My New Years Resolution: Wine

By Carolyn Kinneen

This year I decided my resolution should be to explore more wine options and expand my wine knowledge base. Hard resolution to follow, right?

I felt I needed to do some homework to actively make this happen, or I would just fall into my normal wine patterns. I couldn’t just do this on my own though, I asked
Chad Culley, one of the owners of Crush Wine Bistro and the Cellar in Anchorage to start my wine exploration off right.

This audio clip explores some of these new wines I’ll be adding to the wine rack. Chad’s given me four delicious wines and suggests some vintages that we all might want to try going into 2014.

Besides the easy task of just “tasting a lot of wine,” Chad also recommends some great wine books to expand my wine knowledge base. His top four favorites?

Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France by Kermit Lynch – He considers this to be one of the best wine books ever written. He’s not alone as it’s being widely celebrated on it’s 25th anniversary and will be my first read.

Next, for folks who need a basic book or a refresher course, The Dummies Guide to Wine which Chad suggested reading cover to cover.

The newest book on his list is The New California Wine: A Guide to the Producers and Wines Behind a Revolution in Taste by Jon Bonne. He got this one for Christmas and it’s become a favorite. He’s been captivated reading about the new generation in California wine growers, their culture and the wines they are producing.

Finally, Naked Wine: Letting Grapes Do What Comes Naturally by Alice Feiring rounds out list. “Naked Wine” explores one woman’s quest to learn and produce organic wines and along the way.

Looks like 2014 is starting out right. Cheers!