Category: Recent Columns

This column is intended as an introduction to Japanese “rice wine” anchored by Bōken No. 77 Junmai Ginjō Saké. Continue reading →

Right now, many in the wine world are freaked about the decline in wine drinking. Advice: relax, take a deep, cleansing breath. A nice, chilled rosé also might help. Continue reading →

Ah, it was a heady wine time while it lasted. Wine enjoyed more than 50 years of vineyard and winery growth, more than 50 years of improving quality, more than 50 years of consistent year-over-year market expansion. Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end. We’d sing and dance forever and a day. Continue reading →

Tannins are natural and essential to wine. They also are wine’s most misunderstood element. Even wine scientists admit they do not fully understand tannins. One expert called tannins a “chemical train wreck.” Let’s explore. Continue reading →

Wine writers freely admit that trying to describe how a wine tastes is the classic “like dancing about architecture” folly. But amid the thousands of wine choices, people still want guidance. Even if the guidance has flaws, it still beats the “even a blind squirrel can find a nut sometimes” method. Continue reading →

After 17 years of communicating to readers as a newspaper wine columnist with a side gig online, the ground shifted, the medium and the stylistic conventions of the message changed. Continue reading →

I get it. Using words to describe what a wine tastes like is like dancing about architecture. But wine writers do it anyway, and wine readers read it anyway. Continue reading →

What makes a wine sweet and what makes a wine taste sweet? As you might expect in the convoluted world of wine, the two are not the same. In the wine world, things are not always what they seem. Continue reading →

Revolution and evolution in wine in the 17th and 18th centuries set up the sparkling wine world we enjoy today. Christopher Merret’s experiments in secondary fermentation. Dom Pérignon’s vineyard and winemaking improvements. English breakthroughs in glass making. Continue reading →

Wine has been evolving for at least 8,000 years, and so it goes in the world of sparkling wine. Continue reading →