeting unique unto itself. Find new wines here to stretch your mind and palate.

Open bottle. Open mind.

Aberlour, Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 10 Year, Speyside, Scotland UK

Posted on March 3, 2013 by waywardwine

For context click: ENTER.THE.HAGGIS. The color here is a clear but average intensity gold. The heavy, glazed legs flaunt a high alcohol. The rim becomes watery midway. The aromas are still in the works: young and mild, reminding me of … Continue reading →

Posted in EMPTIED BOTTLES, Whisk(e)y | Tagged Aberlour, Food, Macallan, Scotch whisky, Scotland, Shopping, South Africa, Wine tasting descriptors | 3 Comments

Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury, Sussex 2009

Posted on June 11, 2012 by waywardwine

I plunk a bottle on the table. “English Quality Sparkling Wine” the label proclaims. No, that is not a euphemism for beer. It is Ridgeview’s hopeful claim to the crown of Champagne. Odd though it seems, across the Channel, Southern … Continue reading →

Posted in Chardonnay, EMPTIED BOTTLES, Sparkling | Tagged Belemnite, british wine, bubbly, Chalk, Champagne, Dom Pérignon, English Channel, Kenelm Digby, méthod ancestrale, Merrett, methode champenoise, Pinot meunier, pinot noir, Ridgeview, Sparkling wine, travel, White cliffs of Dover | Leave a comment

Solaria, Brunello di Montalcino, Italy 2002

Posted on April 16, 2012 by waywardwine

A decade is passing by. Instead of dredging up bad memories, crushes, exes, bullies, and untold levels of awkwardness, à la Grosse Pointe Blank (with or without some murder), it is time for another kind of ten year reunion. The year … Continue reading →

Posted in EMPTIED BOTTLES, Red, Sangiovese | Tagged Archaeology, Brunello di Montalcino, Etruscans, Grosse Pointe Blank, high school reunion, Indiana Jones, italy, John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Montalcino, Patrizia Cencioni, Poggio Colla, Sangiovese, Sangiovese Grosso, Solaria, Tuscany | 5 Comments

Dry Riesling, Ravines, Finger Lakes, New York 2010

Posted on February 29, 2012 by waywardwine

Every day, customers come to me: “where are your sweet reds? Whites? Pinks?”, or “I’m a sweet person”, or worse, “I’m a dry person.” Really? Well, I have a lotion for that. Asking for only sweet or dry wine shortcuts … Continue reading →

Posted in Riesling, White | Tagged dry riesling, Finger Lakes, Germany, Keuka Lake, Lisa Hallgren, Morten Hallgren, New York, ravines, Ravines Wine Cellars, riesling, Sam Argetsinger, Sweetness of wine, Wine tasting descriptors | 8 Comments

Syrah “Cuvée”, Edward Sellers, Paso Robles, CA USA 2005

Posted on February 6, 2012 by waywardwine

Edward Sellers. Oh, I get it. Sellers. Cellars. Har, har. What clever consultant group cooked that up? Probably the same who thought: well, people like cake and bread. Let’s call it Cakebread Cellars. Brilliant! Wait. What? They’re both real winemakers? … Continue reading →