The Return of the Winepisser (Sort Of)

by | Jul 4, 2021 | Full Article

I’m not sure if I should get a medallion or something, but it’s been over a year since I had my last glass of wine. Today I finally broke that streak, with a glass of my favorite Peruvian offering, the Viña Vieja Chenin Blanc. It’s literally the...

No Winepisser Awards for 2020 Because 2020

by | Dec 29, 2020 | Full Article

Obviously — obviously — there won’t be any Winepisser awards for 2020. Sigh. In January, I reviewed one wine, a 2.5 star bottle of junk, and then prepped to review a lot more. By April, I was under national lockdown, and alcohol sales were...

Longest. Wineless. Quarantine. Ever

by | May 11, 2020 | Full Article

It doesn’t take an aerospace expert to notice the last Winepisser blog post was from February. That post announced, without the usual fanfare, the Winepisser 2019 Best Wine award. Since then, this site has been nearly dead. You can, of course, blame Ol’...

Back to Back Cally Reds Earn A Cinco Each

by | Apr 12, 2019 | Full Article

January and February of 2019 were making the year look poorly, with not a single wine earning the five-star Winepisser rating. Thankfully, the first week in March spiced things up a bit as two single-grape reds won back-to-back cincos. First up is the absolutely...

Battle of the Budget Italian Pee-Gees

by | Jul 2, 2018 | Full Article

I recently had the opportunity, and free time, to write a new “Battle of the Budget” article (the last one was on German Rieslings) with another matchup, this time Italian Pinot Grigios. Stepping into the ring were four pee-gees, each just about under $12...

Insane Visit to a Local Micro-Winery in Peru

by | Apr 28, 2018 | Full Article

Totally out of the blue I received an invite for an invent at a local micro-winery in San Juan de Lurigancho, a district outside of Lima Peru. I wasn’t even aware of Bodega y Viñedos Candela, and certainly had never tried any of their wines, but suddenly I was...

Battle of the Budget German Reezies

by | Apr 28, 2018 | Full Article

Faced with a business trip to Texas — shudder — I opted to make the week a bit brighter by stocking up on some German rieslings to test against each other. I intentionally chose three budget reezies, each at $15 or less. These are readily available in the...

The Temperature of Your Wine Shop Matters

by | Jan 14, 2018 | Full Article

Recently I reviewed two vastly different wines that suffered from a similarly horrible problem: they tasted like utter garbage, as if someone had bottled the water used to put out a dumpster fire. The first was a Trapiche Varietales Sauvignon Blanc 2011 from...

First Wine Tasted in 2018 Nails Five Stars

by | Jan 1, 2018 | Full Article

It was slow going last year, with a struggle to find some 5-star winners until mid-year, but 2018 hit the road running. The very first wine tasted nailed a coveted cinco! Meet the Errazuriz Estate Series Carmenère 2013 from Chile, a budget carmy that will absolutely...

An Ode To Cork

by | Oct 8, 2017 | Full Article

I get it. Cork rots. It leaks air. It’s unreliable. It makes no sense from a simple manufacturing standpoint. I mean, I really get it. In my day job, I’m an aerospace quality consultant, having worked with companies such as Lufthansa, Northrup Grumman,...

Let’s Look At The Worst Wines of 2017 (So Far)

by | Oct 3, 2017 | Full Article

Generally, 2017 started off pretty terribly, with not a single wine winning 5 stars until March, when Joh. Jos. Prüm’s 2012 Graacher Hehimmelreich Spätlese earned a cinco, and even that was easy, since I’m a fan of the German reezies. And then it wasn’t...