In my last post, I started counting down my top five wine experiences from my recent trip to Italy. The trip was not wine-centered, but in Italy, wine has a way of reaching out and grabbing you, sometimes even when you don’t go looking for it.
I did go looking for Number Three on my list, though. It was an experience that began in Orlando and ended on a remote patch of land in Tuscany.
Continue reading “Top Five Wine Experiences on an Italian Journey: Part 2 – Montenidoli”
If you’re like most Central Floridians, you know Chef Jamie McFadden because he catered your wedding, or your company’s holiday party, or your favorite charity’s fundraiser.
Jamie’s Cuisiniers Catering company has been a mainstay in Orlando for almost two decades, and Jamie himself is well known as a top-notch local chef.
But I know him in a different context – as an oenophile.
Continue reading “Orlando Chef-Winemaker Jamie McFadden Releases Snowbirds Rosé”
Happy Mother’s Day, Central Florida! Have a wonderful time celebrating Mom tomorrow – hopefully with a brilliant brunch and some bubbles.
The celebration doesn’t have to end there, though!
Bubbles will be the name of the game at The Occasional Grape’s monthly tasting, this time dubbed “Bubbly & Bold.” It’s coming up Thursday, and it looks like a fun lineup.
Also, don’t celebrate so much this weekend that you miss the early bird registration deadline for the Women for Winesense chardonnay and merlot class with Master of Wine Jean K. Reilly. The price goes up after Monday!
Find details for these and many more upcoming wine events at our events page. Cheers!
There are a lot of great and even grand tasting experiences to be had in the wide world of wine. But every now and then, if you’re lucky, you’ll find yourself at an unassuming, casual weeknight tasting that somehow becomes transcendental. The setting, the people and, most of all, the wines come together to magically transport you to a place far beyond your workaday world.
Last Tuesday’s Chateau Musar tasting at Tim’s Wine Market Orlando was such an event.
Before you call me overly sentimental or accuse me of having had one too many “tastes,” you must understand that I go to a lot of wine tastings – usually at least two a week and often more. I almost always enjoy them on some level – intellectual, social, or sensory. But for a number of reasons, this one was a cut above and a step beyond.
Floridians travel to Colorado a lot. Only California and Texas send more tourists to this land of snow and yogis. If you find yourself heading to the Centennial State for some skiing or hiking or yoga (or, ummm, partaking of recreational substances) it’s worth checking out the local wine too.
In a state known – beverage-wise – for beer, and more recently for spirits, winemaking in Colorado has long played third fiddle. And it still does. But on a recent visit, I was pleased to find that the quality of Colorado’s wine is nothing to sneeze at. If you know where to look, you can find some lovely, cool-climate Old World-style wines, some of them even age-worthy.
Continue reading “Colorado Wine – A Different Kind of Rocky Mountain High”
If you love wine, there’s nothing quite like talking to winemakers about their work and their creations. They’re as passionate as artists and as meticulous as scientists. When you talk with them, you’re all but guaranteed to come away with insight and perspective you couldn’t have gotten other way.
I can still hear the diminutive Carolina Garcia Viadero talking about the “little pieces of art” she creates for Bodegas Valduero. Or jovial Nik Weis of St. Urbans-Hof likening the “birth” of a wine to the existence of god. Or the elderly Heinrich Grohe weaving the tale of his life’s journey from metalworking in Germany to winemaking at Missouri’s Heinrichshaus Vineyards.
This month, Central Florida wine lovers have three opportunities to meet and talk with winemakers:
Don’t miss the chance to connect with the people closest to the wines you love. Get more information about these and many other Orlando-area tastings, classes, and events on our Events Page.
The Upcoming Wine Events page has been updated with lots of new happenings around the region, including:
Don’t miss these great events coming up next week:
As always, there’s no excuse to go thirsty in the City Beautiful!
“I don’t make riesling,” winemaker Nik Weis said with a sly smile. “I make Mosel.”
Thus began a fascinating two-hour vertical tasting of six vintages of Nik’s St. Urbans-Hof Laurentiuslay riesling spatlese in Miami last month.
The small private event took place in a beautiful condo on Biscayne Bay, but it was organized by one of the newest members of Orlando’s wine community, Jean K. Reilly, Master of Wine. (More about Jean in a later post!)
Continue reading “Meticulous to Metaphysical: St. Urbans-Hof’s Nik Weis”
In Oregon,”you must be the master of your vineyard,” says Eugenia Keegan, General Manager of Gran Moraine Winery.
Speaking to a packed house at the Hilton Orlando on Tuesday, she and four other leading winemakers from Oregon’s Willamette Valley made the case for Oregon as a wine region unlike any other. Her compatriots on the Jackson Family Wines “Oregon: A State of Mind” tour included Lynn Penner-Ash (Penner-Ash), Ryan Zepaltas (Siduri, Zepaltas), Tony Rynders (Zena Crown, Tendril), and Craig McAlister (La Crema).
They have a valid point.
Uniquely Oregon
Oregon has been a major player in the wine game for almost 40 years, but much of the discussion about Oregon wines still takes place in the context of comparison – usually with the state’s giant wine neighbor to the south, or with Burgundy, the standard bearer for cool climate pinot noir.
Continue reading “We’re not Burgundy or Cali, top Oregon winemakers tell Orlando’s wine pros”
Australian wines are rarely my first choice of libation. As for Aussie reds – well, I’d have a hard time remembering the last time I bought one. I’ve encountered too many examples that are too jammy, fruity, and one-dimensional for my taste.
But, as I’ve written many times before, I make it a point to keep an open mind and never to make blanket statements about “wines I don’t like.” There are always exceptions, and I love finding them. When I was invited to a small tasting with James Lindner of Langmeil Winery I was intrigued to see if he could show me one.
Continue reading “Langmeil: Great Aussie wines from really old vines”
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