Free Republic

From left, Zonte’s Footstep Love Symbol Grenache 2017, Weingut Bründlmayer Grüner Veltliner Terrassen 2018, Da Capo Grignolino d’Asti Renard 2017, Le Marie Blanc de Lissart 2017 and Loimer Lois Grüner Veltliner 2018. (Tom McCorkle/for The Washington Post) With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, we have an Australian grenache that successfully combines love-themed branding with good-quality wine. An exotic Italian white would also be a good choice for a romantic dinner, or you could revisit an Italian vacation with a trattoria-style red. We also have two outstanding grüner veltliners from Austria to complete the lineup. GREAT VALUE Da Capo Grignolino...

PARIS – Over the years, the chief sommelier had forgotten they were there. And when the four bottles of 1875 Armagnac Vieux were finally unearthed from the labyrinthine wine cellar this week, they were covered in a black fungus that looked like matted cat fur. The landmark Tour d'Argent restaurant, which dates back to 1582, is cleaning out its 450,000-bottle wine cellar, considered one of the best and biggest in the world. It is putting 18,000 bottles up for auction in December, an event that has captured the imagination of French wine lovers. The restaurant is selling mostly wine but...

> snip Today, the 65-year-old Mr. Harlan has a business to be proud of. His Harlan Estate wines, at $265 a bottle, have won perfect 100-point ratings from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate newsletter. Oenophiles add their names to multiyear waiting lists and snap up the wines at auction.But Mr. Harlan's broader passion is what he calls his "200-year plan." Crafted over several decades and consisting of handwritten notes on hundreds of legal pads, the plan analyzes Europe's venerable wine families in an attempt to distill the secrets of dynastic longevity.There are notes from weeks he spent at the Rothschild family's...