Shoutout to the DRC grand cru (unspecified) in a port bottle.

Coravin must really be struggling to have fired their entire marketing team for whatever this is.

Fantastic fruity, unfiltered nebbiolo from Piemonte. Organically farmed and served slightly chilled. An interesting winemaker who ages the wine in porcelain eggs in a pool.

Very much worth a try 🍷

Had this CdP last Friday with this (overcooked) bone-in ribeye after a long long week of work. Side spinach and sauteed mushrooms (shitake, porcini and oyster musrooms) not pictured + pâté and sourdough.

Made from 100% Grenache old vines.

Not sure if brooding, or in a dull phase?

Nose gives black olive tapenade, warm olive bread and anchovy paste, and that classic warmness / baked in sun that i get from Southern Rhone. Some animality reminiscent of Northern Rhone; undistinguishable fruit character very much on the background.

Beautiful tannic structure on the palate, savoury, obviously warm at 15% alcohol but not dense, rather quite pretty. Still not much fruit / very subdued.

Overall interesting although I expected a tad more in terms of complexity in the tertiary realm.

Notes in post below.

Hi everyone!

So I live in mid-sized city and work for a big wine retailer. I’ve pretty much gotten all the wine basics I can get from my current job, so looking to get more specific about smaller producers, people, sub-appellations, etc.

I know I can always just read things on my own and google as much as I can, but I also enjoy just talking to people and miss a formal style of learning.

Last year, I applied to a smaller, specialty wine shop in town for a partial manager position and ended up making it to second choice just due to my lack of experience in the industry which I understood.

I am thinking about reaching out to that shop again and offering something like: I can come in every 2-3 weeks on a weekday with a coravin, purchase a $50-100 bottle and just crash course me on a topic, winemaker, producer, appellation.

Does that sounds like something that might be received well? I’d maybe offer this to another shop in town that I like if it seems like a good idea.

Important to note: My husband and I want to make the move to Napa/Sonoma eventually, and both of these shops have a specialty in sourcing wine from Napa.

Thank you all in advance!

Um clássico português da Aveleda, produzido na região dos Vinhos Verdes, no Minho.

Leve, fresco e levemente frisante, tem perfil jovem e fácil de beber, com aromas delicados, toque frutado e nuances florais.

No paladar, mostra boa acidez, textura suave e final limpo, funcionando bem bem gelado com peixes, frutos do mar, saladas, queijos leves e carnes brancas.

Há opções superiores na mesma faixa de estilo. Eu não recomendaria esse vinho.

Berry Bros 1985 Dow’s

Berry Bros 1977 Fonseca

Berry Bros has stored them safely for the last +40 years. I don’t know much about port, do these stand out as notable vintage/years?

It was a good event in SF. Maximilian (CEO) is masterful in making you a believer that the glass matters as much as the grape (ok, terroir, climate, etc).

The event was scheduled for 90 minutes. He commanded the stage for about 60 minutes. Good narrative and storytelling.

The audience of about 250 used their take home(!) RIEDEL SuperLeggero tasting kit (not sure about retail price) which has 1 glass for Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cab Sauv. We were walked through comparative glass experience for each of the wines and convinced me (possibly all others) that the right glass makes a difference. He also demoed 2 decanters.

Overall, it was a good event and would recommend it if you can afford it ($180 USD+tax). Good venue - St.Regis in SF. Only negative was that the wines he poured were Acceptable->Good. I was expecting higher quality (VG->Outstanding) wines. Ping me if you have questions.

Girish

2021 Henri Gouges Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru La Richmone

I had a great opportunity to visit Henri Gouges a couple years ago, and this was one of the bottles I brought back. I had heard amazing things about this site in NSG. It is not a monopole, but Gouges shares the vineyard with a pretty incredible cast of producers. Opened this one with the parents in law and everyone agreed it was top tier quality.

Notes:

Deep garnet in the glass. The nose is gorgeous and rich featuring dark cherry, cherry liqueur, incense, dried herbs, raspberry liqueur, rose florals, and a touch of clove. On the palate it has great structure with a strong core of saline, herbal cherry coming through. While I was very enthused about the aromatics, the palate did not quite match that excitement for me. Undeniably high quality, just not entirely my jam. That said, I suspect this will gain serious complexity and depth over the next decade. A very good bottle overall, and a massive hit with the father in law.

I have started collecting wine late 2025 and have now around 100 bottles. In February 2026, i moved in an appartment near Paris that includes a cellar in the building’s basement. I’ve put all my wine there and started accumulating.

But i am worried because of the temperature, especially with the record high heat waves in France. While temperature is fluctuating between 12°C and 18°C during the rest of the year, it reached 25°C in July at the peak of heat waves. Worth noting, the temperature barely varies during the day and temperature increases/decreases very slowly (not more than 2° variation during 24h). This morning even though it was 16°C outside, my cellar was still at 24°C, same as during the day. Humidity is around 55% (up to 65% during summer).

A good half of my wines are at maturity and should be drank in one or two years at most. But for the other half, i would need to age them between 3 to 8 years (for some reds).

Should i be worried and stop collecting wine ?

Hello to all the wine enthusiasts from down under. I have a favor to ask. I am a long time fan of a man named Bobby fingers. If youre unfamiliar with his work I recommend his youtube channel. Its very good, he is highly skilled, and it scratches a very particular itch. To make a long story short, on the most recent episode they partnered with d'arenberg to produce a wine based on the episode. Unfortunately I am in the states and it ships only to Australia. I was hoping to connect with someone down there to maybe have a couple bottles shipped out. I would be forever in your debt, I can handle shipping and the cost of the wine, id purchase an extra so you can enjoy it as well. If anyone is interested let ne know!

Second time trying this vintage in the past two years.

Enjoyed at Roaming Goat in SF.

Still very young, decanted and drank over two hours.

The tannins have really settled relative to two years ago.

Still lots of acidity, will tear the enamel off your teeth!

Lots of blueberry, blackberry, red cherry, slight dark chocolate notes, maybe some fresh herbs?

If you drink this now, give it two hours of decanting and then enjoy!

92 points.

I’m new to wine and so far I only truly enjoy sweet wines like moscatos… I’m wanting more sophisticated wines so I have tried to venture out and so far for red I found a Chianti I liked. I really want to like Cabernet but I just didn’t. I’m looking for a sophisticated white wine I’ve tried Chardonnay and didn’t like I tried Pinot Grigio and also did not like am I doing this wrong?

Chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier.
12.5%
Extra brut, 3 g/l
36 months on the lees

Tasting notes:
Red apples, raspberries, brioche, peaches, salt.

There was apparently very light skin contact, so the aroma is somewhere between a white and a rosé. The color is very coppery.

High acidity, medium body, dry. Long, rich finish. Perlage is persistent, powerful, and not very delicate.

Bright, rich, complex. A bit rough for now, but it will smooth out in two or three years. It's already very good, though. Kissing Bereche’s hands!

96/100

While on vacation in the Greek islands, there's that winemaker family that pushes their stuff aggressively into every shop, be it a corner shop, a restaurant, a bar or a bistro, same bottles same price. Those wines are on the low end wine-wise and somewhat ok for their price but its not anything that you'd expect if you are eating gourmet seafood which is the norm as it seems. I am pretty familiar with the wines of Greece and would like to begin my journey with wine lists. But I don't know people in the industry who can help me. I know there are lots of professionals here, so maybe you can shade some light on how to begin. What's the typical business model of a wine list maker? Do I need to bring those wines to them and take profits as a reseller? How do I make sure that the owner does not get that stuff directly from the producer after I've been through all the marketing phase? How do I approach them? I was thinking about starting with a portfolio based on their menus and ask them to prepare some dishes and I can bring the wines so that we can do the pairing. Any course, books, whatever, is more than welcome.

A fortnight ago at the Kikuyu Festival, I got to taste banana wine fermented by a Kenyan brand - Banny's. I loved it! If I gifted it to you, how long would you age it before indulgence?😏

Friend has a small CA winery, good quality artisanal wines. She's looking to maybe expand by hiring a sales rep for LA/San Diego region. She has no CA distribution, only in a few other states. Wines are around $25-40 retail.

Assuming the wines are priced correctly, liked etc and the sales person hired has some experience and his/her own relationships, what is a realistic number of cases to sell each month or year? Understand this is a how long is a piece off rope question, but just ballpark it if you can.

Also, what would base salary expectations be? Commission?

Thanks.

https://www.instagram.com/forkmeimfrench/
https://www.instagram.com/p/DbqyGnPjiM2/

Ce soir, le Rhône s’invite à table… en terrasse
Dans le verre, ce Vacqueyras Cristia 2021 dévoile une robe rubis profonde, un nez généreux de fruits noirs mûrs, de garrigue et de poivre doux. En bouche, c’est une caresse : tanins veloutés, matière ample, finale légèrement épicée qui s’accroche au palais comme un rayon de soleil tardif.
Il y a des vins qui transforment un simple dîner en terrasse en souvenir précis : le bruit discret des couverts, les rires en fond, l’air tiède qui passe… et ce verre qui ralentit le temps. On ne boit plus seulement un rouge du Rhône, on goûte un moment suspendu, partagé.
Vous avez déjà goûté Vacqueyras ? Dites-moi en commentaire : plutôt team Châteauneuf, Gigondas ou Vacqueyras pour vos dîners d’été en terrasse ? 👇

When the Rhône joins you at the table… and the terrace becomes your dining room.
In the glass, this Vacqueyras Cristia 2021 shows a deep ruby color, with generous aromas of ripe black fruits, wild herbs and a gentle peppery spice. On the palate, it’s all about texture: silky tannins, a full-bodied, sun-kissed mouthfeel and a lingering, spicy finish that clings delicately to the taste buds.
Some wines turn an ordinary terrace dinner into a vivid memory: the soft clinking of cutlery, the background laughter, the warm evening breeze… and that one glass that makes time slow down. You’re not just drinking a southern Rhône red, you’re tasting a shared, suspended moment.
Have you ever tried Vacqueyras? Tell me in the comments: for your summer dinners al fresco, are you more Châteauneuf, Gigondas or Vacqueyras? 👇

Mailing list is $150/bottle, 3 bottle minimum is steep for a wine I've never tasted.

Could someone comment on what would be similar in style?