David Forer

(A rant about) the standard winery spiel

{Rant begins} I was back in a California a couple weeks ago to take a group of wealthy wine lovers up to Napa for a wine tour. It’s a pretty standard trip that I’ve done for years with this group. Super fun and full of laughs, and we generally try to hit the super high end and exclusive spots. This time we had appointments at three well known estates in… Read More »(A rant about) the standard winery spiel

The Cocktail Scene in Barcelona

I’m a wine guy. Wine through and through. I love everything about it, and taste and drink hundreds, if not thousands, of wines a year. But like most wine people, I also love booze. (Well, and beer, but that’s for a different post.) We all love a good cocktail. Many a party have I been to where after many good wines has there been a group request for Negronis. Like… Read More »The Cocktail Scene in Barcelona

A visit to the historic Cava estate of Gramona

I had the opportunity this week to visit one of the top cava producers, Gramona, for the unveiling of the current release of their tête du cuvée wine, Enoteca. This one being from the 2002 vintage – not released for 15 years! After an easy 60 minute drive to the estate, we started with a few great hours in the vineyard. The Philosopher Vigneron We started with meeting Jaume Gramona,… Read More »A visit to the historic Cava estate of Gramona

The MW ceremony!

For the last 10 years I have dreamed of entering Vintners Hall in London and becoming a Master of Wine. Ten years. In times of doubt or anxiety I would envision myself walking up to the podium, in an effort to give me the motivation I needed to continue the journey. Well, it finally happened. And it was the highest level of euphoria I have *ever* felt in my life.… Read More »The MW ceremony!

Steak and … white Burgundy?!

A couple years ago I was invited to a “test dinner” night at my friend Jordan Mackay’s house where he was hosting the acclaimed Texas chef John Tesar (here he is with a 200+ day aged lobe of foie gras!)… They were working on a book together and we had the privilege of eating the results of their research, like these steaks, ranging from 25 day aged to 120! Like… Read More »Steak and … white Burgundy?!

Glorious white wines of Portugal!

I just returned from a lovely 3 day trip to Lisbon with the family. Gorgeous, beautiful, amazing city. We couldn’t find anything striking on the gastronomy side, outside of maybe the delicious Pasteis de Belem and the amazing food court Time Out Market, but I *did* discover how amazing the Portuguese white wines are! Some history Portugal has long been a world leader is supplying some of the worlds finest… Read More »Glorious white wines of Portugal!

Coffee snobbery (it’s the same as wine snobbery!)

Okay, I love coffee. I really love it. It’s a really tasty, hedonistic, sensual, pleasurable beverage. And the similarities to wine are also very attractive to me. They’re both agricultural products, with a terroir component and a human-hands processing component. What’s also similar is the way that retailers of both can intimidate and belittle customers. Why?! Why do they do this? Both the coffee and wine trade (in particular the… Read More »Coffee snobbery (it’s the same as wine snobbery!)

Natural wine – my experience with it here in Barcelona

There is a very hot portion of the wine scene here in Barcelona (and Spain, and even the EU in general) that is focused on “natural” wines.  When we decided to move here, I committed to keeping an open mind about these wines. My experience with minimal SO2, and even minimal intervention wines in the US, by US producers, has not been pleasant. Wines with excessive faults, mainly brett, but… Read More »Natural wine – my experience with it here in Barcelona