Wine Storage LFSX Red Rack

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Domingos Meirelles, Portuguese born in Angola, has been living for 6 years in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He studied International Trade in Portugal, did his MBA in Sao Paulo, and finally the OIV Masters in International Wine Management to gain a broader perspective on the wine world. He is now the Director of Expovinis Brasil and personally dedicated to promoting Brazilian wine culture and generally pushing the country onto the global wine playing field. I recently caught up with him on a trip to Santiago, Chile visiting local wine producers and was able to ask him about the Brazilian market and the significance of Expovinis which is rapidly approaching.

The origin of Cognac dates back to the 16th century when Dutch settlers came to this French region to purchase salt, wood, and wine. However, the journey back home made preserving the wine difficult and they needed to find a better way to conserve it. They started by distilling the wine into eau-de-vie, which was a good solution for preservation, but eventually they realized a second distillation made for an even finer, more elegant and pleasant product. This is essentially the birth of brandy. In fact, the word “brandy” comes from the Dutch word “branwinj” which means burned wine.

Budgeting for a meal out entails a lot more than just scouting prices for a nice bone-in ribeye. If you plan to add pre-meal cocktails and a nice bottle (or two) of wine, your liquid expenses could dwarf your food bill. Some restaurants are notorious for sticking it to consumers when it comes to wine, and it isn’t unusual in Las Vegas or New York to pay 300-400%+ of retail prices per bottle. There seems to be a direct correlation between the “status” perception of the restaurant and the pain you will feel at the wine pump.

Greg La Follette is one of the most revered winemakers in Sonoma County, if not the entire wine industry. His wines at both Flowers and his own label, Tandem Wines, have earned numerous accolades. In person, however, his prominence seems more like water under the bridge. Strikingly unpretentious and engaging, Greg La Follette shows far more interest in what you think about his wines today than he does about how they score or what critics say. IntoWine had the good fortune of chatting with Greg recently about winemaking, terroir, and the blessed curse of wine scoring systems.

A blending party is one of the most enjoyable of the various events offered by wine clubs. When combined with a lobster feed, it makes for a most memorable day of hands-on play at winemaking, then hands-on work at lobster-cracking. A tasteful pairing of higher education and higher hedonism.

It was just such a day at Alderbrook Winery, located just west of Healdsburg, just off US Highway 101 in California’s Sonoma County.