Wine Blogs

Decanting seems to be somewhat of a lost art amongst many wine lovers these days, especially with my fellow amateurs. This is something I would love to change as it can add so much to your entire wine experience, and is one of the simplest things you can do to make wine better.

Somewhere around 300 years before California was even a state and long before Plymouth Colony, America saw its first recorded wines being made. Named after the lush fruits and flora that overran the area at the time, Florida seemed like the perfect place to the settlers at that time to attempt to make wine. These wines, made from native Muscadine grapes, were produced in inconspicuous French and Spanish colonies and marked an historic point in American wine history.

A few months back now I had written an article about the San Sebastian Winery in St. Augustine, FL. In this article I mentioned how the server leading the wine tasting led use all through the 5 S’s of wine tasting (see, smell, swirl, sip and of course savour). I personally believe that this is an extremely important part of truly enjoying wine, especially at a wine tasting, and thus would like to elaborate on these S’s a bit more in this article today.

Not too long ago I went on a little outing with some friends to a selection of several wineries south of the Charlottesville area. Now this definitely wasn't our first romp around the vineyards, but it was our first outing to these particular ones around the Monticello area. So, we started our day off by making a fairly quick stop off at Jefferson Vineyards for a bit of history. This was then followed up by a longer stop at Kluge Estate Winery and their wonderful fire places.

New York state, known for its tall buildings and multitude of cabs (as in the driving kind), holds quite a surprise when you look at its wine industry. For starters you learn that they are the second largest wine producer after California, which isn't hard to imagine as it is also the third largest grower of grapes (being beaten out by California and Washington respectively). This isn't all too surprising though when you consider the rich history of this regions wine production and its variety of regions.

I recently found myself having to do a bit of travelling for work, and during this trek I ended up with a fairly long layover in Charlotte International Airport (thanks mainly to weather ... why do light drizzles of rain cause so much trouble). Normally I dread long layovers, especially when they aren't planned, but Charlotte is one place where I don't tend to mind so much thanks to a wonderful find. This little gem I'm talking about is the Yadkin Valley Wine Bar right there in the airport, which is truly a home away from home for any wine lover.

For this article I am going to take you all on a little trip down to St. Augustine Florida and the San Sebastian Winery. This was a very special trip for myself as it was my first ever visit to a winery in Florida (and another visit to a great winery with my Dad) and I must say that I was quite impressed with it all. Situated just a few blocks from the historic section of St. Augustine, this winery produces an array of good quality wines (and an absolutely amazing port).