Pink Takes Its (Rightful) Place for 03/01/2022
There was a time not terribly long ago when winemakers had a deep, dark secret: The wines they were drinking were made just for themselves.One man, who had made some pretty beefy and concentrated red...
View ArticleIn Praise of Cheap for 03/08/2022
Oh, the mystique that some people ascribe to wine in their rush to canonize it out of all proportion to what it really is, or should be: a beverage. Or the denunciation some people heap on inexpensive...
View ArticleWine List Dilemmas for 03/15/2022
One of the headaches of modern life, especially post-pandemic, comes while dining out and searching for a decent bottle of wine.We study the wine list, trying to find something we can afford. Half the...
View ArticleCalifornia Crush Report for 03/22/2022
Most consumers are well aware of how impacted they are by inflation — and each industry that has to explain why its prices have gone up has a slightly different explanation.Whether it's supply chain...
View ArticleTime Changes for 03/29/2022
The old saying, "The more things change the more they stay the same," may apply in many areas of our 2022 daily lives, but I realized recently by walking through my wine cellar how it didn't really...
View ArticleObscure Grapes for 04/05/2022
In early June, I will be a speaker at an industry technical conference in Geneva, New York, on a grape variety that, chances are, you have never heard of before, though it's one that makes extremely...
View ArticleSweet or Dry -- Or Flabby for 04/12/2022
Decades ago, a German winemaker pulled a label-less bottle of riesling from a fabric bag, pulled the cork, and asked me to taste it.It was a time when most imported German rieslings were sweet and the...
View ArticleThe Importance of Regions for 04/19/2022
There is a regional authenticity to certain food and beverage products, which is one reason that we make distinctions between the different coffees coming from Brazil, Ethiopia or Hawaii.And it's why...
View ArticleThe Significance of Sauvignon Blanc for 04/26/2022
Sauvignon blanc is one of the world's most popular white wines, and for a columnist who started writing about wine 45 years ago, that's a shock. I've always been a fan of it and hoped it would get...
View ArticleWine for Mother's Day for 05/03/2022
Public relations people around the world are always thinking up "clever" ideas for magazine and newspaper writers that will help the promoters sell the products they're hired to hawk. This spring, the...
View ArticleWine and Food Pairings for 05/10/2022
I believe far too much is made of the "proper" wine and food pairings.I realize that many people have made their life's work all about telling others which wines go best with which foods, but there are...
View ArticleTabletop Chemistry for 05/17/2022
You're browsing the wine aisle in your local supermarket or wine shop and see a bottle that looks interesting. And the back label carries purple prose about how superb the wine's fruit is.But not all...
View ArticleBait and Switch for 05/24/2022
Sometimes it's simply just a mistake, but it seems always to backfire against the consumer.And sometimes it is a nefarious strategy intended to put one over on unsuspecting diners, almost always with...
View ArticleWine's Fragility for 05/31/2022
Winemakers around the world have tools and strategies today that they never had decades ago that help to make wine a lot more stable than it ever was back then.Unless a bottle of wine has been held...
View ArticleWine's 'Absurd' Prices for 06/07/2022
When I began writing about wine in 1979, almost every fine-quality California chardonnay sold for $4.50 a bottle. Occasionally I'd find a bottle at $3.75 and considered it a bargain.Times change,...
View ArticleRegionality for 06/14/2022
As a winegrowing paradise, California has always been blessed with loads of sunlight and beneficent weather, allowing it to ripen wine grapes almost anywhere. But in the early years, distinctiveness...
View ArticleRegional Palates for 06/21/2022
If you're a wine lover and you've lived all your life in New Jersey or Virginia, chances are you like Chianti. You know the good ones from the mediocre and don't mind splurging every now and then for a...
View ArticleTaste of Place for 06/28/2022
Professional wine judging isn't all that it seems to be. It sounds like a lot of fun, but it rarely is — and it's also hard work.And it usually involves at least 10 years of experience before you even...
View ArticleThe Red White for 07/05/2022
Don't be blue now that the Fourth of July holiday is over, because the season is just beginning for red white.Warmer weather is the perfect time to break out dry rose wines, which is admittedly an...
View ArticleLittle-Known Wine Facts for 07/12/2022
Most people who purchase wine regularly know what the basic rules are about how to consume it and store it along with other supposedly widely known "facts."But in reality, a number of tips that have...
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