Did you know Purple Cowboy is the official wine of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association? Purple Cowboy is also a major sponsor of Tough Enough To Wear Pink, the western community’s grassroots breast cancer organization which has raised $12 million to fight breast cancer since 2004. But maybe you’re wondering how that all came about and how Purple Cowboy wines came to be. Cowboys? Wine? Gotta be a story behind that. And there is..

The story behind the wine is about a band of cowboys who worked on the Cocavin Vineyards in the hills of Paso Robles and rodeo’d on the weekends. They drank so much red wine that it turned their teeth purple.Well, that’s how the legend goes.

But here’s the rest of the story. Wine Sisterhood founder Terry Wheatley, the company’s “Boss Lady”, lives a double-life. During the week, she’s a wine entrepreneur and one of the most respected female wine executives in the business. But on the weekends, she’s more likely to be found on her ranch in Central California with her rodeo champion husband, rodeo champion son, daughter (who is also Executive Director of Tough Enough to Wear Pink) and their spouses, children, dogs, horses…

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Outside its country of production, Bulgarian wine doesn’t enjoy the best reputation with many wine lovers.  They are still haunted by the memories of the cheap exported gut rot from the days when the Bulgarian wine industry was state owned.

Today, many of the exported wines are still comparatively cheap. But, boy, has the quality changed and I can think of no better example than this Edoardo Miroglio Pinot Nero 2008.

Now, some might argue that the wine is good because it is made by an Italian. Others might claim that Pinot Nero – or Noir – is an international grape and is not indicative of a specific region outside its famous home, Burgundy. I guess it depends how much you believe in the importance of soil and climate in making a distinctive wine. Or indeed if you believe that sometimes, an international grape can help change the image of a country’s wine industry. Continue reading →

As bonafide Nebbiolophiles, the release of the Produttori del Barbaresco’s wines each year is a big event in our life. The spring tasting of the new vintage is a highlight of our tasting season and it serves as a sort of benchmark for the Nebbiolo bottlings that will follow. The style of the wines has remained unchanged for a generation and while other bottlers have followed fads (new oak and concentration in the 90s), the Produttori’s wines always deliver an overarching indication of vintage in Barbaresco and Langa in general.

Uncorked by Voske

The classic blended Barbaresco generally arrives in the U.S. in the spring along with the samples shipped for the Produttori’s importer’s annual trade tastings. The vineyard-designated wines also arrive then — but only the samples, not the actual bottles for sale. The “cru” wines will arrive in the fall.

But something odd happened last year: the cru wines didn’t show up at the spring tastings. The only wine the Produttori presented was the classic blended Barbaresco from the 2006 vintage. Continue reading →