I have read a lot of books to help me learn more about wine.  Three (two old friends and a recent acquaintance) that I have found most useful are as follows: The two old friends are: Drink This - Wine Made Simple by Dara Moskowitz Grundahl (Click on the title to go to it's Amazon page).   Published in 2009 it highlights useful information about the most popular types of wine and wine regions in easy to understand language. It's 12 chapters cover the nuts and bolts of drinking, buying, and tasting wine, 9 chapters on each of the most popular varietals (the type of wine), a chapter on the relationship of the cost of wine and how much you will like it, and a chapter on how to order wine in a restaurant.  Each of the chapters on the type of wine will also give you some hints on how to identify the wine you are drinking, and how to host a wine tasting for that type of wine.  An easy enjoyable read that dispenses lots of useful information with a lot of wit and person...

Mr. Dave Orth of Washington D.C. writes, “Hey Wine Guy you did such an incredible job of letting us know that screw top wines can be good I was wondering if the same thing was true for Box Wines?” Thanks Dave that is a very insightful question and I feel blessed to have received it, as any insight coming from Washington D.C. is indeed rare. Before I answer your question let me tell you about the box.  The main advantage of wine in a box is that it has a membrane inside the box that holds the wine.  As you drink the wine the membrane shrinks around the wine minimizing the contact that air has with the wine.  Air causes wine to go bad so the less air that touches the wine the longer it will last.  A refrigerated, half empty bottle of wine sealed with a wine stopper will last 2-3 days before going bad. A half empty box of wine will last two or three weeks.   The tap attached to the box makes if very convenient to use. Box wine is more convenient the b...

I was looking at an inexpensive red wine last week and tried a bottle of $9.95 Montepulcano d’Aburzzo to have with some pizza.  It was outstanding.  Despite its deep red color it was smooth, flavorful, and not the least bit tannic.  Went perfect with the Pizza.   A couple of days later Mrs. Wine Guy and I were out to dinner at an Italian restaurant with fairly high wine prices but I was able to find a $29 bottle of Montepulcano  d’Aburzzo ($29 at a restaurant equates to $8 to $12 retail).  Again it was very drinkable and went very nicely with all of our meals and we all enjoyed it.  Aburzzo is a less well known area of Italy just north of Rome.  Usually when a wine is imported to the United States from a less well known area of Europe it is because that wine drinks better than it's price point.  Because of this buying wines from less well known areas is a good way to find great value wines.  Like other European wines ...

Mr. Mike Ryan of Gulf Breeze Florida asks “Do any good wines have a screw-top or are they only used for “cheap” wines?” Well Mike while it is true that many “cheap” wines use screw tops there are many really good “value” wines that also utilize a screw-top. Cork has traditionally been used to seal a bottle of wine because it was one of the few natural products pliable enough to keep the wine in while keeping the air out.  As the price of cork has gone up and up many winemakers looked for alternatives to cork to help keep the price of their wine reasonable.  Screw-tops are one of those alternatives.  Other alternatives are corks made of synthetic material, compressed pieces of cork, or a combination of real cork and synthetic material.   Cork has gotten so expensive odds are if you purchase a wine less than $30 you are buying a wine with one of the cork alternatives and not a wine utilizing a 100% natural cork. In many ways a screw-top is pr...

Costco believe it or not is one of the biggest wine retailers in the world.  Because of that they are able to leverage their size to get great great wines at great prices.  They have a rotating selection of wines, and depending on the drinking habits of the surrounding area the sell different wines at different locations. At my Costco they carry two wines that I consider to be great values that they always seem to have in stock.   One is Chateau D' Aqueria Tavel Rose.  Tavel is an application in the southern Rhone region of France that only produces dry Rose.  It is one of the most full bodied rose wines you will ever experience.  I love to drink it by itself but I also pair it with Salmon.  $12.99 is an outstanding price for a wine this good. My other favorite Costco wine is Villa Antinori Toscana red table wine.   This highly rated wine is a Super Tuscan (a wine produced in Tuscany with at least some grapes not being Sangiovese)...

Went to a wine tasting of League of Rogues wines last night and came away very impressed.  This Paso Robles winery has a Rose, a  Rhone Red Blend, and a Rhone white blend that retail for around $12,50 and a Zinfandel that retails for around $18.00.  All four are approachable, drinkable, and give you what you expect without being overpowering.  Amazingly well done given the fact that the wine is produced and marketed by a young couple, Jake Gottlieb and Jessica Leitch that graduated from Arizona State business school four years ago and got into the business 3 years ago.  They now produce about 1200 cases per year. They do not have a tasting room and are currently available at restaurants and small wine shops (for those of you in Arizona it is available at Phoenix Wine  http://www.phoenixwine.com/  ) throughout Arizona and California and through their website and wine club. You can also get more information and order wine by going to the League of R...

Mrs. Wine Guy and I just got back from a wedding anniversary trip to Seattle (35 Years thank you) and as we usually do when we are in a wine growing region we took some time out to do a little wine tasting.  We visited 3 tasting rooms on Bainbridge Island (a half hour ferry ride from downtown Seattle) and 4 tasting rooms in Woodinville (a half hour car ride from downtown Seattle).  What follows is a summary of what we found during our wine tasting. Woodinville is home to over 100 tasting rooms.  Much of the wine is produced there but most of the grapes are grown in Eastern and Southern Washington and shipped to the area.  A big reason for the number of wine producers in the area is Chateau Ste. Michelle, our first stop in the area. Many of the top winemakers in the area got their start at Chateau Ste. Michelle.  Chateau Ste. Michelle is known as a producer of value wines with many of its wines among the least expensive on the supermarket shelves.  J...

When I first started this blog I thought I would incorporate some google generated ads to make a few dollars for my efforts.  My blog was rejected because google does not allow their ads to appear on sites that promote “drugs or alcohol”.  I recently took my car in for service and had my laptop with me to do some research for an upcoming blog post while I waited for the repairs to be completed.  When trying to access the web site of one of the wineries I was going to write about using the car dealers wireless network I was blocked from going to that site because the network does not allow traffic to sites that promote “drugs or alcohol”.   In both cases they lumped  wine into the same category as crack, meth, and heroin. For me and the vast majority of wine enthusiasts that I know wine is a hobby and we rarely if ever drink to the point we are drunk or are impaired.  For many cultures wine in a integral part of a meal and it makes about as much se...

One of the things that bothers me most is people that put artificial barriers on the wines they drink.  It makes me cringe when I hear people say “I only drink reds” or “I only drink whites” or “I only drink Napa Cabernet”.  “You big dummies”, I think to myself, “you are missing out on so much good stuff and great experiences by limiting yourself”.    I recently realized that I am missing out by not taking the same approach to life that I take to wine. I recently flew back home for the funeral of my cousins wife.  A wonderful person whose loss was a major blow to my cousin and their son.  I wanted to be there to offer whatever comfort I could.  Following the funeral we were all invited to lunch at a nearby restaurant.   As happens at weddings and funerals folks that don’t see each other that often get a chance to reunite.  It was open seating and I found myself sitting with a group of people that I had seen several times in my ...

I had Presidents Day Monday off of my other job (the one that pays the bills) and since Valentine's day fell on the preceding Saturday my Valentine and I decide to make the 5 1/2 hour drive to spend the weekend in Temecula to do some wine tasting and enjoy the area.  We made our first visit to the area last year. This trip we wanted to visit some of the smaller places we did not get a chance to try last year.   Our overall impression of the wine was similar to what is was it was last yea r.  The wines, with some exceptions highlighted below, are for the most part drinkable but are not special and distinctive and do not justify their high prices.  The tasting rooms for most part are comfortable, interesting, some offering great views, and the tasting room staff at all the wineries we visited were friendly and helpful. Most of the larger wineries spend as much time promoting their banquet and wedding facilities as they do promoting their wine. I'm thinking hal...

Mrs.Wine Guy  and I had a few free days between the holidays so we took a couple of those days to do some wine tasting in Santa Barbara county.  It is one of our favorite places to go because first and foremost the wine is always good, the scenery is beautiful,  it is not crowed, and the tasting fees and wine prices are generally reasonable. Day one we focused on some old favorites and made a new discovery along the Foxen Canyon Road, and day two we visited the Lompoc Wine Ghetto.  We also made a stop at the Hitching Post Restaurant/Winery in Buellton.   The Hitching Post you may recall is the restaurant where the Virginia Madsen (Maya) character works in the movie Sideways.  The movie is credited with putting Santa Barbara wines on the map, increasing the popularity of Pinot Noir, and killing the demand for Merlot (If you have seen the movie you understand).  The restaurant features steaks grilled over an open oak fueled fire and a variety of o...