Rosé: The Perfect Summer Wine

Rosé wines are achieving a renaissance as Old World Rosé wines flood the marketplace and many American winemakers are taking note of this spike in popularity and jumping in. A Rosé wine is not a compromise between red and white wines. If done properly it adds a whole...

Everyone Comes To Frontier Mart

In Casablanca everyone came to Rick’s, but here in Corrales it’s Frontier Mart. Standing on the corner of Corrales Road and Meadowlark, Frontier Mart has been the go-to place in Corrales for all those last minute things. However it’s also a first minute place for...

Tolosa Winery and Edna Valley

Edna Valley Wine Region It had been several years since I had last toured the Edna Valley wine region, but after checking in on my property in Cambria, California it seemed the right time for a visit. I spent some time looking over the wine map and details of the...

Sommelier To the Rescue

A diner walks into a tony high-end restaurant with his date and the waiter presents the wine book and departs. Not a wine list, but a whole book devoted to wine; including names he can’t pronounce and wine regions he’s never heard about. His date is looking at him...

Jim Hammond: Sommelier to Restaurants

One of a sommelier’s primary duties is working with restaurants. I recently trained the wait staff for Las Ristras restaurant in Corrales, NM and will be working on a new wine list for them. The value this added to the restaurant was emphasized by the fact Las Ristras...

Jim Hammond: Wine Presentations

Conversations on Wine Wine is a topic of conversation that can draw the interest of everyone from wine neophytes to wine connoisseurs. I have done many presentations on wine, from the classroom to the party or special event, public and private, where wine can add a...