by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Vegans beware; there is danger afoot if you are a wine enthusiast. There are wines currently in the marketplace that do not fit with vegan or for that matter, the vegetarian dietary requirements. Our son is vegan, and often, we cannot recommend a wine we are currently...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
It takes a lot of guts or pride or both to put your name on a bottle of wine and Joel Gott has no trouble doing that since his wines can stand up to even the most severe scrutiny. Perhaps he also works under that ancient saying “he who tooteth not his own horn,...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
The California wine industry was founded by Spanish settlers in the 16th and 17th century but it was really given its kick start in 1933 with the end of the alcohol restrictive 18th amendment. Many of the original Italian settlers in the grape growing districts stayed...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
One of the great joys of being a wine enthusiast, besides enjoying the wines, is poking around the shelves of a wine store looking for interesting wines and the occasional rare find. Please believe us that there are often great discoveries to be found on some back,...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
We have some good news for you and some bad news. The good news is that despite the rotten growing year that hit most of the wine grape growing countries and the magnificent year enjoyed by our west coast, there will be little or no increase in the price of your...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Malbec is a grape that originated in France but has found a new and better home in Argentina. This grape was a minor player in European vineyards, being used mainly as a blender and its only real claim to fame was that it was used to color and “beef up” some of the...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Wines with a Hispanic flavor have been showing up on our shores with more frequency in recent years. We had an opportunity recently to sample some and will admit to being pleasantly surprised with one and reunited with another. The pleasant surprises were the wines...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
The name Ecco Domani has become almost synonymous for quality Italian wines, and so it is. It seems almost ludicrous to talk about Ecco Domani’s commitment to quality and to producing the finest wine for the money, when everything that is advertised today is...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
As a child, winemaker Charlie Wagner attended the Liberty School, in Rutherford, California. Years later, in 1950, he built a new home and winery using wood from the original Liberty School structure. Wanting to commemorate the old schoolhouse, Charlie Wagner named...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
As is our tradition, we left a good bottle of wine on the mantle for Santa just in case with all of his work he had done that night, he may have needed a bit of fortification. Usually it is not taken, or even opened but this year the bottle was gone so we assume that...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
We hope that all of our readers had a healthy, safe and happy New Year and that they enjoy good health and good fortune in the upcoming year. The 2012 vintage, which will begin to show up in restaurants an dealer’s shelves shortly should be a banner one,...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
It’s hard to imagine that in our modern, highly scientific, internet driven society that we, as were our cro magnon ancestors are still at the whims and fancies of a very fickle Mother Nature. This can be proven by the miserable weather conditions that she...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Posh; Now there’s a word that has lost a great deal of meaning in our modern electrified world. We are not referring to the song sung by Lionel Jeffries in the classic movie Chitty Chity Bang Bang, but rather the word that indicates the ultimate in opulence....
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
We are surrounded by catchwords, slogans and phrases of all sorts and types. They shout at us from billboards, radio, television, mailings and if we are not mistaken there are even some ads on stained glass windows. The wine industry is no different and the current...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
There are many memorable people who have walked across the pages of history that have left an indelible mark. As long as man exists these people will never be forgotten. Aristotle, Socrates Julius Caesar, Galileo, Einstein, Napoleon, Henry Ford and so many many more....
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
This week we will not be writing about flavor, aroma, labels, bottles, wineries and all the other stuff that we usually write about. This week we will look at the upcoming 2012 vintage. You know that this is an election year and things usually go topsy-turvy during...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
How about the real thing; at least in wines. There is no one who will question that California makes some of the best wines in the world. The operative word there is world. Few, if any of our indigenous grapes are made into wine. For some reason they develop an off...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
With our constant complaining about the quality and types of labels consumers are exposed to, we now report that wine labeling has hit a new plateau; labeling the bottle with the identification number of the specific grape clones used to make the wine along with the...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Every year, the celebration of Halloween seems to be getting bigger and bigger. We all know of the kids celebrations, with trick or treat and going to large gatherings at malls, schools an churches in costume, but besides these events for children, adults are holding...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Cannonball; now there is an interesting name for a wine, but what Cannonball are they referring to? Could it be the 12 pounders used in the cannons of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars? Is it possibly that fictional train of song and story the Wabash Cannonball or...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Mirassou, the name may be French but the wines are definitely Californian. The Mirassou family has been growing grapes and making wine in California for over 150 years and today, the sixth generation of the Mirassou family are still making wine and still under the...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Have you ever wondered why the State of Israel puts so much interest into the possession of the Golan Heights? First and most important it is the back door to Syria and of immense political and military value. Another and, to us, a much better reason is that is the...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
We were wrong, totally, irrevocably and without any doubt, wrong. When we took a first quick glance at a recently received bottle of wine, we both thought the label read “Apathetic White Blend.” Now, who in their right mind would label their wine with a word whose...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Just in case you haven’t noticed, it’s summer and with summer comes its own set of wine problems. We all know that the summer ushers in lighter foods and outdoor parties and the thought of sipping a cabernet sauvignon, merlot or for that matter any of the other full...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
The name Ecco Domani has become almost synonymous for quality Italian wines, and so it is. It seems almost ludicrous to talk about Ecco Domani’s commitment to quality and to producing the finest wine for the money, when everything that is advertised today is...
High Vacuum Engineer: Senior Technical Adviser and Feature Writer for Modern Photography Magazine (1967-1973), co-founder of Together Vineyards, an experimental vineyard in South Florida which was the southern most registered vineyard in the Continental United States. Co-Author of several books on Home Wine Making, Home Beer Making and Distillation of Spirits. Co-owner of Camera & Video Repair Institute in Sunrise Florida.