Thanksgiving is a marathon, not a sprint! The only other day that can hold a candle to Thanksgiving for sheer endurance eating is Christmas. But on Christmas Day there are presents and other distractions to draw your attention away from the food. On Thanksgiving the primary purpose of the day is to feast on as much delicious food and wine as possible while you hang out with your loved ones.
Read MoreMany of the lesser-known appellations in Burgundy have been making huge improvements in quality over the last 10+ years, and I’ve been travelling to these regions each year to find the hidden gems. Let’s take a deeper look at the Mâcon, Beaujolais, and the Côte Chalonnaise. These are all regions that are absolutely bursting with amazing values.
Read MoreThe Mâcon is just a quick 90-minute drive south from the town of Beaune, which essentially functions as the mid-point of Burgundy and divides the Côte de Nuits (north) from the Côte de Beaune (south). Once you arrive in the Mâcon you are greeted with rolling hillsides, quaint small villages, and a farmer-driven culture of winemaking. The Mâcon is home to approachable, ready-to-drink, and affordable wine values, which makes it incredibly important—and rare—in the Burgundian ecosystem. Domaine Renaud has been fashioning some of the best values to be found in Mâcon from an array of vineyards scattered throughout the many appellations located within the Mâconnais.
Read MoreI have long believed that the Santa Cruz Mountains are a truly special place to grow grapes. This rugged coastal range forced up by the collision of two tectonic plates has an incredible bounty of complex soils. It’s a geological kaleidoscope of ancient uplifted seabed, volcanic deposits, and metamorphic rock bent and twisted by the immense pressures below. All of this is churned up by the San Andreas fault and weathered down by several millennia of coastal storms.
Read MoreTo someone outside of California, saying “North of the San Francisco Bay” would indicate a large territory, including the lumping of Sonoma and Napa Counties together. Being just a quick 30-minute drive apart from each other means that many out-of-town visitors make plans to hit both areas in one go, especially for wine tasting expeditions. Yet, separated by the Mayacamas Mountain Range, these two wine-driven counties are, surprisingly, incredibly different from one another—in personality, in terroir, and ultimately in the wines that they produce. A few weeks ago, the Key Accounts team had an opportunity to spend a day in Sonoma and surrounding areas, and a day in Napa, side by side.
Read MoreAfter traveling around the world and talking to one producer after another, you can tell the difference between a vintage that needs to be explained, and one that speaks for itself. The 2021s in both Sonoma and Napa seem to be the latter.
Read MoreThe first stop on my wine tour across Victoria was the Yarra Valley, located just an hour outside of Melbourne. The Yarra is a picturesque region where the suburban outskirts of the city give way to rolling green hills dotted with sheep and cattle. Creeks and rivers meander across the landscape, collared by eucalyptus and underbrush. The landscape features a blend of rural communities and opulent country estates with the occasional quaint, main-street towns that serve as centers for the winemaking communities.
Read MoreTerah Bajjalieh of Terah Wine Co. is a queer woman of color who owns and operates one of the coolest natural wine companies in California right now. She has had a long and distinguished career, working 13 consecutive harvests around the world to hone her craft. She first started making wine in a friend’s garage, before starting Terah Wine Co. She only works with organic and biodynamic vineyards and focuses on a minimal intervention winemaking style.
Read MoreEarlier this week, the K&L Champagne team kicked off our annual staff summit with a dinner hosted by Billecart-Salmon. It has become a welcome tradition to start off our yearly survey of all the grande marque producers with a sushi dinner at my place featuring the wines of this great house. Christian Esser, who just returned from a visit to Billecart, and Eric Lecours presented the wines and treated Scott Beckerley, Michael Benoit, Philip Roufail, Will Langhi, Cinnamon and me to a great spread from Kanpai sushi in Palo Alto.
Read MoreWell over a decade ago, we were introduced to an outlier producer in Limoux called Domaine Bégude whose focus was on pure varietal still wines, all farmed organically. Vigneron James Kinglake was and his wife Catherine established this small estate in 2003 when they fled London’s financial industry and decided to take on the “low-key” world of winemaking in the south of France. Of course, the dream never starts easily, but, now on their 20th vintage, they have grown the winery, received organic certification, raised a daughter, and created one of our favorite brands from the south of France!
Read MoreToday’s Wine News takes us on a tour of the most exciting producers in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. Led by Buyer Thomas Smith, you’ll discover new takes on classic varieties and the winemakers who are making the magic happen.
Read MoreJust a few short weeks ago the K&L Redwood City sales team went on the trip of a lifetime. We traveled to the vineyards gently climbing the coastal mountain range that separates Salinas Valley from the coasts of Big Sur.
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