by admin | Aug 27, 2025 | Blog
Thoughts on buzzwords used in wine club ads The other day an ad for a wine club appeared multiple times while I was trying to read an online Times article. The text was filled with catchy buzzwords like “dry-farmed, organic, sugar free, lower alcohol and sulfites.”...
by admin | Aug 13, 2025 | Blog
The other night at dinner I opened a bottle of 2024 Blaauwklippen Sauvignon Blanc from Stellenbosch, South Africa. I’d never tasted the wine before. Within seconds of putting my nose in the glass, I was inundated by the matchstick notes of sulfur, to the extent that I...
by admin | Jul 30, 2025 | Blog
Jessica Dupuy is an Austin-based wine educator, writer, and blogger (jessicadupuy.com). She and I will be at the TEXSOM conference next month. Recently, she interviewed me for her Italian Wine Podcast. During our session, we chatted about my tasting seminar at the...
by admin | Jul 16, 2025 | Blog
Every other year the Valdez clan gets together for a weekend reunion around the Fourth of July. The Valdez’s are Juanita’s family—my wife Carla’s late Mom. The reunions take place in the mountains on a family property near Angel Fire, New Mexico. It’s a small ski town...
by admin | Jul 2, 2025 | Blog
Whites, Rosés, and Reds for the Grill We’ve been back in New Mexico for almost eight years. Before then, Carla, the kids, and I lived for 30-plus years in San Francisco. There, the months of June through August were the antithesis of summer. While the rest of the...
