July

I am always amazed when I taste an old wine and it has developed into something almost magical. Three of the wines I recommend this month fit into that category. I don’t get to taste these wines very often, so I am grateful to my friend Bill Vandermarel for reaching into his cellar for me to enjoy these wines.

June

I spent eight days in France in March looking for wines for B&B’s French Wine Club. We tasted some amazing wines and were able to find some great ones for the club. You can read about it all on my blog of the trip at:

French Wine Club Blog

March

This month I have six great wines to recommend.

The first is a beautiful light and fruity 2004 Beaujolais Villages from Louis Jadot for $10. I find most of the Jadot selections rather plain and ordinary but this Beaujolais has nice light spice and is quite interesting, particularly for the price. Enjoy it with pasta or easy sipping on the patio as spring approaches.

February

This month I recommend five wines from or near Bordeaux in different price ranges and different vintages.

January

The holidays are always a time of enjoying great wines and this year was no exception. I’ve selected eight wines to recommend - all of which I tasted in the last month. I hope you have a chance to try some of them and enjoy them as much as I have.

As much as I love Bordeaux, I have also enjoyed some excellent Chateauneuf-Du-Papes’ and I will be headed back to France this spring to do some more research on this region.

November

It’s time for selecting wines for the onslaught of holiday events, and I will recommend a few here as well as some more next month.

October

Was ’94 a bad year in Bordeaux? The critics seemed to say so, and it has gotten that reputation, but this month I’ve tasted several ‘94’s and they are quite good – especially given that their prices are considerably less than those of the more highly rated vintages.

September

On the occasion of our last dinner in Canada with some great friends I decided it was the appropriate time to open one of the oldest and most prestigious bottles of wine in my collection.  I had purchased a 1975 Mouton Rothschild several years ago from a wine store in St. Louis that was liquidating an old collector’s cellar for him.  I can’t tell you the price of the wine because my wife reads this, but suffice to say I only bought one bottle.  This was the night to open this wine.

August

In the June posting of this newsletter I recommended the 2002 Chateau Gloria, and this month I want to talk about a couple of other wines from this mediocre vintage, some blockbuster wines from the great 1982 and 1990 vintages, and recommend a couple of Ontario wines.