International Wine Review

11/07/2025

Sourced from California’s Sierra Foothills, the Starfield Vineyards 2023 Counoise El Dorado reveals a starbright luminous red hue. This Counoise is silky smooth and easy drinking with explosive red berry aromas and flavors and enough savory notes to give it a serious demeanor. It could pass for a saignée rosado from Spain. 95% Counoise and 5% Grenache; aged in 24% new oak. Absolutely delicious.

11/03/2025

BOORDY 2022 LANDMARK SERIES RED BLEND DRY BENCH RESERVE CATOCTIN AVA ($61) 94 We’ve been tasting a lot of Bordeaux blends recently, and the 2022 Boordy Red Blend is a pleasant respite from some of the over-ripe, overly alcoholic bottles that make it to our tasting room. It offers delicious flavors without over-the-top alcohol. Here’s our tasting note: “Semi-opaque red. This Cabernet Sauvignon led blend (with Merlot and Cabernet Franc) is a delicious, flavor-packed wine. It opens with a rich, dark fruited bouquet and proceeds to a full-flavored, well-structured palate of plum, huckleberry, cassis and savory herbs. Finishes long with firm, velvet-coated tannins. A great wine to accompany grilled steak. 13% alc.” 94 points on the IWR scale. D Winkler Boordy Vineyards

10/27/2025

PRESIDENTIAL PORTOS FROM C DA SILVA: Read my reviews at www.iwinereview.com. Value wines for difficult times.

10/22/2025

I'll be traveling to Cape Town next month, and I'll definitely try the Ken Forrester Wines in a can! And I'll report back. By the way, I recently had Ah-So wines in a can from Navarra's Artazu winery, and some of them were quite good. Perfect for a picnic. Wine Concepts SA

🌿 The rules of wine has changed.⁠
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Meet the Ken Forrester SGM Reserve Collection 2023, bold Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvèdre in a can, crafted for those who don’t wait for the occasion to open a bottle.⁠
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Chilled, portable, and unapologetically premium, it’s Woolworths Cellar sophistication, made for sunsets, golf days, and spontaneous sips by the sea. 🍷⁠
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Shop now, visit www.woolworths.co.za⁠
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10/20/2025

BOORDY 2024 ALBARINO DRY BENCH RESERVE CATOCTIN AVA As anyone who drinks Rias Baixas wines knows, Albariño makes excellent, fresh tasting wines that pair superbly with seafood and other light cuisine. Boordy Vineyards plants its Albariño in their South Mountain Vineyard in the Catoctin Mountains. The 2003 vintage is very good, as usual. It’s aromatically clean with light floral notes, and the palate reveals excellent balance and lovely purity of fresh white fruits. Serve it nicely chilled. 91 points on the IWR scale. Available at the winery or online. Boordy Vineyards Maryland Wine James Pritchard

05/09/2025

Recently, the FAMILLE BOUGRIER sent me a couple of their 2024 SAUVIGNON BLANCS to review. The 2024 Bougrier Sauvignon Blanc Vin de France is lightly flavored, showing pleasant citrus notes. Served ice cold, it’s the perfect casual drink for hot summer days. Indeed, one might serve it the way the Argentines and South Africans often drink white wines in the summer, with a couple of ice cubes and perhaps a touch of sparkling mineral water to create a low calorie, low alcohol wine cooler. It receives 89 points on the IWR scale. The 2024 Bougrier Sauvignon Blanc Val de Loire is a bit more expensive than the Vin de France, but it’s also a more serious wine. It reveals subtle citrus flavors, a vibrant mouthfeel, and a lingering mineral like note on the finish. 90+ points on the IWR scale. Both these wines come in at just 11.5% alcohol. They are imported to the US by Saranty Imports and sold at Total Wine at very reasonable prices. My tasting notes are as follows:

Bougrier 2024 Sauvignon Blanc Vin de France 89 This pleasant, easy drinking and inexpensive (