Brash blogger from Beantown

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

We thought we’d point out a blog we’ve been reading for some time now, Drinks Are On Me by Dale Cruse. His recent post about Robert Mondavi caught our eye, since d547 was among the few wine blogs not paying tribute to the legend upon his death. Read more…

Cabernet Franc in the news

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

There’s a good article in this morning’s Food section of the LA Times, on Cabernet Franc. It would be better, of course, if it linked to the three included wines available through d547 (Chateau Hureau Saumur-Champigny, Chateau Vieux Clos, and the Lang & Reed). But we still think you should read the piece — and then you can come back here and buy a sampling of this fantastic and under-appreciated grape variety. And we’ll give you 10% off your entire order should it include any of these wines. Use code LATimes.

domaine547 in print: Entrepreneur Magazine, April 2008 issue

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

picture-3.pngWe’re thrilled to see the first print article on domaine547 hit the newsstands, in April’s issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. You can see the article online by clicking here, but we promise you it’s much better in traditional paper format with its four color photo and all! Yay.

Dubious business? Wine stores that employ critics

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

There’s a fluff piece in this morning’s LA Times, about BevMo’s in-house critic, Wilfred Wong. We read the story, hoping to find out more about the controversial practice of a store posting 100-point ratings from an in-house employee as legitimate critical information about the products it sells. But there was not really any investigation to this piece, and ultimately it seemed to legitimate the BevMo practice and place Mr. Wong above reproach.

BevMo and Wilfred Wong aren’t really the story, here, though.

Read more…

get your wine on

2005 Amavi Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla

We’re always looking for reasonably priced Cabs, and while this is creeping up there in price, $28 is still more than reasonable for what you get. Concentration of black fruit, some peppery spice, a hint of structure and layers of complexity. While labeled a Cab, this is more a blend, with Cab coming in at 76% and Merlot, Syrah and Malbec making up the balance. I want some Walla Walla

2006 Curran Gewurztraminer, Santa Ynez Valley

We got the chance to try the Curran Gewurztraminer at a winemaker dinner we attended in February, with Kris Curran and Bruno d’Alphonso. We’ve been bugging our sales rep for this wine ever since, and are thrilled that Curran has finally released a tiny amount to retailers. Yay! A perfect wine for the summer.Get some Gewurz for $29.99

2003 Rocca Family Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville

We heard that Gary V. reviewed the 2004 yesterday and loved it. We loved that wine too, but we jumped at the chance to get the 2003 which we feel is nearly as good, since it’s a bargain at under $50 a bottle. Stellar juice from Celia Masyczek, the winemaker of Scarecrow, for a fraction of the price.2003 Rocca, please!

freshly pressed

Interview with Wannabe Wino (aka Sonadora…aka Megan):

As we often do when we have a new bloggerpack to shill, we’ve interviewed the blogger in question. Without further ado, the blogger known as Wannabe Wino — our questions are in bold, her answers are not:

When and why did you first decide to plunge into the crazy world of wine blogging? How do you fit it into your work day?

I really hated my first job. At some point in my 8 months of working there, well, really within the first 2 months, I literally reached the very last page of the internet. I swear it exists. Also, because they had eliminated my position at work prior to me even officially arriving, they literally had nothing for me to do, no one talked to me, it was pretty much my own living hell. So the blog was born of sheer and utter boredom and the realization, after reading every last thing about wine on the internet, that no one was talking about the wines I was drinking. (more…)

wine jargon

Frizzante
From Wikipedia: Frizzante is an Italian wine term term for semi-sparkling wine (as opposed to Spumante, which is generally used for fully sparkling wines). Frizzante wines generally owe their bubbles to a partial secondary fermentation in tank. You might notice a light fizz or tingly sensation on the tongue with a Frizzante wine, compared to the more carbonated sensation that more fully sparkling wines yield.


Scorekage
Okay, so we made up this word yesterday after a great restaurant experience. We brought a bottle of wine with us, expecting to pay a corkage fee. But the restaurant either forgot to charge us the $15, or decided to be nice to us. We scored! Hence, “scorekage” has entered our lexicon. This can also refer to BYO friendly restaurants that don’t charge for corkage under any circumstances.


Frizzante


March 29th, 2008

Scorekage


March 23rd, 2008

Rioja


March 3rd, 2008