USA

Arista Vonarburg Vineyard Riesling 2021 Review – Tropical

When we think of producers of high-quality Rieslings, our minds often go to cool climates like the Mosel in Germany or the Finger Lakes in Upstate New York.

But just because some cooler climate regions are famous for their Riesling doesn't mean this grape can't grow in warmer spots. On the contrary, it thrives all over! California-based Arista, known for some stellar Pinot Noir, has one Riesling from the Anderson Valley that we were hesitant about but fell in love with after the first sip.

If you prefer your Riesling ripe and with a robust intensity, this one is for you.

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Noughty NA Syrah Review – Just Add Bitters

As part of our quest to try dealcoholized wine during our dry-ish January, we stumbled upon Noughty nonalcoholic Syrah at a local bottle shop that came highly recommended.

Although this wine was not ideal for our tastes, we were given a trick to add bitters into this one to add more barrel-like notes that are often lost in NA wine, and we have to admit that it helped this bottle significantly.

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Fre Sparkling Brut Non-Alcohol Wine Review – Approachable NA Wine

Every January, we try and participate in what we call a dry-ish January. We don't fully cut out alcohol, but use the month to give ourselves a period of reset.

But during this time, we decided to take a look at more dealcoholized wine and other NA products to see if any are of the quality we expect from their alcohol-forward counterparts.

Naturally, this interest led us to a bottle of Fre Sparkling Brut, a faux bubbly that has been dealcoholized and sweetened to increase the body that the alcohol has removed.

So, was this one worth it? In a sea of disappointing NA wines, we have to admit, this may have been the best one we tried all month.

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Arista Winery Perli Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019 Review – A Gem

It should be no surprise that Arista was one of our favorite wineries in Sonoma from our last visit, and since then we have been building a cellar of their stellar Pinot Noirs as club members.

One of our favorite vineyard plots, Perli Vineyards, was one of our favorites and we have a modest collection that is sleeping for some age.

We decided to pull a bottle of this gem from our cellar from the 2019 vintage to check how it was doing at approximately four years old, and this one, naturally, still had a lot of youth in it while just starting to show signs of age!

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La Crema Sonoma Coast 2021 Review – A Solid Entry Wine

La Crema is one of those brands we see seemingly everywhere. From wine shop to wine shop, bar menu to bar menu, La Crema is one of those brands it is hard to get away from in the USA.

So, naturally, it sparked our interest, and we wanted to find out if their California Pinot Noir was worth our attention.

For its price, well, this certainly was an interesting one!

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Vino Volo Review – Is the Airport Wine Bar Chain Worth It?

Normally when we travel via an airport, we often make a beeline straight for the lounge in order to get the lovely perks of a quiet space and, perhaps more importantly, free alcohol.

But every so often we are unable to get into our lounge of choice, typically during peak hours when the demand is at its highest and the wait for entry is longer than our time in the airport outright.

In these cases we head to a paid bar to get over our pre-flight jitters, and one such bar we only recently started visiting was the wine chain Vino Volo. If you have ever been curious about what this airport staple is like, this one is for you!

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Keuka Lake Vineyards Riesling Evergreen Lek 2017 Review

Whenever we visit Finger Lakes wineries, we always make a trip over to Keuka Lake despite arranging our trips to often be Seneca Lake heavy.

One obligatory stop for us is the aptly named Keuka Lake Vineyards for its gorgeous views and even better wine.

After letting their Riesling Evergreen Lek age in our cellar for a few years, we popped it open to discover a rather delicious wine with notable petrol and tropical character!

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Lieb Cellars North Fork of Long Island Pinot Blanc 2021 Review

I have to admit, I did not know that Long Island grew grapes until taking WSET Diploma, and ever since I have been fascinated by one particular spot- the North Fork of Long Island.

The reason for this is because the north fork is said to be protected a bit from Atlantic influences by the Hamptons, and, as such, becomes a prized spot for grape growing.

So when we got our hands on a Pinot Blanc from Lieb Cellars as part of our Picked by Wine.com subscription, we were quite excited to try it!

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Anarchist Wine Co The Skeptic 2018 Review – Nice With Age

When we visited California to check out Napa and Sonoma wineries, one of the more interesting spots we stopped at was Anarchist Wine Co.

As its name suggests, this winery is doing some rather unique things with popular California grapes as well as unique blends of lesser-grown varietals for the region.

The Skeptic is one such bottle which is an orange, skin-fermented wine of Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer, and Viognier. Unusual for the region to begin with, with the extra depth and complexity that an orange wine provides.

We had picked up a bottle of the 2018 vintage when visiting the winery and promptly forgot about it until it was five years old, when it tasted absolutely beautiful.

Note: The makeup of The Skeptic has seemed to change in recent bottlings. At the time of this review, the 2022 vintage was 100% Gewurztraminer. As such, future bottles may have different characteristics than what is included in this review.

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North Mountain Zweigelt Rose 2017 Review – A Fun Twist

North Mountain is a beautiful little estate in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia that grows some interesting Austrian varieties like Gruner Veltliner, Zweigelt, and Riesling in addition to classic wines found throughout the region.

One wine, their Zweigelt rose, hit me as the most interesting during my tasting particularly because the rose style is not one we are used to seeing for this delightful, fruity grape. Naturally, it was my favorite of the bunch and I picked up several bottles to enjoy at home later.

Most of our bottles disappeared rather quickly and well before I could take notes for a review. The last one got lost in our cellar for not one, not two, but six years from its vintage before we finally decided to open it. While we could argue that this one was slightly past its prime, we still have to admit we adore this Zweigelt rose all the same!

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