Wine Prices for 11/19/2024
No one is quite certain what will happen to U.S. wine prices in the coming year, but one thing is certain: Change is afoot.Several weeks ago, news stories indicated a strong likelihood that wine prices...
View ArticleNew Zealand Primer for 11/26/2024
At a dinner party a few weeks ago, a couple told me they were planning to travel to New Zealand next summer, and they wanted to know if I had any suggestions about what to see.Since I have been to New...
View ArticleBarolo for 12/03/2024
In the introduction to their 1990 book "Barolo, Tar and Roses," authors Michael Garner and Paul Merritt describe the aroma and taste of the classic red wine from Italy's Piemonte, Barolo:"The initial...
View ArticleOrange Wine, Boxed Wine and More for 12/10/2024
As the year comes to a close, a few wine topics should be addressed. Each could be examined in more detail, but here are my thoughts in brief."Orange wine"? This relatively recent development is really...
View ArticleWine and Health for 12/17/2024
"Wine has been with us since the beginning of civilization. It is the temperate, civilized, sacred, romantic mealtime beverage recommended in the bible. Wine has been praised for centuries by...
View ArticleAuthenticity for 12/24/2024
When we buy a bottle of a famed wine, we take it on faith that it's genuine and not a fake.In fact, fake wine is precisely why corks began to be branded with the name of a winery as well as the vintage...
View ArticleWine Resolutions for 12/31/2024
A recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC said that half of all Americans this year, mainly young adults, will resolve to change their lifestyle in one way or another.Making resolutions for the new...
View ArticleIt's Your Wine for 01/07/2025
Wine purists say that the dinner wine you choose should match the food. Some of them can be persnickety about this.Others say, phooey, drink anything you like with any food. Do you like riesling with...
View ArticleL.A. Fires for 01/14/2025
The firestorms that ravaged California — and disasters in other parts of the country in recent years — left devastation that can take years to repair, and those who lost homes will never be able to...
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Chenin Blanc
Fifty years ago, the most popular wine in this country was a fresh, flowery white that was never intended to be aged and sold so fast that it was often out of stock long before a year was up. It was...
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It's Champagne Season
It's Champagne season — a line you might think indicates that this article is being published two weeks too late. And sure, sparkling wines usually are reserved for toasting at Christmas and New...
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Aromatic Intrusions
I renamed it the "unhappy hour," even though the thought was appreciated. The hotel put out two wines at 4 p.m. in its lobby, a white and a red. A sign invited guests to help themselves. Ignoring that...
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Making Low-Alcohol Wine
I tasted a wine the other day from a bottle with a label stating that the alcohol was 14.5%. It tasted like it was about twice that; my throat burn was so strong I sought antacids. By definition, wine...
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Cabernet
The cynic in me has been saying for years that the more you pay for a cabernet sauvignon, the less it smells and tastes like cabernet. This may be a gross generalization that's hard if not impossible...
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Grenache
Twenty years ago, I was interviewed on a radio program in San Francisco where, with three minutes left in the show, the host asked, "If you had to take only one wine to a desert island, what would it...
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Natural Wine
The phrase "natural wine" may be confusing to some wine lovers. That is because most regular wine drinkers who pay attention to how wine is normally produced know that it is a product of grape juice in...
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Rain in Vineyards
Two weeks ago, several miles west of Santa Rosa, several Russian River Valley vineyards were almost completely underwater. The scene was duplicated in many low-lying vineyards in Napa, Mendocino, Lake...
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Wine and Cheese
The phrase "wine and cheese" suggests one of the world's most enduring pairings, due in no small part to the amazing similarities between the two. Not only do both emanate from mundane products (grapes...
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How Much Do You Know?
Sitting down at a decent (non-fast food) restaurant with an actual wine list can often be a pitfall for people who like wine but don't know an awful lot about it. Not every restaurant has a...
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The Benefit of Time
Most fine red wines benefit from time in the bottle. Although most of the wine sold in the United States is consumed within hours or a few days of its acquisition, better red wines are made with the...
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