WineSpeed | Taylor Fladgate

TAYLOR FLADGATE | “325th Anniversary” Limited Edition Reserve Tawny Port

(Oporto, Portugal) $35

Ad A

Tasting wine in my office in Napa Valley, it’s nice to be reminded that some wineries were around way before California was. Taylor Fladgate, one of the most impressive Port shippers, made this lovely Tawny to commemorate their 325th Anniversary. Fresh, lively, (and wonderfully priced), it has all of Tawny’s compelling flavors—a swirl of toffee, figs, brown sugar, plums, vanilla, and crème brûlée yet (like a great dessert) it’s not at all sugary or saccharin. In fact, on these still cool nights, a small glass of this and a bit of hard cheese is just about the perfect way to end the night. (20% abv)

93 points KM

Available at Total Wine & More

Ad B

In which city in the world is the most wine drunk?

A. Vatican City

B.  Milan

C. Buenos Aires

D. Paris

Scroll down for the answer!

Yellow Mellow

It’s mustard season in Napa and Sonoma, California, and everywhere you look, visitors are photographing the neon yellow carpet of mustard growing up around the dark dormant trunks of vines.  Mustard has grown wild here for centuries (possibly brought by Franciscan missionaries). While it isn’t used to make anything you could slather on a hot dog, wild vineyard mustard acts as a good cover crop, adding nutrients and biomatter to the soil. It also helps protect vines from damaging nematodes (microscopic worms) who don’t care for mustard’s biofumigant properties.

“Living wines have ups and downs just as people do, periods of glory and dog days, too. If wine did not remind me of real life I would not care about it so much.”

– Kermit Lynch, American Wine Importer and Author

Lágrima

A Spanish term, literally, “tears.” Lágrima (la-GREE-ma) also refers to a wine made from free-run juice without any mechanical pressing. Likewise, the Italian “Lacryma” is incorporated in the name “Lacryma Christi,” (tears of Christ) which is the name of a celebrated wine produced on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius in Campania, Italy.

D. Although it’s tempting to think that Vatican City might claim this honor, more wine is drunk in Paris than any other city in the world, according to INSEEC Business School in France. Collectively, Parisians drink nearly 700 million bottles of wine per year. That’s about 69 bottles per person over the age of 15 annually. Statistics also reveal that the average Parisian drinks a glass of wine 5 days a week. Wait; what happens on the other two?

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