Panos Kakaviatos was in town (Washington DC) to lead 2 winemaker dinners, one with Château Brane Cantenac and one with Château Malartic Lagravière, both #worldclass Bordeaux producers. Annette and I attended both dinners.   Henri and Annette+Christian go back many years.    An article about Henri Lurton and his wines - based on a tasting of Henri Lurton at MacArthur Beverages in Washington DC - was one of my first postings on schiller wine, relased in 2010. I remember, I had just retired from the IMF and we talked a lot about Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK), my former ..read more

Eva Steininger of Weingut Steininger in Langenlois, Kamptal, Austria was in the Washington DC area for a week or so and Annette and I were able to catch her at Chain Bridge Cellars in McLean, which is a few blocks away from where we live in the USA. We saw Eva the last time during Austria 2023 by ombiasy WineTours. Austria 2023 by ombiasy WineTours took place from Sunday, May 28 - Thursday, June 08, 2023. We toured Austria for 12 days, starting and ending in Vienna: Wien, Wagram, Carnuntum, Burgenland, Steiermark, Wachau, Kamptal, Kremstal, Traisental, Wien. We stayed one night at Loi ..read more

"Springtime for Riesling & Germany" is the theme of the May 2024 "Terroir by the Glass" special monthly offer of La Fromagerie, a wine and cheese bistro in Alexandria, Virginia, on Upper King Street, comprising 8 excellent wines from Germany, with the line up (1 sparkling, 4 bone dry and 3 fruity-sweet wine(s)) put together by Ben Kuna, Owner/ General Manager of the sister Le Vintage Wine Shop, which is right next door. Annette and I went to La Fromagerie in early May for the Springtime for Riesling & Germany and combined it with the Sunday afternoon tasting of German wines ..read more

Back at the German Embassy in Washington DC. For the "Spargel Fest 2024", we were back at the German Embassy. The asparagus-centered food was prepared by Chef Mikko from the German Embassy. We served 9 German wines, sparkling and still, white and red, dry and fruity-sweet. With 64 sign-ups were were sold out. We were honored by the presence of Bill Stefan, (National) President of the American Wine Society, which has about 8000 members nationwide. Invitation by the German Wine Society (Washington DC Chapter) It is a pleasure to announce that the German Embassy has invited us o ..read more

Annette Schiller and I enjoyed a wonderful Bourgogne wine dinner with the wines of Maison Louis Jadot, presented by Thibaut Marquis, Export Director for Maison Louis Jadot and a 6-course menu, prepared by Chef/ Owner Jacques Haeringer at L’Auberge Chez François in Great Falls, in the greater Washington DC area.  We met Thibaut 2 years ago at a similar dinner at L’Auberge Chez François. Since then, Annette and Thibaut have jointly presented twice the wines of Louis Jadot, at the Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar in Washington DC and at the National Convention of the American Wi ..read more

A month ahead of Loire 2024 by ombiasy, organized and led by Annette Schiller, Annette and I attended a fantastic Loire wine dinner at Bastille Brasserie in Alexandria, with the off-the-beaten-track wines of Ed Addiss and Barbara Selig (Wine Traditons) and the traditional French Bistro food of Chefs Christophe and Michelle Poteaux.   Announcement: Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours (Sunday, June 09 - Thursday June 20, 2024) The tour is almost fully booked. One room is still available. Bastille Brasserie Chefs Christophe & Michelle Poteaux opened Bastille in 2006. Chr ..read more

Organized by Grant Crandall, on April 20, 2024, the Cellar Group met at the home of Al Guber in Bristow, Virginia. Al had selected "Rhône-style Wines Not from France" as theme of the tasting. As usual, everybody brought a bottle of wine and a corresponding dish. There were 14 wines plus 2 bonus wines. Northern vs Southern Rhône: differences (wine-searcher) The length of the valley means that Rhône wines are the product of a wide variety of soil types and mesoclimates. The region's wine-producing areas cover such a distance that there is a widely accepted division between its northern a ..read more

  Dear wineaficionados, Tax season and April 15th are behind us. Now we all have time to think about exciting travel to iconic wine regions. The first trip this year goes to iconic Loire Valley. Someone pulled out because of medical reasons, hence one room (sgl. or dbl. occupancy) has now again become available. However I have to cancel asap to avoid penalties.  LOIRE VALLEY WINE TOUR:  Sunday, June 9 - Thursday, June 20, 2024 The Loire Valley is a huge wine region spanning from Muscadet in the west to Sancerre in the east bordering the Burgundy region and then south t ..read more

Chain Bridge Cellars, owned and run by Doug House, is a leading wine store in the greater Washington DC area, a few blocks away from where Annette and I live. In the recent newsletter I was very happy to see the announcement that Gernot Kollmann, co-owner and winemaker at Weingut Immich Batterieberg in the Mosel valley, was coming to the store for a tasting. Gernot presented 5 of his bone-dry Mosel Rieslings. Following the tasting I had the Weingut Immich Batterieberg Riesling Trocken C.A.I. 2021 with a dozen of Virginia oysters at home.  Gernot and I go back a number of ye ..read more

In contrast to the other American Wine Society chapters in the Northern Virginia area, the NoLoCo (Northern Loudoun County) chapter meets at the home of one of the members and the tasting is always followed by a pot-luck dinner.  The April 2024 tasting took place at our home in McLean, Virginia, and Annette was the presenter. In terms of the pot-luck dinner, Annette and I contributed an 12-pound American Salmon, which we bought at Wegman's in Tyson's Corner. Annette poured 8 wines, 4 white and 4 red, with 3 of the wines from producers we will visit on the forthcoming Loire t ..read more