Ah, Spain. Where else can you get a fantastic red wine that’s nearly ten years old for $20 (just $4 a glass)? The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
93 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Chenin Blanc is quietly (thankfully) making a comeback in California, and some of the best are being made by top winemakers like Peter Heitz (famous for his majestic Napa Valley Cabernets at Turnbull winery). The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / Winespeed
Here’s a delicious vibrant red that’s super juicy, fresh, light-bodied and bright—the kind of red that’s effortless to drink and goes with everything. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
93 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Spiciness, black pepperiness, and wild sage are all delicious characteristics in Cabernet Sauvignon, and this Cab from Minus Tide is loaded with them. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
This is the first time (in ten years) that our Wine to Know has cost just $10. And amazingly, it’s a Pinot Noir—generally one of the hardest and most expensive varieties to farm and make into good wine. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
90 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Port boggles the mind. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
In Bordeaux, Merlot is prized for its soft core—a plushness right in the middle of the flavor that gives wines like St-Emilions and Pomerols their richness. Merlot in California can be like that too. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Sometimes you just need a really good white wine under $20. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
92 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
In a recent tasting of more than 70 northern California Chardonnays, this one from Scribe was the mostThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
96 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
When I first met John Duval he was the head winemaker at Penfolds and making Grange, Australia’s best known wine. That was quite a while ago, before his “retirement” when he quietly created John Duval Wines. The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
I’ve always thought of great Chardonnay as a winter white—mouthfilling, rich, and rightThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
97 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
One of the biggest misconceptions about California Pinot Noir is that it’s categoricallyThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
A roast of beef, a leg of lamb, the Christmas turkey…to drink this Cornas with meat isThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
97 points KM
At some point this fall, you just might need a really special gift. Something thatThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
98 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
This 100-point wine is the best Pinot Gris I’ve ever tasted. Luxurious and languorous,The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
100 points KMKaren MacNeil / WineSpeed
I love it when a sparkling wine is laser tight—when it’s like an athlete whose everyThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
The brash, bring-it-on name of this Italian white wine makes lots of people smile. And the name canThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points KM
This Cabernet is Chimney Rock’s 40th vintage in the Stags Leap District—the tinyThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points KM
I admit to tasting this wine well before I grabbed the bottle out The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Pinot Noir from Alsace? It’s a thing. And it’s going to be a bigger The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
91 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Pure tasting and very fresh, Tablas Creek’s Vermentino has a wonderful “aliveness” on the palate.The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Big Table Farm, a winery and working farm, makes some of the best artisanal ChardonnaysThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Drinking this Loire white from the village of Savennières, an image flashed across my mind—an image The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
In some places, the “voice of the land” is loud and the “heartbeat,” strong.The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Once a wine is in your mouth, the flavors have a flow as one sensory impression flows into the next.The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil/WineSpeed
I love the indigenous Sicilian white grape Grillo. It’s bright, lively, snappy,The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
96 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
OMG is this red good! The flavors are firing on all cylinders: raspberries,The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Every now and then a producer comes along who can coax out all kinds of thingsThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Such is the popularity of Provençal rosé, that it’s easy to forget (or not realize) that Provence makes some The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points KM
This is one of the best California sparkling wines I’ve ever tasted.The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
97 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
For more than a century, northern Portugal’s white wines (especially Vinho Verdes)The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
90 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
If ever there was a Champagne that exuded the beauty of Summer, The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Morgan has been making well-priced wines on the Central Coast of CaliforniaThe following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Big Table Farm, one of the top small wine producers in Oregon, has a way of making elegant,The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Great Riojas have a deep earthiness that can seem almost primordial.The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Here’s the first really good rosé we’ve tasted this year—and it’s an irresistible deal The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
93 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Iron Horse has been making California sparkling wine since 1976,The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Compared to polished, aristocratic Bordeaux and sensual Burgundy,The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
One of the tip-offs to a really good wine is to look on the back label and see who imports it.The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
92 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Alfred Gratien’s dry Brut rosé is Springtime in a glass.The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Chianti Classico wines that are designated “Gran Selezione” are the region’s “Grand Crus.” The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
97 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
What Burgundy is to Chardonnay (the best place in the world for the grape),The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
Among the great wines few wine drinkers will ever enjoy: the top white Burgundies,The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
95 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
This fantastic, super fresh white from one of the northern Rhône’s top producers is so vivid,The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.
94 points Karen MacNeil / WineSpeed
