1) A systematic approach to tasting is critical to understanding wine and being able to remember what you tasted. 2) Perceptions of wine can be skewed by outside influences as innocent as eating a bag of M&M’s. 3) The first sip is not always reliable. 4) At least 80 percent of taste is smell. 5) [...]

Texas is one of the oldest wine regions and the fifth largest wine producing state in the United States. No one grape variety dominates, although chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon are by both critics and wine-makers considered to be the leading grapes in the state. Texas’ 34 wineries are scattered across thousands of miles with differing [...]

Boxed wine was developed in Australia in the 1970s. The wine inside of the box is stored in a bladder that is not exposed to air, meaning that the wine may last up to a few weeks instead of a few days. When you think of wine in a box, images of cheap and terrible [...]

Before the end of 2009, Brian and I took a group of students to visit Chateau Val Joanis in the Luberon Valley of Provence. This winery is where parts of the movie “French Kiss,” with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline, were filmed. This was a trip down memory lane for me, as Dominic and I [...]

Did you know that the term “honeymoon” has associations with wine?  It is thought that the word “honeymoon” comes from a tradition dating all the way back to ancient Babylon.  For the month after the wedding, the groom was supplied with all of the mead (honey, water, and yeast) that he could drink by his [...]

Recently Brian and I hosted a Signature French Wine Tasting with two friendly couples from Virginia, one of whom even owns their own vineyard called Democracy Vineyards. As you may have guessed from the winery’s name, Susan and Jim are both very much into politics (they used to work as lobbyists in Washington, DC). In [...]

Brian and I just had our last student tasting for 2009.  We led about 20 students through a flight of French wines. We both love educating college students because they typically haven’t had much exposure to wine so they’re like blank slates! We can get them started on a lifetime of tasting and enjoying great [...]

We’ve all been there before. Standing in front of hundreds of bottles of wine, utterly confused as to which one to pick. It can be a daunting, if not overwhelming task. A lot of our guests ask us during our tastings how they can better pick out wines at the store. We could write a [...]

Hello fellow wine tasters! My husband, Dominic, and I have been traveling on both the East and West Coasts of the U.S. for the last few weeks (Brian has been doing a wonderful job handling the tastings in Aix). I’ve hosted wine tastings in each of the 11 cities Dominic and I have visited- so [...]

Hilary and I are so excited today because the new Rick Steves’ “Provence and the French Riviera 2010″ came out today and WineInProvence is featured in Aix en Provence! We had been hoping to become a part of these excellent travel guides for some time now. We have always felt that WineInProvence is the perfect [...]