Wine Aromas for 05/21/2024
Baseball aficionados would tell you that 60% of the game is about pitching; others would say that pitching represents more than that.To create a wine phrase parallel to this, it might be said that 60%...
View ArticleCan It for 05/28/2024
The first wine I ever saw in a can was a Beaujolais from France that I saw here about 50 years ago. It had no vintage date and sold for roughly $1.Then about 40 years went by without a can in sight...
View ArticleHome Cellar Part 1: White Wines for 06/04/2024
If you appreciate wine, you probably go to retail wine stores each time you need a bottle or two for dinner or an upcoming party.But there are several sound reasons to begin a small wine collection at...
View ArticleHome Cellar Part 2: Red Wines for 06/11/2024
Creating a cache of wines for a private cellar is a task rarely seen in this country today, although in years past it was a creative idea.In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of people throughout the...
View ArticleHome Cellar Part 3: Storage for 06/18/2024
Starting a wine cellar isn't complicated, but once you decide to stash 20 or 30 bottles of wine, a key decision is where it should go.The worst location is where it is 70 F or more. Wine is fragile...
View ArticleStale Views for 06/25/2024
A "shelf talker" is a slip of paper or a card with a few words that describe the wine sitting on the shelf or in the box that retailers hope will entice people to buy it.One such shelf talker long ago...
View ArticleGourmet Group for 07/02/2024
One of the most enjoyable aspects of wine is enjoying it with friends who are like-minded. Wine can be daunting to newcomers, so I solved that problem long ago when I created a small gourmet...
View ArticleItalian White Wines for 07/09/2024
Most Americans who grew up in the 1970s or 1980s who hear the phrase "Italian wine" might immediately conjure up red wines that are somewhat tart and made to go with pastas and tomato sauces.And at...
View ArticleDiffuse Character for 07/16/2024
Millennial wine drinkers, we were told, love to try different things. But by contrast, many California winemakers are still trying to make red wines that fit the standard model: soft and plush.This...
View ArticleA Change in Persona for 07/23/2024
When a car company decides to make a major change in the way an updated model's engine is designed to operate, more than likely the vehicle also gets a major change in how it looks.Cosmetic changes do...
View ArticleBottling Day for 07/30/2024
I visited a winery recently because a wine I made was being transferred from a tank into bottles — and I realized once again that wine isn't all sweetness and light. Most people who visit wineries do...
View ArticleColor in Red Wine for 08/06/2024
Anyone who regularly drinks red wine knows that it is primarily intended to pair with foods based around meats and other relatively assertive victuals.The color and the flavor in red wine both come...
View ArticleCloseout Bin for 08/13/2024
One of the great benefits of knowing lots about wine is that wine-knowledgeable people often can find bargains that others would bypass.This topic is important today because there is now far more wine...
View ArticleBottle Variation for 08/20/2024
Almost exactly 50 years ago, in 1975, California signed into law the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act that protected buyers of automobiles with major flaws that made them difficult if not impossible to...
View ArticleDealing with the Glut for 08/27/2024
Wineries around the world are struggling to cope with consumers who are ignoring wine in favor of alternative beverages.Sales of wine around the world have declined precipitously, and it may be years...
View ArticleRepairing Wine for 09/03/2024
Not every wine is exactly what we want.Most of us spend time making a decision about which wine to buy for tonight's pasta or this weekend's barbecue, and as much as we know about wine, it frequently...
View ArticleHarvest 2024 for 09/10/2024
And now the craziness begins.The 2024 harvest in the northern hemisphere commences about the time you are reading this — and it is a time for people who love wine to steer clear of any winery.For the...
View ArticleGreat Obscure Wines for 09/17/2024
In the coming two decades, American wine lovers surely will face dozens of interesting wines made from grape varieties they've never heard of before, mainly as a result of climate change.This is not a...
View ArticleWinemaking: A Grimy Job for 09/24/2024
"Oh, you make wine?! How much fun is that!?"The cafe speaker was a young woman awestruck to find out that one of the people at the next table made the wine she was sipping. In her delight, she may have...
View ArticleUnlevel Playing Field for 10/01/2024
Most commercial domestic wines are too expensive compared with imports, and one reason is that imports often have a major financial advantage.Wine is, ultimately, an agricultural product, so it is...
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