Win some, lose some.  Who ever coined that phrase must have been a wine drinker.  The 1997 Castello dei Rampolla Sammarco confounded me a little bit when I recently pulled this from the EuroCave as an homage to my oldest,…

I’ve been drinking Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wines for decades.  Here I must insert the usual disclaimer that we’re talking about the grape from hilly southern region of Abruzzo, and not the Tuscan town of Montepulciano.  In a sense, I cut my…

Zinfandel has always been near and dear to me, given it’s partial roots to Italian culture and because it’s so food friendly.  It helps that they’re delicious and affordable and these two wines are no exceptions.  With a mixture of…

When most people think of Avignonesi, I suspect they’d recall Montepulciano’s best producer of Vino Nobile.  Or perhaps fans of the winery will immediately mention their other worldly Vin Santo.  What they may not realize is that Avignonesi crafts one…

In spite of rock, to breast the sea! The Dry Creek Vineyard Mariner, having first been released in 2004, is by no means ancient.  However, it does possess a grand maturity, a class and breeding, that only the most noble…