Who Are We?
The Winehack
The Winehack is Andy Phillips, who is almost always joined by Mac the Wife in visiting tasting rooms of wineries historically throughout Northern California and now in and around Woodinville, Washington. Andy is an ex-banker, an ex-construction company executive, an ex-law school vice dean, a current school professor (starting to do that again), and a current attorney working for the best large electrical contractor in the nation. Mac the Wife works in customer service in the high tech industry. Both now work remotely for the same companies they worked for in San Jose, California and we hope that will last for a while.
So, what qualifies me to talk about wines? Not much other than we love wine and we love food. When you put the two together, it can be a wonderful experience. This website was founded in frustration. When I read a review of an exclusive and pricey bottle of wine and saw that they said "the bouquet has a nuance of fennel pollen," I found myself wondering: a) what the heck does a nuance of fennel pollen smell like; b) I wonder if this wine goes with a great grilled burger, and c) how do we find someone who can put wine tasting notes into simpler terms? Oh wait! That's what I'm trying to do here.
Disclaimers:
I am not an expert but I think I have a pretty good palate and can usually do a good job of figuring out what a wine might be like when it is properly aged. This is important because some of the big and rich monster wines are rough when first bottled. If you drink a well crafted Cabernet Sauvignon that is going to be great in ten years, you'll probably be put off by the tannins that tend to overwhelm the wine when you are tasting a current vintage in a tasting room. I see a trend toward crafting wines that are good now and will be better later instead of really rough now and great later, but I still try to put some idea of when I think a wine will meet its potential in my notes.
I do not get paid for doing this. In fact, our wine habit has become pretty expensive. I have been given a few bottles over the last 15 years or so because a winemaker friend has asked me to taste them later, but that's really rare. So, this is done for fun and I hope it helps a few folks.
I will never write up a wine that I don't like. If I don't like it, you just won't see it. Please remember that when we go tasting, we don't taste everything they have, so if you see a winery you know makes a Sangiovese and I didn't write it up, it doesn't mean I didn't like it. I probably didn't taste it or I may have stopped taking notes at some point.
Lastly, I am not you. We all have different preferences and different impressions about wine. I happen to love bright and spicy varietals. You may prefer sweeter, drier, crisper, fresher...whatever. I try to tell you what I taste, what kind of food I'd like to try the wine with, which wines are just pleasant to enjoy on the patio all by themselves, or whatever hits me at the moment. So, just enjoy!
What's Here
Wine Glasses Matter
We never knew the difference that the right wine glass can make, or how a different wine glass can change the tasting impression until we went to a Riedel event.
Comments are welcome; actually encouraged.