Underground Wine Line
NEWS FLASH – HAS FAKE NEWS TAKEN OVER THE WINE GAME?
These days it seems that everyone is buzzing about fake news. The government may even introduce a law that will teach people how to spot fake news. And, there is another move that is gaining some traction that would teach wine drinkers how to spot and identify fake wines. But, like fake news, fake wines […]
Click here to read entire article »2016 STUPID WINE DESCRIPTION AWARD WINNERS AND MORE!
Early last year I issued a challenge for readers to send in their favorite stupid wine descriptions (to read that article with links to lots of other stupid wine descriptions click here). The descriptions trickled in, but at the end there was one clear winner who sent in multiple entries. These include all the descriptions […]
Click here to read entire article »HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017!
It’s hard to believe, but it’s almost that time again -Time to bring in the new and say goodbye to the past. And, what a year it has been. It was minor in the scheme of things. But in the wine world we were shaken by the confirmation that wine merchant Premier Cru was […]
Click here to read entire article »BURGUNDY – 2016 VISIT
Accompanied by my longtime friends John Brincko and Geoffrey Troy, who are also Contributing Editors to the Underground, I have just returned from Burgundy. We enjoyed wonderful sunny weather with the vineyards ablaze with color and tasted 2015 Burgundies from barrel. This was the 36th year of Burgundy visits to taste wine from barrel. […]
Click here to read entire article »YIKES! THE 1000 POINT WINE SCORE IS HERE
The 1000 point wine scoring system to replace an already exaggerated 100 point wine scoring system is one of the things I have joked about for years (to read an article on the absurdity of 1000 point scoring click here). But, guess what? In today’s strange world the 1000 point score is here and […]
Click here to read entire article »CHAMPAGNE DAY 2016
From the very early days, The Underground Wineletter has been a big fan of Champagne with a very large number of Champagne articles written over nearly four decades (click here to read the Retrospective Review of our first article on Champagne from December 1979). And, I have always said that at our house every […]
Click here to read entire article »OUTSTANDING OLD MARSANNAY ROSÉS
I have always maintained that rosés do not have to be consumed the first year they are offered for sale. Many can be kept for years and many improve with additional age (to read an article on this subject click here). This allows for buying rosés and keeping them for some years and also […]
Click here to read entire article »A MONTE BELLO TOAST TO PAUL DRAPER
A LEGEND IN HIS TIME Paul Draper, the winemaker and CEO of Ridge Vineyards for nearly 50 years, recently announced his retirement. In my mind Paul was the California wine industry’s guiding force in continuing traditional wine making practices and making consistently great wines during his entire career at Ridge Vineyards. The history of Ridge […]
Click here to read entire article »THE PERILS OF FARMING – MOTHER NATURE DEVESTATES BURGUNDY
During the week of April 25 a devastating cold weather system and frost ravaged Burgundy. Below is a report from Alex Gambal. Alex Gambal is an American who went to Burgundy and, literally starting from scratch, has been able to establish a thriving business in less than 20 years (to read more about Alex […]
Click here to read entire article »DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME OF YEAR IT IS ON THE WINE CALENDAR?
It seems that things are always presented as seasonal. Do you think that people drink wine according to the season? I don’t know what other people do, but I do know that certain foods are seasonal and wine is just another food group. So it stands to reason that wine and food should go together […]
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