Wines Under $10 – Page 3 – Ward Kadel

Back across the pond: Navarra, here I COME

September 15, 2011September 15, 2011Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNoOne Comment

It is with no small excitement that I am able to announce a new trip to vino heaven, once again this year. Navarra, Spain is both an autonomous region (Navarre) as well as an ancient wine region, whose wine roots date back up to 1,200 years. It was once a great and proud kingdom and sits between what is now the Spanish wine appellation of Rioja and the French wine appellation of Bordeaux. Consequently, it has grows an awesome mix of grape varieties from both regions that have been approved by the Navarra Denominación de Origen (DO): Garnacha Tinta, Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Garnacha Blanca, Malvasia, Moscatel, Viura, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. It also has a long history as an approved DO (the Spanish equivalent of a wine AVA or appellation that has strict, government-regulated quality control and approved grape growing and winemaking methods), celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2008. And it is to Navarra that I have the great fortune to fly, this coming Saturday!

WBC11 Hits Virginia with Le Wine Buffs in Tow

July 21, 2011July 21, 2011Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo3 Comments

2011 North American Wine Bloggers' Conference

At this point, my regular readers should know quite well about my participation in the cra cra known as the North American Wine Bloggers' Conferences (Twitter, WineLog). We're coming up on the 4th in this great series, after the huge success in 2008, 2009 and 2010. This year we're invading Charlottesville, Virginia for our very first time plundering the wine life on the right coast (and East Coast wine bloggers rejoice). The state of Virginia has been exceptionally supportive and I'm looking forward to learning a ton about 5th largest wine producing state in the Union. Between the Keynote from Jancis Robinson (Twitter), the Virginia Wine (Twitter) Reception at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello for dinner on Friday, another Keynote from Eric Asimov (Twitter) and the annual Vineyard walks in the local wine country, #WBC11 looks to be just as stunning a time as years' past.

5 Questions with Aron Ezra of MacroView Labs

July 19, 2011July 19, 2011Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNoLeave a comment

There are many a wine app for iOS and (growing) on Android. Wine+Tech wünderkinds VinTank, have done extensive research on iOS apps (iPhone) over the last few years with the most recent count at 450+, as of 04/14/2011. Indeed, my own content is distributed on two mobile apps, Hello Vino and Wine by the Bar. With that many apps out there for a very specific genre, you can imagine that there is a lot of noise and a lot of well, mediocre (at best) apps for wine. So, it is a refreshingly rare circumstance when one comes across an app that kicks some serious vinous booty. And the new app (iPhone, Android) from Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery (Twitter, WineLog) by MacroView Labs (Twitter) gets my vote for kickin' that booty.

Kia Ora está en La Mar

June 2, 2011June 2, 2011Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNoLeave a comment

OK, so they don't speak Spanish in New Zealand...they speak Kiwi English. I know this, but based on my love of Spanish food and my experiences along the coasts of both Spain and Portugal (diff language, I know!) last Summer, they might as well speak that Romantic language, what with the bright, quality wine that they put out with each vintage. Seafood is the phenom pairing for the vast majority of these wines and I'm happy to throw them together on the regular. Now clearly, I've always been a fan of NZ wines, so let's just get that experiential bias right out in the open. So when I heard that would soon be a winemaker dinner that not only paired some classic NZ winemakers alongside some fervent wine bloggers, but also some extremely tasty Peruvian seafood with said winemakers' wines...I said [frak] yeah, I'll come!

Le Wine Buffs Take Manhattan

March 28, 2011March 28, 2011Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNoOne Comment

Enjoy Bordeaux's Le Wine Buffs are back and we're thirsty. This time we're taking on New York City and Manhattan is gonna stumble down in a vinous frenzy of affordable Bordeaux wine! We're the wine sponsor for this year's TechEnology wine event held by Enjoy Bordeaux partner Snooth and tech media publishing titan Ziff Davis. Held at the newly renovated General Assembly, the event will mix some of the icons of tech, publishing and the wine biz and look to do some serious vino mind melding. I'm excited to be pouring and talking about these wines at the event because I think Bordeaux is coming into another renaissance of exposure for it's thousands of high quality, affordable wines and their Chateaux, all across the greater appellation. Much of this belief was built during our visit to Bordeaux last summer. This event promises to be "a private, networking event recognizing the wine world's most technologically forward people, business and practices"...and these are the peeps that need to know Bordeaux! See you on the Right Coast vinopanions, and cheers!