Wine Recommendations

IntoWine asked our panel of experts to share their recommendations for the best wine to pair with a tomato & mozzarella (Caprese) salad: Laraneta Sangiovese ($25). Ripe with raspberry, pomegranate, oak and wood notes this is another success from this small family owned winery located near Paso Robles. Simply put, their wines are just great to drink and taste wonderful. A long finish and a mild spice, it holds up against the acidity of the tomato and compliments with soft timid cheese. This wine is compelling and I usually lean toward an Italian wine with Italian food. One of the great hallmarks of a great wine is how quickly you tend to consume it; this sangiovese is deceptively good and will disappear from your glass too quickly. - Michael Cervin , Wine Judge, Restaurant Critic, and IntoWine Featured Writer

IntoWine asked our panel of experts to share their best pinot noir recommendations (for the money): Finding a good, value-priced Pinot Noir —i.e., for $20 and under--has been a real challenge over the past decade, when the demand for Pinot Noir grapes has driven up the price growers charge to producers, leading to higher and higher consumer prices. Significantly lower yields in vintages like 2010 and 2011 haven’t helped either. And although a lot of Pinot Noir has been planted each year since the Sideways phenomenon made the grape the wine world’s hottest commodity, those plantings and the speed with which they get mature enough to be the source of wine (minimum three years) have still lagged behind demand. The best sources for Pinots at this price level in California have been La Crema (their Monterey appellation bottling is usually $20 or less) and Cambria Estate Julia’s Vineyard Santa Maria Valley ($20 or less). The lowest priced, decent Pinot Noir I’ve tasted from the State in the last few years has been the Mark West, simply a California appellation, for about $11. The real value source for characterful Pinot Noir these days, however, is New Zealand. They can be a bit more of a challenge to find on U.S. shelves, but are well worth the hunt, for both quality and value. Some of the best recent releases I’ve tried, that can be had for $15 to $20, are from Coopers Creek (I especially loved their Razorback bottling from Central Otago), Saint Clair, Stoneleigh, Te Kairanga and Wither Hills. You’ll find a delicacy, lightness and good acidity in these Kiwi Pinots that make their value pricing no contest when compared to similarly priced domestic Pinot. - Richard Jennings, IntoWine.com Featured Contributor and the Founder RJonWine.com

I hate chardonnay. Its reign as the #1 wine varietal among US consumers has always befuddled me given how many people -wine geeks and novices alike- deliberately avoid it. California chardonnay in particular - with its excess oak and buttery texture- was so off putting to me that I had virtually given up even trying chardonnay, so convinced I was that I hated it. Then I had an epiphany in the form of Greg La Follette, or I should say, his chardonnay. World renowned as an in-demand consulting winemaker, Greg La Follette recently took the plunge and launched his own eponymous label, focusing on pinot noir and chardonnay, his specialties. A long time fan of his pinot noir, I had the wonderful opportunity a few months back to attend a winemaker's dinner at a local restaurant where La Follette wines were poured liberally (and, trust me, I was not shy about partaking). That night, for the first time, I found a chardonnay that was not just drinkable - my previous threshold for chardonnay "success"- but which I absolutely loved and craved. I joined La Follette's Vigneron Club that night ensuring a quarterly supply of my new discovery (and don't think for a second that my shipment doesn't include his pinot noir, as good as any available and an absolute bargain at the current price).

Doug Frost is a Kansas City author who writes and lectures about wine, beer and spirits. He passed the rigorous Master Sommelier (MS) examination and two years later became America’s eighth Master of Wine (MW). He is one of only three people in the world to have achieved both these remarkable distinctions, and he’s sincerely a nice guy. Doug is also the author of three books on wine including “ Far From Ordinary: The Spanish Wine Guide.” He is a contributor to the Oxford Companion of Wine, and writes about wine and spirits for many publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, Underground Wine Journal, Drinks International, Practical Winery & Vineyard, Wines & Vines, Wines & Spirits, Cheers Magazine, Santé Magazine, and Epicurious.com, and he is the beverage columnist for the James Beard award-winning food section of the Kansas City Star .

It's Fourth of July weekend and, on what will likely be a boiling hot summer day for most of the US, picnics and barbecues with their typical summer holiday fare will rule. While I am tempted to suggest wines that pair well with picnic fare like burgers, ribs and chicken, I'm going to ignore the food and instead focus on the weather. An unusually warm San Francisco summer has put me on a rosé kick of late. -A quick aside: Rosé all too often gets a bad rap for not being a "serious" wine. Part of this is deserved as there is no shortage of crappy bulk rosé being pawned off on ignorant consumers. The reality though is that there are some fantastic rosés on the market and it's a shame that rosé is often bypassed and dismissed as some sort of inferior alternative to "real" wine (i.e red or white).- Anyway, rosé is arguably the ideal wine for a hot summer night (though Vinho Verde and Alvarinho make an incredibly strong case for the title "Best Wine for Hot Summer Night").

How many food & wine apps do you know of that focus solely on gourmet food & wine pairings? How about budget-conscious pairings? What about food & wine education? If you answered none, you’re about to learn all about food & wine apps like these (and a few others) by reading the following top 5 food & wine apps for iPad.

France's Burgundy wine region produces some of the world's truly great wines. This is a region completely dedicated to terroir and tradition. Even the grapes planted in Burgundy are restricted to a few traditional varietals, with pinot noir and chardonnay holding pride of place – as they have for many, many centuries. Burgundy's Winemaking History Burgundy's winemaking history dates back at least to ancient Roman times, possibly earlier, although documentation is scanty prior to the Romans' arrival. Catholic monks cultivated vineyards during the Middle Ages, and the ruling Dukes of Burgundy involved themselves in the grape-growing process in an effort to improve the quality (and, no doubt, export value) of Burgundy wines. It was during this period that pinot noir became the red wine grape of choice in Burgundy. Vineyards shifted from Church ownership to individual owners during the Renaissance, and, in the aftermath of the French Revolution some 300 years later, all remaining Church vineyards were privatized. These privately-owned vineyards were divided and re-divided under Napoleonic law, which forced families to split holdings among heirs instead of willing all inheritable property to one descendant. This division of the vineyards led directly to the system used in Burgundy today; hundreds of growers sell their grapes to négociants , or buyers, who use the grapes to make wine.