Issue 30

Posts From Mark Gudgel

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Mark Gudgel

Mark Gudgel

Dr. Mark Gudgel is a wine writer and educator who holds credentials through the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and is working towards becoming a Master of Wine. His interest in wine was sparked on his honeymoon to Napa and Sonoma. Gudgel and his wife, Sonja, have co-authored several articles as well as a book on the wineries of Nebraska, to be released in the spring of 2017. Gudgel is a regular contributor to Food & Spirits Magazine and American Winery Guide, as well as the blog he maintains with his wife, www.itheewine.com. Mark and Sonja live in Omaha with their children and their dog.

The Myth of Fume’ Blanc

Pouilly-Fume’: Noun: An AOC established in France in 1937, composed of around 1,200 hectacres, and best known for producing Sauvignon Blanc. Sauvignon Blanc: Noun: A grape varietal originating in the Bordeaux region of France from which white wine is commonly

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From the Willamette Valley to Omaha: Illahe Vineyards

In 1983, Lowell Ford got his hands dirty planting grapes in the dirt of what would ultimately become Illahe Vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Taking advantage of the Missoula Floods, which some twelve thousand years earlier had rushed between the

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The Great American CabSauv Review 2017

I had “The Library Club” over at my house again, everyone having chipped in a bit of money to taste through some older wines that none of us individually would be likely to splurge on. Not for the first time,

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“The Ostentatious Parlay”

“When I made this wine, I needed a creative outlet, and a financial outlet.  I needed to be independent. I needed to make my own mark, I needed to make my own wine.” ~Sam Smith I first met Sam Smith

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Go Big Rouge

When I was a kid growing up in Valentine, I used to relish the lengthy road-trips to Lincoln to visit my mom’s side of the family. We’d drive down Friday night, leaving right after I got out of school, stopping

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Introducing Jean Hoefliger and the JH Collection to Omaha

I returned home to a familiar sight: a UPS hang-tag on my back door. I’d been dutifully waiting on the package I knew was coming, but had decided to run a quick errand; the shipment had been not-delivered in a

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Welcome to VivinOmaha!

I wouldn’t have thought anything could get much better than a vertical of high-end Napa Cabernet dating back to 2006, seemingly endless trays of beautiful charcuterie, cheeses, and breads, and discounts on bottles of wine with waived corkage, but somehow

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In Lieu of Wine

On Monday, April 24, 2017, my wife Sonja and I welcomed our second child, Zooey Elizabeth Gudgel, into this amazing world. She arrived ten days late, took her sweet time coming out, and for a few terrifying minutes stubbornly refused

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Wine Recommendation: Barnard Griffin

Rob Griffin graduated from the now-infamous UC Davis with the likes of Phil Wente and Tim Mondavi – names which, like his, we know from their wine labels, and having been advised by none other than the legendary Dinsmore Webb.

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Nosh Summer Wine Flight

If you offered to pour me a glass of one of my favorite wines, or instead to pour me a glass of a promising wine I’d never before tried, I wouldn’t hesitate to request the latter option. To me, the

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