The Wine Idea

Wine ‘splainin is surely as old as wine itself, or, if not quite, then at least as old as wine whose source could not be taken for granted by the person … <span class="entry-title-primary">Wine ‘Splainin</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Must wine always have a spokesperson?</span>Read more

What do an ideal cup of coffee and an ideal glass of wine have in common?  To answer that question allow me to introduce Giorgio Milos (above), master barista for the … <span class="entry-title-primary">The Right Beans</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">What wine drinkers can learn from a proper cup of joe</span>Read more

Emile Zola’s 1873 novel Le Ventre de Paris (The Belly of Paris) opens with a pre-dawn parade of horse-drawn carts laden with produce making their way into the city’s public food … <span class="entry-title-primary">Wine and the City</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">What makes connoisseurship possible?</span>Read more

“Casanova’s Europe” reveals a refined and visually seductive culture on the cusp of modernity—one characterized by pleasure seeking, movement across boundaries, and self-invention. Casanova himself inhabited many roles—entrepreneur, social climber, spy, … <span class="entry-title-primary">Casanova, Wine Lover</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">The drinking life in 18th century Europe</span>Read more

Why is a set of wines arranged in a particular order for tasting purposes referred to as a flight? Even the venerable Oxford English Dictionary doesn’t seem to know – its … <span class="entry-title-primary">Flights of Fancy</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Getting your wines in a row</span>Read more

“Try this one weird trick” those trashy online ads plead — promising to help you lose that belly fat, regrow a bumper crop of lustrous hair, outwit the market, or jump … <span class="entry-title-primary">One Weird Trick</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">The Value of a Slosh</span>Read more

Fashion is as fashion does. We crave the new, eschew what was. ’Twas ever so, and wine, you know, is not exempt from fashion’s flow. In Pharoah’s court, they have advised … <span class="entry-title-primary">All the Rage</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Wine moves on, friend</span>Read more

  When I became a wine enthusiast, the standards for fine wine were set in just three places: Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne. In Boston, little Italian wine — or even French … <span class="entry-title-primary">Meet the Refusniks</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">What happens when imitation trumps progress</span>Read more

Today, most wine education takes the form of a guided tour of what we might call the Appellation Trail. Since appellations constitute the fundamental categories nation states use to organize and … <span class="entry-title-primary">On the Appellation Trail</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">It's a consensus style, not quality, that matters most</span>Read more

The dinner party differs from the cocktail party in one very important respect. Hemmed in as you are by a place setting, it’s generally not possible to seek new company if … Don’t Just Chat Up Your WineRead more

In Georgian England, three-bottle men were so-called because of the prodigious quantities of Port they consumed daily. It’s easy to see how, under these circumstances, dinner parties could (and frequently did) … <span class="entry-title-primary">Two Always Better Than One</span> <span class="entry-subtitle">Wine education favors the multi-bottle personality</span>Read more

IS A RED WINE so deeply-hued you can’t see beyond its surface inherently of better quality than one you can peer right into . . . or even through? Wine marketers are … Of Wine Transparent and OpaqueRead more