Category: Recent Columns

Sometimes wine’s kaleidoscope of terms and traditions, wine’s labyrinth of grape varieties and vinification techniques, and the obnoxious actions of wine snobs can overwhelm and discourage people from getting into wine. Continue reading →

With summer’s expiration date on September 22, is it time to ditch those bright, light, delicious wines you enjoyed when fish were jumpin’ and cotton was high? Continue reading →

Now is the time of reckoning for Northern Hemisphere grape farmers, the time when they harvest the results of their previous six months of toil, sweat, and hope, which in turn is built on years, decades, centuries of effort. Continue reading →

How long should wine age, and what happens when it does? Continue reading →

Labor Day is the bittersweet holiday. Fading soon into memory go dreams both fulfilled and dashed for your favorite baseball team, your family vacation, your time with the grandkids or grandparents. Falling leaves, coming soon, signal the great harvest feasts, the coming of winter, and acknowledgement we are in the afternoon of yet another of our allotted annual treks around the sun. Continue reading →

Perhaps coming soon to a wine shop near you, an almost-perfect copy of a high quality wine made in a laboratory using no grapes and no fermentation. Continue reading →

An increasing number of wine labels tout “whole cluster fermentation.” What does that mean and should you care? Continue reading →

Climate is a vital variable in vino. Continue reading →

Alcohol by volume (ABV) numbers on a wine label give the illusion of precision—they go to tenths of percents—but pull back the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) curtain and, surprise, you discover almost nothing is what it seems. Continue reading →

Never underestimate the ingenuity of those who make wine and those who enjoy wine. Continue reading →