Entries by Eric Faiola

August’s Lime Cocktail of The Month

Get your limes out!!!  This month we’re mixing-up a tasty cocktail with Patrón Citrónge Lime Liquor.  If you haven’t tried this Patron flavor yet, hurry into Mystic Wine Shoppe and pick-up a bottle to celebrate the rest of summer. Tasting notes: Juicy and sweet lime flavor from the highest quality Persian limes. Clear in color […]

,

It’s all about managing expectations

I remember the first time I tasted a Soave in my wine class. I was expecting Riunite – a sweet fruity drink that would loosely be classified as wine. Boy, was I disappointed! My first taste – which went against every expectation I had – was tough. It was totally dry, dry as the Sahara […]

,

It’s Summer: Think Pink

Seems like just a few summers ago I showed up at a dinner party with a bottle of pink wine and my hosts were aghast. They remembered the sticky sweet white zinfandels we guzzled in high school and quickly whisked my bottle into the kitchen where it remained stashed behind the paper towels for the […]

,

If you judge a book by the cover…

Ok, so no matter how serious you are about drinking wine and learning all you can, sometimes you are seduced by the label.  And the João Portugal Ramos Alvarinho 2015 label is seductive.  The voluptuous bottle shape is shown to great advantage by the slanting, “off-the-shoulder” style of the label, very simple and elegant lettering with […]

,

Wine of the month: Taking Route Blanc de Cabernet

Moldova is a fascinating country. It sounds both very remote and yet very familiar to my ear – something about Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains to the west, the Black Sea to the east. It seems to sit at a sinister juncture of fairytale and legend. But in reality, Moldova is a country covered by […]

,

The Shed Brewery

 Vermont.  Land of Ben & Jerry’s, maple syrup and the beautiful outdoors. Also home to The Shed Brewery, one of the first brewpubs in Vermont that has been a state favorite for almost 50 years.     History of the brewery: The original building was a blacksmith shop in 1830 that was later served as […]

,

Pinot, pinot, gris, blanc, or noir?

I often hear people refer to the wine they are drinking as “Pinot” – but since “Pinot” comes in red, rosé and white, not to mention sparkling, one should disambiguate!  Is it the blanc, the gris or the noir?  What does “blanc de noir” mean?  And what is the difference by the way between “gris” […]

July’s Cocktail: Strawberry Frosé Cocktail

Summer is officially HERE and we’re still crazy about using rose in our cocktails so we’re sharing another great cocktail featuring, you guessed it, rosé. We found some great frosé recipes online and it inspired us to make our very own vodka strawberry frosé. (Check out some of our favorite rosés you can use – Yum!) Make Our […]