You don’t have to drink much red wine to become aware of the Dracula Effect: You enjoy a glass or two of rich red wine. Then turn to your companion, smile … and reveal a row of dark purple teeth that would do justice to the Transylvanian gentleman.
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Perrin Réserve Côtes du Rhône Blanc is a pale-golden blend of the white Southern Rhone grapes Grenache blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier. It offers a fresh, appealing honeydew melon scent with floral notes around the edges. Full and bright in flavor, it’s crisp and dry when cold, softening and adding a slight touch of fresh-fruit sweetness as it warms in the glass. Complex flavors begin with melon and a spritz of juicy lime, opening up to notes of peach and chalky minerality, with a hint of bitter peach pit with lime in a very long finish.
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Check prices and find vendors for Famille Perrin Réserve Côtes du Rhône Blanc on Wine-Searcher.com.
Follow this Wine-Searcher link to find listings for lots more wines from Famille Perrin, including its flagship wine, Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape Read article.
In northwestern Tuscany, the DOC area of Bolgheri has, since the 1990s, risen to prominence as an area producing excellent “Super Tuscans.” Neil Duarte tastes some of these — from Tenuta Argentiera. Read article.
I love some of the world’s most palate-scorching cuisines. Offer me a plate of food loaded with chili peppers and fiery spice, and I’ll dig right in, sweating and crying happy tears. But it can be hard to find a wine to match!
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Made with organic Zweigelt grapes, this pretty, pale salmon-pink Austrian rosé foams when it pours and settles back to a rim of tiny bubbles in the glass. Delicious aromas offer a mix of summer fruits – strawberries up front, backed by raspberry and melon – that carry over on the palate with an added note of pleasantly bitter peach pit. Carbonation shows as a light prickle, with light acidity serving to balance a subtle hint of sweetness. Gentle 11.5 percent acidity makes it a good option for summer sipping. Red berries linger in a moderately long finish. The wine is certified organic and vegan
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Check prices and find vendors for Pratsch Niederösterreich Rosé on Wine-Searcher.com.
Follow this Wine-Searcher link to find listings for other wines from Biohof Pratsch. Read article.
Summer is here, and it’s too darn hot. We have a forecast high of 91º this afternoon, and it’s already feeling steamy at mid-morning. Doesn’t a glass of ice-cold wine sound good?
Well, hold on there just a minute, partner.
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The intriguing aromas of this pale, bright copper rosé blend watermelon and red berries with subtle wildflowers and a hint of almonds. On the palate it’s dry and crisp, with gentle but perceptible acidity to give it structure. Red-berry fruit follows the nose, with intriguing rainwater-over-stones minerality giving way to brisk, mouth-watering acidity and 12.5% alcohol in a long, cleansing finish. An excellent Bourgogne Pinot Noir rosé, fine at the table or for summer sipping.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for on Wine-Searcher.com.
Follow this Wine-Searcher link to find listings for all the Bourgogne wines produced by Domaine Frédéric and Célene Gueguen.
This Wine-Searcher link offers information and links to dozens of Bourgogne Rosé-Clairet wines. Read article.
In Italy, more and more wineries are adopting the techniques of organic farming and becoming certified by the EU. Neil Duarte rates the wines of Coop Cantina Tollo, one of the wineries undergoing this transition. Read article.
Yesterday we pulled out the second-from-the-last bottle of a much enjoyed case of Loire wines from small producers, and it proved to be a sad pleasure.
A sad pleasure? If you think this sounds like self-contradiction, I meant it that way.
Allow me to explain.
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Wine is intensely personal: You smell it with your own nose and taste it with your own mouth. And yet wine is most enjoyable when the experience is shared. These points never seemed to be in tension until a worldwide pandemic sent most of us scurrying to the safety of our homes. Now we’re doing virtual tastings and winery visits on Zoom.
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