Wine Review: Villa Wolf 2014 Pinot Noir Rosé

German wines excite me. When there's a German table at a tasting that's usually the first table that I visit. German culture excites me and Germany is #1 on the list of places I need to visit before I die. Beer, brat and wine, baby! I would be living a life of gluttony the entire trip.

I'm also, as you should know by now, a big sucker for rosé so when I saw a German one I just had to have it. It's made from Pinot Noir, known as Spatburgunder over there.

Weingut J.L. Wolf is located in the Pfalz region (4 realz) and has been around since 1756, but the actual Villa wasn't built until 1843. It was successful as hell until the late 1900's when it started to drop off in quality and popularity due to lack of leadership and vision. Then our hero Ernst Loosen, you may recognize that name if you're a Riesling fan, bought it in 1996 and performed some hardcore CPR. It's still owned by Loosen but Patrick Moellendorf and Sumi Gebauer have managed the Villa since 2011 and have been doing a damn fine job bringing it back to the days of glory.

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YAAY! It's the weekend!

... said nobody that works at a liquor store. Ever.

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Wine Review: Villa Sandi Prosecco Brut

Prosecco is the most popular sparkling wine in the world, and the Prosecco region in Italy is having a hard time keeping up with demand. To learn more about Prosecco read A Bubbly Biography - The Story of Sparkling Wine - Part 2: Italy and The New World.

This is the second of a three part series of Brut Prosecco reviews. I'll be reviewing Bisol Jeio Prosecco Brut, Mionetto Prosecco Brut and Villa Sandi Prosecco Brut.

The incredibly stunning house of Villa Sandi was built in 1622 and, like the other Prosecco's in this series, is located in the Valdobbiadene. It's owned by the Moretti Polegato, who also have a long history of quality wine production. Like producers of Asti, Villa Sandi chills the unfermented must so it can be halted and then fermented on demand, guaranteeing that their shipments are the freshest of the fresh year-round.

I'm walking into this review kind of biased because I've always liked Villa Sandi's Brut Prosecco. Let's see if I still feel that way after six twists and a hiss.

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Wine Review: Mionetto Prosecco Brut

Prosecco is the most popular sparkling wine in the world, and the Prosecco region in Italy is having a hard time keeping up with demand. To learn more about Prosecco read A Bubbly Biography - The Story of Sparkling Wine - Part 2: Italy and The New World.

This is the second of a three part series of Brut Prosecco reviews. I'll be reviewing Bisol Jeio Prosecco Brut, Mionetto Prosecco Brut and Villa Sandi Prosecco Brut.

Like Bisol, Mionetto began in the village of Valdobbiadene. Francesco Mionetto started his winery in 1887 and eventually talked his two brothers into joining in on the fun. After they all went off to fight in the first World War, the winery sat there until Francesco's grandsons got their hands on it and started rebuilding in 1961. It's now ridiculously successful here in the United States.

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Wine Review: Bisol Jeio Brut Prosecco

Prosecco is the most popular sparkling wine in the world, and the Prosecco region in Italy is having a hard time keeping up with demand. To learn more about Prosecco read A Bubbly Biography - The Story of Sparkling - Wine Part 2: Italy and The New World.

This is the first of a three part series of Brut Prosecco reviews. I'll be reviewing Bisol Jeio Prosecco Brut, Mionetto Prosecco Brut and Villa Sandi Prosecco Brut.

Bisol Winery was founded in 1858 by a distiller named Eliseo Bisol, and it's one of the oldest in the village of Valdobbiadene, just north of Venice. This place has vineyards on infamously steep hills, so if you're looking to harvest some grapes in Valdobbiadene you're gonna have a bad time. That old "have a nice fall" joke must be severely overused there.

I'm feeling super snacky tonight so I'm making some popcorn the old-fashioned way. Prosecco and popcorn is exactly where I want to be right now.

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Video Wine "Review": Duck Commander 2012 Chardonnay

Watch my video "review" of the wine labelled for the boys of the hit TV show Duck Dynasty! I've been wanting to do this for a very long time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLRHmvlZF_Y


The bottle used was purchased by myself for the purpose of this review.

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Reds vs. Whites

I get this question a lot: "Do you like reds or whites better?" This is always my answer:

I drink and enjoy reds far more often than whites. However, I've found that I love my favorite whites far more than my favorite reds.

Yeah, I'm way more easily satisfied with reds and way more critical with whites. But the whites I adore... forget about it. It's not even close. My top reds can't even touch my top whites.

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Wine Review: Joya White & Red Sangria

We're only eight days away from the last day of summer but that doesn't mean it has to end, goddamnit! Keep holding on! KEEP! HOLDING! ON! Don't you ever give up until the snow is at your kneecaps! KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE! Drink some Sangria, you'll feel better.

Sangria originated in Rioja, Spain but it's a great tradition spanning the whole country. Wine, fruit juice and (traditionally but not always) brandy. Joya Sangria's home is the small town of La Puebla de Almoradiel in the Castilla-La Mancha region. It takes wine made from grapes of La Mancha and blends it with Mediterranean fruit. All flavors are natural and there are "no additives". Just natural fruit juice and the fermented fruit juice we call wine. It's all grown, produced and bottled in Spain.

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Wine Review: Gypsy Canyon "Ground Boots" 2012 Pinot Noir

Originally I was supposed to use this bottle to participate in a live tasting on Twitter with other wine bloggers and tweeters as we tasted the wine, made comments, and tried to put up with my crap. But I had to put the package on hold at FedEx, and for some reason I got the date (August 19th) mixed up with something else I had to do (September 1st) and couldn't pick up the bottle until the day after the tasting. I never remembered what that other thing was on September 1st. But that's okay because, whatever it was, watching the season premiere of Hotel Impossible was more important. And the missed live tasting turned out okay because I made some extra money that night instead, and here I am using the bottle to write a review!

The site of Gypsy Canyon Winery in Santa Barbara was where Dona Marcelina Felix Dominguez, the first female winegrower in California, planted her Mission grapes back in 1880. Bill and Deborah Hall bought the land in 1994 and found that some of those vines had survived and were hiding under sage bushes. They actually use those low-yielding Mission grapes to make Angelica, a dessert wine made by the Spanish way back in the day from the Mission grape. There's something cool about drinking history like that.

Gypsy's Canyon's Ground Boots label is cool for another reason. All of the profits go to a foundation based in Thailand called Soi Dog. They focus on rescuing dogs and ending the illegal dog meat trade in South Asia. As a human that has much appreciation for our canine companions, I can totally get behind that. Ground Boots Pinot Noir isn't cheap though. One bottle will cost you $70 but buying just one bottle will save three dogs. That's priceless.

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Beer Review: AleSmith Decadence 2014 Anniversary Ale - Wheat Wine Ale

As I've said many times over: I enjoy beer tremendously. But for me it's just a fun beverage. I know absolutely nothing about beer and I'm not really interested in learning anything about it. Wine, on the other hand, is an obsession. If you've seen my wine reviews you may not think so, but I take wine very seriously.

But yes, I do occasionally do beer reviews on this wine blog. Why not? It's my website! A year ago I wrote a whole article on the starches that spirits are made of. At least I'm keeping on the topic of alcohol. Plus, beer and wine have been hanging out with each other since the dawn of civilization. They're brothers of fermentation.

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Introducing The Wine Stalker App for Android!

Android users, and those that know how to get Android apps on iOS, can get everything TheWineStalker.net has to offer in one place on their phone or tablet! Reviews, articles, YouTube videos, Instagram photos, social media, Vivino.

Be notified when a new post is published on the blog. You can even send me photos of the wine you're drinking and post feedback on a fan wall!

DOWNLOAD THE APP FROM GOOGLE PLAY!

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Maury on Merlot

Blends that are mostly Merlot are so popular it's stupid. Yet they still have to hide that they're mostly Merlot so you'll even try it.

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September Wine Pick: Chateau de Malengin, Montagne Saint-Emilion 2009

This WINE PICK of the month was written for the Luke's of Cape Cod website.

Chateau de Malengin is a medieval fortress in the Montagne Saint-Emilion region of Bordeaux, France. It stands on a limestone plateau above the slopes of its vineyards. Baron Edmond de Rothschild, famous for Chateau Lafite, now runs the place and produces its wine.

Malengin is considered one of the most sought after wines of Montagne Saint-Emilion. It's a classic "right bank" blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Those three guys love to make great wine together.

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