Just in case you didn’t know, December 20th is National Sangria Day! Sick of eggnog, not ready to break out the hot toddys, but need to show up to a holiday party well equipped with something more special than a random pick of wine from the corner store? The folks at Eppa just came out with a SuperFruit Sangria – a sexy bottled sangria that uses Mendocino Cabernet and Syrah and adds organic fruit juices (blood orange, acai, blueberry and pomegranate). It’s a fresh new taste – and is great poured just over ice, with a little bubbly, or even mixed up in (pisco) cocktails. Over at Drink Me, we love Sangria, and we love experimenting with new recipes, but sometimes whipping out the fresh fruit, taking the time to taste continuously until you’ve gotten it just right, isn’t what you want to be doing before you have guests over [...]

A couple of weeks ago, we sat down with Beth Liston, the winemaker of The Original Dark Horse wines. As a young and enthusiastic winemaker, she’s been working in the industry for years and is the driving force behind this new wine from Gallo. We met at Flour + Water’s amazing upstairs test kitchen, accompanied by the restaraunts two chefs for an eight-course wine paired meal prepared to accompany Dark Horse’s two varietals – a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon. The first is Dark Horse’s 2012 Chardonnay (with grapes coming from Lodi, Delta and Clarksburg areas) – a beautiful wintry white with notes of pear, apple and toasted oak. It has a rich finish, but not overwhelmingly so as you might find with some older, super oaky Chardonnays. The second wine that Beth is making is a 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon that though fairly young, has a bold fruit body held up by [...]

The holiday gift-giving season is just around the corner. If you’re still trying to find the perfect present for a friend or loved one, keep in mind that nothing says, “I appreciate having you in my life,” than the gift of booze.

Last weekend, some of us over here at the Drink Me team were lucky enough to join for the world renown Flavor! Napa Valley event up north. We headed up on cold evening for an event aptly named The Appellation Trail: Tasting Napa Valley. After checking in at the Culinary Institute of America, we joined hundreds of tastemakers, winemakers and chefs for a gallant evening of the best wines that Napa Valley has to offer along with incredible tastes from Napa’s top restaurants and live music to fill in the gaps.   Perhaps one of our favorite aspects of the event, aside from the award winning wines, was the ability for us to taste our way though the Napa Valley Appellations. There were over a hundred wineries present, each spaced out by their individual sub-appellations in the valley – which let us taste through the terroir and differences that become [...]

Everybody knows that Les Claypool knows how to rock. Far fewer realize, however, that the long-time Primus frontman also makes a jammin’ good juice. Namely, a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir of singular spectacularity. Unlike the band, the wine certainly doesn’t suck.

As the old cowboy saying goes, “You can’t reason with a kickin’ mule.” Serving as a reminder of this axiom, Kick Ass Cabernet is a deep and complex blended red wine with a full flavor–which, at a price point of under $20–defies reasonable expectations.

“If being blind made me a better winemaker, then there would be more chefs and winemakers who are blind. Where are they hiding? I have a good palate because I was born with it. I have a good sense of smell. Don’t assume it’s because I am blind,” declared blind winemaker CP Lin. Yes, a blind winemaker. You might be thinking about the challenges he faces to make wine without seeing or maybe that he has a better palate than most because he is compensating for his lack of sight. But CP is a highly accomplished and talented individual, with or without the ability to see. CP was always a curious child, and this has continued into adulthood. “I taste all sorts of things. Other blind people don’t do the same as I do. If they can’t see it, they won’t try,” he says. While walking through the vineyard to [...]

They do battle with each other at the most exclusive wine auctions, line the cellars of the biggest collectors, and occupy pride of place on the wine lists of the best restaurants. The world’s most expensive wines come from the Old World and the new, and they carry a big mystique along with their hefty price tags. The world’s most expensive include Bordeaux’s five First Growths — Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau LaTour and Chateau Haut Brion — which usually range from $750 to $1,000 per bottle, depending on vintage. They were named ‘First Growths’ precisely for fetching the highest prices in the first place. Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée-Conti can demand even higher prices, given the wine-drinking public’s unquenchable thirst for pinot noir and chardonnay. The list also includes Napa Valley’s “cult wines,” such as Screaming Eagle ($750), Harlan Estate ($500), Colgin Cellars ($325), Bryant [...]