We’re quickly learning that we love South African Chardonnay and it is for two great reasons. First, the grape seems to grow beautifully in this country and many wine makers do not seem to go over-the-top on winemaking choices like barrel aging or malolactic fermentation (of the ones we’ve tried, at least). Second, you can … Read more
We’re quickly becoming fans of Chardonnay from South Africa, and when we purchased an assortment of bottles from a local wine shop, we were intrigued by the offerings from Richard Kershaw Winery. Part of this is simply because we like this varietal from the country. But the other part was that Kershaw focuses on single … Read more
Every so often we have a wine that we fall in love with at first sip. The South African-based Ataraxia (in Hemel-in-Aarde) offers a Chardonnay that, for us at least, won us over right away. If an intensely acidic and fruity Chardonnay is what you see, Ataraxia’s entry will certainly deliver.
One of the things students in WSET Diploma classes must learn is how to taste wine blind. Part of this is simply to get better at tasting wine. The other part of this is that the WSET Diploma exams that have tasting components often require us to identify characteristics in the wine such as its … Read more
Out of the six modules of WSET Diploma, none is more daunting than the D3 exam featuring still wines of the world. Part of this is because of volume- the module has a ~600-page book with dozens upon dozens of wine-growing regions, hundreds of grapes, and an untold number of facts and figures to remember. … Read more
In our never-ending quest to try new wine clubs, we stumbled upon Naked Wines at the recommendations of several friends. This wine club takes a different kind of approach than conventional wine programs where members become de facto “investors” of artisan wineries around the world. But rather than being part owner, the perk comes back … Read more
When we decided to visit friends in Seattle, we knew we wanted to get out to experience several Washington wineries. At first, we had our hearts set on hitting a proper wine region like those found in the Columbia Valley towards the eastern side of the state. But we quickly scrapped that plan when we … Read more
Our quest here at The Grape Pursuit is to try every commercially available wine variety in the world, and you can imagine that we do whatever we can in order to taste new grapes. This includes ordering them online at places like Wine.com, browsing obscure stores and the “other international” shelves larger wine stores, and … Read more
If you are looking to take a formal wine education course, odds are good you’ve come across the Wine And Spirit Education Trust– or WSET for short. This London-based school has programs for wine, spirits, and even sake that are taught by instructors all over the world. One of the highlights of WSET over other … Read more
For many years, we would passively partake in the world of wine- be it for a day trip out to vineyards when traveling, infrequently ordering a glass of wine at a restaurant, or enjoying an occasional bottle at home with a meal. We liked wine, but we didn’t know wine. It wasn’t until we took a … Read more
