Summer is the time of year when we turn our attention to rosé wines. In fact, many wineries only make small quantities of rosé wines to be released during the summer months. Rosé is French for “pink” and is used to describe wines of that color. Rosés are generally made from red grapes; however, unlike […]

Recently, we had what turned out to be a South Africa Merlot versus Washington Merlot showdown in one of our double blind private tasting dinners featuring the 2005 Meerlust Merlot from South Africa and the 2004 Fielding Hills Merlot from Washington State. For a more complete description of how we set up these private tastings, […]

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2007 Spice Route Chakalaka from the Swartland region of South Africa. […]

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2007 Goats du Roam Red from the Coastal Region of South […]

Over the past two years, we have devoted a number of posts to great value bargain wines. You can buy great value wines for under $20 (some under $10) Great Value Wines Super Bargain Wines for Tough Times Super Bargain Wines in the $10 to $25 Range Since our last post on this topic, we’ve […]

Because Mom and Dad (fellow Wine Peeps John and LaGayle) took a three week trip to South Africa’s winelands in February, I took a special interest in this month’s Wine Book Club selection, Africa Uncorked: Travels in Extreme Wine Country by John and Erica Platter. I remember how intently they studied Platter’s South African Wine […]

Last Friday evening was a gorgeous, sunny summer evening here in Seattle. It was the perfect night to gather with friends to enjoy a fabulous meal and good wines for one of our monthly wine tasting dinners. In February of this year, Mom (LaGayle) and Dad (John) spent three weeks in South Africa visiting the […]

Sauvignon Blanc has been one of our favorite white varieties for years. Our trip to New Zealand in 2005 solidified that love, and we have a soft spot for Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. While not for everyone, we just cannot get enough of the grapefruit flavors and crisp acidity of […]

How often have you opened a bottle of wine that was great the night you opened it, but fell flat on its face when you tried the rest of the bottle the next day? What about the flip side, a bottle that was just okay the first night but you loved it the second day? […]

It all began on February 3rd of this year with 22 hours of flying time from Seattle and a 10 hour time change until we landed in Cape Town, South Africa the following afternoon. Since then, I have posted thirteen times from the trip as we visited 33 wine farms (what they call wineries in […]