Category: Recent Columns

Many steps and decisions went into making the wine you will enjoy tonight. This week and the following eight weeks, we visit the magical journey from soil and sunshine to the sublime liquid you enjoy. Continue reading →

There is a lot of information on a wine label. Some of it germane: producer, grape variety or type of wine, vintage. Continue reading →

Wine makers recognized climate change years ago. Many vine growers have meticulous records dating back a hundred years. For them, global warming is not speculation, it is real and their livelihoods depend on responding to it. Continue reading →

We are in the last weeks of winter and soon vineyards will begin their warm weather cycle. They have not been idle the past cold months. Continue reading →

On one level “judging wine” is distasteful. A lodestone of my approach to wine is drink what you enjoy and ignore supercilious pronunciamentos from wine snobs. Continue reading →

“Plant a radish. Get a radish. Never any doubt. That’s why I love vegetables; you know what you’re about,” goes the opening in a song from The Fantasticks. Continue reading →

Survival alert to male readers: Sunday is Valentine’s Day. Continue reading →

How many bottles of wine can be made from a single grapevine? Interesting question. This being wine, no simple answer. Continue reading →

Wine pricing—guaranteed to vex vino votaries. Continue reading →

Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon did not “invent” Champagne in the late 1600s. He did not exclaim “come quickly, I am tasting the stars!” Champagne’s story is older, more complicated, more interesting. Continue reading →