by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Whenever the subject of American sparkling wine is broached, there is the inevitable comparison with French Champagne. Well, as they would say in Brooklyn, “it ain’t gonna happen.†French Champagnes, all of them, are finely crafted, beautiful wines, that are an...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
We were recently introduced to a new wine box. We know that wine boxes are old hat by now, but these new boxes have a really interesting twist; they fit in the fridge without taking up all the room on the shelves. These mini boxes hold three liters of wine which is...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Portugal has never been famous for its wines. Well, that is not entirely true. Portugal has never been famous for its dry wines. Port, the dark, sweet, super fruity desert wine is probably the most famous and best known Portuguese export. Unfortunately these...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Hard times bring hard decisions in almost every field of endeavor. The wine industry is no different than the rest of us. Do we sell the vineyard to a larger producer? Do we just forfeit on our financial encumbrances and just give it over to creditors? What do we do?...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
There are two ways to get grapes for winemaking, grow them or buy them. If the grapes are grown, the winemaker is stuck with what he has grown and must go on from there, regardless of the quality of the fruit. Buying the grapes offers the winemaker the option of...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
The latest vintage of the big chicken wines, H.R.M. Rex Goliath, are in the marketplace right now. Just FYI, His Royal Majesty Rex Goliath was the record setting, largest known rooster who weighed in at a finger licking 47 pounds. Whatever drove the winemakers to name...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
For many years, in the “way back when,†among the only Chilean wines available in the United States came from Undurraga. This winemaker, founded in 1865, lead the way for the rest of the Chilean vintners to sell their wares here. Chilean grape vines are grown on...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Mirassou Vineyards is another of those old California wine making families. They are the closest thing to a wine making dynasty that we have here in the United States. Now in their fifth generation of wine makers, the Mirassou family began making wine in 1854, during...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
The wine basket of Argentina is the Mendoza district from where the best grapes, for their best wines are grown. One of the attributes of Mendoza is its near perfect wine grape growing climate and the mineral laced runoff water from the Andes Mountains that helps to...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Dry Creek Vineyard of Sonoma County California has been one of the stalwarts of the wine industry since its inception in 1972. Their commitment to produce the best possible wine has kept them in business during good times and bad. They are one wine producer that has...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
There is a certain indescribable something about the wines of South Africa. Yes, the flavors of each variety are familiar as are the aromas and yes the varieties are identical to those grown in most winemaking countries on this planet. So why buy wines from one...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Dancing Bull wines; now there is a name we could have had some fun with if we had not promised to stop complaining about wacky wine labels. The thought however does cross our minds on what else we would call this wine had we not reformed. Terpsichorean Male Bovine...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
We were told by some of the wines gurus when we first began writing about wine that when our taste for wine truly matures we will learn to appreciate the cabernet sauvignon. Our answer to them was that we had been there and gone and have graduated to the true beauties...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
The Spanish speaking winemaking countries are now in the process of making a big play for our wine business. Typical of the Hispanic psyche, they are doing it honorably but in their own distinctive manner. That distinctive manner is to make wines from local grapes as...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Objectivity; now there is a term that has lost a good deal of meaning in recent years. As wine columnists we try to be as objective as we can and not let our personal preferences influence us … too much. But, we are human and after tasting so many wines over these...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
It took the French several hundreds of years to determine what grape made the best wine if they were grown in a certain locations. The cabernet sauvignon and merlot reigned supreme in the Bordeaux region of southwestern France while pinot noir and its white cousin the...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
We have spent countless years downplaying the wines of Spain because they had never lived up to their potential. The “Great Wine Blight,†the almost total destruction of the vineyards of Europe in the 1860’s by a small bug, Philloxera, resulted in the migration...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
April showers bring May flowers. Ok, we know that the statement isn’t always true; it all depends on the whims and fancies of the gods of weather. What is sure is the month of June always brings weddings and weddings always bring celebrations and celebrations always...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
For many years now, just before Passover, we have written about the kosher wines that are available for people of the Jewish faith. Passover and wine are integrally wrapped around each other with wine playing an important part of the Passover celebration meal called a...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
It has been a long time since Italian wines were the vogue. Their time was the 1960’s when Chianti was king. Every bistro, pizzeria and college dorm room had the ever present straw covered Chianti bottle as a candle holder, resplendent with multicolored melted wax...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Each winey and every winemaker add their individual signature to the wines they produce. Franciscan Estate has been an award winning producer of wines since 1985 and their secret is no secret; they ferment and age all of their wines in small batches. Why small...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
“It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma†When Winston Churchill made his famous remark about Russia, he could also have been talking about Spanish wines. For years, these wines were a complete contradiction. From the vineyards location, climate,...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
If you are anything like us and the rest of the wine lovers and critics, you bemoan the fact that the pinot noirs of today are nowhere near the fabulous French Burgundies (pinot noir) of the early ‘60’s. Well, Pali wines are trying to remedy that. Pali selects...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Ok, so we didn’t get it right. We thought that a wine label titled “Little Black Dress†was silly, out of place and would turn off buyers. We did not know that the name would prove to be elegant, as is the wine and would reinforce the words of some old...
by Ben Bodenstein | Reviews
Let’s take a great step backwards; no, make that a giant step, all the way back to the 1950’s when French wines and the French wine rating system was king. French wines were known by the vineyard that produced them and not by the grape variety. There were all...
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.