Hey there! After yet another inexplicably protracted absence, I’m back! And today I’ve got three wines to review: wines that hail from my favorite shoe-shaped wine-producing country of all time, Italy. You may remember Italy from World War II, The Jersey Shore Season 4, or perhaps even my past reviews – Italian wine is, in fact, my favorite, and I tend to drink it pretty frequently. But this marks the first time I’ve received press samples from ...

A certain grape exists in northern Spain, Deserving of a greater reputation, Whose wines you should endeavor to obtain Provided you’re a fan of exploration. Mencia is a grape I’ve met before, To which I’ve humbly tried to draw attention, Yet seldom can I find it in a store: A fact that violates my comprehension. When last I spoke of this exquisite grape, The bottle I reviewed had been Galician: A lovely, floral, elegant escape - My ...

Last week I kicked off Captain Planet Month here on Convicted for Grape, and the response has been, in a word, nominal. But that’s to be expected of a post about Earth, which is after all a rather dispassionate, static, stoic, boring element. Never fear! This week I have a surprise for you, and no, it isn’t Fire – I said I’d be covering Fire last week, so if you’re surprised by that news, you either don’t ...

Do you read any wine blogs other than this one? If so, chances are at one point or another you’ve found yourself over at Vinography, one of the longest-running, best-regarded wine resources out there. If not, may the great deity Dionysus have mercy on your wretched, wretched soul – and you should head over to Vinography now, because it’s incredibly pertinent to what I’m about to say. You see, Alder Yarrow, the site’s founder and principal writer, ...

Four wines. Nine people. Five people with whom I remembered to discuss the four wines. Put them all together and what do you get? The tasting that took place at my apartment on Saturday (well, a Saturday, anyway…sorry for the delay) much to the chagrin of neighbors everywhere. By which I mean, the neighbors in my immediate vicinity. While my last tasting had featured wines I’d received from Inter Beaujolais, this time I chose the theme myself. ...

Yo, P-Money, it’s me again. Jason. The one with the wine blog. Blog. Like a journal but for narcissists. Right. Please man, you gotta help me out. I need my fix. It’s been days now, days since last the empyrean beauty of that 2001 Chateau Musar Rouge crossed the unworthy threshold of my lips, evoking a synaesthetic tapestry of images and sounds befitting a sprawling Arabian palace the likes of which may never have existed in reality. ...

Those of you familiar with my Twitter account, blog, or drinking habits in general are probably aware that I’m no stranger to uncommon grape varieties. It’s true that my fixation is at least in part a reflection of my tendency to go against whatever is popular, but that alone would not have been enough to sustain my interest for very long. No, there’s something else in play here: that mysterious, irresistible allure of the unknown. As eager ...

On Saturday I played host to my good friend Ben, whom you may remember as my partner in wine through various vinic adventures: Hoboken, Hoboken, Hoboken, and Virginia. Ben’s birthday was coming up, and even though I had bought him some sake to commemorate the “25 and still alive” milestone, he had taken it upon himself to bring a bottle of his own, which he graciously agreed to share with me, but only on one condition: that ...

Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that once again, I have succumbed to the machinations of that most temporal of holidays, Groundhog Day; and once again, I find myself stuck in a rut – nigh Murray-esque in its ineluctability. Time may be moving forward, but I alas am not; although my trip to Virginia provided me with a wonderful breath of fresh wine, it had the unintended effect of making my return to the veritable vinic prison of ...

As my last post oh-so-subtly hinted, this past weekend I made my way down to the great state of Virginia in order to taste their wine before it becomes too popular (and therefore uncool). Those of you in the know are probably familiar with Virginia’s reputation as an up-and-coming wine producing region, but it still hasn’t achieved the level of recognition that would, say, allow me to find a single bottle of Virginia wine anywhere in Pennsylvania. ...