Wine

Wine Department: The Little Known Fact of American Vines Saving The Wine World

NEXT STOP, EMILIA-ROMAGNA:  K2’S ITALIAN WINE PRIMER, PART 4

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Emilia-Romagna.  Nestled in along Italy’s Adriatic coastline, just south of the Tre Venezie, is one of the most prosperous regions in all of Europe.  The capital is Bologna, and the region is the birthplace of Bolognese cuisine.  Car companies like Ferrari and Lamborghini reside here, and of course, like all regions throughout Italy, there is wine.

Most notably, Emilia-Romagna is known for Lambrusco, yet it is also renowned for their own spin on the Sangiovese grape,

Give Me Champagne When I’m Thirsty…

Champagne is a term that presents a great deal of confusion among customers and irritation among industry types like myself in that is often misused, maligned and misunderstood.  The simplest clarification is that Champagne is sparkling wine from the Champagne region in France, and sparkling wine from any other place in the world, even other parts of France, it’s just sparkling wine.  Yet thanks to a few American wineries that continue to use the term “Champagne”

Thank You For Joining Us At The Jungle Jim’s International Wine Festival 2016!

We strive every day to bring you the most exciting wines from around the world, and our International Wine Festival is the culmination of that vision.  Our Director of Wine and Beer Operations Ed Vinson and his experienced team at both Fairfield and Eastgate locations worked hard to bring you another superior event and have already begun to work on next year’s show.

C’est La Vie De Vin: A Brief Interlude

Three Of A Perfect Pair: K2’s Italian Wine Primer, Part 3

​We continue our journey through Italy, rounding out our discussion of the Tre Venezie (or della Venezie) with a look at the Friuli-Venezia Giulia.  This is the most northeastern region in Italy and it shares a border to the north with Austria, the east with Slovenia and to the south with the Adriatic Sea.  Friuli-Venezia-Giulia is effectively the bass player in the power trio that is the della Venezie.  It is divided into essentially 9 subregions,

Phoenix Rising

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(Photo courtesy of Vintner Select)

Earlier in the year, I was able to attend a seminar that was unlike any other wine seminar I’d been to in the past, for no other reason that it was akin to witnessing the rising of a Phoenix.  Local distributor Vintner Select, in partnership with importer Michael Skurnik, had begun a new relationship with illustrious and historic producer Paul Jaboulet Aîné from France’s Northern Rhone.

Taking Me Back To A Place I Used To Know Not So Long Ago

Those who know me in this business know my love and affection for Washington State wines.  A trip to the state back in 2009 will live in infamy in my heart and mind like one of those unrequited crushes back in high school, the ones that bring a smile to your face when you remember.
 
Ah memories.

One of the coolest moments of my trip out there that year was breaking bread with Bob Betz,

Alpine Mountain Honey: K2’s Italian Wine Primer, Part 2

Getting back to the good stuff…

Italy is a fairly complicated wine country when you first look at it.  And then you start to study the landscape, all the grape varieties used, the different wine rules, D.O.C., D.O.C.G., I.G.P. – you get the idea, it’s a dense thicket of information.  Yet when you break it down, it’s relatively simple.  Like take for example the Tre Venezie, and particularly, the Trentino-Alto Adige part of Italy.

Wine Department: Shine in the Valley: A Look at the Rhone Valley, Northern vs. Southern

The region boasts three major red and three major white grape varieties.