Follow along with my wine, beer, and travel adventures.
It’s the last installment in this series, but not the end of my wine journey. I don’t find the ending as satisfying as it could be and you may feel the same way, but it’s where I currently am.
Cava: Cava is done in Champagne method. It closely resembles Champagne, but offers its own distinct flavors and styles. It can range from sweet to bone dry – Brut Nature. The driest of the dry. Instead of comparing it to Champagne, the best way to appreciate and enjoy it, is to realize that it is its own form of sparkling.
Grand Crus: Bordeaux under Napleon introduced the classification system based on grand crus or growths in 1855. It’s one of the most well known systems with Premier Cru being the holy grail of wines. There’s beauty in many of the Bordeaux wines regardless of their growth, but many ignore it to chase what they are to believe are the best wines of the world.
Malbec: A wine that gets around. It started in France and ended up living it’s best life in Argentina. It gets a bad rap due to popularity in early 2000s, but offers flavors generally of blueberry and cocoa notes. It can rock it out still in Bordeaux blends or on it’s in own in France among other regions.
I recently took a writing class with the Muse Writing Center and developed a sort of memoir, but not on my journey into wine. It covers over a decade of time and I’ll be featuring pieces here to break it up. I hope you’ll enjoy it and follow along as my story evolves.
We visited Missouri wine country as part of a media trip in 2019. We quickly learned many things one of which is Missouri has a secret.
Five questions with Tanisha Townsend, Girl Meets Glass
Wines in Spain express such different stories and experiences. There's a lot there to take in if one is willing to put forth the effort to discover it.
"Don't follow trends" is part of the ethos of Portal del Montsant. Their story begins in 2003 after finding the perfect space that once housed the old Marcá wine cooperative.
"Be most honest" Marta from Josep Grau Victicultor shares with us on their perspective on wines. It's something that isn't often said, but is a claim many quietly try to make with their wines. This is something different and their attempt at accountability is evident.
Wine is a way of life in DO Montsant and part of the culture. There is evidence of wine making in the region that dates back as early as the Roman Empire. However, the majority of planting of vineyards took place during the middle ages. The Carthusian monks have influenced the area with their farming techniques that furthered the growth of vineyards.
