Foreign Wines – Page 5 – Ward Kadel

Pops & Son Wine Trip 6: The Mountains of Murphys

March 21, 2011March 21, 2011Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNoLeave a comment

Dad caught the Frickin' at Twisted Oak! - PSWT6

This was a trip so epic, that it took a year to digest and to prepare the story-telling...that's the story I'm stickin' to anyway! Pops & I have taken many a wine trip together over the years, this was the sixth, in fact. Each one has been in a different appellation or sub-appellation around NorCal. Following my pre-WBC09 Twisted Murphys visit with some other vinopanions in crime, I decided that Pops and I needed to definitely take over Murphys and its Calaveras County wine country for our upcoming trip later that year. I spoke a lot in that earlier Murphys post about the exciting, up and coming aspects of the Calaveras County wine region and how it has already reached at least the wine crafting quality of it's larger and surrounding appellation of the Sierra Foothills and is coming into its own as a true wine destination. Murphys, the historic Gold Rush and logging town, has completely reinvented itself as a more boutique, yet still nicely rustic wine and food mecca, tucked underneath the stunning Sierras and Calaveras Bigtree National Forest. Pops and I decided that we needed to dig a bit deeper this time and really get to know this comfortable piece of wilder wine country.

5 Questions with Three Thieves

February 24, 2011February 24, 2011Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo2 Comments

It's not every day that we as wine lovers get to stumble upon a truly good show about wine. I'm not talking about something that involves some guy dressed in tails and swishing aged, thin wine in his mouth and spitting...no, I'm talking about three renegades digging deep around the world to find new wines to grow, to sell and to chug by the bottle: Three Thieves (Twitter) aren't here to mess around. Already known around the wine biz as the triumvirate to buck any stodgy trend with their affordable and tasty jug wine, Bandit Tetra Pak wines for that on the go tipple among many other fun and innovative wine brands, the guys have fully branched out with their first tv gig, Three Thieves now on The Cooking Channel. I managed to hunt down thief Charles Bieler (Twitter) to chat about his Cooking Channel adventures with his fellow vino amigos, Joel Gott (Twitter, WineLog) and Roger Scommegna.

The Broke Wino Looks at Value Bordeaux

January 10, 2011January 10, 2011Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNoOne Comment

A new vinopanion of mine, Sam Klingberg, has been making waves in the vino writing webernets over the last year or so with his wine blog, The Broke Wino. Sam contacted me recently to gather my thoughts on affordable Bordeaux wine. As one of Le Wine Buff for Enjoy Bordeaux for the CIVB, I have been involved in a lot of great Bordeaux-centric wine activities over the last 1+ years, including a truly spectacular trip to Bordeaux this past summer. The dichotomy between the high prices of First and Second Growth chateaux and the remaining thousands of much more affordable, yet still high quality wine producers and chateaux is a hot topic. With the declaration of "vintages of the century" at least 3 times this decade alone combined with the increasing Asian markets, the prices of the high end Bordeaux have skyrocketed. Happily however, quality has also taken a great leap forward, all across the board.

VinTank Deals Wines from the Vines

December 23, 2010December 23, 2010Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNoLeave a comment

Crazy-smart wine biz innovators VinTank (Twitter), have successfully launched a new route on the Direct To Consumer (DTC) superhighway with their Deals from the Vines Facebook Group (DFTV). A relatively new feature on Facebook, closed Groups are an elegant yet simply powerful new component of the social media behemoth. VinTank has seized upon this new feature to form their version of the popular flash sales site phenomena that has taken over the interwebs during this Great Recession. While many of these sites have proven to be quite the boon to the budget-conscious wine consumer, they are not always so profit-friendly to the wineries, chateaux, Bodegas and Quintas that have participated in the various sales. VinTank's DFTV has already effectively smacked that paradigm with vigor, creating a sweet win-win for wino's and wineries, alike.

Affordable Bordeaux in 2010: FTW!

October 23, 2010October 23, 2010Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNoLeave a comment

I don't think it's any surprise to you fine readers that I'm a big fan of Bordeaux and even work for the Bordeaux Wine Council (CIVB) as one of Le Wine Buff, video broadcasting each week from my vino-abode. Well the kids at Enjoy Bordeaux (Twitter) have hatched an incredibly rad new plan to create some fun on the interwebs, with oh, maybe a prize that might require a flight or two, woot! I don't want to spill alll the deets, but suffice it to say: it will be fun, it will be a contest on their Facebook page launching 11/15/10 (where you currently can see the awesome documentary short of our BDX trip in June), the prize is flippin' awesome and you can get some of the gist by checking out my personal addition to the shizzy after the jump. You'll even find some wines taking home a WKBadge for their efforts. Cheers!