The Vine Route

A ‘Must’ event at Vinisud: Pascal Fullá and the Le Mas de l’Ecriture ‘Off’ vertical tasting

tomfiorina — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:55:39 +0000

A ‘Must’ event at Vinisud: Pascal Fullá and
the Le Mas de l’Ecriture ‘Off’ vertical tasting is a post from: The Vine Route

A ‘Must’ event at Vinisud: Pascal Fullá and the Le Mas de l’Ecriture ‘Off’ vertical tasting is a post from: The Vine Route Parallel to the 1,600 exhibitor booths, multiple wine-tasting events, and conference sessions at Vinisud were a series of so-called “Off’ events. The name comes from a French propensity to borrow an English word [...]

Veni, vidi, gustavi: Thoughts and impressions about Southern France’s largest wine exhibition

tomfiorina — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:22:57 +0000

Veni, vidi, gustavi: Thoughts and impressions
about Southern France’s largest wine exhibition is a post from: The Vine Route

Veni, vidi, gustavi: Thoughts and impressions about Southern France’s largest wine exhibition is a post from: The Vine Route I’m just back from the February 22-24 Vinisud, the ninth edition of this massive, international exhibition of Mediterranean wines and spirits. It was exhausting trying to see even a portion of the 1,600 exhibitors from (primarily) the [...]

Domaine du Tariquet: civil(ized) disobedience

tomfiorina — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:51:00 +0000

Domaine du Tariquet: civil(ized) disobedience is a post from: The Vine Route

Domaine du Tariquet: civil(ized) disobedience is a post from: The Vine Route There are some 800 Armagnac producers in the southwestern France region of the same name that is located to the west of Toulouse and about 150km (100 miles) south of Bordeaux. Only several hundred bottle their Armagnac (the others sell their brandy to négociants, [...]

Red Bicyclette scandal: there’s un pigeon born every day

tomfiorina — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 09:29:51 +0000

Red Bicyclette scandal: there’s un pigeon born every day is a post from: The Vine Route

Red Bicyclette scandal: there’s un pigeon born every day is a post from: The Vine Route On several occasions over the years, my wife and I have house hunted in France. Sometimes it was just curiosity; before our children were born, we could take leisurely holidays, and we’d sometimes view an interesting looking property advertised in [...]

Val d’Orbieu wine–bio and going for sustainable

tomfiorina — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:55:11 +0000

Val d’Orbieu wine–bio and going for sustainable is a post from: The Vine Route

Val d’Orbieu wine–bio and going for sustainable is a post from: The Vine Route Val d’Orbieu is like a cooperative on steroids. Actually, it’s a misnomer to call this organization, with its 1,000 winemakers, 11 cooperative wine cellars, and 65 individual cellars, a cooperative. It’s really a growers association with each domain making wine as it [...]

Marquis de Montesquiou: A blueblooded Armagnac

tomfiorina — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:44:29 +0000

Marquis de Montesquiou: A blueblooded Armagnac is a post from: The Vine Route

Marquis de Montesquiou: A blueblooded Armagnac is a post from: The Vine Route Marquis de Montesquiou, which is a member of the Pernod Group, is one of France’s most illustrious Armagnac houses. As pedigrees go, you can’t get much more blueblood than this. The de Montesquious are one of the oldest families in France; its oldest [...]

True schist: The Barral brothers ride again

tomfiorina — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:02:44 +0000

True schist: The Barral brothers ride again is a post from: The Vine Route

True schist: The Barral brothers ride again is a post from: The Vine Route One of my favorite winemakers, and the person I interviewed for my very first Vine Route article, is Didier Barral of Domaine Léon Barral. Barral and his brother Jean-Luc make some of the best wine in the Faugères Wine Appellation in the [...]

Domaine Fiumicicoli: A wine with a thoroughbred’s spine

tomfiorina — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:43:41 +0000

Domaine Fiumicicoli: A wine with a thoroughbred’s spine is a post from: The Vine Route

Domaine Fiumicicoli: A wine with a thoroughbred’s spine is a post from: The Vine Route Domaine Fiumicicoli is located in the AOC Corse-Sartène. A 13th-Century Genoese bridge, the Pont de Spin’a Cavallu (pictured on the wine label), which spans the Rizzanese river, lies close by to the D69 départemental road that runs in front of the [...]

Château de Laubade’s Ali Baba treasure trove of Armagnac

tomfiorina — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:27:42 +0000

Château de Laubade’s Ali Baba treasure trove of Armagnac is a post from: The Vine Route

Château de Laubade’s Ali Baba treasure trove of Armagnac is a post from: The Vine Route Château de Laubade is part of the Lesgourgues family of wine properties that also includes prestigious estates in Bordeaux, Graves, Madiran and Uruguay. Maurice Lesgourgues purchased the 120-hectare (almost 300-acre) Bas Armagnac property in 1974. At that time, there were [...]

Tiny detectors of hidden delicacies: searching for truffles with the mouches à truffe

tomfiorina — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:17:35 +0000

Tiny detectors of hidden delicacies:
searching for truffles with the mouches à truffe is a post from: The Vine Route

Tiny detectors of hidden delicacies: searching for truffles with the mouches à truffe is a post from: The Vine Route A recent sunny, January afternoon, with a clear blue sky and temperatures hovering above freezing, got me to thinking about a similar January afternoon just over ten years earlier. My wife and I had recently purchased [...]