http://pinotastic.com Sensible Adventures in Wine Sun, 25 Feb 2007 06:49:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I was lucky to snag a bottle of this wine before it quickly sold out a couple of years ago in 2004. The 2002 vintage in Burgundy for reds was being heavily hyped in the wine press then, surprising many winemakers in Burgundy. Because they felt it was ... http://pinotastic.com/2007/02/25/domaine-bruno-clair-marsannay-les-vaudenelles-2002/ A treat from southwestern France, Alain Brumont’s entry-level cuvee called "Torus" is a striking wine with serious, really deep black fruit notes and a strong but supple tannic backbone. Brumont, owner of Chateau Montus, is one of the stars of the Madiran area, focusing his growing efforts primarily on ... http://pinotastic.com/2007/01/30/alain-brumont-torus-madiran-2004/ Another de Grazia wine (source of some of my favorite Italians lately), and one of my all-time favorite affordable Piedmontese reds. Dolcetto in general can be really frustrating: potentially lovely but more often brusquely tannic, with shrill and unpleasantly aggressive fruit. This wine is an example of the ... http://pinotastic.com/2007/01/25/giacomo-grimaldi-dolcetto-d%e2%80%99alba-2005/ I recently tried this charming but commanding Chianti Classico again. It’s exported by Marc de Grazia, who carefully chooses small estates who produce wines with much regional character--some of them a bit too oaky/alcoholic for my taste, but this Chianti has much to offer. Dense, muscular and ... http://pinotastic.com/2007/01/21/podere-il-palazzino-chianti-classico-%e2%80%9cla-pieve%e2%80%9d-2004/ I wanted to make my experience in wine retail available to anyone with internet connectivity, not just to people in the smallish college town where I live. I have found that most of my wine customers love to try new things, but they don’t have the time to sort ... http://pinotastic.com/2007/01/17/an-introduction/