Visiting Rioja
Ah, Rioja! All those years spent at the International Wine Center studying the differences between the soil of the Rioja Alavesa above the Elbo river, and the Rioja Baja and Rioja Alta finally paid off. This was a scholarly trip with a group of very well-educated educators, with a focus on the wines and wineries...
Viticulture in Uruguay: A Case Study with Bodega Carrau
Viticulture is a key factor in quality grapes. Rules about irrigation differ all over the world. Moreover, the timing of water and heat through the growth cycle determines the quality of the grapes. During my recent visit to Bodega Carrau in Montevideo, I asked Francisco Carrau about the effects of water and heat in the...
Secrets of the Sommelier: Review of “Restaurant Man” by Joe Bastianich
Have you ever wondered what it is like to be the wine director of a restaurant? Of course, in some ways it sounds like a fantasy job. One can imagine the pleasures of having distributors visit your restaurant, bringing you fabulous wine to savor and discuss … Yet of course this is really only a...
Visiting Filgueira Winery in Uruguay
Filgueira winery … Alan and Sebastian show us around the winery and introduce their wine, which is now owned by a Brazilian company. The winemaker is a young woman who was an AFS student (meaning she spent a year at 17 in the midwest) which is actually quite an advantage for a Uruguan winemaker who...
Visiting Gimenez Mendez in Uruguay
The family has had the winery since not 1940 -- yet it was only in 1991 that Maria Mendez Parodi and her husband bought this winery. The wines as you will see below are of exceptional quality and well balanced, which is a good thing as Maria had served as the president of wines of...
Visiting Alto de la Ballena in Uruguay
Have you ever considered moving to what some people think is the 'end of the world?" The landscape in this remote part of Uruguay is somewhat luner, yet it's the special terroir that makes the wines of Alto de la Ballena so good. The winery was started in 2000 by Paula Pivel, who worked for...
Deicas Familia Vineyards in Uruguay
Fabulous visit today to Familia Deicas winery today, home of some of the best Bordeaux style wines in the world. President Fernando Deicas (his prized car above) and his son Santiago Deicas showed me around along with different enologists. It is a giant winery with many different buildings, including an old brick building that was...
Visiting H. Stagmari in Uruguay
This winery started in 1991 by Mr. Stagmari and they grow many different varietals that have won numerous awards, especially for Tannat. From the start the focus was on quality, beginning with limiting density in the vineyards (one meter by one meter). As you can see from the photo above the wines have won many...
A Family Winery: Meeting Juan Marichal of Marichal wines
“My 82 year old granny lives here,” says dark haired Juan Andres Marichal, pointing to a simple, one story house near the tiny family winery. “Many years ago she would cook three meals a day for the workers.” I peek into the old kitchen, which is now used as a barrel room, and see that...
Taste of Luxury: Bodega Garzon in Uruguay
Have you ever dreamed of becoming a multi-millionaire? If so, would you use your money to buy a forest and plant a vineyard, and also plant olive trees to make the best possible gourmet olive oil? ... and what about a golf course? Or a high tech, state of the art winery designed to...
Exploring the Wines of Castillo Viejo
"Welcome!" says attractive dark haired Federico Domingo, Export Manager for Bodegas Castillo Viejo as we squeeze into his tiny car. He is here to escort us to the winery and introduce us to the winemaker Alexander Etcheverry and his wines. It is a quaint vineyard and after a tour of the ferementation vessels we have...
