Thematic wine drinking (and the “Jason’s Picks” for Q4 2018)
Every quarter Cotroneo’s Wine and Spirits in White Bear Lake is kind enough to let me take over a section of the store. This set up is called, creatively, “Jason’s Picks” (I came up with that one) and...
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The new laws of Rioja: what you need to know
With any great European wine region, change can be difficult and slow. In France, change happens at a glacial pace, slowly over generations. In Italy, it’s a bit faster but still controlled by the...
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Tell your wine when you’ll set it free!
Your wine wants to be enjoyed.That’s why it exists.But a great problem for many wine lovers is stockpiling so much wine that bottles are forgotten, left to die a slow fading death without ever...
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46 Hours in Seattle
8 am Friday I landed. 6 am Sunday I departed.46 hours. That’s what I had in Seattle, and boy I made the most of it. It had been too long, many years, and I returned to enjoy sights, sounds, tastes,...
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Stop and smell the flowers (in your wine)
Lilacs are in bloom. Need I say more? We are in that special window of time in Minnesota where the blossoms are drawing the bees, and wandering through the neighborhood the explosion of floral aromas...
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There’s no place like Rhône
Photo: the crest of the hill of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, April 2007. 2015. 2016. 2017. 2018. If you love the wines of the Rhône Valley, your life is good right now. Never before have we seen a string of...
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The amazing wine bar scene in … Sioux Falls?
First, a little background on the business of wine bars. There is probably no harder way for a restauranteur to make money than to open a wine bar. Unlike a coffee shop, you can’t take it to go....
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The Twin Cities Wine Awards Winners 2019
Over 10,000 votes were cast in this year’s Twin Cities Wine Awards, and the winners were announced on August 19th, 2019, at Black Dog Cafe in Lowertown St. Paul. Our son, Spencer, at the Black Dog...
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Wines for Thanksgiving: What you need to know
The greatest of all holidays is near, where we gather in America to eat and drink, converse and laugh. No presents. No major commerce push (except for incredibly affordable poultry and butter). A...
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Vino MELIOREM! (grab your wand)
Angela of house Ravenclaw, in Diagon Alley. What happens when you’re a wine lover in one of the most popular destinations in the country? As you read this, we are just landing from a glorious seven...
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