Disgorged Podcast

Since 2016 is drawing to a close, I thought now was as good a time as any to put together my ultimate case of the year. Since any list requires at least a few guidelines, here’s what I went with: Pick 12 wines. Pick wines that I tried within the 2016 calendar year: no legacy wines. Pick wines that are or were on sale within 2016: no library wines unless an average wine drinker could get their hands on them. That said, not all of these wines are available in the United States.

One of the great tragedies of wine is having a bottle that lacks magic, transforming what should be a memorable experience into merely an act of intoxication. Some bottles, naturally, possess more magic than others, but any bottle worth drinking will have at least a little. So what is wine magic? Where does it come from? Well, in many ways that's a deeply personal question, but here are a few tipoffs that I look for when buying and tasting. Who made it? Certain producers just

Perhaps no word has caused more confusion in the world of wine in the last few decades than terroir, that nebulous combination of land, weather, and tradition. Many would hold that the goal of wine-making should be to allow the sense of place to shine through, to be true to the conditions that produced the grapes of a given vintage. Indeed, much of what sommeliers and wine lovers prize in a wine is that very sense of place. Yet we should remember that it is a very fragile thi

I'm very excited to announce that starting this month, Vine Trainings will have a regular home for classes! The Court in the Square offers a wonderful space to learn about and enjoy wine. Located at 401 2nd Ave S in the heart of Pioneer Square, Seattle's oldest neighborhood, the space can accommodate groups ranging from a dozen all the way up to several hundred at a time. As such, I'll be offering two core Vine Trainings classes on several dates throughout the rest of 2016. T

Exciting news! I jumped on the radio this past Saturday (June 25th) to talk about Vine Trainings with my friend Christopher Chan. We talked a bit about how I got interested in wine, discussed what exactly Vine Trainings is, and tasted three fun wines: the 2015 Riesling from Tantalus in British Columbia, the 2011 Assyrtiko from Thira on the island of Santorini in Greece, and the 2005 Reserva Rioja from Bodegas Ontanon in Spain. It was a great conversation, with some real fun m

So I was reading this wonderful piece by Jon Bonné, where he details the ways in which the staggering success of Provençal rosé has, paradoxically, harmed not just the rest of the winemaking in the region, but the rosé industry itself. It’s well worth a read, but I think the conclusions drawn could easily be applied to a few other places in the world. Some regions just naturally only grow one or two grapes: Chablis is Chardonnay, and the Mosel Valley is Riesling. The lack of

We live in an era where we have unbelievable access to fantastic wines from around the world, often at surprisingly reasonable prices. Yet there are times when value shopping just can’t compare to splurging on the real thing. Champagne is one of those magical places that makes wine that the rest of the world just can’t, and the 2005 Pierre Moncuit Grand Cru that I opened last night was a perfect example of why: it somehow effortless walked the tightrope between a broader, cre

Lately, the wine community has been in a bit of an uproar at the news of a lawsuit alleging that a number of prominent California wines, which could be classified as “bargain” if you’re feel charitable or “cheap and they taste like it” if you’re being honest, have tested positive for levels of arsenic up to five times the legal limit in tap water. While there’s no doubt that this is scary, it’s simply not shocking. In fact, it’s been a long time coming. Inexpensive wine has l

Aging a bottle of wine is a bit like cheating death, and a bit like playing the lottery. It’s a game I love to indulge in, but even in the excitement there’s a moment of panic every time I take a corkscrew to an older bottle. As a sommelier, I always want to take the utmost care with a bottle that someone might have been saving for a very special occasion. Unfortunately, sometimes you get a bottle that’s clearly been stored poorly. The cork is bone dry and even trying to open

Balance in wine is always a bit of a tricky thing to discuss. Does it mean that no one structural element or flavor dominates? If that’s the case, then are we saying that wines with rather extreme characteristics can NEVER be balanced? Obviously, acid pits like Txakoli or Vinho Verde rely on the food you’re having them with for balance, and the same might be true for tannin bombs like some Napa Cabs or Barolos, but even with the latter examples you’d hope that the winemaker w