I have been thinking about February and Wine Focus?

[David M. Bueker]

Howie - how about we hold that for the summer when folks are perhaps more likely to take a drive to a local winery. I know that right now I am not going anywhere near the local wineries as it's icy & cold - hardly fun for a wine tasting trip.

I don't usually participate but have really enjoyed some of the carmenere tried recently. Much more interesting than merlot
Walt

I think Howie's idea of local wines would be good for summer--it could include reds, whites and rose' wines. Within North Carolina I have found one Riesling I like from Shelton and some Biltmore wines (I think they source grapes from California for some of their wines but since produced in state I would include those.) I've also been meaning to try Childress and a few new wineries that I haven't had yet. (And it might be interesting to write up at least one note on wines I usually avoid like the Duplin Muscadine or Scuppernong-based wines.)

I'm late to this but I do like the idea of Southern Italy. Some rather juicy drinkable wines come from below the knee, and would inlcude Abruzzo, Puglia, Sicily.
I'm also ok with Veneto but perhaps better to expand this to include all of the Italian north East (Veneto, Friuli - Venezia Giulia, Trentino - Alto Adige). It's summer here and I've been enjoying a Prosecco or two.

Cheers,
Sue

[David M. Bueker]

Sue - I think we have settled on "The Diversity of Italy" which includes everything except Tuscany and Piemonte, so you'll be ok either way!

Sue - I think we have settled on "The Diversity of Italy" which includes everything except Tuscany and Piemonte, so you'll be ok either way!

I didn't realise it had been settled on. I thought one or the other would have been more of a 'focus', echoing what Tim York said.

[David M. Bueker]

Probably more focused, but lesser availability all around.