Mark Squires Add us as a preferred source on Google

Summer is gone. 😭⛱️ But the summer wines are still drinking well. 🫡Taking another look at this "classic" Alvarinho, their standard flagship, I'm always liking this 2015 as my stash dwindles down. A fresh white, a "remember summer" wine, it has surprising depth, a green hint, a bright and somewhat tense demeanor, and powerful aromatics. There's a touch of flint, but that mostly blows off in time. It has entered a new phase and doesn't taste young anymore, but it still tastes great with its juicy

Fall is nearly here, a chill coming, a nip in the air overnight. Yikes. How did that happen?? I'm making this a "Goodbye to Summer" week. Not ready? Too bad. Go to Greece. (And don't AT me you folks living in warmer areas. I know who you are.) There's still time for summer-y wines. I will not go gently into that good night. Even "drink me now" wines can benefit from some cellar time if well made, like this, Alpha Estate's popular unoaked 2022 Sauv Blanc from a single block over 600 meters in he

A field blend, this 2012 Douro Reserva opens as a big boy, dark, plump and deep, chock full of ripe fruit. A creamy overlay leads to "Assault by Tasty Old-Vines fruit," which has held mostly well for now. Pretty sexy. This is a pretty good time to dive in, but take note--it was better balanced and less one-dimensional the next day. $65, 14.5% alc #wine #douro #portugal @QuintadoVallado  #WorthTheSearch   #CreatorSearchInsights

Morlet's 2014 is a beauty, but it's not what you think of readily from Sonoma--it's mostly a Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend (see 2d picture for blend explanation). Yet everything comes together. It's crisp, tingly on the finish, and a little different. Vive la difference, right? Liked it a lot. Needless to say, it's not cheap. It's holding well, but this is a good time to drink it. New years are around $125. 14.8% alc. @#wine #drinks #sonoma #WorthTheSearch #CreatorSearchInsights

Napa Cab, a sequel this week. The 2001 Private Reserve is super, stuffed but balanced, with beautiful fruit and some grip still on the finish. Tasted next to a 2001 Schrader, I preferred this, even though I brought the Schrader. Rare objectivity!😄. Fair to note that the styles of this and the Schrader '01 were certainly very different, the Schrader showing more finesse, this more concentration. (The bottles or the wine? Who knows at this point.) In any event, it's beautifully balanced, the opu

Some Napa this week...And Napa has history too (see pic 2, back label). Take that @clayfu.wine with your post on all those old Bordeaux estates. 😛😁 The 2001 Beckstoffer from Schrader is an elegant Cab with finesse, silky texture and lifted fruit. Tasted next to a Beringer Private Reserve 2001, this seemed to have more mid-palate finesse, seeming leaner but perhaps livelier, and with subtler concentration. I confess to liking the Beringer a bit better, but this is no slouch, as it is beautifull

Rewatched this recently. It's been awhile. It stood the test of time. I'd say, one of the greatest sequels ever done, it manages to be as exciting as the original even though this time you know what's going to happen. Which is hard to pull off, but James Cameron managed. Shout out to Carrie Henn who portrayed Newt, age 10, the focal point of much of the film's tension. I'm told it was her only film role! Which is rather incredible. She was great. #syfy #movies #film

Welcome to my @Phillies wine edition, with Portuguese consultant Frank Paredes, who came to Philadelphia properly attired in his Bryce Harper Philies jersey. And there was noble Portuguese wine, of course. I usually will split tasting notes up because they get long when together, but these are meant to be together! Go Phils! Start with Luis Pato's Vinhas Velhas Branco 2016 (pic 3). It's in fine form, an old vines blend (Sercial, Bical, Sercialinho) from Bairrada. It's aging well and gracefully,

My Riesling secret--I prefer a little sugar. Yes, yes, some say that off-dry style has gone out of fashion. Do NOT vex me, O heathens! The faithful know that those off-dry German miracles are perfect contrasts of acidity and sugar. The war between Acidity and Sugar often ends well for the fruit and the drinker. Which is why I like 'em off-dry. The Finger Lakes is stronger in Dry, I think, but well-known Wiemer does a nice job here with its workhorse 2016 Semi-Dry staple. It's a gracefully aging

I recently made a video on storage: how to age wine safely. It is worth pointing out that storage is not the only issue in doing that. Why do all these oldies I post on have such a high success rate? There's a reason! it isn't just luck. #wine #winestorage

So, here, I finally got a chance to see the new exhibit in Porto world of wine, or WOW. I managed to get a pretty upscale tour guide, a guy named Adrian Bridge. 😁You may have heard of him, he's the CEO of the Fladgate Group, which owns Taylor's Port, among others. It was a lot of fun. I liked it. I especially like the sensory part, but there's something for everyone. Here, Adrian describes the basics and gives the overview. #robertparker #wineadvocate #taylorfladgate

How do you open an 1880 port? Ut can be an adventure. My video. #port #robertparker #wineadvocate #ramospinto