The Grape Pursuit

02/09/2026

After finishing German Wine Scholar last week, you know I had to put together a review of the program.

https://thegrapepursuit.com/german-wine-scholar-review/

29/08/2026

German Wine Scholar, completed! ✔️ 🎓

This was a rough one if only because I hit a mental wall trying to learn all the villages and vineyard sites in Germany.

Anbaugebiete (regions) and Bereich (districts)? Not a problem, but I ran out of memorization capabilities from there. There was so much material in this one!

Either way, I can now add GWS to my list of letters and move on to the next course. Woohoo! 🍾

26/08/2026

A good bottle of wine always needs a good food pairing. 🍕 🍷

24/08/2026

Planning a trip to go wine tasting in Alsace? We've got you covered in our newest wine region guide!

Get all of our best planning tips at: https://thegrapepursuit.com/alsace-wine-trip/

20/08/2026

Our friends at Boundary Breaks told us to hit up Kemmeter when in the Finger Lakes as they are doing very interesting Riesling.

We couldn't get in for a tasting last minute, but we swung by to enjoy their restaurant's take out dumplings and grab a bottle of their dry Riesling to go (plus a Gewurz from their SanSan line that we are likely going to forget about for a while).

They weren't kidding, this was excellent!

This Riesling was pale lemon in color with medium aromas of yellow apple, pear, wet stone, pineapple, peach skin, white blossom, slate, marmalade, and star fruit.

On the palate, it was dry with high acidity, medium alcohol, medium(-) body, medium(+) flavor intensity, and a medium finish. We had notes of lemon, green apple, pear, pineapple, grapefruit, white blossom, beeswax, wet stone, and saline with a slightly steely finish. I had notes of lychee and mango, too, but Angie did not agree it was as tropical as I was tasting.

The body was interesting on this one as, despite the riper flavors, this one felt light and delicate at the same time. Truly an interesting combination as we often don't expect this nuance with Finger Lakes bottles.

Now to figure out how to order more to cellar for a decade or so (and to try some of their other bottles with a bit more RS, too)!

12/08/2026

Down to Mendoza we go for an interesting blend of Torrontes, Sauvignon Blanc, and Semillon from Susana Balbo.

This one was pale lemon in color with medium(+) aromas of lemon, pear, elderflower, candied peach, pineapple, white blossom, wet stone, and grass.

On the palate it was dry with high acidity and medium alcohol, body, flavor intensity, and finish. We had notes of lemon, lime, pear, peach, elderflower, beeswax, white blossom, wet stone, grapefruit, pineapple, and gooseberry. The phrase tutti frutti kept coming up again and again.

This was quite an interesting bottle. Normally we aren't too big on Torrontes, but this one added a really nice floral complexity that we enjoyed without being overwhelming. It went particularly nice with a roasted carrot hummus and soft, bloomy rind cheese!

11/08/2026

It's not every day we stumble upon in aged Pinot Gris sitting on a store shelf (that we trust). But stumbling on a stash of 2017 Trimbach Reserve was worth grabbing to see how the wine has held up with time.

This one was pale gold in color with medium aromas of pear, yellow apple, quince, beeswax, orange marmalade, white blossom, almond, and toast.

On the palate, it was off-dry with medium acidity and body, high alcohol, medium(+) flavor intensity, and a long finish. We had notes of lemon, pear, yellow apple, peach, dried pineapple, wet stone, beeswax, white blossom, elderflower, and almond to name a few.

It certainly paid off to grab this one, and while we would expect some of the higher tier bottles to age even better, this one was singing rather nicely at nearly nine years old!

30/07/2026

Another trip to the Finger Lakes means five new wineries have been added to our winery guide!

Check it out at: https://thegrapepursuit.com/best-finger-lakes-wineries/

29/07/2026

If you like delicate and nuanced white wines, don't sleep on a Japanese Ryugan.

If you prefer delicate, nuanced wines, don't overlook white wines from Japan, like Musee du Vin's Ryugan- a native Japanese grape!