Category Archives: Uncategorized

Winery Location: Luxembourg Halfway through Advent we stop by Luxembourg to try Crush Rivaner. Luxembourg may be a tiny country but it does have a notable wine industry, holding its own against Germany and even France. The most commonly grown wine grape in Luxembourg is the Müller-Thurgau grape, known locally as “Rivaner”, a portmanteau ofContinue reading “Wine Advent-ure Calendar Day 12: Crush Rivaner”

Winery location: ItalyVintage: 2020 As someone who is a fan of auto racing and sports cars (I’ve been collecting model cars of various sizes for over 46 years) I love the name and label. Montepulciano is the second most grown grape in Italy and Abruzzo is its birthplace. Located east of the Apennine mountains, AbruzzoContinue reading “Wine Advent-ure Calendar Day 11: Racer 68 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (DOC)”

Winery Location: MoldovaVintage: 2020 Sharing the same latitude as Bordeaux and possessing a climate similar to Burgundy, the country of Moldova may not be what one thinks of when it comes to winemaking in comparison to France but it is one of the older winemaking countries in the world, having produced wine for over 3000Continue reading “Wine Advent-ure Calendar Day 10: The Butchery”

Winery Location: Italy (Puglia)Varietal: Primitivo (Zinfandel) Often crisp and fruity and refreshing, the rose’ wine is long associated with warm summer evenings. The pink wine is made all over the world, but it is mostly associated with Provence in the South of France. But we are not going there today. No, for Day 9 ourContinue reading “Wine Advent-ure Calendar Day 9: Pinky Truce Vino Rosato (Puglia, IGT)”

Winery Location: Georgia For Day 8 we go to the nation of Georgia, one of the oldest winemaking regions of the world with a 6000+ year tradition of making magic from fermented juice. Saperavi is a celebrated red grape indigenous to Georgia and in my experience it often creates an aromatic, deeply flavored red wine.Continue reading “Wine Advent-ure Calendar Day 8: Crowned Beast Saperavi”

Winery Location: South Africa Chenin Blanc is perhaps the most celebrated wine varietal in South Africa. A French variety, it is often grown in cool climates for full-bodied wines that are high in acidity and fruit flavor. Grown in vineyards cooled by neighboring mountains, Proper Etiquette’s Chenin Blanc is a good example of such aContinue reading “Wine Adven-ture Calendar Day 7: Proper Etiquette Chenin Blanc”

Winery Location: Northern Macedonia For today’s wine we go to Northern Macedonia, a region with 4000 years of winemaking history to taste Pinot Noir, one of the most commonly planted grape varietals in the world. With those facts in mind, it is interesting to note that the Pinot Noir grape only accounts for 6% ofContinue reading “Wine Advent-ure Calendar Day 6: Divine Pondering Pinot Noir”

Winery Location: Spain Day 5’s wine is a Grenache from Latitude 40, a Spanish winery named for the wine-friendly 40 degree latitude that cuts through much of Spain’s wine country, much of which supports the lovely Grenache, or Garnacha, grape. A colleague of mine remarked that Grenaches, especially those from Spain are often versatile, easyContinue reading “Wine Advent-ure Calendar Day 5: Latitude 40 Grenache”

Winery Location: HungaryVarietal: Königliche Today’s offering from Costco’s Wine Advent-ure Calendar is a white wine from Hungary, featuring the Königliche grape – a varietal I never tried before. A couple of days ago if you asked me what I knew about wines from Hungary, my answer would simply contain the following three words: “Furmint”, Tokaji”Continue reading “Wine Advent-ure Calendar Day 4: Disheveled Tailor Königliche”

Winery Location: Portugal/Italy (While this red blend is listed as Portuguese in origin, apparently Birds on a Wire also makes an Italian Sangiovese) Today’s featured wine is Birds on a Wire Red Blend from Portugal. Portugal is a wine country I enjoy not only for their trademark port wines, but their full flavored yet endearinglyContinue reading “Wine Advent-ure Calendar Day 3: Birds on a Wire Red Blend”