Wine Atlas

Saturday, November 8, 2008, 4 to 5:30 PM: Join us for a cozy afternoon of exquisite Tuscan wines at North Georgia's most beautiful winery. Noted Italian wine expert Michael Venezia, (Corporate Director Wine Education United Distributors, Atlanta) will be on hand to lead a guided tasting of some of Tuscany's finest vintages--including the 2006 Frescobaldi Pomino Bianco, Chardonnay; 2006 Lucente, and 2004 Tignanello. Guests will taste through six wines while Venezia discusses their origin and what makes each one special. Wines will be paired throughout the tasting with artisan cheeses and charcuterie. Cost to attend tasting is $60 per person.

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Local tradition has it that the only good wine is a red wine. With its first Bulgarian Wine of the Year competition, Bacchus, the Bulgarian magazine for wine and fine dining culture, has, in a way, set out to find if such is really true.

From October 1 2007 to September 15 2008, all registered Bulgarian wineries and winemakers were invited to submit what they consider their top blends and vintages of any style and made of any grape variety – as long as the wine was made on Bulgarian territory from grapes grown in the country according to legal norms.

To participate, the wines had to have appeared on the Bulgarian market between October 1 2007 and October 1 2008, and also to have been sent to Bacchus for evaluation (100-point scale) as part of the magazine's monthly Degustation rubric, having been published in the rubric between issues 98 and 109.

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Australian researchers believe they have cracked the key to the lucrative Chinese wine market, with a study of Chinese tastes.

The Australian Wine Research Institute found that most preferred Australian red wines over other international wines, and enjoyed light fruity flavours.

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It’s ironic, given the recent massive bailout of Wall Street in the guise of making nice to Main Street, that some of the best advice on inexpensive wines should come from The Wall Street Journal. “Tastings,” by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, recently examined Italian primitivos (often cited as kin to Zinfandel), and the second-favorite on their Dow Jones Primitivo Index was a Flaio 2006 Salento. It was $10.99. Forget the fickle barometers of bonds and not-so-securities; the Wine Index is a much more reliable bellwether of economic conditions.

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Many readers have requested that I include a mention of alcohol levels in my wine reviews. As much as space limitations allow, I try to do so.

More and more of you, it seems, are looking for wines that offer complex flavors at moderate alcohol levels. I've lost count of the number of winemakers who tell me that they are doing everything in their power to make wines that walk the thin line between unripe, vegetal flavors and jammy, alcoholic fruit-bombs.

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The city of Pensacola is gearing up to commemorate its 450th anniversary. In celebration of this historic time, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to feature the wine regions of Spain. Many other Spanish wines in the local market are unknown treasures made by small, independent family bodegas (wineries).

Some of the most influential importers of Spanish wines in this area are Jorge Ordonez and Classic Wines of Spain. Wines from these importers range in price from inexpensive to very pricey, but all offer solid quality and value.

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