Sparkling Sips: Illuminating December Nights
December is a time to sparkle—whether in attire or wine. I advocate drinking sparkling wine much more often, but the holidays make it even more festive. I was recently sent some samples of sparkling and still wines owned by the Roederer family, the classic champagne house. Louis Roederer, founded […]
A Sparkle in My Eye
I have always been someone who believes that bubbly should not be saved for a special occasion; it should be enjoyed regularly. The celebratory feeling of just popping the cork never fails to put a sparkle in my eye. Recently, I had the chance to try samples of two champagnes and […]
Let’s Take Champagne Off Its Leash
The answer to my “what wine would you drink as your last wine” or “what it your favorite wine” question is champagne. It’s not just a special occasion wine and should be enjoyed often. When Christopher S. Ruhland the author of a new book, Press for Champagne: A Guide to Enjoying […]
Second Half 2020 Sample Roundup
It’s sample time and I never knew what a challenge these would be in the time of COVID. Usually, I invite friends over and pop open a few bottles, and, if my husband is in a cooking mode, then I get to use my pairing skills. When the pandemic happened, the samples […]
Ushering out the Decade with Stellar Holiday Samples
It’s crazy that 2019 has passed in a flash and a new year/decade has begun. Why not usher in a new decade with a round-up article of a few favorite samples over the holidays? Due to the weather, there is always a rush of samples shipped when the weather breaks in Texas, so it’s […]
The Fine Line of My Sample Wines: A Global Snapshot of My Third Quarter Favorites
It’s time for another sample round up and I found that a theme emerged for me this quarter. I either completely loved them completely or I didn’t. This time, a much lower percentage than usual of the wines that I tried made the cut. But the ones that I loved, I really loved. I hope […]
June Round-Up: Spring and Summer Sample Standouts
June Round-Up: Spring and Summer Sample Standouts In keeping with my pledge to improve the frequency of my sample posts, I am proud to say that I’m back on a quarterly schedule. This post focuses on 26 wines out of the 40 wines that I sampled. Champagne Champagne Bruno Paillard – this is one of […]
Samples that Inspire a Rallying Cry Moment
As a wine blogger, I get a lot of samples and I am very grateful to have the chance to try the amount of samples I do. But occasionally, there are wines that when I open the box I drop my “professionalism” and I am sure you might hear an involuntarily “whoo hoo” rallying […]
Final 2017 Sample Update: The Top 30 That Turned My Head in this Tasting
It looks like I have a New Year Resolution and that’s to get a little faster about reporting on the samples that I’m sent. This time I reviewed more than 65 wines and today I’m going to talk about more than 30 that made the list. Note that these encompass a number of countries, price […]
Another Edition of the Round Up of Wine: Six Countries, Twenty Four Wines
It’s time for another wine round up column filled with some of my favorite samples. This time I tried 46 wines from six countries with 24 making the cut today. Sparkling NV Ferrari Rose Sparking – I’ve had the amazing opportunity of visiting Ferrari back in April. To read more, click here. Ferrari Trento was […]