Tag Archives: malbec

Maui Wine Tour & Review

Wayward Wine has wandered out of its natural element the last few posts.  Apologies.  We are in Maui. We have tried pineapple and sugar cane spirits at Hali’imaile Distillery (read here), Ocean Vodka (read here), and just toured O’o Coffee Farm (read here).

We learned that Maui’s sugar cane empire collapsed last year.  The island has yet to find a viable agricultural alternative.  Could wine production save it?  California, Oregon, and Washington have found wine a lucrative shift. Could Maui?  Continue reading

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P1 Day Tour of Cardinale: Mt Brave Mt Veeder Spire Collection Napa Valley

Buckle your seat belts. We continue our tour of Napa Valley. After a palette-staining day at Pine Ridge, Lewis Cellars, and Black Stallion, a single day visit to Cardinal sounds lenient. Yet Cardinal is the tip of an ice berg. It provides locus for hospitality services of the Spire Collection: the creme on top of the cream of the crop of Kendall Jackson’s holdings. Wines and wineries that rarely make it to your local shelf huddle under this empire’s gilt umbrella. Continue reading

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Halloween Wine: Cheval des Andes Lujan de Cuyo Mendoza Argentina 2009

One day we will stop referencing Sideways. Today is not one of them. Eleven years on, the film continues to kill Merlot. Although Miles railed against the grape, his prized bottle turned out to be an iconic Merlot: Cheval Blanc, 1er Grand Cru classé A, Saint-Émilion 1961…that he drank with fast food: Continue reading

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Getting Dirty in Graves: Château la Croix

We pick up last Monday’s EU Austerity Drinking Tour post south of Bordeaux, sick, but thirsty. Our free, Open Doors, van tour of Graves had started decently. Château Pont de Brion let us taste a mini-enprimeur of 2012’s just-harvested varietals. They were tidy, well-branded, but too clean to be outstanding. Then I kicked a dog (accidentally), and they kicked us out.

Today, our van bounces to its next stop: Château la Croix.

The word Châteaux clearly gets applied to anything in Bordeaux. A child plays with gravel in the driveway. A stable-winery glares orange. The center tree shades a large, black dog who greets with a lazy bark.

But superficiality be damned. We came for wine, not glamor. Our van clatters off, leaving us and three, twenty-something ladies in the parking lot. Continue reading

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Chenonceau Castle, Gamay, and a new AOC Touraine Chenonceaux: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #50

Before our EU Austerity Drinking Tour leaves the central Loire for it’s Atlantic Coast, we have to squeeze in a castle. Think of Bordeaux.  You probably think of famed Châteaux.  But most of those are 19th century, retro-wannabes.  Only true, … Continue reading

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