Drew's Wine List

NV G.H. Mumm Grand Cordon Brut Vintage:  NV Region:  Champagne, France Winery:  G.H. Mumm Varieties:  Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier Price:  $38 Retail, but on sale at Costco for $28 through the New Year Rating: 92 Points My Rating:  91 Points The Review: Hope everyone had a nice holiday! As New Year's Eve rapidly approaches, it's that time of year to stock up on some bubbly. If you're not one of those people who drink sparkling wine on a regular basis (yes, we exist), picking out a good bottle for NYE can be stressful. While many people opt for cheaper sparklers (may I point you towards previous blogs about Dibon Cava and Kirkland Champagne if this is your choice), others use this day as a time to bust out a bottle of the good good. While cheaper options are a great way to get the experience, there's something special about popping open a bottle of real Champagne to celebrate. If you're looking for the real stuff for a price that won't hurt too much...

2017 Alexandre Monmousseau Clos le Vigneau Vouvray Vintage:  2017 Region:  Loire Valley, France (Vouvray AOC) Winery:  Alexandre Monmousseau Varieties:  Chenin Blanc Price:  $13 (at Costco) Rating:  91 Points My Rating:  90 Points The Review:  If you've yet to notice, I try to keep a nice balance of red, white, and sparkling on this blog, but occasionally I'll slip into a rut of red and sparkling because those are my personal preferences. This rut only deepens in the winter because it's rare that I crave a fresh white wine when it's cold out. However, I was lucky enough to stumble upon a bottle of this Vouvray and grabbed it to drink during some of my mom and I's holiday baking, and it certainly did not disappoint. Some of France's most exciting wines these days are coming out of the same region as today's wine- the Loire Valley. This region, located in the Northwest of France, starts at the Atlantic coast and extends well inland, which allows an ...

  Do I Smell the Cork? (And other restaurant wine etiquette)  As everyone's favorite mega pharmaceutical companies begin to distribute their COVID vaccines, I think now is a fantastic time to start longing for a restaurant experience. So, if, like me, you intend to go buy a phat bottle of wine from a restaurant as soon as you're allowed and you're not a sommelier who knows these unnecessary things, here's how to properly do the strange and formal dance that is traditional wine service. Here's a walkthrough of what will happen after you order a bottle of wine and what you should do (as well as debunking some common misconceptions). When ordering a bottle at a place with an actual sommelier (not just a waiter), there are two things right off the bat that I wanna say. 1) Just be upfront about your budget. No real sommelier is going to try to rip you off, and you make their life way easier if you give them a price range. There's no need to be ashamed about it, chanc...

  2016 Wente Sandstone Merlot Vintage:  2016 Region: Livermore Valley, California, USA Winery:  Wente Varieties:  78% Merlot, 15% Petite Sirah, 7% Malbec Price:  $13 (Should be able to find everywhere, but I found at Wegmans) Rating:  90 Points My Rating:  92 Points The Review: One of my favorite weird wine stories to tell people is related to Merlot. In the movie "Sideways," Paul Giamatti's character at one point yells, "I am NOT drinking any f****** Merlot!" After the movie came out, market analysts actually found that sales of Merlot in the US notably dropped and have only just recently started to rebound. It got to be so bad, in fact, that many producers would make wines that had a majority Merlot and throw in a touch of something else, then label it as a "red blend." Merlot has always been pretty respected (at least in the wine world). It's one of the major grapes in world-famous Bordeaux wines and has high potential and high versatility. That...