September 2012 – THE GRAPE BELT

UPDATE Tasting Notes

Latest entries include two superb New York State rieslings, a beautiful rosé from the south of France, and four special reds from Italy, California, and the Basque Country. Cheers! WHITE 7/10/12 2009 Ravines Dry Riesling Argetsinger Vineyard, Finger Lakes (12.5% abv., $29.95, Empire Wines NYS): A pale green-gold wine with a clean nose filled with mint, apples, […]

Doing Wine The Right Way

The wine world is a complex place, not often open to Manichaenistic compartmentalizing. You cannot look at things wine-related and say, necessarily, this is good, that is bad. So, it comes as no surprise that the places that gave me fits on my recent trip to NYC were some of the same places where I […]

The Terrible Twos

The Grape Belt recently celebrated (quietly and with much-deserved humility) its two-year anniversary. Amid the raft of telegrams, state visits, and grand public encomiums that never arrived or took place, a friend suggested I ought to let my blog do what many two-year-olds are so good at doing: throw a temper tantrum. Well, the staff […]