Importer Kermit Lynch was one of the first Americans to tramp the backroads of France’s wine country, knocking on doors and tasting in cellars that had never admitted an outsider before. His wonderful 1988 book, Adventures on the Wine Route, was instrumental in shaping my own idea of what constituted quality and proportion in wine and…
All posts in April 2019
Kermit Lynch, Père Loyau and
Say It T’aint So
Wine is attended by a surprising amount of ritual. For some, the traditional gestures of service are a comforting reminder that they are participants in an age-old liturgy. For others, they’re pure rigamarole, empty gestures devoid of any useful purpose. As is often the case, the truth lies somewhere between these extremes. Go back far…
A Drink from the Sea How not to drink like a barbarian
The sketch at left is a bit of graffiti scratched by a 1st century Roman who may have been keen to have some fun caricaturing then Emperor Nero – as some think – or just engaging in an impromptu bit of self-portraiture. It’s sure the wag never imagined it would still be amusing people 20…