THE TASTING PANEL magazine is the most widely circulated trade publication in the beverage industry focused on beverages, the beverage trade and the people who make the industry tick. Print and digital editions published monthly with a combined January/February issue. www.tastingpanelmag.com
There wasn’t an empty seat in the private room of San Francisco restaurant La Connessa when Cossart Gordon CEO Chris Blandy took the floor to present “A Toast to Independence with Cossart Gordon & Miles Madeira.” It was just one of many stops on a weeklong U.S. tour Blandy undertook to celebrate Madeira’s role in the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
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San Francisco native Justin Chin possesses an almost stubborn optimism
about the future of hospitality. As general manager and wine director of The Happy Crane in his hometown’s Hayes Valley neighborhood, he’s quietly shaping one of the city’s most innovative dining experiences.
The University of California, Davis, has a long history of groundbreaking research that has significantly impacted the global wine industry.[…]
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Morrow, who received MICHELIN’s California Sommelier Award in 2022, oversees the wine cellar at PRESS, which houses the largest collection of Napa Valley wines in the world and is focused on library wines. When adding a new bottling to the list, he looks for winemakers who have worked their way up at acclaimed producers and then started their own labels.
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Beyond the soleras and the enviable Montagne de Reims terroir, the wines of Champagne Palmer’s Vintage Collection reveal a third strength: The cooperative of seven producers has not altered its vineyard sourcing since its founding in 1947, forming what Vervier calls the “DNA of the brand.”
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Elizabeth Spencer’s Sarah Vandendriessche guides the Napa Valley Vintners’ environmental stewardship committee.
Read moreWith the creation of a new Tawny Port and White Port categories in March 2022, bottles sporting a 50-year age[…]
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In her role as head winemaker at Markham, Kimberlee Nicholls directs an all-female team that includes assistant winemaker Abigail Horstman, enologist Patricia Sciacca and viticulturist Taylor Abudi. The collaborative culture that thrives at Markham is a direct result of how she prioritizes the professional growth of her team.
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Alvarinho produced in its native terroir is incomparable to expressions of the variety grown elsewhere. But it may ultimately prove to be on a trajectory similar to that of Pinot Gris, which is renowned for producing light, delicately floral wines in Italy’s Collio region and wines of great mineral intensity and fruit purity in Alsace. Time will tell.
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Best known by Americans for its iconic food products—namely prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, Balsamic vinegar, and its effervescent Lambrusco wines—there’s far more to Emilia-Romagna than these familiar tastes.
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From the moment its first 385-case lot was labeled, The Prisoner has been an outlier in the California wine industry.
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The practice of finishing whiskey in wine barrels has been around since the 1860s, when scotch producers first utilized Sherry[…]
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In the course of developing software for predicting consumer wine preferences, a Houston-based start up, VineSleuth, shed new light on[…]
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The Los Carneros was pioneered twenty five years ago by sparkling wine producers who brought cache and joie de vivre[…]
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Visits by two winemakers who work on either side of the Andes provided some perspective on the terroirs being targeted in Chile and Argentina for ultra-premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and cooler-climate varieties, including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
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A prima vista [at first sight] is an Italian saying that typically applies to love, or—in our case—a first encounter[…]
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San Francisco has long been a destination for travelers. Some, like Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, arrive and spend a lifetime realizing[…]
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Lodi has long been synonymous with Zinfandel. The region which is defined by seven sub-regions produces 40 percent of the[…]
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A rising tide lifts all boats is an aphorism that neatly applies to the winegrow- ing economy of Provence. The[…]
Read moreFor the maker, wine requires patience; it seems to mark time at a different pace than much of the[…]
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“We’re in pop-up mode,” said vintner Christi Coors Ficeli who purchased Goosecross Cellars in 2013 and broke ground on a[…]
Read moreStory and photos by Deborah Parker Wong
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Many Anderson Valley Pinot Noir producers time the commercial release of their wines around the annual Pinot Noir Festival and[…]
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We’re kicking up the dust once again with the 2010 vintage presented by the Rutherford Dust Society at a blind[…]
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It’s alive! Unlike its Left Bank counterpart, the Saint Émilion classification is indeed a living thing. The promotion of 17[…]
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A virtual tidal wave of data is fueling the race toward accurately predicting consumer preferences and buying behavior. With intelligent[…]
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On the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, a cold, dry Zonda or rain shadow wind swept down[…]
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Wine quality has been on the rise in Lake County and winegrowers there have their sights set determinedly on the[…]
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While it’s possible to barrel taste recent vintages at many of the preview parties that take place around Premiere, the[…]
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For this inaugural Blind Tasting, I delved into my notebook for highlights of ten wines that came out on top[…]
Read moreOnce you’ve made the decision to pursue a professional certification, there’s more to making the grade than meets the eye.[…]
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Visually, Burgundy isn’t a particularly mysterious place; the low-growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines hunker over the earth in their[…]
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Large or small, via négociant or sold direct, Right Bank producers continue to make quality a priority. With the purchase and renovation of[…]
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It can be said that each wine region of France has a personality, one dictated as much by the winegrowers[…]
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The AOC winegrowers of the Languedoc are an eclectic group: genteel local families, pioneers from France’s most prestigious wine regions[…]
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