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Showing posts from February, 2026

Cuvée Thaddeus Bordeaux Rouge (France) Review | La Cave Noire

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Cuvée Thaddeus Bordeaux Rouge (France) Review | La Cave Noire Every once in a while, you open a bottle that makes you double check the price. This was one of those. Cuvée Thaddeus Bordeaux Rouge is an organic, naturally fermented Bordeaux that just quietly overdelivers. No gimmicks. Just really good wine. In the glass it leans into those deeper fruit notes. Black plum, blackberry, a little dark cherry. It has that cozy, rounded Bordeaux feel where the fruit is generous, but the wine never gets heavy or over the top. What I liked most is how easy it is to drink. It has enough structure to feel like a proper red, but it stays relaxed and smooth the whole time. We ended up drinking it with sourdough pizza, focaccia dipped in olive oil and vinegar, and a bowl of red sauce pasta. Honestly it felt perfect for that kind of meal. Simple food, good wine, nothing complicated. This is exactly the type of bottle I love finding. Something that tastes like it should cost more than it does, and that ...

Cloudy wine, what the funk?

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C loudy wine, what the funk? People still assume clear wine means better wine. Bright, polished, see-through. Cloudy, on the other hand, feels like something went wrong. Like the bottle was mishandled, stored badly, or rushed out before it was ready. That reaction makes sense. We’ve been trained to read clarity as quality. Beer, spirits, even water follow that rule. Wine just quietly inherited it. Most natural wines aren’t filtered or fined before bottling. Filtration is a cosmetic step. It strips out yeast, grape solids, and sediment to make the wine look stable and uniform. Clean lines. No surprises. When that step is skipped, the wine keeps more of what it grew with. What you’re seeing in a cloudy wine isn’t rot or spoilage. It’s usually leftover yeast or fine grape particles that would otherwise be removed. They settle. They move. They shift depending on temperature, travel, and time. That’s why the same bottle can look different every time you open it. The reason this ma...

Salvatore Marino Turi Nero d’Avola 2023 Pachino DOC (Italy) Review | La Cave Noire

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Salvatore Marino Turi Nero d’Avola 2023 Pachino DOC (Italy) Review | La Cave Noire This one’s all about drinkability. Fresh, juicy, loads of crunch straight away. It hits the palate fast and clean, the kind of red you keep reaching for without thinking about it. Medium tannins give it just enough grip to hold its shape. It feels a bit more grown up than you expect, balanced, relaxed, nothing forced. There’s a quiet smokiness running through it, a touch of leather, subtle but present, adding depth without weighing it down. We opened this with sourdough pizza and it just clicked. Same with focaccia dipped in oil and vinegar, and a simple red sauce pasta. Tomato, olive oil, bread, wine. That’s the lane this bottle lives in. The finish is smooth and satisfying, gone just in time to make you want another pour. One of those bottles that empties itself while you’re mid conversation.