Pinot Noir food pairing allows plenty of creativity.

The Perfect Pinot Noir Food Pairing: Choosing the Right Wine Style for Your Meal

Enjoying Wine, Pinot Noir, Serving, Tasting, Varietals

Pinot Noir is one of the most versatile wines to pair with food—from fresh spring vegetables to rich paté, you can serve this wine with a huge range of dishes. In fact, when I’m invited to a dinner party or bring my own wine to a restaurant, I very often take along a Pinot Noir, especially if I’m not sure what dish is going to be served. The wine’s perfect balance of bracing acidity, sweet fruit, and complex aromatics make it a joy to drink on its own or paired with nearly any dish.

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A wine tasting gift set featuring a bottle of wine and snacks inside a basket

The Best Wine Tasting Gift Set: Tour the World’s Greatest Wine Regions

Buying Wine, Holiday, Tasting

My friends know how much I love wine, which is why every year, I always end up with at least two or three wine gift baskets. But while some of these baskets are beautifully made and contain fascinating wines that I’ve never tried before, more often than not, they’re full of cheap California Cabernet or cloying Moscato. The problem with pre-made wine gift baskets is that they rarely offer the sort of unusual, interesting wines that connoisseurs enjoy. Gift basket wines also tend to be lower in value and are selected seemingly at random. One basket might contain Oregon Pinot Noir, German Riesling, and a super Tuscan from Italy all in the same gift, without rhyme or reason.

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Learning how to taste wine takes practice

How to Taste Wine: The Ultimate Guide to Improving Your Palate for Fine Wine

Enjoying Wine, Tasting

A single wine can dramatically change in flavor and bouquet as the years wear on and you develop your palate. The first time you try 2010 Château Lafite, you might only taste and smell wine. But as your palate matures, you’ll learn to find more notes, like the scent of oyster that made this estate famous, or the strong black tea flavor hidden in the wine’s layers. If you train your palate well enough, you might even spot the elusive violet top note that the most experienced enthusiasts struggle to find. Learning how to taste wine requires patience and consistent practice, but it will ultimately make your collection more refined and your experiences with wine more enjoyable.

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how to taste polarizing wines

How to Taste Polarizing Wines: Finding Unique and Funky Wines That Suit Your Palate

Buying Wine, Collecting, Enjoying Wine, Tasting

In 2009, a collector tried a delicious aged bottle of Cayuse from Washington, and immediately signed up for the mailing list. Years later, he finally cleared the list, but his excitement was short-lived. After buying two bottles of 7-year-old Armada and God Only Knows, he found their funky, earthy flavors far too overpowering. The collector…

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reviews of counterfeit wines

Identifying Reviews of Counterfeit Wines: Do We Really Know What Older, Classic Vintages Taste Like?

Collecting, Enjoying Wine, Fraud, Reviewing, Tasting

Like a stone thrown into a pond, the ripples of wine fraud impact more than just one collector’s cellar. What happens when a professional wine reviewer can’t tell a fake bottle from a real one by taste? Collectors rely on professional reviews for accuracy, but when these reviews are compromised by fraud, it’s virtually impossible…

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identifying herb and floral flavors in wine

Tasting Boot Camp Week Two: Identifying Floral and Herb Flavors in Wine

Education, Enjoying Wine, Tasting

Even seasoned collectors feel insecure about their palates once in awhile. For the longest time, my Achilles heel was herbal notes. I could easily pinpoint dark fruit, citrus, and lavender, but grass, thyme, and eucalyptus always seemed to evade me. It wasn’t because those flavors weren’t there–I’d read multiple tasting notes that all picked up…

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