Monday, October 27, 2014

Pure Wine Cafe

Pure Wine Cafe Interior
Set along Main Street, Ellicott City, Maryland, is one of the premier wine cafe's in the area. The Pure Wine Cafe is everything that we look for in a wine cafe. 

It is cozy, upscale, friendly, and full of great wine and food!

We spent a Friday evening Happy Hour with friends at the cafe two weeks ago and could not have enjoyed our experience more.

The interior is small, cozy and very inviting. The wait staff was extremely knowledgeable about the wines being offered and the Happy Hour specials are worth stopping by to enjoy especially with friends after a long, grueling week at work. The menu is easy to read and understand and the waitstaff is eager to help pair the best wine with whatever is chosen. We especially recommend the truffle fries. 

One of the staff recommendations that we definitely enjoyed was the Inman Family 2010 Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley. It was the perfect wine for the evening.

RECOMMENDATION: The Pure Wine Cafe is great place for happy hour, dinner, snacks, and most of all enjoying an evening with friends. Check it out, it is worth the trip.

-- Bob and Christina Doan, Elkridge, MD


Wednesday, October 8, 2014

The Top 100 Best Buys 2014

We love this time of year. Not only are the grapes being harvested to create the wines of the new year, but the annual top 100 wine lists are published.

We subscribe to Wine Enthusiast and the magazine publishes multiple top 100 wine lists annually. 

The first one was published this week and it is the Top 100 Best Buys of 2014

While wine is intensely personal, lists like this give us the opportunity to expand our tasting into new wines based upon reviews. We don't have to agree with the rankings--but they provide a great place to find new wines.

The Top 100 Best Buys of 2014 is, in our mind, one of the best lists because it focuses on widely available wines with moderate prices. Seriously--the top 10 are composed of wines priced between $7-$14. Now those are really best buys.

This particular list is proof positive that solid, enjoyable wines do not have to cost over $20. We were also encouraged by how many Finger Lakes region wines were on the list and by how many of the vineyards that we have visited were represented on the list. 

Check it out and head off to your local wine retailer to expand your wine experience.

-- Bob and Christina Doan, Elkridge, MD