All posts in September 2019

Today, the buzz word among wine’s chattering classes is minerality. You’ll hear it used to describe a broad range of sensory perceptions met in wine — from loam and humus to gravel, slate, flint, wet stones, chalk, even basalt and coal. But since few of us will have actually sampled any of these materials, it…

Some years ago, stranded in Greenfield, Massachusetts by the wrath of hurricane Irene, and eager for some supper and a bit of company, I popped into The People’s Pint, a celebrated watering hole where the brewing arts are taken very seriously indeed. I watched from my seat at the zinc as the barkeep cheerfully mixed…

Assigning numerical scores on the 100 point scale has emerged as a standard tool for navigating the complicated world of wine. The intent to simplify may originally have been legitimate and laudable, but we’d argue that numerical scores have become the instruments of a new kind of retail tyranny that’s bad for both consumers and…

  We’re not seriously suggesting that Ganymede is the sort to serve as patron saint of anything (putting some clothes on might be a step in the right direction), but if contemporary sommeliers were to do a serious search for the roots of their profession as wine service experts, the beautiful boy at left who…