Wine Reviews – Page 8 – Ward Kadel

Today's Bordeaux BBQ & Le Wine Buff in France!

June 10, 2010June 10, 2010Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo2 Comments

One of the best parts of being Le Wine Buff for Enjoy Bordeaux is that I get to try a lot of very wonderful, high QPR wines from Bordeaux. Indeed, all five of the Buffs have been very busy filming short tasting videos of each of Today's Bordeaux: The Top 100 Affordable Bordeaux for 2010. Later this year we will have 100 Days of Bordeaux and debut a new tasty and affordable wine from Bordeaux each day, all hand-picked by none other than the Bordeaux Wine Council, itself. During Memorial Day Weekend here in the States, I was able to taste and film 8 of these wines all in one gigantic HD-driven swoop. Clearly however, this created a major conundrum...what to do with the leftover wine?? Hmm, holiday weekend, sun and no work...DUDE we should BBQ!! And thus driven by vino need, The Lady and I set about inviting friends over and purchasing copious amounts of food with which to eat with our many bottles of opened Bordeaux.

Inaugural Napa Valley Tweetup #NVTweetup at Mondavi

May 31, 2010May 31, 2010Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo4 Comments

I'm very fortunate in that I get the opportunity to go to a large number of high quality wine events. The vast majority of the time, I know what to expect for each event, not that it affects my ability to completely enjoy myself, mind you! But every once in a while, a wine event sneaks onto my calendar that provides a whole lot more than expected, upon arrival. The inaugural Napa Valley Tweetup (Twitter), organized by Gabriel Carrejo (Twitter) and Bonfire Interactive...was one of these events.

Hello Vino & @drXeNo!

May 25, 2010May 25, 2010Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo7 Comments

Following a dizzying string of new partnerships between WineLog, myself and other fine and fun wine partners, we are now part of a very cool and useful iPhone app that has been newly relaunched. Hello Vino takes the hard part out of picking a wine while on the go to whole 'nother level. Choose a pairing based on the food on the menu in front of you, choose the food for the glass you just ordered at the wine bar or just search for a distinct wine style or producer...all taken care of very quickly. It's also all dialed in to your favorite social networks (their on Twitter themselves) so that you can brag to educate all of your friends about your synergistic food and wine choice. If you pairing is a match made in digestive heaven, you can even buy the wine straight from your iPhone.

Trefethen 2009 Oak Knoll District Fallow: "Bottled Estate"

April 1, 2010April 1, 2010Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo2 Comments

2009 Trefethen Oak Oak Knoll District Fallow

The French have been rattling on and on for years about their winegrowing concept of "terroir." Ostensibly, it means a "sense of place;" whereby you gain a sense about the climate, soil, water, air, sun and just about everything else that helps to grow the grapes in a particular region. While I also believe this to be true and the source of the winemaker phrase "winemaking begins in the vineyard," I've been frustrated by what I've viewed as the continued inability to truly bottle the terroir of a special vineyard. A white Entre-deux-Mers that tastes slightly salty because it's next to the sea? Sure, but then a whole lot of other vineyards around the world are near the sea, too!

Brixr + TinyBottles + Me = Tasting Video Fun!

February 28, 2010February 28, 2010Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo4 Comments

What is the single biggest problem about wine clubs for both the wine producer/wine store and the consumer who receives the wine? The wine itself! The wine producer or wine store owner usually has to send out new wine releases blind to their wine club members and the members just have to hope that they like the wine that they receive, even though it might be very unfamiliar to them as an average wine club member. What does all of this mean? A lot of wine bottles that are sent out are not the style of wine that a member enjoys. This results in frustration, wasted money and sometimes even the cancellation of their membership. Now there is a solution, one that actually solves the REAL problem that plagues wine clubs...and it's called Brixr!