Wine and Cheese – A Rare Pleasure
What’s so rare about wine cheese? Nothing, of course. “Wine and cheese” is one of the most abused “topics” of a social gathering. “Ah, let’s get together, I will bring wine and you will bring cheese”. Easy and straightforward, right?
So let me ask you, when was the last time you enjoyed yellow cheddar with a sip of a nice Chardonnay? Never mind Chardonnay, do you think yellow cheddar will work well with a random Pinot Grigio? Or maybe an inexpensive Rioja? I will let you ponder that enjoyable yellow cheddar pairing for a while – let me know when you come up with a good answer.
Wine and food pairing “that works” is an art. When wine and food pairing is attempted, one of the best general results is when wine and food don’t fight each other. In the rare cases when food and wine work together, that creates a pleasure of the next level, a pure hedonistic joy.
There are many books written on the subject of food and wine pairing, so I’m not going to try to cover the subject within a few sentences on this blog. On a basic level, wine and food pairing work well either by contrasting or complementing flavors. For example, an effervescent Moscato d’Asti perfectly complements an angel cake, as the flavors are similar, but Asti elevates the mouthfeel with light bubbles and a touch of acidity. Nice Kabinett Riesling perfectly contrasts spicy Asian dish with its acidity and sweetness, offering a welcoming relief to your fired-up taste buds. Many of the pairings would fall somewhere in between, but the whole point is that a bite of food together with a sip of wine should give you more pleasure than each one on its own.
So, how can you go about finding pleasurable combinations of food and wine? Wait, no, this is a topic for another blog post. Let me rephrase the question – how do you find pleasurable combinations of cheese and wine?
The right answer is: it depends.
Why, it always depends, doesn’t it?
When it comes to cheese, there is one easy hack (workaround is a nicer word :)) – if we are talking about artisanal cheeses, the pairing gets easier. Similar to wines, artisanal cheeses are also a product of terroir – many European cheeses have a protected area of origin. For most of the cases, that means that those artisanal cheeses had been produced in the specific area for a while, and that in turn means that most likely, the wines were produced locally right next to cheese, and therefore they is a good chance that wine and cheese from the same place might pair together well.
I had a perfect opportunity to test this theory. I got an unusual birthday present last month – a selection of artisanal cheeses from the local cheese monger – five cheeses from France and Switzerland. Obviously, that presented a perfect opportunity to try that difficult cheese and wine pairing and see how it would work.
Here are the cheeses I got with a brief wine pairing recommendations collected through an internet search:
– 1 –
Schallenberg
Origin: Switzerland, Alpine region
Milk: Cow (raw)
Age: 10 months
Suggested wine pairings:
White: Riesling, Ice Wine
Red: Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Barbera
– 2 –
Hornbacher
Origin: Switzerland, Alpine region
Milk: Cow (raw)
Age: 11 months
Suggested wine pairings:
White: Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris
Other: (fortified dessert wines): Sherry, Port
– 3 –
Abbaye de Tamié
Traditional French cheese crafted by the monks at the Trappist Abbey of Tamié since the 12th century
Origin: France, Savoie, Rhône-Alpes
Milk: Cow (raw)
Suggested wine pairings:
White: Chardonnay, Savoie (Chasselas and others)
Red: Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Gamay
Other: Champagne, other sparkling wines
– 4 –
Vacherousse d’Argental, double-cream Brie style
Origin: France, Lyon region
Milk: Cow
Suggested wine pairings:
Other: Champagne and other sparkling wines
White: Riesling, Grenache Blanc
– 5 –
Ovalie Cendrée
Origin: France, Loire Valley
Type: Goat (raw? Pasteurized?)
Suggested wine pairings:
White: Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling
Rosé
Red: Pineau d’Aunis
As you can tell, there was quite a range of wines suggested for the pairing, with Pinot Noir and Champagne being a common thread.
I get it about Champagne, as well-made Champagne possibly is the most versatile food pairing wine out there. Pinot Noir sounded a bit surprising, as I think many Pinot Noirs would easily overpower cheeses. And of course, Riesling makes perfect sense to pair with the cheeses, alongside the dessert wines.
While there is a good range of wines that might work with my cheese selection, the goal of this exercise was to get pleasure, not to conduct a comprehensive research of cheese and wine pairings, thus I had to limit the selection of the wines. I had a bottle of Champagne that I wanted to open for a while. I decided to go with Pinot Noir for the red, and luckily (for everyone), I settled on the Burgundian version and not Oregon or California. And last but not east, instead of looking for a right Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling, I settled on the beautiful rendition of Chenin Blanc from Loire (of course!) from one of the best (best?) producers, Domaine Huet, basing my decision on the fact that one of the cheeses was coming from Loire region, thus giving me hope that local wine will pair well with local cheese.
Here are brief notes about the wines and their pairing with the cheeses:
NV Champagne Domaine les Monts Fournois Premier Cru (12.5% ABV, 70% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Meunier, Bottled in June 2016, Disgorged in September 2022) – superb. A classic nose of brioche and apples, followed by toasted bread and apples on the palate with cleansing acidity. Elegant, supple, delicious. Worked well with all cheeses.
2019 Domaine Huet Clos du Bourg Sec Vouvray AOC (13.5% ABV)
What a delight! Beautiful light golden color, elegant nose of whitestone fruit and a hint of nutmeg, inviting and enticing. Round, roll-off-your-tongue experience on the palate, an elegant white fruit medley, balanced acidity, a welcoming complexity with a medium-long finish. The wine was a riot paired with ashy goat, Ovalie Cendrée.
2019 Domaine Rebourgeon-Mure Cuvée de Maison Dieu Bourgogne (13.5% ABV, 14-18 months in partially new oak barrels)
Elegant would be the best descriptor. The wine was soft and approachable, with red fruit on the nose and more of the red fruit on the palate, medium body, soft and delicate. If I were just to open it to drink on its own, I think I would be disappointed. But paired with cheese, the wine shone, matching nearly perfectly pretty much all the cheeses we had in the tasting. I think my personal favorite was pairing with two of the Swiss hard cheeses, but again, this Burgundian Pinot worked perfectly with all 5 cheeses.
We also opened one more bottle in the evening – 1998 Mondavi Moscato d’Oro Napa Valley – we did’t pair it with the cheese (I’m sure that the pairing would be superb), but it was delicious on its own, with light sweetness of honey notes and still good acidity, still fresh – a delightful finish to the tasty night.
Here you are, my friends – a story of the rare pleasure – a successful pairing of the wine and cheese. Do you have your own stories about wine and cheese?
Wines of South America: Making Wine Geek and Wine Lover Happy
Here is where it gets interesting. We all heard of wine geeks, people who get excited about little nerdy wine details, such as vineyard blocks, blending methodology, or amphorae versus cement tank aging. And then you have the wine lovers, aficionados – the people who simply go after the hedonistic pleasure of wine drinking. Can these two personas be happy at the same time? I can’t speak for all the wine people with multiple personalities, but I can definitely answer for this one, the moi. I attended Descorchados 2025 tasting of South American wines, and both inner geek and aficionado were happy.
Just in case you are curious, DescoRChadOS is a guide for the wine of South America, published since 1999. Descorchados also runs wine tasting events dedicated to the wines of South America, and the 2025 event was the first return of the tasting to New York City since 2019.
As a self-appointed wine geek, I love all the uncommon wine traits – new (to me) and lesser-known grape varieties, new (to me) and unknown, even obscure places, authentic (indigenous, autochthonous) grapes, low intervention/natural wines, unique wines and vineyards (e.g. old vineyards). In this tasting, I found all of these things – indigenous, unknown (and thus new to me) grapes harvested from the 200-year-old vineyards, from the countries I had never tasted the wines from before. Happy, happy, happy wine geek.
And then there were world-class, beautiful, delicious, hedonistic wines – Malbec, Syrah, classic method Sparkling wines – all in the same tasting. As I said, both geek and aficionado were very happy.
Let’s start with the unique portion first, as I had a chance to attend the masterclass presenting the historical wines of South America.
When it comes to wine from South America, Argentina and Chile are the two countries that come to mind first, followed by Uruguay and maybe Brazil. But the grapes had been growing in most of the South American countries for a long time, with vineyards usually started by European immigrants. It appears that the oldest vineyard in South America is called Tacoma and it is located in Perú, originally planted by Spanish immigrants in the 1540s.
I don’t know if a grape vine can survive for 500 years and continue to bear fruit. However, I now know that 200-year-old vineyards can still produce grapes, as I had an opportunity to taste the wines made with grapes harvested from 200-year-old vines.
In the masterclass, we tasted 6 wines from 3 countries – Perú, Bolivia, and Chile, some of them produced from the unique grapes I never had before, so thanks to this tasting I can now add two countries to my list of Wines around the World, and increase the grape count by 3 – picture happy collector of experiences.
Here is what we tasted in the masterclass – but before the notes, just take a look at these colors! This tasting was definitely a feast for the eyes!
2024 Bodega Murga Ponte Mosca Pisco Perú (12.5% ABV, 34% Moscatel de Alejandría, 33% Moscatel Rosada, 33% Moscatel Negra, 65 days of skin contact)
Pisco is located south of Lima, capital of Perú, 25 minutes away from the Atlantic Ocean, featuring 4 different soil types in the region.
I can’t even comment on the color (beautiful!). The wine had a wonderful nose with explicit nutmeg and a hint of grapefruit. Interestingly dry and tart on the palate, with blood orange on the finish and pure acidity. A great specimen of skin contact wine, but you have to love skin contact. Will be great with seafood.
2024 Bodega Murga Sophia L’Orange Perú (10% ABV, 85% Quebranta, 15% Mollar grapes, 30 days of skin maceration, indigenous yeast)
Muted nose with a hint of smoke, strawberries, sapidity. Smokey strawberries on the palate with salivating clean, crisp acidity on the finish. I absolutely love it, but this is not the wine for everyone (geeks should be happy, though).
Just look at these colors!
2023 Jardín Oculto Negra Criolla Finca Molle Pampa Cinti Bolivia (200! years old vineyard, 100% Negra Criolla, a.k.a. Listán Prieto a.k.a. País)
Cintis Valley is located in the south of Bolivia, at 7,500 feet altitude, 18” of rain a year – the only place in Bolivia where you can find “winter” for the grapes.
Fresh, crisp, underripe crushed raspberries on the nose. Tart, acidic, with sapidity well present, and with a bitter finish. I can drink it, but this is not your everyday wine; too bitter for me (my palate is particularly sensitive to bitter notes).
2023 Yokich Imporeña Vino Blanco Cepas Cententarias Valle de Cinti Bolivia (13% ABV, 100% Imporeña grape)
What a color! Honey and roasted meat on the nose (yeah, I know, don’t say it), somewhat cloying.
Good acidity on the palate, but I’m not sure this is the wine I want to drink again
2022 Roberto Henriquez Molino Del Ciego Itata Valley Chile (13% ABV, 100% Semillon, 100 years old vineyard)
Jalapeño pepper on the nose, bell peppers and spicy peppers on the palate, good acidity. I’m now hungry. Might be the most unusual rendering of Semillon I’ve ever tasted.
2021 Roberto Henriquez Santa Cruz de Coya Bio Bio Valley Chile (11.5% ABV, 100% País, 200 years old vineyard)
Lightly scented red fruit on the nose, explicit minerality, fresh acidity, tart strawberries, acidity on the finish. This is the wine from the 200-year-old vineyard – very impressive.
Here are the results of the masterclass: 3 new grapes, 2 new countries to add to the list, beautifully colorful wines, lots of geeky excitement (when was the last time you tried wine from a 200-year-old vineyard?).
Then there was a regular tasting with more than 200 wines represented – I didn’t have much time to spend there, but I managed to find some very tasty wines – sparkling and still. Here is the list of the wines I enjoyed outside of the masterclass:
NV Estrelas do Brasil Brut Método Tradicionel
NV Estrelas do Brasil Nature Rose Pinot Noir – superb!
NV Guatambu Nature – excellent
NV Cave Geisse Nature Método Tradicional D.O. Altos de Pinto Bandeira
2020 Neyen Espiritu de Apalta Malbec Colchagua Valley – classic!
2021 Emiliana Coyam Los Robles Estate Valle de Colchagua – excellent but needs time
2021 Emiliana Gê Valle de Colchagua – ready to drink now, delicious
2015 Casa Marin Syrah Miramar Vineyard San Antonio Valley Chile – surprisingly delicious (when I think Chile, I don’t think Syrah – but you should look for this wine)
NV Casa Marin Maria Luz Brut Nature San Antonio Valley Chile
2024 Casa Marin Sauvignon Blanc Cipreses Vineyard
That concludes my encounter with the unique world of South American wines – from geeky pleasures to hedonistic masterpieces, South America has a wine for everyone, you just need to look for it.
What were your geeky discoveries as of late? Or how about some hedonistic pleasures you want to talk about? Cheers!
New Recipe: Best Hummus Ever
Okay, here we go – a very modest title. “Best ever”, nonetheless.
Well, I love hummus, and outside of Israel, for the most part, I much prefer homemade hummus over any store-bought versions. There was one exception to this – for about 9 months, Costco carried ready-made hummus, which was spectacular – and then it disappeared. But for the most part, the store-bought versions just don’t cut it, so the only way for me to enjoy hummus is by making it myself.
I already shared a hummus recipe on this blog – but since publishing it, I learned a few things, and while this updated recipe uses basically all the same ingredients, the proportions are different, as well as the methodology. Let me list the recipe ingredients first, and then we can talk about it.
Ingredients and tools:
- Dry chickpeas – 1 lb
- Olive oil – 6 tablespoons (approx)
- Kosher salt – 2 teaspoons
- Baking soda – 2 tablespoons
- Tahini – 1 lb (one jar)
- Roasted garlic + roasted garlic oil (see below)
- Fresh Garlic – 3 cloves
- Lemon – 2
- Ice-cold water, 1/3 of a cup
- Blender
In comparison with the previous recipe, this one uses only 2 teaspoons of salt instead of 2 tablespoons, and it requires much less olive oil than the previous one. At the same time, the amount of tahini has doubled. But still this is not a major change. Let’s go step by step through the prep process.
Before we talk about the main hummus ingredient, chickpeas, let’s talk about roasted garlic. In the previous recipe, the garlic was minced and then slowly roasted in the frying pan with olive oil. I now have a much simpler method to make delicious roasted garlic.
Roasted garlic simple recipe:
Preheat oven to 250°F. Peel cloves from 2 heads of garlic. Put garlic cloves in a single layer at the bottom of a small cast-iron or heavy metal oven-safe pan. Pour enough of good olive oil to cover all garlic cloves completely. Cover and put into the oven for 1 hour. In one hour, you will end up with golden roasted garlic cloves and deliciously infused olive oil. Let it cool off, pour into the air-tight container (any used glass jar from preserves or similar will do), and store in the refrigerator. You now have roasted garlic to use as your heart’s desire – for example, to make roasted garlic hummus :). Just take the jar out of the refrigerator a few hours before you are planning to use it (olive oil has a tendency to solidify in the refrigerator).
Now, let’s get back to our hummus.
First, we need to soak garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chickpeas) in cold water overnight, allowing dried beans to expand. Never use canned garbanzo beans as making a tasty hummus from them is mission impossible. By the way, I now have my favorite dried chickpeas to use in this recipe – non-GMO, family-farmed chickpeas from the state of Washington – you can find them on Amazon. In the morning, drain the chickpeas and let them dry a bit.
Put a large pan (the same pan you will use for boiling the chickpeas) on medium heat, put in the chickpeas, sprinkle two tablespoons of baking soda on top, and fry the beans (don’t add water or salt!) for 3-4 minutes. You will need to constantly stir the chickpeas so they will not start sticking to the bottom of the pan. After you see that the chickpeas are starting to get a bit of color, add cold water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and let it boil for about 40 minutes. Again, do not add salt! Salt will make the chickpeas cook for about 2 hours, and will make them a lot more dense. While chickpeas are cooking, remove the foam from the surface, and also use a slotted spoon to remove loose floating chickpeas’ “skins” – this will make hummus creamier. At around the 35-minute mark, start checking the chickpeas. Once they are fully tender, you can remove the pan from the heat and drain the chickpeas. Reserve a cup of liquid, just in case the hummus comes out too dense.
Once the chickpeas have cooled off slightly, we can proceed with the next step. Note: I like to make hummus in two batches, it lets me adjust the garlic/salt/lemon profile exactly as I want it to be – for example, if the first batch too garlicky, I can use less garlic in the second batch; if the first batch is undersalted, I can add more salt to the second batch – both batches end up in the same container anyway and get mixed.
For one batch, put into the blender juice of one lemon, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1-2 cloves of fresh garlic, any amount of roasted garlic and roasted garlic oil you desire, and blend them together for one minute – this way I’m making sure the garlic cloves are well incorporated into the liquid. Next, add half of the chickpeas, half a jar of tahini (make sure to mix the tahini in the jar well before using), and one teaspoon of kosher salt. Blend for 2 minutes. After two minutes, while the blender is still running, add a small amount of the ice water and continue blending for another 30 seconds. Stop the blender, pour hummus into the container, and taste for garlic, salt, and lemon. Repeat the process with the second batch, adjusting garlic, salt, and lemon as needed for your taste.
Voilà – now your delicious hummus is ready. It will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks.
That’s all there is to it. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, especially if you decide to make it!
Daily Glass: Oregon Pinot Delight
If you like Pinot Noir, you already know that Oregon Pinot Noir is one of the best Pinot Noir wines in the world. Wonderful Pinot Noirs are produced everywhere, yes, but Oregon definitely holds its own. Heck, according to Ken Wright, it is better than Burgundy, the hallmark of Pinot Noir wines. “We can see the Burgundy Pinot Noir in the rear view mirror,” Ken said in my interview with him for the Stories of Passion and Pinot series on this blog.
Hey, I’m not trying to start here some sort of scuffle “which Pinot Noir is better” – I only want to share a wonderful experience I had with an amazing Oregon Pinot Noir, luckily even with some age on it.
I got literally double pleasure writing about this wine, as not only does this wine come from one of my favorite producers (sigh, who has now retired), but I also had a great interview with this producer for the same Passion and Pinot series – Vidon Vineyard.
I was in Bellevue, Washington, for work, and had a chance to meet my good wine friend Wendy, who happened to live just 5 minutes away from the hotel where I was staying. When we figured out that we would be able to meet, Wendy said, “I will get some older Pinot for you from the storage”. She knows that I love Pinot Noir, but I also know that she is a fan of bigger wines (think young Cayuse), so I didn’t know what Pinot that might be.
Seeing her with a bottle of 2014 Vidon Vineyard Brigita Clone 777 Estate Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains made me very happy.
11 years old Oregon Pinot Noir under a glass enclosure (Don Hagge, proprietor at Vidon Vineyard and ex-NASA scientist, was religious about using glass corks) – a great opportunity to learn how well Oregon Pinot Noir under a glass enclosure ages. Plus, it is Vidon Pinot Noir, and you don’t need to ask me twice to drink Vidon wines.
The reason Wendy picked that wine is because she finds Pinot Noir wines made from the 777 clone to be a bit bigger than your average Pinot Noir, so she gets to enjoy the wine too. I have to tell you that after a glass of the Pinot, she switched to the 2 years old Cabernet Sauvignon from Darby – a great Washington producer, but I need a good dollop of time with his wines to be able to enjoy them.
The Vidon Vineyard Pinot Noir was just a pure pleasure in the glass. Brilliant garnet color, the classic Pinot nose of plums, cherries, violets and a whiff of smoke – the aromas you can enjoy for a while without taking a sip. The palate followed with succulent, fresh berries, plums and cherries, a touch of smoke, sapidity and umami, roll-of-your-tongue beautiful and seductive “ha, I know you want another sip” elixir, perfectly balanced with the finish you can reflect upon.
We decided to get a Thai food takeout for dinner – I had mildly spicy beef drunken noodles, and to my great surprise, this Vidon Pinot Noir perfectly complemented the food.
That’s my story. There is a bit of a sad part here, as Don Hagge sold his winery a few years back, and it doesn’t look like the new owners will uphold the level of perfection Don was so attuned to. If you have Vidon wines in your cellar, don’t be afraid to keep them a little longer. And if by some miracle you will come across Vidon wines in wine stores – buy whatever you will be able to, as you will not be buying wine – you will be buying pleasure.
Celebrate Chardonnay! 2025 Edition
Okay, I missed it again.
On Thursday, May 22, we celebrated Chardonnay Day. And I didn’t post about it.
Well, I didn’t entirely miss it. There was Charodnnay in my glass, so I only missed writing about it on time, but the celebration itself – yes, I participated.
Chardonnay is one of my favorite grapes. Well, those who know me understand that this is a difficult thing for me to say. I love wine in general, and therefore, I really don’t have grapes I don’t like. I might not be a fan of some producers, but grapes or varietal wines per se—I love them all. And yet, when it comes to favorite grapes, I have to shortlist Chardonnay among 20-30 ones I feel comfortable calling “favorites”.
Chardonnay is one of the most versatile grapes, perfectly capable of creating delicious wines from the bone-dry, unoaked versions to the full-on, hedonistic bombs. Chardonnay wines can be wonderful in still, sparkling, and even late harvest renditions, and they are produced literally everywhere – Asia, Middle East, Europe, North America, South America – see, I’m not even trying to be any more region specific, as it is pointless, or I would almost have to name every appellation in existence.
I also have another proof of the “favorite” status. In last year’s Chardonnay’s celebratory post, I counted the number of times Chardonnay wines were included in the Talk-a-Vino Top Wines of the year lists. During 14 years, there were only two years when Chardonnay wines were not present in the top two dozens, and a total of 19 Chardonnay wines were included in those top lists. Then, last year, 2024, the top wines list had 3 Chardonnay wines in it, including the 2024 wine of the year – an Italian Chardonnay from Banfi.
The pleasure of the well-made Chardonnay starts from the very first whiff from the glass. Vanilla, fresh apples, a touch of butter, and, if you are lucky, the honey. This is what makes me say “ahh” in the first place. And then, when vanilla, apples, butter, honey, smothered with a touch of lemon, continue in the first sip, this is where you say “oh my god…”. The key to this Chardonnay pleasure is in full harmony and balance of the flavors – if any of the components sticks out or is absent, this is where the pleasure instantly stops. Of course, the balance is a key element of any wine, but some of the wines can get away with too much acidity or too much oak and still give you pleasure, including a generic Chardonnay. But the harmony and balance are what differentiate a great Chardonnay from an average one.
I also love to use great Chardonnay as a reference point. For example, I compared my 2022 wine of the year, 2020 Abadia Retuerta L’Domaine from Ribera Del Duero, a Sauvignon Blanc-based blend, with Chablis. Chardonnay was also my analogy for the 2024 wine of the year, 2020 Mariasy Tokaji Furmint from Hungary, made from Furmint. And a few weeks ago, I had Grande Rocim White from Alentejo in Portugal (I have yet to write about it), made from 100% Portuguese native Arinto grape, which would successfully compete with Puligny-Montrachet I never had.
The wine I opened to celebrate Chardonnay Day was 2022 Maison Matisco Les Buis Saint-Véran AOC (13% ABV), one of my recent WTSO finds. The wine had a beautiful light golden color, and had a perfect Chardonnay profile as I described above – apples, vanilla, a distant hint of honey and butter (the last two might be just my imagination). The same profile continued on the palate, with the addition of the lemon. The wine initially had a slightly bitter aftertaste, which dissipated after a few hours. This wine will not make a list of great Chardonnays here at Talk-a-Vino, but I will be happy to open it any time I crave a Chard.
There, I told you my story. How did you celebrate Chardonnay Day?
Grape Holidays 2025
There are holidays, and then there are grape holidays.
Not that we need an extra reason to open a bottle of wine, but hey – life is worth celebrating, so if we don’t need a reason and nevertheless, we have a reason – there is nothing wrong with it, isn’t?
Every year, I celebrate a few of the grape holidays and miss most of them. For 2025, I decided to add the grape holidays list on this blog so there will always be an easy reference to the important events 🙂 Yes, I’m well aware that 1/3 of the year 2025 is already gone, but still, here is the Grape Holidays list starting from the beginning of 2025, just for the sake of completeness:
February 1 - International Furmint Day
February 16 - International Syrah Day
March 3 - International Mulled Wine Day
March 13 - International Riesling Day
March 21 - World Vermouth Day
April 14 - Tannat Day
April 17 - World Malbec Day
April 27 - World Marselan Day
May 2 - International Sauvignon Blanc Day. Celebrated on the first Friday of May
May 3 - International Baga Day. Celebrated every 1st Saturday of May.
May 9 - World Moscato Day
May 17 - Pinot Grigio Day
May 22 - International Chardonnay Day - Celebrated on the Thursday before Memorial Day (US) at the end of May
June 13 - World Verdejo Day. Celebrated on the second Friday of June
June 14 - Drink Chenin Blanc Day
June 21 - World Lambrusco Day
July 12 - International Cava Day
August 1 – World Albariño Day
August 13 - International Prosecco Day
August 18 - International Pinot Noir Day
September 4- International Cabernet Sauvignon Day – Celebrated on the first Thursday of September
September 5 - National Chianti Day – Celebrated on the first Friday of September
September 10 - National Port Wine Day
September 19 - International Grenache Day - Celebrated on the third Friday of September
October 5 – World Vranec Day
October 6 – Orange Wine Day
October 11 - International Pinotage Day
October 14 – Prokupac Day
October 24 - World Champagne Day - Celebrated on the fourth Friday of October
October 26 - International Mavrud Day
October 30 - International Carignan Day - Celebrated on the last Thursday in October
November 1 - International Xinomavro Day
November 7 - International Merlot Day
November 13 - International Tempranillo Day - Celebrated on the second Thursday of November
November 15 – Amphora Wine Day
November 20 - Beaujolais Nouveau Day - Celebrated on the third Thursday of November
November 24 - International Carménère Day
December 1 – International Maratheftiko Day
December 4 - International Cabernet Franc Day
December 10 - World Aszú Day
December 16 - Pinot Meunier Day
Here you go, my friends. Now you know, and now you have to celebrate grape holidays or else.
And if I’m missing any of the grape holidays, please leave a comment so I can add them.
Next up – International Sauvignon Blanc celebration! Get ready!
Celebrate Marselan!
Source: Wikipedia
Have you heard of Marselan?
There is a good chance you never have, and nobody can blame you.
Marselan is a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache, created by Professor Peter Truel in Languedoc near the French coastal town of Marseillan, which gave Marselan its name. Marselan is a blue-skinned late-ripening variety that produces large clusters of small berries, leading to a high skin-to-juice ratio in winemaking. Marselan prefers dry soil and a hot climate, and it has strong disease resistance to botrytis bunch rot, powdery mildew, and other grape maladies.
The grape was created in 1961, but its real fame came to the grape only in the 21st century. In 2001, the grape made it to China as an experiment. From the initial planting of less than 7 acres, as of 2024, Marcelan occupied more than 10,000 acres, second only to Languedoc, and it became one of the most important grape varieties in China. Maselan in China is often compared to Malbec in Argentina and Carmenere in Chile, having a real chance to become a signature country grape.
Marselan today grows and is used in winemaking in France, China, Israel, Bolivia, Uruguay, Italy, Spain, and other countries. Marselan is typically used as a blending grape, but since 2002, single-varietal Marselan wine has been produced, first in France and now around the world. 259 Marselan wines from 18 regions in 11 countries competed in the first Marselan competition in 2023 in China.
Today, April 27th, on the birthday of Professor Truel, we are celebrating Marselan Day. It is a given that I can’t show a collage of Marselan wines I tried, as I only have 2 wines with Marselan mentioned on the blog. Nevertheless, I would like to share a few interesting tidbits with you.
First, a detailed write up about a delicious Marselan discovery of this year – Gran Marselan wine I had an opportunity to play with. Next is an article from Decanter magazine, profiling some of the latest Marselan wines well worth your attention. And here is a good article about Marselan’s success in China.
Marselan has a bright future ahead of it, and not just as a blending grape, but as a star of its own.
Marselan wines are still difficult to find, but do yourself a favor and see if you can find and experience one, it will be worth the effort.
Until the next grape holiday (Sauvignon Blanc Day is coming up on May 2nd) – cheers!
Passion and Pinot Updates: Bells Up Winery 2025
When I was planning blind Pinot Noir tasting with friends, I reached out to some of the old friends in Oregon to see if I could include some of the Oregon Pinot Noir in that blind tasting. Sara and Dave Specter of “micro-boutique, un-domaine” Bells Up Winery graciously agreed to participate and sent me three samples of their latest Pinot Noir releases.
Bells Up was one of the 19 wineries profiled in the Stories of Passion and Pinot series, probably the youngest one, founded in 2013. Youngest or not, but Bells Up might be one of the most adventurous, going well past traditional Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with their plantings of Schioppettino and Seyval Blanc. You can learn more about the winery and its vision from the original interview I did with Dave in 2019, and an update after I visited the winery in 2021.
When we spoke about the wines (it was the end of last year, 2024), I also wanted to have a short mini-interview with Dave – it is a bit less timely right now, but hey, 2025 is still young. Here is our short (virtual) conversation:
[TaV]: How was the 2024 vintage? What should we expect from the 2024 wines when they will be released?
[DS]: Well, we’re still in the very early stages of evaluating the 2024 vintage so it’s hard to tell at this stage but we have every reason to be optimistic. We had one of our better growing seasons in some time – warmer than usual early in the season but then settling into a more temperate pattern the rest of the way. We harvested in late September and early October which is right on schedule and the sugars and acids were pretty much on the money. The 2024 vintage whites will be released in the spring of 2025 and the reds will be released (most likely) in 2026 and 2027.
[TaV]: What was Bells Up’s best moment of 2024?
[DS]: Our best moment was getting to see the results from the “proof of concept” 2023 harvest of our young Schioppettino planting. For only third leaf vines, we’re seeing wonderful flavor development with the distinctive Italian grape licorice elements present. We are now confident that our first commercial vintage in 2024 will be a great addition to our portfolio.
[TaV]: By the same token, what was the worst?
[DS]: The entire industry was hit hard by a decrease in visitorship to the area in 2024, and wine sales suffered accordingly. This was the result of many factors and ultimately resulted in a difficult year for our business.
[TaV]: What are you looking forward to in 2025?
[DS]: We will have our first estate Pinot Blanc release in 2025! We will also see the return of our sparkling Seyval Blanc (Joy) which was so popular in its first release back in 2023. And we are also hoping that we see visitorship recover as travel patterns return to normal after the pandemic.
And then there were wines.
I got three sample bottles, out of which one, Jupiter Pinot Noir, was included in the blind tasting (based on Sara’s recommendation). Here are the notes for all three wines, with the first one written a bit differently as it is based on the notes taken during the blind tasting.
2021 Bells Up Jupiter Pinot Noir Estate Chehalem Mountains AVA (13.5% ABV, $50, 58.8% heritage clone Pommard, 25.8% Dijon clone 667 (8-year old vines), 15.4% Dijon clone 113 (6-year old vines), 154 cases produced)
New World (have no idea what I was thinking, I guess something outside of Europe), Vintage: 2021. Cherries, lots of cherries, raspberries, tart cherries on the palate, good balance, nice.
Drinkability: 8
2021 Bells Up Maestro Reserve Pinot Noir Estate Chehalem Mountains AVA (13.3% ABV, $56, 50% Dijon clone 943, 27.8% 667, 22.2% 113; 77 cases produced, club members exclusive)
Dark garnet
Smoke, earthy notes, dark fruit, hint of cherries
Sweet and tart cherries both, iodine, crisp acidity, medium body, a bit of medicinal finish
Drinkability: 8-
2021 Bells Up Titan Pinot Noir Willamette Valley AVA (13.8% ABV, $46, 22.3% 8-year-old Pommard Bells Up’s estate, 38.8% Dijon Clones 115 and 38.8% 777, MonksGate Vineyard’s in Yamhill-Carlton AVA, 19- and 20-year-old vines respectively; 12 months in French oak, 27% new; 111 cases produced)
Garnet
A hint of bell pepper, eucalyptus, raspberries
Black plums, cherries, medium palate weight, medium body, good acidity on the finish. Needs food.
Drinkability: 7+/8-
Here we are – a quick Bells Up winery update and the notes for three of their latest Pinot Noir releases.
Until next time…
This post is a part of the Stories of Passion and Pinot series – click the link for more stories…
Daily Glass: Beautiful Israeli Wines
Let’s start with a few questions.
First: what do you like more – selecting the wine to be opened or just drinking the wine? Feel free to dismiss this question as “stupid” and ask for the next. But in my world, before the bottle is brought to the table to be opened, I take special pleasure in looking for the right bottle for the occasion. Who are the people you will be sharing the wine with? What type of wine do they like? Maybe more importantly, what wines do they not like? What is the actual occasion? These are all important questions to consider – the wine has to bring pleasure, and as a self-designated “wine person”, it is your job to ensure that it will.
The second question is also not very difficult: how do you select the wine? So you know the occasion, you probably have an idea of what type of wine you would like to bring (sparkling, red, white, Rosé, dessert, all of the above), but how do you decide on the exact wine to bring? Even if you decided that you will bring a Pinot Noir, there are tens/hundreds/more choices from all different regions, different wineries, different vintages. You can always grab the bottle with the label that speaks to you in a given moment, but sometimes, you want to go a little deeper.
Let’s go a little deeper.
The occasion was a Shabbat dinner. The house we were visiting is not ultra-religious, so technically, we could bring any wine. At the same time, I love Israeli wines, but drink them typically only during the Jewish holidays, so this was an opportunity to enjoy a bottle of an Israeli wine on a regular Friday, and I couldn’t let it pass.
Israeli wines are tricky – the inexpensive ones are not always good (chances of finding good Rioja or Côte du Rhone on the budget are a lot higher than an Israeli wine), and the expensive ones are … expensive and also not easy to find. Yes, I would love to bring Domaine du Castel or Yatir Forest, but I was not ready to spend that much, and again, finding those wines is a challenge.
So that was my attempt to select wine by the region and the winery. My next idea – let’s try a specific winemaker.
The brain’s work is mysterious. Of course, I’m not a brain scientist, whatever such a person should be called. But I’m not sure even a “brain scientist” can explain how information is processed by our brain to become memorable and impactful. Some years ago, I heard the name – Ido Lewinsohn, the garagiste winemaker from Tel Aviv, founder of the first “cult” Israeli winery. His wines were impossible to find – my friends in Israel managed to get me a bottle of his Garage de Papa Rouge, which I kept for a long time and then finally drank at some point (the wine was good, but I never wrote about it). Maybe it was the word “cult” that made such a lasting impression, but the name Ido Lewinsohn got stuck in my head.
While searching for a worthy wine for the dinner, I decided to search for the “Lewinsohn” too – what if his wines are now imported into the US? I didn’t find Garage de Papa wines, but to my delight, I discovered that after getting his Master of Wine degree (the second person in Israel to do so!), Ido is now working as the winemaker at Barkan and Segal wineries. Another search on the KosherWine.com website and voila – I got my dilemma solved – Segal wine it is!
I got four bottles of Segal wines—two to bring for dinner and two to celebrate the Passover holiday.
First, 2019 Segal Native Marawi Single Vineyard Judean Hills (11% ABV, $24.49, Marawi grape). Six years old white wine can be a challenge in itself – but this wine was not. The wine had a beautiful golden color, an intense nose of the whitestone fruit, which followed by the plump, roll-of-your-tongue nectar with explicit notes of white plums and cherry plums, fresh, intense, elegant, with a whiff of honey and cleansing acidity. The wine was a “crowd-pleaser” and disappeared in no time (Drinkability: 8+). In a blind tasting, my guess would be Marsanne/Roussane, and I would be very surprised to learn that I was wrong. An extra bonus – a rare grape I never had before.
Our second wine of the evening was 2021 Segal Petit Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon Galilee (13.5% ABV, $48.99). Dark garnet color, a restrained nose with a hint of black currant and explicit minerality. On the palate, the wine was old world in style, more of a young Bordeaux, crisp, fresh, edgy, with a good core of dark fruit and noticeable but balanced tannins. Excellent minerality, excellent acidity, excellent balance. In one word, superb. Second word – elegant. ( Drinkability: 8+).
Then there was a holiday Passover dinner, where another two bottles went into a play. These were as classic as they get – a Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.
2023 Segal Special Reserve Chardonnay Galilee (12.5% ABV, $19.99) was a perfect, classic, middle-of-the-road Chardonnay. Straw pale color, apples on the nose, apples with a hint of vanilla and a touch of Meyer’s lemon on the palate, round, clean, fresh, good acidity, an excellent balance. This was not a Chardonnay to knock your socks off, but this was a Chardonnay I would be happy to drink on any occasion. (Drinkability: 8)
Last but not least, 2023 Segal Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Galilee (12.5% ABV, $20.99). Dark ruby color, a hint of black currant on the nose. The palate was interesting, offering a touch of warm cinnamon and baking spices woven around a layer of plump dark fruit. The wine had all the traits of Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon, which usually has this warm cinnamon and spices – I also experienced a very similar taste profile with some of the Chinon Cabernet Franc. I don’t know if this is a terroir or if this is a specific Cabernet clone, but the resemblance was well noticeable. (Drinkability: 8- )
There you are, my friends. Four beautiful wines from Israel, perfect for any occasion, or any special day, especially those whose name ends with a “y”.
How do you select your wines? Do you have any favorite Israeli wines?
Celebrate Malbec! 2025 Edition
Do you know what I enjoy almost as much as sharing wine? Sharing pictures!
Today is World Malbec Day, where we celebrate a French grape called Malbec, or rather, Cot in its native Cahors region, which became a real star in Argentina. As bold a statement as it would be, Malbec made a world star wine producer out of Argentina, and Argentina made Malbec a world star grape.
As I mentioned before, the main reason for this post is to share my updated picture collage of some of my Malbec experiences. Here we go:
The last time I posted Malbec collage was 6 years ago, in 2019, you can find it here. Since then, in a true testament to the worldwide phenomenon of Malbec, I added a number of great Malbec experiences – organic Malbecs from Domain Bousquet in Argentina, a Little Fuck Malbec from Cahors in France, Flora Springs Ghost Winery Malbec from Napa Valley, Neyen Espíritu de Apalta Malbec from Chile, another Malbec from Argentina, Mythic, and I’m sure many more that I don’t even remember. Good Malbec is delicious, and we can leave it at that.
Don’t forget to celebrate Malbec. Even if you miss this special celebration, any day is a good day to drink Malbec. Oh yes, and if you have a favorite Malbec (or five), please share it in the comments!
Until the next grape holiday – cheers!
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