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About Me

Hi, I'm Jim. I'm not a wine professional or critic. But I am a geek who loves wine. For me, half the fun of wine is learning about the grapes, the vineyards, the winemaking, the history behind the bottle. I'm drawn to old vines, indigenous grapes, single vineyard bottlings, field blends and anything else that makes a wine distinctive. On this blog I share my thoughts and tasting notes on the wines I drink and what I learn about them along the way.

Contact Me

If you want to connect with me beyond leaving comments, email me at jim [at] vinegeek [dot] com

Wine Terms As Band Names

The other day, I saw this t-shirt in a shop window on Sixth Street here in Austin:
SELL YOUR COMPUTER BUY A GUITAR.  My first thought was “How would I blog? Could I write songs with tasting notes for lyrics?” (Terrible idea, I know.) Also, I don’t think VINEgeek would make a great band name. Perhaps VINEgeek [...]

Mourvèdre Monday #2: Spann Mo Zin 2006

This is the 2nd installment of Mourvèdre Monday. I’ll be posting a review of a Mourvèdre-based wine every Monday in 2010. The first post can be found here.
I picked this bottle up due to the unusual blend of grapes. Mourvèdre is traditionally blended with Grenache and/or Syrah in France and Australia. Combining it with Zin [...]

The Year of Mourvèdre

At the beginning of a new year, I have usually tried to pick a focus for my wine drinking in the upcoming year. This year I considered a number of regions that have been intriguing me:

Portugal
Montsant (Spain)
Northern Italy
Washington

I’m sure I’ll be seeking out stuff from these regions this year, but in the end I’ve decided to [...]

Santa was good to the VINEgeek

I received a raft of wine- or blog-related gifts this year. Here’s a rundown:
A Crushpad Fusebox
I’ll be planning a blending party soon!

You can order one here.
A bottle of Da Vinci Petite Sirah
A few weeks ago, I tweeted a link to a post at Bigger Than Your Head about this wine, commenting that I’d been out-Oddballed [...]

Wine & Old School Arcade Games

A few weeks ago, I did a post on the Kung Fu Girl Riesling from Charles Smith and it reminded me of the old-school arcade game Kung Fu Master, which I used to play at the arcade in my local bowling alley back in middle school. This got me thinking what other classic arcade and [...]

Just for Fun – Izza Kizza “Red Wine” ft. Stewie

Fun, wine-related song + Stewie from Family Guy = guaranteed post on VINEgeek

Izza Kizza “Red Wine” ft. Stewie of Family Guy from Izza Kizza on Vimeo.
Stewie sings Red Wine

Oddball wine series

I’m going to start a new series on the blog focusing on oddball wines. Oddball might mean an uncommon grape variety, an unusual blend, an out-of-the-way region, a variety in an unexpected location (French Zinfandel?) or an unusual production method. Now, I’m sure that sometimes a few of you will think a wine is not [...]

Je ne bois pas de Merlot!

The Sideways movie trailer in French. Just because.

Introducing the VINEgeek Free Association Mosaic

If you’ve read any of my posts, you’ve noticed that after the tasting notes and overall assessment I include a “free association”. It’s usually an image of some sort (sometimes a song or video) that conveys something about the wine. Sometimes its very literal, like a photo of pink balloons for a rose wine that [...]

Lodi Old Vines Zin Wrap-up

I tasted through 5 old vines Zins from Lodi over the past week or two hoping to find a few winners and learn a bit about the style.
Part 1: Spellbound Old Vines Zinfandel 2005 Lodi
Part 2: Ravenswood Old Vines Zinfandel 2006 Lodi
Part 3: Gnarly Head Old Vines Zinfandel 2006 Lodi
Part 4: Campus Oaks Old Vines [...]