by Scott W. Clemens | Oct 1, 2014 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog
While attending the Alba Wines Exhibition, I took the opportunity to visit Cantine Giacomo Ascheri, which quietly became a destination winery with the 2007 opening of a hotel and restaurant on-premise in Bra (the capital of the Roero area and the center of the Slow...
by Scott W. Clemens | Oct 1, 2014 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog
Text and photos © Scott W Clemens For the epicurean traveler, Northern Italy is a revelation of spectacular vistas, romantic hill towns, unexpectedly diverse cultures, wonderful food, and a plethora of finely crafted wines from indigenous grapes. To get an idea of the...
by Lisa Richardson | Sep 28, 2014 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog
by Lisa RichardsonPhotos by: John Murphy, James and Lisa RichardsonAn exhilarating adventure is akin to these tasting notes: Balboa Winery, 2009 Reserve, Columbia Valley, Eidolon, Candy Mountain and Pepper Bridge Vineyards — 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Syrah,...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 24, 2012 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog
In the early part of my career as a wine writer, when I was reviewing wine for both Vintage magazine and Wine & Spirits Buying Guide, I tasted around 450 wines a month at the office, and I received a few samples at home from producers wishing to be reviewed....
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 15, 2012 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog
©2012 The San Francisco International Wine Competition is the largest international wine competition in the United States. This year it took a staff of 80 to keep the wheels turning flawlessly, so the 49 professional wine judges could taste through a record...
by Scott W. Clemens | Sep 13, 2012 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog, Wine Reviews
©2012 The San Francisco International Wine Competition is the largest international wine competition in the United States. This year it took a staff of 80 to keep the wheels turning flawlessly, so the 49 professional wine judges could taste through a record...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 11, 2010 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog
Text and photos ©2009 The two-lane road to Penderyn winds up the mountain and across a broad, windswept heath at the edge of Brecon Beacons National Park in southern Wales. It’s a forbidding landscape, barren except for coarse grass grazed by scattered sheep. The...
by Scott W. Clemens | Mar 20, 2009 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog
Despite the appearance of tradition in the wine business, few family-owned operations have survived more than 200 years. Politics, wars, economics, tax laws, family squabbles and miss-steps by managing members have often led to takeovers by multi-national...
by Scott W. Clemens | Mar 12, 2009 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog, Wine Reviews
The following tasting notes accompany my article, Traveling Across Spain with the Osborne Bull. To learn more about Osborne’s wine operations, as well as some of Spain’s finest restaurants, click here. BODEGAS MONTECILLO of Rioja Crianza 2003: A typical...
by Scott W. Clemens | Jul 10, 2008 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog
When the Rutherford Dust Society was formed in 1994, it was with the thought that the Rutherford appellation brought with it that ineffable sense of place. Legendary Beaulieu winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff coined the term Rutherford Dust to describe the unique...
by Scott W. Clemens | Oct 31, 2007 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog, Wine Reviews
text and photos ©2007 by Scott W Clemens Alba is always full of life. It’s a tourist town, in the best sense of the term — full of local color, interesting shops, tiny little restaurants that spill out onto the street, and a festival of one sort or another happening...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 14, 2006 | Wine & Spirits, Wine & Spirits blog, Wine Reviews
text and photos ©2006 Though Barbera is among the top tier of wine grape varieties in terms of quality, it receives very little attention from either the wine press or wine consumers. Not that it isn’t widely planted; it’s just unappreciated. In...
