Tag Archives: wine

Don’t Balk at Balkan Wine: Montenegro Wine Review Plantaze’s Vranac Pro Corde 2013

Posted on January 7, 2019 by waywardwine

Be good to your mother-in-law. You never know when she might share wines smuggled from the Balkans. After our New Year’s Eve Serbian bubbly (read here), today we try a serious red wine from Montenegro: a country sandwiched between the Adriatic Coast, inland Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia to its North, Albania and Kosovo to its South.

This wine’s producer, Plantaze, today makes 40 different wines, from 26 grape varieties, and four brandies totaling 17 million bottles. They are Montenegro’s biggest deal, wine-wise, but started humbly with a 1963 agricultural merger that planted an “infertile wasteland” (their words) of rocks and shallow soil around Skadar Lake: Continue reading →

Posted in Red, Vranac | Tagged 2013, Balkans, Montenegro, Plantaze, Pro Corde, Red wine, travel, Vranac, Vranac grapes, wine | 2 Comments

Thanksgiving Wine Review 2003 Lange Pinot Noir Cancilla Vineyard Willamette Valley Oregon

Posted on November 22, 2018 by waywardwine

Happy Thanksgiving (apologies turkeys)! The two-year-old is asleep, so I have to pop out a wine review, before the moment slips. For Thanksgiving, something supple, medium bodied, mildly tannic but with good acidity to keep the food coming. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2003, drink, Lange, Oregon, pinot noir, Thanksgiving, Willamette Valley, wine | Leave a comment

A Canadian Winery (and Distillery) Eh!? De Vine Vineyards Wine Review

Posted on October 15, 2018 by waywardwine

Wayward Wine continues to ply the uncharted wines of Vancouver Island. It has been rough, but we found some decent Pinot Noir (read here). This marginal-in-the-best-of-times climate manages to counter its Northern latitude by bottling any warmth it can from the eastern straights with its western mountains. The best example: the Butchart Gardens utopia that traps tourists with its improbably lush gardens… Continue reading →

Posted in Vancouver Island, WINERIES WANDERED | Tagged british columbia, Canada, Canadian wine, distillery, gin, grapes, Grüner Veltliner, marechal Foch, pinot blanc, pinot noir, spirit, travel, Vancouver Island, vermouth, wine | 1 Comment

Canadian Pinot Noir Eh!? Alderlea v Quill v DeVine Vancouver Island BC

Posted on October 1, 2018 by waywardwine

By choice or by fate, I cannot escape Pinot Noir. I was born in Oregon and returned to its wine industry. Our traipse through the extreme wines of Vancouver Island have gone from bad to worse to decent, usually faltering with noble grapes like Chardonnay (here), Gamay (here), but succeeding with weird hybrids like Savignette (read here). Can this warm pocket in the Northernmost fringes of winemaker pull off the queen of grapes: Pinot Noir? Continue reading →

Posted in Pinot Noir, Uncategorized | Tagged Burgundy, Canada, Canadian wine, drink, Oregon, pinot noir, travel, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, wine | 3 Comments

Sauvignette Eh!? Wine Review of Unsworth Vineyard Vancouver Island BC

Posted on September 20, 2018 by waywardwine

Ok! Vancouver Island wines have given us challenging results. Maybe, the standard grapes Chardonnay (review here), Gamay (here), even Sparkling pinot (here) provide little more than acidity, edge, reflecting regional limits. Maybe a more climate-friendly hybrid grape might work.

Sauvignette. Continue reading →