Author: Stephen Meuse

Thinking about how we think about wine can be an enlightening exercise — and a humbling one. As an example, consider the ways we organize wines in a retail setting. Routinely, … The Kind of Wine This IsRead more

The great — perhaps greatest of all — French actor Jean Gabin (above) is one of many to have played Georges Simenon’s beloved Paris police inspector Jules Maigret on the big … Maigret and the Pet NatsRead more

Our brain’s ability to store visual images in memory and more or less instantly compare them with new inputs for similarities and dissimilarities is impressive. Rather than deal with the many … Of Sodden Madeleines and Upscale RatatouilleRead more

How far back containers go in pre-history is impossible to say, though no doubt it’s very far indeed. Those early human groups who traveled in small, mobile bands across the landscape … Bye-bye to the BingeRead more

In movies of a certain kind (think  The Third Man, Port of Shadows,  Brief Encounter) fog plays a prominent role.  Its presence evokes mystery, doubt, and a vague anxiety  – all … The Fog of WineRead more

The impending (or perhaps only threatened) 100% tariffs on some European luxury goods has the wine industry in a tizzy – as well it might. As Jenny Lefcourt, an importer of … Pray, Mr. BacchusRead more

By definition, etymology and inclination, sediment is just stuff that settles.  Most often, it refers to solid particles suspended in and carried along by a fluid, before they’re drawn inexorably downward … It’s Sedementary, My Dear WatsonRead more

We see that red pencil in your hand, censorious reader, poised to come down hard on some admittedly unorthodox grammar in this week’s headline. But let’s not be hasty, shall we? … Them That Has, GetsRead more

The fresh-squeezed Beaujolais that’s released every third Thursday in November was still ripening on the vine just a couple of months earlier. How, in so short a time, grapes transition into … Yes, We Have No BananasRead more

The kids who wriggled and spun around American Bandstand’s TV dance floor every weekday afternoon at 4pm circa 1957 weren’t necessarily Philadelphia’s most sophisticated or articulate, but they knew what they … It’s Got a Beat and . . .Read more

As caves go it’s not the sort to attract attention: no souvenir shops on the approach and no dramatic lighting within. What can be seen from the outside is a narrow … Wine’s Ghastly OriginsRead more

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 … Rocks in Our Wine, or Just in Our Heads?Read more