Super Value Minervois from Languedoc Roussillon

Hello to all my FB and blogger friends (especially those who like wine!) Perhaps you know, but I was in the vinous world for 25 years before O’s platform ushered the shuttering of my wine company. This week, my long-time colleague Cynthia Hurley ~ one of the most famous American-based European wine importers I’ve ever worked [...]

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2009 Domaine Lavigne ~ Saumur Champigny

Contact:     Robert Hurley    617-965-4251   robert@cynthiahurley.com This Week’s Feature FOB  New Jersey Dom. Lavigne Saumur Champigny 2009  $111 All prices are for 12-bottle cases.   2009 Saumur Champigny from Domaine Lavigne The Paris Bistro Favorite  The new vintage of one of our favorite Loire reds  has just arrived! And, what a wine a n d [...]

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LOS COWBOYS Torrontés – Summertime, and the Sippin’ is Easy

Back in the day, at the old wine shop, I championed this grape as an affordable, daily alternative to Viognier. Drinking Torrontés, a grape primarily found in Argentina, is like a breath of fresh air; the aromas and flavors are refreshing, with a floral sensation that is quite captivating when the wine is well-made. My [...]

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THE IMPORTER’S WACKY, THE WINE’S WONDERFUL

  Yet another bottle that exemplifies one of my proverbial answers to that almost weekly question posed by friends and family, “Hey Christopher, what ‘cha drinkin’ these days?” I once shared the tale of a full afternoon tasting event that involved several wines from this importer, an afternoon degustation that I can still taste on my palate and [...]

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ConoSur Pinot Noir “Bicycle” Label

Although my wine shop has been closed for more than 15 months, family and friends continue to inquire as to my drinking preferences. Imported by one of the most respected French import houses, a company that brings many of my favorite Burgundies to America, this affordable Pinot has been poured at my house now for [...]

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Tomorrow’s 1st Tasting at the “New Winery”

Afternoon, Well it’s certainly been interesting out here for the past few weeks, that’s for sure!  I’ve witnessed countless hours of research, paperwork and travel, all aimed at the final goal of launching a new winery permit.  For the folks following the blog, you’ve come to understand the heartaches, the headaches and the occasional triumphs [...]

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Houston Wine Idealist Introduces French Country Wines (The Shop)

One of the finest aspects of this country’s fourth largest city, this city known as Houston Texas, is its inhabitants’ eager ability to embrace new and exciting trends.  “Feast”, that funky, fantastic creation by the eclectic, tattooed English duo of Knight and Silk, where diners will be just as shocked as overjoyed by the culinary [...]

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HWI’s Latest Favorite in More Ways Than One

Continuing now with the reviews of locally available GREAT wines at smokin’ prices, I stopped by what promises to become my personal wine shop yesterday.  Having not yet informed the proprietor of my intentions, thus thinking perhaps I should ask for his permission before blurting his name out in these pages, I rang his bell [...]

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HWI’s First “Official” Review

  25 years in the wine business now find me authoring a blog about wine from a very different angle.  I’ve been writing for more than a decade, as authoring prose represented my most successful means of marketing to my customers.  Now, however, I’ve become a sort of consumer’s proponent; I’m now reviewing wine, local [...]

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Louis Dressner Selections – When Traditional Vernacular Just Won’t Cut It

I arrived to work slightly ahead of schedule today, thanks mainly to my precious daughter’s insistence upon awaking long before dawn and alternating her loving parents through a bed-side ritual that had all three of us watching the sun come up.  I’ll admit I do find some odd comfort in these not-too regular routines of [...]

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